GRUBB MISSION REPORT - SEPTEMBER 2013
PLEASE PASS THIS REPORT
TO THOSE YOU THINK MIGHT HAVE INTEREST IN OUR WORK!
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August Taiwan Trip
August Taiwan Trip
It was a privilege
to begin my 49th overseas mission trip and to go to the place where I lived for
ten years working among the Chinese people.
The trip to Taiwan
was mostly uneventful. Two things happened to make it a little different. The
Chinese Taipei Team who won the 13-15 year old World Series was on the plane
from Tokyo to Taipei. It was announced and everyone applauded. When we got to
the airport in Taiwan, there was a huge crowd waiting to greet them. The other
event was the news of a typhoon on its way to Taiwan. It did not affect my
flight, but it did affect the flight of Stan Crowley coming
from Canton, China. He was delayed for a day because of the cancellation of his
flight. Also, many of the shops in Taipei were closed because of the typhoon
warning. However, the rain and wind was not very strong, at least where I was
staying in Taipei. While I was heating my water for tea in the kettle, I reached
across to turn off the light and forgot the heat of the steam of the water. I
got a nice burn on my left arm. I was able to treat it with medicine and keep it
covered until it healed.
So, Stan arrived on
Thursday instead of Wednesday. The one thing we were able to do as far as
sightseeing goes was to visit the Taipei 101 tower. This used to be the tallest
building in the world. Even though I had been to the tower before, I had never
had the opportunity to go up to the observation floor (91st floor). It was an
amazing view.
On Friday morning,
we headed for Taichung. We took the High Speed train from Taipei to Taichung.
The trip took less than one hour, traveling at speeds up to 185 mph. After
getting settled in and going to lunch we were able to go and make a visit of one
of the members before the evening services. This is the first time I had
translated for someone else in quite a while. The lesson seemed to go
well.
On Saturday, we
spent the day with brother and sister Jao from Taipei. They came down to
Taichung to support the gospel meeting. We went to a cultural center which
showed life in China in years past. We also went to eat my favorite noodle soup
in the world at the “66 Happiness” Noodle Shop in Taichung. In the evening was
the second night of the gospel meeting. We had a total of 28 people to attend
the second night of the meeting. This is a very good number to attend. The
lesson was received well.
We had a great final
day at the gospel meeting in Taichung. There were about the same number of
people in attendance for the three sessions on Sunday. It was a privilege to be
able to translate three more of Stan’s lessons presented to the friends and
brethren who attended. After the afternoon service ended, we headed to Miaoli to
visit a new Christian who is in a Rehab center about one hour away from
Taichung.
Monday was a travel
day. I went with Stan Crowley on the High Speed Rail Train to Taoyuan station
and put him on the bus to the International Airport. He went on to his next
visit in Siem Reap, Cambodia. After I saw him off to the airport, I caught a bus
to the Taoyuan train station. I was told the bus would stop right by the train
station, but instead it stopped about three blocks away. It is lots of fun to
pull a large suitcase and computer bad behind you for three blocks through
traffic and people. I am thankful for the service desk at a department store for
watching my suitcase so I could go eat lunch before boarding the five hour train
to go to Hualien.
After arriving in Hualien,
brother and sister Wang took me to my favorite wonton soup restaurant for
dinner. The place was packed. As we were leaving, they were out of wonton’s.
Anyone else who came in at this time would have been out of luck. I then went to
the grocery store to buy my water and oranges for the week. Then I went to the
building to settle in to my room for the week.
On Tuesday, after
breakfast, brother Wang picked me up and we made a morning visit to the mother
of two of the members of the church here in Hualien. After lunch we made several
more visits of prospects who live in the area right up to dinner
time.
Wednesday morning
started out early. Brother Wang picked me up to go with him to the Assisted
Living home. We arrived at the home and began to make visits all over the
facility. We visited with members and non-members alike. I saw many people that
I have seen there for the past several years. We also had the chance to talk to
some of the staff members as well about the Bible. It was a very profitable
morning.
After lunch I had
planned to take my computer to McDonalds so that I could access the internet,
but the McDonalds here does not have free wifi and the girl could not tell me
how I could purchase the ability to use it, so I had to give up that idea. It
was too far to go to Starbucks to try to use their wifi. Fortunately, I have
access to the internet through my phone, so I was not totally cut off from
access.
The gospel meeting
began Wednesday night. The theme of the meeting is “Overcoming.” The lesson
tonight was “Overcoming Temptation.” We had a few visitors to attend the first
night of the meeting. There were about 30 who attended the first night of the
meeting.
Thursday began with
rain – rain coming from a second typhoon heading for the island on this trip.
Now you know why I normally do not go to Taiwan during the summer – heat and
typhoons! The morning started out with a Bible class at the assisted living
home. I talked about the value of studying the Old Testament and those people of
faith mentioned there.
After the Bible class, one of the long-time prospects decided to be baptized. We had to go get the inflatable pool and borrow an air compressor to air it up. The air compressor was locked up and it took about 45 minutes before we could find someone to get it for us. After the baptism, we had lunch, visited with a friend of the Wangs, then headed for the afternoon Bible study at the other assisted living home. I talked about Hebrews chapter three in the afternoon class. After that class ended, brother Wang took me to a hardware store so I could buy a compressor for the church’s use in the future. This way, they will not have to borrow one.
In the evening, we had the second night of our gospel meeting. The topic
was “Overcoming Discouragement.” We had some other visitors to attend the
services on the second night.
Friday dawned bright and sunny. It was a
busy day from the beginning. We were able to visit with some of the eight
bedfast members at the Assisted Living home and then we had the opportunity to
develop the interest of some of the workers at the home. We were there most of
the morning. After lunch, we made two more visits of non-members. At the second
visit, I met a young lady from Indonesia who was working for the elderly couple.
She could speak a little bit of Mandarin, so we were able to talk about little
bit. I found out she is from Lampung in Sumatra, Indonesia. I have put her in
touch with our brethren there and hopefully through Facebook and email, they
will be able to teach her.
Friday evening was the third and final
installment in “Overcoming…” lessons. The title was “Overcoming Fear.” It was a
long, but very useful and profitable day in the Kingdom.
Saturday was a day of free time. I took
advantage of an extra hour of sleep and then had the opportunity to walk through
part of the town and to buy a couple of things. Saturday evening was the
last night of the meeting. The topic was “Living the Christian Life.”
Sunday morning would be a busy day. We left
the church building at 6 AM for the morning worship service at the assisted
living home. The topic for the day was “Cornelius and Saul.” After that,
we had Bible study and worship at the church building. The topic for Bible study
was “Great Missions.” For worship, the topic was “Choices People Make.” In the
afternoon, we went over to the other assisted living home and used the same
lesson for the brethren there. All of these activities ended about 4 PM.
I went to dinner with brother and sister Wu
and had a chance to visit with them and encourage them in the work. After
dinner, I worked on getting my luggage ready to head back to Taipei on Monday
morning. I took the train back to Taipei to spend the last day there before
heading home on Tuesday morning.
If you are one of my friends on Facebook,
you can go to my page to see many of the pictures I took while I was in
Taiwan.
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Materials Available
Materials Available
Through the distribution of our DVD’s
and radio lessons, and now having the lessons on YouTube, more
people are becoming aware of our website. There are sixty Chinese lessons posted
there. On YouTube search: “John Grubb Chinese.” I update my
Facebook page all the time. Be sure to check my Facebook wall
for pictures and news about my trips and activities.
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SPEAKING SCHEDULE
SPEAKING SCHEDULE
2013
October 3-17 Taiwan
Trip
Oct. 4-6
Taipei
Oct. 7-13
Taichung
Oct. 14-15 Yu Jing –
Tainan
Oct. 16
Taipei
Oct. 17 Return home
October 26-27 Richmond Hill Lectures
Nov. 19-Dec. 23 – Singapore-Malaysia
Trip
Nov. 22-24 J.B. Gospel
Meeting
Nov. 27-28 Four Seas
Lectures
Nov. 29- Dec. 1
Melaka
Dec. 6-8 – Section 17 Gospel
Meeting
Dec. 11
Taiping
Dec. 12
Kampar
Dec. 13-15 Ipoh Bi-Lingual
Meeting
Dec. 17-18
Kluang
Dec. 19 Lim Ah Pin
English
Dec. 20-22 Chinese Meeting Lim Ah
Pin
Dec. 22 Lim Ah Pin English
– John M. Grubb
http://grubbmissionwork.blogspot.com
