Dragon boat Festival

 This is my third year that I have been in Taiwan during the dragon boat festival, although this year was the first time I ever actually watched the dragon boat races.

So, a bit of a history lesson: this festival commemorates a famous patriotic poet Chu Yuan who drowned himself in the river when his home state was taken over by another. It was said people  raced to rescue him in boats and when they could find him, they threw zongzi (a rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves) so the fish would eat those instead of the poet.

So, these traditions of boat racing and eating traditional foods are still practiced today. Also, I noticed people put up bunches of herbs on their doors in our apartment building this morning. Evidently, this time of year is important for protection from evil and disease so these healthy herbs are a part of securing that for the year to come.

 Today, I went with a bunch of friends from church to watch the races, and a number of people I know from church were also IN the races. So, it turned out to be quite the enjoyable event.

The teams all paddle to the beat of a drum that keeps them in sync with one another. The person on the extreme front of the boat is the one who reaches out and grabs the flag that is sitting in the water at the finish line ( you can see the girl in the photo below getting ready to secure the victory for their team)

I also learned that the person in the way back who steers the boat has to train for that for two years before being able to compete.

I was thinking watching this event a year or two ago would not have been as fun because I would not have known as many people or would have been able to actually cheer for a team that I knew.

Dragon Boat Festival in Danshui
Upon arriving in my city, Danshui, I was reminded that this festival is not just about a good time, cheering for friends and eating all kinds of fried foods and mango shaved ice-cream. There is a deeper, darker side to these days.

Danshui at the time of the Dragon Boat Festival also celebrates one of their major idols of the city. They march the idol around the city, setting off fireworks before it to clear the evil spirits away. Since I've been home, the sounds are similar to some I've heard in Afghanistan....pops and explosions, though these are all from firecrackers and fireworks exploding in the air, not bringing death to people, but an attempt to cause evil in the spiritual world to flee.

Pictured here is the idol in front of the people and the firecrackers being set off behind it as it is marched through the streets. 

But tomorrow a greater evil sets in on the city.....the streets will be filled with parades to worship the idols, performances in front of temples, but worst of all will be the many shamans who get themselves high and often becoming demon possessed, dancing around the streets and physically mutilating their bodies with instruments full of sharp razors or by poking steel rods through their cheeks and all sorts of horrific practices. This is a dark day in the city, one I usually head into Taipei for to escape some of the intensity.

But it reminds me, that we were all created for worship.
We are all created to express our awe and fear of something that is more powerful than us.

Some of are still looking for what that ultimate power is.

And as they look, they bend their knee elsewhere.

Embracing Freedom

While I'm here in C. Asia I've taken to running in the botanical gardens just down from the house I am staying in. It's 2 Somoni (about $0.40) for the entrance fee and in the morning it's me and the women who are sweeping the sidewalks clean. It's so beautiful. The air is fresh, I catch glimpses of the snow covered mountains around certain turns, peacocks wander freely and here I am, in my sweats and t-shirt, iPod with hip hop music pumping and I'm running....in C. Asia!

When I first moved to Taiwan from Af, everything seemed amazing. I could walk by myself. I could wear t-shirts. I could go out after dark. And so I did those things, I enjoyed them. I shared my excitement with others.

While I've been here, how could I not take advantage of the beauty and the freedom of being able to go running (btw, something I've NEVER done in C. Asia before so it was amazing!)

I've been studying the book of Hebrews to teach in the SBS when I get back. And I've been thinking about how often I take the gospel, the truth, my freedom in Christ for granted. It gets to be the same ol', same ol' thing. The readers of Hebrews were willing to throw their freedom away to go back to the law because it looked a little easier, a little less taxing on their day to day lives. But, they have beauty and freedom and hope at their fingertips. The grace and mercy of God.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."(Gal. 5:1)
It's possible to walk away from freedom. It's possible for me to sit in the house, thinking how great it would be to run in a beautiful park but too scared to really step out and do it. It's possible for me to hold back from living free in Christ, submitting to a bunch of "shoulds" or "shouldn'ts"....it's possible to have the truth and never fully embrace it in my life.

Oh that we may live free in Christ, embracing our identity as ones who are loved and redeemed, freely sharing how amazing that freedom is with others.

Teaching Prep--Titus-style

So, I've been in the blogging mood but haven't felt like I have too much that's interesting to talk about...then I found that quite ironic because I'm in the middle of a blitz of teaching prep just arriving back from India and just about to head out to C. Asia. There's lots to talk about, but teaching prep just doesn't feel all that, well social or sharable.

So, this is what I've been doing for the last week and a half and will continue to do for the next two weeks! Yeah for studying and teaching prep. It's been quite the shock to go from an intense, people-filled time to sitting at home, or in coffee shops or at a classroom, typing and praying and studying and thinking and writing and planning and well, introverting.

But, my time with Titus Project has really helped me grow as a teacher, I believe. For one, it's immensely helped me to understand how I best prepare to teach. Before I'd just type up bulleted teachings, sometimes word-for-word, because that's what I thought you did, then I'd print them out, scribble a bunch of notes from them, and then either never look at them when I teach or get completely lost while I teach.

I've discovered the art and joy of mind-mapping and have been experimenting with it to teach and also plan my schedules. I've realized color and space to add things freedom to draw pictures rather than write detailed points has helped me teach better and more creatively. Teaching prep has always been something I've done only because I had to, and half the time I ended up relying on my abilities to ad-lib and to think on my feet.

This is my teaching schedule for a D-school that I will be teaching in this
 next month. I was pretty proud of my "note pad" to write my to-do list on
 the right side. 

This is an example of mind-mapping my teaching for an overview of the
Inductive Method. This is a 45 minute teaching which fits nicely on
one sheet of paper. I taught from this one while in India. 

So, if you're reading this and not bored out of your mind yet, please do pray for me as I prepare. I have a number of different groups of people I'll be teaching over a period of about 5 weeks. I want to make sure I'm catching God's heart for each group as well as offering them what they need to be even better equipped and to have a deeper understanding of the word of God. So, pray that as I prepare, God would speak and lead and that I'd not be distracted but able to focus and follow through with all the preparation that needs to be done.

And....that there would be some space and time for some social activity. Otherwise, I just get weird if I spend too much time alone. 

YWAM Taipei

This video gives you a great look into what goes on here in Taiwan and what we are doing here to connect with things God is doing around the world. Please take a few minutes to watch, and also to pray for the ministry and the workers here. 

Return to Oz....or a look inside my emotional nostalgia

This might be a bit of a random post....and being that it's past my bed time and I've been a bit reflective and introspective lately, it doesn't seem so random after all, to me. But you, dear reader, may feel cast into my sea of nostalgia and contemplation. Don't worry...just keep swimming and hopefully you'll stay afloat and make it to shore.

So....confession time. The movie "Return to Oz" is one that I actually think about quite a bit. I was a huge Wizard of Oz fan...I watched it on TV every year when it came on, hiding my eyes from the flying monkey scenes, wondering what it really feels like to have to have my jaw oiled by a tin can, and wondering why Dorothy is often so moody about her family stuff when it really doesn't seem that bad.

But, Return to Oz is just weird. I loved the "real" movie so much and when I first saw this movie, I was a bit crushed. Crushed because the anticipation of being able to return to Oz compared to both the quality of the movie and the experience of the characters was just so dark, so dreary, so bizarre. And I think I often have a cynical look on things in the same way as this movie experience.

Let me elaborate....for example, my elementary school was just torn down this last year. I watched the pictures people posted on the Internet and felt a deep sadness in my heart. The memories I have were so alive in my mind and in my emotional connection to that place. There are stories that I still tell people about that time in my life that are all intertwined in that building. But the photos showed a place so drastically different. Dark, depressing, bizarre even. It didn't seem anywhere near as close.

I think sometimes I fear seeing places and even people grow and change, my experience of them the first time was so rich and I'm afraid that return is going to be as shocking to me as it was to the characters in the Return to Oz movie, and to the viewer experiencing the movie.

Where am I going with this??? I sound like I'm just running away from reality and living in an idealistic dream world.

Well, no....but I have been processing a few things lately and I'm letting you in some of it. First....let's talk about my own return to Oz. But my return was to the Taj Mahal.

 I came here seven years ago (wow...time flies!) at the beginning of a trip a friend and I took to India from Kyrgyzstan a few months after the tsunami in 2005. We came to help out a ministry in Chennai and stopped in Agra on the way. Through a series of naive decisions on our part, we ended up getting taken advantage of by a tour company and our guide for the day brought us here 45 minutes prior to its closing. We ran around (literally) snapping photos. We thought we'd be geniuses and trade cameras so all the photos I took had him in them and all the ones I took had me......then I was mugged the DAY I returned to Kyrgyzstan and all those photos, the ones with me all in them were gone. Forever. My friend only had the ones I took, of him, on his camera.

 So, here I am, with real documented proof that I was at the Taj Mahal again. The experience however, was quite the opposite of the frantic disappointment of the drama of the first time. This time I got to stare at and admire this incredible structure and dialogue with friends about the incredible waste of money this is on a dead woman, etc. etc. But, oddly, as I was walking around this place, I had a moment of connection with God.
I was looking at all this, remembering my previous experience and those last seven years of life flashed before me. I thought of how rich my experiences have been since this time....people pay money to come to this place as a once in a lifetime experience and here I am for the second time, and I've seen and done things that far surpass even this great experience. I thought of how much I've grown since I first arrived here. I had an emotional breakdown at the end of that day in 2005 feeling lost and helpless with all the events that happened, and I realized if the same thing happened again I would know exactly what to do and how to handle it....I even had friends I could call who could help me out.

This bench (in the photo to the right) is where I sat and had my break down the first time as our tour guide had abandoned us, only to return 2 hours after he said he would with alcohol on his breath. Life came full-circle. I am a better person because of all that transpired over these last seven years. I've matured, experienced things, grown, made mistakes, laughed and cried, been hurt and hurt others, been humbled and had joy in so many moments. God as truly been good in my life.

So my return to Oz, to the Taj Mahal, was not a disappointment, but a deeply rewarding experience. It made me overwhelmingly thankful for the journey of life God has set me upon and who he has molded me and shaped me into in the process.

And I have another upcoming "Return to Oz" encounter. It's been over two years since I moved away from Central Asia. I miss it deeply. I have fond memories and stories and stories that I tell others and people that I miss having a part of my every day life that really are like my family from our experiences together. I left a large chunk of my heart behind in this land and with the people there.

I didn't realize it until I started processing and focusing on this upcoming trip that I'm a bit nervous to return. I know things will be very different. For one the office as it was when I was there is pretty much gone. The team and the work has moved locations. People have come and gone and things have moved on.

I'm also a bit nervous about returning to one of the other "stans" I will be visiting because the last time I was there was when I received the phone call that my brother James had died. That place is intrinsically connected to that tragedy in my own life.

I know I can't be a cynic and neither can I be overly idealistic. I'm SOOOOO excited and so thankful for this upcoming trip and hoping that just as God opened my eyes to see all he's done in my life during my visit to the Taj Mahal, that this will be a deeply meaningful trip on so many levels as I return to my own Oz at the end of this month.

Stay tuned...

Incredible India

I first stepped onto Indian soil seven years ago. Before I came that first time a friend of mine told me that everything you never expected or thought you could see you will probably see in India. She was right. India is a place of intensity. The culture is aggressive and vibrant in all its various outlets...the food is spicy, the colors are bright, the language is loud and never seems to pause between sentences. The traffic is constant, the people are piled and packed and squeezed together, the sun beats down with ferocity, the gods are innumerable, the poverty is overwhelming, and the daily experiences are unpredictable.

When I first came to India, I left with this thought in my mind, "Oh God, I'm so thankful I'm not called to India." I laugh now because God has brought me back to this land a few times and each time, my heart is more and more opened to this place and its people. There is an incredible open door here to work with Afghans. As I've been here in India this time, my experience hasn't been one of just trying to breathe in the midst of the culture shock I was undergoing, but this time I feel at ease and have been able to enjoy and learn and appreciate so much of India. I've made friends, not just "dealt with" people. And many days I've had this feeling like I was quite at home.

I think often times it's the people that make a place and an experience. This trip was not an exception to that. We have met and shared our lives with some incredible people who are living for the Lord here. Afghans, Iranians, Indians from all over the sub-continent, westerners, business people and ministers. Moms and teenagers, pastors and lay people. This has made this trip. We came here to serve and bless. I believe we did that to the best of our abilities. But the people also blessed and taught me so incredibly much.

 This trip to India has opened my eyes in many ways. Delhi is a metropolitan place where people from many nations take up residence and put down roots or reside until they move on to the next place. It's a meeting place of cultures and nations. It's at the intersection of major empires from the past and it's a gate and a hub for many trying to escape a difficult life or searching for a better one.
I also have had my eyes opened to the hunger and the need for truth in this place. Churches and individuals are hungry to feast on God's word, and some just don't know the best way to pick it up and ingest it. The tools that we were able to off through Titus project sometimes felt small in the sea of needs but the individuals that we were able to spend time with I know God touched and challenged and spoke to during the time here. This makes it all worth it. We will leave this place, not just having entertained or had a good experience ourselves, but others have encountered God and will continue to after we are gone.

So India has proven to be an unexpected delight and joy. Our original plan never included India, but God led our team step by step to this place and I stand at the end of it amazed at all the beauty that it has revealed.

Before we left for our outreach, we had a prayer time and someone gave us a word that God wasn't giving us Plan B but his plan was always Plan A. This was a promise we held on to this entire time as our locations, contacts and time of ministry all changed even up until the last minute we left. God knew what he was doing even when we (I!!) couldn't see it.

 And though the sun is setting on this short season of our outreach, I believe there is another sun rising in my heart for things for the future. I sense God just asking me to return to Taiwan to finish well and to seek him there. I believe more of that plan will be revealed in this upcoming year, but it's exciting to me to know that God is in control and he has some open doors and plans to continue to reach Afghans, Muslims and many others with his Word and to encounter Jesus Christ.

And of course, this trip would not have been the incredible experience it was without my team. God blessed me with being able to share two months with these people who love the Lord, who are willing to serve and who teach with passion and authority. I have been challenged and sharpened by each one of them and they have shown me so much of God's heart over these last two months. I could endlessly brag about them. I'm just thankful for their friendship and that we got the privilege to serve in ministry together here in this incredible land. 

What does Jesus see?

Here I am, sitting at the end of my day, reflecting on all it held. There were great people to meet and spend time with, times of worship and preaching, times of laughter and fellowship, food and shopping. And yet there is a moment that sticks in my mind that I find myself going back to at the end of the day.

My friends and I were at a stoplight riding in the back of an auto rickshaw in the late afternoon of the day. The traffic is whizzing by, in and out. The horns are endlessly honking and humanity is ev.ery.where. Out of the corner of my eye, across the intersection I see a small child. She is standing in the middle of the median, holding a plastic bag and scooping garbage into it. The small girl has no pants on, wild tangled hair, and is covered in dust. I look around at me. The cars continue to whizz by, the men try to sell us various goods at the red light. People wait for the bus, hail an auto rickshaw, go about their business.

I've been thinking about Jesus a lot. I guess when you teach the Bible, this is the joy and perk of the job. I often wonder what it is that Jesus sees, that touches his heart, that I often walk by and don't give any attention to. I wonder as God sees each hair on every person's head, even the wild mess of a mane this little girl has, what does God see in her that I gaze past, as soon as the light turns green and I carry on the normal course of life and never think about again? And how, in the seas of millions of people, can I go deeper in God's heart for the lost, the poor, the broken, the hurting and the shamed? 

Ni hao, Salaam, Namaste, Hello....from India!

So, call me an idiot, but I had no idea there were as many people groups as there are in Delhi. It's a collision of the world, a traffic jam of ideas, thoughts, religion, hopes, dreams, fatalism and existentialism, experience and thought...body soul and spirit trying to find their greatest good. Delhi is like the intersection of the world where everyone comes with their own mode of transportation and tries to make their way in the world.

I've been to Delhi probably 4-5 times but most of the time I was passing through, on my way somewhere else. This is the first time I've stopped, smelled the roses (among piles of garbage I guess) and spent more time with people. My initial impression on my previous trips was not so positive...I have stress-filled memories from those times and the only gifts I took away were parasites and numerous trips to the bathroom. My heart is much changed. Delhi has proven to be a place of possibilities, where God's spirit is moving and working, where people's lives are being transformed and truth CAN be found.

Our team arrived three weeks ago. From the time I started planning this outreach just in prayer and with an idea to this time, I feel like every step I take gets a little bit redirected. This has proven to be true of this whole outreach as we are not going to be continuing on to Central Asia as we had originally planned. But, God's opened up the door for ministering here. We have had opportunities to teach, preach, lead Bible Studies, pray for people, share the gospel a bit, and experience the many flavors and varieties of life that India has to offer.

We have spent most of our time with the Afghan people. I have to say, I have been near to tears many days seeing the realization of some personal prayers and dreams of mine become a reality right in front of my eyes. My stomach has been blessed with great Afghan food once again and I'm still convinced Afghan hospitality is the best in the world. And the friendships that have been formed just in these first three weeks, have the potential to be life-long friends. One thing that amazes me about times of outreach is as much as you step out to be a blessing, to serve others, to build others up, God has poured back into my life many times that. Today as a number of Afghan women laid hands on me and prayed blessings over me in their own language, I felt so humbled and blessed that God would call ordinary Danika from a tiny little town in Northern Minnesota, and send me half way around the world to a culture and people so completely different from my own and allow me to feel at home and see the Kingdom of God grow and blossom. I am one blessed woman.

So, here are some photos from my trip so far...to give you a taste of what I've been doing. Many of our times with the A people cannot be posted here so know there is a side of this trip where even more treasure and great times have been had but will not be included on this blog.

teaching prep in the cold of the morning....but with a hot cup of chai! 

Becca, myself and Aimy...the powerhouse women of our team

Preaching in a Hindi-speaking church

Lindsay, who is graciously allowing us women to stay in her home--a great new friend

Preparing Bible Overview teachings at the coffee shop....this is how I spent my birthday! 

Bible Overview teaching

Pilau....so good to eat Afghan food once again! 

So, what does God have in store next? We still have 5 weeks left here in India. Our plan is to travel and teach in a few different places, to build into those relationships we've already made, and to seek God for more opportunities to minister to the people here. My heart is so full on this trip...in many ways, I feel right at home and there are definite open doors for the future should I choose to walk through them. This will be a year of decision for me as to the path that lies ahead so if you think of it, please pray that God would direct me step-by-step and give me wisdom as I consider all the options to invest in both now on this trip, and in the future.

Rock-buzz

I really love people. I love getting to know their stories, to hear about their lives and to share mine. I love it when two people start to connect on a heart level and we get into the real "meat" of life...the raw, open honest things of the human experience.

Thursday evenings you can find me at this place above...The Rock Coffee Bar in the city I live in. This place is the center of a lot of our work and ministry here. It's an English speaking coffee house where people can come in, get a free cup of coffee and have conversation. The goal is to have a place where you can have conversation about Jesus without having to brave walking through the door of a church, which many people would never even consider.

Most Thursday evenings I come home with a "Rock-buzz"....I love the fellowship, the challenge and the excitement of what these evenings bring. I never really know who will show up, what we'll talk about and what the response will be.

This evening was one of my favorite kind of evenings...I got to see familiar faces and invest in relationships that are continuing to go deeper. I also got to meet new friends and see friends that I hadn't seen for awhile. There's talk of times to get together, times to study the Bible together, and times to just have fun together. And Jesus is the passion that I am able to speak of openly. This ministry is such a blessing and I love seeing how God uses it to reach people where they are at, challenge them to consider and follow him, and a place where people can talk about "real stuff." It's one of those evenings where I just take a moment and realize, I love what I do. I'm so blessed that this is the life I get to live. And I was just so excited I wanted to share my moment of excitement with you. May God continue to reveal himself more and more to the people of Taiwan.

Meet the team!

The last few weeks have been spent sitting in a classroom, talking about things like learning styles, team dynamics, reaching oral communicators, how to prepare a lesson, teaching through a translator and listening to many different practice teachings from those who are in the training time. The five of us (pictured from L to R: Julien, Becca, Danika, Aimy, Timmy) have had a number of team meetings to plan our teaching times, better understand one another and to learn more together about the nations we will be connecting with.

It has been two years since I have really interacted with the A people and my heart misses them. I'm excited to take a group of people to be able to pour into and build up these people, equipping them to live lives for God that give him glory and strengthen their faith.

As we prepare to leave, I'd invite you into our preparation process. Would you please commit to praying for us, for the teaching that we will be giving, for the people we will be serving, the contacts we will be working with, and just that in the middle of all of it, we would enjoy God and grow in him and together in relationship. Please also pray that the rest of my ground fees would come in. I'm still in need of (on top of my regular monthly support) another $500USD. My team's finances are mostly in as long as their monthly supporters also continue to give as they have committed. Praise God for how he's opened the door for this trip financially, with the contacts we'll be working with, and all the details that have come together.

Just to rave about this team a bit....each one of them will be returning here to Taiwan to staff and teach. They are all incredibly mature and each uniquely gifted. We have people from France, Egypt and USA and all of us have been involved in ministry to some degree in the past. I'm seeing we all really enjoy spending time together and are very relational with the people around us so I hope that continues to be the trend as we will have lots of time together and meeting with people over the next two months.

Teaching on Cross-Cultural Ministry

Culture....
Something we may not deliberately think about, but it affects us every single day.

Culture is a normal part of my life.

I live in Taiwan. The last 6.5 years of my life I've been primarily in Asia. I know how to say hello and thank you in countless languages. I have friends on and from every single continent of the world and I feel like nearly any country I go to I would at least know someone who knows someone from that place. I have had the privilege to experience the joys and challenges of working in cross-cultural work for nearly 10 years now. I've made cultural blunders, and also known the feeling of learning something in a culture and because of it, connecting to the heart of another person. I love it.

Yesterday I got to teach on Ministering Cross-Culturally in our Titus Project class. And as I prepared and yesterday as I taught, I'm just so thankful. I'm so thankful for the variety of people that God created. For the nationalities and cultural beauty that he used to paint the canvas of the world. How very boring and ordinary the world would be if we all looked, acted, talked, and thought the same. God is definitely a God who loves diversity, creativity, variety and beauty.

And to my friends who live all over the world, speak any number of languages, have customs so very different from my own, I truly appreciate you and what you have contributed to my life. I feel I have become a richer person because of it.

Teaching on High and Low Power Distance in all our different cultures

Titus Project Begins

 Wednesday morning, 28 participants and 9 staff members started meeting together to learn what it means to be a teacher, how to be a more effective teacher and how do we all take our 9 months of Bible training and put it into a format that others can benefit from and utilize themselves.

This is a great group of students. Many of them have long-term vision to work here in Taiwan and in many other places around the world.

At the end of our three week training time, outreach teams will be headed all over the world to train and equip churches and church leaders all over Asia. This year we have teams in Mongolia, Japan, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, and in two other locations that can't be listed here due to security. If you are reading this, please take a few minutes to pray for these teams as well as the believers in these locations that they will be blessed and built up and better equipped to minister to others.

My team has been meeting together and our teaching time is slowly unfolding. One prayer request is that in one of our locations, there is a great movement of new believers and young leaders being trained up. We want to work with this group but due to security we have been unable to find a place to actually meet and do teaching together. Please pray that a place will open up that we could help equip these guys as they are standing for truth in a place where Christianity is not welcome.

Also, we purchased our tickets to our first location in India! What has been just a far off thought and plan is slowly becoming a reality.

For more information on Titus Project you can check out the website

2011 Reflections

New Year's Eve and all is well. 2011 is fading into history, and 2012 looms in front of us all. I love this time of year. I love new beginnings. I've always loved starting something new....a new project, visiting a new place, starting a new school, meeting new friends. Not that I despise the old, but the new really get's my imagination rolling and all the possibilities get me excited.

But I want to take a few moments and just reflect on this past year, the highlights that made it a great year to remember. This year was one of stability in the fact that the only places I traveled was home to visit family. I remained in Taiwan from January through the beginning of November....this is the longest time I've remained in one place since I joined YWAM....nearly 10 years ago! Staffing SBS challenged me and blessed me in so many ways. I was able to deepen friendships that began when I came to Taiwan, said goodbye to friends, and met new people.

The year began in the snowy wonderland of Minnesota on vacation but was interrupted a bit abruptly by a visa crisis in Taiwan and I had to return early in order to take care of my visa. This began a number of long hours helping with visas this year. God worked a number of miracles to help keep me and others in this country I learned so much this year. And I'm convinced visas are the most faith-building endeavors, no matter where in the world you are.


Staffing SBS

Studying the Bible has been one of the best things I've ever pursued and being able to staff the school of Biblical Studies was an incredible opportunity to go through the Bible again and learn and grow with other staff and students. As with every school it presented it's own challenges, ups and downs, sleepless nights, tearful moments and many laughs and hugs and deep conversations. Most of the people I worked with this last year will be staffing next year as well so we have an opportunity to go deeper and grow and learn and improve.

Enjoying my 30's
I know many milestone birthdays can be scary. However, I've been amazed at how much I've been enjoying being in my 30's. Making decisions hopefully with more wisdom and less compulsiveness. Discipling younger men and women out of what I've learned and seen in life, and enjoying friendships with people of all ages. I've just been really thankful for this season of life



Studying and Teaching the Word
There are so many days when I have this moment of realization and think to myself, THIS is my job! I spend most of my days reading God's word, speaking about him, counseling others in knowing his word better and talking about what we are learning. This season has been such a blessing in really cementing a foundation of truth in my life. For much of my life I secretly found the Bible a bit boring and dry and after SBS and now even more being able to teach, God's word has become so alive and so fresh and so relevant in ways that I never expected it. I feel as though I discover something new nearly every day.
I was able to teach a lesson on Figures of Speech in the SBS, shared an hour during the book of Acts on Pioneering, taught the book of 2 Timothy to the DTS, and taught Psalms, Exodus, Jeremiah and Lamentations to the SBS here in Taiwan.  One huge thing I've been seeing is how God so perfectly orchestrated history and it's events to point us to our need for salvation from our sin and it all pointed to Jesus. He has always intended to be in relationship with us and did everything possible to make that happen.

Teaching English and Making new friends
Each week I work at our coffeeshop having English conversation with local students and helping with the Advanced English class. I've been able to deepen friendships, pray with people, share the gospel and really get to know more about Taiwanese culture and life through the people I've met. This has been a huge blessing to be a part of and get to know some amazing people. Pray for more fruit in this upcoming year.

Running
This year I was able to do a 5k with my mom, run a 10k on Thanksgiving Day and then ran my second half marathon here in Taipei. There is a great group of people here that loves running and working out together so it's been great motivator this year. Next year my goal is to get in even better shape and really invest in my health.

 Time with Family
This year has been incredible in that I got to see family all throughout the year. My grandma and Dad came to Taiwan to visit me....my first visit since I moved overseas 6 years ago! I was home over Thanksgiving and just relaxed with everyone. My niece Alexee is growing so quickly and I got some Auntie Danika time with her. I am so blessed by these people.

Looking ahead to 2012

I'll be continuing here another year in Taiwan. I recently moved to a new apartment so it feels like a whole new beginning full of possibilities. I'll be staffing SBS again but before that I'll be leading a Bible teaching team to India and central Asia. I'm looking forward to being able to merge three of my passions: the Bible, teaching, and central Asia into one. 

I'll be teaching the book of Hebrews in May in our SBS, a book I'm greatly looking forward to studying and getting to know more. I'm also hoping to do some traveling and teaching this year and will be making more of those plans as the year unfolds. 

So, here's to a great 2011 and anticipating a fantastic 2012!

What have been the highlights of your year?? What are you anticipating this next year??

My New Apartment

Well, after sharing stories of the crazy man in the stairway of our old house, moving houses, and leaving out all the sordid details of the frustration of dealing with our old landlord, I'm excited to show you a little bit of my new home. The photos of the living room and kitchen turned out a bit dark because (thankfully, and at this time of year it's a rarity) it was a sunny day outside and I'm not a gifted photographer. 

But this will be my home for the upcoming year and this place has really been a God-story. We needed to move very quickly and we found this place in ONE DAY which was in our budget, was partially furnished and had perks in it like the flat-screen TV (and the 100 cable channels including some English ones) on the wall, AC in every room of the house, and a good amount of space for the three of us. 

So, come on in...make yourself at home: 

Our living room.....all decorated for Christmas too! 

The kitchen...this is nice and big for Taiwan

The bathroom...everything in here was newly remodeled

My bedroom

and my bedroom...my study area

the living room and kitchen shelves as seen from my bedroom
The place is really open and spacious

This apartment used to be a four bedroom dorm housing for students with a kitchen, but they remodeled it taking out one bedroom which is now the living room so the kitchen and bathrooms are remodeled and the whole place is newly painted and quite well taken care of. This was definitely God's gift to us girls this upcoming year. You are always welcome to come on over for a visit to Taiwan!