What do you mean we don't have a Makita power drill? Sooo...any chance we can find out if this is level?
The days are counting down towards the Park Carnival (this Saturday) preparation is going well and Steph…well Steph is still counting green beans :P Steph has counted one by one, somewhere above the 8000 mark last time I dared to ask. Thankfully she is past half way. This is going to be one of the activities happening on Saturday. The participant who guesses the closest to the exact amount of green beans wins a prize! (once we find a jar to fit them all in..)
Below you can see that Lachlan and Adam are hard at work carving up some plywood to make a lion for tossing bean bags down its throat.
Working on the lion has made me appreciate the fact that pretty much any Aussie bloke will have his garage full of all the tools you need to make just about anything on this scale. Here, in Taiwan, we were calling on contacts and friends to see if they had any equipment to borrow, scrounging around the OMF centre for some glue or a hammer, getting the guys at the wood shop to help cut our ply sheet and timber strips to size on their homemade circular saw bench (one of the more dangerously scary, but nonetheless impressive feats I've seen).They were also wearing safety sandals...So far we are doing okay without a jigsaw and spirit-level. Here's to hoping we can borrow a power drill tomorrow. Oooh for the want of a nail gun!
Today we spent some time roaming the streets observing all around us asking God to highlight things to our notice so that we could pray for the people around us.
Every face I saw, I could see no sign of happiness. These people, all they ever have on their minds is money, can they ever have enough of it, can they make some more of it (sounds like another country, one that I live in). In many cases they work long hours every day.
I see charms everywhere, lying on the dashboard of a car, hanging off the rearview mirror, jangling in the doorway of shops, flapping in the wind as a scooter goes by as it dangles off the handlebar. There are red signs for good health, fortune and wealth plastered on the door frames and walls on the shops. All these bits of paper, in the hope of safety and getting rich.
We also got to meet an Idol Craftsman (wooden). I hear he's the best in town.
It takes him about 6 months to finish 3 of these working at the same time. So the process goes that first the block of wood gets carved into shape then a cavity is made in the back where precious stones are placed. Then a ritual/ceremony of some sort is performed to pull the essence of a "god" into the chunk of wood to make it an idol. We also got to meet his brother who was working on maintenance at a near by temple. He works with clay/cement.
It saddens me by just watching their futility in thinking that some decorated bits of paper, stone and bits of wood, no matter how intrinsically made, can have power in any way, shape or form. That something dug out of the earth or cut down by man, fashioned and dressed by man, has the supernatural ability to affect man and "gods"?
I pray that God will reveal his truth to these people, that they can have the Joy knowing the one and only true Lord and Creator of the universe, and realising that the relationship so personally close and that everything pales in comparison. God who cannot be captured (or even his likeness) by a useless lump of stone or wood, substances of this world which wear away and constantly need repair. He is almighty and loving, he doesn't need to be goaded or bargained with! He is all powerful that aside from sustaining all of Creation so that the universe keeps on running and the earth keeps spinning, he has time to look after and teach me, and gives my every breath!
Please pray that we would be envious for God's glory and be passionate for the lost. That we would be humble and that God would work mightily.
Kerstin, one of the missionaries, has hopes, that his place/shop may one day become a house church, as she continues to share the gospel with him. He is quite influential in the area, and if he trusts in Christ and calls him Lord, Kerstin also hopes many men will follow.
As time goes by, one painfully obvious change is occurring…our chinglish is getting worse and worse. We've had to take some measures to keep our sanity in check. The following are some of the shots of what we found interesting or amusing in Chiayi
Harry Potter-esque?
...if that really is the motto of the po-po...
a bear on the mona lisa...honestly...
We saw this in a restaurant that we had dessert at. It was literally all over the walls of the 2nd floor of the shop. Exhibit A of the after effects of cram schooling
...so we added our mark to the walls as well...
I woke up from a siesta and saw this (o.0!)
~Ell