2010 Taiwan Short-term Mission 台灣短宣 (Summer Aug 7-21)

During two-week long mission in Taiwan, team members take turn to email us their sharing, stories and prayer requests. You can click the link to go to particular day or click on a member's name to read his/her sharing.

(Click here for the slideshow.)

------------------ Week One ------------------
(mouse over the picture to find out who they are)

------------------ Scott & Peter on Day #1 ------------------

Hi Everyone,

We finally arrived in Guoguo after a long car trip. We left Taipei this morning at around 10:20am and did not get to Guogou until a little past 4pm. After getting here, we settle in and went to the night market in Guogou to have dinner. The night market is held in the courtyard of a temple and today, there was an annual celebration of a torch related festival in the temple. It was odd to see people marching, drumming and carrying an idol figure. Apparently, all of the local idols were taking part in the festival as groups after groups of people came into the template area. It was a depressing sight to see how many people here do not know the true God. It reminded me of the Taiwan mission in 2001 when we saw something similar at Chusan. After dinner, we had a meeting together with the coworkers here where we did some worship and pray for each other. In addition to the adults, this year, they also have representatives from their high school and junior school joined.

When we arrived at Guogou, it just so happen that they were having their youth group time. This is the first time that we have a chance to actually see their youth group. I was definitely encouraged to see the work that the coworkers here are doing with the youth group. There were about 20 youths here. They worshipped (with one the youths leading the others in worship), pray out loud about their requests (a bit surprising but in a good way as I was told by others previously in Taiwan that praying out loud was not something that was done, at least in their church), and continuing with their study through the book of Acts.
From past experiences, I thought it would be a good for all of us to meet, particularly since this year, we have a number of people whom we have not met before. Yesterday, we got a chance to meet up with the other team members. We had dinner together and hang out getting to know each other a bit more.

As we start the mission trip, please pray for the following.
- Energy: With the hot weather, long days, and jet lag, I'm sure we will need all the energy we can.
- Focus: Since most of the team are youths, it is easy to lose focus. We are here to share about Jesus and may we not be distracted from this purpose.
- Weather: Hopefully, the weather will be good for the two weeks that we are here and not affect us too much.
- Teamwork: With the new team members from Taiwan, pray that we will be able to gel quickly and work as a team.

Scott & Peter

today is sunday. we haven't yet served, but also haven't exactly been lazing around . you could say that today is the zero-th day of the mission trip. this morning, we started off with a nice early walk down the street to eat breakfast at a local restaurant, and then joined the 9:30am service here at 過溝基督教會. we actually arrived the day before (saturday) in the evening, and had a little bit of time to relax and introduce ourselves to the coworkers at the gospel center (where we're staying) .

as for the situation with the team members, this first week, we will actually have two additional members from taiwan, whose english names are allen and siraya . next week they'll have to leave, but we'll be getting five additional people from taiwan - grace, who joined the team last year, judith, betty, jamie and ariel . and then there's sam pan .

i guess i'm bad at talking to high school girls or something, but i didn't really get to know much about judith, jamie or ariel, even though we as a team met up with them for dinner two days before (friday), and i don't even know who betty is . oh well, i'll probably find out soon enough, God willing . however, i did get to talk to grace a bit over breakfast with isaac and his aunt lauren yesterday (saturday) before we left in the morning.

back to today (sunday), the church here has their service in taiwanese . so it was a highly educational and humbling service to attend . in the afternoon we began the final pre-preparations of song practice . then we had dinner, and finalized some lesson plan-ing, bringing us to this sharing writing.

pray: for the love of God ! no really . for the love of God, pray.

here's something totally random . so isaac bought a domo-kun, and when you make it stand up, it looks like it's morbidly obese . pictures will be on facebook . it'll be an epic . in four pictures . yes .

that's the short-short of it . well, i guess it's not so short anymore.

Hey guys! Today was the first day of mission and it was pretty dang fun. I skipped breakfast in exchange for sleep, which is what I always do (don’t worry Mom, Dad) and we went to Elementary camp. I teach grades 3-4 and they were active, but not as active as I have remembered. There are about 20 kids in the class and Irvin, Peter, and I are the teachers. I think overall, the elementary camp was smooth and satisfactory. Afterwards, we ate some boxed lunch and head over to the JH nearby. My group has 6 people, Danny, Sam, Coco, Angela, Mary, and Henny. We interacted very well and we gelled quickly and efficiently. After the JH camp I was surprisingly tired. So please pray that we may have energy to supply us throughout the day. Keep us in your prayers, I’ll write a longer newsletter next time, I’m kind of sleepy right now… I miss you all SFCC.

– Zach

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Hi! This is Irvin, and I’m going to share about the very very first day of mission! Soooo… This morning, I woke up at 6:45 to go eat breakfast, but then I decided not to go eat breakfast, because Uncle Peter and Uncle Scott had Danishes to eat. In the morning, we started the Elementary school English camp at about 8:30. When we first got there, I was surprised to find that I was the most remembered person, and they remembered my name mostly,… if you count (OHH-BENN) as my name. I taught the 3rd and 4thgrade of about 20 people with Zachary and Uncle Peter. I’ve actually taught most of the children in my classes before because in the previous years of mission, I’ve taught the younger children. The day went by very smoothly and the kids was very kind and respectful, probably partly because both Zachary, Uncle Peter, and I have taught them before. After the morning class, we went to a Junior High camp that was very close by. I didn’t know anyone there, because I never got to in the Junior High camp the previous years. But I still got to know many people, and the class went very smoothly. We split into groups, and I got to know my five kids in my group well. However, by the end of Junior High camp at 4:30, and we were starting the afternoon camp at the Gospel center I was staying at, I felt like poop, and I started breaking apart, and I died, BUT it’s okay, because it was during the fifteen minute worship session, and there was only 6 people at our afternoon camp and I was sitting in the back, so I don’t think many people saw me dozing off and half-sleeping during worship. Then… I was revived after worship, and I was fine the rest of the day. And so, overall, the first day was intense, and I really hope I can get use to it, because I sweat a lot, and the camps took up a lot of my energy. So, for those who want to pray for me, I have two things you can pray for me. First, pray for me to have energy to interact with the kids, and not slack off and half-sleep during worship. Second, I’ve gotten a total of 13 mosquito bites now, and I think I might be a little bit allergic because the previous years, my mosquito bites got really really big. But I was prepared, and got this medicine for itchy allergic reactions towards mosquito bites, so they aren’t as bad, but they’re still annoying. I’ve wrote too much, so I’ll write some more later for you. Thanks for reading.

God bless you!

– Irvin Lien

Hey Isaac here! Over here in Taiwan, it’s pretty nice. We have sweltering heat that keeps us sweating pretty much all day and we get to hang with a bunch of kiddos, so yeah it’s all good. I have less than 10 bug bites (omg I know right?) and I also have gotten some good sleep lately! Anyways, today was day 2 of the camp. Based on my previous 4 years of experience, day 2 has usually always been a rough patch. Unlike the usually always peaceful day 1 where all the kids are shy; by day 2 the kids have all warmed up to us and that leads to some good and bad things. Good: We get to know them better and they are funner. Bad: They are “too” comfortable and get all uncontrollable and rowdy. Now there’s nothing really bad about that, but it can get pretty frustrating. Nothing really bad happened in my class, but I heard that in another class kids were getting in fights and hurling sand at each other. Sounds scary… I’m in the g1 and g2 class, which is the youngest. They’re all a bunch of nice sweet kids. They’re all cute and stuff. Some of them are extremely smart, but some others need a little extra help, so teaching them all equally is somewhat difficult, but I’ll manage. The kids made us play basketball with them today, and I sweated a ton, but not nearly as much as Eddie. I think he sweated at least a gallon.
In the afternoon, we had a lunch of a pork bento. Absolutely delicious; you don’t find those in America. We headed to our junior high camp, which was the highlight of my day. All of us youths + Mat each get a group to lead. My group is so boss. I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better group. We’re so tight it’s not even funny. First in command is me obviously. The kids revere me and listen intently to my every word. Next in command is my good friend name Jack. He’s 14 and has ridiculously good English for his level. He’s also kind of a class clown and he helps translate a lot of what I say. 3rd in command I’d say would be Penny. She is the niece of one of the ladies here at the gospel center, so her English is pretty decent and she is a good listener. Next is Shirley. She was super duper quiet on the first day, but because of my amazing leadership skills, she opened up and has been awesome. She has like the softest voice in the world but she helps me translate what Jack tells me if I don’t really understand. Then there is Kay and Mandy who just kind of laugh the whole time but they are a pleasure. Today a new kid came in named Colin. He’s on a wheelchair and I’m not sure if he is “Special” or not but I can tell he’s a swell guy. To make things short, I love my team and they love me even more. Enough said.
After the youth camp, we have a gathering type of thing at the gospel center. It’s so that we can teach them about God because we can’t do that at the junior high. Yesterday, I think 6 girls and a guy showed up. Today, I couldn’t count because there were SO MANYYY!!! It was awesome we had a great time and it was a major improvement from yesterday. Delicious.

I think the biggest difference from this year and last year is the mindset I’m coming into this mission with. Last year, I wasn’t really sure why I was going to mission and later figured it our during the experience. This year, I know exactly what I am here to do and I know what I want to achieve. I’ve noticed that this has reflected on my actions because I have been doing just a lot better in pretty much everything. I first noticed this when I realized I wasn’t afraid with talking with the children. That’s something that hasn’t really happened at all in the past 4 years, so that’s good. I’ve shared a bunch and now it’s time for me to go. Bye bye hi timmy hi Rebekah hi mom and dad have fun in Seattle.

Allen

[Eddie] Hello all SFCC members! Today was day three of our mission trip. For elementary camps it was definitely more chaotic that it was for the past two days. Isaac, Siraya, and I are all teaching the first and second grade classes. It was interesting to see the changes of each of the students. On day one, there was a new student that Isaac and I named Will. He was very shy because he had no friends and didn’t know anybody in the class. He wouldn’t even come into the class for the first 30-40 minutes. But today, he was playing around with a lot of the other kids and looked like he had a lot of fun. It was also interesting to see how fast the kids “warmed” up to me. In worship there are so many kids that want to sit around me and ask many questions. There is a particular kid named Matt that always follows me around and is very interested in my retainer. Some of the fifth graders came down to our class today and asked us to play basketball with them. Playing basketball in Taiwan is one of the biggest regrets I have ever done because it is super hot. After break was over, I was sweating so much that I couldn’t help teach English. Towards the end of class, we handed out three different types of foods; cranberries, sunflower seeds, and beef jerky. I was surprised how much the kids loved cranberries because it was a fruit, and many kids in America don’t like fruit. At our second session of worship there were many kids running around while we were singing. I disliked that, but I even more annoyed when the kids were laughing when Allen was doing the closing prayer.

For junior high, it is very interesting. I like my group very much, especially in the singing session because it seems as if we have the most energy then (and the fact that I love singing). Isaac and I decided to have a competition to see whose group could sing louder (the song being Let it Be). I think we won, but Scott thinks we tied. In my group I have four girls and three boys. The boys’ names are Tony, Joe, and Jerry. Because of the sitting placement, I am the most closest to Tony, and I feel like his English is probably the best out of the group. Joe loves to draw pictures, especially to describe what he is trying to tell me, since his English is not very good. Jerry didn’t come today, nor did he come for the first day because of a soccer game. For the boys, it is easy to interact with them because I can relate with them a lot better. For the girls, there is Ivy, Lily, Peggy, and Cindy. I guess I interact with Ivy the best since she is the girl that talks the most, but even then it’s not much. Today, I tried to interact with the girls more because I hadn’t done so well for the first two days. But it didn’t go very well since I was dead tired. My whole group ended up super silent because we were all energy drained. But after we came back from our break we had a little energy boost because Siraya was helping me a lot (like translating things and interacting with the girls). We finished a lot of our skit and the kids seemed to enjoy it. For the dramatic reading I trusted Tony to help the Joe since his English was what seemed to be the best. And Siraya was helping Lily and Ivy; so I decided to help Cindy and Peggy. Cindy’s English was pretty top notch, so I committed a lot of time to help Peggy understand and pronounce was she was saying.

For the gathering, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY KID CAME, or at least 5/6 because Cindy lives super far away from the gospel center. I’m not sure if it was me that convinced them, but I am definitely joyed about this. It was a magnificent improvement because on day one, there was only one person that came (Peggy). And on day two; Peggy, Tony, Ivy, Jerry, and Joe came. I am very gracious of this because Ivy told me some of them had cram school at 7 (our gathering ended at 6:30).

I’m a little confused on the reasoning of why some of my kids come though. On day one, there was only five kids total that came to the gospel center, and all five seemed to be the kids that usually come to gospel center anyway, except my kid; Peggy. So I’m confused on the reasoning why Peggy came to the gospel center on day one. I’m confused on why Tony came on day two, because he didn’t seem very comfortable at first because his friends didn’t show up until later at the gathering.

For now, I want to be able to interact with my junior high kids better because they seem like a good group of kids. I’m not really sure how to interact with them because of many different reasons. One being the language barrier, but it isn’t a big problem anymore since we have a white board to draw things that we don’t know how to say in English/Chinese. I definitely need help interacting with the girls in my group because I cannot relate to them very well. It’s hard to start a good conversation when no one is really sharing about themselves, and I’m not sure if they will be interested in my rambling. For the past two days, I have been using the singing session to my advantage because everyone has to sing, unlike group discussions where only some people talk. I also want to be able to have the energy last throughout the day. The first and second graders sometimes drive me nuts with their actions, making me waste my energy. And by the time I’m at junior high I’m out of energy. And then at the gathering, I’m even more out of energy. Anyways, so far mission has been a terrific experience. I love the interacting with the elementary kids, my group in junior high because they’re all really funny. I also love the challenges and games that are provided (like Isaac and I having a sing-off).I hope that we can do this again next year.

-Eddie Yang

Siraya Pai

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------------------ Zach, Judith, Allen & Scott on Day #6 ------------------

Hey guys. Today’s camp was a lot smoother than the previous one. The elementary kids were disciplined by the teachers so they were much more obedient and a tad calmer. Today we taught about winter and months. The kids played Pictionary and bingo with the vocabulary. During break, we played basketball with the kids and Eddie was messing around on the rim and severely bruised his neck on his way to a 6 foot fall. It was kind of scary. He fell six feet straight onto his back, but he didn’t lose consciousness, so thank God for that. His neck now has a huge mark across it and its kind of bleeding, so please pray for a quick recovery. Don’t worry; he’s alive and still going to camp every day. After elementary camp we went to the junior high and had a lot of fun making the skit with the kids. Judith and I made our skit (which we present on Friday) as a musical. We sing songs while we act and I call it High School Musical 4, although the kids aren’t in high school. Furthermore, the kids opened up some more and now interaction is a lot better. For the gathering, we played games and a lot of kids showed up even though they have a test tomorrow, so thank God that these kids are at the very least willing to listen to what we have to say. Next week we do the more direct ministry, so please pray for wisdom and patience for us while we explain the love of God. Also, pray for energy because every day requires a TON of energy and the more energy we have, the more enthusiasm we can bring. Tomorrow I think we are doing house visits to the kids so please pray for those as well. We get the opportunity to see what these kids are up to after camp and get a more in-depth chance of talking about God. I don’t really know what else to share, so I guess this is it. This is my last sharing this week, so you won’t hear from me until next week! I hope you all are having a blast, God bless :] Zach Chen

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Hellooo. This is Judith. You guys don’t know me so I’ll share a little about myself. I live in Taipei and I’ve been going to this European school pretty much all my life but I’m happy there. I turned sixteen two months ago and I’m fairly excited to get overly stressed out by the IB next year. It’s my first time on mission this year and it’s been pretty inspiring so far. The elementary kids are so hard to deal with, yet so interesting in their own special ways. Today, we got them to behave better so thank God for that. Most kids were really engaged into the activities we brought to them. For example we got them to try to guess our birthdays and if they guessed right, we had to do a ‘punishment’ of the kids’ choice. As Zach mentioned, Eddie hurt his neck by trying to do an impressive stunt for the kids by hanging onto the basketball hoop. It wasn’t kind of scary, actually, it was really scary. Later on, we went to the junior high school and sang ‘stand by me’ many many times. Zach and I pretty much perfected our skit with a medley of awesome music. Which makes our skit awesome. Since we took our time in making our skit awesome, we lacked practice time so we haven’t even acted out our skit yet. However, tomorrow we’ll work extra hard to make our skit even awesomer than it already is – so please pray for energy to do so in such a short period of time. Today’s gathering was fun; the kids looked like they were enjoying their time here, thank God for that. It was hilarious when Irvin was blindfolded because we got to take advantage of his situation and made him look for imaginary cups that he supposedly lost. Tomorrow, we’ll be showing the kids fake snow that’s not really cold so hopefully they won’t get the chance to touch it and become disappointed at the fakeness of our fake snow. I hope they’ll have lots of fun tomorrow as it will be the last day we’ll be teaching them this summer. Even though I’ve only spent two days with them, I really enjoyed meeting them. I think that’s it for my first sharing :D thanks for your support and prayers. Talk to you guys later! BYEBYE.

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今天的小學課程比昨天好很多,沒有像昨天那樣大家跑來跑去不想上課,我們給他們玩了比手畫腳的遊戲,小朋友們的反應很好,大家都很享受在遊戲中,相信他們都從中更加認識了我們所教的英文單字,但是第二堂課時,可能是少了美勞的時間,讓他們有點喪失了上課的專注力,應該更嚴肅更強硬一點來確保他們能繼續專心聽我們上課,這是我覺得在小學課程中應該加強的部份。

然後下午在國中,一樣教了學生們唱歌,並試著讓他們了解歌詞的意思,從歌曲中來學習英文,但連續四天的活動真的很累,這2天最後的聚會都精神不濟,求主保守我們在明天能夠擁有足夠的能量完美結束這一周的營隊。雖然我和我姐姐後天就要離開,沒辦法參加完整營隊,但我們會繼續為過溝的孩子們禱告,讓更多的孩子能更認識萬能的主。

Allen

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[Scott] P.S. Tomorrow, the plan is to do 2 house visitations of student's home. I'm not sure if the whole team or only part of the team will be going. Originally, we were going to do a prayer biking (i.e. ride bike around the area and pray for teh area and the poeple we see) this afternoon but the weather did not cooperate. We hope to be able to do this before we leave and get to know the area better.

------------------ Isaac & Mat on Day #7 ------------------

[We had some internet access issue earlier this morning so wasn't able to send it out until now.]

Hello SFCC members! Today was our last day of our camps for week one. I expected a lot of crying and it would be an emotional farewell, but nothing like that happened. In the elementary camps, I was really frustrated because of the kids and the way they behave. There was a group of kids that were constantly being noisy and fighting. When either Siraya or Scott gave directions out, they would be fighting. And when it came time to do the activities, they would be screaming and shouting because they wouldn’t know what to do. During the last worship, it was very calm and probably the calmest worship we’ve had. It was a pretty nice way to end at the camp, and we were swarmed by all the elementary kids. It was very heartwarming to see my favorite boy, Timmy, to come up and hug me.

During the Junior High, I expected myself to cry, because I was very attached to my group. But no tears shed, and it was a good way to end there. We sang a song and this time, my group actually sung pretty well with me this time. The skits were also pretty fun to watch, I was very proud of how good my group members were at memorizing their phrases and acting (though Siraya was the main person teaching everyone not me)
In the gathering, we decided to play at the Jr. High instead of going back to the gospel center. It was pretty fun and interesting to see what sports each kids play and how good they are. I was even surprised how good Allen (Kai-Ti) was at basketball. It seems that all the kids love to play volley ball, a sport that I’m not good at. It was even cooler when Jack came up to us and brought us cool drinks, paid from his own pocket. I felt bad because I knew I should’ve paid for myself.

Week one of camp was pretty fun, and I am really sad that we are almost done with it. I hope that most of my kids can come to the gospel center next week and the ones that can’t, I hope for their safety. I also hope that for next week, I will have the same amount of energy for the Jr. High even though it’s a different set of kids. I pray that as a mission team, we can reach out to those kids and planted a seed in them. I really hope that as we leave week one of our camps, the kids left with something.

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Hey guys it’s Isaac! I’m going to be sharing about Friday even though today is Saturday because I was crazy exhausted and I just crashed. Anyways, this is my second sharing of this year’s mission so I hope you guys enjoy it good. Based on my experience from the past 4 years on mission, I can say that Wednesday and Friday are definitely my least favorite days. Wednesday is just rowdy and out of control, but Friday is up there for different reasons, but I’ll share about that later. So today, we started off with worship. Lately, worship has been super chaotic and uncontrollable. I usually feel extremely frustrated during this portion of the day. Yesterday (Friday) however, things were a little different. It legitimately felt all this kids were somewhat trying to listen and sing along. With a pretty much broken sound system, this is pretty hard to achieve and I was surprised when I heard the kids singing and not running around having side conversations. So yeah it was a good thing. For our g1 g2 class, things weren’t so hot. Before we even got to class, these 2 kids like hit each other and made a big fuss about it. Then just for some strange reason every kid felt like shouting the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, shouting isn’t always bad, I like it when kids speak up. But yesterday in class, it was like crazy chaotic. Just random shouts and people calling to each other from different directions. It was a mess. At least that’s what I thought. Then we had this kid named Will who wanted to go home pretty much the 1st 50 minutes of the session. It took a lot of coaxing from me, Siraya, and one of the elementary school teachers to get him to get back into the classroom. After our 15 minute break, Session 2 I felt was much better. The kids were rowdy at first, but then they were fascinated by the paper snowflakes that we were making. Then we ended the day with another worship session which I think was the best one of the week because everyone was singing with energy and paying attention. When we had to leave, Siraya told me that one of our kids (Lisa) was crying when we had to leave, and then I got all sad. But like Eddie said, there wasn’t any outstanding sobbing or anything like that. It ended nicely. Oh yeah I also got a certificate thing from I think the principal of the school! I wish I could read it…

Shortly after we went to the junior high. Even though the kids are still welcome to join us for the gathering portion for next week, I felt for some reason that this was the last time I was going to see them. Well, it would be the last time I would see some of them. Anyways, just the thought of this was difficult because I LOVED MY GROUP SOOO MUCH. So we learned a new song today, and then we got right down to skit practice. My group came up with an amazing idea for our skit that I didn’t even think of, and I’m pretty good with skits so I was extremely impressed and then I loved them even more. So in our skit, Superman and Ares (the god of war) are fighting over a beautiful woman (me) and then get into a fight at the karaoke bar. It was really funny, and we won the best skit award/prize which was a bunch of Skittles. I don’t like skittles. But the sight of my kids gorging on the skittles was more than enough.

Our gathering actually took place at the school, so we stayed there and played in the field. We played this game called Spud, which was just like you run a ton and try to peg someone with a ball. It sounds nice and easy, but it isn’t when you’re playing in like 90 degree weather with 100% humidity. Most people got eliminated because they gave up and wanted to go do something else. But that wasn’t me. I was pouring out my heart and soul into this game, and I tried my best until the very end. It was me and Judith in the final, and she pretty much cheated so I lost. At this point, I was sweating like a sweater but I was totally running on adrenaline so then I just hopped into a game of volleyball for a while. Today, in about half an hour, we have to take on a challenge by these junior high girls in a volleyball game. I’m sooo sore from last night that I don’t think I’ll be able to play with as much vigor as I did before… But I refuse to lose to silly junior high girls. We will smash them. After we got back to the gospel center, some people left for house visits, but I stayed behind and crashed. Mat led a worship sesh for me Judith and Zach, and then we just did music for awhile. Mat taught me some new guitar chords so that’s pretty cool. I think we went to bed around 11:30, and then I just kind of died.

Well that’s it for now, sorry that I’m not really saying anything deep or meaningful because I have to get ready for volleyball. Peace be with you hi timmy hi Rebekah hi mommy hi daddy hi peach hi everyone in Seattle thanks for your continued prayer and support!!!

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[Matt below]
today’s saturday . that means siraya and allen are leaving us today . that’s sad . oh well i guess . over the course of today, new faces will appear again . scott is actually going to pick up grace while dropping of siraya and allen this morning .
probably some things i miss right about now are being able to sing and mess around whenever i feel like it, or just generally being noisy because i can . oh well, i’ll live . hm, but still, i really miss being able to practice regularly … well, the flip side of all the busyness is that it’s pretty much twenty-four-seven fellowship with peoples . it’s actually harder to be single minded about God . wait what ? yeah, that’s right . simply because within a single day, so many things come together, it seems even more focus is needed to constantly remember the point of all the means; loving in a way that brings God glory and especially spreads His name, through however we end up teaching and bonding . it’s also probably because since we rise early and go to sleep late, that we have more of what i’ll call mental-inertia . what i mean by that, is that it seems we have to try harder to change mindsets, or to get a given task done than if we were all nicely rested . i guess we’re getting tired, but I also guess that’s what stupid-invincible amounts of stamina that people build up is for .
on a random note, eddie seems to have lots of fun learning how to sing . for having only practiced two days, even though he has a lot of practicing left to do, i’d say he’s made nice progress . and there’s a really nice classical guitar here . ‘cause it’s cool like that . yes .

------------------ Week Two ------------------
(mouse over the picture to find out who they are)

------------------ Irvin & Sam on Day #8 ------------------

Hi! It’s Irvin again and I’m going to share about the amazing visitations that our team did, because I don’t think anyone shared about visitations yet. So, yesterday, Me, Eddie, Allen, Siraya, and Scott went to two families’ houses. The first was Sandy, Jenny, and Peter’s house, who were three kids who went to our elementary camp. At first, I didn’t really see the point of focusing specifically on their family. I taught Sandy this week in my 3rd and 4thgrade class, and I didn’t notice anything practically special or different about her other than she worked really hard in class. However, after the visitations, we found out that their father had killed their grandfather in front of the children, and the father was sent to a mental hospital. After this, we went to Porgin and Mary’s house, both of whom was going to our camps. Their father was a drug addict who has been in jail for the last couple of years. Today, Me, Eddie, Isaac, and Scott went to another two houses. The first was an old man who spoke Taiwanese the whole time, so I didn’t understand them. The second family was Colin, who was in our Junior High camp. We already knew that something was wrong with Colin, because he had to be in a wheel chair. But, his family background is much worse. Colin’s father developed a disease that left the father with a mental disorder and paralyzed. The mother developed a disease that makes it so she has to wear a brace and she has a very weak left leg, and limps. Colin had a disease when he was a kid that left him with a disorder that makes it so he has muscle deficiency. They also have a sister who seems to be perfectly normal. After visiting these families, I really didn’t know what to think. Their family background is so sad, depressing, and traumatizing; the only thing I could really think of at the time is how fortunate I am in having such a good family. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what my life would be like if my family background was the same as theirs. But, I think, what touched me the most, were two things. The first was how hard the guardian’s parents must have to work, to take care of their children in such poor conditions, and struggle to find a way to fill in the missing gaps in the children’s hearts. But the most touching thing, was how much they accepted God’s love. I was told most of the families weren’t Christian, but when we went to their house, they prayed with us, and sang Christian songs with us, even though their lives have been so unfortunate and unlucky. And I guess this experience has helped me know a bit better our team’s role here for these kids. When we go to these kids, we don’t come as strangers, but as someone who they can look up to. Someone they can see as a role model, and someone who can act as a substitute for the love that they lack. And so, to end this sharing, I would like to request prayers for these children, who grow up in broken family, to become good adults and to have a successful and fruitful life.
- Irvin lien

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Hey guys, its Sam Pan speaking. Miss all the people back home. Starting to get a bit homesick since I’ve been in Taiwan for quite awhile now. Anyways, I arrived to Tong Shih around lunchtime and it’s my first official day of mission today. There wasn’t really much to do today as it was mostly free time. But during free time, me and some of the other mission members began to film Skit 4. I was not available to act in the first three skits since I came back to Taiwan early for other purposes but I’m really grateful to be given the chance to still act, even if it not as much as I wish. Besides filming for the skits today, I briefly met with some of the kids here and talked to them for a little bit. They were at the Gospel Center for some kind of class and Eddie and I decided to interact with them before they had to go home. I am excited for mission to start. Next week, we will be going to an elementary school we have never been to before and I just pray that the kids there will be active and interested in what we are trying to teach them. Also, please pray for the mission team to have strength and the patience as we have one more long week to endure. Thanks guys! Miss you all. Peace.
Sam Pan

------------------ Grace & Peter on Day #9 ------------------

Hey, it’s Grace! I’ve joined the mission team last year, if some of you still remember~ I’m working in Taipei now, so I only get to come on the second week. But I’m very thankful that God gave me the chance to come back again, when it was very likely to not get much vacation once I start working. =)
So about the mission going-ons… The weekend was pretty chilled, we got to have a good rest before the camp starts. And the youths were busy filming the 4th skit, where Sam could finally join! I haven’t seen the final cut, but I’ll soon get to it cuz I’ll have to start translating them so we’ll get a subtitle for the junior high kids. We are meeting the elementary kids for the first time this year, where on the other hand, we will already be quite familiar with the junior high kids. So I pray that we leave a good impression for the elementary kids and teachers/staffs alike, that we can really help the Gospel Center to build up deeper relations with the local schools. And for this week’s after class gathering at the Center, we plan to share more about God and his love, and how Jesus can be our best friend in life. So I pray that the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of the kids right now, so that they would want to come to the Center after class, and that they would want to know more about Jesus. I also pray that every team member is prepared to share and talk about God when the right time comes, and that not just when we are teaching or singing, but that our every speech and action can reflect the love of God and the relationship we have with Him. One more thing about the after-class gathering, we have Betty joining us this week, who is from the local high school and is going to college in JiaYi this fall. With Betty here, she can act as the perfect bridge between the Gospel Center and the youths. I pray that Betty gets a chance to bond with the youths more so they will know someone who is staying in JiaYi and is going to the Center, instead of just us who will leave eventually.

One last thing I need you guys to pray for, aside from strength, focus, passion and devotion to the camp, is HEALTH!!! Eddie is recovery well from his bruise, but we still pray that he gets a quick recovery. Isaac is having a bit of a stomach problem today, so please pray for him. And last but definitely not least, please pray for Ariel. She’s from my church in Taipei, who just ended another mission from our church at PingTung last week. In this past mission, a few of their team members got pink eye, a highly infective eye disease. And Ariel is starting get signs of infection today. Pastor ShuLing will take her to the hospital tomorrow. So pray that she will get well soon, and no one else from the team would get infected!!
Okay, thanks for listening, I’ll talk to you soon. =)
Grace

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[Peter] We started the day by attending the Sunday Service here at the gospel center. Pastor Shuling preached about Saul and how he did not completely obeyed God, thereby causing God to pick David instead. I think this is a good reminder for us that when we decided to answer God’s call, we still have to completely obey God. God does not want only 50%, 80%, or even 99.9%. But instead, He desires 100%. As we head into our second week, like Grace said, this is the week that we will actively share about Jesus and how He can be your best friend.
As I was putting together the plans for the after junior high school gathering, I thought long and hard about how we can best share about Jesus with students who don’t know anything about Jesus. In the end, the plan I decided on was to put relationship building in the first week and from there, to share about Jesus in the second week. I plan this intentionally as I don’t think you can share effectively without getting to know someone. Without some connections, there is no way that person will listen to what we will share. Please pray that God will open doors for us so that the students may be receptive to the message that we will be sharing. Please also pray that God will guide us and give us the wisdom to share the things that he wants to share.

In regards to the elementary school that we will be going to, Scott and I got a chance to talk with the coworkers here. I just want to expand a little further from what Grace mentioned. The coworkers told us that their interaction with this school is not as well as the other schools around here, partly because distance wise, this school is a bit further away from the gospel center. They only started working with the elementary school last year and that we will be the first team affiliated with the gospel center here that will do a full elementary school camp. It is a great blessing to be entrusted with this opportunity. Likewise, a great responsibility. Please pray that whatever we do, may we bring glory to God and help Him in His works around here.

I also just want to share a little more about the conversations that Scott and I have with the coworkers here. The coworkers mentioned how this gospel center is a special place and how God has blessed the ministries around here. Whereas, other people have trouble getting people to come, this gospel center has no troubles attracting people. Instead, because of resource issue (manpower and space), the gospel center is turning people away.
As some of you may know, Sunday Service was started here at the gospel center last year. The coworkers mentioned how when they decided to start Sunday Service, they were discouraged as the gospel center was only started 3 years ago and you can’t get that many people to attend Sunday Service in that short amount of time. Yet, the coworkers shared that they are running out of space during Sunday Service and are considering breaking down the wall that separates the two building so that they can make a larger space for Sunday Service. In addition, they have a vision for building their own church in a plot of land very near the gospel center. They are actively praying to God for the resources to build the church. Truly God has been blessing the ministries around here. Please continue to pray for the coworkers and the ministries here.
Peter.

------------------ Isaac, Zachary, Eddie & Peter on Day #10 ------------------

Hey Isaac here! Today was the start of a new camp, and with a new camp, comes new kids! This week we are going to a different elementary school that neither we or the gospel center have ever done any activity there, so a good 1st impression was crucial. Being the 1st day of camp, the kids were all shy and angelic. If only they could be like this the rest of the week… oh well, they were great. Their English level was way better than that of the kids in the school last week, so teaching them today was a breeze. Junior high however was a different story… we had a bunch of kids that we had last year and some new ones, so I mean it should be good right? Not really. My group is really despondent and only like to talk amongst themselves. It’s even worse that I’m at the same table as last week, so every time I look up, I expect to see my loving buddies from last week, but then I see my new kids. I know that this isn’t the right thought to be thinking, but it was tough for me. My stomach was also hurting during this period of time so that sucked. After our break, I had moved on from the past. I was a new man. I interacted with my group a lot more and finally got some convos going with them. So it was good in the end. Our gathering afterwards wasn’t so hot though. I found the way we did it to be quite boring and uninteresting. I think I spaced out the majority of the time but we’re planning to change it up so hopefully it will be better. I know this is kind of a short sharing, but it’s quite self explanatory and I don’t really want to write another page like I did last time so this is about it. Thanks for your prayers and support and stuff! Isaac.

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Hey guys, this is Zachary Chen. Today was a fresh start at a new elementary school so I was very very excited and elated. The kids at the school are not only smarter, but also more obedient and cooperative. The kids taught me a new game, and now I play it all the time with a mission member. However, I was excruciatingly tired by the end of elementary camp because of my lack of sleep. Please pray for more energy for us so that we can perform to the best of our abilities. When we went to Junior high, I met some old faces, but my team is fully comprised of new faces. These faces were not only beautiful, but very shy and did not talk. I had a hard time prying their mouths open so that their voices would be heard by me. They speak English slightly better than the 8th graders, because they are one year older. I do not know these new kids as well as my 8th graders yet, but I look forward to creating new bonds with them. We played telephone Pictionary in which my team won 2nd place. We did an introductory game, which we had to introduce other people in our team, so I got to know my team’s favorite color, food, hobby, and age. At the gospel center after junior high camp, we sang lots of songs. It was a combination of boring and sad. The kids did not want to sing worship songs and were not very engaged in the conversation, so please pray for more interaction with the kids so they may cooperate with us. This is the homestretch, I have 4 more days of mission and only 6 more days of Taiwan left so I will be coming back to you all very very soon. Bye guys, I miss you and love you more than Russia. –Zach Chen

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Hi everyone in SFCC! It’s Eddie here, and mission has been very fun! Week one was a blast and I was hoping that week two was going to be just as good. So far, it has been a bit off what my expectations were. For elementary camp, it was a lot more timid. There weren’t any wild kids running around during the morning session. I was super surprised about the kid’s English because it was a lot better than the previous camp. And the kids were a lot more cooperative than the ones from the previous week. I hate to compare the two camps, but this camp feels to be a lot better. All the kids love to play soccer which is another sport that I’m not very good at so interacting with them will be a little bit difficult. I was super excited for jr. high because last week was a lot of fun! But it’s not as fun as I thought it’d be. The kids aren’t very interactive (especially since Siraya is not here) and it’s hard to talk with them because they are very reserved… But with these group of kids, they played basketball with us, so that’s pretty cool. FOR THE GATHERING, MY KIDS FROM LAST WEEK PROMISED ME THAT THEY WOULD COME THIS WEEK, BUT NONE OF THEM CAME TODAY!@!%!@#%@ Today we had 5 people just like on day one except that for today’s gathering, it was set up to be more “deeper” but the kids weren’t very talkative and more reserved. I hope that tomorrow’s gathering will be a little bit better and I especially hope that my kids will keep their promises. I have been thinking about what to say for my sharing to the kids, and I don’t know how deep it is supposed to be so I pray for when it is my time to come, that I am prepared for what I am going to share about. I also hope that my neck gets better because it seems that it is a distraction for me. It is starting to scab, and it hurts whenever I move my neck, so I pray for that it heals at a quick pace. I also pray for Ariel’s eyes, Isaac’s stomach, Irvin’s and Scott’s throat to be 100% soon so that we can give all our energy to the camps. I’m kind of sad that there is only 4 days left because mission has been very fun, but at the same time it’s been a downslide. I hope today isn’t what it will be for the rest of the days because it didn’t seem that it works very well. Anyways, sorry that my grammar/spelling isn’t 100% at the moment, it’s kinda late and I can’t think very clearly. – Eddie yang

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Today, the last of our team member arrived. Attached is a team picture. From left to right: Peter, Mat, Eddie, Irvin, Zach, Grace, Isaac, Scott, Ariel, Sam, Betty, Jamie, and Judith.

Like what others have shared, the gathering after junior high did not go as well as we hope. In the planning for the gathering, I tried to make it as non-Christian friendly as I can. In addition, I was hoping that we would see the same kids from last week. (The truth was I had a hard time trying to determine how best to share about Jesus.) As not a lot of students from last week showed up, things did not go as smoothly. Please pray that God will guide us and help us to be able to share more effective with the last four days that we have left here.

Peter.

------------------ Irvin & Judith on Day #11 ------------------

[Irvin]
Hey kids reading this! Today is Tuesday, and we just finished our 2nd day of our second week camp. Today’s camp was very surprising, because everyone was certain the kids would be more rowdy and crazy than yesterday, but instead, they were mostly very well behaved. I teach the class of 3rd and 4th graders of about 24 kids. We split into four groups; two girl groups and two boy groups. My group was one of the boy groups, and most of the kids are very nice, but there was just one kid that really bugged me, called Kevin, who wants “special attention”. He seems to be one of those kinds of kids that lack the attention they require from a family, and is just trying to seek attention some other way. Other than that, I really like this week’s elementary school camp.
For junior high camp, I got to group up with Jamie. My group has six kids; three boys and three girls. What surprised me the most about my group is that the guys are sissies and the girls are the big men of the group. Yesterday, the guys weren’t very active in my group, so today, we did this activity where the guys scream “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” with me to get them use to making large noises. And that failed horribly. I’m just glad that the girls in my group talk a lot, because without them, I wouldn’t know what to do with my group.

As for the gathering, we had about fifteen kids come, which was a large improvement from our five yesterday. The kids seemed really engaged with today’s gathering, especially because they seemed interested in the skit we did, and interested in the sharings.
Today and yesterday was kind of bland, because the days were too perfect. I’ve made some more kidzie friends, and that’s’ about it.

And finally, for prayers, I think I’ve developed some weird throat disease thing, because swallowing hurts a little. And I’m kind of worried, because I know the airports does this weird thing like, if you have a disease, you can’t leave the country or something like that. So please pray for my health. I think I should be fine though, because I had this since yesterday, and right now, it doesn’t feel too bad.
Irvin

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Hi this is Judith. Judith Judith bo budith banana fana fofudith JUUUUUUUDITHHH. That’s how Isaac greets me. Today was the 2nd day of our elementary camp, and I was expecting it to be super duper hectic! But Noooooooooooo it wasn’t~ :D Today was like the sunshine upon the morning harvest. It was beautiful. Teaching the kids felt like harvesting crops, you spend your time tending and growing them, then you just pick them when they’re ripe and cook them! I have the 4th and 5th graders and they are swell like a swelling mosquito bite. There are a few trouble kids, like this kid named Jungle. This kid is a monster. He is taller than Irvin and stronger than Sam. And he’s only in 4th grade. Today, he called me bad words that shouldn’t be mentioned in a prayer letter and I cried in the bathroom stall for a couple hours. When I got back, he threw the chalk in my hair and I started bleeding. JAYKAY. That was Isaac talking. So this is the real Judith. Today went pretty good in general. I felt that we managed to deal with the elementary school kids better, in comparison to yesterday’s class. I was amazed at how most of the kid’s in my class really enjoyed doing today’s craft, sand art. In the afternoon, the junior high kids got into their groups and participated in a competition in which they had to transfer water from one bucket to another by scooping up the water with a plastic bowl positioned between their teeth. We teachers formed a group and competed against the kids but lost and they got to pour water all over us. Gathering was much better today since more people came, even a few of our kids from the previous week. Please pray for strength for us to be able to deliver God’s messages to the kids and for us to not tire too much of lack of sleep. I’m really tired already so that’s it for today. Thank you!

----------------- Sam, Eddie, Ariel & Grace on Day #12 ------------------

Hi! It’s Sam speaking again. Today was such a great day. Despite the very sunny weather, I thought that camp went by relatively smooth. For elementary school, I teach the smallest grade. The English level of these kids is surprisingly good for their age. Something else I noticed about these kids is that they all love soccer. In my past mission experiences, I have never seen a group of elementary students so into soccer like the group I’m teaching now. When break time comes around, the kids would immediately run to the ball crate to grab a soccer ball and would all run out onto the courtyard and play soccer. The Junior High Camp is going by very smooth as well. I teach a group of seven kids along with Ariel, a mission member from Taipei. The kids in my group are very energetic, especially the boys. They are very enthusiastic, especially when singing. Although they can become loud at times and distracting to other groups, they are a great bunch. Overall, I like all the students in the Junior High Camp. Hopefully the quieter ones may open up a bit more soon as we only have two days left. But like I said, overall, these kids are really interactive. This is kind of random but I like to point out that Team SFCC is 3-0 against these kids in basketball. We have played them 5-on-5 every time there’s break and we have beat them in every single game. Our team consists of me, Zach, Isaac, Eddie, Irvin, and Mat (5 starters and 1 substitute). This team is a recipe for success! Tom and John and whoever else is reading this letter that goes to the gym on Sundays, be ready for this team when we go back home! :D Haha just kidding! After the Junior High Camp, the team and I went back to the Gospel Center where we held a program for Junior High kids. In the program, we would play games, sing songs, and listen to the mission members share. Zach and I shared today (great job Zach!) Overall, I would say that the day went by really smooth and was fairly productive. Please pray for our health as some of the members have stomach problems and sore throats. I pray that we fully regain our strength so that we can share God’s Word to our full extent. Also, please pray for the kids and that they will somehow open up their hearts for God. That’s it for now guys, thanks for reading. Miss all of you and can’t to see everyone! Peace.
Sam Pan

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Hi SFCC! It’s Eddie here and we are on day three of our camp. So far for elementary camp, it’s going pretty smoothly. For worship there are a lot of kids that keep pointing out that they are not Christians, therefore they refuse to sing the songs. That kind of annoys me, but I guess I would refuse to sing as well if someone came to my school and held a foreign religion camp. For my group in the class, things are falling apart. Yesterday, a new boy named “Snoopy” came in to my group, and he is a lot to handle. He keeps calling people names and picking fights with everyone. He constantly argues with the other boy at my table (Henry) which distracts the rest of my kids from listening to whoever is teaching. He even picks fights with the biggest boy called Jungle. During the second worship session, Snoopy called Jungle a name which caused Jungle to start hitting him. Of course, we stopped Jungle, but thing that annoys me is that it looked like it was Jungle’s fault, not Snoopy’s.
During the junior high, things went a lot smoother, mainly because Grace helped me out a lot. The kids seemed a lot happier and they looked like they were having fun. I think I’ve bonded with the two boys sitting on my right, Jason and Kevin because they’ve been playing basketball with us, and they’re the easiest to interact with. But with the boy on my left, Bob, he talks so quietly that it’s hard to hear what he’s talking about. Today I learned that Ruby’s English is a lot better than most of the students so I think that it will be easier to get to interact with her. So far, most of my kids have been coming to the gathering from this week. But I’m a little disappointed at my kids from last week not coming. I heard that Joe couldn’t come because he is at Nanto, Jerry couldn’t come because he was playing soccer at Taizhong. I also heard that Peggy hasn’t been coming since her grandfather fell ill, so please pray for her and her grandfather.

Today at the gathering, I was frustrated with the mind games because they make it look so easy. But it seemed like the kids enjoyed it, so that’s okay. During the skit, it seemed like a lot of kids were lost, so I’m a bit worried there, but then again, it’s probably fine. For the sharing’s however, I was interested on what Zach and Sam shared about. Both of them were pretty deep, which made me reflect about what I am going to share on Friday. I think I’m going to ask Mat how I should do my sharing.
Anyways, mission has definitely been an unforgettable experience. I pray for my kids to come to the gospel center at least on Friday so they can hear my sharing, because I believe it may be just the thing that plants the seed. I also pray my nose doesn’t bleed like crazy again, because during preparation time, my nose was bursting with blood, making me nearly useless. So yea, that’s what’s been going on mission. See you guys soon!
-Eddie

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哈囉我是Ariel這是我第一次在代禱信中分享。我來自台北，在和平長老教會聚會，是實踐大學社工系一年級的新生。真的很開心能夠參與這次的mission。

今天早上國小的部分，和Grace、Zach、Irvin、Judith一組擔任中年級同學的隊輔。我們這組有一個叫Judy的小女孩，原本從今天開始因為要在家裡幫忙做事而不能來參加營隊，昨天聽到這個消息時，實在是覺得非常可惜。但今天在早上的敬拜時間，她出現了!!她說她媽媽讓她來參加營隊:) 真的很感謝神!希望接下來幾天她都可以出現:) 今天上課的狀況比昨天難控制……Grace的喉嚨開始痛了，同工們都還有很多可以進步的空間!

下午國中的部分，我和Sam一組，我必須承認我們這組實在都很”活潑”!男生們都很喜歡Sam，我真的很佩服他可以跟他們相處的那麼好! 今天的課後聚集，充滿著感動的氣氛…謝謝Sam and Zach的分享，上台做見證分享真的需要很大的勇氣!我想我在這段時間也得到許多的省思。省思著我與神的關係，思考著星期五換我做見證實我到底要選擇哪一個故事(已預備兩個)。但我想，就像Scott所說的，就分享屬於自己的、最真誠的故事就好:)
真的很開心與大家分享這些，剩下兩天的營隊，開始會覺得捨不得了…最後，求神保守最後兩天的服事都有神的帶領。

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Hey, it’s Grace again. As the camp roll on, the kids start to get more relax with us, and so that means they are even noisier and out of control. Though I can say things are still under control, some of my kids in the elementary camp in my class are really testing my limits. So I pray that God would grant me more patience and also wisdom to know how to interact with them and make them listen. Aside from this minor defect, I think I’m liking my kids more and more every day. I taught them one of our songs, Rain or Pour during class time, and I think they did a great job! =)
During junior high camp, I’m mostly roaming around Eddie, Isaac and Irvin’s teams, mainly to help with some translation as they lead their teams. I love to see how Eddie was trying so hard to communicate with the kids in Chinese. I really admire his attitude and effort. Isaac, like always, was full of great ideas, so I’m really looking forward to their team’s skit on day 5. Irvin is the loveliest guy you can meet. I like how he’s always being cheerful and helpful, and is always willing to learn how to interact with the kids better. I’m glad I got to know them this year, and even to know them just a little bit better day by day.
After camp gathering for today was quite smooth. And like what Ariel has mentioned, we had some deep and moving sharings from Sam and Zach, which provoked a lot of thinkings for I think the team members, basically the girls. So right after the gathering, Ariel, Judith, Jamie and I had bit more sharing time just for ourselves. We cried while sharing and praying together, but it felt really good to have had that fellowship. I really pray that God not only use us to serve this place and the mission, but also continues to talk to us throughout the last 2 days of mission, and for the rest of our lives.
2 more days left. What more can we do? Please keep on praying for us, and for the mission. =)

----------------- Isaac, Eddie, Ariel, Jamie & Irvin on Day #13 ------------------

Hey this is Isaac! Today was the last day of camp, and I’ve got a feeling that this sharing is gonna be pretty lengthy so just a heads up…

The past 2 days I’ve been dealing with some personal issues, and I’ve tried to push them away because they’re totally un-mission related and it’s distracting from putting my full effort into the mission. But today I prayed a lot in the morning and straightened things out so it was all good. The kids at the elementary camp were extremely rowdy today but I didn’t care. It’s the last day, I wanted them to have fun and remember only good things when they leave. It kind of got annoying though because they started jabbing my tummy… oh the things I do for the kids. When the kids left, I felt kind of sad because they kept saying how we have to come back, but I’m not planning to go back to mission even if there is one next year. They also told me that if I do, I have to buy them some beef jerky or else they’ll “kill me”. I love those kids.

Junior high was pretty fun too. I’ve gotten to know my group much better since the 1st day, they have all opened up and they’re pretty swell. We perfected our skit today, and I’m really proud of the kids because they came up with the majority of the skit. I was little red riding hood; just so you know… Our skit was 2nd to Sam’s which was 1st place, but it’s cool I won last week so it’s all good. The kids brought us too many snacks; I didn’t have any room for dinner. I think I had a really big bubble tea, and big 7-11 slurpee, and then a hot dog! We also got a picture of everyone with a personalized message on the back from each kid. Most of it is in Chinese so I had Grace translate it for me.

Gathering was definitely the highlight of my day. It was also the most emotional. We opened up with the final episode of our skit series, I think the kids enjoyed it a bit. We also had quite a big showing for the gathering today, prolly because it was the last day so yeah. After that, Ariel did a sharing and then she cried afterwards, suddenly all these girls around her started crying and I was confused but it seemed like a pretty magical moment. Then Eddie shared this amazing sharing; I learned so much about him and now I know him so much better. After Eddie’s sharing, we saying the Path of Grace. It is a beautiful song with beautiful lyrics that really just dig deep and draw out tons of emotion. During the singing, I was really moved and I cried a little. A bunch of JH girls cried too and then Grace took them aside for some hardcore evangelism. Tonight was really tough because I had to say goodbye to so many close people. My fantastic kids from last week, my awesome kids from this week, my good buddy Paul from last year, and just tons of people that I met all had to leave at some point. I had to keep holding back tears to continue conversations with the kids and I almost broke down when I hugged some of the girls that were crying. Most of them are gonna come see us tomorrow before we leave in the morning so that’s great.

So what did God show me this mission trip? To be honest, I’m haven’t really grasped the whole idea yet but one thing is for certain: my confidence has been boosted a lot. In the previous 4 years, I’ve always been afraid of speaking to the kids due to my language barrier but this year for some reason I have been extremely comfortable with it. I think that God showed me that my apparent fear of my language barrier doesn’t really exist anymore and this is why I have bonded with the kids more than I ever had in the past 4 years. In my past 4 years, I have never cried when the kids had to leave. Never. To me, crying is something that occurs naturally. It shouldn’t be held back, and it shouldn’t try to be forced either. But today, I cried a bunch, just not in front of the kids. The kids this year have just touched me a bunch and I’ve got to know them so well it sucks that I have to leave them. So for tomorrow, I have prepared a speech for my kids. The farewell speech to both weeks of Team Isaac. I got emotional while writing it, so who knows what’s gonna happen when I deliver it. But whatever happens, I want the kids to know all the values instilled from being in Team Isaac and that I will never forget them. So… that’s about it! This sharing wasn’t as long as I thought it was gonna be but it’s all about quality not quantity. See you all in a few days if you’re in Seattle!

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YO SFCC! This is Eddie again! Today was our last day of our camp and I have so much to share! Well the first thing is about elementary school. Unlike last year where I got completely frustrated with the kids and stopped talking to them, I interacted with them a little more. Though with Snoopy and Henry, I gave up, which is one of my regrets for this mission trip. What I mean is, that I’ve been cheating the elementary kids because I just give up in the end. And it’s one thing that I definitely want to do better for the kids next year.

For junior high, I definitely have a lot to learn when it comes to teaching English, because half the time we were practicing our skit, we were laughing, and when we performed no one remembered their lines. But it’s alright, I asked if everyone was going to come to the gathering on Friday, and I was surprised most of my kids came just like last week.

For the gathering it was pretty cool. The kids loved the skit. Today was my day to share, which I shared about something I’ve never shared about. Even though I completely screwed up and blanked out, I think the kids still got the message I was try to convey.. And for the final song that we sung, I started to cry because it was emotional. And after the gathering I went up-stairs to pray how grateful I was with the mission trip. AND DURING THE GATHERING, I ASSEMBLED TEAM EDDIE AND WE SUNG “I COULD SING OF YOUR LOVE FOREVER” AND WE SUNG IT WELL!!!!!!!!!!!! But some of Team Eddie started to cry, which didn’t make any sense to me. Either they were crying from laughter or something like that. And then when the kids started to leave, I started hugging all the kids and telling them “God Bless You, and I will pray for you!”

And for the night market, I decided to buy little bracelets for TEAM EDDIE. SO MY KIDS BETTER SHOW UP TOMORROW MORNING!!!!!

And for reflections, I kinda noticed that I really changed over this mission trip. I don’t know if it was a positive or negative change, you guys can be the judge when I get back to the US. But I thank God for this change, because it was just the thing I needed!

I LOVE ALL THE KIDS AND I THANK EVERYONE FOR PRAYING FOR US WHILE WE WERE ON MISSION!

-Eddie

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哈囉大家好我是Ariel :) 今天是mission的最後一天。上禮拜我參與我自己的教會，和平長老教會在屏東好茶村的服事，所以其實我參與營隊服事兩個禮拜了。我很感謝在精神體力方面，沒有出現過度勞累的狀況；除在這個禮拜一眼睛得急性結膜炎之外，身體狀況方面真的一切良好，這真的很感謝上帝!也很感謝祂讓我的眼睛恢復的這麼快，讓我更能夠投入營隊的服事。

今天早上國小的部分，感謝神讓我們這班於同工的搭配上還算順利，在進行複習遊戲時，小朋友的參與還算投入；實在求神繼續看顧及保守網寮國小的孩子們，讓他們記得永遠有耶穌的愛與他們同在。下午國中的部分，很開心Sam & I ’ s Team 的同學們在練習短劇時如此配合和學習去投入於劇情中，後來在上台表演時，他們的表現真的出乎我意料的好，真的替他們感到驕傲!

課後聚集的部分，這大概是人最多的一天巴哈哈: )其實今天我很緊張，因為今天換我要上台分享見證，有很多複雜的情緒一時在這裡無法說清楚，簡單說我害怕到氣喘差點發作，緊張到心臟跳動的聲音不用觸摸就能感覺得到(XD)，今天我所分享的是有關前陣子家裡發生的事，而這件事我還沒有跟教會的朋友分享過，再加上我很怕帶給孩子們太多負面的情緒…所以我真的給我自己太多的壓力了: (聚集時間結束後，幾位女生流下了眼淚不斷的哭泣…雖然不確定她們哭泣的原因，但我相信她們應該是感受到一些，並非莫名其妙留下眼淚!真的將她們的心交託給神。”福音的種子由我們撒進他們的心裡，真正澆灌的是由神祂自己! ”在我參與每個營隊的服事時，我總是要不斷的用這句話提醒自己，這樣才能讓我覺得更安心更放手去參與服事的事工。
感謝的事真的說不完，將一切的榮耀歸給那愛我們的神: )

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Hello everyone, it’s Jamie speaking again! 我非常感謝我們最後一天的健康狀況及精神狀況都很良好, I felt a lot of differences from today and from the first day I came.

First is the elementary school camp, we only had 6 kids today, and one of them left during the break. So it went very quiet this morning. And the ending worship was fantastic, way better than I expected.

Then the junior high school camp, Irvin and I’s team got the third place out of four in the acting competition, however I think our group improved a lot from the past days, they spoke out and acted out which made me very impressed.

Finally the gathering, I thank Ariel and Eddie for their sharing, it was pretty deep and I believe that some girls at the back felt it. After the gathering, more girls cried, even I did, we weren’t really sure of the reasons, but we know that God is trying to tell us something to us through this.

I thank God for letting us come to this mission, I learned that I actually have a great life, and I also improved my leading skills. During the sharing at night, I can tell that every each of us feel that God is trying to tell us something.

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Dear Wonderful lovely readers in Seattle. It’s Irvin again! The first thing I’m going to share my throat. If you have been reading our letters, you’d have known that I was sick and my throat was feeling really weird. And so, on Wednesday, my throat got really really bad, and I had difficulty swallowing my spit. It wasn’t like, I was choking or anything, but it felt like I was swallowing a pill instead of spit. And when I ate, it hurt. And then, I tried to drink some orange juice for vitamin C, but the acid got into my throat, and it burned a lot lot lot, and I couldn’t drink the orange juice. But, now it’s Friday, and my throat is pretty much all healed now. It’s perfectly normal now, except for the orange juice still hurts to drink. And so, I’m thankful for God for taking care of me.

Elementary school was alright. I think, one of the most depressing thing about this new elementary school, was that many of the kids knew that we were Christian and that Christianity was against their religion. I remember, at first, many of the kids didn’t sing the songs, and I remember especially this kid just Rex, who asked me if the songs were Christian, and saying, “Oh. I can’t sing it.” There was even a group of kids in my class who would chant some weird Buddhist chant. But, as the week progressed, I saw more involvement in the song. Me and Eddie did this thing, where we would compete and see who would be more active and enthusiastic during worship. Whenever we could, we would run up to the front of the stage and do the hand motions to the English songs. We would exaggerate the motions, and we would scream the lyrics to the song (in key of course), and I think that really got the kids into the song. When we weren’t on stage, I remember some of the kids asking us when we would go back up. At the final worship session, the principle of the school came and asked if the kids liked this week and if they had fun and if they wanted us to come back next year. They pretty much all screamed “YES!!!” to all the answers, and it made me feel like a really good person. I really felt like I connected to the kids this week. More than the other weeks, because I felt like I was more outgoing. I felt more like a tool for God than a conscious being, because many of what I did, I felt like, was things I wouldn’t normally do, but rather, things that God would want me to do. I tried to show my love to the kids as much as possible. And I tried to remember the names of as many kids as I could, and I would acknowledge them when I could. The funnest part of this final day was the very end. I tried to hug as many of the kids as possible, even the ones I didn’t know. I must’ve hugged at least half the kids, it was soo fun. And, although some of the kids tried to run away from me, I think it’s mostly because they’re embarrassed, so I hugged them anyways. And I felt like, by hugging them bye bye, I felt like I was passing on our love to them, so that they’ll feel the love of God and the love of Christians. That way, if they ever lack the love in their life, they’re remember that feeling and look back to God.

As for Junior high, I was really excited. Most of our group actually came late this final day because our group stayed extra long in the elementary school camp saying bye to the kids. Butttt!! I ran to the junior high and I beat the second person by at least two minutes. And by then, we were already late and the kids were anxious. And I rammed through the door of the classroom and raised my arms and screamed “YEAHH!!!!!! RAWRRR!!!”… and the kids started cheering, so it made me feel good, even though it’s kind of dumb. We preformed our skits today. And it went smoothly. In our skit, we had an angel get kidnapped by two bad guys, and the angel went poop, and ET camp out of the toilet and started getting beaten up by the two bad guys, but then ET called King Kong, then King Kong and his family goes save ET, but we’re too late, and ET is dead, and King Kong and his family kills the two bad guys. The plot and idea was pretty silly. But, I think the highlight of our skit, was when King Kong carried this wife to kill the bad guys, because I was King Kong’s wife, and King Kong was this silent kid called Eric who’s a head shorter than me. Eric has actually been my little project this week, because he was the most reserved kid in my group. I tried to be very enthusiastic in my group, and I did this “AHHHHHH” game with Eric, but he would just say “ah” with no significant effort. But, I think I finally got Eric to open up by throwing myself on him and making him carry me. I think, for me, this week went a lot better than me in this junior high camp. First of all, I had wonderful Jamie and Grace teaching the group with me. I also was much more active and excited, probably because I figured out they understood much more English than I had first thought. So, overall, I think I connected to the kids very well.

For the gathering, I think it was one of the saddest days I’ve had on mission. Three people from my group from last week came, and three people from my this week’s group game, and it made me feel like I owned many of the kids. After all the sharings and the song singings, I was very surprised to see that many of the girls were actually crying because of how touched they were. They all seemed significantly interested in God and Christianity now. Grace was fantastic and even made her own little discussion afterwards for the girls who were interested, and she made many of the girls cry. Saying goodbye to the final kids was very depressing. Many of the teachers and I kept hugging the kids, and when they were leave, we would scream and yell “bye” and hug them so it took them about five minutes to leave. And, I made sure they add me on facebook by writing my facebook information onto their hands and arms with a silver sharpie… so I should have a billion friend requests tomorrow. But… I think what really made me the happiest at this final gathering, was that one of the girls from my last week’s group started crying because we were leaving, and made me feel like my time there was significant.

And so, overall, as this mission ends, I feel like, compared to the other years, I’ve been much more focused. I was much more enthusiastic, and I cared about the kids much more than before. I felt a much deeper connection with the children, and I hope that that deeper connection will lead to a better relationship with God and Christianity.

----------------- Scott on Day #14 - 2010 Summer Mission Closing------------------

We had a very emotional last day at Guogou. After the last session on Friday, some of the junior high students asked if they can stop by on Saturday morning to see us before we leave. We said yes and asked them to come at 8am. I was only expecting a few to show up but when I came down around 8:30am, the room used for service at the gospel center was full of students. The number of students who came voluntarily was more than every session in our post school gatherings during the two weeks except for the final Friday session.

Originally, the informal get together on Saturday was supposed to be a social time but after seeing the number of kids who showed up, Shulin, the minister at Guogou Gospel Center, reminded me we should not waste this opportunity just for social time and should do something. I quickly selected two songs, Path Of Grace and Caterpillar and after playing a quick game, we sang these two songs together. Prior to singing each song, I reinforce the message that Jesus can be their best friend and will walk with them throughout their lives. A life walking with Jesus is a life of blessing (i.e. Path Of Grace). Every one of students is a beautiful creation in God’s eyes (i.e. Caterpillar) and encouraged them to attend the junior high camp fellowship later that day at 4:30pm. Among the students were two brothers whom we first saw in 2007 when we first went to Guogou, Jason and John. As we sang the songs, I saw them seriously thinking about the messages we communicated over the last two week and I saw John with crying. This was true not only for them but for many others in the room. I praise God for giving us the opportunity to say a final word of encouragement to these students to take the first step of knowing Him and for the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart.

Because we were leaving at 11am and we also need to clean up our living areas, we started cleanup at 9:30am but told the kids that they were welcome to stay at the gospel center until we’re done cleaning (see attached picture taken after cleanup was done – some of the kids that had came earlier left but most stayed until we were done with cleanup). After cleanup was done, the youths on the team gather their team of students around them and gave them a small gift. When our bus arrived, the students helped us put the room back in order and also helped carried our luggage out to the bus. Our final moments at Guogou were filled with lots of tears and hugs as we said a final goodbye to each other.

This year’s mission was one of our more memorable experiences. Between the 3 camps, we had an opportunity to share God’s love with over 160 kids. Despite our shortcomings, God was able to work through us to impact the lives of many kids at our camp. We were able to see God clearly at work in the lives of many students at both the elementary and junior high schools through the seeds that were planted in their hearts. This was possible only through the many prayers from the members of our church, the coworkers at Guogou Gospel Center and many others. Please continue to pray for these kids that the seeds that have been planted will take root and grow.
Throughout this mission trip, we saw growth in many of our youths who boldly and honestly shared some of their deepest secrets with the junior high students at the gathering. Through their honest sharings, the junior high students got to know not only our youths better but also, how Jesus is applicable and can help them in their lives. God has shown and taught each of us many things and we can’t wait to share them with you on September 12.

Most members of the team will be traveling back to Seattle this coming week so pray for safe travels back to Seattle.

See you all back in Seattle,
Scott