The Land of Chopsticks and Dumplings

“I never thought people actually used chopsticks ALL the time for everything!” was Daniel Jackett`s simple synopsis of Taiwan in a nutshell. Despite chuckling at this comment, I realized it really holds quite a bit of truth. I wasn`t quite sure what I was expecting in Taiwan, but it truly widen my eyes to see just how different people live on the other side of the same planet we call home.

Despite hours of outreach prep during our time in Maui, since no team from our base had ever come to Taiwan before the focus was mainly on Indonesia. Our first night in Taiwan, 3 flights and a train ride later we, made it to YWAM Taitung; a small cafe called “The Rock” situated in the heart of the city. We began getting settled in and got an orientation on Taitung, their pioneering ministry with the Rock cafe, an idea of our schedule, and a quick lesson on the do’s and don’ts of chopsticks which was soon put into practice…at every meal! Unlike America, it is quite common to go out to eat for every meal. This is quite feasible since the average meal costs 3$ or less!

Our first day consisted of creating a program of games and learning with a focus on teaching English to present at a local school. It was at this point that the reality of the language barrier smacked us in the face. No one other than the YWAM staff and the manager at McDonald`s seemed to speak more than a handful of words of English. This has proved quite challenging when it comes to street ministries, however as our leader Allie so wisely reminded us, we are pioneers on this mission planting seeds with the tools we have and handing it to God to do the rest. We can`t measure our success by the fruit we are seeing now but by how we follow the Lord and what we put into it. We can confidently proclaim we serve a God so much bigger than any language barrier. These language barriers also tend to create a handful of hilarious scenarios from accidentally ordering bubble tea without bubbles to sitting in a movie theatre holding our breathe through the mandarin commercials to a sigh of relief when the movie begins in English!

In the evenings, our team is usually serving at the “Rock Cafe” which thankfully specializes in English conversations to help people learn! This we have no problem at. The cafe is usually filled with girls our own age whom we swap stories with concerning our very different yet slightly similar lives and playing the crowd favourite “spicy” uno. We`ve also had the opportunity to present a skit and share the gospel with our new found friends, many of whom have already grown dear to our hearts. They`ve even made the long trek to our surf spot to hang out with us on the weekend.

Taiwanese culture believes the ocean is filled with the spirits of the dead so there is a huge stigma surrounding it and swimming. Despite these fears, we were able to partner with “Sunshine Taiwan” a ministry that connects families with children with special needs and plans fun outings together. This week their outings were all to the beach where we got the unique opportunity to teach (both kids and parents alike) how to surf! Even though many of them have never been in the ocean or knew how to swim, they were very brave and caught on so fast! Seeing a child`s face light up when they caught that first wave overwhelmed me with joy! Everything fit so perfectly. We were connecting people normally deemed hard to reach to ministries and churches by sharing our passion for surfing. This was kingdom building. This is why we were here.

While reading the Psalms on my favourite rooftop spot, I came across Psalm 127:1 which says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain who build it.” My prayer for our team is that we continue to only work at what the LORD is building and doing it with love; because that is kingdom building and anything not of Him is purposeless. As we wrap up our last few days in Taiwan, I smile looking upon this beautiful country and people so unconditionally loved by their Creator and look forward to all that will be done with the seeds we have planted these past few weeks! Wonton soup will also never be the same!