Christmas in Taiwan...isn't the same as home

I always post my sister Angela's first published story about her Christmas away from home.

Christmas in Taiwan..isn't the same as home

As Christmas time approaches, I often find myself reflecting on past holidays and the special memories and the people who have made each year uniquely special.

For my entire life, the holidays had revolved around gatherings with family and friends. In fact, until a few years ago, I had never spent Christmas away from my family.

However, when circumstances forced me to spend Christmas away from home for the first time, I was further away and more alone than I had ever imagined. I was working in Taiwan as an English teacher, which meant I would not be able to return home for an entire year. The enormity of that decision didn’t truly hit me until December arrived; it was 40 degrees - and there was no Christmas season! As most of Taiwanese population are Buddhists, they obviously have no Christmas holiday. There were no lights, no cards, no busy shoppers at the mall, and no line-up of children waiting to see Santa. I was stuck in a world where Christmas simply didn’t exist. December 25^th would not even be a holiday! I would have to get up and go to work, just like it was any other day of the year. It somehow felt sacrilegious. Although I had nowhere to go on the 25th and nobody to spend it with, I bargained to take the day off, working an extra day on the weekend to make up for it. At least it would be Christmas in my heart, if nowhere else.

I grew more and more despondent as the holidays back home approached. I would imagine everyone back in Newfoundland, all busy buying gifts, decorating the Christmas tree and planning for holiday parties. I had flown halfway across the world by myself back in August, full of bravado, feeling very proud and independent. However, there was little of my bravado left as December rolled in. I was running up enormous phone bills, crying on the phone every night as I called my family and friends back home. I had never been so homesick in my life. I wanted to be home for Christmas more than anything else in the world. I had brought my holiday music with me and listened to “I’ll Be home for Christmas” over and over again. It never failed to bring tears to my eyes.

As I was riding my bicycle home one day in the middle of December, I took a wrong turn and found myself in an unfamiliar part of the city. This may not be a big deal in any English-speaking place, as you can ask for directions from anyone. However, this would prove rather difficult in the little island in Asia, where only a few had a working grasp of English. In desperation, I got off the bike and wandered up and down the street. Then I saw something that made me stop in my tracks. It was an English sign in an apartment window. It simply said “Church of Christ”. An English speaking, Christian church in that part of the world is certainly not very common, to say the least. I thought I must be imagining things, so I stood and just stared at the window. To my surprise, an elderly Taiwanese man took my arm and led me to a door on the side of the building. Feeling a little nervous and foolish, I entered the building. Who would I find inside the apartment? Was this some sort of cult?

I was greeted at the door by a beaming man, with a deep Southern accent (which just added to the surreal feeling!). As it turned out, the little church was operated by two missionaries from Arkansas – Pastor and Mrs. MacAteer. Without knowing anything about me – except I seemed very alone, lost, and had nowhere to celebrate Christmas – they promptly invited me to their home to spend it with them. They were so kind and insistent that I immediately accepted their invitation, feeling as though I was experiencing a true Christmas miracle. I had been adopted for Christmas!

Despite our very new acquaintance, they took me into their home on Christmas and made me feel like a long lost member of their own family. When I arrived, I discovered that I wasn’t the only lost soul that the missionaries had rescued for Christmas. There was also a young couple from Ontario who had been taken in for the holidays. Although turkey wasn’t available, it was the most memorable Christmas dinner I have ever eaten in my life. We had a huge barbeque of streak and chicken, complete with all the traditional fixings, sent by their family back in the U.S. We ate outside in our shorts, basking in the sunshine, and I imagined the snowflakes that were surely falling back in Newfoundland. After dinner, we put on some soft Christmas music, sat in front of the little artificial Christmas tree (also sent special delivery), staring at the lights and each lost in our thoughts of our families back home. We were strangers, but on that day, we became a family.

This was only the beginning of many kind acts offered to me by the MacAteers and they became my honourary family during the rest of my stay in Taiwan. That Christmas Day will always remain a cherished memory in my heart. They truly showed me the deepest meaning of Christmas.

By: Angela Cole

Sometimes you gotta let go...

All the promises I've broken
All the times I've let you down
You've forgot them
But still I hold on to
the pain that makes me drown
Now I'm ready
To let it go
To give it away

Take it all
'Cause I can't take it any longer
All I have, I can't
make it on my own
Take the first, take the last
Take the good and take the rest
Here I am, all I have
Take it all

All the roads that lie before me
All the struggles I go through
Every second I'm reminded
That it all belongs to you
Now I'm ready
To let it go
To give it away

Ever since I died to myself
You gave a better life to me
I give you my finest moment
I give you the last breath I breathe

"Take It All" - Third Day

Prodigals

I was tired of waiting
Playing all the games and
Living in a place that was not for me
So I thought it was time
For me to get what's mine
And to do it all, everything I dreamed
What I thought was the best
of me turned to be
All the worst I could find

If I run to you
Will you hold me in your arms forevermore
If I run to you
Will you hold me in your arms forevermore

Now I got a feeling
That I've got to leave and
Find a way back to where I came from
Though I don't deserve it
I know it's unheard but
Living here without you, my life is done
I confess that I shouldn't
have run from you
Now I know I was wrong

Nowhere to run to
And no one to turn to
I'm dying out here on my own
Long before I even thought of returning
Your arms are wide open
Waiting for me to come home

Run to You - Third Day

To whom much grace is given, much thankfulness is shown -- While it is vital to not be stuck in past, it also important to never forget where you have come from and the grace & love that Christ showed. It sticks with you and you want others to experience the freedom you have. There's no need of living in the gutter when Christ is extending His hand to pull you out.

By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North

God is for us, not against us. He loved us so much that He gave His son Jesus Christ to take our place and bear our punishment.

So many times, we think God is against us, somehow plotting to make our lives miserable.
If I only had a moment to share a vital truth with someone it would be that Jesus loves them so much and He wants them to take His hand. His hand is outstretched, He just wants us to grab it for dear life.

A holiday for the rest of us

November is National Beard Month. Could there be a better idea? Having already sported the playoff beard for hockey and the I'm too lazy to shave beard. I am debating which to go with. (Source: http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/guides/to_blunt_the_razors_edge.php)

Regular Beards

These are bland beards that eschew excitement: fine if you want to look like a Fisher-Price construction worker. A nice variation is the Miami Vice five-day growth (also called the “Indiana J.”), which offers a slightly edgy look, but risks associating its wearer with people who are—irremediably stuck in the 1980s.

Long Beards

These are your basic Santa Claus/ZZ Top full-facial hair shafts. Wearers account for 35% of official Sasquatch sightings each year. The only variant is the “Devil’s Fork,” a long beard divided in two lengthy tines. From the neck up, the wearer looks something like a freakish gnome: a large head hoisted above two furry legs.

Goatees

Today’s beard of the realm. There are no standard constructions—only variations. The most common goatee, a uniform growth fully covering the muzzle, is the one sported by the average computer programmer and his ancestral twin, Sigmund Freud (Dze Schmall Bart). The “Handlebar and Chin Puff” variant belongs solely to Col. Sanders. The “Petit Goatee,” aka “Chin Scruff,” is worn by teenage skateboard punks, acne-pocked grocery sackers, and anyone else who can’t manage more than a small patch somewhere in the vicinity of their chins.

The Beard of Great Substance

Currently worn by Mel Gibson, it is traded amongst celebrities (see also: Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt) when they are encumbered in meaningful work and/or deeper than usual thoughts. Designed for stroking.

Mutton Chops

Mutant sideburns all puffed up and ready to burst across the face, these barely qualify as beards. Elvis springs to mind, as do many snapshots from 1970s-era yearbooks. The only varieties are “long” and “short.” The more daring of our fellows, however, like to stretch the boundary of mutton and bring in the moustache. This so-called “Chop-to-the-’Stache,” a line of hair along the top of the cheek connecting sideburns with a Freddie Mercury moustache, is a risky endeavor. Styled incorrectly, it risks making the wearer look as if he’s donned a horse bridle made of hair.

Decisions, decisions, decisions! I may just let it go amok and see what happens.

Der Besuch - Trailer

This is a great movie...I gonna try to get it. It is based on a book by Adrian Plass called "The Visit"
The founder (Jesus) visits a church and surprises a lot of people with his actions.
What a great reminder.

Randomness

-- About a month and a half into my new job and my mind continues to go back to Germany. I still feel comfortable in the decision to return but things are just different. The work in Germany was vibrant, alive, & fresh but here it just is because it has always been. But they say change can start with only one person and so if I must think differently and act differently than everyone else around, so be it. I am a man with nothing to lose. It is an enviable position to be in.

-- The US election has a strange feel to it. Obama-mania has hit the world and everyone is touting this man as the saviour of a country. Having no stake in the election, I consider myself a fairly neutral observer. It is mass hysteria in the States for the man who can do wrong.
I am reminded of what happened on January 30, 1933 in Germany when the Nazi Party with its promises of strong government, civil peace, radical changes to economic policy and restored national pride took a country by storm and ushered in a new "era" Now I am not suggesting Obama is the next Hitler but one has to be worried when an entire country seems to be brainwashed by mass-media propaganda. It is of course impossible to change some people's minds so only time will tell who was right and who was wrong but I'll say it now...Americans may well regret the day they accepted short-term gains for crippling long-term consequences.

-- On a more positive note, my beloved Leafs are doing much better than anticipated. They are playing some tough hockey. They can lose every game but as long as they play hard, I'll be content.