Standing For Life

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise;
 you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.  You hem me in behind and before,
 and you lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, 
too lofty for me to attain.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,
 I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you 
when I was made in the secret place,
 when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book
 before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
 How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them,
 they would outnumber the grains of sand - when I awake, I am still with you.

Hi, my name is Chang, but everybody here calls me little Chang Chang.  I was born just a week ago and my life was saved through Ray Of Hope.  So far I have to say that my life as a newborn baby is really great!  I pretty much just eat whenever I want to, sleep whenever I want to, and poop whenever I want to!  I think that I better enjoy this now because somehow I don't think it'll be this way forever ;)  I also have all these people at Ray Of Hope taking such good care of me - loving me, cuddling me, singing to me, telling me how cute I am, and even changing those poopy diapers that I was telling you about.  As soon as it's possible, I'll be on my way to The Home Of God's Love, the adoption center that partners with ROH and which has placed hundreds of babies in loving adoptive homes.  Then in a little while after that I'll then get to meet my new adoptive mommy and daddy!  I'm so excited, I can't wait!!!

     

Sooo...I think I'm falling in love with this little guy.  Actually, I think everyone is falling in love with this little guy.  Really, how could you not fall in love with this little guy?  He is just one of the many blessings that I have come across while being a part of this great ministry in Taiwan but here I'll tell you a little bit more about the ministry itself as well as how I am helping out. 

Ray Of Hope serves in a few different ways: 

1) To Counsel, Restore, and Serve - as a Crisis Pregnancy Centre.  This involves a 24-hour crisis hotline that women can call if they find out they are pregnant and do not know what to do.  I'm learning so much about the severity of this problem in Taiwan as more and more abortions happen every year.  Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world only 198000 births per year in a country of 23 million people and yet at the same there there are an estimated 500000 abortions per year.  Many women choose abortion because they don't think they have any other choice, some are worried about how their pregnancy will affect their studies, some are pressured by doctors, others are co-erced by their boyfriends, and many others can not live with the shame and guilt they will bring to their families since they are pregnant and not married (unfortunately, this is still the common response that women receive if, and when, they tell their parents and families).  There are so many factors, many of them cultural factors, that influence their decision and so the staff here are very diligent to discuss all of their options with detailed facts and information.  We have a counselor and a social worker that they can talk to about their options and also receive counselling from if they have been abused or had an abortion(s).  We also provide safe and warm homes with live-in counselors for moms to live if they do not have a place to stay while they are pregnant.  The centre then continues to provide assistance for the moms and their families as they make decisions regarding what to do once the baby is born.

The first week that I arrived, I attended ROH's Crisis Pregnancy training classes to learn more since I will be living with the clients.  It was definitely an eye-opener for me and the more I learn the more I want to be able to help these women in need in whatever way I can.   Here I am getting my certificate from Juanita after completing the course.

During the day I work in the office, doing a wide variety of things such as writing emails, making phone calls, and making info packages or DVDs.  It's really busy because we are preparing our big annual event called Stand For Life, which will be taking place in Taipei on October 14th.  We have a lot of staff meetings to plan, organize, and coordinate and there are also a lot of meetings with pastors in order to get the word out and promote the event.  I'm really excited though because I know that God is going to do some great things there - one of my friends will be sharing her testimony of how she had an abortion and how God healed her of the pain, shame, and guilt.  She is now an engaging and confidant woman who has such a beautiful heart to help hurting women.  I'm so proud of her for taking such a huge step to share her story publicly, especially in a culture that for the most part sweeps these stories under the carpet and never talks about them.

Other than the office stuff, I also get to help with taking care of little Chang Chang - all of the staff take turns with feeding him, holding him, and changing his diapers.  Juanita is the greatest because she takes care of Chang Chang during the night but so far she says he's been one of the best sleeping babies she's ever had.  To my mom and to all of my friends who are moms - I really do appreciate all that you do!!!

2) To Educate - teaching purity and the sanctity of life.   ROH runs a program called Worth Waiting For, which is a program based in America which we had permission to translate into Chinese.  The program focuses on teaching sexual purity to youth and young adults in schools, churches, and communities.  There has been a huge interest in the program and it is growing steadily so ROH continually needs to train more and more teachers.  The day that I arrived, ROH completed training 40 new people!  

I haven't had a chance to sit through the classes yet but I will have an opportunity this upcoming weekend.   The Worth Waiting For staff are taking a group of us to an orphanage for a 3 day camp where we will have the opportunity to speak to teenagers in junior high and senior high.  It's so great to be able to share such an important message that has the ability to impact these kids in such a positive way.  I think how many mistakes I could have avoided in my life had I had someone to speak truth and mentor me along the way.  At the same time I'm so thankful that God's grace covers every mistake I've ever made and empowers me to share my testimony to help others avoid going down the same path that I did.  As Christine Caine says, the best people to rescue others are those who have already been rescued themselves.  

3) To Equip and Empower - training women for life.  For most of the women that come to ROH, many will continue to need counseling and assistance after delivering their baby, giving it up for adoption, or having an abortion.  So ROH has started a training program at our Bedwell Mama's home.  The women live there and learn to live independently - buying groceries, doing laundry, cleaning, and cooking for themselves.  You many not think that these are life changing things, but remember that many of our moms are teenagers or young adults and many of them were not taught these things by their parents.  The organization also has a thrift store where the moms work and get paid while learning valuable transferable skills such as time management, handling money, communication, organization, and customer service.  

Up until this week, I was living on the third floor of the Bedwell Mama's home, interacting with these clients every day.  Mostly it's just hanging out, baking or cooking together, going shopping or things like that.  But even in such a short period of time and even with the ongoing challenges that they face, it has been so wonderful to see how this program has helped the moms grow in so many ways, especially after all they have been through.  I'm so proud of them and continue to root for them to succeed in every area of their lives!

So far I have been working with Ray Of Hope for just over three weeks and there has been a lot to learn.  To be honest, in the past I had never thought of or had a strong desire to work with a crisis pregnancy center, or to work with clients who have experienced abuse, or to work with clients who have had abortions.  Pretty much I had zero knowledge and zero  experience in this area so I really didn't know how I was going to be able to help or serve effectively.  Plus I don't read, write, speak or understand Chinese, which is kind of important when you work with people!  But God had a plan and wanted me to be here so I knew He would lead me and guide me.  And that is exactly what He has done.  He has been so faithful in leading me and  teaching me - mostly in how to serve in whatever ways I can and how to show His love to people from all walks of life!

So that's just the Coles notes version of the ministry but if you have any questions please send me an email at emilytakana@gmail.com and I'd be happy to hear from you!  

Time flies so fast, I can't believe I'm already one-third through my missions trip here in Taiwan.  I can truly say that it has been such an awesome and rewarding adventure - I am so grateful for everything I have learned and experienced up to now and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me in the next two months to come.  Stay tuned and there will be more on friends and fun times in my next post!

Life in Taiwan

So now that you know a little bit about me and about why I'm doing what I'm doing, I'll let you know about my first experiences in Taiwan so far. 

If you have never travelled to Asia let me know just give you a little taste of it because it's 24-7 exposure to non-stop humour, and yet they aren't even trying to be funny! You will pretty much be confronted with many things that just don't make sense to much of the world but somehow makes sense to Asians. Take this for example:

Now to most people, a logical place to look for the telephone in hotel room would be on the desk, on a table or perhaps on the bedside table. So being the Canadian that I am, that's where I looked first when I arrived at my hotel in Tokyo. Little did I know that somehow making phone calls while you're on the toilet, brushing your teeth, or else taking a shower would be the best time and place when you're in Japan!

Other than the laugh that I got out of that, my trip to Taiwan was pleasant (I had serious favour with people wherever I went!) yet uneventful. I met up with Juanita, the director of Ray of Hope (ROH) at the airport in Taipei and we then took the high speed rail train to Taichung, where the annual Taiwan Missionary Fellowship conference was being held. This is a yearly event where all of the foreign missionaries get together to meet each other and share what we are all doing. We attended the evening service and since it was so late, some of the local Taichung missionaries boarded us for the night so we could attend the sessions the next day as well. Thank God because I was pretty tired after 2 days of travel! We stayed with Gloria and Clive (Gloria is an American whose parents were missionaries in Taiwan so she's lived here since she was 7. She is seriously my hero because she speaks fluent Mandarin!) Her husband Clive is an American born Taiwanese - they have 3 really cute kids and another one on the way. It was so nice to meet other missionaries and this couple were such great hosts.

Clive and Gloria, fellow missionaries in Taiwan and my lovely hosts in Taichung who treated me to my first of many lovely Taiwanese teas (this one is passionfruit)!

Juanita, the director of Ray of Hope and Gloria 

I also got my first taste of Taiwanese food, Danbing, which is a type of omelette filled with your choice of ham, cheese, and veggies. Yum! This was a delicious start to my food journey in Taiwan but since then there has been a lot of other crazy food (see below!).

Danbing - The Taiwanese version of an omelette, and peanut butter toast!

The conference was also where I got to meet little 6-week old Yuen, the baby in the picture in my last post. Her precious life was saved through Ray of Hope so meeting her was the most incredible way to start my missions work here! 

From there we took the train south to Tainan, which is where ROH is located. For now I am staying on the 3rd floor of the ROH's Bedwell Mama's home. The 3rd floor has 6 individual bedrooms and then shared bathroom and showers, living room, and kitchen. It's a brand new building so it is really nice and it was totally the goodness of God that it was given to ROH. Essentially a man was so touched to hear about what the organization was doing to help women in need and so he decided to donate the building free of charge to ROH for 10 years - what a HUGE blessing!

I got the "Pink" room

Our living room, which has the most comfy couch in the world! 

Our kitchen

Our dining room

My roommates here are two moms (post-delivery and post-adoption - for obvious reasons I won't be posting info or pictures of them but they are wonderful), one seminary intern named Isuz who is here until January, and two Bible college students Lupi and Yahan who are here for another two weeks. It has been so wonderful to get to know all of them and despite my limited Mandarin, it has been a fun, never-ending game of charades/pictionary/taboo! Since I never had sisters growing up, this has been a really fun experience and I feel like I have gained not just new friends, but new Mei-Meis ("little sisters" in Mandarin).

Other than that I've had tons of fun hanging out with the girls and meeting lots of new people including my roommates, the rest of the staff at ROH, other missionaries, and people from my new church. I'm getting to be a pro at riding on the back of a scooter as we navigate our way through the busy streets and am starting to familiarize myself with my surroundings. I spent a night teaching the interns how to bake and another night checking out one of the local night markets to try their local fare. The more I travel, the more courageous I get in trying new food. I can't say it's all good but I also can admit that some of it is actually good. So far my diet has included pig intestines, stinky tofu (the smell is absolutely horrendous but to my surprise it actually doesn't taste that bad), 1000 year old eggs, and chicken feet. Yes, chicken feet. I think I'm turning Taiwanese, I think I'm turning Taiwanese I really think so!

A lesson in baking cookies

Isuz, strumming along as she sings one her native tribal songs with her beautiful voice!

Delving into a plate of stinky tofu 

So far I am liking Taiwan other than the fact that it is REALLY hot!!! I checked The Weather Network today and it said that it was 36 degrees but that it "feels like" 47 degrees. Are you kidding me? All I can say is thank God for air conditioning because as much as I love sitting in a pool of my own sweat, I would rather not!  If you ever wish that you had warmer weather in Canada, you can check out the weather in Taiwan here 

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/taiwan/tainan-shih/tai-nan and see what kind of temperatures I'm dealing with!

Culturally, Taiwan hasn't been too much of an adjustment from China, Korea, or Japan in that no matter where I go, I will always still encounter multitudes of Hello Kitty! This was just a little welcoming gift from one of the staff at ROH - a Hello Kitty towel and face cloth :)

Getting settled into my environment and the new culture is only the first part of my adjustment - the next part is learning all about the work that I will be doing here for the next three months.  Check out the next post and I'll share a bit more about Ray of Hope and the difference it is making in Taiwan. 

Love you all and miss you!! 

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