Simply The Story

You trampled the sea with Your horses, the surging of mighty waves.

I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me.

Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer's; He makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

Habakkuk 3:15-19

    These past few weeks I've been traveling and working a lot. I rested after EMF. You can check out my last blog to read up on it. I rested for about 2 weeks. I officially moved to São Paulo, so I was trying to settle in and rest. I'll admit, it was really hard. Because I was excited to start my life in this new place and new ministries. But God said to take it slow. Well, everyone was resting so there wasn't any ministry going on. I rested, organized my stuff and also made visits to some Taiwanese churches. I made some new connections with many Taiwanese Brazilians. I was so happy to have "real" Taiwanese food here in São Paulo, Brazil. God just loves me so much and He often shows it through others. I'm just so blessed and loved by everyone around me even though I don't think I did anything to earn it. That's why it's pure love. It's not about what I did but because of who I am in Jesus Christ. God loves me with His pure love. 

    3 weeks ago, I was back at Hope Mountain helping with the American team that came from Gardena Valley Church. I also mentioned them in my blog back in April. I had a wonderful time yet short with seeing everyone once again. The boys were not all the same. Some got adopted or reintegrated into their families. That's the reality of Hope Mountain. Things happen fast even in a couple of months. It's tough leaving once again. I was really sad but deep down I knew God was leading me into a new season in my life with Him. It was really amazing making precious relationships with the team from Gardena. They are family to me. They are so down-to-earth and have such a servant's heart. I'm so blessed to have them in my life. 

    Then 2 weeks ago, after returning to São Paulo, I attended the seminar that my base had called Simply the Story. It is an oral way of having a conversational Bible study. This method can be used in small groups, preaching, teaching, Sunday School, devotionals and even evangelism. We learned that 80% of the world are oral learners. It's important to know how people learn in order to do ministry. I really enjoyed this and I was a student the first week. Then I was invited to go to another YWAM base in another city in another state called Curitiba to help. I helped translate and also was trained to be a tribe leader. I'm really grateful for the grace and opportunity to be trained. The team from STS were from the United States. And I became quite close to them. I enjoyed so much being with them and learning from them. One of my favorite parts of STS was finding the treasures in the Bible story and discussing different possibilities and learning more about God, Jesus and the different characters in the story. Through that, I can see the story in a whole different level. And depending on the different people in the group, the discussions can vary. Another favorite part was being able to train others. Knowing and being passionate about this method and the Word of God, made the training even more awesome. Seeing others understanding and growing is one of the best things in discipleship. 

    My friends and I came back to São Paulo from Curitiba at 4am. We left at 10pm and was on the road for 6 hours. My goodness. I asked my family to pray for a safe drive cause it was very dangerous to drive at that time. The roads aren't flat and straight. They were mountainous roads. I did not sleep at all. God sustained me. I was chatting with my friends who were driving. It was some good quality time. I found out that one of them played American football and was a running back. And he is 100% Brazilian. When we came back at 4am, I had 3 hours of sleep and went for a jog. Then I went to the 70th anniversary of Taiwanese immigration in Brazil. It was incredible. The story of 6 Taiwanese families who were Christians came to Brazil seeking freedom and a new life. They worked so hard and not knowing the language. They built the first Taiwanese church. The hardships and everything that they went through was very encouraging and inspiring for me. When I ask people there at the celebration how long they have been in Brazil, they say 20 years. And I reply, "Wow! And I've only been here for TWO!" They had many Taiwanese foods that I haven't seen in years!!! I bought some Taiwanese food for my friends to try and they liked it a lot. I started to cry when I ate 蔥油餅 (scallion pancake), because the taste of it brought me home. I've never had this experience with food like this before. I've read it in books and poems, but I've never had this connection with food and home. It was amazing! Food is powerfully intertwined with our emotions more than we think.

    And this week was finally a normal week at the JOCUM Casa base. I helped cooking in the kitchen because we cook for 50 people everyday for lunch and dinner. We have the DTS (Discipleship Training School) and also the Bible Translation Track going on at the same time. And with all the staff together, we have about 50 people. 5 other staff and I are going to volunteer at a global conference for people who have visual deficiency this next coming week. So we had an online training session and it was super fun! Over the weekend, I went to another city within the State of São Paulo called Campinas. We did a worship and prayer session at a church, evangelism, church service on the streets and attended another church service who prayed over me and the team, which are going to Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal. I went on Friday night and stayed over the weekend. I stayed at 2 friends' houses on separate nights. I got to meet their families and chatted with my friends!!! I cherish them a lot! It was surely an unforgettable weekend. Praise God for all the victories.

    I'm thankful for every thing that God has done in the past month. I'm thankful for you all who consistently pray for me and love me. God is good, all the time!

Updates:

1. BIG NEWS!!!!!!!! ALL $3,432 has been raised!!!! God is Jehovah Jireh, El Shaddai!!! He made a way through the Red Sea and He made the Jericho Wall fall! Thank you all for praying and supporting. I know God is already preparing the people's lives that we will meet in Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal.

2. I was bit by a dog which was possibly a domestic dog. But I'm fine, thank God!

3. Still trying to find myself in the new place, new ministries. Still transitioning. 

4. I've been able to build good relationships!

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray that my other team members can raise enough money for the trip, because 2 of them are truly struggling.

2. I've received more updates on what we will be doing there so please pray that our communication with the mission organizations there will go smoothly. Please pray for my team because our travels will be long and we need good health, good teamwork, good relationships with each other. Please pray that we can truly seek God in what He wants us to do as a team and individually as well. 

3. Please pray that I can continue to abide in Christ and hold on to the truth. THERE IS ONLY ONE THING THAT IS NECESSARY, to sit at Jesus' feet and do nothing, just listen, learn, spend time with Him.

4. Please pray that I can have wisdom in everything that I do. Next week would be tougher and busier than last week because I'll be volunteering every day at the conference for the people who have vision deficiency. I'll also be going to the federal police twice in the early mornings to meet and build relationship with the immigrants. I'll be doing 2 house visits to some refugees. And I'll be learning Portuguese while teaching some people English at the base. I'll be preparing to go to Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal. I want to learn the basics of those languages. I need to buy some ministry supplies that we will use for Children ministry. Like strings to make bracelets... maybe some soccer balls and volleyball balls. So many things to do!

This was from August 29-31, when my team and I went to Campinas to fundraise and be sent. We also did a worship and prayer night, and also a service on the street in a slum right in the middle of the city. This pastor is really dear to me as he prayed for me and encouraged me a lot when I was on the edge of giving up being a missionary. And I felt on my heart to give him the Taiwanese flag. I just had it as well with me so it was really God.

The photo on the left are ladies from the first ever Taiwanese church in Brazil. They are both Japanese Brazilians. They both worked with YWAM in the past as well. It was so nice to meet them. The girl on the right is my dear friend. We served together at the EMF this July. She came to visit this day and I was so happy to see her.

This family on the left is super special and precious. They are all Taiwanese born in Brazil. They were the ones who took me to the first Taiwanese church in Brazil. I got to see the son of one of the first 6 Taiwanese families who came to Brazil. He was telling the stories. It was very inspiring. On the right are my Brazilian friends trying the Taiwanese food.

On the left are my friends from EMF in January. We held a burger night to fundraise for the trip. 

On the right is when I was being trained to be a tribe leader for STS in Curitiba, at a different YWAM base.

These are my dearest sisters in Christ. I've learned so much from them.

On the left is the photo of my tribe that I had the opportunity to train. It was so nice to be with them.

On the left is the beautiful sunset of the YWAM Curitiba base.

On the left is the Taiwanese Cultural center in Brazil. They have a library and a place to sit. It's really cool! If it wasn't so far from where I live, I would go more often.

On the right, we were praying and thanking God for the lives of our STS team from the States.

These are all photos from the STS week when I was still a student. 

These are photos of when I went back to Hope Mountain. The baby that I'm holding was only a month old or less. And we know the mother, she is only 16 years old.