Getting reading for our move up to Prince Albert, Sask.

We are back in Canada now. We are feeling a little more relieved now that everything is more stabilized. Alice is feeling much better now and more energetic. I am also feeling like I am getting more things done. This week, we got most of our errands done. Now I am painting my parents deck so we can have a BBQ outside.

We are now in the midst of preparing to move to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (pop. 45,000) to start my internship at Messiah Lutheran Church. Last week, we drove up to Prince Albert to look for an apartment and found a place about 5-6 blocks from the church. This is more convenient because I can also go home for lunch. We will move some of our stuff into our apartment on July 27. We will rent a small 10-foot U-Haul truck because we don't have much stuff. We are looking forward to getting settled into our new place.

I was told that Messiah Lutheran Church has an average of about 150-200 attendance on Sundays. It seems like an active congregation for a Lutheran church. I anticipate I will feel a little nervous but that's the excitement of a new place and new people.

Returning back to Canada sooner than expected

We will be leaving Taiwan on July 8 (which is earlier than expected) due to difficulties with her pregnancy. Please pray for her. She was in the hospital this past weekend here in Changhua. It was good that we had travel insurance to cover the hospital expenses. She wanted to return back to Canada sooner so I called up the airline at 1 a.m. Due to our circumstances, Air Canada was kind enough to allow us to change our departure date back to Canada with a change fee. Please pray for Alice's health. The doctor gave her some medication and she is okay right now.

a department store with washrooms with different themes

Last week, we went to another big department store in Taichung, Taiwan. This one is called Chungyo Department Store. It one was similar to Sogo but it wasn't as high-end so we didn't feel as intimidated, however, it is still considered a fancy department store, even in relation to North American department stores. What blew me away were that the washrooms with different themes (click on 下一頁>> under the picture to see the different floors' designs). That's way too cool... something a country-bumpkin like me has never seen before in Canada or the US.

Chung-Yo is a 15-floor store and they also have elevator hostesses. Man, I love the idea of elevator hostesses. That's what I call full-serve. I asked again if I could take their picture and this time they didn't say "No" so I got a snapshot…I guess persistency pays off (I'll put this picture on the blog later when I get a chance). As the elevator door closes, the elevator hostesses bow before the people as a gesture of thanks and respect. This comes from the Asian way of "giving face." This bowing also happens when the store opens and when the store closes. A group of workers will go outside of the store at the open and close of each day and bow to thank their customers. I didn't get to see this but it would be very interesting to have actually seen this. Bowing is a very Japanese thing to do so Chinese people don't do this here. This is not surprising since the store's Japanese style of merchandising and service was modelled after the chain store Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. Most people in North America have not seen department stores like this because it is a Japanese style of shopping.

What also blew me away were the numerous full-service restaurants and food court restaurants on the top three floors. There must have been 20-30 food court restaurants on one floor. I ordered an individual hot pot that that was heated underneath with a flame. I'm liking the Asian way of eating. It's so different from North Americanized-style Chinese food. And it seems cheaper to eat here in Taiwan than it is in Canada.
Here's a long review about Chung-Yo if you have time to read.

Bible studies on Wednesday and Friday evening

Since arriving here in Taiwan, I have desired to converse with others in English. Alice’s long-time friend, who is also named Alice (“Ehr-Jing”), helped to organize a group from her fellowship who are interested in attending an English bible study. They attend the Bai-ja fellowship that meets near the Changhua’s university. For the last 2 weeks, I have been blessed to lead a small English bible study with this small group of 4-5 believers. We have been studying the book of Romans on Wednesday evening and book of James on Friday evening. These two nights are like highlights during my week. I am excited to meet with them.

This group of believers have been wonderful. I am just getting to know them better now. They really love the Lord Jesus and have treated me with kindness and generosity. I admire their love for God and their willingness to study the word of God and to pray. I have felt so blessed through their spirituality and their encouragement to trust in the Lord. Each of them have a living relationship with the Lord God and I am greatly encouraged by their love, faith and desire to serve God. Despite our individual weaknesses and failings, I am sure that our mutual examples of love and service to God act to encourage one other.

On a technical note, I have learned that when we doing bible studies where people are using various translations and in various languages, it can be difficult for others to follow what each other are reading. Not only is there a difference in language but there is also a difference in wording. I have found that a more formal translation like the T/NIV, ESV, N/RSV are definitely easier when one is in this type of situation. It just seems to work better. Having a dynamic translation like an NLT or GNT makes it that much more difficult for others to follow. I have been using the fellowship’s NKJV here in Taiwan and it has served me well.

Bread of Life Christian Church

This past Sunday, we visited a charismatic church called Bread of Life Christian Church in Changhua. It is probably one of the most attended congregations in Changhua, Taiwan. It is a congregation of the largest church in Taiwan, the Bread of Life Christian Church based in Taipei, which has over 170 congregations around the world including Torrance, California and Santa Clara, California . In Chinese, it is known as "Ling Liang Tong." This congregation here in Changhua, Taiwan has grown to three services on Sunday mornings. They have dynamic worship services. The sermon was about 45 minutes and Alice says that it had more of a biblical exegetical-teaching style. This seems to be the style of sermons here in Taiwan and Asia. I think this preaching style helps to build a believers knowledge of the bible better than the pastoral style of preaching. Done right, it can be a powerful style of preaching. This is the church that Alice first went to when she first became a Christian. This fellowship started with about 30 people in attendance but its attendance is about 400 each Sunday.

I have wondered why churches like this have grown so rapidly in Taiwan and Asia? Perhaps it is because of the freedom of the Holy Spirit in its worship? Perhaps it is their passion for evangelism? Whatever it is, it seems to be working because it is growing fast and more people are getting to know the Lord in a deeper way.

I also really like upbeat praise music. For one thing, an upbeat praise music helps wake me up in the morning if I'm not yet fully awake. The main reason I like worshiping God with an upbeat style of music is that it involves my emotions too. I naturally involve my intellect because I am a natural thinker. I have no problem involving my thinking ability but need some help to kick my emotions and feelings into gear. Personally, I think (or feel) that worship should involve both intellect and emotions. We all naturally tend toward stimulating our emotions in many areas so why not also in our worship? Most normal people listen to rock or upbeat music secular music and download music through their MP3 so why should Christians be so uptight about more emotional music in church? Too often, there seems to be an odd dichotomy in how we live and how we worship. Is this why some people see Christianity as odd or out-dated?

A great place for salad in a non-salad culture

Chinese culture is generally a non-salad eating culture, therefore, I did not expect to find many places to eat salad. I had a strong desire to eat salad and more vegetables yesterday so Diane, Alice's sister, suggested that we go check out Noble Family Steak House here in Changhua. We went there to try their salad bar today and it was really good. The experience is different from the usual casual rough-house style dining on the local street corner. It's a good place to go to if you want western style cuisine. They do serve steak as their prime dish on the menu but one can always just go for the salad bar. It's an all-you-can-eat salad bar for about NT$140 (or Cdn $4). A steak dinner can range from NT$190-350 including the salad bar. Everything includes desert and even coffee. I found the environment to be very clean and comfortable (really). I'm sure I will frequent this place more often from now on when I want to satisfy my craving for salad.

Beautiful photographs of Taiwan

For anyone interested in taking a look at awesome photography of Taiwan, you have to check out Craig Ferguson's blog at http://www.blog.craigfergusonimages.com. He has some beautiful pictures of the life in Taiwan. Click on the type of images you want to see and then choose "slideshow."