Greetings in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! God has been so wonderful to us this past year. We have been “counting our blessings one by one” and the Lord has done so much for us that we are left in awe. It has been wonderful to share with our young boys what God has done and show them the all Glory is given to the Heavenly Father.

        It has been awhile since we have written and we apologize. We are always kept busy here in our area. Let us update you some one what has gone on:

August/September

        Luke had the privledge of going China with a pastor friend from Hong Kong. They went to a few different cities and met with a number of university students and some students from the China camp they had in Hong Kong during July. Luke says when they hear “a pastor is coming” they basically drop everything and even invite friends. Pastors are a rarity. Funny, they CAN buy and do have Bibles, but to them it’s another book, a history book. Luke loves the teaching and discipling aspect of going to China. He is already signed up for camp in July 2007 and this next year they are planning a few more trips to China. We ask that you pray for the Pan China Trip Fund. We don’t meet our monthly budget set up by IPM now, so we are looking for our partners in the USA and around the world to contribute to this fund. You will be helping establish ministries and training within China. Please do what you can to help.

October – December

        Our different ministries do keep us busy and sometimes tired, not just physically but emotionally. One of the girls in our children’s home is going through a rough time with her family and the courts. This has drained us, Deana especially as the girls talk more with Deana about things. Please to keep the children in our children’s home wrapped up in prayer. They have come with extra baggage and need the Lord’s love and grace to get through. We are thankful that we have seen a change in our girls since becoming Christians and their willingness to help at church.

        We had a great Christmas program on December 23. For the first time, we had more adults than childrenJ In all, there were 32 adults and 20 children all cramped into our small church building. The ladies had Deana do some of their folk/aborigine style programs. It was a great time. In all there were 5 teens and adults who raised their hand at the invitation. After talking with them, they are searching, but not ready to commit. At least we know they are more open to the things of the Lord and we need to be prepared. We are still working with them.

        In November, Dr. Shorb, Dr. Callahan and Rev. Hollandsworth came for a visit. It was a great time of fellowship and we were able to get a lot accomplished and some goals set for the future. While they were here, that Sunday actually, a lady we have been praying for, Ms. Tsao, accepted the Lord as her Savior. What a great thing that was for our church!! They were all very encouraged. She has continued to come and is so open to learning.

        We ask that you pray for us as we begin to prepare for furlough. It will cost quite a lot for the plane tickets for all of us. We are saving money, but will still need a large amount. Could you please pray that the money comes in for furlough? We thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our ministry. Please also do pray that we can find more supporting churches. We are still in need of at least $1000US a month to meet our budget set by IPM. We will only be in the USA for 3 months, so we plan on being busy. We have 8 churches so far, but are in need of more. Please do pray for our needs. I do not know how to explain to you the costs of living. Gas is high, milk is high, food is high. All much more than you pay in the USA…..think 1/2 gallon of milk is $10US…high!! We do ask that you pray for us and our needs often:

Current needs/projects:

**video projector

**digital camera

Today we had 14 adults and 6 children in service today. Not too bad, though seems like we are stuck there at this number. There is a mom and her 2 kids that haven't come back for a month. The mother in law comes, today she said they never came back after work. The husband died in a car crash about a year ago, so daughter  in law lives at home. It's a long story. Here older sister comes sometimes, but works at a restaurant so isn't always off.

We had a potluck after service, WAY too much food. Chinese like to eat. I made American food....bbq'd chicken legs and wings, apple crisp, deviled eggs and cupcakes. They loved it, though the rest of the food was rice noodles, tofu, chicke feet and rice. What a mix:-)

Please pray for our church growth. There are some things that the church needs to pray about and all. Can't mention them here, but some things that may help the growth of our church. Keep prayin'!!!!

thank you so much for those of you who prayed for him. There was alot of good "work" done for the Father. Below are some pictures of his trip:

I see it's been about a month since we've written anything about our ministry. Let's see what's going on:

YESTERDAY (9/2/06)

Our youth group went out and passed out roughly 480 Gospel tracts. We are working on our teens to witness, not just put the tracts in the mail box (which is legal here!!) or door handle. They did talk with a few people yesterday. Pray that the Lord will work through the tracts.

TODAY (9/3/06)

We had our Japanese missionary come and speak today as Luke is in China. Today we had 16 adults and 5 children. There were 3 regulars that didn't come today. One of my friends has been coming, I do hope she keeps coming. Those who haven't been coming are ladies, so I guess I get to call and figure out why they weren't here.

COMING UP!!

Saturday (9/9) our ladies monthly fellowship starts back up. The ladies here are different, many don't have much of an education and the "idea" of sitting down and having a Bible study isn't one that is done with enthusiasm. BUT since our ladies are mostly aborigine (similiar to American Indians), they LOVE crafts. So, I teach a craft and while their hands are busy, I share some verses with them. I hope to try and make it more like a Bible study and THEN go into a craft.  Please pray for the attendance, we have 2-3 young moms we would like to get to come.

CHINA TRIP

Luke is in China right now. He left on 8/31 and it supposed to be back on 9/6.....so I am holding the fort down. He has called a few times and says he has lots of stories to share. He sounds so excited each time he calls. As far as I can tell, 2-3 university students have accepted the Lord. They come few by few to the hotel room and talk with the pastors. Luke is there with three other pastors that are Hong Kong nationals. Please pray that everything keeps going smoothly (and everything at home stays in one piece!)

That's it for now. I have a total of 3 blogs and a website to keep up with , and 3 boys and two teen foster girls....not to mention other stuff. So please be patient with updates.

Keep Smilin'...Singin'....Servin'

Til the Trumpet Sounds!!!!

Below are some pictures of the trip. He had a great trip and is making plans with another pastor to go back with him into China. Most of the students are from southern China where it's not as strictly ruled. He did say that many students, there were a few from Beijing, were shocked at the fact that in Taiwan you could stand on the street corner passing out tracts or Bibles (which don't have to be gov't approved here in Taiwan) or preach whereever you wanted to.

Luke did tell a story about one young man (many were college students mind you) who went to use the restroom. They waited and waited for along time. When he came back they asked where did he go for so long? His response? The toilets here in Hong Kong were weird, he wasn't sure how to use them PLUS he felt it was alittle dangerous standing on the top, the seat moved back and forth!!!

See they have what we call "squat pots", not the normal sit down western style seats (and the public restrooms don't have doors on them.....take an umbrella ladies!!). So this young man thought (having seen a western style toilet for the first time) that you were supposed to stand on it, but the seat was wobbly causing problems!!!! talk about cultural differences!!

Enjoy the pix:

This is those coming forward for prayer for family and dedication to the Lord!!!

They lined up down the isle!! you pray for them too!!

Luke said this young man standing was the only one NOT to get saved. The camp was mostly Christians, but there was about 14 nonsaved who came. This man went home a day early. I don't know his name, but pray for him anyway.

In all 13 accepted Christ and many more rededicated themselves. Quite a missionfield Asia is!!!!

and got a little "choked" up......he said that 8 Mainland Chinese students got saved the first night!!! He is having fun and is so touched by their fire and hunger for the things of the Lord. He said "Deana, it's not like you see in Taiwan, they are so different."

China is still closed in many ways. It is illegal to preach to anyone under 18 about Christ. As Christians, we know that the younger they are when they hear, the better. There is still much persecution and more and more house churches. Unfortunately, there are more and more denominations causing confusion on Biblical issues.

Luke feels so honored to have the priviledge of  preaching the last night there. Please keep praying.

ok, so this post is a few days behind, oh well:-)

Sunday, we had Bro. Wang come and speak at our church as Luke is in Hong Kong.  Bro. Wang spoke on "Being An Obedient Christian", and was a great message. I had prayed we would have a visitor or a long time no see person, and we did!!! a young man who used to be very faithful due to his father, after growing up and on his own, well, he jumped ship.Then a former English student of mine, and big sister to Joshua's friend came. I was shocked, yet happy. She will be in 8th grade this fall. The teens will try to get her to come back.  We had 17 adults (4 of our regulars weren't there!) and 7 children. We are praying that one of these days we can have over 20 adults......it will happen...will you pray with us???!!

The teens were in charge of cleaning church on Saturday. Next week Luke will be sharing about Hong Kong and the camp. The teens have visitation time scheduled as well. Please pray for youth group. We have one of the leaders going off to college. She is the "big sister" of the group and now the group is like "What do we do?" Our youth group is small, only 5 teens. Pray that they can bring many in.

Special prayer requests:

1. For Annie, the 8th grader who came

2. For Kelly (our foster daughter who was recently saved) as she has a classmate who wants to come to church, mom is "thinking about it"

3. For Luke as he is at camp.

4. For the young man who has "jumped ship"

5. For land that we need for our children's home

I dropped my dear Luke off at the airport this morning. Please keep this week in your prayers. He is one of the 3 speakers (actually the last day of camp, he is closing it all out) to speak to the Mainland Chinese university and professors going to Hong Kong. As of 3 weeks ago, a missionary friend said there were 110 signed up to go. Camp activities will be together, the Hong Kong and Mainland students, but for services will be seperate as languages are different. Luke speaks Mandarin (well, he is Chinese!!). July 30th he will be speaking a coworkers church in Hong Kong then camp starts on the 31st. Please pray for wisdom, boldness, and hearts to be stirred. We have people all over praying for this camp, please pass it on.

Please also pray for a special request that we can't really go into detail. It is something that the Lord will show Himself in and we are praying the all things are done to show Glory and Honor to the ONE it is due to, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thank you and keep watch for updates.....I will have pictures when my dear one returns.

yes, it's Ghost Month here now in Taiwan.....the "gates" opened up yesterday, but Praise the Lord it was raining and so the normal rituals weren't done. Actually, pollution is a big problem during this time.

Here are some things about Ghost Month in Taiwan. Please pray for us this month as it is difficult to minister to the Taiwanese:

Opening of the Gates of Hades at Zhongyuan Festival A Feast to the Souls of Hades In the Chinese belief system it is that after a person dies he/she becomes a ghostly spirit, roaming about. Since China¡¦s most ancient days the emperor, surrounded by great courtiers, would go to the Son of Heaven¡¦s ancestral temple and ceremonially offer new seed from the harvest just finished in tribute before the ancestral temple. The common people followed suit. The Zhongyuan Pudu festival of the seventh lunar month is held to pay homage to family ancestors; at the same time, ¡§lonely ghosts¡¨ with no descendants making sacrifices are also welcomed and feted. It is also a manifestation of the traditional Chinese moral ideal of ¡§fraternity and philanthropy.¡¨ Thus, from the opening of the gates of Hades on the first day of the seventh lunar month, to the gates¡¦ closing shut again on the 30th and last day, the single most important day is the 15th, what the Daoists call the Zhongyuan Festival and what the Buddhists call the Avalambana Festival, or simply ¡§Pudu¡¨ (universal ferrying).   According to folk legend, on the 1st day of the seventh month the Chinese Guardian of Hell throws open the gates of Hades. Souls are released from the yin (dark) world to visit the living of the yang (light) world¡Xand get a few free meals. However, some of the ghosts, for varying reasons, have no living descendents giving sacrifices to them, and thus wander aimlessly, oft causing trouble. To avoid their evil eye, the living place sumptuous delicacies in doorways for them to munch on, hoping they will then pass on. An incense stick protrudes from every dish, and spirit money burned to give them. On the last day of the seventh month or early in the eighth the gates of Hades are once more slammed shut. On this day Daoist priests roam about chanting sutras and wielding the Seven Stars Sword, beckoning all lost souls and driving them back to Hades. During Ghost Month, netherworld spirits rush to our world for fun and freedom. Especially at the Zhongyuan Festival, on which day the gates are wide open, the folk custom is to avoid going out if possible to avoid ghostly encounters, and to stay away from water, even standing on the shore, lest a water-ghost grab you to use as a substitute body to gain its freedom.   Do's and dont's to be observed during ghost month include the following: weddings, special plans, business deals and outings should be put on hold till the end of the month; no whistling, whistling is not a good idea, whistling will lead the ghost straight to your home; talking ill of the dead (even if it's true) will just bring tears and heartache; special care should be taken when walking along riverbanks where a water ghost can easily steal a living spirit; and adding to the numbers by burying the dead is, unfortunately, not a good idea. On the 30th day of the month, the gates of hell are closed again and the ghosts return to the other side. burning sacrificial money for water ghosts   I will be adding more this month let you all know about Ghost month and how to pray for what the Chinese Christians here call "Peace Month."

I had another blog for the ministry work here in Taiwan, but just had problems keeping it going. SO I figured having two on the same blogger area (does that make sense) would be easier. So here we are.

Below are pictures from camp. We had a great youth camp!! 125 teens with 13 joining in the evening services........in all we had 13 young souls accept Christ as their Savior, 17 dedicated themselves to the Lord and 9 felt called to full time Christian work!!!! what a great  camp!!!

our girls (we only have teen girls in our church for some odd reason) dressed in Aborigine outfits for a traditional dance...everyone their loved it!!

from L to R: Dorie, Pauline (our fosterdaughter), Sunny, Rhonda, and Kelly (our other fosterdaughter who got saved!!)

on the train TO camp...the other girl is Lisa, first time to join our youth group AND she got saved

Bbq on the last day of camp...the American boy is John, he was one of the English teachers at camp (it was bilingual), he was assigned to our group:

some new friends from a church in Michigan--Long time no see---:p

My oh My!!! what a scary bunch!!;-)

Camp photo!!!!

We had some teens that said they would like to come back next summer and be at our church for a summer missions trip. We said come on over!!!! There is such a need and not many come to our part of the island, well very few actually. They definetly would be used!!!

Well, that's came pictures from this summer. Pray for Luke as he goes to Hong Kong next week......will have pictures from there.