Hello and welcome to central Taiwan, a frozen land surrounded by snow-covered mountains where the American English teachers resemble walking ice cubes. OK, slight exaggeration, but it has been cold and rainy, and I heard that some of the taller mountains did get some snow yesterday. I have also seen some rather cold looking Americans walking around with multiple layers on muttering something about wishing the computer would overheat and create some warmth... Really, we are alright, and some of us are rather enjoying this kind of weather.
School continues to be a wonderful challenge, with new and unexpected things happening every day. Last Friday, the team here in Ying Pan went to Pu Li Elementary school, which is the biggest one in Nantou County. It has around 2,800 students, and about 150 teachers all together. There were 11 to 12 classes for each grade with 30-35 students in each class, plus some kindergarten classes. Talk about massive! Each of us taught three classes by ourselves, which was different from what we normally do at a Friday school, but it worked out great. I taught 1st, 3rd, and 6th grade and had a blast doing it. After classes were over and we had finished eating lunch, we headed for the door of the dining hall and found it to be packed full of about 100 students who wanted us all to sign our names for them. Ahhh.... I think I got through about 40 of them before it was time to leave. This has happened at other schools as well, but sometimes they are small enough that we have time to sign our names for all of the students before we go. If you have never been mobbed before, you should come over and try it sometime. Its fun :) You have to love the kids, there is just no way around that.
Friday afternoon, we were invited out for dinner with Mr. Sun who was visiting for the day. We were talking with him in the principles office when he asked us if any of us would be interested in possibly teaching some classes at a junior high school near here. Some of us were like, sure, that sounds interesting, and so he calls the principle of the junior high school and invites him to come to dinner with us right then to talk it over!!! I was sitting there in a state of "please slow down, this is all too fast for me" watching as two new classes were added to our weekly schedule. As far as I grasped, we will begin teaching at the junior high school in Jung Shing in two weeks. This is a great opportunity for us (I think), so please pray that we will have wisdom from the Lord in all that we say and do.
The life we live here, and the ministry we have is only possible through the power of Jesus Christ, and by the prayers of His children on our behalf. This month we ask prayer for the new classes we are teaching at the junior high school that everything would go well. Also pray for two teacher conferences that the Nantou teams will be teaching in the next few weeks. Those are always a challenge. Fun, but a challenge :) Health and our unity in Christ are also something that you can pray for, as well as all of our students, teachers, friends, neighbors, extended family, etc... The people are really what we are here for, so please pray for them. Thank you so much.
Wishing you the peace of Christ,
~Joel
Romans 12:9
