Dear Prayer Warriors for TMT
Thank you for your support and for following along with our journey.
Today was the first official day of our English camp! Our day started at 7:00 AM again, but this time we were able to sit together for a 15-mins devotional led by Pastor Ziyi on Philippians 2:1-4. For breakfast, we were offered Taiwanese-style gimbap – delicious!
We then went with great excitement to the auditorium to receive our students for the first time! It’s so great to match their faces with their names and introduce ourselves! They were excited to receive the student handbook, which was beautifully printed in Taiwan. We posed for our first group picture (attached) before splitting into 5 subgroups for orientations.
The Ershui students are a delight to work with! Though the first introductions may have been a bit awkward, we were all still able to share some good moments with our respective groups over engaging crafts and games (a picture of our team’s craft, wooden solar system models, is included below). We worked with them from 8:45 AM to 11:45 AM, and it really felt like the time flew by.
After we all gathered back, we had lunch in the kitchen/dining room. We all enjoyed a catered Chinese lunch with some fresh local fruit. Then, the school’s waste manager taught us all how to sort the trash and recycling. It was interesting to see how diligent they are in their recycling practices, and how they produce very little food waste.
We were super lucky to have the opportunity to test out the rock climbing wall! The school staff helped us into our harnesses and guided us through the process. Quite a few of our team members were able to reach the top to squeeze the rubber duckies (so fun!) before another afternoon shower cut our program short!
A few of us also baked brownies! Some spelled out their names in egg whites on top (as pictured). They came out perfect (can never go wrong with the Ghirardelli box mix that we brought in from Boston). We just could not wait to share them with the Ershui students tomorrow <3
For dinner, we got a taste of Pizza Hut, Taiwanese style! The pizza didn’t have any sauce, but it was delicious nevertheless. And the fried king oyster mushroom side dish was so unique!
After dinner, we prepared some gift bags for the Ershui students, including our custom print TMT 2024 shirts (it’s amazing how effective our assembly lines are). We ended the night with a whole group debriefing, where we shared our individual experiences with our respective students, exchanged notes and advice, and acknowledged each others’ contributions. We are confident that with these reviews and inputs, we will do a much better job teaching and making friends with these students.
Other happenings include several visits from some local Christians with Pastor Ziyi and Irene Shimu, as well as some organic interactions that our parents had with the teachers and staffs all throughout the day (pictured).
Thanksgivings:
1. No major difficulties
2. Willingness of participation of students
3. Getting to know the groups
4. Numerous opportunities for inter-team bonding activities
5. Two students came back to hang out with us in the afternoon
Prayer Requests:
1. For us to make good adjustments according to each others’ feedback
2. For continued patience and consideration when working with the Ershui students
3. To strengthen the new bonds created with the Ershui students
4. For fine balance between academic teaching and evangelistic engagements (when opportunities exist)
