Hi from Taiwan!

The last 3 months since we sent out an update have been very full and we are really encouraged by what God is doing here. Also, we have some exciting news to share so I hope you have a couple minutes to read.

Quick Family update:

We have been doing really well recently as our family of 4, maybe 5 someday but not yet. (That’s not the exciting news) Hezekiah is already 3 and a half and he is reading short books by himself, his writing is improving slowly, and he is beginning to learn a little bit of Chinese. He has finally embraced being a big brother and loves playing with Malachi which makes our hearts happy. Malachi, 8 months old and is sleeping comfortably through the night now from 7:30pm-7am and he is growing so fast! He is wearing clothes that Hezekiah wore when he was 14 months old to give you a picture of the size comparison between them both. He loves the outdoors and he is our best evangelism tool that we have haha. Amber is doing well, getting more energy recently and we are both able to exercise more regularly. I recently quit drinking coffee or anything caffeinated and went through some pretty extreme withdrawal headaches for 20 days but finally got past it and now I feel more energy, clearer mind and I am drinking a ton more water now.

Street Evangelism:

In the midst of regular life, going on walks, to parks with the kids etc. we just take the opportunities that appear in front of us to start conversations with people. They often have led to praying for them to get healed in one way or another and then we can also share what we believe. These are typically short interactions and we often don’t know what will come of them but sometimes people come to our community nights because of them.

One recent interaction: I was taking Hezekiah for a walk and we saw a couple with their grandson along the path that I started to chat with. As we were talking for a while and the boys were playing, I noticed that the man had a very big shoe on his left side and he walked with difficulty so I asked about his foot. He said that 30 years ago he had a motorcycle accident and his foot was permanently damaged. This obviously prompted me to share what I believe, who Jesus is, and that I believe Jesus wants to heal his foot. They listened and asked some questions and then I went ahead and asked if I could pray, (keep in mind this is all in Chinese) and he agreed to let me pray. So as Hezekiah and I prayed, they lowered their heads and afterward, I didn’t see any healing in his foot but they said they felt encouraged and asked about which church I go to. Their grandson was asking Hezekiah about Jesus also which was very cute to see as Hezekiah got excited that he was being asked.

Couple other ministries:

One of the ladies from our community nights has been seeking for a while and asked Amber and Magan to have a weekly Bible study with her as well since they used to do that a long time ago. Unfortunately, the lady’s husband passed away and she hasn’t wanted to meet since then but recently started coming back again so now she wants to keep seeking God. They will be starting up again today so if you have a second, please pray for her and them. (Michelle)

We recently had an opportunity to meet a couple who were pregnant with twins and about to give birth a couple weeks after meeting them and they have been struggling a lot with what it looks like to be parents. They don’t have any help since their family lives far away and they haven’t prepared much for what happens when the babies come so we have been communicating with them and trying to share what we know to give them a bit of peace of mind and confidence. We are also just wanting to help them out where we can since they both want to work while having new born twins and they don’t get maternity leave in the same way that the west has it. To their surprise, her water broke earlier than expected just yesterday and the babies were born via c-section on my birthday! March 4^th!

The husband works for the prison here so I am hoping that we will be able to grow that connection to be able to go to the prison to minister there as well. Please feel free to pray for their family during the difficult time. We will try to bless them a bit and buy some baby items to give so they can transition easier and every birthday I will get to celebrate with twin baby girls: Joyce and Grace!

Community nights:

A bit more than a month ago, we began doing weekly community nights instead of biweekly and since then, it’s been growing even faster than before! We had to buy 4 more chairs and even that wasn’t enough. We are literally starting to run out of room in our house with people sitting on the stairs now and depending on the meal we make; we are hoping that we have enough food to feed everyone haha. It’s the good kind of problem to have. Last week we had 21 people attend and what is cool about this is that a lot of the new people coming are invited by the unbelievers who come each week. Those who don’t know Jesus yet are often more excited to invite people than the believers in the group. One person invited 5 others last week haha.

They all have been asking really good questions and opening up their hearts. We are excited to see what God is doing in them.

A couple guests have made comments that have been encouraging to hear:

One person shared that they have been a “Christian” for a while but they have felt like they needed to hide what was really in their heart from other Christians because of fear and so they have been faking for years. They said that here at our house they aren’t fake and they feel like they can finally be real with themself and with us. They told me that they have been struggling to trust Jesus for a while now and feel like they are about to walk away from faith in God… It was hard to hear them say this because it is a hard situation they are in but at the same time they are being honest with their heart and they also said that they don’t want to continue on the path that they are on, but need help. I am encouraged that our house can be a safe place for them to be real, but also challenged to grow while knowing that they are still loved, because we don’t shy away from speaking hard truths in scripture.

Another person said that at our house they finally feel able to ask questions and share what they are thinking while growing spiritually as a group, but in churches here, they haven’t been able to do that. They feel at peace here even while we share hard truths.

These 2 comments are encouraging to me because people feel welcomed, rested and challenged yet not silenced, however in our city and oftentimes in this culture it reveals a reality about some churches here. This culture focuses VERY HEAVILY on hierarchy and titles, statuses, etc. which also, sadly happens in many churches as well. It is not very acceptable in many churches here to ask the pastor questions and especially not ok to give a seemingly disagreeable response.

I am just glad that people feel free to come into our house, eat and get filled, and also ask questions that are often very difficult to answer.

Please feel free to pray for these individuals, for our house to be a light, encouragement, and a place where people are challenged to obey Jesus. Also for multiplication of food to be able to provide for everyone haha!

Hosting teams and others:

Our house has always been intended to be used for hosting outreach teams along with using the space for gatherings that we are doing, and although we haven’t had many outreach teams from the US or Canada come through, we have had plenty of opportunities to host teams that are from Taiwan that want to preach the gospel, pray for the island, or use our house as a retreat to pray get refreshed in before going back into various ministries.

These past few months we have had 3 teams stay with us and the other family that we work with here. (They had to be split because a couple of the teams were too big for just one house). One of the teams (from the US) that came, worked with our base to run a basketball camp for the aboriginal kids in our area and the church nearby also helped accommodate that. They also were able to serve at one of the tribes, about 20 minutes away in the mountain.

We have another team from Montana that wants to come this month as well and will help us to work with a church a bit north of here to run a few English camps for the local kids along with some other activities.

Aside from those, we had a couple other singles come through and a family as well who all wanted to come and pray to see what God is saying about their future and to get refreshed.

It is a blessing to have a space that people are comfortable using to get refreshed in or do outreach from.

Bibles:

One thing that we want to do for the people who attend our community nights is to buy a Bible for each person so that they can read scripture not just on their mobile device but with actual paper and ink. There is something special about reading from a physical Bible. I think it helps people connect with scripture in a more tangible way and also reduces distractions from notifications on a phone etc. In Taiwan though, Bibles are more expensive because not as many people read from a physical book anymore.

There are plenty of versions in Chinese that are difficult to understand for Chinese speakers because of the way that it is written and often the translation is unclear or just plain incorrect. That being said, there is one version that is excellent and it is the closest to the Greek while still being very clear for the majority of people. What we hope for is to buy 25-30 of these Bibles to give out to our regular community night guests but the cost is between $55-$70 per Bible… which obviously is not cheap. We just want to put it out there for anyone who would like to, if you want to help contribute to the cost of the Bibles, it would be a really big help and we appreciate it so much!
(Update: We got all the Bibles, praise God!)

We want people to not only hear the gospel in our home when they come but also be able to take it home with them and then we can help them through it too when they have more questions as they read. We also really appreciate any prayer for this and for the people, that they will read and understand what they are reading, hear from God and give their hearts fully to Jesus!

Exciting news!!

After such a long time, God has provided a way for us to finally go back to visit Canada and the US! It has already been 4 years since we got to go back to Canada which means that nobody has met either of our boys! We were able to visit the US almost 3 years ago but the Canadian border at the time was closed to Amber and so we couldn’t come through as a family and I wouldn’t have been able to get back so we had to wait until now to go back.

Our trip is for 4 months total; 2 months in Canada, 2 months in the US and we are excited to visit and reconnect with people as much as we are able to! Please feel free to send Amber or I a message if you want to organize a date to get together.

Love and hugs from us in Taiwan,

Jacob, Amber, Hezekiah, and Malachi

Love, Humility, Jesus