Miscellaneous Stories

This is going to be a Hodge-podge post with a variety of stories and reflections...

This semester my E4 students and I have been reading "How to Write Really Badly" by Anne Fine. It's a tougher book for them, but they're doing well. It's been fun because we've been acting more out and trying to come up with other fun activities to learn about the book with. One of the characters in the book is Joe Gardener, he's not very good at math, sports, or writing, but he is good at building models. So, last week my students had a model building contest. They were divided up into four groups and challenged to build their best pyramid out of three sets of chopsticks, two large rubber bands, and two small rubber bands. They worked hard and we had some pretty cool models. Some of the students excelled at it and others struggled more. It was was interesting to watch them work together to accomplish the end goal of having a pyramid.



In E2 the past unit was on food and then this unit is in on animals. I've really enjoyed introducing my students to Raffi - a folk singer that I listened to growing up. The two songs in particular that we've listened to are: Apples and Bananas and Down by the Bay. The E2 students LOVE Apples and Bananas. They still beg me to play it on repeat at the end of class. :)




 Our church had its outdoor worship service over the weekend. This year it was held in Nanto. Three Lutheran churches from different places in Taiwan came together to worship and fellowship with each other. The service itself was inside at a school (however, the school reminded me a lot of a summer camp... buildings, a  lot of open space, etc). After lunch some people threw around the frisbee or kicked the soccer ball back and forth. Others just enjoyed the view and meandering around the campus. Then we headed to Sun Moon Lake and some time there to wander around. Thankfully the weather held out until it was just about time to leave to return to Chiayi. 


And to close as my students would...

...In Jesus Name we play. :) 

Seeking God First

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Matthew 6:33

所以你們應當先尋求神的國和神的義，這一切都將加給你們了。馬太福音6:33

This past weekend most of the American teachers here at CMS and CELA headed south to Kenting (墾丁) for their spring missionary retreat. This is my second year here, and I seem to be noticing a trend - we have extra people join us in the spring. No problems there! :) Our special guests this year included Dennis (A Good Guy to Know) and Anna (a student teacher from America who is currently down in Gaohsiung). This year's theme was Seeking God First based on the Bible passage Matthew 6:33 (馬太福音6:33). A variety of activities had been arranged by our planners and God provided some truly enjoyable weather - which when you're headed south in Taiwan, you never know how HOT it's going to get - so that was greatly appreciated. 

Friday night, after the CELA teachers finished up with their classes, everyone met on campus, the vans were loaded up, and hi-ho hi-ho to Kenting we went. A lot of activities this year the groups had been pre-chosen in order to make sure that as many people as possible interacted with each other. There was a team trivia game played in the vans on the way down. After arriving at our hostel, we had some down time to unpack and veg before our first devotion. I used it as an opportunity to sit by the ocean and enjoy the cool sea breeze. By the time I was back at the meeting point, the courtyard between our two sets of rooms, everyone had started going through trivia questions and answers. It was fun to see how well we could answer questions about each other. 

Saturday was our only full day in Kenting. I woke up early that morning (although not early enough to join the Sun Rise group) and explored and chilled. Most of my free time I spent sunning myself on a rock near the beach and reading. Although my stroll on the beach did lead to a short morning swim. :) Our first group activity was a sand castle building contest. Three teams. Three different locations: up on the beach, right at the edge where the tide comes, and on a rock that had to be touching water. Our tools were simple and there weren't enough for every team to have optimal shovels and buckets. Of course, my group ended up building on the rock... and instead of a castle (although the perimeters for "best castle" were vague at best) ended up sculpting the island of Taiwan out of sand. My explanation: A man's home is his castle. After the sand castle competition there was a devotion. Lunch was in small groups. We all went to the same restaurant but had to sit at different tables. After lunch there was another group activity and then free time. Despite a sprinkling of rain, several of us decided to go for another swim. There was a quick devotion before dinner and then toasting took place afterwards. Every spring retreat we toast the people who are leaving at the end of this school year. Then there was another devotion and free time. I spent the free time just chillaxing and talking with friends. :)

The view from my rock.

Friends at Smokey Joe's - a Spring Retreat must!

Getting ready for toasting.

Sunday morning we checked out of the hostel and then had an outdoor worship service. I enjoyed the order of service a great deal. It was less formal but still covered all the traditional parts of a service. Mark played guitar... Bee Bee wanted to help him. :) We celebrated Matt's birthday at Amy's Pizza and then hit the road to return to Chiayi.

Just Another Week

Although this week was composed of all the regular things: tutoring, classes, and Chinese class, it has some things that have made it different too: J1 chapel, field trips, and today we head off to Kenting (墾丁).

Wednesday was my E2 students' field trip to Carrefour (it's kind of like the Walmart of Taiwan). In this last unit they've been learning about food. They have a pretty good grasp on fruits and vegetables. Identifying meat as meat they're pretty good at too. However, the difference between snacks and dessert can be tricky at times. Especially because here in Taiwan cookies and crackers are all called cookies. I've been trying to explain that cookies are sweet and crackers are salty. Also, it's hard because ice cream can be a snack if you're eating it between meals but it's a dessert if you eat it right after you finish your meal. The field trip had two parts. First, the students were broken up into groups, assigned a leader, and had a "scavenger hunt" where they had to find different foods in the store and then take pictures with it. Then after they'd finished that, the second part was shopping for the different food that the groups would be making the following day. One of my friends happened to be shopping while we had our field trip there and when he saw me he said, "I have never been at Carrefour with it this loud before." There's nothing like the glee and excitement of children to liven life up a bit. :)

 Thursday then was the American lead J1 chapel and the party for the E2 students.

The American teachers volunteered to lead one of the J1 chapels this semester. It was a group of about nine of us. There were songs, Bible verses, a skit, and then a short debrief about the skit. Mark tried to pick songs that the students would be familiar with and/or that would have actions. Especially at 7:30am there's nothing wrong with some moving about... it keeps you awake. :) Over the course of my time here, we've done the Three Tree skit for a variety of groups and we decided to use it again for chapel. It is the story of three trees who all have a dream and what happened to them. It hits on the fact that we don't always get what we want, that sometimes bad things happen, but that in any case God can use it for our good. I think that the students enjoyed the skit, especially since they know some of the teachers in it.

Then in the afternoon was the E2 party. The first part of class was prep time. The students with the help of the teachers were making sandwiches, personal pizzas, fruit salad, popcorn, and lemonade. There was also ice cream to be eaten at the end and tortilla chips and salsa for the students to try. (Basically, I ate my way through yesterday). I was in charge of the fruit salad group. I had students help to wash the fruit, peel the bananas, and pull the grapes off the stems. While they were doing this, I was cutting the apples. Then the students could put the fruit in a big bowl and mix it up. They were very patient and took turns since there wasn't something for everyone to do every minute. Once my group finished they needed to wait for the other groups, so we went outside and played "twenty questions" and "red light green light". It was raining though so we had to stay under the awning. Once the students got to start eating there was a happy buzz in office two where all the food was. I think the pizza was the most popular snack we had there. We made it using bread topping it with sauce and cheese and then toasting it. Happy tummies make for happy students. :)

This evening all the American teachers will leave for our Spring Retreat in Kenting, a beach city south of here.

Acting It Out - Job

Last Thursday it was my turn to "lead" O.S.F. Awhile back as I was looking for Friday Night Bible Study ideas, I'd come across a script for the story of Job. Although I thought that it was probably too difficult for my Friday Night students, I realized that it just might be perfect for O.S.F. It was a smaller group than usual last Thursday, because everyone had sooooo mmuuccchhh hooommeeewwoorrrkkk. However, God knew what He was doing, and it turned out really well! :) After singing a few songs, I put up a picture of Job on the overhead - covered with boils, sitting in the dirt, surrounded by his three friends. We talked about the picture... and then we started looking at the story.

In the land of Uz, not Oz, there lived a man named Job, not Steve Jobs. He was not your ordinary person. He loved God, stayed away from doing anything bad. (The Story of Job: A Play) ...

At first we read through the story together. This gave the students a chance to practice their reading and to get help with tough words like: guacamole, gorgeous, Eliphaz, and Zophar. Once we finished the first read through we talked about Job and what had happened. Why did bad things happen to Job? Was he a bad man? Did God ever truly leave him? Of course, Job wasn't a bad guy. Satan wanted Job to fall away from God, so he caused bad things to happen to Job. But God was still always in control -- and He was ALWAYS with Job. What about us? Often time when bad things happen to us we want to blame God or we wonder why. But just like Job, God is always with us and He will never let more happen to us than we can handle. One of the biggest things that I always find surprising is that Job kept praising God. That's something that we can do to. Whether we like the answer God gives us or not, we can always praise Him. He is in charge; He loves us; He wants to be with us and hear us.

Then I wanted the students and teachers to act it out together. Much to my surprise, the role of narrator wasn't a problem; one of the students volunteered right away for that! Another one of the quieter girls decided that she wanted to play the part of Satan in the play. And Tyler, one of the senior high boys, told us that he was holding out for the part of Job. :) There were 12 parts in the original script and only 11 of us, so we combined two of the messengers. Then it was lights, cameras, ACTION! :)

Messenger arrives to talk to Job and his wife.

With friends like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar... who needs enemies? 

Although initially I was nervous because it was such a small group of students; it worked out better than I could have imagined. God is very good! The students really seemed to enjoy themselves!

Job lived another 140 years and had a good live - and absolutely, positively loved and trusted God with all his heart. And you can too! (The Story of Job: A Play)