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It was MOFA Toastmasters Club's second monthly meeting in Japanese this afternoon, April 24th. I was delighted to serve as the General Evaluator along with the full support from senior members of Pacific Toastmasters Club and graduate students from Fu-jen University.

President Charles Teng greeted participants warmly in English to start the meeting with a great success. Even though MOFA TMC Japanese chapter operated for the second time since MOFA toastmasters Club became a bilingual club of English and Japanese in February 2014. It is our hope that more young Japanese-speaking diplomats will be interested in joining MOFA TMC Japanese chapter.

Since July 2013, MOFA has done an amazing job recruiting 9 new English-speaking members. New members are well oriented with a formal induction ceremony and mentors are assigned to new members! MOFA always has high quality meetings both in English and in Japanese!

MOFA Toastmasters Club members participated outside of club meetings actively, including visiting other clubs and joining district conferences. MOFA member Pierre won the champion of both tabletopics contest and speech contest in Japanese at District 67 Spring Conference 2014. MOFA members are competent speakers. Members take assigned meeting roles with due diligence. Every assignment taker does his or her best to perform the duty well.

MOFA had 9 new members since July 2013, but MOFA can't retain old members. MOFA toastmasters will be dispatched abroad. Two active members Pierre Chen and Wei-ling will be dispatched to Japan and to England in July and September 2014.

MOFA is facing a problem of shortage of club officers to run the club. MOFA has high quality meetings, but MOFA's weakness is membership! Members achievements are well tracked and recognized. MOFA has achieved DCP 5 points, but MOFA could not be recognized unless MOFA has 20 paid members (at the moment MOFA has only 10 paid members).

New Leadership Roles in Toastmasters

It's nice to live in the history, specifically in Toastmasters history. I received an exciting news from the headquarters this morning. The Board of Directors decided in February on new district leader titles that will take effect on July 1, 2015. The incoming district leaders assume their new leadership roles. They will be the first generation of leaders to carry the new and contemporary district leader titles.

The title of Area Governor will be obsolete. The title of Area Director will be effective from July, 2015. That prompts me to take up the Division Director 2015-2016 to align with the Toastmasters' strategic plan objective to modernize the educational programs with a renewed focus on leadership.

In 1992, Toastmasters changed the fiscal year from January till December to July to June. I was delighted to served as EVP of Grand Toastmasters Club for one and a half years. I became President of Grand in July 1993. It is a special to remembered the dates by living in the period!

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At the last minute, I accepted the invitation from Division H Governor Lawrence Huang to be Area H1 Governor in late June 2013. I had never thought of serving as Area Governor as easy as it could have been. I started with two clubs (Grand and MOFA), and I have four clubs in my area, including two new clubs, TGIF and CDE.

I paid my official visit to TGIF Christian Toastmasters for the second round Friday evening, April 18th, mainly to show my gratitude to their full support and active participation in District 67 Spring Conference 2014 in Taipei the weekend before.

Be TGIF Christian Toastmaster a young club of six months old, Charter President Lester Lin leads club officers and members with the face of brotherly love. Every member is empowered to pursue their educational goal by participating actively in club meetings. It's not surprising TGIF becomes one of the 18 clubs to achieve Distinguished club in District 67 before the end of March. And TGIF becomes the first club to achieve President Distinguished Club in District 67 in April.

It's an exciting experience to join TGIF meeting full of laughter. Every performer was enthusiastic about the meeting role. Each member is encouraged to grow in a fun-loving environment. TGIF has a clear DCP goal, to be President-Distinguished-Club. Members are acknowledged for their contributions of their educational achievements and members participate outside of club meetings actively to get DCP points. Out of DCP 9 points, President Lester Lin contributes more than 2 points, including 1 CC, 1 ALS, 1 DTM in 2013-2014.

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Grand Toastmasters Club is my home club. After I was installed as Area H1 Governor from the first of July, I attended Grand’s meetings regularly, and I was glad that I contributed one DCP point as ACS.

I joined Grand in 1986. There were not many toastmasters clubs back then. I became President in 1993 when I was the Secretary General of Taiwan Pharmaceutical Industry Association where club meetings were held for two and half years.

Grand Toastmasters was established in 1975. It will celebrate the 40th anniversary next year. Being the 4th Toastmasters in District 67, there are quite a few senior members in Grand. The young and the old get along to achieve DCP 8 points before the end of March.

Senior members attend club meetings regularly. Junior members are eager to achieve their individual educational goals. Grand has a right size of membership so that every member has the opportunity to take a role in the club meeting. However, senior members should be encouraged to achieve educational goals as well.

At Grand, new members are well taken care of by club officers. New members feel at home and take assignments timely! Grand is like a family to all members, both young and old. Club meetings are enjoyable, including warm-up joke session, creative tabletopics session, prepared speeches session, evaluation session. Members are supportive of one another inside and outside club meetings.

Members participate outside of club meetings actively. Eight members from Grand participated in District 67 Spring Conference 2014 by performing Lion Dance at the opening ceremony!

Spring Into the World


This is the 31st advanced speech to be delivered at Grand Toastmasters Club this evening, April 16. It's The Entertaining Speech, the Series on The Entertaining Speaker.

Opening
I love show business. I love to be in the spotlight on stage. I love to surprise the audience. Laughter and tears are my rewards.
Body
Since young, I love singing and dancing. I'm still attending singing and dancing classes now. In addition, I learn drumming and Taiwanese opera. I belong to several performing groups. We visit nursing homes on regular basis to cheer up the elderly and to hone our performing skills.

Year 2014 is special. Toastmasters are celebrating 90th anniversary since the establishment of the world's largest non profit education organization by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley in 1924. When I was invited to take charge of the opening ceremony of Spring Conference 2014, I jumped at the chance to bring Chinese culture on stage, suona, beiguan, drum & gong, lion dance. Yes, at District 67 Spring Conference 2014, we sprung into the world with treasures and assets from our ancestors with a huge success!

To see is to believe. Now open your eyes and ears. I give you the lion dance from Grand Toastmasters Club.

Three minutes Lion Dance Performance.

 Even though most lion dance team members were first timers performers of lion dance, we did our very best to present a holy and ritual opening of spring conference to bring fortune to all participants. Area H3 Governor Christine Liu's younger daughter was so excited that she made the highest jump ever as the lead small lion. For Granders, we developed teamwork and built solidarity among us by springing into the world together.

Conclusion
I'd like to take the opportunity to show my deepest appreciation to lion dance team members for their trust in me and for their enthusiasm in learning a new skill. Everybody was so cooperative, we rehearsed till the last minute. It was a great achievement for me to make the lion dance happen at District 67 Spring Conference 2014. Last but not lease, we created a lion dance team in District 67.

District 67 Spring Conference 2014

Social Business

Cherry Blossom at Ali Mountain on April’s Fool Day

Ali Mountain is famous for the Sunrise, Mountain Forest Railway, Giant trees, Sea of Clhtseeing spots known internationally. It's been almost three decades since I last visited Ali Mountain on my honeymoon. Being born Ali Mountain a part of us, because we lived in the foothill of the beautiful mountain in Chiayi.

Located in the northeast part of Chiayi County, Ali Mountve term of 18 hills, including Zhu Hill (祝山) which is the best site to see sun rise and Tower Hill (塔山) which is the highest peak of 2,663 meters of Ali Mountain.

Upon the invitation of my sister, I joined a 4 days trip to Ali Mountain with her and my brother. Even though we were a little late, we still saw cherry bloom here and there over the slopes of Ali Mountain. It was breathtaking and refreshing to hike in the woods of giant trees in early morning. I love the tranquility

Luckily we saw seven Alishan giant moths with black-eye-like pattern on their wings landinged and stays on the god's statue when we arrived at Shoujhen Temple Monday afternoon, March 31st.one day before the 3rd of March in the lunar calendar, to celebrate Emperor of Justice (玄天上帝)'s birthday. This phenomenon often attracts people to come and witness the unusual sight and made this temple well known throughout Taiwan.