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
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
Fantastic update! Prayers are with you!
ReplyDeleteYour finding and enjoyment of that long boarding group certainly sounds awesome, and I agree, organic! Best to you in language learning friend!!
ReplyDelete