Low Expectations from People, High Dependency on God

Friends, I think I've figured out the secret to life. Please correct me if I'm wrong. 

Fall is in full swing here in Ximen Ding. Maybe I should re-phrase this: MINISTRY is in full swing. This means, of course, that the vision is coming together, lives are being changed, people are on the edge of breakthrough, support is coming through on all sides, connections are being made every 5 minutes here in Taipei, and between teaching English and studying Chinese there doesn't seem to be enough time to do it all. It's a cycle of always getting something done, but never getting everything done.  

The last ten days of my life have been incredible. By incredible I mean they were simultaneously normal, busy, fulfilling, beautiful, full of people, full of plans, and full of God. And when I look back on the last 10 days of my life, I realize how I got through it all - keeping expectations from people low and dependency on God high. 

The last ten days paint an accurate picture of what the ministry is here - and as a result, a picture of my life as a missionary here in Taiwan. By the end of it, I think you will FEEL with me why keeping expectations from people low and dependency on God high is so important. And so necessary. 

Last Saturday (10/1), I got out of bed, took a shower, brewed myself coffee and then prepared for my day of...work. I know what you're thinking. It's a Saturday; why was I preparing for work? Let me tell you: this is the work that I live for, the reason I'm in Taiwan.

the floors in the new building

I started my day writing student reports with my teammate Michael over at the Red Theater (RT) apartment (for those who don't know, I'm on a ministry team here in Ximen Ding and we live in different apartments around the Ximen Ding area). By 12:30, I only had one class of students left, but it was time to meet up with my friend Gary for lunch. Gary became a Christian two years ago, and it had been a few months since I had seen him. After lunch with him, I stopped by the future coffee shop building where people were painting the floors. (It's looking awesome in there.) I said hi, took some pictures, and then returned to the RT apartment to get back to work on my computer.

on out reach handing out invites

Since my teammate Jamie was tied up in working in the building all day, I took over Saturday night outreach for her, so I was busy making invitation cards to hand out to people on the streets for our Ximen Dinner/Worship service the next day. I worked until about 6:30, when I had a dinner date with my friend Sweetie. After we ate and prayed together, we both went out on outreach to hand out the invites. 

the poster I made

the painting crew

After handing out all the invitation cards, we both went over to the coffee shop building, where everyone was getting high off paint fumes and making a lot of progress. I was then given my second mission of the night: making a poster for the door so people knew what was going on, so I did just that and put it up that night. 

Meanwhile, I had been connecting with my good friend Rachel via text message and made plans to meet up with her later that night for a drink at the Red Theater. My day ended in refreshing conversation about life and ministry in Taiwan with a dear friend who has been part of my life for over a year now.

people in the new building

On Sunday (10/2), I spent my morning reading my Bible and preparing for the worship service that night. I was the one who was sharing. My friend Felicia and I had already gotten together a few days earlier to prepare, since she was the one who would be translating for me. I, the American, would be speaking Chinese, and she, the Taiwanese person, would be speaking English. That whole afternoon up to the service, I was in preparation mode. I also created another poster for the future Coffee Shop, as well as miniature versions to hand out to people at the service that night. We were going to be eating the meal in the living room, but the actual worship service was going to take place in the new building.

worship in the new building

After it was all over, we had a team debriefing meeting; and then I stayed up with Chris and Jamie at the RT apartment to finish writing my student reports that were due at noon the next day.

Monday (10/3) was a big day. Mondays are generally really big days for me. They start off with Chinese class in the morning from 9:30 to 11:30, followed by teaching English in the afternoon from 1:30-6:30, and then end with women's Bible study from 8:30-10:15. On this particular Monday, I had a lot of communicating to do with the girls in the Bible study, since it had FINALLY been decided over the weekend that Bible study was moving to a new location. I had a lot on my mind that day. Fortunately, that week my students were taking their Monthly Quizzes at school, so I didn't need to do a lot of prep work for class. After Chinese class, Jamie and I walked over to Coffee Geek, where I got us both real WHITE MOCHAS, the perfect pick up for any Monday.

The rest of the day panned out smoothly. I was able to communicate with all the girls about that night, and Bible study was awesome. I am the only leader of the women's Bible study this year, and the last few months had been rough. I was constantly feeling like there was something in the atmosphere that I needed to fix to make everyone comfortable. And even though everyone LOOKED fine gathered in the living room of my apartment every Monday night, I knew something was off. I could sense it.

Well, that Monday night changed everything. We're studying Revelation this year (intense, I know), so I needed to find a translator who was confident and capable enough and up for translating every week. I found her (April Tang, a phenomenal Christian Taiwanese woman who has done so much for the community around her and the world at large), but she needs to tend her second-hand furniture store every Monday night until 9. So she asked if we could move the study to her quaint little shop. That's what we did! And now Bible study has a new location, fresh feel, and there is no longer that feeling that I need to maintain something to keep everyone else at ease. It was SUCH an answer to prayer.

me and Joanna

Fortunately, I had the next morning (10/4) free. Normally, I have Language Corner at Jingwen University Tuesday mornings, but that week was my rest week. I had made one o'clock lunch plans with my friend Joanna who has only been in Taiwan for a couple months now (this is not the same Joanna I take Chinese with on Mondays and Thursdays), so I spent a relaxed morning at home and then headed out to meet her. (This was contrary to my original plan of waking up early and editing ministry videos all day, but I think it worked out for the best in the end.) Joanna and I had a wonderful time out in Ximen, talking about life in Taiwan and getting to know each other a little more.

After we parted ways, I returned home where I grabbed my computer and then headed to work on the bus. Normally on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, I tutor from 8-9/9:30 at night. But this particular week, my school was having Parent Teacher Nights (PTN), so I cancelled my tutors and spent the evenings in my classroom meeting parents and talking to them about how their students were doing in English class. I came home that night to a house full of the people who attend the Tuesday night Bible study. When Bible Study was over, I greeted them, chatted with my roommates and went to bed, satisfied after another full day.

Wednesday morning (10/5), I met up with my friend Rina at the new Starbucks in Ximen for coffee. I had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon that we both used. It was a good time of catching up with her, talking about life and friends and our own desires and interests. Rina is a beautiful girl. She was baptized a year ago, and I am very excited about watching her grow in her faith in this next season.

I'm between Mark and Rachel

After my coffee date with Rina, I hopped on the bus and headed to Subway, where I met up with my precious friends Mark and Rachel and had lunch with them before work. The rest of the afternoon was filled the regular routine of teaching English and an evening of meeting parents. I finished up a little earlier that day, so I was able to be back in Ximen by 8. Since I didn't do any movie editing Tuesday morning, I decided to work on it Wednesday night; so after I hopped off the bus, I picked up 5 bowls of 3GUPU (this Taiwanese concoction of beans and jelly and other chewy things) at Chris's request and headed over to the coffee shop building where painting was still happening to say hi and drop off the 3GUPU before my night of movie editing.

the prayer room

At the RT apartment, I planted myself in front of the iMac, put on some music, and edited the September Ximen worship video - on my iPhone, not the iMac (haha). It was completed by 12:30, and by the time Chris and Michael walked into the doors, it was ready for them to watch. I started uploading it to YouTube and went home, leaving the upload for Chris to complete. (You can watch the movie by clicking here.)

the basement

The next morning (10/6) was a wild one. I go to Chinese class on Monday and Thursday mornings every week, so I'm always going to feel a late Sunday or Wednesday night. This particular morning, I found myself frantically getting out of bed and sprinting into the shower at 8:52 repeatedly saying to myself, "Oh, no! Oh no!" I heard my roommate Sarah leave the house while I was in the shower (she also has Chinese class on Thursday mornings), was out the door at 9:10, and by the time I reached the bus stop, Sarah was still waiting for the bus.

I went to 7-11 to buy coffee before class, and I was walking out, I ran into my classmate Joanna (the two of us are taking class together this year) who was heading BACK to 7-11 to grab the coffee she had already purchased but forgotten to take with her! This was ironic, because I normally get to class before her, and the morning she arrived first, we end up at 7-11 together anyway, because she forgot her coffee. Chinese class was AWESOME that morning. Both of our brains got rocked. Our original teacher was in Italy, so we had two teachers that I actually already knew as friends (all of us on the ministry team have been attending TLI for 3 years now, so we're familiar with a lot of the teachers) but never had in class before. Melissa and Alexa were both incredible.

Joanna and I walked to work together, grabbing almond tofu and ice cream bars on the way. We even ran into a friend on the sidewalk. After another afternoon of teaching English, I met with my final set of parents, and then headed back to Ximen in time to watch the movie Tron (which totally gets a thumbs up from me, by the way) with Sarah, Sharon, and Michael at the RT apartment. After the movie, I finished writing MORE student reports (since my students had taken a monthly quiz that week, another set of reports was required for teachers to write), had some great conversation with Michael about the movie, wrote my Cycles blog for that day, and went home.

I said good morning to Friday (10/7) with another coffee date, this time with Kelly, a friend that I have known through Joanna for a while but had never really spent a lot of time with. We met at the Taipower MRT (subway) station with the original intention of going to Coffee Geek, but it wasn't open yet. Fortunately, she had heard of a coffee shop that I knew of that was just up the street, so we went there and had absolutely wonderful conversation over coffees and a shared bagel. At the tail end of our date, a former BigByte coworker (BigByte is the cram school where I teach English) named Nikhil showed up. It had been a long time since I had seen him around, so it was really fun to catch up with him and get his name card. (Name cards are how people do networking here in Taipei.)

I got to spend more time with Kelly, since we walked in the same direction for a while before parting ways. My Friday teaching days go from 1:30 to 9:30, since I teach a junior high class now on Friday nights, so I had quite the afternoon/evening ahead of me. Fortunately, there was a three-day weekend up ahead.

me and Afra

After teaching junior high on Friday nights, I head back to Ximen for coffee house. So that's what I did that day, and spent the rest of my night in the company of teammates and Taiwanese friends. I was on closing that night, so I asked my friend Afra (one of the girls from Bible study) to translate for me. I stuck around a little later after coffee house ended and watched a couple of "Office" episodes with Chris, Jamie, and Michael. Then I left with our friend Eric and headed home for another night of sleep.

On Saturday (10/8), the 3-day weekend finally got started. Saturday mornings, I usually meet up with my friend Ethan for Korean-English language exchange. On this particular day, I felt inspired to go somewhere besides Starbucks; so I took him down by the river, where we found a place to sit and talk about life. Then we had lunch at a lunch box buffet place near the MRT station before parting ways. After he left, I stopped by the coffee shop building again to say hi and then headed to Carrefour (the grocery store here) to buy some needed toiletries.

me and my friend Felicia

some of the exhibit

After my Carrefour run, I stopped at home to drop off my things and hang my clothes up on the roof to dry. I had thrown a load of laundry in before heading out that morning. Then I was off to meet my friend Felicia; we were going to check out a design exhibit at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum together. It was this design exhibit from London. It was super fascinating, and I felt like I had stepped back into the history of the Western World as I walked through the exhibit, absorbing the information and artwork. I left early to give myself some time at home before my next engagement that day: a play called Ah! Taipei People (that's the English translation).

at the Red Room

I went to watch this play with my two friends Prish and Leiven. They are both people I know and I have slowly grown closer to through my involvement in Red Room. First of all, it was so good to spend time with both of them again. Second, I was at the perfect place in my life to be watching a play that explores the lives of people in Taipei. In this city. In the city that has been my home for the last two years. The entire play was performed in Chinese, performed by Taiwanese people, and told me a story - a story about my home. 

Ah! Taipei People!

That night, I went to bed without any need. I wasn't lacking anything. I had never been so stilled by such a deep sense of satisfaction. 

the logo

Sunday (10/9) was work day. Again, it was the kind of work I live for, the reason I'm in Taiwan. I woke up to my computer ringing; it was my mom on Skype. So the first hour of my day was spent on Skype talking to my wonderful mother. After that, I made myself coffee and then spent the next 7 hours in bed on my computer working on the ministry website. I went out to dinner with some teammates before our prayer and worship meeting that evening. Then there was prayer and worship meeting, preceded by a conversation with Michael about ministry marketing and website stuff. After prayer and worship, I worked on the coffee shop logo until about 2 in the morning. At that point, Chris, Jamie, and Michael told me to just sleep over in the spare bed. So I spent the night at the RT apartment and woke up the next morning at 6 o'clock to the morning light and singing of the birds. 

Yoshi, me, & Gary at the Expo

Monday was the last day of the three day weekend and also the day that gave us the three day weekend: 10/10 - Double Ten Day. Taiwan's birthday. I started the day early, writing, writing, and writing. At 8:30, I decided to move out to the dining room table, where I was blessed with a cup of coffee and the company of my teammate Michael. At 10, we had a meeting about fund-raising and other coffee shop business, where I took care of some important communication as far as the logo is concerned. After the meeting, I headed out to the Taiwan Word Design Expo with my friend Gary and Gary's Japanese friend Yoshi. 

Happy Birthday, Taiwan! (the view from the roof)

After a couple of hours of absorbing interior and graphic design awesomeness, I returned to the rooftop of my apartment in Ximen where I ended the three-day weekend with my team - American barbecue style. While our stomachs were full of slabs of meat and mashed potatoes (I was in a meat coma), we watched the Double Ten fireworks show they have on the river every year. The view from the roof is generously awesome. 

This last week was a signature week for me. It truly epitomized what my life has become here in Taiwan, and I'm happy (and a bit overwhelmed) to declare that I love it. I love my life here. And I will continue to live this live with the strength and love and grace that God gives me to live it. And by God's grace, I keep expectations from people LOW, and dependency on him HIGH. This is my life.