Day 1 in Taiwan!

Well, had an early start this morning but managed, am still jetlagged however! We went down to breakfast at about 8am which was strange in itslef as for breakfast there was the option of chicken and noodles? :S but i chose for the scrambled egg concoxion and some peperoni looking stuff! was yummy though! Next we went round and met some people from the local church who would be travelling with us for the day. They were all very friendly and caring. From here we went to one of the local churches who spoke to us about their congregation etc and provided us with a book that they had printed for their 100th anniversary. They also provided us with a packet of sweets each aswell as fresh fruit whilst we were there. We then went onto another church which which similarly did the same thing. giving us presents of pens, tea and biscuits to take home with us. They then came with us for some lunch at a seafood restaurant which had all the live fish on display and therefore you could pick your fish and then eat it! Not my cup of tea! Food was quite yummy though, even tried sushi but didn't like it! Then for pudding we had a custard ball equivalent :D. We later went to a church by the sea and near all the fish farms. They did again a similar thing and presented us with a book each for their 50th anniversary. After this we were tol that we were going to go back to the hotel for a rest which we were all relieved at but actually we ended up at a fish market which was truly odd! I thought some of the fish in Tesco's were big!! We never ended up returning to the hotel to our disappointment, instead we went to the Moderator's church where we got a chance to properley speak to people and have our questions answered! We then went to yet another restaurant with a 13 course meal! Didnt eat very much though because I was so full from lunch and also didnt fancy eel or sushi!
Overall, it has been a lovely day! The people we spent the day with have been fantastic and its left me with a lot to think about! I found some of the things they said quite controversial such as there are more women in the church than men as is the same in England however all the decision making bodies are all male. Ben said that this is because they are very old fashioned but it is improving so i suppose that is the good thing. One of the main things that I have noticed within taiwan and the church is the amount of community outreach programmes that they run with societies is amazing! I have been left wondering what we could do more like that however i have decided it shouldn't be the couple fellowship (that only married coules can go to!) or the Psychological treatement for dropouts (which one of its main aims is to help high risk drop outs from single parent families and low income families!!!!). One way that they do these outreach programmes is by using other mestivals that they dont necessarily beleive and worship in such as the moon festival and use them as a way to reach out to society and get them involved.
Finally, I'm gonnas leave you with the main point that I feel I've been left with and that is that the people of Taiwan are very proud of their churches because of the minority of people (4%) bwing Christian yet use this as a good thing and embrace it and don't focus on numbers, this is where I think England differs as we constantly talk about the decline in numbers yet I don't think we ever really have a proper think about, ok well how can we improve this? Just a thought to ponder on...
And on that point I shall say good night! xx