Birthday Gift from the Above

你好！

So today was our last day of the VERY last seminar! We left our hotel around 7:40 a.m. and rode the MRT to the church nearby to prepare lesson plans and materials for the day before the parents started dropping their children off.

El Shaddai (All-sufficient One), Jehovah Tsidkenu (God is my righteousness), and Jehovah Nissi (God is my banner) were the three names of God that we all taught today. If you think enough about it, there are most likely instances in your life where all three names of God are applicable. Today, the name El Shaddai seemed to be the most significant to me. It reminded me of just a few days ago, when two teachers from Nantou came to visit for a few days. The day that they were planning to leave to go back to Nantou, Bethany and I and ended up having to stay back at the hotel for a day and sleep because we were sick. This meant that we wouldn't be able to lead our two teams that evening, leaving just our translator there with about 12 kids. God, being all-sufficient, saw our need and provided those two visiting teachers who were able to stay and take the place of Bethany and me that night! They ended up staying the entire week and they kept their position of Team Leader, while Bethany and I became the Team Assistants because we were still recovering.

On the way up to lunch, Tiffany stopped me and handed me a java-chip Frappucino from Starbucks (my favorite!) and a nice birthday card! That was a really nice surprise. At lunch, we all had Subway sandwiches, which just so happens to be my favorite fast-food back in America =D. As we were finishing up lunch, I had another surprise. The staff brought out two really delicious (and pretty) birthday cakes!

After being stuffed with delicious food for lunch, we had to go back downstairs to do the afternoon half of our seminar, which ended around 5:00 p.m. After all the kids were picked up by their parents, our team had its usual debriefing and prayer. That evening, the entire American team (along with a few Taipei interpreters who stuck around) walked to a local night market. As usual, we were allowed to break up into groups of three or more to go shop and/or eat dinner. Bethany, Daniel, David R., David L., Hannah, Oliver, Peter, Skyler, and I wandered around the night market and it's surrounding streets for about an hour or so looking for a place where we could have a sit-down meal instead of the usual night market food stands. We ended up going to an Italian restaurant called Dr. Pasta! I couldn't have had a better birthday and I was even was feeling better then I had all week!

Sadly these few weeks of ministry have to come to a close. Many of us hope to return to Taiwan in the near future. I am very grateful for the many opportunities ATI provides for me to grow spiritually and to expand my understanding of different cultures. I am also so thankful for the friendships with other believers that I have made here in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

再見。








Caroline Rogers

Lessons Learned

“Don’t be afraid, I found you!” As Tim acted on stage as a shepherd, he said this to the lost sheep. At that moment, my eyes are bursting with tears. “You are found, my daughter.” Yes, I am found. And yes, we are all found!

The week before I came to CI is a difficult time for me, some problems form school started to show up to me in a painful way. It was too complicated that I even forgot how to worried, and too overwhelm that I even couldn’t feel the pain. Sometimes I cry at night, praying to God asking why this could happen.

In the days of CI, I tried to focus on the children and God. But still, sometimes sorrows would still come to me. As I tried to hide the feelings, the situation got even worse.

Today when me and Josie were preparing the lesson of Suffering for the little group, she told me the story about how a shepherd guide and teach the sheep to grow to love the shepherd more. She said this to me “God allows us to go through sufferings because He loves us.” He knows what is best for us, He loves us even more then we do. Even though it is hard to know why things happen like this in our life, as long as we remember that God is in control, we should no longer be afraid.

Jehovah Raah, God is our shepherd. He is not only a shepherd but a very good one. He loves us, and knows our deepest thought. When we are walking through the sorrows, Jesus carries us on His shoulder and walk through it with us.

Today, the teachers of CI are still coughing, and my problems are still unsolved yet. But after today’s lesson, we know, that God is guiding, and He know our needs. Just look up there and follow Him, that’s what a good sheep does.

When you feel your strength is running out, and lost; just call upon the name of the Lord, and you will be found.
“I found you, I found you.” He said.







Grace Lu
(Interpreter from Taiwan)

For Each Day

We started this day with wisdom search: Does God show in some place than others if He is the all-knowing, omnipresent and unlimited God? Hmmm…. That is quite interesting; we discussed it and had a debating, and had an encouragement keeping this in mind. But I hope God will show Himself to us, in this seminar.

After wisdom search we went to a Thai food restaurant to enjoy a delicious meal. Sitting together with long tables, tasting each new dish, oh, of course, practicing how to use chopsticks, we had to say….we love this wonderful Asian experience!
Then we left for the very famous tour site: Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, having the group picture… Even the sky was full of clouds, with little rain, but it could not stopping us appreciating the beauty of Chinese culture, and enjoy this outgoing day. Also we took a shop at Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center, where made us bring quite much stuff, very happy!

Tonight we taught about the name of God: El Roi to children again, teaching them the power of God, how He watches us in our daily life, how He keeps us and how we should be responsible for ourselves, and build the truth in our life, making our foundation strong in our holy God. And that is also a lesson for us, reminding that our God is with us all the time, being the securely reliance for us. Just because of His wonderful name El Roi, we are able to give our all to Him, letting the work of God be accomplished; we are be able to go through every day, knowing there is the hope for us, for these children, for this seminar, for this country, for tomorrow.

This is what I know and learned from His names just for me.







Angel Liao

Homeschooling-- Here and There

Today, we got to do something very special.... we met the Joshua Students! Joshua Students are a group of homeschooled children in Taiwan. Homeschooling is not very popular in Taiwan and education is very important here, so this group is being very courageous to introduce a whole country to the homeschooling system.

Anyway......

These students came and will be spending the next few days with us. This afternoon, David Lukachick had all of us play some games to introduce us to one other and then to help us remember their names. So first, we were divided into 2 groups, each group having a mix of American teachers and Joshua Students. Then we, stood in a circle and said our names as well as one adjective that started with the same letter as our names, for example, my name is Jessica and my adjective is Joyful. But wait... that's not all we had to do... oh no, that would be too easy... :) The 1st person would say his adjective and name, and the 2nd person would have to say the 1st persons name and adjective as well as her own name and adjective, then person 3 had to say person 1 and 2's names and adjectives as well as his.... etc. .. all the way around the circle. I felt kind of bad for the last person who has to remember everyone's names and adjectives!! It was a lot of fun... and a lot of creative people. By the time both groups have finished, we knew each other much better.

Now that we had learned everyone's name, we played the game. One person was given a paper baton was told to tap anyone person in their circle with it. There was a catch though, when the person with the baton was coming to tap you, if you said your name and another person's name before you were hit, the baton would be directed to the person whose name you said. The person with the baton had to remember which name belonged to whom. Now, if you did not say the names fast enough, you would be tagged, and you would be the person with the baton, out to tap the next person.... only if you were faster then the minds of your team players!! This game proved full of lots of fun and laughs!!

I really enjoy getting to know the Joshua Students and look forward to working more with them and spending more time with this incredible group!!!


But for now....
Zai jian ~ Good Bye







Jessica Fitzpatrick

The Last Mile

We started our first morning back in Taipei with a typical continental breakfast, then wisdom search. We talked about Jehovah Shalom, the God of peace. After reading Philippians 4:4-7 I was excited to see that God’s peace comes by rejoicing in Him and not worrying about outward circumstances. So, after wisdom search we headed to the church.

We didn’t waste much time getting started. Setting up was the first step, ie: arranging chairs, hauling boxes up two floors of stairs, setting up tables, and all that fun stuff. Needless to say, we were slightly overjoyed when we heard it was time for lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to find out we were having awesomeness for lunch! (most people call awesomeness dumplings) Yum!

So, after a nourishing lunch of awesomeness, we continued our preparation for the CI. We met the new interpreters and had some helpful teacher training sessions, and soon it was time for more food! Supper was some really good chicken that was close to being almost as good as awesomeness. (aka dumplings) After supper we went down to wait for our kids.

I was nervous, like usual, on the first night of the seminar. However, this time I called on God as Jehovah Shalom and rejoiced in Him. God was faithful, and He flooded me with His peace. The children were great and everything seemed to go smoothly. Praise the Lord.

God really showed Himself strong that night. He gave us all the strength we needed right when we needed it. Between God and vitamin C (his faithful agent), we were able to get the Taipei seminar off to a great start!













Angela Joy Clark

Intermission

“For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work: I will triumph in the works of Thy hands.” (Psalm 92:4)

As I look back over the past two seminars, I find much to be glad about. I have seen the Lord answering prayers, working in kinds’ lives, and teaching me. As I look forward to the next seminars, I am confident that we will triumph through the work of His hands.

This morning, we left Hong Kong and flew back to Taiwan. Our next seminar does not start until tomorrow, so we went on a fun outing this evening. We went to Shilin night market—the largest night market in Taipei.

Perhaps the most noteworthy cultural experience of the day was eating stinky tofu. Stinky tofu is as its name implies—tofu that stinks. It has this unique sickening stench. However, it does not taste nearly as bad as it smells. In fact, it tastes ok.

Thank you for your prayers for us. As you continue to pray for us, pray that God will do many great things in and through us during our final seminar. Also, please continue to pray for spiritual strength and physical health for each of us.









Teresa Vanderford

I Left My Heart in Hong Kong...

I just couldn't believe that IT'S OVER now!!!

The CI team has been here for almost a week, and it's been an amazing week. Taking the teachers and staff to one of the outline islands, praying with them, serving with them, seeing how God works in the children's lives... No wonder there's a Cantonese saying goes like this, "Happy moment flies!" (快樂的時光過得特別快). As a co-host and stage interpreter here in Hong Kong, it's my greatest pleasure to work with this bunch of awesome people. They all have a servant heart, a love for the kids. They never complain about the food, nor ask for spacious room. I can always see a smile hanging on their face after a long day teaching the kids. It's really my honor to serve the Lord with these awesome people!

Moments with the kids are flashing back on my mind. The kids are all so precious in God's eyes. I'm touched by the love of the Lord. I feel the immense love of our Father when I see how the kids get to know Him more here and how some of them were changed here. I'm so grateful that I can be used by the Lord in such a way.

It's the last day of CI. I know we all gonna miss the kids. But I'm praying that our loving Father, who is Jehovah Raah, would watch over them wherever they go, and that the kids would follow the Shepherd all the days of their life.

It's over for me here, but the teachers and the staff are heading to Taipei tomorrow and continue their journey of sharing God's love with the kids. Please keep them in prayers. It'd mean so much to them. =)








Ada Leung
(HK Stage Interpreter)

His Power, My Weakness

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9a)

Saturday was our first full day of teaching. Most of the team had colds or coughs and everyone was tired. Our strength that we had at the beginning of the trip was fast running out and God had many opportunities to show His strength through our weakness.

One such instance stood out to me very clearly. All week the whole team had been praying for our kids that we could be able to reach out to them and to connect to the team. I had also been praying for my personal team that God would give Joy Clark, our translator, Tom, and I wisdom on how to build a relationship with the kids and how to draw them out.

In preparation for Saturday, I don’t actually recall giving to God the issue of how to relate to the children, but at some point I yielded it to Him in my spirit. Well, God loves to show Himself strong when we get out of the way! That day God provided opportunities to connect with the kids, especially the older students. God really opened our hearts and the hearts of the kids on our team and gave us the ability to reach out and connect with them.

“Most gladly will I rather glory in my affliction that the power of Christ might rest upon me.” (2 Cor 12:9b)










Laura Weaver

A Different Chinese Language

It is the second day in HK.

Everything seemed to be better than the first day. It’s quite different here in HK, to me especially. When we’re in Taiwan, I can understand both Mandarin and English, and I’m happy about that. But here in HK, people speak Cantonese. I feet so lost. I used to be an interpreter. However, this week, apparently, I can’t interpret. I become a teacher. And of course, I have to speak English. Now I get to kind of understand how the American teachers feel. (Uh…um…not exactly…oh well, they’re using their first language while I’m using my second language.) This is the first time in my life to work with an interpreter. It’s sort of interesting. I have to say, interpreters are so very important to the whole seminar. And the quality of interpreters can decide the efficiency of the seminar.

Today we talked about authority. This is an important lesson for kids and would help their parents a lot if they can learn this principle well. We made a crown as a craft. I told them that the crown represented authority and we had to let our authority wear the crown rather than us. And then I challenged them to give the crown to their parents to show their acknowledgement of their parents’ authority. It was really interesting that some of the kids kind of wanted to keep the crowns because they thought the crowns were beautiful. And…ha! Abraham, a naughty kid on our team, was the first one who gave his crown to his mother and made her wear it. That was cool.










Simon Yeh

It's All about Love

Good Night!

Today we started the CI in Hong Kong! This afternoon in teacher training, Jerry thought on how to love the children. The lesson was very good and brought our focus back to the children, our purpose for being here.

This message spoke to me and cut right to my heart. I have been asking the Lord to give me a loving heart for these children. Even the verse the Lord gave me in my quiet time this morning was on loving people.

The chapter that we discussed was 1 Corinthians 13. Jerry emphasized how it didn’t matter if all we did try to do was a big huge terrible mess. It didn’t matter if all we did was perfectly put together nothing went wrong and everything fell into place perfectly. If we don’t love these children we missed the point. It’s all in vain. It’s all a waste.

Well, tonight didn’t start out very good. I didn’t think I got the point across. Everything was pretty much a mess. Were the children listening at all?

Test 1: Rebekah, do you love these children?
Answer: Lord, only through You am I able to have these children. Everything seemed to go wrong, but in the end they know the answer to al the questions I asked. I believe tonight You were glorified in my weakness and helped me love the children and see them through Your eyes even when things didn’t always go right. Thank you, Lord, for Your help.






Rebekah Fisher

Hello, Hong Kong!

After all the stress and responsibilities of the Kaohsiung CI, it was nice to switch gears to "vacation mode." Vacation mode meant we could dress more casual, take more pictures and eat interesting food from every food stand (that is if you are Tim). This day of site-seeing began with a delicious brunch at a restaurant in Hong Kong. (the name of this restaurant can be supplied by the aforesaid Tim =P) The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was the round tables with glass lazy susan turntables in the center. On these turn tables were tea pots of hot water and a big bowl both for sterilizing our dishes. Sterilizing one's own dishes became a tradition in Hong Kong after the SARS scare, many people wanted to make sure they would not get sick so they insisted on cleaning their own dishes. After washing our dishes, the waitresses brought us tea and began filling the table with little foods, which we shared with everyone at our table. The Chinese, Hong Kongian and Taiwanese people at my table had a "wonderful" way of not telling me what I was eating until after i tried it. Does anyone like fish eggs? I did, until i found out what they were. =(

After eating we took the ferry over to Llama Island. From there we walked past shops, restaurants, temples and banana trees to the beach. The beach was beautiful and we all enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine (pictures to follow =))

Like among energetic young people is never boring and today was no exception. One of the girls got a kick out of planting her barking dog alarm clock into the backpack of one of her unsuspecting teammates, Simon. It was perfect! The alarm clock went off during role call and everyone was staring at Simon's barking backpack. He was chagrinned. After that it was a big game among the CI team to slip the alarm clock into the bag/bag pack of anyone who was not paying attention. It definitely kept people on their toes.

We finished the wonderful day at the ladies market, which ironically is opened to all regardless of gender. It was a lot like the night market at Kaohsiung, except that it required a lot more bargaining. The prices were usually jacked up two or three times the actual worth of the items. It took some real skills to get anything at a good price. Some of us were better at it then others. I personally am going to have to wok on it or else I'll have Bethany or Jerry or David bargain for me.








Patricia Keller

The Two Cities

My day began as any good day should, with extra sleep. The night before I had packed and repacked, so after the much needed rest, I thought the third time might be the charm. Afterward I made my way down to our group wisdom search, which was led by our fearless leader Tim Chen. He shared with us his thoughts about God as Jehovah before splitting us into smaller groups for more in-depth study.

Since this was our last free day in Taipei, we decided to catch not only our breaths, but some of the sights of the city as well. Our adventure began with a thrilling MRT ride and less then thrilling walk, when at last we reached our destination; Taipei 101! Having mastered the streets of Taiwan, the conquering heroes (as I like to think of myself) greatly anticipated our hard earned reward of lunch. Personally, I went straight for the fried rice and noodles. I followed that with the most delicious strawberry smoothie. It was made from fresh strawberries and needless to say I will probably be having sweet dreams about that smoothie for quite some time, but I digress.

Our stomachs were full and our minds were ready for more action. So, we did what any normal group of tourists would do in the world's tallest building... (pause for dramatic effect)...went looking for the basement! Going to the lowest point in the tallest building is not for the faint of heart, but we were not daunted by such obstacles.

A few minutes, a lot of laughs, and some memorable pictures later we rushed back to the hotel. We loaded up the bus and said our momentary goodbyes to that amazing city. At the airport we regrouped with Simon, Tiffany, and Angel. While mentally preparing for the flight, my nose kindly informed me of a nearby Subway restaurant. A sub sandwich and cookies had never tasted so good.

We arrived in Hong Kong and got a few glimpses of the city on our bus ride to the hostel. Once there we got our roommate assignments. For the third straight time David and I were roommates; this time joined by Simon. Tired and happy it is time to turn in. I can't wait for all that God has planned for us tomorrow.







Skyler Davenport