Recap of the Semester

Let me open by saying please forgive us for not staying in better touch this year. I could come up with some pretty good reasons but really there is no excuse for not keeping you updated on our lives and ministry here in Taiwan. Thank you for supporting us with your prayers despite this neglect. This year has gone by so fast it makes my head spin. There really is so much to share but I will try to hit the highlights for each of us.

Matt~ This year Matt continued to teach 5th grade and lead the elementary team at Morrison Academy Kaohsiung (MAK). Again he had a great class that was easy to teach. He also began training for his new position at the main Morrison campus in Taichung. This involved quite a bit of on island travel for meetings. He also went to Kuala Lumpur in the fall for an administrator’s conference. In terms of ministry outside Morrison, Matt continued his work with the university English club sponsored by our church- Bilingual Community Church (BCC). Near the end of this club, he had an opportunity to share Jesus with the Taiwanese students. God also provided another unique opportunity through an exchange program, a group of mainland Chinese university students joined the club. Several of these students became part of Matt’s focus. He had the extra special privilege of becoming friends with this group of mainlanders. A few of them were very interested in Christianity and told Matt they had never heard the salvation story before- WOW! Matt could not have been more thrilled to share that message of hope and freedom! Some of the students became regular attendees at BCC. Although none made a public proclamation of faith, we pray with confidence that the Holy Spirit continues to work and lead these students. Matt also helped out with teaching the Sunday school class for the teens at BCC.

Susan~ This year my role at the school expanded. I continued to teach 5th grade Bible class, worked ½ days in the library, and every other week I drove to a satellite campus where I taught library to a small group of missionary kids. I really loved all of these jobs especially the opportunities they gave me to connect with students. During the spring semester I was able to lead a discipleship group of 6th grade girls. These girls were amazing- so ready to learn and grow in their faith. Most of them do not have Christian parents to take them to church or encourage them in their walk. One of them keeps her conversion a secret from her Buddhist parents because she’s afraid of their response. The pressure on Taiwanese young people to practice traditional Chinese religions is immense. Through helping with the ALPHA class at BCC I also learned a lot more about the many difficulties Taiwanese believers face. (ALPHA is a course designed to introduce basic Christian principles to unbelievers)

Caleb~ The beginning of 7th grade was pretty rough for Caleb. His classmates’ resistance to Christianity stretched him in uncomfortable ways. He began mentorship by one of his teachers and Matt and I stood with him as he struggled for a deeper and more personal relationship with Christ. This was tough for all of us but God is so faithful! Caleb has matured into a leader in our home and at school. He is till involved in sports- soccer is still the favorite. He also tried the saxophone- baritone, tenor, and alto………that just about sums up that experience. He is a terrific kid.

Rachel~ She also had a bumpy start to her 5th grade year. Having Dad and Mom as her teachers was not her favorite thing. We had some difficult days there for awhile but we got through it. Rachel continues to dedicate herself to her schoolwork- we are very proud of her. She was also able to play soccer again this year, on the 7th grade team! She did great! Recently she has displayed a new interest in her spiritual growth as well so we are very encouraged about that.

Joshua- Third grade was great for Josh. He and Jake loved their teacher so much they even called me Mrs. Dunn at home. He is really into ancient Greek and Roman history these days and his questions make Matt and I look pretty ridiculous. He and Jake also took Karate this year, they loved practicing that at home (and everywhere else.)

Jake- He also loved third grade. He enjoys reading and writing creative stories. Jake shows a lot of determination in sports. When we move he and Josh will have more athletic opportunities. The twins are outgoing and fun loving and certainly keep our family energized.
As you can tell this year has been full of God’s blessings for our family. We feel so excited to be in Taiwan joining the missionary community here to reach the lost Taiwanese for Christ. We have had such a great two years in Kaohsiung that in many ways we are heartsick about our move to Taichung this July. We have made so many meaningful connections here. We have had a great support network, lots of fun, great jobs, and a church we all like but God has called us to move and we are eager to do His work wherever that is.

Upcoming

With our move come changes in our professional roles. On July 1st Matt became the director of curriculum and professional development for Morrison, his first administrative position. Though excited and confident in God’s perfect timing for this placement, Matt knows there is going to be a major learning curve. This year he will focus on learning the many responsibilities of the position while guiding curricular taskforces, planning various professional development days, and advising the Morrison leadership team (S.A.C.). He will also be traveling regularly between the four Morrison campuses.

I will be the teaching librarian at the Elementary/Middle School library next year. This is new territory for me as well. I am also beginning formal Chinese classes. So I will be pretty busy. The kids are fairly nervous about a new school, friends, and church. ***Since I wrote the earlier part of this letter we have successfully moved into our new apartment. The place is going to work out well, we all like it. We are slowly meeting new people and learning the city of Taichung. Officially work begins for Matt & I on August 4th.

Prayer Requests

* Kids and family will make friends. We will find our niche. The Morrison community in Taichung is much larger than in Kaohsiung.
* Matt – Grasp and understand the various responsibilities his new position holds.
* New Church - As I wrote earlier, we all liked our church in Kaohsiung. It was a great mix of outreach and fellowship for our family. The best thing about it was the kids programs.
* Ministry opportunities- Matt would really like to hook up with a college ministry here in Taichung. He also needs prayer about finding the time with his new job.

Contact Information

#21,4F-l,Lane 238, Shyi-Pin Road.Pei-Tun District, Taichung 40678, Taiwan, R.O.C.

A Season of Thanksgiving

During the week of the American Thanksgiving, our family had the privilege of participating in three separate but wonderful celebrations. Pictures of these events can be seen on our DropShots page. The link is on the right side of this page.

Our first was with our church BCC (Bilingual Christian Church). It had its an annual Sunday turkey lunch. Eating cooked turkeys from a local hotel and other prepared side dishes, the congregation enjoyed a semi-western traditional Thanksgiving meal. We even had pumpkin pies. As a side, Matt and Monette (a kidney transplant doctor from the Philippines) carved several turkeys while Susan helped organize the meal. It was also wonderful to see the youth group serve the food. As a group, BCC seems to be coming together, reaching people of all ages, slowly growing and developing Christian Taiwanese leadership.

Our second Thanksgiving meal was in our apartment. Susan cooked and prepared her first turkey for a group of sixteen (church family and several from the Morrison community). The event was truly a time to thank God for all His wonderful blessings.

Finally, on Saturday, we helped host a Thanksgiving pitch-in for the Free Methodist missionaries in Taiwan. This was a great time to catch up with everyone and fellowship with missionaries we often hear about but rarely see. David Yardy, F.M.C. Asian director, and his wife shared about the many exciting ways the Free Methodist Church is working, assisting, and encouraging brothers and sisters around Asia. It was awesome. God is good all the time! Another bonus of this gathering was Josh and Jake getting to make friends with some of the kids they will go to school with in Taichung. They are now a little less leery of our impending move next summer to Morrison's central campus in Taiwan.

Extra

Matt is now helping with an English club at I-Shou University just up the mountain from our campus. The club is offered as a way for students to learn and practice English in a topical way. The leaders teach Christian songs and lead a short Bible study at the end of the meeting. Our goal is focused: helping these students understand God's love for them.

Susan is involved in an Alpha class after church on Sundays. This class is designed to give an overview of Christianity and give people a chance to question and learn in a none threatening environment. These opportunities are really getting us excited about how we can serve God in Taiwan through our current church situation.

Prayer Requests

1. The I-Shou University English club started last Monday nights. There were between 15 to 18 students. Pray that the leaders are able to develop meaningful relationships with these students. Pray that Jesus is seen and felt during the four meeting. In a side note, I met a Jewish man last Monday walking to the car. In a short conversation, he said he was new to Taiwan and was lonely. The other leader I was with chatted with the man (Rick) and exchanged phone numbers. Like the I-Shou students, pray that Rick sees Jesus and asks Him into his heart.

2. Susan is going to help lead a women's Bible study in English at a local hospital on Wednesday afternoons. Pray for clear communication despite the significant language barrier.

Year One Over, Year Two Full Steam Ahead

Wow! The Strange family is well into our second school year at Morrison Academy, Kaohsiung (M.A.K.). We apologize for taking so long to write and let you know how things are going. To God goes all praise and thanks for where He has brought us. I continue to learn that it is about Him and not me. It is about His glory and not mine. It is about His love, mercy, and plans not mine. I think back to last year and am amazed at how far God has taken us. God is amazing and has brought use through a year of highs and lows. Listed below are some areas of interest:

Our Family~
We had a bit of a bumpy reentry this fall. Maybe it had something to do with an excessively fun summer with little responsibilities and not much solitude, but we were all a bit grumpy and out of sorts. Caleb is definitely maturing in his Christian faith. Along with this deeper understanding of spiritual matters has come a burden for his classmates at school. Unfortunately they are not too receptive to his or anyone else’s ideas. This has been somewhat disappointing for him. However, he is really learning to lean on Christ for his encouragement. This is the most amazing thing for us as parents. We are so blessed by what God is doing in Caleb’s life, even though at times it has been painful for us to see him struggling. This year has also brought changes for Rachel. She has Matt and me for her teachers. This has been a hard adjustment. Her best friend also moved to another school so she has had a few social challenges. Josh and Jake are still in the little kid stage where everything is great if you get to play outside and get dessert after dinner. The onset of adolescence has brought huge and unexpected changes into our home but with the challenges we also see the great possibilities in our kids and our encouraged to see their faith strengthened and stretched.

Matt is still teaching fifth grade but he is also preparing for a new job next year. In order to be familiar with Morrison policies and procedures he is doing a lot of observing, reading, and regularly attending meetings in other parts of the Island. Just recently he traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a conference. Susan is working half days in the school library and also still teaching the fifth grade Bible class.

We are excited to be more involved in ministry this year. Matt is helping with a university English class based on the Bible. He is a "whatever and whenever needed volunteer" on Sunday morning, doing some subbing, greeting, and helping Susan prepare and serve the Sunday lunch. Susan is helping with a seeker Bible Study on Sunday afternoons called Alpha. She is also helping to host a monthly ladies luncheon. Caleb is serving on the leadership team for the school youth group. He just returned from a great weekend of training.



Prayer Requests~

• The salvation of students and other Taiwanese we serve.


• Preparations for the move to Taichung next summer: our children's adjustment, finding a place to live, making new friends, adjusting to new responsibilities


• Susan to decide what to do next year in Taichung- possibilities are: taking formal Chinese lessons or teaching at the school

Coming Soon: Updates about the First Half of 2007

Sorry about the Long Drought

I am sorry that we have not kept up with this blog. We have been busy, lazy, and/or just too tired to write. Please accept our deepest apologies. We know that some of you use this to keep up on our situation as well as a source of how to pray for us.

Since the last entry, too much has happened to tell you about in this entry. However, one thing we have come across is a possible new site to disseminate pictures and events we are going through over here. Here is the site address: http://www.dropshots.com/strangem. This current site is easy to put text on, but uploading pictures has some complications. Since we are wanting to share pictures with you all, we needed to find something else. The Dropshot site allows us to easily upload photoes and videos. The Dropshot site will be the site where we put most if not all of our pictures. For now we will maintain both site. Maybe in the future we switch back to one. Oh the Dropshot site does have a blog component. Please tell us what you think. What should we do?

Prayer Request
1. House is still unsold. We decided to make some improvements to the house in an effort to make a better first impression with potentional buyers. I will tell you this. I am assured that God is faithful in this situation. I don't understand His plan for the house, but I do believe the Father is involved. He has also provided the money each month so far to pay the morgage.

2. My mother is coming to Tawain this Wednesday. Please pray for safety. I don't believe she has ever been out of the country. However, she is coming with a former missionary, Susan Yu, to Tawain. I am very thankful that she will be traveling with my mother. I also ask that you pray for her while she is here. I know God has plans for her during her stay.

Fun in Kenting !!! We traveled this week to the beaches of Kenting with two families from our building- the Laythams & the Muirs. Here we are on the front steps of our "hotel" the Hotel California.

Rachel standing on the main strip of Kenting. Along the strip there are restaraunts, shops, and hotels. At night it really gets exciting.

Here is Rachel having fun on a trampoline with a bungee chord harness.

This is Josh along the strip with the fresh catch of the day!!

We enjoyed our first meal at a Tai food restaraunt. YUMMMY!!!

The view along the Pacific Coast- incredible ~~Josh and Rachel on the beach

Getting ready to snorkle at the coral cove ~~ Regan,Matt, and Chad after snorkeling

This week was very fun for us. The Taiwanese take off the week of October 10th because it is their independence day and so we drove two hours south to enjoy the beaches of Kenting. The Muirs and Laythams were excellent tour guides and alot of fun. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon around one in the afternoon. Our hotel was very "interesting" ( Japanese style ) but cheap. We spent the afternoon on the beautiful beach. The kids really had a good time with each other. That night we had our first taste of Tai food and we loved it. Wow, we had no idea what we were missing by not trying it sooner. Later on we bumped into many Morrison faces along the strip. Rachel had a chance to show off her gymnastic abilities on a trampoline and we ate some more delicious food.

Wednesday we drove to the Muir's "secret" cove to snorkle and swim. A few years ago a missionary friend had shown them this spot away from all the vacationing crowd. We actually stopped along this coastal road, parked in the grass, and hiked through a jungle to get to the cove. It really reminded me of something out of a pirate movie. The water was so blue and it was perfect for exploring, better than any water park. The kids were in heaven. I thought about how much they enjoy rock hopping along the streams in the Smokies and how this was so similiar and yet so different. They actually captured an eel for a brief time. The cove was great for snorkeling. Matt is now hooked and the kids loved it too. We did not have enough gear for everyone so we now know what we want for Christmas, ha ha. Later on we drove to another beach where most of the Morrison crew was hanging out and watched an amazing sunset. We ended up eatting at another Tai place that night. Thursday we packed up and drove along the Pacific side of the Taiwanese coast. You really cannot describe the beauty. The pictures do not do it justice. We were in awe. Please come visit because I personally cannot wait to share this amazing scenery with you all.

On Friday morning we got up at 5 a.m. to take a bus to Taichung, the main Morrison campus, for system wide meetings. We stayed with Heather and Scott McGrew. The kids had fun in the pool and Heather and I enjoyed foot massage. What fun! It was a nice change of pace from our daily routine. We also spent time with the group that we experienced Pre Field Orientation with at Houghton. We discussed our challenges and successes. It was nice to renew those friendships. Overall we are all adjusting pretty well. The concesus was that we all loved our new home, we want to learn how to live well here, but mostly we see the hopelessness of the people and we want to make a difference- in our classroom, in our churches, and in our communities. We learned that two Morrison staff members actually preformed CPR on a young man swimming on the very beach we swam at later and he died in thier arms. The next day his family returned to the site to offer sacrifices to help him in the after life. What an evil spell has been weaved into the hearts of these people! This was a time to renew our commitment to serving the Lord here.

As we get ready to engage in our weekly routines it is important that we have been reminded of God's mission for us in Taiwan. Sometimes we are so involved in how we are doing things we fail to remember who we do everything for.

Praises:

• For a great break full of fun people and incredible experiences.
• Susan has been invited into an accountablility group.
• The van proved reliable on our trip.
  

Prayer requests:

• The van has to pass inspection this week in order for us to drive it legally. It already failed once.
• Jake needs glasses and getting a good prescription here has proved difficult for some of our friends.
• Our house hasn't sold
  

This Week Has Been a Test........

Our family has had it share of hard knocks lately. For those of you who don't know, the deal for our house fell through last week. I was disapointed but this was especially difficult for Matt. Trying to live on such a drastic drop in salary is stressful enough, but when you are worried about paying a mortgage back in the U.S. it can be overwhelming. We are just pouring out these concerns to the Lord and trusting Him to provide for all our needs. We do have a bit of money in savings and we are thankful for that. I am also tutoring now so that will help as well.

Also, Josh and Jake have been enduring an unusual set of circumstances. A kindergartener accused them of physically bullying him during recess. No teacher or other adult actually witnessed the incident. However, there was visible evidence of injury on the child and his claim was taken seriously by teachers and administrators. Josh and Jake were adamant that they had nothing to do with the child being hurt. They have no history of lying to us so we believed them. The child's parent insisted they apologize to her son and would not be satisfied with anything less. She then spread the story to many parents warning them that Josh and Jake were bullies and they should keep thier kids away from them. Of course Matt and I were very concerned. As representatives of the school and Christians we had to be very careful how we set out to defend our boys. This was truly an exercise in self restraint. Our friend Holly prayed for the truth to come out and that Josh and Jake would be exonerated. I must confess I was doubtful this could happen but on Friday the boy accused them again of hurting him. This time his story did not add up because the boys could not have been where he said they were. Holly's prayer was answered and the boys now are free of this accusation. We are unsure why this happened. The boy's mother is really close to believing in Christ and one of the teachers suggested that spiritual warfare could be involved. God is so good to protect them and to assure us of His care for our children.

There is also a fair amount of illness spreading through the children of staff in our building. Rachel has been pretty sick for four days with fevers around 104. We will probably have to take her to the doctor on Monday. I don't look forward to this. One of her friends is in the hospital with unexplained high fevers. A newborn of the technology director of the school is in ICU for breathing problems. Our principal Bob Walters is also facing a double bypass surgery in the next two weeks. Holly Muir had a car accident. She is safe bu the driver who hit her (a buddhist monk) fled the scene and now the Muirs have to pay for thier car to be repaired. As you can tell, we have much to pray about here in Kaohsiung.

On a much lighter note.......Caleb and Matt drove to Taipei on Friday to spend the weekend at a volleyball tournament. Caleb's team came in 4th place out of 8, not too bad. Caleb has never played volleyball before and Matt said he did a great job. He is a pretty good server and is learning to volley. I wish I could have seen him. Matt also got a good look at Taipei. The mountains surrounding the city were beautiful. It was very crowded and the weather was cooler than here. He was chaperoning and helping with the tournament so he did not really get to sight see. Hopefully we will get back there soon.





In conclusion please pray for us right now. We know we are in the right place, doing what God would have us do. Most days when I am teaching Bible I am amazed at the presence of the Holy Spirit right there in the classroom. Many of these kids love Jesus and want to understand how to live for Him. What an opportunity!! We are studying Joseph right now and how he had to stand up under false accusations, does that sound familiar?? Little things like that bless me everyday. A big blessing is the support of new friends here who really want to see our familiy flourish here and our teaching ministry succeed. We are also keenly aware of all the prayers on the other side of the Pacific you are lifting on our behalf.

Prayer Requests:

• The sale of our home & financial stability
• The protection of our children (physically, spiritually, and emotionally)
• The health & safety of our staff at MAK