Day 8 - Day 10 - Marketplace~

18-20 Jul - Here's me dealing with my clients before coming back to Singapore. ;)

18th Jul - Inside Taiwan High-Speed Rail. :)

18th Jul - At client's place in Hsinchu.

18th Jul - At Hsinchu THSR station. Waiting to go back Taipei.

19th Jul - Lunch at MOS Burger.
Special Japanese Chocolate Ice-cream.
Yum.

19th Jul - At client's place in Tainan.

Noticed the red spots on the train's nose tip?
The high-speed train knocks many birds flying in its path everyday
esp. in the Southern Taiwan - leaving the blood stains.

19th Jul - 阿公阿婆面 - A nice warm bowl of noodles I had for dinner
before I fly back on 20th. Very Q :)

19th Jul - The food outlet where I had dinner!

Day 7 - Eric Alone!

17th July - Daphne and Grace have left for Singapore this morning. It was earlier than expected because their original intent was to stay till 18th. Full flight.. so no choice I guess.

So I'm left alone to rest in my hotel room. I decided to head to the Starbucks Coffee downstairs to continue my email clearing and get some preparation done for my official business trip which starts tomorrow!

NTD 300 (SGD 15) for 6 hrs Internet time.
Use as and when you like.

Strange insect on the glass panel of Starbucks.

Dinner time! I decided to walk to Nanjing East Rd to explore the other eateries (other than the McDonalds' which we frequent. Found! Hainanese Chicken Rice - Taiwanese style definitely. No cucumber but small beancurds, egg, vege. and pickles with some special Thai chilli sauce. Instead of the yellow ginger - they've got the green ginger! haha.. Tastes good. Only SGD 3.50. Complete meal with soup and hygienic utensils - Taiwan is very good in this. No worries of dirty utensils as all chopsticks and spoons are disposable!

I'm really fortunate! Second last customer! They closed at 8 PM!

The Taiwanese Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Completed 7-11 Hello Kitty card. But could not exchange
the free Hello Kitty figurine because I chose to bring this
back to hotel to take a photo of it - missing
the last day of promotion unknowingly! BEST!

After dinner, I took the MRT to Taipei Main Station - where the connecting Taiwan High Speed Rail station is. Went there to purchase the tickets to Hsinchu for tomorrow. Just in case the tickets are sold out! haha.. The Taiwan High Speed Rail is a new bullet-train system that travels 300 km/hr. You will reach the southern most part of Taiwan in 90 mins flat instead of the conventional 5-6 hrs railway train ride!

When it started in January this year, the crowd was crazy. I actually missed the opportunity to take it because it was completely sold out. Fixed time slots, fixed seating arrangement. So better be safe this time.

Day 6 - Sightseeing

16 July - Today we decided to visit some of the famous landmarks of Taipei, Taiwan. Afterall, they are what differentiates!

Before that, we took our brunch at the IKEA food cafe! It is actually just beside our hotel. (heh.. that's why hotel proximity to food and other facilities is very important!) Most of IKEA's food are similar except maybe what's in this picture.

Fried pork cutlet with melting cheese in it.
(Comes complete with rice and sauce!)
To the left: Rolled Salmon!

MRT in Taipei is very convenient - much like Singapore. We reached Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall easily - by alighting at the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall Station! How easy is that!?

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall! (With Taipei 101 as backdrop)

Dr. Sun Yat-sen is the founding father of modern China i.e. Republic of China. He played an instrumental role in the eventual overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. He was the first provisional president when the Republic of China (ROC) was founded in 1912. He later co-founded the Kuomintang (KMT) where he served as its first leader. Sun was a uniting figure in post-imperial China, and remains unique among 20th century Chinese politicians - being widely revered in both mainland China and in Taiwan even today

1866 - Year when Dr. Sun Yat-sen was born.

Did you know Dr. Sun is a Christian? He was water-baptised at age 18!

Dr. Sun's Water Baptism Cert!

Admiring the huge painting that depicts Sun and his
followers - the history-makers.

Next we went to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall! Chiang Kai-shek was the Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. He led the national government of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 to 1975. When KMT was weakened and fell in mainland China, Chiang moved his government to Taipei, Taiwan, where he formally resumed his duties as president on March 1, 1950. Chiang was reelected by the National Assembly to be the President of the ROC on May 20, 1954 and again in 1960, 1966, and 1972.

The main entrance to the memorial hall!

The National Concert Hall on left upon entry.
The National Theatre is a similar looking building on the right.
Pity it's under renovation.

The National Concert Hall!

The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall + big parade square!
Pity it's under renovation too! We could not enter!

Another look at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall!

Parting shot for Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall!

Next - we walked a little to reach the Presidential Building! It's like the Istana of Singapore. Except without a park. It's supposed to be open for visit for tourists. But we were passed opening hours by the time we reached. So too bad. Next time then shake Ah-Bian's hands. haha..

On way to Presidential Building,
we passed by the Ministry of Transportation.

The Presidential Building!

Under able to resist the temptation of shopping, we hopped over to Ximending yet again! It's just another short walk from the Presidential Building. Had our fabulous dinner at Tamagoya and shopped to our eyes' and hearts' content. (For the girls especially.)

Eric found the best signboard along Ximending.

That concludes Day 6!

Day 5 - Post Emerge

People queuing to enter the school hall for service.

15 July, 10 AM - Post Emerge we visited New Life Church for their Sunday service today. A church with a humble membership of 200 in year 2000. Today, they are a thriving 1400 strong church.

This church has outgrown its premises - it holds its service at a primary school 复兴国小 air-conditioned hall next to its building.

Eric and Grace in the school hall.

Pastor Kong shared the message on "Being approved by God".

This is definitely a church that has a can-do attitude. Rev. Abraham Ku, the senior pastor, is really admirable. He has proven that age does not restrict the change of mindset - as long as one is willing.

Poh and the CHC worship team led the Praise and Worship. Shortly after, some Taiwanese youths came up for a quick sharing session of how Emerge has benefitted them. They were representatives of the 200 participanting churches - each from different churches and parts of Taiwan.

Among them was a guy who was deeply moved by what Ps. Kong shared in Emerge. He shared about his desire to excel in studies - amidst the challenge of mastering 繁体字 as he was from Mainland China. Everyone clapped and cheered him on. It was really touching to see how these youths have new zeal of strength - definitely worth all the hard work.

Eric in front of New Life Church entrance!

Eric and Grace with the 'signature' New Life church wall!

Ps. Kong went on to share the message of "Being Approved by God". Comparing between the two Bible characters of Peter and Judas - we learnt why God approved and accepted Peter while not Judas since both have be betrayed Christ.

While both have the anointing of God upon their lives, it is important to note that it does not necessarily equate to the approval of God. What matters really is our brokeness and relationship with Christ. God is looking for people whose hearts are open to correction, willing to bend and listen to the Holy Spirit's prompting and guidance.

After the service ended, we visited the premises of New Life Church. It is very new age and high tech! It's a pity the place is too small for their church now. Well .. it's a 'good' problem. In fact, they are in the midst of their own 'Arise and Build' program - to build a better and better place for God's people!

After the church visit, Eric and Grace visited Taipei 101. Having been here previously, the mission today was to get to the observatory floor at 89th level, as well as the 91st level outdoor observatory! The view is definitely awesome! At a price of 17 SGD, it's definitely worth a visit. Afterall, it's the world's tallest building for now.

The world's fastest elevators serve the guests. Traveling at 1010 m/min, we reach the 89th level at 35 secs flat. No pressure torture at both ascend and descend! The lights in the lifts dims during motion - complete with glowing 'constellation' lights from the ceiling. Magical feeling.

There is a huge structure supported in the middle of the building at 89th level. It weighs 660 tons. A crucial counter-balance mechanism to help Taipei 101 withstand adverse wind conditions that can sway the building. It's called the 'damper'. Creative Taiwanese came up with a mascot called the 'Damper Baby' and a catchy song. Just look at the soft toy Grace holding in the gift shop photo. :)

Eric and Grace with Damper Baby!

The real Damper. It has a mission that is more crucial than just being cute.

View from the 91st storey outdoor observatory.

After the great view, we headed to the Taipei 101 basement food court for a well-deserved lunch break! One would think that the food in Taipei 101 will be very expensive. Not so. One meal cost average SGD 5 - 7 with epic portions. Food tastes delicious too!

Next, we took the MRT to Ximending - the popular fashion street for some good shopping!

That's all for Day 5!

In case you are wondering, all the photos uploaded thus far are from Eric's N95 phone camera. Daphne and Grace took a whole lot of photos. Will definitely update with more photos soon!

Day 4 - Finale!

Quiet morning - no morning session on Day 4!

This is the TV production control room, temporarily set up,
this is where the director calls the shots!

Grace with her new sneakers! SGD 20 only.
Good quality stuff.

Getting ready - 1 1/2 hour before final session!

14 May - There was no morning session today - but many sporting activities were being held. Taiwanese churches competed in sports like Track & Field, Table-Tennis, Basketball etc.

The Singapore mission team also competed with the Taiwanese team in basketball and soccer competitions. Though we were trashed in the basketball match (not sure the final score now), we won the soccer match with a nice score of 4:1. :)

Long queues once again. 2 -3 hrs before 6 pm. :)

Full attendance even at the last session. Praise God!

The night session began at 6 pm sharp to a full attendance.

Results of the competitions like Cheerleading, X-Box NBA Basketball challenge, Bible Verse Recital Challenge etc were announced. The winning youths were awarded with fabulous prizes such as SGD 300-500 SOGO vouchers, PSPs and even IBM Thinkpad laptop computers!

Jay Chou.

Jay with best friend Liu Geng Hong - sharing his life testimony,
encouraging the youths.

Jay Chou 周杰伦 came to sing for us and shared his life testimony of how having a dream and perseverance in life is important. Jay accepted Christ just 6 months ago! The crowd was greatly encouraged by his sincerity!

Next, Ps. Kong anchored the entire Emerge Taiwan youth conference with the message of "Blowing the Trumpet of God". Like what was preached in Singapore, he demonstrated how God continuously raised up youths to do His work - right of time from Moses to Jesus Christ to the Apostles, to the great Christian leaders such as John Wesley, evangelists like Billy Graham and finally how the Trumpet of God has now been passed to the Taiwanese youths (and the youths of this time and age)!!!

He also reminded the youths to stay commited in their present churches and to always learn the importance of submission to the discipleship of their pastors and leaders - even if they may not be as 'cool' as the youths hope they will be - because God honours those who obey their leaders.

Truly, we must not take for granted the Kairos moment which God has mandated us. Taiwanese youths were greatly challenged to ultimately bring the Gospel to the rest of the world - especially North East Asia.

The dazzling Finale was amazing - most importantly, there was a breakthough in the atmosphere as the church praised God through the songs like "Breakaway" etc. No longer in the realm of being conservative, the youths stepped out - raising their voices, waving their hands in hunger and thirst for more of God in their personal lives.

Truly, Emerge Taiwan 2007 has really been a life-changing experience for many youths in Taiwan. A spiritual re-fuelling station - many visions and dreams were birthed and given the boldness of God to pursue and press on!

The event has generated so much publicity that we were on the front page of three newspapers (including Apple Daily - one of Taiwan most read papers). The National TV even wanted to come and film us - but it was too last minute - so we requested them to come next year instead. All in all.. Glory to God!

***

TV ministry with Pastor Aries after the Finale!
Pastor personally came to say thanks for the hardwork! heh.

Eric with Kelly 陈凯利 - a New Life church TV ministry member.
He guide her to operate Cam 6 for a day - then she kept coming back to
learn more stuff! Very enthusiastic. Very S.H.E. Haha...
She is a full time S.O.T. (School of Theology) student in Taiwan.
S.O.T. first established in Taiwan this year!

TV ministry people with F.I.R :)

Eric with Suci - he directed most of the night sessions.
Steady guy.

Eric with Chin Kiat - a humble guy who has slogged with Ps. Kong
in the previous round- Taiwan mission.

This is the Taipei Arena aka 台北小巨蛋.
(diagonally opp. our hotel actually!)
We are aiming to hold the Emerge Taiwan 2009 here!

Day 3 - River of God, Cultural Mandate, Brokeness

13 May - Yup that sums up all. Ps. Kong shared on how every great river flows begun from a small streamflow. Similarly, in everything we do for God - a continuous flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives is crucial.

Having the understanding of the Marketplace, Ps. Kong shared in-depth on how God loves culture. If the Body of Christ wants to influence the marketplace - it needs to understand how to impact the popular culture aka "Pop Culture" of today - because of its mainstream nature. (Not the folk culture nor the high culture). Pastor shared on the insight of how William Shakespeare - is actually part of the mainstream culture in his time - further anchoring this point.

Again, the Body of Christ cannot shun away from the world.

To understand and relate to the world does not mean to conform to their standards. It is about relevance.

Night session was about how the church must always stay broken for the Lord. It's not about human wisdom but always having Godly attitudes in all we do, staying open to the leading of the Holy Spirit - even in the midst of busyness.

Taiwanese popstar singer Liu Geng Hong 刘耕宏 was the special guest for today. Since committing to Christ 2 years ago, he has singlehandedly brought 100 over people to church and even reached out to Jay Chou 周杰伦 - his best friend who accepted Christ subsequently. He is also serving as a cell group leader in the church.

When the night session ended, we headed to Shih-lin Night Market for a nice dinner - check out the fried chicken stall behind. Simply delicious! Better than KFC!

Day 2 - For the Marketplace!

12 May - Today we decided to have McDonald's breakfast.

While walking to the nearest McDonald's
we decided to pose in front of the Taiwan Egg Stadium!

Daphne and Grace enjoying their breakfast and a view of the street hawkers selling 小龙包.
5 buns only for SGD 1.50!
The Mac Meals are also a steal - approx SGD 3+!!!

More rehearsals.

Yes! Kirk (Eric's TV ministry friend) needs some warm-up and practice too!

Taiwanese tribual dance! Some of the younger performers are only 16 years old.

Building on Day One's message, Ps. Kong shared on the 7 pillars of the society - Family, Religion, Business, Government, Education, Arts and Media. Out of which the last 5 constitutes the Marketplace.

The churches in Taiwan began to understand how the Body of Christ must no longer shun away from these 5 pillars of the society. They are challenged to raise up and shine for God as salt and light in these social pillars.

Full attendance for Day 2 Morning 10 AM session

Most importantly, they began to see the importance of strong campus ministries - citing the examples of Tony Blair, George Bush, Beyonce, Elvis etc and how their overall belief systems are very much formed since their schooling days.

The challenge is therefore to bring Christ to the campuses of Taiwan - influencing today's students - who are the leaders of the world tomorrow.

Singapore and International popstar JJ Lin 林俊杰 was the special guest for tonight. Everyone was excited to hear him shared his testimony of how he became a Christian at a young age of 11.

When the night session ended, we went Tong Hwa Street for a nice bowl of Yi Mian and a bowl of meat ball soup! We also tried the dessert stall nearby! Nice!

At Tong Hwa Street!

Day 1 - EMERGE Taiwan First Session kicks off!!!

11 July, 7 AM/7:30AM - A humid Wednesday dawns while we arrived at NTU Indoor Stadium - way before the first session 10AM.

Teams sprung into full actions - touching up all that is needed. Ushers, Security, TV, Chorus Board, Sound, Lighting in their respective positions - final checks were done.

The event venue right before the first session!

While all these work were being done, a long queue already begun forming outside the closed doors. This year - over 200 churches in Taiwan have participated in Emerge 2007. This means an expected number of over 5000 people will be swarming into the venue.

As you know, the Taiwanese people always give their best attitude even while queuing! No shoving around, no pushing - just patient waiting and being enthusiastic at the same time.

The first session begun at 10 AM promptly - Ps. Kong led the church to pray up the atmosphere in the midst of singing 'One Life One Love'. Compared to last year, the spiritual atmosphere can be felt tangible even in this first session!

It simply meant that the churches in Taiwan are more hungry for God than ever.

The church listened attentively while Ps Kong opens spiritual eyes to understand how youth Christians must rise up to impact the school campuses for Christ and how we must believe in the power of one. He shared the Word referring to the account of Shamgar in the Bible.

1 PM - The session closed with the church being called to be ever more fervent in prayer and a true dedication of lives to the Lord once again.

Eric at Camera 6 - top of the stadium.
This is taken during the Word Power session. (During lunch time)
Just imagine a fully packed stadium before this!

Following a short lunch break - Word Power contest begun! This ended at about 3 PM.

At this current moment, the rehearsals are being held. The audience had to clear the hall and requeue outside closed doors (even in the midst of rain). No complaints no whys. Just like last year, they armed with umbrellas, standing in the queue - all awaiting for today's 1st night session beginning 7PM! Taiwanese hottest band - F.I.R. will be performing in a special segment! Praise God - two of them (Faye 飛 and Real 阿沁) are born-again Christians - shining for the Lord in the entertainment world!

Rehearsals ongoing! Audience has cleared the hall!
In case you are wondering, Parade of Schools is a contest
whereby exciting cheerleading stunts are performed!

No time wasted - Daphne and Grace busy preparing the
bulletin newsletters for tonight's session!

Meanwhile, queues of people formed from all entrances.
You can see that the queues snakes all the way
from level 3 (venue) to ground level along the stairways.
It was raining heavily just before the final session
- a good relief from the summer heat!

The great 5000 over crowd begun to form as the time
inches toward 7 PM.

When the session ended at 11 PM, Eric (while Grace and
Daphne already ate!) went out with
few of his TV frens. 小李子is a popular porridge "buffet" place
with tasty dishes to choose from!

So that's all for Day One! Do stay tuned!

Day 0 - 从樟宜到台北！

10 July, 12:30 PM - We lugged our stuff to gather at the airport for final pre-flight briefing!

Daphne, Grace and our new CHC fren - Jamie!

The mission troopers!

Changi Airport, we'll miss you for these few days....

10 May, 2:10PM - On the way to board, not forgetting some quick snapshots again...

In China Airlines CI-662!

10 May, 7:50PM - Our flight was delayed slightly for 10 mins. In the midst of some air tubulence, we landed safely and smoothly in Taiwan! After grabbing some last minute currency exchange and SIM cards, we boarded this bus to arrive at our hotel - Sunworld Dynasty Hotel Taipei.

After a quick collection of keys, getting to know new roommates (if any) - we got to NTU Indoor Stadium for Bro Jimmy's pre-event briefing. In this briefing, we got to know which teams we would be allocated. Grace and Daphne are in one team that does ushering. Jamie is in another while Eric is in TV ministry.

The briefing ended at approx. 11 PM with prayers for Sun, the event, and ourselves - for good health and rest despite busy schedules ahead, spiritual alertness etc.

Realising that we have not taken our dinner - we embarked on the next cab ride to Shih-lin Nite Market! Let's show you what a delicious steak meal looks like!

Sirloin Steak Meal - NTW 130! (SGD 6.50)
Tastes better than Jack's Place.
Definitely more value for money!
Add NTW 10 for a set that comes complete with
red tea drink, soup and bun bread!

Here's the stall! "First-Grade Steak" ;)

There you have it!

Yes! We will attempt to bring you the latest pictures, videos, juicy details (not gossips) of Taiwan Emerge daily! Given the predictable heretic schedules ahead - we can only try! ;)

Pray with us!

- For Ps. Kong and the entire team! (anointing, focus, efficient, not sick, rest well despite tight schedules etc)
- For the Taiwanese churches and everyone in the event - will be drawn deeper and closer to God!
- For the weather - typhoon last year, this year hopefully not!
- For the safety of all
- whichever the H.S. prompts you to!

Miss our voices? Call our hotline number: +886-953088654


Check out the official Taiwan Emerge website!
http://www.5b2fpda.org.tw