Why we're going . . . and no, we're not packed yet!
Three days and counting until we take off, and three questions have been asked to us over and over again.
1. Are you really taking your whole family? Yes, that part of the purpose is to have a family adventure.
2. Are you packed yet?
Nope, and we probably won't be until late Friday night. We do have a few things set aside and we've started making our list. But there's enough stuff going on this week (meetings, papers to grade, doctors appointments, last week of school) that we really can't get ahead on packing.
3. What are you going to Taiwan to do?
This is the toughest (and most important) question. Going on this trip has an interesting backstory. David originally planned to go for 12 days with a group of students during spring break. A few months before the trip, it became apparent that this would be a traumatic experience for our family to be separated for this long. Plus, our kids were missing the Ralls children and Sandy was wanting to see Amy (I had seen Jon a few months earlier). So one morning, I called Jon Ralls and told him my struggle with coming. He urged me to look for the opportunity to bring the whole family. So we checked out how much it would cost, examined our schedule, and figured how we could make it happen.
I guess I can boil down our main reasons for going to these three:
a. We want to see the work that we support. We've supported missionaries in Taiwan since before we were married. Our church also supports the work in Taiwan right now. I am looking forward to seeing a glimpse of the heavenly treasures that we have laid up from that support. It will be good for all of us to see what we have heard about.
b. We want to encourage and fellowship with our friends. We have been friends with the Ralls family (http://www.eastasianmissions.org) and the Pagel family (http://www.pagels.teamexpansion.org) for several years, and we know other workers in Taiwan. We've always heard that it is an encouragement for people on the field to have visitors from home, and we want to provide that.
c. We want to develop our family's understanding of missions and the world. Our kids may or may not become missionaries in the future, but unless they are exposed to the work of missions, they will never be able to visualize themselves doing mission work in the future.
So even though the plane trip is long, the weather will be hot, and the kids may not like the food, we think it will be worth it!
Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted on what's happening.
1. Are you really taking your whole family? Yes, that part of the purpose is to have a family adventure.
2. Are you packed yet?
Nope, and we probably won't be until late Friday night. We do have a few things set aside and we've started making our list. But there's enough stuff going on this week (meetings, papers to grade, doctors appointments, last week of school) that we really can't get ahead on packing.
3. What are you going to Taiwan to do?
This is the toughest (and most important) question. Going on this trip has an interesting backstory. David originally planned to go for 12 days with a group of students during spring break. A few months before the trip, it became apparent that this would be a traumatic experience for our family to be separated for this long. Plus, our kids were missing the Ralls children and Sandy was wanting to see Amy (I had seen Jon a few months earlier). So one morning, I called Jon Ralls and told him my struggle with coming. He urged me to look for the opportunity to bring the whole family. So we checked out how much it would cost, examined our schedule, and figured how we could make it happen.
I guess I can boil down our main reasons for going to these three:
a. We want to see the work that we support. We've supported missionaries in Taiwan since before we were married. Our church also supports the work in Taiwan right now. I am looking forward to seeing a glimpse of the heavenly treasures that we have laid up from that support. It will be good for all of us to see what we have heard about.
b. We want to encourage and fellowship with our friends. We have been friends with the Ralls family (http://www.eastasianmissions.org) and the Pagel family (http://www.pagels.teamexpansion.org) for several years, and we know other workers in Taiwan. We've always heard that it is an encouragement for people on the field to have visitors from home, and we want to provide that.
c. We want to develop our family's understanding of missions and the world. Our kids may or may not become missionaries in the future, but unless they are exposed to the work of missions, they will never be able to visualize themselves doing mission work in the future.
So even though the plane trip is long, the weather will be hot, and the kids may not like the food, we think it will be worth it!
Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted on what's happening.
Labels: Taiwan
posted by Central Christian College of the Bible at
10:37 PM
