Hey there! Time for an update from Taiwan! Wow, it's so wonderful to be back...I'm LOVING it. I feel like somebody who's been swimming for a long time and then I've finally come up for a breath of air...no, that's not quite the way I feel...more like somebody who didn't realize how tired their were until they sat down. Hearing Chinese, smelling and eating the food, going to a drink stand, talking to students, speaking Chinese...it all feels so natural. I'm very happy.

The flight wasn't really eventful...it was long and boring and I'm not looking forward to doing it again in about two months.

We got to Taipei and were met by Ginger. It was so awesome to see her...but like she said, there wasn't much of a "wow, we're together again!" feeling...it just felt so natural to be hanging out again that it was hard to imagine it'd actually been a whole year since I'd seen her (or two years, in BJ's case). We got to the Chen's and were met by Karen and Tim. The next day we went to church, then met up with James and Claudia and Norman for lunch. James was our translator in Kinmen when the team first got there, and Claudia was a teacher I worked with last year (really good one too) and Norman is her boyfriend (who was also my bus driver on Mondays).



That night we went to the night market behind the Chen's house and just happened to bump into Piau, a friend from Small Kinmen. I had actually tried to get ahold of her several times so we could meet up, but hadn't been able to. So it was really cool to see her! The next night we went out to dinner with her and a friend (and James, of course. James basically hung out with us whenever he wasn't at work.)

Tuesday we met up with Ann (a girl who used to live at the dorm in Kinmen) and then went to Show Szteye (sp?). Wow...it was so awesome and heartbreaking to go there again. It's a Jr. High for kids who come from problem families...mostly single parent, poor families. Most of the kids have been abused in some way or another and they are all desperate for love and attention. We visited each class on Tuesday night, spent the night at their teachers dorm and the Wednesday morning we taught three 7th grade classes. It was a hoot...I haven't taught an English class in so long I was slightly rusty, but it was still a lot of fun and I can feel my old skills coming back. Plus I can still do a lot of the translating for myself, so I'm happy about that! In the afternoon we did pottery class with some of the kids...wow, that was really fun! It makes me want to take pottery lessons or something back in the states...it took me several tries but I finally made a really cool clay pot.


Just before we left (like literally two minutes before we were about to drive away) Rita pulled up on a moped! Rita is one of the girls who graduated from there last year...she and I were pretty good friends. For some reason God has really laid her on my heart to pray for and try to show his love and it was so cool that he brought her there before we left! Jamie (one of the administrators at the school) told me that her brother died last year and she's been hanging out at a temple a lot lately. She looked about the same as last time I saw her...her eyes show such a desperate cry for love and for a reason for life, it breaks my heart every time I see her. Her left arm was covered with cuts on both sides...much worse than last time I saw her. Please, please pray for this girl.

Wednesday night we went to the night market with Larua and King Car Sandy (who doesn't work for king car anymore). We were very supprised to meet Rebekah and her sister there...turns out her sister had been in Kinmen the past two weeks and was leaving the next day, so Rebekah had brought her to Taipei.

Now we are in Nantou hanging out with the team here and having a total blast. It's great to see these people again and I've really enjoyed hanging out with Daniel and Joel.

Ok, I'm going to close now. Please pray for:

--James. Anna put it really well when she said "he's just stone walling God." He knows his life is empty and meaningless and he knows that he can find purpose in God...he's just too prideful to accept that.

--Rita and the kids at Show Stzeye.

--The Nantou team. This past year some wonderful ministry opportunities have opened up for them and they are doing a lot of good work...but Satan is busy trying to stop them too.

I love y'all! Next update will probably be from Kinmen!