July 25: So Fun, Jiufen (九份)

Today we were able to go on a fun outing to reconnect with some of our new and old friends. One friend, Vivian, we had met last year at the CoffeeTalk and we were able to reconnect with this year as well. She is not a believer but likes to come to CoffeeTalk to practice her English. She brought along her friend, Larry , who surprisingly enough she had met at CoffeeTalk and has become good friends with. Our other new friend, Howard, also came along. Howard has been coming to The Aroma for about a year. He likes to hang around with the Aroma people and have fun but has a hard time believing that all the stories in the Bible are true. He is struggling to make sense of the Bible and always asks good questions which is great. We all try to help him as much as we can. Just recently too, he has been willing to be a translator with us and we hope that his interaction with us and other Aroma people will help him.

Some of our Aroma friends went along as well- Sam, Skye, and Irene.We went to an old gold mining town called Jiu Fen 九份. The Taipei Visitors' website explains, 



"Founded during the Qing Dynasty, this small town was a relatively isolated village until the discovery of gold during the Japanese occupation in 1893, quickly developing the town due to a gold rush. Many buildings in the town remain unchanged to this day, reflecting the Japanese influence on both architecture and culture on the island."*

 There were many alleys and food shops and even a cinema museum. We tried even more new foods which had our friends laughing and some even disgusted. We were able to have good conversations in the car and while going around Jiufen.

 

Then when we got back, the Aroma was having a music night, like a mini-concert. So we helped set up for it. After some dinner, we went and helped with the Action for Jesus street ministry. This is something we had done last year. Action for Jesus is where people from Aroma and whoever wants to help go,pray with, and give food and some necessities to any of the homeless people they can find on the street.  There have been many interesting relationships made through this ministry.

Prayer Requests:
-For our friends, Howard, Vivian, and Larry to allow their hearts to be open to the Holy Spirit
-Action for Jesus ministry: safety for volunteers, more volunteers






Praise:
-Thank the Lord for providing a volunteer who faithfully drops off huge amounts of food leftover from his delivery job
-The time we spent with new friends, both Christians and Not
-Safe travel to Jiufen and back to Taipei




*https://guidetotaipei.com/visit/jiufen-%E4%B9%9D%E4%BB%BD