Back from G-Bay

We had a fantastic trip to G-Bay. We left the day after Christmas and returned on Dec. 30. Our family, along with some other families, ran an English camp on this small island between Taiwan and China. All of our kids did a great job and helped out a lot. During the day we worked with the kids, and at night we invited the whole community to movie nights. We had many believe in what we were teaching, and the last night we celebrated with 11 baptisms. Below are some pictures of the activities. Thanks for your prayers.

Keith is pictured with some boys who thought that Keith was very cool because he is a basketball coach!! Page is pictured with some 9th graders in our English class. Milly is in action teaching 3rd and 4th graders the Christmas story.

Wade helped out with a kindergarten class. Hunter and Levi also helped in a big way. Here they are standing in front of a temple. G-Bay had many temples!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

We wish all who read this blog a very Merry Christmas. The picture above -- although not the greatest quality -- is of our kiddos anxiously awaiting to come downstairs to see what presents they have. We had a great day opening presents and heading to Chili's for a Christmas lunch.

We leave on the 26th as a family to help out a home club with an outreach. This club is on an island in between Taiwan and China. The island is called G-Bay. It should be a great experience for all in our family. We will be back on the 30th with pictures and an update.

A Taiwan Tradition...

Nick and Gloria, Taiwanese friends of ours, just had a little baby girl. See picture above (Gloria, Page, and baby Amelia). In Taiwan, one tradition is for the parents of the new born to give to their good friends a sticky rice meal -- with seafood on top as well as red boiled eggs (See picture below). The eggs represent good luck. We were honored that Nick and Gloria chose to give this meal to us.

Levi's Kindergarten Class

Levi's kindergarten class went to a nursing home and sang some Christmas songs -- first in Chinese then in English. They were a big hit. Below, Levi gives an older man a hug.

Milly and Wade in Christmas Concert!!!

Here are some pictures of Milly and Wade in action in the Middle School Christmas program. Milly plays the oboe and Wade plays the bass clarinet. Both did a great job!!

6th Grade Softball Champs

Wade's 6th grade team won the softball championship this past Saturday. Wade had a fun time playing softball with all of his buddies. Milly decided not to play softball this year. The next sport for middle schoolers is soccer. Milly and Wade both plan to play. Below is a team photo and then a shot of Wade in action.

The Look of Christmas --

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. We have our decorations up (see picture above -- decorating the Christmas tree) and Hunter performed in a Christmas program this last week. He had a great time playing the cello and singing with his classmates. The weather even turned cold this weekend -- although it is supposed to warm back up. We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!

Celebrating Thanksgiving!!!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We did. We celebrated with a few families here in Taichung. As you can see with this spread, we ate good. After eating, Page and Cheryl led us in a few worship songs.

Christmas Mission Trip

We found out that over Christmas break our family, along with a couple of other m families, will be going to an island, G-Bay, to help out a local church. It will be a big challenge for our family as the island does not have any Western food!! In fact, it is populated by mostly fisherman so they eat a lot of seafood. Besides, the food, our kids are looking forward to it. The island is between Taiwan and China. On the map below the island is near Makung in the Taiwan strait.

Franklin Graham Crusade in Taiwan

I don't know if you had heard but Franklin Graham and his ministry came to Taiwan a couple of weeks ago. It was a huge success as we have heard over 13,000 came to faith. Please join us in lifting these up to the Father that they will follow through with their commitment to follow Him. Below is "A Light for Taichung" moment. Please join us in praying for the people of Taiwan and specifically Taichung. Thanks.

LIGHT for TAICHUNG

The Franklin Graham Crusades came to Taipei, Taiwan October 30th, 31st and November 1st. Many people from Taichung invited friends and traveled the 3 hour journey north to participate in this evangelistic outreach. Other Taichung churches showed the event by video feed to their friends and family. One believer excitedly told of how her Mother accepted the Lord and now everyone in her family are believers. *Please pray for the thousands of Taiwan people who had opportunity to hear the gospel because of this event. Pray that they would not forget the truth that they heard. Ask the Lord to soften their hearts so that they will receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. Pray for those who already accepted Jesus as their Lord, that they would be discipled so that their faith will grow strong and solidly founded on the Bible. Ask that they will be bold witnesses to the power of a changed life through Christ.
To His Glory and Honor and for their salvation,

Junior Carnival

Every year the Junior Class at Morrison puts on a "carnival" for the local community. The carnival's purpose is to raise money for their class. Our kids love it. This year Keith was in the dunking booth and was dunked several times. Also pictured is Levi boxing with one of his buddies from his kindergarten class.

MS Volleyball tournament

Sorry for not posting in a couple of weeks. It has been a very busy couple of weeks. Below are some middle school volleyball pics of Milly and Wade. They both competed with their resepective teams in the annual MS volleyball tourney. Both had a great time playing volleyball and hanging out with friends.

Milly waiting intently on the serve to come her way!!

Milly waiting around with her team (along with 8th grade boys team) to receive awards.

Wade with his 6th grade volleyball team!!

Another Light for Taichung Moment...

Each month, our team here in Taichung writes on a real situation in which they are dealing with. Please join us in praying for the people of Taichung and for His light to shine here on this island.

LIGHT for TAICHUNG

Dr. Lee has watched his wife surrender her life to Jesus Christ and has seen the changes in her life. She now has greater strength and peace to face the many challenges that her busy life brings. Dr. Lee sees his wife get up early to have a quiet time and also one before bed, and has himself tried getting up and sitting still, but without the focus of seeking the one true God or a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He is like so many other husbands, of believing wives that see changes that Christ has made, but are unwilling to give up their current life and take that step of faith.

Please pray for Dr. Lee and the many other men like him to humble themselves, acknowledging their selfish, sinful nature and their need for a Savior. Pray that the Christian men of Taichung will walk in faith in such a way that men like Dr. Lee will see how Christ can lead men to have a full and meaningful life. Pray for the spiritual awakening of husbands so that the Christian church in Taichung can be established with Christian families.

To His Glory and Honor and for their salvation.

Visit from Annie and Mandy

Today we received a visit from two 7th girls from Taipei. One of them, Annie lives with a friend of ours and she thought it would be a good idea to visit our family for the day. We picked them up from the high speed rail and first showed them around Morrison. In the afternoon we went to the Natural Science Museum and for supper we ate our favorite Chinese restaurant. It was a fun day. Pictured above are Milly, Annie, and Mandy.

Thursday of no school week -- bike riding!!

We decided to stay close to home today. We went to a nearby town -- called Tanzih. It is only about a 15 minute drive from our apartment. They have a pretty cool bike trail there. The weather was great and we all had a great time. Milly was invited to a friend's house, so she missed all of the fun. The picture above is a typical picture of what we saw on this bike trail. A lot of rice fields!! It is very pretty but the smell is not so good. Below are all the bikers!! We rode about 10 kilometers today. That is especially good for Levi!!

Day Trip to Leo Foo Village

Leo Foo Village is an amusement park about an hour and a half north of where we live -- Taichung. We went with another family from Morrison -- the Strange family. They really are not that strange!! They have 4 kids also -- around the same age as ours so it worked well. Below are some of the shots of the day.

The four middle schoolers on the drop zone (Caleb, Milly, Wade, and Rachel)

Keith, Matt, Josh, Jake, Hunter, and Levi on the water ride. (Levi ended up drenched!!!)

Keith and Page with their cool sunglasses. Too bad you can not see the background of this shot. Beautiful mountains!!!

As you can tell we had a great day!! Sorry not a good shot of Susan Strange but she really did go on this trip too.

Morrison Campus Pictures

Thought we would show you around Morrison with some pictures. The campus is much bigger than these pictures show. It includes an elementary, middle school, high school, 5 dorms (for students whose parents do not live in Taichung), faculty housing (some faculty live on campus - some live off campus), gym, auditorium, sports fields, swimming pool, etc. Currently, we are building a new library, cafeteria, administration building, dorms, and faculty housing. It is exciting to see all of the changes!! This phase of the construction should be done by the end of the school year. Below are some pictures of the school part of the campus. This is one wing of the high school. All hallways and lockers are outside but covered. Keith's classroom is on this hallway.
This picture was taken from Keith's classroom. Directly, below is the plaza. This plaza is a hang- out for the high school students. On the other side of the plaza, you can see the new middle school being constructed.
This picture was taken from the plaza, looking back up to one of the high school wings.

This picture was taken from the same spot on the plaza, just facing the other way. Beyond, the palm trees, you should be able to see our soccer field.

We hope you have enjoyed your mini-tour of MCA -- where we spend a lot of our time!!!

Day Trip to Shi-Tou

As we told you in our earlier post, we have this week off of school so we plan to do several day outings around the island. Today, we went to Shi-Tou -- which is about an hour and a half drive south of Taichung. It is a beautiful forest high in the mountains. As you can tell by the pictures -- it rained on us and we were not prepared. So, we used these huge leaves as our umbrellas. One of our good friends, Julie, and one of Milly's friends, Lauren, went with us. It was a lot of fun as these pictures show.

Fall Break 2008

We have been to school for 7 weeks now. We will have our first vacation this next week!! We are all looking forward to it, especially Keith. We will be staying here in Taichung but plan to take several day outings to see more of this island. We will post pictures soon.

Super Typhoon Jangmi

This has been by far the worst typhoon that we have experienced in our almost 3 years in Taiwan. This one did not have as much rain but the wind was very strong -- knocking over tree limbs, signs, etc.

We did not have church today nor are we going to have school tomorrow.

We are all fine and even enjoyed a typhoon party with another family tonight.

Thanks for your prayers.

Believe It or Not ... Another Typhoon Approaching

We are bracing for yet another typhoon (our 5th one this summer/fall season -- by our count). This one (Typhoon Jangmi) is supposed to be a big one. We will keep you updated!!

Light of Taichung

Here is another excerpt for you to get a feel for the type of people we minister to here in Taiwan. The Light of Taichung is our m team that focuses on the entire city of Taichung. Thanks for your prayers for the people of Taiwan.

LIGHT for TAICHUNG

Neel and Grace are a young couple with a boy who is almost two and another baby on the way. They want to raise their family in a healthy environment, such as they have observed in the lives of some Christian friends. In the past few months they have expressed interest in the truth of Christ and have consistently been participating in a local church. They are beginning to understand the joy and peace that comes from salvation through Christ. However, they are struggling with how to reconcile the Taiwanese tradition of honoring family by times of ancestor worship if they give their faith to Christ. Please pray for them to see that faith in Christ is of far greater worth and pray that God will show them ways to honor their family without having to bow down and worship the ancestors. Pray that they will realize their sin and understand God's provision of forgiveness and new life through Jesus Christ.

John 16:8 He will convict the world of guilt, in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment; in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me.

To His Glory and Honor and for their salvation

Taiwan --

Here is a recent excerpt about Taiwan from an EA publication. Continue to lift this precious nation along with its people to our Lord. Thanks.

Taiwan is known as a hard mission field. If you walk down just about any street or alley and look into the windows of homes and businesses, you will see "god shelves" laden with idols and offerings of fruit and incense. A worker in Taipei recently said, "Idolatry has blinded the people's ability to see The Truth."
Southern Baptist missionary efforts in Taiwan began in 1948 when Christian workers had to leave China. Since then, generations of Chinese believers and missionaries have labored faithfully — some of them for decades — all throughout the island. Taiwan now has 400,000 believers, 206 Baptist congregations, and many other churches. But tragically, only 2.7 percent of Taiwan's 23 million people have accepted Christ.Despite 60 years of concerted Christian witness in Taiwan, many of her people are still walking in deep darkness. Workers are urgently needed for Tainan, Hsinchu/Chungli, and Taoyuan. If you sense that God might be calling you to share Christ in Taiwan, please write to: ripetoharvest@pobox.com.

Survived the typhoon...

We survived the latest typhoon (see below post). Not much damage here -- just a lot of rain which meant a lot of leaks. We did manage to have friends over for an "American supper" on one of the typhoon days. Nick, Gloria and Zack (their 2 year old son) came over for Page's homemade pizza. They seemed to enjoy it. The picture above has Nick and Gloria in it with Keith and Hunter, but Zack did not want to stay still for the picture. Nick and Gloria have been attending our church and both seem very interested in Christianity. We watched the Jesus film in our church for two Sundays. Afterwards Nick told me that was the first time he had ever heard that story. Please pray that they would put their trust in Jesus. Thanks!!

Another Typhoon

We are in the midst of another typhoon. This is the 4th one for Taiwan this year. Not much wind here in Taichung but a lot of rain. Keith went into his classroom today and there is some water in his classroom -- not too much but it is still pouring outside. Our apartment seems dry except for a small leak in the boys' room. Here is an expert from an article about the typhoon.

Typhoon slams into Taiwan, six injured
6 hours ago
TAIPEI (AFP) — A typhoon pounded Taiwan on Sunday bringing fierce winds and torrential rains, sparking evacuations and leaving at least six people injured, officials said.
Traffic was severely disrupted as Typhoon Sinlaku made landfall in northeastern Ilan county early Sunday, packing winds of up to 173 kilometres (107 miles) per hour, the Central Weather Bureau said.
Hundreds of domestic and international flights have been cancelled on the island, and around 500 passengers were stranded in Kinmen airport, a Taiwan-controlled offshore island near the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen.
Power and telephone services were also disrupted to nearly 100,000 households as trees were uprooted by the strong winds.
Some 250 residents in northern mountain villages were evacuated to safety, said the National Fire Agency which coordinates Taiwan's rescue missions.
The typhoon lost momentum after making landfall but weather forecasters warned residents against relaxing their vigilance, saying the storm had brought heavy rains across the island.
"Its strength declined slightly, but the whole island remains surrounded by the typhoon. People should take precautions against the torrential (rains) which may trigger flooding and landslides," said a weather bureau official.
"Over the last six hours, the typhoon circled near Suao," a fishing port in Ilan county, the official said.
Six people were injured, including two hit by debris, while four were hurt when their bus crashed in southern Taiwan, the National Fire Agency said.
At 0100 GMT, the centre of the typhoon was 30 kilometres east-northeast of Ilan. With a radius of 250 kilometres, Typhoon Sinlaku was moving north-northeast towards Japan.

Teacher Ding

As many of you know, last year, Levi attended a Chinese kindergarten. Levi's teacher was Ding Lao Shr (or Teacher Ding). Levi loved her. Recently, we invited her to our church and she attended. We watched the Jesus Film in Chinese and her heart was very moved. We are hopeful that she now believes in Jesus!!! We praise God for this news. Please pray that she will continue to grow and understand more about Jesus.

This picture was taken last Christmas of Levi, Ding Lao Shr, and Levi's classmates. At Christmas time, Levi's classmates were told about Jesus, and we caught them in a prayer to Jesus. Isn't that a great picture??!!!

Jennifer and Albert visit from Taipei

We had a nice visit with Jennifer and Albert along with their kids (Tracy and Felix) this past weekend. Tracy is not pictured because she actually took the picture. They live in Taipei, and Jennifer used to teach Page Chinese. They took a weekend trip to Taichung. It was great to catch up with them.

Meet the New President...

Wade was nominated by his class to be the first class president. Every six weeks they will have another one, so his reign is very short. He has a few duties as president -- such as holding class meetings, writing an emergency phone list, etc. He likes the title of Mr. President.

First Day of School

The first day of school for us here was Monday, August 18 -- Keith's 42 birthday!!!

All the kids had a great first day. Wade and Levi were especially excited. Wade has now entered middle school. He was especially looking forward to his HUGE locker as well as being able to wear flip-flops. Levi was thrilled to finally be able to go to an English speaking school. Milly and Hunter enjoyed their days as well. Here are a few pictures of the day!!