Day 2 - 7/1/2016 - Inspiration in Every Moment
Philippians 2:3- Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
What a great verse to remind us all of the true purpose of this Taiwan missions trip!
Hello! This is Emily, continuing on from where Edward left off. After the delicious milk tea from the Taichung art museum, we were blessed with a few hours of much needed rest. Josh and I went with Pauline and Hwa-Chi, while Jeremy and Edward left with Zhen family. At first we were insistent on staying awake in order to overcome the jet-lag, but as soon as the sheer tiredness took over, we reluctantly dozed off. We are so grateful to Hwa-Chi and Pauline, as well as the Zhen's, as they have so graciously offered their homes to us, truly exemplifying Philippians 2:3.
After a refreshing nap, we all departed for dinner along with a few other adults, who we later discovered were the parents of one of our vacation bible school (VBS) helpers. Mr. Zhen surprised us all, saying that the small bottle of wine the adults were drinking was more expensive than our entire meal! Overall, my favorite dish was the fried rice that was sculpted into a majestic pyramid, though all of the food was delectable. What a meal to end our first night!
As the night came to a close, all four of us, desperately trying to stay awake, said our goodbyes to the other adults. It was so incredibly hard, especially for me, to not fall asleep on the car ride home. Though it was only around 8 pm, I felt like I could sleep for 12 hours straight. Thankfully, we stopped at a supermarket on the way home to stock up on some supplies, which woke me up. We stopped at Carrefour, which Pauline explained was a traditional Taiwanese marketplace that sold everything from electric fly-swatters, to giant teddy bears, to Kellogg's frosted flakes.
Getting through the first night was not as bad as I thought it would be! Hwa-Chi and Pauline warned us that we had to stick it out until around 11pm, or else we would be awake by 5 am. They were right! I woke up briefly at 3 am, but quickly fell back asleep, not waking up fully until 8 am. Day 2 was mostly at the church, where we met our VBS helpers Luke, Evangeline, Penny, Linda, Albert, Amber, Peggy, Cherry, Ruby, and Peter. Throughout the day we helped them create props and prepared for our own songs and bible lessons.
We had been working so diligently that we didn't notice that it was already lunch time! We walked to a noodle restaurant and all ordered delicious niu rou dao xiao mian. It was sweltering outside, but we still enjoyed the steaming bowl of fresh noodles. In the afternoon we went back to the church and observed the other leaders practice their Taiwanese songs in preparation for the upcoming VBS. They even put a spin on the traditional Three Little Pigs story, incorporating the universal message of Jesus's love and protection for us.
The afternoon was spent mostly reviewing songs for the VBS and setting up the materials. Though it was pretty uneventful, it was clear that God was hard at work; the arts and crafts began to take shape, the songs were getting more and more fluent with each practice, and the lessons were revised to an appropriate level of difficulty.
Then, just as lunch time crept up on us, so did dinner. Hwa-Chi lead the four of us to a restaurant right across from the church, whose motto was "inspiration in each moment". What a reminder to take advantage of every moment of every day that God has given to us! This was, in my opinion, the best meal we had so far. I ordered a pork stone bowl rice, which came along with fresh soup heated by an open flame, as well as a nice, refreshing mango smoothie. That brings me up to right now, as I try to fight off the jet lag and finish up the blog. I hope you all are enjoying this trip as much as we are!
Please keep us in your prayers. We thank all of you for your support!
- Count others more significant than ourselves ( serving hearts)
- The children at our VBS, that they would have open hearts and be willing to learn
- Thankful for our fellow VBS leaders as well as our hosts, Pauline and Hwa-Chi and the Zhen's
- Overcome jet lag quickly
What a great verse to remind us all of the true purpose of this Taiwan missions trip!
Hello! This is Emily, continuing on from where Edward left off. After the delicious milk tea from the Taichung art museum, we were blessed with a few hours of much needed rest. Josh and I went with Pauline and Hwa-Chi, while Jeremy and Edward left with Zhen family. At first we were insistent on staying awake in order to overcome the jet-lag, but as soon as the sheer tiredness took over, we reluctantly dozed off. We are so grateful to Hwa-Chi and Pauline, as well as the Zhen's, as they have so graciously offered their homes to us, truly exemplifying Philippians 2:3.
After a refreshing nap, we all departed for dinner along with a few other adults, who we later discovered were the parents of one of our vacation bible school (VBS) helpers. Mr. Zhen surprised us all, saying that the small bottle of wine the adults were drinking was more expensive than our entire meal! Overall, my favorite dish was the fried rice that was sculpted into a majestic pyramid, though all of the food was delectable. What a meal to end our first night!
As the night came to a close, all four of us, desperately trying to stay awake, said our goodbyes to the other adults. It was so incredibly hard, especially for me, to not fall asleep on the car ride home. Though it was only around 8 pm, I felt like I could sleep for 12 hours straight. Thankfully, we stopped at a supermarket on the way home to stock up on some supplies, which woke me up. We stopped at Carrefour, which Pauline explained was a traditional Taiwanese marketplace that sold everything from electric fly-swatters, to giant teddy bears, to Kellogg's frosted flakes.
Getting through the first night was not as bad as I thought it would be! Hwa-Chi and Pauline warned us that we had to stick it out until around 11pm, or else we would be awake by 5 am. They were right! I woke up briefly at 3 am, but quickly fell back asleep, not waking up fully until 8 am. Day 2 was mostly at the church, where we met our VBS helpers Luke, Evangeline, Penny, Linda, Albert, Amber, Peggy, Cherry, Ruby, and Peter. Throughout the day we helped them create props and prepared for our own songs and bible lessons.
We had been working so diligently that we didn't notice that it was already lunch time! We walked to a noodle restaurant and all ordered delicious niu rou dao xiao mian. It was sweltering outside, but we still enjoyed the steaming bowl of fresh noodles. In the afternoon we went back to the church and observed the other leaders practice their Taiwanese songs in preparation for the upcoming VBS. They even put a spin on the traditional Three Little Pigs story, incorporating the universal message of Jesus's love and protection for us.
The afternoon was spent mostly reviewing songs for the VBS and setting up the materials. Though it was pretty uneventful, it was clear that God was hard at work; the arts and crafts began to take shape, the songs were getting more and more fluent with each practice, and the lessons were revised to an appropriate level of difficulty.
Then, just as lunch time crept up on us, so did dinner. Hwa-Chi lead the four of us to a restaurant right across from the church, whose motto was "inspiration in each moment". What a reminder to take advantage of every moment of every day that God has given to us! This was, in my opinion, the best meal we had so far. I ordered a pork stone bowl rice, which came along with fresh soup heated by an open flame, as well as a nice, refreshing mango smoothie. That brings me up to right now, as I try to fight off the jet lag and finish up the blog. I hope you all are enjoying this trip as much as we are!
Please keep us in your prayers. We thank all of you for your support!
- Count others more significant than ourselves ( serving hearts)
- The children at our VBS, that they would have open hearts and be willing to learn
- Thankful for our fellow VBS leaders as well as our hosts, Pauline and Hwa-Chi and the Zhen's
- Overcome jet lag quickly
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| My room |
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| Pauline leading worship practice |
Thanks Emily for updating us with your day 1-2 to feed our curiosity of your journey. We thank God that you reminding yourself for the purpose and already at work for the camp. We will continue our prayers to ask God to grant you strength, wisdom and serving heart to show the campers the love from Jesus and good fellowships with brothers and sisters in Taichung. You room is certainly neat! Look forward to following the journey of the team that God is leading you. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAND YES, your blog is very inspiring!!!
ReplyDeleteEmily, thank you for sharing! You guys are doing a much better job of sharing the experiences than we thought! After reading Day 1 blog, Michael starts to ask for more. Reading your blog is a great pleasure! The prayer team prayed for the jet lag and your other needs. God is alway watching you all.
ReplyDeletelove to read and enjoyed very much! thank you!
ReplyDelete