My Filipino Winter Vacation

{I always come to this point when writing a blog post about an indescribable experience. I just sit here and stare blankly at the white page and hope suddenly some form of inspiration hits me between the eyes. Usually I have to just get writing before anything like that happens though….so here goes….}

The morning of our big departure to Manila, Caris, Johnny, Adam, and I got up early and packed up everything. It was a beautiful day in Taipei- sunny, warm (mid-60’s), and breezy. We landed in Manila two hours later to find that even our jeans were too warm. Welcome to the Philippines and high-80 degree temperatures! Oh, I wish I could show you pictures of Caris and I’s faces, Kinmen is known for its gray skies, wind, and FREEZING temperatures in February. We found our Narnia. 

It took us seconds to discover how beautiful the Filipino people are. Everywhere we looked, we saw manly men, dainty women, dark skin, large brown eyes, and enormous smiles. We decided Filipinos win the overall Southeast Asian beauty contest.

The best part for me was seeing the demure side of Taiwanese culture replaced with an unabashed freedom of expression. Emotions were displayed everywhere. This Pentecostal-raised-Italian felt instantly at home.

~

“The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly” (Psalm 118:15)

“As we rolled through past those mountain plains, past volcanic peaks, I couldn’t help but twitch with excitement. I couldn’t help but smile with joy. I could hardly breathe.” (1/28 journal entry)

~

Yet the purpose of our trip was Manila wasn’t to tour, enjoy the people, or culture. We had a much bigger mission in mind. You see, the last Swing Dance fundraiser that we had worked on in Kinmen, Taiwan this last fall benefitted my friend Naomi’s ministry, “Safe Refuge.” She works with a dear friend of hers, Ate Red, and rescues girls who have come out of the sex trafficking system and need a fresh start on life. It’s a beautiful ministry that touches many lives with the truth of the Gospel, and helps heal hearts desperately searching for love.

God had opened the doors for us to live with the Safe Refuge girls, get to know them, and encourage the ministry in Mandaluyong, Manila for the next two weeks. This was a huge opportunity- extremely exciting- yet overwhelmingly terrifying. Our influence on these women and girls’ lives had to come out of hearts one with the Holy Spirit. Any other type of human-based “ministry” could be more destructive than we could even begin to imagine.

So those first few days were spent just settling in, and building relationships with the girls. Caris and I found ourselves almost instantly welcomed into the “sisterhood” of the home, while Johnny and Adam found themselves carefully “watched” the first couple days. Remember, the majority of the pain these women have experienced in the past, was at the hands of men- usually foreign men. Therefore, understandably, during those first few days, the girls were kind to these “kuyas” (“big brothers” in Filipino), but were very, very careful around them.

~

“Orientation meeting today with Naomi, Ara and Daphne. Some of these girls’ stories shake you to the core. [I want my life to have the deep meaning the women in ministry here have.]” (1/29)

“Give us direction, Lord. Let me be flexible and willing to follow You.” (1/30)

“Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.” (Psalm 91:9-10)  (1/30)

“We moved three houses yesterday- Safe, Grace, and Ate Red’s house. We were out until 3:30am moving, then Caris, Adam, Johnny, and I went to 7-11 to get snacks before going to bed at 5am. Woke up at 2pm and vegged out, got Italian at Megamall, and was overcharged in taxi fare just because we were four tall, American white people. Fun stuff.” (2/1)

“Really peaceful day thus far…woke up. Did some of the girls’ makeup and hair. Picked lice out of one of the little one’s hair. Practiced for the worship session later on this afternoon.” (2/2)

“In church worship this morning, I cried and cried and cried at God’s healing power in the lives of the dancers and myself. Some of the girls from Safe were dancing as praise leaders. I was cut to the heart through the Holy Spirit and was overwhelmed with God’s MERCY and POWER! If He could completely turn them around; turn their mourning into dancing, I know He can do the same for me.” (2/3)

“*In your complete obedience to God, He will give lifetime victory.

“*We must learn to do God’s will God’s way.” (2/3 notes from church)

“Hold fast the pattern of sound works which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:13)

“But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the Lord will hear when I call to Him.” (Psalm 4:3)

~

Around this point in the trip, I felt like I was part of a family. I almost couldn’t remember a time I wasn’t living at Safe Refuge and was acquainted with these lovely faces. Praise God, the guys had won over the hearts of the residents by then; and were loved just as much as - if not, more than- us girls.

The focus of life at Safe is WORSHIP. Everyone was in different places and on different levels of surrender with the Lord, yet we all came before Him daily in an attitude of worship and allowed the Holy Spirit to meet us exactly where we were. A daily worship session, and continuous conversation about God’s presence, was a huge blessing and deeply healing for me as well.

{Isn’t it funny how God always blesses YOU when you set out to bless someone else?}

We put together a little trip to the Hundred Islands halfway through our time at Safe. So of course, the day before we left, I was promptly sick. {My body can be so annoying sometimes.} That day, I was overwhelmed by the love shown me by Naomi and the staff at Safe. Again, I felt like I was at home. The fruit of the Spirit was so evident in the way they cared for me. The next morning, in the spirit of my mother, I peeled myself out of my bed and went for it! Weak from the bug or not, I wasn’t going to miss out on the Hundred Islands. Haha, and it was totally worth it!

Five hours in the car, and lots of uncomfortable attempts to sleep later, we arrived at probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen on earth. After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we all jumped in a boat and began our day of island hopping. We snorkeled and saw countless exotic forms of coral and tropical fish. We slept in the sand. We jumped from a ledge into a cave “lagoon” and swam back outside into the sunshine and coral reefs. We raced to see how many underwater giant clams we could touch before our ears almost popped from the pressure. We laughed so hard. That day was a dream.

And of course, God blessed us that evening with a breath-taking display of the Milky Way. My favorite.

Yet, as you know, our God moves in mysterious ways. Throughout the day, I was being prodded by the Holy Spirit to surrender another part of my heart. As I was paddling through the most beautiful underwater life forms I’d ever seen, I was in constant conversation with God. It was such unexpected timing. But so much like our God, right?

~

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-7)  (2/6)

“Thank You God, that even in my rotten, rebellious state, YOU loved me first. Thank You for Your grace that continues to make my world turn.” (2/7)

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him’ do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret- it only causes harm.” (Psalm 37:3-8)

“Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.” (Psalm 37:37-40)

“Lord, guide me and I will do my best to always act in obedience. I ask for Your great mercy when I fail. Your grace is enough to help me make it through. Whatever the outcome, I’d rather have You than anything else.” (2/9)

“For I have satiated [fed to satisfaction] the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” (Jeremiah 31:25)

“And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish.” (Psalm 37:7-8)

~

We spent our last days with Safe teaching ballet class, self-defense class, visiting the Block 40 slum, swimming at the Daranak Falls, and saying our goodbyes. I was privileged to dance with the praise team at church on Sunday. It was so surreal leaving. Again, Taiwan seemed to be a far-away dream at that point.

I truly felt like a new person. God had renewed my spirit and called me back into His arms of mercy. We went to Manila dreaming of touching lives, but our Heavenly Father, in His mercy, had a much bigger plan.

So what did I take away from Manila? The remembrance that our God is POWERFUL, limitless, and overflowing with compassion for us. I take a shaky breath even now as I write this from Kinmen, Taiwan- our God is so amazing, and He’s the same wherever you are in the world. His presence is matchless. His Word is enough.

I hope to go back to visit my sisters soon<3

Recap on the Craziest Season Ever (December)

Wow. What a season. There seriously is so much to recap on- and it’s a wild thought to think that one whole semester is already finished, but I’m praising God and lifting my hands in complete thankfulness in this post. Let’s see if I can bring you up to speed:

First, two weeks before Christmas, we helped put together a huge Christmas event at the university. Each part of our team was involved with a different part of the ministry (again amazed with the perfect workings of the Body of Christ): Cami was in charge of cookie decorating, Caris set up a tree decorating game, Eunice led a craft table, Bethany ran a crazy marshmallow-eating game, and I was the Nativity skit director. After the general festivities and games, we got to share the Gospel and show the “#FallingPlates” video which shares about salvation in a really interesting way. The evening was ended with a huge caroling party. The prep work was well worth it.

The very next day, we went to BiShan village for another big Christmas party where we taught “Joy to the World” and made cookies with the kids. Because of the team’s ministry at the village for this last semester, the local people put together a little series of performances to thank us for coming and playing with their kids. To finish, we ended up caroling around the village~ singing “Joy to the World” and the chorus of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” over…and over….and over again. J I wish I helped out with this ministry more this last semester- praying to have more time to help out this spring.

So as far as I was concerned, that weekend was DONE. We worked so hard and got very little rest that it was so nice to just chill all day Sunday- little did I know that the weekend wasn’t quite over yet. That evening, I was waiting in the dorm living room waiting for typical Sunday night Bible study to start, when my entire team came running in screaming like a team of banshees. They all jumped on me, covered my head with a bag, and then walked me out to the parking lot without even shoes on. I’m not quite sure what happened from there; but I do know I was pushed into a taxi, and then was “un-bagged” in an elevator heading up to my favorite restaurant in the center of town. Turns out this was their way of saying “Happy Birthday Christina!” We had a lovely (peaceful) dinner and then all piled back in the car and headed off for one more surprise: a fire on the beach! We roasted marshmallows, sang along with the guitar, and enjoyed each other’s company. I’m so blessed. That was one of my favorit-est birthdays ever. Praising God for my sisters here in Taiwan.

The very next weekend, our church put on a pretty huge Christmas outreach event at the local cultural center. People from all over Jingmen were there…a majority of the crowd being soldiers. The church choir sang, Karate masters performed, people shared their testimonies, and Megan and I danced ballet! We had a ton of fun with our “Mary Did You Know?” piece and changed some things up to fit the bigger stage in the cultural center. A little old lady in town even made us some beautiful white dresses as costumes. The next morning, we jumped on the ferry boat over to Small Jingmen and danced the same piece at their church’s Christmas event. Another one of those super busy but perfectly beautiful weekends~

After all those preceding Christmas festivities, we managed to have a very much family-oriented Christmas holiday with gift opening on Christmas Eve and a fancy sit-down dinner on Christmas day. We enjoyed the perfect weather Christmas day by climbing the TaiHu Mountain, and then passed out candy canes around town with the team later on in the week. It was a great time of sharing Christ’s love and the message of His redemption with the city we live in. Such a lovely Christmas season.

The Kinmen team then took an entire three days off- just teaching our normal classes and enjoying a somewhat normal schedule. Then Saturday morning, all of us jumped on a plane to Taipei for the weekend. We got to see the Hobbit movie, eat at T.G.I. Friday’s, and watch the Taipei 101 building’s New Year fireworks. I finally got to go up to the top of the 101 and see Taipei from the birds’ eye view.

The last big event on our list was the Passion Conference life link sessions. A good friend of ours gave us his 40” flat screen TV, so it was such a blessing to hook that up to our laptop and watch Francis Chan, John Piper, Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, and lots of other pastors teach from the Word of God. After our extremely busy holiday season, it was so nice to be just FED the Word of God. Since then, I have felt awakened spiritually and ready for this next semester. Ready for the semester to be filled with Christ.

So I’m sitting right now in PingXi King Car English Camps, and I’ve been totally enjoying this last hour of peace and quiet I’ve had to catch you all up on life here. At this camp, the children are really smart- and some of them have pretty stellar “higher than thou” attitudes. I was blessed with seven children fresh out of 4^th grade, so I have extremely sweet children to work with and co-teachers that love the children very much. But other teachers have not been as lucky, so please keep us in your prayers as we seek to show love to those hard to love this week. ;)

Next week, Caris, Johnny, Adam, and I will be headed out to the Philippines to help out at Safe Refuge: a home for women and children who have been in terrible situations- like abuse or being trapped in human trafficking industry. Our past Swing Dance fundraiser in Jingmen supported this ministry, and the Lord really put them on our hearts as we prepared for our winter vacation, so here we go! We’ll be there for two weeks really just hanging out with the girls and helping out with anything around the home that they might need. I think the boys may be teaching a self-defense class, and I’m planning on teaching ballet workshops in the community. Praise God for such a huge opportunity to share His love. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for a while now. 

Praise God for everything He’s done in and through the Jingmen team this last semester! Don’t we serve a faithful God? Thank you all so much for praying- you never know what a simple prayer can do in the heavenly realm.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10:4)

Clinging

There are times when God asks us to do something that we really don't understand. It may be something that we don't want to do. It may be something that doesn't make any sense. It may even be something painful. 

But the only way to respond to God's command is, "Yes, Lord." 

Whether we like it or not. 
Whether we understand it or not. 
Whether we see the end result of it or not. 

I'm in that place right now. So right now, I'm holding onto Jeremiah 29:11:
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Our God can be trusted. Clinging to that tonight. 
<3


{Loooooooong overdue ministry update coming soon}

Thankful For This Weekend

I started writing a status on Facebook probably four or five times already trying to concisely sum up this weekend and I can't do it. I'm gonna try here on Blogger:

I made 200+ hand turkeys. 
Taught 15 Thanksgiving lessons to grades 1st-6th.
Slept minimal hours. 
Ate a HUGE Thanksgiving meal with people I absolutely love. 
Almost died from laughing too hard multiple times. 
Suffered from minor Narcolepsy. 

Wrote and rewrote logistics for the Swing Dance Fundraiser. 
Prayed hard for the blessing of the Lord for all our efforts.
Slept minimal hours. 
Had several meetings with people I absolutely love, about an issue dearest to my heart. 
Almost died from laughing too hard multiple times. 
Suffered from minor Narcolepsy. 

CRIED out for the Holy Spirit to take hold of my rock-solid, rotten heart and make it more into the image of Jesus Christ.
Sat back in complete SHOCK when I found out we raised the equivalent of $3,865 USD at this Swing Dance. 
Gave out more HUGS than I can count. 

Sat back several times and just SMILED at how full my life is right now. 

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

October/November Ministry Update

Prayer in ballet class

I finally have the chance to write this update! Haha it’s the end of November….oops! Sorry about that.  I’m sitting in the back of my 6^th grade class waiting to teach and typing up a storm. Here goes:

First of all, the ballet classes have been so much fun! We have a pretty solid mix of university students, high schoolers, and teachers that come when they have time. It feels like I’m right back “where I belong” in the ballet studio. The policy is that we always open and close my classes with a word of prayer- just to remind us who the Author of all dance is.

Sharing my testimony and why I love to dance with my
students.

Also, my friend Megan and I will be putting together a ballet piece for the church’s Christmas Eve service. This year, the service will be held in JingChung’s cultural center. It’s a pretty big place- so our rehearsals will be a little different this year. That’s another thing you can be praying for- it’s going to be a whole new challenge choreographing for and dancing on the huge stage.

Guess what!? We get to do another Swing Dance! This Saturday, November 24^th, we are having our big Fall Swing Dance Fundraiser. This time, the proceeds will go to support my friend Naomi Hamilton’s organization, Safe Refuge International. Her ministry is based out of the Philippines- right outside of Manila. Right in line with our purpose for having the Swing Dances, she works with women who have been trapped in the human trafficking system, yet providing maternity help in addition. Her ministry works in all levels of the issue- helping young girls, new mothers, and mothers with young children. We’re really excited to support her ministry this time around. Lord willing, there should be a pretty solid group from the community at this Swing Dance- please pray that God will use this event to touch the hearts of the community and be a gift of love for Safe Refuge.

Speaking of events, we’re also planning a pretty big Christmas event with the university students. Just like last year we want to involve all the English clubs and the International Cultures club in the execution of the event- we just need to get them started and give them a bit of direction along the way. I’m also inviting the Shamei (a small town close to the university) pastor to come out and share the Christmas story and the message of why Christ came. Please be praying for this event, because, just like last year, we plan on having a ton of fun; but also like last year, our prayer is that the Gospel is proclaimed throughout this event.

3rd grade Trick-or-Treaters

On another note, at the beginning of this month, I got to take a weekend out to see the Kirov Ballet company perform Swan Lake! For those of you that don’t know, the Kirov Ballet company is known as the absolute best in the world…so obviously I was on “cloud 9” as I saw them dance, in Taipei, with a live orchestra, and excellent seats. I went with two dear friends, got to dress up, and seriously had the best evening ever. Sometimes I just have too much fun. ;)

My team and I have been really challenged by the Lord to stick to the Gospel this last month. As you can see in my recent posts, the Lord’s been really challenging me to focus on Him, and Him alone. I’ve been noticing how the things that should have been peripheral elements in my walk with the Lord have been central to my relationship with Him. In the Christian life, it should never be: JESUS + _______= SALVATION, JESUS + _______= SANCTIFICATION, or JESUS + ________= FREEDOM. That’s not Biblical or edifying. There is a freedom for those who sit at the feet of Jesus and rest in only following Jesus. Everything else in life- character, freedom, and true success- will fall into place for the man or woman following Jesus wholeheartedly. This has been something that’s been burning on my heart for the last month. The world doesn’t need more self-help. It needs Jesus. I want my life mission to be just that, proclaiming and living in the light of Jesus.

My lovely team

<3

"Let Us Keep to the Point"

"God does forgive, but it cost the rending of His heart in the Death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the Divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. When we have been convicted of sin we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary, and nothing less; the love of God is spelt on the Cross and nowhere else. The only ground on which God can forgive me is through the Cross of my Lord. There, His conscience is satisfied." 

("My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers; 11/19)

"Christianity is not discipline, though discipline will enter into it. Christianity is not morality, but the moral laws will be followed. Christianity is not following a great example, but this will be done. Christianity is not living by laws or rules, it is living by grace. True Christianity starts with a new birth. "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7)  The new birth is God coming into your life and giving you a new nature- a nature of love to God and man. Nothing in life can make up for the lack of this, nothing can take it's place." 

("The Disciplines of the Christian Life", Eric Liddell)

word. 

<3

GLORY to GLORY

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from GLORY to GLORY, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18) 


Dude, "GLORY to GLORY"!? 

That's amazing if you let it sink in- in Christ, each one of us is a picture of His GLORY. We get to project Christ crucified to the world through our lives. 

Seriously, sit back and let it sink in that He chose you today to magnify His name and proclaim His glory in this world! He chose me! He chose us- broken, cracked, beaten-up vessels- to SHINE His marvelous Self to the world. 

"...children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world..." (Philippians 2:15)

And the best part is that He hand-picked us to represent His glorious name while we sat in the mud of our sin; while we shook our pathetic little fists at His face in rebellion and hatred; while we purposefully ran down our own little path of self-destruction. 

"... just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love..." (Ephesians 1:4)

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

So that GLORY #1 just amazes me beyond all else...until you get to #2:

Okay so, beyond that, there's one day in which we'll be transformed from these temporary "tents" into the perfect, glorious image of Himself. We'll be perfect images of His grace. Unlike in GLORY #1, we'll just reflect JESUS. Our whole being will be wrapped up in who He is and His immense, overpowering love for us. I have no idea how to concisely expound on that.

"For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)

That's just crazy. I certainly don't deserve that. Yet, He offers it. He offers it to all of us daily. 

GLORY to GLORY. 

The point of surrender where everything changes.

"The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!'" (Revelation 4:8)


[I know I'm far overdue for a ministry update. I'm working on it right now. Promise.]

<3