He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen this?" Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river. When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. Then he said to me: This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live.
A few days before i left for Taiwan, Aunty Hooi Hooi approached me and asked me about the trip. She asked me what i wanted to achieve on this trip. I told her that i wanted to meet a lot of new people. Then she asked: "Do you want to meet a lot of new people to have fun or so that you can share the gospel with them?" I haven't tried to remember this question, but i know that it must have touched my heart.
On the 14th day of the tour, I spent some time by myself thinking about the future. 14 days had already passed, i thought, what have i achieved in these 14 days? Then i thought about the remaining 7 days i have and how i should use them to have no regret. What would be my biggest regret? The answer i came up with is not not making enough friends, not not building good relationships, but not telling the people here about Jesus - because only this is everlasting and truly meaningful.
One night, i moved my personal space out into the corridor because all my room mates were asleep. I was planning to do some planning for the near future as well as read some bible verses. I was also thinking about my life as a christian, how i don't take the extra step beyond passively telling others i'm a christian. I thought about how weak that was; i was afraid of something. I've always seen myself as an extreme person, so is it about time to change the way i do things? So I prayed for some boldness. At that moment or a few moments after, out of a silent corridor corner, a good friend approached and said: "I have some things to tell you." Some nice timing, i thought, i also have something to tell you. He sat down next to me on the carpet and began talking to me about his relationship problems, ideas, his religion, friends and also asked me about which girl i like on the tour. I didn't really want to answer that question because some things were always meant to be kept to yourself to prevent misunderstanding and complication. I prayed to God whether he could make my friend ask me about my belief in christianity, and if so, i promised God that i would hit him like he's never been hit before, because i would know that God is with me. A few moments later, my friend asked: "christianity dui ni hen zhong yao ma?" which means: "is christianity really so important to you?" I said 'yes' and i hit him - with what we believe in to what we do to how we spend time together like a family daily, and when i was about to get to the challenging part, a random sticky person came and broke the atmosphere. The conversation stopped there but I know that I had fulfilled my promise, because i had done my best. Something special came upon me at that very moment, it was a piece of boldness. I was like a priest crossing the jordan river (joshua 3:15). All i had to do was take the first step to put my feet into the water, and God will provide the rest. I have taken the first step, and there is no return.
Taiwanese dockets are very special. There is a unique code on each docket e.g. 69108761. At the end of every two months 3 sets of numbers are published and if your docket unique number's last 3 digits or more matches the published numbers, you win prize money depending on how many numbers match. The scheme was initially introduced to catch small and medium businesses from falsely reporting sales figures to reduce tax. With the scheme introduced, customers are more likely to demand a receipt. From an economist's point of view, the failure of this system is that customers have the incentive to buy one thing at a time e.g. buying 10 bananas one at a time to 10x your chances of winning. The up-side to this system is the boost in customer morale. Wherever you are, whoever you are, you are always in for a chance to win the ultimate prize NT$200,000, that is if you match all 8 numbers. Another effect of the introduction of this scheme is that non-profit organizations no longer seek for money donations, instead they seek for docket donations. Once, a non-profit organization represented by two early secondary school girls approached me (or more like i was standing there with my back turned waiting for them to come to me) and said: "Shen shou juan fa piao, jiu jiu zhi wu ren" (reach out to give docket, save brain-dead vegetables). I did not know what a "fa piao" (docket) was at that time, so i said OK and took out a large coin to donate into box because i thought that money was what they needed to save brain-dead people. The bigger girl interrupted my offering and said with an inquisitive grin: "uhhh ni shi na li lai de?" (uhhh...where are you from?) The smaller girl, a little amused but at the same time frightened, slowly took a step back to hide behind the bigger girl with her head poking out. I was confused. I gave them a big frown then a big smile. They responded with a: "uhhehuhe...", turned 180 degrees and sped away quickly, almost stumbling over each other. I felt bad for some time after scaring those two girls. I didn't mean it. Hopefully it would give them something fun to tell their friends about. If i ever scare you, know that I didn't mean it, please understand that i was only trying to be nice =].
During the tour, we played a similar game to the amazing race, held in the busy streets of tai-dong. Everyone begins with the name of a food e.g. "mian bao" (bread). The aim of the game is to find another food to join onto the last word of the previous food e.g. "bao zi" (meat bun) then "zi cai" (seaweed vegetable) until you find 10 foods. All foods that were used must be bought and eaten on the spot. Our team was stuck on "cha ye dan" (tea egg) and we needed the next word to end in "fen" to make things easier. We couldn't be bothered thinking so we decided to make up our own food called: "dan chao mi fen" (egg with vermicelli) and to prove that such dish existed, we ran to the closest noodle bar and ordered a: "dan chao mi fen". She said: "no no we don't have that dish, you can try somewhere else." We said to her: "we don't care, just cook some vermicelli and put some egg on top." The expression on the store owner's face was perfect:
I don't blame her for her stunned expression. We went to another store in search of wontons which was our tenth food item, but the store only sold wonton noodle soup with vegetables. The more we insisted on "just give me one wonton forget about the soup the noodles and the vegetables because we only need one wonton", the more the lady promoted her soup, noodles and vegetables, and talked about how good a feeling it is to eat it all together. No wonder, in such a food competitive place like taiwan, reputation is much more important than a few extra dollars of profit in the short run. The store owner in the picture above must have been thinking the same thing: "If i sell them 'egg on vermicelli' today, where will i hide my face tomorrow?"
A few days before i left for Taiwan, Aunty Hooi Hooi approached me and asked me about the trip. She asked me what i wanted to achieve on this trip. I told her that i wanted to meet a lot of new people. Then she asked: "Do you want to meet a lot of new people to have fun or so that you can share the gospel with them?" I haven't tried to remember this question, but i know that it must have touched my heart.
On the 14th day of the tour, I spent some time by myself thinking about the future. 14 days had already passed, i thought, what have i achieved in these 14 days? Then i thought about the remaining 7 days i have and how i should use them to have no regret. What would be my biggest regret? The answer i came up with is not not making enough friends, not not building good relationships, but not telling the people here about Jesus - because only this is everlasting and truly meaningful.
One night, i moved my personal space out into the corridor because all my room mates were asleep. I was planning to do some planning for the near future as well as read some bible verses. I was also thinking about my life as a christian, how i don't take the extra step beyond passively telling others i'm a christian. I thought about how weak that was; i was afraid of something. I've always seen myself as an extreme person, so is it about time to change the way i do things? So I prayed for some boldness. At that moment or a few moments after, out of a silent corridor corner, a good friend approached and said: "I have some things to tell you." Some nice timing, i thought, i also have something to tell you. He sat down next to me on the carpet and began talking to me about his relationship problems, ideas, his religion, friends and also asked me about which girl i like on the tour. I didn't really want to answer that question because some things were always meant to be kept to yourself to prevent misunderstanding and complication. I prayed to God whether he could make my friend ask me about my belief in christianity, and if so, i promised God that i would hit him like he's never been hit before, because i would know that God is with me. A few moments later, my friend asked: "christianity dui ni hen zhong yao ma?" which means: "is christianity really so important to you?" I said 'yes' and i hit him - with what we believe in to what we do to how we spend time together like a family daily, and when i was about to get to the challenging part, a random sticky person came and broke the atmosphere. The conversation stopped there but I know that I had fulfilled my promise, because i had done my best. Something special came upon me at that very moment, it was a piece of boldness. I was like a priest crossing the jordan river (joshua 3:15). All i had to do was take the first step to put my feet into the water, and God will provide the rest. I have taken the first step, and there is no return.
Taiwanese dockets are very special. There is a unique code on each docket e.g. 69108761. At the end of every two months 3 sets of numbers are published and if your docket unique number's last 3 digits or more matches the published numbers, you win prize money depending on how many numbers match. The scheme was initially introduced to catch small and medium businesses from falsely reporting sales figures to reduce tax. With the scheme introduced, customers are more likely to demand a receipt. From an economist's point of view, the failure of this system is that customers have the incentive to buy one thing at a time e.g. buying 10 bananas one at a time to 10x your chances of winning. The up-side to this system is the boost in customer morale. Wherever you are, whoever you are, you are always in for a chance to win the ultimate prize NT$200,000, that is if you match all 8 numbers. Another effect of the introduction of this scheme is that non-profit organizations no longer seek for money donations, instead they seek for docket donations. Once, a non-profit organization represented by two early secondary school girls approached me (or more like i was standing there with my back turned waiting for them to come to me) and said: "Shen shou juan fa piao, jiu jiu zhi wu ren" (reach out to give docket, save brain-dead vegetables). I did not know what a "fa piao" (docket) was at that time, so i said OK and took out a large coin to donate into box because i thought that money was what they needed to save brain-dead people. The bigger girl interrupted my offering and said with an inquisitive grin: "uhhh ni shi na li lai de?" (uhhh...where are you from?) The smaller girl, a little amused but at the same time frightened, slowly took a step back to hide behind the bigger girl with her head poking out. I was confused. I gave them a big frown then a big smile. They responded with a: "uhhehuhe...", turned 180 degrees and sped away quickly, almost stumbling over each other. I felt bad for some time after scaring those two girls. I didn't mean it. Hopefully it would give them something fun to tell their friends about. If i ever scare you, know that I didn't mean it, please understand that i was only trying to be nice =].
During the tour, we played a similar game to the amazing race, held in the busy streets of tai-dong. Everyone begins with the name of a food e.g. "mian bao" (bread). The aim of the game is to find another food to join onto the last word of the previous food e.g. "bao zi" (meat bun) then "zi cai" (seaweed vegetable) until you find 10 foods. All foods that were used must be bought and eaten on the spot. Our team was stuck on "cha ye dan" (tea egg) and we needed the next word to end in "fen" to make things easier. We couldn't be bothered thinking so we decided to make up our own food called: "dan chao mi fen" (egg with vermicelli) and to prove that such dish existed, we ran to the closest noodle bar and ordered a: "dan chao mi fen". She said: "no no we don't have that dish, you can try somewhere else." We said to her: "we don't care, just cook some vermicelli and put some egg on top." The expression on the store owner's face was perfect:
I don't blame her for her stunned expression. We went to another store in search of wontons which was our tenth food item, but the store only sold wonton noodle soup with vegetables. The more we insisted on "just give me one wonton forget about the soup the noodles and the vegetables because we only need one wonton", the more the lady promoted her soup, noodles and vegetables, and talked about how good a feeling it is to eat it all together. No wonder, in such a food competitive place like taiwan, reputation is much more important than a few extra dollars of profit in the short run. The store owner in the picture above must have been thinking the same thing: "If i sell them 'egg on vermicelli' today, where will i hide my face tomorrow?"
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