Pastor Jack’s Blog

We had a great day in kaoshiung yesterday. Wendy took us to her Church, the biggest Church in Kaohsiung; Bread of Life (Ling-liang Church.) There were about 300 people there (the total of all their services is about 1000). The worship service started at 8:00am, the worship and music were good, people really sang and worshipped, the preacher, a lady, was good, speaking about the Jewish festivals and how we need times in our life for rest, celebration, and renewal. After Church everyone left quite quickly as the second service began at 10:00am.

After Church Lisa took us to Kaohsiung’s “Jelly park”. It was hot, but the park was nice. Then we had a very nice lunch together. (I mentioned that I would give you Lisa’s daughter Tina’s blog and website. check it out, really cool. Sorry I don’t know how to insert HTML yet, so just cut and paste the link into your browser.)

After a little afternoon nap…. very common here in Taiwan…. Wendy drove us to Tainan. (Tonight I will introduce Wendy and her son Charles and husband to you. Have to wait to get a photo of Wendy’s husband.) Tainan is only about 1 hour from Kaohsiung. We went to Joy’s home…. wow, her home is really nice and huge.. 130 Ping…. I don’t know how big that is in sq.m but it was bigger than any home I have seen in Chch. We met Joy’s husband Dr. Chang who was baptised in our Church many years ago and now works here in a large private medical clinic, specializing in Kidney diseases. We met Mark also, check out the photo! Mark is really into sports, basketball, tennis, etc, and is a really nice young man. (In our Church he was quite a small boy, and was really a very hot table tennis player……… well, he is not small anymore!) Sunday night the adults had a lovely buffet dinner in a flash hotel, and the young people went to the local KTV. After dinner, we joined them for a few minutes in the KTV and I ‘wowed’ them with a great rendition of Carol King’s “You’ve got a friend”. (If you were a teenager in the 70’s you will know that song…) I wasn’t actually that good, but the audio equipment is so good it made me sound better… haha.

This KTV place was unbelievable!!! 20 floors and on each floor about 20 rooms… ‘chao da’!!!! Taiwanese must love to sing. It was my first time in a KTV and it was kinda fun…. I can understand the attraction….. as I sang I kinda felt like a star….

After 1 hour and 40 minutes on the HSR (it was like riding on a rocket) we arrived in Kaohsiung and Lisa and her husband Dr. Ma and their daughter Wendy picked us up from the station. (Eldest daughter Tina is studying Medicine in Shanghai so wasn’t there) Lisa came to Chch with her two Children in about 1997 and was baptised in our Church soon after that. She was part of one of the home groups that Becky and I led, and we were often in her home in Burnside. Her daughters Tina and Wendy, then about 7 and 4 were really lots of fun, mum described them as a couple of ‘little monkeys’. They have now grown up into lovely young women and look so different. (When she is not studying Tina draws cartoons, has her own website, and sells these cartoons online, and has also published a book of her cartoons. She is very gifted, and has fans in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. I will find out her website address and let you know.)  Lisa was a real joy in our Church, always cooking treats for the group, always so positive, and helpful. Lisa works here as a Dentist, and Dr Ma is a senior Dr. in a large hospital here.

When we entered the restuaraunt for Lunch we were surrounded by familiar faces;

it was great to catch up with Lilly and her husband and daughter Yvonne. Lilly and Yvonne were in our Church from about 1997-2000, and were part of our Church while Llly’s husband was in Taiwan. At that time he was not a Christian but has since put is faith in Jesus and been baptised and now for the past 2 years has been working full time in their Church in Administration. Lilly is also very involved in serving in their Church; an Independent, local Church. While in Chch, Lilly was one of our precious Sunday School teachers and was a real blessing to our Church. Yvonne is now at University majoring in English. If you remember her in Sunday School you will remember she was such a lovely young girl, well…… she has grown up and is now a lovely young woman. Yvonne was Baptised in our Church, along with her good friend Cathy who is now studying in Australia.

Joy and her 3 children Jenny, Jane and Mark (Mark was having an exam today so could not join us for Lunch) came to Chch in 1997. They started coming to our Church and Joy became a Christian and was baptised in our Church, as was Jenny a little later along with her father. Joy was a real blessing in our Home Group, always so honest and open and lovely. Her children were really lovely and they still are. Jenny is now in her second year studying medicine in Yang-min Medical University in Taipei. Jane and Mark are students. (Look how tall they all are!) For those of you who taught Jenny, Jane and Mark in our Sunday School you will be so pleased to see what lovely young adults they have become. Joy’s husband is a Dr. in Tainan. When Joy moved her family back to Taiwan in 2000 it was so sad to see them leave. At that time so many from our Church moved back to Asia or over to Australia…. it was really sad for me as a Pastor to see so many dear friends and brothers and sisters leave. But it is so great now to catch up with them again, and see how they still miss our Church.

Wendy and her son Charles are also in the photo above. I will tell you all about them tomorrow, along with the other big group of friends who came to visit us in the afternoon at Wendy’s home.

At 10;42 am this morning Becky and I got on the HSR (High Speed Rail) To go to Kaoshiung. (it is now 11:25) Have a look at this thing…. it is very, very cool! (Becky is the one in the green.)

We are traveling at 290k and with the help of this ‘USB wireless widget thingie’ I can write this blog entry. Isn’t technology a wonderful thing!!! Looking out the window all I see is houses, buildings, towns and cities, and some trees. Oh we are in another tunnel, and the ‘wireless widget’ has lost the network…. oh we are out again, and back online. The ticket cost NT$1490, about NZ$75. The seats are very comfortable, the train is quiet, and the view is amazing! oh back in another tunnel…..

Becky and I had a very enjoyable dinner the other night (Beijing Duck) with Jerry and Catherine Kuo. It was great to see Catherine again, she has been in our Church for many many years and was such a blessing specially in the Cantonese Congregation. She served in many area, Evergreen group, Worship team, translation, Cantonese Committee Chairperson, Deacon etc etc. She is back in HK now with her daughter Candy, and was visiting her husband here in Taipei. Jerry is a dentist here in Taipei, (Jerry was baptised in our Church in 2000.) and son Johnny is studying in Otago. Catherine was her usual, happy joyful self, and I know everyone in the Cantonese Congregation really misses her. Catherine says “Hi!” to everyone!!!

I will finsih now and enjoy the scenery! See you in Kaoshiung.

Today we had lunch with Joseph and Sherry. It was wonderful, because we haven’t seen them for 10 years. They moved to Chch in 1997 with their son Zenas and baby daughter Jeannie. Joseph is a dentist and like many other Immigrant husbands he commuted between Chch and Taipei. They moved back to Taiwan in 1999, and we haven’t seen them since. Here they are, and they look just the same!

During the 90’s Becky and I led 2 home groups in our Church, and Sherry was in one of those home groups. Sherry was so much fun! (She looks a little serious in the picture, but actually she is very, very fun to be around.) We had some wonderful times in those home groups and developed deep friendships. (On Sat we will go to Kaohsiung to see 4 others from those groups; Wendy, Lisa, Joy and Lilly. Will keep you posted on what they are up to now!) Sherry was an unforgettable person, and I have often wondered over the past 10 years how she is and what she and her husband are doing.

Joseph and Sherry were both Christians when they came to NZ, and are now back in the Presbyterian Church here. Sherry had studied music in Tainan Theological Seminary so her two children are very musical, Zenas coming first place in a recent National competition for Cello. We were sad not to have seen Jeannie because she was such a beautiful child and we would like to have seen her now as a 13 year old. But she was at school!

Joseph and Sherry work together in their Dental clinic here in Taipei and are busy. They said they miss NZ but are happy here. Joseph and Sherry we would love to see you in Oct next year…… if you are able to come to our 20th Anniversary.

We had lunch today with Caroline Chuan’s parents, and Victor. (It was a Japanese all you can eat place…. oh my goodness!!! You can see my tummy getting bigger! Oh no!!!)

Mr and Mrs Chuan have been to Chch several times to visit Caroline, and always come to our church while they are in NZ. Mr Chuan was always in our Church English Class, learning English, and Mrs Chuan and Becky always had lots to chat about while they were in NZ. You might recognise them in this picture. We had a lovely time with them and they were very warm and kind to us. We gave them a special invite to our Churches 20th Anniversary celebrations the first week of Oct. next year.

After another Mandarin lesson this afternoon, we had dinner with Paul and Polly Wang. Paul is Cindy Wang and Vicky Wang’s brother, and Corney Kuo’s brother in law. Paul and Polly have never been to our Church, but Becky and I met Paul once in Cindy’s home in Chch, and he and Polly were most generous when our Church was raising money for our Building fund, and also 4-5 years ago our Church prayed a lot for Paul though his illness.

Paul’s testimony to God’s Grace and healing power is wonderful! Paul was diagnosed with a kind of blood cancer (I don’t know the medical term) in 2003. At that time he was a successful businessman with factories in China. Paul shared with us the story of his intense medical treatment, and with the great skill of the Taiwan Doctors and the grace of God, he has been able to get on top of this cancer. See the photo, he looks great. Through this experience Paul sold his business, and now is involved in Christian work, using his skill and experience to help lead a number of Christian organizations, and serve in his Church.

It was really nice to meet Paul’s wife Polly, she is a really lovely, friendly lady, and she made us feel very warm. They have two young adult Children, their daughter is about to return to Taiwan after getting her Masters degree in the US, their son is still studying there. paul and Polly if you want to visit our Church next Oct. it would be lovely to have you!

Today Becky and I went to School in Taipei. Helen, who has graciously provided a flat for us to live in for a month free of charge here, is an English Teacher in a Junior College here in Lin-kou, Taipei County. Becky and I were the “special visitors” introducing NZ, our Church, and doing Q & A. We were there for 2 hours and it was quite a new experience. Here are some of the students. They look a lot like girls in our Youth Group at CCC!!

Here is a pic of the students parking lot. Pretty cool huh!!

This morning there were 5,000 students on campus, aged 15-22. Total student numbers are 10,000! It is a large, spacious, clean, modern school. It is a private school owned by a business man, and fees are about NT$30K per semester, which equals about NZ$1500.00. There were about 52 students in the class learning “Applied/Spoken English”. During the class, like students anywhere, they were at times very focused and engaged, and at times, chatting and daydreaming. When we talked about food in Taiwan and NZ they were really into it, specially when I told them a plate of 10 ‘Gwo-te’ in NZ costs about NZ$9.00…. they nearly fell off their chairs. (in Taiwan the cost is about NZ$2.00) When I told them 2 litres of ice-cream cost NZ$2.99 they were very amazed.

When we talked about our Church and showed them pictures of our Church Nelson Camp, YG activities etc they were very interested. Pictures of some baptisms in the Church were also very new to them, as none were Christians.

During our Q & A I asked them what is the best thing about Taiwan and what is the worst thing; Best; #1) Taiwan’s Food, #2) Taiwan’s Natural Scenery, and #3) Taiwan’s people.

When I asked them what is the worst thing about Taiwan, there was an instant response. They all, and I mean all 52 of them got very animated and started talking at the same time, calling out the same answer…… I was really surprised as they had been rather quite the whole class, but on this question there was a passionate, unanimous response. What do you think they thought the worst thing about Taiwan is???

Scroll down to see their answer…..

The #3 worst thing about Taiwan, (according to these 52 students) is… Taiwan’s Education Policies. They had very strong opinions on this.

The #2 worst thing about Taiwan, (according to these 52 students) is… Taiwan’s Pollution.

and……………………….

The #1 worst thing about Taiwan, (according to these 52 students) is… Taiwan’s Politics. (I was really surprised that ALL these 16 year old students were so aware and so concerned about Political issues. I cannot imagine Kiwi students knowing, or caring anything abut NZ politics. Perhaps NZ politics is too boring! Or is it tht Taiwan’s Politics is too…….. colourful…..) 

Yes, everyone! Pastor Jack’s Blog is the place to come to, to find out what is happening in Taiwan!! And here, for your viewing pleasure, are a few pics of Kevin and Clare’s wedding banquet tonight. It was a great evening, the bride was beautiful, the groom was very happy, Kevin’s parents were very proud of their son, Mrs Wong was also so happy, the place was full of Kevin’s relatives…. even Mr Chu (Jennifer’s Father, who is Kevin’s uncle, and so Kevin is Jennifer and Robert’s ‘Biao-ge’, so that is why he is always called ‘Biao-ge’!!! Got it?) from Chch.

The banquet hall was really special, they even had a tenor singing Italian Opera; Wow…… he was one of Kevin’s mother’s students and he was good!!! Very romantic!!! Kevin and Clare were really happy…. aren’t weddings wonderful!! (Oh I almost forgot, the shark’s fin soup was yummy…. but I always feel sorry for the poor shark… as was the rest of the banquet!)

This next one is of Kevin’s beautiful young mum, and his beautiful young sister; Cherry. Cherry was baptised in our Church many years ago, and is now married, and living and working with her husband in Germany!

In this next pic of three lovely young ladies you will see Yi-pei. (Becky and I are going to spend some time with Yi-pei and Lisa next week, so will fill you in on what she has been up to next week!)

Finally, this one is of Clare’s second sister Carol, her husband Roland, and cute children, Gloria and Timothy. Carol was in our Church for many years; YG, YAG, teaching Sunday School. Carol was a real joy in our Church!! She got her M.Sc. at Canterbury and then left CCC about 6-7 years ago and went to Singapore where she met Roland and married. Roland is a University Proff. in Singapore teaching Physics. Our Church recently gave a little financial support to their family as they were on a 6 week mission trip to Nigeria, Africa.

Yesterday and today we caught up with a few friends who used to be in our Church and are now back in Taiwan.

Isn’t this a great photo???!!!! This is Zoe’s family! Zoe has been part of our Church for the past 11 years, and she and her boyfriend Bret are in Taiwan visiting her family. Her mum; Ginger, was in our Church for a couple of years and her Dad works here as an engineer in a power company. They are very involved in their Church, a Presbyterian Church here in Taipei. Zoe’s brother; James is just completing his PhD in Computer science. His lovely wife studied counselling at the Methodist Seminary here, and they, and their very cute son Lala, (with #2 on the way.. congratulations!!!) are very active in their Church. We had a lovely evening with them, catching up on old times.

Here is a close up of Zoe’s handsome kiwi boyfriend; Bret. This is so that when Bret comes to our Church with Zoe you will all know who he is, and you can say; “Hi Bret, we saw you on Pastor Jack’s Blog….welcome”

Tonight we spent the evening with another group of friends from CCC;

These guys have been friends for 30 years, since their Uni days. Teddy and Eileen Miao were in our Church for 3-4 years with their daughter Esther, and son Samuel. Teddy is Brother David and Minky Miao’s eldest son. He and Eileen are dentists, and have a large dental Clinic in Taipei. They showed us around the clinic, it has 8-9 dental chairs very modern, very impressive! Eileen has been studying Theology and Counselling and is soon to give her defence for her PhD. Daughter Esther is doing Medicine in Tainan, and son Samuel (in the pic below) is doing Zoology in preparation for studying dentistry next year. It was really lovely to catch up with Samuel as he was baptised in our Church as a young boy of 6 years old, and he left Chch soon after that to return to Taiwan with his family. He has become a very fine young Christian man!

Teddy and Eileen showed us a place they have decorated out which they are using as a safe place for those who need a listening ear, love, wise counsel and prayer. It is a very modern, warm, comfortable place with several rooms, where Eileen and a few other Christian friends with the same vision are helping those in need. The direct translation from Mandarin into English is; “Spiritual, heart, home, garden.” So it is a spiritual place like a garden, like a home, where hearts can be opened up, healed, and filled up with the Love of God. You can see a little bit of this place here in this photo;

Joseph (better known as ‘Lau-da’) and Beverly Huang and their family were also in our Church for several years. Beverly was baptised in our Church as were her son Jeffery, and daughter Judy. Jeffery is studying medicine, and Judy is still in our church…. many of you will know Judy as she is part of our Worship team and homestay’s with David and Vivienne Zoan. Here is Lau-da, Beverly and youngest son Jeremy. (Jeremy was just 4 when they left Chch…. look at him now! He is a very nice young man!!)

Lau-da (who looks so much younger, being now clean-shaven!!) is also a Dentist and has his own clinic here. Beverly is a Govt. officer and is quite high up in the Environmental Protection Dept. They are active in their Church, and it was great to catch up with them.

And finally in the Picture below is brother Johnny Lee, who is also a dentist… they all studied dentistry together. (I introduced Brother Johnny in a previous Blog entry.) We all had a wonderful evening, talked and laughed, and talked and laughed and talked and laughed!!! (if you know Brother Johnny you know why we laughed so much, he is really a lot of fun!!)

Today, 10/10, is Taiwan’s National Day. I was hoping to see a few F16s fly over or Cruise Missile Launchers paraded through Taipei…. but while we were having lunch, I missed it!! ….Come on… if you were in my position which would you choose; a bowl of Taiwan’s famous ‘Nou rou min’ or standing in the hot sun watching a military parade??

Like the rest of the world, Taiwan seems to be depressed by the Financial Crisis sweeping the Globe. If you have stocks, savings, or investments it is a bit scarey. Reminds me of that verse in proverbs that says; “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.” (Proverbs 23:4-6) For us on this Sabbatical break it has been sad to see the NZ$ sinking like the Titanic!!! It makes everything over here more expensive. Never mind, God will supply all our needs according to His riches!!

Today we spent the day with Jasmine and her daughter Jessie and Dustin and his family;

Jessie was born in NZ, and she was just 6 years old when she left Christchurch with her family to return to Taiwan. If you taught Jessie in CCC Sunday School you will be pleased to see what a really lovely young lady she has become. Jessie studies at a Catholic boarding school in Tainan, and was back in Taipei for the long weekend. I was practising my Mandarin and asked Jessie; “Ni shi na gwoh ren?” She replied; “I don’t know!” We decided she was either a Taiwanese-Kiwi, or a Kiwi-Taiwanese. What about you? “Ni shi na gwoh ren”?

We had a nice afternoon with Dustin and his family visiting Bali; (eldest daughter; Joy, was at home studying)

Follow up on my eye surgery; As you might know ,for many years I have had a problem with my eyes being ‘super-sensitive’ and often having a problem with too many tears and runny eyes. Well, since Dr Chou removed that lump on my eyelid, I have had dry eyes, and feel no irritation, and no runny eyes. It is WONDERFUL!!!! Thank God, and thank Dr. Chou again!!

Am looking forward to the weekend, where we will meet more old friends from CCC, and of course Monday Night is the big Wedding Banquet… will have lots of pretty photos of kevin and Clare to show you.

Yesterday I had a somewhat scary experience….. I went; “under the knife”! (A slang English term for; ‘surgery’.) This is what happened; Last week Jasmine asked me; ‘what is that lump on your eyelid?’ The conversation progressed very quickly to; ‘I have a Dr. friend, you should let him have a look at it.’ Well, things in Taiwan can happen very quickly and within an hour I was in Dr. Chou’s Surgery looking into this expensive piece of opthamological equipment. Dr. Chou is a long time friend of Jasmine and he said to me; ‘I am sure this is not a malignant tumor, but over time it will get bigger, if you would like I can cut it out for you’.

My gut reaction was; “No way! You want to stick a knife near my eyeball and cut off that lump? The blood would drain into my eye, and imagine me walking around for days with a big stitch in my eyelid…no, no, no!” But after Dr. Chou’s reassurances, I thought about it a bit more. We left his surgey and an hour later I decided that perhaps I would never have another opportunity like this present itself to me, so I would be silly not to take it!

Well, yesterday I was flat on my back in Dr. Chou’s surgery, covered in surgical gowns, surgical cap, face mask, eye coverings… you name it. Must have looked just like “ER”. After an initial prick with the needle, I didn’t feel anything else for the next 10 minutes… but I could smell my flesh burning When Dr.Chou cauterized the cut.

Dr. Chou’s specialist field is “Neurological Ophthalmology”. He worked in a hospital for 20 years, and for the past 6 years has had his own clinic, doing general ophthalmology, eye surgery, cataracts, and cutting lumps off the eyelids of people like me. He was very professional, very kind and and very friendly. Dr. Chou is a Christian man, and generously declined to take any payment from me for this operation. I think in NZ an operation like this would be very expensive, and I would never have dreamed of doing it, but God has provided for me here in Taiwan through Dr. Chou. What a tremendoud blessing. May God bless you Dr. Chou.

Here I am with Dr. Chou this morning;

See if you can spot the difference?

No……..???  Have a closer look….