A Leap of Faith

The moment I walked into Room 428, I was given a copy of two B4 pages of a Toastmaster magazine article by the incoming President Charles Teng. The title of the article is "Poise in Politics—Diplomats hone their language sills in Taipei club". It was written by MOFA Toastmasters Club's outgoing President Wei-ling Chen, published in Toastmaster Magazine July 2013.

It's been more than two years since I last attended MOFA's meeting. I was more conscious about what to wear as an Area H1 Governor today. I selected a beige business suit to look professional and authoritative. I put on  a pair of flat beige color canvas shoes, so that I wouldn't look too tall. It felt good to be underdressed and to be less invisible once a while. Still I was called upon by Tabletopics Master Charles Teng to answer the first tabletopics question. All four tabletopics were surrounded around the incoming International President George Yen.

I was asked, "What would you do if you were George Yen as the IP 2013-2014?" Wow, from an Area Governor to the IP, it was a very long ladder to climb! It is a long journey but easy! Nevertheless, I was thrilled to be given the chance! Lewis Wolpert's chilling little book on old age "You're Looking Very Well" prompted my first thought. I talked about the importance of wealth and education for senior citizens to live well. Being the world's biggest non-profit education organization, the Toastmasters can develop more programs for the third age. In addition, we can't neglect education programs for college students. Fortunately, I was not asked to give an impromptu inaugural speech in George's place!

"Rome is not build in one day, neither is a toastmaster developed in one day", I opened my evaluation of Toastmaster Howard Chien's C-10 Speech "A Leap of Faith". Howard demonstrated how he transformed from an introvert to an outspoken in Toastmasters in less than a year. His sincerity and good command of the English were his strengths. I encouraged him to apply rule of three by giving three stories to build the climax of his achievement of CC to inspire the audience.

MOFA has talents! District 67 has talents. Taiwan has talents. It was my impression about MOFA meeting today. It was a productive meeting today, featuring one prepared speaker's C2 speech and two prepared speakers' C10 speeches. At the very first meeting of the new fiscal year, MOFA got one DCP point. Being Area H1 Governor, I'm proud to have MOFA in my area. And I vow to perform my duty to the best of my abilities to make MOFA a President's distinguished club in 2013-2014 when George Yen serves the International President.
 
Many thanks to outgoing President Wei-ling Chen for two boxes of super-delicious macarons. I was lucky to have one as I sat in the front row. I picked up the pink one with raspberry flavor, it melted into my mouth the moment I had my first bite. Wei-ling just came back to MOFA after delivering a baby daughter. She delivered her farewell speech to echo the theme photo of the day is "A New Life".

After the meeting, I walked along the Kaitakelan Boulevard. I saw a big Royal Poinciana Flame Tree in full blossom. With a bamboo broom by the pavement serendipitously, I reached high to collect five matured pods in the air. As much as I was contented with the productive meeting at MOFA, I was thrilled to make eco clothes hangers from the huge pods in front of MOFA for my wardrobe!