First Weekend in Taiwan

It's been 18 years since I've been here. My fondest memory was that smell of incense that lingered in the neighborhood streets filled with men, women, and children on mopeds. When I arrived, I thought that reminscent smell would be there, but I was wrong. Almost completely...

My flight here was quick, comfortable, and relaxing. I slept 8/13 hours, the longest sleep I've had in 2 weeks (NOTE: It's nice to be free of stress, which has been the bain of my sleep). The flight attendants were all very accommodating, though a bit ugly, but who am I to judge outward appearances? I met a mother and daughter who live in Irvine, the daughter is a student at Woodridge High (sp?). Across the aisle from me was another Chinese lady from Turtle Rock in Irvine. I told her that I was going to Taiwan for a Bible training and I'm from the local churches. To my surprise, she knows Michael and Mary Yu, or at least their parents. She's been to a home meeting before. I was too tired to ask her for her name; otherwise, I would've added her to my prayer list. The Lord knows who I'm praying for though.

At 6:15AM, I landed at TPE (Taiwan's airport). I walked through the terminal and into the customs nervously. Before coming, I had a major issue: I was born in Taiwan and am legally obligated to serve the army, regardless of my US citizenship. I kept picturing a scene where I was walking through the terminal and right when I'm about to leave the airport, three military officers would stop me and grab my belongings and say, "Chao En-Li (my chinese name for those who don't know), you need to come with us and fulfill your duty to the country." I'm glad that this was only my imagination. I found my way through the airport with the directions written in Pinyin and to the bus that was going to take me to Taipei Main Station.

Through this entire time, I had the great idea to read through the entire New Testament in the 3 days I had before I entered into the training. I have 2 more hours before I have to report to the training and I'm only in Luke. I lack discipline. I pray, even as I write to you, that the Lord would be merciful and train my character, really break me down. In fact, I believe He has done this already, I just need to say Amen at every moment, day by day.

When I arrived at the airport, I phoned my cousin, Ray, who picked me up, dropped off my belongings at his house, then took me to my first meal in Taiwan (well, really 2nd half of my first meal because I was so hungry that I went to the 7-11 that they have inside the train station and grabbed a pork bun). We ate "dou jian niu nai" and some other interesting dishes that I've never had before: some fried egg / "Luo buo" concoction that tasted kind of sweet. After breakfast, Ray needed to go to work so I hopped on a train and found my way to the only tourist spot in Taipei that I've heard about: 101.

You know, the Lord is pretty awesome at taking care of me. Here I was alone in a strange country without any form of communication to anyone familiar (no cell, internet access, or e-mail service). I don't know any of the local saints' numbers, nor do I know where they are. I don't know if any old friends from grade school or USC are in Taiwan, so I'm basically by myself. As I'm on the subway to 101, I prayed to the Lord that I would keep open to Him, and He just supplies me with grace. So I walk around 101, go up to the top to see the city and everything that Taipei is about, familiarized myself with the city a bit (where everything was relative to each other). Now, 101 if you've never been here is a fabulous building! It's pretty to look at (if I had a camera, I'd have taken pictures and uploaded 'em to my ringo or something, but I don't have one so sorry) and there's an awesome screwdriver-esque elevator that takes you around the mall that's connected to the building. At the top and bottom floors of the mall are the food spots, the top having a couple posh-looking restaurants, and the bottom looks like a clean, indoor night market.

It was about 3-4 hours since breakfast with Ray, so I decided to go downstairs and explore the food court and make another effort to call my Big Uncle (one of the two phone #s I had). He was out the entire day (I thought he retired, but apparently he's working again). As I was walking through the food court, looking for a public telephone, I bump into a sister who I've known growing up, Alan Chao's grandma, Kung-Ma-Ma as I call her, but she really should be Kung-Nai-Nai or Kung-Puo-Puo. She was shocked to see me, but so hospitable. Immediately, she called me over to her table to eat and to my surprise, I saw two other saints there: Joanna Chang and her mom! FAMILIAR FACES! I thanked the Lord, and had lunch with them. The Lord really arranged my situation perfectly because Joanna's cousin, who is a Taipei local (not a saint, just a local) took me to the cell phone store and got me a SIM card. If you guys want my #, it's 09-28493741. It's not really easy to memorize, but it is easy to dial. Oh, if you want to dial internationally from the US, you gotta hit 001-86 (i think it's 001, but if it's not then it's 011). Call me or text message me, though I get charged a bit for them.

Anyhow, that day was pretty awesome. At night, I went to Dan Shui (last stop on the subway here) and went to a night market there. First night market experience... I saw and smelled the stinky tofu, but I was so full from munching on random things I didn't want to eat any. I should've though b/c it looks so delicious.

So remember how I said like 15 min ago that the Lord really arranged everything? Well, that evening I got a hold of Joseph and Mary Wu, as well as Johnny Din's dad. They told me that there was a conference going on that weekend, and I should attend. Sure, why not right? I've got nothing planned and I could think of no better way to start my training than meeting some saints here in Taipei. One thing I really wanted to see was whether the saints here looked like the ones that come to the semi-annual trainings. THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME! I couldn't find a single fashionable sister, but saw a couple bros who were into the updated trends. In my head was what Joseph Chiang told me last Sunday, be open and embrace the culture. Embrace it I shall. SO back to what I was saying before that small rant, I saw Brother Wu at the conference, and afterwards I joined him for lunch. I pretty much skipped most of the conf b/c I'm so limited in my understanding. Bro Wu brought me to his home and I saw one of my favorite aunts ever, Mary Wu (Gui-Re Ai-Yi). She cooked a fabulous lunch, and I ate soooooooo much. Until now, the only food I've paid for were my breakfasts. Thank you for all your prayers because the Lord really provided me with everything. After lunch, we went back for the last meeting of the conference.

At that meeting, I saw JD's dad and mom. I also met Peace Lee's dad, who is a pretty animated speaker. I'm going to enjoy this term. I already know it. After the meeting, I went to COSTCO! YES! I said it! There's one here in Taipei! It's next door to this other big department store that reminds me a lot of Walmart - Da Ren Fun. COSTCO here is exactly like it is in America. Oh, if I ever get homesick, I'm going to Costco for a 1.25 dog and drink. Funny thing is it's a little more expensive here, 50NT.

Anyhow, I got a bunch of practical things taken care of for the training and ate at Skylark, California cuisine. Yes people, for my 2nd dinner in Taipei, I ate California-style food. The cuisine actually reminded me a lot of Sunday Bistro on Valley Blvd in San Gabriel area.

I slept early that night and attended Lord's Table yesterday morning. At 9:30, everyone was already there for the meeting! I thought the meeting at Hall 8 started at 10, so at 9:30 I was walking by to the 7-11 that's next door and bought some breakfast. I went in at 9:42 and the chairs were already filled up. WOW!! So encouraging!

So here I am in Ray's house, 1.5 hours from the time I need to report to the training.

Please pray for me. I'm enjoying my time here, but I need much more grace. One thing I am learning is that my language barrier will be a lot more difficult to enjoy the Lord, especially the saints portions.