we have this treasure in jars of clay...

I can't believe it's May already! I also can't believe how cliche that is, since I say it every month. Is this one of the signs of aging?

This month is going to be one of the busiest of my recent past, and possibly my life. School is still in full swing over here in Kinmen, and won't wind down until the end of June. However, a lot of other things are in the works:

• Bek, Rachel, Micah, Teresa & I (my teammates here, for those who are overwhelmed by all the strange names) should be part of a Mother's Day concert at the cultural center this Friday night. That is, if our voices are all right. See, at the moment, our voices are metaphorically (and probably musically) flattened by laryngitis. Please pray that our voices are healed so that we can not only sing that night, but also practice for the event (since some of us are not exactly naturally talented). It's a really cool opportunity to share with the community.
• This Wednesday is our town's annual parade in honor of the birthday of the city god. Most of my students will be involved in the festivities one way or another. There are interesting cultural aspects to this parade, but the thing that always sticks with me the most is seeing the "mediums" who have turned their body over to... I'm not sure if it's supposed to be the city god or what. Often, their backs will be bloody where they beat themselves, or there will be needles woven through the skin on their backs. I am never sure what exactly to pray at this time, but please pray against the principalities and powers over Jincheng, and that our students/friends will realize the emptiness of what they are doing.
• This Saturday we will be singing at the nursing home. Of course, if our voices would come back from wherever they are traveling to, this would be better....
• I'm make supper for our church youth group once or twice a month. This is sometimes a slightly stressful thing - when we make American style food, and sometimes extremely Jarita-totally-cannot-handle-this-responsibility-what-possessed-me-to-sign-up-for-this when we try to make Chinese food. This go around it shouldn't be too bad - due to Mother's Day, I'm going to ask our pastor's wife what her favorite Americ food is, and we'll do that instead of trying to make the pastor's favorite Chinese food. :) The next week, I'll be helping our pastor's wife cook, and then the week after that, I'm supposed to be sharing (read: filling up 45 minutes of time!) something God has been teaching me. Pray for that sharing time, that God's Spirit would give me (or whoever I get to help me ;) the words He wants me to share, that it would be from Him, and not from me.
• Summer camps are coming up, and with that, one of the biggest responsibilities I've ever had. King Car & IBLP have asked me to lead our Hsinchu summer camps this year. We will be working for the next month and a half on scheduling, planning, making lists and preparing. Pray for camps: for the students, TA's, volunteers; and for God's wisdom.
• We also have a lot of guests coming this month, including some cool Christian TAs, awesome Taiwan teammates, our King Car authorities, and a TV crew who wants to document foreigners living in rural Taiwan.
• We will be taking a vacation over Dragon Boat Festival (May 28) to Hualien, to visit Taroko Gorge, go whitewater rafting, and hang out with an aboriginal family. Somehow, I managed to become the de facto leader of this excursion...so it will be fun, but I should probably get to work on travel plans. :P

Maybe my next post later tonight will be praises. ;)

Basically, there's a lot going on, and it's easy to get focused on tasks or people rather than on Jesus. Pray that we would with one mind and one heart look to Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith; not any works that we can do...only His grace!

As an aside, I've finally found my "life verse." See if you can figure out why. ;)

"We have this treasure in jars of clay,
that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." - 2 Corinthians 4:7

IF...with special thanks to amy carmichael

God has been putting some difficult situations into my life lately, and too often, my first response is one of frustration, caustic words, or self-righteousness. On the other hand, when God brings opportunities to share His truth, His love, and to praise Him for what He has done, I shy away with thoughts like: "They're going to think that I don't know anything." "They won't understand." "They'll think I'm a religious fanatic." This obviously makes me pathetic as a follower of Christ. (Which in turn makes me pretty thankful that it's no longer Jarita who lives, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.)

Speaking of loving and giving of himself...

We read verses about love all the time, but I think somewhere along the way I've lost the sense of their real meaning. What is this love of God? How do we know if we are in His love? ...to put it in the words of Amy Carmichael: "What do I know of Calvary love?"

I found this little book on one of my teammates shelves...and here were just a few of the things God used to open my eyes and let me see what He sees...

It's not pretty, but it's necessary.

"If...
I belittle those whom I am called to serve,
talk of their weak points
in contrast with what I
think of as my strong points;
if I adopt a superior attitude,
forgetting 'who made you to
differ? and what do you have that
you haven't received?'
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
I can write an unkind letter,
speak an unkind word,
think an unkind thought without grief and shame,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
in dealing with one who does not respond,
I weary of the strain and slip from under the burden
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
I am perturbed by the reproach and
misunderstanding that may
follow action taken for the good
of souls for whom I must give account;
if I can commit the matter and go
on in peace and silence,
remembering Gethsemane and the cross,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I
lose affection,
or lest the one concerned should
say, "You do not understand,"
or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness;
if I put my own good name before the other's highest good,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.

"If...
I speak not right things, but smooth things
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
I fear to hold another to the highest
goal because it is so much easier
to avoid doing so,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
though I have this ministry and
have received much mercy, I faint,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
monotony tries me, and I cannot
stand drudgery;
if stupid people fret me and little
ruffles set me on edge;
if I make much of the trifles of life,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
souls can suffer alongside, and I
hardly know it,
because the spirit of discernment is
not in me,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
things or places or people hold me
back from obedience to my Lord,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
the praise of man elates me and his
blame depresses me;
if I cannot rest under misunderstanding
without defending myself;
if I love to be loved more than to love,
to be served more than to serve,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If...
I slip into the place that can be filled by Christ alone,
making myself the first necessity to
a soul instead of leading it to
fasten upon Him,
then I know nothing of Calvary love."

it happened in the kitchen when mom wasn't looking...

Two weeks of cooking in Kinmen...

-twice-baked potatoes, ranch chicken, whole wheat bread & pumpkin pie
Comments: Delicious. Yummy yummy yummy. In the interest of full disclosure, the chicken & potatoes recipes came from here, but I had to make some changes due to Kinmen's lack of certain "key" ingredients. The potatoes were mashed with cream cheese (which you can purchase at any friendly neighborhood bakery), green onions, garlic, milk, and a tiny bit of cheddar (uninteresting side note: You cannot find real cheese anywhere in Kinmen. The choices that we have cheese-wise are make your own, plastic, powder, or slightly gooey plastic. If you plan to visit, please bring cheese! as an aside to the aside: cheese does not ship well...it turns green. So, while the gesture would be appreciated, it would be sadly wasted.)

As for the chicken, we actually had all the ingredients, due to a weird/chance importation of mustard & sauerkraut from Germany at our local "slightly-more-interesting-food-than-the-average-place" store. The whole wheat bread was made in the bread machine lovingly provided by our church, and the pumpkin pie was made using Grandma K's pie crust recipe & Grandma M's blender pumpkin filling recipe, but with a lot more cinnamon, because I'm a little psychotic when it comes to cinnamon. Both found in the Basics & More, because I'm a creature of habit like that.

-homemade ravioli & focaccia
Thoughts: There's a possibility (if I'm ever bored for a whole day) that I might try making ravioli again; but anyone considering trying it out, BE WARNED. It takes hours and hours of doing the same four things: scoop the meat, dampen edges, cover with dough, press to seal and start over. This could be a tiny bit monotonous for those with the patience of Job. For people like me, it's mind destroying and creativity imploding and [insert more bad things here]. The hungrier and bigger your "family" the longer this process will take.

Possible solutions to this problem: make a big sheet of homemade pasta rather than using individual "wonton" wrappers. Also, might have better flavor with a homemade ricotta filling as opposed to the unidentifiable and strangely flavored pig parts I used here.

The focaccia turned out fine, basically pizza dough with spices & cheese, for all intents and purposes. I'm not complaining. :)

-home cured corned beef & boiled potatoes & cabbage, & apple crisp Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Verdict: interesting.
I've always thought St. Patrick's Day was really neat. I mean, I wear green, and I kiss people and say "blarney, there's a leprechaun," and talk about how my great-great-great grandma was Irish. Or maybe not so much... Amanda, one of the junior high teachers here (who, while not technically on our IBLP/King Car team, hangs out with us a lot) was excited about trying corned beef for St. Pat's.

Obviously, it's impossible to get corned beef in Kinmen, and it isn't possible to make it; unless you did something off-the-wall like bringing TenderQuick and pickling spice with you from the States, which I did, two years ago. Finally being put to good use...

The quick story on the beef: I used a dry rub recipe because I was too lazy to boil things on a school day and threw the raw groatiness into the fridge for a week. On the day of, I stuck it in the crockpot with some more spices/bay leaves/etc. and let it cook all afternoon. Amazingly, it turned out - pink and flavorful! I wish I could say the same for the cabbage and potatoes... The apple crisp was yummy soul food though, so it was easy to get over the Vegetable Failure.

-original plan: steak & cheese sandwiches, macaroni & cheese, vegetable pizza, brownies & sundaes (in honor of Drew's birthday)

I'm getting a little carried away with myself, but I've got to give you some background here:
Another thing about living in Kinmen that I may never have mentioned, is that it's foggy in spring. This is Debilitating Fog, which makes it impossible for planes to fly. If you've lived here, you know the drill. For those of you who've never had this special experience: it means that you will not get any news via newspapers, because airplanes bring those in. There will not be any fresh food at 7-11, because airplanes bring it in. There will not be any cream cheese at friendly bakeries, because airplanes bring that in, too. You will have to teach class by yourself, because airplanes bring teachers back from weekend trips to Taiwan. If the nature-imposed embargo lasts long enough, there won't be any milk left at 7-11 either, because...say it together, class... the airplanes bring it in. I don't know if you've seen a pattern here, but this is how we roll.

The point of that information, was that yesterday, Teresa, Micah, Mother & Sister of Micah, and Andrew were all stranded in Taiwan because of fog, and that kind of negated the need for a birthday party...what with the birthday boy across the strait somewhere. So, the

Revised plan: steak & cheese sandwiches, Greek-style salad, brownies

Which, I suddenly ran out of steam to tell the world about...or maybe it's that I remembered that I need to correct a high schooler's autobiography, make French onion soup & baguettes for dinner, play badminton with a little kid I know, and plan my Wednesday lesson before I can sleep tonight. That kind of killed the blogging spirit. @@

Wednesday class.

We teach a 3-hour long Wednesday "English camp" every week for 5th and 6th graders. It's specifically geared towards phonics learning, but in the off chance that that comes across as somewhat boring...we usually spend an hour doing something 'fun.'

For a little more background on the students:
My kids come from the 3 "country" schools near us. There aren't many students at these schools to start with, and even fewer who actually want to learn English. (These kids are from the 'Tai' crowd, which could be described as the betel-nut chewing, blue truck driving, "Hello Baby" yelling section of the populace. Or just Taiwanese rednecks, if that's easier to understand)


This semester, most of my students were forced to come to class by their teachers or their parents. Due to their attitudes in class, I feel just a little unsuccessful as a teacher--but still successful as a friend, as long as we're not in class! I now know how my parents felt all those years. Please forgive me of my errant ways... :|

Attendance was at an all time low last week, with just 9 kids from 1 school. We made the most of it by making egg parachutes and dropping them from the 3rd floor. Even bored kids enjoy doing destructive things like breaking eggs!

Actually, I don't have anything to complain about. These kids are loud in class, but they still line up, which warms the cockles of my somewhat ragged heart. Ask anyone, if there's one thing I'm seriously obsessive-compulsive about--it's lining up. You should here me yell in my sleep during summer camps. Uh, yeah...that was a slight digression.

Overall, I'd rate the class as mostly not bad. I'm pretty sure I need extensive remedial coaching on how to teach phonics, but that's beside the point.


I am able to sleep at night only because I tell myself that someday they will eat apples, instead of epples. There will come a day when the teacher is a bad egg instead of a bed egg. I visualize them understanding that a bud does not fly in the sky, and that a bird is not an unopened flower. A duck can never have a boat tied to it, and a dock does not quack! The teacher is ugly, not ogly! When avery studint con say avery vowal weeth perfact eccuracy... please, may that day come soon...

cat-kind.

I saw this in an alley as I walked home from school the other day, and I nearly gasped in horror. Why do we need to keep kitties on our lovely green earth? Haven't they done enough harm to the human race already? Can't we just eradicate them, please?

If you've never seen cats jumping from rooftop to rooftop over your head, leaping through the air in front of your face, yowling all through the night under your window, slinking past you in dark alleys, or emitting a feline, sneaky vibe of Hatred for Humankind from their unblinking eyes...yeah. I rest my case, with a shiver and a "Good riddance!"

the return...

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged actively, and today I decided that it was time to change all that.

Turn over a new leaf. Have a new beginning. Or mostly, just try to keep my grasp of the English language from totally slipping into oblivion.

Here's what to expect:
If you know me well, due to procrastination, not much. hehe...
but the Plan is to share about my teaching experiences, cooking/baking endeavors, island exploration, books I've been reading, answers to prayer, cool photos, and the hard things God is teaching me...

My hope is that this blog will give my American family and friends a taste of my life in Kinmen, and that both in writing this blog and living "farawayacrosstheocean", that God will be glorified.