One week back to Taiwan 1st-8th of July

I went back to Taiwan from Pohang, Korea on the 29th of June. It was originally a trip to speak in the Youth Missions conference (Urbana Taiwan, 6~11 of July)and a friend's wedding. During the same trip back in Taiwan, I went to all three ports with a letter from the managing director (in Mandarin, see attached file), and 50 copies of DOULOS Taiwan trip appreciation DVD (with 200 selected highlight pictures, Taiwan report video, a mission I night video, and a TV program from PTS). Within these couple of days, I got to meet many contacts and partners.
This can be a project from lineup and partner ministries in the future. If we can have a team and separate budget for “post port visit”, it can strengthen our partnership relations with officials, church leaders, and OM contacts. It generates the interest towards the ministry and recruiting opportunities big time.

Keelung:
I went to Lesley Lai’s (Currently on board DOULOS) home in Keelung on the 2nd spontaneously. Her parents are not Christians but became supportive after her first year on board. Same trip I went visit her supporting church (百福教會). On the way back to Taipei, I rang Pastor Chang張嘉鶴牧師(0933077316), the chairman of Keelung Prayer net work. He was doing dental treatment then. Nevertheless, he appreciated my call and Zinnie (OMTW) will follow it up from her side.

Taipei
I visited CEF (CAMPUS) BOOKS （校園書房） on the first day. I also visited grace Church in Tien Mu （天母感恩堂). We sent two church teams to their English congregation. Same trip I met Tang Ching (唐青)from Taipei International church who was also a translator/volunteer in Keelung. Monday I went to ORTV （救世傳播協會）and met Daniel Bastke (Christian Bastke’s son) and Chairman Hong. ORTV had been tremendous helpful during DOULOS visit. They sponsored our Kaohsiung trip and Keelung trip. And the Chairman Simon Hong (洪善群長老) of ORTV is also the board president of Christian Tribune (論壇報), the biggest Christian Newspaper. On the 5th, I got invited to have an interview on air with the famous DJ “Coffee cat” Stephanie Yang at the GoodNews Christian radio station (佳音電台 FM90.9). It was broadcasted on Friday evening prime time. I also visited the Kingdom revival newspaper （國度復興報）HQ which is also at the same building. In the evening of the 5th, I went to Liao-Ning Street Baptist church （懷寧街浸信會）and reported our ministry. This is Ivy Chou’s (DOULOS graphic designer) sending church, also the HQ of Baptist alliance in Taiwan. On the 8th, coming back from the mission conference, I went to another English speaking church, Pearl with Rev Richard Coombs from MECO. I had some really good conversation with Lydia Wu , the full time evangelist in charge.

Taichung
I went down to Taichung on the 3rd of July. The first stop was HanMei Chuang’s (Keelung Stepper) church （客西馬尼行道會）. Soon after lunch we went to Rev John Lin and his wife Mary Wu (林和明牧師師母)who is still now the OM TW director on paper. We discussed about many issues and had a great time in just less then an hour. After visiting Lin and his church, I went to CCRA/CCEA （基督教協進會）Taichung. This is the Christian network which helped Taichung lineup. The Area Coordinator Ching-Tu Huang （黃清塗）was not in the office when I got there. However, the publicity person was in the office and helped me to deliver the appreciation DVD to CCEA staff. By the end of the day, we had dinner with Professor Peng Hui-Chen（彭懷真）, my uncle, who is teaching in the TungHai Univ (東海大學Our I night venue). I also visited the Chaplin’s office of Tung Hai. However, it was a bit late. The letter and DVD were left in the mail box with my hand-writing note of greetings.

Kaohsiung
On the 4th of July, I went down to Kaohsiung with HanMei Chuang the stepper. The first stop was the office of CCRA/CCEA in Kaohsiung in the train station church. ElderYu and his secretary Jenjen Yeh (尤富永長老、葉臻臻姊妹)were expecting me. We shared about DOULOS ministry in Japan and Korea. Elder Yu was very pleased to hear that everything ran well in Taiwan. He mentioned that he may get retired next year. After the meeting, we went to the Holy light bible school （聖光基督書院） which was just across the street. However, it was not open due to summer vocation. I had left DVD, letter, and Daniel Chae’s new book there. President of the mission department of holy light is Pastor Kim from Korea, Daniel’s old friend. Meanwhile, on the way to Kaohsiung harbor, I went to “I-can” media office （艾肯廣告）and met Aries Wang the senior AE. It is one of our important publicity sponsors who is also our printer for DOULOS passports and banners.
Lunch time, it was the meeting with Mr. Huang Hsi-Tang （黃錫堂資深專員）, the senior executive officer of Kaohsiung Harbor. He treated us in a 5 star hotel for lunch buffet. For me, he is definitely the most important contact during DOULOS visit to Kaohsiung, a devoted Christian. Soon after lunch, we drove to the Police Radio Station (警廣交通網). This was the best publicity we got before the ship’s arrival. Sister Liu Jing-hua（劉靜華）is the director of the news department of the station. She is from Bread of life church in Kaohsiung (which helped us a lot in many ways). She was pleased to see me even it’s a spontaneous surprise. After that, we drove to Human Resource Bureau and looked for Director-general Professor Timothy Wu （吳英明局長）. He was not in the office then. Nevertheless, all his office staff remembered me and we had a great conversation. He did receive the appreciation pack.
On the way back to Fisherman’s wharf, we drove to the city hall. I met Director Oh of the wild bird foundation in the lobby. He was the person who linked us with some politicians during the DOULOS visit in Kaohsiung. He took me straight in to the office of Director-general of Social Work Bureau. Sam Hsu (許傳盛局長)and Kaohsiung Social work Bureau had been very supportive. They provided many ministry opportunities (orphanages, elders’ home, schools…) and World game volunteers for us to do crowd control. I also went to the information office of the city government.
Then on the way back to the harbor, I stopped by the National Immigration Agency Kaohsiung harbor office. The person in charge of our visa issues officer Howard Chen （陳志豪專員）was there. And he led me to meet with the deputy director of immigration office. We are already old friends after these few months. The gift from us was highly appreciated.
The last stop of the day was the fisherman’s wharf, Dakawei developer office (漁人碼頭大卡威發展公司). Vincent Kuo the deputy manager our main contact was in China for business trip. However, we still got to meet up with Vivian Chang, the marketing executive and other staffs. They missed us a lot and expected the DOULOS visit again.

That was a busy week for me... When i got back to DOULOS, there were people asking me " how was your break?" %^&*%^$£$%@^*... well, it was great to be home. BUT IT WAS NOT A BREAK!