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!