Qi Gu update from Lee

(This was written last Thursday but wasn't posted because we lost our Internet connection.  We are now in Chungli doing our final debrief and will be returning home tomorrow.  Lee will be staying behind in Taiwan to begin language school, teach English and live with family.  - Chuck Schumann, editor)

Here we are, at Qi Gu, in Tainan County, for our third camp. All of us – Chuck, Linda, Andrew, Allison, Cody, Dorcas, Carlie, Anna, Frances and I have been together during this last week : ) and overall it has been great.

It is Thursday evening, and about 11:20 PM. We had worship and sharing not too long ago, and now most of us are taking a break, writing responses to our students in their workbooks, having a quiet time, or preparing for tomorrow. There is a typhoon hereabouts … and as I write this I can hear the rain falling hard, and the wind making its way through the walkways right outside, complete with sweet sounds from the other side of the auditorium – Dorcas and Allison are preparing for worship tomorrow … and I can just hear … my soul Lord to you surrender, all I have is yours… above the rain.

The first day of camp was Tuesday. We did multiple outdoor activities, and there was much fun had by all, as there was an unlimited supply of water balloons, approximately 60 elementary schoolers, all of us co-workers, and of course a particular Joe Kelly with a curiously acquired super-water-spraying apparatus.

Though things have been going well, a lot of this week has been quite difficult for a l ot of us. The spiritual attack here has been strongly felt, and earlier in the week, including yesterday and today, there have been feelings of depression, uselessness, tiredness, and disappointment. We have been praying a lot, and sharing what has been going on in our classes. Strength has been given to us, and we have been able to endure, and see God working in the hearts of our students.

As for today though, at least for me, it has been amazing. Tiring, but amazing; God is great.

For any of you who want to read what has been going on with some students, here’s a bit from Cody and my class.

I have 6^th graders in my class. The girls are shy, and the boys are boys – way hyper, but this is how they should be =) To make long stories short, both of my coworkers were sad because of incidents, misunderstandings and student behaviors – including one of our students running off for a while – and at around lunchtime it appeared that all of Cody’s pictures that he’d taken in Taiwan had been erased – and thus we were quite sad. We prayed, and went on with the day … and after hyper active skit practice, we were sitting in a circle welcoming a new student [parents couldn’t pay for it, but it was ok for him to join!] and all five of us coworkers – Cody, Me, Chara, Tommy, and Emma – shared about Jesus in our life. When Tommy shared that his father had passed away from liver cancer, one of our students started to cry … and Tim, who was the only student not intently listening [these are boys here!] said that his father had also died of liver cancer. We didn’t know if he meant this or not. We prayed for the students … they were so touched. And William crying still …

We visited Tim’s home, and found that what he said about his father was true. He lives with his grandparents, and his mother visits once a week as she must work in the city. His grandparents favor their son’s children more … and hope that Tim will become independent… They are worried that he will not excel in academics, and shared that, as well as the fact that they take him to a temple community-after-school program, but that it was far, and the people not as nice. Chara told them about the church’s program, which is extremely close to the school.

Please pray for the students, including Tim and his family.

After we got back to the school, we read the children’s responses to today’s activities. All but one student said that they either learned that God or Jesus is their friend!

We are excited about tomorrow, and thankful that God has worked in these precious children’s hearts =)

Update from Carlie

The week spent in Da Tsun was above and beyond anything that I could have asked for. The children (most of them anyways) loved talking, playing, singing and laughing with all of the workers. They were just so cute and it was so hard to keep from taking them home with us! Our co-workers have a faith and connection to God that is so real and so close. Hearing them pray and share their stories throughout the week was such an encouragement. The community within this fellowship was something every group should strive for; confronting the leaders’ and the kids’ problems with love and prayer assured that all would be resolved. By the end of the week, I felt like we had become one big family that shared everything and cared deeply for one another.

After a heart-wrenching goodbye, we left Da Tsun and are now at Qi (pronounced Chi) Gu Elementary School getting to know our co-workers from NCKU. It is Tuesday night and I am beginning to be acquainted with the co-workers’ personalities and I know that they love the Lord and want to share His love to these children just as much as we do! The first day of class with the new group of kids has been such a blessing. These children are from the countryside villages and love the co-workers’ attention of hugs, hand games, and piggy-back rides. Last week and this week there has been a child in my group that will not sit still or do anything that you ask. In Da Tsun, there was an especially large girl, Lin, and this week it is an especially tiny boy, Alex. These are the kids you want to leave the class just so the others can have some quiet and won’t be influenced to do wrong. There was much praying for both of these children and through the power of God, both children were the first in the class to invite us to visit their home and speak with their families! God definitely formed these situations as such so that the co-workers can have to chance to have an impact in their families’ lives. These two family visits are so mind-blowing when you see the situations that produced them. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us and these kids during the rest of this week!

I want to thank you to everyone who has prayed for the kids’ hearts. Continue to pray that their hearts will be softened so that they may realize why we have come. Please keep all of the co-workers in your prayers that we may love and hold these children with God’s everlasting love.

Update from Lee

Da Tsun Junior High School, Da Tsun Township, Changhua County, Taiwan, ROC

Last week was amazing. Andrew, Allison, Dorcas, Carlie, Cody and I were truly blessed to get to serve with the people that we did (they were from Dong Hai University). We didn’t get to worship, pray, and actually live much with the [awesome] camp counselors from the previous week, but this week we did, and aah, all I can say is that God is dwelling richly in hearts here. They were so amazingly loving, and welcoming… and have a deep love for the Lord. We lived in the church, and for the whole week it was truly a house of prayer. We had an awesome leader, Eric - he, and the others, were committed to seeking and praising the Lord in prayer throughout the week. And hallelujah.. God worked mightily in the children’s hearts, and in our hearts…

The kids in our classes were precious. Many were quite quiet for the first two days, but opened up with time. They had so much fun with all the games we played, skits performed, and songs sung. Through the skits, one about Zacchaeus, and one about a paralytic whom Jesus healed – the children got to learn about who Jesus is.

We showed them how we give thanks for our meals, and taught them how to sing a thank you song before eating. On the last day one of the students in my class wrote a note to me and my coworker, saying thank you for teaching him the song, and now that he knows he will do it! ; ) … Regina shared her story on Tuesday, and I did on Thursday.

On Wednesday we gave the kids little paper hearts to write anything they would say to Jesus if they could talk to Him. When we reviewed our cards, with the help of our coworkers of course, we found many I love you’s, and I want to be your friend sort of responses. One student even asked Jesus how many languages he could speak … ! J

On Wednesday and Thursday some of us got to visit the homes of our students, including me, Carlie, and Dorcas.

The following is an account of one of the visits I got to make. It was very eye opening, and made real to me the fact that the Taiwanese countryside is very much in the dark.

Myself, and two of my Taiwanese coworkers visited our student Sophie. She lives with her mother, grandfather, and father, but her father is gone a lot, because he must work out of town. This is quite common for families in the country. Her mother was extremely kind, and offered us much fruit and peanuts.

We were told that Sophie has a sister, who is severely mentally disabled. We said we would like to see her J and did. It was quite sad though … she cannot control herself, and moves around wildly, almost animal like... In the back of the home is a large store house, which held a massive amount of ghost money, which is fake money that gets burned to one’s ancestors, ghosts, or deities, as an act of reverence. There was an altar, statues of gods … and that sort of thing in the room we were in … though in all the clutter I noticed a picture set above the door. It really stood out … it was a Thomas Kincaid-esque painting. It was a very serene, and warmly lit image of a little cottage in the middle of a grassy field, complete with flowers, mountains and wispy trees.

The mother let us pray for her, Sophie, and her little sister … and for a few minutes she was somewhat calm. This family, like many.. need our prayers, and love. They need God’s love… I have hope that God will bring His love and light into the family. For a second I was surprised to see the painting amongst everything else in the room, as it didn’t fit … it just illustrates though, the yearning for a something more, a peace, a something beloved and beautiful..

The gospel was shared on Saturday, and many students came, including Sophie. It was awesome.

Thank you all so much for praying for us.

Suan Tou & Da Tsun Follow Up "Party"

Saturday morning (local time) from 9:30 to noon we will be having our most important meeting of the week.  In a more festive atmosphere we will be able to share our testimonies and the gospel directly.  During the camp week our focus includes English and life curriculum in addition to the gospel.  However, we set aside Saturday morning specifically as a voluntary camp day where we are free to share directly the message of Christ.  Our Taiwanese coworkers will also be very involved in this final outreach.  Please be praying for us between the (EST) hours of 9:30 and mid-night, Friday, July 11.

An update from Joe Kelley

During the first few days here we have seen torrential rain storms, a multitude of creatures from the great outdoors (bats flying into our group meetings and lizards watching from the room walls), and 90 degree temperatures. But most importantly, we have seen 75 students from Suan Tou and surrounding villages join us for the week-long VGM Bilingual language camp. The 75 students are divided into five classes according to age with each of the five BCF team members assigned to a class as the “English experts”. Chuck and I recently learned of the attraction of the English camp in the local village when a shop keeper gave us some needed hardware parts as he discovered we were teaching English in the area. Some of the children travel 30 minutes to the camp just to take advantage of this opportunity to sharpen their English skills. The teaching manual and materials provided by VGM are well designed to lead the students to consider more than just the English content and think about deeper issues of life and faith. In addition to participating in the classroom teaching, the BCF team has presented two dramas in English (with Chinese translation). One was a contemporary version of Jesus’ healing of the paralytic let down through the roof and the second was a modern-day version of Zacchaeus. Chuck, Linda, and Anna teach English songs and lyrics such as “Knees and Toes”, “Father Abraham”, and “Deep and Wide” in the large group meetings. Fourteen Taiwanese college students join us in leading the classes and programs and providing needed Mandarin translation for some of us lacking in Chinese.

Just as a farmer spends much time and energy preparing the soil to nurture the  seed, so we see many of our efforts here in the same way. The dim red lights in the windows of almost every home we drive by at night tell of family idols and idol worship that has been entrenched for centuries in villages like Suan Tou. We pray that God will allow these camps break up the hardened soil and provide inroads into the community which the local church can continue to water throughout the year. The camp works hand-in-hand with the small local church and pastor to connect with the families and children we meet in the camp. The pastor joins us each day to chat with the children and the church provides the meals and other practical needs of the camp workers. Thank you for your prayers for our teams as we labor together with you to share the good news of God’s forgiveness and grace in Taiwan.

In His love - Joe, reporting from Suan Tou Village, Chaiyi County, Taiwan, ROC

Da Tsun

Hi Everyone. It’s Allison reporting live from Da Tsun church, where our team (Andrew, Cody, Dorcas, Lee, Carlie and myself) is preparing for our first week of VGM camp. The camp will be held at Da Tsun Junior High from Tuesday until Friday. Our Taiwanese coworkers are all students at Tunghai University (a Christian college in Taiwan) and they belong to the same campus fellowship. They are a friendly and lively bunch, and we are enjoying working with them. Please pray for us – for the students to have soft hearts and that we can be a blessing to our coworkers.

The six of us are doing quite well. Andrew eats everyone’s leftovers. Dorcas gets us from place to place with her Chinese skills and makes sure we know what’s going on during meetings. Cody is great and adventurous and especially loves doing the Chocolate dance. Carlie is a joy and entertains both us and our coworkers by learning and practicing the Chinese language. She also likes grapes a lot. Lee is sweet and unassuming, but always ready to help out in any capacity. And I am myself, which is a good enough description if you know me. If you don’t, well, I’m sorry.

Tomorrow we will go to the school and make sure we’re completely ready for the first day. We’ll post again after camp has started to let you all know how it’s going and how you can pray for us. Thank you so much for sending us and being faithful prayer warriors. This would be impossible without you.

~Allison

The YL is going well

Hi, it’s Linda writing for the group. We’re presently in Nan Ao (the last part pronounced “ow” such as when you stub your toe). But let me start from the beginning so that you have a somewhat clearer idea of what has transpired to this point. We were met in Taoyuan Airport by our hospitable hosts, Hsu Cheng-Hsin and his family. Funny to think that when he and his wife first came to Virginia Tech as grad students in aerospace engineering in the mid-80’s, we were their host family. We stayed overnight in their very modern, upscale, huge apartment located on the 10^th floor of a new, prestigious building where the only incident that occurred was when one of our team touched the orange button in the bathroom, alerting security to come upstairs from the lobby.

The next day they put us on a train headed for Taipei, where we would meet the Young Life leaders and youth whom we would be joining at camp at Nan Ao. Jetlag was big at this point, but as most of the team are young and energetic, they didn’t project much wear and tear. Our Taipei hosts had trouble finding us at first because Chuck’s cell phone wasn’t working well, and the station just had too many forks in every direction. They then packed us (and all our luggage) into 4 taxis, and except for the fact that the second taxi got lost, everything else went smoothly. Our Taipei hosts tried to anticipate our every need, and they exhibited the spirit of Christ above all to accommodate us, knowing our tiredness and lack of experience in their culture and language.

On Sunday we went to church and later joined the high schoolers in ice-breaker games. Some of these youths would be ones who would be joining us at the Nan Ao camp.

On Monday we practiced skits, went over strategy, and half the team (Lee, Carlie, Dorcas, Frances, and Cody) left for Nan Ao. The rest of us joined them Tuesday late morning. And here we are in the beautiful mountains of Nan Ao, enjoying the scenery, the co-workers, and engaging the high schoolers. Young Life from Taipei is very different from Young Life in the States, and the youth are very different too because they spend most of their lives pursuing academics. The camp here is beautiful but primitive, and when they’d mentioned small tents, I assumed they meant cabins. But no, it’s really tents. Today we went jumping from waterfalls. Tomorrow we’re doing something equally exciting, but there’s no translation for it in English (although they called it “bungie jumping”). Pray that we reach the young people in the short time we have left. It’s been fun, but our hope is that in the skits, songs, and times together, they will be able to experience Christ as their savior.

Everyone is doing well. We do not have Internet access unless we drive to the closest city. It is not likely that we will be able to send out another update until sometime this coming weekend. Thank you for praying for us!

We made it to Taiwan with (most) everything intact

Just a quick update to let everyone know we've arrived safely.  The team is on the move.  As I write this, the sun is rising to my left, and there is some stirring about in the room to my right where the girls (5 or 6 it sounds like) got a few hours of sleep.  Today we pack up everything and move to Taipei for two nights.  We'll be doing final preparations on our parts of the camp programs (skits, English lessons, songs, games, ...)  There's actually quite a long 'to-do' list; some things will have to just be left undone.  It will take several days for everyone to adjust to the time difference and feel alert during the day instead of 3am.  This can be a time of emotion and physical stress with ups and downs coming from homesickness, the newness of everything, a body in rebellion to change, etc. Please continue praying for us.

For the team,

Chuck

For Parents and Family of Team Members

It can be a little unsettling to have someone you love so far away, particularly if you have no idea how to contact them.  This blog entry is for you.  In the case of an emergency, you can contact us at the following numbers.

Date	Location	Contact Name	Cell Number
June 27	Chungli	Dr. Lai	5573-8945
June 28-30	Taipei	Daniel Li Cindy	2317-3828 2771-7334
July 1-4	Nan Ao	Daniel Li Cindy	2317-3828 2771-7334
July 5-11	Da Tsun (Andrew, Cody, Allison, Dorcas, Lee, Carlie)	Eric Wang	3025-6575
July 5-11	Suan Tou (Chuck, Linda, Joe, Frances, Anna)	Daniel Shang	1093-2310
July 12-18	Qi Gu	Mandy Peng	6302-8551
July 19-21	Chungli	Dr. Lai	5573-8945

Please remember that Taiwan is 12 hours ahead of Virginia.

To call a cell phone in Taiwan you will need to dial 011-886-9 followed by the number listed above.

The dates listed above are Taiwan time.  We will be traveling on 6/28, 6/30, 7/1, 7/4, 7/5, 7/12, and 7/19. The dates above indicate where we will be spending the night.

A snapshot of our financial support

We do not want to emphasize money, especially if it distracts from the more important matters of prayer support and missions awareness.  However, short-term mission trips involve expenses like airfare, food and lodging, camp materials, etc. 

At of this posting (June 14), with twelve days to go, we're currently at 80% of our team total.  In real numbers that's $3,178 remaining for the entire team.  (I'm encouraged!)  For more information about cost and giving please visit "How can you afford this?"

So, just how hot is it in Taiwan?

When we invite candidates to join the team we're very clear about the physical demands that are placed on the individual.  We mention that the climate is tropical and the food isn't like what you find in Chinese restaurants in Blacksburg.  Typically, there are a few posts from other team members about the cuisine, but here are some of the actual temperature data from 2007.  (I borrowed a portable data logger from the office!)

• Rise and Shine (8:00 a.m.), 88° F, 67% RH, heat index:  98.6
• Time for a box lunch (noon), 93° F, 50% RH, heat index: 106.6
• Outdoor Games (2:15 p.m.), 100° F, 52% RH, heat index: 120.4
• Dinner Time (6:00 p.m.), 92° F, 61% RH, heat index: 105.4
• Worship Time (7:30 p.m.), 87° F, 54% RH, heat index: 90.4
• Shower Time (11:00 p.m.), 79° F, 59% RH, heat index: 81.7

Foot note:  Heat index was calculated by the NOAA site.  Personally, I don't believe in this "heat index" stuff.  Seems like grade inflation to me.  Perhaps it's enough to think of Taiwan as one big steam room without the room.

What's this all about?

This is the fifth summer running that BCF has sent a team to work with the Village Gospel Mission.  It started as a bit of an experiment in 2004 to see if an English speaking church (BCF) could put together a short-term mission team that could have a meaningful contribution to the church planting work in of an indigenous Taiwanese organization (VGM).  Here are some links that might be of interest to readers who would like to learn what this looks like in practical terms:

• What is the VGM?
• What is your preparation and travel itinerary?
• How can I get involved?
  • What are our prayer needs?
  • What about financial matters?
  • Can I go with you next year?  (2008 Brochure)

You can still see some of our web logs from previous years.

• BCF Taiwan Team 2006 Blog
• BCF Taiwan Team 2007 Blog

Introducing the 2008 Taiwan Team

Dorcas C. Born in Taiwan, Dorcas moved to the States when she was 3, where her dad studied at seminary. During college she served in Thailand, North Africa and Venezuela.  Having been challenged on previous occasions by the BCF Missions Committee to take opportunities to minister to her own people, Dorcas says: "I think this is an excellent opportunity to do so."

Frances Cheng

Born in Blacksburg but raised in California, Frances is joining the team again this summer.  She's artistic, fun-loving, caring and has an off-beat sense of humor (quote from 2007 team leader).  Frances is entering her junior year of high school.

Anna Hairfield
Anna, 16, is active in BCF's youth ministry, drama, athletics, and a host of other things.  She has written that she's "excited to be a part of the mission to Taiwan ... thrilled to have this opportunity and can't wait to see how God uses me on this trip for His glory!"  We're excited about this too!

Andrew Hall

This will be Andrew Hall’s fourth summer trip to Taiwan with us. Although he doesn’t fit in well into airplane seats, rollout sleeping pads, buses or minivans, he’s a shoo-in when it comes to spending time with young people. Having been a Young Life leader for six years he’s very adept at relating to campers.  Andrew will be leading one of our teams again this year.

Lee Howell
A new VT graduate in Biochemistry, Lee is also interested in reaching out to others by teaching English as a second language.  Her preparation began long before she heard about this trip when she signed up to take Chinese her senior year.  Lee is soft-spoken, warm, and "artsy," (the kids are going to love her).  For the last two years she has served with vtONE.

Joe Kelley

Joe Kelley will be returning with us for the second time, just like Frances. He's been on other short-term mission trips but normally he's an elder at Blacksburg Christian Fellowship, one of the leaders of the high school ministry @ BCF and various and sundry other important things, including husband to Wendy Kelley.

Allison Mock
Graduating in May,2008, Allison is also returning for her second
dose of summer missions in Taiwan.  She writes: "After my experiences in Taiwan last summer, I hoped that I would be able to return in the future.... Though the trip proved more challenging than I expected, God blessed me in immeasurable ways, and I am convinced that there is no better way for me to spend my summer."  Several years ago Allison also traveled to South Africa to help Tim & Leslie Black in their missions work near Cape Town.

Cody Ross

Cody is a graduating BHS senior. He writes about himself: "My goals for this trip are to grow as a Christian and grow as a church member."  He desires to be able to share God's love and truth with others this summer.

Chuck & Linda Schumann
We have been involved in various forms of outreach to Chinese our entire 27 years of marriage.  This is Chuck's fifth and Linda's second summer missions trip to work with the VGM.

Carlie Wallace

As a freshman in Elementary Education at VT, Carlie has already gotten involved in outreach to international students as a language partner.  She has been to Antigua and Barbuda on other short-term mission projects and worked at several stateside VBS and youth camps.  She has a strong interest in career missions.