The PhosFour

Goodbye PhosFour...hello mattlui.blogspot.com!

2008-09-27T21:24:00.003+08:00

Since there's currently only one tentmaker left at EBCT, I won't be posting updates on this "PhosFour" blog anymore. If you want to get updates, please go to http://mattlui.blogspot.com

Thank you!

Misprints and Miscellany

2008-06-24T14:21:00.004+08:00

Hello! Embedded above is a dramatization of me reading my NASB MacArthur Study Bible, saying "NO!," crossing out some of the text, and replacing it with other text. Don't worry, I didn't cross out any of God's words, just a misprinted outline in the introduction to Malachi. It seems that the editors of the NASB JMac Study Bible accidentally put the outline of Micah in the book introduction to Malachi (an understandable error, since the names of both prophets start with the same letter).

If you have a NASB MacArthur Study Bible, please cross out the Malachi outline and find someone with a NKJV MacArthur Study Bible (which has the real outline of Malachi) or something and write it in.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bryan served the praise team (and a bunch of people who hopped on the bandwagon at the last minute just to check it out) by teaching a Worship Bible Study. Here some some pictures:

^ In Chinese we call this "suai ge" (handsome brother)

Well, after that Bryan officially stopped making tents and packed his bags for Korea in order to spend some time hanging out with his relatives and to wrestle. (I'm not speaking figuratively, he literally is taking Jiu-Jitsu lessons in Korea and I'm pretty sure he's going to submit us all when he comes back to Taiwan in July for a bit before going back to the states.)

Here's how he felt about having to leave EBCT. I've never seen him this emotional before in my life, but who can blame him? Not even Bryan Kim could resist rubbing off some of my emotionality after being my roommate for a year. He actually said during the prayer meeting before he left that he might be "lonely" while he was in Korea for a few weeks. Lonely?! Hahaha! (Sorry if you don't get this--I'm known as someone who's pretty "emo" and Bryan, well, he's like the opposite of me). Thanks for the year of service Bryan, and as I've told you before, for being a balance for me this year and helping me to not be paralyzed by emotions or to overanalyze things that don't need to be, but to preach to myself the way you have done to me many times.

Along with Bryan, Greg also decided to leave EBCT for a few weeks. He's actually in America now. Before he left, he managed to treat the three guy tentmakers out to a fancy Japanese restaurant. Thanks Greg!

Finally, I recently stumbled upon this cool thing I can do on my laptop. I can just rotate the screen, then turn my computer sideways and read lots of stuff without having to scroll down. If you have a widescreen laptop you might want to try this out, too.

Goodbye!

- Matt

...Why so serious?

The summer missions team is here and we are nearing the end of our stay.

2008-06-02T22:14:00.003+08:00

The team is here.

English camp: June 2nd to June 27th.
Intense English camp (full day?) may commence on June 30th for a week.

The team will most likely be using the first floor for English camp on Monday since the room in the basement is reserved for another group. Pray not only for the team and their gospel friends but EBCT as well, that they would take opportunities to work alongside the team. Many at EBCT were already regularly going out to campus to share and others were going as much as their work schedules would allow. Pray for joy and desire to make God known.

Bryan is finishing making tents and leaving in 3 days (Thursday) for Korea. Please pray for his safe flight there along with his relationships with his relatives.

Matt is in the final stages of making his decision of whether or not to stay in Taiwan. Pray for his decision making.

As for me, I'll only be in Taiwan for less than 2 more months. Pray for me to continue learning how to give and be faithful.

Jack is most likely leaving for the military soon (in a little over 2 weeks). He will be training far away like Kevin. Pray for the Lord to grow him even during this time away from the body. Pray that he would continually trust in and find his joy in the Lord.

For our farewell party, EBCT took us to an all you can eat bbq place!

This is Paul. It was his idea to take us here. He is the handy-man at EBCT. Seeing not only his joy in physical labor but seeing his diligence in studying for ET and English from the "50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die," and even the lyrics of the songs in the 305 EP is super encouraging. Praise the Lord for this brother! Please pray for him to continue growing in faith.

Jeff and Linda!

Two brothers zealously helping each other to more meat.

Dina and Yisan

Nate and Leo

YaRu (Janin's student who recently started coming to EBCT), Dino, and !Estella!

Natalie and Kelly

Making fun of Bryan

A~~n almost~~ disturbing impression of a monkey and Jojo

Some Pictures from Dinner at Julie's House

2008-05-21T00:28:00.001+08:00

Last week our dear friend Julie (a missionary with the Southern Baptists who attends our churh) invited EBCT to her apartment to have some dinner. She'll be leaving in a bit to serve in a different part of Taiwan, so this was a good opportunity for us to share some good fellowship with her before she has to depart.

On the way to Julie's house...let's get ready to eat some fierce food!

Here's a glimpse of some of the food that was served, which included pulled pork sandwiches along with some vegetables (like the broccoli pictured below). You can tell that we were really excited about devouring the delectable meal.

Here's a relatively blurry picture of everyone gathered around the food in anxious anticipation. Julie's the lovely lady in the green shirt and blue shorts.

After we pigged out on the pulled pork, we hung out and enjoyed each others' company.

Finally, we took a grand group photo.

And that's that!

Here's a bonus picture, to illustrate what Bryan said in the last post about LONG TABLES. May God cause the length of our monthly Lord's tables to increase as he adds more and more of those whom He saves to our church!

Brief Update

2008-05-10T11:37:00.004+08:00

Kevin

Kevin came back to Taipei for several days during his break from military service so we some of us had dinner with him. Greg (left) could possibly be heading out late July to the military.

House Meeting

Last Sunday, we went to Kristy and Misty's (Americans who teach at an international school) apartment to have a house meeting.

Here we are on our way to the apartment. Actually, Dina and Linda (foreground) are going to a picnic, and Jack the Assassin is going somewhere he can't tell us. Just kidding.

Since there were no unbelievers to minister to, we had a time of sharing and singing...a LOT of singing...no seriously, we sing a lot at EBCT...more than you can imagine. Seriously.

The "theme" for this house meeting was "Americans". Leo encouraged the folks from the States to share about whatever. Here is a picture of John and me listening attentively.

Long Tables

EBCT typically eats Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch/dinner together. Everytime we sit down, we HAVE to make a REALLY long table. This isn't even the whole group, but there was no more room to add tables so we couldn't. I try to split people up in groups and get them to sit down at different tables, but that usually fails miserably.

Chili's

Once a month, the tentmakers and the Haucks get together to eat and fellowship. We tend to grab American food during these meals. :)

We plan to update more frequently and with more pictures as our time here comes to an end. Pray for us to finish strong!

A Day in the Life of... John. Finally.

2008-04-27T14:59:00.000+08:00

EBCT at EBCB

2008-04-13T23:39:00.004+08:00

Let's face it. You just want to see the pictures.

Saturday morning - the arrival:

Do it Leo, do it!

Saturday night - Dinner at Pedro's:

Jojo is playing with a camera. I must be really funny or something. How flattering.

Taiwanese rock stars.

Sunday afternoon - hangout at Bay Street:

Jojo and Dino are sisters.

Monday afternoon - campus tour:

You read my book and I'll smell your hair.

You look at the camera, you look at the book, and I'll look aimlessly into the air like I'm a statue or something.

Tuesday - SF:

Thumb up.

Waiting for the cable car.

These were probably the 10 most exciting minutes for EBCT that day. I'm not sure if it was the sand, or the ocean... but it looked like it was a dream come true.

Lombard Street.

Later in the week:

Thank you for your hospitality, your flexibility, and your love!

Ben Lin

2008-03-03T21:54:00.004+08:00

Hi Ben, how long have you been a Christian?

Three and a half years.

How did you become a Christian?

Because of Leo (older brother), he came to EBCT first then brought Linda and me here. Summer team people at that time shared the gospel with me and I started to want to learn more about Christianity. After about two months, I believed.

How has your Christian walk been since then?

What a lot of Christians say will happen happened to me, there was a lot of rising up and falling down. The first year was not very stable, my faith was very small. At that time I didn't really have a strong faith.

After about one year, due to some circumstances I joined the church more and wanted to know more. So now I serve on welcome team and join the brothers and sisters more often.

Previously, you traveled 3 hours to come to Taipei on the weekends but now that you tranferred to NTU, you are really close. How has that been?

I think one thing is very obvious, because I was so far away, I didn't have a lot of time to join the activities. I remember many times I have to leave earlier during events or not go at all, like house meetings. Also, for winter and summer teams, I just really can't remember them. and also for tentmakers, I also cant really know too much about them.

Did you remember me from the winter team two years ago?

Kind of little...

WHAT?!

You only stayed for probably 4-8 weeks...

I stayed for three...

EY! How can I know you?! I remember John though because we talked a lot, he can speak Chinese, and we have a similar birthday.

-_-, fine fine, please continue...

Also, I was at Tai Zhong by myself, yeah the feeling is very different. Going there and coming back, it feels like a totally different life. Yeah, just go there to study then come back. But after coming to NTU, I have more time to know people like tentmakers and can now have more time to meet with people.

Future plans?

Originally I just think about I will go to graduate school. But its still far away so that is still my plan.

About the job I am searching for, I am curious. Before I was thinking about where to go, but now I’m just wondering what to do but planning for graduate school.

What are you looking forward to at the 10 year anniversary?

I don't know, but I know that will be a very different experience for me, but about details, I just want to wait and see.

Anything you want to tell EBCB?

I am thankful that EBCB people can come to EBCT and serve here. We got a lot of encouragement by EBCB. Thank you all and praise God.

Prayer Requests:

Be a faithful guy and be passionate about God's word.

Interview with Yishan

2008-02-24T21:03:00.007+08:00

INTERVIEW WITH YISHAN

2/11/08

***Disclaimer: This interview was conducted in Chinese, so I have taken the liberty of translating Yishan's responses into English for our readers. I have followed a completely dynamic-equivalence method of translation (basically I just chatted with her and then wrote all of her answers and had her approve them). --Matthew Lui ***

Name: Yishan Li
Occupation: Professional Masseuse

Matt:
How did you come to know the Lord and join EBCT?

Yishan:
I started coming out to EBCT in November, 2003 and I got to know Ben, Dennis, Selene, and Susan. I went to church for a couple months because I’d never seen such happy people in my life. I was a very unhappy person who loved to go out and party, but they seemed to really have peace in their hearts. I was interested. It wasn’t until the winter team came that I got to hear the gospel, some time in January/February 2004. Ben, Dennis, and Sunny shared with me over and over due to providential circumstances, like me missing my bus and having to sleep over at church. One time, I heard the gospel and I thought “this is true,” because I had been brought up as a Buddhist and though I knew in my heart that it was good to love others, I never knew why—until I heard the gospel. Immediately I believed and ever since then my life has changed a lot. For example, my parents are angry that I’ve caused a rupture in the family by becoming a Christian. But I did receive God’s joy and peace in my heart!

Matt:
What are your plans for the future?

Yishan:
I do not know what the Lord has in store for me, but I am ready to go along with His plan. Currently, I’m working at a massage parlor and I don’t plan on changing jobs.

Matt:
What do you look forward to the most about visiting EBCB in April?

Yishan:
I look forward to hearing the many different seasoned pastors and teachers who will be speaking, and I look forward to seeing all the brothers and sisters of EBCB whom I’ve previously only seen in pictures.

Matt:
What ministry are you serving in at EBCT?

Yishan:
I’m on the welcome team and the planning team. For welcome team, I give people wake-up calls on Sunday morning, welcome guests, and call people who don’t show up at church. For planning team, I’m in involved in planning most events (church retreats, parties, etc.)

Matt:
Is there anything you want to tell EBCB?

Yishan:
I want to thank EBCB very much for their prayers for EBCT, for their great love toward us even though we’re such a small church, and for all the missionaries, short-term and long-term, who have encouraged me by their love for sharing the gospel

Matt:
How can brothers and sisters at EBCB pray for you?

Yishan:
Pray that I would love the Lord with all my heart and with all my soul. More specifically, that I would make the most of my time and be a good steward of the opportunities God has given me.

Adventures in Hualien.

2008-02-11T01:19:00.000+08:00

That's right. Hua Lien, my friends. It's a place located on the east coast of Taiwan where the people are fewer and the landscape is much prettier.

Matt Lui, Bryan, Greg, and I explored the surrounding areas for two days and here are pictures to prove it:

Upon arriving in Hualien at 9:30 in the morning, we entered the famous Taroko Gorge where we spent the good part of our first day. There, we encountered various caves and tunnels - most of which began with a stern warning that we might be crushed by falling rocks (or something like that).

A monkey posed for us photographers.

Most of the tunnels are long and dark. This one isn't.

Here is what I call "A CD Cover."

Here it is again, with a different lead singer:

Here it is A Capella:

In particular, there was a trail that led to an interesting tunnel. The cave of the water curtain. Here we are in front of the entrance:

Here are pictures of it:

It was a grueling hike up to the cave - full of poisonous wild mushrooms ready to disturb our healths.

A twisty cave formation

To top off our first day, we stood at impossible angles:

The dreary weather was nearly gone by the time Tuesday rolled around. We started noticing these signs when we stopped at rest stops and tourist attractions:

Instead of going to the beach, (the particular one we wanted to see was closed and off limits in the winter time) we climbed a hill and got some great views:

Some rocky place along the coast:

This picture wins the "a good random picture" award.

Rice.

The trip was definitely a nice escape from the dreary Taipei weather and pollution. As these are our last few days of winter vacation, please pray for me and Matt to be prepared to work hard as teachers and for eternity to be super clear to all of us as we interact with those whom God has placed around us.

Baby and Birthday

2008-01-29T14:00:00.001+08:00

Baby Hauck

Micah Christopher Hauck was born in January 24, 2008 at 8 AM. He arrived home on Saturday. The baby is healthy and doing well. Praise God for this new life!

Psalm 127:3-5!!!

Birthday Party

EBCT celebrated the January and February birthdays this past Saturday. We started off with a bunch of awesome food and hanging out.

Then we played a game. The six birthday people had a small container in front of them full of a nasty flour and sugar mixture.

There were some gummy bears in there, and we had to use our mouths to dig through the powder and find them. Afterwards, there were chunks of nasty goo in each of our mouths. Even after washing my mouth out, I still had small chunks in my mouth for about an hour.

Even though I was at a disadvantage because my mouth is the size of a dime, I got second place! OH YEAH!

We had a taro cake with green tea flakes on the outside. The desserts here are pretty interesting and are tasty too!

After that, we all sat in the living room and had a time of praise and sharing.

It was a very encouraging and fun time together!

Prayer Requests:
1) Please pray for the parents to raise up Micah in a God-honoring way. Individually, pray for Matt for his study and strength (he is already super busy and it's only going to get crazier!) and Sanny for her recovery.
2) Many of the EBCT brethren will be traveling for Chinese New Year. Pray for safe travels and for them to represent Jesus to their families.

Thank you!

hello!

2008-01-15T23:03:00.000+08:00

forgot i should save more personal stuff for emails...here's a snail

please continue to pray for the taiwanese and their souls

thanksss

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T23:31:00.000+08:00

Hello faithful blog readers!

Here are a few pictures that illustrate the turn of our year here at Taipei. We've been greatly encouraged and reinforced by the arrival of a fresh squad of evangelists (the winter missions team) and we recently celebrated the addition of some new converts to our church and the arrival of a new year by God's grace.

Baptisms!
On the frigid morning of December 30, 2007, three new believers were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they made a solemn confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, witnessed by the members of EBCT and the missionaries from EBCB. It was a precious and joyful milestone in our church as these three individuals took their first public step of obedience to the Lord. After the baptisms we sang "Amazing Grace" and praised God for His salvation. The names of the ones who were baptized are, respectively, Paul, Vada, and Jia-Ning. Please pray along with us that they would "Hold fast [their] confidence and the boast of [their] hope firm until the end!" (Heb 3:6).

Fireworks!
To ring in the new year, we went along with a bunch of EBCTers to the roof of missionary Julie's apartment and watched the Taipei 101 (the world's tallest building) explode with fireworks for approximately three minutes. It was quite a spectacular display!

Afterwards we had a few minutes of fun waving sparking sticks and John took a picture of us waving them around. Purely coincidentally, the pattern looks kind of like "2008." Can you see it?

We're very grateful for God's mercies, which are new not only every year, but every day! Thank you for supporting us through your prayers this year and last year. We hope that this year will be a year of widespread revival and return to the Lord in Taiwan and in America and we look forward to receiving grace to continue in another year of faithful service. May God be near yew this new year!

- The Phos Four

Christmas Stuff

2007-12-26T15:08:00.000+08:00

Pah-tee

Yes, there were some sheep wearing Christmas wreathes.

We were required to wear either red or green. Some wore red...

...others wore green.

We had an interesting combination of food...

...then had a time of white-elephant-gift-exchange-thingie...

...then started a white elephant gift exchange and ended with a time of praise and sharing.

Breakfast

Dan Tsai is quite the cutie. Anyway, us foreigners had Christmas breakfast together. There was a delicious cheese-egg dish along with some banana nut chocolate chip bread and cinnamon rolls.

Prayer Request for me:

I will be in Seoul, Korea for one week. Please pray for safe travel and good times with family.

Thank you!

Super Short Update

2007-12-21T21:44:00.000+08:00

Winter Team

The four of them got here safely on Wednesday evening and are now easing their way into ministry. They went to evangelize on campus and also flyered for English camp which will start on the Dec. 31.

Tim also had some issues with his baggage initially, but it's been found and delivered. Praise God and thank you for all your prayers!

Korea

I'm pretty sure a lot of you have seen this before, but doesn't it seem REALLY RANDOM to list that?

Anyway, I had to make a trip to Korea since I was rejected a resident visa by Taiwan. Safe travel, good times with family, and delicious kalbi. Praise God!

Six Months!!!

Today is our 6th month here! CRAZY! It feels like we just left, and to know half the time has already passed is a reminder for us to redeem every moment we have left here! Thank you for all of your prayers thus far, and we ask that you continue to lift up each of us to be lights wherever we are.

Kinda Random Update

2007-12-15T11:02:00.000+08:00

Farewell Clara

Clara's mom gracious treated Matt/Sanny and the tentmakers to a delicious pizza dinner before leaving for Hong Kong.

MattH ordered a BLT pizza that was amazingly good!

The next day, several of us went to the airport to see Clara and her mom off to Hong Kong.

Once Sanny saw the ad, she wanted to take a picture and Dino was a willing participant!

PJ and Nancy

They arrived safely and even led a Q&A during the Bible Study time. He will also be preaching the Sunday message on Hebrews 13:17! Pray for a sweet time of fellowship!

(sorry for the blurry picture...you guys know what they look like though...)

Glimpse into Bible Study

Leo always opens us with a time of praise.

EBCT singing.

Newlyweds!

As I said earlier, PJ led a time of Q&A today. Some topics that were discussed: aspects of creation (dinosaurs and stars), judgement, eschatology, Noahic covenant.

FOF

EBCT will soon be "fresh off the 飛機"! That's right, all the EBCTers who are going to the States in April went to the US consulate embassy foreign affairs office thingie and got interviewed and got their passports! There are at least 8 coming so far. However, Jojo and Dino were rejected a visa, but they will apply again in the future. Pray for them to not be discouraged but to trust and try again!

New WeCare

This is a brand new bakery where WeCare used to be. It's called "The Bread" in case anyone wants to know. Looks like a fancy-shmancy place huh?

Christmas Lights In Taiwan!

Bye bye from this side of the Pacific!

A Day in the Life of...Matt Lui

2007-12-08T23:49:00.000+08:00

Breakfast

Woke up, got out of bed, went to "Is" for daily bread...

Evangelism

I couldn't find a word for this that starts with "B" so I'm not going to waste any more time trying. Each week, we go on campus three times to preach Christ to individuals on campus, one person at a time.

Bible Study

I am studying the book of Acts and the book of Philippians. Every week I meet up with two of EBCT brothers for "small group" (each small group has 2 people in it) to share with them what I've learned.

Buxiban. (Chinese for "cram school") - An Hour to Raise the Dead

"Remove your sandals from your feet..."

"Awake, sleeper..."

"Do not hide your face from me..."

"They crucified two robbers with Him..."

"They do not know what they are doing..."

"It is finished."

Back from Work

One of the most enjoyable emotional feelings for me is for there to be other people at home when I come back from a tiring day of work.

This is also one of the highlights of my day--the prelude to a big, "you-made-it-through-a-day-of-work" hug!

Bedtime

Bye-bye!

Benediction:

Grace be with your spirit! --A disciple whom Jesus Loves

The Wedding Update

2007-11-25T16:33:00.000+08:00

Place me like a seal over your heart,
Like a seal over your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Its jealousy as unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
Like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love;
Rivers cannot wash it away.

-- Song of Solomon 8:6-7a, NIV

Jeff and Linda Lin, may you be a living picture of the enduring love between the Lord Jesus Christ and His church, for the rest of your life, to the glory of God.

- A disciple whom Jesus loves

Short Update

2007-11-18T18:39:00.000+08:00

Hello people! Quick update this week before next week's massive, post-wedding update.

Members

Today we added three new members to our body here! Greg, Jack, and Jojo have committed themselves to EBCT so please pray for them to plug themselves deeper into the body and serve!

Here are the "suspects":

Evangelism Training

ET ended this past week! Thank you for praying for me, God was extremely gracious and strengthened me for the work. The groups will still be going out for two more weeks to share the gospel together so please pray for them to proclaim the gospel boldly and with love. Also please pray for me to prepare for next semester's ET class diligently and for those who will be taking ET next semester!

Foreigners

Four Americans from EBCB have joined us here in Taipei. Praise God for safe passage!

*missing is Wakana who is currently visitng Japan but she did arrive safely*

Prayer Requests

1. John has been sick the past week and Clara has not been feeling well. Please pray for their health.
2. Good times of fellowship with those visiting from EBCB.
3. Jeff and Linda's wedding this Saturday. Pray particularly for our (EBCT's) witness to unbelievers who will be there.

Thank you all!

life of joyce

2007-11-04T23:17:00.000+08:00

i was gonna post pictures of what i see on my way to work. but it was a bit disgusting. basically...when i'm walking, i look only at the ground because there are dog droppings EVERYWHERE. i probably come across at least five piles on my way to work.

but once in a while, when i do look up, there are majestic mountains to my right. very peaceful to look at on rainy days.

i live in nankang, which i like to dub the "swamp-desert" because it is in the middle of nowhere and it is ALWAYS RAINING. oftentimes i'd be at EBCT enjoying good weather and then come home to a storm. btw, everything slightly wooly/velvety molds within half a week. i need to wash my bathroom of molds every 3 days or so...

also, to emphasize that fact, we don't have squirrel, cat, or dog roadkill. we get frog roadkill. they're everywhere.

look closely...

as for what i do everyday during work...

i play with yeast.

after experiments we must do analysis which involves going to online databases for the DNA sequences of certain genes:

and putting them together to find where their DNA sequences differ.

quite tedious business. but at least we don't have to come to work early/stay late for that.

during experiments, i'm always using the pipetman. usually my hand muscles get so tired that i have to take a break every 30 minutes or so, whenever the experiment permits. after taking off the gloves, my right hand is always a lot more swollen than my left.

that's m-f

as for weekends, it's usually packed with ebct events or meeting up. busy but nice. sanny and clara graciously let me spend the nights there on sat so i save 2 hours of transpo time and can spend more time people.

prayer requests
1) FOCUS. my purpose here, in life. being a good living testimony/witness
2) sharing: family, coworkers, roomates

thank you for your prayers. and email me!

*edit* this one's for you jisu:

that's what i get to do some weeknights. (:

A Day in the Life of...Bryan

2007-10-27T00:22:00.000+08:00

New series time. Each of us at some point in the future will update you all about what a typical day looks like. We hope that this will give you all a better idea of what we do and help you pray more specifically for us.

Morning/School

I start my day by waking up at ~7:25 and leaving the apartment by 7:45.

I walk out the building and see this...

...then I turn to the right to see the next picture.

I walk all the way down this street until a dead end. The street is surrounded by relatively new apartment buildings (that look old and disgusting because of the acid rain turning every building brownish). Along the way, I see two shacks that look hand built. I don't know how they survive the crazier typhoons, but obviously they do. In front of the shack pictured here is always an old man standing outside doing random things in the morning like fixing a bike or cleaning vegetables or stretching. I usually just smile and say hi as I walk by then I look at the sky and it makes me want to cry as I wonder why last night I didn't die then I heave a sigh and go eat some pie. Just kidding.

This is the intersection that I almost always get stuck at. It's a pretty monstrous intersection (there is another 4 way intersection just after the overpass), and the city decided to give people only ~35 seconds to cross, which is how long it takes for someone to stroll through it. So, if I don't arrive around the time when the light turns green, I have to wait until the next cycle to cross completely...

The next several pictures are all between the fatty intersection and the dead end. It takes 10-12 minutes to walk from the apartment to the dead end.

At the dead end (not really a dead end I guess, just a T-intersection), I turn left and walk up toward school on the last 1/3 of my trip.

This is the intersection I always cross at. I learned of the timing from Matt Hauck. If you walk at a normal pace from the fatty intersection, the timing works out perfectly to catch the light here at the intersection. It's brilliant.

Here is the 7-11 I buy breakfast at almost everyday.

This is what I usually buy. On the left is "pineapple bread" and a drink on the right, ~1 US dollar. The drink changes daily, but the bread is always there. I eat breakfast either in class or during the 10 minute break.

Almost to school! I keep walking up the road and pass several banks and a police station.

Here is the gate I walk into. There is a bigger, slightly more majestic gate a little further up, but since this is how I enter the campus, this is the picture you guys get.

This is the Mandarin Training Center building. Pretty sweet huh? I have class on the 9th floor from 8-10 every weekday morning.

After School

Some days, EBCT has campus evangelism at 10:30 so I head back right away. Other days, I stay on campus for maybe an hour or two and study a little. The Taiwan government is trying to crack down on foreigners working illegally so I need to clock in at least 2 hours of out-of-class studying time at the school library or language lab.

Anyway, we go out to campus to evangelize three times during the weekdays. This is the long walkway into the campus to the area where we meet called Xiao Fu.

This is Xiao Fu. It's a mini-Sproul fountain area for you Berkeley people who have never been to Taiwan.

< aside >
It's difficult to see in these pictures since my camera has such a small dynamic range, but the sky is seriously gorgeous. The background is a beautiful blue, and the clouds look super fluffy and white and are usually moving REALLY fast. Hopefully the picture with the MTC building gives you guys an idea of how the sky looks since I used photoshop to increase the contrast of the sky although that still didn't capture the blue I see. During the previous winter I was here, I used to think the air in Taipei was disgusting and the sky was gray and gloomy. I think it's the turned-brown-by-the-acid-rain buildings that give the impression of gloominess because the sky is often very beautiful.
< / aside >

After eating lunch and having devotion time, it usually places me somewhere in the early-middle afternoon. I typically to go study at the Truth Lutheran Church library at this time. The Truth Lutheran church building is gigantic and conveniently located near EBCT.

This is the library on the 8th floor. They have some good resources for Bible study right next to heretical teachings by cult leaders...

-_-

I try to take care of all the Chinese homework and studying and ET preparations as early as possible. That way I get the evenings to relax, read, and hang out or meet with EBCTers or gospel friends.

Unfortunately, a lot of days my schedule doesn't work out like this. Some days I have more Chinese work or I meet with one of my five EBCT language exchange partners in the afternoon or I have random responsibilities come up or I get lazy or some guys go exercise or we clean the apartment...so yeah, it rarely ever works out so cleanly.

After dinner I try to review the Chinese again to make sure I have it. I clean up and take a shower and get ready for bed. Before knocking out, I try to get in 20-30 minutes of whatever book I'm currently reading.

Weekends

I guess this is kind of for all of us since its so general, but here it is anyway.

The weekends are always packed with church stuff. Saturday's usual stuff is:

Evangelism Training: 10-11:15
Prayer Meeting: 1:30-2:30
Bible Study: 2:30-4:30

After Bible study, there always seems to be some sort of miscellaneous activity during some part of the evening.

Sunday we have service and then lunch. After that, several groups meet for accountability or some committees have meetings while the rest are doing their own thing (studying, talking, singing, hanging out).

Pretty much all the breaks we have and the meals we eat on the weekends is with the church. Most of the members are graduated and have full time jobs and some live far away (one travels ~5 hours to get here on the weekends) so we only see them on the weekends. The weekend is really a haven for some of them as they are without fellowship during the week, so they cherish the time they get to spend with the body. It's super encouraging to see it every week.

Then evening comes and we go out to dinner then hang out usually til ~9. People finish trickling out at this time then we get the last bit of Sunday evening to ourselves.

Then we prepare to repeat everything all over again.

Prayer Requests:
1) to love the lost and to go out with the desire to glorify God
2) for passion in all the things I do, specifically spending time with God, sharing the gospel, and studying Chinese.
3) for the ET class, both me and the students

Thank you for reading and hopefully that helps you all pray for me (us)!

2007-10-21T22:27:00.000+08:00

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possesion who are zealous for good works.

~Titus 2:11-14

EBCT Welcome Night - "A worthless fortune, a worthy cost"

2007-10-20T02:51:00.000+08:00

Everything began a little more than a week ago. With the extra time that the Taiwanese independence day 10/10 had afforded us, we began the work of learning how to act. Our experienced directors, Nate and Greg worked their magic.

We were shown how to express ourselves.

We were shown a lot.

After much training, the night had finally arrived.

The skit was preceded by a time of ice breakers. The game we played was called "squeeze lemons." It was of the "there is one less chair than the number of people playing" type. As a result, much chasing, catching,

laughing,

and, apparently, standoffs occured.

In the skit, the two main characters find themselves sitting in a cafe talking about life.

Flashbacks of the past from both lives occur. Main character 1 (Ed) is young and full of financial potential but has just lost all of his money in the stock market. The unpredictable fluctuations in the market caused temporary waves of sadness and happiness. Very big waves:

Main character 2 (Greg) is an aged Christian who, once also having lost a lot of his worldly fortunes, has since considered them as worthless. Naturally, this transitioned to an introduction to the gospel message and also a message by our very own pastor Matt Hauck! Two testimonies were given - one by Hardy, the other by Lisa - and the rest of the night was spent in discussion with the new visitors.

Prayer Requests!
Please pray for us to be more disciplined with our time and finances (now that all of us who have jobs are getting paid regularly) and for us to become more sacrificially loving people. Pray also for strength, resolve, and a heart to reach out to the many people we see at work/school on a regular basis.

Thank you brothers and sisters!

Interview with Kevin Liu

2007-10-14T17:07:00.000+08:00

What is your full name?

Liu Han Ren. [sounds like sweaty man in Chinese]

How did you become a Christian?

I met the EBCB winter team in 2004. Jude and Susie shared with me. At first I thought they were telling me the same thing as the people I met before, because I’d been to my sister’s (non-Christian) church and they’d taught me some 14 lessons, but because of some bad testimonies I thought that religion wasn’t that good. I asked them (Jude and Susie) and they said real Christianity is not like that. Gradually, I wanted to know more about Christianity so I came to EBCT’s bible studies and Sunday worship services and as I learned more and more about Christianity I wanted to believe in it.

When I was young, whenever I used to feel helpless or challenged, I would just pray to God even though I didn’t know who He was or what kind of religion he was. It’s good to have that feeling back, Now that I know what it really means to know God and who He really is.

So you were led to Christ by EBCT people. Is that why you decided to come out to EBCT?

Mm. [means 'yes' in Chinese lingo]

You are our praise ministry rep [analogous to committee head]. What made you want to learn guitar and how did you become so good?

I was forced. Hahaha. At first, Dennis asked me to pray about that, because at that time, they knew that they were going to leave, and they wanted to look for another praise leader. I said I learned piano when I was young, so they asked me if I was willing to [play the guitar and lead praise]. So I prayed for it, and I saw that God really wanted me to do it, to use the gift from Him to serve the church. At first I started in the retreat, and then I became a praise member, and then the praise leader.

How come I learned so fast? I guess you could say I have a musical background. And I still practiced hard because in the beginning I didn’t realize…I couldn’t even imagine that I would be able to play the guitar. But after I practiced, it’s getting better.

You got more buff. Have you been swimming?

Yeah. It’s preparation for the military

Do you have any fears [about going in to the military]?

Actually, I’ve always expected to go to the military. Nowadays, people say that the military is getting easier.

What are you planning on doing during your military service?

During that time I want to use my free time to study and to seek for what God wants me to do. I’m still not that sure, and I hope that God will tell me more clearly. Either Nutrisci or just go to work without studying. I’m not sure because people say that it doesn’t really help if you go to graduate school. They say it’s like wasting two years, and you won’t really use them in work.

***Kevin will find out where he’ll be stationed after 5 weeks of boot camp, which starts tomorrow.***

What is a bible verse that has inspired you or challenged you and why?

Matt 6:33. Because as a Christian, we know that our most important purpose is to live for God. To see Him as our Savior and our Lord. But sometimes, we will forget about His grace and His sovereignty. So this passage will always remind me that no matter what I do, I should seek for His will and His kingdom first. And then I need not to be worried about challenges in life, because I know that He’s in control of all things. So if I seek for what He wills, I will be okay.

Do you have any plans for marriage in the near future after you get back from the military?

I’ll pray for that. Before, during the fifth year of college, I was thinking about getting married, because of examples like Jeff…. I saw Jeff’s growth in his relationship, and I thought that a relationship can really make people grow to be more mature, and also sometimes I would imagine the life after marriage. Like, it would be very peaceful and happy. And, when you’re in a relationship with someone else, there are lots of things that you have to give up, and to think about the other person. So, I was willing to do that because I want to challenge myself to see if I was willing to sacrifice like that. But, in the end, something happened, so…and because I’m going to the military, it would’ve been hard for a relationship to go on, and I also didn’t think I was prepared yet.

I want to learn more as a single person and to be more prepared, because, you know, the time was not right at that time. I hadn’t graduated, and I didn’t even know what I was going to do because the military was coming. So I think God wanted me to wait and keep praying for that.

Do you have any other specific prayer requests for EBCB to pray for?

Keep praying for my family. Also, for my heart of service towards my family. They aren’t believers. I’m so sad. Please pray for patience and love toward them.

Are you worried about your spiritual condition at all in the military? Away from the body?

I think my life will be regular and I’ll have my own time to study, so I’m not worried about that. And also, it’s not very hard there I guess. I’ll have two periods of holidays during boot camp. I’ll have holidays during the military service, too. I’m not sure when the holidays will be. If I have a break, I’ll come back to Taipei.

How has your life become different since you became a Christian?

Um, after I became a Christian…I think the HS really works in people so that you will know what’s wrong and what’s right to do. And gradually you will be more willing to not just restrict your behavior, but to have a loving heart for other people because you want to learn from Jesus Christ. Before you’re a Christian you will think that when you do good things to people you want something back from them. It’s not real love. But after you become a Christian, you know that what you do is for God. I think that’s a real challenge. It’s that it’s easy to love people who are lovable, but for some people that are very wicked or very unlovable, sometimes it’s hard to do that.

[At this point, Kevin started talking about some of the persecution he faces today as a Christian from people who misunderstand his faith, and how he has learned to be patient and to restrain himself while seeking opportunities to speak the truth in love]

Why is your English so good?

I think I love learning…when I was a child, I think my parents forced me to go to cram school, starting from age 9 or 10. After getting into senior high school, there was a classmate who always shared with me English pop songs, so I was very affected by him. I guess that’s the reason why I wanted to learn more about English. Also, in senior high school, I didn’t go to the regular cram school. I went to a teacher’s house. She always talked to us about movies, and interesting articles. And she was very funny. Because of that, I like English.

What are your last words to EBCT before you go off to the military?

“See you later.”

EBCB?

May God be with you. Love you all.

its been a while...

2007-10-10T23:32:00.000+08:00

sorry for missing out on the web conference.

typhoon update

i live in nankang, a remote place i'd like to call the "swamp desert," it rains a lot, and since the typhoon, we've been getting a lot of blackouts, which is quite the nuisance, but bearable nonetheless. here's what the typhoon did to us:

HAHA. it looks even funnier in real life...as if they were all bowing down...x_x

besides the typhoon...we've been eating a lot. all of us.

courtesy of matt and sanny...

courtesy of brian's parents...

and we just ate again today with my parents...but forgot about picture ):

prayer requests:

1) sharing with coworkers and roomates!!! still a struggle though i'm trying to invite them out to events etc.

2) strength and energy during work. to stay a good witness in being faithful with my tasks there so that i may not be labeled as "lazy Christian"

3) priorities, stewardship of time

thank youuu

talk with me, email me, skype me! i want to know how you guys are doing!

Typhoon KROSA

2007-10-06T15:23:00.000+08:00

This is a REAL typhoon, not like the previous two typhoons that came by Taiwan. Apparently, the previous typhoon ranked as a 7 while this one is 17 (I don't know the system they use though). As Joyce was walking to the apartment from the MRT station, she saw a bunch of glass on the ground and things falling down. Pray for the safety of EBCT and the nation and for it to die down so we can have corporate worship tomorrow!

Just Go to the Last Picture

2007-10-02T18:54:00.000+08:00

A bunch of things happened since the last update, so here are some pictures to show you all.

Kevin is Leaving Soon

There was a going-to-the-military party for Kevin two Sundays ago. Julie graciously hosted EBCT at her apartment and made some REALLY delicious sloppy joes. Kevin enjoyed it for sure!

Dan Shui (淡水)

The Mid-Autumn Festival was last week so several of us didn't have work/school on both Monday and Tuesday. We seized the opportunity to go to Dan Shui on Monday and do the tourist thing. We had lunch when we got there and walked along the "shore" and enjoyed the stores and small food stands. Later we took the ferry and went to the other "side" and rode bikes.

Here is team one:

Here is team two:

Actually, that's the same bike we are in. We also rented 4 singles and switched in the middle. The big four person bike thing had bad brakes and was not too easy to drive. Imagine driving an elephant...yes, it's the same thing.

Also, we rented the bikes near the ferry entrance, and we wanted to bike along the path outlined in the awesome custom map I've made.

However, being the completely ignorant tourists we were, we didn't realize there were two places on the path the red bike was too wide to cross through some obstacles. So we PICKED UP THE BIKE and passed the obstacles. The families enjoying their vacations were visibly amused and did not hesitate to point and laugh. After passing through the two obstacles, we saw another place to rent bikes...

That night on the way back to the apartment we saw this...an M3 taxi...

Bipolar Weather

You never know what the weather will be like here. I took the sunny picture walking home from school and the rainy one while heading to campus to evangelize. It couldn't have been more than a 45 minute difference. Crazy!

I Hate Mosquitoes

That's John's hand after going on a ~20 minute mosquito hunting spree. MattL and I used the swatter. I don't why, but it seems like we've had an unusual amount of mosquitoes. The door is constantly opened and closed on the weekends so it's common to see a bunch in the beginning of the week, but all of last week we were getting torn up...we're trying to figure out ways to prevent mosquitoes from coming in at all...since the last post (~two weeks ago), I finished another white tiger balm container because I was CONSTANTLY applying it.

Harry Potter Male Tentmaker Style

< Rant >I don't know why I always have to be the girl. In my Chinese class this past summer, we were learning how to introduce others. Because there was only one girl in the class, I ended up having to pretend to be someone's wife TWICE...< /Rant >

Prayer Requests

Now that ya'll have gotten a slightly better idea of what's been going on here, please pray for EBCT. The gospel is going out frequently and in interesting ways. God is definitely working, and His sovereignty is constantly surprising us! There has been an increased interest in the gospel from many fronts (family members, friends, coworkers, campus students), and several people have made verbal confessions of faith! Pray that the condition of their hearts would be like fertile soil for the seed of the gospel to bear much fruit!

Additionally, please pray for us to be faithful with what God has given to us to be stewards of...and in order for us to be faithful, please pray for God to grant us strength and resolve to follow Him only and to find our greatest joy in Him alone.

One of us will try to post at least once a week from now on so this place doesn't die.

:)

Until next time...

Yes We are Alive

2007-09-19T20:39:00.000+08:00

Prayer Requests

Yup yup, alive and kicking. Recently, we have been settling into our schedules. John has become more comfortable with his work and planning while Matt has been deciding how to spend the rest of his time now that he has an awesome, perfect-for-him job next door. I have also been settling into both studying for school and preparing for ET.

Please pray for the three guy tentmakers to be disciplined with all the things we are stewards of. Thank you for your prayers!

Here are a few random pictures from the past week:

Greg is Back

Some of us went to the airport to pick him up and welcome him back. We are thankful to God for his safe flight!

Dinner with John's Dad

John's dad graciously treated us out to an awesome dinner. The food just kept on coming, and it was SOOOO delicious. The girl to John's left is an old neighbor of the Tang's from San Jose 15 years ago!

Another Typhoon, Another Umbrella

We had a ~~tornado~~ typhoon day on Tuesday so what better way to spend the night than to go out and watch a movie? 8 of us saw Ratatouille together and on the way there, John's umbrella got destroyed.

Amazing

I recently did something RARELY done. It is what has been deemed almost impossible by many yet I have accomplished it in an unbelievable time of 3 months. It is a feat of legendary, myth-like proportion, something school kids talk about with a whisper. That's right, I completely used up a Tiger Balm container. Not only that, I also finished a mentholatum AT THE SAME TIME. This isn't a joke people, this isn't an everyday event.

Okay that was too much hype, but that goes to show you how I've been completely bombarded with bug bites. Evon told me her family still has one unfinished from years ago...

Matt is "Different"

I'm realizing the truth of the above statement more and more each day.

Here he is poised to attack someone...

Okay, there he goes....

The look of victory..

I was laughing so hard at this picture when I first saw it! It doesn't even look like him!

Okay, that's it for now. Until next time...

A Happy Ending to Matt's "Honeymoon"

2007-09-10T23:05:00.000+08:00

Praise the Lord! Today, September 10th, 2007, after nearly three months of searching, I finally landed a teaching job--one that's conveniently located RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR APARTMENT!!! As it is written, "How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You..." (Ps 31:19). Thank you for your prayers and for patiently waiting on the Lord with me for this great blessing. My "honeymoon" (what Bryan calls the period of time before tentmakers find their job) is now officially over.

Here's a brief breakdown of how it all went down:

The first school John and I applied to upon our arrival in Taipei was HAPPY TOP, the school that previously employed Gina. We were really hoping we'd get hired at this school because it's literally one minute away from our apartment by foot, while most of the other schools we would apply for had up to 1hr commutes. Unfortunately, at the time we had absolutely zero experience, and it showed during our demos, which led to both of us getting rejected from our dream school.

After that we went our separate ways and John got hired at another school about 40mins away from home. Meanwhile I kept getting lots of interviews but no offers. I soon gave up hope on working at a school nearby and broadened my job search to anywhere remotely near an MRT stop.

Little did I know, there was a treasure hiding for me right in my backyard. And I never would've found it without God's providential hand working through Junia, who (graciously) brought me some ads she found at NTU. It was a just a few scraps of papers with phone numbers on them, but I thought what the heck...I'll give it a try. So I proceeded to do one of my favorite things: cold-calling.

Well, after a couple minutes talking with one of the phone numbers, I soon found out it was Dana from HAPPY TOP. She somehow still had a position available and needed to find a foreign teacher to fill it quickly. I proceeded to BEGGGGGG for a 2nd chance at a demo. I think I went a little overboard. She said she'd call me back in 10 mins. A couple hours later, I called and said what's up. She said she'd call me back after class. A couple days later she still hadn't called.

Then on Saturday morning she called and said come in; let's talk. Well, I was just thrilled to hear her voice so I went in cautiously hoping for good news. Then she told me that she was still interested in me and that I could do another demo on Monday. However, there was still one thing that made it so I couldn't accept the job in good conscience. Over the weekend I prayed that God would provide a solution to the problem so I could work there.

Miraculously, when I called Dana on Monday to tell her I was too sick to come in for the demo, she said she had "good news." She had found a way to fix the little problem we had. I said great, can I come in tomorrow for the demo? Then she said, it's alright, you can just COME IN TODAY TO SIGN A CONTRACT!!!!

And that's just what I did, today at HAPPY TOP. You know what's really cool, too? ALL OF MY CLASSES ARE 1-ON-1 CLASSES WHICH ARE WAAAAAAAAY EASIER THAN BIG CLASSES!!!

PTL!
A disciple whom Jesus loves

A Juicy Update

2007-09-05T22:56:00.000+08:00

Journey to Hong Kong
This last week, I was in Hong Kong visiting some family members. I can't share too many details...but I did get to share the gospel with a few people during my trip, including one on the bus ride back to Taipei! I didn't bring a camera this time, and as a result of my being gone for the week, no one really has any pictures of me. But we do have pictures of other people. In lieu of pictures of yours truly, here are some of my beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord. From left to right: Bryan, Kevin (our next interviewee...), Katherine, and Evon.

Junia and Nate
When I arrived home at EBCT from my long journey to Hong Kong, I was greeted by a lovely surprise. Junia and Nate had arrived! They going to be with us for one semester learning Chinese as part of the study abroad program. They're now comfortably settled into their respective dorms and they have been delightfully encouraging to the other brothers and sisters here. We're looking forward to fruitful times of fellowship with these two faithful friends and family members in Christ.

John's New Hair
A couple days ago, John got a new haircut that I can only describe as a "monkey mohawk." This picture doesn't really do it justice...I guess you'll have to see it in a future update.

Jiu-Jitsu
Recently, I've been really getting into wrestling. Not like the kind you see on T.V.--I'm talking about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (grappling), where there are no punches or kicks allowed, and the match can only be ended by submission. This little hobby of mine started out last year after I read Shadow of the Almighty but it never really took off since I couldn't find too many people who were willing to wrestle with me. But now that I'm rooming with John and Bryan, who share (but not to the same degree) my penchant and passion for Jiu-Jitsu, I've had plenty of arm-bar and shoulder-locking fun. We've found a mat from the basement to facilitate our frequent flops on the floor, and it seems that the EBCTers enjoy watching and even joining in on the action! As a matter of fact, as I am writing this post, my entire body is aching from wrestling about a dozen times with 4 different guys (although I almost never win, I almost never give up). Here is a picture of me at the retreat performing my signature move at the end of an intense match:

Jay Chou CD Review
Umm...apparently a few posts back I promised to do a review of Jay Chou's CD "Fantasy." Well, here it is, song by song:

1. Love Before the Anno Domini - Simple and sweet song about how God loved us before the foundation of the world. The moderate tempo, the dreamy melody, and Jay Chou's silky-smooth vocals on this song make me want to sway in my seat every time I hear it. Easily one of my favorites on the album
2. Dad, I'm Back - Powerful, poignant track sung from the point of view of the Prodigal Son as he's considering returning to his father. At the end, he says "Dad, I'm Back." This one's a little too emotional for me.
3. Simple Love - The title says it all. This song is classical Jay Chou pop. It's got a simple enough tune, and it makes girls fall in love with him. Of course, it's also about my relationship with Jesus and how I simply love Him!
4. Ninja - Energetic and emotive effects-enhanced turntable-scratchin' rap. I love listening to this while I'm working out, because it gets me pumped up. In it, Jay makes an interesting metaphor about how Jesus will come for me like a ninja in the night.
5. Can't Open My Mouth (Afraid To Tell Her) - El numero uno. Hands down, my favorite song on the album. I could listen to this slow, smooth, bass-driven and broken-hearted ballad all day. It starts with the sound of an airplane taking off and it doesn't let the listener land until four minutes of soaring audio pleasure have passed. It's about how Godly Zacharias couldn't open his mouth to speak after the angel Gabriel told him how he would sire John the Baptist. Some alternate versions of the lyrics lead to an interpretation of the song that it is about a guy who's afraid to tell a girl something, but in my opinion, the manuscript evidence favors the former interpretation.
6-9. Eh.
10. Silence - This is piano-slow-song perfection. One of my favorite Jay Chou songs of all time because I feel like I can really relate to the lyrics (for the most part) and it's soooo pretty and sad it makes me want to cry.

....okay, I admit it. I kinda made up the song meanings. It's kinda cool how you can do that when you don't understand a single word the singer is singing. I feel like in a way it lets me listen to the kind of music I enjoy without the danger of the "emo" lyrics hindering me from having a pure and positive thought pattern.

--------------------------
Jesus, Please... [Prayer Requests]
- John: He's on his second week of teaching now, and so far it's been pretty brutal from what I've heard. He only teaches for 14 hours a week, but when you factor in the transpo and prep time, it's almost like a full-time job. He told me that God's teaching him a lot about how to put into practice stuff that he's learned from the Word, like working hard and loving your [student] neighbor. He feels like the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders (teaching the children, representing the Christ, providing for the church) is really heavy, but he's rejoicing in the Lord greatly and growing in faith and character!
- Bryan: ET for EBCT is starting this weekend, with Bryan as the featured teacher, and you know what this means (we need your prayers!). Praise God for the many EBCT brothers/sisters who have signed up. May many Gospel seed-casters be equipped to equip other seed-casters!
- Matt: Thanks for praying for me to find a job! Right now I'm still jobless, but I have more hope than ever, bolstered by the great promise that God will provide me everything I need. My prayer requests from the past still continue. Please also pray that I would apply all the things I learned from my trip to Hong Kong in order to live a life marked by commitment to and contentment in Christ.

Jia You!
Until next time :)

- A disciple whom Jesus loves

Estella Shen Interview

2007-09-01T17:32:00.000+08:00

How did you come to know the Lord?
Short version or long version? … By the grace of the Lord.

Okay, enough to distinguish you from other people.
…um, I think I’ve been interested in philosophy since I was little, so I was kind of interested in religion and afterlife and stuff like that. When I was in college, someone handed me a questionnaire. Somehow I said that I was interested in reading the Bible, so she read the Bible with me. She was from the local church (Recovery church, founded by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee), though. I asked her a lot of questions. Whenever she couldn’t answer, she said, “God’s logic is higher than human logic.” That answer didn’t feel satisfying and logical at all.

I thought if God’s logic is higher than human’s logic then it’s not man’s fault if we do not understand Him.” That was my understanding before I met EBCB people. In my junior year, I went mountain climbing. It was very dangerous. So I began to pray to the Lord, and asked Him, “Lord, if you get me out of here alive, I will worship You and go to church every Sunday, etc.” Of course I didn’t carry this through.

I took 2 Buddhism classes for a semester and I was close to becoming a Buddhist. But I realized that even the Buddhism teachers struggled with greed and lust, in a sense. They always wanted more power, fame, and money, etc. So I left that group.

In my senior year, I was retaking calculus during my summer vacation so I had to go to school every day. I saw a piece of paper on the bulletin that said “FREE English camp.” So I went to that English camp and I didn’t know they were Christians who wanted to share the gospel.

The first person I met was Hannah Hyun. I shared what I knew from the recovery church. She shared with me and we exchanged information. The second person I met was Dennis Ju. He shared with me in that summer vacation and the following winter vacation. He was really logical when he explained Christianity so I asked him a lot of questions about apologetics and I got some satisfying answers but I could still not believe.

When I was almost out of my questions, I came to a point that I thought that those Christians were out of their mind – how could they put their belief in an invisible God?

After the winter vacation, I met a missionary, Rhonda, from the southern Baptists (I met her at the farewell party of EBCB 03 Winter team). She used to work with EBCB. “I can’t believe in God on my own,” I told her. She said, of course not. She told me to go back home and pray to the Lord, and if He’s real, He’ll help you believe Him. I thought that was a good idea. So I did it, and that’s how I got saved.

Did you go to EBCT since then?
No, it didn’t exist back then. I went to bread of life twice. IMB had some kind of house church they called “Bodylife.” I went there a couple of times. Then after Ben and Dennis came, I started attending EBCT on a regular basis.

Why did you decide to go to EBCT?
Actually, for a couple of months, I went to both churches. After a couple of months, IMB people asked me to make a decision. It was hard because I really liked both churches and I wanted to serve them. Rhonda said, “you can’t plug into two churches.” And she asked me to choose one. I prayed to the Lord, and finally I decided to stay with EBCT because I knew I needed the teaching of the Word. She said the Holy Spirit will be your teacher, but I think I need pastors as well.

You were here on the first Sunday, huh?
Yeah, I still have the first bulletin.

What does your daily schedule look like?
I have work. I work from 9-6pm officially. I don’t really work overtime very often. After work, I usually meet up with sisters. On the weekends, I almost stay in the church for the whole time.

What do you do at work?
I’m a news translator – particularly news about tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. I work for Digitimes. So I knew about iPhone and really want to have one. I’d been writing iPhone stories every day for the past two months.

Bryan: I’ve heard of them because they make a lot of comments/spread rumors? about apple products.

Estella:So you’re an apple freak? Welcome to the club! I’m trying to share the good news about Apple.

Furious debate about the virtues of apple products ensues between MattL and Estella.

Do you have any brothers and sisters?
I have an older sister who is three years older than me. I have a younger brother who is three years younger than me. I am living with my family. My grandma on my mom’s side passed away this past January. I think she is saved. We shared with her and she said she’s willing to accept. But she had Alzheimer’s, so I’m not sure if she really understood and remembered the gospel.

Are your family members saved?
No, I’m the only one who is saved in my family. My grandmother on my dad’s side was a professed Christian. She took my dad to the church when he was young, but she passed away when I was one.

What’s your favorite color?
I’m fickle so I don’t have a favorite color.

Favorite Book in the Bible?
I don’t know because I am fickle but I can name my top five: Ecclesiastes, James, Proverbs, Luke which I just finished, and Romans. And Ruth and Esther too.

Favorite Bible character?
Probably the author of James. I thought I could relate to him but he is a middle child as well. I like Mary (Jesus’ mother), Luke, Ruth, and Jonah, too. (I am indecisive…)

What is the biggest thing you’ve learned from Ephesians since we’ve been studying it for the past year?
Unity. It is still a very vague idea, so it is a big surprise for me. Before, I thought that unity meant having the same vision, same viewpoints, and same perspectives. But now, I’m not sure that is the definition of unity, but I know it is different from what I thought before.

Any prayer requests for the EBCB people reading?
I have two lifelong prayer requests. The first is to love the Lord with all my heart, soul and strength and the second is to love my neighbors as myself.

Hahaha, that’s a very wise answer. Do you have any short term ones that are more specific?
Better time management because I want more time to study the Word.
I want to become a better witness at work.
Salvation of my family and my good friends.
Patience with my parents (especially my dad)
Faithfulness and punctuality

Do you have a set time to study the Word?
After work and during my physical therapy time. I have to go to physical therapy because I had a scooter accident two years ago.

Where are you currently serving at EBCT?
Praise team and serving with translating and meeting up with the sisters. I’m also currently an inactive member of the welcome team (because of other services).

Marriage in the future?
Lord willing. Of course I want to get married, but if that’s not the plan of the Lord, I still want to stay content and joyful. (I don’t want to feel bitter and marry an unbeliever…) And if my marriage can’t bring God more glory, I’d rather remain single. I’m not sure if marriage will be in my future; my future’s still very blurry for me. There seems to be some possibilities (missionary, college professor, marriage, news translator, etc?), but I haven’t figured it out.

Anything you wish to tell EBCB?
Stay strong in the Lord. Continue to seek after Jesus Christ to be conformed to His image. Thank you so much for your service and support financially and spiritually and your love for the Taiwanese people!

Kevin is next by the casting of batteries.

settling in...

2007-08-31T00:06:00.000+08:00

another retreat picture

things about taiwan...no good chocolate, not even hersheys. instead, we have:

lol...what?!? (btw, it doesn't taste anything like hersheys...or even chocolate for that matter...)

internet!

i finally have internet! skype with me!!! i'm serious. and webcam it (: i miss your faces/voices. haha.

work

to be honest, it's been grueling for me. i was delighted to find that work hours were actually 9am-5pm. but because it IS research, hours have been much longer (can't leave until we finish taking care of the yeast etc etc). the hours have been 7am-9pm, and also to 7pm and it's been draining both physically and mentally.

regardless, i am still extremely thankful for the job, the convenience of only walking 15 min to get to work, as well as the learning experiences that come from it.

prayer requests:

-roomates are pretty much moved in. but i'm usually so tired after i get home that i just lock up in my room. please pray that i would not be lazy in reaching out to them and that i would find ways to show them Christ's love.

-co-workers. that i reach out to them. i'm falling into the "work for money" and not taking opportunities to witness to the people i spend...more than half a day with.

-that i would use internet as a means of communication and necessity, not a means of wasting time. times of reflection and prayer had been good because internet/tv were not there to distract me.

and to end off, ms. karen liu's aunt:

yes, karen, you look much younger than she does.

Prayer Requests, Typhoon, Retreat, Bugs

2007-08-26T23:42:00.000+08:00

Prayer Requests

John: He will be starting work tomorrow so please pray for him to work extra extra hard. He wants to be a good teacher in order to be the best witness he can at his workplace. Also, to build good relationships with his co-workers and boss. Lastly, a smooth transition into working life and for time management.

Matt: He will be going to Hong Kong for a week so pray for safe passage to and fro. Please also continue to pray for him to find a job and to trust in the Lord for it.

Bryan: Pray for evangelism here at EBCT. We go out to campus in the mornings of Mon/Wed/Fri, and ET will be starting in two weeks! Also, I finished my first Chinese class so thank you for praying for my studies. God has been graciously strengthening me and allowing me to study diligently.

Thank you for praying for the safety of EBCT during the typhoon. No one got hurt! Praise God!

Warning: Almost half the pictures are of bugs so don't look at anything past the "Bugs" heading if you don't want to see them. BTW, I hate bugs and insects, but the ones in Taiwan are so interesting and SCARY that I am compelled to take pictures of them (and show you).

Typhoon

Despite there being a typhoon last weekend, we decided to walk around outside and possibly grab lunch if McDonald's was open. Yes it was. We saw an uprooted tree, and MattL decided to be all dramatic and pretend the leaves were Persian forces.

Too bad the wind owned him just a little later.

On Sunday, we had a baptism service and two new believers got baptized! Afterwards, we took some group pictures. EBCB should have at least one on the back wall soon or maybe it's already up.

We are so cool.

We are so happy.

We are so kung fu.

Retreat

EBCT had a summer retreat this past weekend and Ben Saetang was our speaker. Our theme was "A God-Kept Heart", and the theme verse was Proverbs 4:23. We went up the mountains a bit so here was the view down to the cities.

This was a rabbit trash can next to the stairs that lead down into the main room. Yeah, it scared me too.

Here is a picture of the guys and girls.

Here is a picture of the tentmakers making a tent. Yes, that is a tent. Pretend please.

Here is our speaker Ben looking intently for bugs!

What a wonderful segue!

Bugs

These are some of the bugs we saw at the retreat site. Some of us went looking for them so don't worry, we don't deal with these on a regular basis. By the way, all these are what I think the names of the bugs are, not official ones.

We found this grasshopper in the guys room.

We saw a bunch of these little crickets. They jump in a curved path , it was really cool.

We scared this mosquito hawk shortly after taking the picture, and it flew into a spider web.

:(

Here is a dead cicada and Matt Lui's finger so you can see how big it is.

This is a shell of an earlier phase cicada chilling on John's face.

A millipede.

A small spider who found its lunch.

This was a MONSTROSITY of a spider. The legs were THICK, and it could run FAST. This one was hanging out by the piano in the main room. Just the day before, Matt Hauck and I just happened to have one run across the table we were sitting at at Xiao Fu. I saw a big blob of brown scurry QUICKLY across the table, and we both jumped out of our seats with the QUICKNESS.

When you think of bugs/insects, don't you normally think of strange, colorful ones like this couple?

Bonus
This is the intestine and coagulated blood dinner I ate after coming back from the retreat. It was good, but the thought of what I was eating grossed me a out a little.

Please pray for us!

* * * i a m p o s t i n g ! ! ! * * *

2007-08-18T10:42:00.001+08:00

Don't worry, it's not the end of the world. but YES YES YES, this is Clara Gloria Chiu *gasp* (who?) the tentmaker who hasn't updated or posted since um.... January?!?!?!?!?!!

Hi everyone who reads this blog. I'm still alive, praise God! :) Actually, I've been alive all along, only you didn't know because you haven't heard anything from me. Bethany, are you proud of me, I finally did it!

Special Update on Typhoon: The center (eye) of the typhoon is currently in Taichung (center taiwan) and the range of typhoon is covering the enter Taiwan. There's no work and school today for all of Taiwan. The country is almost stopping... Therefore, Bible Study is cancelled for today. I'm trapped in and am determined to finish this post.

ANYWAYS...
(warning: This post is a little long becuase it's my first one in a looooong time. The future ones will definitely be shorter, I promise!)

><>Work<><

(1) My 3 in 1 Job I kind of have 3 jobs in 1.

I teach kindergarten kids (2-6 yrs old) in the "Oxford American School - Bilingual Kindergarten" where I teach 3 different classes (Koala, Snoopy, Melody claass) 4 times a week.
Then I teach at the "Oxford Language Center" where I am their after-school English program teacher at a "cram school" teaching five different classes ranging from 1st - 4th graders.
I also have six 1-on-1 private students where I have private classes with them once to twice a week. The students are: Angel(6th grade), Julie(8th grade), Kevin(7th grade), Steven & Eric(together,7th grade), Sophie (6th grade).

I teach all these under the same OXFORD LANGUAGE CENTER school... every week, I teach kids ranging from 2 to 12 years old, about 25- 31 teaching hours per week. It's a really big range, and it's a little tiring. But I'm starting to get used to it.

It is summer so when kids don't have to go to school, they take extra cram school / private classes. Below is my schedule next week @____________________@ 30 hrs of TEACHING + prep and admin work...I'll be at work from around 9:30am - 8/9pm except Wednesday!

(2) Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony - July 28, 2007
I was the co-MC for our kindergarten graduation ceremony with my boss. They had druming performances, plays, awards... really really elaborate and crazy! We all had to dress up!!!!! Kindergarten Graduations, did any of you had a KINDERGARTEN graduation? Very adorable and cute kids, I love them! <3

><>Church<><

Graduates' Celebration Party - August 11, 2007
We had a party last Saturday for EBCT's 2 graduates: Sister Evon (grad from High School) and Brother Kevin (grad from College)!
Below are some pictures. Mostly with sisters...

Can you see Sanny's tummy... hello baby hauck! Sanny's tummy is getting bigger and bigger~!

Random Spoon - August 5, 2007
I was trying to put my spoon on my nose while eating at the "Orange Restaurant" where most people order the Thai Sauce Fried Chicken and Marinated Chicken Leg. EBCT people are soooooooo awesome! I have been laughing A LOT A LOT MORE since the 3 male tentmakers' arrival.

Prayer Requests

Endurance & Love - That I will be a good example at work, teaching and working with Christ's-like love toward my students, boss, and co-workers!
Seek First His Kingdom and Righteousness - That I place God first in my life and have glorifying God as the motivation for all my thoughts and actions.
Love in Action - That I go out of my way to love the saints at EBCT!
EBCT Summer Retreat (Aug 24-26) - We are going to a retreat next weekend and Ben Sae-Tang will be our speaker. Please pray for safety, preparations, sermons, people's hearts. Also, Sanny and I will be helping translate the message from Chinese into English. Please pray that we will be faithful to God's word in translation and that I will not be nervous!!!!!! >____________<

Typhoon

2007-08-17T17:00:00.000+08:00

8/17 - 6 AM¹

8/17 - 4 PM¹

The eye of the category 5 typhoon was 320 km (200 miles) off the coast of Taiwan as of 0500 GMT (1 a.m. EDT), packing sustained winds of 184 kph (114 mph) and gusts up to 227 kph (141 mph).²

-----------------------------------------------

As of right now, it is pouring and we can hear loud, ominous thunder. That did not stop Katherine, Yishan, and MattL from going outside to enjoy the rain though.

Taiwan will be smack dab in the center of the typhoon for the next two days. My family was coming to Taipei from Seoul to visit tomorrow, but their flight got cancelled. :(

Several people die during each typhoon from what we hear...please pray for our (EBCT's) safety and also that of the nation.

-----------------------------------------------
1: http://www.tealit.com/typhoon.php

2: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSPEK20780720070817?pageNumber=1

land of the natural humidifiers

2007-08-12T19:26:00.000+08:00

work:
i landed friday morning, dropped by my workplace to ask about paperwork, and they got me started right away. which means i begin work monday (tomorrow. ): ). The hours are supposedly 9-6 because that's how long the people stay. being as it is research, i think that those hours are completely optional. a lot of taiwanese stay at their workplace even when there is nothing to do just to seem more hardworking. hopefully, they will allow me to be flexible enough as to come and go as is only necessary.

weather:
humid, rainy. it's about 90 degrees (for all 24 hours), which feels like about 100 with the humidity. even when its dark and rainy, its probably still 90 degrees, so looking out the window in the morning won't tell you anything about what it actually feels like outside.

sights seen:

nice firetrucks...

not KFC, but...

i read somewhere that it stands for "kuai le gi" which translates into "happy chicken" lol...

and last of all...bslee's twin sister.

prayer requests:

1. safety. living alone for the first week in an empty apartment. kinda creepy. (and no internet). by the way, i live an hours worth of transportation away from NTU and EBCT. not comfortable with public transportation, nor with surroundings. and no time to figure it out because work begins tomorrow.

2. work flexibility. ambiguous right now, as mentioned above. hopefully i will have enough time so as to go over to NTU during weekdays as well.

3. FOCUS. remember the reason i am here.

i'm in the process of figuring out exactly what i should post here and what i should post on my own blog/email updates. email me if you would like to be on my update list (that is, if i decide to email updates. hah)

BIG news

2007-08-08T17:45:00.000+08:00

Hello. Three things this past week.

Birthday Bonanza

Continuing from the previous update, the guy tentmakers went out to dinner for MattL's birthday on Monday. The next day, Clara and Yishan treated MattL to dinner again (John and I just tagged along). During dinner, the girls said they had a surprised prepared for MattL. They led the way and mazed us around, leading us on a bus and then the MRT and eventually took a gondola up to Mao Kong! In the gondola, MattL was exuding the overwhelming joy he was feeling from his birthday trip. Just look at his uncontainable emotion.

At the top of the mountain, we enjoyed an awesome view and drank some tea. They gave it to us in the traditional way and Yishan (who took tea-preparing class) worked her magic.

While we were on the gondola, Yishan had a panic attack. She is afraid of heights so her arms went numb, and her head started hurting. For her sake, we decided to take the bus down the mountain, but we were in for the strangest hike OF OUR LIVES! Just kidding, it wasn't that crazy, but it is going to be a memory of ours for sure.

It started with the temple. We walked down for a LONG time through a taoist temple. To demonstrate how long the hike down was, here are two tall pictures.

After we got past the temple, we had to walk for a LONG time down the road. Through it all, we got to see some of God's interesting creatures. We saw a frog, some fireflies (first time for some), and some not-so-cute bugs.

Eventually, we took a bus to the bottom of the mountain and another one back to Gong Guan. We eventually got home at around 11:30 PM. I think we were originally aiming to get home around 9:30...

Yi Lan

This past Friday, several EBCTers and the guy tentmakers went to Yi Lan to play for a day.

I had a test to take that day, but I took it on Thursday and ditched class to go with them. Woo hoo!

First thing we did was go to the waterpark in the morning.

The guys spent most of the time wrestling on the gigantic waterbed. That was really fun. For dinner, we headed to another part of the city by train and ate shabu-shabu for dinner. The picture you see is the crocodile I ordered. It was surprisingly tender (maybe because I expected it to be tough) and sweet!

The group split up at this point, some going to the night market and others going to the HOT SPRINGS! There were so many strange pools of water. Lavendar, sulfur, coffee, sake, etc...Not only that, there was a pool with small fish in it that bite you. It was the strangest sensation to have fish bite the dead skin off your legs. Definitely cool.

John

Big news: ~~Our precious princess~~ John got a job! It is not too far away and the pay is good. The lady interviewing John was asking many questions about his teaching history/experience and seemed hesitant to even consider him. After doing a demo of his mAd tEaChiNg sKiLLz, the lady not only wanted to hire him but offered more money! Awesome! Praise God for answering prayer!

Prayer Requests:

John

Pray for him to work diligently as for the Lord, and for him to be a light in the workplace!

Matt

Continued strength to look for jobs. He has recently been going through a lot of interviews so pray for him to be a worthy ambassador for Christ wherever he is.

He also asks for prayer regarding physical and spiritual discipline and wisdom to discern the many places to serve and spend his time.

Bryan

This is the third week I have had the privilege of being in charge of campus evangelism. Please pray for strength to continually go out and proclaim the name of Jesus!

Please continue to pray for my witness in class. Studying and learning has been going well and next week, everyone (including the teacher!) will be going out for brunch after class.

Evangelism Training will start on September 9th. Please please please pray for God to use me effectively, and for God to equip the students to better share His good news.

Note: Clara will be updating sometime soon and will be posting her own prayer requests.

I will now end the post with a shameless imitation of the signatures on the teampyro blog.

The Exodus

2007-07-30T21:43:00.000+08:00

While Matt Hauck has been dilligently preparing Bible studies from the book of Exodus, Bryan, Matt and I have decided to take matters into our own hands in order to have an Exodus of our own. After we saw the summer team off, we were able to move out of the Haucks' residence on the sixth floor and move into the first floor apartment. In reality, it was more like a reverse-exodus/exile: out of the land of milk and honey and casseroles and into a land of oppression by mosquitoes and spiders.

That's about as far as this twisted analogy goes, though. The Haucks continue to shower us with generosity inviting us over frequently for meals and we really do thoroughly enjoy the extra space we have downstairs to use for studying and storage. Bryan comments that he almost died of excitement (that's an emotion) when he thought about how he was going to have his own desk, but he's still alive.

Since the initial move, we have been looking for ways to make efficient use of our closet space. After searching through a sea of pink cubbies, we realized that the color selection was scarce. So there we have it. Our very own pink, Hello Kitty cubbies.

Beats
As fellow Taiwan residents, we have also taken to buying some of their music. Bryan and I are going to review our respective purchases while Matt has decided to save his track by track commentary for a future post.

1. Jay Chou - Fantasy (Matthew Lui)
Stay tuned for the upcoming review!

2. Jay Chou - Qi Li Xiang (John Tang)
Qi Li Xiang is the fifth album release of the multi-talented Taiwanese star Jay Chou. This album, literally translated means "seven mile fragrance." I would say that besides being an avid composer, a piano player since the age of three, and a cello player since grade school, Jay Chou is just plain emo. He continues to stay on the pop charts by sympathizing with his emotional fans (admit it) through his carefully composed songs. In this album alone, there are track titles ranging from "Grandma," (really talking about his grandma), and "Chaotic Dance of Spring and Autumn" (i haven't quite figured out what this is about, but in the middle of the song, Jay stops singing and answers a cellphone call to order lunch). Highly recommended.

3. Some kind of mix (Bryan Kim)
It sucks. Seriously, this mix is horrible. Some worker said this was the most recent mix to come out but it sounds like the music from the 80's your parents would sing karaoke to. Just terrible...

4. Lee Hom - Heroes of the Earth (Bryan Kim)
This is an awesome CD. Several songs are really catchy and combine traditional Chinese instruments (the thing the old man plays at Sather Gate) and modern stuff too (synth, drums, etc). Hua Tian Cuo is my favorite track but even after reading the translation I still don't understand what he is saying. Either way, Wang Lee Hom is the man, way better than Jay "Super-emo-can't-smile-because-I'm-trying-to-be-crazy-mysterious" Chou. I bought some Lipton milk tea because it had a picture of him on the front of it. He is that good. Richard Lo, hook me up with some backstage passes man!

Matthew Lui
On July 30, we had the once-a-year opportunity to celebrate Mr. Matthew Lui's birthday! Praise God for saving this precious brother of ours! So far his gifts have included a nalgene bottle, a Wecare cake, a bottle of milk, and some drinks that tasted like bread. Not even kidding.

Since we are on the subject of Matt, let me share with you some words by none other than Matt himself. During one of our [intense] exercise runs at night, Matt jogs up next to me and Bryan all excited and tired at the same time. "Hey guys, my heart hurts," he said, "but not in the emo kind of way."

Bing with Chloe
We ate bing (literally ice, but short for shaved-ice) with Jenn/Chloe one last time before she left Taiwan. A month certainly passes by quickly.

Somewhere around this time, I single handedly converted Bryan into a bean-in-shaved-ice-eater. Believe it or not, he now likes the bing on the right better than the bing on the left. YESSSS.

Job Search?
We have heard back from the oh so close to home Happy Top school (where Gina worked), and neither of us were hired. Praise the Lord for His sovereignty. On another note, we have both receieved our certificates of completion so we can apply for a work permit as soon as we are offered a job now. We are both prepared to work even harder to find a suitable job. Please continue to pray for us to be dilligent and to trust in the Lord.

As a closing comment, Matt would like to say that he is sad that less people are checking the blog now. In fact, he's so sad that we took a picture with him and a peice of lime.

I guess if you're emo enough, you'll understand how serious this is. We would suggest that if you are aware of people that aren't checking the blog, please tell them to do so and to donate comments to increase Matt's happiness.

We mean it.

Oh, and webcam us. It is fun.

delay

2007-07-28T03:28:00.001+08:00

i am now leaving 8/9 1:30 am.

and i found housing! (well...my dad found me housing...)

pictures of the apartment!

Leo Lin Interview

2007-07-21T21:56:00.001+08:00

How did you come to know the Lord?

I was in graduate school getting a masters degree in EE, and I was bored of taking classes. I had taken all 8 classes for the degree in one semester, and I had just finished the second semester when I took all 8 classes needed for a masters degree in physics. I was sleeping for only four hours while studying during the rest of the day.

One day I walked by the EBCB missions team as they were handing out coffee. I walked right by wanting to go to my dorm and study. When I got to my dorm, I felt so empty and unsatisfied. I asked myself, “Why I am doing all of this? Why are those [EBCB] people so happy while I am not?” I walked back to the place where the missions team was, hoping to talk to one of them. No one was available to talk immediately so I just sat on the bench for 20 minutes by myself before Bobby came and introduced himself. It was very embarrassing, but I still sat there for 20 minutes. After talking with Bobby, I bought a Bible. That day was a big day because my thinking changed that day. I think that is when I became a Christian.

He eventually introduced me to Dennis. We had the same major so we had a lot in common. He taught me many things about Christ and connected things in the Bible with science. That stirred in me a desire to know Christ more deeply.

I brought a lot of questions to EBCB members, and they graciously answered them. God used that situation to teach me much from the Bible. I did not take as many classes for the second year and spent most of my free time reading the Bible and other Christian books.

What does your daily schedule look like?

I work from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, but I use spare time to read the Bible. Afterwards, I often practice guitar/piano/violin and study the Bible. Before I was very boring because I didn’t like change. I guess I still don’t like change because I always want to love Jesus.

I usually spend more than three hours everyday studying the Bible. From high school, I picked up this habit. If I have no time to read, I get upset.

How do you choose what to read?

Sometimes I just read; sometimes I pick topics; sometimes I pick a book. I usually supplement my studying and reading with other commentaries. I am typically reading 5 books in parallel as I study/read through the book.

What is the last thing you do before going to sleep?

Pray, especially for those who have left the church. I get emotional after praising God through songs, and this makes me want to pray for them.

Other future plans?

This confuses me very much because the Ph.D is still there. Right now I am a Ph.D student at NTU, but school has been postponed until I finish military service. If I go back to school, I will have a lot of time to serve and be nearby but I will not be financially secure because I support my parents. If I keep working, I will have to stay here [Hsinchu]. I want to go back to Taipei to raise a family and for my children’s education. Everyday I pray for the future plans.

Regardless of what happens, I am happy that I have my church family. Knowing this gets rid of my anxieties.

One sentence can sum up my life: I don’t want to be very fancy. I just want to be a normal person before the Lord. Because of this, I have peace and joy. In the past, I was always thinking about success. But when I think about wanting to be a normal man, I am able to rejoice.

One time, I got really sick, but I remember a lot of brothers and sisters came to Hsinchu to see me. I was moved by their actions, and that is a real thing that can satisfy me, the love of Christ.

Family and children…do you have any plans for marriage?

Yes. After military service, I plan to carry though with it, after a little more than 1 year.

Any prayer requests for EBCB people reading?

My future as it draws nearer and nearer.

Anything you wish to tell EBCB?

Thank you to God who changed my life through EBCB, because you all are obedient instruments of God, and He used you guys to change my heart. And thank you for your happy smiles because that is still ringing in my brain.

How did you learn English?

A lot was through EBCB. My English was very bad, very poor. I was the worst one in the class. Almost every day, I got beat more than 50 times because for each point below 85%, you get 10 hits. I usually got 80%.

Ni Hao :)

2007-07-19T18:27:00.001+08:00

Hong Kong a Success!
Thanks for praying for me and my trip to Hong Kong! By God's grace, I succeeded in my goal of obtaining a visitor's visa and safely making it back to Taipei. Additionally, I was bountifully blessed with an unexpected, uplifting time of fellowship with Clara's Aunt, who graciously volunteered to host me for my 1-day foray into the territory known as Hong Kong.

Initially, I was planning on sleeping at the airport, but when Clara's Aunt Vivien heard about that, she offered to take me in for the night. It turns out that she's a Christian, too! In God's providence, she is in between jobs (she had quit her previous job because they wanted her to do dishonest things) and so she was able to spare a day to help me. And how generous was her help towards me! She gave me a bed of my own to sleep on, let me use her bathroom, fed me, drove me to the consulate to apply for my visa, helped me exchange money, treated me to lunch at a dim sum restaurant, took me out for the rest of the day to look around HKG, bought me a drink, went back with me to get my visa, and then at the end of the day, she went on the bus with me all the way to the airport (it must've been over an hour each way for her) just to see me off. And we got to talk about spiritual things all day! Wow, thank you so much for your prayers!! Here are a couple pictures I snapped during the trip.

The view from Vivien's apartment. Hong Kong is just packed with people and buildings! The taller ones are the newer ones, which means that they're going to keep building higher for want of space.

In one of the malls of Hong Kong. Check out the long escalator filled with people and imagine how many people must be shopping there. Vivien told me about how Hong Kong is very materialistic and many people there are enslaved to beating their neighbors by buying expensive designer clothes. May God have mercy on them!

Work
We've all gotten many chances to share the gospel with various people who visit our church or happen to be loitering around on the NTU campus. Many seem interested in showing up, but few have been truly called by God and are willing to believe upon Jesus. We are constantly being reminded that salvation belongs to the Lord. We don't have any pictures of last week's gospel party, but here are some more details: This time, many unbelievers showed up (7 or 8?) and Jeff and Linda were the two who gave their testimonies (cute, eh?) To be honest, I teared up a little after hearing Linda's testimony because God is so brilliant. God is working out here in Taipei; thanks for your continued prayer for the work of evangelism. May we boldly preach to exalt Christ, not good works.

John and I are still looking for jobs. Please pray that we'd get hired by Dana (Happy Top Language School), Gina's former employer, because it's right next to where we live, which would enable us to save many hours, and she seems to be a good, lawful employer. We'll hear from her at the end of this month!

How are you serving the church?
Bryan and I currently serving on the praise team, and MattH started letting me lead the Saturday prayer meetings...please pray for me! And now John is serving on the finance team! He'll be in charge of reimbursement, reserving the basement, and TBM runs. Speaking of which...

Today, John and I went to the TBM building to exchange some money. Along the way, we came across a molten idol, and so I did what I had to do.

Daily Life...what do we do in our spare time?

Clara doesn't have much free time. She's really busy with her job. And she's a little shy about posting her pictures on the blog...

Bryan's been practicing his drum skills.

John's been visiting many, many relatives, designing many, many things for people, and teaching Bryan how to use Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash.

And yours truly has been learning a little Hebrew and working on memorizing Proverbs 31:10-31 in Hebrew while posting blog updates.

That's all for this time, folks. Feel free to ask us for a camera conversation. So far, no one's asked. Stay tuned for Leo's interview. :)

read, pray, then comment (in that order)

2007-07-14T16:56:00.000+08:00

What's Been Going On

Clara's School

John and Matt went with Clara to her work to get a taste of what teaching English in Taiwan would be like. After coming back, they said their eyes were opened. English is HARD to teach, especially to little non-native speakers! The little kids have attention spans of 3 seconds so you have to be super energetic the whole time. They also said the teacher has to make the kids do something interesting for the entire time all while getting them to learn the lesson or else they distracted. Pray for them to find work and to teach well for the glory of God.

Guys Visited Leo in Hsinchu

The guys went to Hsinchu to visit Leo after he got off work. We got dinner together and spent some time talking and getting to know Leo. We have an encouraging interview with him to be posted soon. Look forward to it!

Farewell Gina

Gina left after finishing her year long service in Taiwan. A bunch of us had dinner all together then headed off to the airport to see her off. She will be missed!

Gospel Party

There was another gospel party Saturday night. A lot more people showed up so all three of us guys were able to share the gospel. There were many gospel friends interested in meeting up again with EBCT members later so please pray for future times of sharing and ministering to the lost.

Birthdays

We all celebrated Clara and Kathy's Birthday. Clara's birthday is the 16th and Kathy's is on the 22nd. Their cake had the number 43 on it signifying their combined years!

Prayer Request:

Matt is going to Hong Kong on Monday to get a visa. He will be sleeping at the airport after arriving, and applying for the visa the next morning. He will then spend the entire rest of the day in Hong Kong before picking up his visa in the evening then returning to Taipei. He has no idea what to expect while he is there so please pray for safety and for the logistics to be smooth.

Random:

Do you see the resemblence? Apparently I look like Larry because of the small mouth but others say Bob because of the ~~fat~~ round face.

About the title of the post, is there anything that you would be interested in seeing or finding out about life at EBCT? There are ~50 people who check the blog but only ~3-4 people comment. Is that because you think "it's okay" or because "it's boring so I don't want to comment"? If there is someway we can make the blog better/interactive, we are open to suggestions. This blog is for all of you to better know life here so you can pray for us. Let us know!

BTW, all three of the guys have webcams so if any of ya'll want to set up a time to talk to one of us, feel free to email and ask!

Made you look.

2007-07-10T20:22:00.000+08:00

Hello, everyone. I know you’re just crying with anticipation for this update. Well, good. We’re helping you work out your tear ducts.

Matt, Bryan and I have been here for nearly three weeks! That means one thing. Matthew Lui needs to get himself exported to Hong Kong and then imported back into Taiwan with a visitor’s visa soon. He will be attempting this next week, so pray for a safe trip.

The job search continues for both me and Matt. Please pray for us to be wise with our time, balancing meeting up with people and looking for jobs. We are very thankful for our sisters Gina and Clara who have been so helpful with just practical job finding tips in Taiwan, and for Matt and Sanny who continue to go out of their way, in love, to help us and exceed our needs. Exceed = casserole. Soo good. Thank you Bethany for the casserole noodles. We are so encouraged by them/you all! =)

Speaking of being encouraged, we want to thank you for your prayers concerning love and humility. I can say, on behalf of Bryan, Matt and I that we’ve been getting along well as roommates. Feet washing sessions and everything.

There are still some things to get used to, though. Construction here is just… I mean, fork-lifting cars that are in the way? C’mon now, dawg.

In other more important news, we’ve had the pleasure of seeing Katherine’s Choir perform (amazing, really) though we weren’t allowed to take pictures during the performance.

We also had the opportunity to put together a little something for Gina over dinner because she is leaving soon. She cried, but maybe it’s the rosin dust, because I really am not capable of producing crying-caliber intonation.

And how can I forget the momentous Costco trip? Apparently, the MRT station we stopped at is my name in Chinese. I've always wondered how I got my name...

I forget, but I don’t recall seeing lines quite as long for the free samples as I did here.

One more thing. We think it’s a good idea, but let’s have some input. We want to introduce to you, one at a time, the EBCT members by interviewing them and making posts. If not, we can erase the idea. Speaking of erasing, if you EVER get an eraser in Taiwan, this is the one to get. I GUARANTEE it will erase what you write.

And to end, we have a picture of a certain Matthew Lui having mistakenly ordered the “cheap” McDonald’s meal. Unfortunately, “Cheap” = “happy,” my friend. Happy meal.

Oh yeah. Bryan says he really enjoys writing Chinese characters. We’ll see if he still says that in three months.

Grace and peace! Thanks for praying!

Brief Update

2007-07-06T11:11:00.000+08:00

Within hours of the blog post going up, Sanny handed me some super 8 hour tylenol. The headache and pains went away! I had been taking traveler's diarrhea medicine for two days, but it didn't seem to be doing anything. I don't know if the medicine finally killed everything or if it was the tylenol, but praise God for healing me! I had a pain free afternoon and even ate a full dinner of normal food.

To top it off, I got a full night's rest last night and made it to class today!

Thank you for your prayers! God is so gracious and loving! He answered His children's prayer quickly!

Tentmaker Times - July 5, 2007

2007-07-04T18:40:00.000+08:00

Hello!

Greetings from Tropical Taipei, Taiwan! This is an update from John, Bryan, and Matt.

Bryan

Bryan has been very sick for the last few days. He is experiencing both dull and sharp abdominal pain and is taking medication that makes it so that he can't really go out or exercise. As a result, he hasn't been able to go to class or do anything besides read and rest for the last 2 days. It's even hard for him to sleep because of the pain in his body. Please pray to God, the healer of all diseases, that He would have compassion on our brother and heal him in His right timing. We also know that the Lord is using this trial to boost Bryan's perseverance, proven character, and hope :)

Not only is his stomach experiencing affliction, but also other parts of his vessel as well. Look at Bryan's beautiful bug-bitten feet! "Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!' " (Rom 10:15b). Through Bryan's suffering, we have all learned lessons of preparation, perseverance, and patience. What's really cool is that Bryan got almost all of these bites while sharing the gospel with a guy in NTU. There are a lot of mosquitoes on campus and Bryan is especially attractive to them (I was right next to him and got no bites). I think this is special because it shows the price Jesus' disciples are willing to joyfully pay in order to share the gospel. Please pray for that Jesus Christ would be magnified in Bryan's sufferings, and that he would count it all joy!

John

John wants everyone to know that Matthew Lui is a crazy laughing maniac. That's all.

Matthew

I'm going to have to fly to Hong Kong sometime within the next couple of weeks in order to get a visa. My dad is a little worried because it's very dangerous there and I'll be all by myself. Please pray that God would use this to grow our faith in and dependence on Him, and for safety for me as I go to acquire the necessary documentation in Hong Kong. I had another interview yesterday and I got to demo with a class of kindergarteners. The teacher asked me to teach them a song and I taught them "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know." Surprisingly, the teachers in the room didn't seem to care, but even joined along in the singing! What?! Hahahaha!!! Praise the Lord for the freedom we have to talk about Him in the classrooms of this country. Unfortunately, a lot of schools here, including the one I interviewed at, are kind of shady and regularly break the laws in hiring foreign teachers. It will be hard to find a legit job that I qualify for, but I am confident that the Lord will provide for me, so keep praying with me for a job!

Please also pray for reconciliation between my mom and I. I hope I will be able to talk to her soon. The Lord is greatly sanctifying me through these troubling circumstances and there is so much more for me to learn in terms of how to intensely love the sinner and hate the sin. Thank you for your prayers for us.

Miscellaneous

Last week we saw the beginnings of a budding fondness between John Tang and Matt Lui. This week we see the blossoming friendship....

It all started when I asked John and Bryan for a good "date place" near Wan Fu (to take out EBCT brothers of course). Before we knew it, we were slurping up the remains of a mango-strawberry shaved ice dish. Shortly thereafter, this photo was taken:

In other news, Sanny baked her first pizza last night. It was a smashing success. Its crust was as thin as a thumbnail and as crisp as a cracker. Its insides were as soft and chewy as a soft-baked cookie. Here is a picture of one of the slices of pizza perfection, just seconds before it was devoured by a hungry Matt Lui:

Love,

Oh, and happy 4th of July to all you Americans out there!

Update

2007-07-01T20:32:00.000+08:00

Hello,

The weekend is coming to a close, and things around the EBCT apartment will be a bit calmer once again. Lots of people are around from Fri-Sun, and the weekends are usually packed with church events and fellowship time. Let us walk you through the past couple days:

Saturday

In the morning, we played badminton with some EBCT people and two gospel friends. I thought badminton was a pansy sport, but it was surprisingly fun! I definitely look forward to playing again!

Here is John busting a crazy on the court:

Afterwards, there was prayer meeting at 1:30 and Bible study at 2:30. We went over Genesis 45-47, answering questions in groups of three in the beginning, and MattH finishing the study with some teaching on the passage.

For dinner, John met up with his family, and MattL and I got to accompany Clara to meet with one of her gospel friend and the gospel friend's boyfriend. Have you ever tried sharing the gospel to two people at the same time? Very difficult right? But God worked it out so well! MattL and I were able to share with the guy while Clara was sharing with her friend at the same time! We were able to have two conversations about the gospel at the same table! We were praying for this to happen, and God answered it! Although they understood, they did not want to believe so pray for them to understand the treasure of Christ! Also, pray for us to be faithful always with being a witness to all people and to seize all the opportunities He gives us to proclaim His name!

Sunday

MattL and I have the privilege of being part of praise team while we are here. I will be playing the djembe drum, and MattL will either play bass (while Kevin is still here) or lead the team on acoustic/vocals. Pray for all of us to use any gift we have received to serve one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

MattH preached on Ephesians 5:28-33, and we learned about the importance of marriage, how a husband should love his wife, and the mystery that marriage is an illustration of Christ's relationship with His church.

Afterwards, we ate at a Taiwanese restaurant where Andy and Katherine generously taught me the Chinese characters for beef, chicken, pork, lamb, fish, meat, kimchi, vegetables, and seafood. I'm slowly learning how to order on my own!

In the evening, the three male tentmakers went out to explore, and we bought some handkerchiefs.

These are a serious necessity in the humidity and heat. In several pictures that we've taken so far, you can see our faces/necks/arms glazed in a layer of sweat. It's crazy here.

Miscellaneous

We have another addition to this blog: Clara will be joining! She will be posting her updates here also until she leaves for the States in November.

The three of us have been spending so much time together it's ridiculous (in a good way). It's at least 22 hours a day in each others's company. Forced fellowship (again in a good way) has been sweet and we've been able to meet for accountability frequently and pray for each other often. Look at how well John and MattL get along:

A big prayer request for John and MattL would be to diligently apply for jobs and to trust the Lord in the process. It is easy to get anxious because we don't know how things will work out, but God knows! He is sovereign so pray for them to commit this to the Lord.

As for me, the first day of school is tomorrow! Please continue to pray for me to learn Chinese for His glory and to be an excellent witness for Christ at ShiDa. There are LOTS of people in the language center who speak english, and there are many opportunities to share. It's so easy because everyone always ask what everyone else is doing here. I could say "I'm here to share the good news of Jesus. Say, have you heard of Him?" Pray for me to be faithful with all the open doors God gives me to share the gospel.

Finally, this is a good picture of my current haircut. I'm still learning how to style it correctly, but it's been fun messing with it:

But I'm not the only one who has been changing my image:

Thanks for praying for us!

A generic post.

2007-06-29T01:36:00.000+08:00

Welcome to our room! We reallly feel blessed to have the space we do (in a non-sarcastic kind of way). In case you are wondering (you probably aren't), this is what we look like when we check our email and write our updates:

Matt

John

Bryan - yes, I know he's not on a computer.

Some milestones (in no particular order):

1. First and second loads of laundry, ever. Good thing we have a drier. Otherwise our clothes probably would not dry until the end of summer.

2. First jog - yes, it happened. We've come to the realization that in each of our prior individual lives, we began our housemeetings with a time to "do bills" which functioned as an icebreaker for the more meaty discussions and times of accountability that followed. Since we probably won't have bills to take care of here, a jog will be our icebreaker. Bi-weekly, hopefully.

3. First and second rounds of campus evangelism. Both days we've decided to join the summer team, they've had break days, so we've more or less shared by ourselves. Some of us have realized the pride we carry when we think of how helpless are here and how supposedly "productive/useful" we were back in the states. What ridiculous thoughts - pray for humility and that our trust would be in the Lord alone.

4. Matt and I got cellphones! They cost us 3 US cents with a 2 year contract. (courtesy of Matt, Sanny and Kevin)

5. First snail we saw. How could we not see it? Huge!

Thanks for reading! Thanks for praying! Grace and peace!

A brief update

2007-06-26T21:54:00.000+08:00

Greetings friends!

Here are some of the things that have been going on recently in the small island of Taiwan, in a little town called "Taipei," in the lives of three tiny Tentmakers. Thank you for praying for us...rest assured that God has been answering prayers in ways beyond your imagination.

Professors of English
On Monday, John and I both had the privilege of teaching a "demo class" to 7-8 year olds and 10-11 year olds, respectively. These classes were followed by interviews with Gina's current boss, Dana, from a school called "Happy Top." Our assignment was to lead our classes in activities, so John did "Simon Says" and another cool game, and I had the kids play "20 Questions" and some other moderately amusing games. My kids seemed to have a lot of fun and in the end I left the room with this funny feeling...I felt like I kinda actually liked little kids. Oh well, we'll see if a year of rowdiness, screaming, yelling, and kicking won't change that. Speaking for both of us, I think the classes and the interviews went pretty well...we won't find out from Happy Top until the end of July, so we're still going to be job hunting for about a month. Please pray that God would help us find jobs so that we'd be able to work for Him as soon as possible.

Practicing Chinese
Yesterday, Bryan and I learned the "Bopomofo" from Matt Hauck. The Bopomofo is basically a Chinese alphabet. Bryan and I have been learning that it's really valuable to know Chinese out here because most people don't speak English unless they're NTU students, and even then, it's difficult to communicate to most of them without knowing some Chinese. Bless God for the opportunity for Bryan to take Chinese class here and for me to learn Chinese on the side. Pray that God would help us to learn the language with pure motives (that we would seek to learn Chinese in order to advance His kingdom and not to fuel our pride in self-sufficiency).

Physicals
Today, John and I went to the hospital. We weren't sick, we were just getting our required physicals in order to be eligible for work here in Taiwan. Let's just say, they went well. (Thankfully, none of the things that we were afraid we might have to go through happened.)

Pictures

John, me, and Bryan standing outside of the "Green Restaurant." You can't see her but Gina's the one taking the picture. She graciously treated us out to dinner and we had an encouraging conversation together. Just a small reminder for us to praise the Lord for the present tentmaker's faithfulness and service to the body!

"Matt, it seems that Mingi likes the burgers, John likes the watermelon, which scrumptious-ness are you enjoying?" --Jane Na. Answer: Hot pot!

And finally, for old time's sake, here is yet another reason why p.c.'s > mac's. (Edit--You can't bend your screen all the way back on a macbook).

Until next time, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit :)

Pictures

2007-06-23T23:12:00.001+08:00

Here are before (left) and after (right) pictures of all three of us. We need photos for basically everything such as ID cards and applications, and they touch up the photos to make us look softer and lighter. Interesting huh? Too bad I got a haircut the next day...

This is the legendary Mega Mac. The literal translation is "the undefeatable big mac." I had two of these yesterday (lunch and dinner, never doing that again) and James Hong ate three in ONE SITTING last night.

I got a haircut and some new glasses. Luke has pictures of me post-haircut pre-glasses. I'm still learning how to style my hair correctly...

We had a gospel party today. Jeff and Dino gave encouraging testimonies about how God saved them, and MattHauck spoke briefly on Matthew 10:37-39. Since pictures of the party might be sensitive material, I'll just show you a picture of John eating the yellow watermelons afterward.

Brief Update

All three of us got over jetlag quickly so thank you for all your prayers. God definitely blessed us with strength to fight through that first day.

I have an orientation for class on June 29, and I start class shortly after on July 2. Until then, I plan to learn the bopomofo system thingie (Sanny will be teaching MattLui and me) and get some ET material prepared. As for the three of us, we intend to go out with the summer team to evangelize this week since we have open schedules right now.

Please pray for us!

plane ticket reserved!

2007-06-23T05:04:00.001+08:00

8/7/07 at 1:30am (:

Sad Realization

2007-06-22T08:13:00.000+08:00

Everyone gave us so much food we ended up not being able to finish it all. This is John chugging down some dried fruit before we threw the rest of the dried and fresh fruit away. We thank you for the parting gifts! It was unfortunate we could not eat it all before landing. However, we were allowed to take in all the packaged candy and what not you all gave us so that is all with us in the apartment right now.

The sign says no animals and animal products are allowed. We were sad. :( To those who said they would gladly send some carne asada our way, thank you for your hearts.

We're here!

2007-06-21T10:15:00.000+08:00

We had a smooth flight with a lot of food. Within an hour or so of getting on the plane, we had "dinner." It must have been our second or third time after those wonderful in n out double doubles. Anyway, the plane landed in Taipei safely and on time, Matt came to greet and pick us up, and we arrived at the apartment in time to unpack and join the rest of the summer team for some praise before heading off to have some time of our own. It looks like all three of us will be living with Matt and Sanny on the 6th floor until the rest of the team leaves. Cozy! For now, we're just settling in.

Pray for energy to get over the jet lag quickly and sweet fellowship amongst the brethren!

That's it for now! =)

See you tonight!

2007-06-20T02:05:00.000+08:00

Hey,

My passport came this morning. Cya tonight at the airport! (I won't be able to make it to church for the 7:00 meeting)

- Matt

Tentmaking Down in NTU

2007-06-18T17:24:00.000+08:00

Lyrics (sung to the tune of "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" by John Mayer):

We’re not extraordinary people
We’re not exceptionally strong
We’re just four born-again disciples
With hearts that God’s been working on

And now we’re going on our mission
So you can keep us in your prayers
We know wherever Jesus leads us
He’s promised to be with us there

-Chorus-
We’re flying down…
And we’ll miss you, too
We’re flying down…
But we’ll see you soon
This year we’re tentmaking down in NTU

You were the church we learned of Christ from
We are your daughters and your sons
A part of you is going with us
We’ll take it all the way to Taiwan

We’ll make the most of all our talents
We’ll be as faithful as we can
And when the devil tries to snatch us, we know that he won’t catch us
‘Cuz we’re safe in God’s hand

-Chorus-

Oh pray about us, please won’t you? (a few times)
Please pray about us; pray for us
This year we’re tentmaking down in NTU

It’s time to say “goodbye,” I know
Someday soon we’re gonna say “hello.” (a few times)
…my dear we’re tentmaking down in NTU

Quick update: My passport is scheduled to arrive tomorrow (Monday). If for some reason it doesn't, it might still arrive on Tuesday, which is okay b/c I'll be able to make it for my flight (though probably not for the 7:00 meeting at church). If it doesn't show up on Monday or Tuesday, no biggie, I can change my flight and leave a little later. I'll update this as soon as I get the passport. Hopefully, I'll see you guys on Tuesday!

Logistics

2007-06-16T07:15:00.000+08:00

I was summoned for jury duty immediately after getting to socal at the end of May. Seeing that envelope provoked thoughts of how annoying it was to deal with this right before leaving. After some time, I realized how convenient it was to get excused for one year right before leaving.

This past weekend, I got accepted into NTNU. It turns out I will arrive in Taiwan the last day of registration to sign up for class.

I went to the Taiwan Consulate today to apply for a visa, and it will be processed and ready for me Tuesday afternoon, 10 hours before my flight.

Praise God for how He is working everything out.

Purpose

2007-05-20T13:45:00.000+08:00

Hello prayer supporters!

This blog will be used by the four of us to update you all how we are doing and to offer a glimpse into EBCT life/ministry/events. This is also where we will post pictures and general prayer requests.

As a disclaimer, this is not where we will be posting personal prayer requests, concerns, and issues. Pictures of gospel friends and other sensitive material will also not be posted.

So, bookmark this blog or add it to your RSS thingie! Most importantly, join us in doing God's kingdom work in Taiwan through prayer! We will post as often as possible (although we don't know how frequently that will actually be) to keep you all updated. On behalf of the four of us, thank you!

Etymology

2007-05-16T08:38:00.000+08:00

———————

phos•phor \ˈfäs-fər, -ˌfȯr\ also phos•phore \-ˌfȯr, -fər\ n

[L phosphorus, fr. Gk phōsphoros, lit., light bringer, fr. phōsphoros light-bearing, fr. phōs light + pherein to carry, bring — more at fancy, bear] 1705

1 : a phosphorescent substance

2 : a luminescent substance that emits light when excited by radiation (as electrons) and is used esp. in fluorescent lamps and cathode-ray tubes

Merriam-Webster, Inc: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Eleventh ed. Springfield, Mass. : Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003