Farewells

We have been having lots of 'last' days. Thursday night the junior high performed skits, dances, a style show and games for parents at the Science Museum square. It sprinkled just a little, but didn't dampen the spirits. We Americans were actually late because of a dinner engagement. We went to a huge hotel vegetarian restaurant. I definitely have not lost weight on this trip! Taiwanese food is starting to taste good! If you know me well, you know that is from God.

Friday morning was our final day to teach the Bible class. We wound up with 14 students most of the time. We shared our home videos the last three days. I taught a lesson on the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit and then the last day shared a visual called "One Cut" which was given to me by the Sunday school teachers here. Then we did the "Roman Road" to give them tools for evangelism. One of the students had never read the Bible before. They have asked her to join in a small group so we hope this will be the start of her adventure with Christ!

Friday night the junior high students had a game night. We joined them part way through again because of a dinner date. A young adult group took us to an authentic Taiwanese restaurant near the train station. We had a real variety of foods. It was very good. When we got back to the church we led two games and served pop and chips and Jolly Ranchers to all the students and leaders. It was a fun closing time. They asked each child to select an interest group for follow up each Saturday in a small cell group. It is free and they will do fun things and get to know the people and learn more about Jesus. It is a great plan for follow up.

After all that, we went home to a surprise 16th birthday party at our apartment for one of the trio of girls who have been living with us. It was quite a fun time as we waited in the dark for her to come into the apartment and then all shouted and let off poppers. The pastor and her husband were with us and joined right in with the students. We sang "Happy Birthday" and prayed for her. It will be a special memory for all of us.

Today the girls cleaned the apartment. We packed our things. Caleb left by train for Kee Lung to visit the church he was at last year. We were invited to another group for lunch as usual. What a surprise! It was the family of Kelly. We stayed at Kelly's inlaws house with her in Dunggong our first week here. Kelly's parents hosted the party. Their other daughter, Jenny, is expecting her first baby this week. We knew most of the people from church so it was like being among friends, including the pastor and her husband.

We are waiting now to go back to Dunggang for the night. We will share our testimony tomorrow with that church. Then they will whisk us back to the bus in Kaihsuing. We'll be on our way to Taipei! About 90 people from the church here are leaving tomorrow morning for a prayer conference in Seoul, Korea. There will be 4-5,000 Christians from several Asian countries at the conference. Many of the youth leaders and people we've worked with will be leaving including both pastors. So we are saying farewell to everyone today.

We have a peace and joy in leaving here. We feel that God really blessed us. We continue to use flexibility as we wait to see how and when we will leave for Dunggang.

In His service,
Larry & Marlys

Grandchild Gen July Sparkler

We are thrilled to see a new picture of beautiful Genevieve!
Larry & Marlys, proud grandparents from afar

Wednesday, More Rain

Yesterday all the activities were canceled, except our lunch and dinner dates. However, the weather wasn't bad here in Kaohsiung. It rained off and on but not very hard.
Today, it is raining much more. Right now it is pouring out but not very windy. The forecast is for heavy rain and winds today. But life goes on. Everyone is up and at church ready for the day. Nothing is canceled as far as I know now. For us it is a blessing because the temperature is down 10 degrees or so. It is still humid, but easier on us.
As I said, we still had our meals out with two groups yesterday. It seems like we eat non-stop. The first group was the group, Doctor Joy. They are single, medical professionals. The four who came to lunch were: ER doctor, two dentists and a medical student who is free right now having just finished her entrance test for study in Australia for her master's degree. We had a choice - Chinese or American food and Marlys chose American. We ate at KFC and really got full. We had a great time with Larry's games and talking about the difference in cultures. Two of the women had lived in the States so gave a good comparison. Our education system is different, but good, in her opinion. We left the restaurant and got back to church at 3.
Supper was at 5:30! We arrived at church and were led upstairs to the Sunday school/classroom area. They also have a kitchen up there. The group who hosted us were families from a certain area of the county. There were several children there with their parents. Many of these people were also Sunday school teachers and had been in Dunggang with us for the Sunday service there. One of the boys was in the English program there too. They had what I call a pot luck supper. Each one had brought part of the meal. What a variety! It was hard to leave anything out but we were really not hungry and we went away just stuffed! Again, the fellowship was so good. Each of the adults talked to us individually if they knew English and helped translate for those who didn't speak English. It was a lively, animated informal time. We could ask questions about life in Taiwan and they could ask us questions too.
It is so exciting to see God moving in the church here and to know that he is moving at home in Buffalo too. Multiply that by all the evangelical churches in every part of the world and the picture is awesome - just like God is awesome.
Well, I must get to English class. So God's best to you from Taiwan.
Larry & Marlys

Singing in the Rain

It is Tuesday noon. The typhoon is crossing Taiwan. We are getting breezes and rain but nothing severe so far. We are far to the south of the island and the typhoon is crossing the center of the land. They canceled schools and many offices today because of the storm. Our Bible study was canceled but people are still bringing us out to eat (very soon). They will decide by 2 p.m. whether to cancel the youth meeting tonight or not. Our apartment mates, three teenage girls, were up with Caleb until 1 or 2 in the morning. They were eating noodles at 1 A.M. Larry and I were in bed much earlier. They knew they could sleep in this morning.
Our report from the weekend is wonderful. Pastor Sophia was able to take our message and apply it to Moses, Saul, and David. She encouraged her congregations to persevere with a good attitude. They announced that five children in Dunggang (where we were last week) accepted the Lord during the meetings they have had there this week. What joy we all experienced! Our translator was very good. She had studied for eight years at the university in Urbana, IL. We added a short slide show to the Sunday services. That was fun too. So many people come up to us to shake our hands and say, "Nice to meet you" or some other phrase. Parents bring their children to say, "Hello, my name is ___." We popped into the Sunday school for a few minutes at the end of the service. Saturday night school is evanelistic. They have many students who are not Christians.
Sorry, I will add more later. The lunch bunch is here.
Marlys

Photos from Taiwan

Headline - American Missionary Safe after Harrowing Cycle Ride

Thursday in Kaohsiung - Bible study

It is prayer meeting night. I am taking the time to catch up on email and blog. Then I will go to our apartment and work on Bible study for tomorrow. Larry and Caleb went with the youth as they are doing a photo scavenger hunt at the local stores. The church is in use so they don't have a place to meet. Tomorrow the group will go to a camp until Sunday at 5 p.m. Caleb will go with them.

I hope you will continue to pray for us this weekend and through next week. We have been leading a Bible study in English each morning. The students range from junior high to college and beyond. Several of them are cram school English teachers. The Taiwanese English teachers take every opportunity to improve their English. We are using the curriculum from Bible school. One of the pastor's sons (college age) mentioned that it was very easy so I have tried to make the study more challenging. Larry and Caleb are with me so we break into three smaller groups for discussion.

The first half hour has been small group time as we each have introduced ourselves and then had the group introduce themselves too. I will be finished with the Bible school material on Monday, so pray that I will have direction for the studies the rest of the week.

The second prayer request is for clarity and boldness as Larry and I will be sharing in four services this weekend. We are the 'speakers'. We met with the pastor today and she will wrap up the speaking time and pray. I am hoping that they will sing
Awesome God and I will sign it in American sign language with them. As I am writing this message, I just met the woman who will translate for us at the services. This is an especially big challenge for Larry who doesn't consider himself a preacher at all. He would rather meet tons of new people than speak at church. But God has given him a message and I know God will supply all our needs.

We have had some wonderful eating experiences here in Kaohsiung. Different people and cell groups have taken us out each day at noon and at dinner. We took motor scooters with the college age group and the young adult group. I prayed harder while on the motor scooter than I have for my upcoming speaking assignment. We walked today with the junior high leaders and students. We have been to the top Japanese restaurant in town and to a very fancy hotel for Cantonese food. Tonight no one was assigned to feed us because they fast before prayer meeting. So we hiked up to McDonald's and indulged in American food - including a hot fudge sundae! It is really tough being on this mission trip, but someone has to do it. :)

Thanks for reading our blog. Your prayers are making a difference. We have photos but do not have the right computer to download them to the internet. Will try to do that tomorrow.

Larry and Marlys - Ambassadors for Christ

TEAM TAIWAN 2006

Typhoon Bilis

Friday in Donggang - wet and windy with occasional lightning and thunder. Yesterday was cloudy and rainy off and on but we were able to do our regular activities until after supper when it became more stormy. Today the mission team is sleeping in. They are catching up from the past week. It is noon and they are still sleeping! That is the plus side of being teens. Larry and I managed to sleep in until 8 or so and after journaling finally came downstairs to join the family for breakfast about 9:30. The office work is slow but still functioning. Larry went on a drive to the tax office and saw some of the flooding in other parts of the city and the huge waves at the port. We are right on the coast. However this section of town is not flooded. We are praising the Lord for safety and for a chance to get rested up.

We've had two groups of students. The English class has a mixture of young ones from 6 to teens. The evening has been a middle school age group. The English class is also evangelical with just a little English. The evening is all Chinese and relation building.

The mission team is very energetic and evangelistic. They have prayer walks around the town to hand out literature. They practice their music and skits. They also have Bible study. On Sunday they will have the first service in this new church. Saturday we will have students the whole day to play at an obstacle course, to watch part of the Prince of Egypt (they have seen part of it already), and to have some English classes. It is a challenge to try to fit into their plans but God is good and it has all come together. We are learning from each other.

Pray for us to be sensitive to how we can be a blessing. Also, pray that we will adjust to a new schedule next week where we teach a Bible study in the morning and work with the junior high group of about 50 students at night.

Tuesday in Dangong

It's been a busy day already. We were up about 6 and the group was at the church by 7. We stayed with our hosts and had breakfast (a four layer sandwich with - Marlys' had egg, meat, cucumber -- Larry's had something like apple but not apple, like jelly but not jelly, like meat but not meat and covered with mayo). When we got to church which is about three blocks from where we were staying the group of students who are about 16-21 met to pray and prepare to walk the streets in three groups, praying, speaking to people and handing out flyers promoting our programs. Even at 9 a.m. it was very hot and muggy. Each of the Americans joined a different group. My group stopped and talked with vendors at the market and people eating at the little shops. We stopped at the convenience store and talked with the clerk. They passed right by the place I was staying so later I went back there to rest. I was really hot and didn't want to overdo anything.
My host is Kelly who has a 7 month old boy named Nicholas. She and her husband live and work with his parents. They have notary public office. Their house is right in back of the office and goes upstairs too. We are staying on the 3rd floor with Kelly and Chuck and Nicholas. The girls in our group are also there in the living room on the floor. We have a separate room with air conditioning.
When I went back to their office at 10 or so, the mother-in-law was caring for the baby and they were so kind to me. They brought me cold juice and then fresh pineapple and guava and finally found an English newspaper for me to read.
Just as I was ready to leave to go back to church three of the girls from the group showed up. They were treated to the fresh fruit too and finally we headed back to the church for lunch. We are trusting that God will bring people to the church tonight for a tea party. The students will put on a skit and we will speak English with those who come. They have other ideas too.
This afternoon while the group is going to a local junior high school to play basketball and hang out with the kids there, Larry and I are at Lynn's house enjoying the computer and more food (watermelon). Lynn will be tutoring some students this afternoon and we will try to interact them. We are hoping to interest them in coming to the English classes we will hold at the church on Wed, Thurs and Friday.
It is 2:45 p.m. so class will start soon.
Please pray for successful outreach into the community. Pray for openness to the gospel and to the Christian witness to this community.
L & M

Sunday Night in Kaohsiung

We arrived in Kaohsiung Saturday after a 5 hour bus ride. We took a picture of the whole team with coworkers which should be distributed by Dave & Judy Dolan soon. The first answer to prayer was that Caleb's luggage arrived at the hostel before we left on the bus. As we traveled south we ran into rain about half way down the island. There was no rain when we got off the bus and drove to the church but then it poured again.
Larry and I are living only a few minutes' walk from the church. The entire sidewalk is covered by wide awnings so we don't even need an umbrella. By the way, it just started pouring again as I am writing. We are staying with Lynn and her two children in a large apartment on the other end of the block from the church. Lynn is an English teacher and lived in southern California for college. Caleb is with another family about 5 minutes away by car. Andrew, the son of the family has very good English and will probably be our translator for Bible study.
Tomorrow we will be planning our adventure in the neighboring town. Please pray for direction and grace as we are put in stretching situations. Val and the youth group trips to the Dominican Republic and Mexico were the best preparations for this part of our work here. We will be going to street markets and playgrounds to invite young people back to the church for English conversation and evangelism. Two nights they will have a tea house and we will probably have games and music and opportunities to do some basic English. I've forgotten what the other two nights are but Saturday is another opportunity to play games and work on English. We are part of a team of young people from the church who will do some puppets, and play games, etc. We suggested face painting too.
It is time to go to supper. Thanks for your prayers.

L & M

Arrived Safely

Everyone on the Taiwan 2006 team arrived safely and within a few hours of each other. We have had a good night's sleep and a full day. It is almost 8 p.m. and most of the group just left the youth hostel to go walking to a large night market. They are breaking up into two groups so that some of them can come back fairly early and others will stay later.
This morning we had an orientation meeting with Pastor Wu, president of the Taiwan Covenant church and with Pastor Yu who is the coordinator of this project. They shared their vision for reaching the people of Taiwan and of China. We worshipped together and got to meet the other participants. Then in the afternoon we all went on the train system and visited a huge temple. It was so interesting and really very sad to see the idol worship and to learn about the religious beliefs of these people. Larry and I took off on our own to visit the Bible bookstore - we left Larry's bible on the first plane ride. Then we found Toys R Us and he bought more blocks for a picture cube he wants to make later.
By the time we got home, Marlys was too tired to walk any more. Larry was going to skip the night market, but changed his mind when all the people gathered to go.
The weather here is partly cloudy which helped for heat since there was little direct sunlight, but it is very humid and must be in the high 90's for temp. Most of the buildings and the trains are air conditioned so those places are comfortable.
We are looking forward to meeting our church representatives tomorrow morning. Then we will dispurse to the various churches. We will be going 4 horus away by car (longer if by train). We met Caleb Teel who is a college student from Alaska. He will go with us to the church in the south. His bag was not at the airport when he arrived. So that is a matter of prayer - we will be leaving by mid afternoon. Pray that the bag will arrive before we leave for the south.
We are all in limbo about our teaching positions. Until we meet the people from each church we will not know who or what we will teach. Pray that we will be flexible and that communication will be clear between us and the church we serve.
My time on the computer is up, so I will say "Bye-bye for now!"
Trusting in Jesus - The Wilsons

Family Fun

July 4th, 2006

The final countdown to Taiwan is on. The space shuttle is also counting down in Florida. I can't sleep, I suppose it is excitement. I wonder how the astronauts deal with the pressure? We are almost all packed. But I keep thinking of more to put in the bags. They will be full when we leave.

I am sorry that I took off last year's pictures. I had forgotten that I said they would be on the blog. We will add new ones as soon as we can.

The picture shows us in Taiwan on our 40th anniversary last year. This year we celebrated our 41st anniversary on Sunday with all of our kids and grandkids at the house. Pat's family wasn't able to be there the whole time, but we saw everyone for a short time - JP & Anna on their way to South Dakota and Pat just back from Wisconsin. The rest of us spent the afternoon and evening together. We enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. It is such fun to see the cousins playing together.

At church we were blessed three times and sent off with greetings to the church in Taiwan. We met with one of the couples going with us from Maple Grove. The Dolan's, missionaries in charge of the trip, sent the final plans for our orientation when we arrive in Taipei.

Now, if only I could get to sleep...