The Day Before Tomorrow

We leave for Taiwan tomorrow! Yea!!!!! People have been asking all week if I'm nervous or anxious about going, and honestly, I just want get going! I know I am going to miss my family, and that is the only thing that I have the least bit of angst about. But I'm going to cram every bit of mommy time I can into the day....Nathaniel and I are taking Chinese food to the kids at school today, complete with chopsticks (except for Ryan who said a big "NO" to the Chinese food). I am going to have a little Wii session with Dakota, because I didn't figure that it was very cool for Mom to bring lunch and eat with you when you are in middle school :) Tonight I will watch a DVD movie with James and just hanging out. I have mentioned how awesome he is for encouraging me and being supportive of me going on this trip? I just love him!

So you know our traveling schedule tomorrow:

10:55am Plane leaves Houston
1:49pm arrive in St Paul/Minneapolis
3:00pm leave St Paul/Minneapolis
5:30pm on Friday (3:30am on Friday in Houston) arrive in Tokyo, Japan
7:00pm on Friday (5:00 am on Friday in Houston) leave Tokyo, Japan
10:20pm on Friday (9:20am on Friday in Houston) arrive in Taipei, Taiwan

We then get on a bus and travel 2 hours south to the city of Taichung, Taiwan where we will be staying and working.

Our ladies retreat starts on Monday morning (which would be Monday evening here in Houston...Taiwan is 13 hours ahead of Houston) and will go through Thurday. We return on Saturday March 21.

I will try to update you all here with pictures and stories while we are there, but I do not know what kind of internet access I will have. If I don't get to do much while I am there, look for a long post when I get home (I know...just what you all want) :)

Please pray for us....pray for our safety in traveling, but more importantly that God is glorified in what we are doing. Pray for our families. Pray for the ladies in Taiwan. We want to be able to call them sisters! Also, I ask that you pray for another team from our church leaving this evening for Mali, Africa. May God be with them and all they will be doing in the village in Mali!

Thanks to all!

Taking a break and getting ready....

It's Saturday evening, and I'm about to close up the computer for the next few days. We leave for Taiwan on Thursday and I feel like God really wants me to spend the next few days focusing on Him and spending time with family. I will be coming back with a blog post on Wednesday before we leave. Until then, I ask you to pray for these things:



-that all those going on the trip have peace as they are preparing to go



-that Renee and all those in Taiwan that are working on the retreat have the same peace



-that I hear all that God wants to tell me these last few days before we leave



-that I am able to spend meaningful time with James and the kids the next few days



Thanks so much for praying!

Waiting on an event vs. Waiting on the Lord

Well, we are down to basically 8 days till we board the plane to Taiwan! Wow! I still can't believe that it is finally here!

I wanted to share with you something that really impacted me this morning in my Tuesday morning women's Bible study. We are doing Beth Moore's study on Esther this semester. The topic of today's video was timing and waiting, and Beth said something that struck me as very profound. She talked about the verse in Isaiah 40:31 that says that "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength". She went on to say that when we wait on an event, that so often it drains us of our strength but when we wait instead on God, it is then that we are renewed and strengthened. How many times have I sat and thought about when such and such happens? What a waste of energy, when I could have been waiting on the Lord and getting all the amazing things He had for me in the season of waiting!

My prayer is this.....

I've been waiting for this trip for a long time, and now more than ever I just want to wait on the Lord. Pray that all the "detail" stuff gets done, but not at the expense of what God has to teach me this last week. Pray that my ears and heart are open to what He has to tell me and to what He would have me share with the ladies in Taiwan. Pray that I, as well as all the women I'm traveling with, can set aside all those things that would zap our strength.

Just 8 more days! I'm so excited to see what God has planned!

Spirit Money

I just wanted to share a little bit (because that's really all I know) about the religious life of the Taiwanese people and what we will be encountering on our trip. We went to the "Chinatown" district of Houston this past Sunday evening and visited several Chinese shops. In one particular shop was a shelf full of "spirit money". It is believed that when a person dies, he goes to an afterlife and does things pretty much like we do. Therefor, he needs money to buy things. So, people buy this "spirit money" and then burn it so that their dead ancestors will have money to buy things in the afterlife. They also had pictures of cars, clothes, etc to buy as well so that dead ancestors could have those things as well.

Father, give us a heart for the people of Taiwan. Open their eyes to the truth of Your Word and protect us as we face the Enemy who is deceiving them. In Jesus' Name, Amen

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:4-6

Woman's Heart and Soul Spa

Our flyer that will be used to advertised the women's retreat in Taiwan is finished. It's a little hard to read on here, but you get the idea. And it so pink! Also, please be praying for transportation. That's what Renee is working on next!

I told you I'd be a lousy blogger :)

Well, I successfully went for a whole month without blogging ANYTHING! So, I decided (at the request of my mother) to post all the emails that I have been sending to my prayer team. Please forgive my blogging dedication (or lack thereof).....here are all the Taiwan updates for the last month :)

From 2/3/09

I just received another email from Renee Hord, our missionary, and I thought I would pass along the info to you all with a couple of prayer requests

The flyers for the retreat we will be holding are just about complete. Once these are finished, Renee will begin the process of registering ladies. We are so excited to see God do BIG things and we really have no idea how many to expect to register. Since the vast majority of people in Taiwan are lost, so will be the attendees of the retreat. We know that God is in control and know each and every lady that will be there. I just can’t wait to see who they are! The schedule for the week is also being developed right now, so be in prayer for that. Also, originally there was going to be a minimal charge for registration to cover the ladies’ lunches as well as the rent for the room and any supplies. After much prayer, Renee feels like that it needs to be free of charge otherwise many ladies might not to attend. We know that God will provide all that is needed though, and we are excited to see Him at work, so we are praying for God’s abundant provisions :)

Pray for the team from our church, the 4 ladies from Oklahoma who will be meeting up with us in Minneapolis, and for Renee and the others in Taiwan working on the retreat. We only have about 5 weeks till we leave…..we are excited but it feels like there is so much to do to prepare.