No wonder Taiwanese people are so skinny-- yesterday's lunch was blood rice, stinky tofu, and little fishies!  It was the first meal here that I didn't particularly care for, but even when I've eaten heaps of food it's still really healthy and light.  Plus, they use my favorite ingredient all the time-- cilantro!!

It's Saturday morning and we're going hiking soon.  Every Saturday afternoon we lead youth group at Salvation Church in Chiayi, where all of the missionary GEOs attend church.  Last night we had Bible study with students from the school and I got to meet a lot of them and start building relationships.  All the missionaries talk about how it's slow going, not so much because of the cultural and lingual differences but just because that's the nature of building relationships-- it takes time.  I've heard of some students who are so open to the Gospel and are well on their way to publicly recognizing Jesus as Lord, and also others who want nothing to do with God.  Friday night Bible study consists of worship songs (fun camp songs and songs we sing in church for worship), and then small groups to go over the Bible story.  Because I was new last night, I received a Chinese/English Bible!

Jet lag isn't so bad... but I did wake up at 6am on my own this morning.  What to do with my time...? Learn Chinese!

Please pray for:
      - boldness for me and the team
      - wisdom, right words and right timing
      - hardened hearts to be softened and open to the Gospel


Anna
<><

Breakfast in Chiayi!  It's so cheap.

I'm getting used to chopsticks.

My new friend Emily.

Ilha Formosa

It's amazing that I'm typing this, seeing as how my computer has switched to Chinese characters and I can't read any links:

I arrived late last night to a warm welcome by all the LCMS GEOs that I'll be living with for the next three months in the "practice hotel", a hotel that was donated to the school which was used to teach hospitality and now converted to dorms for the foreign teachers. I have my own room and the living room is complete with a Yamaha piano-- with my name written all over it!

It was good to finally meet the people that I've been praying for for some time now, both the missionaries and the people of Taiwan. The students are so funny, and I was hit with a ballistic piece of chalk in the first class that I observed (they are well-behaved, but maybe not as docile as I anticipated!). I'm still working out exactly which classes I will be teaching, but it will be a mix of high school English and Spanish courses. Finally! I get to use my Spanish!

I can't say that I love being here. Does a person love breathing? It just feels right, it fits-- not Taiwan itself (although it's not for no reason it was called Ilha Formosa, Beautiful Island), but the lifestyle of being a missionary. It's simple living, people-based and 100% leaning on God. I already have a self-proclaimed Taiwanese mother named Janice who likes to feed me (though no replacement of my own dear mother). All the missionaries are super welcoming and I think I will get along with them supremely. Mostly, I am so anxious to share the Word of God and I find myself waiting on the edge of my seat for an effective opportunity to witness. I have to remind myself that it will come and to let it come naturally. I can just be still and know that God is God; He brought me here and He will provide the right opportunities.

Well, we're off to dinner. I feel like all I've done since I arrived is eating. It's a hard life, but someone's got to live it!

Anna

<><

P.S. Rode my first motor scooter today!  I think I have a new favorite hobby.  Don't worry mom, I wore a helmet, and we only rode on the wrong side of the road for a little ways (it's legal here, apparently)!  Also, I learned to count to 100 in Chinese and will be able to take some free (yes!) Chinese classes at Concordia Middle School (where I'll eventually be teaching).  Can't live in Taiwan and not learn the language!  I would forever be ordering the wrong things. 

Destination: Chiayi

You know that scene in Home Alone where the family scrambles to get to the airport and run to catch their plane? Well, thanks to the help of my family, that was not the case in the Gruen house this morning! My family knows I am a procrastinator and I need all the help I can get, even if I am perfectly at ease with three months of packing that I have to do and the few hours to do it in. My family sent me off in marvelous fashion this morning-- they always do.

O'Hare Airport is beginning to feel like a second home to me. Two years ago at this time, I was flying to Ecuador and eavesdropping on Spanish conversations behind me and before me in the luggage check-in line. There's no hope of doing that here, since all I know how to say in Korean is "hello", "thank you", and "you wanna die?" Koreans prefer wearing dark clothing and are very fashionable, I notice, as I sit sprawled on the floor chomping on my PB&J sandwich.

So here I am, sitting in the crowded airport terminal after weeks and months of planning. Until now, Taiwan has been an abstract thought in the back of my head, despite the prayers and preparations made with it in mind. But now I'm already experiencing the feeling of being a minority, lost in a language I don't understand. I am the American English teacher with the Bible in my carry-on, seated next to a bright orange Buddhist monk. I am a reddish-blondish head in a blur of black. I am six inches taller than the rest. I will stand out, that much is certain. What am I to do here? What will I say? What can I teach? What can I learn? What can I change? I feel eyes on me as I write on my baggage tags, Destination: Chiayi.

I did not come to enjoy myself or to teach English. I did not come to out-discipline the aesthetics or outthink Eastern philosophies. I did not come to prove myself or show what I'm made of. I came to serve and be a living testament to the Gospel and who God is. Hundreds of years from now, no one will remember my trip. But, as always is the case in our Christian lives, perhaps the fruit of well-planted roots might still show from the work that I do.

The Word of God Stands Forever

6 A voice says, “Cry!”

And I said,3 “What shall I cry?”

iAll flesh is grass,

and all its beauty4 is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

8 jThe grass withers, the flower fades,

but the word of our God will stand forever.

The Greatness of God

9 Go on up to a high mountain,

O Zion, kherald of good news;5

lift up your voice with strength,

O Jerusalem, herald of good news;6

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,

“Behold your God!”

10 lBehold, the Lord God comes with might,

and his arm rules for him;

mbehold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

11 nHe will tend his flock like a shepherd;

ohe will gather the lambs in his arms;

phe will carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead those that are with young.

Isaiah 40

Thanks for following me on this journey!

Anna

<><