Last week I was at Huajiang High School in Taipei. We started the day off with
main event, then split into three classes: American Culture, Creative Writing, and
Drama, and then ended the day with a closing ceremony before dismissing the campers
at noon. In the afternoon, we invited the kids to come eat lunch with us at House of
Grace (the gospel center we partner with). After lunch we visited different places in
Taipei: underground mall, Taipei zoo, Tamsui, and Ximen. Then, on Saturday we had a
final i42 party for our campers from all the camps (I was on the plane home so I couldn’t
go).
There is so much to say about Huajiang. This was one of the camps where I
most visibly saw God at work. There were many unforeseen obstacles before this week
began including being told that we may not be able to run this camp due to opposition
from some school administration. When we heard the news back in June, we prayed a
lot about it and even thought that this may be God closing this door. A few days ago, I
was able to hear the full story from the kids (our old campers) who were involved in
protesting the cancellation of this camp. Hearing how much they put on the line to make
sure that camp happened was insane. The core three students spent the two weeks
leading up to finals talking to school administration, making presentations, informational
sheets, and posters, and gathering prior campers to write notes. While what the kids did
was incredible, it truly shows how God has been working in Taiwan. Lives are
transforming because of how awesome God is.
Aside from the craziness of actually being able to hold camp, this week was
challenging in its own way. This week was exhausting. By week four, our team was not
as energized as when we first got to Taiwan and many people were drained. Thank God
that my team of six people was healthy for the most part (Jeremy was a little sick and
Enoch was starting to get sick). With a team this small, we each took on more roles
including editing videos, talking to more campers, planning curriculum/afternoon
activities daily, and doing more chores at home. We were also tired from our daily
adventures to different places in Taipei. We were definitely feeling our age. Praise God
for carrying us through this week. There is no way that we could have made it had it not
been for God’s supernatural strength.
Huajiang is probably the camp where we share the gospel the least while at
camp. With the Westernization taking place in Taiwan, we are limited in what we are
allowed to say at school in the big city. We sang a few Christian songs, but were limited
in how much we could explain. We were only really able to share the gospel in
American Culture while talking about holidays. Aside from these two instances, we
minimized how much we mentioned who God is while on school premise. Once off
campus, we were able to share as much as we wanted which was why afternoon
activities were so important. The afternoon was when we really were able to share our
testimonies and talk about how God transformed our lives. While I knew this time was
precious, it was hard to share because it felt like I did not really develop any deeper
relationships with the kids because so many of them were unresponsive both during
and outside of camp. Praise God for giving me many opportunities despite how
awkward I felt. Honestly, anything I said that actually stuck was from God. With my
subpar Chinese, it was God’s wisdom and mercy that allowed me to share the gospel.
God was so good to us at this camp. Most of our campers have never stepped
foot in a church before yet I was able to see him move in the hearts of students who
have never heard about God before. God is working in Taiwan. Please continue praying
for the kids and families we met in Taiwan. Pray that they would come to know God and
have a relationship with him. Pray for the local body. Pray that they would be faithful in
reaching out to their community. Pray that the follow-up they do would go smoothly.
Pray that youth would enter into their churches.
Thank you once again!
