Camp at the Farm

After the temple, we made our way down to the fishing village, and were given a tour of a small shop that specialized in...'coral jello'. It seemed like a safe enough thing to try, but after a small taste, I gagged discreetly and calmly decided to let Pinky finish it for me. He put coffee creamer on it and that made it a little better, but I still let him eat the rest of it. Sometimes I wonder if God really intended for us to eat some of the things that I have recently put into my mouth.

That night (our first night of the Yilan camp) our activity was to make a sky lantern. This particular craft apparantly evolved from a practice of writing down prayer to Buddha or other gods, and sending the lantern up like small hot air balloon. However, our team's lantern went up with blessings and requests to God. We lit the torch inside and it rose higher and higher. All of the kids could see the Americans' prayers going up to God, who maybe they had never heard of before then. I wondered if God was made happy with our tiny offering, and he reassured me from Psalm 50:23 that "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me..." in that case..."I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations." -Psalm 57:9


One of the last nights at the Yilan camp we went on (of all things) an insect watch. I wasn't exactly thrilled about the whole thing (as most of you can imagine) and tried to conjure up some sort of deathly physical ailment that would have prevented me from going. However, nighttime came and found me in perfect health. Our very enthusiastic guide tried to make us all feel a little better about the hike...apparently, he'd been doing this insect watch for twenty-plus years. He would beam his flashlight on some creeping thing and draw us all in to get a -in my opinion- much too close of a look. At one point, he saw something through the trees and charged forward to investigate. Something about the trees here: a spider as big as your hand hangs from every single one...our little group was content to watch and wait. He was gone for quite a while and I thought for sure that whatever he had gone to look for had eaten him. Fortunately for us, he had a safe passage through the jungle, and took us safely (through foliage full of gleaming beetle eyes) back to our camp for the night.

The Yilan Temple

"Just a couple more hours..." Robert told me, as we hiked up the Caoling Historic Trail...(actually, it's a mountain...you know, like you see people climbing over in the movies?) "Hours?" I groaned with everyone else... we and our eighteen students were being initiated into Camp Yilan...the first thing on our camp schedule after picking up the kids at 8:00 in the morning was this hike...and we were only one hour into it. Two of the girls latched onto me and I pulled them up the never-ending stone stairs that led upward to
somewhere we couldn't see. Four hours and a third-degree sunburn later (well, not quite :) we arrived at the peak of the trail. We could see the ocean behind us and in front of us, spread out in a vast expanse of blue and green majesty. Down below was one of the temples that are so easily found here, and then the trail descended to a little fishing village. We had to walk through the temple grounds to get to the village, and I lowered my head, walking quietly down the main steps of the temple - trying to show respect for the religious ceremonies taking place. People carrying handfuls of incense wands slowly passed me with sober looks on their faces. This was my first experience with worship to other gods besides my own true God. I was struck by how the people came with offerings - like I do - and came reverently...humbly. They came with requests - like I do - and with praise to their gods - like I come with praise to my God. The difference is...my God is real. In Isaiah 46,:5 God asks "To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?" There is no comparision to God...in verse 9 he tells us "...for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me," In Isaiah 43:11 God reminds us "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour." I never really understood why God's plea for us to come to him was so strong, but now I can see a little of how He must feel when we reject him, and turn to other idols who cannot protect us or provide for us like he can. Here, the people worship their gods out of bondage, but we can worship God out of love and thankfulness for everything he has done. Their gods cannot see them or hear them, or appreciate the sweet sacrifices they bring, but our God knows us, and delights in even the small sacrifices that we make for him.

Isaiah 45:20-21 "Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath toldit from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me."

On the Road Again

I have just been kicked out of the hotel with my fellow American teachers and taken to BeiTou, the town where our teacher orientation begins in three days. Our day started out with a quiet church service and leisurely walk back through town. We were anticipating a relaxing weekend lounging around Taipei before having to travel again (we have been in five different towns already in the two weeks that I have been here). But alas!....there was a mix-up with the transportation details, and as soon as we got back to the hotel, we received a call from Robert - our agent (you might say :) - telling us that we had to pack out bags and check out...right now!! because we were moving again. We scrambled around and were able to get our combined 700 pounds of luggage down to the lobby in what must have been record time. We had a two hour wait before our ride could come...so we sat amidst the clutter of our suitcases, staring at the front desk receptionists (probably with a strained, disbelieving look on our faces). We are now at our next to last town (next stop: Ping Tung!!) and we are waiting for the rest of the teachers to arrive in two days.

We had another camp since the end of last week, but I can't skip anything, so we're going back to last Saturday (the last day of our Shinchu camp).

The highlight of that camp for me was probably this journal entry from one of my sweet students....it is purely vanity that causes me to post this (and a little bit of humour)...I must tell you that grammar and punctuation were accurately preserved... ---
"Today, weather is sunny and my moody was so bad! Because Sunday, I was go home! And I can’t see the Hannah everyday! And I can’t see my friends too! I was so sad too so – Hannah – see you!! I like you Hannah – Good night" – -Angel
--That was written on the last day of camp when everyone said goodbye… she was such a sweetheart!

Taxi ride: So that night was free time for everyone. Our students were gone, and we wanted to find someplace to unwind. We decided to go downtown, and find the pizza place, then walk around the night market. Our taxi arrived and as the driver got out, our first impression of him was rather…distasteful. He seemed rather a sullen sort, and the cigarette hanging out of his mouth was what really did him in. We piled into the cab, and Megan –our camp leader- told him where to take us. As soon as we got out of the parking lot, our opinion of him radically changed as he turned up the radio to full blast and started belting out the Chinese lyrics to the song. We started cracking up!! All of the sudden he reached over and put Joanna’s hand on the steering wheel. Our eyes got huge, and we all couldn’t believe it…Joanna was the only one keeping us from a head on collision with the oncoming lane of traffic. She was also the only one keeping the moped drivers in our lane on the side of us (in our lane) from a rather gruesome fate. We stared in disbelief as the driver began bouncing around the driver's seat to the music. He was practically falling out of the taxi – he was dancing so hard!! Finally, Joanna was laughing so much, she couldn’t take the pressure of keeping us alive anymore… she handed the wheel back to him, and we arrived safely at our destination. We probably won’t see that taxi driver again, but we will definitely remember how memorable he made our first night out in Taiwan.

Sunday afternoon we made our way to Taipei. Our hotel was fabulous and the first morning, Sally - who happened to be staying there too - found our room and we made plans to go out that evening. It was so good to be able to see her again after saying goodbye back at the camp. She took us to an underground market and then we had dinner in one of the huge mall towers. She made me feel so welcome even though I couldn't speak her own language, or relate to her culture at all. I see these people demonstrate such a hospitality and selflessness for which Christians seem to struggle. But to Sally and everyone I meet over here...to them it is simply their way of life. I found such an interesting pair of verses for this post that reminded me of Sally coming and finding us... Paul is speaking of Onesiphorus in 1 Timothy 1:17-18 "But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well."

A B Cs and Other Lessons

Buh, puh, muh, fuh, duh, tuh, luh, nuh.

If I learned them right, those are the first eight sounds of the Chinese alphabet. Learning Chinese will be like having to start school -from the beginning- all over again. It's so fun to see the way all of the teaching assistants (TAs) react when I finally pronounce a word right. I made sure to learn two of the most important things to say as a teacher: "be quiet!" sounds like 'ann cheen!", and "come here!" is said like 'dow chu lee lai!' All of my girls students think it's hilarious when I tell the boys to be quiet in their own language. Some of the boys got more than their required dose of mischievousness when they were made. All day I dragged Brian > by the arm to classes - he is *mildly sarcastic 'ahem'* 'a very active child', and more so since Sally (my TA) was sick today.

A Birthday in Taiwan: My roommate asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday while I was here. Since I couldn't fly my family over here for the day, I told her (after several days of unusual and peculiar cafeteria food) that all I really wanted was pizza (pizza, pizza, pizza!!) I had been craving pizza since the first day I got here, and I had no idea what pizza meant to me until I had no means of getting any. August 12th came, and when Sally found out from Joanna that it was my birthday, she and all of our students made me a card, and sang Happy Birthday to me in both English and Chinese. That day and the next were two of the busiest for the camp...but on Wednesday night, Megan (the camp director) told us American teachers that the TAs wanted to meet downstairs at 10:30. We all groaned (for those that have ever done children's camps, you will know that going to bed early 'simply isn't done'), but trudged downstairs at the appointed time. All of the TAs were already in a meeting, so we went out to the staff room to wait. After their meeting got out, we walked into the room, and they started singing Happy Birthday to Kara and I (Kara's birthday is three days later than mine). Then they pulled out two boxes of....PIZZA!! They had gone all the way into town to get the pizza so we could celebrate. I leaned back on the couch with pizza in one hand and Reeses in the other...I was surrounded by new and old(er) friends that wanted me to be able to celebrate with them, and I had good and comforting food in my tummy. I looked around and thought of the verse in Psalm 145 that talks about God opening his hand, and how he satisfies even our most trivial desires.

Verse for today: Colossians 4:3 "Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:"
- Every new person I meet and every relationship that is built is a door opened for me by God... if you could pray for my team and I, that there would be 1) a bond of unity, and 2) that doors all around us would be opened and that 3) God would give a singleminded focus to take those opportunities to share about Christ.

Last night we had a Taiwanese-style barbeque for the kids. I learned something as I was standing over the hot grill, plastering BBQ sauce onto fish balls and tofu, while my TA and I waved mosquitos off of us as we made sure all our kids had on bug spray... I learned that... being outside wasn't the worst thing in the world that could happen to me. I learned that... I kind of like the smokiness and the nighttime smell to blend together and settle into my clothes. I learned that... I like to barbeque food that is strange to me for the kids and sprawl out with them to eat it. I learned that I even like the sticky feeling on your skin from the heat that makes you want to go and jump in the water. I learned that no matter how homesick I get - or who I miss - or how terrifying the bugs are... - there is no where else that I could imagine being right now.

Head-first

Verse for today: Judges 18:10 "When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth."

I've only known little Susan for two days, but she wraps her fingers tightly around mine as we walk back to the dorm in the dark. She tells me how to say 'moon' in Chinese - 'yueliang'. The aborigine children speak no English at all. Many times the only way we can communicate with each other is with a smile, or shaking our head. Just seeing them struggle with the few English words they have learned makes me want to teach them so that we can talk together. I know they are trying to tell me so many interesting things, just by the way they speak when they want me to understand. They think if they speak louder, or more violently, I will somehow comprehend what they are trying to say.

God has given me the uttermost part of the earth for my possession (Psalm 2:8), and there is a people here that I was sent to teach. "...here will I dwell; for I have desired it." -Psalm 132:14

There is certainly an abundance of creeping things in this place. Arachnids as large as my hand, exoticly colored beetles, and a miscellaneous array of strange and repulsive insects. Fortunately, I have not had to 'lay down the law' in close quarters with any of these bugs - with the ginormous spiders, things could get messy really fast (probably for everyone involved).

I ate squid today.
I don't think it's in any danger of me doing that again. Also, there is another food that I tried that I still don't know what it was (for all of you that know how picky I am, permit me a gloating moment).

These first few days of camp have been so busy for all the kids. It's been so awesome to just be a part of their fun and watch them being able to learn a little bit of my language. I can't wait for when God will give us all one language and they will be able to tell me everything they have been trying to say.

Taiwan: Day One

Verse for the week: Ephesians 1:9 "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:"

There's no mystery about God's will for this year of my life...he has shown me the hope of his high calling and now my prayer is that the work he has purposed me to do will all be to the praise of the glory of his grace.

After being picked up at the Taipei airport, I got an hours worth of car ride to examine my new home. This week we are staying at a college campus in Hsinchu. We will go to Taipei for next weekend and then to the opposite side of Taipei for the second week of camp. After orientation, Joanna, Kara and I will make our way to Ping Tung, where we will be for the rest of the year. The children for next week's camp arrive tomorrow. All of us here at the campus had a free evening tonight, so the Taiwanese teachers took us out to dinner. Joanna and I shared beef fried rice, and considering we are not native chopstickians, there was quite a deal of rice that was neither on the plate or in our mouths. Near the end of the meal, I tried to come up with a unobvious way to dispose of the scattered rice grains. We decided, that since we had no napkins (apparently they don't use napkins in Taiwan) the best way to deal with the rice would be to inconspicuously gather it and drop it under the table. It might have worked if there had not been so many of us gathered around the table. As I felt the rice slip out of my fingers, I noticed a strange look creep over Joanna's face. Since we were in such close proximity, the rice had dropped on her flip-flopped feet instead of the floor where I had originally intended for it to land. Being the only two Americans at the table (and not desiring our ineptitude with chopsticks to become obvious, we smuggled ourselves out of the restaurant with a couple of the teachers, and came home to watch a movie as we wait for the arrival of our dear Kara, who should be coming into Taipei any moment now.