How God's Grace and an Island Changed Me

July 1st - I was up until 2:30 or 3am packing and I woke up at 8:45 to finish packing and leaning out my room at the Gibson’s. I got done early and Saffron, my host daughter, and I made bracelets for a while, a beloved past time for us together over the past few weeks. 12:30pm The family took me to lunch at my favorite restaurant and I had Steamed dumplings! (These are my absolute favorite and I miss them so much already!) I also had my favorite tea for the last time, milk tea with chewy tapioca balls (pronounced Jen Ju Nai Cha). Then we left for the HSR (high speed rail). I said my goodbyes to my wonderful host family. I had to say goodbye to everyone else the night before and they all said they hoped to see me again, at least in heaven. The interesting thing is that I felt like we all were pretty sure that we would see each other again. I still don't know what God has for my future, but I feel safe to say that I think I will see them again before Heaven.

The HSR left at 2:12pm and took a little more than 1 hour, the airport shuttle took about 10 minutes and I arrived at my gate with over 2 hours to spare 4:10pm. The 11 hour flight was less than pleasurable, at least compared to the comfortable flight over with 2 seats to myself. I couldn't sleep either, so I arrived at the LA airport very tired and a 6.5 hour layover. The flight from LA was a short 4 or 5 hours...but I don't really know (due to all the time changes).

July 3rd - After about 1 day to unpack and repack, while fighting jet-lag and visiting family and my best friend, we headed out to our family vacation in South Carolina. As soon as I return I start work for 1 month before school and being an RA at Grove City College starts again. That doesn't leave a lot of time for reflection about where to go from here.

The pull I have felt from the very beginning is still there: I want to travel and make a difference, but I want to be home with family and friends leading the life I know. I don't have an answer to that yet. But what I do know is that I like to plan things and I like to know what I am doing and where I am going...and I could have never planned this. 2 years ago Taiwan, missions, Asia...they weren't even on my radar. I jumped at a 2 week trip to China because it was a business class and I thought dad would let me go. All I wanted to do was travel. But through that haphazard decision, I landed in Taiwan and learned SOOOO much!

I have seen through it all God’s amazing, wonderful grace and sovereign power and I know whatever happens in the future is part of His plan. Will I start pursuing missions? I am going to start taking steps in that direction, but I don’t know if full time missions is the answer and I don’t know if it’s not. Will I pursue work in Taiwan in the future? I have truly fallen in love with the island and the Taiwanese people. They have a part of my heart, without a doubt. I see the need for people willing to go to this country. I just don’t know yet if that’s where God wants me.

I have 1 month of summer left and 1 year of school left. If you think of it pray for me. Pray that somehow I will see God pointing me somewhere and that doors will open so I will know what to do with my time in the short-run and where to start heading for the long-run. I know as a fact that God has used everyone one of your prayers for me while I was in Taiwan. I don’t want to drag this out, but I want to let you know that I truly appreciate your support for me 1000%. I know if not 1 person was praying for me, God would have protected me…but how wonderful is it to work together as the body of Christ and be of one mind and heart toward the work of the Lord!? J Thanks again. This is Lauren Beth Howell signing out for the last time from Taiwan (in heart).

LB

I'm coming HOME!

I don't have time to write, but I am flying home today! My flight will leave at 6:40pm here and I will be in Pittsburgh by 5:40am Thursday, about 24 hours later. I will write about my last week after I get home just to finish out the blog. Thanks everyone for prayers!

LB

Bittersweet

As I pack up to leave the UK today, I'm beginning to realize how much I'm going to miss this place. As it turns out, I love Asian (in the UK an asian is Pakistani, or from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc) people, asian food, and enjoyed being a part of the asian culture.

I've been living with a Pakistani familly for the last 3 weeks and 4 days, and its been a huge blessing to me. Its opened doors into the asian community that I never anticipated. Asians have a group oriented focus, where we are more individualistic. If one asian accepts you their entire circle opens up - their familly, extended familly on both sides, and all of their friends are now your familly and friends. They even call you cousin, brother, uncle, etc. There are even a few famillies who insist that when I come back to the UK, that I HAVE to live with them. At this point I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to stay with 3 people at once, but God can work out the details. The exciting thing, is that I have made some deep and lasting friendships with a good number of asians, christian, and non-christian alike.

I will be staying in touch with atleast two muslims after I return to the US, so pray that they are receptive to the gospel!

As sad as I am to say goodbye to these people, and as much as I'm going to miss the food, I feel certain that one day soon the Lord will bring me back to this place, and these people.

Many Memories Made

I can’t believe how many people I have been saying goodbye to already! I only have 3 whole days left here in Taiwan and I leave Wednesday to fly back home and arrive home Thursday morning. This week was a lot of lasts. On Wednesday Birgit and I visited our last school Bible club. I didn’t really get to know these students, except for one girl Bess who came to class, because they were all too shy to speak English. The thing that saddens me about the Bible clubs is that the kids don’t come for the Bible. Most if not all of the students randomly pick the club and aren’t Christians. At this last club meeting they asked some of the students to share some of the things that have learned and they couldn’t come up with anything that they learned. Most of them just said having fun.

I am stumbling into a change of heart on this matter. I just had a conversation with a co-worker tonight about how one of the hardest things about my month here was not knowing the language. He pointed out to me that language is only one way of sharing the gospel. He said when I play with the kids, laugh with them, and just listen to them I am sharing the gospel. They will remember me, remember this odd, yet smiley foreign girl that came to spend time with them. So I guess if nothing else, I hope that I had that impact.

On Thursday I went ad visited my last temple (for now I think). It almost physically saddened me to watch the people come so earnestly to the temple expecting things. Expecting answers, expecting blessings, expecting something that will deliver them. That is hard to watch when you have the truth…just about BUSTING out of you. But I will continue to pray for the people of Taiwan, long after I leave.

On Friday my mentor and I had out last study time. We have been going through Galatians, which is a wonderful book, in case you hadn’t noticed or had forgotten. Sometimes I forget about this amazing thing called God’s grace! And it’s right there over and over again! You can’t earn righteousness, salvation, or God’s love through works…no matter how “godly” the works are. No matter if it’s your own pride or even your church over-stressing something important, that’s not the point. The point is the gospel. These are just a few of the things that I have been re-introduced to in our study.

Today was my last “class” although I shared my testimony instead of teaching English. Tonight was…a night of laughs to say the least. We decided a while ago to have everyone bring a favorite Chinese dish to share for a big American potluck dinner before class, Chinese style. If any of you have seen the movie “Beauty and the Beast” and remember the part where Belle is hungry and the kitchen puts on a show for her…that’s a little bit of what I felt like tonight, with everyone yelling “try the gray stuff it’s delicious, don’t believe me ask the dishes!” EVERYONE wanted to make sure I tried their dish. From three cup chicken, to green bean soup (for dessert), to three color egg (NOT dyed with the Easter bunny) to some more unidentifiable dishes, I tried to make them believe I’d tried it all…and I carefully avoided the people that brought stinky tofu.

As an added bonus to my evening, that morning I went and played basketball with some friends and due to the extreme heat and sun at ALL parts of the day, I got a little sun burnt. Bad timing I suppose because I didn’t realize that Taiwanese don’t really get burned and so they assumed that I was drunk. Some gave me the benefit of the doubt that I was blushing…constantly. Thankfully I cleared up this misunderstanding.

Tonight, I also got to play probably my last big game of Uno here. I don’t think I mentioned before that I play roughly 5-10 games of Uno a gay at the Gospel Center with the students. They just LOVE it.

Ok, I know I didn’t give too many details, but I have to get some sleep before I leave tomorrow for Kenting Beach for a couple of days before I fly home. I’ll let you know how it goes and how “drunk” I look when I get back. I am NOT ready to leave all of the friends I have made here and the learning I am doing, but I miss you all so much and I can’t wait to see you! Love you all!

LB

An Opportunity for Compassion

A few days ago Jenna and I went with Chad (one of the church planters) to a modern art museum in Paris. It was very good to have Chad with us so that we could learn from the study that he has done on the subject. A missionary cannot possibly do their job without getting to know the people he / she is trying to reach. It is necessary to have a working knowledge of the general society, it's cultural history, and the people, events, and ideas that have shaped it. This museum trip was an opportunity to get to know the French a little bit better, to understand their questions and struggles. Modern Art, beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a movement away from the past. Prior to this point all painting and artistic endeavors were strictly regulated by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (the royally accepted institution of art patronage), which ran the Salon art exhibition. If your work of did not meet the criteria of this group, meaning that it had to include only certain "important" subjects (like kings, nobles, or religious subjects), and be painted only in acceptable styles (realism), you had no chance as an artist. Modern art was a rebellion against this oppression. It sought freedom of expression for the artist, seeing value not just in the work itself, but also in the artist who produced it. This change of attitude came about (according to Chad) along with the realization that historians were essentially influenced by their individual subjective perspectives and biases, and were not objective recorders of events. Just as a subjective historian records an interpretation of an event, so the modern artist presents in his work a particular interpretation of whatever it is that he observes. What was produced was often quite bizarre to the viewer, often confusing and devoid of meaning. Contemporary art, which is now being produced, is everything that modern art was and more so. It is more confusing, more bizarre and rebellious. My professor Dr. Minto always told us that in order to understand a culture we must look at the products of that culture, particularly the products of the artists and high culture. Europe is a very old place with a lot of history behind it. Many modern artists, working during the early 20th century saw the great wars and violence that all of this history and "progress" had brought to the world. So they rejected that history and declared the world meaningless and absurd, as indeed it seemed to be. For an example of this look at the artwork of a Frenchman named Marcel Duchamp. These artists were expressing, and are still expressing what is referred to as the "spirit of the age". This "spirit" is entrenched in the society as a whole, it is not isolated within the artistic or philosophical communities. The good news of Jesus to these people is that there is an ultimate meaning to the chaos which they observe, that God is working out his plan in history, and invites them to be a part of it. To see this gospel expressed in the contemporary art world check out the work of Makoto Fujimura.

Its been an amazing trip so far here in the UK. God worked it out so that my host family would also have a muslim woman living here. She's estranged from her husband right now and waiting for him to call her home. They've been married over a year, and have only spent 4 nights in the same country, all 4 nights were spent apart from each other as well. She lived in her home, and he in his.

She asked me to pray for her and this difficult situation. So we stopped right there and prayed in Jesus name. We just found out this weekend that her husband got his visa and will be arriving within the week. Praise the Lord for answered prayers! Since then, we've been able to help her husbands brother as well, their network of friends is accepting us in which is exciting for me, because unlike in America, you can't instantly befriend everyone. Friendships come with time and effort, and can't be made from a simple conversation in line at the grocer.

Another situation that has occurred (and another answer to prayer) was that we - myself, and one of the missionary families here in the UK - were exposed to the swine flu. We took a group of contacts to this seminar on managing money, and as it turns out the girl that sat at the table in front of us had contracted H1N1 and didn't know. But praise the Lord that no one (neither the missionaries, interns, or contacts) became sick. This would be a serious hurdle given certain religions predispositions against anything related to swine!

Yesterday was particularly interesting - we spent half the day or so touring the biblical antiquities at the British museum. They have alot of very cool things that scripture talks about. For instance in the old testament where the israelites were forced to make stones with straw, and later as a punishment - without straw. They have stones that go back to this time period that were found near each other, one having been made with straw, the next was made without straw. Equally cool was the little statue of a goat caught in a thicket. It dates back to the time we believe Abraham would have lived. I'm sure everyone has heard the story about God asking abraham to sacrafice his son, and then in the last moments providing a goat - stuck in a thicket - for sacrifice instead. This statue many think was to symbolize that and has been around for thousands and thousands of years!

Entire books have been written about these nuggets of faith building treasure hidden away in this musuem so I don't intend to re-produce them here. However if your ever in London, you should drop by.

If you think about it, keep me in prayer this saturday afternoon as well, as I will be speaking with some muslims at a book table. The muslims set up book tables, and give out pamphlets of information (and books as well) to any and all who are interested in hearing more. I suppose its part of their form of evangelism. It was suggested to me that I aproach them and ask them to explain Islam to me, and see if I can't develope some contacts while I'm here. So the weekend before last I did just that and have befriended a muslim man whose been to mecca on the Hajj. Pray that God will make him receptive to the truth. We have had some good conversations so far, but this saturday is my last saturday in the UK and thus my last face to face conversation with him.

Ken

Taipei, the Western Taiwan

I want to warn my friends and family not to try to get the whole trip out of me with the question, “what was your favorite thing about Taiwan!?” I promise you all that you will get tired of hearing about Taiwan long before I get tired of telling you about it. That’s all part of my culture shock and re-entry into my old way of living. If you didn’t understand that last sentence, I studied culture shock in a couple classes last semester, which nicely prepared me for this trip, and I learned that sometimes the most shocking part of your trip is returning to your old way of life. After seeing and experiencing so many different and new things, you begin to question “which way really is the best?” So that can be something to pray for in the upcoming future for me… but let’s not rush it. I only have 1 week left in this beautiful country!

It is already Thursday morning here and I can’t believe how quickly the days go by. On Sunday evening I left Chiayi and took the Taiwan High Speed Rail to Taichung, my previous location. (As a side note, the HSR is very nice, and not super expensive. It has been around only about 2 years and I am warned that it might not be here ‘next time I come’ because no one uses it. There are plenty of wealthy people here, but maybe Taiwan is just not big enough to make it worth it?) I stayed the night with a good friend I made and we took a 2 hour bus in the morning for Taipei.

I find it very interesting that so few Americans have heard of Taiwan. I know you are all defending yourselves now, but how many of you asked me before I left, “how long will you be in Thailand?” J It’s really ok if you did because at least 10 people did so you’re not alone and a lot of Americans don’t know where Taiwan is on the map. But for a long time Taiwan had the tallest building in the world! That is worth knowing about. In Taipei I got to visit Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world I think. And it is beautiful! They designed it to look like bamboo, so the structure has ‘notches’ in it and flourishes on the edges. I didn’t get to go to the top of it, but we ate lunch in the bottom.

Not just the Taipei 101 building, but in Taipei there are a lot of foreigners, like myself that is. When I saw them, I actually felt like they were out of place and not more comfortable. I have gotten used to the stares I get in Chiayi, and the more rural you get the more stares. People were actually speaking in English around me and I was feeling out of place.

I got to visit the National Taiwan University in Taipei. It is the best University in Taiwan, one of the best in Asia, and has made its mark on the world scene as well. I have a friend from Chiayi that will be going there soon and he is very smart. There are quite a lot of foreigners and international students attending. Also there is a huge Christian bookstore right across from the campus, which a campus ministry started some time ago. It is actually much bigger than any Christian bookstore I have been to in the states. I bought a beautiful Chinese/English Bible, which have given my co-workers hope that I might have to come back to use it.

We headed a little farther out of Taipei to Danshui. This is considered Taipei’s beach. There is no sand, but there is plenty of water and you can take a boat over to a little island, which is actually a mountain. If you stand on the shore of Danshui and look at the skyline you can see the mountain on one side of the water and Taipei’s city skyline right across the water and it’s beautiful. Along the shore is a whole host of shops and carnival-like games. Then we stopped at the night market near-by for our last stop in Taipei. Night-markets are amazing. I think I have maybe once been to something remotely similar in America, but they have multiple ones in every city, every night of the year. They are filled with carnival-like foods, Taiwanese style, like squid on a stick, stinky tofu, bubble waffles, pearl ice, blood cakes, fresh juices, and everything else you have never imagined. And between those stalls are the vendors selling knock-off purses for $3, cheap clothing that would be in style in the US, jewelry, roach poison, and any other necessity. Then between all that are carnival games, arcade games and other more obscure attractions like ‘snake alley’ where they kill these huge scary snakes right in front of you!

This coming week…is packed. English class is basically over, praise the Lord! I don’t mean to say I didn’t enjoy it, because I really did. I am the kind of person who loves being in front of people, but worries about it constantly before it happens. So I have worried about it every single class and then the class knocks my socks off (if it wasn't too hot to wear them) with greatness! NOT because of me! I always feel under prepared and not ready to teach, but my co-workers are so helpful, the students are so fun, and God is soooooo good that I didn’t even have a chance to fail! The last class will be this Saturday and instead of really teaching, I will be sharing my testimony with the class. As you might expect, I am nervous, so keep that in your prayers if you remember.

Well, it is time to get little more rest before I start my day. Love you all and I’ll probably be writing again soon. I have to get all my blog time in before I leave and have no more excuse to! ;)

LB

Annual Celebration!

Every June 21 there is a festival of music or Fète de la Musique held all around France. What this means: there are people/bands/groups/whatever playing music all throughout the country well into the night. They may be on street corners or in concert halls and whether they are good or bad, no one complains because that is the spirit of the day! We accompanied Baptiste and Emilie (a young French couple working with France VIE) to Montigny - a small town on the outskirts of Paris - to see Baptiste play in an orchestra! It was a great time and later around 10pm we went into the heart of Paris to walk around and experience the full fledge activity. It was completely crazy but awesome; border line chaos and yet controlled! It was just neat to be able to experience something that is really community oriented and there were so many people out and about. The metro/trains run all night for it and we took advantage of that arriving home at 2:30 this morning :)

Anyway...we had French lessons with Emilie this morning and I was really encouraged by it and it was extremely beneficial being taught by a French national!

Speed Bumps

What is the purpose of a speed bump? To slow you down, right? But we all know that if you're not careful when you cross one it will mess up your car pretty bad. I've had be fair share of car problems...although I am usually pretty good with speed bumps...but that's beside the point. I have had my little speed bumps since I've been here, but thankfully God has put people in my life that can help me through or put on the brakes for me. Yesterday was the first time I was physically sick since I've been here. I woke up with stomach aches and pains which lasted throughout the morning. I'm fine now and it didn't even really last the whole day. I might have gone on with my day, but my co-workers suggested I take the day off to be ready for Friday. The funny thing was that people asked me what I ate the day before and were surprised to hear me say Subway! Of all the weird things I have eaten this trip! I didn't eat much the whole day and was stupid enough to eat some Mexican food we had made for a going away party for one student going to military that night. I didn't feel it then, but later that night and when I woke up I felt it again for a little while. Now I am fine again. I would say...a) my stomach is fairly resilient or b) God is protecting me. I'm pretty sure I know which it is. :)

Other speed bumps...I don't talk much about it, but I get a little homesick every once in a while. Father's Day is coming up and I won't be able to spend it with my dad (although I always miss Mother's Day, so I don't think mom likes that too much.) Sometimes when I talk about my family it sets in. But my family is always thinking about me, and in case I ever was to forget, mom stuck a couple cards for me to find over my stay here. I opened the second one yesterday when I was sick and it did me a world or good! Thanks mom!

So, I've actually had a lot of first lately, other than my first sickness. The night before my sickness I experienced my first earthquake. I was told it wasn't a very big one, but when you've never experienced one before and you live on the 12th story of a building...it seems like it. I had just gone to sleep when my whole bed started to shake and I WAS SCARED...for about 10 seconds. The first thing that came to my head was...that childhood fear that there are monsters under your bed. I know it was irrational, but honestly, can you blame me? Then the host family wasn't asleep yet and I heard the girls say something about earthquake...but that didn't lessen my fears. I got up and went to the hall where they were and assured the girls that I WAS SCARED. I think they got a chuckle out of that.

I had my first cockroach walk into my bed room. What did I do? Call for the host dad. J My dad would be proud. It was already out of my room by the time he killed it.

Yesterday was also the first time I saw a Taiwanese look at his watch. I don’t mean that they NEVER do, maybe I just never see it. It struck e only because the culture is so laid back and…late here. You have to tell people you want to do things at least 30 minutes before you actually want to do them. It’s definitely a change from my time driven lifestyle, but I am getting used to it.

I could probably come up with some others like…first time to ride on the back of a motor scooter. First time having to wear a swim cap to the pool. First time eating something that smelled like body odor. But I might have already touched on these things, so if you’re interested I can tell you later.

(That is a picture of the first house surrounded by painted chicks I have ever seen.) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Paris Prayer Conference

This past week was the Paris Prayer Conference and what a week it was. It was an intimate time of prayer and fellowship with both the French believers and the participants who came from the U.S. and Australia. I have been reminded about the power of prayer and have been taught many things this past week! Each morning we had a time of worship and listened as French nationals talked to us about the work they are doing here in France. We heard a little about the spiritual history, about culture, and about the new projects France VIE is planning here. We heard French testimonies and prayed often for France and her people. We traveled to various church sites to hear about what God is doing there as well as pray for the people. It was an incredible opportunity and I am glad to have been here to be a part of it and assist in any way possible!

Another Day

Well its been a fun weekend.. spent alot of time hanging out with different parts of the youth and it has been a blast. Over the weekend the other interns and I spent time preparing an all nighter party that went from friday to saturday.. and I got about 2 hours sleep the whole time.. fun.. but totally not fun. any way. It was a great night of just hanging out and having some fun with some of the teens and getting a chance to just chat and play some games and talk about God. Its been heaps of fun and I was kinda sad to see the night end. But its ok because I'm looking to the future in hopes that the night has opened up doors for me to crawl through to really get to know and understand these kids lives. On sunday we got a chance to go to church where I did sunday school again and got to hang out with some of the younger kids. And at night we had a great small group meeting for the older kids where we sat and watched a sermon on dvd. I'm having heaps of fun and am sad that it may already be half over.. talk to you all soon. God Bless!!

Falling in Love with the Students

Hello everyone!

I am sorry I have been slow at communicating to people through e-mail, bogs, Skype...I have been fairly busy this last week. I got to witness something pretty cool though this week. I got to share a little bit about God with one of the students, and now he keeps coming back to the Gospel center! How exciting is that!? YEAH! I spend a lot of time with students here because they speak the best English and are mostly the only ones I can communicate with. At the Gospel Center where we have class and church and hang-out time is where I see them most of the time. This past week, just about every night, I was meeting students there to practice English.

Let me explain the school system here in Taiwan. Normal high school students and even some middle schoolers, go to school from 7am to about 5pm. Then most of the ones that can afford it go to Cram School from 7-10pm or so. This is every day and sometimes the students have some classes on Saturday as well.

I got to visit one of my students at her home town and she gave us sooo much food! Taiwanese love to eat so much! We made dumplings (my favorite) and then went out and stopped at a tea stand (there is a tea stand every 15feet). Then we went and had pearl ice (ice with tapioca and sweet stuff on top). Then we stopped for duck, but I was still stuffed so I convinced her not to get any. We bough bao zi (steamed buns...amazing) to take home and then went for stinky tofu! Other than stopping to by some Taiwanese silk stuff and visiting an old train museum, we did nothing but eat all day!

With 3 English lessons under my belt, I feel like a pro. I have plenty of helpers to help me translate if there is a miscommunication, and we all have realistic expectations of each other. They know I can't speak Mandarin and go through someone else if they can't get their point across. They also know that I expect them to try and participate or I have learned to call on them. I don't like putting them on the spot, but I found out that they are used to it and more likely than not, they know something they can say.

They thing that has impressed me is their creativity in coming up with English names. I have heard everything from Amy to Skinny. I LOVE my Chinese name which is, He Rou En. He is my family name, rou mean gentleness, and en means grace. I don't think either of those terms apply to me, but I like to apply them to God and say that is how He is treating me here in Taiwan, with gentleness and showing grace.

Sorry I don't have too much new to write now. I have gotten into a routine here although there are always unexpected things happening. Please keep praying that God will speak to me because although I am surrounded by gospel-focused people, I need to keep it real in my life. Pray that as I get to know the students more that I will be bolder to ask them about their families and share about my Father. :) Also continue to pray for new workers to come to the Taiwan mission. Two of the missionaries that were here in Chiayi when I arrived are gone on home assignment in hopes of getting recruits and the work here is enough that they could use some help (male especially) now.

Love and Miss you all!

LB

English School, Chiayi

I now teach an English class every Tuesday and Saturday evening and I have taught 2 classes so far. I was pretty nervous going into it because I have never taught before, and if you know me well you know I have never had any desire to teach. BUT...it went fairly well! I mean how hard can it be to teach your own language, right? ;)

I have a helper teacher names Dora who is Taiwanese and speaks very good English, so when I need it, she translates into Mandarin for me. The first night I taught question words: Who, What, When, When, How, Why. And then I taught other ways to start sentences and how to finish them. The students were pretty reluctant to talk last Saturday, but there was a larger group last night, so it went smoother I think. Last night I taught adjectives, what some common ones mean and how to use them in a sentence.

First I do a warm-up game with them. Last week I made a word-search out of their names so they had to introduce themselves and then find each other’s names in the word search. Last night we played a name game where you introduce yourself with an adjective (to go with the lesson), like “Hello, I’m lovable Lauren.”

After the warm up game I teach for a bit and then we play other learning games to get them to interact in English. Last night we had some time at the end of class so we taught them my favorite English karaoke song, “Yesterday” by The Carpenters. EVERYONE here loves KTV (karaoke) and could probably sing for hours and a lot of them…shouldn’t be singing. J haha But although I like to sing I don’t really like to sing KTV, but I sang the song first with Dora so they would see how it went, and it was fun.

Overall, this program has a couple of points that I can turn into prayer points. First, it’s a service to the students to allow them to learn from an English speaker about English. Although I have all different ages come, a lot of them are students in high school and some will be having English interviews soon that they need to feel confident about. Second, we have the classes in the Gospel Center and we hope that the students will feel comfortable in coming there ad will come back, because it is open almost every evening for hang-out time or church or Bible studies. Third, all the people helping me teach are all part of the mission work or born-again Taiwanese. So we hope that the students will somehow see Christ through us and desire to know more about why we do the things we do. On Saturday night we have church shortly after class ends, so we pray that some of the students will want to stay and see the worship.

I have been working with the youth here a lot and today I will go to 2 different schools to visit the students and the other missionaries will be sharing the Gospel in Mandarin. We have the opportunity to go into these schools because if there is a Christian teacher we can hook-up with, the mission can help start Bible clubs and a lot of times this draws non-believer students in to see what it’s about. So pray that the clubs go well today, and pray as my friend Sam gives his testimony today at one of the clubs that the Lord will speak through him.

That’s all for now!

LB

(below is my helper teacher, Dora, and my co-worker, Birgit, after class)

Ciao!

Last wednesday I started language school and it is going very well, my last day is tomorrow so although I haven't learned a ton, I'm able to communicate with people to some extent.

On saturday we had an American birthday party for Giulia, one of the daughters of a couple here that works with world team. It was a great time and Amy and Ron had a chance to meet some Italian parents and make first contact with those people which will hopefully help them continue to build relationships.

Sunday morning I went to church with Corrie and then had an interesting and very awkward conversation with a man on the metro on my way home from church. He spoke only Italian and wanted to know more about where I went to church and what time and all of that so it took a little while and some probably horrible Italian on my part but he found out the information he needed. hopefully that conversation will be used in some way.

After church I went out to Monza which is a town just north of Milan, I met Angela and her daughter Alessia, Angela goes to the cooking class that Daniel and Joi teach and both of them know some english but are trying to learn more so I'm getting together with Alessia tomorrow to spend some time with her. I am excited to see how God will use my relationship with her to talk with her about the gospel and anything else.


prayer requests since I last wrote:

I am hoping to get to know Alessia better and spend time and develop a friendship with her over the next few weeks.

The prayer conference is next week and we still have some details to work out along with some planning to do. Also prayers for the conference itself that it goes well and God is working with and through the people coming as well as here in Milan. Prayer that people would see the need in Milan as well as in all of Europe and recognize the difficult spiritual battle that is going on here.

Continue to pray for the relational evangelism project I am working on. It seems that having conversation at the enlgish night at a local pub might be a great way to connect with people.

Finally that I would continue to work through things that God is putting on my heart and that I would be teachable and moldable and that I would be changed and would grow in the ways He wants me to during my time here.

Tainan County

Today I got to take a little excursion. :) Last night my friend Sam asked me how much of Taiwan I had seen so far and I told him which cities I had been in and I said I wished I could see some countryside like Ali Mountain, a mountain in the middle of the island that I heard about in a book I am reading. So he doesn't speak much English but he asked me, "Do you want to come with my friend and me to countryside? Be here 9 am!" So I showed up in the morning not knowing any other details and got in the car with Sam and Allen, who both speak limited English. I don't even know where we went because they never really told me, but I know the end destination was Tainan County, not the city. First of all, I think they must have been flipping a coin at every turn for a while because they rarely agreed on which road was right, both would point a different way and the car turned around a lot. But apparently the way Taiwanese travel is, each part of Taiwan has something it is known for and because you can basically drive across it in 8 hours, you stop every 20 minutes or so and check out the town. Our first stop was apparently the home of the lotus flower. It was beautiful and we even ate lotus ice cream...which was interesting, but GOOD! (the picture is of Sam buying some)

The next place we went was apparently the home of the mango. We stopped one and bought a whole basket of mangoes, but on our way back home we topped again to get mango ice, one of my new favorite things: shredded ice with mangoes, mango sauce, and mango ice cream on top.

Then we went on to the mountain! Not Ali mountain, but I think it was called MeiLing mountain? Or maybe Minglei Mountain? It is the "mountain that grows plums" apparently, and we had plum tea and chicken feet soup in plum broth, neither of which I could really eat much of to be honest. Pictures can't even begin to depict the amazing sights I have seen, but I will try anyway. The missionaries here have church Saturday night and so my Sundays are mostly free and I can't think of a better way to see God than in His creation! I was singing about the mountains bowing down and having faith to move a mountain the whole time (in my head)! We drove up most of it and climbed the rest. As you can see from the stairs, it was quite daunting. And today it was at least 90 and 80 or 90% humidity.

Then after the mountain we moved on to the reservoir. The dam was closed, but we got to see some other amazing and beautiful sights anyway. Palm trees, banana trees, green gum trees, and I don't know what other kind of trees and plants and mountains and rivers and people and foods and drinks and insects and EVERYTHING! :)

Overall, great day! I would post all my pictures if there weren't over 100 just from today. :) Sorry no mission update today, but I will post one soon. Miss you all!

LB

Chiayi City Prayer

I have been in Taiwan for 1.5 weeks and in Chiayi City for about 3 days.  I really like it here.  It is not rural like I thought it would be, but it is a smaller city than Tai-chung.  The team here is also smaller, but they are very nice.  I got my schedule which was quite a bit less packed than my first week.  I have regular events that I can plan on and prepare for. 

I was mostly traveling on Monday and resting on Tuesday, so yesterday I jumped in.  Normally I have Sunday and Monday off to prepare, rest, visit with people, and do my own thing.  Tuesdays and Saturdays I will be teaching an English class, which I am a little bit worried about because I have never taught ANYTHING before.  Also on Tuesdays and Saturdays before class I meet with a language partner to get my help in Chinese and to help her with English, and then she helps translate for my class.  

On Wednesdays I visit high schools with some of the other missionaries and they either present the gospel or do crafts or have lunch and chat in the school-advised Bible Clubs.  The way we have to present the gospel is very different though because they have no concept of a creator god and no concept of a kind, loving god that would want to know them, in a good way.

On Thursdays my mentor and I will prayer walk through the city (except it rained today and we didn’t) and then tonight we have a women’s Bible study.  Fridays my mentor and I have a personal study going through Galatians and then I work with the youth all evening at the Gospel Center, doing whatever. 

Saturday night is when they have church after my class, so I am anxious to see what the church service is like.  Already my ideas of a traditional worship service have been thrown out the window because of the culture and the resources here in Taiwan.  I will give you one example in the way that they pray in church here.  No one closes their eyes and they all pray, out load, at once! It’s great though! 

After 2 days of working with the people here I have had many good situations and lots of good time to think and discuss about the missions here.  Here are some prayer requests you can keep in mind as I approach this coming month:

1. Pray for continued patience as the days are long and tiring

2. Pray for adjustment to the new and even hotter weather in Chai-yi (91 degrees and 70% humidity today, 94% humidity last night)

3.  Pray for confidence in me teaching English :-/

4.      Pray for confidence in general, to know that it's God's work and not my own

5.      Pray for a good friend here is Chai-yi that I can communicate with

6.      Christian women greatly outnumber men both in terms of converts, ministry involvement & willingness to lead. Pray that God would raise up godly working class men to lead the church

7.      Pray for the local churches to accept the house church movements for the working class

8.      Pray for more workers to come to Chai-yi for long-term service

9.      Thanks for fans AND air conditioning in my room and the gospel center

10.   Thanks for the short-term mission team coming in July after I leave

11.   Pray for all the high school senior's college entrance exams that may determine their future

12.   Pray for my adjustment to the food and help me to find something healthy to eat that I like

13.   Pray for me as I write an article for the Missions in Motion e-zine due June 23

14.   Thanks for some words from God in Philippians that have encouraged me

15.   Pray for unity among the staff here

16. Pray that my motives for working here be completely selfless

East meets West

Many Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa immigrated to France looking for Jobs and a better quality of life. They brought with them a culture and a religion which was foreign and unwelcome. Well paying jobs were more difficult to find than perhaps they had hoped, but practicing their faith in private, they rarely came into conflict with the native French. However, their children are a different story. They have been born and raised in France, some are now even third generation French citizens. Still, due to their ethnicity and religion, they are regarded as foreigners. When they go to Africa and the Middle East they are considered foreigners there as well. These young people have been raised in poverty and rejection. Not knowing who they are or where they belong, some turn to drugs and drug trafficking, while many others grab hold of Islam in order to give them a sense of identity, unity, and meaning. But unlike the faith of their parents, theirs is a radical Islam. While the Muslims of the East are looking to Europe and the United States, becoming gradually more Westernized by MTV, the Muslims here in France are looking back East. Protruding from the lower working class housing complexes of Paris are scores of satellite dishes, all tuned in to Islamic television programs like Al-Jazeera.

This complicated and volatile social situation was explained to us today as we were given a tour of the East Paris neighborhoods which were the setting of the violent riots of 2005. Our guide was a young man who grew up in this neighborhood as Muslim, but is now a disciple of Jesus and is a strong witness among the Muslim Population here in Paris and throughout Europe. He explained to us that the tensions here are still very high. On the first floor of one of the rundown apartment complexes we swatted flies which swarmed by the ceiling tiles above which traffickers would stash drugs. The mailboxes all bore Middle Eastern or North African names. Just outside in the street one can still see the burn marks in the pavement where police cars were set ablaze; a sobering experience. Our tour guide explained that nothing in these neighborhoods will change until the hearts of the people change, and that, only Jesus can do.

We ate lunch with our tour guide (whom many have referred to as the "Protestant Imam") at one of his favorite Turkish restaurants. He shared with us his experiences of doing ministry among these French Muslims. He has had a great deal of success and has seen many of them come to follow Jesus, and to find their identity in him. There is still a great deal of work to be done here. Please pray for the Islamic communities in France and for our "Protestant Imam" and those like him who are working among them to make disciples.

Milan!

I have finally arrived in Milan two weeks after I left home! Our week at the gite in france was a really great experience. I loved meeting people and talking and building relationships as well as the sonship material that we covered. It was some heavy stuff but definitely in a good way. I'm still trying to process everything! After the week at the gite, Corrie and I headed back to her apartment in Milan where we repacked our bags and met Daniel and Joi for lunch. After lunch we headed to Rimini which is on the Eastern coast of Italy for a conference. It was very interesting to immediately be immersed in Italian culture. The conference was great from what I could understand of it. The worship was my favorite part, a lot of the songs we sang were songs that had been translated from english so I knew what they were talking about. I've found that I can understand a decent amount of what people are saying but I barely know any Italian at all other than a few phrases that I use daily. Language school starts tomorrow and I move in to the house with the woman I am staying with tomorrow night. The rest of the week doesn't look 'too' busy other than language school and the birthday party we are planning for Saturday, but I'm sure plenty of other things will come up. I'm excited to start to meet people in Milan as well as get involved with some Bible Studies and prayer meetings. Pray for the people of Milan and the World Team Missionaries here! Hopefully I will be able to write a little more often now that I am in Milan

Pictures from Tai-chung

Back to civilization

For the past week the western europe interns (my self included) have been staying in an authentic french "Giet". Its more or less a holdiay - get away from civilization - kind of home, so we have been without internet etc for the past week.

We really have had an amazing time though. We've studied how to learn about culture, conflict resolution, and bitterness (amongst other things). Its been a great time of fellowship and growing deeper in our relationship with the Lord.

I think I speak for everyone though when I say we are excited to begin ministering in our fields.
~Ken

Goodbye to Tai-ching and the Jiangs

I don't have Jenna Detter to proof read for me and the keyboard here at my host homeis different and old so the keys get stuck and because I don't type well, what I say doesn't always make sense. Sorry.

I have been here in Tai-chung, Taiwan for almost 8 (ba...8 in Mandarin) days now and it has been quite the experience both physically, spiritually, socially, mentally...

Activities:

Language classes - Monday-Wednesday I got to take Mandarin classes and have learned a lot but comparatively very little. I got a book and made flash cards from a deck of "poker" cards from a 7Eleven fromwhich I will continue to practice.

Tai-ping Ministry - Tai-ping is a city near Tai-chuing that the missionaries and some Taiwanese have invested in because of the high population of Vietnamese brides there. It appears that the majority of their ministry is concentrated there. On Sunday's they have a Bible story time for discussion in Mandarin and Vietnamese. The style is catered to the Taiwanese where it is open for them to come and go as they please, be loud and informal, but in a clean, safe environment they might not find in other places. We have a rented "gospel center" there and they offer Mandarin classes on Saturdays for the Vietnamese brides, a tea time on Thursdays where the Taiwanese husbands can come and smoke and talk, and the missionaries make house visits and meet in the parks during the week to have devotions and encourage and pray with the families. Most of the days I go and observe and "listen".

Church in Tai-chung - The whole service was in Mandarin, but some of the songs I recognized and could sing along in English and the sermon had somany Bible references that I could at least follow the pattern of thought even though I don't know what he said. It was so wonderful though to worship the same God with believers on the other side of our world!

Missionary fellowship - between World Team and their co-workers from OMF in Taiwan, there is the largest variety of nationalities I have ever seen at one time, apart from the UN. We had a cookout on Tuesday night and there were missionaries from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and United States (...and maybe China.) A new family just arrived from Australia and they shared their journay and God leading them to Taiwan, which was amazing and encouraging. Taiwan is somewhat of a hub in the Asian world because of it's location, which explains the amount of ex-patriots and foreigners here.

Youth ministry - I was supposed to speak at a Bible club in the Tai-ping highschool yesterday, but classes were all out for holiday so I didn't get a chnce, but Robb Branch, the missionary I work with here, goes just about every week and talks to the kids. They are allowed to join a club through the school and although there are 25 members, only about 5 are actually Christians, so it allows for much ministry. The youth here are sooo driven though their studies and competition that they rarely make timefor religion and when/if they goto college, then is when the most youth may start beinginterested in religion and/or the gospel. The daughter in my host family, Linda Jiang is going to be taking the entrance exam to get into college in a month or so and she studies almost non-stop through "cram schools" until 11pm sometimes and tutors on holiday and the weekends. She wants to study Biology, but she didn't have very good interviews with the colleges, so please pray for her. If the interviews go well in February and they are accepted to college, students don't have to finish their senior year or take entrance exams.
This morning I got to share at a small bible study of yound adults about my testimony and it was a nice time of fellowship, low pressure.

Temple visits - I got a chance to visit Taiwan's largest temple, a Buddhist temple, and a folk religion temple. The Buddist temple had a large gold smiling Buddah statue as big as a house. The folk religion templewas the only one we really went into and looked at and it was a little bit frightening, just knowing someof the things that go on in there. People move about from one god to another praying and burning incense. Matsu (Mazu) is the patron goddess here in Taiwan and you see her picture everywhere. It is interesting though because the people aren't really concerned with truth of their religion. You will hear a different story about the god's histrory depending on which person you talk to. And many of the gods are pulled from ancient stories or fables. But there are many people in the temple throwing these cresent shaped blocks to see what the answer to their questions are from the gods. Both blocks up mean no, one up one down means yes, and both down means the god is busy and try again.

Prayer walking - There is a practice here of themissionaries to walk around and just pray over the people and the city. Most stores have "god shelves" in then which you can see clearly by the 2 red lights on them. Even my host home has a shrine to ancestors on the top floor i believe, because only the mom and 1 daughter are Christians.

Food and Fun:

I have already written too much, but I rarely have this much timeto write.

I have eaten: a whole squid on a stick, freid tofu, oyster noodles, clams, fried eel, hot soy milk, bamboo soup, rice dumplings, nose fruit, dragon hair candy, cow tongue cookie, pearl milk tea, TONS of rice, and many other questionable or unidentifiable things this week so far.

I have seen: many beautiful parks, much beautiful architecture, swimming pools (that's an interesting experience i'll tell you later if you remind me), restaraunts, schools, homes, old shopping streets, new shopping malls, small shops (i even had a "chop" Chinese signature stamp name with my Chinese name "He rou en"), night markets, temples, many many people!

OK, that's all for now because I could go on forever with my new experiences (my journalsometimes I write 9 pages a day) but I wanted to focus on the spiritual state of Taiwan today. Miss you all!

LB

First Impressions

So...I have been in Taiwan for 2.5 days thus far and I have experienced more culture than I experienced in the 2 whole weeks I sepnt in China 2 years ago. Getting here was actually much more pleasant than I expected. Although i claim to enjoy math, do not think I lied to you when I said the flight was 14 or 15 hours...i can't count...it was about 13. BONUS: i asked if I could be switched from a middle to a window seat and they put me in the last seat in the plane which was only 2 seats next to eachother. So I got to board first and then the other seat was never filled so I got an isle and window seat all to myself for the long flight. Then at the airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan the apple from World Team that I had forgptten about was confiscated by an agricultural beagle watch-dog, not to mention the water bottle I was given was confiscated priorto leaving Philly, but I should have known better.

SO...here in Tai-tung, I am staying with a host family where noone speaks english except the daughter. It has been fun getting to know her, Linda, and the rest of the family through her. We had an imprompto photo session last night where the family took lots of pictures of me and with me and we had such a good time. I am using their computer right now because it is the only internet, but when I get access to my own computer I will post some pictures.

Now, I know all the other interns are wanting to know...YES, they have cheese!!!! AND they have chocolate, milk, and coffee. My worries subsided, I have already ordered one of their normal breakfast items that they translate at an egg roll, which is more like an omlet rolled up and stuffed with...Cheese. :)

Other observations, instead of their ice cream trucks driving around playing songs, their garbage trucks drive around playing Bach. One of the most common soups here has a hot melon cooked in it which apparently tastes like a turnip, but I haven't been brave enough to try it yet. The daughter of the missionary family, Shannon Branch, likes the most interesting things like fried, crunchy fish, filled with fish eggs and tiny squid looking things. The people are usually very very friendly and I always feel bad that I can't speak their language, but in about 1 hour I will be starting my first Chinese lessons! The religion is so prevelant in the culture that most shops have 'god shelves' in them with big red lights on each side.

Well I am off to lessons and anyone that is getting frustrated with me not returning e-mails, I promise I will soon, but while in Tai-tung (this week) it is difficult. Love you all and my prayers are with you as I know your prayers are with me. Thanks!

-LB

Where You Are