Category: Updates

It was such a pleasure to go and teach in the Philippines two weeks back! I had two full mornings to teach through Joshua. It was probably more a treasure for me as I watched Joshua conquer the land that God had given the Israelites. In a similar way, we are praying about our future and asking God what land he is sending us to. Then during one of their worship services I was able to share more about our hopes and had them pray for us.

 

We are SO blessed by everyone praying for us. Thank you for your prayers!

 

Anyway, I concluded the week by giving them some ideas about how to teach well. Then on Sunday, they took a bus, a boat and some walking to get to a little church where they blessed them with some testimonies, worship and a message. It is really rewarding to be able to give some training and see people use it right away and bless the church!

 

Thank you so much for this opportunity. We are just one part of a whole team who makes this possible!

As I was walking home today from our office I contemplated this blog.

What am I going to write about? I need to write…but?????

 

So I decided to give you some glimpses of my walk home.

 

 

 

For those who are praying for my mom, I just wanted to let you all know that she is back at home and still just waiting on more tests. But she is feeling okay and glad to be at home. Please keep praying for her, my dad and the whole family as we play the waiting game. One thing I have learned from my mom-> waiting does not have to mean worry. She always says, ‘Lots to think/pray about, nothing to worry about!’

 

In other news our cousins Carter and Sydney are coming to visit us for a whole month! They get here next week and we are so excited to have them. This will be their first time in Asia so that will be lots of fun. They will be helping us as we get Titus Project underway again. This time we have 11 students, one team going to the Big country to the North of us and one team staying right here in Taiwan! Exciting!!! 

 

As we flew into the Ukraine I looked around at all the people. After observing the size of their noses I said to Ben ‘these are my people’ :) This was the last stop on our trip to Europe. It was really exciting to see all that is happening in the largest country in Europe! We spent three days in Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine. Interestingly enough, it really reminded me of Winnipeg. It has two major rivers that run through the city and the trees and foliage are very similar. The population is quite a bit bigger at 3-4 million, they speak Russian and Ukrainian, and there is still a lot of corruption- but overall the impression I had was, did I fly home to Winnipeg or am I in the Ukraine. We went up to the top of an Eastern Orthodox church and looked out over the city (Ben climbed all the way up the bell tower carrying Cassie! What a dad!) and we saw lots of flat land just beyond the city. It looked similar to the prairies around Winnipeg.

 

We had a great time visiting the YWAM SBS staff there in Kiev and they showed us AMAZING hospitality taking us out for lunches and dinners! Perogies, Holopchi and yes, yummy Kulbasa! You can see pictures of our time there on the side of this blog. Also we took a video of us going up the longest escalator I have ever seen!! It took us over two minutes to get up the escalator! 

 

This is my first time in Europe (besides the one day I left the airport in England). What an amazing place. In Germany I was impressed with these beautiful small villages where all the houses have red roofs and are encircled by farm fields that look like patchwork. Here in England the brick homes that line the streets remind me of a street in Winnipeg called Wellington Crescent (but not nearly as large).

 

Today we had a really great meeting with a man named Phil. Phil has been working with YWAM and particularily the School of Biblical Studies (SBS) in Europe for around 15 years. He gave us a really warm invitation to bring Titus Project to Europe. This is so important from a man who knows the most about the different YWAM bases here. Having his blessing will mean a much easier integration for us to join this European YWAM community.

 

Please keep praying for us as we travel to Sweden tomorrow. We are really sensing the value in this trip for bringing clarity and direction. Today as we prayed I felt God give me picture of a farmer. Imagine the perfect farming conditions, think of Manitoba or Saskatchewan. It is a large bountiful harvest of wheat…a bumper crop if you will. But then the farmer takes the abundance of food and brings what is needed to the hungriest parts of the world. In a similar way we are doing the same thing. Taking the abundance of SBS graduates in Europe since there are so many and bringing them to teach in the hungriest parts of the world.

 

 

 

 

Blue Forty -Two! Blue Forty-Two! Hut Hut Hut!!!

 

Okay, well, maybe we aren’t football coaches per se… But our lives are similar in a way. We have an on season, and we have an off season. But do coaches stop working in the off season? No way! Well, neither do we. Our to-do list is as full as ever. But what do we do you ask? Some of the things we are working on right now are:

Plus we are preparing for our next Titus which runs in 2 months from now!

 

So while we may not be on an outreach at the moment we are not short of things to do. Don’t worry though. I am still keeping my New Years resolution and not using the word ‘Busy’. Instead I say, my life is full of purposeful, important things that I love to do. And the most important thing? Hang out with my daughter!!! I get all my work done during her nap times and taking turns with daddy!!!

 

 

The book is called ‘The Reason for God, Belief in an Age of Skepticism’ by Timothy Keller. It’s divided into 2 parts: 7 doubts that people have about Christianity & 7 reasons for faith.

 

You know for years I’ve looked for a book like this. Because often in my heart and my mind I’m divided. I have a strong faith that there is more than I can see in this world, that humans are here for a reason, that emotions like love and joy and the spirit of creativity can only originate outside of us first. But. At the same time I live in a culture and a society that teaches me to trust only what I can see. Sometimes it seems strange to me to follow a person that lived 2000 years ago, even if the evidence is overwhelming that he rose from the dead. I’m not ashamed of having doubts. I think they are normal and healthy. Timothy Keller would say, "only if you struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive. And, just as important for our current situation, such a process will lead you, even after you come to a position of strong faith, to respect and understand those who doubt." (pg xvii)

 

However, Keller also says, "that skeptics must learn to look for a type of faith hidden within their reasoning. All doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs. For example, if you doubt Christianity because ‘their can’t be just one true religion,’ you must recognize that this statement is itself an act of faith. No one can prove it empirically, and it is not a universal truth that everyone accepts. If you went to the middle east and said, ‘there can’t be just one true religion,’ nearly everyone would say, ‘why not?’ The reason you doubt Christianity’s Belief A is because you hold unprovable Belief B. Every doubt, therefore, is based on a leap of faith." (p xvii)

 

This book has helped me to continue to wrestle through some questions and doubts and enabled me to be stronger in faith and purpose. I would highly recommend it to both believers and skeptics alike. Because it is easier to get busy and simply not think about the tough questions, too many believers run from their doubts and too many skeptics have not thoroughly examined the evidence for faith. On the left side of the page you’ll find a link to the book on Amazon if you’re interested in reading it.

So you are sitting in the little restaurant wanting to order something yummy, but there is a problem.

The problem is that you can’t read the menu- you can’t even sound out the words because there are no words, only chinese characters.

 

After a year and half of living here this is still a frustrating experience. We only go to restaurants where we can point to the pictures. Actually we often eat at home which is more expensive because we still can’t read menus, BUT all this is about to change!

 

Ben has decided to start learning how to read menus. Everytime we are out he grabs a to-go menu from a restaurant and pulls out his chinese dictionary! I’m excited for the day when Ben will be able to take me to a place we have never been before and be able to order what we want :)

 

It’s the little things, don’t take them for granted!

 

My next blog is going to be about a book I am reading called ‘The Reason for God- belief in an age of skepticism’ by Timothy Keller. It is a very interesting, thought-provoking read which I would highly recommend!

We are back. Back from where you ask? From a beautiful wedding in the Dominican Republic! Two people very special to me were married-My brother Kevin and my new sister-in-law Tanya. It was a beautiful wedding on a perfect tropical Day with lots of fun dancing, great food and friends! I’m so glad I went- thank you to Kevin and Tanya and my parents who made it possible!!

 

I also got an amazing surprise the first day I arrived at the airport- my best friend Liza SURPRISED me by coming to the wedding! We shared a room all week and had an amazing time!! You can imagine how much Cassie loved her Auntie Liza, Liza even had her singing by the end of the week ‘Lalalala!’

 

My husband missed me a lot! I came home to flowers in every room of our apartment! Isn’t he sweet?!!

 

Life gets into full swing again here in Taiwan. Our final Titus outreach team gets back from Ch*na today so now we begin their final week of debriefing, we are excited to hear their stories of discipling the underground church.

 

 

 

"There is no charge for awesomeness or attractiveness." – Po the Panda!

 

I really enjoyed the movie – "Kung Fu Panda" – all 4 times I’ve watched it in the last two months. It ranks right up there with Aladdan! That’s no mean feat… Anyway, I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie but its all about a Panda who becomes the Kung Fu master and has to save the town from the evil Tai Lung. Anyway, its super funny – at least to me! But right at the beginning he is dreaming about being a Kung Fu master and as everyone is gawking at him and saying how great he is, he makes this quote – there is no charge for awesomeness and attractiveness!

 

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, I realized as I was praying for a friend this week – that even though Jesus is SO awesome and attractive – he doesn’t charge for it. He is easy to be with, fun, passionate and beautiful and he does everything he can (without stepping over the "choice" boundary) to be with us. No charge. He’s not out to make a buck. Not out for his own gain. Not out for any selfish reason. He’s the epitomy of humility and selflessness. And he’s awesome! No charge!