A Week In My Life! (Monday)

Here is a daily review of what a week of teaching looks like for me. 

Monday!
And this week starts Christmas! YAY!!

The children arrive. We greet the bus!

Next is the welcome session. Here the students receive their books, meet the teachers and learn the guidelines for the camp.

The students start with their Chinese classes! We play with the children  during their 10 minute breaks!
In the library, the children can learn music, read books, play cards, build with blocks, and play puzzles or board games. That is just a little of what happens in this special room!

In the hallway, the students learn new games, like jacks, and hand games. They also play lots of favorites like, running games, toss games and such!

But the students favorite activities is anything with the teachers! Sometimes we just hang out and laugh because neither one of us can understand the other!

The last class before dinner is their first English class. It is evaluations to see where the students are and where our teaching level needs to be! It is their first introduction, for some of them to a foreigner! Sometimes we feel like monkeys in a zoo the way the students stare and watch! Great Fun!!

Simple English work is given, but much help is still needed because this is a new language to them. 

I fell just like them as I am learning Chinese!

More to come! I promise!
The goal is to have each day of my week laid out for you. This gives you a greater perspective of what I am doing and how to pray!

Taiwan Arrival!!

I came to Taiwan not knowing what to expect, but I knew there were others just like me coming too! This is the team of IBLP TESOL Volunteer Teachers. We have all committed to one year to teach in Taiwan. We are spread throughout the whole country. As you pray, most of these are new, first time teachers.

We spent the first weekend in Taiwan together in Taipei. We did some sightseeing, orientation to the work here and just spent time bonding! They are some pretty amazing people I have the privilege to serve with!

I am in Douliou, Yunlin, at a Character English Institute. This is different than what I thought I would be doing! I thought that I was coming to teach in the public schools, but the Lord had other plans. He placed me with the HTC foundation instead. HTC is the Smart phone company and Mr. HT, who happens to be in the above picture in a suit on the front row, he has a passion for bringing Character (by using Character First! material) into the lives of the Taiwanese people. So, the HTC foundation has set up these Institutes camp style. A 4^th grade class comes from a local county school. They spend the whole week here with us. So it is a full on teaching schedule!

The Lord has blessed me with amazing teammates. We instantly felt the Lord’s unity in heart, soul and spirit when meeting for the first time. Since we know that we are in one accord, we will face our share of challenges and oppositions throughout this year. Bring it on! This means God is at work! We have already experienced some of this. Yeah! Please pray for our continued focus and clarity in our mission!

Barbara Sutton, Jo Armentrout, and Susanna Hicks

These are our amazing Taiwanese teachers. They run the camp, take care of the children each night and teach the character classes. They welcomed us with such open arms and love that we already feel like a family. It is a great honor to work with these ladies!

From right to left, they are Yellow, Jenny, Lydia, Joyce, Mandy, Patty, and the two in the back are Penny and Lisa. 

There is a new Character English Institute opening in another county near us, so for this first month of camps we have this team living, training and teaching with us. Then they will move over to their camp and try to establish it. Please pray for them as they are learning and preparing for the new camp.

The names of the English teachers in the back row are Fae, Christiana, Rebekah, and Liesl. 

The Taiwanese teachers are Helen, Mindy, Vivian, Landy, and Rachel.

 The Children that come to these two camps are from the poorest counties in all of Taiwan. They really need your prayers as they come here and learn. Lots of the children come from divorce situations, or the parents just do not have time to take care of the children. They have their basic needs taken care of, but no love displayed or demonstrated. So, by coming here it may be the first time they see loving, caring people. Some have never had a hug or been told I love you. Please pray as we prepare our hearts for these children and the Lord will be glorified and His love given freely.

This blog is for updates and fun, but if you would like the prayer letter please email me or comment with your email.

Australia Photos!

Here you go picasaweb.google.com/servingHimwherecalled. There is your link to my photos. It is kind of a summary of my time here in Aus. So, please enjoy!

Life Down Under!!!

Life is busy and always changing. As you can see i haven't had much time for updating, and I am still trying to figure things out. I am not computer savvy at all!

So, Life down here began for me in the beginning of October. It seems to be one whirlwind after another. I started off helping in the office work, helping with ATI, being a contact between here and HQ for needs, cooking, cleaning, and much more. I have been traveling to spend time with the different ATI families. That has been a time where I have been unbelievably blessed. I have never experienced the love and acceptance that the Aussies so freely bestow. I have become a part of several families, and I have a feeling there will be many more! I was in charge of organizing an Christmas afternoon tea for our neighbors, which is a retirement village. It was fun. I made over 500 cookies and wrapped most of them. God blessed me with some amazing young ladies to help! Without them it would not have happened. We have a family day once a month. This is were the local homeschool families come in for a children's program of the Commands of Christ. Every time you end up helping teach a different part. I have done the Bible verse, leading songs, and small groups. I taught my first class. There were about 40 in attendance. We had families, parents, and students. They seemed to enjoy it. The class was on communication and creating a safe place. We also cooked a traditional Thanksgiving meal for about 60 people. Lots of fun and interesting to watch people eat, and drink the sweet tea!

Over Christmas I traveled to New Zealand and spent about 2 weeks. It rained most of the time, so we did not explore much. The family I stayed with lives on a beef and sheep farm. They had lots of calves and some were still on the cow or the feeder. That was lots of fun to help with. God is so good because I haven't been back to NZ in 5 years, but I was able to catch up with at least 5 families I knew. It was as if no time had passed. I traveled back to Aus Christmas night and off traveling again on Boxing Day. I am in the state of Victoria and most people say that I have seen more of Victoria than they have. Blessed beyond words. That is kind of a recap of the last couple of months.

Looking ahead, we have conference in one week! :0 I am giving part of my testimony during conference and talking about our seminars. At student conference, I am teaching 2 sessions. One is Honor Your Parents and the other is Identity in Christ. I am also leading an photo scavenger hunt.

After conference, during the month February I will be trained to take over the Seminar office. I am becoming the coordinator. I am extremely excited and motivated to start promoting and getting the seminars out there. Please Pray! God is giving a big task with big visions. I will be traveling around Australia to the conferences as a representative. I will be encouraging the Follow-Up Course along with the Commands of Christ!!! So much is going through my head!! We are not in the prisons here, and i am trying to make contact within the military. Ok, I will stop and just say I need pray and clear direction!!!

So, I believe that is my life in a nut shell. Past, current and current future! I love each of you and thank you for your prayers! Only by God's grace, love, and mercy can all this happen. I am so overwhelmed by His love so often! I would love to hear from ya'll as well!