Pray for Samuel (as he lives out his Eurocentric-outdated-inane existence).

2006-06-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

Probably the last post here until I get back to the States.

---Presenting the Gospel to my Wednesday night kids went well. Thank God for providing such a wonderful Christian with amazing English to help with translating. Joy, you rock! Nobody prayed that night, but they listened very carefully and took it seriously. Pray for those seeds that were planted.

---The trip to 秀才 was wonderful and heart breaking at the same time. It's really impossible to describe the way those kids tug at your heart. Rita, one of my good friends, had covered her entire left arm in knife cuts. Lots of the kids there have scars from cutting themself (or some of them even seem to be the remains of suicide attempts). Please keep those kids in your prayers. They have been dealt a REALLY hard hand in life and need the renewing power of Christ in such a desperate way.

---Pray for summer camps. I'll be leading camps, which I've never done before. Pray that God will make everything go smoothly.

---Pray for me. I'll be coming back in Kinmen in about two weeks to do a week of camp here. Then I'll be leaving. It's really, really, really hard to leave. I love this place, I love these people and I don't want to leave. :(

Love y'all!

2006-06-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

---Pray for my high school class tonight. Joy and I are going to be presenting the gospel to them.

---Pray for the 9th graders at 秀才. I'll be going to see them for graduation next week and hope to have a chance to talk to them about the Gospel.

---Pray for Douglas, who is having a lot of pressure from his family to leave the faith. I'm hoping to meet up with him while in Taiwan next week and encourage him to stay strong.

2006-04-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon. I have a very BIG PRAISE! I have gotten a full ride scholarship at RSU. It totally covers tuition, fees and books.

---My mom's visit was also a very big praise. We had a very, very good time together. Thank God that all the flights went well and there the worst thing was a bloody nose mom got on the plane.

---The church finally got the go ahead to tear down the termite eaten parsonage! That is a very, very big praise!

---Keep praying for Douglas. We saw him in Taipie last weekend. He has a lot of questions about what things a Christian should and shouldn't do. I told him to remember that he has freedom in Christ an to focus on his relationship with him. Then everything else will fall into place.

---Pray for Hans, a junior at the college. He's very, very interested in spiritual things and is close to trusting Christ. Right now he is reading "Mere Christianity" to practice his English...pray that God would use that book to reach him.

---I really am grateful for you guys praying for my Chinese! I've recently been told that it's improved a good deal and I know that it's all God's doing!

---We're already halfway through with the semester! I am starting to feel the time crunch...pray that I will redeem the time.

Love y'all!

2006-03-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

'Ello there. It's freezing here, and I have a cold to top it off. Whee. What fun.

---Thailand was amazing. One of the best parts of the trip was going street preaching with Isaac and some of his friends. I only actually preached once, but it was still really cool.

---Pray for a 6th grade girl named Cindy who lives in Nantou. She is a student of my friend Daniel. Last week her parents broke up and her Dad took her (illegally) somewhere down in southern Taiwan. Now the police have brought her back home, but she is really afraid of her father. Just keep her in your prayers and pray for Daniel to know how he can best bless this girl.

---Pray for Johnson, a 7th grader living here at the dorm. Johnson has been getting in a lot of trouble ever since he came to the dorm. He's now been accused of stealing from his roommate. Talk is that he might even be sent to a juvenile home or something.

---My Mom is coming in less than two weeks! I can barely stand it!

---Pray that I get over this cold.

---Pray for our teams relationship with Carta, another English teacher living here at the dorm. He's rather difficult to get along with.

2006-02-19T07:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, sorry it's been so long since I updated, but we've been doing winter camps and have been VERY busy.

---Send up a big thank you for camps. They were awesome. My team at the 中正 was awesome. 16 kids was a kinda big team, but it still went awesome. Then the camp at 永樂 was amazing. Some totally awesome kids. And hanging out with the Nantou team was really fun.

---Pray for Ed and Lena. Ed is in Taiwan in college and Lena is in her final year at the high school. Both are under a lot of pressure and feel like there is no purpose to their life.

---We're starting the spring semester of teaching tomorrow. Pray for the team as we head back to school.

---Early next month we're making a five day visa run to Thailand. We are really, really excited about going and seeing Isaac, a guy who used to work for King Car and is now in Thailand working as a full time missonary. Pray for safety as we travel.

---Keep praying for Riddick. He has been doing better and it seems he isn't under such dark spiritual oppression right now, but he still really needs Christ.

---I've applied for a scholarship at RSU that would cover tuition, books and fees. Friday night I had an interview with the head of the program. I should know in a few weeks if I made it or now...pray that I get it.

Ok, I'm off to take a shower and get to bed. 'Night, God bless y'all!

2006-01-28T04:55:00.000-08:00

Hey there people. And happy new year! Thursday we finished our first camp and Wednesday we are leaving for central Taiwan for our second one.

Camp was totally awesome. One of the best I've ever had. I taught team E (the highest level group) and we had a hoot together. I had 15 kids from 3rd to 6th grade. I had one 3rd grader from Taipei...dude, one of these days I'm going to have to spend a week in a school there or something...how on earth do they teach them that much English? (Guess it probably has something to do with the fact that kids here only get two 40 minute English classes a week...not really enough to actually learn anything).

---Pray for Lucy, our hair stylist friend. She's making some difficult decisions and really needs Christ at this point.

---My Mom is coming to visit me in March! I'm so happy I could explode! Pray that her preparations for the trip go well.

---Pray for the upcoming camp. Pray that the kids and TA's would see God's light shining through us.

---Pray for Hans, a college student at the local college and one of our TA's. He's been showing a lot of interest in spiritual things and has been ready "Mere Christianity" lately.

That's all for today. Love you guys!

2006-01-20T19:00:00.000-08:00

Hey there people! The semester is over and camps are starting tomorrow. I can't believe how fast things have flow past. In only 4 days I will have been here in Taiwan for a year. So I guess it would be good to use this post as a chance to look back on what God has done in my first year in Taiwan.

---Jack came to the Lord. Jack was TA at winter camps last year. Although I didn't get to know him all that well during winter camps, we all prayed for the TA's a lot during those camps. I didn't hear anything about Jack for about 5 months. Then, when it came time for summer camps, Jack was my TA. He had been saved for about 2 months at the time and was truly on fire for God. The Bible tells us that by their fruits we shall know them and I could certainly see the fruit in Jack's life.

---Douglas came to the Lord. Douglas was a high school student who hung out with our team a lot last semester. Jack actually had a lot of impact on Douglas as well: during summer camps me and Douglas and Jack roomed together and Douglas was very impressed with how real Jack's walk was. When we came back to Kinmen for the fall semester, Douglas told us that he had trusted Christ during summer camps, but had been too afraid to tell everybody about it. God has done an amazing work in his life since then. He's actively witnessing to his friends and has a huge hunger for the knowledge of God.

---God put me in elem. school. This one is hard to list as a praise. I really would much rather be teaching Jr. High. But God has taught me a lot of things by taking me out of my comfort zone.

---My Dad was able to come out and help in the ministry. His visit was a really blessing to our team, because rather than just coming to look at the sites, see us, and then leave, Dad came and did everything he could to help as we fight for people's souls. Dad was able to help Douglas answer several questions he had about our faith.

---God gave us the ministry at 秀才 Jr. High. This was something totally unexpected. Just before thanksgiving the three KingCar teams went to Taow Ywen (how do you spell that in Pinyin, anyway?) to do a few days of teaching in the schools there. While there, we were hosted in a dorm at 秀才. 秀才 is a school for students who come from broken families and, as Sandy put it, "They like to start the fight or use the knife to cut self." In just the few days that we stayed there God really open these kids hearts to use. Over new years the Kinmen and Nantou teams went back and spent a day with them. Right now I'm trying to plan another trip to Taiwan to visit them again. (BTW, Mom, I've told them I'll be taking you to visit them when you get here).

---God has brought new people to the English Bible study. Last semester our Bible study was almost entirely high school seniors, so of course they are now gone and at college. I kinda wondered if anybody would come to Bible study....but God has brought some really neat new friends.

---God has blessed my Chinese. I've asked you guys a lot of times to pray for my Chinese. And while I still have a long (a VERY LONG) way to go, looking back over this past year, I can see that God really has blessed my learning. Last night some of my 9th grade friends from 秀才 called me and we carried on an entire conversation in Chinese, all over the phone. Cool, no?

---God just continues to be amazing. This past year I have seen his faithfulness over and over again. He is our rock: he is always there. Even when I turn from him, he does not move. He is always there to run to, he is always there to help, he is always there to comfort and his love never ceases. And when I cry over the bondage my friends are in, I know his tears are greater. When I rejoice over a new brother in Christ, I know his shouts are louder.

2006-01-14T07:21:00.000-08:00

Do you ever just feel great for no reason? Today has been like that. I have every reason to be running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but I just can't get worried enough to panic. Tomorrow I'll probably realize that I've got 80,000,000 things to do in the next few days, but for now I'm content to listen to Alabama on my ipod and grin a stupid grin.

Wow! I just realized that I forgot to include two very cool things in the last post.

Ok, on the 29th I was teaching at Jing Who. Kiwi (the teacher) had asked me to teach a typical prayer that Amarican children might pray around Christmas time. I was really excited about it, but I was also a little at a loss as for what to teach until Lucas suggested teaching the 3rd verse from Away in a Manger. I taught it in 5 classes that day and in two of them the students were very interested. In one 6th grade I spent 10 minutes answering questions about prayer. They kept asking questions about all the actions involved in praying: do you have to bow your head? Do you have to make the sign of the cross? What if you don't say amen at the end? What if you don't pray? I was able to explain to them that prayer is simply talking to God: it's simply a conversation with a friend and you don't have to follow some sort of form in order to get your prayer accepted. They asked me if God had answered any of my prayers and I told them about the time God healed my sister Naomi.

All in all, it was really cool. I was standing in front of the class listening to their questions and just saying "Wow! God, this is cool!" I've never had a chance to share that much in a class.

The other cool thing involves our trip to Shoew Szteye. At first it was supposed to just be us visiting our friends on our own time. But then somebody at KingCar decided it would make a great chance to get us in the newspaper (something they are always trying to do!) and so asked some reporters to come. We were all very upset with that idea and let Sandy know we didn't want reporters. She said she'd see what she could do, but there is NO WAY that KingCar would ever turn away a chance to get media attention. The cool thing was, the reporters never showed up! We had a really great time with the kids (see my jjf blog for pictures). Although I kinda wonder...did the 8th grade boys really have to wear bikini tops and fake boobs?

On to this weeks requests...

---Keep praying for my Sunday school class. Pray esp. that God would help with my translating...most of the time I don't have a translator and Sarah (a 6th grader with really good English) will almost never help with translating. Mostly I manage to get my point across (and give the kids their weekly dose of really poor Chinese) but just pray that God would give me the right words to speak.

---Pray for Jennifer, a cram school teacher here. She's been working with Ginger a lot lately (Ginger is doing an English/Chinese exchange with her) and has been asking Ginger some questions about God and Christianity.

---Also pray for Jean. Jean is a good friend of Jennifer and her two kids are my students (her daughter, btw, is the cutest thing in Kinmen). I'm going to be doing an Chinese/English exchange with her next semester. When Dr. and Mrs. Henning were here she spent a lot of time with them and just about worships the ground they walked on. Pray that God will give me chance to water the seeds that they planted.

---And of course, keep praying for my Chinese. In a few weeks I will have been learning Chinese for one year. And although I've come a very long way from sitting in the computer lab in Nantou learning how to say "Ni how ma?", I'm starting to realize just how much I don't know. It really does make a difference when you guys pray for my Chinese, so please keep it up!

Ok, if you look down there *points at posts below* you can see something that's had me chuckling all day. Take a look at the comments. I looked at this blogger earlier today and found that. But that's not even the funny part. If you take a look at the site of one of the guys who replied (Click here) you will see some links on the left side of the page. Take a look at who is listed under "Creepy". ROFLOL! Yea, only 20 years old and already made it to "Creepy"! I also love the comment that mentions my "Eurocentric-outdated-inane existence." I think I'll put that in my blog description...that's just priceless. *evil laugh* Mwahahaha! And I haven't even revealed half of my horrible, heartless plans yet! By the time I'm done, all of Taiwan will be enslaved and held tightly in my iron fist!

*Ahem* Seriously though, their comments are very interesting. Most are not worth really bothering with, but I found this one to be worthy of saying something about:

"ung...it's unimaginably disheartening to see that you missionaries continue to infect cultures around the world. "

I find the word "infect" to be really interesting. Where did we get this idea that a culture cannot be wrong? A theory can be wrong. A math problem can be wrong (1+1=3). A witness can be wrong. A computer can be put together wrong.

But a culture cannot. Apparently if it has been made part of a culture, then it can't be wrong.

Not only that, but something that works to change a culture is "infecting" it.

Number one, a culture can be wrong. In Rome is was part of the culture to watch people kill people for entertainment. That was part of the culture. And it was wrong. In some South Amarican cultures it was ok to perform human sacrifice. And that was wrong. I could go on forever.

The culture here in Taiwan is one that encourages cutting yourself open with knives and parading around the streets with needles stuck in your face. That's wrong.

As for the idea that new things are "infecting" a culture. Give me a break. Cultures are forever changing. Have you ever thought about the fact that Buddhism came from India?

By the way, Doug, if you want to post comments feel free to do so. But please refrain from blasphamy.

2006-01-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

Hey there. Long time no post.

God is so aweseme. The last two weeks I've kinda forced to lean on his strength rather than my own. It's so cool to see how God will hold us up when we ask him for strength. It also gives you such amazing freedom...when you are doing something in God's strength, then you can also be pretty sure you are in God's will...he wouldn't give you strength for something he doesn't want you to do.

Next week is the last of the semester. It's amazing how fast it's gone by. Winter camps are starting the 22nd. We'll be doing a week here in Kinmen, then we have a week break and then we'll be headed out to Taiwan for one more week of camps.

---Pray for all the stuff I'm doing get try and get ready for college. I called the college last night and talked to the admission office. Things are looking pretty good. Also pray that things work out with KingCar allowing me to actually get back to the States in time to start college.

---Keep praying for Riddick. We've recently been worried about what seems to be some demonic influences in his life. We've prayed over him a lot and things do seem to be much better. One good sign is that he's not so depressed anymore and actually shows some interest in trying to find a better solution to life.

---Pray for Johnson, another dorm kid. A few weeks ago he went to visit his mother in Xiamin. He left home to come back to the dorm and but instead he spent a couple days hanging out with his friends in Xiamin. He didn't tell anybody what he was doing and his mother and us here at the dorm were worried sick over him. After a few days he did come back to the dorm. Just keep him and his whole family situation in your prayers.

---Next school year Megan, Drew, Lucas and Rebekah will be coming back to work with KingCar for another year. Me and Ginger won't be. Pray for Ginger as she is going through all the paper work to go to college here in Taiwan.

---Pray for James, our former translator. He's taking a big English test this week. He might also have found a job in central Taiwan.

Ok, this post has kinda been an entire day in the writing. I started it at about 8 o'clock this morning and it's now 3:15.

This morning my bus driver didn't come. So I had Terry call the school, but he had some trouble getting ahold of them. So I went back to my room thinking that because it so near the end of the semester, they were having test and forgot to tell me that I didn't need to go to school. I started to write this post. I wrote about how God's strength is enough when we don't have the strength to do it.

And then my bus driver came. I had totally relaxed and gotten used to the idea of taking a nap this morning: instead I had to go teach. The English teacher at this school doesn't really speak English (today she told me "See you tomorrow year"), so I am never able to actually lesson plan with her. And I simply didn't feel like I had the energy to go to school and try and figure out what to teach and how to do it all without translation.

So I'm sitting in the bus wondering what on earth I'm going to do and I just felt God say to me "Well, looks like you get to practice what you just wrote about." It seemed almost like he was sitting back in his chair and just grinning at the prospect of getting me through the school day when I knew I couldn't do it.

I looked down on the floor and (mentally) mumbled something about "ok, that's sure what it looks like." It's so much easier to write about something that God taught you yesterday: it's a lot harder to actually say "Yea, I don't know what I'm doing today and I have no energy and if God doesn't do this for me then class is going to be a total failure today." It leaves you feeling so helpless. Really, we're in better hands when we trust God to do it for us, but still that act of looking to him with no back-up plan leaves you feeling very vulnerible.

And God came through. Class went awesome. And then just as a final "I love you", God cancled Chinese class and gave me the afternoon off.

Dude, our God rocks.

2005-12-09T02:07:00.000-08:00

Hey, I'm at the internet cafe and about to die of the smoke in here, so this will be short. Internet is down at the dorm, which is really annoying.

---Went to the Goaw Zst today. What a hoot! The teachers told me that me and anybody else from the team was welcome to come back.

---Joy's mother died without trusting Christ. Pray for Joy.

---Teacher's conference is tomorrow. Pray that goes well.

---I am seriously freaked out by one of the new teachers at the Jr. high and I'm not the only one he freaks out either. Pray that nothing bad happens and that he will leave soon.

Ok, got to go. Love you guys!

2005-12-04T03:39:00.000-08:00

Ok guys, I know it seems like I fell off the face of the earth, but the fact of the matter is...after getting back from our week in Taiwan, I actually kinda forgot about this blog...sorry!

Things are going pretty good over here.

---Pray for everybody on the team as King Car has asked us to let them know if we want to stay on for another school year. I have told them no. I'm going home at the end of this school year to get my degree and spend some more time with the family...then I'll be coming back, but seperate from King Car. But pray for the people who still aren't sure if they should stay or not.

---Pray for our teachers conference on Saturday. Pray that everything works smoothly.

---I should be visiting the technical high school on Friday, so pray that goes well and that I can make the needed contacts for our whole team visiting maybe sometime next semester.

---Pray for us as we make plans to go back to Taiwan and visit with some of the students we got to know during Thanksgiving break.

---Pray for Claire, Claudia and Barbarian, three friends who have been coming to Bible study. Esp. Claire...she's really asking a lot of questions about the true nature of God and the world.

---Keep Andrew in prayer as he will be really busy this next week.

2005-11-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm feeling great right now. 上帝真的對我們好! God really treats us great! God has been teaching me to be content even in situations that aren't exactly how I want them to be. I don't want to be teaching elem. school. I miss BJ. I miss Shawn (no room mate is REALLY BORING!) But when I rest in knowing that God has my best at heart, there is a wonderful freedom to just enjoy life.

I love my life here in Kinmen. I love sitting under a street light holding English class with my high school friends because they forgot to get the key to our classroom. I love making weird noises as I split a class into teams and watching their reactions. I love calling my family and hearing their voice over the phone. I love hearing something in Chinese and understanding it. I love my 3rd grade at my Monday school. I love getting emails from my friend Larry (I would say that I love getting emails from Josiah, but as that hasn't happened in a while....hint hint!) Life is just generally awesome.

---Ok, I've started the process of apply for college and scholarships. Pray things work smoothly, esp given the distance and time difference I'm having to work against.

---Pray for Summer, a girl in my Wednesday night class. The last two weeks she has brought up the fact that she doesn't think God listens to prayer, and I've shared the story of my name with her.

---Pray for a 6th grade girl named Lisa. Her brother lives here at the dorm and she often comes for the weekend. I'm not sure what exactly is going on in her life, but in the past few months she's gone from one of the happyist and funnist girls I know to a sullen, angry ticking bomb.

---Pray that our team would be able to become better friends with our translator, Terry.

Bye!

2005-10-23T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hey there! I'm feeling great right now! Only problem is I really feel like I should go brush my teeth...but I'm in the middle of talking to two of my teachers online and can't really leave the computer to go to the bathroom and do that. (I guessing you guys didn't want to know that, but oh well...I'm feeling random).

As for request....

---Keep Jimmy and Jerry in your prayers. They came to church today. Jerry is very focused on works and it's driving the poor guy nuts...because he sees that he isn't good enough.

---Keep praying for Joy and her mother.

---I'm feeling kinda home sick right now. Please also pray for my Chinese (always pray for my Chinese!) and pray for God's direction as I do things relating to college.

---Keep praying for me working with Kiwi. There is a little more control in the class room, but it's still a problem.

---Pray for a teacher named Claudia tha I'm working with...she's shown some interest in spiritual things.

Love you guys! I'm off to brush my teeth! Bye!

2005-10-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, update for this week. Wow, lots of stuff to pray about. Lots of things to be excited about! The last couple weeks I've seen two things very clearly: one is the state of people who don't have the Lord and the other is how wonderful it is to have such an awesome God to turn to when you have problems. Yesterday I went into the biggest temple here in town for the first time. Our "tour guides" where two very energetic 6th graders who gabbered away in Chenglish (English and Chinese) about everything in there. It amazed me. Their gods are confined to images and carved wood. They aren't so much gods as they are warriors, each with their own battle to fight. The wind god isn't really a god: he simply fights to control the wind. But sometimes he looses.

How horrible to have not a God but a warrior, one who might or might not win. What happens when your god looses? Then you are stuck.

Aren't you glad our God is all powerful?

As for prayer request...

---Keep praying for Joy's mother. She doesn't want to listen to what Joy has to say about Christ. She's not far from dieing. The demons she has worshipped all her life are tormenting her, making their presence known even in a physical sense. Please, please pray for this lady. Also pray for Joy, as this is extremely hard on her.

---Pray for George, one of the dorm kids here. Last week he went to the hospital with an infection of some sort in his neck. They sent him on to Taiwan and he was in the hospital there for several days. He's back here at the dorm now and seems to be ok.

---Pray for Jimmy and Jerry, two brothers who live here at the dorm. A few days ago they got in a fight and Jerry purposely cut himself with a knife. Jerry is only 6th grade and living away from home for the first time. It's very hard on him. He's angry at God for the situation he's in and says it isn't possible that God loves him.

---Pray for Riddick, another dorm kid. He seems happy and fine on the outside, but once you get to know him you realize he's a hurting kid. He doesn't know who his Dad is or where he is. He says he has no reason to live. He has a morbid obession with death and killing. He often jokes about killing people. Rebekah once told him that it wasn't funny. He told her it was ok: he was only thinking about it. She said he shouldn't even think about it. He said don't worry: if he ever really did want to kill somebody he'd just kill himself. He's very unstable, going from happy and laughing to crying and deeply depressed in only minutes or seconds.

---And finally, here's a picture of my Wednesday night class. This is Summer, Me, Ivy, Vincent, Elly, Stella and Gloomy. Not pictured is Linda, Jessica and May. Please keeps these kids in your prayers as well. I'm going to be spending a fair amount of time with them this year and really want to see them come to Christ.
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2005-10-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

Got you again! ha! After two updates that were on time, you were expecting another one on time! Well double ha on you! This one is three days late!

---There's been a big improvement in Joe's attitude as I teach him on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Praise God!

---Keep praying for James (for those of you who don't know, James was our translator dude last semester (and before that). He finished his service and is now living in Taiwan.) He still hasn't found a job. He still hasn't found God.

---Pray that God will give me direction as I try to get things figured out for college. Also pray that I'll be able to get things worked out for starting (somewhere!) next fall in spite of being on the other side of the world.

---Thank God for helping us when we don't know what to do! Yesterday I had no idea what I was going to teach in Sunday school up until about 2 minutes before I had to teach...then God gave me a really great lesson plan and everything went great! Cool!

Love you guys! 我愛你們!

2005-09-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

Ha ha! Gottcha! You weren't expecting an update actually on time! Ha!

This one will probably be short though. I've got to go run and then get to bed, because I'm supposed to be in Small Kinmen tomorrow by 9:45 tomorrow, which means taking the 9 o'clock boat. And before that I have to get pizza. We're having a picnic! What fun!

---So we'll make that the first request. It's a picnic for my Wednesday night class. Just keep them in your prayers. All of them are already pretty good friends of mine and I'm really wanting to share more with them about Christ. Meagan talked to them some about it last class and I plan on following up on what she said next week.

---Pray for the dorm kids. There is a real...I don't know...spirit of hostility tonight. They are watching possibly the most disgusting movie I've ever heard of...let's just say it involves cannabilism and abortion. Whenever they watch that kind of stuff it seems to really give place to the devil.

---Pray for Jerry. He's angry at God and extremely homesick. I talked to him for a while the other night. I didn't really know what to say though...pray that God will give me the words to say (or the sense to shut up).

---Pray for our new brother Douglas as he grows in the Lord! The Bible says that by their fruit you shall know them. Well, we are certainly seeing fruit, and I know that the devil is noticing it too.

---A certain team mate is getting on my nerves. Pray that I can resolve certain issues with him/her.

Thanks so much for your prayers! Love you guys!

PS OH! Almost forgot (again!) Pray for Joy's (our pastor's wife) mother. She has terminal cancer and isn't saved. Pray that God would give Joy the words to speak and work in her mothers heart. Also pray that Joy's sisters are not able to stop her from sharing.

2005-09-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Can you believe it? An update that isn't horribly late! Only by about a day and a half! Cool!

Thank you guys so much for praying for working with Kiwi! I talked to him some on Tuesday about the problems with class room control and he basically said there is nothing to be done about it and just forget trying to have class room control or really teaching the kids anything. So I wasn't that hopeful going to school on Thursday. But amazingly, 4 of the five classes I taught with him that day were almost under control. Still some progress could be made, but it was certianly a huge improvement over the way things had been. Praise God!

---It seems our team has been getting an amazing number of chances to share in the past few weeks. Between improving Chinese and developing friendships and a reputation over a year and a half, it seems people are more open with us about their questions about Christianity. Pray that God will give us the words to speak, because we know that God's word "will not return void, but will accomplish that which he wills" (paraphrased...I'm too lazy to look it up!)

---我的姊姊不在! 我的朋友也不在! I miss BJ! I miss Shawn! (that's not quite a prayer request...more of a statement of fact I guess. And it's also a chance to show off the fact that I can write those things in Chinese!)

---Wow, my English conversation class on Wednesday went totally awesome. 8 of the 12 invited came...7 from Small Kinmen. So pray for Stella, Linda, Jessica, Vincent, Summer, Elly, Gloomy and Ivy.

---Pray for the monday night class. It's going pretty good, but I think I need to change my approach a little bit. I've been trying to get people to indiviually talk, but they are so nervous about talking. Pray that God will give me some new ideas for the class.

---Just browsing through some old post, I see that I asked you guys to pray for safe travel from the States to Kinmen. Thanks for your prayers! Our team was the only one that didn't have somebody not make the flight from Seatle to Taiwan. None of our luggage was lost. And on top of that, our lugagge was the first off the plane in Kinmen...how cool is that? It was a very good trip (or at least as a trip of 34 hours can be...)

Dude, I love my team. The other night Ginger, Rebekah, Lucas and me stayed up in the common room for about two hours after the kids had gone to bed just talking. What a hoot!

Somebody asked what religion Douglas was before getting saved...I'm exactly certain, but I'm pretty sure that he did not hold any particular religious beliefs. As a matter of fact, most of those in his generation are much the same. The ancestor worship and serious devotion to religion is seen more in the older generations. I hardly ever see anybody under the age of 30 burning the paper money or at the temples.

BTW, for those of you waiting for an update on the jjf blogger...I honestly, truly, 實在, really do intend to update it soon! Please be patient! I'm just not going to do it now, because it's 3 in the morning and I need to get to bed.

2005-09-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off writing this update for a couple days because I haven't been all that sure how to say what I want to. I figured, hey, it's the biggest news this blogger has ever seen, I want to make sure I put it right, correct? Well, I've been thinking about it for about five days and it still seems the best way to say it is

DOUGLAS HAS TRUSTED CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our whole team has been doing back flips for the past several days. Douglas has been our number one prayer request for months.

Ok, here's a quick summery of how it all happened. Douglas first started coming to Bible study at the start of last semester (just when I arrived here in Kinmen) to practice his English. Soon he started coming over to the dorm on Sunday afternoons to visit, play guitar, sing, or whatever. We normally had a fair number of high schoolers over on Sunday afternoon. About halfway through the semester he started showing more and more of an interest in spiritual things. When Dad was here (in April) he told Douglas that he should read some in his Bible some everyday. Douglas took it very seriously and has been reading every day since then. Towards the end of the semester Douglas was hanging out with us more and more. He made plans to spend the summer at Andrew and Lucas' house. When summer camps started he hung around and helped out (and what a great help he was! His English is way better than our TA's!) One week into summer camps his Dad threw a birthday party for him. As is tradition, he made three wishes before blowing out the cake. Normally the third is kept a secret...but he said he wanted to tell us, because he knew that we would want to know. "I know that the Amarica's are Christian's and I hope that one day I can be a Christian too."

Over the summer he asked a lot of questions. He talked to Lucas, Andrew, Meagan, Christine and Joel. Andrew told me several times that he didn't know what was stopping him.

After we got back to Kinmen Douglas spent a lot of time hanging out at the dorm before he left the island to go to college. The night before he left Lucas asked if it would be ok if we prayed over him. We layed hands on him and Andrew prayed that Douglas would become a Christian.

Last thursday he called Rebekah. He told her that he was a Christian and had been since a few days after his birthday, but had not really been sure about it and was afraid to tell anybody. Rebekah asked him a lot of questions about it: was there a certain time he had asked God to forgive his sins? Did he believe that Christ had cleased him? Yes he said.

Since then he has openly to declared his faith. When you see him on MSN his username says "Douglas--I am a Christian". He's going to a church in Taipie. And he's really excited about praying for us and our ministry here in Kinmen. And he's started witnessing to his friends (pray for his (and our!) friend Aluba!)

Ok, so maybe that wasn't such a short summery, but it's basically what's happened.

Here's a couple quick requests:

---Pray for me working with Kiwi, a teacher who I teach 10 (out of 20) classes with every week. This guy has no control whatsoever over his classes. They are totally nuts. If thay are as nuts tomorrow as they where last week I'm going to have to talk to him about it. Pray things go well.

---Pray for a kid named Joe, who's mother is teaching in one of the Jr. high's here. He hardly speaks any Chinese and they've put him in school here. He basically just roams the school as he wants. When I'm there he hangs out in the English classroom ('cause I'm one of the very few people at the school he can talk to) and does nothing. And it's amazing how distracting "nothing" can be to the other students! So Thursday I started him on bu pu mu phu (he's supposed to be learning Chinese right? Never thought I'd find myself teaching Chinese, but if nobody else is going to teach him anything, I might as well). Tomorrow I'm going to have him do some reading and essey writing. I figure it will be Chinese Thursdays and English on Tuesdays (I go to the school twice a week). At any rate, pray that he keeps a good attitude, isn't a distraction in class and doesn't get on my nerves too much (ever gotten half a week worth of talking to in the space of about 6 hours?)

---Wednesday starts my new English conversation class. I can't wait for it. Also pray for my Monday night conversation class. Tonight we taught them "God is so good" and explained a little bit of what the words mean.

---Pray for Jimmy and Jerry, two new kids here at the dorm. They have been asking Rebekah and I a lot of questions about Christianity.

---I am seriously missing Jr. high. And I don't really like teaching elem. Pray that God will help me be content.

Alright, it's 1 in the morning and I still need to take a shower...so I'd better close this. Bye! God bless you guys!
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2005-09-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! I'm back in Kinmen! Wow! I'm so happy to be back "home"...I love this island!

We start school on Monday. I'm teaching at three schools and with six teachers. I've met four of the teachers. One has good English and the other three have English ranging from poor to fair. I'm glad I know a little bit of Chinese now, 'cause I had real trouble last semester working with my teachers who had bad English.

---Pray for our team as we rest up from the trip and get ready to teach.

---Pray for Lucas...he is the new leader over all three teams (Andrew is still the Kinmen team leader).

---Pray for me as I try to figure out elementarty school. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Talk to you guys later!

2005-08-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, this summer has been awesome. Spending time with my family and friends has bee great. But I'm getting really Kinmen sick. I can't wait to get back and start back to work. I'm really excited about my High School Conversation class and I'm going to be starting a new one for some of my 9th (now 10th) graders on an invitation basis.

Hey, I got my brown belt on Monday! Wow! That was cool.

Ok, here' some prayer request:

---Pray for the people of Kinmen right now, as it is Ghost month and there is a lot of fear a spirit worship going on right now.

---Pray that we have no problems with the airlines or weather getting back to Kinmen.

---Pray for the Kinmen Team: Andrew, Lucas, Meagan, Rebekah, Ginger and myself. Pray that we will be able to hit the ground running this semester.

---Pray for BonnieJean, as she is starting college (doing very well at it) and feeling rather home sick for Kinmen.

---Pray that I can get these million and one things done before I leave in 9 days!

2005-07-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hey, yup, it's been forever. And I don't feel guilty about it. Because the internet at the dorm has been down forever and I hate sitting in the smoke at the internet cafe. Sometimes I have to leave without even finishing checking my email because of the smoke. I can't stand it.

At any rate, keep praying for Douglass. He is really, really close. Pray for BJ as she gets ready for college starting next month. Pray for Kuyu who is with us for a few more days and then goes back to Kinmen. Pray that I will redeam the little bit of time I have here with my family. Pray for my foot to heal, because I ripped a big peice of skin off it two days ago.

Love you guys, bye!

2005-07-13T02:14:00.000-07:00

Yes, no updates for a long time. Because no internet at the dorm for a long time. Very annoying. But...big big big time prayer request. Last Monday night Douglas, one of our high school friends, had a birthday party. As is tradition over here, he made three wishes. His third one was that he could become a Christian some day. We've been praying for and witnessing to him for a long time now and he's really close to trusting Jesus: please pray!

Also, cool news. Remember when I asked you guys to pray for the TA's who were helping us during winter camps? Turns out one of them was saved two months ago! He' in Kinmen now helping with camps: in fact he is my TA. It's so cool to see him up early every morning reading his Bible. He's really on fire. Your prayers really do make a difference!

2005-06-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I deserve to be drug out and shot for not updating for so long. I'm really sorry that I've totally abandoned this blog.

Thing, of course, have been happening at a break neck pace in spite of the absence of updates. Next Wednesday will be the last day that our team will be together. Shawn and Meagan are going to Nantou for camps, Christine to Koushiung (did I spell that right?) and Ginger is going home. Shawn and Christine and BJ will not be here next school year. I'm amazed at how fast this semester has gone by. Strange as it may seem, I feel like I don't have that much time left here. If one semester went by so fast, that means I've only got two more left (which will probably go by faster!)

---Pray for my 9th graders. They graduated last week and will be going to either the high school (top 40%) or the technical school (lower (you guessed it) 60%). I really hate to see them go, 'cause not matter what I teach next semster I won't have them.

---We are right not in the middle of talking to King Car about next school year. We have proposed that one extra person be sent to Kinmen and that several of the elem. schools who don't use their Amarican teachers very much be dropped in favor of some of the Jr. highs which use us a lot. Please pray that Sandy will listen and consider our ideas.

---Pray for a girl named Vicky. She's a ninth grader in Small Kinmen who has really taken to BJ. She doesn't speak much English at all, but BJ's Chinese is good enough that they can talk to each other quite well. Pray that Bonnie will be able to minister to her.

---Kuyu, another ninth grader, will be coming home with us for a month this summer. I am totally pumped about it! Pray that everybody works smoothly with him buying his tickets and everything.

---Pray for a girl named Grace who has started coming to English Bible Study.

---Pray for Susan, one of the dorm girls. She has been hanging out with us a LOT lately and her mother wants her to come with us to Bible Study. She came last Sunday and heard the whole Gospel explained.

---The conversation class for high schoolers has been going real well. I've only got one more class with them before we break until next semester: pray it goes well and that they do come back next semester.

---Keep praying for my Chinese. I can tell you guys are praying. Two weeks ago I was able to hang out with a couple of my ninth graders who speak basically no English. We actually were able to talk quite a bit in Chinese! It was cool!

Thanks so much for being faithful prayer warriors even when I'm not faithful to update!

2005-05-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

This one is going to be kinda short, because I've got a million things to do tonight.

---Pray for the Sunday school class that I teach on Sunday mornings. This kids know basically nothing about God, so I've been using Old Testement stories to show them something of God's character. Pray that God will bless my efforts. Also thank God for my wonderful translator Nancy: her English isn't the best, but she's awesome!

---We've got four guys from the teams in Taiwan staying the weekend here. We're having a hoot. Pray for safe travel for them tomorrow.

---Pray for Pink Pig. She's a ninth grader who is headed for trouble. Lately she's been skipping classes, since she knows she won't be able to graduate anyway.

---Pray for class 806...they are a handful. I really have trouble teaching them.

---Pray for Davis, one of BJ's ninth graders. An interesting situation is going on. Just pray that everything works out.

---My ninth graders have their huge test this coming Saturday and Sunday. Pray they do well!

---Keep Big Angel in your prayers (see previous post).

---Thank God for overcoming the enemy for us!

2005-05-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

---What do you do when God places a burden on your heart for someone and first they refuse to talk or have anything to do with you and then they move away? I guess the only thing you can do is pray. Big Angel left yesterday for Taiwan to live with her Dad. In a way this may be an answer to prayer, since she has gotten into smoking and drinking here in Kinmen and she's been having a bad affect on some of the other kids here. But I really hated to see her go. I'd been praying that she would quit hating me and I could be her friend again, but I guess that's not going to happen.

---It's like a horrible, unhalting sickness, slowly overtaking all of our friends. Some seem to get better after a while, while others are sucked in, until they change into something you don't even recongnize. It's a horrible spiritual darkness. You can see it coming, and sometimes you feel so helpless. Last week BJ told us that she saw "It" in Leon's eyes. There was no need to explain It: we all know It too well. First their eyes change. They just look hard and cruel. Soon the smile is totally unseen. They act guilty when you around. Then It happens. Literally overnight, your dear friend is gone and in her shell is a cold, hateful, miserible person. You feel like screeming "Who are you? What have you done with my friend?" Seeing It in someones eyes is one of the most horrible things you can see. And it seems to be just a matter of time before It happens to all of our friends. Big Angel, Kelly, Allen, Leon, Gilly...and a bunch more who's names I don't even know. I feel so helpless.

---If this post seems kinda depressed, that's 'cause it is. I've been feeling really depressed this past week and a half. Our team has been under some real intense spiritual attack, and we've all felt a spirit of depression and exhaustion. Guys, please lift us all up. Drew said he feels like right now is one of the most critital times for our team. And in the past few weeks we've had more chances to share with people than ever before. Please, please lift us up. I don't know what is about to happen, but it's something big.

---But not everything is depressing. After lunch I was reading Exra 10 and I found this verse :1 "Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore. 2 And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God..." Ezra did not have to worry about "doing something" to make the people see their sin: his only job was to keep his relationship with God growing and follow his direction and God brought the "very great congregation" ready to repent.

---I love Newsboys worship music. Shawn's got a couple of their CD's on his computer and I've come to really love them. Right now I'm listening to "Father, Blessed Father". Thank God for refreshing music!

2005-05-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't been updating like I should have been. The basic reason is that recently I haven't been faithful in my own walk with the Lord. And it's hard to get excited about posting prayer request when you haven't been praying yourself. Thank you for your prayers in spite of my unfaithfulness. Please keep me in your prayers as I seek God.

The past two days our team has had a huge number of chances to share the Good News. And today we have come under very heavy spiritual attack. The church in particular seemed to be under attack: at one point in Bible study I had to leave the church grounds, I was simply getting so depressed. There is an old lady at church who is not simply crazy: I'm pretty sure she is demon possessed. Today she was screaming at Christine and Pastor Samuel after service: no human voice could have made the noises she was making. It sounded like an enraged, tortured, wild animal. Today I tried talking to Sandy (our boss from King Car) about a couple issues and felt like there was a physical wall between us as I tried to talk to her. Last night Andrew talked to BJ, Shawn, Ginger and I and...well...it was kinda depressing, esp. after what had just happened the night before.

---Last night BJ and I went out with Lena to talk about Christianity. It went very well. She listened to everything we had to say and seemed to understand and be thinking seriously about it. Please pray for this dear girl's soul.

---A few weeks ago one of the land mines on one of the beaches here blew up, killing two mine sweepers and badly hurting a third. So pray for the mine sweepers and their safety. Last night we saw Jimmy (the mine sweeping boss) at the restaurant with the guy who had come to investigate the accident. I asked Jimmy how the hurt fellow was doing: Jimmy didn't say anything, but the other fellow gave me a look that said "Don't you dare disagree with me" and said very matter-of-factly "Nobody was hurt. Two people died." Which was an out-right lie: Jimmy himself had told us that one of the fellows had been hurt. Please pray for Jimmy and that he'll get to stay on the island: our team has been developing a relationship with him and I've been hoping we could get to know him better.

---Friday night Kuyu and Sarah came over to learn a little karate. The end result was that we had almost all of the dorm kids outside either sparring or kicking the bag. It was a hoot. It was also a big praise: I had tried talking to Sarah before and had felt like I'd run into a brick wall. Friday both she and Susan (one of the dorm kids) really opened up to me. It was very cool.

---Also Friday night I got my nose broke. Ginger was wearing shoes and landed a beautiful roundhouse to the bridge of my nose and we all heard a very loud *CRACK* BJ said that it looked crooked, so I tried straightening it out a bit (ouch!) and now she says it's only a little bit off center. It's swollen and pretty tender right now. Tomorrow Joy is going to take me so San-Why to have an X-ray taken.

---我是金門人 Whoa(3) Si(4) Jee(1) Mun(2) Run(2). I am a Kinmen person! That's not actually a prayer request, but I wanted to show off the fact that I can write a little bit in Chinese! (And yes, I wrote that myself: I did not copy it!) I have come to the conclussion that the only way to learn a laungage is by living in it. I don't remember a word of Spanish that I studied. I don't think I could have gotten as far as I've gotten in three months here in Taiwan if I studied for a year in the States.

---One final, big request. King Car is telling us that we cannot go home over winter vacation. I was really looking forward to going home and seeing everybody during that time. Please pray that they will change their minds.

Thanks you guys! Love you!

2005-04-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, whoa and wow again. God has been at work. Both in the big and small he has shown himself strong.

---A few nights ago one of our friends was online and told us that his sister, who had been very depressed lately and talking about suicide, was missing. We all got together in the living room and had an earnest prayer time. Then he got back online and told us that his sister was home again! Keep that whole family in your prayers please.

---Last night I stayed up until about 1 talking to one of our high school friends about spiritual things. The end result is that she and I and BJ will be going out to eat sometime so we can talk about Christianity! WOW! Please pray that God will soften this dear girl's heart.

---It's so cool when God gives you little ideas and promptings that make things so much better. Just about half an hour ago one of my students had a horrible attitude. He wouldn't talk, even when I called on him and stood in front of his desk, waiting. So I asked him how old he was. He said 15. I said "Really? You are acting like a two year old." He thought about it for a minute and then said the word!

---I love my team. Drew, Lucas, Meagan, Christine, Ginger, Rebekah, Shawn, BJ...they're so awesome! (Ok, that's not exactly a prayer request: if you have a problem with that, you can just deal with it!)

---I can tell you guys have been praying for my Chinese. It's improving a lot! Keep praying!

---Pray for our upcoming teachers conference. Everything is being changed on us.

2005-04-19T07:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's late again. And once again, it's not my fault. Our internet is really driving me nuts. And I was in Taipei and away from internet all weekend.

---Our new serviceman is here! Ahhh!!!!!! His name is Terry. He seems cool. His english is good, but not as good as James. Pray that he will fit into the team well and feel at home.

---Dad made it home safely. Praise God!

---I didn't loose my temper at the retreat...although I got really close a few times. Shawn and I are going back to Taipei later this semester...maybe next month.

---Pray for Andy, one of our kids from the problem Jr high kids class. He's been skipping school for several weeks and I caught him smoking last night and had to take it away from him.

---Pray for Dougless. He's one of our Sr. high school friends. He's been talking to Bekah a lot about spiritual things and is really close to trusting Christ.

---Keep praying for James. He's leaving on Monday. I don't know what we'll do without him!

---I've got a Chinese test tomorrow afternoon. Pray it goes well!

---BJ is feeling under the weather.

---I had to get in a big fight with one of my students today. He wanted to sleep, and I didn't let him....I just about had to take away his chair and make him stand up! Pray that his attitude will be better next week and that he doesn't try to physically fight with me.

I love all you guys and miss you horribly! I can't wait to come back this summer and see most of you. To those who I owe emails (Larry, Jay, Jason, Bruce...the list goes on and on) please forgive. I'm so extremely busy right now, I simply haven't been able to do it. I'll try to get back to you guys soon!

2005-04-09T23:29:00.000-07:00

A day late and a dollar short....

...however, that's only about three cents short, since I'm using NT dollars!

---Tuesday we had Tim come over for pizza and games. Tim is a teacher at the college and the leader of our English Bible study at church. He's just recently come to Kinmen from the States. We've been having some...issues...with him. We talked some Tuesday night, and although I think we made progress, I'm still pretty worried about a couple things. Just pray that the situation works out.

---After Tim left, me and BJ and Ginger went for a walk and ranted. It felt very good. After we finished ranting we prayed for our Wednesday classes. We each had one very specific request...and within twelve hours each one was answered! It was sooooo cool!

---We're going to be going to Taiwan this weekend for a "retreat". Since when do you have to prepare two and a half hours of devotion material for a retreat? And since when are you allowed only 6 hours of free time over three days at a "retreat"? Pray I don't loose my temper with these IBLP people!

---Tomorrow we are getting our new service man! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I'm really nervous! Pray we get the right guy.

Got to go now! We're going to go hiking in about 20 minutes and I need to go change clothes.

---PS Pray for a girl named Anita. She's a real sweet heart and her whole class and her parents pick on her because of her bad grades.

2005-04-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Good morning! Dad is here! Whoa-who! He got here yesterday around noon. He was supposed to get here at 8 am, but the fog shut the airport down and he had all sorts of interesting things happen by the time he finally got on a plane to Kinmen.

I'm so hyped-up I really have no idea what to write. I normally start thinking about what I will post on Wednesday, but this week the first time I've given this blog any thought is today! So here's a quick list (and probably an incomplete list).

---Pray that Dad will be full on energy. We've got a million things we want to do, and I'd hate for him not to be able to do it because he's having jet lag.

---Also pray for Dad as he goes to class with us. He's going to be talking about his work with hydro-power. Pray he can present it in a way they will understand and enjoy.

---Dad's been handing out a lot of tracks. Pray for the seeds that are being planted.

---Pray for our English Bible study. The teacher, Tim, is a totally awesome dude, but we are having a couple issue that we're trying to get worked out. We'll be meeting together on Tuesday: pray that it goes well and we have good fellowship.

---Keep praying for my Chinese. I'm starting to understand a lot more and have recently taken up the hobby of bargining. I'm still learning, but I was able to get 16% off of an unbrella for Dad today...all in Chinese!

BTW, Josiah did email me, so you can stop hitting him. Although if you want to, I have no problem with you hitting him some more...I'm sure he deserves it.

2005-03-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know this is late. But it's actually not my fault this time! Blogger was acting strange and I couldn't manage to post.

---Pray for Kelly. Kelly is one of the students in our Tuesday night class. She's a really sweet girl and I love working with her. But for the last few weeks she's been acting very different. BJ saw her hanging out with some guys who didn't look to be model citizen's and Kelly tried to hide from her. She acts really guilty around us: even to the point of jumping if you even make a motion in her direction, like she's afraid we're going to hit her. I don't know what's going on with her, but I really feel the need to pray. If she's still acting wierd this Tuesday I'm going to try talking to her about it.

---Alen is another student in our Tuesday class. He has a really bad attitude. But it used to be that he would work with me. Now he won't even look at me. I don't know why. Last Wednesday he wasn't in class (I also teach him during his day-time class) and then at lunch he showed up. He wouldn't tell me or the teacher what had happened, but his hand was bloodied: it looked like he'd been fighting.

---A praise! Pink Pig is one of my students who had a REALLY bad attitude and totally refused to learn anything. Last Wednesday I actually got her to say a few things in class and (get this!) she even smiled at me! Ok, that sounds a little bit dumb...but if you knew Pink Pig and if you were teaching 905, you would realize that having Pink Pig smile at you is a big deal.

---Please, please, please keep praying that we get enough people for next year!

---Bekah's foot is still giving her a lot of trouble. Pray that God will heal her.

---Pray for Dad as he comes over here. He'll be getting to Kinmen on Friday! WOW!!!

Major request

2005-03-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

I really, really need y'all to pray for this! If we can have five or six more people sign up for next school year, we will get to keep Jr. High here on Kinmen. I know it may not seem like that big a deal, but I really, really feel like I should be in Jr. High. So please, please pray that God will supply the teachers!

Also, consider coming yourself. I talked to Ben (our leader here in Taiwan) and he said he it is open to ex-ATI'ers and even non-ATI'ers could apply and he would consider them. The ministry opportunities over here are really awesome. The cost is very minimal: KingCar will pay for your plane tickets. The schools will house you and feed you when you are teaching. They will also pay you a small amount per class (for me it's about US$9 per class). It's a great chance to experiance another culture first hand: you get to actually know the culture, rather than spending ten days looking at sights or something like that (like on a typical "cultural experiance" thing). And if we get enough people to sign up, then there's a chance you could be on Kinmen with me (not sure if that's a plus or a minus...) They do ask that you take a three week Teaching English course, but I wasn't able to, and so they let me just do some volunteering at an ESL class instead. It was only like three hours a week.

So would you prayerfully consider coming over here?

2005-03-19T00:06:00.000-08:00

Hey there. Lots of cool things are happening.

---Gingers parents are here in Kinmen, and will be leaving on Monday evening. Pray they will enjoy the rest of their time here and have a safe trip home.

---Really cool news! I had a LONG conversation with James a few nights ago. I was feeling kinda sick and needed to do lesson planning, yet I felt like it was really important to stay and visit with him. God worked it out where I was able to explain the entire plan of salvation and talk to him about alot of his thoughts on spiritual things. Guys, I know I've asked this several times before, but I'm going to ask again. Really, really lift James up. He knows everything he needs to know: pray that he will feel God tugging on his heart.

---Last night BJ, Shawn and I stayed up until 2 o'clock talking about the spiritual condition of this place. It was very interesting: BJ has such a better feel for it, having been here a year (and me only six weeks!) Apparently the Jr. High campus here is famous for being haunted, in particular the gym right next to us (the whole island is supposed to be haunted, because of all the people that died during the Chinese bombing, but apparently this place is extra haunted). Anyway, it seems there actually is a spirit (or spirit's) who has taken up residence around here. At any rate, it's a little scary to think of the kids around here without the power of Jesus to protect them, so we spent some time praying for them.

---This past week I've come a lot closer to God. But I've also come under a lot more attack. Pray that I will be strong to overcome, through the blood of the Lamb.

---I'm feeling awesome right now. I just feel like standing on Mt. Ti-you (sp?) and yelling "GOD IS AWESOME!!" So why not just take a few minutes to praise him for who he is?

---If we can get about 6 or 7 more people to sign up to come serve next school year, then we get to keep Jr. High! WOW! Please, please pray we get those people!

I love all of you guys so much! Hey, every time any of you sees Josiah, ask him if he has emailed me yet. If he says no, hit him. HARD! Ok?

2005-03-10T17:03:00.000-08:00

Well, good morning! Yes, I know I didn't update last week. That's part me being lazy and part the stupid internet at the dorm (sometimes it's really fast and good, sometimes it doesn't work at all). So I kinda, sorta have an excuse. :)

---Pray for a fellow named Chris. He's one of the servicemen who lives across the street. He's a super awesome guy who likes to hang out with us a lot and he's always working on his English. At any rate I've been feeling a real burden for his soul and I hope to try to talk to him soon. Pray for that too: I don't know how much I'll be able to get across with his limited English.

---Pray for class 905, that I teach on Wednesday morning. There are 4 problem kids in there. One is Jerry (some of you may have heard of all the trouble he gave BJ last semester). Actually he's not much problem in class, but he can be a problem after class, when I'm trying to visit with the other kids (what with him swearing and making crude gestures). His friend Joe is also in the class and can be trouble during the breaks as well. Allan is another problem kid: he will not pay attention during lesson. He's actually in our Jr. High dropout class, but he never shows up on time and always has a bad attitude. Pink Pig is probably the one who gives me the most trouble in class. She won't do anything. I kick her chair, I make her stand up, I've tried everything. She won't even look at me.

---We are almost totally well now! Praise God!

---Tomorrow is BJ's birthday, so why not make it pray for BJ day? Pray she'll have energy, creativity, wisdom, and the right words to speak.

---Bekah is having some sort of problem with her foot and it's getting really painful. Pray it will heal.

---I have ten days to decide if I'm going to stay for another year or not. They have told us that there will be no Jr. high next year. So if they change their mind, I'm staying. If not, I'm going home. Pray that we get some final word soon!

Thanks so much for your prayers guys! You are the bestist!

2005-02-25T17:57:00.000-08:00

Well, hello there. Awesome things are happening. Check out my blogger to see what God did on Monday and Tuesday (read: I am too lazy to write it again).

Shawn, my roommate, had been sick for a while. So when BonnieJean and I are walking to school on Wednesday morning and I'm not feeling good, it isn't a good sign. So I asked BJ to pray for me and I also went into our "office" and prayed. Everything went great. I felt fine. And I know it was God sustaining me, because five minutes after my last class, I started to feel horrible. I missed Chinese class that afternoon and felt bad all night. Then Thursday morning I got with Bonnie and prayed again (hey, it worked last time!) and went off to school. Once again, I did fine! Praise God! I'm feeling somewhat better now.

---Pray for our teams health. We majorly need it. Bekah had a fever of 103 on Thursday. Shawn can't seem to get over it. BJ is kinda sick. James is kinda sick. I'm getting better but still have no energy.

---Pray for the church here. Our pastor, Samuel (what a cool name!) and his wife Joy are awesome people. Some of the elders are very cool too. But they've certainly got their work cut out for them. Some people say there are probably only 60 Christian's on the island...and there's 50,000 people on the island! I was walking to church Sunday morning and walked by one of the temples. One man was burning incense while another banged a gong and people from all over came with "paper money" to burn and send to their dead relations. It broke my heart to see all these precious people in bondage. Pray that God will help the church to bring revival to Kinmen.

---Keep praying for James!

---Exciting news! Dad is coming for two weeks in early April! WOO-WHOO! Pray that all his travel would go smoothly and he would know what to pack. We are very much looking forward to seeing him! Last night at a small group meeting I told the church that Dad was coming and that he had been praying for the church for a year now and was really looking forward to meeting them. They're pretty excited too.

2005-02-18T04:16:00.000-08:00

---Ok, BonnieJean, Drew and Megan have gone to Hong Kong for the weekend to renew their visas. Pray that everything will go well for them and they will have a restful time.

---I start teaching Jr. High on Monday. Pray that everything goes well.

Sorry this is such a short update, but my brain is like totally dead and I can't think of a single thing more to write. Maybe it has something to do with the rain for the last two days.

---Edit---

DUH! I can't beleive I forgot these two things! I must have really been out of it when I wrote this yesterday.

---Keep James in your prayers. Bek and Lucus had a long talk with him the other night and they said he is really close to salvation.

---One of the schools here has asked me to teach diabolo to their kids. I'm not sure exactly all that that would entail, but it seems like a really cool idea.

2005-02-12T05:12:00.000-08:00

Hi there! yes, I know this update is a little late: so sorry!

Wow, some awesome things are going on. God has really been showing me how faithful he is. Isn't it strange how you can know something (like, "God is faithful") and yet still be supprised to see evidence of it? I've always known that God is faithful, but here it seems that every time I turn around, I see more evidence of it looking me in the face and it's always so cool to see.

I'm sorry the last couple updates haven't been very informative. I was kinda rushed and didn't take the time I really should have.

Ok, here's updates on a couple previous prayer request.

---The talk with Sherry went very well. I think I was able to plant some ideas in her head that might blossem later. I asked her what religion she followed and she said "My family is Buddist." I replied, "No, not your family. You. What religion are you?" She was very taken aback by that question: it seemed she had never that about it that way. At any rate, I was able to explain how, while she may be a good person, God is totally perfect and he cannot be with even a little bit of sin. She seemed to understand. We talked a little bit about forgivness, and then her phone rang. The cool thing that I've got a real peace about that. I had y'all and several people there at camp praying over our conversation and I just knew that it was not Satan interfering. Keep praying for Sherry.

---Everybody is well now! God answers prayer!

---God gave me lots of creativity. My second camp was totally awesome and we did all sorts of cool stuff with them. Got to work on some really cool vocab. words.

---I did make it here without any problems!

---It turns out I only had one day to figure out what I was doing after arriving...but God gave me energry and ideas anyway. Which is cool.

Ok, here's this weeks request.

---Language, language, and language. I didn't really realize what I was getting into coming over here not knowing a single word of Chinese. I'm learning some, and I've got lots of people who can translate, but I really, really want to get a handle on the language while I'm surrounded by it.

---BonnieJean and I will be teaching Sunday school tomorrow morning. Pray for ideas and God's direction.

---We start school on Monday...kinda. I won't actually meet my classes until next week.

By the way, I love comments! Leave your remarks!

Josiah, dude, you rock! Thanks so much for your prayers! Hey, email me sometime! Let me know what your up to!

2005-02-04T01:46:00.000-08:00

Wow. Camp is over. I can't believe it. I'm flying to Kinmen tomorrow morning. This will be a short update, because we're going to dinner soon.

---We presented the Gospel twice today. Pray for the kids and TA's who heard it.

---BJ and everybody at home is sick. Pray they get better.

---Pray that I will keep my focus on God. It's very easy to get distracted.

2005-01-28T02:41:00.000-08:00

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!

2005-01-21T13:23:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-01-14T21:31:00.000-08:00

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! :)

2005-01-07T05:30:00.000-08:00

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!

2004-12-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hello, and welcome to the first post on my new prayer blog! The purpose of this blog is to build up an army of prayer warriors who will lift me up as I minister in Taiwan. I am planning on posting requests once weekly (not sure what day of the week yet: for now we'll assume Sunday). I'm asking y'all to please take time in your devotions to bring these requests before the Father and ask Him to work His will in each situation. I have seen the power of having a strong stateside prayer team, and I really think that the success of my ministry will have a lot to do with y'all.

Anyway, here's this week's requests!

---I'm starting to get nervous about my visa application. As far as I know, the International Dept. at IBLP hasn't even sent it off yet. I don't know how long these things normally take, but I would feel better knowing that we've got some time to work with. Scenes from The Terminal keep flashing through my head...

---King Car still hasn't figured out what's going to happen next semester on Kinmen. They're thinking they will put three teachers in Jr. High and because of the way things are working out, we're really praying that I'm one of them.

---I had part of my toenail removed Wednesday afternoon. I know this isn't really related to going to Taiwan, but I will be fighting at the black belt testing next Saturday (no I'm not testing for black, just helping) and I really would like for it to be healed enough by then for me to kick!

---I really need to figure out what to do with my car. Pray that God would arrange something!

---Pray that God would go before me and prepare the hearts of the people I will be working with. Pray that they will be open to the Gospel.

---Pray that God would keep my heart in the right place and my focus on Him.