Hey there. Can I complain, just a little bit? Thank you.

I POST THE COOLEST NEWS THIS BLOG HAS SEEN IN THE LAST TWO YEARS (since Douglas was saved) AND THERE'S ONLY TWO COMMENTS! I POST TOTALLY RANDOM PICTURES THAT DON'T EVEN HAVE CAPTION AND I GET 9 COMMENTS! THIS IS NOT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE! ALL OF YOU GO COMMENT ON MY PREVIOUS POST, NOW!

THAT MEANS YOU!!!

Ok, now I feel better. It's good to see you here at my blog...even though I haven't updated all that much of late. Things are going very well over here, but I can't believe I'm actually about to go back to the States on Thursday. It seems way too fast, and not totally real.

Friday night Sandy's family took us out to supper. I had thought that it would just be Sandy, Joyce (their daughter) and David (Sandy's husband). But when we walked into the resturanet (don't laugh at my spelling) there was Purity and her kids, and Tim and Joyce 1 and Milly and Tom Cruise 2 and his family (wife and two rather crazy but fun kids)...almost all the kids and parents I've taught over the past two months. We had a really good meal (when David treats it's always something good). It was Anna's first time to have a multiple course traditional Chinese meal...wow...good food. Then we got out the Dutch Blizt cards and I taught the kids how to play...they loved it. I was really supprised at how fast they learned it: most kids that age (1st to 5th grade) don't understand the rules when I try to explain them in Chinese. I guess since we've spent so much time together over the past two months they've gotten used to speaking to me and understanding what I say. After a while we went back to Sandy's house, played Blizt for about another half hour and then sat and visited with the adults 'til almost midnight. I really enjoy hanging out with those folks...they have a real sense of what a family really is...people who love each other and spend time together, instead of people who just share a house.

Tom Cruise 2 is a really neat guy. He looks a lot like a 台客 (not sure how to translate that...maybe a Taiwanese bum) but he's actually a police officer at the airport. He reminds me of Dad a little bit: when he's not a work, he's with his family. Because his work hours are constantly changing he's actually free during the day quite often, and he would always come to English class with his daughters when he was free. His wife Coco is a really neat lady too: she's given up her career to make sure she has time for her kids. She's really smart too: her English isn't all that great, but she can figure out things that I'm trying to get across very quickly.

Her girls are a hoot. Paige is going into 1st grade in September. She's always happy and full of energy and has a crazy and active imagination. She is smart...sharp as a tack. She'll remember vocabullary long before anybody else in the class has got it down...and she'll remember it two weeks later, as well. Her sister Blossom is going into 2nd grade. She's a lot quieter and not as loud, but she's still lots of fun. She loves to walk up to me and grab for my chest, then pull her hand away and pretend that she just grabbed my heart.

Tim is another kid in my class. He's Sandy's older sister's boy and is spending his summer in Kinmen with his aunt. He's going into 6th grade. At first he was really quiet and I wasn't really sure what to think of him...but once he warmed up we had a lot of fun together. He really got into learning how to do a back handspring and he was really good following my directions...I think if we'd had a couple more weeks he would have gotten a back handspring by himself. Whenever we went to the pool I'd have him stand on my hands and hold on to my shoulder, then throw him up in the air...eventually we got to the point that he could turn an entire backflip in the air and land in the water feet first!

Joyce 1 and Milly are sisters and are related (I'm not exactly certain how) to David. Joyce 1 (her cousin, Sandy's daughter, is also Joyce: so it's Joyce 1 and Joyce 2) is going into 5th grade. She's quiet but very intense: she has a long attention span and was always very well behaved in class. She's also very cautious: she didn't even want to try a backbend when I taught the kids some gymnastics and when we went to the beach she didn't want to go into the water much higher than her thighs even when I held on to her. She reminds me a lot of Isaac. Her sister Milly is going into 2nd grade and is a total and absolute hoot. She's always happy and ready to smile, laugh, play a game or just talk about whatever is on her mind. She's not at all cautious and loved to go as deep into the water as Sandy would allow her, and she loved the waves. And let me tell you...this little girl is force to be reckoned with in Dutch Blitz! I've never seen anybody that young play so well!

Wow...I could write a lot more about the other kids, but maybe I'll do that next time...I've still got several more things to write about and I don't want this to get too long!

*warning: most of you will find this next paragraph extremely boring* My archer has become a pretty powerful character. I bought a new socketed peice of armer and put a super dragon gem in it...I now have 4 super dragon gems, raising my attack by a total of 60%. And I just recently made another socket...a refined ring, which I can sell for at least 80 million. Once I sell it I'm going to spend all that money on meteors and unique items and make a bunch of sockets...soon I'll have enough money to buy some double socket items! Yea! *boring part over*

Pray for a college student named Claire. She keeps swinging back and forth between wanting to trust God and wanting to follow her mother's gods. I had a long talk with her the other night and I don't really know if I said what I needed to or not, but I'm really praying that God will get through to her. Just pray that God will make his presence known to her.

Today Anna and I went had lunch with my Wednesday night class kids. Wow, we had a blast. They really enjoy Dutch Blitz, so we played that for almost two hours!

Ok, I need to go now. I write a poem the other while I was bored and meant to post it on here...but I forgot to bring it. I'll try to post it next time.

Love y'all! Can't wait to see you all!

Hey there. I'm pumped. I'm majorly, seriously pumped. Of course we are supposed to do what God tells us to, even when we don't see the result, but it sure it wonderful when God does let us see the results. The picture you see above is me and Grace, a girl who I met probably about two years ago. I was up at the high school watching an English speech compitition when she sat next to me and we started talking. Once I realized her English was somewhat decent I invited her to English Bible Study, as I would always do when I met somebody who I thought might be interested. Even throughout her senior year (which is totally nuts of students over here) she was a regular attender and we would often visit during lunch.

Well, she graduated last May and I hadn't really heard anything from here since then, until she showed up at church today. I said hi, how are you, what have you been up to, etc. and then, thinking that she had come for English Bible study, told her that we weren't having Bible study while Mr. Gernigin was in the States.

"Oh, I know." She said. "I came for church service. I trusted Christ last semester."

!!!!!

Dude, you can't beat that feeling. There really is nothing like it.

She told me about how she had been talking with Andrew after Bible study one week and that he taken a leaf from a tree and told her to look at it. "Do you think this really is something that was made by mistake? Something this amazing was surely made by a great God." When she went to Taiwan for college she got involved with some friend who were part of a campus ministry (I think it was Campus Crusade for Christ, but I'm not sure...she told me about it in Chinese, so I'm just guessing). One day one of them picked up a leaf and said the same thing to her as Andrew had. Later that day she accepted Christ.

Ok, I've only got nine minutes left here...here's a couple more pictures.



This is from yesturday, when we went to Small Kinmen and had a party with some of my former ninth graders. These are the kids that I had class with at the high school every week as well...some of my very best friends in all of Kinmen. Oh, Mom, finally did give Linda her gift...she was very thrilled with it and told me to tell you thank you.

We had a great time...I also talked to them a little bit about Jon Eric and how the only thing in life that is certain in life is death...I told them I knew I would see Jon Eric again, but I didn't know if I would see them again, and I really wished they would trust Christ. They took it seriously, but still no response other than that...I just have to keep praying for them.



This is from this morning...it's me, George and Tina. George and Tina are very active in the youth group and their parents are active church members. We went out to their house last Wednesday night and had super with them...then we played a somewhat modified version of spoons....it was really, really fun.

Ok, I'm out of time. Love y'all! Bye!