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
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