Day 6 - Why bother with Taiwan?
We really appreciate the hospitality of Jon and Amy Ralls. They have been gracious hosts, opening up their home and putting their lives on hold just to entertain us. They normally both go to language school and have their children in school, but they have all taken this week off to spend time showing us around. I don't think any of us realize how much work it is for missionaries here in Taiwan to host groups who are visiting. They do it for one reason: to help people appreciate the need this field has for prayer and mission work. We have certainly heard about that need from many of our friends and students who have made visits here to the field. Today we would see it most clearly for ourselves.
Adam got up at 6:00 am this morning (I'm skeptical of his claim to have awakened at 2:00 am without going back to sleep) and woke up the rest of the kids to play. The adults would have preferred a 7:00 am wakeup call instead. Jon is still conducting VBS via phone, so we couldn't really go anywhere until 10:00 am. Sandy spent time chatting with her family on the computer, while the kids enjoyed some Playstation time. Mornings have been relaxing for us and a good time to catch up on e-mail and phone calls. (By the way, I apologize for the picture quality on today's post, but all the photos were taken with my PDA since I left my camera's memory card at the apartment.)
Jon decided today's destinations would be Longshan Temple and Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. Around 10:45 am (9:45 pm Wed in Missouri) we took off on our typical travel route: dodging scooters, taxis, and busses across the streets to the subway station, riding escalators, buying tickets, and walking through turnstiles. One of the fringe benefits of this week has been the number of escalators we have walked on: easily 40 per day. Our kids used to be afraid of them, but now it's no problem. Today, Adam asked if there are any escalators in Moberly. We all racked our brains before deciding that the closest escalator to our house is at J.C. Penney in Columbia Mall. Of course, the only building in Moberly taller than three floors is the old folks home, but that's another story.
The destinations we visited really reflect the reasons Taiwan is an important country for mission work. From a worldly perspective, Taiwan has it made: prosperity, family, national identity, religious activity, beautiful land, technological savvy. In fact, Taipei 101 describes its 6 distinctive characteristics as Technology, Art, Innovation, People, Environment, and Identity. All of those things are important to the people here. Today's destinations showed me the futility of life focused on things that are less important than following Christ.
We make quite a crew travelling together, but so far we have left no one behind. Once today we pondered what it would be like if one of our children failed to make the train transfer and we left with4out him or her. We couldn't figure out a way to go back and get them, so we changed the subject. The trains are all the same and basically boring, except for the occasional one advertising Star Wars. Yoda has a way of drawing attention.
.
Arriving at Longshan temple, we started smelling the burning of incense and other things. It is a beautifully designed building. Inside the gate, a waterfall draws your attention.
Alex wanted to know if we could play in the water. I told him not today.
Here is a picture of me inside the front of the Temple.
In case you're wondering, it is acceptable for pictures to be taken. We saw many American businessmen there also snapping pictures and video of their excursions.
The temple really is a feast for the senses. Of course, you can't avoid the smell. The burning of incense and who knows what else fills the air. Being a pyromaniac myself, I was more than a little impressed by all the lighters, lamps, candles, incense sticks, and other sources of smoke and heat.
The sounds of the temple also get your attention. In the background is music I swear I've heard before at China Garden restaurant. Added to that are the sounds of people roaming around chanting, praying, and conversing.
The sights are the most disturbing. You honestly don't know whether the right response is pity or ridicule. There's more to see there than I can possibly describe, but here are three quick sights.
Tables full of food and drink are set, offered to one or more of the idols there. I honestly don't know if Buddha prefers junk food or health food, because I saw both on the table. Judging by the picture of Buddha that I saw, he probably prefers junk food but his followers think he needs the health food.
All this stuff is collected by the employees of the temple and resold to the next lost person who wanders in looking for something to buy and offer in worship.
People are there to pray and find out what the answers are to their prayers. Here's how it works. After making an offering they hope will be pleasing, they grab two pieces of wood shaped like apple slices. They bow on their knees toward the idol, pray and ask for the answer. They roll the dice and throw them to the ground (notice the red items falling from this lady's hands). If it comes up snake eyes, they rephrase the prayer and roll them again. When it comes up craps, they finally stop. It took this lady at least four attempts that I saw before she got the answer she wanted.
Finally, this temple is unbelievably commercialized. Patrons spend money on the incense, the food and drink that they buy to offer to the idols (which is resold after it is offered), books and tapes to listen to, and all kinds of decorations to take home as a reminder. They can even buy a fortune, which is like a mega fortune cookie, printed on a sheet of paper located in one of 100 drawers. So the patron buys a fortune, is told which number of drawer to pull from, and then discovers the idol's insight for living (with apologies to Chuck Swindoll). I thought that there were only 100 possible fortunes, but Jon told me there are dozens in each box. Any rational person could see that this is simply random, but these people are either irrational or choose to ignore the truth.
So the worship at the temple gives a clear picture of the darkness this country is in and how large the need is.
1:30 pm: After lunch at McDonald's (3rd time this week), we went to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial.
CKS was the man who led the fight against Communists in China, but then retreated with thousands of people to this island. He is considered a national hero, and a massive statue of him is on constant display, guarded by soldiers.
Most of the time, these soldiers stand at rapt attention, staring straight ahead (with a fan behind them to stay cool).
Every hour, these two pour souls get relieved of duty, but not before they do an elaborate 10 minute changing-of-the-guard routine.
At 2:00 pm, we watched their matinee performance. A crowd gathered and the 5 guys (2 going off duty, 2 going on duty, one point guard) put on a show, complete with choreography, boot stomps, rifle spins, and an occasional shout. Now, I mean no disrespect by this, but I couldn't help thinking this looks like a mixture of synchronized swimming, a pom-pom routine, and a presentation of colors, all done in slow motion. VERY slow motion. A still shot really doesn't do it justice. I think the message of this routine is, "We've got an army, and it is precise, prepared, and pretty." All I know is that if they can fire their rifles halfway as good as they can spin them around like a baton, then the island is well-protected.
About this time, the kids were getting really hot and tired, so we went to the air conditioned museum, which was beautiful and full of art and history. We could have spent 3 hours there, but five children had plans to go to a toy store, instead.
Watching the five bored children lose interest in this very interesting place forced me to reflect on my childhood. My parents often took me to places in Missouri and other states where history like this was on display and influential leadership was honored. I wonder how many times my brother and I lost the opportunity to learn because we were concerned more about our own discomforts. Maybe this is just the way all kids act, but I sure wish I could help them see what they're missing. They will probably end up learning it from their own kids.
After roaming through a pretty garden, we walked back to the MRT, back through escalators, and rode the train back to the Ralls' neighborhood. Sandy, Amy, Anna, and Alex came back to the apartment for ice cream while Jon, David, Joshua, Sean, and Adam travelled in a taxi in search of the perfect toy store.
3:30 pm: Adam had been hoping for months that when he came to Taiwan, he could find some Bionicle sets that have yet to be released in America. In fact, he had not spent his money for toys since finding out that so many were available here. He had $1000 NT (about $35) saved up to spend. He was successful in that quest, and we also found three Megaman toys for Alex. It is so much easier to shop for Alex when he isn't with us.
5:00 pm: Jon wanted us to eat something authentic for supper, so we walked two blocks to a cart on the side of the street that makes "bings". A bing is a combination of an onion bread and eggs, fried on a griddle like a pancake.
Jon and Amy like this couple, who bring their little truck every evening to make these things for $25 NT (about 80 cents). Very tasty and very filling.
On the way back, I snapped this picture so everyone could see a few things.
First, note the unbelievable number of scooters parked on the side of the street. This block had at least 300 parked scooters just on this side of the road. Allen Messimer said there are about 2 million registered scooters in this county of 6 million people. I think I've seen about a quarter of a million of them in the last four days.
Second, note the location of Jon and Amy's apartment. They live on the 16th floor, with one small elevator servicing 20 floors. I have highlighted the balcony of their apartment with a yellow box (it's really green like the rest of the building). The tall building in the middle is a bank that they are adjacent to. The building to the left is across the street and contains a huge department store, restaurants, and the health club that we went swimming in tonight.
After eating our bings, Adam and I played the Spurs vs. Heat in NBA 2K5 on the playstation. Adam has really become a huge NBA fan lately, and he's even watched some of the games here with the play-by-play in Chinese. He jumped at the chance to play. In case it matters, we teamed up as the Spurs to beat the Heat 63-62 on a 3 pointer by dad at the buzzer.
At this point, Sandy left to go visit Jennifer Reynolds, another friend we have serving here in Taiwan. They went to a place for pink grapefruit tea and caught up on things.
While they were gone, Jon, Amy, and I took the kids swimming at the health club. Their rule is for everyone to wear a swimming cap, so we had to buy those. I didn't take my picture in the cap, but here's what the boys looked like:
If they weren't tired enough to sleep well, 30 minutes in the pool finished them off. Alex complained about having to stop swimming, but by the time we got back to the apartment, he was virtually asleep. All the kids were out cold by 8:45 and Sandy soon thereafter. Jon, Amy, and I stayed up working on various things and listening to music. A relaxing ending to an eye-opening day.
Why do they bother with Taiwan and why did we come? Because people here are lost. They are either caught up in false religion, false hope from prosperity, or false pride from nationalistic pride. Unfortunately, all three of those things are going to be burned up some day. All that will last is what the Lord has done in our lives. Through the support of Christians like us, our friends are doing their part to see that happen.
Day 7 - Road trip to the Ocean
Adam got up at 6:00 am this morning (I'm skeptical of his claim to have awakened at 2:00 am without going back to sleep) and woke up the rest of the kids to play. The adults would have preferred a 7:00 am wakeup call instead. Jon is still conducting VBS via phone, so we couldn't really go anywhere until 10:00 am. Sandy spent time chatting with her family on the computer, while the kids enjoyed some Playstation time. Mornings have been relaxing for us and a good time to catch up on e-mail and phone calls. (By the way, I apologize for the picture quality on today's post, but all the photos were taken with my PDA since I left my camera's memory card at the apartment.)
Jon decided today's destinations would be Longshan Temple and Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. Around 10:45 am (9:45 pm Wed in Missouri) we took off on our typical travel route: dodging scooters, taxis, and busses across the streets to the subway station, riding escalators, buying tickets, and walking through turnstiles. One of the fringe benefits of this week has been the number of escalators we have walked on: easily 40 per day. Our kids used to be afraid of them, but now it's no problem. Today, Adam asked if there are any escalators in Moberly. We all racked our brains before deciding that the closest escalator to our house is at J.C. Penney in Columbia Mall. Of course, the only building in Moberly taller than three floors is the old folks home, but that's another story.
The destinations we visited really reflect the reasons Taiwan is an important country for mission work. From a worldly perspective, Taiwan has it made: prosperity, family, national identity, religious activity, beautiful land, technological savvy. In fact, Taipei 101 describes its 6 distinctive characteristics as Technology, Art, Innovation, People, Environment, and Identity. All of those things are important to the people here. Today's destinations showed me the futility of life focused on things that are less important than following Christ.
We make quite a crew travelling together, but so far we have left no one behind. Once today we pondered what it would be like if one of our children failed to make the train transfer and we left with4out him or her. We couldn't figure out a way to go back and get them, so we changed the subject. The trains are all the same and basically boring, except for the occasional one advertising Star Wars. Yoda has a way of drawing attention.
.Arriving at Longshan temple, we started smelling the burning of incense and other things. It is a beautifully designed building. Inside the gate, a waterfall draws your attention.
Alex wanted to know if we could play in the water. I told him not today.
Here is a picture of me inside the front of the Temple.
In case you're wondering, it is acceptable for pictures to be taken. We saw many American businessmen there also snapping pictures and video of their excursions.
The temple really is a feast for the senses. Of course, you can't avoid the smell. The burning of incense and who knows what else fills the air. Being a pyromaniac myself, I was more than a little impressed by all the lighters, lamps, candles, incense sticks, and other sources of smoke and heat.
The sounds of the temple also get your attention. In the background is music I swear I've heard before at China Garden restaurant. Added to that are the sounds of people roaming around chanting, praying, and conversing.
The sights are the most disturbing. You honestly don't know whether the right response is pity or ridicule. There's more to see there than I can possibly describe, but here are three quick sights.
Tables full of food and drink are set, offered to one or more of the idols there. I honestly don't know if Buddha prefers junk food or health food, because I saw both on the table. Judging by the picture of Buddha that I saw, he probably prefers junk food but his followers think he needs the health food.
All this stuff is collected by the employees of the temple and resold to the next lost person who wanders in looking for something to buy and offer in worship.
People are there to pray and find out what the answers are to their prayers. Here's how it works. After making an offering they hope will be pleasing, they grab two pieces of wood shaped like apple slices. They bow on their knees toward the idol, pray and ask for the answer. They roll the dice and throw them to the ground (notice the red items falling from this lady's hands). If it comes up snake eyes, they rephrase the prayer and roll them again. When it comes up craps, they finally stop. It took this lady at least four attempts that I saw before she got the answer she wanted.
Finally, this temple is unbelievably commercialized. Patrons spend money on the incense, the food and drink that they buy to offer to the idols (which is resold after it is offered), books and tapes to listen to, and all kinds of decorations to take home as a reminder. They can even buy a fortune, which is like a mega fortune cookie, printed on a sheet of paper located in one of 100 drawers. So the patron buys a fortune, is told which number of drawer to pull from, and then discovers the idol's insight for living (with apologies to Chuck Swindoll). I thought that there were only 100 possible fortunes, but Jon told me there are dozens in each box. Any rational person could see that this is simply random, but these people are either irrational or choose to ignore the truth.
So the worship at the temple gives a clear picture of the darkness this country is in and how large the need is.
1:30 pm: After lunch at McDonald's (3rd time this week), we went to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial.
CKS was the man who led the fight against Communists in China, but then retreated with thousands of people to this island. He is considered a national hero, and a massive statue of him is on constant display, guarded by soldiers.
Most of the time, these soldiers stand at rapt attention, staring straight ahead (with a fan behind them to stay cool).
Every hour, these two pour souls get relieved of duty, but not before they do an elaborate 10 minute changing-of-the-guard routine.
At 2:00 pm, we watched their matinee performance. A crowd gathered and the 5 guys (2 going off duty, 2 going on duty, one point guard) put on a show, complete with choreography, boot stomps, rifle spins, and an occasional shout. Now, I mean no disrespect by this, but I couldn't help thinking this looks like a mixture of synchronized swimming, a pom-pom routine, and a presentation of colors, all done in slow motion. VERY slow motion. A still shot really doesn't do it justice. I think the message of this routine is, "We've got an army, and it is precise, prepared, and pretty." All I know is that if they can fire their rifles halfway as good as they can spin them around like a baton, then the island is well-protected.
About this time, the kids were getting really hot and tired, so we went to the air conditioned museum, which was beautiful and full of art and history. We could have spent 3 hours there, but five children had plans to go to a toy store, instead.
Watching the five bored children lose interest in this very interesting place forced me to reflect on my childhood. My parents often took me to places in Missouri and other states where history like this was on display and influential leadership was honored. I wonder how many times my brother and I lost the opportunity to learn because we were concerned more about our own discomforts. Maybe this is just the way all kids act, but I sure wish I could help them see what they're missing. They will probably end up learning it from their own kids.
After roaming through a pretty garden, we walked back to the MRT, back through escalators, and rode the train back to the Ralls' neighborhood. Sandy, Amy, Anna, and Alex came back to the apartment for ice cream while Jon, David, Joshua, Sean, and Adam travelled in a taxi in search of the perfect toy store.
3:30 pm: Adam had been hoping for months that when he came to Taiwan, he could find some Bionicle sets that have yet to be released in America. In fact, he had not spent his money for toys since finding out that so many were available here. He had $1000 NT (about $35) saved up to spend. He was successful in that quest, and we also found three Megaman toys for Alex. It is so much easier to shop for Alex when he isn't with us.
5:00 pm: Jon wanted us to eat something authentic for supper, so we walked two blocks to a cart on the side of the street that makes "bings". A bing is a combination of an onion bread and eggs, fried on a griddle like a pancake.
Jon and Amy like this couple, who bring their little truck every evening to make these things for $25 NT (about 80 cents). Very tasty and very filling.On the way back, I snapped this picture so everyone could see a few things.
First, note the unbelievable number of scooters parked on the side of the street. This block had at least 300 parked scooters just on this side of the road. Allen Messimer said there are about 2 million registered scooters in this county of 6 million people. I think I've seen about a quarter of a million of them in the last four days.
Second, note the location of Jon and Amy's apartment. They live on the 16th floor, with one small elevator servicing 20 floors. I have highlighted the balcony of their apartment with a yellow box (it's really green like the rest of the building). The tall building in the middle is a bank that they are adjacent to. The building to the left is across the street and contains a huge department store, restaurants, and the health club that we went swimming in tonight.
After eating our bings, Adam and I played the Spurs vs. Heat in NBA 2K5 on the playstation. Adam has really become a huge NBA fan lately, and he's even watched some of the games here with the play-by-play in Chinese. He jumped at the chance to play. In case it matters, we teamed up as the Spurs to beat the Heat 63-62 on a 3 pointer by dad at the buzzer.
At this point, Sandy left to go visit Jennifer Reynolds, another friend we have serving here in Taiwan. They went to a place for pink grapefruit tea and caught up on things.
While they were gone, Jon, Amy, and I took the kids swimming at the health club. Their rule is for everyone to wear a swimming cap, so we had to buy those. I didn't take my picture in the cap, but here's what the boys looked like:If they weren't tired enough to sleep well, 30 minutes in the pool finished them off. Alex complained about having to stop swimming, but by the time we got back to the apartment, he was virtually asleep. All the kids were out cold by 8:45 and Sandy soon thereafter. Jon, Amy, and I stayed up working on various things and listening to music. A relaxing ending to an eye-opening day.
Why do they bother with Taiwan and why did we come? Because people here are lost. They are either caught up in false religion, false hope from prosperity, or false pride from nationalistic pride. Unfortunately, all three of those things are going to be burned up some day. All that will last is what the Lord has done in our lives. Through the support of Christians like us, our friends are doing their part to see that happen.
Day 7 - Road trip to the Ocean
posted by Central Christian College of the Bible at
3:06 AM
