March 27, 2005

Well, I am moving into a new appartment soon. My roomate and Isigned the contract on Friday night for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom placeon the 5th floor- it has a view of the mountains and ocean from ourbalcony. The landlord lady has put in a new stainless steel kitchenand is fixing up a few other things around the place- but no airconditioning... :( so sad... I am thinking this is a must and willneed to invest in one.Please pray that things go smoothly with getting everything togetherthat goes with moving into a new place and with my new roomate.I pray and hope that you are having a good visit with family thisweekend.God's richest blessings,Faith

March 22

For the sun not shining, it is sure warm. I think I have been luckyso far, the temperature has not gotten too hot yet. The times thatit has, I found it very hot. But today the sun is hiding and thetemperature is very nice, but still uncomfy at times. So on Sundaythe sun was shining so brightly when I woke up, so beautiful. It hadbeen days since such a bright day, so I decided to go down to theocean shore and have lunch with a christian girl (Rebecca- fromCali). Oh, I didn't even think to put on sunscreen, but after lunchI was toasty burnt- and oh what a beautiful colour I am. haha Sohave learned my lesson quickly- PUT ON SUNSCREEN!!!I seem to be busy as ever. Today I took some time off of school togo for my driver's licence for driving a scooter. I failed it lastweek- ahhh... what a disappointment :( But I passed today- withwriting and driving for the test. It was hard and my heart was stillpumping adren. about 30 mins afterwards. I felt bad for the guy whoborrowed me his scooter for the test. I passed, but he failed...poor guy... :( That was really ackward. I am spending lots of timewith teachers here at my school. Sometimes it gets overwhelming, butI really enjoy their company. They have shown me around the city andit is wonderful to have good guides. Last weekend, I went to a hotelwith hot springs- they were unbelievable. They had many differentlittle pools with each a different theme- herbal coloured water, hothot water, warm water, cool water, massage the feet, neck, back,massage beds- they were amazing. On Saturday, I cleaned myappartment and tried very hard to make it bug free... oh the peskyants and flying spiders- ewwww.... and I babysat for some missionarykids while their parents went out- they are a wack of fun those kids-what an experience they are getting in life for being so young. Andon Sunday I went for lunch with Rebecca- whom I have just met. Shehas lived in Taiwan for three years and is an experienced englishteacher. We may move into the same appartment... but we are stilltalking about it. And then on Sunday evenings I go to an englishservice with about 10 people. I have really enjoyed getting to knowthe Andersons'. They have welcomed me into their home and life andhave been very helpful and their kids are great (the ones I babysatfor).My students can be a handful and many times I feel very tired, evenduring class. But I am trying to have lots of energy to make thelessons more learner friendly. I am teaching a lot of students, butI am getting a chance to know a few names- the bad kids (haha), thegood ones. Oh and on Sunday I went shopping with a group of 4 girlsfrom the math class (whom I teach them english) and they took me formilk tea (bubble, hmmm...), to buy trinkets, to get our pics taken(they are cute little pics), and for some cake afterwards. It was agood time.This last week, I had a great opportunity to share with two chineseenglish teachers about Christ. What an amazing experience. They hadlots of questions and knew a lot of information already. I got toshow them passages in Romans, Hebrews, and John. And the one versethat sticks out to me in my mind about that evening is they startedto understand that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No mancomes to the Father, but by Jesus (in John 14:6, "Jesus answered,“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to theFatherexcept through me). They asked some great questions and it was neatto see their eyes continuing to be opened to God's truth. There hasbeen lots of opportunities to share about Jesus here. There is a lotof spirit worship to idols, to ghosts, and a lot of templeseverywhere.This trip has been a good adventure so far. And God is so verygood. He has provided so many blessings and answered prayers-safety, good job, good city, clean place to live, friendship, achurch, and a beautiful place to live. God is good, and I thank himfor his blessings that are absolutely more than I asked for and morethan I deserve.Please continue to pray for me. I appreciate them so much, they havemade a world of difference for me. Please pray for my lesson plansfor the rest of this year. I struggle to know how to meet the needsof 600+ students and sometimes I do not know what the expecationsare. And for continued safety and protection, day to day life.I look forward to hearing from you often. To hear about youradventures in life. I hear the temp in SK is cold.. brrr.... soonyou'll be turning on your air conditioning and enjoying BBQ's. Howwonderful.Have a great week. God's richest blessings, Faith

March 3- Address

Hello! I have finally gotten an address you can contact me throughthe snail mail... it is for my school...Hsin Sheng Junior High School64, Lane 641Hsin Sheng RoadTaitung, Taiwan, ROC950News of the week:Yesterday, one of the teachers lent me her scooter to use- howgenerous eh! I am really appreciating it and what a blessing. Idon't have my licence, but I will drive anyways. My resident cardis not done yet and I am still waiting... can't do much of anythingwithout it... so pray that it will happen tomorrow please. I needto get this done soon so I can get a cell phone, bank account, gofor my drivers licence.God is good and he provides for me so well. I have gotten theopportunity to talk to people about God. Very neat because if Ididn't meet them on this trip, I never would have. One guy isteacher up in the mountains in the middle of Taiwan. I met him attraining during my first weeks here (in Taipei) his name is Chris- Iasked him if he was interested in talking about God. I ask what hebelieved (Buddhist) and then I asked him if he thought it worked-and he said he didn't know... so I said a bit about Jesus- hebrought up the Passion of the Christ, and it was a goodconversation. He took a new testament class in university and hesaid his teacher is a christian and treated him very nice. So Ithink that left an impression on him. I am praying that he comes toknow Jesus- how cool eh! Pray for more opportunitie s to talk tohim and with others. I even had a chance to talk about the biblewith a buddhist lady who works at the school here- she iscoordinating my appartment and everything that goes into it-furniture, etc... So that was cool! Opportunities come up all thetime and mostly when I do not plan it.The food is starting to get better- or maybe I am starting to getused to it. It is raining today and will continue to get colderuntil it reaches a low of +7- isn't that crazy- for us Canadians wholive in -20 to -30 most of the- that is really nice for us. Butthey feel very cold. I am enjoying the temperature- not having towear too many layers.Last Sunday, I went to church with a family who have lived inTaitung for 16 years and work at a children's orphanage. They arevery neat people and I enjoyed their company. There are a few otherforeigners here, a few surfers, english teachers, missionaries,travellers, so I do come across americans, canadians, europeans, oraustralians- but not very often.I have been teaching for 3 days now. The first day was just crazy-I was so nervous, but I see now that the students are more nervousthan me and I am learning to relax and enjoy my time with them.They are very neat people and good students. The teachers arecontinuing to give lots of support and are great to work with.Today I taught 5 classes. About 20 classes a week with 35- 40students in each- a very busy time.I will get my cell phone soon. I will post the number when I get it-so call if you want to talk to someone long long distance with tehcharges to go with that. Remember that I am 14 hours ahead of you.So the best time to call would be: when you get up in the morning,or when you are going to bed.... (night time is best!!)... well,have a great week...Miss you all very much. Enjoy a juice hamburger and chocolate icecream for me... :)Faith