This last week has been jam packed! Its been great fun getting to know lots of new people who are Morrison Alumni returning to watch the graduation next week. Its been so nice to hang out with people my age! 19 and 20 year olds, very refreshing :) The other day they invited me out to go bowling with them, which was great - I havent been bowling since i came here!

Yesterday was the OMF farewell BBQ and so it was great to see everyone in my mission and say some good farewells…

These last few weeks are going by WAY to quickly….

Love x

I have found Wenshan baozhong tea and i think theres no turning back to black tea now.

Mango baozhong still remains a firm fave though.. its just more expensive.

Oh what will i do next year with no tea in my life?! :(

Love x

Hello summer :)

This weekend has been fun! Saturday was a lazy day, helping to look after some kids and generally sleeping and resting. In the evening however I went to the JSB Junior Senior Banquet, which is basically like prom. It was really fun. After we went to starbucks and then went and got a foot massage… its open 24hours and was so good!

Then yesterday morning our church had baptisms, the full imersion in a swimming pool kind and it was so fun. One of the 4th graders got dunked and it was such a privaledge to watch. Then we went for banana bing (like this snow ice thing) and a hair wash. Then in the evening we called and ordered food (in chinese, yes we are so local and cultured) and then picked it up… true independance right there! before chilling in the evening.

What i did love was skyping the family. we are all so cultured… Rach, Mum and Dad were eating rhubarb crumble and custard before walking in the bluebells, Chris was attending Itaian pop concerts and Romeo and Juliet operas, and all this was discovered as the smell of Korean stew was wafting round the kitchen where i was skyping from. Nawww we are so diverse!!

Love x

a bring and share where everyone brings something from their country! Chile, England, US, Taiwan, Phillipines, UK and Korea…

sounds like a feast!!

Love x

this weekend i went to FOUR different markets; shuinan morning market, jian ming street, tian jing street and fengjia. and whilst i enjoy markets in small doses… in a large dose it is a headache..!! In England shopping is pretty easy. you see what you want, look at the price tag and then say ‘yes Ill buy it’ or ‘no, its too expensive’ or ‘ahh its too expensive but ill buy it anyway’ or ‘its too expensive, ill look elsewhere’. In Taiwan the easy ‘shall i buy that’ decision is HARDDD. Purely down to the nessecary haggle which always occours.

If it is the ‘its too expensive but i want it’ catagory or even the ‘yes ill buy it’ catogory the haggle is usually a nesscary thing as the shopkeeper anticipating the haggle prices the clothes at more than they are worth. So you always have to decide what you think you want to pay, and then try and get there. And then if you are shopping with friends its even more crazy as you can usually get a better discount if more than one of you buys stuff… so all in all shopping here in Taiwan is stressful!! You find yourself wondering if you paid the right price or not.. but then you have to balance that with the fact you may never see this top again, especially if it is from a smaller trader!

Yesterday I found the most beautiful top in a Thai shop i fell in love with. It was priced at 590. I wanted it for 500. She wouldnt budge below 550.. so i walked away, promptly decided i actually really wanted that top and life wouldnt quite be the same without it so i had to do the walk of shame and go back into the shop, point at the top and say 550, ‘hao le’ - okay, as the shop keeper smirks away knowing she has won this battle.

Bring on England, with a fixed price tag, and sales racks… :):) Shopping is so much more stressfree :)

Love x

You’re the god of this city, you’re the king of these people, you’re the god of this nation, you are.
You’re the light in the darkness, you’re the hope to the hopeless, youre the peace to the restless, you are.
There is no one like our god, there is none like you god

Greater things have yet tot come, and greater things are still to be done in this city.

Check this song out… God of this city by bluetree/Chris Tomlin.

Love x

This week the weather has got back to it’s usual self… HOT :) this weekend has been a chilled one, but still with many accomplishments.. I finally bought this tea set I have had my eye on FOREVER. It’s so beautiful, it’s mix and match patterns and I bought some matching rice bowls. Hopefully they will make it home in one piece! Then I worked out with the girls and then went dress shopping for a banquet this week… Found some beautiful dresses but all massively out of our price range, so I am trying again today in a relatively cheaper location :)

And in case I havent let you know… I have found my new fave tea! It’s insanely good… Even better than a hong cha. It’s called manguo Qing cha, and it’s this baozhong tea with frozen mango sorbet in it :) so so so good! At the moment I’m averaging about one a day aha!

today I’m heading to house of blessing (a bilingual church) in the morning. House of blessing we have been going regularly to for the last few months, and it’s growing on us… The people are so so lovely :). Then we are hunting down some dresses before I go on my final adventure with my first Taiwanese friend Sharyn to feng chia night Market.

Love x

at the moment Iain is doing a biography project on him. And now I feel I know him inside out back to front.

Little fact of the day…
Did you know he won two oscars for making movies about the war??

School is good! Last night went to the elementary school music concert. So so cute! They were all dressed up in bow ties and suits and sang, danced and played their way through the evening! Adorable.

Love x

Got home last night from a OMF conference in Kenting (same lattitude as Hawii!) it was a great weekend of teaching and fellowship as well as some relaxing free time on the beach :).

However there were a few worrying moments when we were told of sightings of a 2m cobra who had previously been found outside the retreat front door.. from then on we kept all doors FIRMLY closed!!

The weekend was run by our field directors and was about mobilization - how to best mobilize others to pray for and come to taiwan or other countries, to bring the gospel to the lost.

Its what the church is designed to do :)

Love x

Matthew 9:37-38
‘He said to his disciples ‘a large crop is in the fields but the workers are few. Ask the lord of the harvest to send out workers to bring it in’

It’s a commanded prayer not an optional one. Jesus says to pray this.

Taiwan needs more workers. Pray that the lord would send people to bring in the harvest’

This video can help show how to pray for this beautiful country

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=TW#/watch?v=RNRV5ornQ2U

Love x

so last night, we told a friend how much we enjoy drinking traditional Taiwanese tea and so he had us round to his place (one of the dorms as he works as a dorm parent) and we sat on his balcony drinking tea into the night!

It was so fun, the balcony was beautiful with comfy chairs and mini trees and the tea was so good :) it was an evening filled with laughter, caffeine, friendship and a bit of rain. Twas good

Love x

this weekend we are in kaohsiung with our friends from our mission. We have had a great time in the nearby town of Meinong where we had many adventures!

Meinong is a town of aboriginal Taiwanese from the Hakka tribe. We spent the day drinking traditional hakka tea which we ground from sesame seeds ourselves, eating traditional Hakka food, learning all about the culture at the culture centre and painting umbrellas. It was great fun! The village was beautiful, with lovely views of the mountains. Pictures hopefully to follow. Heading back to Taichung tomorrow… :)

Love x