Written: July 2, 2005
Well I’ve never taken this long to write an update. It’s like how on earth do you write about the last year of your life and confine it to about a page of text. Well after half a week of trying I realized you can’t. So here goes nothing…
Today is a day I never thought would come. In many ways this is the end for many of us here in Taiwan. Almost a year ago 11 members of our team met in the San Francisco airport and boarded a plane that would take us to this place we now all have learned to call home.
A year later I find myself closing the door to my room in Hualien and telling Ben and the other girls that our ride was here to take us to the train station. We all boarded the train from Sincheng and headed to Taipei. Later that morning we had a chance to see everyone once again for a press conference and a final chance to say goodbye.
I don’t have words that can describe the things that I was feeling as I began to say goodbye to some of those people that I would never see again. In fact these last few weeks for many of us have been extremely sad.
Saying goodbye to the teachers and children that we’ve worked with on a daily basis for the last 9 months truly is heart breaking. For many of us we came to Taiwan only knowing that we were there to teach English. We came with the expectation of teaching children and being a light of Christ. Yet for many of us I don’t think we realized the full extent of how it would change our lives. I know for me coming to Taiwan has changed my life. In fact, you can’t come to Taiwan and expect not to be changed. These children have the ability to break even the hardest of hearts. I came with the purpose of giving to these people and children and the exact opposite happened. It was the children and people of Taiwan that gave to my life and changed it forever.
There is a phrase that I know is all through out Hualien and I believe all of Taiwan. It’s four small words yet powerful and something that has become true for me. “Touch your heart Taiwan” those four words is exactly what has happened in my life. Taiwan has touched my heart. This nation, these people have touched my heart in a way I never imagined.
I had the privilege of teaching at 4 schools these last two semesters. One of the schools that touched my heart was Jing Mei. Jing Mei, is actually one of the Taroko aboriginal people groups. As I came to learn Jing Mei is the poorest of the poor. Ninety percent of the children that I taught there probably only ate one meal a day. In fact some of them would even bathe and get their water from the little creek that ran down through the school off the mountain.
One of the saddest parts of this school is the fact that these children have no homes to go to. I will find the parents passed out drunk as I arrive at school Tuesday mornings. In the afternoon or evenings, when the children come home they come home to grandparents or mothers, that are passed out drunk. Some are lucky to have a father, but most fathers are in prison. Now if that doesn’t touch your heart in someway maybe what I tell you next will. The lack of care and neglect of the children ended up in the death of one of my 1st graders just a few short weeks ago. In fact if the mother picked up her daughter from school and wasn’t caught up in gambling and drinking she would’ve never drowned in a pond next to the school.
Now for many of these children they will too one day follow in the footsteps of their parents. My only hope and prayer for them is that they in someway saw Christ in my life. For many of us here in Taiwan all we can do is pray and be a light.
This year has been full of fun and excitement as well as good times and bad. There where days when we thought we could do anything and days where we thought like giving up and not wanting to go on. Yet as I reflect back over this last year and where I started and where God has brought me I see the goodness and greatness of God.
I’ve seen God work in amazing ways through his Spirit in the lives of the other teachers serving here in Taiwan. I’ve seen God answer our prayers and change the lives of the students and teacher’s we’ve seen every day for this last year. I’ve felt at times when I had nothing left to give I felt the prayers of all you back in America and was strengthened and encouraged. Truly we are grateful for all that you’ve done in upholding us before our Father in Heaven.
I sit here wondering what to say next or how to say it. Im really left without anything to say... so thank you for listening.
Joshua Smith
Kaohsiung
