We are enjoying a long weekend. On Saturday was Baozhong’s annual Flower Drum Festival with creative dance and other entertainment. (Click here to see FaceBook photos; click on the photo to see the next one in the series.) Monday is the Dragon Boat Festival and we were able to eat zongzi (the traditional rice dumplings wrapped in leaves for cooking). This is also considered to be the start of summer, and the weather has turned hot to remind us of that fact.

We are now in the last month of class for local schools. Because of scheduled activities at the school, and things in our schedule, this will be the last week for this semester that we volunteer at two of the schools. The other school, the one where the summer children’s camp will be held, will still have a few more weeks of class.

This past week we received good news and bad news from the boss of the air conditioning shop. The good news was that he can install an A/C on the first floor in the room used for meetings. We are using a gift from a church in Canada and funds the church has on hand to pay for this. The bad news was that the A/C in one of our guest rooms is not repairable and must be replaced. The guest room is used for hosting short term teams and other guests, so it is imperative that it can be kept comfortable. The cost will be about CAD$800.00. We are praying for good weather so that they can be installed on Thursday or Friday this week. If you feel that you would like to give toward the cost of replacing the guestroom A/C, please designate your gift Taiwan – White Outfit Fund.

Next week, June 9-13, we will attend the annual field conference with the other C&MA missionaries. In addition to having a guest speaker give us some spiritual food, there will also be time for relaxation and some strategizing. We are looking forward to this break from our regular routine.

Over the next few weeks our team needs to discuss and to know God’s will regarding a number of important matters. Please pray for us:

• The search for a full-time Taiwanese co-worker continues.
• The potential involvement of student intern(s) in the work beginning in the Fall.
• The frequency of children and youth activities, and how to better promote these. Should they happen more often?
•  Are we able to continue the same level of community service in the Fall? Can someone else help?
• The visitation and follow-up of people is important. How can this be done more effectively and who should be involved?
• Planning the final details for the summer camps and the hosting of the short term teams that will help.
• Planning details for an October Prayer-Focussed Short Term Team coming from Canada.

Thanks for doing the important work of prayer. Prayer does not change things or situations, but the God who hears does.

Publicity for both summer camps is beginning! The posters are colourful and will attract attention. Registrations will start coming in soon. Please pray for the following:

• Registration is limited. We would like the students we already know to be a part of the camps so we can continue to share with them and help them. Please pray for students to register early and be excited about attending.
• Pray for Lorne as he prepares the daily “Bible-Meets-Life” topics for the youth camp.
• We need one or two Chinese-speaking female leaders to help with the youth camp. Please pray that God will provide.
• Pray for the short-term teams as they prepare English lessons, plan music, games, and crafts, and as they get ready for their cross-cultural experience.
• Pray for good weather (we think “no typhoons” would be good).

Pray for Mr. Wu who is reading many books, including some Christian ones. He finished reading The Purpose Driven Life in about one week. Pray that the Holy Spirit will direct his thoughts as he reflects on what he reads.

Please pray that the young lady who accepted Christ will desire to learn more and will be able to find time in her schedule to talk with Kathy-Lu.

Please pray for the continuing search for a Taiwanese coworker couple to work with us on our ministry team. After much prayer and discussion, we now understand that God is not leading the couple that visited in April to come and work with us. We continue to believe that God has the right person chosen and equipped for this position.

We enjoyed our time last Thursday looking at insects with the elementary students and joining them in learning about hand-made paper-making.  If you use FaceBook, we think you will be able to see some photos at:  http://goo.gl/Y4J3JB

On Saturday, Lorne was able to visit the teacher who had the accident last Fall.  He is still recuperating at home. Please pray for Mr. Wu’s complete recovery and that he will gain some benefit from the reading he is doing.  Lorne gave him some additional things to read and think about.

Planning for the summer camps continues.  Good progress is being made!  A friend helped us with designing posters and registration forms that we will begin to distribute at the end of this week.  Please pray for good communication as we talk with those who are coming.

• Youth Camp July 7-11:  Finding Life’s Road
• Children’s Camp August 4-8:  You are Special
  

Please pray that God will give us the right words to say as we go visit people or when people stop in to visit us.

We are excited that on Thursday we will be able to join the Fuhsing Elementary School on a trip to Puli.  Plans are to visit the Insect Museum and other interesting places in that scenic area.  We are looking forward to spending time with the students, teachers, and parents who go on this field trip.

Thank-you for your prayers.  We have good news to report.  This past week God supplied all the funds necessary for Albert and Elaine to be able to purchase another vehicle.  Praise the Lord for the donors’ generosity in pledging the funds so quickly.  Pray for wisdom as they search for a suitable vehicle to buy.

We are preparing for Mothers’ Day.  Elaine will share at the small group meeting and we will be giving gifts to the mothers who come.  We will also take gifts to mothers we know in our community.

The lady who prayed to receive Christ into her life last week plans to invite her grandmother to come with her to the Mothers’ Day worship time.  Please pray that God will continue to encourage her in her faith and help her as she shares with family.

Please pray for us to know how to show support our neighbours as they are grieving the passing of a family member.  The wake and traditional ceremonies will continue into this next week,

Pray that we will have opportunities to talk about spiritual matters and pray with those being visited each week.

Please pray for the planning of the summer camps:

• The teams from Canada are meeting for orientation and planning.
• We are trying to network to find Taiwanese believers willing to be a part of our leadership team.
• The English and Bible curriculum is being selected and written.
• Team members are planning games, songs, crafts, etc.

Thanks for praying for us during our busy times last week. We accomplished many things and began some others:

• On Monday, we went to Taipei for a prayer time with other international workers. Taking advantage of being in Taiwan’s largest city, we visited friends and took time to submit our passport renewal forms.
• On Monday, Albert and Elaine went to the mediation session with the other drivers. Although no one received the settlement they would have liked, they were able to reach an agreement. As a result of the negotiations, Albert and Elaine received a little less than half what is needed to purchase another quality used car for their family. Individuals wishing to contribute toward this need and receive a tax-deductible receipt from the C&MA in Canada can give online at: www.cmacan.org or through an Alliance Church. Gifts should be made payable to the C&MA in Canada or the specific church and designated as “Taiwan-Albert and Elaine Car Fund.” (This will be a one-time appeal.)
• The short-term worker who came for part of last week gave us a wonderful gift of service–helping in the kitchen and with housework. She also had time to talk with young ladies about some of the things happening in their lives. She departed from our house this morning, heading for Taitung where she plans to continue serving God and the Taiwanese people. Please join us in praying God’s continued blessing and anointing on her life.
• Fourteen children attended the Saturday Storytime activity. Some of the children are wanting to come every time. There are a few families who are consistently bringing their children. We would like to connect and get to know these families better, but busy schedules make that a challenge.
• Sixteen youth and some adults attended the evening youth activity. One of the young ladies described the evening as “super exciting.” Our prayer is that we can continue to build on this foundation and lead some of them into a personal relationship with Christ.
• On Sunday morning, a young lady who knows us from our almost weekly visits to night market, attended church for the first time. She actually showed up about 90 minutes early and stayed for more than 90 minutes after. While she was here she learned about Jesus and prayed to invite Christ to be her personal Saviour. Please pray for her as she will need support to learn more what it means to live with Jesus at the center of her life.
• And, on this last Saturday and Sunday, we began the process of interacting with one potential coworker couple. During our time together we were able to see some of their strengths. It is important that we have the people God wants on our team, so we will be taking more time to think and pray before making any decisions. Thank-you for continuing to pray that God would send the person He has chosen to work alongside of us and tell the people of Baozhong about Jesus.

We also want to thank you for praying for employment for our university-aged children in Canada. Ethan received a job offer and will be moving to Halifax to take a position with CIBC. Elyssa is working at a coffee shop. God has provided! Thanks for walking beside us and our children during the waiting time.

Happy Easter!  We trust that you are enjoying the opportunity to focus your thoughts on the story of Jesus’ resurrection.  Ephesians tells us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive and at work in us.  What a special gift our Saviour is giving us.

Last week we told the Easter story in the classrooms (photo).  Decorating Easter eggs and explaining the reason for the holiday was fun.  Students had different reactions–surprise, curiosity, skepticism, etc.  We are thankful we had this special opportunity.

On April 26 we have both children and youth activities at our house (the church).  The attached photo is of the publicity for those events.  Please pray for a good turnout and for good opportunities to interact with parents as they bring their children

We ask that you join us in remembering the following things when you talk to our Heavenly Father:

• We are looking forward to meeting with believers from the other C&MA church plants in our area for a Good Friday Service.
• Please pray for new believers who will be baptized on Easter Sunday morning in many churches across Taiwan.  Pray for them to have good communication with their families and friends about their new faith.  Pray for those of us who have believed for a longer time to be refilled with the excitement and mystery of Jesus’ Resurrection.
• Albert and Elaine will be meeting on Monday April 21 with a mediator and the other people involved in the car accident.  Please pray for people to have grace and mercy as they meet and seek to come to agreement of how to divide the limited insurance funds for repairing the damaged vehicles.
• Pray for Lorne and Kathy-Lu as they tell the Easter story to children this week.  Pray for boldness and for hearts that are prepared to listen.
• We have received an application from a Taiwanese couple who are exploring whether God is leading them to come and be our our coworkers.  Please pray for good communication and a clear sense of God’s will.  They will visit Baozhong Alliance Church on the weekend after Easter.
• Ann, a friend from Canada, will be coming to visit and participate in ministry this next week.  Pray that God will use her presence to build His kingdom.
• Kathy-Lu’s health is improving.  We are trusting God to complete what He has begun and eradicate the rest of the cold virus.

This week we will be going back to Yunlin–working in the schools, preparing for Easter, and seeking to use this important holiday season to talk with people about Jesus.  We are also hoping to be in touch with teams that are coming this summer, deciding together about some of the things that will happen while the teams are in Taiwan.

We praise the Lord that  Elyssa now has a part-time job.  Please pray for God’s provision for both Ethan and Elyssa (our children living in Calgary) who need to find full-time work in Calgary.

Thank-you for praying for the meetings with the pastors this week.  There were opportunities to share together, pray together, discuss policy matters, and to learn about some of the ways that God is leading others in their church ministries.  There are a number of pastors who have been with the C&MA Taiwan for many years, and there are some that have begun more recently.  Please pray that God will give them fruit for their labours and will protect them from discouragement.

On Saturday, the representatives from the C&MA churches conducted denominational business, including the election of the new Executive Committee.  Pastor Peter Kao was re-elected as C&MA President and Rev. Andy Chi was elected as vice-president.  The president and his committee officially begin to serve in January 2015, but will use the interim time to pray and plan.

Albert and Elaine’s injuries are healing.  We are still waiting to hear from the insurance companies regarding the decision of whether their car will be repaired to written off.  The matter is quite complicated because of the number of vehicles and people involved.  Please pray that God will help this matter to be resolved soon.  Pray that seeing God work things out will strengthen the new faith of Mr. and Mrs. Shih (see last week’s update).

We recently were reminded that there are some answers to prayer that we have not reported back to you.  They include:

• Lorne’s foot and leg has healed well.  It does not bother him when walking.  Praise God for his healing touch!
•  Last year we had asked you to pray for Pastor Jordan Yang who had health problems.  He resigned from his denominational leadership responsibilities but continues to pastor the church.  His health is slightly better than it was, but he continues to have ongoing health difficulties.  Please pray for him and his family.
• The Amazing Grace Church in Yuanchang invited Pastor Hsiao to come serve at their church and he accepted.  Because his children need to finish the school semester prior to moving, his official start date will be the beginning of July.

Throughout the Spring months there are many idol parades and many temple festivals.  This year we have a sense of strong spiritual activity in our area. Please pray

• For God to push back the darkness and allow the light of the gospel to shine forth.
• For spiritual protection for the members of our team and their families.  Pray we will be filled with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis and will not succumb to discouragement.
• For people to be free from fear, allowing them to learn about Jesus and how to have a relationship with him.