Apartment Tour

Here's our "new" apartment. It's about 2 blocks away from the church, the Hanna's apt, the Delaney's apt, and the MRT station. Plus, we have many convenient things in our small neighborhood - tea shops, restaurants, grocery stores, clothing store, shoe store, etc. The Lord truly blessed and abundantly provided when He allowed us to rent this apartment. We have a young couple (not too much older than us) as your landowners. They are SO nice. She is also expecting her first child, and is about 2 months behind me. Also, the rent is unbelievable - Praise the LORD! So, whenever you all are ready, you can come visit! :o)

Exercise room (with a meeting room/ library upstairs)


Our courtyard area


Our fountain fish pond (we "donated" a few - haha!)


Play ground - Ben & Carissa, you guys can head on over ... I know the boys would love this. We also have a park across the road from our apartment.


This is one of the views looking down from our 16th floor


Office - our second bedroom


Our bedroom (notice the "king" size bed ... 2 twins pushed together)


Bathroom


Kitchen - no, we have no oven, but we do have a fridge (it just doesn't fit in here)


Porch area - also our laundry room (we have a washer, but no dryer)


Half of our living room (with the best TV we've ever had since being married) :o)


Other half of the living room - gotta love the blue leather couches!


Our front door, shoe closet, and dining room


Our window with the best view ... here is a night view


Our small glimpse of downtown (the Tuntex, 85 story building in view)


One of the many beautiful sunsets we've seen. The sun is setting over the ocean, and also our neighborhood is pictured here.

Xiao Liou Chio

A few weeks back, Tad and I took a weekend vacation to one of the many smaller islands surrounding Taiwan. This one is called Xiao Liou Chio. We hopped a bus after our language school and took the following day off, so we could stay the night (enjoying 2 days on the island). It was a very short stay, but we had SO much fun and the place was absolutely gorgeous!! We hope we can go back again some time in the future.

Tad & I at the docks getting ready to board the ferry


Our first stop - the beach :o)


Tad - enjoying the view and trying to catch glimpses of the fish


Shell collecting


Beautiful sunset!!!


The grounds where we stayed


Snorkeling (my first time in a wet suit)


This island is a reef island, as seen by the shore line.
There were SO many neat sights under the water!!


One of the many small, narrow roads on the island - complete with restaurants, souvenir shops, tea shops, and even a 7-11! :o)


The ferry


Vase Rock - one of the many neat tourist sites


Our mode of transportation while on the island was by scooter - here we are touring the island


Tad and I enjoying our time and the beautiful scenery


One of the many nature walks we could go on - here Tad is standing in one of the caves/ crevasses


The road with rocks and trees canopying it


Our guide for the duration of our stay


A few "friends" we met while waiting to board the ferry for our return trip (it was a wonderful time to put our Chinese into practice)

A Weekend Visit

A couple of weeks ago, we had the privilege to go up north to Taizhong to help in a church Sunday night(Tad was able to preach), and Monday evening was a missionary fellowship. Between the times of ministry, both Tad and I were able to enjoy some good time of fellowship with other missionaries. While Tad was able to enjoy a wonderful morning of golf, I was able to spend some great time with Cherie Green and her kids. We both had a GREAT weekend, and hope to get back up to spend time with them again soon!

The happy clan ... Tad, 2 Japanese missionary pastors, and 2 American missionary pastors


Tad and Dave Green










Our first ride on the High Speed Rail

Youth, Church, and Ministry Update

Much has happened since writing last time ... one of the major changes is that Pastor Matt Hanna and his family have returned to Taiwan, taking back the role of leading the Taiwanese congregation at Cornerstone Baptist Church. This has been a huge blessing to Tad and I as we are now able to concentrate on ministering to the youth. This also opens the door up for us to really focus on the language. We started attending a language institute in September. Each semester lasts 3 months, so we have finished our first semester and have "graduated" into our second book. Another change is that we have moved into a new apartment (pictures coming soon). With the return of the Hanna family, it created a need to move house, so that they could return to theirs. Although we went through a bit of a discouraging time trying to find the right fit, the Lord opened a door to a fabulous place that really meets our needs - PTL! The Lord continues to lead and to be ever gracious to us.


Lillian, one of our youth, getting baptized. Her mother was just baptized a couple of weeks ago - PTL!!



Elsie was baptized the same day as Lillian. Elsie has been coming to the youth groups as an adult helper and helping out in different ways.



One of our recent youth activities and one of the many crazy games that Tad comes up with. :o)



Baseball outing - with a little sprinkle of rain



We had a great night of fun combining our youth with the Culler's youth group

Youth Update - Camp & Water Activity

I know I'm SUPER behind, but here is a quick update of what has been happening here with the youth. We've gone to camp - what a turn out!! The Lord blessed exceedingly! We had a number of kids make decisions (I was able to pray with 4 of our girls). The Lord is still at work here purifying, sanctifying, and growing hearts & lives for His glory! We've also had another youth activity - and praise the Lord He stayed the rain! We had a wonderful time of fun and fellowship ... and food! :o) We had a water balloon activity at a nearby park and finished it off with a BBQ and short challenge given by Joel. Joel, thank you for your summer of help here with the youth group - you were a blessing! Have a great year at MBBC!

We are excited for another year to work with the youth here in Taiwan at CBC. This next year we will be responsible for heading up camp ... we would appreciate your prayers as planning is already in process.

July VBS update

Our Olympic themed VBS - Run the Race ...


We hit the ground running when we returned here to Taiwan. One of the first things we had to get ready for was our VBS week, which was the first week of July. God blessed our week tremendously! We had kids numbering in the 50's each day, which was just about perfect for our building to handle! We also had opportunities to make contacts with many parents, saw a handful of kids make decisions and accept Christ as Savior, and have seen a number return to our weekly services (i.e. Sunday School).

Emily (single Taiwanese missionary), teaching the Bible story using the wordless book colors.


Our VBS group ...


Game time ... Saturday we had a "Carnival Day" where each level of the church had different game stations for the different groups of kids.


Tad in some skits during the English teaching time ...




Jerry's game station. Jerry also did the missionary story - Eric Liddell.


Snack time and time for us to make contact with parents, as well as getting to know the kids.


Craft time ...


Thank you for your prayers.