Spring 2009 DTS

   One evening in Taiwan, "Katie", "Suzie", and I found ourselves climbing up the stairs to The Rock Cafe. As we walked through the door, the sounds of conversations, laughter, and music filled our ears. Little lights were strung around the large room filled with tables and chairs, a shiny bar with wooden stools, fancy mugs filled with coffee or sodas, acoustic guitars hanging on the walls, and even a piano (my favorite!). Suddenly, a young college student invited us to sit with her and her close friend. Though they were both Taiwanese, their English was almost flawless. Our conversations danced from common interests to things we found really funny to stories from when we were younger... to see such a friendship develop in just hours was simply incredible. These girls, "Elle" and "Lacy", had already found a special place in my heart. As the night progressed, I found myself in a deep conversation with Elle. As she asked questions about my life, I allowed myself to be completely transparent with her. And as I told Elle about my relationship with the Father, her eyes lit up in a way I´ve never seen before. She asked me to share more and even made herself vulnerable by sharing areas of her heart with me. And then, the most beautiful thing happened... Elle asked, "May I have this relationship with Him too? Will you show me?" With tears in my eyes and an overwhelming joy in my heart, I replied,"It would be an honor."

Jennifer - Spring DTS Graduate - will continue studies with YWAM focusing on the Bible in her next 9 month school and outreach.

The best thing about Taiwan is...

Our team will arrive back late on Wednesday evening and will graduate that Friday. Please pray for grace as we travel, that things would continue to go smoothly, as well as for the students as they are about to transition back to life outside of DTS. Thank you for your prayers, they have kept our team going, and have brought us closer together. For all of you who prayed for us, you have been a huge blessing!

PRAISE REPORT! In the past two days, we have seen 9 people come to Christ! Yesterday, some of the team members had the opportunity to go to a local middle school and present the Gospel to the students there. They did a dance and a drama, and then one of our students, Taylr, gave her testimony and shared about the Gospel. During the tiem afterwards, she was chatign with two students, and when she asked them what they thought about what she had shared, they said they had wanted to become Christians for a long time, but had not known how to. Taylor held hands with them and led them in prayer. Everyone was crying by the time they had finished praying. Encouraged by Taylor´s experience, Sung Woo shared wit ha group of boys in the next clas they went to. All six of them prayed to receive Jesus into their hearts! This has been so encouraging for the students; it´s amazing what God can do if we just have an iota of faith. Please pray that we will continue to be bold and take every opportunity that God gives us to share with people.

After three weeks in China, Taiwan is hugely different. After arriving here yesterday, following a 12-hour overnight bus [very comfortable beds] and a flight from Hong Kong, we settled into the base and took awhile to appreciate the joy that comes from being able to freely say words like "YWAM" and "outreach" and even "pray." Even something as small as being able to use the words you want to may not seem like such a big freedom until you no longer have it. Our time in China gave everyone on this team a clearer idea of what the long-termers there are faced with, and the sacrifices they have made to bring the Gospel to the Chinese.
While we were in China we worked at making friends with the locals, so as to earn the right ot spek into their lives. It might seem as though 3 weeks were an impossibly short time to do that in, but nothing is impossible with God. The Chinese people were so friendly, and welcomed any chance to spend time with us. Many of our students developed deep friendships and were able to share about their personal beliefs with their friends. The Chinese had such open hearts and curious minds that there were even opportunities to give complete Gospel presentations. Though there were no salvations, we know that the word of the Lord does not return to Him empty. We know too that the missionaries working there long-term will continue to sow into these people´s lives. It was an amazing experience to be part of bringing the Gospel to a closed country like China, and be a part of claiming the land there for Christ.
Our time here in Taiwan will include working with children of all ages, through activites in the local middle schools, a vacation bible school, as well as working with a halfway house here. Our students have grown so much, and it is exciting to see what these last three weeks will hold for them. Please continue to pray for humility, unity, strength and grace for everyone on this team. Your prayers have been working wonders.

Our time "here" has been very busy so far. After arriving in "here", via overnight sleeper bus, we stayed a few days in "N city" before heading into the countryside to two sites that we are looking at planting works in. We spent two days in "B city", a smaller city, which is one of the city in which Communism took root in at the very beginning. Part of our purpose in being there was to pray over the area, and we hada 24-hour prayer during our two days there. Our first night there we took part in an "English corner" at a local middle school, and had the opportunity to make friends with several of the students. They were extremely warm and just opened there hearts to us. We met with them for lunch the following day. After our two days in "B city" we moved on to "B town", an even smaller town, and spent time praying for the town. We also had the opportunity to visit this amazingly beautiful cave. It was huge, at some points you couldn´t even see the ceiling of it, and it was full to the brim with stalagmites. This cave is supposed to make people live longer; there are several centurions in the surrounding village. It was an amazing testament to the greatness of the God we serve; I have named it the Cave of Wonders. We are back in "N city" now and getting ready to work with more English corners soon. Please pray for us as we continue to establish friendships with the locals, pray that God will open doors.

This past Friday started off well. After our morning worship, we all assembled outside where several members of the base here were baptized. After they had confessed their faith and been baptized, the base director gave an open invitation to anyone else who might want to be baptized. Three of our students decided they wanted to make the commitment, and right here in Hong Kong Sung Woo, Shamarah and Taylor were baptized! Needless to say, all of us were completely excited to be able to share the experience with them; it was especially amazing to see how far each of them had come in their walk with Christ, as well as how far they were willing to go with Him.

That great morning set the tone for the rest of the weekend. That evening we ministered at a Nepalese youth group in inner city Hong Kong; it was a great chance for the team to try out their dramas and they rose to the occasion! Saturday we worked with another group of Nepalese, this time a kids club, which was unbelievably fun and relaxing. Lori made a special appearance as Togo the Monkey in one of the skits and was a great success. Today we evangelized to Filipino maids in downtown Hong Kong and got to encourage many of them. Most of these women are over-worked, underpaid, and often abused, so to have people show interest in them meant so much.

We have a few more days in Hong Kong and are excited to see what else God has for us. So far this city has been amazing.

Please continue to pray for unity and grace in adapting to the new culture. Several of our team members are fueled by prayers and peanut butter alone, so THANK YOU.

The DTS is currently in their fourth week within the school and things seem to be running smooth as butter.  Everything has for the most part slowed down as far as the newness of the school and trying to figure out what goes where and the students have been great through it all.  They’ve gone through a few pretty intense teachings so far but as a whole, they are very inquisitive and very thorough as far as their understanding of teachings which is great because they truly want to know and are really taking hold of this opportunity. This week they were being taught on relationships and how one interacts with the world around them. And out of that we asked what the most loving thing is, and also what living in a dorm is and these were some of their answers.

The most loving thing is... considering God, then others before acting. -Shamarah Bundy

The most loving things is... giving up your selfish wants and desires for the benefit of another person. Laying down your pride and serving God with your whole heart. -Kelli Hollander

Living in a dorm is... awesome, fun times, everyone should try it at least once. -Adam Weaber

Living in a dorm is... humbling -Taylor Eddleman