The End... but not really

Today was our final day of the mission trip. As I write this in the church office, there are more people in the church than I've ever seen. Mission members rushing around packing luggage and cleaning up, tons of kids who didn't go home after VBS but are running around chasing us and giving us presents and requesting our emails, and parents who are preparing one final dinner for us. We will eat dinner with the church members, and bid them goodbye afterwards, where we will all go our separate ways.

This morning we went to a disabled persons hospital to visit patients and help feed the children. We first performed our music set, with 4 testimonies in between: April, Norman, Isaac, and Jacqueline. It was a very moving experience. Although the crowd of patients had mental disabilities and might not have fully understood what we were saying, they were excited to participate with us while we used hand motions during the songs, and several of us were moved to tears. After the music part, we separated into 3 groups of 4 and went into classrooms to help feed the children. Many of the children are autistic, and we helped feed them lunch, brush their teeth, and get them ready for an afternoon nap. It was an amazing reminder that God loves all people, and that He created each of us the way that we are for a reason. Although it was the last morning and we were all very tired, it was a very memorable time for the team.

Our last VBS class was even more moving. The church members here, especially the pastor's wife, led the children in an extended time of worship and prayer. At one point, she asked every teacher to go around to each of our students and pray for them. Although our prayers were a jumble of english and broken chinese, many of the kids were moved to tears. Afterwards, the teachers lined up and each child came by and gave us a hug. By the time the kids had finished saying goodbye to each teacher, nearly every member of the team was crying.

We have been so blessed to have this opportunity to serve here in Wudu. Being able to spend 2 weeks developing relationships with these children and church members has been one of the most amazing experiences I'm sure many of us have ever had. We are reluctant to leave, but we have faith that the seeds we have planted here will be nurtured and watered by God.

Please continue to pray for this team, because we know the trip is never really over. We have dozens of new friends to pray for, and also a lot of traveling for each of the mission team members. It will be a difficult adjustment to return home to America after this 3 week experience, but we are excited to share in more detail with all of you about what God has been doing in our lives.

Thank you to all the people who have kept with this blog and continued to pray for us! The joy of the Lord is our strength!

Last 2 Days

The missions trip is winding down after 3 weeks of teaching kids, house visitations, testimonies, and music evangelism. This past week has been more relaxed than our previous 2 weeks, but in a very different way. We are not doing street evangelism, but every morning we visit families of the students we had previously, and also some church families. It's been a great opportunity to invite the kids to the afternoon VBS, talk to the parents, and also share our testimonies in a more personal setting. A great thing about this community is that almost everything is within walking distance, and it's a small enough town that we often chance upon students we know while simply walking down the street.

In the afternoon we have the opportunity to play basketball with a student from the camp, Eden. He has been coming to the church every morning and staying until after VBS because he enjoys spending time with us so much! It's been such a great chance to integrate him into church life and introduce him to the YG kids here. Eden even went with us to the night market last night, and through him we've been able to play basketball with some of the other old students as well.

VBS in the afternoon consists of games, singing, a message, and crafts. It's from 3-5pm everyday and happens to fall in that time period where everyone is most tired, so it's a struggle to keep up our energy through it, but it's great seeing many of the same kids again!

At night Pastor Josh is leading a class that goes through the entire Old Testament and parts of the New Testament, from 7-9pm. The church has been very blessed through this class, and there is a great turnout. It's encouraging to see how excited the church here is to increase in their knowledge of God.

Tomorrow is our last day and we are doing all that we can to treasure these last hours here with this church. Thanks for reading!

The Final Week

It was an eventful weekend for the mission team. On Saturday we started off the morning helping out in a weekly art class hosted by the church. It's a great ministry that the church is doing. They hold this art class every Saturday morning, and as they teach art they also teach about God's love. Many of the children are ones that we taught last week, so it was wonderful being able to see them again. Praise the Lord for all the talented members of the mission team. Victor was able to demonstrate some photography lessons, April showed the kids how to draw simple sketches, and Norman used photoshop to create a digital image right before our eyes, a picture of a king and a child with the Chinese words "Jesus Loves You." We printed the image out and gave each child one to take home.

On Saturday night we joined in the church's youth group. We first had a prayer meeting at 4:30, and although there were some slight language difficulties, it was still a blessing to spend time together, Taiwan church and Ohio church, in praying for this city and for the youth group. The main theme of youth group was testimonies, and Isaac, Norman, and Jacqueline all did a fantastic job giving their testimonies in Chinese. The Youth Group said that they were very blessed by what we had to say, and afterwards we helped to lead their small groups and get to know many of the youth members more. We are so happy that we can minister not only to children, but to the church here too. May we continue to pray for the youth here in Wudu, praise God for their dedication to serving their church and their community!



Sunday morning was very hectic. We started off by leading worship for the Sunday service. We played our entire set, the same one we did for Sunday worship back in Ohio. Karen and Elean both gave their testimonies in Chinese before the entire congregation, and Pastor Josh preached about having a thankful heart. Although he preached for nearly an hour, much longer than he normally does, the congregation insisted that the sermon was far too short, and that they wanted to hear more! While all this was going on, Victor, Esther, Vivian, and Deacon Katy went upstairs to help out with the children's Sunday school and each of them also gave a short testimony. What an opportunity each of us has had to tell of what God has done in our lives! Now each team members has given their testimony.

Sunday night we took the train down to Taipei again, and after eating dinner there, we attended a Stream of Praise concert, which was located at the Sun Yat-Sen memorial hall. If you haven't heard of Stream of Praise, just think of it as a Taiwanese version of Hillsong. The church here was kind enough to get us a whole set of tickets (tickets are free, but they are very hard to obtain). It was a huge encouragement to see the entire memorial hall packed with Christians - many of us had no idea that Taiwan even had that many Christians! We were able to worship along with the 3000 other people present, and last night also happened to be a recorded concert, which means that we may be in the Stream of Praise DVD that will be released in a couple months! Hallelujah, it is amazing how we all worship the same God, whether it be in Chinese or English.

Today we had a team meeting about the house visitations that are coming up in the following week, and then made about 100 beaded cross keychains and Gospel bead bracelets to give as gifts during visitations and street evangelism. Today was also our first VBS, from 3-5pm. There were about 45 kids present, and we were able to share with them the Gospel message through the Gospel bead bracelets that we made together. By the way, happy birthday to Jacqueline, who turns 19 today!

As you can see, the mission team has a very full schedule! This is our final week here, and we need your continued prayer to support us through! May we scatter many seeds during this week and continue to encourage everyone that we meet here. God bless!

Done with 2 Weeks

We have made it through two weeks! Thursday was our last day of teaching at Wudu Elementary School. It was a very long day. In the afternoon, the youth and members of the Bai Fu Zi Jia church (where we are staying) hosted an evangelical meeting for the children while the CCCC team rushed back to the church to practice 2 of our songs, grab gifts for the kids and helpers, and deal with other errands. The final performance night was stressful but also encouraging. It’s very difficult to get 111 children to cooperate and pay attention during an hour long performance! However, many parents came, and we were able to meet a lot of them and talk to them a bit about what a joy it was to teach their children. We performed 2 songs for the parents as well, and officially finished off the camp at about 10pm.



Friday was our day of rest. We were able to sleep in, and in the afternoon we took the train down to Taipei, where we split off into two groups. The boys and Jacqueline and April went to a buffet, while the rest of the girls went to get beef noodle soup (they were joined by Mrs. Wu). Five of the team members got haircuts in Xi Men Ding, and then we all browsed and shopped for awhile before going to Shi Da night market and meeting with many of the church members to discuss our art class on Saturday morning. It was very crowded at the night market, so we weren’t able to shop very much. We took the train back with all the church members, and then finished off our night with group devotions. It was a much needed break for all of us, and a great time to get to know the youth group here better. We have become pretty close to many of the youth here, as they come to the church often simply to talk to us and get to know us more. It is a blessing for us to be able to encourage and strengthen the local church here!



As for our team, we are all pretty tired and each of us has multiple mosquito bites. Two days ago a mosquito got into each of our rooms, and many of us got 6-9 bites in only a couple hours. We are still fighting sore throats and heat rash, and Norman has an ear infection. Please continue to pray for our continued perseverance and health!



Some things that are coming up in the next week:
Tonight: Participating in Youth Group. Isaac, Norman, and Jacqueline are giving their testimonies.
Sunday: Leading children’s Sunday School and doing worship for the Sunday Service. Pastor Josh is also preaching. We are attending a Stream of Praise concert at night in Taipei
Monday – Friday: VBS at the church from 3-5pm everyday, which we are leading and teaching. We were not aware that we were expected to lead it until last week, so we need to prepare lesson plans for it every day. House visitations in the morning.



Another verse from our devotions today:
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Ending Wudu Camp

Hello faithful readers! It has been a very fun, very hot 3 days. Wudu has been an amazing experience, especially compared to last week. We are actually hosting our camp in a real school, meaning that each class gets their own classroom, and each child has a desk and chair. This in and of itself means that the kids pay a lot more attention, especially because they are students at Wudu Elementary, so they respect the school and the teachers more in this environment. The challenging part about being in the school is no air conditioning, only fans in the ceiling. In addition, Wudu is much hotter than Taoyuan, so many of us (especially Norman and Karen) have severe heat rash, and the rest of us are very uncomfortable during the day. Please pray that we can keep our energy levels up and that our skin problems would not be as severe.

This week Anna and Karen changed classes, so Karen is now working with Elean and the youngest kids in Dolphin Class, while Anna is working with April with the oldest children, Whale Class. Here is a specific update about each class.

1st/2nd Grade Dolphin Class: [Karen & Elean] The kids give great effort and are very enthusiastic. Their English isn't very good, but they are very affectionate. Several of them are even asking deeper questions about Christianity, which their 2 helpers (2 youth from the church here) have been answering.

3rd Grade Jellyfish Class: [Esther & Isaac] The kids are much more shy than last week's kids, but they are finally starting to open up and become very affectionate. The kids especially love to give their teachers massages! All is well.

3rd Grade Shark Class: [Norman & Vivian] Vivian was given a chance to teach this week and showed huge improvement in her ability to relate to the children and speak up when necessary. The kids are extremely quiet, but also very affectionate.

4th Grade Lobster Class: [Jacqueline & Victor] Their kids are great and really attentive, only it's sometimes frustrating for the teachers because their Chinese is a bit limited, so Jacqueline and Victor wish they could explain the stories and questions at a deeper level.

5th Grade Whale Class: [April & Anna] My class is amazing. They are very intelligent and participate well, and they also listen when told. They are incredibly affectionate. The only drawback is that during group time (when all classes combine), they never sing and dance with the other children.

We are so blessed this week because the church at Wudu is full of caring and compassionate youth members who have been helping out in our classes, eating meals with us, and being a huge source of encouragement and laughter. We also praise God for the comfort of the church here, having 2 separate rooms for guys and girls to stay in, and 2 showers. The air conditioning here is also very comfortable, so we are well taken care of.

Please continue to pray for our health and energy. As time goes on, many of our bodies are finally reacting to the intense heat and long days. Pastor Josh is starting to lose his voice, and many of us are feeling a little under the weather. We continue to depend on God for our strength! This week's camp is only 4 days long, so tomorrow is our last day. Pray that our final performance night would go well, and that we would really be able to minister to the children's parents. We are more unified as a team than ever, and we continue to depend upon your prayer and support from America!

Praise the Lord. From our devotions this morning: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

PRAISE THE LORD. He has already gotten us through so many tough situations this past week, and we continue to depend on Him for strength and guidance as we prepare for another week of teaching starting tomorrow morning.

Our final days in Taoyuan were very exhausting. Some of the church members took us out to a delicious hotpot buffet on Thursday night for dinner, and we spent the night preparing ourselves for the final day of class. On Friday, the kids stayed with us all the way until 10pm. We went through class as normal, and then after 4pm, when the kids normally would leave, we allowed them to watch “Narnia” while we got a short break, and then we had our final performance at night. About 60 some parents came, so we were able to play one of our mission team songs (“Zhe Yi Shen Zui Mei De Zhu Fu”) and share a little bit about why we came to Taiwan and what we believe in. The kids did a great job with their final performances, they were all very cute, and it was difficult to say goodbye. Many of us ended the night with tears in our eyes. It was an emotional week, but we praise God for such an opportunity to plant seeds, and we will continue to pray that one day those seeds would bloom, and these children and their families would come to know the Lord.

On Saturday morning, Xu Chuan Dao came to pick us up and bring all of us to Wudu, about a 45 minute drive away. This is the same exact place that the mission team last year lived at, so past members are already very familiar with the area. After arriving, we spent the afternoon practicing our music as a team, and then went to Costco to pick up supplies for teaching (640 sheets of construction paper!).

Today we visited a different church from the one we are staying at, taking 3 taxis to get us all there. Pastor Josh gave a sermon about prayer, Anna then gave a shortened impromptu testimony, and the entire team performed “Send me Lord.” In the afternoon we had a meeting with all of the helpers and mothers that will be aiding us in teaching through the week. We have a very busy schedule ahead of us, we will be teaching Monday to Thursday, taking a break on Friday, teaching an art class at this church on Saturday, and then teaching Sunday school and leading worship (and preaching, in Pastor Josh’s case) on Sunday.

Please continue to pray for our health, nobody has gotten ill yet but many of the girls have several bug bites. We are also very tired, so pray that we can continue to lean on God for energy and strength. Finally, please pray that we may continue to have patience with our fellow team members and with whatever situations we may encounter. Thanks for reading, God bless!!

Teaching Day 3

The third day of teaching has ended. Today was the most difficult day for us because it's the middle of the week, and we are all feeling pretty exhausted. As always, we wake up before 6:30am to do our devotions and then eat breakfast and clean up. We are having a great time and really working together as a team though. We have been able to visit many of our students families at night and gotten to talk to their parents about our testimonies and why we came to Taiwan, and we are making many friends here. We also got the opportunity to visit a mantou store, where 4 of our students live, and have been getting to know their mother.

Here is an update on each of our classes and our prayer requests.

1st/2nd: Anna & Elean - We continue to struggle through lesson plans and we are basing all of our teaching off of how well the kids are paying attention. Dealing with our 3 year old child still takes a lot of energy, and we need continued energy to keep up with our kids. We also aren't allowed to go outside to play (according to Zhu Chuan Dao, the pastor that is leading the church here), so the kids get more and more hyperactive towards the end of the day and more and more difficult to control.

3rd: Norman & Esther & Vivian - The kids are sometimes inattentive but they are truly learning the material. Please pray that the students would be less loud/rowdy (they shared a classroom with the 5/6th graders and often disrupt them with their noise level). Norman is sometimes too nice for his own good, pray that he can continue to keep the kids under control.

4th: Jacqueline & Victor & Isaac - The ADHD child, Andy, is the main cause of the problems in the class. He literally needs constantly attention and discipline, and so Jacqueline can barely teach for 10 minutes at a time without some disruption. Pray that Andy would be more calm and that the teachers would be able to continue helping their class through lessons.

5th: Karen & April - Their class is unenthusiastic because they are at an awkward age where they try not to show interest in the camp. Pray that Karen and April would not be discouraged but will continue to work hard to make the lessons more interesting and fun for the kids.

We are also having some problems getting along with Zhu Chuan Dao, the pastor here who we must work with. She is often difficult to get along with because we seem to operate on different wavelengths, and some of her requests seem unreasonable to us. Still, the Bible commands us to get along with the local church and encourage them, so pray that we may all have more patience and understanding!

And finally, here are the following prayer requests for our health. We are eating tons of vitamin C and multi-vitamins, but we still need your prayer!
Elean - minor ear infection
Karen - bad skin reaction to mosquito bites, so she ahs large red patches where she gets bitten
PJosh - strange purple bruise on his ankle
Vivian - has stomachaches and headaches

Thanks everyone!