You Can Do This # 2

This past Monday, we had an opportunity to go to another tourist spot on our island and help a co-worker distribute BOOKS. We had a great time and were able to distribute about 800 copies of HIStory in a few short hours. It's pretty simple. YOU CAN DO THIS!
First, the buses arrive, filled with tourists. They unload at a pier on this famous lake.

Then, the tourists go out on the lake for about a one hour cruise, enjoying the beauty of HIS creation.

As they leave the boat and head back to the bus, we greet them with a free copy of HIStory.

They always immediately open the gift bags. It's very exciting to see how eager they are to read the BOOK.

Some of us get the materials ready to be distributed. Some of us hand out the materials. And, some of us talk to HIM about them. Please remember these distributions. Remember the tour bus drivers, the tour companies, the tour guides, and the tourists. May all be changed by this encounter with HIM. The tourists are here, every day, all year long. Think about coming over to help us get the WORD out. YOU CAN DO THIS!

You Can Do This!

About 3000 tourists from the BIG country visit our island every day throughout the year. While they are here, we want to give them a gift, a copy of HIStory. We have the BOOKS, we have the place, we have the people....now we just need the volunteers to distribute the books. YOU CAN DO THIS!
First, find the places where the tourists shop, eat, sleep, or explore. Wait for a tour bus with about 40 folks per bus.

Set up a sign stating: FREE BOOKS. Hand out the books and bags with dvds and booklets.

Hand out the materials as quickly as possible. While they wait for their tour buses, chat with them. Ask if they have any requests for HIM. Talk to HIM with them. Talk to them about HIM.

Watch them immediately begin to read HIStory. The tour buses come to this spot every afternoon, every day of the year. In about three hours, you can easily see hundreds of tourists. Yesterday was Day # 1 for this outreach event in our city. Yesterday, we used national siblings to distribute. Yesterday, someone's life was changed for eternity. We'd love to have someone distributing in this spot every day of the year. YOU CAN DO THIS!

Happy Mother's Day

Celebrating Mother's Day is a relatively new concept in our part of the world. But, it has DEFINITELY caught on and the flower shops and bakeries stay very busy. Carrying all of the goodies I received as gifts back home was a bit much. I got flowers from our little national clubhouse, from my daughter, from our big clubhouse, from the orphanage, and from some adopted daughters.
One highlight of Mother's Day in the USA each year to me is Baby Dedication. So, I was pleased to see our big clubhouse carrying on this tradition.

After morning services and SS, we headed off to Harmony Home to love on babies. When we first arrived, most of the younger kids were still sleeping....how precious.

But, when they woke up, they were full of energy. They love it when Jack gets down on the floor with them. They think he is a big mountain, and they crawl all over him.

We are so happy to spend quality time with the older kids each week, telling them HIStory, playing games, making crafts, singing, etc. Ten of the older kids have registered to attend VBS at our big clubhouse in July. What a great opportunity for them to learn HIS truth.

Notice any differences in our version of Monopoly over here? Bubble tea, beef noodles, dumplings, shaved ice treats....yummy.

Keep remembering us on a daily basis. Next week, we'll be doing Mother's Day Holiday Presentations in the public school classrooms using the story of Hannah and Samuel. Happy Mother's Day!

A "Typical" Day Off

We stay busy 6 days a week, mornings, afternoons, and evenings. Since there are three of us now, sometimes, we are all three doing three different things in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings. So, once a week, we try to take a WHOLE day off. And, once a month, we try to go out of our city to explore another part of our island. Usually, we know which direction we want to drive. But, most of the time, we have NO IDEA what we will do, eat, or see. It's always an adventure. Yesterday, we got into the car and headed down the east coast of our island. We knew we wanted to quickly follow the national 4 lane highway south until it ended and then slowly follow the local 2 lane highway back north until we reached our city.
The 4 lane highway ended at a small fishing village, famous for its temple to the goddess, Mazu. Our island has approximately 1000 temples dedicated to Mazu. Originally, she was the patron goddess for local fishermen. But as time went by, people begin to pray to this statue for health, careers, farming, relationships, and all sorts of concerns.

This particular temple has a jade statue of Mazu.

And, the only gold statue of Mazu on our island.

This fishing village is also famous for its fresh seafood.

Hopping back in the car, we headed further north. We were excited to find a National Museum dedicated to the Traditional Arts of our island. This museum is very well maintained and even has some English translation. There were lots of small shops selling local folk art. Artisians were at work, and (for a fee) you could try your hand at making an object.

There were even shows! Now, we have been to our fair share of amusement parks, museums, aquariums, art galleries, science centers, state fairs, zoos, etc., but it is ALWAYS an adventure to visit those kinds of places in Asia. There is just something very interesting about not having a clue what the performers are saying or doing.

Yesterday was no different. The stage was located outside of a traditional temple, so we knew the show would have some "religious" significance. The story centered around one particular figure in Asian culture, the Monkey King.

I must say this was our first trip to an amusement-type facility that featured stage shows and costumed characters concerning Asian "religious" culture. People lined up to have their photos made with these characters and to get their autographs...just like at DisneyLand.

The show was completely done in the local language, so we had to do quite a bit of internet research after we returned home to have "some" guess at what was being said or done.

The actors, actresses, costumes, etc. were very beautiful, but we most enjoyed watching the crowd. Lots of those in attendance were tourists from the Mainland. Hmmm...perhaps this would be a great spot to distribute some BOOKS in the future. We know it was a great spot to "think" about these folks and to hope that they can soon know the truth about HIStory.

Spring Time on the Island

Spring has finally come to our little island. And with the coming of spring, Esther is another year older. It's hard to believe the time has gone so quickly, and our baby girl is almost an adult. She pretty much celebrated in various ways ALL MONTH! But, one special event was the "annual" Scum Card party. Some of you may remember that Granny sent Esther a cake-decoraing kit last year. So, with a little help from the internet, she designed, baked, and decorated her own cake!
Lots of local friends helped her celebrate. These girls attend her Saturday night High School Youth Group. They also attend our BIG English clubhouse and help with VBS.

Of course, Twiggy and Sabrina were invited. They are definitely family. Twiggy is co-leading the Saturday night High School Youth Group with Esther.

Nadia is our friend from the Summer English Camp at WanLi, the Orphanage ministry at Harmony Home, and various other groups at our BIG English clubhouse. You can tell, by the lovely crown, that she won the highest honor of Queen.

Spring also gives us ample opportunity to go into public school junior high and high schools to do Holiday presentations. We were able to present HIStory of Easter to several hundred students in multiple classrooms.

We really enjoy being able to use our holiday supplies in various areas: our Wednesday night Home Book Study, the Saturday night High School Youth Group, public school holiday presentations, Summer English Camps, Awanas, our Saturday SS class at our LITTLE national clubhouse, Harmony Home Orphanage, etc. Jack has been busy laminating every thing in site, so we can use our supplies over and over and over throughout the year for many years to come.

Another highlight of the Easter season was being able to hear various choirs present special music at our BIG National Clubhouse. Even though we don't understand many of the words, we can feel HIS Spirit and can see their love for HIM on their faces. Many of Esther's Awana children partcipated in the children's choir.

And several of her high school friends from the Saturday night High School Youth Group, the Tuesday night Senior High BSF group, and VBS also participated in the Youth Choir.

It's been a wonderful season of celebrating Esther's 17th birthday and HIS resurrection. We could literally do hundreds of public school classroom presentations if we just had the manpower. Think about coming to visit us during any holiday season. We can use your help year round!

May I Be The First

As I go about life each day in my city, I am CONSTANTLY reminded of the darkness that prevails here. It is everywhere, in the sights, the smells, the noises that continuously bombard me. But, this morning, I was also reminded of the powerful light that forever shines in this darkness. Although the percentage of believers compared to non-believers in my city is almost undetected, those that do profess HIM as Savior and Lord, do so with great boldness and faith….much greater than I have ever observed before in any of my former life experiences. I feel humbled to live and to serve beside the believers here. It is my privilege to be their friend and co-laborer.

Today, Rita* (a local sister and friend) shared this personal story with me:
This past week, Rita needed to attend the funeral of her younger sister’s father-in-law. Her younger sister married into a very large and strict Buddhist family. Rita's younger sister is the lowest member of the family due to the fact that she has only produced one daughter. So, Rita wanted to support her sister by attending this funeral. She did not, however, want to participate in any of the rituals associated with the Buddhist religion….bowing, burning incense, etc. So, before attending, she asked for Father’s help.
During the ceremony, Rita was beckoned to the front of the hall to participate fully. Immediately, she called out silently for Father’s help. At that moment, she noticed her elder sister standing toward the back of the large room, and she went to join her. Because Rita was now standing in the back, she did not have to participate.
Then, Rita's elder sister went forward to join a famous Buddhist choir in presenting special songs for the occasion. My friend wept as her elder sister lifted her voice in this manner. My friend, Rita, silently in her heart, sang hymns to the True Creator, Sustainer, and Giver of Eternal Life. Afterwards, one of her cousins came forward to praise her elder sister for a job well done.
Later that evening, Rita went home and wrote out her Last Will and Testament. In it, she begged her family members to honor her wishes and to provide a Christian funeral for her when her time comes. In her prayers that night, she also pleaded with Father to allow her to be the first person in her family to die. Rita is willing to die first so that all of her family members can hear the TRUTH at her funeral and be given the chance to accept it at least once in their lifetimes.
Through tearful sobs, I tried to recount this story to Jack. He thought I should share it with you. Please remember our sisters and brothers here on a daily basis. Their commitment to HIM is a living example to our family. May they have many opportunities to share HIStory with their families and friends. And, may each of you take the opportunities HE so freely gives you to share with your family and friends.

(These photos are typical of the worship practices in our city. They are NOT from an actual funeral ceremony. *Rita's name had been changed.)

Lantern Festival

This year, February 28 marks the end of the 15 day celebration of Chinese New Year. The 15th day is also called Lantern Festival. One small village near our city is famous for its' celebration of Lantern Festival. On the three weekends of CNY, it is packed with nationals and tourists. So, on a weekNIGHT, Esther and I joined 3 other language students (one Japanese and two Americans) and our language teacher, Sabrina, and we headed to the mountains to see the beautiful site.
The two American students only arrived this past week and will only study in our city for one month, so they were quite excited to have a "cultural" experience. First, we stopped at many stores deciding which shape, size, and color lantern we wanted to purchase.
Then, we all took turns drawing pictures or writing short sayings and poems to decorate our lantern.
Then, we went outside with many other people to "light" our lantern and send it into the night time sky.

Then, we set it free.

Up....

Up....

And Up! Until the whole sky was filled with beautiful lights....reminding us at least that we are called to let HIS light shine all over our little island. (Above photo from the weekends when thousands of people send the lanterns into the night sky simultaneously.)