Hands On Team

On Wednesday afternoon four young men and one young lady arrived in Taiwan to work with our team for five months. They are a music group that plays Bluegrass music. They are called The Long Run Players. They are very talented in many ways and play a variety of instruments. They are from Southern Seminary in Kentucky. Matt, Jeff, Sarah, Cameron and Paul will be using their gifts and talents to share the gospel with the people of Banqiao and Taipei. We are very excited about them being here and look forward to seeing how God is going to use them. God has already opened up an opportunity for this coming Sunday evening. Pray for that event. Here are some other ways you can pray for this team.
1. Pray for their adjustment while in Taiwan.
2. Pray for strength and energy because it is very hot here and they hit the ground running.
3. Pray that they will learn Chinese quickly.... especially learn to share the gospel in Chinese.
4. Pray that they will be bold in their witness.

A short video of their performance will come later.

Update on Sandra

I would like to thank all of you that prayed for my sister, Sandra. She came through the surgery, however there was a problem along the way that will cause the recovery process to be much longer. While the Dr. was performing the operation, the tibia (shin bone) cracked and a piece even broke off. The Dr. said her bones were very hard. He cemented the piece of bone back in place. The Dr. said she cannot put weight on that leg for four months. She has to stay in the hospital for six weeks of therapy. That is a blessing in a way because with her being at the hospital she will get the treatment and therapy that she needs. Please continue to pray for her because this is going to be a long road to recovery.

Sisters

I have four sisters that are very special to me. Today I would like to talk about one of those sisters. Sandra is one of my older sisters and lives in Mooreland, OK. She has been an LPN for several years. She has a very compassionate heart. She also loves animals....cats, dogs, birds, squirrels....you name it. She loves them all. She is married to Bob and has two grown children, Dianne and Eric and one grandson, Caylin. Over the past several years she has had some health issues that has limited some of her activities. One of those health issues was a knee replacement. She has recovered from that surgery, but now is about to have another knee replacement surgery on Monday, July 27th. There has been lots of swelling in both of her legs. Here are some ways that you can pray for Sandra.
1. Pray that the swelling in her legs will go down enough so that the Dr. can perform the surgery on Monday.
2. Pray that God will calm her heart as she anticipates this surgery. (The last one was very painful.)
3. Pray for the Dr. that God will give him wisdom and guide his hands as he performs the surgery.
4. Pray that God will be with Sandra and strengthen her body.
5. Pray for her family.

Mountain trip

Recently I had the opportunity to go on a trip with a teacher friend. I have known Irene for several years now. She is a wonderful person....very sweet and kind, but she doesn't know Jesus. I took every opportunity to share God's love with her while we were together. She lives with her husband's family and his parents worship their ancestors. I believe her commitment to her husband and his family is keeping her from believing in Jesus. Pray for Irene that God's Spirit will continue to work in her heart and she will one day know God and His love.

Jr. High Students

This summer an opportunity opened up for us to teach a Jr. high class. David and another missionary named Karen are teaching this class. David teaches for two hours on Tuesday and Karen teaches for two hours on Friday. The wonderful part about teaching this class is that they are able to teach the Bible. David is teaching Proverbs and Karen is using the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia" for her class. This week was the first week and it will continue on through the middle of August. Please pray for David and Karen as they teach these students, that God will give them wisdom as they prepare each week for the class. Pray also for the students that they will understand what is being taught. They are teaching in English and for some of the students understanding the English is a challenge. Pray that God's Spirit will work in the hearts of the students.

Friends

We have had the opportunity to make many new friends since we moved to Banqiao. There are two young ladies that I would like to introduce to you. I wish I had pictures to go with this, but I don't. One day I will update you on their progress and then I can include a picture.
June is a young lady that I met at Curves one day while I was exercising. She spoke English very well, so we immediately started talking and getting to know each other. I invited her to study the Bible with me in English and she immediately said yes. We meet together every week and she always has so many questions. She works at a Giraffe English School. We frequently have volunteers that come to Taiwan to do ministry. There was a team of university students coming so I asked June if these students could come and "play" with the students at her school. She was really excited about that. It was a great experience for everyone and June even got to translate some Bible stories and testimonies and she isn't even a Christian. I found out recently that she works at another Giraffe School in another location. We have another volunteer group coming and they are going to this school for two hours to talk to the students. Here are some ways that you can pray for June.
1. Pray that God will work in her heart as she reads the Bible and hears the teachings from the Bible. She is not a Christian and comes from a Buddist family.
2. This volunteer group will be visiting her school on July 24th. Pray for meaningful conversations that will lead to spiritual topics.
3. Pray that God will open up more opportunities to go into this school.
Mandy is the other young lady that I would like to introduce to you. One day I was on my way to a Dr.'s appointment. Suddenly this young lady walks up to me and asks me if I could help her with her English. I said yes and gave her my name and phone number. I never expected to hear anything from her, but one day she called me and we agreed to me. After meeting with Mandy one time I could see that she has a very low self-esteem and lacked confidence in herself. She is studying to take to take an English proficiency test on Saturday, July 11. While meeting with her I have had the opportunity to encourage her and tell her that she is a special person. Last night when I met with her I prayed for her. I also wanted to give her a hug and she was not sure about that at all. One day I asked God why He allowed me to meet her and after meeting with her several times I have my answer. She really needs to know that God loves and cares for her. She does go to church, but I don't think that she is a Christian. Please pray for Mandy.
1. Pray for her as she takes her test on Saturday morning (people in American this would be your Friday night). Pray that she will do her best and have confidence in her ability to speak.
2. Pray that she will discover that God loves her and has a wonderful plan for her life. 3. Pray that one day she will give her life to Christ and discover that her confidence is in Him.

Family Part 2

Our youngest daughter, Kara is married to Carey Westbrook and they live in Pineville, La. Kara and Carey are both graduates of Louisiana College. Carey is presently working as Assistant Manager of Capitol One Bank. Kara has her teaching degree in elementary education and hopes to get a teaching job in the fall.
Kara and Carey have only been married two months. On May 9, 2009, Kara graduated from Louisiana College and got married to Carey Westbrook. Yes, all on the same day. It was a crazy day, but a good one. It was a great time to be back in the states. Saw lots of family and friends and of course, I got to play with my grandson.
Pray for Kara and Carey as they begin their lives together and also that God will provide just the right job for Kara.

Languages

How many different languages can you sing in? This afternoon we had the opportunity to sing a very simple song in Chinese, English, Taiwanese, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Tagalog. Here is the song.
Thank you thank you Jesus
Thank you thank you Jesus
Thank you thank you Jesus
In my heart.
It was wonderful and our God understands them all and many more. The occasion was a baptism at Linda's house. A while back a Vietnamese lady named Esther made a profession of faith and decided to be baptized this Sunday. Praise God for this new sister. Pray that she will continue to grow in her faith.

Family

This will be just the first of several posts about our family. I wanted to post this one now because there will be several prayer requests attached.
Our oldest daughter Shannon is married to Nathan Clifton and they gave us our first grandchild on December 23, 2008. Josiah Nathan Clifton is now six months old. Nathan just completed Talbot Seminary and has been serving as youth pastor at Green Hills Baptist Church in La Habra, CA. Shannon, of course, is enjoying being a stay home mom. They are about to go through some major changes in their lives. This coming Sunday, July 5, is their last Sunday at Green Hills Baptist Church. God has called them to be a part of the organization called SALT (Systematic Asian Leadership Training). They will relocate to Ohio for a while and begin raising support for their new ministry. Please pray for them as they begin this new adventure. Here's how you can pray:
1. Shannon has been sick for about a week now. Pray that God will heal her body.
2. Pray for them as they say good-bye to a church family they have been a part of for almost 5 years.
3. Safe travels. Nathan plans to drive to Ohio on July 16th and Shannon and Josiah will fly July 20th.
4. That God will lead them to the right churches and individuals as they begin raising support. for their ministry.

Volunteers

We love for volunteers to come to Taiwan. Right now we have a team of 10 volunteers working with us. They are young and energetic and ready to do ministry. The nice thing about this team is they already have the language, so no problem communicating. Please pray for them while they are here. 1. Pray for safety as they travel around Banqiao 2. Pray that they will be bold and be ready to share the hope that is in them 3. Pray that God will provide opportunities for them to share the gospel.

Transitions

A new term sometimes means new transitions. David and I came back from stateside assignment in August of 2008. It was then that we decided to join another missionary and begin a subteam in Banqiao City. We call ourselves the Bridge Builders, thus the title of the blog. Since our work is focusing on this city of a half million people, we thought it best to move there and live among the people. So, in November we moved into a wonderful apartment that had never been lived in. It has proven to be a good location because God has given us many opportunities to meet people and start building relationships.
We are starting this blog in an attempt to reconnect with our friends and family in the states. We will be sharing about our family and our ministry here in Taiwan. We also want this to be the beginning of a prayer network. As we share prayer requests we ask that you join us in praying for each one of these needs.