Blessings!

A year ago, I had never been outside of North America. I had traveled a lot within the States and gone on a trip to Canada, but I had never left my cultural bubble. If you would have told me at that time that I would be living abroad and traveling all over the world I would have called you crazy. Now, having reached my six month mark in Taiwan and traveled to 5 different countries, I would tell you I am blessed.

Chinese New Year is an exciting time for the missionaries of Taiwan because it is our first (and only) big vacation of the year. We have three weeks off from teaching and we all take the chance to travel. Members of my team went to Italy, China, Cambodia, and America.

My friend, Stephanie were able to go to Thailand to visit some fellow missionaries. It was an exciting and energizing trip. We went all over Thailand. We stayed in Bangkok and traveled to Hua Hin on the coast and stayed at resort on the beach, attending a Thai wedding. We flew to Ching Mai and rode elephants through the mountains. We went to Wat Po, Wat Aron, and the Grand Palace. We even went to Thai school for a day and took a trip to a museum to learn about the history of the country. We were able to see many new and different things. I even got my first real massage. It was an amazing trip that I will never forget.

Now is the time for making the decsion to stay for another year or move on, and I have decided to stay. I feel so blessed every day by the experiences I am having , the people I am meeting, and the work we are doing. Though the work has its challenges, I feel that God is calling me to stay. I am excited to learn more and more about the language and culture so that I can better serve the people of Taiwan.


And for all of you who have been praying for my family, my mom in particular, I would like to tell you that you are all miracle workers. I truely believe in the power of prayer and just as God listened to the persistant widow, God has listened to you. My mom is now tumor free and has finished chemo treatments. She is getting stronger every day and will be returning to work March 2nd. Praise God for He has done marvelous things!

A Joyful Noise

The missionaries working at CMS all attend Salvation Lutheran Church. The church has about 15-20 members and no pastor (although we recently called a man who has agreed to come in April). We are small and we struggle. On an average Sunday, the missionaries outnumber the nationals. The service in conducted in Chinese, as is the sermon, and we listen to a translation using a headset. Julia, our translator, only translates the sermon so we rarely know what is going on the rest of the time but we manage well enough once we memorize the service order. We follow along in a whispered English during the litergy and songs.

This week, for the first time, the service was conducted completely in English. One of my fellow missionaries dad's was visiting and gave the sermon while our bossman led the service. The national members listened on headsets, getting a glimpse of our worship experience.

Because the service was in English, we were much bolder when it was our turn to talk or sing and the nationals were just as loud in Chinese. When we sang, prayed, and recited the Scripture, it was loud and in two languages.

At first, it was hard to focus but after the first song, the noise of our bilingual worship was beautiful. The Bible tells us that when Christ comes back "every tribe, tongue, and nation" will bow down to Him. Heaven, I hope, will sound like church. Every voice, language, and people singing bold praises to God, thanking Him for the gifts He gives us.

Mountaintop Experiences

After returning from a trip home for Christmas to see my family, I was not quite ready to get back into the swing of classes. Luckily, I had only three days of work to do before I had another vacation. Over the Western New Year holiday, three friends and I took a trip to paradise. We took a long train ride to the east side of the island, to Taroko Gorge. Taroko is the most beautiful place I have ever been. We went hiking and walked around this place that is as close to heaven on earth as I will ever get. The weather was perfect, the sky was a clear blue, and the mountains were picturesque to say the least.

When we were hiking, we walked about 1,000 feet above the river, along a cliff on the side of the mountain. The whole time I was seeking a way to get down to the water. I wanted to be close to it and feel it. While looking for another trail, we happened along a service path. It looked like we would be able to get closer to the water, so we started down. The path was not really meant for the average hiker. The trail was unstable and we had to do some quick thinking. At one point we had to slide down a rock and jump down hoping we didn't break our necks. After an adventourous journey, we made it down to the water. It was breathtaking. It was so tranquil that we sat at the edge of the water in silence.

I felt so close to God on this trip. Sitting on the edge of the water, with the breeze blowing and the sun shining, I kept thinking that God must love us so much to create this place for us to see; to make a world with mountains and rivers and flowers and trees. What an amazing and loving Father we have.