3-E Alpha, Tasty Talking, and Prayer

This week at Alpha was great!  Each week we continue to see openness abound and hearts being softened.  We started this week with a particularly 'tasty' game.  Everyone got skittles or m & m's and based upon what color they recieved answered different questions in English.  It was such a success that we didn't have time for people to talk more than once.  We are really excited to see the level of participation grow each week.

Our topic this week was on Prayer.  Pastor Nicky gave a great talk on the purpose of prayer and how to pray.  Here in Taiwan the concept of prayer is not foreign to most of our visitors.  However, Christian prayer is.  This week was a great week for teaching opportunities.  Taiwan, being a very religious country, is familiar with many of our concepts, but I think the topic of prayer hits particularly close to home.  It was great to be able to show them that prayer is more than a chant, or memorized ordeal, but that prayer is really the conerstone of our relationship with our Father!  As we ended this week, many groups were actually in the midsts of prayer themselves.  The Spirit of God is truly working on people's hearts.

From 3E ALPHA Fall 2009

Last Saturday marked the 3rd week of our new 3E ALPHA Course. Even though it was a Taiwanese holiday (Mid-Autumn Festival), we had several new people join us. Before we got into the topic of the afternoon ("Why did Jesus have to die?"), we watched a funny English skit, learned a new English song together, played a big group game, and practiced some new English vocabulary.

The picture below was taken during the song. After Alicia taught us the lyrics, we all went around giving each other high-fives :-)

After the English time we watched the Nicky Gumbel ALPHA Talk on DVD, in which Nicky explains how Jesus had to die to pay for our sins. The course finished with a 30-minute group discussion time in which our new friends had the chance to respond to the message and share their thoughts.

Next week's topic is: "How can we have faith?". Check in early next week to read up on how the afternoon went!

From 3E ALPHA Fall 2009

This past Saturday felt very natural and fun!

We started off singing You are My Sunshine and everyone walked around telling each other that they were a sunshine to one another. I felt like this lightened and stretched everyone out for relating to each other more. After the song we played a game called "Two Truths and a Lie" where each person needs to say 2 things that are true about themselves and one thing that is false. Then, the group members are supposed to guess which statement is not true. I sat with a group of about 11-12 Taiwanese girls and they were all enjoying this game so much. I think it made EACH individual feel special to the group as the group gave EACH individual attention and interest. The girls in this group are so bubbly and excited about Alpha. That was really encouraging.

I met a girl who is specifically excited to be participating in Alpha with her older sister. They were both there and we are praying that the Holy Spirit uses this course to extend to the rest of their family.

Once we were done playing the game, our group had a little bit of extra time before we began watching the "Who Is Jesus?" DVD.  So, during that time the girls asked me why I love Taiwan and want to learn Chinese. I got to share how Father put it on my heart when I was 11 when I discovered that there were children without Fathers and Mothers AND without the Gospel. All of the girls were very responsive to the story God has given me and were all very excited and encouraged that He has put that on one's heart.

I noticed many of the leaders expressing teaching abilities and relational strategies that I know came directly from the Father! It is so awesome to see HIS hand doing all of the work. Although sometimes we as leaders can put expectations on ourselves or worry if we are doing the best we can, these are HIS people and will have to be HIS work. Please continue to pray that our hearts focus on serving Him and continue to be used as His instruments.

Thanks so much for all your prayers on our behalf! Why not consider coming over for a visit sometime in the future to experience firsthand what the Lord is doing in Taipei.

Sorry there are no pictures up yet - as soon as I can find some online I'll post a few. Our digital camera is broken, so we can't take pics ourselves...

Last weekend it was so refreshing to go to the mountains together without any plans other than to not make plans.  We had such relaxing fellowship and rest!  I am really looking forward to the relationships that are growing among and beyond the leadership!  This weekend and entire Alpha session is looking super exciting!  Please pray specifically for each minute to be used to the fullest advantage of the Kingdom in every life present.  Thank you for your earnestness and desire to be updated, His ways are high!

We just wanted to share some pictures of a recent 3E Classroom outing to the Yang Ming mountain, located in northern Taipei.

Along with some of our new friends we picked Calla Lilies, ate hot pot, and enjoyed sweet potato soup together. Even though the weather was misty, we still had a great time enjoying the warmth of each other's friendship!

Hi Everyone!

Our 3E Classroom Ministry went on a group outing to Taizhong recently. Of our 40 new friends that currently attend 3E, about 35 came along! Counting Chinese co-workers and American English teachers we were 52 people altogether.

The outing proved to be an amazing time of deepening relationships through games and group times. We are really seeing the Lord working in the hearts of our 3E Classroom members, who were more willing to open up and share from their personal experiences!

Below is a group photo we took before leaving camp on Sunday afternoon.