Staying in Taiwan!

Hey everyone!

It’s already been almost two months! ….and what a crazy two months it has been!

First off, I’m planning to stay in Taiwan until November 15^th. Why? Well, essentially I need more time to get to know Taiwan and hear God about a future here.

In first coming to Taiwan, I had 4 primary goals
1. Obey God
2. Learn language
3. Build community
4. Determine if Taiwan can be a long term home.

Of these four goals, I've come to the conclusion that I need more time to work on language learning and assessing Taiwan as a long term home. To expound, I know God has called me here to Taiwan, but there's several factors to consider.

When I make big decisions, I like to apply these 4 tests:
  -God's word
  -Advice from mentors and leaders
  -relational potential (community & outreach)
  -financial capacity

Obviously, I need to hear from God on living here long term. I've recognized my tendency to want to do things 'for God' sometimes instead of 'with' Him. At this point everything He's saying had been directing me to stay longer and while this is a little daunting it also feels frighteningly ‘right.’

Likewise, with seeking out advise from leaders, there hasn't been any hesitancy in saying 'stay.' Even when my personal doubts and questions are raised.

Thirdly, I consider the relational opportunities around me both in Christian fellowship and for outreach. From my current perspective, my opportunities seem quite abundant. Between finding other (non Christian) foreigners and inviting them to my dance classes; meeting with Taiwanese students over meals or for language learning; or simple everyday interaction with people....I don lack the opportunities or the desire to know and serve these people more.

Finally I always consider finances. Sometimes God directs out paths by clearly defining our limitations. My current budget will fully cover me until July 15th (my previous return date).
After that, I will need to find additional support. With my current visa status I am unable to get an official job here. There are small opportunities to tutor with English or dance, but to support myself I need to do more. Currently I am strongly considering finding a job here, but I also recognize that getting a job won't solve all my problems. When I have talked with many of the other foreigners, most struggle with outreach and even building basic community around them because they are so busy working and often studying language. I realize that language is vital to reaching out to any community long term so I'd like to keep that as my priority. Regardless of what the future holds, I have found that following God wherever He leads me is the best possible choice.

Particularly in light of my extended stay, I covet your prayers right now. I am entering into my busiest 2 weeks yet. As a trained dancer, I’ve been set in charge of dance at my church’s annual youth conference. This conference unites the youth of roughly 80 churches in Tainan to experience Jesus, receive teaching, and commit to purity. It has a powerful impact on this city and even throughout all of Taiwan, but as I’ve been preparing I’ve experienced significantly more spiritual, physical, and mental attack. Lethargy, discouragement, insomnia, and self-doubt are all very real right now.

I know prayer helps. So I’m asking for your help. In of myself I cannot save, serve, or bless anyone. Pray I can connect with the God who created the universe and bridged time and space to be very real and present with me.

Prayer Requests:

·         Protection and creativity while leading in youth conference

·         Guidance and wisdom in decision-making regarding a future in Taiwan

·         Continued connection with Jesus

I love you all so much! Thank you for all the words o encouragement you’ve sent my way this month! Below are a few more pictures of life here in Taiwan!

Many blessings and much love, 

Kirsten K. 

Meal time! 

Picking mangoes from the side of the road.

Sweet aborigines friend: Ebu

Another aborigines friend with her family: (right-most) Ebe 

Experiencing Taiwanese country-side and falling in love with the mountains! 

One Month in Taiwan!

Hi everyone!

It’s been one month already! It’s hard to believe how much I’ve done since I got here and how quickly time has passed.

Snap Shot:

• Service with missions training completed, teams sent out
• Language learning progressing slowly, but steadily
• Community of all kinds developing and being discovered
• Dance teaching and rehearsing with success, but intensifying

So....What Have I Been Doing?

Probably a better question would be, what have I not done? During the week most of my energy was focused on helping with my church’s missions training, but this week all four teams are headed out! It's been so much fun to watch people here get excited about sharing God in their home countries and overseas. 

When I’m not serving at church, language learning takes precedent. On the recommendation of several other foreigners, I’ve been meeting with a Chinese language tutor. Of course, I also get lots of practice using my Chinese with everyday tasks like putting gas in my scooter, buying food, and making friends.

Developing friendships and reaching out to the community here has also been an adventure. I’ve been gifted with several bilingual friends who have been equally gifted with a desire to push me to learn Chinese. J I’ve enjoyed getting to know them and serving with them.

Dance has also been a wonderful way to reach out to people. Every week I teach a free dance class to anyone interested in attending. Within class I get to redefine dance (within the context of loving Jesus), provide physical training, develop their ability to dance together, and teach them how to communicate clearly with dance. A few of my students are trained in ballet, modern, or hip hop, but all of them are very open to learn and grow together. I’m very excited to see what other opportunities dance will open up.

In addition to my everyday business, I’ve begun dance rehearsals for SHINE (annual youth conference, ~1,500 attendees in July). I’d love prayer for divine creativity as choreography has never been easy for me.

I'm also prayerfully considering Tainan for longer-term service. Community, out-reach, and work opportunities are all possible here, but to make a finally decision quite a few factors (most importantly a God confirmation) are necessary. 

So to sum up my prayer requests: 

• Continued physical health and peace through culture shock
• Favor with man and wisdom in how to best share Jesus stories
• Future decision-making regarding staying in Taiwan long-term
• Chinese language learning and retention 

Bless you all! 

- Kirsti 

Questions or thoughts? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at traveling.kirsten@gmail.com 

In Taiwan!

Hi Everyone!

I’m really in Taiwan! After a lengthy battle with my home stay’s wifi my computer has emerged victorious! (and able to finally update y’all!) Here’s a snapshot of my life right now.

- SHORT VERSION

·               Safe and smooth travel here

·               Keeping busy, but making friends I’m ready to help with missions training!

·               Lots of little language victories!

·               Drought weather and driving adventures

·               Meeting a gracious God and appreciating your prayers!

…and here’s a longer update!

- GETTING TO TAIWAN

God knew I was nervous to travel alone, so He miraculously provided friends from KC on my first flight!

Every step of the way was filled with peace. I had several friendly conversations with neighboring passengers, and even with six babies on my international flight I had peace. Peace was present, but not much sleep. Per my usual pattern I only slept the last two hours of my travel.

Gratefully, all my luggage arrived and I was able to immediately connect with my friend in Taipei. We enjoyed a brief time together and I left the next morning for Tainan.

 Since then sleep has been a bit haphazard, but generally successful and consistent. Please continue to pray for my physically as I transition sleep-wise, food-wise, and culture-wise.

- SCHEDULE

Sitting still isn’t my style, and it doesn't appear that’ll be a problem here in Tainan. J My many contacts are almost all through Living Waters Christian Church (http://www.lwcc.org.tw/). It’s a precious church rooted in intentional discipleship, a life-style of prayer, and evangelism. I’m going to be teaching dance, particularly over the weekend, as part of their evangelistic outreach.

During the week my schedule is still a bit flexible, but not much after that. All Nations Family has offered to help with missions training for believers here. It’s a program I attended in 2013 and thus will be able to help with their training. The training involves everything from the history of missions movements to storytelling to how to learn languages. I personally enjoyed every minute of my training and thus am really looking forward to helping here. This week the training begins, but I likely won’t be an active assistant until next week.  

- LANGUAGE

God’s been so gracious to help me with language learning! Thank you all for praying! In Taiwan a variety of languages are spoken Taiwanese and Chinese being the primary languages, though English and Japanese are also fairly commonplace. I’m currently only trying to learn Chinese, so hearing a mixture can sometimes be hard.

Regardless, I’ve been able to make many Chinese speaking friends in Chinese and communicate with the parents in my home-stay and I feel joy with even small successes.

I’ve really benefited a lot from my Chinese studies at home. Though there weren’t many opportunities to work on my spoken Chinese, I was able to study Traditional characters somewhat. This really helps me! Yesterday in worship I was able to sing a whole song in Chinese from character recognition. While this might seem insignificant, I see every step forward as a victory!

I’ve also found several friends willing to help me with language learning and potentially a skilled tutor as well. Please pray that I can continue to work through these details and not get overwhelmed. 

- WEATHER AND OTHER ADVENTURES

Coming from windy Kansas, Taiwan feels like a sauna at times. Gratefully, I have wonderful air-conditioning in my home stay, but outside is pretty muggy and verging on 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, Tainan is going through a drought. Our proximity to the ocean means the air has lots of moisture, but our rainy season has been missing rain for quite awhile now.

Lucky for me though, I haven’t had to drive in rain yet. In fact, I haven’t had to drive at all! Because of busy schedules and jet lag, my friends decided to drive me around until they had time to teach me (some of the rules here are quite unlike motorcycle rules in the states). This afternoon I’ll brave the road for the first time. Please pray for safety!

- HEART

Emotionally, I’m doing very well. As ever I miss my family, but I’m supremely grateful to be here. Several teachings and small group discussions have centered around faith and trust (e.g. walking on water, following God). This concurs with my personal devotions too. While it may seem melodramatic to compare my comfortable, easy trip to walking on water, some mornings (and evenings) it feels like that. God’s grace has been such an encouragement these last few days. I’m truly grateful to have Jesus with me. Thanks y’all for your prayers and love! 

Only Two More Days!

With less than 40 hours before my first flight I’m verging on an excitement overload. My trip to Taiwan takes roughly 24 hours-all things considered-it’s quite a convenient arrangement. Once in Taipei, I’ll stay the night with Elaine Lee (a family friend) and take the high-speed train south in the morning. 

Unlike some my other trips, I will have high-speed internet and smart-phone usage in Taiwan. Facebook is also available to me. I plan to post links to this blog and more pictures on Facebook as well. 

Incidentally, however, you will not be able to contact me using my current mobile number (I will use a Taiwanese SIM card). If you need/want to contact me my phone, send me an email at traveling.kirsten@gmail.com.

I’ll be in Taiwan for 10 weeks. To me, this time seems ever shrinking. With so much time, energy, and heart invested into this trip, I’m going to need your prayers.

Here’s the short list:

1. Provision, Safety & Health- Traveling internationally is incredibly fun for me, but there is always some risks in traveling alone. Please pray that my trip is both smooth and enjoyable.  

2. Friendship & Community- Entering a new culture with its unique diversity and community dynamics usually isn't easy. Please pray for the Lord’s grace to find how to love Him best in this new community. Please also pray for boldness (since my introversion tends to exert itself in new circumstances).  

3. Clear Present Purpose & Future Plans- Jesus is so gracious and tender with my heart, but He also knows exactly how to lead me. While some of my daily schedule and planning is clear, He’s definitely leaving room for me to depend on Him. Please pray that His voice will be clear to me.

4. Communion with God- Bottom line, I’m going to Taiwan because Jesus has planted within me the ability to see individual needs and the desire to personally share my relationship with God there. I'm super excited to go, and I know I'll enjoy every minute. Please pray that as I seek to serve the Taiwanese, Jesus is very real to me. 

Got a question? Want more details? Send them to traveling.kirsten@gmail.com 

How to Give

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Checks should be made out to "All Nations Family" and sent to:

All Nations Family

PO Box 55

Grandview, MO 64030

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Other Ways to Give

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For any other finance questions use my email above. Thank you! 

Revised March 23, 2015

Travel Plans Updated!

By God’s grace, I found truly miraculous tickets with perfect price, minimal stops, and optimal timing. For those that think God doesn't care about the little details, He even managed to route me through an easy airport (MSP)! I’ll be flying into Taipei in the evening of the 29^th, but plan to stay with a friend before taking a high-speed train to Tainan. 

·

 Current Budget Status

I’m nearly 60% funded! (i.e. percentage of my planned trip budget) Thank the Lord and thanks to you all! 

As of this week, I am now a field-worker for All Nations Family. Any gifts sent through them are tax-deductable. For more information, see my blog post titled: How to Give. If you have any further questions, please email me.

 Cards

Enjoy art? Want unique stationary? I am and always will be an artist. As part of my fundraising, my designs are available as stationary. To view options, check out my art blog: designsbykirsten.blogspot.com.

·      With my flight purchased, all my planning has begun to solidify, but there are still many, many decisions to be made. Currently, I’m working through my housing options and serving opportunities. Please pray for me as I continue to prepare. 

Further updates to come! 

Revised March 23, 2015

A Brief Snapshot of Taiwan

Population: 23 million

Religion: 93% Buddhist/Taoist, 4.5% Christian

Language: (officially) Mandarin Chinese

Area: ~14,000 square miles

Map of Taiwan 

I will be based in Southern Taiwan, around Tainan.

Taiwan's Geographic Placement

For more info on Taiwan, Check out this link: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html 

A few pictures from my last visit to Taiwan

SHINE conference

 Dancing in worship

Beautiful Taiwan....and very very tropical

Fruit like no other nation on earth. :)

Sunset over Tainan City