Taiwan. Week 21, May 24-30. Ear Infection, Cru, Beach/Amusement park day

I'm trying a new thing. I know our newsletters get long. Granted. There's just so much to tell! Plus I'm a archivist by nature and I'm emotionally attached to all pictures. So here is my first attempt to summarize our adventures in Taiwan without worrying about length...as much. My goal is to give a rough summary of our week. Today's blog covers May 24-30, 2026.

Our week started with with church on May 24, which was also my dad's birthday. We, and a few others joined the membership of the church, Linkou International. 

 

Right afterward we had a membership meeting complete with a yummy bento box lunch. 

Samuel had stayed home with a fever and Ezra had brought him one of the lunches. On our way home we stopped for a special snack - some boba tea. This shop is directly across the street from our place and always busy. 

Here is the poor guy hanging out with me while he played some games. 

However, Samuel's fever got worse as the day went on. His ear really hurt. We'd been avoiding going to the doctor b/c of the language barrier and not knowing where to go, but finally decided it was time to be brave. The Taiwanese go to the doctor a lot. That's always the first question when someone is sick, "Did you go to the doctor?" They go back many times. And now I understand why. It was so simple! Even with the broken English and uncertainty, it was only 30 minutes! We worried, "How will we know when it was our turn?" Simple. They came and got us, probably b/c we're foreigners and don't understand Chinese. The exam and extra explanation took less than five minutes. Samuel had an infection in his ear canal - there was a scratch and pus over his ear drum. Turns out Samuel scratched it when he tried to clean it b/c it felt full as his head filled with gunk. Checking out took only a few minutes. We walked directly next door to the pharmacy who had our meds ready.  

The pharmacist knew we were foreigners and tried to explain the drugs in English. We could not understand him. Terry started opening Google Translate and the pharmacist very clearly exclaimed, "I'm speaking English to you!" Ha! And now it's a new joke for us to yell that at each other. We felt so bad but seriously couldn't understand. I finally figured out he was saying Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen - long English names after all. 

In the middle of our night Noah had lunch with my folks and Nathan and Ana's crew for my dad's birthday. 

Monday morning I finally got my poop in a group and biked to Morrison to work out. I talked to my folks on the way there. I had taken a long break from working out after catching Ezra and Terry's dreaded cold.  I had lost my voice completely for two days and was very hoarse for several more. That's what we thought Samuel had caught too.

That afternoon I made Evie come to the store with me b/c I knew I'd need help carrying groceries home. I made beef stroganoff that night and Korean beef rice bowls w a lot of veggies the next night. We loved eating at home!

That night Porky was chilling w me and Evie was messing with him. He hates getting pets after he has his before-nap bath. He's OCD and cleans wherever you pet. 

Meanwhile at home on his Monday, Noah returned to the house after several days of cat-sitting for friends and Trouncer wouldn't leave him alone. Trouncer is the best cat ever. Sorry not sorry Porky.

Later in the day Noah went caving with Josh and his bible study that Noah has been attending. They're crazy and climbed down this hole in the ground. 

They've done it many times before though so it was safe. Noah loved it. 

Tuesday was a day I was trying to catch up with friends back home and I was sending a Marco Polo to Emily and showed her Porky. He had been asleep when Ezra had put that silly cat frog hat on his head. 

It made us laugh so much.

That evening Terry went to Taipei for Aroma Church English conversation night. He had promised this student a gospel of John but b/c he was out, he brought her a Bible instead. She was pleased! Terry has been loving his Tuesday nights there. Just the previous Saturday he had his own successful English conversation group at a local Linkou coffee shop called En Cafe and four students came! 

Here's a picture from Terry's Wednesday run. Terry has been running a 5K every single day in the month of May. He met this former Ohio youth pastor and worship leader who does this every May. Terry participated at home and decided to do it again here b/c it gives him a goal. Without a goal, he won't run. He's seen a ton of our city running every day!

While he was running I went back to Morrison.

When I got home the kids were all playing chess on Duolingo together. Ezra has been playing a lot for months. Then he started playing Samuel in the app. Then he got Evie to participate - he's coaching her against Samuel b/c she doesn't know how to play. 

We met new friends, with English names Abraham and Sarah 😆, through Ezra's final basketball tournament. Their son Isaac is Ezra's team and they gave us a ride to Taipei. I found out they're Cru missionaries and introduced Terry to them. They then invited us to come to their Wednesday Cru meeting. That's what this photo is - Abraham, the leader, and his protege George. They run a whole church service, basically for only a handful of students. The first week they also had Terry share his testimony. This week I shared.

After their meeting they try to engage students in conversation and evangelize. They met these two guys and Terry was able to share the gospel with them in English. We're praying about what next semester could look like. 

Wednesday night we went to our co-worker Henry's place for a CBM team get-together. This was us crossing the busy road by bridge. Evie and Ezra was below us at the crosswalk. 

Everyone was marveling at how tall Samuel is. He's just about to catch Terry! 

Henry, Ruby, me, Evie, Mei, Samuel, Ezra, Terry, Alex, and Susan had dinner together. 

We each picked a card that described how we were feeling, we shared why we chose that card, and we prayed for each other. 

Thursday was an early start for the kid's "last hurrah" field trips. Evie and Samuel went to Waipoa beach and Ezra went to Leofoo Village amusement park (I didn't get any Ezra photos sadly). This is Evie and her homeschooled friend from Taipei named Moriah. Moriah is also from South Dakota!

Samuel with a group of guys heading to the bus. 

Samuel and Daniel at the beach 7-11 to grab lunch. 

Meanwhile at home Terry and I worked out and then had a Mandarin lesson with Michelle. 

Just leaving Seven.

I made Evie take pictures for me. I'm so glad she's an obedient child or I wouldn't have proof of the most boyish thing that could be done at a beach - digging a hole. 

Evie tried to surf at the end of the day!

I'm so glad Samuel was able to go. He's really been struggling with anxiety so anytime he can be with people is helpful. 

Terry and I went to a new coffee shop that afternoon. He was taking my picture so I took his. 😆

It was a shop called Swell with a California beach theme. It was awesome. We loved it. It felt very much like our vacations to visit Jackson and Janae. Plus, they played two NEEDTOBREATHE songs which brought on the home vibes big time. That's what we always listened to at home when driving around in the van.

The mochas were great too. Though why are drinks so small here? 

Meanwhile, more of Evie and Moriah. Jungle meets beach. 

Evie and Anna. I met Anna's mom at TMF last summer and Evie met Anna on the first day of choir in January. Anna gave Evie the sweetest speech for Senior's night at Morrison. 😭

Friday morning we all slept in and called Noah to check in. He'd been working at Cabelas/Bass Pro Shop for 1.5 weeks already and it's going well. Then in unison on Facetime, per tradition, we watched an episode of The Wingfeather Saga on Angels Studio. 

That afternoon Evie and visited Mitsui, the big mall, and saw Terry cooling off (with coffee? 😂) from his run in the lobby. 

Evie and I were looking for a gift for Ezra but we couldn't find one. But we did find some wide running shoes that will hopefully mend her sole blister developed from running in my commandeered shoes. We also bought a glass pitcher for tea for hosting bible study that night. 

I made chocolate chip cookies to share (Oliver and Mveli ate FOUR!) and we had a great time discussing Romans 11. This was our first time hosting. Usually Pastor Nanson hosts but it was their first evening back in their apartment after bringing their baby girl home. 

Saturday started early with an all-day summer camp youth leader training at the church office. 

I didn't have to go so I followed up on the aforementioned gift for Ezra. When I did leg day in our complex's workout room that was 85 degrees. Bruh. Terry and the kids got home and Evie and Terry promptly left to play tennis with his English student from our building, Justin. 

We ended the day with pizza and Ezra's choice of a movie, since it's his birthday tomorrow. It was The Lego Batman movie for about the 20th time. 

Our journey to Taiwan

As Terry shared in church this morning when he told everyone that we have indeed decided to go to Taiwan as missionaries, there is a lot that brought us to this place, "a decision that's been a long time coming."

Terry's family had attended First E-Free going back before he was even born. I didn't come until my junior year in high school. When Terry was 18, a few ladies from church, Gail, Liz, and Carol Greenhood, invited him  on a short-term mission trip to Macau, China to help with an English camp that their missionaries, Bruce and Mary Damon, were putting on. Terry's in the D.A.R.E. drugs shirt and Carol is in the blue vest and pants.

 

This trip truly changed the trajectory of his life. Prior to this, his only thought was to get a good job and make money, but this experience opened up his eyes. He really hadn't known prior to it that there were people in the world who had never heard of Jesus, what He did for them, or who'd never read the Bible.

That knowledge propelled him to follow his high school best friend Joel to his Christian school, Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. 

At one memorable service, Terry went forward with tears to pledge his life to missions. Terry told me  afterwards he went alone to a park and sat on a bench to process the experience, asking himself, "What just happened?!" He put it off as emotionalism, but I think God saw his heart and He knew, even if Terry wasn't ready for it yet, that he really did want to do missions. 

However, Terry did learn that Ozark wasn't right for him. God sent a wise pastor into his life, Stan, who told him that if he was so interested in missions that he should go to the Moody Bible Institute. So that's what Terry did after a gap semester at the South Dakota School of Mines. There at Moody he met his now long time friend and roommate, Ernesto, who all the students should remember fondly from his two visits to Rapid City for Fall Advance. 

At Moody, Terry took up his alter-ego of Neo and was equipped not to fight the machines, but to bring the gospel to the lost. He earned a double major in International Missions and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). 

All along he kept serving in the church, and in particular, to the Asian community. That same Missouri pastor, who had counseled Terry to come to Moody also moved to Chicago to pastor a church that had previously been named Lakeside Japanese Church. Terry served the youth at Lakeside during his time at Moody, both for his Bachelors and his Masters.

And during the summers he returned to China for two more short-term mission trips. 

He would return one final time for his internship. 

Here's Terry and Bruce during one of those trips.

In the meantime, in my junior year of high school my family had begun attending First E-Free and it was there that I met Terry's sister Shari. I can still remember clearly one of the first Sundays there where she shared about her car accident. We became fast friends. 

One of my first Sundays at First E-Free someone had us listen to  an interview with the youth pastor they were considering hiring, Mike. He wanted to know what the youth thought of him. We were all like, "Ummmm, sounds good." So they hired him. Mike's impact upon my life was profound. He gave me a place to belong, a place to finally grow, and someone to support me in the tumultuous time of deciding post-high school decisions. 

Shari and I and the small youth group are pictured below at Purdue University for the E-Free Challenge conference. Shari never lets me forget falling asleep as she was telling me a story in our dorm room. :D

We also grew closer on a backpacking trip the following summer. "Rocks hold strong!" we prayed when we thought the storm was going to literally blow us off the mountain. 

While Shari and I were growing closer together, Terry spent eight weeks alone in Macau, China, for his internship. Many young Chinese women were wanting to hang out with Terry and "learn English," haha. He knew that it was not a good thing for him to be a single missionary. He grew afraid to go to Macau as a missionary. He worried what his family would think, what everyone would think. He didn't want to let anyone down or destroy expectations. And most of all, he didn't want to be alone. 

Shari had been telling me all sorts of romantic stories about Terry from her younger sister hero-worshipping perspective. I particularly remember a story about him giving a prized signed t-shirt to a girlfriend and a photo of the girl he took to the senior banquet. Why was I jealous of this random girl or drawn to this guy I didn't know?

Well, God knew. He was for me and I was for him. 

The summer after he graduated with his bachelors, he came home, unsure of what to do next. We had actually hung out during the previous spring break. I was annoyed b/c I was trying not to like guys. We hung out in church groups all summer long and got to know each other, and started dating at the end of the summer. 

I went back to SDSU for my second year and Terry went back to Moody to start work on his Master's of Discipleship. We dated long-distance for those two semesters. He would drive six hours to Albert Lea and I could drive two hours there. Then he would drive me back to Chicago with him - another six hours and I'd stay with a friend from church. At the end of the long weekend, he'd drive the six and six hours again for a total of 24 hours of driving in one weekend. 

Once in February he flew me to Chicago and I met his "youth group." Lakeside had hired him as a part-time youth pastor to look after the kids he used to volunteer to teach Sunday School. Here are those same kids. God provided a back-up to missions - youth ministry. Everyone at Moody always told him, "You're a youth ministry major right?" And he'd have to correct them and tell them, No, he was a missions major. But obviously, he was good with students too. God knew that. And even though he wasn't ready to be a missionary yet, He provided for many years to come. 

  

I have this distinct memory when I told a college friend that Terry and I had started dating. She said, "But why are you dating him? You're not going to be a missionary!" Ouch. I didn't know what I wanted to do. All I could say is that I was open to whatever God wanted for me. 

April 19, 2003, Terry proposed to me at The Rock at the ranch and we were engaged.

There are some at Parkview who will remember our wedding. 

To no one's surprise who saw him cry today at church (and in the past), Terry was moved to tears at our wedding. 

We had done it. Terry was no longer alone and God was working in me. 

This is my favorite wedding picture - taken at our cabin after we had left everyone behind and everything was finally peaceful. We remake this photo every time we go back to that cabin.

Life was chaotic for a while there while I worked away at nursing school, got pregnant during nursing school, had Noah during nursing school, continued and graduated with a baby. But God used that too. It was in having Noah that I really settled down into marriage. Somehow marriage had mad me feel safe and having Noah made me feel established.  

We had Bruce and Mary over during that time. 

God used this picture a year or so ago and just said, "Surrounded." He has surrounded me with people who love me and support me and don't reject me. They actually love me. 

But life as a nurse for me and a t-shirt printer and Black Hills Works employee for Terry was not ideal. Terry had more in him and God had more for us. Terry took those comments about being a youth pastor and started pursuing it. God brought us to Gothenburg, NE. 

Here is our tiny family with our parents after having just packed up our ranch house to move to Nebraska. It's crazy that we're going to do it again, but go much further than six hours. This time we will go 7,000 miles and 15 hours away. 

I didn't really want to move to Gothenburg, but Terry was sure. It's kinda funny that this time around  I and the kids were more sure and Terry was more tentative. 

Terry wanted to start in the ministry. So our folks moved us in and visited often. Jerry even sold his cows so he could be more free to come down. 

Terry wanted to pour his life into the church for God. And he was really good at it. We made a home there. We had Evie in 2008. They sold us a parsonage for pennies and we made it a home. We had Samuel is 2011 and fixed up that house. We didn't think we'd leave anytime soon, but then Pastor Dave called. The youth pastor, JD, was leaving and would we consider the job? We didn't want to at first, but of course we said yes. It broke our students' and church families' hearts. It was like attending our own funeral, but we came back. 

And we've been back for twelve, almost thirteen years! God gave us Ezra in 2013 just over a year back here and we fixed up this house. Terry's done hundreds, if not thousands of youth group and Sunday School lessons, dozens of trips, many memorable fall retreats. We have so many friends at Parkview, it's gonna be really hard to say goodbye. 

But look at this team God has created. Terry didn't want to be alone so He brought me. Terry wanted a team and He gave us this family. Not only our kids, but the youth group and their parents and all the people at Parkview, and even Gothenburgians and Chicagoans, who love us and will hopefully support us as we go. He created the team that Terry wanted through a ministry that he didn't even set out to do. 

God gave us these last thirteen years with our families after Terry had been afraid to leave them - time to build up the courage to go. We have a continued relationship with the Damons, who were there when God first changed the trajectory of Terry's life. It was even Bruce who brought us the idea of Taiwan in the first place! Fall 2023 Bruce told Terry he felt "led" to share with us the Taiwan Initiative that we went on the vision trip with and ultimately led us to Chinese Bible Mission. 

In 2021 when Steven and Prae were preparing to leave to be missionaries in the Middle East, Terry took the Perspectives on World Missions class for the first time. Perspectives reignited the passion in Terry's heart for missions. It had never went away. He always carried it in his heart and it came out in just about every lesson or sermon. He trained all those kids to know the gospel and know how to share it. He grounded them so firmly in the gospel. We heard from one student last week who effortlessly shared the gospel with coworkers. Terry trained her like he's trained them all. He's passionate for the gospel and for sharing it with those who don't know Jesus. 

Terry had been doing Perspectives since 2021 and has been saying, "You can only take Perspectives so long before you want to do it yourself." 

So we went on that vision trip July 2024. 

And we've spent the months since, as Russ said, "agonizing" about the decision to stay or go. And we've said yes. God has really been at work in both of us to prepare us for this. 

God has graciously given Terry a second chance to fulfill the desires of his heart. He's given him a family that is supportive - yes, even the kids. It was the kids and I encouraging him to say Yes when he was too afraid or intimidated. We've been told it's very strange for kids to actually want to go. Ours do. It will be hard, but they are willing. We support Terry and are behind him and want to see him try and succeed. 

So. Maybe I really will be a missionary after all, despite what that college friend said. Looks like we all will be.