Christmas in Chiayi

I thought I'd better post about our Christmas quickly before we reach the New Year!

I really missed being home for Christmas, but with my team had a special day here in Taiwan. Christmas Eve I went to the Dodds and participated in a short Christmas play and played my viola for some carols. It turned out to be a really nice evening with a great turnout of people - there were about 50 people there! Once we arrived back home, we opened all our Christmas gifts. Here are some pictures from our Eve:

Ruthie & me in front of our Christmas tree.

Presents!

Ruthie, Jessica & me with our stockings.

Sarah...

A new hot chocolate mug! Yummy!

Lauren & Sarah

Christmas Day I had to teach. An-Dung, my Monday morning school, let me bring my viola to play some Christmas songs for the students and they let me tell the real Christmas story to my Grade 6 classes! I knew that the Lord was at work as I told the story and had the attention of the students, my Chinese co-teacher, and the school's security guard. I told about the events surrounding Christ's birth, and then went on to say that although he was wonderful, some people did not like him and killed him. But Jesus is stronger than death! And Jesus is alive today. He lives in heaven! At this point I had to finish, so we all sang "Happy Birthday" because Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth. I hope that some seeds were planted there.

In the evening, we prepared a sort of Christmas dinner, like our Thanksgiving dinner only this time we had cranberry sauce.

Ruthie testing gravy...

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

(and now it is Happy New Year!!)

Love,

Christy

My room...

My Chiayi team

M&M Visit Day 9

M&M Visit Day 8

M&M Visit Days 6, 7

M&M Visit Day 5

M&M Visit Day 4

M&M Visit Day 3

M&M Visit Day 2

M&M Visit Day 1

Mom and Melody flew into the Kaohsiung Airport and our good friends the Ardrons (who happened to be only an hour away in Tainan) were so kind to pick them up. I managed to train down there to meet them and after a good rest in the Ardron's Taiwan home we went to see Ray of Hope, the Ardron's ministry in Taiwan. Ray of Hope mainly provides counseling to women/girls with unplanned pregnancies. They have saved the lives of many precious children!! I was touched to be able to see their ministry after hearing about it for so many years.

We then drove up to Chiayi, where Mom and Melody promptly had a nap and I went to teach my three afternoon classes.

Mom & Melody brought lots of wonderful gifts from those back at home (THANK YOU, everyone!). I opened a lovely gift from Joshua first. He really knows how to take care of this younger sister!!

My team and I made spaghetti for supper so Mom & Melody didn't have to try any strange food the first day. Oh, that reminds me though, we did have a traditional Taiwanese breakfast the first day of dan-bing and warm soy milk. Yummers!

Mom & Melody's visit part 1

The most exciting part of December was a trip that Mom & Melody took out here to visit me! I am so glad that they came and very grateful to my siblings for their generous gift to allow them the trip. We had an incredibly wonderful time together - visiting families, various sights, shopping, playing games together and sharing our hearts. My mother is amazing! She is so insightful and offered a lot of timely advice to me on leading my team. Melody is growing up to be such a sweet and Godly young lady. Having them here really made me look forward to the day that I will be back with them all, but we are all peaceful with where God has us all right now.

So much happened while they were here that I think I will publish separate posts (as you hopefully will see above). =)

Here's a picture of the three of us:

Beginning of Dec. - Taipei

Time flies so quickly and it's been nearly a month since I have updated this blog. Lots has happened in this past month and so... here goes!!

We started off December with a wonderful retreat in Taipei for all of the King Car (our Taiwanese sponsoring organization) teachers. It was incredibly encouraging to meet up with all the teachers and reconnect with those that I worked with during the summer English camps. We enjoyed times of worship and Bible study together as well as shopping and eating at Chili's (yes, there's one in Taipei - I also saw a Macaroni Grill there and wished I could have eaten there too because that's probably my favorite restaurant back home). I was especially grateful to meet the Chen family who head up the IBLP Taiwan office. Their oldest daughter, Karen, took me out to Starbucks where she shared some much-needed words of wisdom as we savoured mochas.

Here is a picture from the Taipei 101 building. Taipei 101 is the tallest building in the world and also has the fastest elevator in the world. I travelled up to the top with friends Rachel and Lauren C, along with a couple of Teacher Assistants (Bella & Grace) that we met at the summer camps. Fun, fun.

I didn't get much sleep that weekend, between going out with friends and then being in team leader meetings and meetings with King Car, but I was refreshed in spirit. The weekend really helped me to see that I and my Chiayi team are part of a much bigger group and that we all have a common purpose of bringing Christ's light to the lost of Taiwan. I am reminded that all of God's children around the world are part of His Kingdom and everyone has a vital part in God's plan.