Macau 澳門

(What once was...)

It's hard to believe how fast time goes sometimes! I feel like I just got back from my trip to Kinmen, and already three months has gone by- so it became time for me to venture out from Taiwan once again.

For this Spotlight on a Strange Place, I chose to go to Macau. Macau is quite a bit more well-known than Kinmen, but it's still a very small place quite far away from most of my readers, so if you don't know where it is, let me help you:

See the little green peninsula on the left?

As you can see, Macau is very close to Hong Kong- just across the Pearl River Delta, which means that from Taipei it takes just about two hours to fly there. As you can also see, Macau is much smaller than Hong Kong, which is itself very small; and, Macau along with Hong Kong are both a different color than China. That's because Macau and Hong Kong have very similar backgrounds; where Hong Kong belonged to the British Empire, Macau was claimed by Portugal. Macau is about two hundred years older than Hong Kong, and it was sold to China at a later time; but right now they have very similar situations, with their own laws and passports but no freedom to make decisions separate from China.

When I arrived in Macau, I immediately noticed the many ways in which it is different than Hong Kong. Take this picture for example:

Just looking down a street

I took this picture between the airport and a bus stop. See the buildings, how they're short enough you can see the sky? And the flowers on the road? And the nice (I later learned, hand-cobbled) sidewalks? And the absence of millions of people? Immediately, Macau was a more comfortable place to visit than Hong Kong.

Many of those things are caused by the heavy Portuguese influence still felt in the city. Macau was established by the Portuguese in 1557. You might ask yourself, as I did when I first heard of Macau, "What were the Portuguese of all people doing in Asia in 1557?"

Back when the British were still stuck on their home island, the Portuguese were already excellent sailors and traders, having sailed around the tip of Africa, past India, and on to Ming China. For a while, they were content to use their bases in India to trade with China- in the process, discovering and naming Formosa- but after a few years, they realized the benefit a local settlement to repair and refit their ships could bring. They asked the Chinese if they could buy some land, and got a flat "No" in response. It didn't matter what they offered, the Chinese still said No.

Old main square of Macau- as you see, the Portuguese eventually won

According to a museum I went to while in Macau, one day a Portuguese ship heading into Canton was damaged badly by a storm and sunk near modern Macau. The Portuguese authorities arrived and found that although they had lost the ship, much of their cargo could be saved- if they could get it quickly and let it dry out.

They approached the Mandarin of Guangdong Province, and in return for a cut of the trade goods he agreed to not notice while the Portuguese landed on current-day Macau Peninsula and salvaged their goods. While he was still busy not noticing them, the Portuguese quickly build a fortress and stationed enough cannon there that the Mandarin of Guangdong could not move them!

The Mandarin requested Imperial troops to help him, but the Emperor informed him that the Portuguese were his problem- the Emperor had enough problems of his own. So, his solution was simple: Build a large wall across the peninsula and pretend the Portuguese weren't there.

An old Catholic church (and an apple)

Amazingly, this worked out pretty well for everyone. The local Chinese couldn't mingle with the Westerners, the Portuguese had a trading base and couldn't expand further into China, and after a few decades of pretending they didn't exist, the Chinese finally signed a treaty leasing Macau Peninsula to the Portuguese for 40 pounds of silver per year- which they continued to pay right up until they ended the lease in 1999.

Shops in the Senado

The official languages in Macau are Portuguese and Cantonese- not Mandarin, and not English. Since Mandarin and English are the two languages I know, communicating with the locals was a bit difficult! Still, they use the same written Chinese characters, and enough storekeepers knew enough Mandarin (still no English) that I could get by alright.

For the first three hundred years, Macau's main economy was trade with China. Traders from all over Europe would put into port at Macau while doing business with China, and many rich companies competed with each other for land to build warehouses and offices on. In the 1800s, though, Britain gained possession of Hong Kong, and afterwards Macau was never able to recapture the same prominence. Hong Kong was bigger, its harbor was better, it had more water, and to top it all off it already had Chinese people living on it, so it was easier to find workers. Macau still struggled along, but it was never the same.

Of course, now its main economy is gambling.

The casinos loom over the old streets...

Oddly for a culture that loves a good wager, gambling of any sort is illegal throughout all China. That doesn't stop small games of course, but for anything bigger than a game of poker or 麻將 the Chinese are out of luck...

Unless they go to Macau, where gambling is totally legal! 

Because China is so big, and because most Chinese people really do like gambling, Macau has become much like Las Vegas- except Chinese, and much bigger. In fact, last year Macau made seven times as much money as Las Vegas. Many of the local Macanese people aren't too happy about the changes the casinos have brought, but everyone has to admit that at least the extra money has reached all the residents of Macau- it's not just a few rich guys laughing to the bank.

After going to the old main square, I walked up a very steep hill to the Fortaleza del Monte, the Fortress on the Mountain, which protected Macau for nearly five hundred years.

And those old stones look every bit of five hundred years old...

According to the museum (which was actually built inside the fortress, as it was decommissioned in the 1980s), this was the very fortress the Portuguese built to initially seize control of Macau! It was expanded since they first built it, of course, finally attaining its current appearance in the late 1700s, but some of the original structure is still visible.

Guard tower overlooking the entrance...

...which is here, complete with the Portuguese coat of arms above the gate

Inside the gate

The Fortaleza is a nice place to spend some time. On a mountain, the breeze is very refreshing, and the views of the city are very impressive.

Aimed perfectly

On the current Fortaleza, there are no guns pointing towards Mainland China, as a gesture of peace and goodwill- but even the original structure has a smaller battlement and less defenses in that direction. Perhaps the Portuguese realized, if China ever really got angry there wasn't much they could do to defend themselves? If so, it makes sense that they would focus their attention against pirates- who did come a few times- and maybe use the lack of defenses against China as proof of good intentions.

A nice Chinese man helped me prove I was there

The museum inside the Fortaleza was small, without too much to write home about other than the storiy of Macau's origin I already shared with you. They did have a nice street built with facades of various Macanese houses, from a poor fisherman's house all the way up to the Governor General's mansion, which was pretty cool.

No pictures allowed... so be discreet

After I came down from the mountain, I came across this grand old ruin, the Cathedral of St. Paul, which was gutted by fire in the 1800s. The entire structure was so badly hurt by the fire it collapsed- except its front, amazingly, which still stood and continues to stand down to our day!

Iconic! (Get it? Because of the icons?)

Actually it is a pretty iconic building, I saw the Ruins of St. Paul's on souvenirs of all kinds- although most people now living in Macau aren't very Portuguese, they're still proud of their city's heritage!

From farther away

Looking out on the Cathedral's street- "Resurrection Rd."

During my trip, I had the good fortune to be on the same bus as an agent of Macau's Ministry of Tourism, who not only suggested several of the sites I went to but also enlightened me on Macau's current situation. The woman (whose name was Cinderella- really) explained that she herself was native-born Macanese, and since she was alive during the hand-off she's actually now a Portuguese citizen. (On a side note, that was really nice of Portugal to do. Many people in Macau didn't like the idea of becoming Chinese citizens, so Portugal gave them a way to emigrate if they wanted. Britain, on the other hand, completely ignored the people of Hong Kong's protests, didn't let any of them leave to the UK, and actually restricted travel before the hand-off to prevent people fleeing.)

Cinderella told me that before the hand-off, when Macau was still Portuguese, Macau had only 650,000 citizens; now, sixteen years later, it has close to five million. Offsetting this somewhat, the Chinese government has given Macau huge amounts of money to artificially enlarge their islands and even create new ones, so the people aren't as packed together as they might have been; but the effect on Macau's culture has nonetheless been immense. 

Obviously, these 4.35 million extra people weren't born in Macau; they came from China, and they brought their own Chinese culture with them. As such, most people who live in Macau cannot speak Portuguese, even though it's an official language; most cannot make or even don't like Macanese food; they listen to different music, think about different things and were educated differently. In fact, because Portugal gave all Macanese citizens Portuguese citizenship, the effect is even more pronounced than it might seem, as many of the remaining 650,000 people left Macau.

All that Chinese money, though...

I really, really like Macanese culture. It's a really interesting mix of Portuguese and Chinese, and although this might seem odd, it feels very... like home. Hospitable, maybe, is the word, very open and generous. But today's Macau doesn't really have that culture anymore; what's left of it is just on life support, propped up by the government to attract tourists and to keep the few remaining native Macanese happy.

Macau Tower; if you're crazy, you can bungee jump from it!

I only visited for a day. There's probably much that I missed, and surely many people are quite happy with the new way of life. Certainly, the extra money from the casinos has opened a lot of doors for many people who had very little options before- new schools, hospitals, roads, and houses are appearing very quickly, and even islands are emerging from the sea to provide comfortable living space for everyone. But I can't help feeling just a little bit sad for Macau- it seems it sold its heart for a nice job.

I killed time in this nice auditorium while waiting for my plane to leave

At least one thing is for sure, though- 蛋塔 danta are amazing.

Within two hours of taking this picture of delicious egg tart pastry, I was back home in Taipei waiting for a bus.

It's hard to say when my next post will go up, unfortunately- I have been very busy with a variety of projects lately, and I'm afraid I will have even less time in the coming weeks. I may have news for you soon...

Records 新紀錄

(Moving faster!)

A little while ago, when Daan and Taipei South congregations were just splitting, I mentioned that it was a time of great inner conflict for most of us. One the one hand, splitting into two congregations was a good thing; it proved we're having success in the ministry, it opened the way for future success, and it made the elders' jobs easier, as they have fewer people to look after. On the other hand, it meant we'd be seeing a lot less of many of our friends, as our schedules, service arrangements and meetings changed.

We officially split at the beginning of last month, which means that only about six weeks have passed- and already, at this early date, it has been overwhelmingly worth it! Although our publisher count has dropped to only about 85 (from 170-something when we were one big congregation), we have an average attendance for last month of 130, and we had 192 people attend the Memorial! Both congregations average bible studies have gone up; more people are pioneering, although that could be influenced by the Memorial as well; even the table we have set up at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial hall broke its record not one, but twice! It's clear that Jehovah is blessing these new arrangements and helping us to move ever faster as time goes on.

I want to mention again the two times CKS broke its record, because I think it's really cool. 

As does Sr. Shen 神姊妹!

The first time was nearly a month ago, when in one seven-hour day the Witnesses manning the cart placed 70 books and 40 brochures, with three people applying for Bible studies. Wonderful! That was a record-breaker, but not by all that much; although on an average day we usually place only 20-30 books and brochures combined, we've had good days before that weren't that much lesser than this first record breaker. The second one came last week, last Monday in fact, when in one day we placed- get this- 193 books and 146 brochures, with seven people requesting a Bible study! I was there for the first three hours of the day, and while we were there I had to leave CKS twice to quickly ride to the hall and back with more literature, because we had run out!

At CKS, we predominantly talk with Mainland Chinese tourists who've come on vacation to Taiwan. Although China is officially the least religious country in the world, with many religious groups under heavy restrictions or outright banned- Jehovah's Witnesses included- it's easy to see that many of the Chinese people still have the spiritual need that Jesus mentioned in his Sermon on the Mount, and it's important that they too get the opportunity to learn the truth about the Bible.

Having a smaller territory is a bit more convenient for our regular door-to-door work, as well, since most of us don't have any kind of motorized transport- it's all bikes and feet!

The all-important coffee break, with Chongren studiously ignoring the camera

A small amount of the increase in publishers is because a few people have returned to Taipei South after a period of absence. For instance, Giancarlo has come back after being in Panama for six months. What was he doing in Panama for so long, you might ask? Good question- he was marrying his beautiful bride Sarah!

Seen here travelling in great style to lunch

Also, we've finally gotten through to Marco- he's been attending our Family Worship for a few months now, which is all in Chinese (well, Chinglish), he's attended a few meetings, he's even come with us to the assembly, and now he's finally moved from Taipei English to our Chinese hall. Good job man!

Also, he's not that tall, this door is just really short

Not only that- look who it is!!

Jerry!! (And me and Kuanzheng)

...unfortunately, Jerry didn't move back yet, he's still doing his Substitute Military Service. They moved him down to Chiayi, apparently, and he says his new job is incredibly, crazy boring. He's the manager for all the other guys doing civil service instead of the mandatory draft, and he says unless someone has a problem- which isn't often- he just goes outside and sweeps the sidewalks all day. Still, he's already a third of the way through (it's 18 months long), and he's in good spirits- he's doing it for a very good reason, and he knows it.

Afterwards, we went out for some Xinjiang food- try the "fried evil"!

A few days after taking that picture, Terry got really sick- he says he's got walking pneumonia or something- so he's had to call in a lot of us as substitute teachers lately. Personally, I filled in for him at a rich kids' high school out in Keelung for one day this week, which was a really interesting experience. Up until now, my biggest class has had fifteen kids in it, and I usually teach 7-13 year olds. This school, on the other hand, had classes of fifty or sixty kids, all 15 or 16 years old. Since I was a substitute, they had all the classes planned out for me already, and all I needed to do was get the kids through the material and tests without anyone dying- and in that I succeeded! Teaching one person is so different than teaching an entire classroom, you need a whole new set of skills... Terry deserves his reputation as a good teacher.

High schoolers asking their Confucian predecessors for help

And for one last record, our Family Worship has been growing. Now we're up to seven people in regular attendance; we're all single brothers and sisters who don't have families in Taipei, so we made our own! It was a bit difficult to stick to the schedule when we first started doing this in Taipei, but it's really paid off... Tuesday night is always fun now. 

Knights of the Red Table

And it helps when we order pizza and the pizza place slightly burns our pizza, so they give us the burnt ones for free on top of what we ordered! Double pizza night!! It wasn't badly burnt, easily still edible, but man... we were eating that for the rest of the week.

I'm going to Macau tomorrow for a visa run, I'll try to do another post about that interesting city soon! Who knows, maybe I'll break another record...

Energy 精神

(Spent and gained!)

This time of year is always full of energy. All around the world, the campaign to invite people to the memorial of Jesus' death is in full swing, nd Taiwan is no exception. Not only have the requirements to pioneer been reduced for this special activity- allowing more people to try it out- here in Taipei, we've been having an extra one or two meetings for field service each week, and we're really working to cover as much of our territory as we can!

Look at us go!

Of course, there's no way we'll really cover it. Especially now that the congregation has split, there are only about 90 publishers in Taipei South, and about 300,000 people in our territory. Still, last year we had about 350% attendance for our Memorial meeting, and I have a feeling this year will be even better!

Come on... you know you want it...

Besides the campaign work, we also had our Circuit assembly last weekend! It's held in a suburb of Taipei called Tucheng, in a rented Jr. High School's gym.

We covered up the basketball court markings this time

It was a very encouraging program, all about pursuing peace- both how important it is, and how we can accomplish that goal. It was also encouraging to realize that I could understand every single talk! I find that it's difficult to pay attention during long meetings such as assemblies without taking notes, and I can't write in Chinese characters very quickly, so I took notes in English- basically translating the main points of every talk. To my surprise, I had hit them all! There were a few words here or there that I didn't understand, of course, but I can't help comparing this assembly to the first one I attended in Taiwan more than a year ago. Taiwan has definitely been good for me- my Chinese has improved, if nothing else!

But of course, there are a lot of other reasons why Taiwan is so good- like these guys:

Joe is much better at selfies than I am

And speaking of those guys, besides all the preaching and assembling we've been doing, we somehow managed to find time for a bike ride down to the Xindian River! Joe had seen a place you could rent paddle boats down there a while ago, and we finally got around to making plans to try them out.

On the ride down

So, bikes. I didn't really know how to ride a bike before I came to Taiwan. I mean, when I was younger- like, eight years old- I remember my mom teaching me how to ride one, but after that I don't think I got on a bike more than twice in the intervening fourteen years. Obviously, bikes are incredibly useful here in Taipei- they take a 30-minute walk and transform it into a 5-minute ride, and when you've got to travel between people's houses spread out all over the city for both preaching and work, that really adds up quickly. When I first arrived in Taiwan, I was a bit afraid to ride a bike; the roads are a lot more crowded that I was used to, and the traffic laws a lot more lax. Still, I forced myself to try the city's rental bikes, and after a few weeks of mild terror I found myself relaxed enough to actually start enjoying the ride, and now I consider my bicycle to be an absolute necessity.

Yang Jie posing on my bike while out in the ministry- he doesn't quite fit

Of course, I have crashed a couple times. When I was first riding around on Taipei's rental bikes, I hit walls a couple times, and people a couple more times- 對不起! A couple months ago, I got cut off by a motorcycle coming out of a side alley without looking and went flying- amazingly without being hurt beyond bruises, but my poor bike had to have both its wheels replaced and its front fork bent back into shape- not quite good as new, but not bad either. 

And unfortunately, minutes after taking the above picture with the flowers, I crashed again. This time it was pretty bad- the bike's front fork was already weakened, and now it was bent so far backwards that it was impossible to turn anymore- the wheel would hit my feet! The front shifter was out of alignment so I couldn't shift up, the rear one had completely fallen apart, and in the fall I sprained my right elbow. We were close to our destination, however, so I limped onwards until we arrived at the Xindian docks.

The boats are down there, I swear

I was considering leaving and going to get my arm checked out, but I was about 95% sure it was just a sprain, and if it was just a sprain the doctors would probably just give me some pain meds and tell me to take it easy. I decided to tough it out and get in the boats with my friends.

Unfortunately, there were seven of us and the paddle boats only seat four. Also, they're paddle boats, which means you have to pedal them very quickly if you want to move. Also, they gave the guy with the sprained right arm- me- the helm of our boat, which was steered by pulling on a lever to my right. That hurt. Still, it was pretty fun and really good exercise- next time, we're going to eat before we get on the boats, not the other way around!

Friendly rivals

All together, myself, Cary and Amy were in our boat, and our opposite number was comprised of Alix, Joe, Lise and Yunya. It was difficult keeping up with them- they had four people after all, and we only had three!- but it was a cool time. Sea shanties were sung. I may have accidentally grounded our boat once.

The Taiwanese cycle keeps working- Amy has already left Taiwan for Korea, and Lise will be leaving us this Monday. We'll miss you guys! Keep up the good work!

Also, recently the Dalai Lama visited Taiwan I believe, because at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall there were banners up all over the place with his face and this rather large temple in the middle of the square:

Their god looks scary! Look at that guy!

Despite their very visible presence, or maybe because of it, this week has been absolutely incredible at CKS. This last Tuesday, over the course of just five hours, we placed 87 books, 92 brochures, and had five or six people sign up for a bible study. Five hours!

Sr. Huang showing a video to a pair of Mainland Chinese tourists

There is definitely energy in the air, and we can all feel it. Good things are happening, and although problems do come, they are far outweighed by the blessings we receive. At times it seems like things are moving very quickly, but as long as we put Jehovah's goals first, we don't need to worry about being left behind- we're just along for the ride!

Last Minute 最後一分 (Alishan 阿里山)

(The cycle continues...)

Here in Taipei, it seems like we're always doing things- if it's not going on a trip, it's organizing some event, or if nothing else just going out to eat or to the movies together. It's a fun kind of busy, but one of the biggest reasons we do this is because we always seem to have people coming and going. When we have a new friend arrive to help us out, obviously we want to have a party to welcome them, and when someone leaves, we naturally want to send them off well. It's a really good cycle we've got going here; people come, they learn Chinese, they get accustomed to Chinese culture, they make new friends, we make new friends, and then they go off, either to some new land or back to their home congregations, well equipped to expand their ministry and assist the congregations. That doesn't mean it's easy when someone leaves though- for anyone!

These past few weeks, we've had the cycle hit us pretty hard. Almost ten people have either already gone home or are going home soon, and we've been doing some last minute activities with as many people as we can! First, we had a group dinner/game night at Alix's house to send off Ayaha and Kiara- Ayaha going home for a time, Kiara going to expand her ministry in Australia.

I am not good at selfies!

Then we had another party, again with food, games and music, for Jessica, who has been here for over one year and is going back to her home congregation in England. Jessica actually lived underneath a sister's store- she has a huge basement that she's outfitted as a kind of hostel, with bedrooms and a common area, but only for Witnesses- so we got to invite more people to her party!

No party is complete without a game of Swedish Mafia or two...

She wasn't leaving fast enough, so we decided to carry her out

We'll miss all of you! No matter where your service takes you, I know Jehovah will bless you, and I hope your time in Taiwan has helped you. Come back any time you want!

People haven't just left, either; the cycle works both ways, and it has brought Harry Sparks back to our island!

The man himself! (Liang Teng was just visiting sadly...)

Harry came to Taiwan just a few days after I did, and we lived together for a good six months before he went back to the States to take care of some business and see some family. He's told me he plans to eventually retire in Taiwan and help in the Chinese field as much as he can, and he's taking steps to make that plan a reality! This time, he'll be here for three months, then will go back one more time in the summer to save up a little more money. After that, maybe the next time he comes will be permanent?

By the way, the picture above is when we went to a hot pot place 火鍋- some places call it Shabu Shabu, for a reason that no one can explain to me. It doesn't sound anything like that in Chinese, maybe it's a dialect or something? Anyway, it's amazing, and most of those places are all-you-can-eat. :-D

The major trip this time, however, was a trip I took with two sisters, Tomomi and Amy. We three have worked together at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall for five months now, every Monday morning for three hours, and have had many good experiences preaching together, not to mention the myriad conversations we've had during times when not many people were in the square. And sadly, this situation must change, for Amy is also leaving Taiwan! She's going back home to Korea, hopefully to come back one day...

We were talking, and she mentioned one place she'd never gotten to visit that she had always wanted to was Alishan 阿里山, a famously beautiful mountain in central Taiwan. So I figured, why not go?

We three made plans to take a Wednesday off work and service, wake up early and take the first train down to Chiayi, then board a bus up to the mountain and walk from there. The train ride was unremarkable, but as our bus climbed into the mountains, we all knew that this was already a good idea.

Getting higher...

Alishan is not particularly tall, as mountains go- only 7000 feet (2,400m) high or so- but considering how small Taiwan is it dominates the surrounding valleys. One day I'd like to climb 玉山 Jade Mountain, Taiwan's tallest at about 12,000  feet (3,900m)... but that will have to wait, as there aren't any buses to the top of Jade Mountain!

In fact, there was hardly a bus route to Alishan! There is only one small two-lane road up the mountain, and on our way up someone in front of us had an accident, which completely blocked traffic for about 90 minutes. At least the view was still pretty good.

There are worse places to get stuck... like Cleveland

But finally, after sitting in a bus for way too long, we arrived!

Since Alishan is so tall, it was quite a bit colder than Taipei! That day, Taipei was about 21 C, about 70 F, but on top of the mountain it was a chilly 2 C- about 35 F! In fact, we missed snow by only one week!

From left: Tomomi, me, Amy

Alishan fully deserves its reputation for beauty. The flowers were just opening, the small plants were green with new life, and the trails had been very artfully made.

So close to the Chinese New Year, there were unfortunately a lot of tourists from Mainland China, who are not known for their great respect for others' space or their exceptional manners, but we solved that problem pretty easily. The Chinese usually like to travel in large groups, with a tour guide wielding his megaphone directing them around and continually yelling at them not to destroy the park or the plant life, so they're pretty compact. Any time we heard one coming- and you could hear them from a long way off- we just ducked into the forest until they left. Problem solved!

Just go over there and look at flowers for a few minutes. Easy!

It's a bit of a shame how paved all the 'hiking' trails were. When I checked online and saw that you could hike in the Alishan National Park, I thought hiking meant, you know, dirt trails and fording creeks, not so much walking across artfully designed bridges and along white granite pathways. They do make for good pictures, though...

There wasn't really a whole lot to do in Alishan besides walk around and appreciate nature, but there's nothing wrong with that. Nature is beautiful! Taipei is a particularly green city, even compared to an American city like Sacramento known for its trees, but this forest was quite different than Taipei's. Taipei is more of a rainforest, lots of ferns, moss and mushrooms... Alishan, probably because it's colder, reminds me more of redwoods than rainforest.

This one looks fake, doesn't it? It's completely real, I promise.

About an hour along the path, there's a feature called the Sisters Lake. According to a sign, the local legend is that long ago, before the Chinese came to Taiwan, there was a tribal chief of the nearby tribe who had two beautiful daughters who were soon going to be married to two sons of another nearby tribe, and everyone hoped that would bring the two tribes closer together. Sadly, before they could be married, the two tribes fought about something, and their two future husbands were both killed by members of their own tribe. Overcome with grief, the two sisters came here, and cried themselves to death. Their tears formed the Sister Lakes, and their love makes them beautiful.

The story probably isn't true, but the lakes are nonetheless very beautiful!

Big Sister

Little Sister

...and then another few Chinese tour groups came through, so we went off the trail into the forest to wait for a while.

Surprisingly comfortable, actually

Probably less comfortable, but definitely cuter!

As the day grew later, it also grew colder, and a fog began to roll over the mountain. This made for some amazingly beautiful scenery.

This looks like the backdrop to a movie...

But sadly, far too soon the time came for us to go. One of the problems of going somewhere with only one brother and two sisters is if you stay the night somewhere, people might get stumbled by it (or at least start talking), so we decided that although it would be awesome to stay the night and see the sunrise over Taiwan- a glorious sight if the Internet can be believed, and from what I've seen of Alishan, I believe it- it would be best for us to get back to Taipei that same day. So, before the sun had even set, we headed back down the trail-

-without passing up photo opportunities, obviously-

-and headed back to the bus stop, where we boarded a bus back to Chiayi (fortunately with no delays this time), then the high speed rail back to Taipei. Although it was short, it was definitely worth it to go, and not only to make Amy happy- Alishan is gorgeous, and if I can I'd like to camp there for a few nights next time I go!

Although, look at those happy faces!

That's the third or fourth time I've gone somewhere in Taiwan and I've thought "man, I should really camp here". I should probably actually camp somewhere one of these days! I wonder where I can get a tent...

One of the beautiful things about Jehovah God is that there are so many ways to make him happy. No one is limited to only one course of service; there are many, many ways to serve our God, and none of them are better than the others. Bethelites, missionaries, pioneers, circuit overseers, Kingdom Hall construction workers, and publishers are all equally important, and all receive an equal amount of approval from Jehovah; and similarly, no matter where you go to fulfill your ministry, you can be useful in the field and to the local friends. Although some people must leave Taiwan to fulfill their own ministry or to further their own spiritual goals, Taiwan will always be OK. We have plenty of new people coming in, from across the seas and from inside the country as new ones get baptized, and the preaching work is progressing at a pace never seen before.

As for me, who knows what the future holds? I originally only intended to be in Taiwan for six months, but it's been nearly 18 now and I'm still finding new reasons to enjoy it here. Still, I know there are areas that need even more help than Taiwan does. Who can say for sure? One thing is certain: in Jehovah's organization, the horizon is bright.