Taiwan Ministry
opportunities to share God’s truth
Updates—How to Pray
- An Opportunity to Teach Teachers!—December 30, 2003
- Sharing the True Meaning of Thanksgiving—December 17, 2003
- First Days in Taiwan—November 3, 2003
An Opportunity to Teach Teachers!
December 30, 2003
This past Friday and Saturday, King Car Education Foundation had arranged for us (the Chia Yi team) to put on an English workshop for Taiwanese teachers. They informed us that announcements of our coming had been aired around Keelung, a northern coastal county of Taiwan. Furthermore, an estimated 70 teachers were expected to arrive for the workshop. We were asked to teach teachers how to teach listening, dialogue, and reading, and how to use games and character in English teaching.
The team was a bit overwhelmed with the prospect, especially considering that we as a team had only been teaching English for five months. What new ideas could we give to experienced teachers?
Well, we had no choice but to show up on Friday morning and begin teaching. We prepared to the best of our ability, acknowledged our dependence on God and our need for His help, and arrived Friday morning to teach.
When we arrived, only 40 teachers were in attendance, but this group was still a large audience for us. (The largest workshop we had done up to this point had only nine teachers in attendance.)
As we got to know the teachers, we discovered that some were retired English teachers, others were currently serving as English teachers, and others were teachers of other subjects who were interested in improving their own English skills. Some teachers were very open and friendly to us, while others seemed perhaps more skeptical of us. We simply responded with enthusiasm, confidence, and a willingness to learn from them.
Friday’s sessions went okay, but on Saturday, everyone really opened up to us. It was as if the team had won their hearts the first day, and now barriers were broken.
One of the final sessions we conducted on Saturday was on how to implement character in English lessons. This was the best session of the weekend. Our team could hardly believe the enthusiastic response of the teachers to this possibility. Teachers conveyed to us, “This is what we need in our classrooms.”
Many teachers explained that they have problems motivating students to learn English, because the elementary students have no practical use for the subject. No one around them speaks English. I explained that by combining character with English, teachers can more easily capture the attention of their students, providing them with something they see as practical to their everyday lives, whether they speak English or not. Teachers were exciting about implementing character training in their classrooms. Our team concluded the character presentation with the Hockenstock Skit from the Children’s Institute Curriculum. The teachers thoroughly enjoyed the skit.
The day after we concluded the workshop, one of the teachers called me at the hotel. (It is important to note that this gentleman was perhaps in his fifties and was at first one of the more skeptical teachers we met at the workshop.) In essence, he said, “I just wanted to thank your team for teaching this weekend. Your team has such enthusiasm and insight. In past workshops, we have never had teachers like you. We ask questions, but the visiting teachers do not know how to answer. Thank you.”
Wow! I could hardly believe what I was hearing. I knew how incapable our team felt before the workshop, and now I had a gentleman explaining that he has not met teachers with such enthusiasm and insight as we had. God indeed blessed us a lot.
I was reminded of Psalm 119, where God promises to make us wiser than our teachers, wiser than the ancients, if we will only meditate on His law. After the workshop, our team took time to thank God for working supernaturally in our behalf.
These months in Taiwan have been some of the best of my entire life. I have seen God work in supernatural ways like never before. I am excited about the doors God is opening across Asia for IBLP, and Lord willing, I hope to be a part of what God is doing in this part of the world.
Because of Christ,
Ron Visser
Sharing the True Meaning of Thanksgiving
December 17, 2003
A few weeks ago, we were required by the government to teach at an English workshop designed to help Taiwanese improve their English skills. The workshop was scheduled for a Saturday and Sunday. We arrived at the remote mountain lodge where the workshop would be held and found only nine Taiwanese teachers present. (We had been expecting sixteen to twenty teachers to attend.)
Our Saturday sessions went quite well, and we concluded the day with a kind of Thanksgiving celebration. The government insisted that since it was Thanksgiving weekend, they should provide a Thanksgiving dinner for us. It was a rather unusual combination—turkey, bread, pizza, Taiwanese style sautéed cabbage, and pumpkin soup. Our Taiwanese teacher friends also joined us.
After dinner, we took turns giving testimony of what we were thankful for and sang many songs. Our teacher friends were very curious about the significance of the Thanksgiving holiday, so it provided a great platform to share Christ. We were in no way prohibited. In fact, after our time of food and fellowship around the table, the teacher who was responsible for the activity called out, asking if we American teachers wished to have a service the following Sunday morning. I replied, “Sure, if that is possible.” She then turned and asked all the Taiwanese teachers if they wished to join us for the service. One by one, the hands went up.
Well, I had been planning on taking a few minutes to meet as a team on Sunday morning, to pray and share from the Word, but I certainly was not expecting to have any formal kind of meeting. Now I was going to have all the Taiwanese English teachers voluntarily joining us for a church service. Wow! I could hardly believe the opportunity at hand.
The next morning we met at 8:15, and sure enough, the Taiwanese teachers showed up. It was rather amazing. With the occasion being Thanksgiving, I shared from Psalm 107:15, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.” I then pointed out how that God has blessed us with many things—a job, food, a place to live, etc., but the greatest blessing of all is the gift of Himself. I also shared my personal testimony of how I came to Christ. It was quite an experience for us and them. What an incredible opportunity to share Christ!
I find that many people here are Bhuddist, but only because their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were Bhuddist. Some here do not even understand what they believe or why they believe what they believe. So the opportunities here to share Christ are open.
One of the girls on my team said, “I have had more opportunity to share Christ in Taiwan than I have had in America.” In many cases, the Taiwanese take the initiative to bring up the subject of religion. So here, it is not a question of whether or not you will have opportunity to share Christ. Be prepared, because you will.
Just this week, three college students from a nearby university came to visit us. Again, the subject of religion came up, and I was able to share the Gospel message for 30 minutes. One of the students who definitely was not a Christian walked away very thoughtful.
Perhaps we will never reap the harvest here this semester, but God is giving many opportunities to sow Gospel seed, and that is exciting. That makes our time in Taiwan well worth it.
Because of Christ,
Ron Visser
First Days in Taiwan
November 3, 2003
This week has gone by in a whirl wind of activity. On Friday, the 25, my friends and I set sail for the little island of Kin Men via airplane. As our plane descended over the beach, I could see forbidding fortifications poking through the sand like so many sticks. This was my first glimpse of this military island that lies about a mile off the coast of China.
Almost as soon as we arrived at the dorm, we were warmly greeted by the teachers whom we were to work with for the rest of the week. We really had no idea of what to expect as we talked to our teachers and tried to find out what they wanted us to teach in their schools. The girls that I talked to were very sweet, and I envied the team that was to go to their elementary school. My team was assigned to teach in junior high schools for the whole week. Between the 22 of us teachers, we ended up teaching in all of the 23 elementary schools and 5 junior high schools on the island. The Lord blessed our friendships in an incredible way, and by the time we left on Saturday, November 2, we had met someone from almost every family on the island.
I thoroughly loved teaching in the junior high schools. It’s funny, because I never thought I would like to work with that age group. The Lord has stretched me a lot, but He has also given me a real love for the kids which I know is from Him. Every school that I taught in was a very different experience. In some schools we were received more warmly than in others.
Overall, I was very impressed with the teachers and students in Kin Men. I was able to observe one of the English teachers as she taught a seventh grade class, and she did an excellent job. I wish that I could work in junior high more because I think that it’s such a different world than elementary school, and there’s so much to learn. For many of the kids, we were the very first Americans they had ever met, and we were the first big group of Americans to ever visit Kin Men. We must have made quite a splash.
The biggest highlight of being in Kin Men was having extra time to spend with the Lord. I would get up early, with the help of my friend Jenni and her alarm clock, and go out on the beautiful campus, or walk down on the beach and just enjoy time alone with the Lord. Even though I met so many people and taught so many classes, I came away refreshed and ready to push on.
It was also very encouraging to meet like-minded Christians. We discovered a very good Church and came away greatly encouraged. We also met a very wonderful couple from Florida who are teaching at the new university in Kin Men. They are Christians and use every opportunity to share Christ with their college students. We met many of their students and were able to relate to them as friends their own age and also as believers in Jesus.
If I took time to tell you about all the exciting adventures that I had with my friends on Kin Men island, such as driving a moped, climbing up an ancient watch tower on a rickety old ladder, almost getting shot by a soldier with a big gun, and going shopping with eighth grade girls, I would never finish writing this letter, and you would never finish reading it. These stories will have to wait until we meet on the other side of the ocean. It was a very full time and a very profitable week. In some ways it was hard to come home.
Ahead, I see a race that is half-way run. Pray that the Lord would continue to supply strength to finish what has been begun. Thank you for taking your part in this race for Taiwan.
In Hs Service,
Hannah
Praises
- For a good time of building relationships in Kin Men
- For the time of refreshment and encouragement this past week
Prayer Requests
- For those we met in Kin Men to come to Christ
- For strength and creativity as I continue to teach
- For health as many people are sick