Watch out Taipei, here comes Jimbo!

Hi everyone,

Sorry I won't be able to write my usual 4 page ramble... but I'm feeling sick today and am about to head off to Taipei in a few hours for the weekend so I'll keep this one down to 2 pages max. (I hope)

Hospital
Things at hospital have been very busy lately. I have been visiting the ultrasound labs, neurophysiology labs, endoscopy clinics, paediatric clinics, dermatology clinics and rheumatology clinics. I have been working from 7:30am till 5:30pm mst days and combined with our busy social life, this has left me really tired and I think this is probably the reason for me being sick at the moment. For the med nerds out there, "James is a 21 year old male who presented with a 3 day history of myalgia, headaches, diarrhea, rhinorrhoea and fever. Nil significant previous Medical history."I think I am on the tail end of it, but please pray that I will get better soon!

Bible study
Dr Chu invited us to his Bible study the other night which was really great. We were able to see 'hands on' what the average Christians here in Taiwan think/feel about stuff.The study was on Acts 26 how Paul defends himself in front of Festus and Agrippa and it was great to really to read Paul's defense of the gospel. We were able to talk with the Christians there about how the Old Testament (Moses and the prophets) testify to Jesus. The Bible study leader was really amazed to hear some of the stuff we talked about and asked Jade if all Christians in Australia knew their Bible that well. I think there is such a need here for good sound Bible teaching here. The Christians we met that night seemed so keen to understand God's word better and I was really touched by their love for each other.
Dr Chu also took us out for dinner beforehand where we ate these awesome pancakes and dumplings. We then got taken to this mountain overlooking Puli where you can view the city by night. It was really pretty (I hate using that word but that's how I would describe it).
One morning this week, there was a monthly chapel service for the hospital where we sang some songs and heard a Bible talk from a psychiatrist. He spoke from the passage in John about the loaves and fishes and started his sermon by saying that the passage was NOT primarily about Jesus but about the boy with the loaves and fishes. I didn't agree with this and although the rest of his talk was good, I don't think that the passage was saying that. It's been hard to work through these kinds of issues over here. Often they preach the right things, but they use the wrong kinds of passages to back them up. Pray for the people here, that they would understand God's word.
Wednesday afternoon we were given the oppurtunity to go around the hospital with Dr Chu to visit the patients and takl to them about Jesus. Thank God for the great freedom that they have here to evangelise patients in a Christian hospital. We went around and sang Christmas carols for the patients then we prayed with them and Pete was able to talk about Jesus to one man who had a tracheostomy (I think the poor guy couldn't have argued with us anyway, becuase he couldn't talk!) The man apparently understands English (because he is a journalist in Taipei) so pray that this Christmas he would come to know the hope found in Jesus!

Taipei
Today I am off to Taipei for the weekend. It promises to be heaps of fun and we are going to do some shopping and hopefully go to the largest night market in Taiwan! We are hoping to spend tomorrow with Pete and Jade's friend Vivian and on Sunday to catch up with med friends from Sydney. I will try to take some photos to share with you all online.

Anyway, sorry this one is so short, but I'm not feeling 100% today. Hope your all have a great weekend in the Aussie summer and hope we win the cricket (thanks Greg for the update)!

God bless,
Jimbo