A-Team without Mr. T May 31, 2009
So I am finally back from A-Team. It was a wonderful ten days! In fact, my team and I didn’t want to come back. Let me tell you a little bit about my team. There were six of us plus a local translator. We all came from different countries but got along wonderfully! Our team leader was actually the youngest on our team but did such a great job! His name is Maurits and he’s from the Netherlands. Then we had Florian, a guy from Switzerland, and Sebi (Sebastian) from Germany. Those were the guys. The girl’s side consisted of Katrina from Australia, Aileen from Panama, Me, and our translator Sunya from Taiwan (obviously). We had the best team unity and I think I can say my favorite part of the trip was just growing closer to one another and having a great time of fun off the ship. Our team verse before we left was Psalm 121:1-2. Maurits picked this to help us remember to trust God and also because we thought we would be doing a lot of stuff in the mountains. Anyway, after a few hours of travel we arrived at our host home and they decided to teach us a Chinese song. We wrote down the words and did the best we could at pronouncing them correctly. After we had learned it we asked what it was about and they told us it was Psalm 121:1-2. How cool is that? I love when God gives you little surprises like that. Just a small way of feeling closer to Him.
We found out that our ministry would actually be a lot different than we originally thought. Not as much free time and a lot of school visits! School visits are difficult. You go into a school for one hour, do a program, have little to no interaction time, and then leave to never see them again. It’s hard to not know what kind of impact was made on these kids. You really have to trust that God is going to use it and work in the lives of maybe only one child. But then it’s still worth it. Still, it’s hard to accept that you’re doing ministry when you have such a short time there and don’t get to really talk to kids one-on-one. And that was our ministry for the vast majority of the time we were there. So that was difficult. But we just pray that God will use those 10 days for His Glory.
I got up earlier than I had in a long time since we generally had breakfast at 6:30am-7am and had to leave the house by 7 or 7:30. Amazingly, God woke me up every morning so that I could spend time in His Word to start the day. That generally doesn’t happen here on the ship and I get up later. I think a big part of it was actually having sunlight to wake up to. That makes such a big difference. It really helped me to stay focused. So we would have 2-5 programs a day at usually two schools before we were done. Then we had some free time or down time at the house of our hosts. Our hosts did not speak English which was why we needed a translator but they were so sweet! And I have never had so much Taiwanese food in my life. People would be very proud of the things I ate. I even tried Octopus (not a fan). There was tons of fish which I am not a fan of, but you gotta live like the locals. Or you die basically.
In our free time we did a lot of hanging out. There was a rock wall attached to the outside of the house so we got to climb that multiple times which was fun. We also had opportunities to ride bikes quite a bit. There was a river near the house that we swam in one day. Well, waded, swam, almost lost our lives to the current, whatever. Let me lay out a little story that may only be funny if you were there but I’m going to tell it nonetheless. There was a big concrete hill beside the house and if you stood on top you could see way down to the river. To get down to the river you had to take one steep concrete hill down to a platform and then another concrete slope to the river. Well, Florian was at the very bottom which was quite far away and the other two boys were on the platform. I asked Sebi if he would catch my sunblock so that I could use both hands to climb down the hill. Well I threw it a little hard and it hit off the tip of Sebi’s fingers, hit the ground, bounced, and slammed into Florian’s head. Though his head was cut and bleeding, he didn’t yell ouch or scream in pain, his only reaction was to yell “Are you crazy?” And I wish you could hear the accent because it would mean so much more. We were are rolling on the floor laughing and it became a quote for the trip. Another quote? Gibbous. Does anyone know what this word means? We sure don’t but on the train on the way to our short-term home we saw a sign that said “The floor is gibbous”. I think they made this word up but it sure is fun to use in any way you’d like. Your mom is gibbous. Shut your gibbous. You’re looking gibbous today. There are so many uses! Ok, time out. I just looked it up on dictionary.com because I am a nerd and it’s actually a word! Man, don’t we look stupid. It means convex like the moon when it’s half full. Hmm, interesting. I’m glad we could take this journey together. It was gibbous.
One of the best days of our trip was Monday. We pulled weeds in the garden that morning and then some other Douloids came to go river trekking. We waded into seriously cold water and climbed up waterfalls (some fell down waterfalls) and jumped off rocks into the water. It was a lot of fun though way too cold! After a few hours, we headed back to the house and did some wall climbing. Then me, Sebi, Aileen, and Josh (from the ship and works with me in bookshop) decided to ride some bikes down the road. It started pouring rain but we were still wet from river trekking so we didn’t mind. It was so refreshing to be flying down the road and having rain drops pelt you in the face. Maybe pelt isn’t the best word to use. Maybe I should say something like…having rain drops fall like cotton balls on my face. Less violent. We went a few miles down the road and climbed down to the creek and started skipping stones. Some more successfully than others. Then we rode back to the house and said goodbye to the other Douloids. Our team sat on the hill beside the house and chatted for awhile before our “dad” asked us if we would go into the frog pond and pull weeds. Ok, this pond was disgusting! It was dirty and full of weeds and the bottom was squishy and slimy. It took a lot of effort to get me in there at first. Then, of course, a mud fight ensued. By the end of our time in there, we were all COVERED in mud. It was in our hair, in our ears, all of our faces and clothes. It was sick but so much fun! I have some great photos of it that I’ll have to share. It was a wonderful bonding time. We then went down to the creek to wash off as best as we could. After real showers, we had dinner and group devotions. This was always a nice time for us to get together and talk about what God was teaching us and sing some praise and worship songs. Once it got dark we decided to take a walk. The house where we were staying was a little in the country so the road wasn’t well-traveled. Somehow we ended up laying in the road and talking for hours. It was so peaceful and nice to be out in nature, under the stars, and talking with friends. That was the nice thing about this group. We all felt free to be ourselves without the worry of being judged. There is such wonderful freedom in a friendship like that. That’s how they should all be. That was a highlight day.
There was so much laughter and love in the 10 days. None of us were ready to get back to the ship though I have to admit, I missed hot showers and ship food (gasp, I said it). I wish I could better express what we did and how it felt to be part of such a wonderful team. Thanks for your prayers that you sent up on our behalf. Please continue to pray for the kids we ministered to as well as our “mom”’s father. He is in the hospital very sick from cancer and not a believer.
Since I’ve returned, I’ve been able to go to Taipei and went up to the top of Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. It was a cool experience (and there are photos tagged of me on Facebook) that I’m glad I got. This week is Sabbath Week on the ship. It’s a time of rest and relaxation as well as spiritual renewal. I’ve really been loving it! We have a guest speaker from Malaysia who brings great messages every morning to encourage and inspire us. His messages are simple but good. We are off to Hong Kong in just a few days. I will miss Taiwan! There were many great memories for me here. If you ever get to come to this country, definitely come. You won’t be sorry. Unless your head runs into my sunscreen.
A local volunteer told me he had a friend who had a tent and said we could borrow it. And there is a local park called Taroko National Park where you can camp for free. So we were set! We rented a car (which was one of the best decisions ever) and after work on Saturday, set out. We drove first to the park to set up our tent. Driving in at nighttime was still amazing. The road is in a gorge between mountains and we were astounded at the size of the shadows towering above us. We just knew it was going to be a great trip. After our tent was all set up (though we didn’t do the best job ever), we drove back to the ship to pick up one of the other guys who had to work at the International Night. We got back to the campsite about 1am and sat around the fire making s’mores and talking. It was so nice! The next morning I woke up early with the sun and walked a distance to do my quiet time and listen to music. There is something about sitting in nature that makes me feel so close to God. To see the hugeness of mountains and then understand the same God who made those in all their majesty also made me and cares for me…wow. So humbling. We hung out at the campsite for a few hours before piling in the car and driving through the park. I will try to put photos on flickr as soon as possible. Then we decided to drive a few hours south to a sugar factory that is famous for their ice cream. And yes, it was delicious! We kept driving to Butterfly Valley Resort where we heard there was a beautiful spa and hot springs. For a small fee we were able to relax and enjoy the hot springs for hours. They had different pools at different temperatures and then one big pool that had different massaging “stations”. Like you would lay in the water almost like a bed and push a button and jets would massage under you. Or you could sit on a ledge and push a button and jets would massage your back and legs. OR there were big poles that you turned on and high-pressured water massaged your back. Oh man, it was Heaven. The others also enjoyed the sauna and steam room. I’m not a fan of sweating and struggling to breathe so I chose instead to take a nap by the pool. At one point I woke up in the perfect weather with a slight breeze and thought “I am so happy right now” and proptly fell back asleep. It was such bliss. We had no problem falling back asleep in the campsite that night (though we did have an improptu dance party outside the car on one of the bridges in the park). We didn’t want to go back to the ship the next morning but begrudginly packed up the car and made our way back. On the way, we were able to spot the ocean which was sooooo blue. We all screamed in delight and jumped out to stand in the water. My camera died but one of the guys that went took photos and I will try and get them to post. I’m sure it won’t do our weekend justice but it’ll have to sufice.