Day 5 - 7/4/2017 - Sore Throats are a Small Price to Pay

Psalm 98:4
"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music"

... And shout we did, from the very first part of today's camp until the very last kid was safely with his parents. Hello again everyone, this is Edward with today's blog post update! Psalm 98 is one that is all about singing praise to a God that has done marvelous work in creation and in preserving his people - but we as Christians take a completely new meaning from it. Our jubilant song is one offering our sincerest thanks to Christ for his sacrifice, and also a celebration of the new life, one that is an eternally free gift. The application of this verse today will be explained more deeply in the following recounting of today's events. However, before we dive into a day filled with excitement, dancing, arts and crafts, and very, very sore throats, I'd like to once again offer up my deepest thanks to all of our prayer support! Everyone back at home praying for us has had a truly tangible effect on our spirits, and has continuously renewed our spirits despite our bodily tiredness. So, without further ado, let's jump right into today's events.

I awoke this morning to the sound of a phone alarm. Words cannot describe the pain of the heart, no, the soul, that the supposedly gentle yet painfully piercing sound had uninvitingly caused. As I tried to arise from the bed this morning, the cobwebs of sleep that normally embraced me in the mornings seemed to be iron shackles that pulled me into the embrace of the mattress. Yet, the Lord is able to work when we are weakest, and I can surely say that this morning,

"He brought [me] our of darkness and deepest gloom and broke away [my] chains" - Psalm 107:14

Yet even in waking, and in shaking off the heavy chains of weariness away, I knew that today's struggle was far from over. Yesterday at the beginning of camp, the counselors of the camp, especially those of Team Philly (Me, Albert, and Peggy), faced the seemingly insurmountable challenge of getting the shy Taiwanese children to participate in the daily activities. The culture of Taiwan is one that emphasizes respect and meekness, to the point where the children are extremely shy in the face of any kind of request. When we practiced our team chants, none of the children would audibly read the chant. When we asked them to sing, none would open their mouths. When we asked them to dance, no one would dare to even shuffle their feet, with the exception of a select few more energetic, more 调皮的children. (I'm not quite sure how to translate that one, naughty seems a bit overly evil, but mischievous is only slightly closer to the true meaning). In any case, it wasn't going to be easy to get kids who didn't want to do anything to fulfill even the smallest of requests.

Singing and Dancing with the kids, to encourage the kids

So, today, as we started the lessons, I knew that I had to fill in for the kids, to be loud when they could not, to be outgoing when they dared not, to jump when they would not, and to sing when they did not. Truth be told, the only thing keeping me awake at all was a paper cup of coffee from the corner store - but with only the faith the size of of a coffee bean in our Lord, he can accomplish through us the movement of an entire mountain of children. With this in mind, I took every opportunity to push myself and my team of kids out of their comfort zones; the next thing I knew, the afternoon had come, and it had come time to dance together with a P.E. teacher from a nearby school. I had the pleasure of leading my group in every dance, pushing myself and my kids out of our comfort zones to dance in front of everyone else. Perhaps we would make fools of ourselves, but if the kids could laugh, it was already a step above staying seated and being ensnared in shyness. Later on in the day, our progress with the kids became more apparent than ever, as I was able to see almost every single child excitedly dance to "Deep Down" as I played the guitar, asking them to shout and sing, "Yes I love my Jesus, deep down in my heart." The day rounded off with a lesson about Joseph and his life's turmoil, leading to the saving of the family that betrayed him from a famine, and an activity to create a multicolored coat like Joseph's. My group decided that we would make ours like the Statue of Liberty, and for their creative efforts, the kids were awarded points towards the week-long tally. As the kids left one by one today, I truly felt that we had accomplished something huge today. At the cost of my sore throat, sure, but it's a small price to pay for a reward so great.

自由男生

Evan and Luke

Jeff the Cowboy