Dear youth parents and prayerful supporters!
Today was a day of rest for us as we got to sleep in a little bit (or a lot!) and started our preparations for tomorrow's VBS in the afternoon after lunch. We are in good spirits and pretty good health with a few people feeling a bit under the weather from the workload last week. We would love and appreciate your prayers for healing for those who are feeling tired and a bit ill as well as renewed passion and strength for this week. We want to finish strong and love much on and for our Lord Jesus! :) August 5-6th update is by Jasmine Chang, 8th grader:
Dear parents, church members, and everyone,
On Sunday, we were still in Taidong and we had a long 5 hours Father’s Day Sermon. (Father’s Day in Taiwan is August 8) We listened to why we had to respect our fathers, broken families, and how blessed we are to have fathers in (most of) our lives. We listen to the Village Chiefs sing their native songs and we watched a skit made by the teenage yuan zu ming; it was very touching. It’s about the lives of a happy family until their mom dies. The father starts drinking with his friends, but the eldest son was mad at his dad and they both got in a fight. The son learns from his dad and starts drinking too, but got blind when he got in a second fight with other drinkers. His whole family was really depressed; especially the dad. One day, the father met a Christian and she decided to evangelize to him. He started to believe in Christ and donates his eyes to his son so he could see. Many people started crying and it was touching, like I said before. After we ate lunch, I didn’t know what happened afterward because I went sleeping. At 2:00, we went Taidong food shopping, which consists of mochi and other delicious food. We went bicycling afterward, although I didn’t go and I talked to Pai Lin Ah Yi. We went on a train ride for 5 hours, and said a really quick goodbye to all the Taipei helpers.
On Monday, we had training. We got to sleep in, because we had to wake up at 6 o’ clock every day. It was a short training, since we had received it already in the past week. All we did was teach the new Taipei members the songs we sang and we made the crafts. We organized everything, made new posters, and cried because Candy was leaving (or so we thought.) We went to Sogo Department Store. They had food, clothes, appliances, and accessories. When we got back, we ate the cake that Pai Lin Ah Yi bought for my birthday.
A memorable experience was my birthday with the Youth Group. I got cake from Pai Lin Ah Yi, soap from Daniel, and a huge, cute chicken pillow from David, Jeffrey, and Michael.
It was memorable, although I wasn’t feeling well. I would like to thank everybody for a wonderful birthday! I also think another memorable experience was the parting of the Taidong kids. They were all so friendly and we got along so well together. It was a pity that we couldn’t spend more time with each other. We were all mourning on the train and when they gave us their traditional accessories. I really hope they can learn more about the gospel and that God really is their true savior so that one day I could meet them again; maybe not on Earth.
I learned about the importance of how truly lucky we were. The Taidong kids made me realize how fortunate I was to live in America for the food, shelter, weather, and the resources we have to get to know the gospel. Many children only have one parent or no parents at all. The day before we got there, there was a typhoon and a lot of the kid’s shoes got blown away. Many of them don’t receive the love and care they need for their age from their families. Meanwhile, back in San Jose, we receive lots of love from our families and many do not have broken families. One big thing that is different between the FMLC missionaries and Taidong kids are that they are thankful for what they have. They’re satisfied with the limited amount of food and shelter that they receive. In California, not focusing on our FMLC church is almost the opposite. Many of us are spoiled but we still aren’t thankful and we ask for more. It’s because we don’t know how lucky we are until we go to places like Taidong to see everybody that aren’t as fortunate as us. The Taidong kids are lucky to have a pastor like Brother You (Paster You) because he cares for them so much. He takes all the kids to church every day and sends each one back. The kids stay at the church sometimes because of the typhoon. Their resources of gospel are also limited because some family members aren’t Christians and some are only forced to go to church. Some of them really do not like to go to church, and that’s why I pity them. I hope when they grow up, they can realize that us, as missionaries, are really trying to help them so we can save them, rather than being bossy and mean.
There are a few things I would like if you could pray for us:
-Our health (Many of us are sick or not feeling well)
-The Taidong and Taipei kids faith in God
-That God will work through every kid and change their closed hearts ( Same as the second prayer)
-FMLC missionaries will be enthusiastic with all the praise and talking about the gospel
Thank you for everyone who has been praying for us, we really appreciate it! Please continue praying for us. The mission trip is going very well and we hope future mission trips will be successful also. Thank you again!
Many of us have been under the weather and recovering so this update is coming a few days late, thank you for your continued prayers and bearing with us :) In His love,
Lynn & Aaron :)
