We have another busy week ahead filled with school, meetings, small group, and hosting a missionary couple from Taipei that will be in town for a meeting. But we're most excited about Saturday, when we're going to host about 20 people at our house for a big Thanksgiving feast. Many of the Taiwanese people we're inviting don't know Christ. (We're mostly inviting teachers from our school and our local neighbors). At any rate, we're hoping it will be a great time of fellowship, but it will all be in Taiwanese, so I'm sure it will be fun in an exhausting sort of way!

In other news, I'm preparing for a Taiwanese contest Dec. 13 at a local school in Taichung. My teachers asked me to participate. I have to give a 4-5 minute speech before an audience and judges under the topic, "My favorite..." I picked, "My favorite story." The story, it just so happens, is from the Bible - Luke 15, the parable of the 2 sons (a.k.a. The Prodigal Son). I've also made the story more "Taiwanese" by taking some artistic liberty in describing what the personalities/characteristics of the 2 sons might have been like if they had been Taiwanese working class people - trying to especially use humor, in hopes of getting people's interests, as everyone attending will not be Christian. Please pray for this project. I've re-told the story, mostly in my own words (but I haven't changed any essential parts or meaning!), and have given it to my teachers for reviewing over the grammar and vocabulary. Now I just need to memorize it! I'm really hoping that people who have never heard the Gospel before will hear this story and be more interested in the Bible and Christianity as a result. One of my teachers, who is not a Christian, was reading over it and really enjoyed it. And to my delight, as she was laughing and enjoying the story, clearly recognized it as a Bible story that she had heard from another missionary.

- Thomas

Jennifer & Emily

Here is a picture slideshow from Jennifer's Kenya trip.

Here are some short videos of Kenya's music and animals.

It's been awhile since I've contributed to the blog, but with all that happened in Nairobi, I couldn't resist!

I went to Nairobi as a resource leader for LittWorld 2009: World Conference of Christian Publishing. The whole experience was an unexpected gift from God, as I ended up learning a great deal from the people there and have had my eyes opened to a plethora of new concepts and experiences.

The whole week was an intense time of learning and networking. About 150 writers and publishers from around the world came, and I was asked to be on a general panel, "The Writer's Call to Address Today's Issues from a Biblical Perspective." I also led a non-fiction writing workshop, which had 15-20 attendants. These went fine, although by the end of the conference I felt that I had learned much more than I had offered!

I had never been to Africa before and, frankly, knew very little about that side of the world. The conference organizers worked hard at exposing us to local perspectives and scheduled a number of speakers to talk specifically about Africa. In one talk, Dr. George Kinoti discussed two main perceptions of Africa. The first perception, predominant in portrayals by Western media, describes Africa as a hopeless country: poor, broken, helpless. Though this condescending view of Africa is effective in generating financial support for causes throughout the continent, it often represents a kind of xenophobia that is veiled by a spirit of "philanthropy." It enables us to justify a stark separation between "us and them" and gives us a reason to feel good about ourselves for "helping poor Africans." This has, in turn, affected the African psyche; for it is then easy for them to also believe that they are in fact incapable of helping themselves.

Kinoti suggests that a true depiction of Africa is one filled with hope. Yes, Africa has poverty, suffering and, in many places, corruption. But we must remember that this does not mean that Africans are unintelligent or incapable. Throughout the week, I met extremely gifted and eloquent Christians from such places as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Ethiopia. It is often by mobilizing local resources, rather than paternalistically bringing Westerners in, that affects change.

In Africa, I saw God in a way that I hadn't been exposed to in a long while. I had gotten so used to seeing temples and idol worship everywhere in Taiwan, that I was surprised to see the Kenyan countryside full of churches and the people full of warmth and joy despite their poverty. In light of Kenya, Taiwan is a truly spiritually dark place.

In addition to being spiritually edifying, Kenya was just enjoyable as a whole. It was actually quite a relief to be able to speak and read fluently (almost all signs and such are in English, even in rural areas). Also, we were blessed with several unexpected opportunities to go sightseeing. I even got to go on a bona fide safari for an incredibly low price.












This is Kumsa, who was assigned to me for consultation. I really couldn't do anything for her except pray: she shared that in South Africa, all Christian childrens books that are available in her mother tongue, Xhosa, have been translated from English. Although about 8 million people speak Xhosa, there have been no Christian children's books written in Xhosa yet. The Lord has given her a heart for undertaking this project, though there are many barriers. Please pray for her!

I was eating dinner with our Australian colleagues tonight on the 14th floor of an apartment building in east Taichung, when all of the sudden, we felt the whole apartment shaking and the building swaying back and forth. Earthquake! Since we've been in Taiwan (about 8 months now), I've felt a few small earthquakes, but this one was definitely an experience I'll remember. Apparently the epicenter, which was in central Taiwan not too far from Taichung, registered just below 6.0, and it was the largest earthquake to hit here since the big one in 1999 that killed so many people. Then, as if we didn't have enough excitement for one day, it happened again 20 minutes later. Aftershock! This time, Susanna (our teammate), ran to the door to open it up so we would be able to escape if things were to get bad. Thankfully, everyone was fine, and life is back to normal now. No injuries or building damage reported yet in our area. The dogs in the area seemed to be a bit disturbed, as there was plenty of barking going on! See news article below.

-Thomas

Central Taiwan hit by magnitude-6 earthquake

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A magnitude-6 earthquake hit Nantou County at
5:32 p.m. Thursday, causing buildings to sway all over Taiwan.

The quake was the biggest to hit Central Taiwan since the
7.3-magnitude quake on September 21, 2009 which killed more than 2,400
people nationwide, but no deaths were reported Thursday.

The main quake’s epicenter was located at a relatively short distance
of 19.3 kilometer under the surface 10.3 kilometer southeast from the
township of Mingchien, where the tremor’s intensity reached seven, the
Central Weather Bureau said.

The same area was hit by several aftershocks during the rest of the
day, the first registering 4.7 about six minutes later. The biggest,
measuring 5.7, struck Mingchien at 7:34 p.m., according to the bureau.

The quakes caused light injuries by falling objects inside buildings
and forced the high-speed rail line to suspend traffic in Central and
Southern Taiwan.

A female student was taken to hospital after she was injured by pieces
of the ceiling falling down at the Tzuming High School in Taichung
County, the fire service said. Cracks appeared in houses in Mingchien,
with ceilings and walls damaged at a local government building.

There were also reports of hundreds of households in the Nantou area
losing electricity and phone service.

High-speed rail traffic stopped all along the line as a security
precaution, but service between Taipei and Taichung resumed after 7
p.m., reports said.

Jennifer seems to be enjoying her time in Nairobi. She's had a good conference, the sessions have gone well, and she's made a lot of different contacts. She was also able to meet up with our friends from Memphis who are missionaries in Kenya. It's actually been difficult for Jennifer and I to communicate this week because of the time change (Kenya is 5 hours behind Taiwan's time) and my class schedule vs. her conference schedule, but when she returns on Saturday night I'll know more details. Apparently she also had a chance today to see Lake Navaisha and the Great Rift Valley. I'm jealous! I head to the Taipei airport late Saturday night to go pick her up. I'm sure she'll be exhausted as it is a long flight.

In other news, I was thrilled to get a good review during my language evaluation on Tuesday night. Apparently I'm several months ahead of schedule, so I was really excited about that. After this month, I only have one more of the base-level books left in my Taiwanese curriculum, then I'm off to religious studies for the rest of my full-time language study career.

Tonight I attended small group by myself since Jennifer is away. I led a song in Taiwanese, we read from Luke 10, and met together for about an hour and a half. After small group, we sat together, talked, and munched on peanuts and tea. Tomorrow night our Australian co-workers are having me over for dinner, and on Friday night our Taiwanese neighbors are going to have a party and they've asked me to attend. Apparently everyone has figured out that when Jennifer is gone, "Ma Tai Un" is available for meals!

- Thomas