*This post has been updated with a few pictures*

So much has happened since my last post. My problem has been that since so much was happening I kept on meaning to post but then I would be overwhelmed by how much there was to talk about so I would put it off only to be faced with a bigger problem as there was even more to talk about. I’m finally biting the bullet but alas I have compromised with myself and it will be an abbreviated bullet.

So after my birthday Emily and I left for vacation. We are trying to save money for a trip home in March for a wedding so this year’s vacation was not a jaunt off to some other east-Asian country (like the Philippines in 2008 and Korea in 2009) but instead a trip around our own Formosa (one of Taiwan’s many names.) After thinking about what we could do we decided upon a moped trip around Taiwan. Setting out with with one other friend Rachel, on her own moped, Emily and I piled our big backpack, our tent, and ourselves onto our moped and fled Taipei. We traveled down the west-side of Taiwan’s mountainous center stopping only one night to stay with friends near Nantou before completing the journey down to our friend’s house in DongGang, a coastal town south of Kaohsiung (Taiwan’s second-biggest city).

Rachel and Michael on a rare picture break…we drove 8 or 9 hours a day!

We stayed and hung out with Laura, our DongGang friend, for about a week and camped for a few days on Xiao Liu Chu, a small, coral island not far from DongGang. It was warm and sunny. We camped out on the beach and read and we even went snorkeling in the surf. It was fantastic and a great departure from the much colder north.

Campfires on Xiao Liu Qiu (小琉球)

The black beach in Dong Gang (東港). We’re not sure if the sand is black because of pollution or because of…nature.

Emily celebrated her birthday while we were in DongGang. I took her to Kaohsiung for the day and we hiked and road bikes and had fun together exploring the city. She’s a quarter-century old if you can believe it.

What we discovered during our hike on Kaohsiung’s  (高雄) Monkey Mountain – an ancient tree with pterodactyl-esque nests tangled in the top. Jurassic Park, anyone?

Megan, my sister, joined up with us the day before we left DongGang. Now there were four of us on two mopeds for the trip back to Taipei and oh man were we funny looking all packed on to our tiny, little 125cc scooters.

We took off north and hopped on Hwy 20, Taiwan’s southern cross-island road. There was a ton of road damage from mud-slides and it was very precarious in spots…it’s a very good thing that no mothers were on the trip is probably where I should leave the description. We came across many construction crews repairing damage and were even held up by one that hadn’t completed a little dirt trail to connect each side of the road from where a bridge had collapsed. Emily’s pictures will be invaluable for you all to see and get a better idea of what I’m talking about!

Three generations guard the family food stand near Mei Nong township (美濃)

There’s an awesome story behind this picture. We came upon a part in the road that was absolutely impassable, until this dude talked to the man in the backhoe and sped up the operation a little…they worked out a sort of ramp and helped push our scooters up! He came up with this pose himself, by the way.

We made it through eventually though and camped at LiSong, a natural hot-springs that LonelyPlanet says is Taiwan’s most beautiful hot-spring. It was very beautiful but oh man was it a hike to get down to it at the base of a ravine. I’ll leave that story for Emily to share.

After a few days there we took off up the east coast of Taiwan. The mountains and the east coast of Taiwan are so beautiful; so untamed compared to what we were driving past going south on the west-side.

After a night at Hualien’s Formosa Backpackers Hostel (recommendable) we headed into Taroko Gorge for a few days of camping and hiking. Another great story and another one I’ll leave for Emily.

Hiking up to Lian Hua Pond (蓮花池)

Aboriginal hospitality (ie liqueur, songs, and a raging fire)

After leaving Taroko we continued to head west and north through Taiwan’s mountains. It was slow going and very foggy in places. We stayed one night at a place called Wuling Farms and while it was a nice place we arrived too late in the day to truly enjoy it. Plus, we were pretty far north at this point and as we were camping we were less enthused about being outside and “doing stuff” due to the drop in temperature.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

Wuling Farms (武陵農場)

Our last day driving from Wuling Farms to Taipei was the most grueling. It was cold, rainy, and foggy and we were way up in the mountains in the middle of these clouds that were causing the rain and the fog…and we were riding on mopeds…brr.

We finally made it back to our house last Friday evening. Since then we’ve been hanging, reading, and enjoying each other’s company. Megan had to leave to head back to her home on Kinmen today. Monday Emily and I start school.

Vacation is over.

For those of you who have never used Google Translator here is your big chance. You should keep in mind that 鄭明哲 is my Chinese name. Once you have figured out this post’s title you can write me a comment about how great Chinese is and how much you enjoy learning it.

Before reading on, press the play button of this video and listen to it as you read. It will be a scrumptrulescent experience, I promise.

Last week I finished my last final, turned in my last term paper and started winter break! Last Thursday Emily and I hosted a “No More School” party here at our house with truly fantastic people joining us in our celebration. This week I’ve lazed about, began using Pimsleur in my quest to become a real speaker of 普通話 (Mandarin), hiked with Emily in the hills just south of 台北市 (Taipei City), spent an evening at the club with foreign exchange classmates for one last whoopla before they bid Taiwan adieu, and said goodbye forever to being a twenty-five year old. What a wonderful world we have been given.

After checking my grades and speaking with classmates it seems that there is consensus in my class that many of our professors felt that they were too kind to us during the midterms and have tried to make up for it in grading our final exams. It seems like all of us have 5-10 points less on our finals than were on our midterms….maybe the administration gave one of their crack-down decrees or something. Maybe we all just slacked off. Whatev’, we should all become Montessori advocates anyways.

Our party was great. A ton of people had told Emily and I that they would be coming but as it turned out there were not too many but plenty enough to have fun! I estimate thirty to forty but Emily insists there were at least fifty people. We had an awesome mix of my classmates, Emily’s classmates, and friends of friends creating an atmosphere of diversity, conversation, beer-pong, Soul Caliber II (Playstation for the rest of you), and Texas Hold’em. Phil, one of our roommates headed up the beer-pong effort and it was a true hit. While the fact that the Asians did not know the game wasn’t surprising, I was flabbergasted in learning that the Europeans hadn’t played. Just think, because of our party beer-pong will be spreading the world over. Can a man leave a better legacy is the question that now haunts my moments of cogitation. Last year we had our party at the end of Spring semester in June and it was way too hot. Now, having done both I can say with authority that having the party at the end of Fall semester is a much better way to go.

The lazing about has been great for me but a little nerve-racking for Emily. I think that might be a reflection of our upbringing. What do you think?

Pimsleur’s Mandarin learning curriculum has been recommended to me a few times now. It was apparently developed by Dr. Pimsleur to simulate the way a baby learns language. So far I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m hopeful that I will soon be speaking pǔ tōng huà like a zhōng guó rén. Right now, though, I need to remain hopeful and consistently exercise my nǎo. Diligence is my Achilles’ heel but this time…this time will be different.

The lazing about came to a head this past Wednesday with Emily suggesting we go hiking. We chose a trail out of our Taipei Day Trips book that started just south of Xindian and went up over a mountain (or big hill if you prefer) and ended down the other side in Muzha. On the way up we stopped in to see a little temple cut into the side of the mountain behind a waterfall. It was pretty rad. If I were going to be a monk that place would be a contender. Upon reaching the top of the hill Emily and I came upon a few criss-crosses in the paths that we weren’t too sure about and ended up a little off-track. No matter though as we decided we had had enough hiking for the day. Finding ourselves in the Tea House area of the mountains surrounding Muzha we popped into one, bought some tea, enjoyed the view, talked, and sipped to our hearts content. I should teach you all how to properly drink tea; it is quite a procedure. Once we’d had our fill we hopped on the bus for the winding ride back down into the city.

Emily and I joined some of my classmates, who were only here for this past semester as exchange students, at 9 percent, a club that is luckily within walking distance from our house. Emily and I had never been there before and the evening was a nice bit of Long Island ice-teas, dancing, and saying goodbye to Julia and Fendi who are leaving to head back to Germany.

As I write this I am celebrating my first day as a twenty-six year old. I knew it was coming up but since break began I’ve completely lost track of dates. Consequently I didn’t realize until yesterday that my birthday was looming so near. I’m not even thirty and I’ve already become that guy who forgets about his own birthday. This very moment Emily is preparing a wonderful birthday dinner for me so I had better go.

Merry Christmas! I truly have a great life and this is truly a great Christmas. Here’s our house, all decked out.

Yesterday two packages arrived. One from Emily’s family and one from mine! We found wrapped gifts in one and food in the other. Could a guy ask for a better mother than one who sends him Christmas cookies, fudge, nuts & bolts (our family’s name for homemade Chex Mix), and chocolate? I can’t think of anything better! I guess it just goes to show how highly I value food huh. Now I just have to figure out how to keep Emily from eating it all…

Yesterday was also a big day in terms of busyness. I had to go out to  MCU’s Taoyuan campus (where Emily and I lived our first year) for an awards ceremony. I won third prize in the English Prose section of MCU’s 21st Annual Literary Competition. Maybe its a false impression of mine but Taiwanese seem to really go for lots of pomp & circumstance; so there was a big ol’ program to  take part in. I was really happy for  my classmate, Edineau, who won first prize. He’s from Brazil and beat out all the native English speakers to win first place by writing his life’s story of going from the poorer neighborhoods of Brazil, where his brother was murdered, to two years on The Doulos (a missionary boat that travels around the world helping people) to a student at Ming Chuan. He is a cool guy and I know winning has got to be a big encouragement to him in his English skills. After the ceremony ended a friend  and I got dinner at the Thai restaurant there in Gueishan that I still am not over even though I haven’t lived there for so long. The owners still remember me and we talked some as my friend and I partook of incredible eats and Singha (a popular Thai beer). After getting back to Taipei I had to pull myself together and get Christmas shopping done.

This morning  Emily and I were  able  to skype with her family and help decorate the Christmas tree (virtually) and sing Christmas carols and talk. It was great! They wanted us  to open the presents that they mailed to us, which had arrived yesterday, and we were happy to oblige. This very moment I am adorned with comfortable and warm pajamas thanks to the generosity of mom and dad M! We also got a dvd of “A Christmas Carol” and a calendar!

This weekend we’ve got so many events planned it’s a little overwhelming.  Tonight (Christmas Eve) we are going  to go to a Christmas service at a  church nearby  that puts on a nice little show every year. Tomorrow we are going to skip school and have a wonderful family Christmas with just  the two of us. Ending the day will be a trip to a fancy nightclub where a friend is celebrating their birthday. Saturday we are throwing our own Christmas party at our  house. Then…on Sunday Emily and I are going to lead worship at church as well as Christmas carolers from our church around Da’an Park (Taipei’s version of Central Park) after the service. And then…we are going to go hang out  with my sister Megan, who will be in town for a few hours. Whenever that ends we’ll head home to hopefully get all our homework done in time for Monday. Oh man it’s gonna  be crazy.

I’ve wondered in recent years what people meant when they said that Christians were being persecuted in China. After all we in the Christian circle are just as susceptible as everyone else to sensationalizing when its advantageous and forgetting when its not.

Recently I talked to a guy, an American around my age, who witnessed and heard stories of persecution from the Chinese government towards followers of Christ. I cannot say with absolute certainty but his story led me to believe the persecution was caused solely because they were active followers and disciples of Jesus Christ the Son of God The Father.

The guy’s story went like this:

“I was in seminary in the United States and was asked if I’d be interested in teaching a few classes in mainland China to the Christians there on a short-term trip over my summer break. After getting the okay that I could bring a friend, a fellow seminarian, I agreed.

After submitting to the organizers the list of classes I was interested in teaching they changed there plans for me. They had originally wanted me to go to China’s cities. Knowing that I wanted to teach more academic, theological classes they informed me that they wanted me to go into rural China and teach the Chinese evangelists.

I was shortly to learn that 80% of these evangelists are women. They live simple lives traveling all across China. They arrive at a believers house, eat and sleep there and evangelize the people that the host family deems safe enough to bring over and hear the Gospel message. When its time to go they’ll be given enough money to get them to the next stop. One interesting part of these evangelist’s lives is that they use there shoes as a pillow. If the police come in the night they have to be ready to run.

Arriving in China my friend and I met up with the woman who would travel with us and act as our translator. We set out on a tour of China I couldn’t repeat on my own in a million years. Traveling by car, boat, train, pick-up truck, over mountains & streams, through cities and into villages where I wondered if I was the first foreigner to have seen the place.

When my friend and I would arrive at a believers house we’d rest. Over the course of the next twelve hours or so up to fifty Chinese evangelists would arrive as well. Once we were all there these evangelists would sit listening and taking notes for seven hours a day as my friend and I answered their questions and taught them from the Bible for a week. Before classes began in the morning they would pray for three hours and then after classes read their Bibles and pray for another hour before going to bed. I’m really not sure who learned more from whom. When the week was up the evangelists would set out and we would be off to do it again somewhere else. Mind you we were in the countryside. This wasn’t in Shanghai or Beijing and these evangelists would travel everywhere. In fact, one day while traveling to another house on a riverboat I recognized one of the evangelists we had taught a few weeks before.

My friend and I were teaching one day and into the house busted a group of around thirty policemen. My translator tried to help us escape but the three of us, my friend, our translator, and I, were taken to the police station. The Chinese evangelists were taken to jail.

For the next seven hours the police had us sit in the station, and periodically interrogated us. ‘Who organized this? What are your names? Why are you here? You’ve broken the law because you have to register when you come to town.’ We explained to them that we had only been in town for half-a-day (which was true) and had 48 hours to register (also true). We said we would not be giving them our names because they had nothing to charge us with. We said we wanted our passports to show them we were Americans (during the bust-in we showed our passports to the police chief but then they were taken along with our bags by the police who were holding them at the station) but they wouldn’t give them to us communicating quite clearly that they didn’t want to “know” we were Americans. We told them we wanted their names because we would be filing complaints in Beijing because of their misconduct and for unlawfully holding us. Finally their fear got the better of them and let the three of us go with our stuff. We had ended up giving them our names but I don’t think we ever got theirs.

While we were allowed to go the Chinese evangelists remained in jail for the next several weeks. They were beaten, and tortured by various means, including having their faces and arms burnt with cigarettes, as well as needles stuck in their wrists. One of them, an adorable friend of mine, was beaten with specially-designed bamboo rods. The woman who was the owner of the home in which we were arrested was repeatedly beaten, including having her head beat against the wall by a prison chair. Her home was also ransacked and her money and books confiscated.

Back in Beijing I went to the US embassy. I told them I wanted to report abuse and did so. Also, I learned that some of the Chinese evangelists who had been upstairs when the police busted in had escaped through the windows and had already gotten word back to the United States about the incident. Before I even left China WORLD magazine had written the story up. I wasn’t happy that they hadn’t waited for me to depart first. The Voice of the Martyrs magazine ran the story as well but thankfully it was after I was back in the United States.

My translator and many of the evangelists we had taught were part of a denomination particularly targeted by the Chinese government. I had learned this sometime before my trip to China at a Voice of the Martyrs conference in Texas. One of the speakers, a woman from this same denomination shared her own story with me over lunch. She told me how screws had been screwed into her thumbs by interrogators. While this woman was being tortured she audibly prayed for her torturer who had to stop and leave the room. Good really does overcome evil.

As I was preparing to leave China my translator confided in me. She asked me not to tell Christians in the United States of the persecution we had experienced together in China. I asked her why? ‘Because this is our burden, this is a Chinese burden and if you tell them they might not come.’ I told her that the people who wouldn’t come after hearing of this Chinese burden wouldn’t be the sort of people that should go in the first place.”

~~~~~~~~~

This first-hand account told to me over coffee makes me think that the persecution of the family of God in the People’s Republic of China is real and furthermore current. I feel a desire to be an advocate for my Chinese brothers, to tell my government they shouldn’t turn a blind eye towards China’s evilness any longer. I feel a desire to support these Chinese evangelists in prayer, finances, and education.

Dear Lord help me turn these desires into actions.

If are interested in reading the prayer letter this guy wrote after returning from China to the supporters of his trip let me know. I’ve tried to write up the account as he told it to me but there is nothing better than the horse’s mouth.

Back in the throes of midterms already. Its unbelievable! I just started the new semester and we’re already half way through?

This year Emily and I filed our taxes online. It was sort of funny because last year we filed having worked for a half-a-year before leaving for Taiwan. This year has been completely work-free except for a few months in the summer and it showed on line 37. It was weird/cool to look at last year’s return compared to this year’s and realize anew just how sweet God has been to give us these scholarships. His provision is there even though it looks different and can’t be seen in our AGI.

Speaking of working, this summer we are faced with a dilemma. We figured jobs would be scarce so we opted to find airfare money in rows and rows of seed-corn while we are home this summer. My dad was gracious enough to sign us up with a detassling crew but we are still unsure if we’ve been hired because so many people have asked for the same honor, even though its a hot, sticky, dirty, and tiring honor. Hopefully we’ll be selected. If not I don’t know what we’ll do to replenish what we’ve given Malayasia Airline for the chance to ride in their airplane to the USA and back. On the other hand, maybe its just a case of His provision being there but just looking different? So different that I don’t recognize it yet.

Here at Taiwaneers.com we’ve added advertising to our website. You’ll notice in the right-sidebar there are now two ads from Google. They are part of Google’s AdSense program. I really like AdSense’s business model and while having ads isn’t what this website is about I think the way Google places ads that are geared for their audience is a great advancement in advertising. Wouldn’t it be nice if all advertisers would stick to telling us about things that we actually show some interest in? Everytime somone clicks on one of the Google ads on our site we get a little cha-ching. Pretty cool huh? With that in mind please feel free to click away.

Last Sunday Jerry, one of my Taiwanese classmates, came to church with me. He had never been to church before and it was really fun to hear his impressions. You can pray for him. He’s been raised Buddhist but doesn’t really feel like that was his choice and is trying to figure out what is his choice. Tough stuff to deal with while trying to ace exams. He’s a really, really cool guy and definitely a thinker. I’m looking forward to this opportunity to help each other grow.

My computer has been sick. It goes incredibly slow to do any task but when I check the CPU usage its at normal levels. AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Its getting to the point where I’ve backed everything up and am preparing for drastic measures.

The Nonsense Shirts Store is still lots of fun. We’ve sold five shirts so far and I have to say each sale is exhilerating. Right now we’re adding new inventory and I’ve been talking to folks in the manufacturing process. If things work out we might be able to offer custom shirts and multiple quantities and sizes of each design! Needless to say these developments do not hamper my enthusiasm.