Always an Adventure...

If you're ever wondering what to get as a gift for someone living overseas, iTunes credit is always a good choice. Thanks one such lovely gift from my parents, I've been listening to some new music this week. I downloaded three albums: Mumford and Sons - Babel: I love their sound and literary lyrics, though I'm not sure if I like this album better than their first one. Ben Cantelon - Everything in Colour:  Canadian artist (note the correct spelling of colour) who I checked out this summer but almost forgot about. Pretty good, but my least favourite of these three albums. Maybe it will grow on me. Kudos for great album artwork though. Daniel Bashta: The Sounds of Daniel Bashta: Cannot get enough of this album, nice blend of worshipful moments and just good music, which at times reminds me of Our Lady Peace, The Killers, or Third Day. Check him out! Another awesome music source is Songza. If you live in North America and have a smartphone GET THIS APP! It is kind of...

Easter is coming! It's one of my favorite holidays. It's a time of reflection, mourning and rejoicing, and the promise of new life. Last Friday, I was at church when the pastor asked me if I had any ideas for a Good Friday service. We talked for about an hour, and by the end, we had put together a really cool program! I'm really excited about the opportunity to be involved in this way, and that my church is willing to try something a little different, that will hopefully be meaningful to them. We're doing a partial candlelight service that includes video, singing, silent reflection, spontaneous prayer and dramatic scripture readings. The major church holidays aren't really celebrated in Taiwan, even in the churches, so I'm glad that we can spend a little more time on Easter this year. I also wanted to share my Easter playlist, partially inspired by my friends Amanda and Hope who have both shared some of these songs with me. I'm making them links to yout...

I had the pleasure of seeing a band I really like in concert last night! They're a Taiwanese worship band called Joshua that has translated a lot of Hillsongs and other English songs into Chinese. I have 3 or 4 of their cds. It's always been a blessing to have a familiar song in the middle of an unfamiliar church service/language, especially when I first came to Taiwan! They came to Yilan last night and I had an almost front row seat! I got to chat with lots of students both before and after, and just had a really sweet night of worship, which was as the Taiwanese would say "超HIGH!" (this expression doesn't have anything to do with drugs, but was somehow brought over from English and means "exciting" or an energized atmosphere, like a concert.) One funny thing I noticed was that one of the lead singers was wearing a necklace with a marijuana leaf on it. I don't think he knew what it meant, but interestingly, he slipped it off shortly after I noticed ...

We just had an election here, but the morning before the election, my good friend Libeck was part of a duet singing The Prayer , a beautiful song that has been on my heart ever since, and quite fitting for this time that we should really be praying for Taiwan. There are lots of versions of this song, and I wish I had a record of the one they sang last week, but here is one. If you have time, check out the duet between Josh Groban and Charlotte Church, or Chloe Agnew giving it a Celtic flavor. I know the last line of the chorus is "Give is faith so we'll be safe" but I can't help but replace it with the word "saved" sometimes. Like the man in Mark who cried out to Jesus "I believe, help my unbelief!" Anyways, all that musical goodness to say: Taiwan has a new president! Well, he won't take office until May, but he was elected on Saturday. Ma Ying-jeou is the leader of the Nationalist party or KMT, or as known here, the blue party. ...