Yes We are Alive

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"

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

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.

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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

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.