Last Words about the trip...

Before we left on this amazing trip to Taiwan, our team read a book called “How to Listen to God.” The main idea was prayer. It wasn’t until this trip did I realize how important prayers were…or if God ever answered them. Truthfully, until now, I wasn’t really sure if God ever answered my prayers. The book told us how we must listen to God. Patiently, gratefully, and attentively are the ones that I experienced on this trip. On the start of this trip, I had prayed, asking God to help the kids attending the camp to open their hearts to Him, so that they may learn His words. I had heard from one past story that one child dropped out when his/her parents found out it was a Christian type camp. I prayed that everyone would stay and enjoy the camp. Thankfully, all the kids stayed and were interested. There was a happy feeling in me whenever a kid asked me about God or question they had about church, Jesus, or God. There was one boy in the first group I had who was very cute and outgoing. His family worshipped idols (just like most of the people there…) during the home visit, I was really scared that the mother wouldn’t listen to us, so in the car I was praying silently that the visit will go smoothly (also because it was my first home visit that week.) When we (Taiwan co-worker and I) arrived, the mother looked very nice. We chatted about the boy and his cheerful, happy personality in class. His mother then shared about the boy’s personality at home. It was totally different then how we described him. He explained that he can’t be himself at home; there was always a barrier somewhere. That’s when we told her a little about God. When we mentioned about God, her faced changed a little. She almost looked a bit nervous. That’s when I was like, “Uh oh…” But gradually we started explaining to her a little more about why we visited the family her face changed to normal. I was like, “thank god…!” His mother took in everything we said, and we made a strong bond with the boy as well. During altar call, I saw him raise his hand, which really touched me. I saw many others of my group kids raise their hand as well. I saw that through God, these kids chose to listen.
As for me personally, this trip changed me a lot. As quoted from other team members, “Andrea had definitely opened up more since the first time we met her.” I believe this is true, and this is what has helped me bond with the Taiwan coworkers so well. I think I bonded extremely well with the Taiwan coworkers. Many of them prayed for us during the mission, which was heart-warming. To me, there was one coworker that really stood out. To be honest, at first I thought she was kind of weird, but later I got to know her. She was a kind hearted person who really cared for others. She was also the one that got me out of my turtle shell so that I can be more comfortable around other people. I learned to become the person reaching out to people rather than the one waiting to be reached. I felt that I learned a lot on this trip. And when I say this is a trip I’ll never forget, I really mean it. I’ll never forget the people, the kids, the camp, everything. But most importantly, I’ll always know that God answers our prayers. Maybe it takes a week, or a year, or maybe longer…but God will always listen and will answer.

~AW :D