Joy Restoration

This is going to probably sound crazy to you...But, Oh, how I have missed being around middle school students! God called me in that direction for a reason. I don't know exactly why, but I do know that He has given me a heart and passion for that age group. I am currently teaching 4th and 5th graders and am internally reminded of how much I miss the middle school students that I student taught last semester and also those who I mentored all last summer at camp. I bring this up because a young married couple who are teachers at my school have youth group one Friday night a month at the school. Some of the students are current students at the school and some of them were there last year, but aren't this year. This past Friday night, I joined in and participated in one of their youth groups...it was so much fun! A few of my colleagues and I volunteered to be in a skit, which brought me back to my good ol' days of being on Zeteo. Being around these middle school students restored a joy that I had been missing by teaching upper elementary. It's been a slight struggle this year because I am not meant to be an elementary teacher. After this year, I would prefer to never be an elementary teacher again....it's just not meant for me and it's not where God has called me to be. I accepted the position because there wasn't a middle school opening at the time. I figured it wouldn't be all that bad since 5th grade is part of my degree and I really enjoyed teaching that age group in Belize. It's not that I don't like my students...because they're pretty cool little people. I just don't really like teaching that age group. So, please keep that in your prayers as I continue to persevere. Pray that I continue to look on these students with the eyes of Christ and will be an influential example to them. They need Jesus' love in their lives and I have had the opportunity to share some of that love with them since the beginning of the year. God has also opened doors for me to talk with them about Him. May He continue to open those doors and gates!

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! God Bless!

I found a church!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone! Sorry it's been a while since I last posted. Whenever I get on the Internet, I just mainly check my e-mail and talk with friends through Skype or MSN messenger. I've been keeping pretty busy here. I have so much on my mind right now that I would like to share, but I will try and keep it short...short but sweet.

This morning, I visited a new church and was in awe after the service. The majority of churches that I have gone to here have messages that are "on the surface." I've been wanting something deeper. Something more challenging. This morning was that and more. It's a newer church here and God used the pastor in some pretty a-mazing ways! The singing was also good and the people reached out in such a way that my colleagues and I felt like part of the church family. I will most likely attend this church regularly now....yay! I was kind of getting tired of "church hopping."

The message this morning covered 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5. The pastor talked about Paul's priorities as a leader. He talked alot about the evil kind of boasting (pride in ourselves) vs. the good kind (boasting in the cross of Christ). He also talked about seeking joy and delighting in rewards for whenever we boast in the Lord. In this particular scripture, Paul boasted in the fact that God used him to share the message with others....this was a priviledge to Paul. The pastor talked about how it's better to endure affliction than to run away from it. God tests our faith because, as humans, we are slow learners. We are destined to affliction, not the wrath of God. Only mercy comes from God. God is the only one who destines; there's no such thing as luck or fate.

Those were just some of the truths that were discussed in church this morning. If I went into more detail, this post would be extremely long, but I hope that you got something out of the above, even though it's not very detailed.

As I mentioned in the last post, this month is Kindness Month at our school. The students have to do about 15 kind acts in order to go to the Fall Festival on the 30th. I'm making my students work for their stickers. At first, they were coming up to me and saying that so-and-so let them borrow a pencil and many other silly simplistic things. I know all too well that all my students have at the minimum 3 writing utensils each. So, I told them that they had to go out of their way to be kind to one another because I want them to learn what it means to be kind. I can see a change in some of thier behaviors; others don't seem to care as much. So, please continue to keep them in your prayers. The hatred between my students is getting better and I am getting a new 4th grader tomorrow!

Also, pray for my family. My great-uncle (he's 92 years old) just passed away about 12 hours ago from when I'm writing this. This is hard for me to be thousands of miles away from my family. I wish that I was there to be of some comfort and to spend some time with my uncle, whom I have looked to like a grandfather.

Thanks for all your prayers! God Bless!

Green Island

Yesterday, I went back to teaching after a very nice 4-day weekend for the Moon Festival. For this Chinese holiday, I went to a minute island off the coast of Taiwan called Green Island. It's so small that you probably can't even see it on a worldwide map. It used to be an island only where prisoners went and was also famous for its deer population. There is still a prison there, but is now a big tourist spot. It has one road that runs around it and you can drive all the way around the island in about 1 hour.

On the ferry to the island, the waves were rought and the ride was pretty rocky. About 15 minutes into the ride, people around me and my co-workers starting getting sick, left and right. One of my roomates and I both got sick. Both of us had never gotten sea sick in our lives or had had sensitive stomachs when it came to fast moving objects. But this really affected us. I felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie with everyone around us literally getting sick. After that, though, everything was fine.

Although it was a very small island, it was composed of some of God's most beautiful landforms and sea creatures. I saw some of the most gorgeous mountains I had ever seen in my life! I also had the priviledge to go snorkeling and saw some fish that I had never seen before. I was simply in awe of God's creation to say the least. I was reminded of how detailed God is. I wondered to myself: How can someone look at all this beauty and not believe that there is a God from which all this came from? While riding the scooter around the island, I would just gaze with my mouth drooped open and smile. The mountains, the fish, the coral, the seafloor....God is soo creative!

Next month in school is designated as "Kindness Month." The students get rewarded for doing kind deeds. They have to do a certain number of kind actions to receive their "ticket" to the fall festival at the end of October. Please pray for them. They really need this month to learn what it means to be kind to one another. Pray that they won't do these actions to just receive their "ticket," but that they will want to be kind to others and will see its importance. After all, it is one of the fruit of the spirit.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Cool Stuff

Last Thursday, the 4th and 5th graders took their first field trip of the school year. We took them to the postal museum about 30 minutes away from the school. On the way there, I supervised the 5th grade girls. One of the girls randomly started me asking about Heaven and Hell and what kind of people go to both places. It was a very interesting and God worked through that conversation in some pretty cool ways. I just hope and pray that she will continue to inquire about God and will want to learn more about him. Keep her (her English name is Joanna) and the other students in your prayers.

On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to go to a orchestra and chorus production. One of the Chinese teachers at the school I teach at...her son recomposed many songs and that's what the production was about. There was another concert last Sunday that I went to...it was only with the orchestra. But on Saturday night, the orchestra played and the choir sung church hymns. It was beautiful! It was quite a big place and it was nearly packed...Praise the Lord! All of it was in Chinese, of course, but I recognized the majority of the hymns. Near the end of this glorious event, a lady came out on stage and gave her testimony of how she found God. So, all of these people that were present got to hear about Jesus in their own language!!! I bought one of the CDs...excitement!

God is mightily working here in Taiwan and I'm getting to be a part of it! He was working on the hearts of the people here long before I came.

Positive Anger

A few weeks before I left to come to Taiwan, I heard Rev. Mark Whitt preach at Westside Baptist Church in Murray, KY. On that particular Sunday night, his sermon was about anger. But, he came from a different viewpoint than what is usually preached on this topic. He talked about how we should become angry whenever people are being mistreated...are hurting...etc. Whenever others are being put down, we should be upset about it. Whenever there are people all over the world suffering because they don't have food, shelter, water...we should be angry and try to do something to help out.

I have felt this way for the past week or so. I have seen my students mistreat each other in some harsh ways. They have drawn negative-viewed pictures about other students. They have called other students hurting names. They have made fun of those different from them. My heart is broken for the lack of respect and kindness from the students who are performing these acts and hurting others. I am seriously angry about the situations at hand. I'm not talking about anger that leads to sin...I'm speaking of the kind of anger that comes out of concern and a kind that results in positive reactions.

Please pray for these 4th and 5th grade students. Pray that they will come to an understanding of how hurtful their words and actions can be. Pray for salvation.

Also, please pray for next week. Every day in the afternoons next week, we have parent/teacher conferences. May those go smoothly and may God give us (the teachers) the right words to say.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers! Love you all!

Cockroaches are Disgusting!

So sorry it's been a while since I've posted. I have been extremely busy with this teaching stuff and hanging out with friends during my free time on the weekends. In this post, I would like to share how my teaching is going.

I am currently in my third week of teaching here in Taiwan. I'm teaching 4th and 5th grade Math, Science, and Social Studies. I have fifteen 5th grade students and twelve 4th graders. I absolutely enjoy my 5th graders and am still trying to decide on how I feel about my 4th graders. Since I'm more accustomed to teaching middle school students, teaching 4th graders is quite different than what I'm used to. The 4th grade class, even though it's a small group, consists of all different levels of learning. Three of my students don't know their English very well. I have a few who will finish their homework very quickly, a few who work at a steady pace, and a few who are very slow. During the first 1 1/2 weeks, I was a little frustrated with the 4th graders and was really praying for patience. Today, I actually enjoyed teaching them! That was for sure an answer to prayer! My 5th grade students are that a-mazing group of students that every teacher hopes to have! That's just a brief synopsis of my feelings about teaching thus far.

Funny story: Today, during Math class, things got a little dramatic. A student was at my desk asking a question and I started feeling something crawling on my leg. I had a long skirt on and I slightly lifted it up to see what was going on and it was a cockroach on me...yuck! So, I flew it off my leg and it landed under one of my students' desks. So, all the students who were right around it moved away from it. One of my students went and got a broom (right outside the classroom) and began trying to kill it with it. That didn't work. So, another student just stomped on it and killed it. Then, a different student swept up the dead cockroach and put it in the trash and then mopped up where the guts had been. It was pretty intense...hehe. But afterwards, I told my students that we all learned a lesson: Teamwork! Different students helped in killing the cockroach and we accomplished our task at hand.

This month was Ghost Month. Many people of Taiwan burnt money and sacrificed food to the evil spirits to make them happy. I saw it pretty much everywhere I went. Pray for the people here who serve false gods and believe that they are gaining merit by offering these sacrifices of food and money to dead spirits.

Peace out.

This past weekend, I went to visit a friend in another city here in Taiwan. She didn't know of any nearby Christian churches, so I went to the local temple with her. I just walked around with her as she did what she felt needed to do. As I watched my dear friend pray to a man-made statue (Bhudda) and other carved statue gods, my heart was internally weeping heavily for her. It was one of the hardest things for me to watch. The famous one-worded question continually ran through my head: "Why??" All I could do was pray to our God that she may turn away from these false gods and seek Him instead.

As I was observing my friends in the temple, these were the main thoughts that went through my head:
I'm so glad that I pray to a God who will meet my every need...I don't need to pray to many different gods for a variety of specific needs. I'm also blessed hat I don't have to go to a special place (ie. temple) to pray to my God; I have the freedom to pray whenever and wherever I want. But most importantly, I have the priviledge to pray to a God who is alive and real! He hears my prayers and He answers them. He knows what's best for me more than I know myself. Glory to God!

Nonetheless, going to the temple was a good learning experience to gain more awareness of one of Taiwan's main religions, the other being Daoism. It was also...I don't really know how to put it...a "re-burdening," if you will, of the heart....a deeper burdening for the people of Taiwan. I felt like my heart was literally in pain.

A few things I learned:
When most people think of Bhuddism, they think of a group of people only worshipping Bhudda. I myself also had this misconception. But it's more than that. They are also worshipping many other gods: one for luck, one for wealth, one for good studying habits, etc, etc.

When the people want to ask a statue a question, they will throw 2 rocks to obtain an answer. The position of how the rocks land determines what their answer is. So, it's just luck, like throwing a pair of dice. I couldn't really comprehend that aspect.

Thank you, God, for the gift of knowing you!!!

Wednesday Night Extravaganza

Last night (Wednesday), I went to a concert at the biggest church (member-wise) in Taiwan. A worship choir had came to the church for a benefit concert for kids with special needs. All of it was in Chinese, but they had the lyrics on a big screen and most of the songs had English lyrics along with the Chinese. So, I would listed to the songs and read the words. It was soo beautiful to hear these people singing praises to God in their own language. Isn't it great that God knows what you're saying, no matter what language you speak?!?! To watch a nation, most of which is Bhuddist or Daoist, praising our one true God was simply amazing to hear. For the people of Taiwan to be Christians, they are basically leaving a part of their culture behind them because their religion comprises a majority of their culture. God also reminded me of having faith like a child. There was this special needs girl, who looked to be about 9 or 10 years old, who sat in front of me. I saw her jumping up and down and clapping joyfully with the music. I thought to myself, "I should be like her. I should jump up and down out of excitement when singing praises to our glorious God!"

The lyrics to one of the songs we sang was: "Thank you Lord, for the gift of knowing you."

That really struck me and put me more in awe of our God! How often do we thank God for the fact that we know Him? I know I sure don't thank Him enough for that truth. We, in America, are so blessed that we live in a country where we can hear about God at our schools, in our homes, etc. The people here in Taiwan don't have that advantage. The majority have to go to a church, and the closest one may be at least an hour away from where they live. May we not take that gift of knowing our God for granted!

I'm so excited about having the opportunity to share about Jesus as I teach at the school I'm at here in Taipei. We are encouraged to do so, since it's a Christian school! How cool is that?! I'm also excited about sharing Christ with others who I may meet somewhere else.

Please pray for the students who will be coming, starting on August 14th.
Pray for their families. The majority are not believers (along with the students), but have agreed to let their child be taught the Bible at school.
Pray for strength, endurance, and rest for all the faculty. I'm already experiencing physical tiredness.

Milk Tea

I am finally here in Taiwan!! I feel like I have been here for at least a week, but it's only been 4 days and it's been a great past few days. I've gotten to reunite with some old friends and are making some new ones. I arrived in Taipei around 5:30 Wednesday morning and went on a field trip with the summer school kids at 8am....it was soo much fun! Summer school just ended on Friday and there were about 40 kids. Out of those 40, 8 of them accepted Jesus into their hearts....Praise Him! This morning, on my way to church, I stopped by and got some breakfast. For the first time, I ordered my breakfast in Chinese all by myself...I was so proud! I have transformed into living the city life and am enjoying it more than I thought I would. The other teachers whom I have met so far are very kind and nice and easy to talk to. There's soo much that I can write about, but don't have much time at the moment. Please feel free to ask any questions and I would be more than happy to respond. You may either contact me on here, my e-mail, or facebook. God's been blessing me during this trip in more ways than I imagined! I haven't felt homesick much at all because God has given me a great amount of peace. It's awesome to be in a place where you know you're called and supposed to be....and I am at that place. Yes, I miss my friends and family like none other, but I'm also glad to be back with my friends and family (in Christ) here in Taiwan. Well, that's really all that I want to write about for now. I will try inscribe something more profound and thought-provoking later. Love you all and your prayers have been felt!

Pre-Emotions

Many people have asked me how I was feeling about leaving the States for a year. They've told me that I'm brave and bold for doing such a thing. They've also encouraged me and have said to take a hold of this precious moment I have awaiting me.

My feelings have been like a roller coaster these past two months following my college graduation. I've felt scared...excited...nervous...anxious...confused...etc. I was scared thinking that I may lose contact with some great friends and they would forget about me. I was scared of leaving everything and everyone that I've known my whole life behind me. Those fears have been replaced by God's comfort and peace and the truth that my true friends shall forever be there for me and I for them. I'm excited about being engulfed in a different culture and having the opportunity to move in a different direction in my life that God has brought me to. I'm nervous about whether or not my teaching skills will be effective like I want them to be...I'm a perfectionist. I'm anxious about meeting up with my friends who are already there and finally getting to meet those who I will be working and serving with.

I don't feel like I'm "bold" or "brave" for going to Taiwan, as most people have told me. I've just always thought, "This is what I've gotta do." God called me to go and be His vessel. So, as in the words of Isaiah 6:8, I said, "Here am I! Send me!" I look at this experience as just following God's plan for my life. I've known for at least a year now that my next step after graduation was to go to Taiwan. For exactly how long...I still don't know...it's possible that it could be for more than a year. I don't know what all God has in store for me there in Taipei, but I'm pretty excited about it! He never ceases to amaze me with His blessings that He pours on me. Man, what a truly a-mazing and wonderful God we serve!

One main point that I want to stress is that no matter where God has called you: on Murray State's campus, in your hometown, an hour away from your home, hundreds of miles away...wherever....that place is just as important as anywhere else. He has you there for a reason. Never think that you have to go overseas to serve God and be of importance...that's a lie! This is a passion that God, and only God, has placed on my heart....working with and serving people from other nations. I encourage you to read Psalm 67...it's my favorite and gives an insight of who God has molded and shaped me to be.

Please pray for me. For exactly what, I'm not sure quite yet. God has given me peace about the situation. For now, I know that I will need prayer for adjusting quickly to the 13-hour change difference because I will have much stuff to do once I arrive. I will keep you updated as much as possible. Thanks for your time in reading this. Love you!