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