Continuing In Calling

Good day to you all. It was a busy month of September here in Taiwan and time again to share another update. Logistically speaking, very little has changed. I am still in the thick of studying the Chinese language, teaching English twice a week, and helping out with evangelism at the second largest hospital in Taiwan. Yet there is much to be shared.

Where I left at was about a week before Rachel came to visit. I know her coming has little to do with ministry directly, but she is a significant piece of my life and seeing how I can't keep everyone updated in person as I would if I was home, this seems the best platform to give you that glimpse into my life.

Rachel arrived in Taipei the evening of August 23rd. We had two weeks to connect and really just see where this relationship was at in person. We had been apart for almost four months and a relationship looks a lot different together than it does apart. I won't fill you in on every detail (that would take far too long), but the time went better than either of us had anticipated. Knowing I have a significant future here in Taiwan, it was a time for us to connect and see if this is a place Rachel could plant herself for the next few years if God continued to grow the relationship. It was a huge relief to both of us when she found out she not only enjoyed the YWAM base and ministry here in Taiwan, but the country itself. The two weeks went by incredibly fast, but we both left the experience with peace in our hearts as we sought God's continual leading.

It took a week or two to really transition back to normal life and it's been a joy to see God work ever since. I would like to share one experience that is specifically noteworthy. A week or two after Rachel left, one of my Taiwanese friends who is not a believer invited me to his house in Central Taiwan for a Taiwanese holiday. Mid-Autumn festival began to be celebrated nationally rather recently and is just a time where Taiwanese connect with family and throw huge barbecues. I knew almost as soon as I had been invited the opportunity I had been granted and that I needed to say yes, but there was a part of me that wanted just to stay home. I am getting more comfortable with my living situation and this was out of my comfort zone. But I realized, this is missions. Sure, I was probably going to have to sleep in an uncomfortable bed and deal with lots of language barriers, but isn't this what I've been called to do. To be Christ's mouthpiece and example among the nations.

My time in Changhua turned out to be a blast. Sure I didn't get as much rest as I would have liked over the weekend, but it was worth it. Because of the language barrier, I couldn't communicate much. But I was able to be immersed in Taiwanese culture in a very real way. I got to go to Sun Moon Lake, the largest and most famous lake in Taiwan. And I was able to connect with a couple of guys over the language of food. We sat in front of a grill for a couple hours and just cooked and ate together. And although I exchanged few words with anyone but my friend over the course of my time there. Jesus was present. I was protected from so many of my fears and worries about the weekend.

And this is not the only opportunity God has given to me. It's not always easy being away from, home, family, a girlfriend I love dearly, and so many other things. But even as I reflect on this past month right now, I know why I am here and have no doubt that this is what God has asked of me. And he has been faithful every day to show up.

As I leave you off, I just want to share a few prayer requests.
 1. As always, I need God's provision to walk with me and help me learn this language. Language learning is not a strong gifting and I really need God's presence and provision as I move forward in this calling.
 2. Pray that I would invest well in Taiwan and the Taiwanese people. That I wouldn't become distracted by other things and miss out on the calling God has on me while I live here.
 3. Pray for the base as a whole. We are in the midst of a large move of God and the goals we have set out will only come to fruition if God's hand is on this.

I love you all and pray this finds you well. I hope you are blessed in the reading.

You're brother,
Travis

Coming Alive to Calling

Hello friends and family. I’m thankful I’ve been able to connect with some of you over the course of the last few months. Unfortunately, living 6,000 plus miles away doesn’t allow for regular interaction with everyone back home, so this blog will have to suffice for the time being.

Since I last updated, there has been a lot going on. I have now been studying Chinese for almost three months and language acquisition is coming slowly but steadily. I figure I have a vocabulary of about five hundred words now and can speak some basic things in Chinese. Along with vocabulary, I continue to work on picking up grammar and my greatest nemesis… Tones. In English, we can say the same word in all kinds of different tones, and the word still means the same thing. In Chinese, the same word can mean something completely different depending on the tone used. And a word with the same tone can even mean multiple different things.

Which brings me to prayer request number one. I ask for your prayer in language acquisition. That I would not only learn the language on paper, but that I would have boldness to speak knowing I am going to sound stupid at times and say the wrong things. One of my biggest struggles with language learning is that I am timid and rarely speak Chinese with others and it’s an area I need to get over if I want to learn the language well.

Beyond language study, ministry has looked different over the last couple months as well. Instead of doing regular coffee shop evangelism, two nights a week, I teach an English class upstairs in the coffee shop. It’s been a great opportunity to connect with the Taiwanese and build relationships and it seems I will teach this class again next semester.

Being in Taiwan, although it has brought it’s share of challenges, has been good for me. It’s not always easy being here, but I am being stretched in new ways. I’ve never been willfully committed to something for the long term, but God has called me here for five years, and I want to honor him with that time. In the past, I have been able to go from place to place and make short term decisions. I am now committed to one place and have opportunity to build something for a bit longer term rather than simply move on to the next thing after a year of investment. I don’t need to try to figure out what the next place is going to be because it’s all within the confines of Taiwan and probably Danshui for the foreseeable future.

With that comes prayer request number two. Pray that God would teach me how I can best be used here in Danshui, not just down the road when the language acquisition is finished and I’m deciding where my skills are best used, but even right now. It’s easy to just go through tasks and check off the things that need to be done in a week, but I desire more than that. I want to invest all of my time and energy into what God is calling me to and go beyond the minimum requirements for language study and ministry here.

Now for a little change of pace. Right now is an exciting time for me here. After one more week of classes and ministry, I have a person who is very dear to me coming for a visit. That’s right, the evening of August 23rd, Rachel flies into Taipei for a two week visit here to see me and to get a feel for the base and what life in Taiwan is like. It will be such a joy to have a taste of home come for a visit. I do want to ask for prayer for that time as well. Really just prayer that God would be present in our time together and this time would give us a clearer picture of what the future looks like.





I would like to end by sharing a little bit of what God has been teaching me lately. Just yesterday I finished reading through the book of Romans. After I got about half way in, I really felt like God was asking me to slow down and just chew on the passages rather than reading through like normal. I have been just reading a verse or two and actually thinking about what that means for us as believers before I go on to the next verse or passage. And the result has been incredible. Here is just one thought from that time.



I love Romans 8. It may very well be my favorite chapter of Scripture and I took some notes on it last week. And although it may be a bit messy, I'm just going to write word for word what I wrote down in my journal. It's from Romans 8:36 in the context of Paul making a point that there is nothing that can come in between God and his people. Here's what I wrote.


"In verse 36, Paul quotes from Psalm 44. As I went back to read this Psalm, the quote came alive. In the context of Romans, Paul is speaking of all the evil that can befall believers. This Psalm fits wonderfully. The first eight verses of this Psalm simply speaks of how God has delivered his people in different circumstances. In verse 9, it takes a strange turn. It speaks of how the psalmist speaking of God rejecting his people. It is in the midst of this that the psalmist writes of God's people being as cheep to be slaughtered. But the Psalm ends with hope of their deliverance. In both cases, God's people may not understand why God has  to their senses, turned his back on them or rejected them. Whether it be the people in the time of the psalmist, or the people Paul is writing to potentially facing nakedness, danger, or even death. But there is hope for their eternal deliverance."

I believe the same is true for us now. There is hope for the difficulties in our lives. God is faithful. It may feel like he is silent or absent, but if you draw near to him, he will draw near to you. Scripture makes it clear.

As always, I appreciate you all and your support of me over here. I couldn’t do this without the support I have from you all, prayerfully, financially, and simply your partnership with me. I know I haven’t been able to connect with every person who reads this on an individual basis, but know that I am thankful for you and for your investment in my life.

With love in Christ,
Travis

A New Adventure

Hello friends and family!

I am excited to share all that has been going on this past month and a half in Taiwan. I hope to be a bit more consistent in updating my blog from here on out, ideally I hope to share one new blog each month. I am truly enjoying my time here in Taiwan. God is at work on this base and in my own life. What I want to share with you in this time is how God has brought me to this point.

I left Williston on April 29th with a heavy heart. Knowing the longevity of my commitment here in Taiwan, I wasn't ready to make the journey and begin a new life in a different country that although I had lived in before, seemed all but foreign to my mind and my heart. And to be honest, I didn't handle my time here well for the first couple of weeks. I didn't choose to press in to Jesus, but rather looked elsewhere to find joy and peace in my heart. I spent a lot of time trying to live my life back home from afar. I didn't really want to make a new life here because I liked the old one. What kept me going though was knowing the certainty of Jesus' calling on my life to come here and that he called me here not just for the good of the Taiwanese people, but this was what was best for me in his kingdom as well. He had sent me here to Taiwan because he loved me.

God really began to change my attitude a little over a week in to being here when we went to the YWAM National Staff Conference. It wasn't an overnight change or like a switch was flipped in my spirit at that time, but it was then that I began to allow God to work more intentionally in my heart. I began to open up to being here and to hearing his heart for me in this nation.

My first official week on staff here we essentially went through a base orientation that all new staff have to do before joining staff with YWAM Taipei. We learned about base history which was incredible to see the faithfulness of God and the heart of faith that has been at work at this base for the past twenty years! In that time we also went through base culture, theology, and some practical things as to what it looks like to join the staff here.

From there, I did two weeks of learning Chinese with one of the Taiwanese base staff before jumping full time in to CLLT, or the Chinese Language Learning Team. I have now been learning Chinese for about a month. Language acquisition has been slow but I am moving forward. I am reminded regularly of a phrase that an old staff from the Bible school used to say. She would ask, how do you eat an elephant? The answer, one bite at a time. If we looked at learning Chinese as a whole, it would be overwhelming and terribly daunting. With all big things that we do in our lives, we need to look simply at what the next step is. So right now, I'm learning a lot of vocabulary and just beginning to tackle the grammar monster.

Ministry here has been going really well. I've been doing official base ministry for about a month as well. My official ministries include two nights a week of English conversation with Taiwanese at the Rock Coffee Bar. The Rock is a ministry that is near and dear to this base. The Rock, for those who don't know is a coffee shop that YWAM Taipei runs. We are open from 7:30-11:00pm Monday through Friday. We give out free coffee, soda, and other drinks and simply help Taiwanese with conversational English. This is an opportunity for us to serve them and and a great platform for the gospel to go out. The other ministry I am a part of is teaching an English class at an elementary school.

I have found one other ministry opportunity that I have been able to invest in on my own time. I was out on a run a few weeks ago and I saw some people out on longboards on the way. I stopped and talked to a couple of the guys. They were college students and had a club on campus. They go down twice a week to the river and longboard. It has been a great way to connect with people in a very natural and organic environment and although it's not official base ministry, I am really looking forward to the fruit of what this ministry will bring.

I would like to share one story with you before I end my time. Just last night I was out at the ocean for another student's birthday. I left and ended up down the beach a little ways to get some time alone with Jesus. There were some people who were hanging out a little ways down the beach from me and I felt a tug on my heart to go and talk to them. When I got to them, I found that they were playing guitar which was a good way to connect with them. I played a song for them and we got into a conversation. I found out that one of the men there had wanted to become a Christian, but his parents wouldn't let him. I got the contact information from a couple of the people and will hopefully be able to follow up sometime in the near future. I share this because it is an obstacle in Taiwan that we don't know quite as well in America. Most parents in America will give their children the freedom to decide what they want to believe, but here, to believe in Jesus may mean following him at the disobedience of your parents. To simply begin the Christian life in Taiwan there is likely going to be suffering in that way.

There are other stories I could share with you, if you would like to know or hear more, just ask me. God is opening up a lot of doors to share the gospel with the Taiwanese people. I have had many good conversations either sharing the gospel or building relationships with people here. I just want to end this blog with a couple prayer requests.

1. God has really been opening a lot of doors and doing great work here. Pray for more opportunities and boldness as well as depth of relationships. We as believers should desire not just to share the gospel, but to invest in the lives of the people we are sharing with.

2. Pray that Jesus would be the primary passion and desire of my heart.

Thank you all for reading. I appreciate you and am thankful for your presence in my life and your investment in me as a person.

Travis

Goodbye Williston

As I spend my remaining weeks in Williston, ending a season of my life, I have had time to look back on the past year and a half here. I look back upon the closing days of life in Taiwan and the pain there was in leaving a country that had become so dear to my heart. I hated to say goodbye to the friends and fellow brothers and sisters in the faith who had become so dear to me after nine months of the most tedious and time consuming work any of us had ever done. I hated to say goodbye to mentors and those who shepherded the flock of God so well in the confines of our cozy community. I hated to say goodbye to bubble milk tea, to Taiwanese breakfast food, to longboarding to class every day, to the year round warm weather, and to the roof I spent countless hours on overlooking the city and crying out to God on a regular basis on. Sure I wasn't going to miss the taste or the smell of stinky tofu (GROSS!) or my inability to get around without help, but the grieving and difficulty was real. Beyond that, I knew that God had called me to probably the last place on earth I wanted to go... Williston North Dakota, and that's where this story truly begins.

As I said my final farewells, I spent my last few hours flying to Tokyo with the last familiar faces I would see of Taiwan for many months. Adam, Brandi, and I split up in Tokyo, and off I was on a new adventure certain of two things. One, I needed to make a lot of money in the next year to pay off my college debt, and two, I would be coming back to Taiwan in just over a year. I didn't know what this next season held for me, and quite frankly, I don't think I was all that excited for it. The sliver of hope I held was simply from the words of a note I received while in Taiwan and it was simply an encouragement that reminded me that when I traveled back 'home' (as it didn't really feel like home at the time) that God was not going to quit working in my life. That the passion for God that I had, the passion He had instilled in me was not going away, and that God was going to continue to work in and through my life and make me passionate for Himself in this season I would spend at 'home.'

Upon getting back to the States, I took a few weeks to take a much needed break and rest from all the work that had been done in Taiwan and to simply transition back to life in America. Taking an honest look at the first few months, it was tough. I moved into my house in Williston in mid-January but I spent little time in it. The free time I did have, I would travel back to my parents house and stay with them. I didn't feel like I was home. For months, I refused to call Williston my home. Honestly, home was anywhere but here.

The search for a church home began shortly after arriving in Williston. I went to a couple of churches and settled for one that wasn't at all what I was looking for or what I needed, but it seemed to at least fit the mold of church and I was able to get plugged in at least a little bit, but I knew there was something wrong when I was confronted with the idea of giving to this church. When I looked at it's mission and vision, I couldn't get myself to finance a mission that didn't seem to fit the model of kingdom work and kingdom vision that Jesus had set out for his people.

As I continued my church search, two women who were quickly becoming friends of mine invited me to a small group at a church across from the high school. I honestly can't explain it. There were no clear words from God, there were no signs, no flashing lights or anything else, but within five minutes of joining this small group, I knew I was at home. I was joining with a group of people who loved Jesus authentically, and who were genuinely pursuing Him as they studied together through the book of Acts. We were genuinely seeking how we as a part of Christ's body could be the church, could live in community, and could love Jesus with our lives. There was no fancy discussion guide, no reading materials (besides the Bible), and no pressure to have everything figured out. I wish I could now tell many of the stories, memories, and ways people within this group grew, but it would take up way to much of your time. I wish I could share of the life that has been done together in the past year because of this small group. I wish I could go into detail about our small group camping trip to the badlands, about the hilarity of watching Becca's dancing at Josh and Elie's wedding, about the many games of Dominion I've played with Tom and Katie, about Rachel showing up to small group in some of the goofiest clothing choices you could imagine, or about the numerous joys, challenges, prayers, and situations we have walked through together. I can truly say that with these people, and many others, I have found a home. I have found a community, and it pains me to say goodbye to this city and especially to this body of believers that I have grown fond of. It pains me to say goodbye to my family, my job and co-workers with whom I have developed a great camaraderie with over many late nights of work, and the thousand and one other things I have grown to love about this place.

Williston is now my home, and being uprooted from home is never an easy transition. but I hold out hope. I look back on the time when I left my home in Taiwan. I wasn't ready to come back and I didn't want to make Williston my home, and yet, it became home. This gives me such hope for the future. This gives me such hope that even though it's a challenge, even though I don't see the joy that is to come through this coming season, I can trust Jesus in this. I can trust that just as when I left Taiwan, afraid of what was to come, afraid that it was going to be the most miserable season of my life God worked wonders and made it one of the most joyful. I can trust that even though the transition may not be easy and my excitement about this is next to nil, that there is great joy to be found as I walk into this next time and season of my life. Sure there will be pain. Sure there will be challenges. There may be a few tears shed, a few people missed, a few days where all I want to do is to come back to the comforts of home, but it's all a part of walking with Jesus. As Needtobreathe famously wrote in one of their songs. If you never leave home, never let go, you'll never make it to the great unknown till you keep your eyes open. I share this because I see there is such freedom in being honest and open with others and I want you all to know my heart in going back.

There will be more blogs to follow, but I wanted to write this one to give ya'll a heads up on where I am at and simply to send out a prayer request as I finish my time here. My request right now for prayer is simple.
     1. That I would get all of the logistical things needed finished.
     2. God's grace and strength in this season to move forward in this calling.

The last thing I want to bring up in this is simply just for support. To operate fully, I am in need of about $1000 a month, which includes Chinese language learning lessons, housing, food, and should cover everything else that I need. If you would like to support financially, I am working on having my giving done through the YWAM Montana Base, which will allow you tax exemption on that money given. If you have a desire to give, you can email me back at kleppentr@gmail.com and we can communicate more either through email or phone.

Thank you to all who finished this, I know it was a long letter, but I pray that this finds you well.

Blessings,
Travis