Nancy Xiao 11th grader / Lynn Chen

8/1/2012 Taitung

Dear Youth Parents, 

Today was a long and very busy day but ALL of the youth kids worked incredibly hard to prepare for the Vacation Bible School (VBS) starting tomorrow. :) We are so proud of them and being here with them has been such an incredible joy. ^_^ 
Today's update is from Nancy Xiao, 11th grader:  

Dear parents,

How are you? I hope you are all doing well and are happy in Jesus. We are having a great time here, worshipping the Lord corporately and serving Him.

Today we began the day with an hour of prayer. We prepared our hearts through prayer as we prayed for our own spiritual wellbeing, our mission team, Taidong, and our VBS camp. Afterwards, we spent time alone with God as we read the Bible and did our daily devotions. We also practiced and perfected the big group lessons of the VBS camp, the skits, by memorizing our lines preparing props and costumes. In the afternoon, we prepared all the crafts needed for the VBS camp, mastered the worship songs and the dances that we will be teaching, as well as learned how to make all the crafts.

Though today was eventful and long, it was extremely enjoyable as we became closer to one another and the Taiwan team. Please pray for each and every one of our members’ spiritual wellbeing and that there will be a revival in Taidong. Also, that the Lord will work through us and in Taidong and that many hearts will be touched and many will turn to Jesus and become a believer.
Thank you for the prayers and your love for us. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. God bless you.       2012 Taiwan mission team

 I have also attached some photos from our day today for your viewing pleasure ^_^.

Alice Teacher is helping David with his costume for our skit, he plays the bad guy.

Ray has a beard because he is playing Joshua in his skit group.

The Taiwan and FMLC teams working together to prepare crafts for 70 kids. We worked on craft preparation for almost 3 hours.

It was so sweet and wonderful to worship together in Chinese and in English. :)

These two pictures were taken tonight as we learned and practiced our worship songs with Nancy, Michelle, David, and Jeffery as our praise leaders.

We also got some super yummy sweet potato chips.

Delicious. :D We hope you are enjoying these updates! :) 

In His love, Lynn :)

Jennie Zhang, 8th grader /Lynn

7/31/2012 Taitung

Dear Youth Parents, 

Praise the Lord we made it another day! Today was the day we went down to Tai Dong so it was especially eventful! Jennie Zhang, 8th grader, shares about our day from her perspective:

Today, we had to wake up at 5:00 to pack up and get ready to do VBS in Tai Dong. So for the first half of the day, we spent it on socializing with other Taiwan missionaries and sleeping on the train. After we arrived in Tai Dong, we were introduced to the Tai Dong church. After we watched a Christian movie and had dinner, then we gathered for our evening devotions.

I personally thought today was really exciting and fun because we were able to hang out together and learn more about God. However, it was really tiring because we had to get up very early and it was hard to sleep on the train. Overall, I enjoyed the things we have done today.

Some prayer requests I would like to make are that our whole mission trip will be healthy and not get sick, that we may be more unified, and that we may be fruitful in helping others learn about Jesus. Also, some additional prayers requests are that it won’t be too hot, and that the typhoons won’t be too vicious.

I know I say this everyday but we are so thankful for your continuing support and especially your prayers. We feel them very powerfully here and thank God in every remembrance of our FMLC family. 

In His grace, 

Lynn :)

Edwin Chow, 11th grader /Lynn

7/30/2012 Taipei 

Dear Youth Parents, 

Uncle James made a great suggestion to have the youth share a journal entry each day or every few days during our time in Taiwan. 

Edwin Chow volunteered for the first day and his update is below: 

Today we spent the entire day in preparation for the VBS programs will be doing in Tai Dong and Taipei. First, we were hit by a huge surprise. The "translators" we were supposed to have for the VBS in Tai Dong turned out to be middle schoolers who only speak Mandarin. At first we were stressed out of our minds, but as we got to know them more and more, we learned that they are an essential part of our missions trip. They are believing Christians who know the gospel in Chinese, something only a handful of us can do. PRAISE THE LORD! 

It is a true reminder of what Paul speaks of in Romans 12:4-5 "For as in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another" (ESV). Today we perfected our programs and bonded with our new team members. 

We started with worship where we prepared our hearts in service for Him, Teacher Alice taught us how to dance to a Chinese song, it was really fun and silly! Afterwards, we played some icebreaker games where we were forced to give a bright smile and greet each other with a high five. We met a lot of new brothers and sisters and continued to play ice breaker games. 

Later, they helped us improve our VBS program and gave us a new light. To be honest, at first I was afraid that we would not be able to get along with them, but God truly humbled me and allowed me to see how God will provide throughout the Mission's trip. I ask that you will continue to keep us in prayer. Please pray for God to convict the people of Taiwan into true repentance and for Him to use us as instruments for His glory.

Again we are so thankful for your love and support for our missions team and for sending us here to do God's work! :) 

Many blessings!

Lynn :)