Opportunities

This week has been full of opportunities to meet with students. On Tuesday night the discipleship small group that I am leading met for the first time. I began the time by sharing some photos of myself, my family, and the US. They really liked that and I think it broke the ice a little. Then we dove head first into the material. The time went better than I expected, the girls spoke a good bit and answered questions. Sometimes I had to coach them along but they were not as shy as I thought they would be. Many of the girls are new in the faith or not Christians at all. There was an opportunity to share the meaning of Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension and I gave a simple example. At the college I have to keep my food garbage in a container until I am ready to dump it. It gets smelly and gross. Sin is like this garbage - it is gross and smelly rebellion toward God. But I can come to God in faith He takes my sin (garbage) and in return I get the pure sweet smelling righteousness of Jesus. I think they understood. Throughout the entire time I was praying that God would fill in the blanks due to the language barrier. I am encouraged about this group.

Yesterday, I went with Kiddy and Mei-Ying to lunch across the street from the college. It was a lot of fun to get off campus and spend some time getting to know these two students. Kiddy is an energetic junior whose family lives in China. She is one of the few that stays on campus during the weekend so I hope to spend some time hanging out with her during the semester. Her English is very good and unlike many of the students she is not afraid to try and speak English. Mei-Ying is an older part-time student who was a math teacher and is taking time off to learn English. She is a sweet girl who has a great smile. I feel like the Lord is burdening my heart toward particular students and she is one of them. She is very interested about why I am here and in learning more about God. The meal was a great fellowship time.

Well, the Writing Center has not had many students. I have only helped a few students and faculty this week. Please pray that God would give me and the Head of the English Dept (Scott) wisdom on when to open the center and how to get students to come. Please also pray that the Lord would give me patience, inspiration, and new ideas to help students. I don't want to be overbearing but I know I can't just wait for students to come to me either - this is a hard balance to figure out.

This weekend I hope to romp about Taipei a bit and get more acquainted with this huge city.

Until next time...