Trevor has added a few pictures on his website of our time in the Philippines and Taiwan. Visit http://www.ywamconnect.com/sites/TrevorElste/Phillippines for the Philippine photos and http://www.ywamconnect.com/sites/TrevorElste/Taiwan%20Photos. Or you can visit his website at www.ywamconnect.com/sites/TrevorElste/ and browse for yourself.
Maybe, someday, I too will have photos to post as well. Trevor takes some very good photos though.
Added a few more people to the right-hand sidebar under "Fellow YWAMers". The top five people are part of this Far East Asia Team, whereas the others are members of other teams. Do check out their web pages if you have time - I enjoy reading others updates anyway. Some folks are posting pictures as well. For those people whose sites are on TravelJournals.net you may have go a couple clicks in under the "Journal" heading to find the most recent journal posting...
And, so, it just so happens that Taipei is home to the world's tallest building - Taipei 101 (the world's tallest at this point in time anyway...). Thus, on the occasion that a person happens to be in in Taipei it would seem appropriate to visit the world's tallest building and marvel at the view. Today, as a free day for those touristy activities while in Taiwan, it seemed appropriate to complete such a visit to Taipei 101.
It is a pretty amazing structure. Perhaps the most beautiful skyscraper which mine eyes have seen. The structural engineering would have sucked. This is a prime example of why architects and engineers share a love/hate relationship - they both need one another yet never want to face the reality that each requires. In any case, Taipei 101 is a cool building with the world's fastest elevator - 30 seconds to ascend nearly 90 floors. What more could a person ask for - the world's tallest building and the world's fastest elevator - all in one place. Uh, well, after about an hour the novelty wore off and the hunger pains set in, and so we ventured on...
Here in Danshuei (hey, I can't find a reliably correct spelling, and so I go with what sounds ok - uh, not that I can actually pronounce it correctly...) we have just returned from visiting a team of YWAM church planters in Maoli (couple hour train/bus trip from here). They are doing awesome work among minority group of Hakka people. It was grand to spend a few days with them and minister where we could be it in English classes, children's classes, or grilling them with questions about the work and life they have in serving God in this way.
We will continue on here in Danshuei for another week doing a variety of ministry works, most of which I don't know of off the top of my head. I hope somebody on our team is aware of our schedule...
Not much else to say right now as the night is well on its way to morning and my brain is shutting off (not that it ever really turns on). We are learning about each other as we work in a team, learning relationships, learning culture, learning travel, learning life, learning Christ.
Asia - well, an island off the coast anyway. It's been a grand three days since our arrival. We are definintly in a different part of the world then the Philippines - culturally, environmentally, & mentally. The contrast is sharp in many respects and I believe that all of us have enjoyed the new surroundings - it has been refreshing after some hot and challenging days in Tondo, Manila. Interesting that geographically the two locations arn't so far apart.
We are located in Danshuei, Taiwan - nearly an hour northeast of Taipai by train or auto (check out the map here) We speak no Manderin Chinese (they just call it Chinese - well the other people who aren't actually Taiwanese call it such) and have no clue as to how to read the thousands of possible characters (what we think of as letters).
As I sit here and write the entire internet browser as well as computer language is in Chinese. We can only function based on clicking on what look to be familiar icons or buttons... There have been some interesting stories already related to that. It's not that I am complaining - it's just rather amuzing. There is also Taiwanese techno music playing in the background of this mainly gaming interet cafe...
Our residence for most of the two weeks that we are in Taiwan is an aparement or large flat directly opposite the campus of Tamkang University. The University has a student population of somewhere between 22,000 - 26,000 students, thus we are essentially located in a college town, or at least this part. Many students, as well as Taiwanese in general, we have been told, know some English, but may be hesitant to use it. We have been able to manage fine with English and poor attempts at learning some simple Chinese. However, we have also been helped a great deal by a few of the fellow YWAMer's here to find places to eat (i.e. decipher the Chinese menus) and become somewhat adjusted.
Our schedule thus far has not been busy. We have been taking opprotunities to check out Danshuei and adjusting to where we now find ourselves - trying to get a feel for what it may be like to live here long term. Over the course of the next few days we will be visiting some church planting YWAMer's 2 hours south by train and then coming back here to do some youth ministry, evangelism, hanging out at the YWAM sponsered coffee house/English classes, and some other various activities to which I am not aware since I tend to not remember our schedule...
And, seeing as how I don't recall what time exactly we signed into this internet cafe for an hour (nearly $1USD for that hour) I had better post this so that I know it makes it to the blogsite and is not lost in a heap of Chinese chracters.
We have arrived! Actually, it was over a week ago now (after a night in Sydney - Opera House and all!). Our time to departure is now just two days away.
The expereince is something that words and images will never adequetly describe. Any expectations that we did have (I don't know of many really) were blown away. If we ended our journey after just this first stop than that would be enough I think to transform how we look at the world through the eyse that we arrived here with. I will share a few things now, but hopefully the experiences will not leave my brain and stories of these times will last for years (or at least months) to come.
We have spent the time here in the Philippines in the northern part of Manila at a place called Paradise Heights in the area of Tondo. It is a site of a former trash dump for the city of Manila. The trash dump currently in use is just across the street. The residents of this Paradise Heights (an ironic name in so many ways if ever there was one!) formally had resided in either/both shanties surrounding the dumpsite or temporory house provided by the government.
The residents of the Heights are living in permanent housing - a compound of 28 buildings (not all buildings are apartment structures) houses an estimated population of 15,000 (my estimate, high I think, but residents say 20,000). The flats are simple, maybe 8 feet wide by 16 deep , two story with simple comfort room (toilet with shower nozzle). Rarely would you find a flat that houses less then three people, many have large families. This is a culture removed from that which any Western society would know or be comfortable with.
Many residents still subsist off of scavenging, that is, finding what they can at the nearby dumpsite. Others have small street or flat stores, and still others have been able to find work doing something else, usually service oriented. And then, there are those who are able to attend school (not a high percentage of children do) and some even go onto university through sponsered programs. It strikes me as an environment and life of survival.
In the midst of what we may think of as less than desirable conditions there thirves community and family relationships. Our time here has been absolutley blessed. Our hosts are amazing people, local Filipinos, and have treated us with hospitatity, care, and love that blows us away. We are well fed, looked after with a careful eye, and treated with respect that we certainly don't feel we deserve. Our hosts exemplify the Christ's love and the love that Christians should show towards one another. In the midst of a rugged and raw environment we have been blessed with so much more than we ever could have expected.
My time at this internet cafe is ending! Thus spell check will not be employed and I will sign off hurridely. Our time here doing ministry has involved children's activities, youth recreation, Sunday service, home visitation, vistation to the dumpsite, children feeding program, open-air evangelism, small group bible study, and a prayer meeting. The time has been full, much of it ministry but also days of rest. Today we visited a missionary kids school in another part of Manila - quite a tour of a blessed facitily.
We have one full day and then a day of packing and travel. I don't know when I will post again, but trust that all is well out there in the rest of the world. Hit up some of the fellow friends on the right sidebar to read about other experiences. God is good. Love m
Over the course of the next 11 weeks it is likely that this blog and my email will go without updates or checking due to the sensitivity of the countries in which we are visiting as well as the likely non-availability of internet access.
At minimum I expect to be out of touch with the electronic world for around 5 weeks beginning by the end of April. It is rather likely that for the entirety of the next 11 weeks I will not be much in the electronic world. This may change, but we'll see...
