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.