Wow. I'm finally here in Taiwan! How cool is that? I've taught two days of camp and have enjoyed it very much. My class is cool and seems to be warming up to me. My TA is awsome.

Ok, here's this weeks request.

---Pray for energy and creativity. I'm finding out about things I'm supposed to be doing right before I'm supposed to do it. I'm not getting the best of sleep, because our sleeping quarters are...well...lacking.

---Pray for my TA, Sherry. As far as I now she is not saved. I'm meeting with her later tonight and hope to try and talk to her about it.

---Pray that I will learn Chinese quickly. Right now I only know about ten words!

Thanks guys! Y'all are awsome!

Greetings, and welcome to the last state side post on Samuel's prayer blog! Right now I'm halfway packed, my mouth is numb from having a filling done and I just got back from Wal-Mart, where I bought a portable CD player.

At any rate, I'm not really sure how regular updates are going to be until Feb. 5th. I will be doing English camps on the main island of Taiwan and I'm not sure how much access to the net I will have. So y'all might not get an update until I get to Kinmen on Feb. 5th. Also, I'm not sure what day of the week I'll be posting updates. I've been posting on Fridays so far, because...well, because I created this blog on a Friday and have simply been posting once a week since! But that might change once I arrive in Kinmen. We'll see.

---Send up a great big thank you to God for the support of his saints. So far I've got four karate classes committed to praying for me, a stay at home dad's group in Columbus, Ohio (Tim, you rock!), a large part of our home school group and many friends who don't fit into a pigon hole. :) What an amazing blessing and encouragement to me!

---Pray I don't have any trouble flying to Taiwan. I'll be spending a couple hours at the Tokoyo airport, which will be cool!

---Once I reach the main island, I'll only have to days to figure out what's going on before I have to start teaching English camps. Pray that God gives me clarity of thought and peace of mind.

---Pray for the fam...some of them (ie Anna) are not that thrilled about me leaving.

Hi there! I've got 26 minutes of Friday left, so this post still counts as not being late! I never said what time I would post: just that it would be weekly! Ha-ha!

First off, a couple answered prayers. Numba 1 is

I GOT MY VISA!!!

Yup! Came in the mail today. Very big thank God for that! Numba two is: I asked for prayer about two weeks ago that my toe would heal up in time for the black belt testing...it did. In fact I started to get what we think was a slight bone infection, but my body seems to have fought it off.

I also have a praise. Last night God really touched me, through his saints. We went and worked out at the Eastwood Dojo. I don't know many of the people there, but I asked them to pray for me while I'm in Taiwan. They all stopped what they were doing, laid hands on me and prayed over me. It was so neat. After that a lady I don't even know asked for this blog address, so she could pray for me. Isn't it cool that we have brothers and sisters in Christ who will love and pray for you, even when they don't know you? "By this shall men know you are my followers, by your love one for another". (Samuel paraphrased version). To anybody from Eastwood reading this: You guys are awesome!

Alright, now for this weeks requests:

---Pray that God will help with all the technical details of packing for six months and international travel. I'm going to be calling the airport tomorrow to ask a bunch of questions about luggage: pray that I get the answers I need.

---Pray for me in the battle against besetting sins. Esp. short temper and lust.

---Keep praying that God will prepare the way before me. Pray that he will even now be working in the hearts of the people I will be in contact with.

---I'm getting a little nervous about teaching English in a classroom setting. I've done a fair amount of unnoffical, one-on-one English teaching and I've worked a fair amount with people who don't speak English very well, but I've never taught it in a class room. Pray that God would give me peace and guide my lesson planning and preparation.

---This might seem like a kinda silly or "unspiritual" request, but God really does care about every little detail of our lifes. Pray that I can fit everything I need into my suitcases! :)

Alright, here's this weeks request! It's kinda a short list right now

---Pray that I will redeem the time during these last few weeks with my family and friends before I go.

---Ask God to guide me as I decide on what to bring, esp. gifts for the students and teachers (who I haven't met yet!).

---Keep praying about that visa!

And I have to go now. We're leaving in an hour for Archer City and I'm still not totally packed!