July!

Welcome to the lovely month of July .. one of my favorite months of the year ;) haha

I got to talk with my family and friends back home today with video chat and it was pretty fun! :) I love and miss you all. Thanks for the chopstick fun and ballet moves ... I was very impressed. haha

So, today is a quiet day for me ... right now, I'm listening to music on youtube ... "Draw me close to you" ... what a beautiful song! This morning, I had my breakfast and Sis. B and I had a chance to chat. It was lovely! :) I got to hear more about what the Lord gave her for the Ladies meeting in regards to pursuing the presence of God. It is awesome stuff!

Today, we are supposed to go to Ikea, Costco (hot dogs!! yeah!!!) and then to a revival service. Fun times. :)

Also, I'm starting to prepare my lessons for English class. Jesus has blessed me with a few cool ideas so now I just have to plan them out and pray that He continues to give me topics!! :)

Randomness:

Alisha is a good driver! :)






Alisha is a sweetheart and toted me around all weekend!
She is a great driver! :) I loved riding on the scooter. So fun!
You get to see a whole new perspective. These pics of me and
her were taken Monday, June 29, 2009 on our way to pick
up some flowers and run to Carrefour.



This is super cool and hilarious! It's a robot
that waves a sign that says, "slow" in Chinese.
Too funny! And they dress it up like a person
with a work hat and everything. :)

Monday night, the girls and I took Lexus for a little walk.
It was 9 pm and people were driving into the complex,
coming home. When one car drove past me, a little girl
on the back passenger side rolled her window down so she
could get a better look at the random white chick. lol :)
I was cracking up!

Yesterday, I learned a new game! It's called Rage :) It is most
amusing ... we will have to play when I come back. Have any
of you played it before?

Lexus and his new toy: I am happy to report that Sir Lexus
does indeed like his rope/ball. He promptly chewed the ball
apart! lol



This is Carrefour :) It's like our Walmart ...
pretty cool. I enjoying looking around inside.
There are at least three main differences in
comparison to Walmart: 1)This is a multi-level
store ... so, in order to move the carts from
floor to floor, they have an escalator of sorts
that is just an incline, rather than steps.
You put the cart on it and it pulls the cart up
or down, depending on which level you are
going to. It's pretty neat. 2)The music played
inside is NOT mainstream pop music ... it's
ALL advertisements for the store/products lol
3)There are vendors inside that are not apart of
Carrefour. They rent space inside and sell to
customers passing by. All in all, Carrefour is
a very handy place!

Sunday ... June 28, 2009

Bro. Chris Bracken preached for us Sunday am in Tainan and it was an awesome message. He took his text from the book of Acts ... the story of Saul on the road to Damascus and God rendering him blind. We had a great number in church that morning. There were several guests who were touched as the Spirit of God began to work on their hearts and draw them to Him and they began to cry. Please keep all of the people in the Tainan church in your prayers. God is doing a great work in this city!



All of us!



The sweet couple that just got married, Jerry and Sherry.



My yummy food! :) [Well, only one part of my food is
pictured here ...The other parts didn't get their picture
taken. lol]









After service, a group of us went out to eat. It was really good! And it was so cheap! I was thinking to myself as I was there, "Man, if we had one of these in Napa, it would definitely be the new hang-out place!" My meal cost 230 NT ... which is about US $7. I got a 6 oz piece of beef steak meal, plus there was a buffet with other hot foods (pot stickers, veggies, etc), cold foods (such as salad, etc), fruits, deserts and drinks ... not bad at all! :) And the fellowship was great. The saints in Tainan are sweet and I am enjoying the time I get to spend with them.







In the afternoon between lunch and leaving for KH, we had some time to play with Lexus. He really seemed to like his new toy! He is a sweet heart and quite spunky still, as he's only about seven months old.

In the evening, we drove to KH for their night service. Again, we had wonderful worship and fantastic preaching. The sermon was about building our lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
A little over 20 of us went out to Smokey Joe's afterwards ... that is a pretty big group! :) We had a side room to ourselves. It was pretty cool because they played a few Christian songs that night
over the speakers. Can you imagine my surprise to hear a Christian, English song begin to play?
Usually, (like at the night market etc), all you hear pretty much is rap music ... yuck! It was so lovely to hear something else! It was like a gift from God! :) A little piece of home.



The day before, at the wedding lunch celebration, I had taugh Ethan how to put his hands together and make a "mask." He thinks it's really funny. :) So, he was doing that at Smokey Joe's and Joyce pushed his nose up ... we were joking that he had 猪流感/swine flu. lol

Smokey Joe's is a neat place! :) It's a Tex-Mex restaurant and is decorated in a South-western style. The menu is in Chinese and in English. Hooorrahh! (Bro. and Sis. Bracken took me there once before, after the wedding rehearsal (Friday, June 19th) and I ordered a yummy sandwich.) This time, I ordered a cheeseburger which was also delicious! There were a little over 20 of us that went out. I sat at the table with Chris and Tiffany, David and Joanna, Alisha, Alisha's sister and brother, Joyce, John and Bro. Zhang. Oh! And little Ethan and even littler Angie! :) The other table had a large group of the young ladies in the church, as well as Abbey and Amber.






These are their signs for the restrooms. :) Too cute!




On our way out, I saw this statue and couldn't resit! :)



This window on the outside of Smokey Joe's is so neat looking! I love the vines!

Night Market!!!!

Yeah! Tonight was my first experience at a night market! :) Alisha and Joyce took me there and I had a great time. This was also my first time to ride on a scooter here, so lots of new stuff happening tonight.

Notice Alisha's hair blowing in the wind. hehe :)

I ate some pancake-like mini-muffins, drank some lemonade and tried some 臭臭锅（臭臭鍋）
（stinky tofu hot pot) 。。。I didn't eat the actual tofu, but I tried the soup and some of the cabbage. It was not too bad ... pretty tasty actually. :) Joyce loves it! lol I wish I could bottle the smell up for you and bring it back ... you would never be the same again. lol! ;)





We stopped at a sun glass booth and tried some of the pairs on ... I almost bought the pair
that I am wearing in this picture, but decided not to at the last minute ... Joyce ended up
buying a pair but I'm not sure if it's the one in the picture or not.



This picture is special ... lol :) It's a joke that originated with
Lexus ... Alisha puts her finger right above his nose and asks
him, "怎么办?" or "What now?" It is so funny to watch her!
I should video tape it! Anyways, now its a joke that we carry
on with each other ... here the girls are in the
middle of saying that phrase, "怎么办?" It was too hilarious
not to take a picture of. :)

I seriously have way too much good, wholesome fun with these girls! :)
They're a riot! Alisha and Joyce were so cute and took very good care of
me at the market. Alisha warned me before we got there ... she said,
"I want to you be prepared. Many people will stare at you. They stare at
Anna too. She says, 'It's okay ... just let them look.' Also, be very careful
with your bag!" Once we got to the market, for the most part,
she and Joyce were either flanking me or before and behind me. I was
very glad to have some experienced, native girls with me! P.S. She was
absolutely right ... there were a lot of people that looked at me ... but that
is not uncommon here ... white chicks in Taiwan aren't super common. lol
Sis. Bracken says that you get used to people staring at you everywhere you
go and then find it strange upon returning to the States and not having
people look at you anymore. lol :)



I did buy a couple of things ... a t-shirt for sleeping in and a toy for Sir Alexander Lexus Bracken ... Please refer to the pictures below. :D The shirt was NT $100 = $3 US, and Lexus' toy was the
same price.



Well, we have the last part of the wedding to attend tomorrow so I need to get some sleep in order to be ready for a long day. Alisha and I are getting ready to Ephesians and then it's off to bed ... I've already brushed my teeth. :D Good night and God bless!!

When I am dry you fill my cup ...

The words to "You are my all in all" are going through my head ...

You are my strength when I am weak.
You are the treasure that I seek.
You are my all in all.
Seeking you as a precious jewel.
Lord to give up I'd be a fool.
You are my all in all.

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising again I bless your Name.
You are my all in all.
When I fall down you pick me up.
When I am dry you fill my cup.
You are my all in all.

Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name.
Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name.

I am so thankful for God's faithfulness and
His goodness to me!

May your day be filled with praise to God and
may He be your ultimate strength and reason
for living!

Kate

TAIWAN!!! 到了！！！

高雄！！！

Gaoxiong!!! Wow! Thank the Lord for a safe journey here!
I finally landed in Gaoxiong, Taiwan!! I can't
even tell you how exciting it was to finally be landing! It was
a most amazing feeling of joy and anticipation for what the
summer would hold ... new experiences and the growth that
would come from them ... However, my first glance at this city
was also a somber moment, as I was gazing down on a place so
full of people who are desperate for a God who will hear and
answer their prayers, but they don't know how to find Him.



Signs that greeted me as I was entering the airport. Arrivals!! That's me!! :)



The sign to direct me to my luggage ... :) At this point, I was still
not sure if my luggage would come through ... Thank God it did!!



This is waiting for luggage to come off, probably right before that
beagle started sniffing my carry on!! 很麻烦！lol



This is the tippy-tippy top of the iceberg when it comes to scooters here!!!
Seriously! Bro. Bracken told me that there are approx. 23,000,000 people
on the island and 13,000,000 scooters on the island!! Wow! Crazy! But really,
if you think that the number of scooters is amazing, you should see how they
drive!!! And the things that they can carry on their bikes!! I have seen quite
a variety of things and I've only been here barely over a week! It is very
entertaining, let me tell ya!



This is something that I don't think we have in the States,
a Sushi section ... well, that AND just maybe the Chinese
characters. ;)



Remember I talked about how there were people drinking hot cocoa??
Well this is a picture of that booth and people standing around waiting
for something hot to drink!! lol



This is the weather that greeted me!!! So hot at the airport and sunny
with partly cloudy skies ... and then on the way home from Cosco, it
POURED!!! Welcome to Taiwan summers ... hot and rainy :) It was
a very appropriate welcome :D




This was a lovely surprise that was waiting for me on my bed! :)
Thank you!!! I really love it!

Hong Kong ...

I've decided to up-load pics in groups so that it will be easier to organize them on
the blog since I have to move them around funny ...

Finally, after refueling in Taipei, we made it to Hong Kong ... Here are some pics of the
lay-over ...


My first view of Hong Kong ... I'm half-way
across the world!! :D



I'm almost 100% sure that this was the plane that I was
supossed to have been on ... instead I watched it fly off to
Gaoxiong without me, while I waiting in the security line
to get back into the airport ... oh well, God knows!! ;)
But there was a certain pang in my heart as I watched
it fly away ...



This was my yummy food! It gave me energy for the
last leg of my journey. Chicken cesar salad and
fruit salad ... in the backround you can see a bottle
of water ... I kept it and had been reusing it... I just
threw it away yesterday I think ...



The people movers talk to you!! :) I found it
amusing and thought I would record it so I
could share it with you. Enjoy haha.



The screen on the seat in front of me ...
The map shows our route from HK to Taiwan.



My last view of Hong Kong from my seat, just as we were
preparing to take off for Taiwan!!! :) Looks very similar to
my first view. lol


My lunch meal before landing at my final destination,
Gaoxiong!!!!