Manic Monday

Day 3

Hello dear reader,

Happy Monday! Taiwan Mission officially started today, and we finally got to meet the kids! To start off the day, Elder Ling led us in devotionals at 6:50 am, where we were reminded to surrender ourselves to God, be truthful, and show our sincerity. This was a great way to prepare our hearts for the day ahead of us, as well as the next two weeks. After devotionals, we had breakfast and got to bond with our TAs a little bit before diving into our teaching. Around 7:45am, it started sprinkling, so most teachers, TAs, and staff members drove to the school. Once we got there, it started pouring, but it was okay because we were all gathered in the auditorium. One by one, the children started arriving at the camp, and once they found a seat, we handed them the dreaded placement test. Luckily, most were willing to try their best and fill it out (praise God!!), and so for the most part, we were able to accurately place them in the correct class.

After the placement test, Connie and Elene led a wonderful singspiration, with new songs and new hand motions for the kids to learn. Even though some things did not go as expected, we were able to find a way to fix the problems we had today, so hopefully, tomorrow will be better. Since it was the first day of class, things were a bit hectic, especially because we had to be out of the auditorium by 9:30am and also because it was raining. Thankfully, God had a plan in mind and we were able to pull everything off successfully.

During class time, the five teachers, Judy (Angel), Jocelyn (Faith), Yumi (Gentleness), Elene (Grace), and Connie (Kindness), all introduced themselves to the class and had a few activities to get to know their students better. We also taught John 3:16, our first bible verse of the week, to the kids to help them get acquainted with God.

After class, everyone headed back to the main entrance to either be picked up or to line up and head back to church for lunch and additional classes. For lunch, we had a very delicious meal consisting of chewy pao mian noodles that was seasoned very well, chewy fish cakes, crunchy bean sprouts, warm rice, sweet and sour pork and cool, refreshing mung bean soup. After lunch, the teachers and the TAs went to the meeting room for the daily debrief, where we were able to review what went right and what went wrong for the day and create solutions for potential problems that we might have tomorrow. We also went over the people we are having family visitations with. So far, we have 19 visitations that will happen throughout the next two weeks! Then, we started planning for tomorrow's lesson, went to dinner, rehearsed for tomorrow's worship, continued our lesson planning, and then went to sleep around 11:00pm.

Today, there were a lot of things to be thankful for. Firstly, we had 69 out of 80 kids that signed up show up which was an amazing turnout! Next, the rainfall was rough, but many of the kids were prepared and had their own umbrellas, which made the transportation from school to church more smoothly after school. In addition, we survived an earthquake! Just kidding, it was just a small shake :) Lastly, the AC has been working amazingly, to the point where sometimes, it's even too cold! Is that even a thing in Taiwan?

As we continue on this first week, here are some prayer requests we have:

- Preparations: Two of our classes, Faith and Gentleness, have a wide range of students with multiple English skill levels, so the kids were a bit wild, making it hard for the teachers and TAs to teach them. Please pray that these two classes will be prepared to reach out to these kids and let them know about God's word. In addition, please also pray for our other classes, Angel, Grace, and Kindness, that everything will go smoothly and that all the kids will be prepared to receive God into their hearts these next two weeks.
- Rest: Please pray that we will be able to get a good night's sleep every night so that we will be properly energized to serve God through this mission trip by not only teaching but also and playing with the kids and getting to know their families.
- Weather: Recently, we've been experiencing a lot of rain. Please pray that the rain won't cause a huge problem for the staff, the kids, and the teachers.

Please enjoy this short clip of what the auditorium looks like:

Thank you for taking your time to read this post and for supporting us during this trip! We couldn't have accomplished everything we have already done without your prayers and support :)