I have been living in Taiwan now for more than a year and it has been a year of huge growth and challenges. I often find that Taiwan has many surprises. When I first arrived here I had just come from spending two months in Kolkata, India working with the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's Ministry). Coming to Taiwan I was thrown into major culture shock. Everything seemed so nice, people were friendly, and there is a huge Western influence here. I felt so out of place.

As the year went on I knew God was showing me a different piece of his heart. I found that while in India God showed me his heart for people that were so obviously suffering physically. Here in Taiwan people have their needs met. But God began to give me a heart for those that are suffering spiritually. Taiwan is the leader in the making of idols and their export. And this weekend happens to be one of the largest festivals of the year. Right now fireworks are going off all over town and parades are taking place. But these parades are not what we see everyday in the western world. These parades consist of drunken men that put their bodies through immense amounts of pain as they worship their gods.

The only way I can explain today is comparing what I would imagine the city of Ephesus to look like in the days of Paul. Their are massive amounts of ascetic practices happening while men put holes in their cheeks and carry metal poles through them or they continually cut themselves with long machete like swords. Last year I tried to stay out of the craziness but today I got caught in some of it and my stomach was just in knots.

This world is so lost without Christ. Ephesians 2:1-9 says that we were dead in our transgressions before we knew Christ. Today this hit me. We are walking in a world full of dead people. People that need him. People that are longing for something they don't know. People that need hope. People that are in desperate places that need LIFE. We have the best thing this world as ever seen or heard of - LIFE IN CHRIST. We live for a God that raises the dead. A God that cannot be contained in manmade idols. A God who cares for each one of us.

So I asked myself today... How can we keep quiet??? When the only hope of the world is in the name of Jesus why are we so afraid to say it??? I am constantly challenged by this when I go back home to the States. Being a missionary it's often easy for me to tell people here about God because "It's my job..." but when I go home I get nervous and all clammy feeling... WHY? The WHOLE WORLD needs Jesus. No matter whether it's the people physically in need in India, the ones in Taiwan that are spiritually hungry, or those that are so often numbed to the truth in the States. I desperately want to see my home in the States see how great this God we serve really is. Now the question I have for myself and you is Are we going to keep silent? Or are we going to boldly proclaim the kingdom of God for all the world to hear?

Just some of my recent thoughts. I'm just learning to live and love.

Athena