你好!
Autumn is here and September is coming to a close. Summer has flown quickly and as the leaves are changing color, I think about how my life has changed and will change in the next couple of months. Life is busy (no surprise there) preparing to leave my job, packing, fundraising and doing mundane things like laundry. :)
This weekend I leave Chicago and travel to Kansas City for the Intro to IHOP-KC internship. I am so ready to go! It’s been over a year since I made my decision to go and it’s finally happening! I excited and nervous about what it is going to be like, but most importantly, I feel at peace and have a direction that I I know is where God wants me to go. No more wondering what is next, trying to figure out where God really wants from me. I am running hard after Him and that’s all that matters. Plus I love road trips. I find that I have the best times of worship and prayer in the car driving. Yup, I’m strange like that. :)
If I look back at this journey, I have to laugh. You see, 10 years ago I told the Lord, “I know you have some kind of missions thing in store for my life, but I have a desire to minister cross culturally. So could you send me to Africa, South America, Australia, etc, etc? Just don’t send me to minister to the Chinese people. I grew up in a chinese church, so I already know how to deal with them. Let me minister to others.”
Oh, how God must have smiled when I told Him that. How ironic that God has changed my heart so completely that not only am I going to Taiwan, but that I can’t wait. God is chuckling, I know it!
Prayer Requests:
• Pray that my prayer and devotional times would be rich and full of His presence. Because of the busyness of my life, they have been hurried and at times, difficult to spend the time that I want to at the Lord’s feet.
• Pray that I wouldn’t be discouraged and overwhelmed with all the preparation and challenges that lie ahead. I’m trusting the Lord, but there are times when it’s a little dark.
• Currently one of the Taiwan youths, James, in the So San church has some bad coughing and when he got some x-rays, they found some white spots on his lungs. He is going in for additional tests, but the hospital will not take him until december, so pray that a earlier opening will open up and that he would be healed..
• Pray that the Lord would quickly raise up the support necessary to do His work.
This is my first newsletter. You’ll see many changes with the format as I tinker around with what works best, so don’t be surprised to see a different format next time. I like to change it up. :)
Thank you so much for all your support! I am so grateful to consider you my friends, brothers and sisters. It is so encouraging to talk to many of you in the past weeks and sharing with you what God is doing in Taiwan. I so value your prayers immensely and couldn’t continue in ministry without them! I hope to get a chance to talk with you in the future. If you want to stop by IHOP to visit, let me know!
As always, if you are led to help out, it’s easy enough. At the end of this letter will be a pledge slip that has instructions on how you can partner with me in reaching Taiwan for Christ!
In Him who Loves us,
josh
_______________________________________________________________________________
Josh’s Taiwan Missionary Journey Pledge Slip
If you would like to be updated with what is going on Taiwan, there are a number of ways you can do this:
1) Join the Facebook group called “Josh's Taiwan Missions Journey”
2) Follow on my taiwan blog (which may have guest “speakers”) at http://fhlministry.blogspot.com
I would like to partner with you in prayer ______
I would like to partner with you financially ______
One time _______________ Monthly Amount: ______________________
• If you are donating monthly, please do so electronically at http://www.fhlministry.com/donate.
• If you are giving a one time donation electronically, you can go to http://www.fhlministry.com/donate
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Home, Sweet Home.
Unlike many others, I never posted a blog entry to share about how the mission trip ended. A big part of me wants to just say that I had forgotten, but deep inside, there was a part of me that didn’t want the trip to end. Yes, I missed home; yes, I missed America, but I knew that if I went home, I would miss Taiwan. Consciously, I knew that the mission trip had ended the moment the camp at Prince Kin ended, but it saddened me that this year is most likely the last year I would be going to Taiwan for missions.
After returning to Taipei a week after the missions ended, I thought I would post my blog entry, but I could not put to words the exact feelings and thoughts I had. I could not figure out what it is that I wanted to say. My mind wanted to say one thing, but my heart felt another.
After another 2 weeks, I finally returned to the United States. That following Saturday, Josh held a Debrief meeting at Church where we would have an MTL and also share what it was that we learned personally from this years Missions trip. I had made previous plans already and could not make it, but when I thought about what I would have shared if I had gone, I still couldn’t put my finger on it.
Today is the 8th of September. I’ve moved from Chicago to Ohio where I have started a new life, and it is now that I realize what I have learned from my experience in Taiwan. It’s the concept of home. Being here in Ohio, it is so different in terms of lifestyle, ethics, rules, and morals. People do different things for fun, and look at things in a different perspective than big city people. Driving around here is different, people rank things of importance differently than Chicago people, and it’s just so much more laid back than a City.
It’s been almost 2 weeks since I’ve moved here, and I want to say in all honesty, I miss home. The first week of moving here, I became so homesick that I cried every single night for a few days because I simply missed being home. I missed my church, my family, my friends…and knowing where I was. Nothing I did felt at home. No one I knew made me feel at home. I would hang out with friends here who would try to keep me busy, but no matter what, my friends here were not the same as my friends at home. Nothing I did here would be the same as what I did at home.
I felt like this until one Sunday when David took me to church with him. We were late, but the moment I walked into that room, I really felt at home. I closed my eyes during worship and it was like being back at my church singing loud to praise our worthy God. During the sermon, I felt like I was back home listening to my own Pastor Bill speak. Even though I was surrounded by Koreans and not Chinese people, and the speaker was Korean, and not white, it was the closest thing to home that I had felt in a really long time.
Of all the change, I realize one thing. I realize that although everything about your world may change, the one thing that will always be familiar to you is God. I realize that I have made God a part of my lifestyle and will always seek after Him.
After returning to Taipei a week after the missions ended, I thought I would post my blog entry, but I could not put to words the exact feelings and thoughts I had. I could not figure out what it is that I wanted to say. My mind wanted to say one thing, but my heart felt another.
After another 2 weeks, I finally returned to the United States. That following Saturday, Josh held a Debrief meeting at Church where we would have an MTL and also share what it was that we learned personally from this years Missions trip. I had made previous plans already and could not make it, but when I thought about what I would have shared if I had gone, I still couldn’t put my finger on it.
Today is the 8th of September. I’ve moved from Chicago to Ohio where I have started a new life, and it is now that I realize what I have learned from my experience in Taiwan. It’s the concept of home. Being here in Ohio, it is so different in terms of lifestyle, ethics, rules, and morals. People do different things for fun, and look at things in a different perspective than big city people. Driving around here is different, people rank things of importance differently than Chicago people, and it’s just so much more laid back than a City.
It’s been almost 2 weeks since I’ve moved here, and I want to say in all honesty, I miss home. The first week of moving here, I became so homesick that I cried every single night for a few days because I simply missed being home. I missed my church, my family, my friends…and knowing where I was. Nothing I did felt at home. No one I knew made me feel at home. I would hang out with friends here who would try to keep me busy, but no matter what, my friends here were not the same as my friends at home. Nothing I did here would be the same as what I did at home.
I felt like this until one Sunday when David took me to church with him. We were late, but the moment I walked into that room, I really felt at home. I closed my eyes during worship and it was like being back at my church singing loud to praise our worthy God. During the sermon, I felt like I was back home listening to my own Pastor Bill speak. Even though I was surrounded by Koreans and not Chinese people, and the speaker was Korean, and not white, it was the closest thing to home that I had felt in a really long time.
Of all the change, I realize one thing. I realize that although everything about your world may change, the one thing that will always be familiar to you is God. I realize that I have made God a part of my lifestyle and will always seek after Him.
In the same way, our Taiwan mission trip last year was very impactful on Taiwan in actively seeking God and serving God. But the thing is, we can run as many Sunday services as we want, lead worship songs as much as we want, teach as much English to the kids, teach them how to dance to Jesus songs, and Teach them the bible, but all of this will go away. The moment we step on to that plane to go back to America, all of that goes with us. We do all these things knowing that this is what we have at home. We are so blessed to be more spiritually fed in America, and we want to make Taiwan just like our own home. But yet, the moment we leave, we take our home with us. Does that defeat the entire purpose? We want to make a home in another place because God resides in this home. And wherever this home will be, God will be. Therefore, we want Jesus in Taiwan.This year, we focused on one thing and one thing only: PRAYER. We held MTL’s every day, beginning from 45 minutes a day, and by the end of the trip, 2 hours a day. We began with some people understanding prayer, to everyone understanding prayer. We began with only US team and So San team in that prayer room, to US team, So San team, Cao Ya team, and Tien Liao Team. We had a 72 hour, 3 days of prayer where youth, kids, and parents from all different churches came and prayed in our prayer room. Where worship leaders of either language led worship in the prayer room. Where prayers were of either language, and yet were praying to the same Father.
So what did I learn this year? I learned the very foundation of what prayer is. Prayer is home. Where there is prayer, there is home. And where there is a home (a church), there will always be prayer. Before, we may have made the church into an activity house. We have games there, events, prizes…etc. but when we left, all of that left with us. It just became a church again. But this year, we made those churches into prayer houses, and when we left, they still were prayer houses.
When I talk to my friends in Taiwan from those churches, it makes me so happy to hear that their prayer meetings are still going strong. It brings me so much joy to know that what we did this year stayed there. Even though they are surrounded in darkness by Buddhist temples, idol worship, and demons, they are able to find freedom from that through prayer. Even though we sometimes think that we are “better off” in America because Christianity is a predominant religion, we don’t realize that we face other types of darkness that hinders us from being at home. Whether it is secular music, gossiping, lying, cheating, or any type of sin, it is the same darkness. It’s the same source. Its Satan. And if we can create a stronghold against him through prayer in Taiwan, then I know I can too, regardless of where I am.
So, I miss Taiwan. I miss Chicago. But I realize that I simply miss Jesus. I now realize that I only felt homesick because I hadn’t found my ‘home’ yet. I was like a lost sheep looking for my Sheppard. My only prayer is that the lost sheep of Taiwan may also find their Sheppard, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanks for all your prayers while we were there. Continue to pray for Taiwan as the Holy Spirit is working and moving through lives. He is the God of Taiwan, and He is faithful.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Love > Power [Priscilla]
I want to submit a different opinion about the last few weeks.
I am ridiculously proud of everyone on the mission team. And I sincerely enjoyed when the Holy Spirit would fill a room we were ministering at and bring about a “cryfest”. It actually happened a lot. It happened most of the nights at Cao Ya (resulting in 3 people radically accepting Jesus as Lord and the Cao Ya youth group taking off weeks of work to join the mission team when they initially did not want to). It happened throughout a lot of the 72 hours of prayer at Shou San. One of the nights a mob of people wailed before the Lord at the altar. We were so stunned by the move of the Spirit that we didn’t know how to end the night. How do you tell a bunch of sobbing people “Ok. Uh, we have to stop now because there’s a 11pm neighborhood curfew where we can’t make noise anymore or else the police will come.”? The “cryfest” happened a lot during MTL times (Minister to the Lord) where we prayed almost 2 hours every day. One night the Holy Spirit fell in the room and our meeting ended up lasting 5 hours as we sat in the sanctuary crying out for our lost family members. It happened the last night of Tien Liao where little kids cried in the presence of God. A 16 year old girl (non-Christian) missed the sermon and entered the sanctuary (cold turkey) in the middle of ministry time and just began to cry under the heaviness of the Holy Ghost. A middle school girl named Sally was sobbing for almost an hour straight in one of our team member’s arms. The “cryfest” happened again at Princekin Elementary School. A gym was transformed into a sanctuary as 50+ little kids (even preschoolers) were crying as they encountered the thick presence of Jesus. Tissue boxes kept being brought into the room as more and more crumpled, white tissues littered the floor. There are more examples of radical moments throughout the mission trip. The “cryfests” happened many times as the Holy Spirit pounded the places with His glory. I loved it when He would minister that way...
BUT...
Those moment are not what impressed me the most. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the “cryfests”. I believe that God moved mightily in them. But those were not the most important/touching moments to me. What moved me the most were those normal days when we (the team) would faithfully go out and love, play, and talk to the kids about Jesus... even when it was tough. That’s where the REAL LOVE was at. It’s easy to get a bunch of people in a room and cry. All you have to do is tell them Jesus loves them, worship (so that the throne of Jesus will descend into the room), and let them loose to encounter. Easy pie. You can just stand at the side and watch. What’s hard is BEING like Jesus to them. It’s hard to motivate yourself to want to win their trust and become their friend. That’s why doing skits, games, testimonies, small groups, and crafts can seem so much harder. IT IS HARDER! It’s harder to love people. It’s not meaningless activity. It’s actually the more necessary, most humbling, and most loving activity of all. It’s easy to just throw them in a room, play some music and watch them cry. But to invest in their lives? To love ON them? To be willing to tell them about Jesus when they’re seemingly disinterested? To disciple them? That’s the tough part. It takes a lot of humility.
I am less impressed by traveling preachers who throw out the Jesus bomb at revival meetings (don’t get me wrong, I think they are necessary and vital in the advancing of God’s kingdom), and more impressed by pastors who stay faithful to a flock, press on through the mundane to disciple them, and practice patience in loving the individual. There are tons of Christians out there who would love to join the Hillsong traveling band and throw wild Jesus parties out for masses to cry at and have a spiritual high. But there are few people who are willing to do the thing that is most like Jesus and faithfully love the weak, unspiritual individual through the mundane.
I love this year’s mission team. It was composed of people who were humble enough to pray and serve. They were all meek enough to love the unlovable day by day, step by step, and choice by choice. We are not perfect. There were definitely days were the accuser of the brethren would put disheartening thoughts into our minds and say that way we faithfully worked to love and teach about Jesus was ineffective and meaningless. But Jesus’ words are the truth and they break the lies of the enemy. Jesus says that when we speak His words it does not return empty (Isaiah 55:11) and that if we give people even a cup of water He will reward us for it (Mark 9:41). There is no doubt that this year’s mission trip was by far the most spiritually powerful. But power without love is empty. I am proud to say that the mission team truly poured themselves out to love everyone God put in their way. Every member exhibited astounding patience, kindness, selflessness, and hope... even in the mundane. To me, witnessing such faithful love in them during the tough days was the most radical expression of Jesus to a broken, love-deficient people.
I am ridiculously proud of everyone on the mission team. And I sincerely enjoyed when the Holy Spirit would fill a room we were ministering at and bring about a “cryfest”. It actually happened a lot. It happened most of the nights at Cao Ya (resulting in 3 people radically accepting Jesus as Lord and the Cao Ya youth group taking off weeks of work to join the mission team when they initially did not want to). It happened throughout a lot of the 72 hours of prayer at Shou San. One of the nights a mob of people wailed before the Lord at the altar. We were so stunned by the move of the Spirit that we didn’t know how to end the night. How do you tell a bunch of sobbing people “Ok. Uh, we have to stop now because there’s a 11pm neighborhood curfew where we can’t make noise anymore or else the police will come.”? The “cryfest” happened a lot during MTL times (Minister to the Lord) where we prayed almost 2 hours every day. One night the Holy Spirit fell in the room and our meeting ended up lasting 5 hours as we sat in the sanctuary crying out for our lost family members. It happened the last night of Tien Liao where little kids cried in the presence of God. A 16 year old girl (non-Christian) missed the sermon and entered the sanctuary (cold turkey) in the middle of ministry time and just began to cry under the heaviness of the Holy Ghost. A middle school girl named Sally was sobbing for almost an hour straight in one of our team member’s arms. The “cryfest” happened again at Princekin Elementary School. A gym was transformed into a sanctuary as 50+ little kids (even preschoolers) were crying as they encountered the thick presence of Jesus. Tissue boxes kept being brought into the room as more and more crumpled, white tissues littered the floor. There are more examples of radical moments throughout the mission trip. The “cryfests” happened many times as the Holy Spirit pounded the places with His glory. I loved it when He would minister that way...
BUT...
Those moment are not what impressed me the most. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the “cryfests”. I believe that God moved mightily in them. But those were not the most important/touching moments to me. What moved me the most were those normal days when we (the team) would faithfully go out and love, play, and talk to the kids about Jesus... even when it was tough. That’s where the REAL LOVE was at. It’s easy to get a bunch of people in a room and cry. All you have to do is tell them Jesus loves them, worship (so that the throne of Jesus will descend into the room), and let them loose to encounter. Easy pie. You can just stand at the side and watch. What’s hard is BEING like Jesus to them. It’s hard to motivate yourself to want to win their trust and become their friend. That’s why doing skits, games, testimonies, small groups, and crafts can seem so much harder. IT IS HARDER! It’s harder to love people. It’s not meaningless activity. It’s actually the more necessary, most humbling, and most loving activity of all. It’s easy to just throw them in a room, play some music and watch them cry. But to invest in their lives? To love ON them? To be willing to tell them about Jesus when they’re seemingly disinterested? To disciple them? That’s the tough part. It takes a lot of humility.
I am less impressed by traveling preachers who throw out the Jesus bomb at revival meetings (don’t get me wrong, I think they are necessary and vital in the advancing of God’s kingdom), and more impressed by pastors who stay faithful to a flock, press on through the mundane to disciple them, and practice patience in loving the individual. There are tons of Christians out there who would love to join the Hillsong traveling band and throw wild Jesus parties out for masses to cry at and have a spiritual high. But there are few people who are willing to do the thing that is most like Jesus and faithfully love the weak, unspiritual individual through the mundane.
I love this year’s mission team. It was composed of people who were humble enough to pray and serve. They were all meek enough to love the unlovable day by day, step by step, and choice by choice. We are not perfect. There were definitely days were the accuser of the brethren would put disheartening thoughts into our minds and say that way we faithfully worked to love and teach about Jesus was ineffective and meaningless. But Jesus’ words are the truth and they break the lies of the enemy. Jesus says that when we speak His words it does not return empty (Isaiah 55:11) and that if we give people even a cup of water He will reward us for it (Mark 9:41). There is no doubt that this year’s mission trip was by far the most spiritually powerful. But power without love is empty. I am proud to say that the mission team truly poured themselves out to love everyone God put in their way. Every member exhibited astounding patience, kindness, selflessness, and hope... even in the mundane. To me, witnessing such faithful love in them during the tough days was the most radical expression of Jesus to a broken, love-deficient people.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Epilogue [Josh]
I write this now with a torn heart. This is my third day in tokyo trying to get home and it looks like the flights are all booked again and I will stay another day in tokyo most likely. It's frustrating staying in the airport all day. Looking back, I wish I didn't go standby as right now, all I want to do is go home or go back to taiwan.
What can I say about this trip? Last year, it was awesome because every night at Tien Liao, we cried out to the Lord together and prayed for the children and the Lord was evident in those camps.
This year? Like Arthur, I was frustrated as it seemed like we were going through the motions and we weren't spending enough time with the Lord asking for His help. If there is one thing that I can say about missions is that there is power in genuine prayer. Cao Ya was difficult, as we were thrown a curveball that we had to deal with 2 locations instead of one. I know that I instantly started thinking logistics and how we could handle all the kids with just half the staff. The Lord started breaking me of the "work first" mentality and is starting to give me a "pray first" mentality. Cause if we start working first, then we'll see a great program that doesn't have the Spirit and that isn't how ministry works. Ministry only works through the Spirit because it is the power of the Spirit that pierces the heart.
Like most others here on the missions trip, the Little Princekin school was the highlight of the trip. God's spirit was really moving in most of the kids there. It was awesome, because prior to that for 4 days, the kids didn't seem to be interested in anything except for playing around and horsing around, which was disheartening to me. Praise God for the missions team, as they held up great and handled the kids no matter how difficult they were.
God sees in different ways than we do. I was struck by this on day 4 when we were talking about the children and I was suprised about how many of them came from broken families. You wouldn't be able to tell by looking at them, as they seemed like happy kids. Rambunctious at times, but generally well adjusted. Just goes to sho you how Satan is at work underneath the covers.
The last night that we were there at Princekin, we gave the gospel story (again!) and also had a time where we played music and the teachers (mission team) would pray for them. and the Lord had plans for that time. in both sessions we had the Holy Spirit come down like fire. In Hebrews it talks about Ministers being flames of fire. And in this case, the Holy Spirit came down upon the kids in a mighty way. We started praying for the kids and the kids who didn't seem to care for anything in the world and were only interested in horsing around were englufed by the Holy Spirit and it was so evident that the HS was working. I remember one girl in particular who was sitting alone at the time and I remember sitting next to her and holding her and just weeping for her as the Spirit was so strong that words were inadequate. After we were able to pray for the kids for about a hour (which was half the time that we had with them) we ended with song and the camp was over. Bu the Spirit was still working so evidentally that we had a bit of a celebration praising God and shouting to the Lord. You see, Princekin is a normal school. One of the mothers of the mission team member fought tooth and nail with the school board, parents, husband to have this english camp at the school. So I can say with pretty good accuracy that this was probably the first time that these kids have ever heard the gospel and many of them have never heard any of the bible stories that we ended up talking about. How awesome is that, to be praising God here in a school, where we may not ever get the chance to do this again, that God showed Himself mightily in these children. I pray that the Lord will provide them follow up to be able to nurture that seed that is within them. I pray that Satan will not snuff out this flame.
My laptop is running out of juice and I have nowhere to charge it. So I must end it here. All I know is that I will be returning back and that nothing is going to stop me. God's work must be done here and I know God has called me! Praise the Lord!
What can I say about this trip? Last year, it was awesome because every night at Tien Liao, we cried out to the Lord together and prayed for the children and the Lord was evident in those camps.
This year? Like Arthur, I was frustrated as it seemed like we were going through the motions and we weren't spending enough time with the Lord asking for His help. If there is one thing that I can say about missions is that there is power in genuine prayer. Cao Ya was difficult, as we were thrown a curveball that we had to deal with 2 locations instead of one. I know that I instantly started thinking logistics and how we could handle all the kids with just half the staff. The Lord started breaking me of the "work first" mentality and is starting to give me a "pray first" mentality. Cause if we start working first, then we'll see a great program that doesn't have the Spirit and that isn't how ministry works. Ministry only works through the Spirit because it is the power of the Spirit that pierces the heart.
Like most others here on the missions trip, the Little Princekin school was the highlight of the trip. God's spirit was really moving in most of the kids there. It was awesome, because prior to that for 4 days, the kids didn't seem to be interested in anything except for playing around and horsing around, which was disheartening to me. Praise God for the missions team, as they held up great and handled the kids no matter how difficult they were.
God sees in different ways than we do. I was struck by this on day 4 when we were talking about the children and I was suprised about how many of them came from broken families. You wouldn't be able to tell by looking at them, as they seemed like happy kids. Rambunctious at times, but generally well adjusted. Just goes to sho you how Satan is at work underneath the covers.
The last night that we were there at Princekin, we gave the gospel story (again!) and also had a time where we played music and the teachers (mission team) would pray for them. and the Lord had plans for that time. in both sessions we had the Holy Spirit come down like fire. In Hebrews it talks about Ministers being flames of fire. And in this case, the Holy Spirit came down upon the kids in a mighty way. We started praying for the kids and the kids who didn't seem to care for anything in the world and were only interested in horsing around were englufed by the Holy Spirit and it was so evident that the HS was working. I remember one girl in particular who was sitting alone at the time and I remember sitting next to her and holding her and just weeping for her as the Spirit was so strong that words were inadequate. After we were able to pray for the kids for about a hour (which was half the time that we had with them) we ended with song and the camp was over. Bu the Spirit was still working so evidentally that we had a bit of a celebration praising God and shouting to the Lord. You see, Princekin is a normal school. One of the mothers of the mission team member fought tooth and nail with the school board, parents, husband to have this english camp at the school. So I can say with pretty good accuracy that this was probably the first time that these kids have ever heard the gospel and many of them have never heard any of the bible stories that we ended up talking about. How awesome is that, to be praising God here in a school, where we may not ever get the chance to do this again, that God showed Himself mightily in these children. I pray that the Lord will provide them follow up to be able to nurture that seed that is within them. I pray that Satan will not snuff out this flame.
My laptop is running out of juice and I have nowhere to charge it. So I must end it here. All I know is that I will be returning back and that nothing is going to stop me. God's work must be done here and I know God has called me! Praise the Lord!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Prayers Answered [Deanna]
So Missions is over and I am typing in Kenting where I had to ride on arthur's back on a moped...in typhoon rain weather. the SCARIER part is that calvin drove ellie and almost crashed into a car in typhoon rain weather. The man in the car also yelled at him and it was very scary. Praise God we're all alive =)
Anyways, here are the highlights:
we went to go pass out tracks in front of the world games. The initial plan was htat we'd do the body worship but we didn't have portable speakers that run by batteries so we decided to not do it. Then, Priscilla and Ellie started doing street evangalism. Priscilla would speak and ellie would translate and they got a little crowd together. This was when we were done passing out tracks. Then I met up with Arthur who said he had the song on his phone. Then I started gathering a small group together and Arthur played the song and we did it. Then we used Emily's phone that was louder and did it again with a bit more people. And then, we did it a final time in a different area with a full explanation because priscilla and ellie were done. We had a little crowd watching us and videoing us through the phone so hopefully God will use it later on.
For hte last week of missions, we went to samuel's mom's school: Little Prince. I really wanted God to use me thru the kids because honestly, I felt liek I hadn't been used by Him for the kids in tien liao and the other school the first week. So I had fervently been praying but the first day, i tried hugging one of my girls (10 years old) and then another girl in my group yelled at me for hugging her because she had a heart condition and had just had surgery so I was thrown off by that. And then, when we got into groups, I didn't have my nametag so none of hte kids knew my name and all thought my chinese accent was weird because I had really lost my voice that first day. Then we had the afternoon kids and they were like 5-7 years old, REALLY shy, and I just didn't know how to control them. They're so young that it's really hard to talk seriously to them AND to talk to them for a long time because of how short their attention spans are. So i was pretty exasperated the first day.
Then, after the second day, they remembered my name after i told them one last time and then after class they like wouldn't want me to leave and whenever they saw me from their classroom, they'd scream out my name. I think them finding out i was ticklish also helped them to like me more. After I knew they liked me, i started being more bold on what to share with them and being a little more personal. I think because they're starting to understand a little more, they didn't share very personally. But I was very surprised by my afternoon young group because they shared very openly and a lot of them had fathers who drank and smoke all hte time and would hit them or their mother. It was hten that I started really having a heart to pray for all the father's in Taiwan because I think very few understand their true role in guiding a family. I see it in tw drama's too. All the male leads have bad relationships with their father while the female leads have the best relationship w/their father. I think they think too much of hteir responsibility of bringing home the money and leading in that way and not actually caring for their family in a loving way where their kids can actually experience love.
The girl with the heart condition ended up being the one i had the biggest heart for because everyone else in my group had gone to church before and so they could all memorize the verses easily because they had before at some time whereas isabelle would give up and not even try the first day. Then the 2nd day, she seemed more open to God and started participating more in answering questions and she became really attached to me. The 3rd day she wanted to be the first to recite the verse. It really touched me. On the 4th day, when I played with the kids, they all wanted me to sing the 2 songs to them, Alleluia and Deep Down. I didn't think they'd answer the question when i say Do you love your Jesus because they had just learned it but after i reminded them of the harder words, they SCREAMED it and loved that song more than the Alleluia (i think they only wanted that one to tickle me).
The last day was craaaaazy. For our closing we prayed for all the kids individually. All the girls in my older group started crying and I had never seen or felt the Holy Spirit move in such a powerful way, especially with an age group VERY diverse and VERY young. I knew that A LOT A LOT of us were praying for the kids and God really answered our prayers by being present and stirring in their hearts. Even though the girls wouldn't tell us why they're crying besides the fact that they didn't want us to leave/they'd miss us. I know something triggered their crying before they thought of us teachers and I KNOW God was with them. I just pray that theyw ill continue to seek after You, evne if they're not allowed to. Especially isabelle, since her family doesn't believe in anything and she started to understand God's love more and more everyday. 2 of my girls wrote me a card/got me a phone chain and one of those girls also made her sister write me a card in the youngest group. I had no clue who she was either but she for some reason knew me and my name and gave me a card. I felt like God had really answered my prayer by asking to be used by the kids because I had never felt that loved by that many little kids before. I don't interact with little kids that much in the states so all of this was a real blessing and something where we all knew ONLY Christ could have done it.
I also gave my cheese away to James and Chris's sister. I saw how much they loved it and how much james and samuel wanted to steal it before the girls saw it and now it is with them. Hopefully i can come back next year (PLEAAAAASE GOD MAKE A WAY) and HOPEFULLY they take REALLY good care of it and take many many pictures with it =)
I really better get this one back some time, not like my OTHER pillow...
Anyways, here are the highlights:
we went to go pass out tracks in front of the world games. The initial plan was htat we'd do the body worship but we didn't have portable speakers that run by batteries so we decided to not do it. Then, Priscilla and Ellie started doing street evangalism. Priscilla would speak and ellie would translate and they got a little crowd together. This was when we were done passing out tracks. Then I met up with Arthur who said he had the song on his phone. Then I started gathering a small group together and Arthur played the song and we did it. Then we used Emily's phone that was louder and did it again with a bit more people. And then, we did it a final time in a different area with a full explanation because priscilla and ellie were done. We had a little crowd watching us and videoing us through the phone so hopefully God will use it later on.
For hte last week of missions, we went to samuel's mom's school: Little Prince. I really wanted God to use me thru the kids because honestly, I felt liek I hadn't been used by Him for the kids in tien liao and the other school the first week. So I had fervently been praying but the first day, i tried hugging one of my girls (10 years old) and then another girl in my group yelled at me for hugging her because she had a heart condition and had just had surgery so I was thrown off by that. And then, when we got into groups, I didn't have my nametag so none of hte kids knew my name and all thought my chinese accent was weird because I had really lost my voice that first day. Then we had the afternoon kids and they were like 5-7 years old, REALLY shy, and I just didn't know how to control them. They're so young that it's really hard to talk seriously to them AND to talk to them for a long time because of how short their attention spans are. So i was pretty exasperated the first day.
Then, after the second day, they remembered my name after i told them one last time and then after class they like wouldn't want me to leave and whenever they saw me from their classroom, they'd scream out my name. I think them finding out i was ticklish also helped them to like me more. After I knew they liked me, i started being more bold on what to share with them and being a little more personal. I think because they're starting to understand a little more, they didn't share very personally. But I was very surprised by my afternoon young group because they shared very openly and a lot of them had fathers who drank and smoke all hte time and would hit them or their mother. It was hten that I started really having a heart to pray for all the father's in Taiwan because I think very few understand their true role in guiding a family. I see it in tw drama's too. All the male leads have bad relationships with their father while the female leads have the best relationship w/their father. I think they think too much of hteir responsibility of bringing home the money and leading in that way and not actually caring for their family in a loving way where their kids can actually experience love.
The girl with the heart condition ended up being the one i had the biggest heart for because everyone else in my group had gone to church before and so they could all memorize the verses easily because they had before at some time whereas isabelle would give up and not even try the first day. Then the 2nd day, she seemed more open to God and started participating more in answering questions and she became really attached to me. The 3rd day she wanted to be the first to recite the verse. It really touched me. On the 4th day, when I played with the kids, they all wanted me to sing the 2 songs to them, Alleluia and Deep Down. I didn't think they'd answer the question when i say Do you love your Jesus because they had just learned it but after i reminded them of the harder words, they SCREAMED it and loved that song more than the Alleluia (i think they only wanted that one to tickle me).
The last day was craaaaazy. For our closing we prayed for all the kids individually. All the girls in my older group started crying and I had never seen or felt the Holy Spirit move in such a powerful way, especially with an age group VERY diverse and VERY young. I knew that A LOT A LOT of us were praying for the kids and God really answered our prayers by being present and stirring in their hearts. Even though the girls wouldn't tell us why they're crying besides the fact that they didn't want us to leave/they'd miss us. I know something triggered their crying before they thought of us teachers and I KNOW God was with them. I just pray that theyw ill continue to seek after You, evne if they're not allowed to. Especially isabelle, since her family doesn't believe in anything and she started to understand God's love more and more everyday. 2 of my girls wrote me a card/got me a phone chain and one of those girls also made her sister write me a card in the youngest group. I had no clue who she was either but she for some reason knew me and my name and gave me a card. I felt like God had really answered my prayer by asking to be used by the kids because I had never felt that loved by that many little kids before. I don't interact with little kids that much in the states so all of this was a real blessing and something where we all knew ONLY Christ could have done it.
I also gave my cheese away to James and Chris's sister. I saw how much they loved it and how much james and samuel wanted to steal it before the girls saw it and now it is with them. Hopefully i can come back next year (PLEAAAAASE GOD MAKE A WAY) and HOPEFULLY they take REALLY good care of it and take many many pictures with it =)
I really better get this one back some time, not like my OTHER pillow...
the whole shabang [Arthur]
So...it's been quite a while since the first post. A lotta things have been goin on...God's been moving me in a bunch of different directions. I suppose I'll have to start from the first week, since I think the last time I posted, I had only just begun the trip. I'm sure many people have already posted about the stuff that happened weeks ago, but I'll share anyways. During the first week, we spent the first 3 days running something kinda like a summer camp for elementary school kids during the day. We did a lotta "campy" stuff, like crafts, games, the whole bit. Looking back on it, those days derived mixed meanings. In one sense, it felt completely unfruitful...we were making friends with the kids and all, but there were hardly any seeds being planted. The good news of Jesus Christ loving us and dying for our sins was not being spoken of. Our role as Christ's ambassadors had been diminished to that of a common summer camp counselor. Honestly, I felt useless before God. I had traveled all the way to Taiwan merely to teach kids songs and crafts.
I'm not sure about the rest of the team, but for me, the missions trip really started to spice up during the 72 hour prayer fiesta. We started at midnight of a Friday (so technically it's Sat.), making sure that there was always at least one person leading worship and at least a few people praying. When I first heard about the 72 hour prayer event, I was actually kinda dreading it...I've always been lazy in prayer. However, it turned out to be a huge blessing. It was refreshing. It's not very often that I can set aside that kind of time devoted solely to praying to the Lord. I found myself wanting to speak with the Lord more and more. It was awesome.
Feeling restored in my soul, I was excited for the second week of our missions trip: Tien Liao. There, we ministered to students ranging from elementary to middle school. There was a particular student, Tony, who I felt especially convicted to pray for and minister to. I prayed that the Lord would give me boldness to share about Christ, and that the Lord would speak powerfully to Tony. The Holy Spirit, as usual, worked in a way against my expectations. Instead of speaking through me, the Lord spoke through another leader, Chris (Jian Wen), who usually is very timid and soft spoken. The previous week, he was leading a small group with me too, but he rarely said anything. He's one of those guys that'll do whatever needs to get done, but when it comes to speaking to groups of people, nothing comes out. Out of nowhere, Chris began sharing his own testimony with our group at Tien Liao. I don't even remember saying much that day to our group, but I was fine with that. The Holy Spirit was working in both the kids and our missions team. It was...awesome.
Our final week was the sweetest of them all. It was a 5-day ministry at Little Prince kindergarten/elementary school. Actually, when I first heard that it was going to be a 5-day ministry with both a morning and an afternoon group, I was a bit intimidated. From the sound of it, it was going to be the most tiring week of the entire missions trip. The morning group was mostly older elementary school kids, whereas the afternoon group was made up of kindergarteners. The first 3 days went by pretty fast, but I quickly began to feel the same meaninglessness in what we did as I felt during the first week. We sang songs, played games, performed skits, but in the end, Jesus Christ was not being preached. I was desperate for God to do something because the last thing I wanted to do was waste the kids' time and my time by talking about things that won't last. I prayed and prayed and prayed for these kids during our MTL (ministering to the Lord) times, which is a time set apart each day for our missions team to pray to the Lord. On the last day at Little Prince, the Holy Spirit started working like crazy. There's one kid, Frank, that I was particularly moved by. We were singing the song "How Great is Our God" as the missions team went around praying for each kid. When I got to Frank, I really felt moved to pray for him in Chinese, despite my limited vocabulary. I put my hand around his shoulder, and I'm not sure what I said, but after speaking only a few sentences, I felt a tear hit my arm. I opened my eyes briefly to see if Frank was alright, and I saw his eyes completely wet with tears. I hugged him even closer and asked him what was wrong, but he just shook his head. I asked him, "You know Jesus loves you?" and he nodded his head as tears continued to stream down. I didn't know what else to do but continue to pray with him. We prayed to God together, asking Jesus Christ to come into Frank's life and to fill him with the Holy Spirit. When we had finished praying, I opened my eyes and saw that the kids around us were also full of tears. I motioned the kids toward me, and I just hugged them close. It was amazing to the see how the Spirit could move the hearts of even little children. I really felt the words of Christ saying "Bring the children to me". Some of them sat on my calf, so as I prayed, I started to feel a burning sensation, then a numbing sensation. I didn't want to interrupt the good work that the Holy Spirit had already begun, so I prayed to God that He would give me strength in even such a small matter. By the time we finished singing and praying together, my arm was completely wet with tears and snot. But I was alright with that. I counted them as holy tears and holy snot, so in a strange sense, I didn't really want to wash it off. The Holy Spirit really did something great, and I praise God for that. I really had a hard time leaving those kids, but I know that Jesus will never leave them. I'm confident that God, who is faithful, will complete the good work that He's started in them.
I've probably already overwhelmed this posting since I tried to recap the entire missions trip in one hit. Again, I apologize for waiting this long, I feel like I was withholding blessing from you guys, so I want to ask for your forgiveness. If you guys wanna hear more, just shoot me an email or ask me the next time you see me because I'd love to share about it. God is good. Praise the Lord. Amen.
I'm not sure about the rest of the team, but for me, the missions trip really started to spice up during the 72 hour prayer fiesta. We started at midnight of a Friday (so technically it's Sat.), making sure that there was always at least one person leading worship and at least a few people praying. When I first heard about the 72 hour prayer event, I was actually kinda dreading it...I've always been lazy in prayer. However, it turned out to be a huge blessing. It was refreshing. It's not very often that I can set aside that kind of time devoted solely to praying to the Lord. I found myself wanting to speak with the Lord more and more. It was awesome.
Feeling restored in my soul, I was excited for the second week of our missions trip: Tien Liao. There, we ministered to students ranging from elementary to middle school. There was a particular student, Tony, who I felt especially convicted to pray for and minister to. I prayed that the Lord would give me boldness to share about Christ, and that the Lord would speak powerfully to Tony. The Holy Spirit, as usual, worked in a way against my expectations. Instead of speaking through me, the Lord spoke through another leader, Chris (Jian Wen), who usually is very timid and soft spoken. The previous week, he was leading a small group with me too, but he rarely said anything. He's one of those guys that'll do whatever needs to get done, but when it comes to speaking to groups of people, nothing comes out. Out of nowhere, Chris began sharing his own testimony with our group at Tien Liao. I don't even remember saying much that day to our group, but I was fine with that. The Holy Spirit was working in both the kids and our missions team. It was...awesome.
Our final week was the sweetest of them all. It was a 5-day ministry at Little Prince kindergarten/elementary school. Actually, when I first heard that it was going to be a 5-day ministry with both a morning and an afternoon group, I was a bit intimidated. From the sound of it, it was going to be the most tiring week of the entire missions trip. The morning group was mostly older elementary school kids, whereas the afternoon group was made up of kindergarteners. The first 3 days went by pretty fast, but I quickly began to feel the same meaninglessness in what we did as I felt during the first week. We sang songs, played games, performed skits, but in the end, Jesus Christ was not being preached. I was desperate for God to do something because the last thing I wanted to do was waste the kids' time and my time by talking about things that won't last. I prayed and prayed and prayed for these kids during our MTL (ministering to the Lord) times, which is a time set apart each day for our missions team to pray to the Lord. On the last day at Little Prince, the Holy Spirit started working like crazy. There's one kid, Frank, that I was particularly moved by. We were singing the song "How Great is Our God" as the missions team went around praying for each kid. When I got to Frank, I really felt moved to pray for him in Chinese, despite my limited vocabulary. I put my hand around his shoulder, and I'm not sure what I said, but after speaking only a few sentences, I felt a tear hit my arm. I opened my eyes briefly to see if Frank was alright, and I saw his eyes completely wet with tears. I hugged him even closer and asked him what was wrong, but he just shook his head. I asked him, "You know Jesus loves you?" and he nodded his head as tears continued to stream down. I didn't know what else to do but continue to pray with him. We prayed to God together, asking Jesus Christ to come into Frank's life and to fill him with the Holy Spirit. When we had finished praying, I opened my eyes and saw that the kids around us were also full of tears. I motioned the kids toward me, and I just hugged them close. It was amazing to the see how the Spirit could move the hearts of even little children. I really felt the words of Christ saying "Bring the children to me". Some of them sat on my calf, so as I prayed, I started to feel a burning sensation, then a numbing sensation. I didn't want to interrupt the good work that the Holy Spirit had already begun, so I prayed to God that He would give me strength in even such a small matter. By the time we finished singing and praying together, my arm was completely wet with tears and snot. But I was alright with that. I counted them as holy tears and holy snot, so in a strange sense, I didn't really want to wash it off. The Holy Spirit really did something great, and I praise God for that. I really had a hard time leaving those kids, but I know that Jesus will never leave them. I'm confident that God, who is faithful, will complete the good work that He's started in them.
I've probably already overwhelmed this posting since I tried to recap the entire missions trip in one hit. Again, I apologize for waiting this long, I feel like I was withholding blessing from you guys, so I want to ask for your forgiveness. If you guys wanna hear more, just shoot me an email or ask me the next time you see me because I'd love to share about it. God is good. Praise the Lord. Amen.
Closure [Deren]
The missions trip is over, and wow, what a year. As I am awaiting my bus to Taipei I am standing on the balcony of the church overlooking the city of Kaohsiung. I find peace in the strange quiet and stillness of the church. As I reflect back on the many things we have done over the past 3 weeks. Only one thing comes to mind, and that is -Ask and you will receive-.
During this missions trip, we have asked for many things, and they will come in God's timing if they have not already come. I am sure of it. We asked for God to show up, and He came strong. It was a true blessing to see everyone grow in Christ, especially the Taiwanese youth. Prayer is the key, it is how we talk to God. We have all grown spiritually. I pray and hope that this passion inside all our hearts will not die out. As Taiwan Missions 2009 is officially over, I pray that God will continue to do His work.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
a long week [christina]
I believe it's been about a week or so...well maybe over, I don't know...since I've blogged.
so let's start off with Tien Liao.
It was actually not what I was expecting, but it was still good. I thought that it would be all little kids and it turned out to be like 20 little kids and 15 middle schoolers. AHH...haha not really. I had one of the jr. high groups and with junior high kids often time get the quiet kids and it's usually just one or two instead of the entire group, which made it somewhat difficult. When I first met them they all seemed to be really scared of me for some strange reason. Everytime I tried to talk to them they would run away. But I prayed and asked God to open their hearts and answer some of the question that we were asking. So the first day they were all fairly quiet and didn't say anything in and I thought they didn't want to sit next to me because I thought I smelled or something, but I didn't.
There was one girl...she always had a smile on her face and she was fairly happy, but she always covered her mouth and I wondered why. I saw a glimpse of her mouth and half her teeth were literally rotted away and it scared me, but I knew that there was a happy spirit inside of her and comforted me. Wendy was the name of this girl. She was one of the main ones that I was praying for and by the last day she was answering all of the questions that we had asked and she had a curiosity in what God looked like. We told that if se prayed and asked she would see him maybe. But God doesn't normally reveal himself to people, but I prayed that God would give her a glimpse of himself so she would know that our God is more real than hers.
I also prayed that she would come to the praise night that we were having. There were many kids there before hand, but I didn't see Wendy and I was starting to think that no one from my small group would be there, but in walks Wendy and someone else that I didn't recognize. I asked her who it was and she had told me that it was her little sister and I was really encouraged that she had brought her little sister. They both had the smile and similar sests of teeth, but I knew that God was stiring in her heart. It came time for the altar call and she was one that raised her hand. We started praying over them and I looked and I saw her eyes closed and head bowed as though she knew what she was doing. Her smile was no longer there, but I knew she was trying to pray to the Lord. It was awesome. When we were all done and it was time to go she looked at me with a big smile and hugged me. I was touched, but I knew that God had started something up in her heart!
I wish I had blogged earlier cause I just realized how much stuff I still have yet to share with all of you. ok so anyways, that Saturday I don't really remember what we did during the day, but at night we were going to where the World Games were being held and we passed out tracks. It was really interesting cause I had passed out tracks before and usually it takes us a really long time to give them out, but this time the people were more will to take it and I saw many of them reading it and I was surprised that they didn't throw it out right away. I was really encouraged when I saw that. Another thing that we were going to do was body worship and at first we didn't have a place to use speakers to play the music and we were just going to not do it, but God provided phones that hold music for a reason. At first it was just three of us, the second time it was four, and the third time it was all of us on the worship team that was there. Even though we could barely hear the music I still felt God saying that we should do this because people can see what we're doing and there was actually someone sitting there with their camera recording us. IT WAS GRRRREAAAAAAT!!! haha ;D
ok so that was Saturday. THen the week began at Prince Kin, which is a kindergarden that one of our members mom works at. We teach two different times. Once during the morning and once in the afternon. We prety much just spend all day there, but it's not to bad. One thing that we all are very gratful for is nap time. We have all been quite tired and we get to sleep for at least 1 hour, which is awesome!!
The kids in the morning are mixed aged. Half of them are very quiet and the other half is loud. The first day kids are always quiet and shy, but I think part of the reason they did talk was because there was candy. There was one kid that knew all the answers and got pretty much all the candy and there wasn't a chance that the other kids could have gotten any. I fell as if that was part of the reason that some of the kids were quiet, but since then they have all participated in answering questions and have opened up quite a bit. 2 of the are still a bit quiet, but I know that they know what we are teaching them.
The afternoon kids are very loud and have a ton of energey. I really don't understand where half of it comes from. The first day I noticed a few kids where buddist necklaces and I thought to myself that they were the ones I needed to keep in mind, but the next day I didn't see any of them wearing one. It was kind of weird, but I think that was Gods way of telling me that it doesn't matter who is what religion because all of these children are improtant. Because our groups were big and hard to control we were split into 2 different teams. I had the majority of the boys and 2 of the girls, but I don't have a translator and I thoguht that it was going to be very hard, but so far it hasn't been to bad. I prayed to God to give me words to speak and he is starting to, but I know there is more to come.
Today we talked about their families a little bit, and it was really interesting. One girl didn't have a dad, on was buddist, one was catholic, one said that she prayed by herself in her room, and one didn't really know what we were talking about. I felt like a didn't know what to do because they were al different, so all I told them was that God will always love them and I hope that they herad those words. There is one boy named Jay and today he asked, "if I get angry will God run away?" I told him, "No, he will always be in you heart if you believe who he is." and the next thing I knew he said that he wanted to know and believe in Jesus!!
SO there have been many things that encouraged me and I hope that it has encouraged you as well. Please continue to Pray for Wendy in Tien Liao, even though we are not there pray that God still stirs in her heart. Also just pray for all the kids at Prince Kin especially Jay and him knowing God even more. Also that God would give our team physical and spritual strength to last the next 2 days and God would speak words of truth through all of us.
I think that this will be my last post so if you want to know more please email me at cuchanger@yahoo.com.
so let's start off with Tien Liao.
It was actually not what I was expecting, but it was still good. I thought that it would be all little kids and it turned out to be like 20 little kids and 15 middle schoolers. AHH...haha not really. I had one of the jr. high groups and with junior high kids often time get the quiet kids and it's usually just one or two instead of the entire group, which made it somewhat difficult. When I first met them they all seemed to be really scared of me for some strange reason. Everytime I tried to talk to them they would run away. But I prayed and asked God to open their hearts and answer some of the question that we were asking. So the first day they were all fairly quiet and didn't say anything in and I thought they didn't want to sit next to me because I thought I smelled or something, but I didn't.
There was one girl...she always had a smile on her face and she was fairly happy, but she always covered her mouth and I wondered why. I saw a glimpse of her mouth and half her teeth were literally rotted away and it scared me, but I knew that there was a happy spirit inside of her and comforted me. Wendy was the name of this girl. She was one of the main ones that I was praying for and by the last day she was answering all of the questions that we had asked and she had a curiosity in what God looked like. We told that if se prayed and asked she would see him maybe. But God doesn't normally reveal himself to people, but I prayed that God would give her a glimpse of himself so she would know that our God is more real than hers.
I also prayed that she would come to the praise night that we were having. There were many kids there before hand, but I didn't see Wendy and I was starting to think that no one from my small group would be there, but in walks Wendy and someone else that I didn't recognize. I asked her who it was and she had told me that it was her little sister and I was really encouraged that she had brought her little sister. They both had the smile and similar sests of teeth, but I knew that God was stiring in her heart. It came time for the altar call and she was one that raised her hand. We started praying over them and I looked and I saw her eyes closed and head bowed as though she knew what she was doing. Her smile was no longer there, but I knew she was trying to pray to the Lord. It was awesome. When we were all done and it was time to go she looked at me with a big smile and hugged me. I was touched, but I knew that God had started something up in her heart!
I wish I had blogged earlier cause I just realized how much stuff I still have yet to share with all of you. ok so anyways, that Saturday I don't really remember what we did during the day, but at night we were going to where the World Games were being held and we passed out tracks. It was really interesting cause I had passed out tracks before and usually it takes us a really long time to give them out, but this time the people were more will to take it and I saw many of them reading it and I was surprised that they didn't throw it out right away. I was really encouraged when I saw that. Another thing that we were going to do was body worship and at first we didn't have a place to use speakers to play the music and we were just going to not do it, but God provided phones that hold music for a reason. At first it was just three of us, the second time it was four, and the third time it was all of us on the worship team that was there. Even though we could barely hear the music I still felt God saying that we should do this because people can see what we're doing and there was actually someone sitting there with their camera recording us. IT WAS GRRRREAAAAAAT!!! haha ;D
ok so that was Saturday. THen the week began at Prince Kin, which is a kindergarden that one of our members mom works at. We teach two different times. Once during the morning and once in the afternon. We prety much just spend all day there, but it's not to bad. One thing that we all are very gratful for is nap time. We have all been quite tired and we get to sleep for at least 1 hour, which is awesome!!
The kids in the morning are mixed aged. Half of them are very quiet and the other half is loud. The first day kids are always quiet and shy, but I think part of the reason they did talk was because there was candy. There was one kid that knew all the answers and got pretty much all the candy and there wasn't a chance that the other kids could have gotten any. I fell as if that was part of the reason that some of the kids were quiet, but since then they have all participated in answering questions and have opened up quite a bit. 2 of the are still a bit quiet, but I know that they know what we are teaching them.
The afternoon kids are very loud and have a ton of energey. I really don't understand where half of it comes from. The first day I noticed a few kids where buddist necklaces and I thought to myself that they were the ones I needed to keep in mind, but the next day I didn't see any of them wearing one. It was kind of weird, but I think that was Gods way of telling me that it doesn't matter who is what religion because all of these children are improtant. Because our groups were big and hard to control we were split into 2 different teams. I had the majority of the boys and 2 of the girls, but I don't have a translator and I thoguht that it was going to be very hard, but so far it hasn't been to bad. I prayed to God to give me words to speak and he is starting to, but I know there is more to come.
Today we talked about their families a little bit, and it was really interesting. One girl didn't have a dad, on was buddist, one was catholic, one said that she prayed by herself in her room, and one didn't really know what we were talking about. I felt like a didn't know what to do because they were al different, so all I told them was that God will always love them and I hope that they herad those words. There is one boy named Jay and today he asked, "if I get angry will God run away?" I told him, "No, he will always be in you heart if you believe who he is." and the next thing I knew he said that he wanted to know and believe in Jesus!!
SO there have been many things that encouraged me and I hope that it has encouraged you as well. Please continue to Pray for Wendy in Tien Liao, even though we are not there pray that God still stirs in her heart. Also just pray for all the kids at Prince Kin especially Jay and him knowing God even more. Also that God would give our team physical and spritual strength to last the next 2 days and God would speak words of truth through all of us.
I think that this will be my last post so if you want to know more please email me at cuchanger@yahoo.com.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Intense Few Days [Priscilla Wan]
First off a praise report! The girl I asked you guys to pray about has received Jesus as her Savior. She even gave a testimony in front of the church about how God healed her and how she felt the presence of God at the Chao Ya praise night.
Ok. A lot has happened since my last blog. So much has happened that blogging it will feel like an injustice. We've been in Tien Liao for the last few days so we haven't had internet access. I'll try my best to give a very superficial overview:
We finished the 72 hours of continuous prayers (3 days). It was awesome. I love living in an environment where you know someone is praying all the time. We had about 25 people on the mission team praying and some people from the local churches too. We divided the time by 2 hour worship sets (live music) and 1 hour prayer slots. Throughout the event I could feel the atmosphere of the church changing. It became so peaceful... so close to God’s heart. On the second night we had a meeting in the main sanctuary and the Holy Spirit hit the room really hard. Adults, teens, kids were all crying at the altar as God filled the room. On the last day many people were sad that the continuous prayer was ending.
The next day I was absolutely blown away. MTL (Ministering to the Lord) time was only supposed to last 2 hours. But everyone ended up praying for 5 hours instead. You would think that after 72 hours of prayer people would want to “relax” and pray the minimum, but everyone wanted to pray more. We ended up crying out for our lost (or wandering) family members. It was a very powerful night with a lot of tears. When it was time to go to bed, I went upstairs and found a 17 year old Taiwanese girl (on our team) propped up on her bed listening to “Consuming Fire” and reading her Bible. I was so moved that after so much prayer people still used their free time to worship God.
The next day we went to Tien Liao to minister. This church is in the poorest community of the three (Tien Liao, Shou San, Chao Ya). Some people from Chao Ya decided to join the mission team (after we ministered at their church and invited them to the 72 hour prayer event) so our numbers grew to almost 30 people. For three days we held a VBS/English camp at a local school. On the last day we gave an altar call and 15 kids accepted Christ. We invited everyone to a praise night and at the praise night we laid hands on the kids and prayed for them. God really revealed His love to some of them event to the point of tears. They sincerely worshipped and prayed to God. A lot of people think that kids can’t understand or aren’t mature enough to worship or enjoy the love of God. But Jesus loves the little children. I was so moved to see God touching these little ones.
There were a lot of other things that happened. I wish I could tell it all well enough for those who are praying for us to understand that their intercession and fasting is truly working! God is anointing our prayer times and people’s hearts are being changed. I have no doubt that this is because a team of prayer warriors back in America are spiritually fighting with us. So, I genuinely thank you guys for your love.
Prayer Requests:
1. We’ve been working the mission team members really hard. Literally all the stuff has been back to back with virtually no break time in between. Sincere the spiritual atmosphere of the mission has become very intense, it can easily become draining. Pray that God will help the team members to utilize their MTL (Ministering to the Lord) time to refresh their spirits.
2. Chao Ya has invited us back to their church to run their Sunday Service tomorrow. Pray for an anointing over the service and that many people we meet the Lord.
3. Pray for Wang Zi Li school. We are ministering there for a week staring on Monday. Pray that God will capture the heart of those kids.
Ok. A lot has happened since my last blog. So much has happened that blogging it will feel like an injustice. We've been in Tien Liao for the last few days so we haven't had internet access. I'll try my best to give a very superficial overview:
We finished the 72 hours of continuous prayers (3 days). It was awesome. I love living in an environment where you know someone is praying all the time. We had about 25 people on the mission team praying and some people from the local churches too. We divided the time by 2 hour worship sets (live music) and 1 hour prayer slots. Throughout the event I could feel the atmosphere of the church changing. It became so peaceful... so close to God’s heart. On the second night we had a meeting in the main sanctuary and the Holy Spirit hit the room really hard. Adults, teens, kids were all crying at the altar as God filled the room. On the last day many people were sad that the continuous prayer was ending.
The next day I was absolutely blown away. MTL (Ministering to the Lord) time was only supposed to last 2 hours. But everyone ended up praying for 5 hours instead. You would think that after 72 hours of prayer people would want to “relax” and pray the minimum, but everyone wanted to pray more. We ended up crying out for our lost (or wandering) family members. It was a very powerful night with a lot of tears. When it was time to go to bed, I went upstairs and found a 17 year old Taiwanese girl (on our team) propped up on her bed listening to “Consuming Fire” and reading her Bible. I was so moved that after so much prayer people still used their free time to worship God.
The next day we went to Tien Liao to minister. This church is in the poorest community of the three (Tien Liao, Shou San, Chao Ya). Some people from Chao Ya decided to join the mission team (after we ministered at their church and invited them to the 72 hour prayer event) so our numbers grew to almost 30 people. For three days we held a VBS/English camp at a local school. On the last day we gave an altar call and 15 kids accepted Christ. We invited everyone to a praise night and at the praise night we laid hands on the kids and prayed for them. God really revealed His love to some of them event to the point of tears. They sincerely worshipped and prayed to God. A lot of people think that kids can’t understand or aren’t mature enough to worship or enjoy the love of God. But Jesus loves the little children. I was so moved to see God touching these little ones.
There were a lot of other things that happened. I wish I could tell it all well enough for those who are praying for us to understand that their intercession and fasting is truly working! God is anointing our prayer times and people’s hearts are being changed. I have no doubt that this is because a team of prayer warriors back in America are spiritually fighting with us. So, I genuinely thank you guys for your love.
Prayer Requests:
1. We’ve been working the mission team members really hard. Literally all the stuff has been back to back with virtually no break time in between. Sincere the spiritual atmosphere of the mission has become very intense, it can easily become draining. Pray that God will help the team members to utilize their MTL (Ministering to the Lord) time to refresh their spirits.
2. Chao Ya has invited us back to their church to run their Sunday Service tomorrow. Pray for an anointing over the service and that many people we meet the Lord.
3. Pray for Wang Zi Li school. We are ministering there for a week staring on Monday. Pray that God will capture the heart of those kids.
Shrinking back and slothful in zeal [Josh]
I have talked to people about missions and it seems that there is a perception that when you are in missions, you are automatically doing God's work. Like in anything that involves people and the word "always", it's not true. 
You can be here in taiwan and not be engaged in the actual ministry. You can be physically present and not mentally or spiritually. Romans talks about being slothful in zeal. Hebrews speaks of shrinking back. Everytime we are ministering, we have a choice to be full involved or to just hang on.
Lately, we have been hanging on. The missions team is pretty tired and rightfully so, since we have been only getting 7-6 hours of sleep consistently the last week. With intense days where we are up and doing devos, ministering to kids, leading praise nights and having debriefing time, we need our sleep.
Most mission trips are 1-2 weeks. Most people can sustain that level of intensity for 1-2 weeks. when you get to trips that are month or longer, you really have to pace yourself and we have been trying to get the right intensity for this missions trip. Everyone is doing a great job. I push them hard, and they have responded well of which I am particularly proud of. I've seen them change and seen them step up. I don't have children of my own, but I am starting to understand the pride parents have in their children.
Tien Liao has been harder spiritually than last year. The parents have really hard hearts and the kids are not very responsive this year for some reason. I don't know if it is because of the program or us, but I know that we haven't been praying for Tien Liao as much as we could be. The children are not responsive as they were last year and it breaks my heart. Satan really has a stronghold on this city. We did have a praise night afterwards and we had a lot of kid come, which was suprising to me, as I expected that there wouldn't be any kids coming based upon their response. But we had a full house! praise God in this. I hope that the Lord will continue the work with the Tien Liao Church there and that next year those seeds that have been planted will have come into fruition!
There is a gradual understanding that it is the power of prayer and the role of the Holy Spirit to convict hearts. the program could be designed well and we have gifted people, but without the Spirit, it doesn't matter. It has been a sweet time of prayer and meditation this missions trip and I have found that the Lord has been faithful in sustaining us. I really can say that without the Lord, I wouldn't make it. you know those songs that say things like, "I can't live a day without you"? I always thought that was marshmellow Christianity. Really. People have lived without Christ for years and years, so com'on, really?...But now I realize what that means.
On that note, we also did a Body Worship song/dance yesterday, in which I really felt the Spirit work. I've never been too much of a artsy guy and so these body worship/art painting never really spoke to me. But when the kids did their body worship yesterday, it was truly spirit filled. Woot! It's so awesome!
We have the biggest english camp yet coming up!(80 kids). So keep us in your prayers! It's a 5 day camp and goes from 9-5. (which is a lot as we also have a prayer ministry at night we run for 2 hours) Thank the Lord that we will be going back to So San and sleeping in our "real" beds! The kids and I are really happy. :)
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
3 Days-[Christina]
well hello again to you people back home. Much has happened, but the only thing I can can really remember is the 72 hours of prayer....aka 24/3 prayer for those of you who do not want to do the math. ;)
once again thank you so much for keeping us in our prayers!! I'm sure other people have blogged about this, but there has been much encouragement that has come from Tsao Ya. Alan, Amy, and Jenny have all accepted Christ and they shared their short testimonies with us and it really moved me because just in the few days that we knew them they came to faith. They also came to all three of our praise nights because they wanted to despite the 30 min drive. They didn't ever want to leave. It was just awesome to see how much they wanted to know God and just awesome to know that they know that God is there and listening to their prayers! YAY :D
SO...now on to the intense three days. So we had 72 hour prayer and I did not think that I would last for the 2 hour shifts because I have never done that much prayer before...unless it's at a worship night. I was also asked to cover worship for part of it as well and I had never lead worship by myself on piano for 2 hours. To top that all off, Josh asked the worship leaders to choose a day to fast, so I chose the first day not realizing that I was actually suppose to be fasting the next day as well. So I fasted the 2 days and on the last day they asked us all to fast because it was the last day and it was mind blowing to me, but I felt God saying, " You can do one more day because I will give you the strength that you need to last!" and I did, so I ended fasting all three days. That is the most I have ever fasted. One thing that I had actually learned about fasting was that it helps open up your heart to receive more from God and to grow in things. now the only things that I had been doing for the past three days was worshiping, praying, sleeping, and reading my bible. I can definitely say that God has opened my heart to all of these things aside from sleeping actually...
Side note: yeah instead of increasing the want to sleep GOD decreased the amount of sleep because I felt that he wanted me to stay up more and spend more time with him.
But yes, I find much more joy in spending time with God through prayer, reading my bible, and worshiping. Everyday there was always a new joy that God put in front of me and I really saw how much fun it is to spend time with God. I would have my 2 hour shift for praying and I would find myself in there for an hour or two longer going into the wee hours of the morning =.=, but that's okay because I really did find joy in spending more time with him. I also cried out to him in prayer and I know for a fact that he has heard my prayers and will be answering them. Another thing that God has really placed in my heart is a brokenness for the people of this country, my family hear, and most of all my brother. My heart was broken before, but it is eve more broken now.
I think that these three days have been the most challenging days in my walk with God because I missed out on a lot of good food, I was quite light headed by the end, and I was beyond tired, but God stuck with me and helped me to the end. I know that I gained much strength from this and hopefully instead fasting for 3 days I can fast for more.
Tomorrow...well technically today we are going to be going to Tien Liao...what I call the time of the typhoon. Pray to God that a typhoon does not hit that area cause it becomes a much harder place to live. Please pray that we make it there safely and that at the school we would be able to tell the kids about "josh" aka JESUS and that they would really open up their hearts so that God could enter into their lives.
Fun story: so last night when we were done praying, we all broke fast, but I didn't. So everybody was hungry and they decided to go to the wonton place...and I was kind of sad, but that's ok. then today for lunch we had a sushi buffet!! YAY good food...mmm. ^.^ I totally only at the first 10 dishes and I was done because my stomach had shrunk and I felt like my stomach was going to blow up. But it was good cause we id a walrus dance and I could fit just a little more in. I was just really happy that I got to eat the good food after fasting. :) and when we went to the wonton place that was the first time in three days that I had stepped outside into the open...it was so refreshing!!!!
Thank you for the continuous prayer...miss you guys that I know...GOD BLESS!!
once again thank you so much for keeping us in our prayers!! I'm sure other people have blogged about this, but there has been much encouragement that has come from Tsao Ya. Alan, Amy, and Jenny have all accepted Christ and they shared their short testimonies with us and it really moved me because just in the few days that we knew them they came to faith. They also came to all three of our praise nights because they wanted to despite the 30 min drive. They didn't ever want to leave. It was just awesome to see how much they wanted to know God and just awesome to know that they know that God is there and listening to their prayers! YAY :D
SO...now on to the intense three days. So we had 72 hour prayer and I did not think that I would last for the 2 hour shifts because I have never done that much prayer before...unless it's at a worship night. I was also asked to cover worship for part of it as well and I had never lead worship by myself on piano for 2 hours. To top that all off, Josh asked the worship leaders to choose a day to fast, so I chose the first day not realizing that I was actually suppose to be fasting the next day as well. So I fasted the 2 days and on the last day they asked us all to fast because it was the last day and it was mind blowing to me, but I felt God saying, " You can do one more day because I will give you the strength that you need to last!" and I did, so I ended fasting all three days. That is the most I have ever fasted. One thing that I had actually learned about fasting was that it helps open up your heart to receive more from God and to grow in things. now the only things that I had been doing for the past three days was worshiping, praying, sleeping, and reading my bible. I can definitely say that God has opened my heart to all of these things aside from sleeping actually...
Side note: yeah instead of increasing the want to sleep GOD decreased the amount of sleep because I felt that he wanted me to stay up more and spend more time with him.
But yes, I find much more joy in spending time with God through prayer, reading my bible, and worshiping. Everyday there was always a new joy that God put in front of me and I really saw how much fun it is to spend time with God. I would have my 2 hour shift for praying and I would find myself in there for an hour or two longer going into the wee hours of the morning =.=, but that's okay because I really did find joy in spending more time with him. I also cried out to him in prayer and I know for a fact that he has heard my prayers and will be answering them. Another thing that God has really placed in my heart is a brokenness for the people of this country, my family hear, and most of all my brother. My heart was broken before, but it is eve more broken now.
I think that these three days have been the most challenging days in my walk with God because I missed out on a lot of good food, I was quite light headed by the end, and I was beyond tired, but God stuck with me and helped me to the end. I know that I gained much strength from this and hopefully instead fasting for 3 days I can fast for more.
Tomorrow...well technically today we are going to be going to Tien Liao...what I call the time of the typhoon. Pray to God that a typhoon does not hit that area cause it becomes a much harder place to live. Please pray that we make it there safely and that at the school we would be able to tell the kids about "josh" aka JESUS and that they would really open up their hearts so that God could enter into their lives.
Fun story: so last night when we were done praying, we all broke fast, but I didn't. So everybody was hungry and they decided to go to the wonton place...and I was kind of sad, but that's ok. then today for lunch we had a sushi buffet!! YAY good food...mmm. ^.^ I totally only at the first 10 dishes and I was done because my stomach had shrunk and I felt like my stomach was going to blow up. But it was good cause we id a walrus dance and I could fit just a little more in. I was just really happy that I got to eat the good food after fasting. :) and when we went to the wonton place that was the first time in three days that I had stepped outside into the open...it was so refreshing!!!!
Thank you for the continuous prayer...miss you guys that I know...GOD BLESS!!
Beginning of the journal [Ellie]
Safely arrived Taipei on Friday, July 17 at 9:30 pm. On the flight from Tokyo to Taipei, God gave me an opportunity to pray God's word. The guy sat next to me started the conversation with the nature of my trip. Then the answer of short term mission intrigued him for more questions related to religion and testimonies. God sometimes uses us at unexpected ways or moment. I was not aware that my cup was dried and numb due to recent encounters before my departure. On the flight I was not in the mood to begin a conversation, but God made the initiative to me.
As I set my mind to a action mode for the mission, the mission team have started a 72 hours continuous prayer. By spending most of my awaken hours in the prayer room made me realized that God understands me more than myself. My cup needs to be filled up before I pour out onto others. My heart needs to be restored before I can hear the needy.
In my past 3 days since I joined the team, the hours feels like days but overwhelmed. We have been in the prayer a lot (approx. 6 hours per day), and prepration in Word and in discussion. Tomorrow we will go to Tien-Liao for 3 days for the VBS ministry. May God bless the weather, our spiritual status and works.
Got to go to bed. Good night my friends.
Ellie
As I set my mind to a action mode for the mission, the mission team have started a 72 hours continuous prayer. By spending most of my awaken hours in the prayer room made me realized that God understands me more than myself. My cup needs to be filled up before I pour out onto others. My heart needs to be restored before I can hear the needy.
In my past 3 days since I joined the team, the hours feels like days but overwhelmed. We have been in the prayer a lot (approx. 6 hours per day), and prepration in Word and in discussion. Tomorrow we will go to Tien-Liao for 3 days for the VBS ministry. May God bless the weather, our spiritual status and works.
Got to go to bed. Good night my friends.
Ellie
Monday, July 20, 2009
prayer. prayer. prayer [Deanna]
Since Saturday, we have started 24/3 prayer. Today is the last day. One thing that has really touched me is when the Cao Ya kids came. They've been coming everyday i think. I had really been praying for a boy named Allen and a girl named Jenny. Allen is in elementary school still while Jenny is in junior high. I'm pretty sure I talked about him for a little bit in my last entry but right away, I saw in him a boy that loved to play and was loving towards the people he cared for. I thought to myself, he would have no problem being courageous for Christ. So I started to pray for him while doing the praise nights at Cao Ya and he accepted Christ on the last day we did the alter call. Joseph had talked about how he didn't pray because it wasn't "manly" and so I cried out to God that even though he is so young, let him fall in love with You and yearn to seek You out everyday so that everyday, he can give it back to You through prayer. Then him, his sister, jenny, and a few other kids came to our church praise nights and he'd be one of the loudest singers and he would pray. It wouldn't be for a long time but he's a kid and I think he really started to understand God's love towards him and how much He wants to have a close relationship with Allen. Yesturday night, Allen was so touched by the Holy Spirit that he was brought to tears. He went from trying to be a tough little boy to literally broken and vulnerable in front of a whole God through Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit is amazing and should never be doubted. Praise God.
I was broken for Jenny because I also saw in her a love for others. She also really cared for those who were close to her and I saw in her a really energetic spirit. Then I thought, if she used both these gifts for God's kingdom, she'd be a great warrior for Christ. Then she accepted Christ on the last day of Cao Ya praise night. Priscilla was more moved by her coming to Christ so she'd be a better person to know what got her to accept Christ on that day. Priscilla was also the one who prayed for her and helped her feel the Holy Spirit to get her to accept Christ. I really saw her on faith in Christ even though she just started her relationship yesturday at our praise night. She had a really really really bad stomach ache. Ai-hua prayed for her and so did I because it wasn't a type that could be fixed with a bathroom trip and when we started worshipping again, she still insisted on standing and praising God. I kept on praying and praying for God to heal her and He didn't at that moment but it really let me see how far she is willing to go to feel God's presence.
So 24/3 prayer...has been interesting. Doing the nightwatches are REALLY hard(midnight to like 6 am). 1 because I am not a night person. I've never pulled an all nighter and 2, everyone's sleeping schedule is completely messed up right now so when I go to my early morning sessions I just want to sleep. The first nightwatch I did was a 2-4 am. It was just me, christina, joseph leading, and deren there for the first hour, passed out for the next. We gave him grace since he lead the 12-2 time. But joseph was like really caffeinated and jumpy and there was me and christina, trying our hardest to stay awake to praise Jesus. That is where I learned that walking/jumping/standing. doing whatever on your feet is REALLY effective during those times. I could align my thoughts better and not drift off and not just worship for the whole 2 hours. As I am reading psalms, I am starting to see how much faith David has in God. I feel like he knows soooo much yet he knows to write out these prayers about everything. Praise, sorrow, joy, anger. Sometimes all of that is in one psalm and like David just knows that God is going to provide. His faith in Christ, when he didn't even know when Christ would come, really urges me to have a deep faith in Christ and His return on earth forever. Anyways, not sitting really helps during those times. Writing out prayers also really helps.
Priscilla, I think, said that our flesh doesn't like it when we pray so there is a constant battle between our flesh and the Holy Spirit. Because of this, I've been praying that I don't fall asleep for the rest of the time. 4 more hours! We're also fasting so that Satan will keep away and that Christ will remain in our hearts. We want to be connected with Him and with each other so that we can fight the good fight and WIN WIN WIN! YAY WE GET TO EAT SOON!
p.s. mackie: I WANT MY HELLO KITTY PILLOW. They're stealing my duckie pillow, calling it a cheese, and hiding it like emily's bear. THEY'VE PUT IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR and i do not want them taking this one back too =(
p.p.s. alex: I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU DI DI. stay strong in your faith while I'm gone. press on and ask, seek, and knock for Christ. we can share with each other when we get back what God is speaking in our hearts =)
I was broken for Jenny because I also saw in her a love for others. She also really cared for those who were close to her and I saw in her a really energetic spirit. Then I thought, if she used both these gifts for God's kingdom, she'd be a great warrior for Christ. Then she accepted Christ on the last day of Cao Ya praise night. Priscilla was more moved by her coming to Christ so she'd be a better person to know what got her to accept Christ on that day. Priscilla was also the one who prayed for her and helped her feel the Holy Spirit to get her to accept Christ. I really saw her on faith in Christ even though she just started her relationship yesturday at our praise night. She had a really really really bad stomach ache. Ai-hua prayed for her and so did I because it wasn't a type that could be fixed with a bathroom trip and when we started worshipping again, she still insisted on standing and praising God. I kept on praying and praying for God to heal her and He didn't at that moment but it really let me see how far she is willing to go to feel God's presence.
So 24/3 prayer...has been interesting. Doing the nightwatches are REALLY hard(midnight to like 6 am). 1 because I am not a night person. I've never pulled an all nighter and 2, everyone's sleeping schedule is completely messed up right now so when I go to my early morning sessions I just want to sleep. The first nightwatch I did was a 2-4 am. It was just me, christina, joseph leading, and deren there for the first hour, passed out for the next. We gave him grace since he lead the 12-2 time. But joseph was like really caffeinated and jumpy and there was me and christina, trying our hardest to stay awake to praise Jesus. That is where I learned that walking/jumping/standing. doing whatever on your feet is REALLY effective during those times. I could align my thoughts better and not drift off and not just worship for the whole 2 hours. As I am reading psalms, I am starting to see how much faith David has in God. I feel like he knows soooo much yet he knows to write out these prayers about everything. Praise, sorrow, joy, anger. Sometimes all of that is in one psalm and like David just knows that God is going to provide. His faith in Christ, when he didn't even know when Christ would come, really urges me to have a deep faith in Christ and His return on earth forever. Anyways, not sitting really helps during those times. Writing out prayers also really helps.
Priscilla, I think, said that our flesh doesn't like it when we pray so there is a constant battle between our flesh and the Holy Spirit. Because of this, I've been praying that I don't fall asleep for the rest of the time. 4 more hours! We're also fasting so that Satan will keep away and that Christ will remain in our hearts. We want to be connected with Him and with each other so that we can fight the good fight and WIN WIN WIN! YAY WE GET TO EAT SOON!
p.s. mackie: I WANT MY HELLO KITTY PILLOW. They're stealing my duckie pillow, calling it a cheese, and hiding it like emily's bear. THEY'VE PUT IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR and i do not want them taking this one back too =(
p.p.s. alex: I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU DI DI. stay strong in your faith while I'm gone. press on and ask, seek, and knock for Christ. we can share with each other when we get back what God is speaking in our hearts =)
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Food Fight [Joseph]
Today was the first full day of 24/3 prayer, and we invited most of the youth that we've met from the 3 churches to come and join us for the day. Many kids came and we had an afternoon intensive prayer meeting, where we prayed for the youth of each church individually. It was a really powerful hour of prayer, and you could really see the Spirit moving. What really caught me though was the contrast in response between those youth that had slept over at the church and really spent time with us, as opposed to those who hadn't. The ones that stayed with us have gotten really close with various members of the mission team: we've celebrated surprise birthdays with them, had food fights, played games, shared stories, and genuinely befriended them. For these kids, when we prayed for them, they were clearly more moved than the rest. This got me thinking that when we pray for people, certainly there's power in the words, but perhaps the most crucial key is the love that person knows we have for them. Just from simple things like cake and jokes, those kids knew that we loved them. And that made our prayers for them that much more powerful, because they knew we were genuine and true. They opened their hearts to receive the blessings and words we prayed because they trusted us.
One little girl gave a very touching testimony tonight: she said when the teachers (us) prayed for her, she felt like Jesus was speaking to her.
Isn't that amazing, that the love of God that we display through simple things like food fights and cake can really open hearts to receiving prayer and through that, receiving the Holy Spirit?
Friday, July 17, 2009
Jesus Loves the Little Children :) [Mary]
"Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white; they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world."
I must say that I have never felt the presence of God’s love so in tune with a teams heart when in ministry. We just finished the VBS camp at CAO YA church, and I am overjoyed at the results of souls joining our family. The little kids there were so adorable, I wish I could bring one back with me! God has done so many wonders in saving lives and using us as his hands and feet, putting words in our mouths to speak the word of the Lord, and His good will.
Cao Ya VBS took place this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. (Today is Saturday, just F.Y.I.) We would wake up at 7:30 in the morning, have morning devotionals from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM, eat breakfast until 10:00 AM, and then meet with the lord (prayer meeting) at 11:00 until 12:30 ‘ish.’ At 1:00 PM we left to go to the church to set up. At 2:00 PM, the camp started. We had worship, skits, bible studies, crafts, and games. The camp ended at 4:30. At 5:00 we had M.T.L (meet with the lord prayer meeting) and at 6:00 we had dinner. At 7:30 we kicked off a praise night and we would be back around 11:30, midnight. It was like this for 3 days. The first night of praise night, we had a prayer furnace. Praise the Lord that people were able to feel and experience the reality of God. The second night was mainly worship. And the third night, we had an alter call where not one was left in the seat unsaved. Praise The Lord.
In the last 6 hours, starting at midnight of Friday (Saturday morning,) we kicked off our 24 hours, 3 days of prayer. And I mean, 24 hours. Non-stop. It is currently 6 AM, and I am wide-awake. I slept at 1:30 AM after finishing translating music from Chinese to, well, Pin Yin. Lets just say that I can’t memorize music in Chinese as easily! I woke up at 3:30 AM to go to the prayer room for the following two hours until 6:00 AM. I went in when it was pitch black outside, worshiped the lord, and came out in broad daylight. I think my sleeping schedule is super whack now, but hey, it was such a blessing! I was a little discouraged that it was only me and Samuel in there, but hey, what can I say, I signed up for the 4-6 AM time slot; its unusual. Everyone did the midnight and stayed up as long as they could, and went to be at 4 am. And then some other people went to bed at 1 AM, and woke up at 6 AM. So I was caught in the middle. But at least I was caught in the middle with Jesus!
Thanks, once again, for all your prayers. Attached is a picture I took on the rooftop of the church in Kaohsiung. Pray for this City, because He is the God of this city, the God of these People, He is the Lord of this nation, and there are greater things coming our way. (God of this City –Chris Tomlin)
<-- so there is a ton of buddhist temples around the area. actually, everywhere. there is a typhoon right now, so I couldn't get a clear picture from my computer's camera, but pray against these temples, that God would tear them down, and that the people may see that there is a God of Love waiting for them.
Love,
Mary
Thursday, July 16, 2009
It's all connected... [Josh]
Here's a picture of one of the missions team members being attacked... :)The Western world likes to think that the 3 distinct parts of the person are all independent, or can be independent. Mind over body that kind of thing. But in the eastern world, the physical, spiritual and mental aspects are all interconnected. If you are tired, it is natural that your emotions and mental facilities are affected. For me, the physical has been the most difficult. It's tiring for me as I end up staying up so that I can make sure that the kids are going to sleep and then waking them up in the morning...after a couple of days, it's a bit difficult to rise up, but I pray that God will continue to give me strength.
So many amazing things have been happening with people being saved and it's only the first week! With all the things that we are doing, I'm not sure how I am going to make it for the next 2 weeks...as I look at the amount of work that needs to be done (or I should say should be done to run smoothly) is so daunting and I find myself stressing out at night and at free moments, wondering how we can organize all the activities without having the kids going crazy all over the place.
We have a 24/7 prayer meeting that we thought would be a slower pace than what we have been doing (since it is just having a 24/7 prayer) and it should be fairly easy right? oh no...evidentally 24/7 prayer meeting means full band/big event for 24 hours...you just have to love the cultural miscommunication...So you can be praying for us! Remember how I talked about me being physically tired? yeah...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Deanna and Calive Made it Safely! [Deanna]
what was supposed to happen: take off at 12:50, arrive in Japan at around 3-4something. Then depart from Japan at around 6 something, arrive in Taiwan at around 9:30 pm. Go on the U-Bus to transfer to the high speed rail for the 10 something one and arrive in Kaohsiung at around 11 something. The plan failed.
What really happened: we didn't depart till around 1 something pm, arrived in japan at around 4 something, left at around 6 something, arrived at around 9:40 pm, couldn't catch the high speed rail time for 10:15 and took the U-Bus directly to Kaohsiung (5 hours), arrived in Kaohsiung at around 4 am, and the police took us home =)
The battle between God and Satan was present from the start. Friday, bill was supposed to give Calvin the Djembe bag but he forgot and arrived an hour before we were supposed to leave the plane at the airport. Praise God he even came and praise God we made the flight on time. I guess God delaying our flight was so we could make it on the plane. Our plane didn't take off on time because the tv/PA system wasn't working properly so it had to be reset and then a tire had to be changed. so we all waited for a good 20 minutes until we actually knew what was going on and then it took another 10-15 minutes until we actually took off.
I was fasting the plane ride to Japan so i could only drink and when the time came for me to eat, i ate and then had stomach problems afterwards. I have a sensitive stomach and my stomach didn't lke the fact that i hadnt eaten anything and then it wouldn't digest the food. Then when we were landing, Calvin had a major jaw problem. His jaw i guess, couldn't handle the pressure and he was basically in tears (silently) from the pain. He also had a headache during the plane ride.
So that was Satan attacking but God came through and when we were in Japan, i realized that we werent going to make the last high-speed rail time so i freaked out for more than half our layover time (2 hours) trying to figure out how to use the payphone. Everyone that helped me was really nice and genuinely wanted me to get my call through. The money exchange guy was really nice, and all the guys i asked for how to use a payphone were really nice. The problem was that i put in money for a phone card that basically wasnt accepted in any of the pay-phones and the number to manually do it, didn't work either. it was supposed to work for ppl who had cell phones or something. so i basically spent $10 US on a phone-card that i now don't know how to use. But an indian guy showed me how to use the coin way and i finally got through.
When we landed in Taiwan, again everyone was really helpful AND i knew the language, finally. haha. I didn't know the adresss to the church so on the U-Bus transfer stop, i asked a random guy to help me write down the address and talk to ai-hua. he was really willing and he told us which was our bus. When we were in kaohsiung and people were getting off at stops, i asked the lady next to me which was my stop, she asked the bus-driver and the bus-driver was willing to drop us off at the church because it was close to where he had to park the bus. It was really nice of him but he missed the stop and dropped us off at the police station so me and calvin could ask him. the policeman was the only "mean" one in taiwan that i encountered. He seemed only willing to point us into the right direction and let me use the phone, but the guy in there wasnt really willing to give me the phone and then i was so nervous that my chinese became all jumbled up and i had to show my passport and be questioned for why i was coming to taiwan and everything. after talking with ai-hua, they agreed to drive us to the church and we arrived there with ai-hua (praise God) awake to unlock the door for us. God was really with me and I am so thankful that I was able to feel His presence from the beginning. I know a lot of people were worried that i was doing this trip basically by myself since Calvin doesnt know the language and we basically traveled for a whole 24 hours.
I basically had 2 hours of sleep, due to my jetlag and we arrived on the first day of actual missions work, so there was basically no time for me to be tired. We taught at a school/church in the late afternoon (2-4:30) and then went to tsao ya church for a praise night at night. I started getting tired at the end of the english camp at the school/church. We had a time of prayer/worship from 5-6 at Tsao ya church and im pretty sure i fell asleep or i kept on drifting so the prayer time wasn't that effective for me, but God had grace on me and gave me a little more energy to press on for the praise night.
After the first like 3 songs, priscilla decided to go into a time of prayer where i almost fell asleep again, and then was called to DO a prayer furnace. I had never done one before, just been prayed for under one and i was completely jetlag. but this was all in God's plan and I stayed awake the whole time and really tried pouring into the kids what i felt by the holy spirit. i really pray that as this is our last day with the kids today, they felt the holy spirit and a stirring in their hearts and they connected that with God. All of us have been fervently praying for the youth to accept their hearts at the tsao ya church.
i was praying for a girl named jenny who priscilla introduced me to who was buddhist/christian. i knew she was still confused about who God really was and praise God, she really accepted Christ today, by herself, tears in her eyes. I can only pray that she continues her relationship with Christ and that Christ can pour into her everyday and let her know that she is loved by God always. I did a lot of work that first day, and if it weren't for God pressing me on, pushing me towards my limits to do His will, i know i would've passed out by 1 pm. Praise God He knows our plans for us and because of that we should not worry for the days to come. It's all in God's hands.
I am really trying to understand prayer during this trip and as God is really revealing Himself to me with my heart, helping me connect with Him during morning MTL (meet the Lord) time. In the beginning Psalms, i sense David's urgency for Christ in everything and i am praying for that Urgency in Taiwan. I want Him to present not only in the places that we serve but even after we serve the churches and ALL OVER Taiwan. He will come and reign and remain in this place.
We lift our holy hands up...we want to touch you...we lift our voices higher and HIGHER and higher to you.
What really happened: we didn't depart till around 1 something pm, arrived in japan at around 4 something, left at around 6 something, arrived at around 9:40 pm, couldn't catch the high speed rail time for 10:15 and took the U-Bus directly to Kaohsiung (5 hours), arrived in Kaohsiung at around 4 am, and the police took us home =)
The battle between God and Satan was present from the start. Friday, bill was supposed to give Calvin the Djembe bag but he forgot and arrived an hour before we were supposed to leave the plane at the airport. Praise God he even came and praise God we made the flight on time. I guess God delaying our flight was so we could make it on the plane. Our plane didn't take off on time because the tv/PA system wasn't working properly so it had to be reset and then a tire had to be changed. so we all waited for a good 20 minutes until we actually knew what was going on and then it took another 10-15 minutes until we actually took off.
I was fasting the plane ride to Japan so i could only drink and when the time came for me to eat, i ate and then had stomach problems afterwards. I have a sensitive stomach and my stomach didn't lke the fact that i hadnt eaten anything and then it wouldn't digest the food. Then when we were landing, Calvin had a major jaw problem. His jaw i guess, couldn't handle the pressure and he was basically in tears (silently) from the pain. He also had a headache during the plane ride.
So that was Satan attacking but God came through and when we were in Japan, i realized that we werent going to make the last high-speed rail time so i freaked out for more than half our layover time (2 hours) trying to figure out how to use the payphone. Everyone that helped me was really nice and genuinely wanted me to get my call through. The money exchange guy was really nice, and all the guys i asked for how to use a payphone were really nice. The problem was that i put in money for a phone card that basically wasnt accepted in any of the pay-phones and the number to manually do it, didn't work either. it was supposed to work for ppl who had cell phones or something. so i basically spent $10 US on a phone-card that i now don't know how to use. But an indian guy showed me how to use the coin way and i finally got through.
When we landed in Taiwan, again everyone was really helpful AND i knew the language, finally. haha. I didn't know the adresss to the church so on the U-Bus transfer stop, i asked a random guy to help me write down the address and talk to ai-hua. he was really willing and he told us which was our bus. When we were in kaohsiung and people were getting off at stops, i asked the lady next to me which was my stop, she asked the bus-driver and the bus-driver was willing to drop us off at the church because it was close to where he had to park the bus. It was really nice of him but he missed the stop and dropped us off at the police station so me and calvin could ask him. the policeman was the only "mean" one in taiwan that i encountered. He seemed only willing to point us into the right direction and let me use the phone, but the guy in there wasnt really willing to give me the phone and then i was so nervous that my chinese became all jumbled up and i had to show my passport and be questioned for why i was coming to taiwan and everything. after talking with ai-hua, they agreed to drive us to the church and we arrived there with ai-hua (praise God) awake to unlock the door for us. God was really with me and I am so thankful that I was able to feel His presence from the beginning. I know a lot of people were worried that i was doing this trip basically by myself since Calvin doesnt know the language and we basically traveled for a whole 24 hours.
I basically had 2 hours of sleep, due to my jetlag and we arrived on the first day of actual missions work, so there was basically no time for me to be tired. We taught at a school/church in the late afternoon (2-4:30) and then went to tsao ya church for a praise night at night. I started getting tired at the end of the english camp at the school/church. We had a time of prayer/worship from 5-6 at Tsao ya church and im pretty sure i fell asleep or i kept on drifting so the prayer time wasn't that effective for me, but God had grace on me and gave me a little more energy to press on for the praise night.
After the first like 3 songs, priscilla decided to go into a time of prayer where i almost fell asleep again, and then was called to DO a prayer furnace. I had never done one before, just been prayed for under one and i was completely jetlag. but this was all in God's plan and I stayed awake the whole time and really tried pouring into the kids what i felt by the holy spirit. i really pray that as this is our last day with the kids today, they felt the holy spirit and a stirring in their hearts and they connected that with God. All of us have been fervently praying for the youth to accept their hearts at the tsao ya church.
i was praying for a girl named jenny who priscilla introduced me to who was buddhist/christian. i knew she was still confused about who God really was and praise God, she really accepted Christ today, by herself, tears in her eyes. I can only pray that she continues her relationship with Christ and that Christ can pour into her everyday and let her know that she is loved by God always. I did a lot of work that first day, and if it weren't for God pressing me on, pushing me towards my limits to do His will, i know i would've passed out by 1 pm. Praise God He knows our plans for us and because of that we should not worry for the days to come. It's all in God's hands.
I am really trying to understand prayer during this trip and as God is really revealing Himself to me with my heart, helping me connect with Him during morning MTL (meet the Lord) time. In the beginning Psalms, i sense David's urgency for Christ in everything and i am praying for that Urgency in Taiwan. I want Him to present not only in the places that we serve but even after we serve the churches and ALL OVER Taiwan. He will come and reign and remain in this place.
We lift our holy hands up...we want to touch you...we lift our voices higher and HIGHER and higher to you.
Miss-Ion Origins [Arthur]
So...it’s now day 3.5 days. I got here Sunday night (right now it’s Wed. night), and so far we’ve been going to a Christian school to “teach English”, then going to a church afterwards to hold a praise night, so we’ve been decently busy. This year’s been a lot easier to connect with the kids since I actually got here at the beginning of the camp thing, unlike last year where I got there about halfway through the missions trip. However, my heart felt almost exactly the same way as it did going into missions last year...a bit lost and feeling disconnected from the Lord. At this point, I feel like God is slowly, ever so slowly, moving me to a place of worship. I want to see God move, I want to see Him do something great not only in the kids that we’re ministering to, but also in me. If there’s anything you guys can pray for, it’s for a passion to stir up in all of our hearts.
Stir it up in our hearts Lord, stir it up...
Stir it up in our hearts Lord, stir it up...
Untitled [Victor]
經過這幾天在壽山教會裡我感覺到了一些改變或者是神真的要我做的一些事. 可能是第一次做短宣吧.我一直認為我來這裡是來帶小孩的接近神的而不是做其他的. 但我也感謝主讓我歌頌祂和利用我翻譯歌詞和一些對話雖然是我第一次這樣做而且做的不是很好但大家都很包容我感謝主
Passion for your name [David]
This is my second year here in Taiwan for STM. These are just a few things that have been on my heart.
God is good. He always is and always will be. I arrived here in Taiwan exhausted from all my never-ending summer activities- worship practices, retreats, traveling, visiting family. It's tough to be continuously doing devotions. I was praying for a young girl during our first night of ministry at Chao Ya Church and God's conviction fell upon me. I had not been preparing by praying, devoting to God's word, or fasting for missions as I ought to. But by God's grace may I learn to pray and do these.
"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?" Jeremiah 12:5
If I can't pray, fast, and be in the word then how can I prepare for when God sends me out to do bigger things. If I am not in the word of God at home, how can I expect God to work within me and speak through my prayer to that young girl. God is gracious and is still able to use someone like me for his glory.
Our vision for this year's mission is Prayer. We don't want to leave Taiwan and let things go back to the way they used to before we came. We want God to stir up a passion in the hearts of the people. Because we will leave. But God is always here. May God equip them with a passion so Taiwan may continually seek after the Lord.
We sing; "Stir it up in our hearts Lord, Stir it up in our hearts Lord, Stir it up in our hearts- A passion for your name."
So this year. For every hour of ministry we do, we set apart at least hour of prayer and worship to the Lord. In that hour, we plead and cry out for God to glorify himself in us and in the people of Taiwan. And God has been faithful. Amen, Hallelujah.
Needed Prayer:
1. That God would teach us to pray.
2. For strength and courage to reach out to these people on a deeper spiritual level.
3. For unity.
Praise be to God.
David.
God is good. He always is and always will be. I arrived here in Taiwan exhausted from all my never-ending summer activities- worship practices, retreats, traveling, visiting family. It's tough to be continuously doing devotions. I was praying for a young girl during our first night of ministry at Chao Ya Church and God's conviction fell upon me. I had not been preparing by praying, devoting to God's word, or fasting for missions as I ought to. But by God's grace may I learn to pray and do these.
"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?" Jeremiah 12:5
If I can't pray, fast, and be in the word then how can I prepare for when God sends me out to do bigger things. If I am not in the word of God at home, how can I expect God to work within me and speak through my prayer to that young girl. God is gracious and is still able to use someone like me for his glory.
Our vision for this year's mission is Prayer. We don't want to leave Taiwan and let things go back to the way they used to before we came. We want God to stir up a passion in the hearts of the people. Because we will leave. But God is always here. May God equip them with a passion so Taiwan may continually seek after the Lord.
We sing; "Stir it up in our hearts Lord, Stir it up in our hearts Lord, Stir it up in our hearts- A passion for your name."
So this year. For every hour of ministry we do, we set apart at least hour of prayer and worship to the Lord. In that hour, we plead and cry out for God to glorify himself in us and in the people of Taiwan. And God has been faithful. Amen, Hallelujah.
Needed Prayer:
1. That God would teach us to pray.
2. For strength and courage to reach out to these people on a deeper spiritual level.
3. For unity.
Praise be to God.
David.
Second Day [Deren]
Currently listeng to: Phil Wickham- Desire
It's only the second day of the missions trip but so much has gone on, it's absolutely ridiculous. This year the missions trip has been turned around. We're focusing not on what we can do here in the physical but we are relying on God to work in the supernatural. Because without Him we are nothing, we can't do anything unless he allows us to. I am encouraged because I see God working. Last year we came to the same church we are at now, many of the kids that came last year have come back, it is really encouraging to see their familiar faces smiling, laughing, and having so much joy. But not only that I see more of the kids responding to worship, prayer, and such. From last year to this year the level of spiritualness has risen dramatically. Praise God!
Just some quick prayer points, Pray for:
~ the language barrier, some of us are pretty rusty at Chinese, pray that the language would not be a barrier and that some of us not being proficient in Chinese would not hinder us sharing the Gospel.
~God's continual work in the kids. I see him working so continue praying for them not only just for us.
~Strength. Kids wear us down, enough said.
~Also just lift up a prayer of thanksgiving, we all made it safely and just thank him for what He has been doing and what He will continue to do.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! this missions trip would not be working without you guys, we are all working together for the furthering of His kingdom.
It's only the second day of the missions trip but so much has gone on, it's absolutely ridiculous. This year the missions trip has been turned around. We're focusing not on what we can do here in the physical but we are relying on God to work in the supernatural. Because without Him we are nothing, we can't do anything unless he allows us to. I am encouraged because I see God working. Last year we came to the same church we are at now, many of the kids that came last year have come back, it is really encouraging to see their familiar faces smiling, laughing, and having so much joy. But not only that I see more of the kids responding to worship, prayer, and such. From last year to this year the level of spiritualness has risen dramatically. Praise God!
Just some quick prayer points, Pray for:
~ the language barrier, some of us are pretty rusty at Chinese, pray that the language would not be a barrier and that some of us not being proficient in Chinese would not hinder us sharing the Gospel.
~God's continual work in the kids. I see him working so continue praying for them not only just for us.
~Strength. Kids wear us down, enough said.
~Also just lift up a prayer of thanksgiving, we all made it safely and just thank him for what He has been doing and what He will continue to do.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! this missions trip would not be working without you guys, we are all working together for the furthering of His kingdom.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Need for an Overflow [Priscilla Wan]
I’m so happy to be here. Every year the people on the mission team come in with more faith and courage to pursue the deeper/greater things of God. I love this team! They sincerely love God and love each other. There is so much laughter going on that I'm covinced we are the loudest people on this island. Currenly Emily's teddy bear is stolen again and stuff somewhere inside of the church's grand piano. This will make quite a scene if forgotten about until Sunday when the pianist leads the congregation in worship and we hear a "Tonk! Tonk!" in the midst of a worship song.
In the last couple of days we’ve been praying with passion and tears for the people in the Caoya church (pronounced Tsao Ya) to experience the presence of Christ. On Monday we had a prayer furnace during the Caoya praise night and God was tangibly felt in the room. I have never felt so much power at that church before. Tears were rolling as we pressed in with worship and adoration. On Tuesday night we asked God for passion. We got into small groups and shared our hearts with them. I've especially noticed that the guys in Taiwan are watching the guys on our mission team with wide eyes of admiration and curiosity. They have never seen men on fire for Jesus before, and every move, every word that proceeds from the guys on the team are being absorbed by these Taiwanese boys. It truly made my heart burst with joy to see these Taiwanese guys have some good Christian role models to look up to. Most of them have fathers or brothers who are heavy into gambling, smoking, drinking, computer games, etc. I could tell that they were blown away by the witness of the Christian men on our team. For the first time they are realizing what it means to be a true man. For the first time these boys are experiencing the ability to value God and love Him.
Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a girl at the Caoya praise night. We were standing on the roof of the church overlooking the scenic geography of Kaohsiung. There was a large Buddhist temple just a block away from us. I asked her if she had ever been there. She said she goes sometimes with her family. I asked her what kind of god was worshipped there. She said that the god they served in that temple was pretty much the “Jesus” of Buddhism.
“They are similar.” she said.
“How so?” I asked.
“They both protect us. They both love us.”
“This god loves you?”
“Yes.”
I was shocked. I asked her if this god had died for her. She said no. But she insisted that you could worship both Jesus and this Buddhist god. I then explained to her either Jesus is lying or the Buddhist god is lying. Jesus claimed that He is the only God and the Bible says that all other gods are trying to trick and trap you. You have to pick. You have to decide who is the liar and who is telling the truth... Jesus or this Buddhist god? I told her that we are here in Taiwan to tell them that we have met this man Jesus and that He is the true one. The girl seemed shocked. I don’t think she had ever been told this before. Please pray for her as I will try to approach her about this issue again today and pray with her.
The people of Taiwan need to hear the truth. It saddens me that this girl has never had someone confront her with the ultimatum of the gospel. But truly, the church itself must have revival first before the gospel can effectively reach the lost. We cannot speak passionately or boldly about a Man we barely know. Please pray for the hearts of every member on the mission team to be stirred up and in love with Jesus. Pray for powerful encounters with God in our own spirits. Taiwan needs us, the church, to overflow.
It’s my hope and prayer is that these next few weeks will launch us into deep intimacy with God. Prayer is not just the theme of this year’s mission trip. Prayer is the mission from here on out... forever. Please pray that God will anoint our prayer times with Him. There are a few people from the Caoya church who are joining our team today. One of them just decided that she would like to live with us only yesterday after the praise night. God touched her heart and she longs for a community to grow in and experience God with. Pray that God will bring the right ones to us and that they will fall madly in love with Him in this upcoming week.
In the last couple of days we’ve been praying with passion and tears for the people in the Caoya church (pronounced Tsao Ya) to experience the presence of Christ. On Monday we had a prayer furnace during the Caoya praise night and God was tangibly felt in the room. I have never felt so much power at that church before. Tears were rolling as we pressed in with worship and adoration. On Tuesday night we asked God for passion. We got into small groups and shared our hearts with them. I've especially noticed that the guys in Taiwan are watching the guys on our mission team with wide eyes of admiration and curiosity. They have never seen men on fire for Jesus before, and every move, every word that proceeds from the guys on the team are being absorbed by these Taiwanese boys. It truly made my heart burst with joy to see these Taiwanese guys have some good Christian role models to look up to. Most of them have fathers or brothers who are heavy into gambling, smoking, drinking, computer games, etc. I could tell that they were blown away by the witness of the Christian men on our team. For the first time they are realizing what it means to be a true man. For the first time these boys are experiencing the ability to value God and love Him.
Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a girl at the Caoya praise night. We were standing on the roof of the church overlooking the scenic geography of Kaohsiung. There was a large Buddhist temple just a block away from us. I asked her if she had ever been there. She said she goes sometimes with her family. I asked her what kind of god was worshipped there. She said that the god they served in that temple was pretty much the “Jesus” of Buddhism.
“They are similar.” she said.
“How so?” I asked.
“They both protect us. They both love us.”
“This god loves you?”
“Yes.”
I was shocked. I asked her if this god had died for her. She said no. But she insisted that you could worship both Jesus and this Buddhist god. I then explained to her either Jesus is lying or the Buddhist god is lying. Jesus claimed that He is the only God and the Bible says that all other gods are trying to trick and trap you. You have to pick. You have to decide who is the liar and who is telling the truth... Jesus or this Buddhist god? I told her that we are here in Taiwan to tell them that we have met this man Jesus and that He is the true one. The girl seemed shocked. I don’t think she had ever been told this before. Please pray for her as I will try to approach her about this issue again today and pray with her.
The people of Taiwan need to hear the truth. It saddens me that this girl has never had someone confront her with the ultimatum of the gospel. But truly, the church itself must have revival first before the gospel can effectively reach the lost. We cannot speak passionately or boldly about a Man we barely know. Please pray for the hearts of every member on the mission team to be stirred up and in love with Jesus. Pray for powerful encounters with God in our own spirits. Taiwan needs us, the church, to overflow.
It’s my hope and prayer is that these next few weeks will launch us into deep intimacy with God. Prayer is not just the theme of this year’s mission trip. Prayer is the mission from here on out... forever. Please pray that God will anoint our prayer times with Him. There are a few people from the Caoya church who are joining our team today. One of them just decided that she would like to live with us only yesterday after the praise night. God touched her heart and she longs for a community to grow in and experience God with. Pray that God will bring the right ones to us and that they will fall madly in love with Him in this upcoming week.
Deanna and Calive Made it Safely [Calvin]
I was very nervous and excited on the way here. Asking myself, what am I going to experince? How am I going to understand anyone? How am I going to spend a 24 hour trip with deanna?! Everyone was also madly worried about us traveling alone. (Arthur and Josh exspecially)We first took a plane ride to Japan for a transfer flight, and then things started to get worse, as we might have to expereince a 5 hour u-bus ride from Taipei to Kaohsiung. That fear became a reality. By the time we got to the church it was already 4:00 am, and everyone was sleeping.
Three days has passed since i'ved arrived in Taiwan, and this is also my first time here. The first day we went to Cao Ya and the time there was amazing. The kids were really friendly, and the time we spent in worship and in bible study was really encouraging. The only problem was the language barrier that hindered my from connecting with the kids. The whole day was really exhausting since I only had a few hours of sleep, but at The prayer furnace i was refreshed to see the Cao Ya youths praisingand worshipping God. I felt that they really felt the spirit before they left home for that night.
The next day we opened up with a devotion and worship. As we head out for another day of english camp, we prepared for the skits and the craft. The group grew even bigger, as more new faces were coming in. The kids were very lively and fun, and i knew they were curious for God.
For me i felt that some of the kids were felt akward to be here. Please pray that even if there parents make them come, or they come out of there own will that they we feel God, and that there curiosity will lead to a yearning for God. Please pray for the language barrier i have to overcome, and please pray that i will always keep in mind of His plan.
~When it Begins [Christina]
hello to the people back home! I am happy to say that I have made it here safely! :)
When I was on my way here, I knew I was going to being the work of the lord, but it didn't hit me. On the way here I wasn't as prepared as I thought I would be. I guess it was because I had came last year and I was expecting the same thing. I was thinking about how prepare I was when I was in Tokyo and I was reading John 14 and then it really struck me that I was about to do God's work. When I got here it was reuniting with everyone and catching up.
We were told that we were going to be doing MTL (ministering to the Lord) and I was not so sure that I could sit there for that long and just spend time with him because I had never done it before. When the time came I was surprised that I didn't have enough time; I wanted to keep going! Now I find it so easy and kind of relaxing to spend this time with God. :)
The past two days we have been doing an english camp at the Tsao Ya church and it has been amazing to see what God has been doing. To tell you the truth I was actually scared for some reason to be doing this camp, even though I had done this last year, though it was the first time that I was at Tsao Ya. As I was just hanging around I asked to give me courage and he did! Right away I just started to talk to the kids and I love them. We started in our different groups and there was one girl that I was praying for and asked God to give her the courage to speak up and when we were done praying I heard her speak to me. She didn't just nod her head, but instead she spoke. It was the plainest prayer I had prayed and God heard it and it was just awesome. I have been very encouraged the past few days because there are some kids that come daily and you can see the fact that they really want to learn more about God hand have that best friend in their lives. Through crafts, skits, and questions that they ask they want to know the awesomest friend, GOD!
We have also been doing praise nights and sharing to these kids who God is and how loving he is! We prayed for these kids and it was the first time that I had truly cried out to God to save these kids because their lives are so hard at such a young age and my heart once again was broken for these people. Last night we were sharing what our passions were and there were two girls that said they wanted to know Christ and wanted to go to church, but their families were holding them back. I didn't get a chance to pray for them, but I will be praying for them and I hope that you guys will help me pray for them as well!
I can feel God's presence amoungst us and his love for his people. IT'S CRAZY awesome! Once again thank you for the prayers and I hope that you continue to pray for not only us, but also the lost brothers and sisters in Christ!
Just a little side note...somtimes God gives us things and calls us to do something that we don't know about, which actucally happened to us. We were suppose to be doing and english camp for the church, but we are now doing it for the Tsao Ya church and for a school, which is really awesome, but sometimes things for me get a little stressfull, so please pray that if this happens again that I wouldn't be so stressed out. oh one more prayer request. Tonight is the last night for the english camps at Tsao Ya adn tonight we're going to have an alter call, so please pray that more kids would have open hearts to receive Christ. Once again thank you fo you're prayers and we'll talk to you soon! GOD BLESS :D
When I was on my way here, I knew I was going to being the work of the lord, but it didn't hit me. On the way here I wasn't as prepared as I thought I would be. I guess it was because I had came last year and I was expecting the same thing. I was thinking about how prepare I was when I was in Tokyo and I was reading John 14 and then it really struck me that I was about to do God's work. When I got here it was reuniting with everyone and catching up.
We were told that we were going to be doing MTL (ministering to the Lord) and I was not so sure that I could sit there for that long and just spend time with him because I had never done it before. When the time came I was surprised that I didn't have enough time; I wanted to keep going! Now I find it so easy and kind of relaxing to spend this time with God. :)
The past two days we have been doing an english camp at the Tsao Ya church and it has been amazing to see what God has been doing. To tell you the truth I was actually scared for some reason to be doing this camp, even though I had done this last year, though it was the first time that I was at Tsao Ya. As I was just hanging around I asked to give me courage and he did! Right away I just started to talk to the kids and I love them. We started in our different groups and there was one girl that I was praying for and asked God to give her the courage to speak up and when we were done praying I heard her speak to me. She didn't just nod her head, but instead she spoke. It was the plainest prayer I had prayed and God heard it and it was just awesome. I have been very encouraged the past few days because there are some kids that come daily and you can see the fact that they really want to learn more about God hand have that best friend in their lives. Through crafts, skits, and questions that they ask they want to know the awesomest friend, GOD!
We have also been doing praise nights and sharing to these kids who God is and how loving he is! We prayed for these kids and it was the first time that I had truly cried out to God to save these kids because their lives are so hard at such a young age and my heart once again was broken for these people. Last night we were sharing what our passions were and there were two girls that said they wanted to know Christ and wanted to go to church, but their families were holding them back. I didn't get a chance to pray for them, but I will be praying for them and I hope that you guys will help me pray for them as well!
I can feel God's presence amoungst us and his love for his people. IT'S CRAZY awesome! Once again thank you for the prayers and I hope that you continue to pray for not only us, but also the lost brothers and sisters in Christ!
Just a little side note...somtimes God gives us things and calls us to do something that we don't know about, which actucally happened to us. We were suppose to be doing and english camp for the church, but we are now doing it for the Tsao Ya church and for a school, which is really awesome, but sometimes things for me get a little stressfull, so please pray that if this happens again that I wouldn't be so stressed out. oh one more prayer request. Tonight is the last night for the english camps at Tsao Ya adn tonight we're going to have an alter call, so please pray that more kids would have open hearts to receive Christ. Once again thank you fo you're prayers and we'll talk to you soon! GOD BLESS :D
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Prepare [Mary]
The last few months have been full of preparation and foundation for the very purpose of me being here. Leading up to this point, the immense amount of preparation for this mission trip seemed endless, but now I wonder as to whether I am truly prepared or not?
It all came so fast. I felt like just yesterday I was working with Ellie in our “sweatshop” downstairs at church, spraying away at our mission t-shirts; then waking up this morning to a heavy Asian accent saying, “Mary, time to get up!”
Being back in Taiwan, I once again feel the wave of darkness that is casted like a cloud over this city. People lost, blinded, and apathetic to the truth and who God really is, and what He can do for His people. Hearing that we will be working with kids and preparing their program and activities, almost bring me to tears, knowing that not by choice, but by birth, these kids have the spiritual mark of darkness on them. It is our calling, and my prayer, that they may come to know Christ and His love through us.
I hope that although I question whether I am really prepared or not, that my heart will be revealed to myself by God who holds it. That He may prepare my further in doing His work. I ask that you continue to pray for me, and that I may let go of what is held in the past, and back home, and for the mission team here: that we may be unified.
Love,
Mary Jane
It all came so fast. I felt like just yesterday I was working with Ellie in our “sweatshop” downstairs at church, spraying away at our mission t-shirts; then waking up this morning to a heavy Asian accent saying, “Mary, time to get up!”
Being back in Taiwan, I once again feel the wave of darkness that is casted like a cloud over this city. People lost, blinded, and apathetic to the truth and who God really is, and what He can do for His people. Hearing that we will be working with kids and preparing their program and activities, almost bring me to tears, knowing that not by choice, but by birth, these kids have the spiritual mark of darkness on them. It is our calling, and my prayer, that they may come to know Christ and His love through us.
I hope that although I question whether I am really prepared or not, that my heart will be revealed to myself by God who holds it. That He may prepare my further in doing His work. I ask that you continue to pray for me, and that I may let go of what is held in the past, and back home, and for the mission team here: that we may be unified.
Love,
Mary Jane
It is very hot. [Joseph]
It is currently 5:15pm on Sunday here in Kaohsiung, and it is still HOT. It really makes you appreciate little things like a cup of cold water, the breeze, and especially air conditioning. I've learned a lot about setting AC temperature in the last few days: it's amazing, the difference between say 26C and 30C! See, 30C is pretty unbearably hot, the kind of hot where you can't fall asleep. 29C is pretty comfortable, 28C is nice and cool, 27C is getting too cold, and 26C is wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-shivering kind of cold. Just moving +/- 1 or 2 degrees from 28C can be a huge difference! As opposed to our familiar Fahrenheit where all I know is 60+ degrees F is shorts weather.
It kinda reminded me though about how our lives are. The Bible says we must set our sights directly on Christ and the Cross. There is no other way to salvation:
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
-John 14:6
It doesn't matter if we stray a little or a lot, just 1 degree off and we miss the mark. Isn't that the very definition of sin?
"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Matthew 7:14
We've met a lot of really great people in just the last few days. Good people, generous and giving, open-hearted and welcoming. Like the barbershop lady across the street who let us leave our heavy luggage in her shop when we couldn't get into the church. Or the wonderful Starbucks employees who left us little free cups of coffee on our table when we passed out in their store for 4hrs due to jet-lag our first afternoon here.
There are so many good people here; but good doesn't cut it. Just doing good deeds cannot outweigh our sin. Being a "good person" and trying to do the right things still misses the mark. 1degree off, and it makes all the difference. It's sad to see, so many people here are ingrained in the Buddhist ideal that works can earn grace.
Hopefully, in these next few weeks, we can tell people the good news that Jesus paid it all, and that grace is FREE!
And you know what else is free? Bubble tea at the 89Drink store down the street. It's buy one get one free week. Time to go cool down...
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Homecoming [Josh]
It's been 5 days since I have arrived in taiwan. in contrast to the other times, we aren't hitting the ground running as everyone is getting here at different times, so it's difficult to get things going. no matter. I have found that each time I go back, that things are completely different and I have to adjust to the fact that things are never as they were.
Coming back has been a homecoming of sorts. seeing other pastors that I have talked with over the last year has been a blessing and I was once agai struck with how different churches operate here in taiwan than in the rest of the world (although admittedly, I haven't seen much of the world. someday. ) But the churches in taiwan have a interconnectedness that I have never seen anywhere else. They have regular inter-church prayer meetings happening all over the city. They just had a global day of prayer in kaohsiung in which 15,000 people came to pray and intercede for taiwan! (last year they had 300. yes, 300.)
Prayer has suddenly become the forefront of what the churches are doing here in taiwan. They are taking to heart the "we fight not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers" and realizing that the battle begins on the knees (as cliche as that sounds) With that said, we have been praying and preparing for our first English Camp and Praise Night at a sister church called Chou Ya (pronounced Chow Yah. said with a southern accent. try it. ) Please be praying for safety as some people are coming from across taiwan to meet up with us, as well as pray that God would allow things to run smoothly for the english camp...the first time is always a bit rough and we'll inevitably run into issues. pray that we would continue to have unity and that we would not "cocoon" ourselves with the english speakers, but to go and reach out to the taiwan people who are ministering with us as well as those we are ministering to.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Invitation of the King [Josh]
I was privilieged to be a part of a prayer meeting to "birth" a 24/7 prayer house in kaohsiung where pastors, their wives all got together to pray that God would allow for the 24/7 house to have a place of their own, and it was a powerful experience being in the presence of the Lord!
During the prayer time, pastor jim got a youtube video from the Lord if you will and I want to pass it along to you.
a Invitation of the KingWe spent 2 hours praying and interceding for the prayer ministry. And let me tell you, I haven't wept for the church like this in a long, long time. The Lord is just putting the burden on people's hearts here in Kaohsiung and I'm so excited to share more stories with you very soon!He (pastor jim) saw a beautiful young girl who loved to dance. This girl would dance all the time, flowing dances of great beauty. Then one day the king saw the girl and came up to her and invited her to dance with him in the court. This girl was ashamed and thought that she could never dance with the king, that she wasn't worthy of dancing with the king. But the king insisted and the girl relented. As they started to dance together, the girl was nervous and shuffled around, stepping on his feet and trying to go fast to get it over with. But the king led the girl at his pace. It was awkward at first, with the girl trying to go at her own pace, but eventually she settled down and danced a beautiful dance with the king.
We are like the girl and that we don't realize that what the Lord wants to do is just dance with us. We are ok doing thing on our own, our own pace, our own time and in our own manner, but when it comes to doing things with the Lord we find that we start condemming ourselves and thinking that we aren't worthy of God's work, or that we need to be better. When we finally start to dance with the king, we find ourselves trying to still do it on our own pace, our own time, in our own manner, but God has His pace, His time, His manner. And when we start working in sync with God, not trying to make things happen on our own, the dance becomes beautiful and what God desires.
-- JoshChen - 11 Jul 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Greetings!
This is the blog that we will be using in taiwan to communicate back to everyone at home what we are doing, what we have been doing! There is so much that God has in store for us and we are excited that we are going to be able to share it with you through this blog!
subscribe for updates to this blog and look forward to the entry blogs by those who are on the missions trip!
JC, Trip Leader
subscribe for updates to this blog and look forward to the entry blogs by those who are on the missions trip!
JC, Trip Leader
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