台灣短宣 Taiwan Mission 2009

ZhuDong Church Pictures竹東教會的照片專輯

2009-08-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

Please click the following link to enjoy 498 pictures at Zhudong Church.
請點閱下面的聯結﹐欣賞498張竹東教會的照片。

ZhuDong Church

BeiPu Jr. High Pictures北埔國中的照片專輯

2009-08-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Please click the following link to enjoy 410 pictures at BeiPu Jr. High School.

請點閱下面的聯結﹐欣賞410張北埔國中的照片。

BeiPu Jr. High pictures

Team Member and Prayer 短宣隊與禱告

2009-08-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Fun Moments Picture Movie 短宣的輕鬆片段

2009-08-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

This is the last of the three picture movies made for the Taiwan mission
which reflects some of the fun moments.
Be sure and turn your sound on.

這個照片專輯﹐呈現台灣短宣輕鬆開懷的一面。
這也是全三集照片專輯中的最後一集。
別忘了打開你的播音器喔﹗

Picture Movie at BeiPu Jr. High 北埔國中的短片

2009-08-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture movie of the second week at BeiPu.
Be sure and turn your sound on.

專輯裡的照片﹐是我們第二個星期在北埔拍攝的。別忘了打開你的播音器喔﹗

Picture Movie at ZhuDong 竹東教會的短片

2009-08-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture movie of the first week at Zhudong.

Be sure and turn your sound on. This has a sound track of some pop-Taiwanese
Christian music.

專輯裡的照片﹐是我們第一個星期在竹東拍攝的。

別忘了打開你的播音器喔﹗清新的本土教會歌曲會讓你耳目一新。

Pray for HOC3 at Chiayi Too! 請為在嘉義短宣的第三家禱告

2009-08-01T09:24:00.001-07:00

Dear All,

We are sorry that it is so late that we are posting our first, and
perhaps last, update about our missions trip here in Chiayi.

I (M) was perhaps too ambitious to set up a google group without having
ever done so. But thank you nonetheless for remembering us in your prayers.

God has been gracious to us and has brought us through Tues to Sat
night, and our missions trip will end tomorrow as we lead the Taibao
church in Sunday morning worship.

We had a few scattered ailments (Bessie's arm, Shihya's sore throat) among
us over the days, but nothing major, and all better by now.

Praise the Lord. We had some concerns that our planned programs might not "go as planned," i.e. timing too loose, run out of things to say, etc.,
but God graciously smiled on our plans and incorporated them into his.

Only one unexpected event-- a power outage during the second day of VBS--
ended up OK, so that we were able to conclude the day's activities outdoors.

Today (sat) we spent an afternoon and evening with youth from Taibao
and 2 other neighboring churches. We were not sure how our "discussion
groups" would go, but they went smoothly, and were able to get to make
a little more connection with individuals.
Prayer requests-- that the VBS families that we visited on Friday
would be led to attend church tomorrow. James will give the message
tomorrow, Shihya will share her testimony.
May the Lord establish the
works we wish to offer.

Thanks for reading and supporting.

Margaret

Checking out the Fruits and Veggies 台灣的水果與蔬菜

2009-07-31T17:10:00.001-07:00

The Reflection from Mrs. Lai 台灣短宣感言-黎師母

2009-07-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

台灣臨行之前﹐倉促間忘了帶記事本﹐裡面記載我去年接觸的一些學生資訊。

在北埔國中短宣的最後一天﹐我幾乎已放棄希望尋找的男孩﹐竟然出現在臺上為我
們吹奏口琴。男孩下臺後﹐我跑過去找他。他還記得我們去年埋葬鳥兒的事呢﹗我
終於實現我的諾言﹐送給這心地善良的男孩我答應的書籍﹔“四個屬靈的定律”。

感謝神﹗他是信實的。他知道我的信心微小。可是﹐他豐盛的賜予卻遠大於我所該得的。讚美主﹗

Before I left for Taiwan, I had a prayer that I may be able to meet some
students who I knew from last year. To my regret, I forgot to bring the
handbook which has all the information I need with me. On the first two
days while we were in Beipu, I tried to look through the faces across
me.

Surprisingly, I did recognize several students and said hi to them,
but the one I particularly looking for was lost in the woods. On the third
day morning, when I almost gave up the hope, God amazingly granted me a
precious gift. A boy was announced to perform a solo harmonica, and HE
was exactly the one I hoped to see.

Why is he so special? Last year when
we first met, his kind heart of asking me to bury a dead bird with him
really touched me. I also shared 4 spiritual laws with him. I promised
to mail a copy of English/Chinese copy of the 4 spiritual laws to him, but
I didn't fulfill the promise until this trip. When he came down from the
stage, I ran over to
him and asked if he remembered me. He responded with a sweetest childlike
smile and said "dead bird".... I was about to cry. I handed a copy of the
4 spiritual laws to him. We hugged and shared a couple words before he had
to leave for his class.....

Thanks the Lord; He knows how little faith I have. He rewarded me with something
I didn't deserve. Praise His Name.

Esther

Making friends 交朋友

2009-07-30T21:10:00.001-07:00

Faces of Taiwan 各種面孔

2009-07-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

Most of my photography has been plants, animals, mountains, and other nature
shots. With the telephoto lens, it is possible to photograph people from
a distance with them unaware, and it became apparent that one of the most
interesting subjects for photographers is the human face. Among the creatures
that God has created, only humans have such a wide range of facial expression
that I know of. Perhaps this has something to do with verses like this:

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
" - Numbers 6:24-26

A relative is waiting on a scooter to take a child home after school.

Junior high boys seem harder to photograph than the girls. My current theory
is that most of the time the guys are being silly and teasing each other
so that I don't much care for the expression. This was not one of those
instances.

I think this young lady is suspicious of my camera.

Here is another one who was vigilant and escaped my lens for a day, but
the camera keeps searching for a victim and it is getting faster as it practices.

The calm face turned to panic exactly .32 seconds after the button was
pushed, but she and her friends had a lot of fun looking at the pictures
immediately afterward. It was a good way to establish friendships.

Heroism 英雄論

2009-07-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

Having spent six years teaching Sunday School to junior high school kids,
I have the greatest respect for the teachers who choose to spend a career
with them. At this age, the kids seem to have all of the vices of both young
children and teenagers, while not yet having developed any of the virtues
of adulthood. Can there be a more difficult age group? In Taiwan, discipline
is a bit easier, but still a challenge.

A hero is supposed to identify the enemy, go out and conquer, and then celebrate.
For the junior high teacher, however, things are different. They live on
the edge of defeat by their children, but to consider the children as "enemy"
would be an admission of failure. No, these children are the next generation.

They will be the teachers and workers of the future, so neither defeat
nor conquest are options. Instead, we must persist in teaching those who
struggle to pay attention. Thankfully the children do learn and grow in
maturity, although the teacher may never see this.
The junior high school
teachers I had as a child made a positive impact on me, yet I can't even
remember their names. Could there be a tougher and more important job?

Some of the time these teachers can be quite fierce as they grab the attention
of the children. Other times, they relax and smile as our college kids provide
some entertainment for the children. This one is trying to grab a little
time to grade papers during a spare moment.

Heading for Kaohsiung ...前往高雄。。。

2009-07-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

It is sad to leave all of our team members and the children to head off to
Kaohsiung, but onward we must go. Here are some shots of the new high speed
rail system in Taiwan which looks almost identical to the Japanese Shinkansen
train, but with a different color scheme.

Taiwan Mission-Bei Pu Jr. High台灣短宣-北埔國中(三)

2009-07-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

第八天- 07/29/09 (Wednesday)

Today a few tears were shed as we were departing the church at Zhudong for
the final time. There were many friends made and we will miss each other.

Some of the Taiwan Mission Team members are rumored to be claiming that
they weren't very important to the team. Don't believe them!

Everyone
played an important part and we all felt it each time a team member was
sick and unable to be with us.

God deliberately brought together a very
broad team in terms of our ages, backgrounds, experiences and talents to
make this happen, and this included many helpers from the local churches.

The last day was a struggle as it has been, but there were also several
high points.

The first attached picture is where the EMei church helpers
cleverly chose a few of the junior high school children to join in the dancing
with the college team.

Then there were the skits as the children acted out the story of Esther.
The second attached picture is where Haman is begging Esther for his life.

We had a final lunch together with the various groups. The last photo includes
the EMei church team, the Beipu church team, our HOC6 group, and the teachers
from the Beipu Junior High School. The principal from the high school is
at the upper left.

Give thanks to God that he has put it into the heart of these school leaders
to make this happen. We also showed part of a Jesus movie including a clear
presentation of the gospel message of salvation through Jesus. May the
Lord continue working things according to His plan. We have requested prayer
for the Zhudong and EMei church in the past, but the Beipu church is the
one where the children live and we pray that they too will be able to continue
to follow up with these Junior High children after we leave. Please remember
all three of these churches as we have opportunities to pray.

We will continue gathering pictures and posting stories at the website:
hoc6taiwanmission.blogspot.com

The Hospitality We Received 短宣隨筆-熱情的招待

2009-07-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

The second morning, we had a performance from their band. They played pretty
well for a junior high school band.

Most of the time our job was to entertain
and inform then in ways that would have the ACLU howling in the US, but
this Buddhist nation is much less anti-Christian than America. For me, getting
to wander around a school with a camera is a real treat that may be once
in a life time.

Next, they gave us a Kung Fu performance.

I wasn't expecting any entertainment, but that is what we got from all the
children. They started with this well done lion dance.

Some people look at the panorama below and see a very large Buddha with
a huge temple next to it being renovated.

Pastor Fan, however, saw a Christian
retreat for prayer. Yes, it is the two buildings to the right.

Things are finishing up so quickly and this is our last dinner that we will
enjoy at the Zhudong Church. Pastor Fan is on the left and pastor Zhou is
on the right. Mrs. Zhou and some helpers have worked incredibly hard these
days to feed our group. There is much to learn about hospitality from this
family.

The Last Supper

I took more than 1,000 pictures, of which a few actually turned out nicely,
so there will be several more updates related to this part of our trip.

Taiwan Mission-Bei Pu Jr. High台灣短宣-北埔國中(二)

2009-07-28T08:03:00.001-07:00

Team member from left to right: Edward Wang, Alan Yang, Scott Williams, Daniel
Stillman and Matt Neilson
短宣隊員從左到右﹕王愛偉﹐楊智元﹐史考克﹐吳明明和馬太

第七天- 07/28/09 (Tuesday)

Thanks so much for everyone's prayers. We still have one more day tomorrow
which should be a bit easier for us. There will be a Jesus movie and a
challenge to accept him as savior and Lord. Please keep this in your prayers.

感謝每一個人為我們禱告。只剩下明天一天而已﹐應該可以駕輕就熟。我們會播映
一部耶穌的電影﹐並挑戰學童接受他為救主。請為這事禱告。

Steven Wong with students

短宣隊員黃雪亭和學生

The junior high age group is probably the most difficult and discouraging,
but many years later seeds start growing and God does wonderful things.
Also please keep the churches in Zhudong (pastor Zhou) and EMei (pastor
Fan) in your prayers. They will continue with their responsibilities here
in taking care of children - many of whom come from broken familes - after
we leave.

教導國中生大概是最艱難和氣餒了﹗但是﹐多年之後﹐種子已開始萌芽生長﹐神做了
美好的事情。同時﹐也為鄒牧師的竹東教會和范牧師的峨眉教會禱告。在我們離開
之後﹐他們將繼續承擔照顧許多來自破碎家庭的孩童的重任。

Taiwan Mission-Bei Pu Jr. High台灣短宣-北埔國中(一)

2009-07-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

第六天- 07/27/09 (Monday)

Yesterday we were at the Bei Pu Junior High School. The program went smoothly
because of the regular teachers being there, but the communication seemed
weak. Sometimes the children were paying attention, and sometimes not.

昨日在北埔國中的教學平順﹐因為正規的學校老師也在那裡﹐可是彼此的溝通顯得不
夠。有時候學童上課注意聽﹐有時又不然。

Today, we will be there again from 8:00AM to 12:00, which is 4:00PM to
8:00PM California time.

Please pray for us during this time that we would
have an effective presentation and some time to get to know the children.

今天我們又會從早上八點教到中午十二
點。在加州是下午四點到下午八點。
請在這段時間為我們禱告﹕神能幫助我們有效教學和有時間多認識小孩子。

There really was 160 kids who showed up. The EMei workers helped out tremendously.

Other than the skits and songs we did, however, those of us who don't know
Chinese well were having a very hard time understanding what was going on.

真的有160位小孩子來呢﹗峨眉教會的義工幫了好大的忙。
除了我們的話劇和詩歌﹐
對於許多不懂中文的短宣隊員﹐很難了解到底在做甚麼。

Some who did know Chinese fluently also seemed a bit uncertain. May the
Lord help us as we continue today and tomorrow. Thankfully there are leaders
like pastor Fan who do know exactly what is to be done.

有些能說流利中文的﹐好
像也不大確定進行的事項。
懇求神繼續幫我們今天和明天。我們感謝有像范牧師這
樣的領導者﹐知道大家該做的工作。

A Summer Corner at Emei 峨眉夏日的角落

2009-07-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Alan Yang and Matt Neilson running on the trails.
楊智元和馬太勤奮練跑。

Jurassic Park?

踏進恐龍公園了嗎﹖

That was the impression gotten by the two young men who joined me to go running
through the jungle.

這就是跟我跑進森林裡兩位大男生的印象。我以為我的視力蠻好﹐可是我錯了。他們
目睹我和這些大蜘蛛擦身而過﹐直到我撞進了蜘蛛網。現在﹐我希望天氣能涼快一
點就好了。

I thought my eyes were good, but apparently not. They
spotted this along with several other monster spiders that I ran right by
- until I ran directly into one of their webs! Now if only it could be a
bit cooler.

This flower caught my attention with all the strange and delicate parts.

這朵奇怪和細緻的花﹐吸引了我的注意。

讀者反響

Those flowers almost look like spiders too!
連這些花都像極了蜘蛛呢﹗

A Cool Moment 暑氣全消的一刻

2009-07-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (7/25/09﹐Saturday) pastor Fan took us to a place called Hsinchu
nature park along the coast. Afterwards, we went up into the mountains
to a village where we spent some time swimming and enjoying the local night
market.

The cool mountain water was quite a relief. Here we are struggling upstream
in the difficult current. The shirt is a new one that I bought for $3.
It is the same material as the nice golfing shirts we looked at before
the trip that cost $50 each here in the US. I have to get back to the church
now because they are locking up.

Playing Water-Edward Wang and Douglas Stillman
夏日戲水-王愛偉和戴格思

A Reflection from Jasper and Janice- 短宣反響- 吳建輝和莊嘉蘭夫婦

2009-07-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Douglas,

Thanks for the updates, eventhough the internet did not work at Zhudong church. You still did

your best to keep updates to everyone. It suprises me when I am trying to send the mail

to inform Brian the problem of the internet, your e-mail is already popped out in my incoming

mail. God will bless your royalty and remember your hard work.

My wife, Janice and I went to our church's fellowship and got home very late tonight. So that

I did not send out your request yet. Pray the lord, He prepares another work station for you.

Go! Go! Go! Be strong and joyful for the next 3 days! Everybody will keep praying for this

wonderful mission.

In Christ,

Jasper / Janice Wu

A Look at EMei 峨眉一覽

2009-07-26T09:40:00.001-07:00

Internet went down ...

I will update things a bit later when I get more time on the internet. We
were in EMei (峨眉) today checking out another church that we are working
with. EMei really does look like a village in the countryside.

如果我有更多上網的時間﹐我就可以多講一點。我們今天去峨眉拜訪一起要工作的另
一個教會。峨眉真的就像是在鄉下的村鎮。

Our church was on the 7th floor of a building and not nearly as conspicuous
as the Zhudong building, but not in any way lacking in enthusiasm due to
all of the young people.

峨眉教會是在七樓﹐地點沒有像竹東教會那麼明顯﹐但是來到的年輕人﹐還是充滿了
熱情。

Taiwan Mission ZhuDong Church台灣短宣-竹東教會(三)

2009-07-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

第五天- 07/24/09 (Friday)

The Zhudong church internet went down on Friday and still isn't working.
This note is being sent from house of the EMei pastor, pastor Fan. Today
we went to the EMei church to worship with them and meet up with the young
people that we will be working with over the next three days. Please pray
for us as we prepare, that the Lord will control the situation with the
school and the large number of Junior High students.

竹東教會的網路從星期五到現在都不通。這封電郵是從峨眉教會牧師的府上送出的。
今日﹐我們會與未來三天一起同工的峨眉教會義工相聚。
請為我們禱告﹕神能控制眾多國中生在學校的秩序。

Our last day with the children in the Zhudong church went smoothly. We
finished up with a message challenging these young children to take up Christian
service while they are still young and get involved in helping out in the
church. The EMei church seems to put this in practice as the young people
were serving everywhere. Yes, there was the music, but also in sharing,
organizing the church, serving the food, and scrubbing down and cleaning
the entire church afterwards. No need for a janitor here!

最後一天在竹東教會的教導圓滿閉幕。我們結束的信息是﹐挑戰學童如何從小就在教
會學習奉獻服事基督。在這方面﹐峨眉教會是腳踏實地實踐。是的﹐不但是唱詩﹐就
連分享﹐教會工作分組﹐分派食物和洗刷打掃﹐整個教會也都做得井井有條。這裡
不請清潔員工。

Here are some
images to give you an idea:

看看下面的圖片﹐你也會深有同感喔﹗

Leading worship ...領導崇拜

Leading the Sunday School ...領導主日學

Chinese Christian dance ...跳舞

The techies ...技術人員

Waiters waiting to serve you ...廚房好幫手

A job for everyone ...這裡人人有工作

It is truly a joy to see all this activity by those who love the Lord.
As always, a mission trip is a blessing to those who go out.

看到這麼多愛主的同工熱烈參與活動﹐是一種真正的喜悅。一直以來﹐參與宣教者都
是得到祝福的。

A Note from Daniel 短宣有感-吳明明

2009-07-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

Everything here is going well. I'm trying to not use the computer much as
it is a big distraction for me. It's 5:30am right now; I can't sleep, but
I did sleep at 9pm. It seems like everyone here wakes up around 6 - 7,
which is cool. I like the warm weather, and the kids don't seem to mind
the sweating and the mosquito bites.

Anyway, the food here is really good, and we tried Durian yesterday.。。。
All 3 of us have allergies, but it isn't too much of a distraction.

Daddy filmed a video of exactly what we did the first day, so be sure to
see it. My Chinese is much worse than the kids, but I get by. Edward is
definitely a big help. For now, I am only able to make friends with the
kids who are really active and talk a lot, since I do ask them a lot of
questions about what they're asking. Magic tricks definitely gets their
attention.

For prayer requests, please pray for Matt, Scott, Allan (maybe), Dad, and
me for language barriers. I don't think it's a big problem at this point,
but for the shy kids it's a little harder to communicate with them.

Also, allergies sometimes kicks in and makes it rather difficult to concentrate.
It's easy to start thinking about going home, but we have an objective
here to serve the Lord with a joyful heart.

I hope everything over there is going well. I'll email you again sometime
probably Saturday. Oh yeah, they have a fascination for tall people. A
lot of kids randomly walked up to me and told me I was tall. Pretty interesting.

- Daniel Stillman

Awkward Situations ...短宣有感-不自在的情況

2009-07-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

For an engineer who works with computers all day and seeks out lonely trails
during my free time, joining in to a mission trip working with kids is certainly
awkward. This situation has proven an opportunity for the organizers as
I was hung in yesterday's skit and crucified in today's skit. No worry,
it is all for a good cause! Being an American hanging out in Taiwan means
that there really is no way to avoid the awkward, so we might as well embrace
it.

One thing that has surprised me is the degree that these children already
know the gospel message. The pastors and helpers are very sincere and systematic
in their teaching in a way that reminds me of earlier generations of American
churches. Could it be that they will be that the Taiwanese children will
be better educated in Christianity than Americans? Mission trips are always
a two-way learning thing as those who go are usually as changed from the
event as those that the missionary sees.

I have been too busy to keep up on the blogosphere activity, but a never
ending debate has reappeared over "Who's Qualified" to teach the Bible.
It does seem to me that the heavy lifting in Christian teaching is being
done by those who aren't sufficiently sophisticated or pretentious to be
participants in this debate.

Food at ZhuDong 吃在竹東

2009-07-23T20:13:00.001-07:00

Leftover 剩菜

Douglas: "I always feel that it is a sin to leave these uneaten, but there was simply
too much food. "

戴格思﹕“我總是覺得這麼可口的食物沒吃完是一種罪惡﹐可是飯菜實在是太多了。”

Daniel: "Anyway, the food here is really good, and we tried Durian yesterday..."

吳明明﹕“總之﹐這裡的東西很好吃。昨日我嘗試吃榴槤。。。”

忙碌的開始。。。
我們的早餐是找這樣香噴噴的包子。嗯﹗真好吃﹗

It is a busy start ...
First, we need to stop for some dumplings and the like for breakfast. Yum!

The Insect World of ZhuDong 竹東的昆蟲世界

2009-07-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

A Grace at ZhuDong 竹東鎮風土人情的一瞥

2009-07-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

The local butcher is a bit more convenient here.

This town is what they consider "countryside", which simply means smaller
urban enclaves interspersed with tiny farms. We are also on the edge of
some hills and there are some trails going up into them. This area isn't
near any major employers, so it is poorer. We were told that it was an area
where the Hakka dialect was spoken, but the real story seems to be a large
number of the mothers come from places like Vietnam or Indonesia and are
having trouble adjusting. Most of the young people head off to the city
after growing up, so there are plenty of children at the church but not
so many helpers.

This is behind the church. Perhaps this was countryside in 1948.

This is a top view of what they call "countryside".

竹東鎮位於台灣新竹縣中心的一個鎮，人口約9.7萬人，鎮內居民以客家族群為主，
竹東早期以製造樟腦聞名,其後石油的鑽探、水泥及玻璃工業的設廠及林場集散場的
拓展下,使本鎮的繁榮一日千里，因為從前雄踞內山，為全台三大鎮之一，現有工業
技術研究院和新竹科學園區第三期計畫，已經轉型為高科技研發中心。

Taiwan Mission Zhu Dong Church 台灣短宣-竹東教會(二)

2009-07-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

第四天- 07/23/09 (Thursday)

We now only have one more day with these amazing children. The time is much
too short. Before continuing on, we need to first ask for prayers for Esther
Lai and Scott Williams. Esther has caught the flu and lost her voice.
Scott is not feeling well and all we can determine for the moment is that
he is having a hard time adjusting to all the various things here at the
same time: Hot, humid weather, time changes, a new diet, and perhaps playing
too hard with the kids after the VBS program. Pray for both of them because
they have been such important members of our team and we really want to
see them up to 100%, both to bring joy to the children and so that they
too can have joy from their service here.

只剩一天和這些令人驚嘆的孩子相處。時間實在是太短了﹗在說下去之前﹐ 我們要
先為黎師母和史考克禱告。黎師母感冒失聲。至於史考克﹐ 我們都認為他一下子很
難適應所有新事物﹕悶熱的天氣﹐時差﹐食物﹐與可能在夏令營下課之後﹐和小朋
友玩得太累了。
請為我們禱告﹕因為黎師母和史考克是我們短宣隊的重要成員﹐ 他們百分之百的康
復﹐不但能帶給孩子歡樂﹐也會讓他們從服事中得到快樂。

We began talking about next week's plan with the junior high students.
The last revision to the numbers was 160 students, which is certainly still
beyond comprehension. Between us and the EMei church helpers, we have the
right numbers to make classes of 20, but are we the right team to lead this

group? We really need your prayers for this as we don't want individual
classes to break down while others succeed and this job is looking to be
more than we had originally anticipated. Some of our helpers don't know
Chinese, while the EMei helpers don't know English making it impractical
to form certain pairs to lead a class. Our God is faithful and can do amazing
things, so we must seek Him for this.

我們開始討論下星期要教國中生的事情。最新的人數更正是160名學生﹐遠超過我們
的理解。短宣隊再加上峨眉教會的義工﹐剛好可編排一班20人的學生。可是﹐短宣
隊適合帶領這個組嗎﹖我們非常需要你們的禱告﹐這項工作超乎我們的預料﹐而且
不希望看到有的班級做得好﹐有的班級搞砸了。有的短宣隊員不懂中文﹐有的峨眉
教會的義工不會英文﹐造成有些配對是不切實際的。我們必須尋求神的指引﹐因為
神是信實的﹐能做令人難以置信的美好事情。

Here are some more pictures from our adventures here showing our various
groups. We had a very smooth time today with the teaching.

今日的教學非常順利﹐並請觀賞各組的圖片。

Taiwan Mission ZhuDong Church台灣短宣-竹東教會(一)

2009-07-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

第一天- 07/20/09 (Monday)

Pastor: 主責牧師：鄒仁裕牧師 (03)596 4821

Address: 地點：新竹縣竹東鎮幸福路132 號（改革宗長老會竹東教會)

Our first week is at the Zhu Dong (竹東) church doing a VBS program among
children from 1st grade to 6th grade. The first day had the usual bit of
surprises, technical difficulties and other issues, but the 50 children
were able to learn a bit and things didn't break down into total chaos.
We discussed afterwards regarding how to break the large group up into
smaller groups so that all the various helpers can interact with the children
more. Pastor Fan from the EMei church brought over several more young people
to help, so there were plenty of helpers. Holding this many children in
a room with an echo presents many problems if the children start speaking
when they aren't supposed to. Pray that we would be better at managing
this, and that the Lord will assist in maintaining control!

A Side Note 短宣花絮

The students are checking out the new teachers. They say they are fully
prepared because they have been watching Sesame Street. We decided to hold
on the Biblical Greek verb tense lecture.

Our main goal was to talk about Jesus and teach some English. We are still
getting the team together. May the Lord grant us an effective time here.

The kids also deduced immediately that I was American. I asked them how
they did this. They explained that it is because I have a long nose and
all long nose people are Americans!

我們第一個星期﹐是在竹東改革宗長老會舉辦的兒童英語夏令營﹐學童從一年級到六
年級。第一天﹐總是有些令人措手不及的技術困難及其他小意外﹐可是﹐五十位學
生也能學習﹐場面不致失控。事後我們討論如何分成小組﹐使各個義工都能與學童
有更多的接觸。

峨眉教會的范牧師﹐還帶來幾位年輕人來幫忙﹐我們真是人力充足。不過﹐大家濟
濟一堂﹐如果小朋友開始說話的時候﹐回音就是問題啦﹗請為我們禱告﹕神能幫助
我們更能控制管理好學生的秩序。

A few of the children have made the church their second home. They show
up here at 8:00am and stay around until 7 or 8pm. Thanks to thiis, we have
plenty of opportunities to interact with them outside of the VBS time.
They were hanging on Matt, gaping at Daniel and speaking gibberish to Scott!
The language barrier doesn't seem to have been any significant obstacle.
When the college kids weren't busy, they were preparing skits and songs
to perform for the kids.

有幾個學生把教會當成是他們第二個家。他們清晨八點就來﹐待到七﹐八點才走。
因為這樣﹐我們在夏令營以外的時間﹐還有很多的機會跟他們在一起。他們黏著馬
太﹐瞪著吳明明發獃﹐對著史考克嘰哩咕嚕講話。這裡沒有所謂的語言障礙問題﹗這些
大學生不忙的時候﹐他們就準備要為小孩表演的話劇和福音詩歌。

Pray that the little bit of time we have will be used effectively to tell
about Jesus.

請為我們禱告﹕神能幫助我們有效運用這短暫的時間﹐傳達主耶穌的信息。

第二天- 07/21/09 (Tuesday)

Thanks to the Lord we had a much smoother second day as there was more order
to the proceedings and we were able to divide up into different small groups
to spend some time with the children. The team here was started by Home
of Christ in Newark, but we were joined by several from Home of Christ in
Fremont. The picture below shows all of us, although not that clearly.
We are doing last minute preparations while struggling with adjusting to
the heat and humidity.

The left side is Jennifer Yang, Janice Wu, Daniel
Stillman, Edward Wang, Alan Yang, Matt Neilson, and Scott Williams. The right
side is Douglas Stillman, Esther Lai, pastor John Lai, and Steven Wong.

Thankfully the Lord has allowed us to form a team from a wide variety of
ages and backgrounds. May we continue to improve our cooperation with each
other. The Lord has helped us to adjust somewhat to the change of weather
and time.
感謝神﹗第二天的福音工作比昨日順利進行。我們得以分成不同小組﹐有更多時間
與小朋友分享。我們的短宣隊起先是由基督之家的第六家組成﹐後來又有幾位來自
第三家的兄弟姐妹加入我們的隊伍。我們忙著做最後一分鐘的準備工作﹐也同時為
適應悶熱的天氣奮戰。雖然看不太清楚﹐但是全部的團員都在下面的照片。
左邊﹕陳鯤芷﹐莊嘉蘭﹐吳明明﹐王愛偉﹐楊智元﹐馬太和史考克。
右邊﹕戴格思﹐黎師母﹐黎牧師和黃雪亭
感謝神使這個短宣隊的成員﹐來自不同的年紀與背景。希望我們的同工合作能更有
增長。神已幫助我們可以有些適應天氣及時差了。

Most of the technical problems of yesterday were anticipated and overcome.
Our concern for prayer now is mainly to continue to improve the effectiveness
of the teaching, while starting to establish a relationship with the children,

but we still need the Lord's power to help maintain order.
Next week we are told that there will be 180 children all going into either
7th or 8th grade. This sounds scary, but we are told that there will be
organizers who maintain strict military discipline.

我們克服了大部分已被預料到昨日的技術問題。現在最關心的禱告是﹐我們需要主的
大能以維持秩序﹐不但要開始與學童建立關係﹐並且要思考如何繼續增進教學的效
率。
下個星期﹐ 我們會有180名要升上七年級或八年級的國中生。聽起來有點嚇人﹐但
是聽說主辦者維持嚴格的軍訓﹐免驚啦﹗

Regarding the local church here in Zhudong, this is one that needs our prayers
to the Lord to help them as they take on so many challenges. The local
community has a large number of foreign wives coming from places like Vietnam
and Indonesia who are struggling to adjust to the different environment.
This church is known for its community service, but this is a vast undertaking
for such a small church. Pray that God will grant more workers to assist
Pastor Zhuo and his wife as they try to do what the Lord has called them
to do.

因為竹東教會承擔諸多的挑戰﹐我們特別要為他們禱告。該社區有很多從越南和印尼
嫁來的太太﹐掙扎適應不同的環境。竹東教會為社區的貢獻是有目共睹的。可是﹐對
於一個小教會﹐這是一項艱巨的使命。我們懇求神能應許帶領更多人幫忙鄒牧師和
鄒師母﹐因為他們的所作所為都是受到神的感召的。

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for
us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim
the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim
it clearly, as I should." - Colossians 4:2-4

你們要恆切禱告﹐在此儆醒感恩﹔也要為我們禱告﹐求神給我們開傳道的門﹐能以
講基督的奧秘﹐ (我為此被困鎖﹐)叫我按著所該說的話﹐將這奧秘發明出來。

第三天- 07/22/09 (Wednesday)

For those who prefer to read the mission updates in Chinese, Angie Stillman
will be posting them and translating them online at:

http://hoc6taiwanmission.blogspot.com/

This also includes a few corrections and additions.
中文版的基督之家的第六家短宣腳蹤﹐由吳瑛季編譯及加註。

The Lord has certainly answered our prayers to have a more orderly presentation
of Bible stories and songs. We had some good small group time with the older
5th and 6th graders where we learned a lot about their knowledge of the
gospel. Many of the children have already made decisions to accept Jesus
as their savior. The Zhudong church has certainly been teaching the Bible.

主確實應許我們的禱告﹐教導聖經的故事和詩歌都按步就班進行。我們和五年級及六
年級作小組討論﹐得以知道很多他們對福音的了解。許多孩子已下定決心接受耶穌
是他們的救世主。竹東教會的確是在教導聖經的話語。

Still, we have a special task here to provide some additional learning and
inspiration to the children. Our last two lesson plans were on serving
and obeying, so we hope to talk about the need to continue as an active
part of the Heavenly Kingdom as we grow older and life takes us to our different destinations. Pray that we will be able to clearly teach this message and challenge the children, and that God will use them in wonderful ways that we can never imagine.

另外﹐ 我們還有一項特別任務﹐要多提供教導和啟發孩童。我們上兩課教導服事和
服從﹐所以希望當我們的年紀增長﹐ 人生各有不同的目的地時﹐ 我們仍然要繼續
積極為天國的工作努力。

請為我們禱告﹕神能幫助我們清楚教導信息並挑戰兒童。神能超乎我們的想像之外﹐
能美妙地使用他們。

Here are a few more images: