Sunday morning we went to the orphanage that Eric and Mandi adopted their kids from. We had a church service there and then we had sunday school classes for the kids. There tiny babies up to young adults at the orphanage. The kids that really pulled at my heart were the older ones. They were the ones with a story, usually a sad one. A few siblings that lived there are going to be there for a while until their dad gives up parental rights. I can't imagine having to share your space, love, and childhood with up to 50 other children but it's an amazing orphanage that teaches them about the love of God. I held a couple babies, they were so sweet. One little baby girl spit up quite a bit on my shirt. I didn't have an extra shirt so I smelled like spit up the rest of the day. It was really nice when a humid wind wafted that up in my face through throughout the day.
Later we went to the beach to set up our music and pass out tracts. People are so kind in Taiwan, they don't mind taking them from us and they actually read them. The band played some music and our dance team entertained. I think the most challenging part for me was not knowing the language. It made it hard to really get to know people but we did our best. If we really needed help we would grab an interpreter. Our interpreters worked incredibly hard while we were there. I'm surprised that no one's head exploded! Charity is amazing at sharing the Lord with people. I looked over and she had her heart wide open and sharing it with a young girl. She was an inspiration to me.
After we got everything loaded up to take back to the base we were able to get some time to get into the ocean. It was an ideal day for swimming. The waves were perfect to play in and Turtle Island was beaming. We jumped in and let the ocean do all the work for us. Steph and Meredith were sitting up on shore where the ocean washed up and suddenly were stung by a jelly fish unbeknownst to them. They both thought at first that something bit them but soon after felt the sting. They went to the life guard station and got some ointment to put on their stings. I swam out with the rest of the crew swimming and there were some tough waves that day. Even though we didn't go outside the swimming bouy the waves began crashing hard. I quickly got back into more shallow waters after getting slammed a few times and gulping too much sea water. My belly was fully after that and I didn't feel well the rest of the day. During one of those big waves Scott was folded in half backwards and scraped up on shore. Hello Chiropractor! After our ocean adventures we piled into the VW van like a bunch of Jesus loving hippies. We shared a lot of joy on this trip and for some reason the VW van was our playing ground. Praise God for our protection whenever we drove anywhere!
When we got home we immediately went to the Base for evening church service. Thomas gave an amazing spirit filled sermon. He is a passionate man that loves the Lord and people with with all his heart. Quite a few people came to the service and afterwards we had fellowship and some prayer time. It was an awesome night for staying up and talking about how great God is.
Later we went to the beach to set up our music and pass out tracts. People are so kind in Taiwan, they don't mind taking them from us and they actually read them. The band played some music and our dance team entertained. I think the most challenging part for me was not knowing the language. It made it hard to really get to know people but we did our best. If we really needed help we would grab an interpreter. Our interpreters worked incredibly hard while we were there. I'm surprised that no one's head exploded! Charity is amazing at sharing the Lord with people. I looked over and she had her heart wide open and sharing it with a young girl. She was an inspiration to me.
After we got everything loaded up to take back to the base we were able to get some time to get into the ocean. It was an ideal day for swimming. The waves were perfect to play in and Turtle Island was beaming. We jumped in and let the ocean do all the work for us. Steph and Meredith were sitting up on shore where the ocean washed up and suddenly were stung by a jelly fish unbeknownst to them. They both thought at first that something bit them but soon after felt the sting. They went to the life guard station and got some ointment to put on their stings. I swam out with the rest of the crew swimming and there were some tough waves that day. Even though we didn't go outside the swimming bouy the waves began crashing hard. I quickly got back into more shallow waters after getting slammed a few times and gulping too much sea water. My belly was fully after that and I didn't feel well the rest of the day. During one of those big waves Scott was folded in half backwards and scraped up on shore. Hello Chiropractor! After our ocean adventures we piled into the VW van like a bunch of Jesus loving hippies. We shared a lot of joy on this trip and for some reason the VW van was our playing ground. Praise God for our protection whenever we drove anywhere!
When we got home we immediately went to the Base for evening church service. Thomas gave an amazing spirit filled sermon. He is a passionate man that loves the Lord and people with with all his heart. Quite a few people came to the service and afterwards we had fellowship and some prayer time. It was an awesome night for staying up and talking about how great God is.
The time at the orphanage was definitely one of the highlights of the mission trip for me. You could see the kids in the front row...their eyes were watering when Eric spoke the sermon.
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