Faces on the Farm

Kindergarten went on a field trip this past week to a "farm." As someone once said, "Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're going to get." This person had probably spent some time overseas.

The farm really was a large field.... large enough for 300 some odd kindergarteners to run around from 9 am to 1 pm. This field is where we stayed as holes were dug and from the dirt, ovens were constructed and fires started. Corn, sweet potatoes, and maybe fish or chicken were cooked in these ovens. This took a long time. What did the kindergarteners do in the meantime? A lot. They are kindergarteners and they know how to have fun.... especially in a field full of hay. Plus they had funny (as in strange) foreign teachers with them for an extended period of time outside an "English" environment, so I think I learned more Chinese that day than all my other days here combined.

At any rate, here are a few faces I wanted to share. I praise the Lord for the gift of my students... through them, the Lord gives great joy. :)

The Light

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." - Isaiah 9:2



These are a couple pictures from the small candlelight service a couple of the teachers put together to have here at the Practice Hotel on Christmas Eve. There were Scripture readings, prayers, and Christmas songs, including what I think may be my favorite, "What Child is This?" More pictures of all the Christmas festivities will hopefully follow shortly. I hope you each had a blessed Christmas, full of the hope and joy that the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, offers freely. May God bless and be with each of you. :)




"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." - Isaiah 60: 1-3

Christmas in Taiwan

Hello, all.

It's now officially Christmas Eve in Taiwan. I saw a picture of my family's Christmas tree back home. It's really fat and made me laugh a lot and made my heart swell. I can't lie... twinges of homesickness have come and gone a bit more as Christmas approaches... but after the joy of the Friday Night Bible Study Christmas party tonight... I can't help but feel wonderfully at home and stand again in awe of God's overflowing mercy and grace in blessing this rebellious and sin-diseased child with the opportunity to be working here.

Tonight consisted of many faces, new and old, filling the sanctuary at Salvation Lutheran Church. The Christmas story was read in English and Chinese. The first verses of the book of John were also read in both languages. There was also the Wasmund-original skit, "The Camel's Journey" which I will not try to capture the joy of that in words, but rather hope that at some point soon I can have a video recording of it up for your viewing. Then we broke into four groups and went caroling to nearby stores. Somehow, we had gained a spot on the "schedule" for this huge department store near the church and ended up on a large stage-like thig... with me on the guitar and about 15 other people singing our best renditions of Angels We Have Heard On High and Silent Night. Just stop and picture this! Other stops included a restaurant I had never noticed before and a beauty parlor. People loved it. After that, we returned to the church to eat tons of snacks baked this past week... so good, sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, and socialize. I had some fun conversations tonight. Nothing especially weighty, but good.

Tomorrow is a huge church program with about 31 different "acts" for lack of a better term. I will be in the skit again and also help lead the English-club Saturday school children in their portion of the performance. And I will cheer on the others singing, dancing, and doing what not, including a group put together by some of my friends here called, "Smark J." They are the ones who had wanted to do a dance version of "Silent Night." I can't wait to see what they have put together. :)

Saturday night, some of the teammates here are putting together an 11:00 candlelight service. :)

Sunday will be a Christmas church service followed by what is called the "Love Feast." This is a huge lunch to which we are encouraged to invite anyone we can. I think quite a few people from our school offices will be there! I'm looking forward to it!

I'm listening to the song, "O Magnum Mysterium" right now. For those of you who don't know it, I recommend it.

Here at CMS, yesterday was a big day of Christmas festivities such as a choral competition, a big traditional dinner, some dance club performances (amazing!), and a tree decorating contest. This was no ordinary tree decorating contest. Hopefully I can put some pictures up soon so you can see what I'm talking about.

Please continue to pray for encouragement and love within the team of teachers and missionaries here... and that God would plant and ignite faith in the hearts of the people here. Pray also that God would guide, and assurance us all of His providing. Thank you.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Meyer

Though the eight newer team members all refer to me as "AB" (Anna Banana... thanks to KimBo for starting that way back when), the national teachers in the office have taken to calling me the full "Anna Meyer" (as was popular in my babysitting and college days) or simply "MEYER."

Only my students (when they aren't calling me "teacher") call me, "Anna." But there's enough of them... especially with word having gotten around to the entire kindergarten that that was indeed my name ("Two Anna's!" - how often to Horkey and I hear that as we walk around the school... in English and Chinese both)... that I don't miss the sound of my real name.

Just now, one of the Taiwanese teachers asked from across the office... "Hey! Meyer! Can I use that computer?"

That cracks me up.

Hope you're having a beautiful day blessed by the Lord and eagerly awaiting the celebration of the long-awaited Messiah! :)

C.E.L.A. bration !

I would like to direct you to Anne Woodward's latest blog for outstanding coverage of the CELA Christmas program this past Saturday. :)

http://openepistle.blogspot.com/

Aidrocnoc: The Parable Comes to Life

So one of the CMS teachers here, Mike, is a talented movie maker. Perhaps you recall the photos from a couple blog entries ago of the filming... well, here is the finished product, ready to be viewed with QuickTime I believe. It may take a few minutes to load. It's pretty impressive. And it gives some nice shots of our campus here. :) And the soundtrack is stellar. I practically guarantee you'll like it. It went over well with the students in the Life Education course for which it was made, who were taking a look at the topic of bullying. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.. brought to you by the foreign CMS faculty.

http://homepage.mac.com/mjkersten/iMovieTheater15.html


Interesting film note: Aidrocnoc is actually "Concordia" backwards.

I also recommend watching this film that was played along with "Aidrocnoc." It has CMS Senior 1 Students (we say sophomores in high school) talking about bullying at CMS. It gives you a glimpse of the students we see daily. And probably, it's good stuff for all of us to think about.

http://homepage.mac.com/mjkersten/iMovieTheater18.html

scooooooter

So I had hoped to be posting a proud picture on here tonight of me and my new (and by new I mean '96 Yamaha Fuzzy 125) scooter. And for a good part of today, it seemed that there would be no reason to doubt that would be the case...

I did indeed have possession of the scooter for about an hour and a half this evening... but as my life often seems to be one slight to medium mishap after another from time to time... in the best way possible, I never made it home with my scooter.

Monica, the other teacher who had dropped me off at the scooter place, helped me get gas for the first time, and helped me turn the scooter off and on, etc... so I learned the ropes, and then she led me to Megafold, the nearest Walmart-ish store in the city. There she bid me adieu, I made my purchases, got back on my scooter and was happily off on my new and convenient mode of transportation... not to mention just plain coooooool.

(And just to explain, scooters are THE mode of transportation here. Manual biking is an option and taxis are an option, but scooters are the most efficient independent mode of city transportation. And it's really interesting. I was just thinking about each person's concept of normality and how scooters are much more normal than cars to me now. At first, I was amazed at how half the traffic are people, whole families even, on scooters (and the other half blue trucks and singing garbage trucks)... and now it's what is expected. I've started trying to see this place again through a newcomer's eyes, since my parents are Lord-willingly going to be here in January... but it's difficult. Things are normal now. But they will be utterly fascinating, bizzare and alarming to anyone seeing it for the first time. I'm pretty sure. Anywhoo, back to the story...)

I decided to pick up some dinner from "the curry place" and a tea from a tea stand. There I parked my scooter... perhaps not yet like a pro, but I got the job done.

Hoping back onto my scooter with my fruit tea and curry in the front basket, I attempted starting the scooter. It gave a sneeze of sorts... and then there was no more.

After trying again and again with nothin,' I eventually decided to ask for help from a couple of guys about my age, standing nearby, waiting for their tea order. They had just busted out some cigarettes, but seemed trustworthy enough.

Me: "Dui bu chi?" (Excuse me) I then motioned with confusion and a shrug to my scooter and the ignition.

They came over and tried starting it up. I had my helmet on. This is significant because after a few attempts at helping me, I must have said something in English because one of the guys kinda jumped back and said, "Nee shur mai-gwa-ren ma?!" That means, "You're an American?!" Ha ha... this made things hilarious... if they weren't so already. They started laughing and saying things to me. I took off my helmet and explained, "Ting bu dong." (I listen but don't understand.) This always gets a laugh out of people. So they laughed some more and I with them. One guy kept saying, "O my god! Right?" And I was like, "Well, oh my goodness! Wow! Too bad! O dear! Ha ha... " It's interesting the little bits of English people do pick up on.

Eventually, after becoming seemingly as baffled as I was about my situation, they communicated to me that they knew of a place just a few stores down that could help me fix my scooter. One of the guys took the scooter from me to roll it along for me. A small, but touching proof that chivalry is found here. We rolled up to the shop and a nice guy with about as much English as the two guys... about the amount of Chinese I have... listened to the explanation. The guy at the shop seemed ticked that I had just been sold the scooter that day. He checked it out, checked a few parts, and tried explaining that it was the motor. I needed a new motor. I wasn't about to go buying a new motor after just buying the scooter. We tried calling the place where I bought it, but no answer. I then called my coordinator. He said to just leave the scooter at the shop and that we'd get things worked out tomorrow. Thankfully, this all happened just a couple blocks from school not the 20 minutes into town where I had been shopping just before.

A lady at the shop kindly offered me a bag for the items I had stored in the seat of the scooter. I thanked her and gave them two candy canes out of gratitude for their help... and for babysitting my scooter for the night. I had just bought the candy canes for a lesson tomorrow, and was glad to have something to give in token of my thanks.

Um. So after leaving right after school this evening with high hopes of parking a new scooter in front of the Practice within a couple hours, I entered the campus on foot, scooter helmet in one hand, and bag of curry, fruit tea, yogurt and candy canes in the other.

And though it may seem that this would be frustrating, I think this whole thing is pretty funny. I have so much to be thankful for. And I praise God for that and for the humor He grants so that we can find joy in the ups and the downs. I think more than anything, I love having a story to tell.

Ha ha... oh boy.

May God give you renewed joy and encouragement this day in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord! :)

P.S. The "Mandarin" I write is not proper BoPoMoFo (the Taiwanese Mandarin phonetical alphabet) nor proper Pinyin. We'll just call it Anna-Yin. And I share it so that you can see and celebrate with me the baby steps of learning this language that seems to be the antithesis of the English language. And by that, I mean, it's very difficult for me. :) But that's the fun of it. It allows me to have a fuller appreciation for what my students are going through.

Move Me Closer

The title of this entry is the title of a song by Evie. We had it on a record for years, and now my mom does have it on a CD. It's about a shepherd in a nativity set that wants to be moved closer to the Christ child. It's a funny, but nostalgic song... with a good message.

Thank you to Mom for the great Christmas tree, nativity, ornaments and music. Thank you, Grandma for the Christmas card nativity. Thank you to "the teacher store" (gotta love the names we have for these nearby places) for the string of lights.

And here is a view of my room, decked out for the Christmas season.








As a Christmas card I saw read, "What a special season... What wonders abide... the love of Jesus keeps us warm inside. May His love fill your heart with special joys this Christmas season." Then, "Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord." Luke 2:11. :)

Riverdance Report

Today, eight of us went to see "Riverdance" in a city a little over an hour-train-ride away. It was outstanding! I loved it. I loved the singing, I loved the dancing, I loved the instruments, I loved the clapping.

There was more to the day than Riverdance, but I am not going to take the time to go into that right now. It did involve my first experience with a very Pentecostal service.

However, I just had a quick funny story. After the show, we walked across a street, near a 7-11 (these places are everywhere and are a type of small catch all store... you can even pay your phone bill there or collect lottery winnings) to wave down a taxi. I noticed that make-upped people whom I presumed to be the talented dancers we had just clapped for were walking in small groups towards US...to buy water at 7-11? I guess I'd be thirsty too after all that amazing dancing.

Well, I was overcome with joy and excitement. I somehow don't think anyone else was quite as thrilled as I was, but well, no matter. I ran over to a group of them and asked for a picture with them. I was being goofy, and as I thanked them for the picture said, "I had to come all the way to Taiwan to see Riverdance!" One girl (and I say girl because she was definitely younger than me... much younger than I thought those dancers would be...) as she turned to walk away, said half to me and half to the guy walking beside her, "THAT's funny. Because Riverdance is in America too." She said it in a way that would seem to suggest she rolled her eyes as she said it, though I couldn't quite see her face. I didn't let that shatter my enthusiasm about Riverdance.... Ha. She thinks I'm a nutty fan who came from America for the sole purpose of seeing Riverdance. You'd think she'd be happy to hear that. Too bad I couldn't explain myself. "I live here, lady." But at least she will get a good laugh about it with all her friends. I hope. I know I did.

I've decided that James does a good job of starting up conversations with people, telling them in a non-threatening way why he's here (teacher, yes, but also to share Jesus!) and making connections with people. So in this blog, I am giving a shout out to James! I hope that I can become more brave like that. Oh. And James was the only one willing to Riverdance with me after the show. So double shout out, buddyroe.

God's rich blessings to you all in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior! Especially this season as we celebrate his coming and look forward to his second coming!

Trains and Planes

These pictures document a few of the moment I had during a weekend trip the CELA staff took in October... They've been sitting as a draft for a while waiting to be published... A bit overdue perhaps, but here you have them... my first experience with a train in Taiwan.

This was right before we got on the train to go... Anne and I were trying to properly document this big moment in our lives... and then our dean got this shot of us.


Some of the teachers, one of the teacher's sons, and I in our cool, turn-able train seats.


The weekend involved lots of walking, and this little monkey decided he'd take me up on the piggyback offer.


On the return trip, we started some train station entertainment as we waited. We took requests.

Okie dokie. In other news, Christmas preparation is at full steam ahead. We have a CELA Christmas SPECTACULAR being performed in a city park in just one week and two days now.... 1000 fancy invitations were printed... it's really something else. The kids have been working hard. It's a pretty solid show. I hope the message is heard loud and clear though the small voices... Salvation Church's big Saturday School Christmas Extravaganza, which will be on Christmas Eve is... coming along. We also have a Friday Night Bible Study party on the 23rd... we will go caroling and will do a skit. I'm a wise person named Clovis in the skit. The main character is a camel named Camel. Mike gets to play Camel. He'll do a good job. But me, I'm nervous about memorizing my lines. I have to do them perfectly because they rhyme with the lines of the 3 other wise people.... Ezer, Batista, and Sir Justus. :)

I've rediscovered the joy of learning about Christmas, the true Christmas story, for the first time through my students. I don't think I've ever been as stressed out... or as excited and joyful about Christmas as I am this year. In E-3, we were talking about the word Christmas, how it means "Christ" - Jesus ... and "mas"- coming to be with us (from my understanding).... Immanuel... God with us, Christmas. The Messiah promised from the beginning of our world... and now we are on this side of Jesus' life on earth, death, and resurrection, awaiting his return!

Okay, one quick senario concerning that... put yourself into this story from Luke 4:

"Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'"

HA! Can you imagine being there at that moment?! (Though I realize it's easy to laugh in amazement as I'm on this side of history.... I probably would have been completely confused at that time.) Someone had shared this story as their favorite story about Jesus this past week and I liked that. I think it's quite appropriate for the Christmas season too.

Alright. I really meant this just to be a few pictures... so I had better stop before I keep typing on and on. I have some unit tests to grade. :)

A few of the other Asian missionaries have blogged about recent things like the Ablaze conference and the impending cold weather, and the great new world of being an official, card-holding alien resident of Taiwan.

Thank you for prayers and encouragement. God's great blessings to you in our Lord Christ Jesus, this day and each day.