Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas tree in front of the mall

It is the week before Christmas and all through Tainan
Little bits of Christmas were across the land.
Every stationary shop had Christmas goods
And a few Christmas lights to put you in the mood.
English teachers were telling the story of Jesus
Hoping their students would understand the little pieces.
Instead of singing Christmas carols and going cool places…
Hannah was judging English competitions and watching canoe races.
But just when she thought Christmas spirit was gone…
A little good will and cheer began to dawn.
As she told her students about God’s love.
It hit her one day as she put on her gloves.
If Jesus is the reason we celebrate…
Then where we are is not a question to rate.
God’s love has restored my sight.
So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

My tree.

So here is my terrible rhyme… I’m not a poet. Never claimed to be. But these little thoughts have been niggling in my brain about Christmas. I will admit, it has been really hard. I was supposed to see a good friend last weekend, but we ended up canceling and it put me into a funk. I have some good friends here, but none that I have just really clicked with. And Christmas is all about being with family and friends. How can I be in the Christmas spirit if I am not surrounded by people that love me and I love. Sure my small group has plans and my church will have things going on, but as nice as these people are, they don’t really know me and I don’t really know them. I am working on these relationships but there is a large cultural gap with many of them and it is more difficult to make friends than I thought it would be.  

But I will stop rambling and make my point now… Basically all week I have been telling the Christmas story and I have my students watch the end clip of A Charlie Brown Christmas. It really did hit me yesterday as I was putting on my gloves to ride my scooter to town… If Jesus birth is the reason for the season, then it doesn’t matter where I am or who I am with. He is always there. And HE is the reason I celebrate. Everything else: the family time, the carols, the cookies, the presents… without him we wouldn’t have any of it. All of the extra is just that… extra. So here I am – about to celebrate Christmas with no family. All I can hope and pray is that God fills me up with joy and peace… 

Me and Curly

Me and the girls

So on to the rest of the update. 

This weekend, because I ended up staying here, I judged an English competition. It was very interesting. The judges were stationed at different situations and the students had to come into each room and respond to the situations. It was kinda fun but there were 60 students and I got tired of selling postcards after about 5.

I also got to watch some of my students compete in kayak races. They did so well and I had a good time hanging out with them even if we couldn’t communicate very well.

I did go and find as many Christmas decorations as I possibly could!



All the winners. Most of them are from my school.

I know this is kinda long so I will try to condense it a little. One more exciting thing. There is a new girl at my church, Vanessa. She just moved here from Taipei and she is from Texas. Her parents are Taiwanese but she has lived in Texas her whole life. So I am very excited to get to know her. She is living with a Taiwanese family whose son, Teddy, grew up in America. On Monday, we went walking on the canal and had a great time. I got to eat dinner with her and Teddy and we just sat and laughed and talked. It was an experience I have greatly missed. Just hanging out with friends and laughing is not something that I feel like happens to me much here. Most of the time I spend with people is at a restaurant or with a big group. So I’m really hoping that Vanessa and I can get to be good friends!