In the past, I hated practicing piano but this time I really enjoyed doing it. Last Sunday, I was invited to play piano for my fellowship group at baptism. The pianist was getting baptized so there was no one to play the piano. I must have practiced for hours. At the performance, I messed up a little, but I had fun playing. In BSF, we have been learning how God can use what little we have, as in the little boy with the two fishes and loaves of bread. I don’t know if I was any help, but I certainly gain an appreciation for practicing and playing piano like I had never before.

As I was sharing this insight with my missions teammates, they were making fun that I didn’t use this “gift” when I was on the missions trip. One thing that I’m really thankful for this year is for the missions trip I took to Taiwan. It wasn’t a trip that I went and placed behind me. Every two weeks, our team have a conference call to share what God has been teaching us, to discuss on a book we have been reading, and to support each other in prayer.

In addition to keeping in touch with the US team, I continue to take Perspective class. A lady came to talk to us about a missions trip to China which takes place from mid-June to mid-August. It is a program that reaches out to the teachers in China through professional development. The only drawback is that my school year ends very late. I was thinking that if I am able to find a teaching job for the 2010/2011 academic year, that is closer to home and the school year ends earlier, then I would consider going on this trip to China.

I’ve been taking Perspectives, a class which I thought was about missions. I was really inspired by one of the speaker, Jeff Lewis. He put it in better words. It should have been named a class about normal Christian life. I learned that missions doesn’t involve moving geographically. No doubt that I can continue to do overseas missions in the summer. But while I am here, I can do missions right here in Los Angeles.

I’ve made a commitment to visit my students every other week. This is an on-going project that I have started since I was in grad school. Originally, the assignment was to visit five of the most needy students in my class and learn about them. However, many of my students felt it was unfair, so I open the opportunity to the whole class. As much as I try, I never completely visit the whole class. My goal this year is to visit everyone. Not just to visit them, but really make an effort to get to know them better and find ways to help them in academics.

Please pray for my student Alan, he has low confidence even though he is doing well in the class. “I’m going to fail,” he constantly tells himself and others. Alan has a vivid imagination and wants to learn sign language. He mimics his elder siblings, because they know sign language. He often expresses himself in gesture. He is a very interesting person and first grader.

I love maps. I thought I would never get lost  by using one, unless I have the wrong map. In Claude Hickman’s “Live Life on Purpose,” the author was on his way to earn a master degree in psychology, following the map of academia. He changed his trajectory when he attended a missions conference. Using his example, he talked about allowing God to interrupt our lives.

This is my sixth year of teaching. I could easily see myself teaching for another six years. However, I wonder if this is the path that God wants me to take. Before I continue to teach, it would be a good idea to go for a year to serve in Taiwan, or elsewhere. It would be very difficult and definitely uncomfortable! I don’t think I can do it. It was hard for me to leave for a month.

All the missionaries that I have met, follow a compass of faith, to take the next step. How is it possible that they throw away all the maps that they are familiar with: Maps of friendships, their goals, their jobs, etc.? I will take the step of asking my principal, if a sabbatical is possible, just in case I decide to go.  She has mentioned this possibility when I first started teaching at the school.

When I was in college, my English professor told us that sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night at 3 am. He would be prompted to write or think about something important. Professor Harper passed away a couple of years ago. But every time I am unable to sleep, I can’t help but to make use of the time that I have.

Yesterday, I signed-up to take the Perspective class as a follow-up to my mission trip in Taiwan. When I first returned from Taiwan, I was on fire, wanting to return the following year. As time progresses, the energy died down. Here’s what commitment card said, I would sign-up for perspectives class in this month; go back to Taiwan again next summer for the same team or different team; apply or look into teaching English for a year sometime in the near future. It was signed by me on 7/27/2009

So I find some ways to motivate myself to complete the perspective class, which goes through mid-December. I tell myself that if I complete the course and earn the certificate by completing all assignments, (and there are a lot of them!) then I will treat myself to go to Urbana. Anything short of that and I’ll cancel the plane ticket and withdraw my registration. Some people from my church are going. I would like to go with them, but can’t justify going since I am not in college anymore.

When I first heard about the perspectives class, I didn’t know what it was. My teammates from Taiwan informed me that the perspective classes in California have some of the best speakers in the country. I am allow to bring guest, so let me know if you want to visit.

Okay, I think I can go back to sleep now.

Thank you for all your prayers. Looking back, so many amazing things happened! I couldn’t have done it alone. I need to write this down in case something happens to my flight back to the states:-) Just kidding, I don’t think the typhoon would be any threat! If anything, it will make the flight arrive faster…

My biggest fear came to nothing. I was worried that I would be working with juvenile delinquents.  The kids I worked with were young (age 8-9) and small in number. I was also blessed with a super translator, Felicia, who is a social worker and a teacher herself. She brought many games and crafts ideas into the class. With so many team members and translators helping, the student to teacher ratio was 1:1. With an abundace of time and manpower to prep for lessons, I felt as though I was in teacher heaven.

Margret, from Switzerland, has been in the Wanhua area for 30 years! She is the person who works with juvenile delinquents, as well as speaks Mandarin fluently. She is among others who shared their experiences at the OMF prayer meeting. It turned out that in giving up the comforts of their own homes, the missionaries have gained so much more in coming to Taiwan.

It seems that everyone was happy with the way I handled the money. I recorded each transaction down to each time we buy bread:-) But it turned out that they didn’t need all the details. Nevertheless, people would like me to do it again if I am to return next summer, same place, and the same team. Would you like to come along?

One more day in Taiwan. We played Uno with the kids on a number of occasions. There is a dire need for Cranium in Chinese. Whoever makes it first in Asia will be a millionaire.

The last weekend of mission has been a time of reflection, team outtings, and debriefs. In the morning, I ran along the beach. But there was this house along the way that looks haunted. The curtains were gold in color and hung in an eerie way. A black and white photo of a pilot was stapled on the tree trunk in front of the house. The house number “32″ was spraypainted in red on the back of the lawn chair. The next morning, Isa and I did a prayer walk towards the beach as we walked pass the building. It didn’t seem as scary as we walked by the house a second time.

Yesterday, we climbed a mountain with some of the other teams (U.S., U.K., and Singapore.) There was even a team based in Torrance from Los Angeles. As we drove to the hiking site, we saw graves that were the size of apartments, minus all the furniture. After the hike, we went to the largest night market. I wish I had forgotten to say “uno.” Then perhaps I would have gained three more days in Taiwan.

Our team went to the Pearl Garden today. It’s a ministry for “tea ladies” or the prostitutes in the Wanhua area. It was a surprise for me that the ladies are older in their forties, fifties, and sixties. I feel sad for them: They probably would never imagine that they would be fall into that line of work, when they were younger.

Some of the women were pushed into prostitution because they have no choice. Their husbands died and they were left with children and debts. Others got into it to feed their drug or gambling habit.

One lady wanted to drink from my bottle to take medicine. I was hesitant and pretended I didn’t understand. I feel bad. Even with the homeless people, on the surface I want to go visit them, talk to them. In reality, I don’t even want to share a cup of water with them.

Through Kat, our leader, I spoke and listened to two women. They were rational, level-headed people just like you or me. The reality of their situation hits me when it was time for them to go back to work.

Only one more week left before I head to Hong Kong for a few days to visit my family. I am helping my friend Isa to draw out her testimony. She really likes the way I’ve done mine. Later this afternoon, we’re going to the play with the kids at the park. Our team is doing a skit on creation.

The past couple days have been an adventure. We went to a service for homeless people. We drank tea and had snacks with them. One of them even bought us a bag of chicken feet for us, which were my favorite. Some were preparing food in the kitchen where they had sharp knives. We were praying about safety, because there were gangs in the surrounding areas.

One day, we went to the shop worker ministry. Since the people work late, the ministry created a late service for them. Our team helped pass out Christian literature at the upscale malls by Taipei 101. It was a humbling experience. Some people didn’t want to talk to us and turned their backs. Others were welcome to conversations. In general, the salespeople were nice. Had it been in the states. They would have all said, “no soliciting!”

Dear Friends,

How are yo? Good morning to you from Taiwan! Another week has gone by and today our team has a free day, so we are going to Taipei 101, the tallest building ever.

We had a fruitful week at the summer camp for kids. My group were the third graders. A kid who is special to me is Dennis. He wanted to teach me Mandarin. He brought his text from 3rd grade and read to me. Dennis does not have friends and finds it hard to get along with others. Please pray that the other kids will see him in a new way.

Everyday, I run around the National University in Taiwan. The funny thing is that it is almost exactly the same size as USC. It takes me 30 minutes to run around either campuses. The food here is so good! Just like we do after Sunday school, it takes us time to decide where to eat. I miss all of you and wish I could be at two places at once.

Please continue to pray for our team. We have a new member from the UK, joing us. It has been easier handling the money so praise for that.

~Bonnie

From here on I will not be able to update or to write as much. Things are starting to get busy. We arrived at an apartment within minutes from the National Taiwan University, where we will be staying for the next three weeks. Here are a couple things you can pray for our team. I miss you back home and wish you had a happy July 4th weekend.

1. Continue to pray for team unity, reaching across different cultures and age differences in our group.

2. I’m a little stressed out because I’m taking care of the money for our team. Praise that Isa, a student from France, is stepping up to help out.

3. We are teaching English at Dali Elementary School this week. Pray for the cultural lesson from the US team.

Thank you for your prayers. Sorry if I won’t be in touch for the weeks ahead. But I will have more to share with you when we are done. As a team, we agreed on spending less time on the internet and more with each other, so we can focus on the work before us.

~bonnie