OMF Blog
Orientation
Tony Waghorn - Sunday 05 July 2009Blog 1 - Orientation
Ni Hao – greetings from the Taiwan Team,
The Taiwan team is made up of Amanda, Dan, Ruth, Matt, Lianna and Nigel. We arrived safely in Hsin Chu for our orientation – the highlight of the journey was being upgraded, and lowlights included Dan attempting to dispose of his passport in the HK airport toilets, Ruth not being woken up for breakfast on the flight, and Amanda having her bag searched in Taiwan airport but carefully explaining it away by clarifying ‘Oh.. they’re just my elephant tusks’?! We’re here with three others mission teams – an American team, a Singaporean team and an International Team, although we will all be in different areas while in Taiwan. Orientation provides an opportunity for us to focus on our reasons behind being here, to develop our understanding of the culture, and to be equipped for the work we shall be doing.
On our first day here we had the opportunity to experience Taiwanese culture - we went into town and sampled various bits of pig anatomy including ears and blood! We have been learning about Taiwanese culture, including how fundamental ancestor and temple worship are in Taiwan.
Visiting a temple gave us the opportunity to experience this first-hand – we saw people of various generations burning incense to their gods. We have been learning how to communicate the gospel better in this culture – for example, the Taiwanese have a polytheistic worldview, and the idea of there being a Creator God is alien to them.
We have been learning about the fact that in Taiwan people feel they need to appease the gods and buy their favour. This was a reminder of the gift of grace, and that we can share with them the idea that there is a God who is personally interested in them and loves them.
OMF predominantly attempts to reach the working class in Taiwan given that they make up 2/3 of the population and only 0.5% of the working class are Christian. Today we were learning about how to make the gospel more accessible to working class people, and attempting to identify with where they are at. For example it is an oral culture in Taiwan, and when a Taiwanese working class person enters the Church they will be handed a Bible, a notice sheet, and a hymn sheet. This immediately gives the impression that in order to be a Christian you need to be comfortable reading. OMF are constantly prayerfully attempting to establish new ways of reaching the working class, and this is an area which needs prayer.
Tomorrow evening we’re travelling to Fen Yuan. Here we will be helping run Village Gospel Mission (VGM) youth camps for a week. These will be run alongside Christian Taiwanese students, and we’re anticipating approximately 80 young people aged between 13-14. Many of these young people have never heard the gospel before and so this is a good opportunity to teach them about Jesus. Taiwan is a very relational culture, and we’ve been encouraged to see our time here as an opportunity to develop relationships which can be continued by long-termers when we are gone.
Prayer points –
- Praise God that so far the team have been getting on really well and there is unity within the group. Please pray for continued unity, and that if conflict arises we will deal with it wisely.
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Pray for the camps next week –
- That young people with come and learn about God and receive a positive impression of Christianity.
- That we will develop meaningful relationships with the kids.
- That language won’t be a barrier.
- And for unity between our team and the Taiwanese camp counsellors who we are yet to meet and that we’ll be a mutual encouragement.
- For safety in travel and continued good health.
- Pray we’ll all be walking closely with God personally, and that this will be reflected in our attitude and work here.
Thank you for your prayers we’re all very excited about what’s still to come and seeing how God will work over the next few weeks,
Lianna, Dan, Ruth, Amanda, Nigel and Matt
STOP PRESS: Ruth is going to switch teams from UK to the International team part way through the trip, this means that she will go to an area where spiders are less of an issue.
Ruth feels at peace about this, but please keep her and the team in your prayers during this transitional period. Pray Ruth will quickly settle into the new group, and that the UK team dynamics will not be affected too much. Thank God that he is faithful, and that even in unexpected situations God will continue to work.
Sheila in Dundee (Dan's Mum!)
Tuesday 14 July 2009