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
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
that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." - 2 Corinthians 4:7
