celebrating...

a happy halloween! Yesterday, my school put on a big party featuring a scary story room, a hide-and-seek room, a jail, and time for trick or treating. We had a blast!

"trick or treat, smell my feet..."

with one of my students

Scary, right?

Wishing you a happy Halloween! :)

made it back

I know many of you have been praying about my visa situation and we are very thankful for your prayers. The Lord enabled me to get to Manila and get a new visa that will make it possible for me to get the necessary working permit here in Taiwan. We were extremely nervous about all of this, but the lady that I dealt with was great! She went above and beyond to help me get this visa. I got back about 2:30 Thursday morning.

The trip itself was an adventure. I was able to stay with some missionaries, who I had never met, and they were truly hospitable. It is amazing what an incredible missionary network there is. While in the Philippines, I had the chance to meet up with a number of different people who I either knew or knew of. This enabled me to learn about the Philippines and the various ministries that operate there. In fact, I can't wait to go back, except this time Beth is going to go with me.

Some fresh air.

When current circumstances seem to be a bit suffocating and the city becomes overwhelming, nothing is better for my soul (and sanity) than a trip to the coast. And, amazingly, the coast is very near on all sides here in Taiwan. :)

A few weekends ago, we day-tripped with our friends Jesse and Julianne out of the city to Yehliu, a unique peninsula along Taiwan's eastern coast. Yehliu boasts beautiful rock formations, pot holes, and fossils said to be formed by geological forces pushing Datun Mountain up from the sea below. It really is stunning! Julianne and I delighted in endless photo taking, while our ever-enduring husbands slowly led the way around the peninsula.

A refreshing day for us.

Do you like our new hats?

the "Candle Rocks"

The Drama Never Ends

For those of you wondering, it is no lie...we did actually win the Taiwanese lottery. Here in Taiwan, the government was having problems with businesses failing to keep up with their books. As a result, they instituted a receipt lottery. Every receipt that you receive has a number printed on the front. After three months, you gather all of the receipts that you have collected (we have them stuffed in a drawer) and check all of the numbers. We were fortunate enough to having two winning receipts. We are thankful... because of our lucky numbers we will now be able to afford grad school. It is amazing how the Lord provides in such interesting ways sometimes. Our ship has finally come in, as they say. The grand total of our winnings comes out to 400 NT, which translates into $12 bucks.

In other news, many of you know that I have been having some major visa problems. You wouldn't believe the story if I told you. In short, because of these problems, I had to quit my job and I will have to exit the country. Thankfully, it appears the Lord has provided me with another job, and I should be able to leave this next week for a quick trip to either the Philippines or Hong Kong. This should take care of the problems that I have been having. We want to thank everyone who has been praying for these issues. It has been a long couple of weeks and we are really thankful to the Lord that He has seemingly resolved everything... we should be back in business soon.

Praises
1. We are extremely grateful that the Lord has provided me with a new job.
2. We are also praising Him for directing us regarding our visa problems.

Prayer
1. Please pray for this new job for me (Ben). We are hoping that it will be a good job and the Lord will help me to be "salt and light." AND pray that I would not encounter any problems with this job as I did with the last one.
2. Continue to pray for my visa situation. While we now know what to do about my visa, we still have to get it done. That means I have to hop on a plane and go to a foreign embassy and have them give me the visa. Pray that this goes off without a hitch.
3. Please lift up Beth this week as she will be giving a speech/sermonette/talk this Friday evening at Alpha, the bilingual outreach program that we are involved in. She will be speaking on "Why Jesus Died." This is a great opportunity for her to be able to present the gospel, but it is also probably one of the most difficult talks to give.

We are thankful for all of you. We love to hear what is going in your lives too, so drop us an email and let us know.

Announcement!

Amid all the craziness of my visa problems, we've had a bit of encouraging news.

This month, we won the Taiwanese lottery, and just today claimed our $400 prize.

Hoorah!

If we've been slow to post news... it's because there has not been much news. We know that many of you have been praying that the Lord would work out Ben's visa issues, and we are very grateful. We cannot begin to explain the intricacies of this situation, but can at least provide a basic update: at this point, Ben is looking for a new job, one that would provide him with a legal working visa here in Taiwan. There is a possibility that he may not have to leave the country on a visa run, and we are pursuing that option within the short time frame that we have. While this has been a difficult and frustrating few weeks for us, we are thankfully able to trust that the Lord will work it all out, and are aiming to live faithfully amidst the trial. We've been incredibly blessed with an outpouring of concern and help from many friends here; the body of Christ at work.

We would appreciate your continued prayers for this situation.

hello alpha

Yesterday marked the beginning of Alpha, a bilingual ministry that Ben and I are excited to be helping out with at our church. Alpha is a ten-week course on the basics of the Christian faith. Truth Church and the foreigners here have designed this as a bilingual course, adding the appeal of English to draw seekers. It is designed to be fun, energetic, and focused on relationship-building. Each week, one of us foreigners will be giving a talk on a basic truth of Christianity, and small group time allows for open and honest questions and discussions. You can read more about Alpha in Erich and Kelley's description here.

We are excited to be a part of this ministry!

We had 93 Taiwanese non-believers turn out for the first night, and are looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do. We would appreciate your prayers for this ministry