Updates from July!

Dear all,

My apologies for not updating for so long! In a blink of an eye I’ve already been living in Taiwan for two months now! A lot of things have happened that changed my quality of life quite a bit (*smiles). First of all, my roommate has been left a scooter from an ex-Partner, so we’ve been sharing a scooter and it makes life so much easier! On a side note, I’ve been praying for safety with every drive, and God has been good to us.

Just today, I bought a queen-size bed for approximately $30 CAN, third-hand (or fourth? Fifth?) off a fellow Canadian who’s moving up to Taipei. I’ve been sleeping on a futon/sofa-bed up until now, and it was most uncomfortable. Other new editions to our apartment include a microwave and a fridge (bought second-, third-, fourth-hand (?) off another Partner)! Having these pieces of appliances and furniture have made Ansy and I really happy…. Hahaha.

In the month of July, I have been to four job interviews, and I’ve been praying for God to close the door on them if they are not according to His will. The result? He had firmly closed the door on all of them. It seems like God wants me to stay at the school where I am now. And it’s pretty amazing in terms of how He’s providing for me – I’ll get random calls in the morning to go and sub for teachers… and I’ve been blessed with many good sisters and brothers who have introduced me to tutoring jobs. So right now I work 14 hours/week (including the tutoring gigs) – which is tight, but adequate to live on.

Since I have so much time on my hands, I’ve been given the opportunity to spend time with the JOME Team (Jesus <3 go =")

I’ve been blessed with the hospitality of a Korean missionary family this month. Luke, our newest Partner, is Korean-American, and God has been using him to disciple the children of the Korean missionaries in Taiwan. Most of these Korean children/youths were rejected from the English missionary schools here because they don’t have good English, so Luke and I have been visiting one family (with 2 sons and one daughter) and had been spending a lot of time with them and conversing with them in English. Monica, the missionaries’ daughter, is my age and came to Taiwan to spend the summer with the family before going back to Korea for school. Hanging out with her had been really awesome… the faith that she had in God, and the lifestyle of the missionary family has allowed me to experience the love and faith they have in God. Monica just left Taiwan two days ago… but I’ll continue visiting the family with Luke to see the other two brothers.

Church-wise, I’m helping out at the new church plant, the New Life Church. Right now it has about 30 people coming for worship, but people come and go and everything is new. I’ve been playing piano and serving as one of the children’s Sunday School teacher. It’s really exciting to be part of a church plant… and I realize how much I take for granted having grown up in a more established church.

For prayers….

- Please pray for wisdom in managing my time. Since I don’t work a lot, I have a lot of time on my hands – pray that I will make good use of my time for ministry, and to have quality time spent with God as well.

- Pray for Freda - I helped her prepare her English graduate exam to study in Britain. Thank God that she passed her test, but she will be leaving in September and she does not know Jesus. Pray that the name of Jesus will come up in the conversations I have with her.

- Pray for Jason – he’s been attending Wednesday night Bible Study for almost two years now, and is really close to accepting Christ. Right now, he’s struggling with the face that Jesus is the ONLY way, and his mother is also not too pleased with him being a Christian.

- Pray for Ian Ullstrom – his white blood cell count is still really low and the doctors are waiting for the count to increase to do a stem harvest before the cancer comes back. Pray for strength and courage for the Ullstroms.

Thank you all! And do write me emails or letters over!

Missing you all,
Iris