Coffee Mecca

Oooooooooooooh my! I'm not quite sure how almost another month has gone by since I last wrote, but I guess it makes sense, since I just turned in my 14th book!! SBS is getting more and more awesome as it goes along. Every day it gets a little easier to sit down and study, the other day I was at Starbucks for 10 hours without a break! As I think I mentioned in my last update, when I was walking back to my apartment at 4:30am after pulling an all-nighter to finish Mark back in April, I walked past an old "amah" (grandmother in Taiwanese) rolling out wrappers by hand all by herself in this little breakfast shop and felt like I was supposed to take some time and get to know her. I decided then and there that I was going to make a major life change (especially for me, a total night owl) and start getting up at 5am to come and study in this "amah's" shop. It's been over a month since then, and I can't even tell you how much it has changed the way I'm managing my time and the amount and quality of work I've been able to turn in. I've now tried just about every kind of Taiwanese breakfast I think (above is pictured "Youtiao" which is fried dough which is dipped in a sweet soymilk soup; one of my favorites), all of it handmade by my new adopted "amah."

I also think I wrote about Paris, my new friend I met at the Rock. I have been spending quite a bit of time with her and her mom the last few weeks, and we even plan to take a little trip together during our SBS break in June. I have been leading her mom in a bible study and we have been meeting with DTS staff about the possibility of Paris doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School, the six month school I did earlier this year that focuses on one's relationship with God and learning how to do ministry) in the fall. If you think of it, pray for her, as she is heavily considering it, and her mom would love to see her do it, but her Dad seems like a pretty rough guy and is definitely not fond of the idea.

Last week we had some mandatory fun at the beach for the YWAM base fun day. It was a total blast, I hadn't gotten so much exercise (or sun, for that matter- see photo) in a loooooong time. We had a girls rugby tournament (see photo, I'm at the bottom of the scrum), I got to go surfing, and then spent about two hours swimming.

Despite several applications of sunscreen, and multiple warnings that my friends needed some too, the SBS received a LOT of sun. One of the girls in my class got burned so bad I turned around to ask her a question a few days later, caught a glimpse of her glowing legs as I was turning, and was so surprised and started laughing so hard I completely forgot what I was going to ask in the first place.

Aside from that, life has pretty much been SBS, SBS, and more SBS. I've gotten to splice a little fun in every once in a while... a few games of pool here and there at the billiards club across the street from my apartment, some games of arcade basketball, and LOTs of exploring. I have stumbled across a market that is VERY old China, it spans through several tight alleys and closes at noon every day, so I have to go early, but it is very worth it, especially when I'm feeling homesick for China. Then yesterday, Zack Mills (my DTS classmate who I met up with in Thailand if you remember) met up for breakfast at Amah's and then went for a walk around Danshui and up to the gorgeous Catholic University about a mile away from our school. On the way back Zack saw a stairway and was like, I wonder where this leads? We climbed and climbed and finally found ourselves in a part of the city I'd never been before, and as we walked around we found a coffeeshop that looked very intriguing. We decided to check it out, and found ourselves in coffee heaven. I ended up talking to the shop owner for about a half hour about all the different kinds of coffee and all the places he got coffee from, the different roasts... etc (an challenging but very rewarding challenge for my Chinese). Zack and I ended up spending five hours there tasting, talking, and working on 1st Corinthians. We left having had four shots of delicious espresso and a Latte for under $3 US. I guess my sister Katie was right about Taiwan being the new coffee mecca! (See article: http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2009/11/coffee-in-taiwan-who-knew.html). I plan to go back often, especially since I walk past my new favorite noodle shop on my way there!

My class, though very large at just over 50 students, has gotten really close really fast. I can already see how our class

would be at a major loss if anyone were to be missing, which unfortunately has happened~we've lost four students so far- two who decided to get married and two who felt God was calling them

back to Korea. We had a scare this week that one of our 17 year old students, Danny, a half Taiwanese, half Paraguayan kid who came from being a gang member on the streets of Taiwan to DTS and is now an SBS student was going to have to go back to Paraguay because of visa stuff, but the judge ruling over his probation personally went to the immigration office and explained the importance of his staying so he was granted a new visa. Also keep one of our other students, Zoie, in your prayers, as her step-mom has just undergone very serious surgery and her father just suffered a stroke and needs constant care. Since she is the only one who is available, she might have to leave the school to go take care of her father.

Teaching guitar class at the Rock has been great fun, it's always nice to have three hours on Friday nights when I'm required to have three hours without even thinking about homework. We have more students than guitars, which is always an awesome problem to have, but we are always trying to round up new guitars. I've also absolutely loved my work duty, as I've been babysitting for the Ellis family, recent transplants from YWAM Montana. Their kids are great and it's always so refreshing to go to their house every week, it's almost like being back in Montana for a little while!

Well, I should probably get back to color coding 2 Corinthians, but before I go, I have a HUGE thank you to everyone who has been supporting me during my time here in Taiwan, by a very generous gift, I am now able to pay for first semester's tuition!! Please keep in touch, I miss everyone very much, and while I've been very homesick during this time, God has been reveling to me how blessed I am and how thankful I should be that I have such an awesome home and such amazing people to miss back home. Thank you all for following my story! Blessings!