week 2 and the business kicks up a notch

Thanks for those that responded last time, it's always a joy and a highlight to hear from you all!

Week 2 begins! I’ve been back in Taiwan a little over a week. You probably wonder what my life is like. Life is very different compared to teaching full time! There is definitely less flexibility of only being at work during class hours. I miss that,but I'm grateful for that I don't need to prep! A ton of the teachers are prepping, but I just sit and read (see below).

Week one was a lot of traveling and meeting different principals, talking to them and just adjusting physically to a new country. Work has been unstructured and will be for awhile since this week we are moving offices. I’m looking forward to having my own desk! I’ve been doing a lot of outside reading for my job and reading past publications of the school. I’m looking forward to working on publications, layouts, photos, and writing! I’m learning a lot and its helping me figure out more of my job. My whole team and I are learning what my job looks like and we are helping each other.

For those of you that don’t know, there was a really big typhoon in Taiwan and it affected my parents a lot. Both our cars were submerged under water. The water is slowly beginning to reside and they are learning to get along with life with only electricity and no running water yet. School wasn’t affected as much and I stayed in central Taiwan at my place.

With the weather and limited transportation, it has given me a lot more time on my hands. I’ve been able to read and pray a ton. I’m grateful for that. Thanks for all of you that pray especially for my family.

Here’s a short testimony:

This Sunday because of the typhoon, I ended up staying at my school rather than going home to be with my family to celebrate Taiwan’s father’s day (Aug 8). I was super excited since I get to visit a church! I didn’t know which church to visit and I needed one close by since I didn’t have a car. I was able to visit a Gospel church about 15 minutes walking distance. I’m going to visit several churches before I decide on a church. What is amazing is that I haven’t looked for a church so much that I didn’t even know what to look for! The worship was good since I knew several of the songs. The message was by a missionary in Taiwanese! Yes! In Taiwanese and translated into Mandarin. It was very interesting, but it was good. Though I was super excited about going to church, I didn’t know how my parents would respond. My parents and I haven’t talked about church in a long time. At the end of service, I checked my phone and I saw that my mom had called. I was panicking and nervous since it was church time. I didn’t know what my parents would say or if she would yell at me! After the service, my friend and I stopped by the fruit stand to get fruit. I called my mom when I got phone and I said, oh, I was at the fruit stand. She said, oh, I thought you had gone to church. Then I said, yah, I did and then I went to get fruits. She was completely okay! She didn’t yell at me or complain or try to tell me not to be so religious. Praise God! What an answer to prayer. I was nervous about going to church, but I had been praying about it. God does answer prayer and will have all things be for his glory. May God continue to reveal Himself to my family.

I hope you all are doing well!