Building Disciples ... A bit gunshy

I'm currently in Taichung attending a Taiwan Missionary Fellowship conference (see link). It has been very refreshing attending the conference. There are some really great speakers here including Dr. Darrell Bock, who's given some really great insights into the book of Acts and the Early Church & Dr. David Roadcup who's been sharing more on the topic of Spiritual Disciplines.

Today Dr. Roadcup focused on the topic of Discipleship. Now for many of you whom I have talked "ministry" with, you know that "discipleship" is a topic that I've grown more and more passionate about over the years. At Tyndale seminary I wrote a paper about "Building Mentors/Discipleship". At ETCBC (East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church), I was discipleship coordinator and really had a vision that building mentoring/discipling relationships in the church was THE WAY to build spiritual revival into the lives of brothers and sisters. And even coming to Taiwan, I was excited about the opportunity to be able to disciple sisters in a more intimate way.

....do you sense a "BUT"? Well...here it is...

BUT, almost 1 year ago when I started discipling a Taiwanese sister from the church, I was eager to try out a near discipleship program with her, and cautious to follow suggestions from the fellowship leaders who have had success with the program, I BOMBED the relationship. It's hard to say what exactly made it a "bomb". It was a mixture of my rigidity to "Following the program", and probably a lack of prayer and sensing of the Holy Spirit, and maybe, just maybe, the sister not being ready. But whatever the reason, I felt hesitant to start a new discipling relationship. That, and I really had nobody that I felt God was highlighting for me to disciple.

Well Mr. Roadcup's talk today gave me a renewed heart for discipleship. I have learned a lot since my last discipleship experience through reflection and even watching other colleagues and missionaries on the field here in Taiwan. I'm definitely not the wisest or most experienced of Christians, but I'm still convinced that discipleship/mentoring is crucial in building God's kingdom. The relationships, spiritual development, and depth that can be achieved in such relationships is undeniable. I mean, What DID Jesus Do? He MADE disciples!

I'm not sure where this leads me to next, and what God's calling me to do, but though I'm a bit gunshy about starting a discipling relationship again, I think I need to seriously pray about whom God is calling me to minister to, and how.

Not Working

So I'm in my 5th week of being on holiday, and I realize more and more that I'm quite the workaholic. I'm not complaining about the break. I really enjoy the fact that I can sleep in, catch up on the lives of friends through e-mail, Skype and Facebook, feel accomplished because of the many books I'm reading, experiment with different ingredients & dishes (e.g. Tamarind), watch endless movies, and go out for a small errand now and then. However, I can't help but feel that my days are determined and highlighted by one singular activity that seems to give the day purpose and structure. Here's what I mean.

Monday - 2 moving companies coming to estimate cost of moving.
Tuesday - Prenatal swimming class 10:30 - 12:00
Wednesday - Prenatal class 6:30 - 9:00
Thursday - Taiwan Missionary Conference in Taichung
Friday - Taiwan Missionary Conference in Taichung
Saturday - Furniture shopping
Sunday - Church Service

Now this is just for this week, but there are weeks where one of these days would be blank, and I feel some strange compelling force that drives me to fill it up with at least one activity (e.g. go to the bank, go to the market, shop for baby bottles)...and strangely, even if the one activity is as trivial as withdrawing money from the bank, I feel that my day has purpose and meaning and I can feel at rest to do whatever I want for the rest of the day. Why is that?

I struggled for a long time about whether to go back to work once our baby came. Ray and I prayed about it for quite a while. I had conversations with several sisters about what they thought (some discretely, some quite deliberately). In some ways I felt guilty that though we could afford for me to stay at home, I wanted to go back to work. I was actually quite distraught over the whole decision. But the wisest words I got were that there were no rights or wrongs about the whole decision. God does not give clear directives of either. There are examples of "godly" & "faithful" stay-at-home and working mothers in Scripture (e.g. Proverbs 31). In the end, you need to bring it to the Lord in prayer. And through that time of praying and reading God's words, the strongest words that I heard from God was to "be submissive to my husband". Turning to Ray, he said, "I can't see you being at home all day."

Well, I've never been a mother, and I have no idea how I will feel after our baby is born, but in the end, Ray & I decided that I would go back to work after my 2 months maternity leave. And in many ways, God has already given us peace about our decision: from my parents being able to come for 2+ months, to being able to afford a nanny, to being in a new role next year at my school as Librarian (allowing more flexibility to my schedule), and to finally being able to find an apartment closer to school.

So in the end, I'm just thankful that I have a God who understands me so well. Maybe I'll change my mind later and WANT to stay at home, but either way, God knows my thoughts before I even think them. And I can't put it in a better way than the Psalmist of 139.

1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^[a] you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

Being Blessed

~ the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. ~ Genesis 39:23

I've always read the story of Joseph and marveled at how blessed Joseph was throughout his life. Now I know he hit many rough spots too (i.e. his mother dies when he's a child, he's despised by his brothers, he's sold into slavery, he is wrongly accused and put in prison), but the blessings in his life are unmistakable. In Genesis 39 alone, there are 7 instances where scripture mentions that the LORD is with Joseph and helps him to be prosperous and blessed.

• v. 2 - The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered
• v. 3 - the LORD was with him
• v. 3 - the LORD gave him success in everything he did
• v. 5 - the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph
• v. 5 - The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had (because of Joseph)
• v. 21 - the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
• v. 23 - the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Now it's easy to see why God blesses Joseph throughout his life. Joseph remains faithful and righteous, hard-working and honouring to God, even through difficult and often unjust times. I'm sure Joseph was not perfect, but reading through the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's sons, Joseph is really the one diamond in the rough. All the other patriarchs, though very faithful, made some choices and decisions that were just so unbelievably wrong! Especially in their family relationships (polygamy, murder, giving up their wives like prostitutes)! But Joseph... he really was very upright and righteous throughout!

So why do I talk about Joseph?

Well, throughout my time of knowing Ray and being married to him, I've always likened his life to that of Joseph's. Not necessarily in the sense that he's super upright & righteous throughout, but God has always blessed him and given Ray success in most of what he has done. For example, throughout University, for some strange reason, any draw/contest that Ray entered he'd always win a prize. Not some dinky prize like a sticker or a bag of chips, but substantial ones like coffee pots, or gift certificates! In his workplace, Ray has always been very, very successful and blessed (whether in compensation or in position). In general, I just see God's blessings being abundantly poured out upon Ray's life. I mean.... he does afterall have an awesome wife like me too, right? :) Just kidding!

But I've always puzzled at why God blesses Ray so much. Is it because God is feeding Ray spiritual milk because he's not ready for the spiritual food? Is it because Ray is doing what is right in the sight of the LORD? And maybe my puzzlement comes from the fact that I'm the most intimate with Ray and can see more of his faults. I mean Joseph was human too! Though Scripture does not record as much of it, I'm sure Joseph struggled with pride, temptations, and anger just like all of us. But it's hard to see it as clearly when the Bible does not write things like, "but Joseph was angry at God at the injustice done to him by Potiphar's wife". And truthfully, the same things that I love about Ray (his generosity, wisdom, passion for God's people) are also probably what are pleasing to God too. So does God only bless us if we are seeking Him? Does that mean that Ray and I are on the right track? Are we giving ourselves a false sense of security?

And then Ray said something to me a couple of nights ago that made me think again. I was commenting to Ray about how God blesses him all the time, and then he says "but He blesses you too!", and then I realized something. That's true! I'm like Joseph too! I am abundantly blessed!

Take this apartment hunting situation for example. We really had a very tight deadline to find a suitable apartment before our lease was up in July. I was at some points concerned that we would never find anything suitable. And I'm sure God knew that in our hearts that there were just a few apartment buildings that Ray and I really had our eyes set upon. Well amazingly, this past week, 2 apartments became available in this one gray building that we were really impressed with, and also 1 apartment right behind my school that has been in the process of construction for the past 4-6 months (i.e. Brand New!). I had passed by this latter apartment every day afterschool thinking to myself "Wouldn't it be great if we could live here?". So this weekend, as we were contemplating prices and pros & cons of each apartment, I couldn't help but marvel that God had given us everything that we had hoped for as possibilities for apartments, AND we were also blessed with being able to choose!

So yes! Ray is absolutely right! I am blessed like Joseph too!

So I come back to this question. Why does God pour out His blessings upon Ray? Upon me? Because I know my sins much better than I know Ray's. I know my heart much more than Ray's. And I know, that I am NOT always seeking God's will. I am definitely NOT wholly upright and righteous!

And so, all I can conclude about why God blesses us so much, as much as Joseph, is this... God is TRULY Gracious!! So "Thank you God for being gracious and merciful!"

P.S. We have found an apartment! We'll post new pictures when we move in.

A Hunting We Will Go!

So my hope is that my blogging time will increase as I'm now officially off-work. I've actually been on Summer holiday since June 6th, but I went to Shanghai & Macau with Ray for about 10 days. It was great to explore Mainland China again. We had a good time re-evaluating our purpose in Asia, and in Taiwan.

I can't believe it has been 1 1/2 years since we've made the move to Taiwan. In many ways it feels like it has been longer because of all that we've experienced. But then again, it also seems like only yesterday that we were moving into our apartment here above the Pizza Hut. The apartment has seen many visitors, good friends, and prayer meetings. About 14 visitors have used our guest room! We will definitely miss the apartment. There are many memories here.

BUT, the time has come for us to move. We've decided that it will be best for us if we moved closer to my school (Morrison Academy - Bethany) so that I can go home more easily to be with our baby.

We've actually started our hunt 3 months ago, but we weren't really ready to move yet, so the big crunch of house hunting started last week. I have pings (a Taiwanese measure of area. Click for more info.), and NT$, and Landlord names running amuck in my head. I think we've narrowed down our choices to 4, but none of them are "perfect". One includes furniture, one is smaller, one has an amazing view, one is a stone's throw away from school, one is brand new, one includes parking, one needs a lot of work (it's dirty), one has a dark living room, one is on top of a restaurant (i.e. cockroaches & fire hazard?), one has a security guard, one has garbage collection in the building (i.e. NO MORE RUSHING HOME FOR THE GARBAGE!!!).....oh! And then there's the matter of price! Sigh..which to choose, which to choose.



Please pray for us. After our apartment hunt we move to the following to do list:
- packing & moving
- prepping for baby
- buying a car?

Well my summer is pretty busy!

Making a Difference in the Marketplace

Sandra pointed out this evening that I'm severely behind in my blogging. I'm also resolved to the fact that if I keep waiting for "time" to catchup on blogging from the point I've left off I'll never get to it! I'm just going to pickup from where we're at now.

Sandra and I have been away from Taiwan for just over a week now. Sandra finished teaching last Friday and is on summer holidays. We've been in Shanghai for a week - I've been attending a course at CEIBS and Sandra has been relaxing and exploring the city.

We're now in Macau... staying at the largest hotel / casino here (it's quite nice by the way) attending our firm's first ever Far East Area Partners meeting - over 700 Partners together for the first time ever discussing some very exciting changes and plans for our firm.

Tonight was also the first opportunity for Christian Partners from countries all over the Far East Area to get together. We had a simple dinner gathering of over 30 Christians to worship, fellowship, share and pray about what God is doing in our respective countries. I won't share the details publicly here, but it was very inspiring for Sandra and I to be in the midst of such a diverse group of leaders. Some have been Christians for many years to one who came to Christ through one of the firm's events only weeks ago... From very senior Partners to a Partner to be who hasn't even joined the firm yet.. It was inspiring to hear what God has placed on their hearts. One sister in particular shared that she has felt that God has called this company to be a leader not only the marketplace, but in marketplace ministry.

As I looked around the room, I was inspired by the conviction and passion in the room. Not only to our beliefs, but also to our work. An outsider may be surprised that some of these Partners were Christians, but my guess (and hope) is that few would question that these Partners are also the best in what they do. There is no question that they are making a difference in the workplace and business. This credibility is so important.

Anyway, the next two days will be filled with intense business meetings and networking. We're squeezing in early morning and late evening prayer and worship so I will cut this short. I am excited about hearing what God is doing in the workplace. In one particular office, we have over 100 Christians meeting openly (outside of office hours). This recent trip to Shanghai (to be blogged another time) and this "conference" is a reminder of why we are out here - to make a difference in all that we are and all that we do.

There's No Free Ride

Well I'm now in my 5th month of pregnancy. According to the baby book that I've been reading, our baby now has well developed ears and can hear us talking!

I must say that God has been really good to us. My pregnancy has been easy. No morning sickness, no discomfort, no big emotional change (according to Ray), and no weird cravings (although I do enjoy salads and hot & sour soup a lot).

However, I must say that there is never a free ride in life. I've finally hit my bump on the road of being pregnant. Acute viral nasopharyngitis, a.k.a. the common cold. I've had this little bug for more than a week now and it's terrible! I've been relatively healthy here in Taiwan, no bleeding noses (which I had plenty in Canada due to the drier air), no sick days at school, usually 1 day of sore throat but recovering quickly...but this! I've already taken 2 sick days, I've had several bleeding noses, and I have been terribly sleep-deprived due to my constant coughing, stuffy nose, and bladder needs.

I finally decided I should see a doctor 2 days ago, and he gave me some pregnancy-friendly meds so I'm feeling hopeful. Even though I have the day off today, I actually feel better. Amazing what drugs can do!

Well, I think it was God's wake-up call to me that being pregnant is not easy. :)

Kudos to all you mothers out there! Happy Mother's Day!

P.S. Here are some pics of our baby so far. I thought I'd share some of God's awesome works with you.

It amazes me the details that exist already inside my womb! Oh, and in case you're wondering, we've been told it's a boy.


A family portrait. I'm getting bigger!

Facilitating Community

Thank you all for the very quick notes of congratulations. We know we have not used the blog venue very regularly over the past few months, but we now know which of you are users of tools like Google Reader!

In answer to the FAQs:

Best expected due date is early September (at the next check-up we'll be more accurately about to predict a due date). As for the question of guy / girl, we don't know (I don't think we can easily at this stage!?!) :)

Starting a family has been something that we have been thinking and praying about for a while now. Being in a relationship with our godsons Ryan and Nicholas has helped us appreciate a lot more about the challenges, responsibility and joys of raising children. Definitely the reality of having a child while "overseas" was something that we were willing to do even before we committed to coming out to Taiwan. We must admit, there are many many days where we think about how different it would be if we were amongst our community in Toronto.

Despite the fears and mixed feelings, we know that God wants us to be here in Taiwan. Particually in preparation for the baby, but more importantly, for our own health and growth, we see this year as a year where we must intentionally work towards building strong community in our life in Taiwan.

Some steps that we plan to take / or are in progress:

• We are praying about trying a new church, a place where there are more people at the same lifestage as us (in vocation, family and age) as well as a church where it is more intimate and we can build deeper relationships;
• Ray has just started a monthly Bible study with a small group of men - tentmakers, leaders and business people. Sandra is also starting something similar with some of her female coworkers and missionaries;
• Planning a move. We are planning to move from our current location to somewhere very close to Sandra's school probably in the month of June or July. This will help with the baby, but it will also allow for us to have even more community in our home - with the Morrison community, church and others. The practical side is that we can look for a place with an elevator and perhaps parking spot!
• Have more intentional meetings with both of our coworkers. We find that time can pass by so quickly and we will lose the great opportunity to nurture the relationships we have already started!

Isn't it funny for two people who talk about relationships and community that we've been so "slow" in getting moving on some of these things?

On a slightly different note, for those who I haven't updated directly, my role with the firm went through a change in the last part of 2007. I'm now primarily responsible for Taiwan People (including many traditional HR functions) and Learning. It's a great responsibility and honour to be able to focus on building a proper people function here and I'm having a great time with it. Yes, there's discouraging times when change needs to happen slowly, but there are also many many victories and lives impacted every day. The next two or three weeks, I'm going to be travelling around to the top five universities in Taiwan (top five from an accounting graduate perspective) and meeting with the Deans, Chairs and student leaders. In the beginning I wasn't sure how they would respond to my broken Chinese and need to speak English, but so far, it's been a refreshing experience. We see a lot of opportunities to change the firm's position in the marketplace as well as have a contribution to academia here in Taiwan.

The work days go by quickly and there isn't enough time to keep up as we're building our team (I've already grown the team by 50% in the last few months). I can't imagine myself doing anything else right now.

So... we're here and we have the continued mixed feelings about being here and also wanting to be back in Canada. I don't think this feeling is necessarily bad, as long as we're able to focus on the "big picture".

Thank you for all of your support and we look forward to more regular updates.

So I'm Pregnant

(Note: This is a message written Jan. 21. We now post it for your reading pleasure.)

Going to the doctor in Taiwan continues to be an adventure. The healthcare system in Taiwan is great. Like Ontario, simply using the National Health Insurance Card allows you to access great healthcare service at a very low cost. Unfortunately, unlike Canada, the custom of having a family physician is not very common. If one were to have a cold, you would visit the ear, nose, throat doctor. If you were a child, you would visit the pediatrician. If you had an eye problem, you would go to an eye doctor. So what about if you wanted to check if you were pregnant...

So here begins my adventure...

It is Thursday, January 10th. I have decided to check out our local pediatrician to see if they do pregnancy tests. Alas, when I arrived, the nurses told me I have to find some woman doctor (I think - I couldn't understand her, luckily she wrote it down on a piece of paper).

It is Friday, January 11th. My next stop is to visit the local hospital near my school. I go through the emergency doors, obtain a ticket and proceed to the information counter. After handing over my note from the nurse at the pediatrician I'm told that the clinic is open on Monday night. I'm given an appointment for Monday night.

It is Monday, January 14th. I leave school at five o'clock. I walk across the street, once again through the emergency entrance of the hospital. I obtain a ticket number and once again proceed to information. I'm sent upstairs to the second floor whereupon I realize the clinic is not open until six o'clock. I'm number twenty-five. At 5:55, I return. The nurse call me to meet with the doctor. Unfortunately, my capacity to understand the doctor is extremely limited. After several questions, I finally realize they're trying to ask when my last period was. I'm then sent to the first floor to get my urine sample. After handing over my sample, I'm given a slip to proceed back to the second floor to await my test results. Fifteen minutes later, I'm called by the nurse and once again I'm sitting next to the doctor. After much mumbling (I think he said I'm pregnant) he sends me into the next room where I was unpleasantly surprised with a PAP smear.

I then sit next to the doctor again where I think he asked me if I have to go to the washroom. The nurse calls me to the next room and the next thing I know, I'm having my ultrasound. It all happened so fast that my heart didn't know what to do, but then I saw our little singleton. The nurse says a bunch of things I don't understand, but the couple of words I did hear were "bao bao" (baby), "this is where he lives" and something about a "bian dong" (lunchbox)! I don't understand how they all related, but its quite exciting to see a tiny heartbeat, a very very tiny pulse on our very very very tiny singleton baby.

Everything happened so fast I didn't even know how to ask for the picture. Ray will just have to come with me next time.

Postlude
So things have been going well. Our parents know now. They're very happy (in the most extreme sense of the word very). Ray's mom is in town so we've been pampered with soup and words of caution (I'm not sure if you can call the "words of caution" pampering...). But all in all we're happy and healthy. :)

A New Leaf

OR

It's been almost a week since coming back from my trip back to Canada. It's been a really interesting reflection for me. From anticipation to going back "home" to see snow, to excitement to returning "home" to my bed, I realize I've been reflecting on this idea of "home" for more than a year now.

My last post about "home" was on Feb 26, 2007. Almost a year now. But in between I reflected deeply about home during my Pre-Field Orientation conference in June, my devotional sharing at school in October, and throughout November and December as I have been watching my co-workers decorate their homes elaborately with Christmas decorations and trimmings.

As much as I feel like our apartment is "home" I know Ray and I haven't made much effort to decorate it like "our home". Most of the furniture is placed exactly as our Landlords had placed them when we first arrived. We've moved a couple of beds, added a desk, and filled up the bookshelves but for the most part we haven't done that much to the apartment.

But does that make your "home" a "home"? In December I would have leaned more towards yes, but now I'm back to "not sure" again.

Yesterday I invited my co-workers to our home for a dumpling party and as I was tidying up our apartment, and placing things back to where I wanted them, I realized that I have a rhythm and a system in the house. It's how Ray & I (but mainly me because I'm obsessive compulsive about cleaning) are used to things around the house.

So, all this to say, I'm still reflecting about what "home" means. It's such a broad topic don't you think? I've struggled with a sense of identity my whole life (am I Chinese, Canadian, both, or neither?) why not add "home" to my list of confusions! :)

The Ups and Downs of Teaching

This week I was feeling kind of down about myself.

I had parent-teacher conferences last Friday and they went well, the parents were friendly, and we had good conversations....but then after Friday I had brief moments to talk with some of the parents in passing after school, and they kept asking me about textbooks. I tried to explain to them that we don't do everything from the textbook because sometimes the stories don't match with what we're doing, but they really were insistent about using it and said that the spelling words that I was giving the kids were too easy because they did it in 3rd grade already. (The words from the textbook and the ones I were using were actually very similar. High frequency 4th grade words)

Sigh...I tried to explain that I was using a 4th grade curriculum that I liked using because it didn't tie me to specific stories in the textbook but they seem to think the textbook is GOLD. Not only that they played the "some of us parents have been talking" card so I felt like there were many parents who were not pleased with my teaching. I was very discouraged. I was tired from working late every day (including weekends), and putting so much effort into the teaching and still not meeting up to people's expectations.

But it was good. I think I needed the humbling. I prayed a lot, and tried to be super respectful and excited about their questions when e-mailing them back. And after a week of feeling down about myself, I ended off with several encouraging comments by parents that they were thankful that they could approach me with their questions and that I was willing to listen. It was very humbling to realize that they weren't really criticizing me, but just that they were willing to do extra with their kids outside of class because they cared. It was probably because I wasn't used to parents being so involved in their child's learning. It was a good lesson for me.

So now I'm feeling more up...but I'm still very tired of planning. Looking forward to the holidays. Yay!

Student Living Paradise

Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.
~ Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)

So after living 10 months in Taipei Ray and I have cooked considerably less and less. On average we cook maybe 1-2 times a week and it's usually something very simple.

Life in Taipei like any other big city is quite hectic and we spend a lot of time at work. Ray and I typically leave the house in the morning around 6:30 a.m. and return home around 7:30 p.m. Part of it is our workaholic problem but we really enjoy the work that we do so we always end up hanging around until late.

Anyways, all this to say that by the time we get home we really are not in the mood to cook for another 1/2 hour to 1 hour before eating. We're hungry and don't really want to go through the hassle of cooking and cleaning. Plus with all the delicious food at our fingertips, it makes it so much easier to just drop our bags and walk out the door for dinner.

So what have we eaten lately?

• Last night we tried out a dumpling place near our house that we've been meaning to try for a long time. It's close, clean, and not too expensive. We finally got to try it out. We had their tasty original dumpling and a curry dumpling too! Hot and sour soup, a plate of vegetables and we were stuffed. Next time we'll have to try the onion pancakes and noodles. Price = $230NT = $7 Cdn. I give it a 7/10 for taste, service and price.
• While Ray was in Shanghai I tried this great student dive near our school. It served pasta (a huge variety in white, red and pesto sauce with smoked chicken, bacon, seafood or ground beef), soup, drinks and garlic bread for the phenomenal price of $110NT/person = $3 Cdn. Again we were stuffed! If I were a student I would say it was a 9/10.
  
• All you can eat hotpots are very common in Taipei. Especially in the winter time where it gets chillier. We usually bring our friends to the hotpot - Korean BBQ combos where you have both of these in front of you. Again all you can eat, and the dessert can be Haagen dazs or Movenpick ice cream! Quite yummy, but the price is $399/person = $13 Cdn. We don't go all the time as it's pricier and a lot of food.
• We tried a Korean hotpot for the first time on a date night and it was $299/person. It was interesting. Almost like a regular hotpot but you put the meat on this shield while it's surrounded by a moat-like pool of water and vegetables. It's hard to explain but here's a picture. Not too bad. I even liked the lamb! They gave you all you could eat Korean pancakes and Bibimbop too. We were stuffed though. Should have went with the $199 meal. 6/10.

Wish you were all here to enjoy the good ea

No Wonder I'm Late!

"No wonder you're late. Why, this watch is exactly two days slow.” ~ Mad Hatter

So I've noticed lately that I'm annoyingly late for everything. I think I'm more self-conscious about it and notice it more but I'm trying extremely hard not to be late, but I still end up being late for many things. Here's a list that I'm perpetually late for:

• morning devotions (some days)
  
• Wednesday Chapel
• Evergreen fellowship on Saturdays
• visitation at the Orphanage on Sundays
• Evening service on Sundays
• Going home to meet Ray for dinner

Other things I just hit and miss. I think I should set my watch 20 minutes ahead so that I can organize my time better.

My problem is probably because I'm either not doing anything or doing everything. I need to learn to pace myself better. Sigh.

P.S. Today I met up with my colleagues R & M afterschool to go to the "Junk Store" near Sogo to buy costumes for our Book Parade Costume Day tomorrow. I spent way too much money there by the way. I was on time, but ended up being late because I was talking to somebody in the lobby. Sigh.

Seasons go Round and Round

The Circle Game (excerpt) - By Joni Mitchell

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game.

I can't believe the time. We are almost through a whole year in Taiwan. We have now seen Taiwan in all 4 seasons. Well I guess there are really just 2ish seasons (hot, cooler) but I still think of it as 4. It looks nothing like the one in the picture above but I do miss the seasons of Canada. They're so distinct! Over here, although I can definitely say with confidence that the summers are very hot, and the winters are cooler, there isn't the wet and dry season like in some countries, and the weather is still very pleasant.

It's October right now and I just started wearing a longer sleeve shirt but the weather is very comfortable. It's perfect actually!

My parents just left after spending two weeks here and they were complaining that there wasn't enough sunshine in Taiwan, but I didn't really notice. Maybe it's because our third Typhoon of the year (Typhoon Krosa - a link to some videos) hit and there was a lot of rain afterwards.

I thought it was interesting that my parents experienced the full Taiwan package - the Typhoon, an earthquake (very small), and many sites of Taiwan. They were kind of silent (or at times even negative about Taiwan, or it could be my perception), but I have a feeling that they were trying not too like Taiwan too much because in the back of their mind they want us to be back in Canada. All in all the visit went pretty well.

I'm almost done my first quarter at school and sending out report cards soon. Time sure flies. I'll try to update the blog a bit more but no promises!

Moon Festival

Moon Facts

The moon is actually moving away from earth at a rate of 1.5 inches per year. The surface area of the moon is 14,658,000 square miles or 9.4 billion acres. Only about 59 percent of the moon's surface is visible to us here on earth. The moon is not round, but egg shaped with the large end pointed towards earth. The earth rotates about 1000 mph. By comparison, the moon rotates about 10 mph.

So it's the mid-Autumn Festival in 4 days! Hooray! Well for most people in Taiwan because they have the day off! As for me and the rest of the staff and students at Morrison Academy Bethany it is school as usual. I guess that's the down side of having American Thanksgiving holiday in November. Ray gets the day off though. The funny thing about holidays in Taiwan though is that if you have a holiday on a Tuesday or Thursday you get the Monday or Friday off too! (Fantastic!) However, because it's really only a 1-day holiday, people have to make up for the Monday or Friday off by going to work on the Saturday (Boo!).

Well Ray decided to forego the whole working on Saturday bit so he'll work the Monday, keep his weekend and take the Tuesday off. :) Yay Ray!

The other thing is that the moon cake selection here in Taiwan is quite amazing! They have green tea moon cakes, fruity moon cakes, coffee moon cakes, ice cream moon cake. I've received a couple of gifts so far (I think it's like chocolates on Valentine's Day) and I've been amazed at the Monopoly box sized boxes that the Moon cakes come in! Take a look below!

Back to School

Welcome

September is here
And so is fall.
So welcome children
Welcome all.
I hope vacation
Was real fun.
And that you're glad
School has begun.

So I'm now on my 5th week of teaching. I really can't believe how fast time has flown by. Next week we distribute our first quarter progress reports. In 2 weeks we have our Fall Break. I think before I know it Christmas will be here!

So far school has been such a blessing. From students, to parents, to staff, to facilities and resources....I feel very full here at Bethany. This year I am still teaching Grade 4 (or as the Americans refer to it: 4th Grade), so although the curriculum is slightly different, the biggest change for me is that the school is a Christian school. Every morning I pray with my students, I sing praise songs with them, and we study the Bible (right now we are studying whether the Bible is True and how can we trust the Bible). Throughout the week we have Wednesday Chapel and I have a class meeting where I take the students' prayer requests so we can pray for them. It has been such a refreshing experience for me and I really feel I get to know the students better.

Our school has undergone many changes this year with a large turnover of staff as well as renovations and so things at are school have been quite hectic. But coming from a school in Toronto that has been equally hectic has trained me well. :) One of the most exciting thing about my current school is the technology that's available (i.e. SmartBoard, computer access, website, etc.). Come visit our school website to have a look! (Bethany Morrison Academy) If you click on the 4th grade button you'll get to my class and see my students. :)


Today we have our "typhoon day" so I actually have time to blog but I feel like I have so much to share about that I don't know where to start so I'll just list some fun tidbits about our life lately:

• My parents are coming to visit beginning of October. My mom is already packed to go! Can you believe it?
• Moon festival is coming up. I already got my first moon cake from a parent!
• When I was young and had a cough I enjoyed eating this sweet cough medicine called "peh pah goh" (Cantonese pronounciation), can you believe that they brew there own over here! I had a cough and one of my parents went and got me a homemade brew that she swears by to help me out. I don't know if it was a placebo but it worked!
• I've been having an ongoing fish situation. I bought some fish for our classroom the first day of school and within the week they all died. Apparently one of my fish was diseased. It was very distressing so I researched about owning fish and talked to the pet store and tried hard to make it work out again by buying some new fish. I made sure the water environment was right, but within a week again I've lost my fish! What is going on! I have an inkling that they die on the weekend because something in the room has changed but I can't figure it out yet. Stay tuned for the ongoing fish saga...
• We've been teaching some of the people in fellowship how to cook. One of the guys didn't even know how to fry an egg! That was quite unbelievable for me.
• I went tubing down a river with the Art teacher 2 weeks ago. I think it was great fun but so far many people think we're crazy for tubing down a polluted river. The locals swim in it...it must be okay right?
• We went to the mountains and had a lot of fun swimming in a very clean mountain river. Ray came along but chose to take pictures of us instead. It was great fun!
• This past weekend our school had a staff retreat at a beach resort! It was great! I think all schools should have staff retreats! :) Hee hee! Here are some pictures of our adventures.
  

Typhoon Holiday

Hi All,

I'm having a nice quiet day in the office during our first typhoon holiday and decided that its about time we get back to blogging! Last night the government raised a typhoon warning at a level that is so serious that all business (except malls and restaurants of course) are shut down. So far, it looks like a false alarm so I decided to come by the office and get things done before the hectic pace of work starts again. This is typhoon warning number three since we've been here and all have been uneventful. The last one was when I was in HK and the typhoon 8 signal scheduled to be raised just 30 minutes before my flight time. Between all the fussing and excitement of the people at the office, I finally decided to head to the airport late. Not being able to catch a taxi during the craze in central, I finally made it to the airport 25 minutes before flight time. After a short scolding, I found myself on the plane upgraded to business class because coach was filled up. I love typhoons and late checkins at the airport! So much for lessons learned...

Things have been well for Sandra and I. The last few weeks have been intense both for our work and personal life - in a good way. Sandra started teaching again. She's already blogged about this before, but we are more and more impressed with Morrison Christian Academy where Sandra works. The school's history, administration, teachers, parents and children are 100%+ committed to the vision of providing top educational and family life for the children in a Christ centred way. Despite Sandra's positive experience with her sabbatical, it is also clear that God has made her to be a teacher. She is in her element and is loving every moment of teaching - I'll let her share more details herself.

MCA also highly encourages the teachers and their families to be a part of the MCA community and its ministries. We've had staff retreats / outings that last two weekends. It's been wonderful getting to know some more experienced missionaries and "spiritual giants" who have devoted much of their life to teaching here in Taiwan. I've been encouraged by their passion and commitment. For those of you who are parents, it's also amazing to see not only the teachers come together, but the parents. The parents, most of them missionaries themselves, pray for the teachers and the school every week! It's a different space for Sandra, but so far, it's been a wonderful learning experience.

For myself, the past few months have been filled with intense, but rewarding change. We have put in place new leadership and the vision and direction is clear. The tough (but personally very interesting) work ahead is the implementation and leading the change. We are also in the midst of integrating the Taiwan firm with Greater China... so it creates very interesting and challenging opportunities and initiatives for me to be involved in over the next year or two. My travel schedule will stabilize by the year-end and I'll be able to take on more responsibilities in Taiwan. It's something I didn't think would happen so soon, but it's also exactly in the space that I have an interest in - people, culture and operational excellence.

So.. that's the quick update. We are both just getting deep into our calling in the workplace. We've been praying about how to represent our faith in the workplace and how to bring the Kingdom of God into everything we do or impact. The pace of change here is absolutely amazing and now we've very happy that there are other like minded people who we've been introduced to.. people starting the journey like ourselves and people who have left a legacy and are being called by God to rest.

ray

Lost and Found

The Story of the Lost Coin

"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God." ~ Luke 15:8-10

We lost our cell phone on Saturday night while riding the local Taipei Bus. Bus Route #278. We unfortunately didn't notice that we had lost it until the next afternoon and by that time worries of somebody using the phone to make outrageous calls were haunting our thoughts. How much would the phone bill come out to? Who picked it up? And we have to buy a new phone too?!

Needless to say we hunted everywhere in the house in hopes of finding the phone hidden in some corner of our apartment. Eventually we resigned to the fact that we had really lost the phone and called the phone company to suspend the phone number.

Miraculously, within the hour, our friend B's aunt called us and said that some employee at the Bus station had found her number on our phone and called her telling her that they had our phone at the main bus station for Route #278. After repeating the instructions to retrieve the phone 4-5 times (the instructions were to take bus #278 to the main station, and retrieve the phone at the service counter) we finally hung up.

Ray and I were thoroughly shocked. One by the miraculous way in which God had provided for us. Two, by the surprisingly honest character of the Taiwanese people. Other places, I'm not sure if even the bus driver would have been that honest, let alone having bothered to hunt down the owner of the phone. They had called many times to make sure we went to pick up the phone. Not only that, when I picked up the phone they did a security check to make sure I was the owner of the phone.

Pretty cool!

Daunting Steps

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."~Isaiah 41:10

I'm planning and prepping for the new school year. Once again I feel like I'm a new teacher. I've felt like a new teacher so many times. When I started teaching. When I moved to Grade 2. When I moved to Grade 4....and now as I teach Grade 4, although that is consistent, it's a new curriculum to learn and it's a brand new school environment.

I've been teaching at Joyce PS for my entire teaching career so far. The staff, the routines, the students were all familiar to me. Starting August I have to relearn all of that. I'll be trying to figure my way around the school again. I'll be meeting a whole school of new staff. Learning new routines (recess, lunch, photocopying, supplies, parents) and have a whole school of students to get to know. I know, I know, start with my class, but some of the teachers are going to know some history about the students, their siblings, their strengths...sigh. And then...there's the whole issue of being in a Christian school now where I've always taught and studied in the public school system. Prayer meetings, Bible classes, Chapel...that'll be all new too!

So needless to say, all of this preparation is quite daunting. I've been picking away at my to do list in my head slowly and I've gotten through reading through the curriculum with a fine tooth comb. My next tasks will be scheduling, long-term plan and short-term plan. Next Wednesday I'll start tackling my classroom and setting it up. I'm excited..but I'm nervous.

So today's Bible Gateway Verse of the Day on my Google Desktop was definitely very comforting. It actually reminded me of that Footprints poem. I love that poem, it has such a rich imagery.



It's funny, while trying to find the poem to post on the blog I found out all of this sticky copyright legal battle behind the poem. Kind of sad that such a meaningful poem has such a non-peaceful story behind it.

It reminds me so much more that as a human being I can only do so much, and with God by me, I do not need to be fearful, but I can be strengthened by the fact that God is lifting me up with his right hand.

Learning to rest

So my "sabbatical" is soon coming to an end. I hadn't planned this to be a "sabbatical" but I have to say that it has been a most wonderful time. I've had time to rest, sleep, read, learn, develop relationships, travel, adapt to Taiwan, cook, clean... I think everybody should take sabbaticals!

So being a Type-A personality, INFJ for Myers-Briggs, Gold on the Four Colours test and probably an Administrator as one of my spiritual gifts here is a breakdown of my Sabbatical in point form.

January 2007

• Exploration and getting to know Taipei
• Hung out with Ray's mom and sister + our friend D
• Apartment hunting
• Sorting through Visa situation
• Job hunting
• Applied for Mandarin classes at Shida
• Shopping for household items
• 

February 2007

• Setting up our apartment
• Adjusting to life in Taiwan (learning garbage system, fighting mosquitoes)
• Getting to know landlady SF and exploring the neighbourhood with her
• Shopping for household items (our cutlery set took the longest!)
• Found church and fellowship to attend
• Visited new school campus and taught a lesson on "measurement" on the SmartBoard
  
• Cooking for Ray and being a good housewife
• Reading lots
  
• Trip to Hongkong, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shenzhen
• 
• Visit from R in Canada

March 2007

• Started Mandarin class
• 
• Touring Taipei with classmates and building relationships with them
  
• Reading lots, I discovered the Taipei public library
  
• Getting more involved in Evergreen fellowship
• A typical school day
• 9:30 a.m. wake-up
• 9:45 a.m. check e-mail/read
• 11:30 a.m. start heading to class by bus, stop at breakfast stand along the way for sandwich and milk tea
• 12:10 p.m. Class starts
• 2:00 p.m. lunch with classmates around Shida Nightmarket
• 3:30 p.m. walk home leisurely stopping along the way to buy groceries
• 5:00 p.m. read/watch TV
• 6:00 p.m. start cooking dinner OR get ready to go to prayer meeting or Alpha classes
  
• 7:00 p.m. Ray home for dinner
• 8:00 p.m. watch TV with Ray
• 9:00 p.m. garbage truck arrives
• 9:15 p.m. snack time
• 10:00 p.m. shower, read, get ready for bed

• Trip to Kuala Lumpur where we met our friend J

April 2007

• Learning Mandarin rigorously at Shida, started writing essays
  
• Reading lots of books from the library
  
• Several outings with classmates
• Trip to Beijing
• Visit from Ray's co-worker A, friend W from Calgary and N from TO
• 

May 2007

• Started Intermediate Mandarin book at Shida, took Chinese proficiency test
• Preparing to say goodbye to classmates
  
• Still reading lots of books from the library (Shopoholics, Alchemist, Hemingway, Sisterhood of travelling pants)
• Visited the Doulos ship and bought a devotional journal book
• Evergreen Fellowship weekend retreat
• 
• Trip to Singapore
• Visit from K&M

June 2007

• Getting ready for trip home
• Still reading lots!
• School visit to see classroom and get a taste of 2007-2008 school year
• Packing stuff for Taiwan
  
• Trip home (focus: catching up with family, church community, Joyce PS teachers and students)
• 
• 
• 
• Attended TCK-PFO conference in Houghton, New York and met many interesting people, learned a lot about myself, felt more prepared for being in Taiwan

July 2007

• Finished TCK-PFO training
• Reading is going strong! (Legend of Jimmy Spoon, Little house in the Big woods)
  
• Weekend trip with godsons' family to New Jersey & Appalachian Trail
  
• Dinner at Susur's for Ray's mom's retirement. Yummy!
• 
• Returning home to Taipei
  
• Hanging out with J&B visiting from TO with a trip to Hualien and Jiufen
• Prepping for new school year

Feeling like a Sabbatical too now? :)

Belonging or Not Belonging

1 Peter 1:1-2

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.



I'm in my 5th day of being at my Pre-Field Orientation in Houghton, New York (How do YOU pronounce Houghton?). It has been one of the most amazing training sessions that I've ever attended. The speakers are passionate and knowledgeable, everything has been really well organized and planned out, the whole conference is based on sound research, the information is extremely relevant to our new experiences in Taiwan, and we even get 3 sessions of one-on-one meetings with an Advisor! It has also been an amazing experience getting to meet my new colleagues and fellow missionaries.

I think I've come to terms that we ARE missionaries. Though we don't always feel like it, we are really contributing to the mission work in Taiwan. I guess technically we were missionaries in Toronto too, but somehow it's harder to think of ourselves as so when in Toronto.

I've digested a lot about myself these past few days. I'm always identity searching, perhaps because I'm so confused about who I am so it was only fitting that as I attended an important conference at one of the junctures of change that I should be identity searching again. I have definitely learned a lot about myself and Ray through doing various personality tests, through hearing stories and through the words of my advisor B. I feel like many of the things that we have been going through this past year makes a lot more sense now.

Today the topic was singleness. How relevant a topic when in the mission field. Whether it be for our single friends who really need to come to terms with this struggle, or for the couples (married/unmarried), we all need to realize that we are one body, and that we are all serving in God's kingdom.

Most comforting has been our bible studies on 1Peter. I never realized that the audience of that letter was to people like Ray and I. People who are aliens to a new culture! I mean we do have cards in Taiwan stating that we are "Aliens" (our ARC - Alien Resident Card)! What a blessing to know that God has words specifically for us.

I look forward to the rest of the conference and hopefully I'll get to share a little more but here is a picture of all the new hires going to Morrison academy this year in various parts of Taiwan. Many of us are becoming fast friends. :)



Sandra

P.S. So the Americans here pronounce "Houghton" as "HOE-TON". How would you know?!