Sorry it’s been a while - we’ve been otherwise occupied. Lots going on. New boss, new workplace, painted apartment, etc.

While in B & Q (a British company, our version of Home Depot) looking for hardware for the new office I suddenly realized that I recognized the tune playing throughout the store. They were playing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” - not something you’ll hear in Home Depot!

I’m just about unpacked in the new office. It’s a good thing. We will be gone all week, next week. Fran & I along with some co-workers plus some volunteers from the US will conduct an English camp for University Students. It begins with a meeting Sunday afternoon and ends with a wrap-up the following Saturday night. We’ll be at a “camp.” We don’t really know what to expect of a “camp” that is located 2 hours away from a city that is not nearly as “Big City” as Taipei. We’ll let you know how it went when we return.

If you have our Dallas phone number (that rings here in Taipei) it changed a couple of weeks ago. If you think there is the slightest chance that you might give us a call, please let us know so that we can get the new number to you. We would really like to talk to you and all it takes on your part is to pick up the phone and call a Dallas number. We are 13 hours of Dallas time.

Here is a Foto Friday for you - taken in Taipei (but not by me

Go ahead Mister - make my day!

June 27, 1979 - Travis entered this world…. bringing joy to the whole fam!

Praying Travis’ 30th year is one of many blessings from our LORD!

Taiwan Missionary Fellowship has posted some current church statistics on their website. Click the graphic below to be take to their website for the information.
The interesting thing about the graphic is that the most heavily populated part of the island is also the least evangelized.

Origionally found the story through Mission Taiwan

Last Thursday through Sunday our office was closed for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. We decided to play the first two days and use the Sat. & Sun. to get ready for the painters who arrive to paint out apartment on Tuesday.
Thursday we decided to take advantage of the fact that it was the last day of the visit of Duolos. A ship that is currently touring Asia and docked in the nearby port of Keelung. Constructed in 1914, MV Doulos is the world’s oldest active ocean-going passenger ship. Since the ship is a contemporary of the Titanic and is on a unique mission we figured that it would be interesting to check it out. You can read more about it HERE.

There were so many people wanting to see the ship we had to stand in line for about 30 minutes. We had hoped to spend an extra few dollars to take the tour which gave access to parts of the ship that just anyone wasn’t allowed to wander in to. However, the earliest we could get a tour was going to be almost 3 hours later so we decided to see what we could on our own. It was pretty cool. It was quite a bit smaller than I expected.
We bought some books at the bookstore and talked with a few of the crew members (that are mostly younger persons from all over the world).

More pics are HERE

We left Duolos at about lunchtime and I wanted to go back to a park nearby that we had last visited the first month or two after our arrival on the island. When it became obvious that we were hungry and it might take a while to find the park again, I suggested that we go to a nearby park. We could see a temple high on a hill overlooking the port where  Duolos was docked. I directed Fran how to drive there. When we arrived it was way too temple-ish creepy. You might have to be there to understand. We were just not comfortable spreading out a picnic at that spot.

More pics are HERE
So we had a snack and decided to go in search of the park we first wanted to visit.

Every time we’ve gone to Keelung we get turned around and have trouble getting on the right highway. This time was no exception. We drove for 15 minutes in one direction before deciding to turn around and start all over. This time I directed us to another park -  not the one we wanted but a new adventure, a different park.
We made our way pretty easily and pretty quickly to HePingDao Park. It was a pretty good place and one we were glad we found. After finding a bench overlooking the Pacific Ocean, we unpacked the lunch and breathed in the clean ocean breeze. Very nice! We explored the park a while and made our way back to the car.

More pics are HERE
You never know what you might see. I spotted this convenience store and it took a minute to realize the significance of the name.

We drove back into Taipei, got a shower, went out to our favorite Vietnamese resturant, and then took in the concert I posted about a few days ago. (It was a choir from our hometown, Dallas, performing in Taipei.)

Click the graphic below to read the latest from East Asia.

As I said a few posts ago, we are in the middle of a holiday - Dragon Boat Festival. Fran & I have played hard these last two days and I’ll write about it tomorrow or the next day. However, I am tired and headed for the cloud (our bed). Here is this weeks Foto Friday:

The Finish Line - Blue wins!

WE had a great day today. If it wasn’t so late I’d tell you all about it. But for now I wanted to put up some pics and a video of a concert we went to after dinner tonight.

It was a choir from Dallas performing in Taipei . . . about 2 miles up the road from our apartment. We ate some Vietnamese food for dinner then hopped a bus to the church where we saw the concert.

The Taipei YMCA Choir

The Brookhaven Choir

Both Choirs combined

Now for something really different . . . . “The Yellow Rose of Texas” sung in Chinese (you might have to turn up the sound . . . sorry for the bad video and sound - it was very spur of the moment!)

While our family and friends in America will be enjoying the Monday holiday, Memorial Day, we will be stuck at work. Don’t feel too sorry for us though - we get Thursday & Friday off for our own holiday . . . .

What is a Dragon Boat Festival? Click HERE to find out.

I missed last Friday so this week I’ll post a couple of pics. We were driving back from a Dr. appt. when we saw this really large woven bamboo figure - one on each of two corners of an intersection.

Giant butterflies

Closer view

One of the newsletters I read had a link to this video. It is just under 5 minutes long. Well worth the time. More videos are available at their website.