My time in Taiwan so far has been a time of a lot of growth. We have been having debrief and activation sessions, where our mentor, Stephanie, has been giving us teachings. One of those teachings was on abandonment.
Stephanie talked about the lost spiritual discipline of pilgrimage or journey. A long time ago, it was a lot more common for people to go on pilgrimages. Going on a physical journey to grow deeper in your relationship with God. That’s what the World Race is.
One aspect of pilgrimage is abandonment. Because we are traveling, we are stripped of a lot of our comforts. However, we can still have things that we cling to and use to be self-sustaining. Things that we use to hold ourselves up and buffer pain, instead of turning to God and letting our brokenness draw us closer to him.
She challenged us to ask God if there is anything that we are clinging to for comfort. God immediately brought to my mind my video making. At this point I realized that making videos had become a security to me. My desire to make videos was becoming too important and consuming my mind, instead of focusing on my journey with God.
So I will be taking a break from making videos for now, I’m not sure for how long.
Update! Fun fact: we are the first World Race squad ever to go to Taiwan.
One day the whole squad hiked Elephant Mountain! We climbed thousands of stairs, and at the top we could see the buildings of Taipei going on and on in the distance.
Heidi and I on Elephant Mountain, with Taipei 101 in the background–the tallest building in Taiwan and one of the tallest buildings in the world.
I am loving hiking this path in the woods near us. It’s quite a contrast to the bustling city right across the street!
Beautiful trees!
I got to meet up with my friend Melva, a missionary in Taiwan!
Some fun street market foods–top left: fried milk (a little like deep fried marshmallows, so good!) top right: Prince Cheese (a deep fried loaded cheesy potato!) bottom: Chinese pizza (similar to a quesadilla with basil leaves, an egg, and cheese).
We have been in Taipei for 2 weeks now. On Wednesday, our squad will split into the 3 teams and go to different places to do ministry for 2 more weeks.
My team, Wabi Sabi, will be going to Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan. We will be staying at a hostel and doing open ministry, where we will ask God to guide us in the things he wants us to do. There is an alumni World Racer in that town, who we may do a few things with as well.
Prayer requests:
For unity and friendship in my team, as we venture out on our own, separate from the rest of the squad for the first time.
For safe traveling to Kaohsiung.
That God would lead us to the people and places He wants to touch with His love.
Praise:
I am feeling such freedom and growing in my relationship with God and hearing his voice!
So far we have celebrated 3 birthdays for my squadmates, and it has been so fun to love them well on their birthdays!
Fun at the night market with Zach (bottom left) on his birthday a few days ago.
Blessings!
