The Last Day of Camp =[
I can’t believe that it’s over! Today was our last day of camp and all groups had to present their innovation projects- each group had to think of a innovative product from an already existing everyday product (my group did a multi-function watch). At the end of the day, we had our farewell party and camp graduation ceremony. It’s amazing how fast these 2 weeks have been and how I’ll be leaving in a couple of days.
I really dislike goodbyes, so today was pretty sad for me when I took pictures with my students, but I’m going to see them again tomorrow and on Sunday so it’s not that depressing. Still, I’m definitely going to miss them because we got really close and I got to have really good conversations with them about God and about their lives. I’m definitely going to stay in touch with them. Even though none of them made the decision to follow Christ, I’m still going to pray hard for them, that God would work in their hearts so that they will see how much they need Jesus.
Tomorrow, I’ll be spending time with my student, Rose, and also with Jill’s student, Kate. I’m hoping that we can continue to become closer with each other and talk about the Gospel more. Pray that God would soften their hearts!
SO, thank God for the amazing work that He has done in Rebecca’s life(Jill’s student)! She accepted Christ yesterday during lunch when her small group met up with Paster Gao and Bruce (a church coworker) and talked about John 3 and the Gospel. Praise God =] It’s been really encouraging to see her transformation throughout these 2 weeks of camp- God is at work here in Taiwan!
Gospel Night #2
Today was very encouraging to me. In Jill Zheng’s small group, one of her students, Rebecca, is really close to accepting Christ. The only thing that’s keeping her from taking that step is fear of her mother’s disapproval. Please pray for her. Also, please pray for Ding, another student from Jill’s group. She accepted Christ, so pray that she would grow each day and develop a strong relationship with God.
[so there are 2 Jills. Jill Zheng (from RCCC, Tony’s fiance, etc) who meets in the same room as I do for small group discussion times, and then there’s Jill, my coworker]
Tonight, I was also very encouraged to see all of my students present at the Gospel night. Allen, Rose, and Elsa came up for the altar call along with Yiya and Jill (my coworker). Even though they didn’t make a decision to follow Christ tonight, they all expressed that they wanted to know more about God’s love after hearing the testimonies and the message tonight. I’m hoping that they will be open to coming to church and small group each week so that they can encounter God more.
There’s only 2 more days of camp left and then I’m leaving after the weekend is over. Time is limited, so I really hope that I can make the most out of the time that I spend with my students. I keep on saying that I never have time to really talk to my students to get to know them and hear their stories, but in reality, I’m just not making good use of my time and I’m not being intentional in my conversations with them. With just a few more days left, I need to me bold in sharing more about my faith but also loving and discerning in my conversations with them. I would really like it if i could talk with them one on one, but I know that probably isn’t very possible given my tight schedule. But, pray that there will be opportunities for that! I invited them to join me in the morning before camp starts just to talk. Hopefully someone would be willing to wake up earlier and come and talk.
Praise God for another amazing day. I had a really good conversation about God with one of my students, William. Thankfully, his English was good enough for him to understand most of what I said today. I didn’t get to talk about the Gospel yet, but I’m hoping to do that soon before I leave. With him asking me questions, it was a good opening for Jill and Yiya to be more open about their faith and also for the other students to listen in. I hope that there will be more conversations like the one we had today.
I feel pretty tired everyday. If we’re not in camp or spending time with our students, we’re either rehearsing songs or practicing for skits or debriefing together as a team. We run on a pretty tight schedule everyday and I’m starting to feel really really exhausted by it. I feel like we don’t get enough time to just sit and be still with God, to really spend that alone time with Him. I can’t even find time in my day to pray with Jill, my coworker for my small group. I feel like I still barely know her because I never really had the chance to have a good conversation with her. Anyways, I hope that I can just find the strength to continue serving God with a joyful heart.
Sorry for the super late update.
Gospel night was this past Thursday and it was really amazing. We started out the night with some praise songs then we performed our acapella songs, body worship, and our blindfold skit. There were testimonies in between each act. I was able to share my testimony with everyone there and God used it to touch someone’s heart (Alice). She ended up accepting Christ that day! I found out that she was a student in the camp last summer and she was part of Joe’s small group. It was awesome seeing how God planted a seed in her heart last year during the English camp and then harvested it at this year’s Gospel night. I was really humbled that night, just seeing how God could work through my story and use it for His glory.
So far, I’ve really been enjoying spending time with my students and getting to know them. We’ve finished a full week of camp and we have one more week to go! I’m hoping that I’ll get more opportunities to share my faith with them and that God will open their hearts to the Gospel. Other than the language barrier, I would say we’re relatively comfortable with each other and we’re able to joke and laugh together about silly things. I’m just more concerned on how to move onto deeper topics so that I can really get to know them. It might be hard given that my Mandarin is really bad and their English isn’t that great either, but I know that God can do all things so I shouldn’t be afraid or worried about talking to them. I ate dinner with them tonight and then we walked around the night market for a bit. I invited them to come to church tomorrow morning, so I’m hoping that at least one of them shows up (they said they would try their best to come if they could wake up on time).
I pray that I’ll have the energy to continue on for another week. So far, I’ve been absolutely drained each day, mentally and physically and spiritually. But it’s been great to just love the students and reach out to them.
First Camp Day
Today was the first day of our english leadership camp and I got to meet my students. It wasn’t a full day, just orientation day when all the TAs and leaders were introduced and small groups got to meet together for the first time. Only 3 out of the 5 showed up, but it was still really cool to get to know them through games and conversations. I got to meet William, who’s an english major, Yiya, an interior design major, and Rose, a grad student studying industrial engineering. They were really friendly and fun to be with so I feel pretty blessed to be their TA. Also, I found out that Yiya is a Christian, so that was really encouraging to me. My coworker, Jill, is super awesome as well. She’s so smiley all the time and super cute, albeit a little shy. I’m pretty excited to get to know them better throughout the next 2 weeks as well as the two students who didn’t come today.
Right now, I’m still a little nervous about leading a small group, but I have to constantly remind myself to trust in the Lord. It’s also very natural for me to be overly concerned about whether my students will like me or not, so much so that it’s overshadowing my primary purpose of being in Taiwan- to love the students and share the Gospel with them. Please pray for me to be focused on my mission here, that Ephesians 5:1-2 and Philippians 2:3-4 would be the way that I live here in Taiwan (as well as when I’m back home in the States).
[Randomness]: Lady Gaga is in Taiwan. I know this because I was watching the news during breakfast this morning and they spent a whole 20 minutes reporting about her tour here….they even interviewed her yoga instructor. Taiwan news coverage is pretty much like a tabloid magazine. They did another story on how a guy proposed to his girlfriend via a tattoo on his chest and how the word “forever” was spelled as “forevery.”
First Day in Taiwan!
Hi everyone!
I arrived safely at the Taoyuan airport at 5:30am this morning. Today has been a super long day for me, especially having to deal with my weariness following my 16 hour flight and refusing to let myself take a nap during the day in order to combat my jet lag. The team didn’t really do much today because our official training days start tomorrow morning, so we mostly just explored the campus and the city and ate really cheap but delicious food. We also met up with the Cornell team (a team of 4 people: Amos, Audrey, Haines, and Ryan) and then the Kansas team later that night, around 11pm(8 people that I shall name later once I introduce myself to them haha).
So far, please just pray that I would have a servant’s heart, that I would be loving towards my team members as well as my students. Please also pray for team unity- we’ll be meeting each other as a full team tomorrow morning and we’ll also be training together as a full team for the first time.
That’s all for now, I shall keep you guys updated! =] Thanks for your prayers!
Random observation: there are no sidewalks around this area, so I find myself walking extremely close to mopeds and cars. The streets are also very narrow, so things seem even more squished.
One More Week!!
I can’t believe that I’m only a week away from leaving the States and heading to Taiwan! My flight is on Monday, June 27 11:30pm at Newark Int’l Airport (so soon!!!!). Everything has been happening so fast lately and I feel like I’m not getting enough time to process things. With the trip only a few days away, nervousness is my dominant emotion amongst my other feelings of excitement and anticipation. Right now, I just need to constantly remind myself that I have to trust in God for everything. I really don’t know what to expect in Taiwan, but I am going to put my faith in God because He’s sovereign over everything.
This trip will definitely test me in many ways, I already feel God stretching me out of my comfort zone. Let’s hope that I won’t embarrass myself too much with my broken Mandarin when I hang out with the students (thankfully, we’re only allowed to speak English during the camp, which is the bulk of the day anyways). For the 2-week leadership camp that my team will be conducting, all team members will be serving as small group leaders as well as playing parts in the skits and performing in body worship and songs. All of that stuff is really out of my comfort zone, but I hope that I can look past my discomfort and remind myself that I’m doing this for Christ and for His kingdom.
Despite the nervousness that I feel, I have to say that I’m really excited for what God will do in Taiwan and I feel extremely blessed to join the work that He is already doing there.
