Dear parents and supporters :)
Today
was our second day of VBS and the youth are feeling really comfortable
with their roles and responsibilities. Today's update comes from Ray
Chen, college freshman:
Today we had a similar schedule as yesterday. We woke up pretty early and shared our devotionals at 7 am. Every single person had something interesting to share. Then we had some breakfast consisting of some weird pancake egg mix. By 8:50, we left for VBS. When we got there, we waited while the kids slowly poured in. When most of the kids had arrived, we started by doing our praise. We taught the kids 2 new songs, Remarkable and Once Again, in addition to singing the two songs we did yesterday.
Afterwards, David, Jeffery, Michelle, and Jenny performed a skit about Daniel and the lion’s den. Jeffery was Daniel, David was the jealous official, Michelle was the female king Darius, and Jenny was the scary lion. After the skits, we broke into our small groups. I was with David, Ken, and Stephanie from the Taiwanese church. In small groups, we talked about the lyrics to Remarkable and Once again, and we went over the skit. Then we had the kids memorize Daniel 2:20, “Daniel answered and said, ‘Blessed be the name of God forever and eve, to whom belongs wisdom and might.’”
When we finished, we played some fun games and then went to eat lunch. Just like yesterday, lunch was delicious. We had noodles with some awesome sauce. Then, at 1, it was nap time not only for the kids, but also for the helpers. When we all woke up, we were somewhat refreshed and ready to help the kids again. Daniel led us in a group stretch to prepare us for a large group game. Aaron led the kids in a game called red light green light. When Aaron says green light, the kids would run, and when he says red light, the kids would stop. It was fun until Aaron started calling random words like green lamb to try to trick the kids. By then it became somewhat annoying. Anyways, afterwards, we helped the kids make crafts. Half the kids made lion puppets, while the other half made a lion hat. All the kids had creative designs for their lions and some had too much fun with them. Later, the kids had snacks. This time, the church served us chocolate cake and some red bean soup. The chocolate cake was good, but I never got to the red bean soup because I had 8 slices of the cake, which I do not regret.
After stuffing ourselves, we went on to teach the kids English lessons. The kids in my group were 3rd or 4th graders, but many of them were equally if not more proficient in English than in Mandarin. Some could read English, but not Mandarin. Consequently, teaching English was fairly easy. Afterwards, we had the small groups perform one of the four songs we taught them. My small group did Once Again. Finally, we all listened to Aaron’s sermon with Uncle Jerry translating to the kids. Basically, Aaron’s sermon was about how we are sinful creatures who constantly sin against an infinitely holy God. However, Jesus came to the earth and was crucified and had all of our sins on placed on Him, giving us a perfect record. Afterwards, when the kids left, we went back for some questionable dinner.
My most memorable experience was the day we left Taitung to go back to Taipei. In my Taitung small group, one of my kid’s family’s name was Chen, just like me. Therefore, we called him Xiao Chen, and I was Da Chen, or little Chen and big Chen. The first day, Xiao Chen was really obnoxious. He would run away, hit other kids, and hide from us. He even made another kid cry. By the last day, he was still really annoying, but we grew really close to each other. When we left for the train, Xiao Chen jumped into my arms, and even gave me a flower. We were both incredibly depressed that I had to go back to Taipei.
From this trip, I learned many things. For example, I learned how much kids, especially the ones from Taitung, need love. Most of them come from broken families and poor living conditions, which may have contributed to their obnoxiousness, but once God showed His love for them through us, they started becoming more bearable. From this I realized how we are kind of like the kids. Even though we constantly sin against God, He will always love us.
1. Please pray for our health, that none of us will get really sick and that we will get plenty of sleep.2. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will reside in us, and that our words would pierce their hearts and that many souls will be added to God’s kingdom. Pray that God will work in through us.3. Please pray for the children in both Taipei and Taitung. This is so that the things we have taught/will teach them will be effective. I pray that they will love God with all their heart and believe and be saved in Christ Jesus our Lord.4. Please pray that we will all serve God in California as well, and be willing to dedicate our whole lives go God.
Thank
you again for your wonderful thoughts and prayers! :) We love and
appreciate them all :) It has been a joyous and blessed time with the
youth missions team :)
In His love,
Lynn & Aaron :)
