By Maria Rosa Yang
Maria Rosa Yang (FPC STM in Guogou and Dongshih) Feedback for VGM 8/19/08
This past summer, I have been blessed by support from my family and the church family to be able to go to Taiwan for a mission trip. I know I have been on other mission trips before like Mexico and New Orleans, but this time it was different. I guess it is because it was a different location that I came to love it. It's true that the previous mission trips were not near home, but it still felt that if I wanted to go home, I could have gone home anytime I wanted. It felt like that because it was just a van ride away. This time, it was more than a van ride away. It was just a 13-hour plane ride over the ocean to Taiwan. Actually, it's four more hours of driving from Taipei to Guogou.
We arrived at the church in Guogou at night around 10 PM. I wasn't used to Taiwan weather yet, so just standing outside talking to the people at church made the weather feel hotter, even at night. After moving our luggage to our rooms and figuring out how the air conditioning system works in our rooms, we wanted to play cards, but Will, one of the camp members, told us that we shouldn't be playing. I think he said that if we played, we wouldn't stay focused on the purpose of the VGM camp - to spread the Gospel to young children in hopes of planting seeds to grow in them later in life.
I know when I'm at home I don't really do devotionals. But in Taiwan, we would do devotionals every morning before eating breakfast. I think it helped me to concentrate on God's words instead of worldly things that will eventually go away (but I have to confess that I was still hungry). I liked the devotionals because it was the first time that I've seen and heard people discuss about the passages we read. Usually at home I know that if I read a passage, I would just read it and not actually think about what was said and just accept it as it was. But I think that the discussions helped us to try to understand God's words and what He is trying to say to us, even if sometimes our minds are so limited that we get confused by His awesome wisdom.
I think the first week the camp students were more crazy than second week students. The first week I had the oldest class. Since they're older, I thought that they would pay more attention to what the teachers were saying. The girls did, but the boys... since they're boys, they like to play around a lot, so sometimes it was frustrating trying to get through the class. Even though the class played around a lot, if they are asked questions, they showed that they were actually paying attention. So I guess God tested our patience, but it turned out to be a good thing. The second week of camp I had the youngest class, so it was quieter than the first week, and since they're the youngest, they usually listen to what the teacher has to say. But sometimes it might have been a little frustrating when I tell them to do something, but they get sidetracked and do something else.
I guess I shouldn't really say that the second week was quieter since we had one student named Michael who didn't like to do activities with other students. At first he would be loud and disturb other people around him to get attention. But one of the Taiwanese coworkers Song, would spend all his time and patience teaching Michael, and over the week, Song helped to change him and believe in God. It was really amazing when I heard that Michael started to believe in God because nobody thought that it would be possible for him to change. But God showed how His teaching was at work and through Song's love for Michael, he was saved in Christ.
There are probably many more things I can share, but for now, I think dwelling in God's presence is the best place on earth. I would say that this mission trip helped me to grow closer to God and how He works in wondrous ways to bring people to Him.
