The Commission

Matthew 28:19 - 20
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

I recently saw this video and was convicted by it.  We live in a lost and dying world and God has entrusted us with the words of truth and life.  He has commissioned us to go and bring the Gospel to all nations.  Will we answer the call?

May we be as Isaiah when he beheld the glory of the LORD in a vision, "Here am I LORD; send me."

The Immutable El Olam

Hello Fellow Soldiers of the Cross! 

What you are about to read is a short meditation that I put together for one of my assignments here at Ellerslie Training Institute (www.ellerslie.com).  It is a collaboration of scriptures having to do with the immutability and eternality of God.  El Olam, is the Hebrew name for God meaning, "The Everlasting One."

Except for a few sentences, this meditation is entirely scripture.  All of the pronouns have been changed to personal pronouns.  At the bottom of this meditation you will find all of the verses that I used to put this assignment together.  The verses are listed in the order that they were used.  

It is my prayer that as you read this meditation you come away with a greater love and adoration for our beloved bridegroom, Jesus Christ. Enjoy!      

The Immutable El Olam

Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  I am El Olam, the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  I faint not, neither am weary.  There is no searching of my understanding.  I am the true and living God.  I change not.  I am the same yesterday, today, and forever.  I am the first and the last. I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come.

I am eternally the same.  My nature is inviolable.  It is impossible for me to violate it.  I am bound by my eternal attribute of immutability.  In me there is no variableness or shadow of turning.  I am not a man, that I should lie; neither the son of man, that I should repent; hath I said, and shall I not do it? or hath I spoken, and shall I not make it good?  I endure forever and am remembered unto all generations. 

I am he that liveth and was not dead and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death.  In the beginning, I have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of my hands: They shall perish; but I remain; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture I shall roll them up, and they shall be changed, but I am the same, and my years shall not fail.  Before Abraham was, I AM. 

I am the King forever and ever.  My kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and my dominion endures throughout all generations.  My counsel standeth for ever, the thoughts of my heart to all generations.   I will accomplish all my purposes.  I am in one mind, and who can turn me? And what my soul desires, even that I do.  I am good; my mercy is everlasting; and my truth endureth to all generations.  I only do wondrous things. 

Ye are my witnesses, and my servant whom I have chosen:  that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he:  before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me:  I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me.  I am the LORD, and there is none else.  My throne is established of old: I am from everlasting.  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever I had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting I am God.  Amen!     

List of Verses: 

“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.” – Isaiah 40:28

“But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” – Jeremiah 10:10

"For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. - Malachi 3:6

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” – Hebrews 13:8

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” – Revelation 1:8

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” – James 1:17

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” – Numbers 23:19

“But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.” – Psalm 102:12

“And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” – Revelation 1:17-18

“I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.  Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.  They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:  But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.” – Psalm 102:24-27

 “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.” – Hebrews 1:10-12

“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” – John 8:58

“The Lord is king forever and ever; the nations perish from his land.” – Psalm 10:16

“Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” – Psalm 145:13

“The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations” – Psalm 33:11

“Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,” – Isaiah 46:10

“But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.” – Job 23:13

“For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” – Psalm 100:5

“Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.” – Psalm 72:18

“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” – Isaiah 43:10

“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.” – Isaiah 45:5-6

“Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.” – Psalm 93:2

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” – Psalm 90:2

Preparing for Rain

This year in Taiwan, God has been teaching me a lot about the realm of faith.  I've learned that faith requires action.  I've learned that in order for faith to grow it must be fully invested.  I've been challenged to put myself in extremely difficult situations that allow me to go "All In" on God so that my faith may be built.   
         On March 16th, I received the sad news that Charles, one of our staff members at the Wilderness Fellowship Ministries, had suffered a stroke and went home to be with the Lord.  Our family had worked with Charles for almost eight years, and for us kids, he had become a second grandfather.  After receiving the news, I immediately wanted to do everything that I could to make it home for the funeral.  With two of the teachers already planning to make trips to the states, I knew that there was a strong possibility that my school may not grant me permission to leave Taiwan.  In my eyes, going home, seemed impossible.  I prayed that God would somehow make a way for me to attend his funeral.


         The next morning, after discovering really reasonable airplane tickets days before their departure, I decided to call Phoebe, my school administrator, just to see what she would say.  I explained the situation and then asked her if she would allow me to return home for just one week to attend his funeral.  I made sure to let her know that the decision was up to her and that I would not be upset if she decided to not let me go.  My first priority is serving the people of Taiwan.  This was a desire that I had, but I was more than willing to sacrifice my desire for the desires of the Taiwanese.  She told me that she needed to think about it and would give me an answer by the end of the day.


After I got off the phone with Phoebe, I decided to take this whole situation as an opportunity to stretch my faith.  I had prayed and asked God to make a way for me to attend His funeral, but I wasn’t putting anything into action.  I was a farmer that asked God for rain, but didn’t prepare my fields in advance for it.  I was like Peter asking Jesus to walk on water, but not getting out of the boat.  I knew that if God wanted me back for the funeral, He would make it happen.  He would work out the details.  If He didn’t want me to go, He would close the door.  I had made up my mind.  I was going to “prepare for rain”.  I started packing my suitcases, trusting in God to work out all of the other details.  


          By mid afternoon, I had already gotten the okay from both Dr. Chen (Head of IBLP Taiwan) and Tina (TESOL Teacher Director) and was eagerly waiting for the decision from Phoebe.  As I was packing, I got the sudden inspiration to take my test of faith to the next level.  I decided that I was going to purchase a plane ticket BEFORE receiving the official consent to leave and also not knowing the exact date of the funeral.   I quickly grabbed a computer and began searching for flights.  Because it had been quite a few hours since the morning, the prices of the tickets had jumped up a few hundred dollars.  Even though it was a little disappointing, I determined that I was going to trust God no matter what.  I have to admit that even though I was desiring to fully "step out of the boat", there was still a part of me that hadn't fully let go of the boat yet.  I still had to make sure I could get a refund before trying to purchase a ticket just in case Phoebe said no.  Eventually I had picked a flight and had filled out all of the information except for my payment method.  That’s when I realized that even though I had enough money in the bank, it was all in my savings and in order for me to purchase the ticket, it needed to be in my checking account.  The problem was that because it was the weekend, transferring the money into my checking account, wouldn’t have become official until Monday night Taiwan time (Monday morning American time), and I needed to fly out on Monday morning Taiwan time (Sunday night American time).  


          I was chatting with my assistant Camellia about the situation on gmail.  I explained to her the problem I was facing, and asked her if it would be possible for me to use her card and then pay her back later.  She said that it would be fine. 


          As I was talking with Camellia, I heard the sound of my phone’s text message tone.  I knew it was from Phoebe.  The moment of truth had come.  To be honest, I was a little nervous.   I walked into my room, picked up my phone, slid it open, and pressed the “view” button.  To my great delight, I had been given permission to leave.  God had answered my prayer.  Praise the Lord!   
             
          It’s awesome how all of the details fell into place so quickly.  It’s amazing how when I decided to trust God and “prepare for rain”, even though I didn’t think there was any possibility of rain, God worked everything out perfectly.  God is truly incredible.     

The Journey Continues……

This blog, (When God Said Go....) was created with the intention of documenting my adventures in Taiwan. It was created to show people how God is using me here in Taiwan. Most of you/all of you reading this blog, know that I am/have been serving in Taiwan the past seven months. It occurred to me, that not all of you know how God led me to come to serve in Taiwan. I have never shared with you the events that led up to me being in Taiwan teaching English. For that I am sorry. I would like to now share with you a brief summary of what God has been doing in my life this past year.

As most of you know, I grew up in a Christian home, but for me, Christianity was just a front that I put up every day, so I would be accepted by my Christian friends, and Christian peers. I knew all the “right” words, and all the “right” actions, but inside I wanted nothing to do with God. I was a man filled with a lot of bitterness, malice, rage, anger, hatred, and immorality. I was headed for destruction, and was blinded to a lot of things. On March 31^st, 2009 at a Journey to the Heart that I attended under the will of my parents, God miraculously changed my life! I repented of my sins, I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, and my faith became real to me for the first time!

The Fulfillment of a Promise

After I got home from the Journey, I had many opportunities to share my testimony. Each time I would willingly share my testimony, and give glory to God for what He did in my life, God opened the door for me to share my story again. At that time, I was less than three months away from graduating from high school; honestly, I had no idea of what I was supposed to do with myself. However, the Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Each time I did that – acknowledged God – He made his path clear to me. And as I continued to give God glory for what he had done at the Journey, He began to show me what He wanted me to do after graduation. In other words, God did exactly what that verse promises He will do: He directed my steps through circumstances and showed me which way to go. He “made my paths straight!” and it was amazing!

The Planting of a Seed

One of the direction seeds was planted when my family and I attended theRegional ATI conference last May in Big Sandy, Texas. At the end of the week, having heard my testimony a few times, Mr. Gothard suggested

to my parents, that I apply for the teaching trip in Taiwan. They shared his proposal with me, and at first, I had no interest at all. I thought to myself, “Me teach English? I hate English.” Obviously then, teaching English hadn’t even entered my mind; in fact, I thought it was ridiculous and therefore responded, “No way!” However, as we drove home, my parents and I discussed the opportunity and through those conversations, the Lord “watered” the seed. I actually pondered the possibility. I prayed about it. Having a new desire to walk in God’s will, not mine, I decided to apply for the position. I trusted that if God didn’t want me in Taiwan, He would “shut the door.” Interestingly, the more I thought about this incredible opportunity, the more excited I became!

A few weeks after I applied, I was accepted to join the t

eam of people traveling to Taiwan to teach English! All doors were left open…… At that point, I had all the required prerequisites completed, except one. I had just become a Christian, I had just turned 18, and I had just completed a Journey to the Heart. The timing for me to go was perfect. My parents were at peace about it; in fact they were encouraging me to faithfully pursue this prospect. Praise the Lord for awesome parents! The last thing I needed, was my TESOL certification….oh yeah, and $1300 to pay for the course. My parents prayed…I prayed. God heard…and God responded. I’m from a small country town, where jobs are sparse, but the good Lord opened a door for me; He gave me a six-week summer job that allowed me to earn the exact amount of money, to the dollar, that I needed for my TESOL training! Without a doubt, He “made my path straight!”

The Equipping of the Called

As time went on and the reality of my departure set in, I became really stressed out. I had a long list of things to do and I thought I

would never finish in time. Also, I allowed fear to set in. Once again I thought, “I don’t know anything about teaching English!” My human reasoning took over and I thought I was going to fail. Just days before leaving, I had an emotional breakdown, and really started freaking out. My dad shared some words of encouragement, which I have stuck with me the entire time: “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.” This gave me peace, in the midst of my fear and stress. As I trusted in God, He was faithful and in His proper timing, God worked everything out!

My prayers and my mom’s was that I would be placed on a team who had been in Taiwan before, and that they knew what they were doing. In addition to that, my mom prayed that there would be another guy on the team. God answered both of those prayers! First, I was placed on the Dudley’s team, the directors of the teaching English in Taiwan through IBLP opportunity. And second, out of six potential teams, God put me on a team with my new friend, David. We had met, and become really good friends, during the TESOL course in Oklahoma. God answered our prayers above and beyond what we had even asked!

The Experience of a Lifetime

Ephesians 3:20 says that God can do “exceeding abundantly above all we can ask” and that is exactly what He has done for me! First of all, I LOVE teaching English! I LOVE these kids! I am so thankful that I was encouraged to walk in faith, and not in fear! These past seven months in Taiwan, have been filled with

exciting new adventures, and opportunities, that I never once thought I ever get to do! I have had the opportunity to work with rural mountain kids in Thailand! I experienced scuba diving, and snorkeling in the ocean, mountain hiking, touring the oldest city in Taiwan, and the list goes on and on. One of the things that I love most about being in Taiwan is my team! God has blessed me with an AMAZING team of teachers! I appreciate each one of them so much. I could not have asked for a better team! God has truly blessed me this past year in Taiwan. I have come to realize that my sole purpose in coming to Taiwan was not to be an English teacher, or a missionary. Rather, the most important reason God brought me to Taiwan, was for my own personal growth as a man, and in the Lord. God paved the way for me to spend time here for personal refining! These past seven months, have been an incredible time of growing in my relationship with God…..and I am thankful!

It all started with a Journey, and the Journey still continues…….All Glory to

Christ Jesus!

Recap...

Wow....I haven't posted an article on here since November 2nd! I'm sorry, I am sure, you have all been wondering: What happened to Kyle? What has he been up to? How are things going for Kyle in Taiwan? What exciting new adventures, has he been on? Well, after a couple of months of being lazy about writing a blog post, I am finally sitting down and writing an article! Whew...Before I go into what has been happening recently, first, let me recap you on what's been happening the last couple of months! I just have one word: AMAZING!! Lol...okay okay, I will be a bit more descriptive than that! God has truly blessed my team and I these past couple of months with some really awesome and exciting opportunities! Since it has been a couple of months, and there is a lot to tell you about, I am going to go month by month, and bullet statement all that we did during that month! If you would like to see pictures, click here to visit my Picasa Web Albums.

December:

• We went to the island of Xiao Leo Choe for two days mostly to have vacation, but also to teach! The island is about a twenty minute boat ride, off the coast of Taiwan! The island was beautiful! The island is also really small, so by the end of the first day, we knew our way around the whole island pretty good! By the end of the trip, we had already been around the island two, three, or four times!

• We went Scuba Diving! That was a blast! We were 8 meters (24 feet) below the surface! It was awesome; everywhere we looked we saw huge pieces of coral! We also, got the chance to hold a non - poisonous puffer fish

• Christmas Caroling, and Christmas Party with the Team! This was my first Christmas away from my family! It was quite the experience!

• Christmas Party at Nan Jung Junior High School!

• Nan Jung Junior High School's Anniversary! Our whole team performed a Chinese Christian song, based off of Psalms 103! David and Grace performed a piano duet! All of the Pingtung Girls performed a dance that they had been preparing for a few weeks!

January:

• Happy New Year!!!!

• David and I went to Taipei for the weekend to stay with our good friend Roy! Roy is a Taiwanese guy we met when we were in Oklahoma for two and a half weeks getting our TESOL certification! Roy was in Oklahoma for the VOICE conference. VOICE and TESOL run at the same time. (For more information on VOICE, see the VOICE journal website under my Blog List section on my home page.) Staying with Roy, was probably one of the best weekends David and I have had since being in Taiwan! We hung out in Taipei, went shrimp fishing, went out to eat at an awesome Thai food restaurant, went to dinner at an awesome Italian restaurant with more friends from VOICE, went to a movie, we played Halo, and even went to Taipei 101! It was a very relaxed weekend! Roy and his family were GREAT hosts! Thank you so much Roy for letting us hang out and thank you for Roy's family for letting us stay in your house! We had so much fun!

• King Car Winter English day/living camps! Two full weeks of nonstop English fun! Day camp was the week, that the students didn’t spend the entire week at the school, they went home at the end of each day, and then returned that next morning. For living camps, the students slept at the school for all four days! We played games, we told stories, we had English class, we had science class, we had dance class, we had art class, and we had an outdoor adventure in the local town of Kanding. The theme for this year camps, was adventure. Each classroom was turned into something with that theme. The store, turned into the camping store, the bank become the cave, the airport became the jeep, and the market became the plant place. We also had an outdoor drama class, and a trail mix making cooking class! We got the chance to work with several Taiwanese King Car teachers. They were known as our TA’s (Teachers Assistant.) Each AT (American Teacher) was assigned a TA. It was their job to help us AT’s in any way they could. King Car camps were a blast! It was so much fun getting to have my own team of students for an entire week.

February:

• Visa renewal trip to Thailand! We spent ten days in northern Thailand teaching English for our visa renewal trip. It was Amazing! The first four days were spentin an extremely rural area up in the mountains. It was a two hour ride up the mountain to where we would be staying. We all rode in these canvas covered pickup trucks. They looked like the vehicles they used to transport soldiers in during World War 2. The town we were staying in was called ChaingRai.The view was beautiful! The kids were so much fun to teach. In all the schools that I have taught since being in Taiwan this school was the hardest one I’ve had to leave. The next four days were spent down the mountain in the local town of ChaingRai Thailand! We only taught one day at this school, the last three days were spent touring the city of ChaingRai Thailand. The last two days, were spent touring Bangkok,the capitol city of Thailand,. While in Thailand, we got the chance to visit and see many different touristy locations. We visited the Golden Triangle, the Royal Queen’s mother’s villa, the Royal Palace, some temples, and the list goes on. One of the highlights for me about being in Thailand was visiting this school that was built to give kids who are at high risk of being forced into the slave trade, or human trafficking a safe place to go.We didn’t go there to teach English, we were there to see the kids and just show them our love, and hang out with them!These kids didn’t speak a word of English, or Chinese, but yet we all got along so great!

March:

• Okay, now that I have you pretty much caught up, here is what has been happening recently: After having quite a few weeks off of school, classes have finally started again. Before classes started, we had to revamp the entire EV, for this next semester of class, as we will be having repeat students. We either came up with new classes entirely, or we just thought of new ways to teach the old classes. Also, starting this semester, each teacher will be going to an outside school once a week, and help teach their English curriculum. This gives us the opportunity to work with the same group of students longer than one day. Teaching has been going really well, these past couple of weeks. We have all been staying busy. Besides teaching at the English Village, and at an outside school, I now have a guy that I privately tutor once a week. I am helping him learn how to improve his English conversational skills.
  

• I praise the Lord, for all these exciting opportunities, he has blessed my team and I with these past few months. I am so grateful to God, that He called me on the incredible journey; I certainly never would have decided this on my own. It has been the experience of a lifetime. I am excited to see what God has in store for us next!

Mountain Hiking Expedition!

Hi Guys!! It has been a while since I have last posted something on this blog! I just wanted to let everybody know that teaching has been going great! I really love where I teach! It has been a blast! I am so thankful that God has brought me on this journey!! :) I could have never imagined myself being in Taiwan teaching English, but I am...and I love every minute of it! I look forward to going to school and teaching! It has been so much fun! :) I also would have never have imagined myself climbing a mountain in Taiwan either....don't worry, you aren't seeing things, that's what I said...I said climb a mountain! :)

On Saturday October 30th, our team was invited by one of the teachers at the school I work with (Bo Hao) to go hiking with him up in the mountains! It was a blast! There was a trail that made it's way up the mountain that we just followed....The view was AMAZING!! It was a nice day for hiking, and besides being cloudy, the weather was nice too! On the way up we were hiking up the side of the mountain that faced the sun, so it was really hot, and so we all were sweating like crazy! On the way down, we were on the other side of the mountain which was in the shade, so it was cooler, and there was a nice breeze. Along the way, we saw these HUGE spiders, and their HUGE spider webs! For instance, we saw one spider web that had been spun in between two trees, and the distance between the two trees was at least three to four feet long! These spiders were huge, probably the biggest spiders I have ever seen! They were cool, but nasty at the same time! We also got to see this cool Gecko/Lizard thing trying to hide itself on a tree... I believe Hannah called it a Glizard. :)

After we had hiked up, and down the mountain, we drove down to this river that for the most part, had been dried up, and we spent some time climbing around on the rocks. David and I were trying to figure a way across the small river that was still there, but we never did! Actually that's not true, we found a way across, it was just getting back that would have been a different story!


The view from on the mountain! Isn't it just beautiful!! :)

Another shot of the incredible scenery!! :)

This is the trail that we followed that took us up the mountain!

Follow the "yellow brick road!" :) Well, in this case it would be...follow the brown dirt road! :)

Grace, Stephannie, and Hannah posing for a nice picture under this little resting place! :)

David and I posing for a picture along the trail! :)

This is a picture of one of the huge spiders that we saw while hiking up the mountain! As you can see I took this picture, at the same time as the spider is spinning her web! Just so you know, I cropped this picture so you could see it a little bit better! :)

This is the Glizard that we saw...isn't it sweet! :)

This is on our way down! As you can see, David is being very kind and is carrying my backpack! lol!! :)

Some cool scenery on our way down the mountain!

Flowers! Oh wait, you guys already knew that.... ;)

Walking through the river bed and climbing on the rocks as we went! :) If a Typhoon comes through, this river bed fills up, but for the most part, it is dried up like you see in this picture.

Here is my version of the song..."I went down to the river to pray!"

"I went down to the river play...studying about how to find a way across Lord show me the way...."

Well, we found a way across, but like I said before, getting back would have been a different story! :)

Snorkeling Trip in Kending Taiwan!!

Two weeks ago, our team and four of our Taiwanese friends (Tony, Phoebe, Kitty, and Kitty's friend) all drove down to Kending to go snorkeling in the ocean! It was an hour drive, so we were all on the road by 7:30am. Once we got there we all got our mask and snorkel. To rent the snorkel and mask for the whole entire day, was only $100NT (3 US dollars)! That is really cheap! :) The weather was just perfect, clear and sunny! With it being sunny, the water was really clear, so you could see everything. We saw many different kinds of cool fish! We saw neon blue fish, we saw puffer fish, we saw a lion fish, we saw black and white fish, we saw angle fishes, we saw orange and blue fishes, and we even saw a jelly fish! Stephannie has a waterproof camera, so we were able to get some cool pictures under the water! The salt water didn't taste good at all! Oh, and when you would accidentally swallow it....it was disgusting!! My lips felt like I had just eaten a whole bag of popcorn! :) After snorkeling for a while, we decided that we would take a break and go get something to eat. We went and ate lunch at a Thailand food restaurant. It was really good! After lunch, we decided that we wanted to go back and snorkel some more. We snorkeled for a few more hours, and then decided that we wanted to go shopping in the night market they had there. For an hour and half we all shopped, and had dinner. After we were done shopping, we went home!

Kitty and Pheobe wanted to take us all out for what is called: "Hot and Cold Ice" it is like shaved ice, except that on the inside is like this warm soup stuff. It's hot on the inside, and cold on the outside! I didn't like it! In fact, none of the teachers liked it!

Oh, and that whole entire day while we were snorkeling! I had been swimming without my shirt, and without much sunscreen. With it being hot and sunny outside, and with the sun just shining right on the ocean, I got extremely sunburned!! OUCH!! My whole back was sunburned, my calves were sunburned, and even my arms and the top of my hands were sunburned. Next time I am wearing a shirt while I swim, and putting on a bunch of sunscreen. My hand and the bottom of my foot also got cut up a little bit from the rough corral! I was trying to jump off a rock into the ocean, and instead I kind of fell/slid off the rock. Even though I got extremely sunburned and cut up, it was worth it! My day at the beach was AMAZING!! I had so much fun!!


The Beach we swam at!

Another picture of the beautiful beach we snorkeled at!!

Stephannie, David, and I standing on a rock in the ocean getting a picture together!

Megan taking a dive to the bottom of the corral reef!

Hannah and I readjusting our snorkels! :)

One of the many different kinds of fish we saw!! I believe this is known as a angle fish! :)

Another picture of the beautiful angle fish!

Trying to get a picture under the water! :)

Puffer fish! We tried so hard to get it to puff! David tried chasing it around at hitting it with his snorkel! It never puffed for us, it would always just swim away! Oh well, still a cool fish to see though!! :)

A really cool shot of Wes under the water!

Another picture of Wes. Anybody know what that thing is that Wes is pointing at?

One of the awesome neon blue fish that we saw!!

A cool little black, white, and yellow fish!

Another one of the cool looking fish that we got to see while snorkeling!! God is so creative!!
:)

Group shot at the restaurant, where we ate delicious Thailand style food!!

This is what happens when you don't wear sunscreen in Taiwan, and you are swimming in the ocean on a bright hot sunny day!! OUCH!! :)

First Day of Teaching!!

My first day of teaching went great!! It was really fun! We only taught Wednesday and Thursday!

9/9/09 - Normally at the EV we have elementary aged kids from schools around the area, but for our first two days we taught the Nan Jung students. We had the privilege of teaching the ninth grade class. Before our first two days of teaching, Wes, our team leader had us write lesson plans for one of the stations in the EV. I wrote a lesson plan for the market. Well, Wes ended up not using the market for our first two days of teaching, so he put me in the Airport and Cafe. I had to come up with new lesson plans. I wrote one for the airport, and decided that I was just going to go off what Hannah had written up in her lesson plan. So for the airport, I was a little bit more prepared, whereas the cafe, I wasn't as prepared. I mean, I had an idea of what I was doing, but I wasn't totally sure because I hadn't written this lesson plan myself. It helps to write up something yourself, even if you take ideas from other lesson plans, you have a better idea of what you are going to be doing with your kids.

For my first class I taught in the Cafe. In my opinion it did not go well at all. The kids were not paying attention, and my class didn't seem as fun as some of the other classes were. I am sure they had fun, it just didn't seem like it! Anyways....so after my first class, I felt a little discouraged! :( Don't worry, that is not the end of the story. My Airport lesson...it went great!! I had a lot of fun teaching the airport. My lesson was better, the kids were better, everything just went a lot better. My discouragement from the previous lesson, was turned into happiness!! So basically, other than the first class, my other classes went really well!! I still had to teach more cafe lessons, and as they went on each one got better. Out of the two, I would rather teach the airport!!

Me teaching the airport!!

Me teaching in the airplane!!

David Teaching the Airport!

Hannah teaching the Cafe!

Megan teaching the Store!!

Stephannie teaching the Bank!

English Village!!

Okay, so you have all been wondering where I will be teaching for the next year. I am going to tell you, so hold on tight...are you ready for this: I am teaching in the English Village! Okay, I know what you are thinking: "What is the English Village?"

The English Village (EV) is a place for students to come and practice speaking their English in an English only environment! In this EV there are five different stations that the kids go through in one day: There is the airport station which has a mock airport, and airplane set up, there is the bank station, the cafe station, the fashion store station, and the market store station. Throughout this year, all of the teachers will be teaching these five stations. Each teacher is not assigned just one station for the whole year, however. We will be rotating through and teaching the different stations. Our team leader's desire is to have us master each of the stations so that if need be we can just step right and teach that class.

The EV is connected with the Nan Jung Junior High school. They are the ones that take care of the building and are our go-to people if we need anything, or have any question. The grades of this school are 7th, 8th, and 9th. Occasionally the kids from the Nan Jung Junior High School will come to the EV, but normally it is elementary aged students from other schools in the area.

Really the only downside to the EV is that the kids only come for one day, (unless we are doing camps) and then they leave. Meaning, we won't have the same kids every day. We will have a new group of kids every day! Other than that, the EV is great!! It is pretty awesome! It will make teaching all the more fun!! :)

The English Village!!

Standing in front of the English Village!!
From left to right: Stephannie, Hannah, Megan, David, and yours truly!! :)

My Housing Situation, in Chaojhou Taiwan!

My roommate David, and I share a apartment with this Taiwanese man named Dirk. Dirk is a elementary school teacher, and gets reimbursed by King Car who is funding our time in Taiwan. I get to have my own room! I have never had my own room before! I plan to repaint the walls in my room sometime soon. I am thinking of painting them a royal blue color. I had to buy myself some shelves to put some of my belongings into. The apartment does not have a dryer, so we have to hang dry our clothes. In Taiwan, it is not healthy for you to drink the tap water, so you have to get it out of a water purifying machine. Our apartment does not have one, so we have to go to the girl’s apartment if we need water. Most of the time so far we have been eating out, but if me and David ever wanted to cook something at our apartment, we would have to go the girl’s apartment to use their kitchen. Our kitchen is really small! Other than that, our apartment is great!


ere is my room!!

Here is my armoire!

Traveling to Chaojhou!!

Okay….I haven’t updated this blog in a while, so I am going to do the best I can to fill you in on what has been happening. This past week has been amazing!! Let me start from the beginning. After spending a great weekend in Taipei for orientation, it was time to depart to our new homes. The team I am living on is stationed in Choajhou. (Pronounced Chow – Joe) The other members on my team are: Our team leaders: Wes and Julianna Dudley, David, Stephannie, Megan, Hannah, and Grace. Grace won’t be arriving in Taiwan until later.

Anyways….Choajhou is on the complete opposite end of Taiwan from Taipei. By car, it would take you probably four to five hours. We traveled by a high speed train. It only took us an hour and a half to get to Kaoshiung, which is only thirty minutes from Chaojhou. Kaoshiung is the end of the line for the high speed train. After we got to Koahsiung (pronounced Gow – Shung) we then had to take a thirty minute van ride to our school in Chaojhou.


Group shot right before leaving for Chaojhou, Taiwan. From left to right: David, me, Hannah, Stephannie, Julianna, Svannah, Wes, and Megan

Wating for the train to depart from Taipei. Hannah, Stephannie, and David

Gross..I don't like that picture of me!! Haha..anyways, we are waiting for the train to leave from Taipei.

Scenery while traveling to Chaojhou.

More Scenery!! Isn't it beautiful!!

And....more scenery!!

We have arrived in Kaoushiung! (This was the end of the line for the high speed rail)