On Monday, July 20th, Terry got up early and saw a car for sale just a couple blocks away so he went and test-drove it with Nanson! Last week he got his International Driver's License registered and with Noah coming soon he is thinking about buying a car. We shall see. However, Nanson's mechanic warned us that it was a lemon so we passed on it. The rest of us packed for our 1pm van ride with Ruby down to Taichung for Taiwan Missionary Fellowship (TMF) conference! It's exactly what it sounds like - a conference for missionaries in Taiwan.
Even though we've been in Taiwan for six months now, this was me and Terry's third TMF! In 2024 we came on our vision trip with Reach Global. It was there that we were introduced to CBM! That's Pastor Nanson! We met Peter, the head of CBM, first but I don't have that picture.
We actually were also considering a ministry called Word of Life: SYME that Denise R. had introduced us to. It was crazy b/c while we were on that first vision trip in 2024, Denise R. and Evie were at Lead the Cause in Denver, and met this missionary couple from Taiwan that were there to be trained. Their names were Jake and Em. Once they got back to Taiwan, we found out about Denise and Evie meeting them, that they lived in the same city we were in for TMF, Taichung, and we met them at the 7/11 two blocks away!
Then last year we brought all of our kids to our month in Taiwan. We were able to visit Jake and Em again, this time at their ministry!
I'll finish the story soon...
Ruby, another CBM missionary, spent the first part of our trip sharing the gospel with the driver in Mandarin. Fun fact: This was the same driver who picked us up from the airport when we arrived in Taiwan this past January!
There was no traffic and we arrived in good time. I love this tree so much. Lillian said in Africa they called it a Frangipani tree but google says it's also a Plumeria. The flowers smell divine. We got the same guest room we had last year. Terry and I fell asleep after checking in.
Evie and Anna rode YouBikes to a Poya and then Anna, Evie, and Lydia started playing some cards with a pair of brothers they met last year. Samuel and Ezra went off to play basketball.
Dinner time! It's quite a loud and fun time. Everyone meets new people all the time, become friends, and maybe even network together.
A friend greeted Evie while she was taking dinner tickets.
Our first session took place that night.
Our speaker, Jeremy, with Serge, introduced his topic for the week to remind us of our own need of the gospel and the joy of frequent repentance. He taught from Luke 18 about the Pharisee and Tax Collector's prayers. This graphic illustrated how when we have a small view of our own sin we have a small view of the cross. And as we grow in our understanding of our sin and God's grace, both views increase. One note I wrote was, "He didn't just wipe our record clean. He gave us His record."
After the session Mei and Albert invited us to accompany them out for some shaved ice. We stopped at Mei's old work place on the way there.
The street shops are all pretty narrow like this and open right into the road. There were scooters parked right behind Terry.
Terry and I shared mango shaved ice. The other toppings are quite strange for Westerners - red beans, peanuts, soy yogurt stuff. Very different.
Terry and I slept just terrible for Tuesday, July 21st. Oof. Actually I only slept well one night there for some reason. This was our third time visiting TMF and I had slept great the other times so I'm not sure what was up. Peri-menopause?
Evie and Anna are both 18 and wanted to see what the adult sessions were like. The student's sessions are led by a team of college students from the States and is more like a youth group. They liked ours but decided to stay with their age group. It was a smaller TMF this year for their friend group - there were more last year.
This session was about comparing the Pharisee and the Tax Collector's prayers and how we tend to operate like that. We pretend and perform.
Evie during snack time after that morning's session.
Noah sent us this photo during his night.
Samuel was outside playing Nine Square.
Ezra was playing basketball - that's what he always did. Notice the sweat. Always sweat in Taiwan, though it did seem cooler than last year. Or we're getting used to it...
Evening mission sharing time. Where's Terry and Eva?
More Ezra basketball that evening. I got most of these photos from Vivi, who made the camp video.
That afternoon we had a CBM sharing and prayer time. We met the two new missionaries who are planting a church in Taipei.
That evening was pickleball. Evie and Samuel played Caroline and Priscilla from CBM and LKIC.
Albert (who gave us the idea to spend a month in Taiwan last summer, looked after us, and was our dorm dad last year), was hilarious. He is very competitive!
Evie is also competitive as you can see below as she steals the ball from Samuel. 😆
Samuel has improved a lot!
For Wednesday July 22nd we slept a little better and could think clearer for the morning session.
We sat with Lillian...
...who I also first met in 2024! She's the best. Such a gift. Her daughters are Anna and Lydia.
We had a group photo taken by Vivi that morning.
We then worked through Evie's volunteer visa with Peter Wang.
We discovered that the volunteer visa is more complicated than we thought. We might not do it.
There's a little cafe so I got a mocha to share with Terry.
That afternoon included a quiet time and then the kids played in the pool. Terry and I had another CBM meeting so we couldn't swim yet. Vivi and her camera to the rescue!
We sat together for dinner that night though.
That evening was the men's and women's group events. Mine was fun, inside in the AC with yummy desserts. The guys talked outside around a fire pit. 😂
Afterwards we reconnected with this guy who was in Noah's small group last year and had running in common with Terry.
The kids played games until bed time, which is earlier than they'd like since we all share a room and the old people need to go to bed.
Thursday July 23rd everyone at the conference was feeling pretty tired. The morning session was great. He shared a personal story of conflict that revealed his own heart. This illustration is meant to show how we think our sin is like the fin of a shark, pretty harmless. But underneath are the teeth of a monster that make people bleed...
...and how we like to dress up our sin and make it seem less bad than it is.
We visited with Jeremy and Gina a little during snack time. We know two of their teammates serving in Japan through our time at MTI, missionary training in Colorado last November.
For lunch Evie and Ezra collected tickets.
Albert (and Mei) left the conference that afternoon. We'll miss Albert! Until next year.
The kids had an afternoon session while me and Terry got some rest. Afterwards the kids came in and asked us to swim. Samuel decided to run a 5k around their track in the hot sun (like a crazy person). He said it was fun!
Swim time!
We had a fun time visiting with a missionary who goes to LKIC from Australia. One thing so cool about being here is meeting people from so many different places.
Golden hour as I walked to dinner.
Time for the story to continue! There was a TMF business meeting that night and we attended now that we're members. Our friends Jake and Em came just as it was starting! We got to meet their newly adopted daughter too! It was a fun evening reconnecting with them.
Noah sent us this photo of Trouncer and really made us miss him. We miss our BIG BOY!
Friday, July 24th, was the final day of the conference and a good one b/c I finally slept really well.
Jeremy shared how our hearts are like a dark country when we first trust in Christ, but as we repent over our lifetimes He brings light into the dark corners.
We met this truly incredible German couple during snack time. We are aligned on so much. Love them.
That afternoon we attended a breakout session with Evie and Anna about depression. Afterwards the youth had a water balloon fight.
The water made Ezra's shoes absolutely reek.
That evening was the kids' performances. The older kids did another dance that the college helpers taught them. It was so cool.
Then we had communion together and ended our conference.
Noah sent us this photo from his internship that day. See the deer behind him? I miss seeing mammals, haha. It's only birds here. Occasional lizards too which are cool.
Noah had dinner w/ my folks.
Saturday, July 25th, was spent having breakfast with less than half of the people, packing up, and leaving. This couple led the children's craft time and summer in Piedmont, SD! Terry was talking to his running friend about the Mickelson trail when the older gentleman was walking by and it was all discovered. Such a small world!
Evie and Samuel hung out until it was time to go.
Chilling in our guest room until our van came.
I took blossoms from my favorite tree home w me...where they immediately wilted and were thrown away.
Driving reveals we really do live within a literal jungle.
So many mountains.
Talking with Ruby.
We had to ask the driver to pull over b/c his quick accelerating and decelerating was making the kids sick, especially Ezra. There was a lot of traffic but he had a lead foot. We stopped 40 minutes from home at a 7/11 and bought some Sprite.
Crossing the narrow road to our van. We laughed uproariously when Evie let out a huge belch just like in the Sprite Challenge. I think Ruby and our driver may have thought we were crazy. We also laughed really hard when Evie shamed Ezra by saying, "You're a back-washer!!" and many other things. It was one of those times where you're so tired that everything is funny.
Our neighbor Amy checked in on Porky for us (Amy is Justin's mother - Justin is the young man Terry tutors twice a week). We were very much looking forward to seeing Porky but just as I had predicted, he ran away and hid. He cried in fear just like when we first brought him home. He did warm up after a few hours, but it made us miss our SD cats. We called Noah almost as soon as getting home.
That afternoon most of us napped. I made the pizza dough, laid down, and was shocked to wake up a whole hour later. We truly were exhausted. That night we watched Project Hail Mary and went to bed early.
Sunday, July 26th, was a lovely morning at church with Peter Wang from CBM preaching. Ezra spun Porky around in this bowl before we left. Porky actually lost his balance and fell into the couch when we got out. 😆
Evie however met Becklyn in Taipei with Anna and Lydia for a Morrison friend's baptism.
After church, Terry and I went to Carrefour, or as it's now been renamed, Prosperity Plaza. Lame! The boys went to youth group, I wrote this blog, and then Terry and I went out to dinner with Peter and Ann.
It was a nice time!
As we were about to walk into our building everyone's phones went off in an earthquake alarm. I actually paused opening the door in case it was a bad one. We stood there several moments but didn't feel anything so we went upstairs. The kids were finishing Swiss Family Robinson and said the earthquake felt like they were on a trampoline. It was only a 5.6.
Porky got all snuggly with Samuel. 💞
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