Missionaries and Huts...

all missionaries go to huts in the jungle, right?

Prayer Mountain, Korea

When we got to Prayer Mountain many women were pushed into this room. It was completely empty at the time and is basement 2. Yes, those are hard floors and very thin blankets. My sweatshirt made for an excellent pillow for the 4 nights. It is remarkable how a wooden floor can become comfortable after a while when it's all you have! We counted the blankets and found out there were 285 people in this room.

4000 people at the conference
Breakfast after fast at prayer mountain. Also, this has been one of my last meals since then, too because I have been sick since Korea!

Camp TWO...Changwa, Taiwan

The second week half of the team went to a completely different city in Taiwan and lead about 80 children at a camp. Our half went to Changwa. We were split in half there, too. Six team members were with young children and four of us were at a high school each day.

There were these three high school girls who made me laugh each day and were great students. When I had the students introduce themselves the first day the three of them stood up and said, "I'm Pretty Angel; I'm Beautiful Nancy; and I'm Cutie Ruby" and struck a pose! That was my first encounter with them...they were quite the dramatic trio. Below are two of them on our last day. They made me do this pose because they said it meant we were sad...

I had a chance to tell my testimony to the choir at the high school. When I was finished I noticed a girl, Vania, crying in the corner. I went over to her and after we spoke for about an hour, she said the sinner's prayer and said she finally understands the words to "O Happy Day" (the song we were teaching them). She was so sweet and sang so loud!! She is precious and she accepted Christ on our last day at the school!! Vania is below:
This is the auditorium I taught in with all 40 students. I lost my voice this week so Carol taught a lot of the lessons. She did great and it was a great chance for me to assist rather than always be in the front. It was humbling as well. I realized I didn't always have to be the teacher! Sorry the picture is blurry...

Second Week: Jr. High Class

I taught the Jr. High class every morning for two hours. They are all 'run away' kids as the church explained it. Some have been in prison, gangs, etc. It is hard to believe because they were so sweet and so young. They knew nothing more than, "Hello" when I walked in the first day. I taught them beginning conversation, colors, numbers, body parts, and clothing.

Below is Lily. I had them all draw a person and label the body parts.

The whole class! We're a crazy bunch. But, sometimes you just have to be silly...

Typhoon Flooding..

This isn't a great picture.. but this was some of the flooding from the typhoon that hit. The first church we were at in Taiwan contacted us and told us that their sanctuary was flooded up to their knees and were scooping it out slowly... Keep them in your prayers as they deal with damage. Also, another typhoon hit Taiwan the day we left for Los Angeles again! We haven't heard about the conditions of those we know.

Team Dynamics

Our team was mostly Asian, but we like to say that we were a diverse team!

(from left to right) Grover moved to the US when he was 12 from Jamaica, Berenice is Mexican and goes to the Spanish service at our church, me..., and Ben a member at the church.

I personally have become very close to Berenice and can't wait to continue our friendship!

First Camp Pictures (including Emma and Peter!)

The first camp was unbelievable! We were hosting a true summer camp wher the students camp and slept in the same place as us, ate with us, hung out with us, and saw us at all moments of the day. I even had to go around at night with Rodney to do Cabin checks!

Below is my English class!! They were the intermediate bunch of the students. I miss them :(

My Huddle Group! GROUP ONE! Every morning after Marcus lead a devotional, we would split into huddle groups (small groups) for an hour and discuss the devotional and pretty much just hang out and practice English outside of the class room. I loved my group!
EMMA!
Emma was the young lady who accepted Christ. She was in my class at the camp. Even though she was my student, we got a long very well and are similar in age. She was more my friend than student. I miss her :( We have already emailed back and forth!

PETER!
Peter would always make this face because he said I did it in front of class, but I never realized! He also accepted Christ over the week. He is so excited and sent me an email already.

Late mornings we would do random activities and one morning Marcus told me to take the students and teach them a song... I lead them outside and was trying to think of a song on the spot! So I taught them "The B.I.B.L.E" and "I'm a Little Tea Pot", "Twinkle Twinkle", and made them do the "ABC's" backwards and all messed up... I almost feel bad for them because of the things I make them do! Below is one of my favorite pictures: the students tiping over because they are all tea pots!!

The whole camp! This picture includes our whole team as well as all the students at the camp. I really do miss them!

Scooter Adventure with Tommi

The first weekend in Taiwan, the Korea team lead worship for a church in southern Taiwan. We met a young man named Tommi who offered me a ride on his scooter. I was excited because in Taiwan SO MANY people ride scooters! But then I realized I had no helmet and Taiwan's drivers are craaazy. But, it was fun and worth the fear. It probably wasn't too smart of me, but don't worry; I don't think I'll be doing it again any time soon.

HOME! (...kind of...)

I have arrived back in Los Angeles and am back in Diamond Bar with my host grandma. Thank you all for your prayers. My parents and sister, Lily, have come down to visit and it is great to be with them. I will be posting pictures and more stories within the week. I just wanted to post that I am back and everyone is safe and well.
Thanks!

Probably the last post until America...

Today we were completely rained in and seeing that it was our day off before going up to the prayer mountain it forced us to rest. We actually ended up going bowling! Things in Korea are definately more expensive than Taiwan. Taiwan $1000 equals US $1. So, it's basically equal. HOwever, things are just priced higher. FOr instance: I saw a starbucks and got very excited! But just the regular brewed cup of coffee with nothing special was $3200... $3.20 US! So sad... I didn't get any.

Tomorrow we are going to Sunday service at Full Gospel Center...(a church) : the largest church in the world!!!! wow. I don't really know what to expect, but I'm excited to see it. After service we will be heading up to the Asian Christian Conference up on the Prayer mountain. There will be thousands of people there. We will be fasting for three days while attending conferences and worship sessions. We will be sleeping in giant rooms on mats on the floor (Korean style) among many other people. Please pray for the five of us girls as we have the opportunity to devote three days to prayer.

We will come down on Thursday to break fast. Friday morning we will be flying back to Taiwan to meet up with the rest of the team and hit the streets of Taipei at night before flying back to California on Saturday.

One week to go...!
miss you all :)
1 Thess 5:16 - be joyful! pray continually! give thanks!

South Korea!

Just wanted to write a short post saying that the Korea team has made it safely to Korea. I have to say it is a lot cleaner than Taiwan or China already. Anyways, we are here and it's 12:30 a.m. so needless to say, it's time for bed.
p.s. we are an extra hour away now.. so for you in California: at 4 hours and reverse a.m. or p.m. and you'll have my time.
example: if it's 3:00p.m. in California, then it's 7:00 a.m. in Korea.

Typhoon... and Korea

A Typhoon is passing through Taiwan. During the middle of the night it started to rain incredibly hard and the winds are crazy. I can visibly see wind...I don't think that is supposed to happen! And, the rain is flying sideways from the wind. It isn't flooding yet in the city we are in but that is because we are not right on the coast. I have no idea what the conditions on the coast are. The news says that the typhoon should be past by later today and is heading north. However, this morning the Korea team is supposed to leave for Taipei to get to the airport. Our flight is this afternoon to Korea. The weather is horrible and we don't know if everything planned will work out. The storm tracker also predicts the storm moving north.... right over South Korea! That is where we'll be! So, needless to say: prayer for protection is always needed, but right now it is very very important. Please pray for those staying here as well as the five of us girls who have to travel to Taipei and to S. Korea later today.
... what an adventure, right? I think it's an adventure I could live without! This morning we read from Philippians and I was convicted: if Paul can praise God from jail then why not praise Him in themidst of a typhoon! I miss you all! See you in about a week!

little comments:

1. Pray for my voice! I am not sick, but I have to speak so much while teaching that I am continually losing it!

2. My jr. high girl students made me a paper that said, "i love you!" in all different colors. It was awesome.

3. yesterday... our van hit a dog :( it was really sad because there was a little boy in the car that said, "my heart is spilling!!" The dog died and in Taiwan, death is very very bad, so all the town people were being harsh and wouldn't go near because of superstitions.

4. we heard there is a hurricane about to hit Taiwan. That's all the info we have, so we don't really know what that means for us!

5. Last night I woke up to a huuuuge spider next to my pillow. It was a hobo spider... literaly the size of a baseball! I am not joking! It is really poisonous, too!. It took a zaper thing to kill it! We literaly had to burn it to kill it. It was really frightening. I'm glad I opened my eyes before it crawled on my face! It was only about 2 inches away!

second camp...

We have been in the second location (really like the 5th location but second camp) since Saturday. We all realized we were very blessed with the weather in the mountains because it was a lot cooler even though we dealt with rain. Here it is nothing but hot and humid. However, the team is surprising positive and I haven't heard much complaining.
When we got here on Saturday, the principle asked if I would be willing to teach every morning within a different class separate from our already scheduled camp. Since our camp starts every afternoon and goes into the night, I said, yes. However, they didn't tell me until Monday morning that the students are all jr. high juvenile delinquents that have run away from home and are now children of the government. The teacher saw me walk in and said, "you need helpers.. you can't do this". Well, I didn't come with helpers! I was alone. I had a chance to pray with a team member before I left and we talked a lot about the verse that says, "in everything do not be anxious". I truly felt confident that God was with me as I walked into that classroom. The class went very well. I felt like it could have gone out of control any second, but it didn't. The students were more rowdy than the normal Chinese/Taiwanese students, but sadly they were equal to American students. One of the students is special ed. He is huuuge. He is so tall and built and the rest of team was scared for my life. I admit I was a little worried at first, but then I realized he is just a huge teddy bear. He is sooo nice. He has a speech impediment, but he tries very hard and smiles continually. His name is Andrew. Please pray for this class because it is very challenging. Their English is ZERO. I have been teaching basics and I have no translator! Pray that somehow I will be able to show God's love through teaching because I obviously cannot do it verbally. The girls are so sweet! The principle and other teachers say that they must listen to me simply because I'm different and have 'hair of gold'. But, I'd like to believe that your prayers and God's guidance is present and the cause of their behavior. I have faith that God can work in this classroom and the hearts of these hurting students!

Hallelujah! Emma and Peter believe!!

This morning I jumped down from my bunk trying to tell myself to wake up, eyes barely open. I was walking to the outhouse, pajama pants getting muddy thinking: two more weeks of muddy squaty potties? Suddenly, Rodney (part of the team) called from across the common area saying he needed to tell me something. He said that late last night, he and Emma were reading the Bible together and Peter walked up. Peter joined and they were all reading and discussing together. Rodney beamed as he said, "Peter accepted Christ!" my response: WHAAAT! Where is he!? Why didn't you wake me!!!? He then said, "So did EMMA!" I couldn't believe it. I told Rodney that these were the two specific people that I had conversations with and have been praying for during the camp. Rodney did not know that out of the 40 students, these exact two were the ones I have been praying for! I don't believe this is a coincidence. Thankyou to those of you who have been praying for Peter and Emma. Emma keeps saying she is going to miss me so much and I will truly miss her as well. She was my most advanced student and her English is beyond excellent. She hopes to study in the United States but does not have the money because it is so expensive. Peter says that he will be praying and reading the Bible about how to handle his father at home. I am very proud of both of them! I don't want to leave them! Tonight after dinner, I will be leaving this camp.... :(

Emma and Peter

This week the team has been hosting a camp in the mountains.  It is central Taiwan and so tropical.  It rains every afternoon until the evening and I am always soaked while teaching.  Teaching has been going well except for the students were a completely different level than what expected so I have rearranged the entire lesson plans last minute!  

This morning I had a chance to talk to a student named Emma.  She said that she half believed in God.  When I questioned what she meant, she said that she wasn't completely sure if she understood everything and trusted that it was all true.  She asked me to tell her what God has done in my life... WOW.  It was one of those moments where I thought, "this is it... right now it doesn't matter how much of the Bible I have memorized or worship songs I can sing.. but right now I need to express my love for Christ and truly show her".  It was a great conversation and then I prayed for her.  She said she was thinking about it all. 

In huddle groups (small groups) I was talking about church with the students and my student, Peter told me that he is not a Christian because his father will not let him.  I asked him if he believed in GOd and he said, yes.  So we talked about how being a Christian is not just about having the name 'Christian' but it's loving God in your heart and trusting Him.  He lit up and said he never knew that before.  He is still unsure about saying that he is a Christian because he is scared of his father.  I have been blessed to have these conversations!

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!  Please continue......!

Kaohsiung, Taiwan

The first 2 days....

Five of us girls were sent to Kaohsiung, Taiwan via train immediately from the airport when we arrived in Taiwan. We went to the train station and got on the HSR: High Speed Railroad. aka The Bullet. It was insanely fast... an hour later we were in northern Taiwan being greeted by a pastor, taken to lunch, and lead worship for their youth church service. Students from the church joined our worship team and we sang in Chinese and English. Below is a picture of some of the team: the males are natives to the church. It was a great experience.

I can't believe I have only been her for a couple days. It seems like forever but at the same time I can't believe this is really happening. I have to remind myself I'm in Taiwan. Sometimes I honestly feel like I'm still back in Hacienda Heights!! I am excited for what is still to come...

TAIWAN!!

I have arrived in TAIWAN!

I have been in the same clothes for over 24 hours, been on a plane for 12 hours, train for 2 and am completely confused about what day it is or time.. but it has been great. 

I just wanted to write a quick post to let you all know I have arrived and we are all safe.  It has been amazing so far... even through the humidity, seafood, and sleeplessness.

Thanks for your prayers!!!

Tea Party!

Women's Tea Party

I hosted a summer Iced Tea Party at my host house for the women and young ladies at our church and for HOC (House of Christians; a church down the street). It was great having ladies from a nearby church join in the fun. That's what community and the family of God is all about right? We played a game in which teams had to make the 'Ideal Tea Party Outfit' out of toilet paper on their model. The girls seemed to enjoy themselves:

All the beautiful ladies:

Maryvale Orphanage

We had our first week volunteering at the orphange in Monterey Park!!

Sadly, we are not allowed to take pictures of the girls because of sercurity reasons so I can not post any of our activities.

However, we had an overflow of volunteers from the church!! We actually had to split volunteers up into rotating dates! I went on Wednesday and led the arts activity with the girls who were 13-15 years old. They were very creative and very focused on their work. I love being able to include art in various places of my work :) Games are always a struggle with the girls because we cannot have any physical contact with them. Therefore, we can't even play a simple game like tag. So we are having to be really creative with games and relays.

Please pray for the girls at the orphanage for they have all been abused in their past and suffer from various degrees of disorders and disabilities. They are all beautiful and need to feel loved! I am sad that I will have to miss out on three weeks of volunteering with them while in Taiwan!

My Host Grandma...

I am living with Annie Chan. She is my host grandmother for my internship. In her home she didn't have one picture or piece of art on the walls. Everything was very plain. On Monday I had the day off of church and spent the whole day at home with Annie. In the laundry room I found a pile pictures and paintings stacked away in storage. When I asked her about them she told me that she has never had someone to help her hang them around the house. That was all I had to hear in order for the long day of decorating to begin.

She was so excited as we started to unwrap all the pictures and place them around the house where she wanted them. Finally, after many nails and hooks and many many variations... the house is actually decorated! She has lived there for two years with nothing on the walls!

It was such a great afternoon. Afterwards, we cooked dinner together and enjoyed eating with some added color in the dining room :)

Jr. High/High School Pool Party

This week I hosted the Jr. High and High School Pool Party. It was at a willing student's beautiful home and we had an excellent time. I made the students participate in a crazy relay:

Explaining the rules:

Running with a ball between two people...

Running back to back with linked arms...

There were also people hopping on one foot while blowing bubbles but there is no picture...
Leap Frog...

Then two people had to eat a donut each and swallow...
The last leg of the race was swimming across the pool...

And TEAM ONE WON!.. creative team name, eh?

Non-English Labels...

There is something very humbling about going into a store and admitting that you need help to get just about anything...
The other evening I needed toothpaste and deoderant (sorry for the openness). So I went to Super H Mart. Standing in the aisle I looked at rows and rows of Korean symbols. Yes, I knew I was looking at the products I needed but really had no idea what to pick:.. the red box? the white box? the green box? The cheapest box? These were the only things I could go on because I had no idea what it said...

"Missions Boot Camp"

This past Thursday and Friday the Taiwan/Korea missions team had "Boot Camp". We met at church on Thursday around 5:00 and spent 24 hours together! We spent Thursday as strictly 'hang out' time and a time to just get to know each other better to bond as a team. We did nothing in regards to planning or talking about the upcoming trip. It was great! Friday morning we woke up early and started the boot camp part. We ran through pretty much everything for the trip: worship sets, different songs, english lessons, kids camps, art workshops, testimonies, etc. It was good and needed but a very long day. The funny thing is: that is what we will be doing every day on the trip!! So it was a good experience. I can honestly say I feel that we are much more of a team after the boot camp. There is something about sharing food together and just telling jokes and laughing that brings people together as a team. It was tiring and long... but it was definately worth it.

Coffee House

Quarterly at the Church, Marcus Robinson (on English Staff) heads up 'Coffee House'. Coffee house is an arts based production in which visual, media, and performing artists are showcased. I usually help setting up all the art work that various artists in the area submit to be shown. Each coffeehouse usually brings in about 300-400 people! The performers below are 'Commoners and Kings', a spoken word group. The performances are very diverse and on June 14th we just had our most recent Coffee House as a fundraiser for the missions tream. The performances included: lyrical dance, classical piano, commoners and kings, a jazz/blues group 'Callbox', a gentlemen singing and playing the piano, and a woman playing the guitar and singing. It is always such a fun night! The bottom picture is just a small amount of the art around the room.

The Bryans....

I thought this was hilarious so I wanted to share it. These to men are both Bryan: Bryan Shaw and Bryan Kuranga. They both lead cell groups at our church and help with student ministries. AND if that wasn't enough: They both have the exact same car.

Taking the Metro to LA...

This sign was infront of the Los Angeles Court House with the top sign as "Our Sister Cities". I am going to Taipei!!! and I went to Guangzhou two years ago!!

If you click on this picture it will come up larger so you can see that it says: Chinese Population in Los Angeles, 1850: 2. Two Chinese people were in the city! Jeanelle thought this was amazing so we had to take a picture by it!

The Market....

I do my grocer shopping at Super H Mart around the corner from my house. The other grocery stores in the area are:

99 Ranch and DoReMe. Have you ever heard of those? Me Neither. The picture above is the candy aisle!! I can never read what I am buying so I am left to just looking at the pictures. The other picture is a bin of alive crabs. There are many bins of living creatures around the store. It's smelly....

Congrats Grads still....

A long day of Graduations... We went to them back to back!
Congrats Rachel Hu!! Welcome to Berkeley!

Congrats Eva! Welcome to Cal State Fullerton!!

Congrats Grads!

There are many graduations to attend... I still have two more!

Congrats to LUNA! Welcome to High School!

Congrats Erica! Welcome to BIOLA!! So many people from church came to support the graduates!

Congrats Chris!! Welcome to College!

Congrats Grace!! Welcome to College!!

Ministries

Work has definately been interesting and busy this week!

First, Wilson and Patty are also on staff in the English ministry and the three of us visited Maryvale which was founded as The Los Angeles Orphan Asylum way back in 1856. Today the Orphanage is in Monterey Park and is on 16 acres of land. During the summer volunteers from church will be going to Maryvale twice a week on every Tuesday and Wednesday. Currently, Patty and I are putting together the activities, games, waterpark trip, cake decorating day, etc for the girls at the orphange. Church volunteers will start going Tuesday the 24th. I am mostly in charge of faciliating and organizing with Patty. Please pray for this time as many youth from church will be serving here during the summer.

At cell group tonight I will be leading discussion on Ecclesiastes 2, "Pleasures are Meaningless".

Please pray for wisdom while speaking and for the hearts of the youth hearing and reading the Word.

Some girls and I are doing: Read the New Testament in a Month!

Okay so this is very ambitious of us but we are going to do it! We are reading 10 chapters a day and that will equal the whole NT within a month. We are starting today so feel free to jump in along side us!

Prayer Request: Unity of the missions team going to Taiwan and Korea! I am having the girls on the trip over on Saturday and we are baking for a fundraising bake sale! I hope this to be a great time for us girls on the team to bond and spend time together before we leave for Taiwan.

A peek into my new neighborhood!

It has been such an interesting start to the internship. I am living with one of the pastor's mothers in Diamond Bar which is south of Hacienda Heights. It is also a highly diverse area and my neighborhood is mostly Asian. I am living with Annie Chan and we get along great so far. The first night there I learned how to make dumpling soup. She has taught me how to make vegetables more tasty with different spices and has taught me to make some stir fry! On Saturday night she passed me a bowl of rice and there were little 0ne-two inch fish in it. She was eating them whole with her chopsticks so I followed her lead! It wasn't too bad! Once I got over the fact that I could feel the fish head and all, it was actually quite good; plus very healthy.


Above in the picture on the right is of one of the shopping centers. It is actually in Rowland Heights but just minutes from the church. This is what most streets surrounding the church and my house look like. Many signs are in Chinese and the workers within the store do not all speak English.
The picture to the left is the Mandarin Church service at Great Commission Church International (my church!). The website for the church is: ucchh.org -however it is all in Chinese!! There is an option to translate to English but it isn't always accurate or great.

This morning we had an all church staff meeting where both the Mandarin church staff and English staff were both present. Those are always my favorite. We start with worship and then pray. Everyone is kneeled on prayer pillows in the prayer room in which we do not wear shoes. The meeting is probably 90% prayer. We go around and each give a short statement about our ministry and prayer requests. The whole time is devoted to prayer for members who are sick, pregnant, getting married, ministries, students, leaders, China earthquake, and many other things! Everyone prays at the same time so the room is very loud. Two languages are being spoken and it is an amazing sound! This is how I get to start my every morning! What a blessing :)

Welcome!! Post #1

Well, I am just about ready to start my summer Inter-cultural Studies internship! I will be making posts throughout the summer about my internship and time working at the church, teaching in Taiwan, and going to Korea!
It would be such a blessing to have you pray pray pray for the summer ahead!!

Thanks and be looking for blog-update-emails!!