The Edwards

Resurrection Sunday Outreach

Resurrection Sunday Outreach

Thanks to everyone who sent up prayers for our outreach here in Taiwan.  God not only held off the rain, but gave us one of warmest days yet this year.  We are still thanking God for the huge success at our first attempt to have such an outreach at this park.  With three activity stations drawing in park goers, I am estimating well over 200 people participated and were able to hear the message of Jesus resurrection through, music, skits and fun.  Make sure to take a look at our full color April newsletter coming out early next week on our Yahoo Groups site with lots of pictures from the event. 

CCCB Group

We currently have a group of 10 bible college students with us.  They have been busy serving, observing and getting acquainted with the people and culture here.  They have been very brave, trying lots of strange new foods and urchins from the sea.  They climbed over 500 steep steps last night to a temple on a mountain top near our apartment to view people worshiping the land god.  Tomorrow they will make their way to the observatory of the tallest building in the world; TAIPEI101.  Thursday they will be heading to the Home of God’s Love orphanage in Lo-Tung to help with the beginning stages of a Nursery Renovation Project. We will be following up their initial cleaning and organizing next week and begin the work of assembling new double-decker baby cribs that will provide much needed expansion to the current facility.  We are excited about this opportunity to work together with some of our FCM/Team Expansion missionary buddies from around the island to help out Ted and Bev Skiles and

their ministry in Lo Tung.  They have been a such a blessing to all of us since we moved to Taiwan and we are just happy to have this privilege to bless them in return.

Thanks for praying!  God is working!

Join Our Yahoo Groups Prayer Update

If you are interested in more frequent news, prayer requests, pictures and full color monthly newsletters, you can join our Edwards in Taiwan Group by sending an email to the following address:

Edwards_in_Taiwan@subscribe@yahoogroups.com

God Bless,

Chad & Alicia

Women of the Harvest Retreat by Alicia

I am so thankful for the opportunity to experience a Women of the Harvest (WOTH) retreat. I became familiar with WOTH about 8 years ago when a friend sent me a subscription to this magazine devoted to encouraging women serving overseas. Over the years, the missionaries in Taiwan have passed these around so we could all receive encouragement and be challenged in our walks with the Lord. While I could go on and on about the many blessing I received, here are the TOP 10. 10. Parasailing on the beach. 9. Eating every meal in a restaurant with a great view of the ocean and not having to COOK! 8. Snorkeling and swimming in crystal clear blue water and soaking up the warm sunshine on the beach. 7. Being pampered by a wonderful WOTH staff with excellent facilities, thoughtful goodies and great conversations. 6. The many encouraging, sometimes heart wrenching, and amazing stories from other ladies at the retreat. 5. Morning walks along the beach. 4. Getting a great hair cut. They brought a hairdresser from the States who stayed busy several hours each day to update our hairdos. 3. Stephanie Nelson, our wonderful speaker, shared powerfully from God’s word and her heart. 2. Sharing laughter and tears with my sisters in the Lord. 1. Enjoying uninterrupted quiet times in an area of the world where you can’t help but have a grateful heart and be awed by our Creator!

A Dream Come True

Over 10 years ago when I was praying about coming over to Taiwan, I remember specifically at one of our Campus Christian Fellowship meetings God showing me a glimpse of the future. I had been struggling, trying to know God's will, where he wanted me to go, what he wanted me to do. I knew the needs of Taiwan, but I also knew I loved music and working with kids. A group called Caleb Project came that night to our fellowship and presented a moving drama about going to those who have never heard of Jesus. I remember during the prayer time that followed, I was telling God, "But what about these gifts you have given me, what about the kids?" And then, all of a sudden I believe God put a picture in my head of me baptizing a young boy from Taiwan. He seemed to be saying, "Chad, this world is full of music. This world is full of children. You can use your gifts wherever I send you." It was at that point I began having a peace about coming to work in Taiwan.

Just this last Sunday, the picture that God put in my head became a reality. I had the privilege of baptizing twelve year old Chen Yo Chueninto Christ. Patrick is the oldest son of Jen Hsin and Ya Pay, a Christian couple in our church. Since we have been in Taiwan, this is the FIRST child we have seen come the Christ in our church. As the church grows and as the children of first generation Christians grow up in the church, we see how God blesses their lives as a result of their parents obedience and commitment to Christ.

(Patrick)

Our youth program is continuing to grow and it is our prayer that this coming year will see even more of these children give their lives to Jesus. Please pray for the youth of Taiwan, their parents their teachers and the church as we disciple them. Pray that through them, God could start a revival here in Taiwan.

January 18,2005

Friends, Another exciting week here in Taiwan...

LOST & FOUND We are rejoicing here for Feng Lan and her family. Feng Lan is a neighbor in the building our church moved into this last summer. After delivering bread to all the apartment units in our new building, two new guests arrived at church the following Sunday, one of those being Feng Lan. Since her first Sunday with us, Feng Lan has continued to search the scriptures and attend one of our cell groups that meets at the church. This Sunday, she came forward to give her life to Jesus and be immersed into Christ. She shared with the congregation how she has lived a life of self-dependence ever since her parents died at an early age. As her husband and children sat and listened (they are not yet Christians), she also shared how this unhealthy dependence on self has also kept her from being the mom and wife God longs for her to be. It was a great testimony of how God can come into a life and change it forever...priorities changed, passions changed, even our purposed for living changed by God. Please pray for Feng Lan and her new life in Christ. Also lift up her husband who has not yet begun to seek the Lord. "I once was lost, but now I am found!"

I also have another LOST & FOUND story. Last Thursday as I left our church office to go pick up Allyson from Chinese Kindergarten, I found the spot where I had parked my motor-scooter vacant. My YAMAHA scooter for nine years was GONE! My first reaction was a small chuckle as I recalled remarking to my new team mate Allen the day before that I hadn't used a lock for my bike for about 7 years. HMM! I went to ask our landlord who owns the Taiwan Meat Ball shop on the first floor if he had seen anything strange. He had had a big piece of ToFu stolen the day before! Yes, some body actually took off with 1 X 1 ft. square piece of Tofu. Guess he was really hungry. We watched his video surveillance camera videos, and sure enough, at about 10:30am, some guys came by in rain ponchos, one got on my bike and off they went. I spent the next 2 hours in the Police station filing a stolen vehicle report. I wasn't given a lot of hope about finding it as many are taken everyday, but he did say that he had found two just that morning... so there still was hope. I have been going to the same motorcycle mechanic since I arrived in Taiwan so we have a pretty good relationship. He said I could borrow a scooter from his shop while I was waiting to see if my bike would turn up. He also showed me a really nice used red Yamaha that he could sell me if there was no news soon about my bike. Here in Taiwan, I do everything on my scooter, run errands, take kids to school, go to work...it's kind of hard to get by without it. Caitlyn was praying hard for it to turn up, because she didn't think she could ride a new one, she use just "too used to" my old white one. I was just trusting God to teach us and provide for us whatever we needed. (I didn't have much hope however for my old white scooter with my "Jesus Loves You" sticker on the front)

BUT...on Sunday morning, I got a call from the police station! My bike was FOUND!! And only about 2 blocks from my house with nothing missing. They also left a half tank of gas for me! Praise God! "My YAMAHA was lost, but now is found." Monday was spent renewing my locks, which was probably one of the factors that caused it to get swiped so easily. My daughter is also insisting that I use my wheel lock as well. God sure is good!

LEADERS LUNCH and ELDERS

This last Saturday we had our first Leaders Lunch. This will be a special time where our cell leaders get fed, receive training and keep focused on our vision of making disciples and planting new cells. All of us must remember that we cannot just be content with being a disciple, but we were called to MAKE disciples as well. This Sunday we also passed out a document explaining why the Taiwan Christian Church is making plans this year to select Elders. We are using some of the Elder resources sent to us from one of our supporting churches in Las Vegas, NV (The Crossing: A Christian Church). One of our church members has been working hard this last fall to help get a lot of it translated for us. Please keep us in your prayers as we move forward on training and preparing the church for elders.

PRAY FOR JUDY

Also, send up some prayers for our hardworking forwarding agent Judy Hampton as she had carpal tunnel surgery performed in December and shoulder surgery performed just this last week. This will slow her down a little as she will be unable to write and type, some of the things she does a lot of as she keeps track of our finances. Pray for Judy and her husband Don as she is rehabilitating. We really appreciate all they do for us!

40 Days of Purpose

40 DAYS OF PURPOSE
Our church and cell groups will be reading through the book
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (already in Chinese) starting
on April 5th. Please pray that these 40 days we spend as
individuals and as a body focusing on our life's purpose will change
the lives of all those participating. Pray that people would make
decisions for Christ, that people would take their focus from their
own agendas and commit themselves fully to serving God with all
their hearts. Pray for the preachers who will drive home the main
points every Sunday. Pray for the cell leaders as they discuss and
share the truths from this book with their cell members.

Thanks for helping us pray for the church in Taiwan!!