This is Hannah, I'm giving Phil a break from blogging tonight. We have had a very busy week! On Sunday we decided to go to the English congregation since it was the Circuit overseers visit. It was a treat to get to hear his special talks in English. It was so refreshing to understand every word! The congregation was very warm and welcoming. Over half of the congregation is Filipino, and speak Tagalog as their first language. All of them do very well with English, and made really beautiful comments. They were so inspiring! A Canadian brother in the hall explained to us that most of them worked the whole night up until the meeting, and still attend and participate. Then, to enjoy more fellowship most everyone went out to eat together after the meeting. AND then they go preaching into the late evening!
At the restaurant with the friends
The C.O. and his wife
The first thing the C.O said to Phil at lunch was,"We both did what you are never suppose to do, we married a woman taller than us." :) In this picture he looks taller, but she is actually a couple inches taller than him. Of course we instantly liked them. They had a great sense of humor and were very down to earth.
Trey (an American bro) showing off his safety gear for driving a scooter at lunch
After lunch the friends invited us to go preaching with them. Though we weren't prepared, we knew we had to take advantage of the opportunity. Devin, the Canadian brother that helped us find the congregation, was extremely enthusiastic about the ministry in English. He is a single brother that has been living in Taiwan for over 9 years. He speaks Chinese quite fluently, and sounds Taiwanese. He just attended the Bible School for Single Brothers, and was unexpectedly assigned to the English congregation. We got the impression that when he first received his assignment, he would have preferred to stay in Chinese. But he told us how he quickly discovered that the English ministry here is a blast. He kept telling us we were going to love it. It was really easy to tell that he already loves the congregation too.
We drove our scooters to a very busy area near a large mall and shopping area. Devin showed us the area where the brothers set up a booth of literature, and told us here people will even come up to you and say "I'm going to talk to you." Not two minutes after he said that a man approached Phil and I and said word for word, "I'm going to talk to you"! We were shocked. We talked for ten minutes. He accepted a tract in Chinese and English The people we talked to were very nice and accepted literature. The way the brothers arranged it was to have two publishers stay with the booth, and then send others to do street witnessing in different areas. We went into the mall with two sisters and brothers. The brothers armed us with literature in 5 different languages, since this area is very diverse. Somehow I still only managed to talk to Taiwanese people. (I think Jehovah wants to keep us focused on Chinese.) :)
First thing we had to do was buy Phil a hat though, we were freezing! Not Missouri cold but a damp-chill-you-to-your-bones cold that felt a lot colder than it was. Despite the cold, Devin was right. We had a blast. It has been our favorite day since we came to Taiwan. The ministry was exciting, and the friends we a lot of fun. We hit it off really well with the young couple in the picture below and the brother across from them. They invited us out to dinner after service, so we hopped in their car and went to a Indian restaurant they like.
Break time at McDonalds
Indian restaurant
The Indian food was delicious! (Phil thought it was tolerable, but isn't in a hurry to go back.) One of the crazy misconceptions that we had before we came was that Taiwanese people ate dogs. And that you wouldn't see any stray dogs or dogs as pets since they were food. There are dogs everywhere! We see tons of people with their pet dogs. People with businesses often have their dog there in the shop. We also see many people with them on their scooter driving down the road. At the Indian restaurant the owner had her little chocolate poodle pictured below. He was so cute! As soon as I reached down to pet him he hopped into my arms.
We didn't get home til about 10! It was a long, encouraging day that we really enjoyed. We keep dealing with difficult things here from time to time, but Jehovah always gives us the encouragement we need to keep on going. I have to admit, I'm really falling in love with Taiwan. Its only been a month and I can tell 6 months is not going to be long enough. But we love and miss our friends back home. We think about all of you every day. I wish you were here!
Love Hannah (& Phil)
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