Because it was the last class, Naomi's students made her a giant thank you letter!

Today, the Harbours, Naomi and I got to church at an early 7:15am to have a quick prayer meeting and prepare for the english classes that they were hosting at the elementary school next door. The Harbours and Naomi have a great relationship with the principal of the school from past english class teaching. Today was the last english class of the semester, but the principal already asked Mr. Harbour to come back next semester, this time with Christian teaching in the English classes. Praise God for opening up this awesome opportunity to share the Gospel with elementary students!

Also, Naomi decided to give me a Chinese name because I honestly don't know what mine is (sorry Papa). She tried to incorporate my last name into the Chinese name and came up with "ku jia wen," which means "Old Fashioned Top Scholar" (don't ask me why she named me this). From then on, I was introduced by that name to all of the non-English speakers.

Mr. Harbour and I then went to the Taiwan Lutheran Double Blessing Church to join a bible study and food ministry. This is the church that Ed & Beth Quimbo from SEND started through their Vision 119 ministry. During the normal school year (which ended this week), Double Blessing Church receives of all of the unused food from the school cafeterias located across the street, which they use to help bless the community by hosting free lunches. It's awesome because about 10 people have been regularly fed through this ministry and all of them attend the bible study beforehand and help serve food to others afterwards!

Later in the afternoon, the Harbours, Naomi and I went to National Chung Cheung University because Naomi is attending a Gospel camp (she said it was called "Google Camp", so I'm not sure what it's actually called), which happens to be hosted by Chinese Bible Church of San Diego! This camp is a Christian convention scheduled from June 30 - July 2, but half of the attendees are non-Christian. The camp is strategically planned out so that workshops don't specifically mention Bible verses or Christianity, but contain Christian morals.

For example, I attended a workshop with Naomi on relationships. This class was focused on relationships with others in general, not romantic relationships. The workshop leader explained how people are one of four working types. You are either a Taskmaster, Analyzer, Participator, or Energizer. These four categories have personality descriptions, common habits, or preferences that are all different from each other. He then explained which groups don't get along with each other, which ones do, and why a good work place/leadership team will have all four types. For example, he explained how the Analyzer group doesn't get along with the Taskmaster group because the Analyzers tend to think deeper, plan ahead, and work out data before doing anything. However, Taskmasters are the "just do it" type of people who tend to jump into something without thinking about the pros or cons first.

Basically, the moral of the class was to accept people's differences and to understand that everyone has a natural gift and personality. The workshop leader told us to be forgiving of each other in the workplace and to be patient with one another (which is where he subtly brought in Christian morals). He emphasized over and over how we all were given gifts, which referred to God-given gifts.

After the workshop, all of the attendees met in the main auditorium to have a joint worship session and sermon. Again, this camp was half Christian and half non-Christian, so it was very bold and courageous to witness this happen! The worship leader did a very great job at getting everyone to participate by creating dance moves and by explaining the lyrics and why they all glorify God.

Once the sermon was finished, everyone was split up into small groups. During these small groups, some of the leaders were able to question the non-Christians about their own beliefs and share a little about their own walks and relationships with God. There was a man in my small group who didn't believe in God, but was "very open to learning about Him". Pray that this man will experience God's love and Gospel by the end of this camp!

Small Group. ...of course I took this picture before the man who was open to Christianity came back from the bathroom. — Small Group. ...of course I took this picture before the man who was open to Christianity came back from the bathroom.

Unfortunately for me, the whole camp was in Mandarin and my voice has been extremely low and grumbly the past three days. I think the smoke from all of the Taoist rituals and burning rice fields (to create fertile soil), has caused my throat to react. However, Naomi and a mother from CBCSD were kind enough to translate the workshop, sermon and small group discussion to me! I won't be able to attend the rest of the camp, but pray that the Holy Spirit will work through CBC and the Christians who are attending it to bring people to Christ!

Please pray that:

Praise God that the Harbours' church is going to start a new Mandarin service this upcoming Sunday! They will now have Mandarin and Taiwanese services available for the community!
The Harbours can find rest. The past week has been draining for them and there are a few people who are having some issues that the Harbours have to respond to. Pray that God will give them rest and prepare Mr. Harbour for giving the first Mandarin sermon at his church on Sunday!
Pray that God will continue to bless Double Blessing church and their food ministry. Pray that more and more people will come to Christ through it!
Pray that God will heal my throat and allow me to speak normally.

Taiwan Day 5 - "Google Camp", English Classes & Food Ministry!