SU FRESH!

So we're in an age of information, thus I am trying new ways to communicate. This blog being one of them. I wrote an article yesterday but the internet went out so I'll probably post that later. Tonight I finished a facebook group, join it if you want random updates occasionally on my life (as checking blogs can be a little more dedication oriented)...

Life is good, church this morning was a blasty blast. I got to sing "Alpha and Omega" with the choir, which is a grand ol'e Gaither song I am too young to know. Then my pastor said some hilarious things culminating in "You don't want to the only one at water aerobics who didn't go!" (In reference to the seasoned people in the audience)

A french missionary from Biblical Worldview Missions came. He talked about how we need to be giving, zealous, and the sheer painful cost of serving in a field with few to no results...

That's tough!

Like sobering to think... am I willing to give my entire life to missions... am I willing to give my life to God, even if I don't see results? He preached out of Hebrews 11 today... We all ate lunch together and talked alot about missions and Europe. Ironic that the French people are so tough when it comes to religion, and not to war. Alot of the conversation was about the Americanization of Europe and how it kills French culinary skill... I hadn't thought about how influential the U.S. was...

Then I went to the Asian food store. I always try to buy new products to see what I like and don't like. I really appreciate that in Seattle we have the Uwajimaya, which is as I see it kind of like a Japanese Wal-Mart. Except in Wal-Mart they wear sweat pants and look a little crusty. Everyone in Uwajimaya is proffessional and well... just better kept than your average Wal-Mart customer.

It's incredible to see all the Asiatic cultures, 6 years ago I only saw asians in Uwajimaya, but today I saw tons of genuine Seattlites and I was reminded how incredible a place this city really is. It's so diverse but also aware. People are not as ethnocentric as alot of places I've been too, they see other cultures, they experience other cultures.

I bought some pomegranite Aloe Vera drink, I love Aloe drink... I don't know if anyone has ever tried it... it full of gooey blobs, I imagine I'm drinking jellyfish. Only it doesn't sting going down! HUZZAH!

THE ALOE GLORY!!!!!

I also tried an interesting energy drink from Korea... I often try foreign energy drinks. When I was in brazil I repeatedly bought one calle Su Fresh! Hoping it would taste better the third time. NOT SO!!!!

Anyways I bought a drink called Bacchus X (The original is Bacchus D)... I don't like Bacchus but I thought maybe... just maybe, this version will taste unique and interesting. I started drinking and have an uncanny knack for nailing flavors... it is the same flavor as Sweet-Tarts, Dirt, Grass, and Cough Syrup.

*shudder* I drank it and then read the label. It contained Ethanol... I don't know what that means, but I am from now on reading the labels VERY CLOSELY... (I always assumed that something like that would at least show up on the MAIN INGREDIENTS list)

                             
                                      Also known as Ichabod-F (The Glory has gone out)

I don't mind buying foreign snacks and beverages, when we get to bigger foods, there is alot of commitment and instructions I can't read so I stay away. I tried Kalamari the other day and a couple types of sushi. The bombdiggety...

Eh, I had quite a bit of fun regardless. I really enjoy these foreign stores. I think I'm going to try and get a temporary job at an Asian store in Texas.

Anyways! Things are looking great, one of my greatest supporters gave me 300$ today for my startup fee and it was so encouraging. He's got a heart of gold. I love that someone cares that much about me, like I don't deserve it, and it shows the wonderful grace of God.

I have a week left in Seattle, pray that I can minister to my family and God would continue to raise a support team!

I'm working on an article about the culture of Taiwan, plus also I'mma write one about Seattle, and Texas... I like to study other cultures and compare. With that, have a good life everyone!

Amalgimation...

The smell of fire permeated the air last night as a group of us met in a small house around Seattle Pacific University, we met to talk about God and study the book of Philemon. It's interesting coming from an incredibley intense spiritual enviroment like Word Of Life and attending a college small group. I was blown away by the passion of the groups leader. His heartbeat was that our Christianity would become real, that we would memorize scripture and live for God. It was real encouraging to just sit and listen, to hear about how Paul sent Onesimus back, and Onesimus must have possessed some mad courage cause he could have been put to death for returning. We talked alot about how the tesimony of Paul was so strong it warranted Philemons forgiveness of Onesimus, yet... that wasn't why Paul wanted him forgiven, rather he wanted Philemon to sincerley live out his faith and forgive Onesimus... because it was right. Because it was Christ-like...

 About ten of us sat talking, and praying until it was dark... the campfire felt nice in cool night, as the strange sounds of a local grunge band filled the air. It's wonderful to meet Christians in the city.

It occurs to me I have no photo's of my homecity... no photo's in it either...

This is probably the closest I can come too...

A squirrel walked into my living room today, he was rather aggressive. I sometimes wonder if squirrels suffer roid rage in the Seattle area as they are three times the size of East Coast squirrels, unafraid of humanity, and dwell in kitchens.

Not much is happening today. Life is quite an adjustment from the busy 24/7 schedule of camp to the TV laden, occupy and entertain, world outside of Word of Life. I'm beginning to see more and more just how much I love Seattle, the people, the food, the unique flava-flav of  a city. I'm so blessed to be here, and even tempted to steal photo's of seattle off of other people sites just to show how beautiful it is. Since I tend to obey copyright laws though I can just use stock photo's :( Camera... that's on my to do list, just for life. I was looking at photo's yesterday and realized I have only a handful with my best friend, and in reality? I need to just have more photo's...

Pray For: Seattle, specifically the Seattle Harvest. I have really developed a heart for this place, the college students, people with piercings and tattoos... Seattle is unlike any place I have been, so diverse and unique, beautiful and modern. Amidst this though it is a dark city, not in violence, but in godlessness... I love Seattle, it is almost unchurched when compared to the South, Philly, New York... Large amounts of homosexuality, drug use, and human trafficking blot the beautiful city. Despite this there are incredible things happening from the wonderful message of Church Unity at First Baptist Church Of Kirkland last Sunday to the Act 29 movement... the future of Seattle is looking brighter but I can't help but shed tears for a people so desiring to know God but so blinded. Anyways we are having an event called the Seattle Harvest, where 200 churchs are uniting to share Christ with friends, family and co-workers. It is an evangelistic rally, that starts as a concert but ends with people knowing Christ. It is beautiful to see that. Pray for people to come to the event which happens in early November (5-7), pray that people get saved as Pastor Greg Laurie shares the gospel, pray that Seattle becomes a changed place... 

http://www.harvest.org/crusades/2010/seattle/event-information/home.html

This is a great video on it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPua5787lUg


I need to learn Mandarin Chinese... It's known as Standard Mandarin, and apparently quite well spoken worldwide...

Easy, right? Mandarin is spoken by aprox. 1.365 Billion people... I feel kinda weird rounding down millions of people... but writing out the entire number is alot...

Apparently it's a really hard language to learn and master, I am still waiting on my copy of Rosetta Stone, so I am watching Youtube video's trying to pick up the sound of the language and learn basic phrases... Huzzah!

I always right to music and today I listening to Monkey Majik, a nice J-pop blend of music like Jack Johnson and the Canadian band Bear (SIC) Naked Ladies... It actually is composed from two Canadians and two Japanese people...

I like them alot... music means much to me, I listen to lyrics and fit them to memories, to life... life is kind of like a giant music video to me... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njmp-QGRd0M&feature=related

Why this sojourn travel?

I'mma try and update this blog regularly to let people know what my journey to Taiwan is like, what Taiwan is like, what being a missionary is like... I like to write... so it may get wordy. But that's otay! I enjoy it...

You can't see how deep that hole is... 4 stories... I'm on the right, looking a bit Iranian, my friend Duckett is on the left... I'm staring into an abyss...

There was a song by Creed released awhile back which has a deep powerful line "Hold me now, I'm six feet from the edge and I'm thinking maybe six feet ain't so far down." It's a deep metaphor having to do with decision, choice, consequence, death, and life.

Isn't that true? Some decisions in our live are so powerful yet so small... Only six feet can seperate you from walking off a cliff or staying on safe ground. Even more so consequences are so hard to discern and see, who knows what six feet may bring? So here I am... 23, young, and on the edge of a metaphorical abyss. The dictionary (dictionary.com) defines Abyss as a deep, immeasurable space, gulf, or cavity; vast chasm...

A little over three months ago I decided I would go to Taiwan as a missionary Intern. God made it clear through a lot of things, and I decided to be obediant.

So I've never been to Taiwan. In fact I spent roughly 6 years studying Japanese and for all practical purposes am passionate about the land of the rising sun.

So it would lend itself naturally to ask? What the Ian Mckellan is Jake doing going to the wrong country?

The truth is My passion and desire to go to Japan, was overshadowing a more general yet very powerful desire to go to Asia. Ever since I was a child, a wee lad on me pappy's knee as they say... I have wanted to hit up Asia. Something inside me loved everything about Asia, and I can only compare the feeling to nostalgia. As if I had been there before, as if before I knew it I loved it. Strange isn't it? I don't believe at all I've lived past lives, as I'm a Christian and that don't jive with my Jesus, but I still can only compare my childhood feelings to that of nostalgia... maybe nostalgia is a feeling of comfort that we usally only find in old memories and good times.

I grew up in the Seattle area, some people know Seattle as the land of rain... I always saw it differently. In Sea-tac airport I saw more Asians than I probably did the entire last three months in New York. The teach Japanese in high school (Soon Chinese as well). I saw it as a land of green, refreshed by the constant mist. I always saw it as the last bastion of human freedom and thought as Washington is split between the metropolitan city areas and the eastern rural areas. I grew up around people from China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Korea... Asia became my first love. Before I left for the Word Of Life Bible Insitute I was gung-ho on being a missionary to Asia.

Three months ago that passion in me reignited. I realized how much I love people from Asia, from working with the incredible Ji-Sang this summer to laughing at the little mispronounced phrase of a little Korean saying "He so sexty."

As that passion has grown and grown I have become more driven to learn Chinese, brush up on Japanese, get organized, send out letters, and be responsible. And it brings me back again to the abyss...

There comes a point where we can't turn back, where we stand six feet from that cliff... Not all abyss are bad, they are just unknown. I am about to run head on and freefall for two years before I come back to this life. Strange, unique, somewhat terrifying, but ultimatley, I work for God... He has great healthcare, and an even better retirement plan... so all in all? I'm stoked!

Post numero uno one

Hey, names Jake, this is my first post... I'mma be a missionary to Taiwan, thus I am trying to be more enaged with one of my hobby's which is writing. I'm hoping that I can connect with people through some blogtastic action, I am rather random, have tragic undercurrents rushing through my love life, and love God.

That's the most important thing about me. In fact its why I'm going to Taiwan.

I've never been to Asia.

I love Asia though, hope that I can share that love with as many people as I can.