God is Good!!

The Joy of the Lord TRULY is my strength...





And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. -Hebrews 11:6

Wow, there is no way to describe how wonderful God truly IS!! As I write this, I have gone through our "normal" day at the English Village, but on only 2 1/2 hrs of sleep! Much as I could be complaining about this, I am really trying hard to look on the bright side of it - it gave me an opportunity to share with y'all how goo God is for keeping me awake! I was teaching dance all day and was sure that I would be exhausted. However, God is good and I am going to stay up until 9:00pm, just to make sure that I sleep all night. I would have gotten more sleep, except for when I take naps in the afternoon, I CANNOT get to sleep in the night (well, not until 2 or 3 hrs after I would like too). Oh, and the fact that I have I certain un-named roomie that likes to talk Chinese/English/Babble in her sleep...it is so funny. I had to wake her up though, just to make sure that she was okay. :)
Thus, I didn't get much sleep last night and I was quite exhausted this morning. However, after a refreshing quite time (...and some Mr. Brown coffee), I had the best work day out of the week!



The children are so precious and so innocent. I just wish that I could do more for them! I am really trying hard to pick up more of their language but it can be really difficult - please pray that the Lord would help me learn it soon and quickly so that I can communicate more with theses children.
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MY BED-ROOM



Ok, this is a picture of our Bedrooms. I have the bottom bunk, Teresa has the top, and Sarah (angelic Sarah) has taken the floor (for now). Please pray that Sarah would get a bed soon. Hers broke, ... and we found out that 5 girls are not suppose to be on one of these little beds all at once!! *oopz!



This is my closet that I share with Sarah. It could be neater,...but then again...



These are my wonderful reminders of all of those people at home that love me and are praying for me. I keep them on my shelf, which also reminds me to pray for them because I see them everyday - just like at home!!



Ok,...now should I leave you to guess when this picture was taken?
Well, I guess that I can tell you...in 2 words: Ultimate Frisbee!!
Ok, we went out, right around the typhoon was suppose to come, and played in all elements an absolutely random game of ultimate Frisbee, in the rain and the wind! It was so much fun...and it was so funny that I could hardly breath!! I am so glad that the Lord gives us laughter - especially when it is a dreary day. I was prepared for a boring day (due to the rain), but God decided to give me a wonderful treat and blessed me with some wonderful teammates that love to play ultimate as much as I do! Yeah!! It was some good memories!

The English Village...WOW!

WOW! Words cannot truly describe what I am doing here. I have not been taking pictures, but if you would like to see what I am experiencing from another friends eyes, you can check out:
http://www.xanga.com/charity89 She is a fantastic photographer and a majority of my pictures have actually come from her (...no, I did not take all of those really good ones, but yes, I have taken quite a few!).

Here is a brief overview of what I do every week (or, should I say, on Mondays) :
MONDAY
6:30 - Wake up to another full day
- Morning devotions...the most peaceful part of my day!
- Have breakfast and work really hard at "hyping" myself up
- Go downstairs to greet new children that I have never met before
- Escort my first class to the dance room (yeah, I am teaching dance...I'll explain later)
9:30-11:10 - work with 2 classes of 5th graders and try to get all of their energy out so that they might behave for the next 4 teachers
11:30 (or so) - Lunch :)
12:30 (or so) - work with 3 more classes of kids and try to wear their energy out (mind you - I do wear out as well!!)
2:30 - say goodbye to the children then head off to the staff meeting
3:30 - the rest of the day is ours - usually to lesson plan for tomorrow
11:20-1:30 - Get ready for and go to bed! Ahhhh,....

Well, that is just the first day. We repeat that same thing on Tue. Thurs. and Fri. However, I am not here on Tue. because I am teaching English at an actual school. In my contract with King Car it says that I may only work in schools if they were approved by King Car, so when the opportunity arouse for people to get out of the English Village and work in actually schools, I eagerly jumped at the chance! So I am now working at a school (one day a week) and teaching a bunch of students that are so sweet that it is impossible for me to love all of them with as much love as I want to give them. This is why I am so grateful that God gives us exactly what we need - and He gives in abundance so that it may overflow on others. Isn't He great?

OK, so this week I am working in Dance class. I get to teach them a bunch of random things though, like stretches, the "Hokey Pokey", steps, and a little "dance" at the end, which is actually just some random steps that were put to music. So, literally, this is not truly dance class, but it is simple enough, so that the kids can understand it. I have also taught in the Clinic, which was very interesting, and the Hotel, which could pass for a real Hotel! These places are amazing. King Car had a very wide budget when they made this English Village!

Oh, and one more quick thing that I just remembered. We had the press in today! It was quite amazing. Morgan Sun (my boss) had told us that the press was coming on Thurs. (today), but I don't think that any of us were quite prepared for what came in. It was like we were some amazing show! There were camera's, video people, news managers, people in high positions throughout Taiwan, and more! But, even though we claimed not to be prepared, the press was really impressed. They were all over the place, taking pictures and interviewing people - it was cool! And, as I just found out the Managers (top guy's, people in charge, whatever...) of Eva Airlines were so impressed with our airport and presentation of the airplane, that they offered Mr. Sun 3 more airplane "insides" for his use! Wow, I am not sure whether to be excited about that or fearing that they might try to make 3 more English Villages! It was, however, a blessing because Mr. Sun was on "Cloud 9" all day long, and seeing as he is not proclaiming to be a Christian, this would be an amazing blessing for him, and it could get him asking us some questions. Oh, and while I am on that subject, Mr. Sun came into one of out meetings the other day, and told us that he thought that we were doing a fantastic job with this English Village, and he was so proud of us for all the work that we were doing. He also mentioned that he was thinking that our God must be pretty amazing in order to let this be going so well even though we do not know too much of what we are doing. He went on to say that Taiwan has never had anything like this, and that he didn't want it to end here, but he wanted to take it further and build another Village/school and make it a Character Building school! *jaw drop open on my part* Now, if that is not a miracle - coming from one of the biggest man in Taiwan (other that the President...maybe higher) - all I can say is WOW!
All I can do is ask God why He would put a blessing on this place. The only answer that I've come to so far is that He is really going to work some wonders here...I am looking forward to it!