First
of all, back around Mother’s Day, my teammate Eunice had her best friend Lydia
come for a couple weeks to visit. Lydia “works” as a singing evangelist who
travels around the world sharing the love of Jesus with her heavenly voice
(seriously, she has the best voice I’ve heard in a long time. It’s angelic.).
Just before coming to visit us here in Kinmen, Taiwan, she had spent a few
weeks in India ministering to some churches there. She was a breath of fresh
air to both our team and the community we work in. She’s so passionate. So
lovely. So much fun.
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| A dear Christian man we met at the Xiao Jingmen concert. |
Besides
her singing in the Mother’s Day service and church talent show, Lydia held a
concert at one of Peter’s schools in Xiao Jingmen. I want to cry just thinking
about it~ she shared the Gospel and made all the kids/attendees feel so
special. The principal of this tiny elementary school, having attended at the
same school when he was a student, beamed as he shared with us that “nothing
this special has ever happened [there].” Every single student and teacher was
so excited to have such an “amazing event” on their little island (Jingmen
consists of two islands: Da (Big) Jingmen, which is where I live and teach; and
Xiao (Small) Jingmen, which is where only Peter teaches). Those kids LOVED
having that many foreigners give them love and attention. Thank you Lydia
Abbott!
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| Me and the band |
Around
the same time that Lydia headed back out to the States, Rebekah G’s brother, his
girlfriend, and his two college roommates came to visit us. Three of them have
a praise band called “Before the Story,” and came to share their music with the
community. They also came alongside us TESOL teachers- teaching a few classes
with us and motivating everyone to finish up these last few weeks strong.
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| Jingchung concert |
Together,
Before the Story and our team put on
a concert at the center of Jingchung city. We were able to reach the local
community with the love of Jesus and message of the Gospel. Dude that was so
much fun. I took a step back in the midst of all the activity, and thought
about how blessed I am to live and work with these people. God has truly been
way too good to me. I almost tear up just typing this...these people are all
awesome. Truly family. (Haha this is a slightly emotional entry...)
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| Nightwalk attendees |
Also with the “Before the Story” band, my team got to be a part of the Bring Me Hope “Nightwalk.” Bring Me Hope (www.bringmehope.org) is a China-based organization that works to brighten the lives of orphans in China who would otherwise never know what ice-cream tastes like or what it feels like to play in a blowup kiddie pool. They do summer camps free for kids to have fun and enjoy “family life” for a short time. The “Nightwalk” (actually during the morning because of the time difference from America) raised funds so that more children will be able to attend this summer. We walked a 5k (haha extremely difficult right!?) on a trail that allowed us to see Xiamen, China for a portion of it. The walk ended at a Jingchung monument where “Before the Story” finished up the event with an outdoor concert. I’m not sure exactly how much money we raised, but we 26 people showed up to the event, and everyone had a great time. That was another one of those moments when I was like “No way! I live here...with these people!? God you’re too good to me.” Sighhhh I love my life. ;)
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| My goofy teammates after a karate demonstration. (From left: Johnny, Peter, and Bethany H.) |
The
next weekend, Bhall and I went to Guangfu (Hualian county; East coast of
mainland Taiwan) to help out with village ministry. We have friends in the area
that minister to the aboriginal people living in the surrounding mountain
villages by driving out almost every week and spending time with the kids. I
was able to help out with The Shoebox Project:
an event they’ve held in Guangfu for several months now. In the times before, children
are given shoes and toys, taught praise songs, and taught the Gospel message. But
because the time I went was the last time of the year, the children were given
wordless bracelets and taught how to share the Gospel with their friends and
family. I had so much fun~ we spent a lot of time just hanging out with the
kids and playing with them; having great conversations with the kids as they
were outgoing and starving for love.
After
the village ministries, we hung out for a little while at “Faith, Hope, Love”- a home for boys in Hualian who are either
delinquents themselves or have delinquent parents. That visit was the most fun
I had in a long time. The boys are all really talented musically so I sat down
and jammed out with guitars and piano for a good while. My heart went out to one
of the 17 year olds, Justin (I gave him that English name), and his 14 year old
buddy, Jack. They hung around me basically the entire time and teased me to no
end. I felt like I was home again with my crazy little brothers goofing off,
and they were happy to get some “big sister” time. Next year, Lord willing, I
want to spend a lot of more time at Faith,
Hope, Love and get to know more of the boys at the home. Be praying about
that if you could: I would love to spend more time helping out with this Hualian
ministry, but travelling’s a bit expensive, so it’s a trust lesson
provision-wise.
The
other slightly-big-extremely-fun project I got to work on this last month was
the Kinmen wedding reception for a missionary couple living here: Jarita &
Samuel. Last January, they had an official ceremony with their family in Wisconsin,
but they wanted to celebrate their marriage with their Taiwanese friends; as
they met here in Taiwan so most of their mutual friends are on this side of the
world. Anyways, they asked me and Johnny to put together a tiny dessert reception
for after the ceremony. It was so much fun to pick out colors and draw up
designs for the tables, pick out the background music playlist, and set up....(haha
it made me look forward to the day when I get to do it for me. ;)
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| Goodbye dinner for our dear teacher friend, Sue. This is a 2-picture collage that ended up looking like an optical illusion. |
That
was the briefest skim of these last few months I could muster. Needless to say,
the Lord’s been doing some really cool things both in my life and in the lives
of all those I’m ministering to and with. I’m excited to see Him open doors and
direct my heart and life. Lately, I’ve been learning sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s
prompting and not suppressing His gentle knocking. It’s been a fresh, new challenge
as of recently as I’ve had some new challenges in my personal life. But I’m leaning
on His promise to never leave or forsake me and direct my every step. Jesus is
so faithful.
I was
telling a dear friend a few days ago that I feel a lot more “stable” at the end
of this year than I did at the beginning. Slowly but surely, heart is learning
to rely on, lean on, and depend upon CHRIST ALONE. It’s an exciting thing to
see God actually changing my heart and I have a long way to go, but I can see
the Holy Spirit chipping away my old self and replace ME with HIM. It’s a
really beautiful thing. Sometimes it hurts, but it’s always worth it.
Can’t
wait to come home. I’m so looking forward to seeing you all. <3
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