"little" things

Sorry for not updating my blog in a while, even though nothing really big has happened that has led me to update this blog, I figured the purpose of a blog is to share some of the "little" things that I have been up to.

First of all, last week I went on a weekend retreat to Gu Guan, about an hour and a half from Taichung City up in the mountains. I went with the Zhong Hsing University Bible study up for a couple of days of team building, worship, and hot springs! Natural hot water, just goto their website to see what I'm talking about. http://villa-spa.com.tw/ But we only got to stay for and couple of hours, but it was relaxing. Here's a link to the Gu Guan Pictures that one of the Bible study members took.
It was a great weekend, got to meet and get to know some really cool people.

At Banner Church, they are having an English club, where people can come and speak english while learning things. We have a few months planned out, learning about photography, art, music, movies, cooking and every month we have an outing or special event. Next month I'm in charge of putting on The Amazing Race! I'm still in the process of thinking what the clues, events and places the people will have to go to, but it will be within probably a 3-4 km radius. Don't want them to go off too far. I'm also trying to put together a video to advertise for it. I'm pretty excited for it, you could even say stoked. (On a side note: they are doing an Amazing Race Asia, that my roommate Kevin and I are thinking of signing up for. We have to think of a good way to intro ourselves, but anyway, that's besides the point).

I have been subbing and tutoring English. I'd like to call myself a freelance English teacher. I have been tutoring a boy and girl, 3rd and 4th graders respectively 2 days a week, 2 hours each session. Also, I have been subbing at different schools. Last week I subbed at Future Heir Bilingual school for a couple of days. One of the most amazing schools I have been to. It felt like I was at the Discovery Science center. They have their own olympic sized swimming pool, indoor ball pit playground with slides, dance studio rooms, a sweet library. http://www.fhbes.tc.edu.tw/ I have also been subbing at Joy English school this week for a couple days, more of the traditional buxiban class rather than Future Heir which is more of an ESL program.

I have been getting into more of a rhythm with my days. My days seems more productive. I have been having solid devotional time. I've been reading books about solitude, silence and prayer by Thomas Merton and Henry Nouwen, I really enjoyed those and putting them into practice. Especially because I'm more introverted, I have found a lot of peace in my time. Now I'm reading "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges. At first it was hard to get into coming from reading the two authors above, but there are some really great things in it.

I am also in the process of applying to Talbot School of Theology for this Fall when I come back. (Talbot is the Theology school at Biola for those who don't know). I am applying for the Master of Divinity with an emphasis on Spiritual Formation. What was a major bummer was that my online application got erased on the Talbot website so I had to redo my application, slowly but surely, I'm almost there. But I also have to write 3 essays to apply for the spiritual formation program. I hope to get those done by next month.

I have been working out at World Gym here 3-4 times a week. I just checked my body fat and I'm at 14.2% body fat. Haha. My goal is to get down to 10%. I've been trying to eat healthier too, which is hard because Taiwanese food is so oily and salty, but I have been "cooking" at home most of the time.

Anyway, all that is to say that things over here are good. I have been enjoying ministry and my time here. I do miss home sometimes. especially when things remind me of it. Please continue to pray for me and the ministry here and also that I could find a more stable job. I miss you all. If you have aim or ichat my screen name is wex98x. It would be cool to talk to you through the internet for free, and if you have a webcam or isight it would be even cooler to video chat. Let me know and we can set something up. I would love to hear from you even if it's just a email to say what's up. (There are a lot of "I"s in this, sorry) Maybe next time I'll try to Podcast my blog.
Mahalo.