OMF Blog
Youth Ministry
Taiwan Student - Friday 24 July 2009Hi everyone!
We've now been in Chaiyi for over a week and we're really enjoying our time here. So we'll get you up to speed on our time here so far.
Chaiyi is a small city in the south of Taiwan. We've discovered some interesting facts about Chaiyi... It is legal to ride scooters/mopeds both ways down one way streets here. It is famous for its turkey rice, which simply is a mixture of rice and turkey. It is close to a famous mountain called Ali Mountain which many people here like to go up to to see the sun rise early in the morning. There are a huge number of temples in Chaiyi, and the number is growing. It is one of the least evangelised areas of Taiwan.
The first few days were spent introducing us to OMF's work here in Chaiyi, which included a visit to the most famous and significant Matsu temple in the whole of Taiwan. We also visited a night market, tried lots of local delicacies and got to know the local missionaries here.
We spent a few mornings going prayer walking and observing the daily lives of the working class people so we know how and what to pray for them. It really opened our eyes to the spiritual needs of the people – most homes have a god-shelf (which is like a household shrine to their family gods and ancestors) and every street has a temple. Practically it is difficult to reach out to people when some work, for example, from 10 a.m. to midnight, six or seven days a week. There are so many barriers to the gospel: the culture among the working class is that very few are interested in reading anything, let alone a Bible. The Christians here have sought to overcome this and have been working at producing 'mini-Bibles' which are small booklets in large print with pictures, which tell Bible stories in a culturally appealing way.
We spent time preparing practically for the cafe evenings which have been held most days. It's an open evening held at the centre that we're staying at where teenagers can come and relax from the pressures of school work, family life and other difficulties they might be facing. Lots arrive after school and stay late into the evening, although lots come earlier and some have to leave in the early evening to go to cram-school (evening classes for extra tuition). The kids work extremely hard here and are constantly encouraged to do well in school Often, this puts much pressure on the kids. A typical evening at the centre would perhaps look like this: we chat to the youth and have dinner together. There's lots of games to play: ping pong, card games, guitar, karaoke etc. Lianna and Amanda aka Delia and Nigela have been putting on cooking classes for whoever wants to join in and bake! They are all very keen to learn British recipes (don't laugh mum!)!! We've attempted scones, flapjack, cupcakes, bacon butties, apple crumble (which they seemed to love!) and last night waffles. Every evening we teach English via Bible stories, some of which we have acted out to aid their understanding, and then broken up into small groups to discuss. This has been a really valuable time in sharing God's truths to them, and this has provoked good conversations, and some in particular have been very interested in learning more about Christianity. Please pray for deeper conversations and more chances to share the gospel.
We have also had a chance for one of us each evening to share our testimonies. Many of these have touched some of the youth and we hope and pray God will use our stories powerfully in their lives. Please pray that God will be softening their hearts to continue hearing more.
Last Saturday we helped the OMFers here hold an event at a local park. The event was for children ages 4 to 12 and involved crafts, games, singing and a performance that all the kids took part in. We’d been out a couple of days before to invite kids to the event and on the day about 20 kids turned up. The weather forecast had predicted a typhoon but thank God for answering our prayers because even though it was a bit wet in the morning it was sunny for our event! There were a couple of games and things, which took slightly longer to explain at first but overall the day was a success and the kids enjoyed it. Two of the missionaries here went a few days later to visit 7 of the families who had attended and the parents all were very positive and glad that we’d held the event, especially those who had been for the first time. The missionaries were given time by all 7 families to share the gospel with them, which was a significant change from when OMFers had done similar visits to other families in the past.
More briefly, on Sunday we went out for the afternoon with the OMFers, a few local Christians and 5 of the youth. We went to the coast and were able to relax a bit by chatting, playing games and enjoying the amazing scenery. The spectacular skies and sunsets here really prove true Psalm 19:1 – “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim his handiwork.” The fact that some of the youth (most of whom aren’t Christians) wanted to come on what was closest to “a church outing” was very encouraging, please pray they’d continue to feel welcomed and we’d all be a genuinely godly, caring family.
Since Sunday we’ve had another very busy week, running the café on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings (tonight is the last night), preparing for it during the days, doing another prayerwalk one morning, hanging out with the youth at other times. Monday was our day off, so we had a short service at the centre with one of the OMFers leading a Bible study on Matthew 10. That was really helpful, please pray we’d all daily “take up our cross” and follow Jesus. As we get near the end of the trip and quite tired, its very easy to get complacent, please pray we’d not get complacent or comfortable.
Theres a hundred other things we could write, we’ve not even begun to tell you about all the youth, each of whom are a joy to know, we all wish we didn’t have to leave them tomorrow. God has answered many many prayers for them; many of them have come regularly, genuine friendships have been formed despite the language barrier, they’ve engaged with the Bible stories and many of them seem to have a genuine interest in what we’ve shared with them.
Praise God for:
Answered prayer for the youth, particularly that they’ve come regularly and we’ve been able to form genuine friendships with them.
Being able to hold the kid’s event on Saturday in sunshine, despite mid-week predictions been that a typhoon would hit at the weekend.
The openness of many of the youth to hearing about Jesus.
Continued good health; being able to have some much needed rest on Monday, and some of Sunday.
His Spirit enabling each of us to give our testimony and speaking through us to at least some of the youth.
Continued unity within the team and with all OMFers.
Please pray for:
That tonight’s more informal evening would be greatly used by God, that we’d have energy, wisdom, joy and love. You could pray especially that we’d have great conversations with all the youth tonight, through which they are brought closer to Jesus.
That the Spirit would continue to work in the hearts of the youth and the kids who came to Saturday’s event. That if it God’s will one day every one of them would know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
That the OMFers would have wisdom as to how best to follow-up these two weeks.
That we’d be walking closely with God, not idolizing ministry, but treasuring Christ above all else. That we’d be seriously prayerful, as a team and individually, not getting complacent due to tiredness.
The few days of debrief from Saturday onwards, that they’d be productive, focused and God-glorifying. For oneness and effectiveness for all the teams.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support,
Lianna, Amanda, Matt, Nigel and Dan
David Seiboth
Wednesday 29 July 2009