Goobye, Hello...

Hey guys this is Angelica and Andrew! Today we left Baozhong and are at Dongshi right now; right now Angelica and I are living in different buildings and they're closing the steel gates that cover the doors (they look like garage doors).... so we might be in a bit of a hurry.

We woke up extremely early today at 6:30 in preparation of the Gospel Center Meeting. The turnout today was great. About 40-50 kids showed up today and it was packed. We started out with a few games and songs. Then Gary shared his testimony with us through a skit that him, Angelica and a couple other members stayed up practicing for the night before.

Gary used to be the head of a gambling ring. He would spend all his money on expensive things and at clubs. His addiction caused him to lose a lot of money and neglect his family, especially his younger sister. Eventually, his mom had to sell the family property to pay his debt, and Gary promised to never gamble again. A few months after, his mom passed away but even then, his addiction controlled him and it couldn't satisfy him. He continued to gamble. It wasn't until a friend brought him to church and introduced him to Jesus. He slowly began to read the Bible more, to pray more, and to rely on Jesus more. Though his change was a process that took time, God ultimately turned his life around for good and even allowed him to feel his mother's forgiveness for gambling. Gary's relationship with his sister also improved and his sister was also lead to Christ through the drastic change that she saw in her brother. 

Following a Q&A session with Gary, Pastor Rex shared the gospel and led the kids into a time of prayer and asked them to raise their hands if they were willing to accept Jesus into their lives. The kids later wrote their names down on a piece paper so they could be contacted later, and there was a grand total of 20 kids. That's around half of the kids who went to the meeting! Praise the Lord. After a small group session with the kids that we taught, we started taking pictures and saying goodbye... Many kids were really sweet and sent us small gifts and notes. A lot of people exchanged contact information, such as Facebook and LINE as well!

 And then lunch!! And/or craft time :)

Jamin struggling hard.

It's a fish!! And Elly :)

Camp leader, Peter, and Pastor Caleb.

Massive group selfie = success.

Then finally we had to say goodbye to our Taiwanese coworkers. After living with them and seeing them 24/7 hours a day for a week, we really bonded with them. Even though our time together was short, we definitely came to love each other as a family. This was one of the hardest goodbyes for us... 

After getting picked up and driven to Dongshi, we got to meet our new coworkers and eat dinner! Gary (from Baozhong) is also here with us at Dongshi for the week, so we're glad to see some familiar faces. Gary's awesome!!! Worship time started at 7:15 pm and it was relatively concise. 

Gary and Doris!

We went over some ground rules for cleaning duties and hygiene, followed by some, uh, games? They were very... interesting games to say the least. But, hey, we got to learn the names of the new coworkers! Hooray for that. OH WE FORGOT TO MENTION: we currently have around 60 kids enrolled in the camp at Dongshi now! That's almost 30 more than there were last week! We are so encouraged to see that God is already starting to work in Dongshi. Things here are noticeably more structured, in both potentially good and bad ways. We will keep you guys updated on how that goes.Prayer requests:

- For more energy to love on the students in the following week. We're only halfway done, but it feels like it's been a month already.

- For humility when interacting with the leaders at the camp. Since we came directly from Baozhong with a clear concept of what the camp should be like, we are more experienced than the people at Dongshi in some ways. We know what methods worked out specifically for our team, but pray that we won't disregard the wisdom that the Taiwanese leaders have to offer. Pray that we can be open to any changes and potential hiccups along the way, but ultimately that both sides will be willing to compromise and listen to each other. 

- Pray that we will stop comparing the new coworkers with the ones we met in Baozhong because each situation is different, each person is different, and every school is different as well. Pray that we keep God's plan in mind. 

- For an open mind when meeting our new teams and an open heart to hear what God has to teach us

- There are a LOT more mosquitos here and the weather is a little more humid. Pray that we won't let these distract us too much. 

I'm literally like feeding the mosquitos as I type this... it's painful. Goodbye and goodnight! Thank you for reading :)