Xitun Congregation and Field Service

Hello again!

It’s been awhile since the last post. We’ve been settling in and getting into the groove of things. Also, I realized I’m a terrible blogger. I don’t take too many pics because I usually forget to and the ones I do take are pretty crummy. Anyways, I have some ideas about future posts along with videos so stay tuned! We also wanted to thank you for the comments! It’s nice hearing (I guess reading) from you guys.

We have been in Taichung City, Taiwan for about 3 weeks now. We are slowly getting adjusted to living here…emphasis on slowly.

Some of my musings about Taiwan so far:

-There are no trash cans anywhere.
Kind of weird one to start off with but yeah, I’ve noticed it’s quite rare to see public trash cans around. Some stores and cafes don’t even have them! If you have a cup or some other trash to throwaway while you’re out and about, you’ll most likely end up holding onto it until you get home.

-Taiwanese people are very friendly.
We have noticed Taiwanese people are very nice and friendly. Just not on the roads, haha. In the door to door work, people are willing to listen. I actually haven’t seen too many rejections.

-Convenience stores here are super convenient!
There are 7-11s in almost every block here. Another popular convenience store is called FamilyMart. What is super awesome is that both are about a 3 min walk away from our place. So that’s where I go for my late night Doritos fix! These stores are also kind of a hangout place as well, with tables and chairs. Very different from the 7-11s back in the States. You can also pay your apartment utility bills, your cell phone bill, pay for your bus card, and get packages delivered here. Very convenient indeed.

One of the first things you’ll notice when entering into one of these places is the overwhelming smell of fishcakes and some sort of…egg thing…

It’s in EVERY single one! I’m too scared to try them…also, not the most appealing looking setup either.

-Bubble tea is life.
Tea is king here. And bubble tea shops and stands are everywhere. Back home, usually we’ll get together with friends for beers at a restaurant bar or get coffee at Starbucks to just talk. But it seems the place to do that here are at tea/bubble tea shops. Thought that was interesting to me. We actually haven’t seen too many bars around or vendors that sell beers. But anyways, we are HOOKED on the bubble milk tea here.

I stole that picture from Google. It seems I have not taken a single pic of the plethora of bubble milk teas we have ingested so far. They usually cost about $1-$2 US, depending on the store. As a side note, a Taiwanese tea house called Chun Shui Tang is supposedly the one that invented the tapioca balls/pearls for the milk teas. They are the OG bubble tea. There is one of those right across the street from us. We don’t go there too often because it’s the most expensive one (about $3.50 US), although it is pretty darn good.

-Not a lot of good Korean food here.
We really miss good kimchi.

-If you’re coming to Taiwan and love spicy food, bring your own Sriracha and Tabasco.
A lot of the food here is greasy and at times bland. Sriracha and Tabasco have been a lifesaver for us.

-Taiwan is super hot.

XITUN CONGREGATION

Hannah and I will be in the Xitun Congregation while we are here. Here is a pic of the Kingdom Hall:

It’s about a 10 min scooter ride from our place. Meetings are held on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm and the Public Talk and Watchtower are on Saturday evenings at 7:30pm. That Saturday night meeting is going to take awhile to get used to…

Apparently, there has been a surge of foreigners that have moved in/visiting all within the last 2-3 months. Five couples, a family of four, and a handful of single people. They have come from all over; the US, Chile, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, and Korea. All are here to improve their Chinese and to support the Xitun Congregation.

The congregation is so loving, hospitable, and full of zeal. They have been so welcoming to me and Hannah as well as the other new ones. What is interesting about this congregation is that a fairly large number of publishers are relatively new to the truth, baptized less than 5 years! Goes to show you the growth that has been happening here.

This past Sunday (9/13), we had a congregation gathering…on the rooftop!

Here you can see that a parapet has been constructed so as to avoid blood guilt.

There are many high rise apartments in the city and almost all have a rooftop access. Pretty cool place to have a gathering! Afterwards, we wanted to check out our rooftop. Turns out we need special access. We also ended up locking ourselves in the stairway. So we had to walk down 18 floors to get to the lobby….my glutes… 😦

So this is pretty interesting…For gatherings here, each person brings their own plate and utensils! So you use your own plate, wash when done, then take it back home. Thanks to Gene for the heads up! Otherwise we would’ve starved, haha.

Gotta bust out the selfie stick.

Another interesting thing, Taiwanese people love to (line) dance! Well maybe it’s just a Xitun Congregation thing…Don’t believe me? See for yourself!

*Sorry for the terrible quality video. I’m still trying to figure out all the GoPro and exporting and whatnot.

Props to Gene for teaching everyone that dance! He already taught them the electric slide and the wobble at previous gatherings. He is now the Line Dancing Overseer.

FIELD SERVICE

Going out in field service here was quite the experience for us. As mentioned in our last post, the MFS changes and gets posted every week. Many of the householders are extremely friendly and are usually willing to listen.

Some of the things that stood out to us on our first day out in service was the territory itself. Some of the homes are mixed in with businesses. And some homes look like businesses! We were shocked at first to find out that some of them were homes, because many of them had those industrial office looking garages as the fronts.

A shot of one of the streets we preached in on our first day (Saturday, 9/5).

Also, we were woefully unprepared for field service. Water and an umbrella are the staple items that everyone brings out in service, and we brought neither. It gets REALLY hot. You sweat so much because it’s so humid. It’s easy to get dehydrated.

No, that’s not part of the design of my shirt and no it wasn’t raining…I guess the Taiwanese brother to my right is pretty used to the heat.

I placed a tract (“ching ni kankan”) with that guy who was carrying around a trap with a rat in it. Just Taiwan things.

For Sunday morning service, everyone meets together at one of the further locations. These don’t get worked too often during the midweek, since it is quite a distance.

Meeting for Service along the street (Sunday, 9/13). The territory we worked that day was a little rural.

Some geese farm. What this picture doesn’t convey is the terrible stench that emanated from there.

Hannah working with a sister visiting from Calgary, Canada.

I don’t think I’ve worn a short sleeve out in service since I was a kid. But, to the Taiwanese I became as a Taiwanese, that I might gain Taiwanese.

Service that day was really rough for us. We walked quite a distance and we ran out of water fairly quickly. And yes, it was very hot and humid. But we survived and treated ourselves to bubble tea! Huzzah!

This past Wednesday, we did evening service at the Feng Chia night market. So many people came out for service!

Night markets are a big thing in Taiwan. Night markets are exactly what the name implies. This particular one, which is right by the school we go to, is the most popular in Taichung. The place is saturated with food vendors and shops. One of the most popular night market foods is stinky tofu (chou doufu). It truly lives up to its name. Walking down one of the alleyways, we got a whiff of that pungent aroma. It’s as if a heavyweight boxer had wrapped his fist with a damp towel that has been in a homeless person’s armpits for a year and then just punched my nostrils with all his might. One of these days I will try it…

A shot of one of the streets at the Feng Chia night market.

Here we like to saturate the streets with Witnesses!

At the end of evening service, we took a group photo. A successful and fun night of service!

Well that’s all for now! I’m thinking our next few posts will be about school and the food scene here. Also, more videos!

Until next time!

—
Andy & Hannah