JOIN US in PRAYER

Hi...
I want to ask every one who reads this blog to pray with me. Its about my wife visa. We have tried our best to work on it. We had problem with the Bureau of Consular Affair. We had all the requirement papers complete as they require in their sites but when we got there, they said another things that I have to stay here for 1 year before I can have my wife stay here with me. THAT'S EMBARASING!!!!! We kept in arguing but still the officer cant give a satisfy answer. They asked us to call Taipei office.

So, we went to the church and we had some consultation with Ptr. Yohannes, a senior pastor in Daysping Ministry. We came out that we would try if my wife will apply for misionary visa which is allowed here in Taiwan. The Church Board had a meeting to decide and last sunday they told us that they aggreed about it and require my wife to do some ministry work in the church. They gave us a paper which we have to bring to BOCA in Taipei. But we can't go there today because all the offices and school are closed due to Jangmi Typhoon.

Please pray for our trip tomorrow early morning from here and for the visa processing. Its getting close to my wife' visa expired date which it Oct 2. We dont know what else that we need to do. All the things we can do is only trusting God as He led us to this place. He can do MIRACLE tomorrow as we submit the papers.

所以我告訴你們，凡你們禱告祈求的，無論是什麼，只要信是得著的，就必得著。
(Mar 11:24)

See You Again....

Today, all of the offices and schools are closed due to the Jangmi Typhoon in Taiwan since Saturday. Its many things happened since last time I wrote this blog.

I have Tainan City tour last Sept 20. It was fun because I met some of Indonesian friends as well others from different countries. In my class last week I decided to add 1 course so I have 10 credits for this semester. Its quite confuse though because I don't have any clear "requirements" to complete my PhD here. All the instructions are in Chinese. So, I have difficulty to understand it. Even, some of them are translated into English but still there are some different interpretation for some words. Over all, I doing fine in my class.

I also started my Chinese class. It is a beginner class. We were about 11 in the class and all are men. Wonderful...thanks we have woman teacher. Its fun because we learned the Chinese tones and we enjoy the class.

Dinner with Seniors

I had a welcome dinner with my seniors in ICID last night. Its a tradition for the 2nd year students to welcome freshmen for a dinner. This year, we are 6 freshmen in ICID; 3 foreigners and 3 local Taiwanese students. We went to Korean Restaurant near NCKU.

From the left side: Angela(Taiwanese); Yong, Taedon(Korean); me and Thomas(USA), all of us are freshmen.
At the right side: Sunny(Taiwanese 2nd year); Joe(Taiwanese 3rd year); Wednesday(Taiwanese 2nd year) and Ezra(Indonesian 2nd year).

We had a wonderful moment. I get to know my class mate and seniors. Among the foreigner students. I am the only one who can not speak in Mandarin. Taedon has been staying here quite long time, he finished his master here with Mandarin as instructions. Thomas a Taiwanese born American, his mother is Taiwanese. He was born here and raised in the US, he finished his master in Taiwan using Mandarin as language instructor. So, it means that I am the only foreigner who came here with "zero" knowledge of Mandarin. Anyway, I have enrolled in "Free Chinese Class" provided by the University and I will start my class next week.

The advantage for me is Thomas kept on translating the conversation to English, so I can follow what they are saying about. We talk about our background and why we are here in ICID. It's nice to get to know all of them. All the PhD students in ICID are around 13 students and only 4 foreign students.

ICID is the next adventure and I have to finish this race on time so I can move to the next level.

Moon Cakes Festival in Tainan

To day is Moon Cakes Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival. The Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar (usually around mid- or late-September in the Gregorian Calendar), a date that parallels the Autumn Equinox of the solar calendar. At this time, the moon is at its fullest and brightest, marking an ideal time to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest. The traditional food of this festival is the moon cake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together. It is also common to have barbecues outside under the moon, and to put pomelo rinds on one's head. Brightly lit lanterns are often carried around by children. Together with the celebration, there appear some special customs in different parts of the country, such as burning incense, planting sweet-olive trees, lighting lanterns on towers, and fire dragon dances. Shops selling mooncakes, before the festival, often display pictures of Chang'e, floating to the moon.
*sources: OIA-NCKU

The sad things that we heard that the will be a Typhoon (Sinlaku) approaching Taiwan. It was announced that we should be careful. In fact there was strong wind since last Friday. The school even canceled the Tainan City Tour on Friday because of the Typhoon. So, here we are in the mid of the festival with typhoon.

Today we went to church with Monika, she has her sister come from Taipei. I know that the festival means a lot for Chinese people so they have to celebrate it together with their family. It's rainy all day, even in the church there were not so many people around.

One of our friend that we met in Church invited us to join their celebration. Her name is April Kao with Chinese name is Shu-Fen. She can speak English very well because she stayed for 13 years in Michigan and she is a faculty member of one university in Tainan. She picked us up at 7pm after picked her another friends. We had a very wonderful night although it's rain. We met a new friends who also a student of NCKU. Overall we had plenty of food and we full.

Praise God for bringing a new friend for us. As we never taught before, He works in HIS time. Some time we can not feel or see but believe that He is there working for our good.

看哪，我要做一件新事；如今要發現，你們豈不知道嗎？我必在曠野開道路，在沙漠開江河。
(Isaiah 43:19)

Two days of NCKU Orientation

I have attended the two days freshman orientation at NCKU. It's good experience. I met other new students from Indonesia and get acquaintance with students from other countries as well. The first day of orientation its about Library and Campus tour. It's amazing to now that the Campus library has established for over seven decades and it has a lot of collections in it. It also has media center room and many discussion rooms can be used for study. Overall it's wonderful to have such library.

The campus tour led me to the heritage of the campus. NCKU was established in 1931 by Japanese Government. That's why the earliest Presidents were Japanese also. It's considered as second top University in Taiwan and has been granted a quite big amount of Government fund. As of now, NCKU has around six hundred Intenrnational Students come from sixty different countries.

I just want to praise God for leading me to this place and study in NCKU. I never imagine that before and never dream about it. One thing that I know is to follow God's will and be obedient servant.

Join me in prayer for God's will in our life as we stay in Tainan and I finish my program as soon as posible. We can not stay too long here because as it is written:

於是對門徒說：「要收的莊稼多，做工的人少。Matt. 9:37

Registration Day at NCKU

Today Sept 8, 2008 is the day of registration at NCKU. I went to the school early morning at 8am. Its too early for people here, in fact they start around 9am. So, I was the first International student who registered today...Not bad..at least I can prove that I am a good student. hehehehe...

I passed through several steps then I went to my department ICID. Someone assisted me and picked me up. I enroll in four courses this semester. Although I do not have any clear idea about the subject but they said that do not enroll too many because it will kill you...I think they probably right in fact I am in PhD program now...I need more time to work on research.

I finished my registration at 11 am..it's fast, isnt it?? So. I went home after that because I know Eva is waiting for me. I will come back on Wednesday to join the camous tour and freshmen orientation.

Lord, thank you for allowing me to continue study and I pray that You help me in my study so I can finish it on time....

"敬畏耶和華是知識的開端；愚妄人藐視智慧和訓誨" Proverbs 1:7

New Community....

Today, we were invited by Monika, our landlord to join her church. We taught that we have not decided which church to go, so we decided to join her. She said that that the church has English Service. We notice that its hard to find people who can speak English in this town.

The church name is Dayspring Christian Church. It's not far from our place. The church situation was good. People are very warm, they great us and welcoming us. The senior pastor's name is Johannes Kuehhorm, He is Germany married to Taiwanese. He welcome us personally and introduce us to some of his member who are from NCKU. That was awesome.

Although we can not fully understand the song for worship but we enjoy it. Especially meeting other Christian family from different country, that was a very wonderful moment. We feel that we are in our home church in Indonesia. Some of the member even invited us to join their celebration.

Overall, we enjoy our first sunday in Tainan. We praise God for bringing such a wonderful people in our life......

Finally, We got number for our Cell

Talking about cell phone number, you might not believe that it's quite hard to get one here. Since we arrived, I keep on trying to get one but it can't.

All the cellular operators require a Taiwan ID, and for us foreigner they will give ARC (alien residence certificate) in Taiwan. I have applied that but it takes 2 weeks. So, it seems impossible to get any number. I keep asking to different operator but again the answer is the same.

I think, maybe I have to wait till Sept 18 after I get my ARC to apply for it. But, I cant passion with that. I asked my Indonesian friend at night when we on line, he said that I can apply one at 7 eleven with only showing my passport. The following day, I went there and they gave me a SIM card with a number after they fill up a registration form which required my passport and my national ID. It's ok whether it took quite long time because I have to write my home address in Chinese. I had someone help me read the address name in the map after I draw my address. It's a nice experience.....

So, here is our number : +886 955 385 241. U can call, send txt now.....

Asyiknya sepedaan di Tainan

Wah, hari ini sepedaan ma suami....di negeri orang lagi.. asyikkkk banget. dari pagi mpe sore.

pagi harus pergi ke kantor imigrasi, urus surat2. aku dibonceng ma suami. Pertama, asyik banget. tengah jalan, kaki mulai cenut2. Pas sampe, bukan cuman ketek yang basah. Baju juga bisa diperas kayaknya. Soalnya sepedaan di siang hari. Panaaasss rasa dipanggang....

Urus surat2 selesai jg. Ketemu ma orang2 Indo yang jadi TKI. liat muka mereka nelongso banget. clingak clinguk kayak orang kampung masuk kota. Kasian jg liatnya. Tapi tau yang kulakukan? Diem seribu bahasa. Lagi males ngobrol. lagi capek.

Pulang rumah, langsung makan siang. Trus istirahat sejenak. Hmmm...enaknya berduaan ma suami. Serasa di Firdaus hahahhaa.... bosan nonton TV, sepedaan lagi deh ma suami. tapi kali ini ke Carrefour.

maklum isi kulkas masih kosong. isi pertama cuman apel sebiji doang. itu pun sisa snack dari Manila. hahah.... asyik jg sepedaan di Tainan. palagi sore hari. suasana kota sejuk. ga rame2 banget, so macet??! ke lauut aje....

Di carrefour borong deh...beli panci, minyak goreng, daging ayam, garam, gula, lada, telor, arrgghhh..pokoknya borong aja. biar bisa masak di rumah. soalnya lebih irit. hihihi...

pulang ke rumah, semangat banget aku nyusun semua belanjaan masuk kulkas. ehhh, saking semangatnya, dua telor sampe pecah. kesenggol.... Aku manyuuuuunnnn banget. udah jauh2 beli ke Carrefour, tuh telor malah jatuh n ga bisa dimakan....

but its okay. meski BT, ganti menu dinner. makan nugget aja, ma sambel...hmmmm...lezat jg....untung suami ga bawel. apa aja yang kumasak, langsung diembat. namanya jg lapar.....

Thanks God, hari ini dapat pengalaman baru lagi. Dulu sepedaan pas masih gadis, pas lagi semangat2nya jangkau jiwa di UGM. eh, sekarang jauh di negeri orang, aku sepedaan lagi. tapi kali ini pun tak sendiri. kalo dulu ma temen2 sepelayanan, sekarang ma suami seorang. Hmmm...serasa dunia milik berdua... :P

New Journey in Tainan

Hidup tuh memang butuh petualangan. Rasanya klo ga punya petualangan, kita juga minim pengalaman. Dan sekarang, petualangan kami masuk babak baru. Tainan..

Ga tau juga kenapa Tuhan bawa kami ke sini. Yang kami dapat cuman satu. Sama seperti kehidupan Yusuf yang penuh petualangan hdp di negeri orang, hidup kami pun demikian. Dan kemana pun Yusuf pergi, Tuhan selalu buat berhasil. Bukan karena pandainya Yusuf. Bukan pula karena pandainya dia jalin hubungan. tapi lebih karena Tuhan. Itu yang kami imani dan amini.

So, ga masalah. Mo ke Manila kek, mo ke Tainan kek. Ke mana itu ga terlalu penting dibanding pergi dengan siapa. Karena janji Tuhan itu kekal... Ke mana pun kita pergi, asal God Immanuel ada, pasti kita bisa...

Petualangan dimulai dengan ketaatan. Dan kami belajar untuk taat akan suara Tuhan. Kami percaya di Tainan, Tuhan sediakan segala sesuatunya yang kami butuhkan.

Haleluya....

Tainan, Our Next Stop....

It says that Tainan is one of the ancient city in Taiwan. Located in Southern part of the island, Tainan is 30 minutes far from Kaohsiung a nearest International airport.

We arrived here midnight on Sept 2, 2008. Praise God, that He sent a fellow Christian who is also the owner of our apartment to help us. Her name is Monika, she is Taiwanese and Tainanese.
She picked us up in the Tainan Train station and brought us to our new apartment. We could not sleep well last night because we were so tired.

Today, we just take a tour by walking around the city. We found out that most the people can't speak English. It's hard for us to communicate. We went to Immigration office for applying my ARC. After that we went to buy some kitchen material so we can cook our own food. It is much cheaper if we cook by our selves.

The city looks nice, it is very traditional look with modern touch. We like it. Most people here use scooter and bike. I think we will have another tour again tomorrow since the owner of the house allowing us to use her bike.

God, thanks for bringing us to this city. We trust you as we start our new live in Taiwan. As you be with us in Philippines, we believe that You be with us in Tainan.....

Cheers....

Good Bye Philippines......

Sept 2, 2008 we left NAIA airport in Manila after we stay for 2,2 years there. It was a wonderful moment for me. I spent my 2 years study in Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary in Taytay. Now, its time for me to go. Its sad to leave people there. But, again we have to move and fulfill God's heart for us.

As I flash back my years in the Philippines, I just want to testify that GOD is GOOD. He is faithful God. I have witnessed that He never leave me alone. He guides me to meet a very special people there and provide everything I need.

I just want to thank people in APNTS for the time that we have spent together. Donahues, I learned a lot from you as we worked together. Kwons, thanks for the time of advising and knowledge transfer. Mrs. Hatcher, thanks for the warm welcoming us for movie night, prayer n motivation to be better teacher. Mrs. Silvernail, thank for your prayer. Mijares, thanks for the support. Spring of the Spirit Ministry, thanks for the wonderful place to share, experience and ministering together. Kim, Sun Bun, thanks for the very moment time that we have spent. Sian Man, Ruel, Ronilo, Rober, David, Kenji thanks for the friendships.

We will never forget the moment that we spent together. Keep moving as we wlalk through God's will in our life.

Be a History Maker.....