Russia
ITPS teachers are invited by Russian churches and universities to Vladivostok, the major city in the Russia Pacific region with 1,000,000 population. The door is wide-open for ESL ministries in this area, folks are hungry to speak with native speakers and to learn from them. Our teachers will teach in the public universities and doing outreach activities with the local churches. Come and love these Russian children and young adults and share the true meaning of life in Jesus with them. The university will pay each teacher US$200/month, support raising of US$300/month is needed for applicants. Speaking in Russian language is not necessary. Please consider our long-term or short-term teams to Russia Pacific where the land has been forgotten by Western churches and Christians for a very long time. (Please click "photos" at topbar)

Testimony

The girls are extra excited this morning...10/10 (October 10th) Holiday is just around the corner and that means a day off from school!
I asked them to pull out their pictures from when they were a little girl. Giggles and squeals abrupt in this college class room. My Business Conversational English class is about to get into the business of the Holy Spirit. "Okay...everyone close their eyes" I flip off the lights and flip on my CD player. The haunting Irish flute begins to saunter into their minds as I play some renditions from my Celtic instrumental CD. "I want you girls to take a look at your picture and then close your eyes again...try to entertain any memories that come to your mind...they might be good...they might be bad...but don't be afraid to go there. We are going to discuss this stuff in English." Thunder roars into the music, the pitter-patter of rain, the rhythms of horses running, keys of majors and minors dodging in and out of the room...Finally the song selections end. "Okay, I want you to write down everything you experienced in your mind in English" Pencils start flying, papers start fluttering, 15 minutes later they are still hard at work. The Irish music keeps playing...
"Okay..now everyone put your desk aside and make a circle with your chairs" Faces of perplexity fill the room...could this be...is this teacher for real...she wants us to move our desks to the side?! "Okay one at a time, show your picture and share what you wrote...it's safe in here...outside it is not...but what we share here is safe, remember you have to share in English, because this is a conversational English class." (I know the Lord gave me all girls in this class for a reason...)
One by one they start to share.
"The first thing my Grandfather said to me when I came home from the hospital was ....'that is the ugliest baby I have ever seen" ...it's true I was a very ugly child."
"My mother died when I was young, when my cousin moved to America I became really lonely..."
"My friends and I used to ride our bikes until sunset...we would play games like jump-rope and hopscotch...when they went off to college they never kept in touch..."
"My father is an alcoholic...sometimes he beats my mother...I hate him when he is like this..."
Finally, I can't take it anymore, streams of tears implode my cheeks...My heart breaks with compassion for them, they rush to get me a tissue as tears fill their eyes as well. It's an incredible moment...I know what the Holy Spirit wants me to say. "Do you girls know that you are of incredible worth and value, and that you are so beautiful, and that it doesn't matter what the world says or demands of you, but that you were created in an indefinite beauty that you are a creation that will bring tremendous delight." I choke down a few more tears. "Do you know that the little girl in the picture that precious little girl is still inside of you with the hopes and the dreams of her youth, all within reach..."
I know once they know this it will help them in "Business" , and at the right time...they will be ready to hear the truth about Jesus and how he came to set the captives free.
Alicia Kaun, Evangelical Free Church at Fullerton, California, Taichung Team, 2003 Taiwan Team 10/05/2003

 I thought exams were only difficult for students and that somehow teachers would derive some kind of sadistic pleasure from watching their students panic and squirm.  However now I have seen the other side of the coin and having to create, supervise and grade exams for three big classes is hard work (and I don’t really get any pleasure from adding more work to an already heavy workload for my students) and especially difficult if you have never done something like it before.  I am glad I am able to teach at the National Taichung Institute of Technology because it provides me with many challenges and greater opportunities to build relationships with the students whose level of English is quite high since they are all in an English major. I teach at a college and an after school children’s English school, as well as I tutor two boys and I work at my church teaching adult conversation classes. 

I love teaching English!  My linguistics training with New Tribes Mission has also proved to be very helpful when teaching others and knowing where and why they make the errors they do and also being able to predict what mistakes my students will make before they make them as I am teaching them.  I am very thankful for the students at the college and for my adult conversation class since I am able to interact with some of them outside of class and develop relationships with them apart from just English classes.  Since there are only a few reasons why foreigners come to Taiwan, my testimony as to why I am really here, needed to be established right away and people really respect it.  I have even been asked several questions pertaining to my faith and the Christian faith in general that I have been more than happy to answer.  My communication with the people around me is usually always in English, many people like to talk to me to practice their English and also because my Chinese is so limited having not had much time to study it.  I hope to study Mandarin Chinese further this summer while the college is on summer break. I am involved at my church in a College and Career cell group and I love it.  They make me feel so welcome and there is somebody in it that spent much of his life in Canadaso he can translate for me and the other Canadian English teacher.  Also I have had the opportunity to lead the worship (I learned some Chinese songs for this and was able to write them down phonetically) and the study (this had to be translated) for the group.  All this said and done, as hectic as it can be at times, the Lord is teaching me many things at this time and I look forward to serving Him wherever He sees fit to use me next (He hasn’t revealed yet where that might be).  The Lord in the past has usually revealed His will for me close to ‘the last minute’; I believe this is so that I can rely on Him for a longer period of time in prayer and dependence on Him and also so that I will be focused on where He has me for the time being and not planning and making preparations for the future. 
Alaina Brodie. 07/2004
January 2003 Taiwan Team, Cochrane Alliance Church, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Greetings!   It's about time I sent an update to all of you.  I am really enjoying life in Taiwan, and I feel that Kathy & I are finally settled in.  Our church has been just wonderful at providing everything we need and making sure we know how to find our way around the city to the grocery story, laundry, post office, etc.  We have met so many wonderful people at Grace Church, and I've been amazed at the speed with which God has provided genuine friendships with the staff at the church.   I have found my job, and am gathering paperwork for the ARC this week.  I'll start full-time (20 teaching hours) in September at a public (but privately funded) school 2 blocks from our apartment.  I'll be teaching Kindergarten in the morning and Elementary Conversational ESL in the afternoon.  (8:30am-4pm with a 2-hour lunch).  I'm really excited, because it's just what I was hoping for.   I've also discovered the mountains are just a 30-minutes bike ride from our apartment, so on our day off (Wednesday) I've been riding up there in the morning to be out in nature and away from city traffic.  It's been a real blessing for me.   Hope everyone is doing well.  In His care, Elizabeth. 07/2004
Elizabeth Burkholder, June 2004 Taiwan Team, Pacific Crossroads Church, Los Angeles, California

Yesterday, July 28th, marked the beginning of my 2nd month in Taiwan. Add my 2 weeks in California, and that makes it 6 weeks that I have been gone. I entertain fleeting thoughts of what I'd be doing if I was home - like hanging out with my friends all night. I'd play soccer 8 hours in a row, then take a hot shower for at least 45 minutes. Yes, I'm getting a little homesick - but I don't dwell on these daydreams for too long, or else I wouldn't be as "good to go" as I am now. I know why I'm here, and God's here with me. More on that in a bit. They say there are 3 stages to adjusting to a foreign climate: honeymoon, hate, and happiness. After 2 days of honeymoon, 3 days of hate, and 3 weeks of "let's see what happens next," I think I'm dangerously close to the happiness phase. Here's a run-down of the last 2 weeks.

I started teaching at my school, Apostle English, on the 15th of July. I am attaching 2 digital photos; the first one is a picture of me with my 8 2nd-grade kids. From left to right: Winnie, Jenny, Domi, Ives, Jimmy, Albert, Johnny and Norman (I didn't choose their names, they had them already). Jimmy and Albert are my quiet ones. Johnny and Ives are the rambunctious ones; Winnie and Norman don't know a lot of English. Johnny and Jenny are the smart ones. So Johnny, being smart and rambunctious, is kind of the class leader. I teach them Monday through Wednesday from 2-5 pm, then on Fridays we take field trips. Last week the whole ESL school (about 30 kids) went to the Taipei Zoo. We got to see lots of fun stuff like a raccoon, buffalo and penguins. I also saw the Taipei 101 against the horizon. (The Taipei 101 is the largest building in the world as of about 9 weeks ago). I will teach this current summer program until the end of August, then my fall semester hours will be 2-4:30 and 5-6:30 Monday to Friday. I've become friends with the head teacher at Apostle, and the junior high school that he also works at was looking for teachers. As far as I can tell, he talked to them, got me a higher-than-usual beginning hourly wage, and got me hired. I didn't even go in for an interview. So I also have a 2nd job lined up for September working 9-noon M-W. Praise to God for having jobs fall into my lap - they really did. I did absolutely no searching or anything for either job. The first one was set up through my church beforehand, and I just told how the 2nd one came about.

I just finished 2 weeks of volunteering at Taichung Christ Church. My other teammate assigned to my church, named Heidi Greer, and I taught kindergarteners from 9-noon. A few more details about it are included in the Word document attached to this email. My pastor there in America (Matt Santen, pastor of River Ridge church in Charleston, WV), asked for a brief description of what kind of ministries I've been doing over here, so it would be included in this Sunday's "mission" focus. To any who are interested, there it is. Only another two pages ;) I know - my emails are long. Sorry :)

Ok, I'm getting to the "a boy named Andy" part. One of the ITPS teachers here named Stephanie (who came last year, and is staying another), said a quotable quote about teaching here, and her kindergarten job in particular. She said something toward, "The kids don't really need you to teach them. They need you to love on them. That's what we're here to do." After being in my school for 2 weeks, and doing this camp for 2 weeks - being around kids all the time - I have grown to love them. Even the obnoxious ones who scream all the time and punch other kids :) Ever since becoming a believer (close to 5 years ago), I have known that I wanted to be a father. I am very glad that I have been able to come here and teach young kids, and as Stephanie said, just love on them. The culture in Taiwan is such that parents mostly focus on their career, toss their kids in school at 8 in the morning, and pick them up at 8 at night after they've been to their regular school, a "cram school" for conversational English, and maybe even a tutoring session (then there's homework). A lot of kids in Taiwan don't get the love they need while they're growing up. Anyway, about Andy: today (Thursday) was my last day instead of tomorrow, because I have the all-day field trip at my school. So today I took a few minutes to tell them goodbye, and how God is control of everything, and how he loves them all. Two of the kids in the 'camp' I called my adopted kids, because they always wanted hugs, attention, to hold my hand, or to climb onto my shoulders. Their named are Andy and Luke, and they are the ones immediately to my left and right in the 2nd digital picture. Just before Andy left to go home today, he asked me to write my Chinese name on his notebook. I did that (its transliteration is Ke Jie Shr, but good luck pronouncing that), and I wrote him a little message. The pastor's wife read it to him in Chinese. She surprised me by crying the last 2 sentences or so. It just said - "Andy, I hope you had fun learning English. Remember that God does love you, more than anyone else can. He hears everything, and you can speak to him. You can ask him to be your best friend. God loves you, and so do I. I hope I can see you again someday." Ladies and gents, if you've never had a 7-year old boy sobbing quietly on your shoulder after you told him that God loves him, it is a moving experience that words do little justice.

Anyhow, I thought that story might convey a little of what's going on here. Of what God's doing here. Give praise to God for the good things in life every chance you get :) He's the giver of every single one. I'm sorry this email was so long, and I appreciate everyone who "fights the good fight" to read the whole thing. Haha. I hope everyone's doing well! Please email me if you get the chance. I treasure every response :)

In the awesome name of Jesus, James 08/2004
James Kuhn, 2004 June Taiwan Team, River Ridge Community Church, Charleston, West Virginia

Hello Everyone! We finally have Internet at our house here in Taipei. I will be living here in the capital city for a year. I was reassigned from the Taichung team to the Taipei team just a week or so before I left for CA and training. The training in CA-Irvine was over on June 26 and we flew here June 27/28, so I've been here a month now. There was a brief three-day orientation to the country in Taichung, then I moved to Taipei on July 1. After an eventful two days with a host family from church, my roommate and I moved into a 2-bedroom apartment with two other American girls--also from the ITPS agency. We all four trained together in CA and can carry on the friendship and support for a year. Also split costs four ways:-)

The church ladies I teach twice a week on Tuesday and Thursdary morning are sooo sweet and sincere. I read A Parent's Prayer in class yesterday and one of the women--I know she is not a Christian, but this is an outreach class--asked me to pray each class. She had her eyes shut while I read from the book and I was so touched. Everyone of the young people (young parents, too) in our church seem so sad at prayer meetings on Thursday night and our interpreter explained that many of our members come from sad home situations, where the parents are still worshiping idols, etc. I hope and pray that they can all experience hope and healing in their broken situations. The Church we are assigned to: French Horn Gideon Covenant meets in a community center or gym, because they can't afford their own building yet. They are in a building phase and need to raise 30 million, NT (a little under 1 million US) to buy a building they want to use here in Taipei. Most of the members are lower, working-class people, which means they drive scooters, not cars. We were driven home from prayer meeting last night on the back of scooters:-) I love it!! I can't wait to get my international license, but need to learn the laws and different streets first. Maybe in six months...

There are so many needs in our church that I'm sure God is aware of, and I'm just trying to do what we have time for with my real job, too. The Teenager Bible Study kicks off next week and it is open to the public. National Taiwan University is over/across the next biggest street from our church office and we're hoping some students come. Someone is going to help me make fliers in Chinese.

I have witnessed a healing first hand. Two Sundays ago, three church ladies took Christina and me to pray for a church member's grandma, who needed surgery that week. No one in the house really understood English, but the grandma had a daughter in the US and had been taken to five different doctors, some in America. The diagnosis was clear: a cancerous tumor the size of a CD was in her lower, right abdomen. I read the medical report myself because the daughter-in-law (whose house we were at) didn't understand it all. There was no doubt in my mind that this woman had about 3-6 months to live. We chatted a while through an interpreter some and then began to pray for her. Linda laid her hand on the grandma's stomach and we held her hands and shoulders. We all took turns praying and I prayed for her salvation more than for her healing. I'm such a doubter still. (The grandma has been Buddhist or no religion all her life). That was Sunday. On Thursday night everyone prayed for her at prayer meeting. On Friday she had her surgery. The doctors found only a 12 cm wide bag of water and blood and she is in recovery--no ICU at all. I'm still in shock and this is a week later. God is so mighty and so real here. Taiwan is a little island of political turmoil and spiritual warfare. This is really where the rubber meets the road.

Also, the highlight of this week was meeting the lady who founded ORTV (Overseas Radio and Television) here in Taiwan.She, Doris Brougham, apparently came to the island (from doing mission work in China) to avoid World War II and stayed. She has been here 40 years working at Studio Classroom, etc. I don't think she even got my name because a group of us met her all at once, but I was so impressed with her story.

We have also had the chance to tour the whole studio of GoodTV, which broadcasts completely in Chinese, but is a Christian Television company. Opportunities like this would have been unlikely to occur at home. It is like we have more access or something here and the agency that sent us has a lot of connections.

Take care and God be with you!Eunice 08/2004

Eunice Rohrer, 2004 June Taiwan Team, West Virginia University, Chestnut Ridge Community Church, Morgantown, West Virginia

Dear Friends and Family

Thank you so much for those who have donated to this mission.I am so incredibly fortunate to be in the financial situation I am now, where the logistical expenses (airfare, training and some admin. fees) where provided by God through you my supporters, so that I am able to use my savings to finance these transitional months when I am not yet working.  I am truly touched by your generosity.  In fact, as soon as I am able, I will be sending each of you a personal letter of thanks, but until then, please know that I am deeply grateful.

 Logistical Details

I am now living in Taipei, Taiwan!  I live in a district of the city called Da'an.  It's a great location, convenient to most every other part of the city.  In my apartment is also living the rest of the Taipei ITPS (International Teacher Placement Service) team, which consists of Becky (25, Michigan, my roommate, taught at a high school for the past three years), Eunice (27, Virginia, just graduated with a Masters in Journalism and comes from a Mennonite (think Amish) family but was part of Intervarsity during college) and Christina (23, Ohio, just graduated from college). 

The church I am placed at is called “Glory Covenant Church” and is located a half-hour subway ride away from my apartment.  It is a “medium” sized church, with about 100-200 members, but has a lot of ministries, including a high school for drop-out students.  For the past two weeks I have been teaching English in their summer camp program.

Personal Reflections

Honestly, the decision making process to come here was very difficult, and the only thing that favored Taiwan over staying in Los Angeles is that distinct gut instinct that I have learned to recognize as God's voice.  Being here though, it is easy to see that this is the place that I am meant to be in for this space of time.  When I was in Taiwan previously, God had begun something that He meant to continue. ..When one is steeped in one's own culture, it is difficult to distinguish God from all of the competing voices, those coming both from the world and the church.  Here though, I can see more clearly God's Kingdom.  It is not American, and it is not Taiwanese.  It is God's Word which has endured through the ages.  Every day I have a choice to cling to my culture, or to let go and let myself be shaped by God.  ...Following God is the way to freedom, and I am seeing the way is marked by small, individual choices to die to our own self in order to live for something greater. 

The team leader for Taiwan is a lady named Jean.  She has been an incredible source of encouragement and inspiration for me.  One of the most important things she did was to ask the question: "what are you living for?"  As Christians, our response is always something to do about Jesus and following him.  But what is the truth that our lives and actions attest to?  If we as Christians do not even honestly ask ourselves what are our lives about, how can we lead others to chose Jesus over materials, wealth and success?  We cannot fool ourselves, because we do not fool others.  In the end there is only one question, there is only one standard.  For what did you live your life?  With Jean I can see a glimpse of the person I want to be when I am her age.  A person who did not give up on following God, a person who loves you for who you are but encourages and inspires you to something greater, a person with a lifetime of stories of Jesus' faithfulness.

Keeping in Contact

Care Package Suggestions: I know this sounds really pretentious, but I do have some people that always ask me what they can send, and so I will suggest some things now, and if ever you want to send a care package you can refer to this.  Basically the most useful things are things I can use to teach English – pictures, especially any pictures you may have that either include me :) or include symbols of American culture like buildings, churches and religious artifacts, special occasions, traffic, cities,   scenery, etc; magazine clippings including advertisements, small “American” things such as postage stamps and postcards.  Basically anything that has American culture or aspects of daily life written all over it will both a) bring me comfort and b) be useful in the classroom.
Love,Lisa 08/2004
Lisa Holl, 2004 June Taiwan Team, Univeristy of Southern California. Epicenter Church, Pasadena, California

Dear everyone, We're all doing well in Shanghai. Currently, we're teaching at an English camp here at Yangpu HS. The campers are great, they range in ages from 12 to 18 and there is a wide range of English abilities from those who forget and can't pronounce their English name to those Japanese who can't speak Chinese and so use English to communicate with their friends here in Shanghai. We each have one class comprised of about 15 students. There's Drew's class the Savants who are advanced students, Robbin's class the Prodigies who are the upper level intermediate students, Halee's class the Avalanches who are the middle of the road students, my class the Bereans who are the lower--way lower, and Vina's class Narnia's Children who are the beginner class.   The camp will run three weeks, currently we are in the third week. There have been many opportunities to share the Story with the students! We have seen many answers to yarper and some students are now brothers and sisters! They study the book together and yarp before meals-- it's awesome to see.   We travel to a tourist destination Saturday that I would totally butcher the name if I tried to spell it so maybe someone else will tell you! Then it's back to Shanghai, Monday for our drs appointment. Then maybe, we're off to Beijing for a week long English camp. After this we think we may be able to move into our apartments. It looks like Vina and Robbin will live and work together in Pudong (the outskirts of Shanghai), Drew will live in the dorms of Yangpu and work here and Halee and I will live together but work in separate schools in downtown Shanghai. We are going to try to find apartments near subway stops so we can visit each other easily. Hope you're all doing great--The Shanghai team is definitely yarping for you guys!!!
Jenny E. 2004 June China Team. Seattle University, Calvary Temple Church, Auburn, Washington

Christmas
My Christmas began officially Friday, when I had to dress up like Santa Claus and parade into the school-wide assembly with all the other foreign teachers at my school.  Ai-oh!  I was certainly the scrauniest little Santa there ever been, but it was fun to see all the smiling kids.

 Friday evening, Kathy & I took our Taiwanese friend Lily out for dinner and gave her a Christmas gift.  We learned that its custom here NOT to open a gift in front of the giver, so we were a bit disappointed, but I guess that's a rather selfish attitude in giving anyway. We enjoyed ourselves in spite of the cultural clash. That night (Christmas Eve it was), I went to the west side of Taichung for a slumber party with the other gals in ITPS.  It was certainly a different Christmas Eve from the pomp & circumstance my family usually celebrates with, but it was pleasant and fun to have others to open a few gifts with.

Christmas Day was actually quite memorable, or rather I hope I'll remember it later in life. Some of the gals invited us (about 20 ITPS missionaries) to their home for breakfast.  A real western feast of pancakes, french toast, eggs, and bacon.  We passed some time with a game of Hand and Foot, then later that afternoon, about 20 of us (imagine this!) hit the streets and went caroling to many local businesses including tea houses, the market, the buddhist monks, and Little Italy restaurants. Oh, what a terrific time we had, and oh how we surprised and blessed all those we met! We gave out information for the church and Truth about Christmas as we went from each group. 

Christmas night, the whole gang of us (20 foreigners), had supper at an Italian restaurant called "Fatty".  Then we had a big party with all our friends and had "a dirty santa gift exchange" (I think we would more likely call it a "white elephant"exhchange in the Midwest.)  It was great fun, and I inherited the greatest wool socks out of the deal!

So all in all, I had a great Christmas.  Thank-you to all of you who sent me special Christmas greetings.  My apologies for answering your questions in bulk, but you had many of the same ones!  Hope you are enjoying your holiday. 

Elizabeth Burkholder, June 2004 Taiwan Team, Pacific Crossroads Church, Los Angeles, California  12/26/2004

Anna from Japan
Things are going so well here in Japan, with teaching, and my mission.  Starting this school in September, I started out with about 10 students, but now it is continuing to grow each week, and now, I am teaching about 40 students and 17 classes a week.  I am so thankful that I have had such an amazing opportunity, and also, God has given me so many opportunities to share with my students and get them involved with the church.  It has been really neat, because most of the students that I have are people that God has put in my path and meeting them in places like a gas station, pie shop, jewelry store, and restaurant.  We have such great relationships, and I am able to spend time with them outside of class and build relationships.  We will go to the movies, out to eat, or I will go to their house.    This summer, my home church, Northside Baptist, is coming here for a missions trip and bringing 32 adults/college students.  They will be doing a sports camp and english lessons.  We will also go to the World's Fair in Nagoya. I am so excited, bc that will be some serious impact for this town.   My mom and sister are coming here in June for 2 weeks.  This will be their first time out of the country, so, this is a big step for them.    God has really been showing me a lot since I have been here.  He has been showing me, not my way, but His. That we have to make the most out of every opportunity, and not to let this life that we have been given slip away and be wasted on trivial things.   

Prayer Request:  1.  My student Jim.  He is very interested in Christianity, but his family is trying to forbid it. 
2.  The new teacher that is coming in August to take my place. 
3.  I am about to start an English Bible study for some of my students.  Please pray about that.
4.  The 32 Americans coming here in July, that they would  be a huge impact for this community.  

(Arigato Gazaimasu)  -  Thank you very much!! God Bless, and thanks for your prayers. 
Anna Marie Tucker, June 2004 Japan Team, Charleston Southern University, Greenwood, South Carolina, 04/20/2005   

Thoughts from Taiwan
So, here I am. Somehow it is already the end of June and I'm left wondering where the last four months went. I went to bed one night, feeling like I had a lifetime of work left in Taiwan... and I woke up in America. I am in the middle of spending a week in Oakland, CA with my little brother Ryan. It's a pretty relaxed and cruisy week, so I'm left to process my year in Taiwan.

I have never been so thankful for such a difficult time in life. I felt unappreciated and unqualified at my job in Taiwan. But I know now, more than ever, that God fully accepts me and loves me. It's beautiful. It doesn't matter if I can't drive a scooter well, or it my students play in class and don't learn a thing, or it I lose the beat while drumming at church. God passionately loves me just as much as He did before all those things.

Even as difficult as I found teaching children, I know that I will miss my students. I'll miss hearing Jolin say, "Mama, I love you." I'll miss the overly shy Emily not saying anything but just hugging my leg as tightly as she can. I'll miss going to the hair dresser and practicing my Chinese with phrases like "Jesus loves you, Jesus loves every person," and then acting out the crucifixion because I don't know the Chinese words. I'll miss struggling through the difficulties of ministry with my flat-mates (roommates). Though I feel like I'm leaving a lot behind, I am trusting God as I follow Him into the future.

This coming year (August - April) I am privileged to serve as the intern for the Middle East Studies Program based in Cairo, Egypt. On this program, American college students study Arabic, Islam, culture and current events in the Middle East. This is the same program that I participated in my Senior year of college. My job will be to facilitate the students' studies in any way that I can. I will plan events and trips for the students and look out for their social, spiritual and emotional welfare. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity and will keep you posted at to how things go for me there.

In a previous email, I asked for your prayers concerning my friends. Cindy was recently baptized at my church and is becoming more involved in the church's youth group. Chandler (who was being discipled by my teammate James) is about the same as when I last wrote. He still struggles with acceptance in his highschool. James will soon leave Taiwan, thus leaving Chandler with significantly less companionship. When you think of Taiwan, please pray for these friends as they seek God. Also, pray for the work of the ITPS missionaries in Taiwan. Thanks so much for all of you support through prayer and friendship.

Heidi Greer, June 2004 Tawian Team, New Horizon Community Church, Winona Lake, Indiana, 07/01/2005

Mission Trainings in Orange County, California
I can't thank you enough for this oppourtunity to serve with you and this organization. I feel the Lord has truly placed me here to serve with ITPS and I am so grateful and excited. please let me know if you need anything, I am so willing able to volunteer anything I can.

I absolutely loved the training and learnt so much,  here a few suggestions that I have for next year:
Could evangelism training focus a little on how to evangelize to the Asian culture, what things the people of the countries we are going to believe ie. buddhism, ancestor worship, commiunism. It would have been great to have some prior knowledge to these things before jumping in. also maybe you should look into a free day after graduation day from UCI. 

Is there an ITPS brochure or information that I can pass out to some of the churches that I am in contact with here in Southern Missouri and St Louis. I know many of the churches here would be interested in pairing up with you to send some short term teams out for summer camps in China, and I want to help you network out here in the mid west.

Rejoice in God for He is good

Erin Lenihan, June 2005 Taiwan Team, Missouri Baptist Univeristy,  Maryland Heights, Missouri, 07/01/2005 

Hello guys! :)       Finally.. after 2 weeks of intense rural summer teaching-english camp in Guan Shing village in the Lugu town of the Nantou County in the country of Taiwan my partner and I are slowly being able to settle down in Hsinchu. There is too much to write, but I can tell you that the spiritual attacks are pretty intense here in one of the darkest places in the country (Nantou being the center of buddha/feng shui/idolatry and also having the highest suicide rate, but especially in Lugu being the highest suicide rate) but that's what makes it so exciting!       We prayed over many temples with blatant idols and did family visitations that were basically tea time (and praise the Lord we as a team got to share the Gospel to a temple worker.. a father whose kid recently accepted Jesus during the camp!.. and even that was an intense battle as the room got hot when we were listening to his beliefs and asked him if he was interested in ours and then sharing Jesus and His love.. right after we finish talking about spiritual matters the room came back to cooler temperatures.. as noted by some of the other teammates who couldn't speak Chinese so they had prayed). Anyhow, I already have over 300-400 or so decent photos already of just those 2 weeks!! Craziness.. THANK YOU guys sooo much for your prayers and PRAISE THE LORD for His work & His faithfulness in protecting us and leading us as we can't read any Chinese and have to rely heavily on the Lord & His Holy Spirit!!.. (right now i am trying to put together a more detailed journal as i am trying to find time.. too much stuff to do.. we were getting ping-ponged around helping different pastors in different places around the country!)      I have also kept you guys in my prayers and pray that you would all get to experience the awesomeness of God's power!! I have heard powerful life testimonies of the lame walking and the people who get cancer getting healed, to the infertile suddenly becoming fertile even in their late 40s to plenty more from this Hsinchu church http://www.newgrace.org.tw/. Please let me know what is going on with you guys too. Send pictures over! May the Lord continue being glorified! :)  
because He loves us -- Psalm 90 (especially verses 10, 12-17).

Kai Ming Lin, 2005 Taiwan Team to Hsinchu City, New Life Christian Fellowship, Westminster, California 07/14/2005

Konnichwa! I've now lived through a week and 4 days in Gamagori, Japan! How awesome is that! The church here is full of wonderful people who are so willing to give of themselves and help me. It's been such a blessing. This past week I spent tons of time with Anna Tucker, our teacher who was here this past year. She taught me everything she knew about Gamagori, Japan and the ICI school where I'm teaching. (She started this school only 7 months ago at the church here) This past Monday we sent her on her way back to America with many tears and well wishes. As I sit here knowing I'm "alone" here in Japan (as far as other Americans go...at least until Christina comes at the end of Aug), I don't feel alone at all. The people here have welcomed me with open arms. It humbles me everyday.   I've attached a few pictures. The first one is ICBC church where I'm working. The next two are me in front of Takeshima Island and then me in front of one of the shrines on the island. The island is used for Buddhist and Shinto worship. There are huge temples and idols on the island where people go to pray. Christians from ICBC took me there and explained that it is a place where there is a lot of spiritual warfare.   Then there is a picture of me in my first kimono! yea!   The spiritual state of Japan reminds me of Acts 17 when Paul goes to Athens and sees the idol for an "unknown God." Then he tells the people, "I see that in every way you are very religious. You even have an altar with this inscription TO AN UNKNOWN GOD." This is the state of Japan today...many "religious" people, who pray to these idols, feed them food and water, give them money and then go home and worship their ancestors. It's a sad existence...Pray that our Father will break the bonds of tradition and the lies satan uses to hold their minds captive.   Also pray for the friendships and relationships I have already built and those to come. The majority of my students are not Christians. Most of them will never step into a Christian church on their own, but because it's an English class, they come. Pray that I will faithfully share my life with them.   Thank you so much for your faithful prayers! Know that our Father is using them and I can feel them working! Much love from across the ocean.
Missy Swenty, June 2005 Japan Team, Faith Outreach Church, Clarksville, Tennessee  07/28/2005

Hi friends and family,   This past two months have truly been amazing. Shortly after accepting my job I gave a testimony (in Chinese) at church, and have seen my heart-involvement with the church increase considerably. I say "heart-involvement" because on the outside perhaps not so much has changed, but on the inside, I feel as much a part of this family as I felt a part of my college fellowship. The Lord truly is amazing!   Adjusting back to work is difficult!  The first month the main challenge was juggling all of my outside commitements that hadn't ended yet (they all ended around the end of June) and adjusting to a professional working environment with high standards. Praise the Lord, I am doing well at work, and even getting a bit of a reputation for doing well. I'm not used to being praised, but this seems to be a place where they verbally affirm a lot, and I'm happy that I am doing things well.   Now the challenge is getting to know the Chinese staff more, and them getting to know me. It's painful sometimes....most foreigners here don't speak Chinese, but it hurts my pride when people assume I don't as well. (I know this sounds stupid, I'm not saying I'm perfect here). Language and culture and personalities...all of things factor into getting to know someone. Because of these differences, it's a slow process to get to know other Chinese. But pray for me, that after a period of time, people will know me, and I will know them.   Today we had an American pastor speak at church! He was visiting to do some conferences, and so he preached in English. For me, it was such a joy! I loved sitting back and getting every single joke without even having to try hard. But it also made me realize what a huge barrior langauge is. He spoke really fast, and a lot of "Christian usages" don't translate easily between languages, and so I imagine it was hard for the Chinese audience to get as much out of the message. I learned a few things...first if a preacher in another country....learn first their culture, and how pasters give messages, and follow that...little things like voice volume, jokes, etc. Second, stick to truth...the Bible...and keep out as many culture references as possible (I say as possible because we often don't know what are cultural references). Second, I can't wait until that day spoken of in Revelation when we who are many peoples are all together worshipping the Lord, using His language to praise His glory. The language barrior I see all the time in my life (a barrior because neither is my Chinese perfect, nor are people always perfectly willing to speak Chinese with me because of the pressure to "practice English" with a foreigner) and in this world, between cultures, this language barrier makes my heart break. What an amazing day when we will be able to worship God TOGETHER.  
God bless, I look forward to hearing from you all!

Lisa Holl,  2004 June Taiwan Team, University of Southern California, Epicenter Church, Pasadena, California, 08/01/2005  

From Shanghai
Baotuo(Inner Mongolia) Summer Camp was a good experience for all of our team there - Tarah,  Gary, Mandy, Andrea, Andrew, Lindsey, and me. Two of our TAs had recently become brothers. Three of the others wanted to know more, so asked lots of questions about our father and his book. The one TA who seemed most resistant cried and cried on my shoulder Friday morning before our parent meeting program. I told her that if she accepts our father's plan, we can be together more years than we can count. She had told me that she wanted to visit her family, but they were 26 hours away by train. I encouraged her to take time to visit them, then look for another part-time job when she returned. These young people were all special in their own way. One of the recent brothers came to my room right after Grace left wanting to know more about our father. He took other TAs to the girls' rooms for stories from our book. There were finally 30 children and teens who came to the camp. We taught in teams, which worked out well. Tarah and Lindsey had the group that spoke the best English. Mandy and Andrea had the middle group. Andrew and I had the youngest children who spoke little English. Andrew is an art major. He was able to draw many pictures that helped with communication. Like most children, these learned songs quickly. For the parent program, we sang "It's a Small World" from materials received at UCI. Andrew has also had a year of Chinese. His interest in learning the language went a long way with the kids. Lindsey also has a genuine interest in Chinese language and culture. She was always visiting with the young people. These two young people, both only 18, have a real heart for our father.For one of our activities, we had a time when the students could ask the English teachers any question they wanted. The students wrote their questions beforehand. One asked what our drama, The Prodigal Son, meant. There were many opportunities to share because the children stayed in a boarding school situation, with the TAs looking after their needs outside of class. This also provided many opportunities to share with the TAs.Please remember a little boy named Steven in my class. He was alert every minute, wanting to learn as much as possible. For our talent show, he drew a picture which showed a lot of talent. When we had to practice our drama in earnest for our class's part, he was the only child sure of when he should speak. For some reason, the other children didn't accept him. Finally, Cinderella, a TA in another class, told me that Steven was poor. My TAs didn't agree that this was the problem. I hope Steven has friends in his neighborhood and school. Since we only had one two-week camp in Baotuo, Mandy, Andrea, Andrew, and Lindsey went to Beijing to help with a camp there. Tarah, Gary, and I came on to our schools in Shanghai.
TGBTG, Suzanne P. 2005 June China Team to Shanghai, Sul Ross State University, Sunnyvale Baptist Church, Sunnyvale, Texas
8/10/2005

Hello Everybody~

I have had quite a few adventures in China since I got here in the beginning of July--I've seen many beautiful places, met lots of wonderfull people, and eaten some things that I never would have thought of as food before life in China. In it all, our Father has been hard at work and teaching me so much--especially about flexibility, fayth, and faythfullness (His and the need for mine).I have been moving around a lot so far--every few weeks I've been in a new place! These first few months have consisted primarily of teaching English at different summer camps in China. Each move has been complete with new people, new living arrangements, new responsibilities, new schedules, different challenges, etc. That is in part where the flexibiility and fayth come in...flexibility in the current situation (whatever it may be!) and fayth in the One who holds that future (whatever that may be)! Although the quick adjustments have been diffiicult at times, they have been really good learning and growing experiences for me and an opportunity to see more places and meet more people.We started in Kunming (Yunan Province): The camp was run by a brother and we had good translators that were part of the family too. The camp was held in a hotel so we stayed in rooms just down the hall from the kids. We spent 12+ hours per day with them--including structured teaching times, meals,song times, American cultural activities, sports, games, etc. We told them about Christmas and Easter and about our Father and His Son. Six students joined the family and we got to give all of them a copy of the Best Book. We saw the Holy Sprite do amazing things in Kunming and felt the encouragement that He gives to His children! Please continue to lift up those students and ask for follow-up with the work that has been done. What a blessed time!

Then on to Foshan Schools (Guangzhou): The atmosphere was completely different...the camp was not a family run business and there was a heaviness and burden that is difficult to explain. It seemed like a lot of little challenges all added up to be near overwhelming at times, but Father was faythful. I read in Paul's letter to Corinth about some challenges that he and his friends had in Asia as well and knew that I wasn't alone. I was reminded of the Son's example (Phil. will show you in 2 from 1-13) and His words to His Father in the Garden (John can tell you about it at 17 and then 4.) and how I want that to be true of my life as well. My students were adorable and they said my name really cute, although sometimes it sounded more like "Miss Vanier" or "Miss Venia". (I guess no matter where I go and no matter how many times some people "Say it", I have a tough name! =) I was able to form friendships with some of the Chinese English teachers and I know that they are hungry so ask Father to give them that gourmet food that only he can give--I am hoping to be a waitress or something if He will let me!

Hong Kong: We took a short trip to HK to extend our Visas. It was sucessful and good to get away, but the highlight was the wonderfull couple that we stayed with. They are part of the family and we got to have a family meeting with them and some others one morning. Their hospitality was delightful and spaghetti never tasted so good! They had stories to share about their lives and experiences and a library of really good books that I got to puruse in the evenings. The work that they do for the Father is really exciting!

Then to ShenZhen...so here I am! I am in ShenZhen right now. I just finished teaching here last Friday; our theme was "Sea Adventure". I taught for two weeks and readied the kids for a performance at the closing ceremony. My favorite was telling them the story of Noah, the Boat, all that water, and the rainbow! Then they acted out the story for their parents. They sang lots of fishy songs too! It was really cute! I have met many really wonderfull people (lots of other foreigners and some locals) here and missed some others that Father has sent back to the US. I feel encouraged and blessed and ready to get to the orphanage...

Onward and Upward: I leave for Panyu (part of Guangzhou) tomorrow morning. My life should become a bit more stable once I arrive there (but following Father's plans is one Grand Adventure so who really knows?). I will be staying at Heidi's house (the sister in charge of the orphanage). The final touches are being put on our building now and the kids will be coming to live with us at the end of August. We will start with 5 children and gain 5 more in a month; they have been so heavy on my heart! Please ask Father to prepare us, to work in the lives of these babiies, to provide for their needs, and to help us to be a clear, unified reflection of His Son. I eagerly await sending the next update so I can give you specifics about the babies and their individual needs!

Please continue to ask Father to give me discipline and learning regarding the language...that continues to be a difficulty. Two final things...Ni Na is my Chinese name. Most of my students choose an English name so I got to pick a Chinese name. Heidi helped me choose it and I liked it because it sounds similar to Vania! You should hear some of the funny "English" names that people choose...one of the best is "Ultra Man". I kid you not, a teacher here in ShenZhen has a student named Ultra Man, despite her attempts to dissuade both him and his parents! The last thing is my "What's Hot and What's Not" lists from my first 2 months away from home...enjoy.

What's Hot

*All the cool family members I met at Francis' house in June
*Health and Provision in China
*Father's work in Kunming and the beautiful scenery there
*A Massage in Foshan for 10 quai ($1.25 in the US!)
*Riding the ferry in Hong Kong
*My adorable students and memories of my kindergarten class (I've used a lot of Mrs. Schroeder's good ideas!)
*Emails from home
*Sea Food (I really like most of it...)
*Wal-Mart (how nice to recognize something)
*Pictures and memories about what has happened this far and hope about what is to come

What's Not

*A 15-hour flight in a cramped back row near the planes W.C. (everybody calls the bathroom the WC here...)
*phone cards that cut you off mid-sent...
*eating bugs
*my chopsticks skills (they are improving though)
*the time I flooded the 4th floor in Foshan (oops!)
*my selfishness at times (ask Father to help me with this)
*the ride in the ShenZhen party car
*my inability to speak or read Chinese

Well, I can't think of as many things for "What's Not" so I guess that is a good thing! Even if this email is less indiviidual, my upward thoughts for each of you aren't! Thank-you for rememberring me; I know that Father hears and He has been so faythfull fo me in all circumstances. It is my request that I would be faythfull too!

Ni Na (vania) =) 2005 June China team to Guangzhou Ophanage, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Waushara Community Church, Wautoma, Wisconsin   
8/16/2005

Vladivostok, Russia

Hello everyone!   I have arrived at Vladivostok in one piece. My trip was good and I am now in this great city where everyone can talk about me all they want and I don't have a clue!  What a wonderful feeling!  Seriously, everyone is nice and I have met the English teachers today.  It is good to be able to communicate.  My room is very, very nice, much more than I expected.  I have a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, everything I need.  I may go grocery shopping later.   I have been given my teaching assignments in part today.  Classes begin on Wednesday for me.  I have much preparing to do.  So, I will cut this message short.  I have to learn a great deal before I am comfortable.  I appreciate your prayers so very much. To those of you given to worry, please let this comfort your minds.  I am okay and feeling good, challenged but good!  

Anna Rowsell,  June 2005 team to Vladivostok University, Pacific Russia, Zion Pentecostal Church, Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada
09/12/2005

From Japan

This has been quite an eventful week. Classes went well. Saturday Missy and I introduced ourselves to the woman living in the apartment three doors down from ours. She is from Peru and lives in the apartment with another Peruvian woman. I spoke with her in Spanish for almost an hour. She is very nice and we hope to visit her again soon to meet the other woman living there. Saturday night we went to dinner with Miho, Nozomi and Atsuyuki. Miho and Atsuyuki are two of our students and Nozomi lives at the church. He is an intern with ICBC Church this year. We went to eat Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ). Each table has its own little BBQ in the middle and you BBQ your own food right there at the table. It's so much fun! Sunday after church we went to our first Japanese class. The classes are free and given by the city hall. We learned Hiragana (one of the three forms of writing in Japanese) for two hours. It was good practice but we probably won't go to the class again. We want to focus on speaking. We continue to study on our own everyday. Monday was a holiday here in Japan, so we didn't have classes. At 9:30am Yoshie (one of our students) picked us up at the church and took us to the Toyota company fitness center. We swam for a couple hours then went upstairs and had lunch with her and three of her friends. It was so much fun and the three of them might start taking English classes with us. Yesterday, Missy and I went to the World Expo in Nagoya. This was an amazing event. This is the last week of the six month long Expo, so we decided we should take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity. We left Gamagori at 6am and returned at 8pm. The Expo consists of about 50 pavilians (buildings), each representing a different country. That's all for now. I will do my best to keep all of you updated on the latest news. Please continue to pray for me and the work I am doing here in Gamagori, Japan. Thanks to all of you for all your help and prayers! I've added pictures from last week. Until next time....keep smiling and know that God loves you!! 09/20/2005

Christina Hildebrand, June 2005 Japan Team. Bethel Church, Redding, California, Sonoma State University

From Hsinchu, Taiwan   Psalm 16:8
¡§I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.¡¨   PAYING BILLS!! I experienced my first time paying bills here....you take it to a 7-11 (they're at every corner) and pay and they stamp it and away you go...I like this system!

GROCERY SHOPPING!!
Mandy and I took her scooter and went grocery shopping the other day....craziness..as if from being a foreigner we don't attract enough attention as it is, I dropped a strawberry jam jar in the checkout line and it crashed!! oh man....5 bags later..with both of us on the scooter, Mandy held 2 bags in the front with her legs and I held 2 bags in the back and filled my back pack and we headed back to the apartment a little tipsy, but we made it!! It was wild...fun experience!!  I think shopping for things as
you need them is best...don't wait until you need everything!!  

A TAIWANESE BASEBALL GAME!!
...oh man are those fun!! Everyone with their little plastic beaters and yelling the whole game..the cheering never stops!!!....honestly...we need to bring that spirit back with us to the games in America!! They are so exciting!!  I also loved the different foods eaten at a baseball game here..instead of hot dogs, popcorn, brats.etc...we saw dumplings, squid on a
stick, fried rice, egg drop soup, and other normal Taiwanese foods!!!

A MINI VACATION!
A few friends and I were able to go to  Kenting...the southern tip of Taiwan because of no school last Monday...it was the most wonderful weekend and so beautiful and the weather turned out to be great even though it forcasted rain... so many wonderful stories to tell you!!  God took good care of us as
we ventured from town to town by bus and hooked us up with wonderful Taiwanese people who helped us ....Kenting can maybe be compared to Hawaii??!! I don't know...that's what I've been told..but it was such a needed, refreshing trip and so great to get out of the inner city where we live and see green grass, fields, palm trees and the beautiful water.... I'm
always open to visitors...!!!????  

PRAISES
*One of my teammates just gave me his digital camera since he doesn't need it anymore,  and I am having SOSOSO much fun here with it...my coworkers laugh at me...Andrea with her camera again..but let me tell you digital is the way to go!! I am so thankful...another way the Lord provided for me, so hopefully I will be able to send pictures soon!
*I love my job!  I teach Preschool kids all day from 9-4 (I teach Taiwanese children, but it is run just like a preschool in America) and then I have an elementary class where I teach English from 4:30-6 every day.  The kids are a joy and always so excited to be in class.
*I am also beginning to feel more at home here, Thank you for your prayers, they are felt!!  And I can find my way around on my bike!
*I have also found a Bible Study that I have been going to on Friday nights which is very encouraging¡Kit¡¦s a mix of Taiwanese and foreigners.  
PRAYER REQUESTS
**We are visiting another church this weekend, pray for guidance as we continue to visit churches and decide which one to become involved in.  It is hard not to have a church family!!  
**My coteacher, Rabia, is Muslim.  It is neat to see how God has put Christians in her life through the stories she tells me.  She is a very devout Muslim, but we have had some great discussions about our faiths. Pray that the Holy Spirit will work in her heart and open her eyes to the truth. We have a great relationship and I am so thankful for her¡K so pray this
continues.  The director from my school is from Canada, her name is Gail.  She is kind of like a mom to the foreign teachers here¡Kbut she is lonely and feeling the emptiness that only God can fill.  I have been able to share my faith a few times with her and so pray that her heart would be ready as well.  

WHAT GOD IS TEACHING ME
So much!  Every day is a new day of surrendering myself to Him, and finding my comfort, joy, security, strength, refuge, and peace through Him.  It is so good to remember that the reason we are all here is to serve and glorify the Lord.  God is so good and so faithful!!!   There are 3 promises that I hold onto and have been a great encouragement to me.
*God will never leave you, nor forsake you!  He is always with us, we are never alone.
*God¡¦s grace is sufficient!  He is more than enough for us, and He
continues to show me this.
*God will supply all your needs!  He takes such good care of us, and knows
just what we need spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

Andrea Kramer, 2005 Hsinchu Team, Northwestern College, Ambassador Baptist Church, Shoreview, Minnesota  10/14/2005

Hello All!   Wow, time is flying.  I can’t even believe November is
half over. It seems like just yesterday Andrea and I were talking about how far away Christmas seemed, now it’s right around the corner.  As the weeks go by, Taiwan is beginning to seem more and more like home. Eating rice, noodles, tofu, dumplings, and even octopus has become quite normal….and with the convenience of the scooter I’m able to get outside of the congested city and see the beautiful island that Taiwan is.    Thank you for your prayers about a church!!  We have been attending Victory Church for the past month and a half and have decided to make it our home church. This is an English speaking church with both foreigners and locals attending.  There is no full time staff, it is completely run on volunteers.  This is a big reason we chose to stay here and get involved in some of the ministry needs they have.  We’ve been going to the youth group of about 50 kids and are hoping to set up a Bible study with the girls to be able to mentor and disciple them.  The church is conveniently located across from the largest University in Hsinchu, so we hope to start some kind of university outreach as the year goes on as well. You can continue to pray for our involvement, that we will have servant hearts, and that others in the church will be encouraged to serve as well.   

School is still going well, although it’s beginning to get a little more stressful as the year goes on.  I suppose that’s just the honeymoon stage coming to an end – and the correcting and lesson planning starting to pile up.    It’s been hard to know what is expected due to the school system being quite different than that at home.  I’m learning though and trying to keep a positive attitude around my co-teachers.  I know that they see me differently than the other teachers, which I am thankful for, but I want to be consistent in showing God’s love.  You can pray that I continue to be open with them in my faith as well.  I will be starting to teach Christmas this coming week – which I could use a lot of prayer for.  The Christmas they know is Santa and presents under the tree, and unfortunately that’s all that is included in their books.  Pray that I can teach the Christmas story in ways that they will understand, and that God will be working in their hearts during this season.  

We’re looking forward to going to Taichung for the Thanksgiving weekend to celebrate with our other team members there (maybe have some pumpkin pie??).  We don’t have school off for any of our holidays, so we’ll work right through the actual day of Thanksgiving. Christmas happens to fall on a Sunday this year, so we’re glad to not have to go to school on that day.    I feel like I could go on and on since I haven’t written for so long…but I’ll end for now and send another update soon.  Thank you for your many prayers, e-mails, letters, and phone calls.  Please tell me how I can be praying for you as well – you are all in my thoughts!   In God’s Love,

Mandy Ploeckelman, 2005 Hsinchu Team, Northwestern College, Common Ground Church, Lake Elmo, Minnesota, 11/14/2005

From Gamagori, Japan
This past weekend Missy and I had a Christmas party here at the church. It went better than I could have expected. There were about 60 people at the party. A mixture of church members, students and our friends. About half of the guests aren't Christians so it was a good opportunity for the church members to get to know some of the non-Christians. We put together a skit of the Christmas Story from the Bible, taught everyone some Christmas songs, did a gift exchange, and taught everyone salsa dancing at the end. Everyone enjoyed the party. Thanks for all your prayers. I will put pictures from the party on my website soon!!  

Christina Hildebrand, 2005 Japan team, Sonoma State University, Bethel Church, Redding, California 12/05/2005   

Blessings from 2005
God's healing grace in my life. The freedom I feel from Jesus is beyond description. His grace allows me to give it freely to others.
2. God's physical healing. I have gone through surgery for a herniated lumbar disc and the pain is gone. Praise Jesus for answered prayer and medical progress.
3. Stories in the Bible of Jesus' compassion for the sick and broken. They\par have inspired me to live more compassionately.
4. My beautiful nieces Kendal and Kennedy. The new one this year is Kendal. Children are such beautiful gifts to everyone, especially when they are not\par your own. I love them both with all my heart and cannot wait to hold Kendal and hug Kennedy when I go back to California in July.
5. A wonderful job teaching English to 15 Taiwanese 3rd graders. The experience of teaching has broadened my view of human nature and has given me a better understanding of my adolescence. There are also some great relationships with my co-workers that are also being developed from my work
6. God's provision of two wonderful housemates, Wes Tao and Josh Colp and a great apartment in Taichung.
7. A supportive church and great fellowship with the local and foreign\par believers in Taichung.
8. Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz, Painted Desserts, Searching for God Knows What. These books have been a great influence in many areas of my life.
9. Rock Harbor Church and the leadership, teaching and music that comes from the congregation.
10. My life group who continues to look globally to live for Jesus and fight for justice in this lost world.
11. Juan Casas for being a great friend, mentor and boss.
12. Everyone who is supporting me financially and through prayer as I live in Taiwan. You have all been a great blessing this past year and have kept blessing me through your emails and prayers.
13. Growing relationships with my parents, sister, Matt and friends and your complete support as I live in Taiwan.
14. Well I could go on forever and sing of God's blessings in my life but I will pause here. Thank you God, for the greatest gift and blessing in my life, Your Son, Jesus.Happy Christmas

Kevin Kowalski, June 2005 Taiwan team, Califonia State University of Fullerton, Rock Harbor Church, Costa Mesa, California 12/15/2005

Happy New Year from China!   I prxy that everyone had a wonderful Chrxstmas Season, and a Happy New Year. Everything is going well here at the school. During this week, the students at my school have their final exams, which meansa relaxed teaching schedule for me-- so, now I can spend some time writing some much overdue letters! The holidays were good-- actually, I had Jan 2 & 3 off school. It allowed me to spend a few days in Hong Kong. Also, Chinese New Years is right around the corner; next week starts a 3 week vacation period at the primary school. I plan to go to Taiwan from Jan 27 to Feb 5.    The Lxrd has allowed me to have a weekly bxble study now for about 4 weeks. I've met a chinese man (his English name is Hunter), and he's VERY interested in learning more about Gxd's word. We've started in John ch.1, and have been reading & studying about 1 ch. every week. Right now we're on Ch. 6. Just last week, the enemy tried to disrupt the progress. What happened was that the Head English teacher informed me that Hunter could no longer come to the school to study!  So, last week we met at a restaurant, then talked about John 6. I asked him if we could meet in his office, and he agreed!  Please prxy that the dxvil will flee, and that Hunter will come to accept G'sus as his sxvior!   The Chrxstian Fellowship in G'zhou is still going well, I'm able to get there every Sunday. Last week, while I was in Hong Kong, the Lxrd had me on a 'missxn'. One of the fellow belxvers in G'zhou(a Phillipine lady) wanted to find a bxble in the Tagalog language, but can't find one here. So, I told her that I had a contact who's a mxssxnary in H.K., and that I'd try to get her one. Well, I finally found the 'Bxble Society' in downtown H.K. They've got bxbles in about 30 different languages! I was able to get one in Tagalog, and give it to the Phillipine lady. PTL for His successes!!   Thanks again to everyone for your faythfulness in your prxyers. I can REALLY feel Gxd's grace and mercy working here in EVERY situation. Even though there are MANY challenges, my fayth is being stretched and strengthened all the time. Last week, the enemy was REALLY attacking my health-- For several days, I could barely talk due to coughing and lung irritation; but the Lord fought for me, and I was able to make every class that I was scheduled to teach!  Thank you J'sus!   Well, that's all the news for now-- I'll keep everyone informed of our future plans as Gxd unfolds things for us!!  

C. Brooks,  Guangzhou, China,  2005 China team, Agape Christian Fellowship, San Luis Obispo, California
 01/10/2006

Hi everyone, I won't take too much time, but just wanted to give a quick update on life in Russia.  Spring has arrived.  The air is warm and sun is shining.  Water is flowing everywhere and birds are singing.  Every is being refreshed and every spring, I think of the greatness of our Creator, who renews and brings new life and causes the great cycle of life to continue.  Spring always seems to bring new energy.  It also gives me an excitement about seeing everyone because the time is drawing closer.  I am still enjoying my work and ministry, but do not have definite plans for the future.   During this week I will have the opportunity to work with more new students so please pray for new relationships.  On the weekend I will go to another school for Sunday night and Monday.  It requires more preparation but I look forward to meeting new children.  From what I understand they are children of all ages.  Anytime I receive information, I never know if it is full details or not, so I never know the full situation until I see with my own eyes!   I'd like to ask for special prayer for Living Hope.  I was there yesterday and the new leader of the office, Anya, is having a difficult time.  The neighbors of the building where the office is located are complaining that they don't want the "homeless kids" to be around anymore because they are causing trouble.  Really they are not causing trouble becasue the are always surpervised but the people just want them to leave.  It will be a lot of trouble to find another appropriate place for the office and day center.  They have also rented other apartments in the building to house families.  So, please make this a matter of prayer.  There are some other difficulties that I cannot relate but god knows what these are.   I am hoping to take a couple of trips before leaving if I can get time.  I want to go to Plastoon again and we are thinking of planning a trip to China.  That wil be interesting.  So, please pray for these areas as well.  I want to plan wisely and efficiently.   Thank you for your faithful support.  It's so good to have such wonderful family and friends.  Take care and please know that I miss you all and send you love through my thoughts and prayers daily.  Talk to you soon.  

Anna Rowsell,  June 2005 team to Vladivostok University, Pacific Russia, Zion Pentecostal Church, Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada
03/22/2006

Dear Everyone,

We made it to Taiwan! We left Los Angeles at about 4PM on Monday, June 26, and arrived in Taipei (the capital) around 8:15PM Tuesday night. (We were really only in the air for a little over 13 hours.) We had our new friends Amanda and Stephanie meet us at the airport. We’ve been in contact with Stephanie in Taichung to help us prepare for the trip. We said farewell to our companions who are staying in Taipei, whom we met at our training last week.

Krista, our new friend from training who is also staying in Taichung (pronounced Tie Jowng), joined us on the bus for another 2 hours of travel to Stephanie and Amanda’s house, where Mandy and I stayed for a few days before we moved to our new apartment. We went to orientation at our new church and got to meet our new pastor. It’s called Taichung Banner Church. I’ve been told that it’s one of the largest churches on the island. There are currently around 900 members, including a handful of foreigners like myself. (Yes, we are the foreigners here! What a concept.) The male foreigners in Taiwan have a bad reputation. Being that Westerners are in such high demand for teaching English, many figure they can come and make bookoo bucks and party their lives away. It’s sad, but true. This results in a stereotype that we must work past.

Our first weekend here was spent at a church retreat for new members (including us). It was great to get to know so many new friends and catch the vision of the church. Yesterday (4th of July) was my first day of work. I taught 4th grade English for one and a half hours. It’s hard to believe that they pay me for that stuff. It’s so much fun. It was only a substitute position but I think that Mandy, Krista and I will all be able to get regular jobs there at the same school. We’re going to sit in on a friend’s Chinese class tomorrow to see if we want to join. It’s been great fun, and we’re still just starting!

We pray for God’s blessings on all of you. If you have prayer requests we would just love to join with you. We’d love to hear from you. Thank you for your prayers.

Jacob and Mandy Moore,  June 2006 Taiwan Team, Life Pacific College, Life Companerismo Cristiano Church, Chino, California 07/08/2006

National Day Festivities in Guangzhou
National Day here in China is October 1st. It's a lot like the 4th of July back home, because it's the big patriotic holiday, and most people get the day off work.



The Tee-Mall (big, upscale mall in downtown) is decorated for the holiday--okay, most of those lights are normally there, but aren't they cool? And the lanterns are for National Day, I think.

The school had a big National Day variety show, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good most of the acts were. I was asked to be an emcee.

This is a modern dance performance that was quite good. There were also Korean dance, belly dance, jazz dance, break dance, a magic show, a comedy skit, singing (pop and traditional), a tai chi demonstration, and one of tae kwon do. Probably something I forgot, too.
M. K. June 2006 China Team to Guangzhou,  University of Minnesota, Delano Evangelical Free Church, Minnesota, 10/5/2006

From Shanghai

Hello all I just returned to work today after having a week long National Holiday. It was great! Thank you for prying for the retreat it was quite amazing. We had a few youth come that we have been really prying for. The theme of the retreat was "Very Inimate and Personal". The message throughout the weekend was how great the love of our Father is. A few students were able to really release some deep issues and become broken. I can't explain how powerful it was. My workshop was also great and I felt that we got across what we wanted to. I also was able to grow even closer to some of my girls. We had a "foot-washing" ceromony one day where we were able to wash the feet of our group of girls. It was a moment of breakthrough for a lot of youth. All in all it was a great experience for everyone that attended. We were able to hang out with the other international chrch and meet people from all over the world.

After the retreat we headed to a town called Yangshuo to hang out. There were 12 of us so we looked like our own tour group. We went to a water cave that has a mud bath. It was so great! We were rolling around in mud from head to toe. It was disgusting and awesome at the same time. I have lots of pictures I will send later.

A few days later, 4 of us decided to take a hot air balloon ride to see the amazing scenery. It is incredible. We reached 900 meters and were having a great time until we realized we were nowhere near where the other balloons landed (there were 2 others). Well, we ended up hitting two trees and landing in a rice field in a small village in the middle of nowhere. When I say we landed, we hit the ground with our basket tilting and spilling us out, it then lifted over a building and landed again in another crop of vegetables, spilling us out. We had about 50 villagers surrounding out balloon in amazement wondering who the four white girls are and why they landed on their food in a huge balloon. We ended up being 9 miles away from where we were supposed to land and it took the balloon company 45 minutes to find us. A little chinese boy from a village had seen the direction of the balloon and helped the van driver find us. It was quite the adventure and probably one of the most hilarious moments of my life. I have pictures of that as well.

Now, I am back in Shanghai and the weekly grind. Although, I must say I really enjoy my daily grind here. Please pry for our new small group studies that will be starting up next week. We will have groups meeting on different nights of the week. Pry for the girl I am working with, Dorothy, as she will help me lead and pry for our group. She is such a blessing in my life and an amazing girl. Also, I am very excited to be starting a women's study with some friends. Something I have been missing is accountability and studying with people my age.

T. G. June 2005 China Team to Shanghai, California State University Fresno, Evangelical Free church of Fresno, 10/17/2006

Dear Staff,     

Jacob and I are both planning to come back to the US over Chinese New Year.  We will be in California from Feb 10 to Feb 16.  During that time, Jacob will be visiting his father who is dying with stage 4 cancer.  I plan on spending a few days near our old college and then plan to join him.      Our college is overflowing with believers who want to do their Father's will.  Also, the ideas of Banner Church (Taichung, Taiwan) line up directly with everything they learn there.  (It is a small college though, with only 600 students and only a few hundred graduates a year.)  While I'm there, I intend to meet with the mission professor and maybe speak briefly to a class or two, and set up some kind of informational meeting about the possibility of coming to East Asia.  That's where you come in, because I don't know what to say.      

My time so far in Taiwan has been awesome, and my continued few years here will no doubt be the same.  Banner is growing so incredibly fast that we can hardly keep up, and more teammates would definitely be highly appreciated. Most importantly though, my incredible experience here, of actually DOING what we learned at the college, is so rewarding that I just have to tell other people about it!      Thank you for your time, I know you're all busy people, and thank you for what you do!!! Sincerely, Mandy Moore  

BTW: We ran into Casey at a Thanksgiving party and he sings beautifully! Also, I never would have guessed it at training, but every one of the topics we discussed has turned out to be very useful.  Keep up the good work!  

Mandy Moore June 2006 Taiwan Team, Life Companerismo Christiano Church, Chino, California
01/05/07

We would like to send you all big hugs from Asia!  God has opened so many doors for us to settle here.  It is wonderful to watch Him work!  Dwight has started Kindergarten at Long An Elementary School (yes, this is the school we were praying he would get into!  Thank you for your prayers!), just a 10 minute walk from our apartment and on the way to my work.  I am able to drop him off in the morning and continue on my way to the school where I teach.  Dwight's class is at a Taiwanese public school that has a Kindergarten program.  Just last night Dwight was teaching me how to say, "Good morning, teacher."  Today I remember "good morning" = "Zou Ann"  and somebody called me teacher in Chinese this morning but this afternoon I have forgotten how to say teacher.  My brain is sooooo old!!!  Wait, I think it is Lou Shu, but don't quote me on that.  Anyway, as you might be able to tell, Dwight is doing great at learning Chinese, but I am not doing so well.  Thank God that I am paid to teach others English and that most people in Taiwan know at least a little bit.

We were able to all get our visas to stay here long term at the same time.  This has allowed us to save a lot of money in air fare and hotel/travel costs.  If we would not have been able to do this, Shelby and the boys might have had to fly out of the country to renew their visas while my work visa was in process.  As you may know, we believe God is all powerful and His ways are predominant in the lives of His children.  So whether we would have had to leave the country for our visa renewal or not, we as His children could bring Him glory either way.  Now we all have our Alien Resident Cards and because we have these cards, we were able to sign up for a land line phone/internet connection in our house (see our new home phone number at the end of this e-mail).  I am currently writing you from our home!!!!  (It is funny how the things we take for granted in the U.S. are such big accomplishments once obtained over here.)

If everything went wrong for us over here and there seemed to be no reason for us to be here, we could always look for what God wants us to do, and that would be more than enough reason for us to be here.  Looking at the ministry of Jesus, and how His death seemed so unfair at the time, yet without His sacrifice, the horrible pain and suffering that He went through, we all would not have the opportunity to have the Holy Spirit live inside us as a deposit guaranteeing our salvation.  God sees productive ministry differently than man sees it.  How many of us would die for the salvation of others if that is what we believed God wanted us to do?  People might think we had a few screws loose.  They thought that about Jesus. God's worst plan is better than the best plans man or angels can come up with.

 Many of you have been asking us, "what is it like in Taiwan?" and "what is your daily life like?" and "what holidays do they celebrate there?" so in these next few sections, we will attempt to answer some of these questions for you.  If you have a question you would like us to address in our next monthly update, please e-mail it to us and we will do our best to answer it!

 Daily Life in Taiwan Even though they miss being in nature, we are amazed at how well and how quickly the boys are adjusting to our new way of life!  We don't have a car here and take a stroller and walk everywhere we go.  Dwight is doing so good at walking (he usually pushes his little brother in the stroller) and rarely complains.  We bring all kinds of bags when we need to go grocery shopping (if you don't, you need to pay for bags at the store!) and then hang them off the stroller to get them home.  We are also learning how to use the subway system, or MRT, when we need to go farther away.  Praise God that we live in a very busy and populated area, because it is easier here without a car.  Just a few steps down the street and you are at stores, restaurants and the subway station!

Housework is a little more labor-intensive for me (Shelby) without a clothes dryer, dishwasher, and oven, but I am learning to enjoy hanging clothes on the line and washing dishes several times a day -- it gives me more opportunities to identify with the Taiwanese women and what they go through in caring for their families, and also to talk with the Lord, memorize a passage of Scripture, or practice the Chinese words and phrases I am learning in my weekly language lessons.

Emptying the garbage is a bit of an adventure in TaipeiCity!  You start by buying special blue plastic garbage bags (the sale of these bags pays for garbage pick-up service) at any 7-11 or grocery store.  You fill them up with garbage, then wait 'till you hear the sound of "Fur Elise' playing around 9:25 p.m.  When you hear that sound, you know the garbage truck is nearby, so you grab your bags of garbage and run down to the street corner where you line up for your turn to throw your bag right into the garbage truck!

The recycling truck plays a different tune which we're not as familiar with, and arrives about 5 minutes before the garbage truck.  It takes aluminum cans, glass and plastic containers, paper and cardboard.

August Holidays August 7th was our 15th wedding anniversary!  We can hardly believe we have been married for that many years.  We were so blessed to be able to go out on a "real" date without the kids to celebrate.  Our pastor's wife, Joyce Su, was so kind to babysit the boys for us while we had dinner at a Nepalese restaurant around the corner from our house.  The food was delicious and we enjoyed the large photo of Mt.Everest on the wall.

August 8th was Father's Day in Taiwan!  They celebrate it on 8/08 because the Chinese word for father and the number 8 is the same: "ba" (different tones, though).  August, the 8th month of the year and the 8th day equals "ba ba", also meaning "daddy."  Ed was so thrilled to get to celebrate 2 Father's Days this year!

August 19th was Chinese Valentine's Day in Taiwan.  We had invited some friends over for dinner that night, not knowing about the holiday.  They brought us chocolates and told us people were lined up outside the local restaurants, trying to go out for dinner.  Yes, Valentine's Day is also celebrated in Taiwan on February 14th!

 August was also Ghost Month, according to the Chinese calendar.  During Ghost Month, individuals and businesses offer food and burnt sacrifices of money to their dead relatives to aid them in their afterlife.  All over the city we would see tables set up in front of businesses, loaded with food, drinks, and stacks of fake paper money which they would burn in little metal containers right out on the sidewalk.  Please pray for the thousands of Taiwanese people who do not yet know the One who gave His life so that they might be freed from the bondage of the enemy.

 August Outing We were blessed to be able to visit a more rural area of Taiwan with some friends from church, Sam & Hannah (Hannah is Shelby's Chinese tutor and the leader of her Friday morning Women's Small Group) and their small group the first Saturday in August.  We went on a picnic with their small group up in the mountains in northeastern Taiwan in an area called Ilan.  It was beautiful and reminded us of Hume Lake -- in a different way!  We had a picnic (fish ball soup with noodles -- mmm!) by a river that had the clearest water you've ever seen!  The boys loved wading in it and catching water bugs and tadpoles. 

 Afterwards, we visited a goat farm where all the children got to feed baby goats with a bottle, then a bee farm where we got to see bees making honey up close!  After that, we visited the parents of one of the small group members who happened to live in that area.  It was close to Father's Day, so they wanted to bring a cake for Father's Day to his dad and also witness to the parents by singing a couple of songs in Taiwanese (Taiwanese is a separate language from Mandarin).  The elderly parents are Buddhist and had a big alter in their home with idols and bowls on the alter in which they offered food to the idols.  Dwight and Dietrich couldn't believe that they were giving potato chips and Oreo cookies to statues who couldn't see or hear!  Sounds so silly, but it's so sad that it's true.  Sam and Hannah were telling us that the whole area of Ilan has a very strong Buddhist influence, and we could see that this was true as we drove with them by all of the huge statues and Buddhist temples that dotted the countryside.  The story of the 3 Men in the Fiery Furnace from the book of Daniel (a long-time favorite Bible story of Dwight & Dietrich's) has become more real to the boys since that day as they realize now that people really do worship statues.  On the way home in the church van, Dietrich prayed out loud, "God, please help those people not to give potato chips to statues and help them to only worship the real God."  Please pray with us for the Buddhist people, that they would come to know the one true God who died for their sins and passionately loves them!

 Prayer Requests & Praises:

* Pray for Dwight as he continues on in school, that God would help him to learn to speak Mandarin quickly.  He is catching on and can count to 100 in Chinese already!  Our Taiwanese friends say his pronunciation is perfect! 

 * Pray for Dietrich as he is at home with Mommy for his last year.  Pray that we would have special Dietrich/Mommy times together while Dwight is at school each morning, and that he would learn his ABC's and numbers this year. 

* Pray for Ed as he teaches, that the light of Jesus would shine through him to his students, their parents, and his co-workers at Big Byte Learning Institute.

* Praise God for providing a language tutor for Shelby!  Hannah has 2 young boys ages 3 and 1, so it is quite a sacrifice for her to come over once a week.  Please pray that God would help Shelby to learn to speak Mandarin quickly.

 * Praise God for providing a babysitter for the boys once a week so that we can go out on regular dates!  Our friend, Beatrice from the 3-E Ministry at church loves Dwight & Dietrich so much and is officially their Taiwanese "auntie."  She offered to babysit for us once a week for free!  What a HUGE blessing it has been to be able to spend 2 uninterrupted hours together each week!

God bless you all! 

With Much Love in Christ,

 Ed, Shelby, Dwight & Dietrich Bumgarner, Hume Lake Community Fellowship, 2007 Taiwan Team to Taipei, 09/18/2007

From Russia-

Greetings everyone!I first of all want to wish you all a Happy New Year.I trust that you enjoyed the holiday season together with family and friends.  I hope you took sufficient time to celebrate the “real” meaning of Christmas.  Many people forget that without Jesus there would be no such holiday as Christmas, and so He is the One who deserves the most attention.     I’m sorry I wasn’t on time for the first Sunday of the month as usual, but we had holidays and since I wasn’t at the school, but in different places, I didn’t write the report.I will be short because in just a couple of weeks, I will send you another. Overall, December was just as busy here as there, mainly because we prepared for our Christmas program which was on Dec. 21. Leading up to this time, I spent a lot of time teaching the children about Christmas and what it really means. Here in Russia, New Year is the main holiday.Everything that we do for Christmas, Russians do for New Year. Christmas is Jan. 7 but this is not an important holiday, especially for kids.  So, it’s a wonderful opportunity to teach the children the truth about Christmas. I spent three weeks in our Crazy Corner time (Friday assemblies) explaining Christmas. First, we learned to spell Christmas with emphasis on the “Christ”. Then we did the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then we learned about the wisemen and how Jesus was the first to receive gifts because, of course, it’s His birthday. They came to understand how they would feel if it was their birthday and we gave everyone else presents, and how important it is for us to include Jesus in our celebrations since He is the reason. It’s a powerful analogy here because birthdays are super-important to Russians.

During our Christmas program, we presented the story of Jesus’ birth, along with other presentations.There were many people, including parents, grandparents, siblings, and other family members.  it went better than last year and that was a real answer to prayer. During that concert our director also announced that the school has almost received a license to open a middle school and the missionaries have been allowed to buy the land.  These were two pieces of good news.

We started a new cell group at church, which I am leading in partnership with one Russian brother.  We are meeting at his house but since the group is new, we still don’t have new attenders.  Of course it’s geared to those who know English and along with studying and having fellowship together, they can practice and improve their English skills.  We had a wonderful Christmas celebration on Dec. 30 and I was happy that Zhanna, the Russian teacher who works with me, joined me for the service.  She has opened up to me and we have a good relationship. Praise God for this.  Her attitude has changed much since last year and I can see that God has been working in her life.  I wanted to visit Plastoon over Christmas but my friend came to visit from Moscow and then my other friend from America, Michelle, left for home on Dec. 9 and I wanted to spend time with her before she left.  So I didn’t have a chance to go to Plastoon but still want to go soon and visit the church.  they have been struggling in the past time and I want to encourage them.

Praise God for all His faithfulness in the past year.  It’s so good to know we are in His hands in all situations.  My Russian is slowly but surely improving and that’s nothing short of a miracle. Please continue to pray concerning this.  Please pray for God’s continued leading in my life.  Please pray for my family, especially since my father will have surgery by the end of this month.  We know God is in control and “makes all things beautiful in His time”.  This brings a great peace.  Pray for this city, Vladivostok, and the country of Russia There are still many walls, but praise God that He has broken down the main barrier for His glory.  When He acts, no person can change it.  I send you much love and blessings through Jesus.  May you each sense His presence in your hearts and homes.

Anna Rowsell,  June 2005 team to Vladivostok University, Pacific Russia, Zion Pentecostal Church, Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland, Canada
01/11/08

Passover greetings from Taichung!

Warm weather has returned to Taiwan! And our ministry has continued to break forth in new life as God has made connections and opened doors for us! Not only did we start the new English language church service that we mentioned in last month's newsletter, but a new opportunity to teach Bible at the graduate level has opened up. We also celebrated a Passover Meal with our church group, which was a great experience. For all the exciting details, read on…

The first opportunity to preach at our new church came the week after Easter. I was surprised to learn from Joshua (who translates for me at the Bible college, and introduced us to the church) that he would not be translating for me, but that Pastor Peter had arranged for another translator. As it turned out, that translator was Ruth Chang, a good friend and excellent translator that we worked with in some of our past visits to Taiwan. In fact, the last time I was in Taiwan to do seminars, her brother Stephen hosted me at a prayer mountain in southern Taiwan.

Ruth and Stephen had not known we were back in the country. So they invited us out to lunch at a cute, traditional-style Chinese tea house. These tea houses look like something out of the pages of Chinese history, complete with a pool in the center with colorful, foot-and-a-half long goldfish that children love to feed. We first met Ruth and Stephen years ago when Stephen had returned to Taiwan from studying abroad in Germany and in Israel. At that time, he was just getting involved in pastoral ministry, and seeking God's direction for his life. Now he leads an inner healing ministry that has him travelling all over the country. He's booked for a full year in advance.

At church, in the morning Chinese service, I shared our message about prophecy being fulfilled in Israel—a quick overview of the incredible history of modern Israel. The people seemed to be quite interested, and Ruth did an excellent job translating, as always. The pastor and his wife were very encouraging. They invited us to stay for a meal after the service. This we especially enjoyed because it reminded us
so much of the "food fellowship" at our church in the Philippines.

The next week we started the new English service, which meets on Sunday afternoon. We had no idea how many people would come—if any! But we would have been happy if it was just our family there praising God. We were so much looking forward to worshiping God in the more interactive style of worship we have come to enjoy over the years, and being able to dig into the Word from an "Israel" perspective again.

We were pleasantly surprised when about 20 people showed up at the service. This included a group of students from my Hebrew class at the Bible college. After the service, my Hebrew students took us out to eat. We ended up at a Greek restaurant together with some of the others that had attended the service. This was a fun opportunity to talk about the food in Israel, which is quite similar to Greek food. For some unknown reason, the chef took a special interest in our group, and came out and talked with us for practically the whole time we were there. He even brought out his guitar and played for us! For the price of our original orders, he substituted a much larger, multi-course feast, which turned out to be way more than we could eat. What an unexpected blessing! He even gave a guitar lesson to our son David. Meanwhile, Ruth was busy making contact for us with the Faith Bible Seminary here in Taichung. The school is an extension of a graduate-level seminary in New York that draws students from the Chinese community. There is another extension in Taipei. The Dean (Elder Susan) invited me out to lunch, with Ruth translating. She invited me to teach two classes, though unfortunately, I am only able to fit one in my schedule this semester. Hopefully, I'll be able to free up more time next semester.

This is an exciting new opportunity to teach Bible! The class I'm
teaching is Old Testament History. Ruth is the translator. There are about 15 students in the class, several with good English skills—a couple of them have worked as translators before. In the first class, we talked about the battle for the Bible, and especially the Evolution-Creation debate, as well as the tremendous contributions of archeology to understanding the Bible. This is an exciting class to teach, for which I've got a full Powerpoint presentation ready to go. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the semester.

Thanks again for your prayers. The giving to our general ministry fund has gone down quite a bit this year compared to last year. We hope you won't forget us, as this giving makes our ministry trips to the Philippines possible. Our next scheduled trip is for the entire month of July, which is already almost fully booked with seminars. Thank you for considering an investment in this wide-open door for ministry! 
All the best in Messiah Jesus,

Jeff & Karen Harrison  & sons David and John 
Deeper Walk Christian Fellowship, Medford, Oregon/2006 Taiwan team to Taichung 
04/25/2008

A Small Group is Born!   In the month of May, through circumstances that only the Holy Spirit could engineer, our dear Taiwanese friends and fellow believers in Christ, Michael & Christine Chen (Christine is the mommy of another boy in Dwight's kindergarten class and Shelby's translator for the weekly English lessons at LongAn School) joined together with us to start a weekly small group in our homes!  All glory and praise to God for orchestrating these amazing things!   Pray also for the Taiwanese people, both Christians and non-Christians, whom the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and other cults are currently targeting in Taiwan.  Pray that the Taiwanese Christians would not be confused by false doctrine, and would stand firm in their faith and continue to study the Bible and follow the Lord.  Pray that the teachings of the false religions would not be appealing to the Christians and non-Christians, and that anyone propagating a false religion or teaching would recognize by God's help how they are not helping but fighting against the Creator of their world.  Pray that they would have the opportunity to come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!  

Prayer Walking Update   Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who prayed for me (Shelby) when I went on the prayer walking trip to Ping Tung County in South Taiwan April 18-19th!  It was evident to all that the Holy Spirit was present and working among us to accomplish His purposes in His timing.    About 20 of us from Grace Baptist Church went to Ping Tung.  All were Taiwanese believers except for myself, Jim West, who is the pastor of the English congregation at GBC, and his wife Bobbi.  It was so exciting to have the chance to meet and get to know the team members on the 6-hour bus ride down south.  For many of the Taiwanese believers who came, it was the first time they had ever been on a missions trip -- the first time they had ever made a commitment to travel to another place with the express purpose of praying for a specific people and sharing the Gospel with them.  I was thrilled to be able to share this first time experience with my Taiwanese brothers and sisters in Christ!   As we started out on the long bus ride, Pastor West shared with us a short message about farming and how it relates to what we are called to do as Christians.  He spoke about the importance of preparing the soil.  The purpose of our prayer walk in Ping Tung was to ask God to prepare the soil of the people's hearts in a very spiritually dark area.  Once the soil is prepared, it is then ready for seeds to be planted in an environment where they will have the opportunity to grow and mature, with the end result being a bountiful harvest.  As our bus whizzed past the thousands of high-rise apartment buildings in Taipei, each window representing a person or family that God loves dearly and gave His only Son for, I thought of just how important prayer is.  Didn't Jesus tell His disciples in John 15:7 that "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you."?  And in Matthew 7:9-11, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"  I prayed silently that the Holy Spirit would give our team boldness to come before God's throne as we prayed throughout Ping Tung County the next day.   We prayed for the salvation of every student we saw; we prayed for the teachers and faculty of every department on campus that we walked past to come into a personal relationship with Jesus and have opportunities to share Him with their students; we prayed for the small Christian club that the Haggards had helped to start on campus to grow; we prayed that God would raise up a pastor to start a church nearby that the students could attend.  Whenever we passed a parking lot full of scooters or cars, we were moved by the Spirit to walk along the rows of them and pray for the students and staff who owned them.  We prayed that each of them would have an opportunity to hear the Gospel presented and that the blinders would be lifted from their hearts and minds so that they could respond.  We prayed for a revival to happen on that university campus and we claimed the area where we walked for His Kingdom.    Two significant things happened in my heart as we finished up our prayer walk and met back with the group.  First, I was amazed that we had not run out of things to pray for!  On this more than 100 degree day in South Taiwan, the Holy Spirit had not only kept us from getting heat stroke, but He had prayed through us.  Susie, Jennifer and I all agreed that the specific things we had prayed for were given us by the Holy Spirit -- none of us would have thought to pray for those things on our own.  And secondly, I was amazed at the compassion the Holy Spirit had given me for every person we saw or passed by.  Though we didn't have the opportunity to talk to anyone on this particular walk, it didn't matter -- I could sense how wide and how high and deep is the love of God not only for me, but for EVERY SINGLE PERSON HE HAS CREATED.    After a delicious lunch of beef noodles at a Hakka restaurant, we went on 3 more prayer walks before returning to Taipei City that night.  We went to May Hu College, the first nursing school in Taiwan where Sandy Haggard is an English professor, prayed for the salvation of students & faculty on that campus, then we went to the only Christian church in Ping Tung County, met the pastor, and prayed for him and his ministry there.  Our last prayer walk was in the town of Nei Pu.  As we walked up and down the streets of this little town, passing by numerous Buddhist temples, I could sense a cloud of spiritual oppression covering the people in this town.  Since returning from Ping Tung, it has been so exciting to see our church get excited about prayer walking!  People are talking about adopting prayer walking as a lifestyle, and a few weeks ago, the regular Wednesday night prayer meeting went outside the church to go prayer walking in the community!  Praise God!!!  

Ed & Shelby Bumgarner /Hume Lake Community Fellowship, Hume Lake, California/2007 Taiwan Team to Taipei  
06/14/2008

Winter is starting to set in here and we are feeling the chill, but other than that we're ok.  Al has a heavy work load at the school, but he still likes his job as Ass. Principal.  We are making monthly trips to to a local private orphanage for handicapped children, which is run by a Chinese brother.  It is a support project that has been taken on by the T.E.Fellowship our local body of C with Al as the Ch representative.  I am tutoring two Taiwanese students, one in grade 9 and one in grade 11, a brother and sister. I am doing a women's BS and also trying to get involved with some of the local charities through the Shanghai Community Center.  CCS is a service that was set up for expats and locals, with various services and was originally set up by members of the Abundant Grace Fellowship. We are both active in the Fellowship as well, with ushering and Sunday School and Al is one of the Elders.  We also have our Thursday Adult group which has been going for two years now.  The majority of the people coming are locals in their 20s or early 30s. So all in all, we are managing to keep busy.  We bought a house in Canada this summer while we were visiting our son, just in case we ever get around to going back there.  Our son is living in it until we decide to go home.  That is pretty much our news 'the Reader's Digest Condensed Version'.  

Darlene and Al L./First Baptist Church, Saskatchewan, Canada/2006 China team to Shanghai    
11/18/2008

Hey Everyone!!!  Xin Nian Kuai Le ( which means Happy New Year...I hope the pinyin is correct)  Again, I will echo the sentiments of my last email and say "Wow...I really cannot believe that it is 2009!  This past year has just flown by."  I know when I was little my parents would always tell me how fast time goes by and that I shouldn't wish my life away.  But I always wanted to be big...I can't wait until I am grown-up I would always think.  Well now I am a grown-up, and I find myself wishing at times that I could go back and be young again.  Funny, how that is.  We spend our youth wishing we were older, and we spend our adult years wishing we could be young again.  Okay, nothing important coming from that...just some rambling thoughts I had.  So everyone please write me and tell me about your New Year.

As you know, I spent my New Year in Taiwan, with my friends Ryan and Cassie Popplewell.  We had so much fun.  The first night I got there was New Year's Eve, so we spent the night RUNNING around Taipei, trying to find a good place to watch the fireworks.  And I do mean literally running...If I can say anything about that night, I can say I got some really good and much needed exercise!  After watching the fireworks, we made our way back to Ryan and Cassie's apartment, where we drank hot chocolate, ate chips and salsa, and I had the opportunity to talk to my Grandmama, Mama, and Daddy.  The phone call was actually the highlight of the evening and I had such a wonderful time talking with them :-)  At one point, I put Grandmama on speaker phone and let her talk to my friends...We all  loved that.  Ryan and Cassie are both from Indiana ( so they are yankees...jk) so they don't often get to hear the dulcet tones of a true Southerner.  We had another friend who was there named Jeff, and he is from England.  So we had to ask him if he understood what Grandmama was saying.  I think he did understand most of it.  Now one of Ryan's grandmothers is from Tennessee, so he knows all about Southern Culture, and I think listening to my Grandmama talk made him think of home. AWWW!  ( For those of you who are curious, this is my Daddy's mother that I am talking about who lives in Georgia)

So after staying up way too late, we finally went to bed, only to have to get up really early for our train.  We had a fun time making our way to the south of Taiwan, where we stayed in the resort town of Kenting.  It was very nice, and we even got to go out to the beach one day.  But the wind was so, so strong, we only stayed for maybe 15 minutes before going back to the hotel.  We spent some time going around some of the smaller places around Kenting and just had a really enjoyable time.  One evening, we spent quite a lot of time looking up funny videos on youtube...I will send a separate email with a link to all the videos so everyone can watch them.  So, so funny!!  We laughed so much on this trip :-)

If you are wondering, Ryan and Cassie are good friends of mine from ITPS.  We all trained together in the summer of 2007, which was an adventure in itself.  I had not seen them since that summer, but we kept in pretty close contact through facebook.  And even after 18 months of not seeing each other, it was like we had never spent anytime apart.  I think that is the mark of true friends, when you can see each other after years apart and it is like nothing at all has changed.  I hope I can get the chance to see them again this summer.  They are going to Kentucky for a year, so Cassie can go to grad school.  They will be in North Carolina during this coming summer, so hopefully we can definitely meet :-)

So, how many of you have the burning question : "How is Taiwan different from China?"  Well to answer that, let me share with you a little of the history of Taiwan...Now I only know this because I was reading Cassie and Ryan's copy of "Lonely Planet: Taiwan."  Now you probably know that Taiwan regards itself as an independent and sovereign nation and at one time considered itself to be the true China, while China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and its goals are to reunite it to the mainland.  In China you always hear "Taiwan is part of China."  In Taiwan, I believe they look at China as kind of a cultural "mother" but they do not really feel allegiance to China and wish to remain a separate nation.  But, most countries today recognize Mainland China as the legitimate government and give little recognition to Taiwan.  I read that only 22 countries officially recoginize Taiwan.  I think it must be hard for them.  However, while many people say that Taiwan and China must be similar, there are a lot of differences.  Here are some:

1) Taiwan is just smaller...streets are smaller, etc.  Even in the over-crowded cities of China, you can just feel the immense size.

2) Taiwanese are friendlier.  If you are a foreigner and you look distressed, someone will come up to you and ask if you need help.  Also, many people will say hello to you all the time.  You don't see this as much in China.  Now people in China will be so friendly and warm to you AFTER they get to know you.  But, if they do not know you, they can be pretty cold and distant.

3) Taiwan has western style toilets everywhere.  In the cities they are the main type of toilet and even in the smaller places, they are quite easy to find.  In China, even in the cosmopolitan cities, squat toilets are still the norm.  It is always really, really surprising to see a western toilet in China.

4) Culture is much stronger in Taiwan.  Buddhism is much more ingrained in the society and people take it more seriously.  After being in Taiwan, you can feel that China is a bit of a cultural weakling.  Taiwan has temples everywhere, and still has many ancient buildings, while China's are few and far between.  China has had a cultural renaissance of sorts, but I would say for most mainland Chinese, they are always looking towards the future and they feel that culture is just something that holds back progression.

5) Mainland Chinese food is much better in my opinion.  I remember thinking that from the summer I spent there.  China has many more vegetables and styles of preparing dishes. Which makes for unbelievable food!

6) Taiwan has Outback and TGI FRidays, but Mainland China has Papa John's.

7) Taiwan has a better healthcare system and probabably a better education system.  Also, they pay more attention to social welfare.  But, I do believe these things are going to improve in China, but time is needed.

8) Taiwan uses TRADITIONAL chinese characters, while Mainland China uses simplified Characters.  In the 1950's China did a massive literacy push, and felt that the Traditional Characters were too difficult, so many characters were simplified.  There is a lot of controversy over the simplified characters because many Chinese believe it has taken the beauty out of the writing.  Hong Kong and Taiwan use Traditional Characters...Most Mainland tell me they can read the traditional characters but they cannot write them.

I think that is all for now...If I think of more differences I will definitely let you know :-)

I have finished my teaching for the semester, and am now trying to think of what I will do over the holiday.  I am thinking of taking a 7 day tour of Beijing...I would be on my own, but it is a group tour so I am hoping it would be really fun :-)  Also, have some friends who live near Shanghai, so am thinking of maybe going there for a visit! 
Well I love all of you so much and love to hear from you as much as possible.  Please keep me informed of everything that is going on :-)  I will try to keep in touch with you regularly to let you know how things are.

I love you all!!

Heather J. /Olivet Presbyterian Church,South Carolina/2007 China team to Guangzhou 
01/05/2009

Praise God for His provision!

God is always working upstream to prepare and provide for us everything that we could possibly need!  While our dear fellow missionary friend, Rebecca Cablish, was praying for our family one night a few weeks ago before we even knew the outcome of Ed's work visa situation, God prompted her to offer to let us stay at her family's apartment while she and her husband, Paul and 2 children are away in the U.S. on furlough this summer.  So right after we move out of our place on July 7th, God has provided a place for us to go!  We will stay at the Cablish home (which is conveniently located right across the street from our apartment and directly next to Grace Baptist Church!) and continue ministry in Taipei for the month of July until the Cablishes return on August 2nd.

We will probably return to the U.S.in early August.  Our current visa is good until the end of August.  Lord-willing, we plan to move into the on-campus housing for families at Golden Gate Seminary, if there is an apartment available. 

Prayer Requests & Praises:

-- Pray for the ministries we will be leaving here in Taipei City: AWANA, Small Group Ministry, Ed's job in the bushi-ban, and Shelby's ministry to public-school children.  Pray that God will put in place those He would have to continue His work in these areas, and that we would be sensitive to His leading in these next 6 weeks to recruit and train other leaders as needed..

 -- Pray especially for our Small Group members, that they would see the importance of joining a new Small Group after the summer.  (Our Small Group was going to take a break after this month anyway, due to many people being away on vacation.)

-- Pray for Shelby as she goes through the difficult and time-consuming task of getting rid of furniture and other household items, giving the bulk of our possessions away, and packing what we can take back as we prepare to move overseas.  Praise God for the opportunity to give much of our furniture (which was freely given to us by a family in our church when we moved here!) to other missions organizations who need it to furnish apartments for in-coming missionary families.

-- Praise God for friends from Taiwan leaving for California on vacation this month, who have offered to bring some of our boxes on the airplane with them!  God is so good to provide for us in this way!  We will also be shipping some boxes back, as we have acquired some special items we can't part with, having 2 boys in school!

-- Pray for Dwight & Dietrich as they adjust to the MANY changes that they will experience in the next 2 weeks as everything disappears out of our home, suitcases are packed, and we move to the Cablish's house.  Pray for the strength to say goodbye to the many friends they have made over here, and the things about Taiwan that they have come to enjoy so much.

 -- Pray for Ed as he prepares to preach at Lin-Sen South Church on July 12th.  We are still praying about whether he will preach in August or not, depending on when we will return to the U.S.

-- Pray for all of us (especially Shelby) as we prepare to say goodbye to so many, many friends here in Taipei.  Saying goodbye is never easy.  But we are compelled to follow the call of God for seminary training and we pray that He might bring us back to Taiwan someday in His timing.

We look forward to seeing many of you again when we return -- how much we have missed you and thought about you while we were here!  We can't wait to hear what God is doing in your life and share with you what He has been doing in ours.

We will keep you updated on the date(s) for our return to the U.S. and our tentative schedule once we get there.  Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts for your partnership in His ministry in this corner of Asia!  We love you!  God bless you all!
In Christ,

Ed, Shelby, Dwight & Dietrich Bumgarner,
Taipei Team 06/15/2009