Until next time!

Today we had our very last devotion on this mission trip. Pastor Huang shared about always giving God the glory and spreading the gospel. We then had a singspiration/rehearsal for the performance for later that day.

After the singspiration, we took time to help the kids memorize the 9 bible verses before the bible verse competition where they can earn prizes if they can memorize bible verses. The kids were very eager to learn the verses after seeing the prizes!!

Around 20 parents and family members came to watch their kids perform and we are very thankful that we had the opportunity to connect the church with the local community. We pray that this opportunity would lead to many fruitful relationships in the future!

We will be forever grateful for the kindness and the hospitality that the church has shown us. We have been blessed for the past two weeks with amazing TAs and eager students that want to learn! Please continue to pray for the kids and that they may grow to know God in the future! Also please pray for the safety of the team members as we are all heading back soon!! 

Thank you for your continual support and prayer these past two weeks! 

Week 2 Day 4

Praise God we were able to continue our English camp today because typhoon did not hit us.
Angela led morning devotion, the scripture is from Matthews 28: 16-20, we shared about how to share Jesus' love with others.
Every class is busy rehearsing their song to be presented at the closing ceremony, some of the students are stressed out due to bible verses memorization competition tomorrow.
Love class and Grace class had family visitations last night, a parent wanted to show her appreciation and made a special trip to visit us this afternoon, and gave presents to our teacher and TA, what a kind parent!
The last session was held in the auditorium, we had 5 different games for the entire group, the students sure enjoyed great fun time together.
Well, it is time to pack and get ready for the closing tomorrow.
Please pray for the closing to be smooth, students actually learn the bible verses, parents can join us, and the mission team a safe trip back home.

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Week 2 Day 3

The days are passing by quickly as we count down to our final day here in Chiayi :( Today, we began with a devotion led by Vivian on 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. It was a great reminder that God is really the one working in the children's hearts, and that we should persevere in this trip to bring Him glory.

After our devotion time and breakfast, we headed over to the school to start our day. It was super hot and humid and we were all sweating a lot on the ride there. Our lesson today was about Jesus and the adulteress with a focus on God's forgiveness for all of us. In most of the classes, we made salvation bracelets. The kids had a lot of fun making and wearing them. 

When we came back to church, we had a debriefing where we also planned games and prepared gifts for the children. We then went to a nearby supermarket where we stocked up on some Taiwanese snacks.

Later, Elizabeth and Angela visited their students in their homes. They had a lot of fun getting to know the families better and praying with them.

Please continue to pray for a smooth ending to this mission trip. Please also pray for good weather for our last few days here in Chiayi Taiwan! Thank you for your support!

Week 2 Day 2

Tuesday, July 16

Today we began with a devotional led by Elizabeth. The devotional was from Romans 7:13-25.

Elizabeth and Angela led the singspiration today, followed by the bible verse and a bible story told by Vivian. There was a skit so that the kids could better understand the story. It was about the prodigal son.

In addition to the english lessons, Karen ah-yi and Elizabeth did paper plate animals for crafts. Vivian's class finished their stainglass windows from the day before.

During the debriefing, all the classes seem to have gone smoothly with the kids participating avidly.
Despite slightly lower numbers in our classes today, today was definitely a success!!

We also had our class pictures printed today !! Hopefully we can give the kids a momentum for the two weeks they spent here with us through these pictures :-)

Today, Denise led another dance class and Hope had a family visitation after dinner today.

Week 2 (Monday/Weekend Recap)

🌞Monday of Week 2🌞

This past weekend, we had a much needed break after the first week of mission camp. On Saturday, we went to the movies in 嘉义. We watched Spiderman and Toy Story 4, enjoyed some Mister Donut, and went to a health-foods restaurant for dinner with the 朴子 church staff/friends. We also went to a night market afterwards.

On Sunday, Pastor Huang reminded us in his sermon（你是全新的）that God sees us as brand new; for in Him we are new creations. We are created in His image and destined for greatness. We are of worth and value, and we are alive today because God still has something of importance for us to do. As blessed people, we are to bless other people. 

Some former EV members also came to join us for Sunday service. (Vincent/Susan and Mary/her husband) Mary shared her testimony of how God brought her to EV where she met Pastor Huang and many others that helped her get to where she is today. She reminded us that at times, we may think God doesn't hear us but in fact, he truly is listening and will always be listening. He makes all things work for our good. We may not feel that way in times of suffering but when we stop and look back, we can see that our lives are truly built on blessings on blessings.

🌱

Today, the singpiration was led by Denise and Karen. Karen's 'Hope Class' went up on stage to lead one of the songs. Pastor Huang also joined us in our skit  (Jesus heals the Blind Man) today as Jesus. (Picture 1- Everybody get Walking, Picture 2- Jesus puts mud on the blind man's eyes)

Please continue to pray for the team, and the students and their families as we get ready to wrap up mission camp this week. We will continue with family visitations as well. 

We really are beyond blessed to be surrounded with such kind TAs, church staff members, and everyone else that is helping us out this time. From buying us breakfast every day to just always being so eager to help out, we can feel that the people at this church are just so filled with God's love through their actions as they love on others. We are truly blessed to be working with such a team. 

⛅⛅

Day 5

Today we finished the first week of English Leadership Camp in Puzi, Chiayi.

The English Leadership Camp is held in Tatung Elementary School which is about 300 meters away from EFC Puzi church, we start off singspiration, bible verse and bible story/skit in the auditorium, then divide into 5 classes. The classrooms have no A/C, but we were blessed with lots of summer shower, we sure enjoy the cooler weather.

Today's theme is God Loves Me. We shared the story of Zacchaeus and the tree, the kids enjoyed the bible story very much. We have no family visitation this evening, so we were able to relax, spent some fun time with TAs, and hoped to catch up some sleep this weekend.

God is good, we are blessed everyday! Please continue to pray for the souls of the kids in Puzi and deeper relationship with the people in the Puzi community. Also pray for pastor Huang, he will be preaching this Sunday in EFC Puzi.

Day 4

Finished with Day Four!!
We started off the day with a devotion led by Vivian from 1 Kings 3:4-14 about how we don't have to face challenges alone. Then, we were off to the school to start the day with the kids.

The kids are coming earlier everyday! We arrived around 7:40 and there were already a lot of kids there! Vivian and Elizabeth led singspiration and the kids were more open to singing along and doing the handmotions. After singspiration, we learned the bible verse and the bible story about how God gives us a lot of blessings just like how the oil and flour never ran out in the story from 1 King 17. After we learned the story, we split up into the classes and went to our classrooms.

After the classes, we had a debrief meeting and all classes went relatively smoothly. Then, Denise had a super fun dance class that Angela, Vivian, and TA Gina helped out with. They all loved learning the new combo for their performance next Friday.

For dinner, the TAs were super gracious and bought us some good hotpot noodles. After dinner, Angela and TA Christine and TA Daniel had a blessing of having their third family visitation this week. The family was open and the kids had a lot of fun playing with their teachers. 

Please keep on praying for our team's wellbeing and the gradual opening of all the kids' hearts. We hope that we can finish this week off strong!!!

Day 3

Day 3 of Taiwan Mission was a success!
We started off our day with a devotion from Luke 23:32-43 led by Elizabeth. Our team then headed over to the church at 7:45 am to get ready for singspiration with the children.

Once the children arrived, we had a lot of fun singing and dancing with them. As the children are getting more comfortable with our team, they are opening up to us and talking a lot more! After singspiration, we learned the bible story and verse of the day before splitting off into our respective classes. Today's bible story was about Peter walking on water with Jesus. We focused on the theme of trust and how we are able to trust God throughout all seasons of our lives.

During our debriefing meeting, all classes were reported to have gone smoothly. We then spent the afternoon prepping for our future lessons. Our wonderful TAs also brought us boba, which really helped us cool down in the humid weather.

Elder Samuel Kao also came to give free dental consultations and treatments for the community. It was a great success and received very positive feedback from the people of Chiayi.

At night, Angela, her TAs, and the pastor went to a house visitation of two sisters in her class, Ella and Rita. They had a wonderful time getting to know the kids and family better.

Please continue to pray for the health and energy or our team members! Also pray that the children will be open to our lessons and eager to learn more about God!

Day 2

Tuesday, July 9

We started off our day today with a devotional from 1 John 2:24-29 led by Denise. We sang the song Whom Shall I Fear with the TAs and had a time of discussion and reflection

Denise and Angela led Singspiration, teaching the kids new handmotions. Elizabeth was in charge of today's skit and Bible verse reading. The skit today was about Abraham and Sarah receiving news that they would have Isaac.

In addition to learning new english lessons, we also had our first crafts today! Hope, Love, Grace, and Faith all made stainglass windows. Angel made picture frames.

Today was also the first day of family visitations! Angela, her TA, Vivian, her two TAs, and Pastor Wu went to visit two students. Luckily for us, they were both in the same household. The kids were very open to us during our time there.

Today was the second day of Denise's dance class! The kids were very energetic and Angela and Vivian both joined in to help Denise. The kids definitely opened up to us during this time while we had fun with them.

The second day was definitely a success. Please pray for high energy as we progress through the week.

The Mission Begins (Monday)

We survived the first day! Yaay! 😃😃

After morning devotion and breakfast, we headed over to the elementary school where the children were waiting (76 children came to camp today). Thanks to the teamwork of the church staff, helpers, and teachers, all the children took their placement tests and were placed in their correct class. After the singspiration, we learned the verse for day one and headed to our classes.

Since the schedule for the first day was a little different, we only had one break period and the classes were shorter. However, the students had lots of fun learning new things and before we knew it, day one was over! Some of the students headed back to the church with the mission members for lunch while the others were picked up by their parents. 

During the debrifing we shared that overall, today was a very good first day. We made some minor adjustments and are now preparing for the next day! Also, from buying us breakfast to collecting student information, we are very thankful for our hardworking and wonderful TA's for making sure everything runs smoothly. Lastly, a big thanks to Derek Kao for being our extra helper today! 🙌🙌

We thank Papa God for a great first day! We were able to get all the students registered and placed in their classes. From the singpiration to dismissal, things went very smooth. Also, an EV member has surpsied the team with 40 dragon fruits! 🌸🌸

 

Please pray for the team as we make adjustments for the students and their classes. There were also some students who weren't able to make it today because they were sick. The church is coordinating the visitations that start tomorrow. Lastly, pray for some of our members who are getting sick/are sick. 

💖💖💖

Lord's Day in Puzi

We were happy to worship with brothers and sisters in EFC Puzi. Pastor Huang preached today. The congregation welcomed us with very warm heart.
After the service, we met 8 wonderful local church TAs, we shared our lesson plans with them, and practiced the singspiration songs together.
Please pray for
1. our teachers preparation as we begin English camp tomorrow

2. the partnerships between the local TAs and the teachers

3. the large number of students (we were informed that there were only 30 students registered when we were in US, but now there are 88).

4. the very hot and humid weather so that every team member can adjust well and adapt to the weather condition

5. the TM  members, many members still have jet lag, pray for the members physical strength and energy to get over the jet lag

2019 Taiwan Mission Begins

We are in Puzi!

Pastor Huang and the 4 Puzi first-timers have arrived safely! The weather is warm and humid as usual in the summer. One more mission member and Elder Sam Kao will join us tomorrow.

Through EFC Puzi's Pastor Wu, we've learned that there are 88 students that have signed up for the English camp.
Please pray for our health (one member caught a cold), energy, good spirit, and smooth cooperation with the TAs.

After a brief meeting, we all need to rest a little early today so that our physical condition will get adjusted and be ready for tomorrow! Good night!

Peace Out!

This morning we joined in one final team devotion led by Ms. Connie on the Great Commission. Whether overseas or at home, we are grateful to everyone who has partnered with us in furthering our God’s kingdom.

After a quick breakfast, we all began prepping for our closing ceremony and memory verse competition. 

For singspiration, each class went up to rehearse their song and verse, with everyone else cheering on. 

After a five minute break we practiced all the verses one last time and began our competition. 

This year our top two came from Kindness class (Felicia and Jason) and our third place came from Grace class (Dylan). We had 99% finish station one, and about 14% memorize all 10 verses!

We had about 19-24 parents/grandparents attend the closing ceremony and are excited for the opportunities the local church has to connect with these families and welcome them to church.

Please continue praying with us for the local church in their continuing mission work with the surrounding community.

Please also be praying for our team as we all begin traveling back home this week!

Thank you again for all your love and support!

God is faithful! We are grateful! 

Until next year, PEACE OUT! 

Second to Last Day

Happy Thursday!

  This morning a verse that stood out from our devotional is from 1 Corinthians 3:6-7: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. " This reminded us that we are planting the seeds and also watering the seeds, but we leave the rest in God's hands. Even though we do not see the kids change, we know that God is still working in them after we leave. We give it all to God.

For singspiration, all the classes performed on stage to practice for our Friday ending ceremony. The kids made us proud, as they sang really loud as they did their hand motions. They also did a good job reading the Bible verse because they needed to memorize them for tomorrow. Afterwards, we went back to the classroom and spent our last hour with our kids. We were able to practice our Bible verses and tell them some of our last words for them.

At the gym, we had a sports day, where the kids were able to learn about teamwork and encourage each other. We played 4 different games. In the first game, the kids used a ping pong ball, tried to throw it into a cup, and another student tried to catch the ball. They were racing against each other to see who did it the fastest. The second game we played was balloon volleyball. They tried to hit the balloon over the string net and tried to not let the balloon fall. The third game we played was telephone, where the students passed a number down a line by squeezing the hand of the person next to them. Lastly, the kids had to pass through the hula hoop the fastest. The kids ended the day with a cool refreshing drink.

We are super sad that tomorrow is our last day! We cannot believe that the two weeks are already here!!! We want to give all the glory to God as we let God continue to do His work after we leave.

We hope we can all pray that our student's parents and grandparents are able to come to church and watch God in their child's performance. We also pray that God continues to put His hands over these students' lives.

Lastly, we are very grateful to have worked with these awesome TAs. They have been an amazing addition to our team. Even though our Taiwan mission is coming to an end, our friendship with the TAs will continue. It was great to have such a big team to work with to do God's mission.

only two more days left ):

“Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank [our] God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership [with us] in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in [us] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:2-6

God is good! All the time!

A little note from us to you:

We are grateful! Grateful for all the support, prayers, and encouragement we received during these past two weeks and even prior to the mission trip! We cannot even begin to convey how much your support means to us! We feel it! 

Thank you also to the local church, all the staff, TA’s and everyone involved in making these two weeks run smoothly. We will cherish the memories built with you, and please know you hold a very special place in our hearts! 

And to our students: We are blessed by you! We are so excited for Friday, getting to watch you all show what you have learned these past two weeks and perform your class song. It has been our honor to serve you, teach you, and get to know you! 

Finally, the One that made it all possible — GOD, thank YOU is not enough. Thank YOU!

Recap of the day:
Today our devotions was led by Mrs. Huang on Romans 7:13-25. For those that have attended TM in the past at any point, you probably remember how vital these morning gatherings are. It is a way for the entire team to wake up together, dive into scripture, and start off our day on His word and strength. For those of you who have never been to TM, join us next year and experience these blessed times!

Singspiration was led by Ms. Connie and Ms. Elene. We rehearsed the five songs each respective class will be singing, and Ms. Yumi taught our new verse for the day, 2 Corinthians 13:8.

A little explanation of why we start off camp each day with singspiration:

• This makes checking-in easier on the TA’s when everyone is congregated in the same place before splitting off into class 
• We get to burn off a little bit of energy so the students can sit through lessons, and it is a way to introduce them to music (some students prior to camp may not have much music contact)
• We are here first and foremost to share the gospel; and so using English as a bridge to welcome the students to camp — teaching English gospel songs with hand motions makes it kid friendly, active, and fun! 
• We also teach a memory verse each day, to share the gospel and let them know who Christ is and all the things He has done for them. It is also a way for us to work with them on their conversation and pronunciation. 

After singspiration/Memory verse, we went to our classes and taught our Bible Story on Moses and the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20-34:1-28)

Each teacher also teaches “English” whether it be simple vocabulary, or grammar structure, to conversation, based on each classes level. Our students can range from knowing only A, to knowing the entire alphabet, to basic vocabulary, to writing and speaking in full sentences. Thus, everyday each class has a different lesson plan. (If you are at all curious about TM, ask questions! Ask those that have joined in the past, or come join us next year to find out for yourself)

As we are beginning to pack some of our materials that will not be used the next two days, we are already looking forward to what God has in store for Puzi next year. But in the meantime, join us in prayer:

• Spiritual strength: it has been a battlefield! We hardly mention the negative things that happen during our day/week and we all try to stay as upbeat and positive as we can with a good attitude. But over the past week and a half, we have had students who were bullied, bullying another, or getting into fights. And it is not a testament to Christ. We see how parents are affected by the news that their kid got into a fight, or was bullied upon and it leaves them with a sour taste of Christianity. Pray for us as we continue on with His work these next few days, that our Lord would continue to protect and work in hearts! To grant us wisdom in dealing with situations like these, to have compassion and love when talking to the parents and the students. 
• Physical energy! We are tired! We are grateful the wether has been really nice, and not super hot draining us even more physically, but each day is filled with so much activity that we need our strength!

Until tomorrow, cheers (:

Tuesday :)

Morning: This morning we started off with morning devotions at 6:50 led by Mr. Ling. Our passage  was from Psalm 119:89-96 and our devotion was about God’s unchanging, powerful words. It was a great time to reflect and sing about God’s presence in our lives. 

Singspiration: Our singspiration was led by Connie and Yumi who led the handmotions on stage. During these past few days we have been inviting kids on stage so they can perform in front of others and prepare for their class performance on Friday. Many of the kids seem to enjoy being on stage and dragging their T.As with them. Our bible verse was led by Jocelyn from John 14:6 and the kids had a class competition to see who could read each verse the loudest.

Class: This day’s bible lesson was about Noah’s Ark and all the teachers planned activities and drawing books around this. Some classes also had craft time with beads and crosses. Most of the classes have been memorizing and practicing bible verses in their classes to prepare for the bible verse competition on Friday!

Home visits: Gentleness (Yumi), Faith (Jocelyn) and Grace (Elene) class had home visits in the late afternoon and it was a great time for them to see their students and to get to meet their parents! Praise God that Home visits have been very fruitful!

Pray: Please pray for the weather and that it will be pleasant for the remainder of our time here. Also please pray that our last 3 more days will be extremely fruitful and blessed and that our kids will not only have a great time but also really learn and remember something from this camp. 

Happy Monday

Monday

Hello again dear readers,

Thank you for tuning in to this week's blog post! Today was a great start to the beginning of a new week. First, we had singspiration in the gymnasium, led by Jocelyn and Judy. Then, we had the bible verse, led by Judy and had some people memorize the bible verse, which was 1 Corinthians 13:6. Then, we broke up into our individual classes and began our lessons. Today, our Bible lesson was about Joseph and his brothers, so after the teachers of each class taught the story, they did an activity related to the story. During the school day, some of the classes made a photo frame to go with a class picture, which will be handed to them on Friday. Friday will also be our last day with the kids :( and we will be combined at EFC Puzi for a closing ceremony, where each class will perform a song and memorize a bible verse.

Yumi's class (Gentleness)

One of Judy's (Angel class) photo frames

At the end of the day, we split up into two groups: the students that were going home waited at the front lot for their parents, while the students that were going to church walked back to church. Reflecting back on the day, it was pretty good compared to last Monday. Everything was more organized and the classes were all well-behaved. Praise God that we were able to have such a wonderful day today.

Prayer Requests:
- Weather: There is a typhoon called Typhoon Maria headed our way. Please pray that it will not affect the camp too much and that we will still be able to teach the kids.
- Lessons: Please pray that the rest of the week will go smoothly like today
- Please pray that all our members will be able to rest well and maintain their health so that we will be able to properly teach the kids

Praises:
- Today was a really good day, and currently, all the students that registered for the camp have come!
- We had three visitations today. Two with the same family and one with another family. We got to know a little bit more about the kids and connect with them
- The weather so far has been really nice. Even though it was quite hot today, for the past few days, it wasn't too hot and wasn't too cold

Fri-YAY

Happy Friday!

This morning our team started off with daily devotionals led by Elene, who reminded us that nothing just happen by coincidence, God has plans for all of us. 

After our team devotional and delicious breakfast, we headed back to school. We were very excited to get back to our classrooms and spend more time with our own kids. 

We started the singspiration lead by Judy and Yumi. We practiced 5 songs including the “Oh , the Love God has Shown Us”, which the kids will perform during this coming Sunday service. Although the kids are shy, when the songs come on, they are pretty engaged with the hand motions.  

Then Jocelyn taught the new Bible verse Psalm 103: 17 “But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting.” These kids are picking up the Bible memory verses quickly.

We then went to our individual classes and taught the story of Joshua and the Wall of Jericho. Some classes made crafts, while others already made the craft on previous days.

Prayer Request:

1.       Please be in prayer for all our health.
P     Please pray for this Sunday, Pastor Huang's sermon and for the kids who are performing, as well as the parents who will be coming to watch their kids perform to receive the message

2.       Please pray for a restful weekend and a successful and strong start of the second week.

3.       Please continue to be in prayer for students that we will be visiting and their families, that God can continue working and softening their hearts and make us the living testimony for these families.

Thank you all for your continual prayers, encouragement, and support.  

We will be taking a blog hiatus for the weekend and will return Monday (: More update to come then!