God did provide a place for Emily and I to stay here in Kentucky. Janet, Emily’s grandparents’ former cleaning lady, generously offered to let us stay in the spare room of her house. She and her daughter are two of the sweetest, kindest people you’d ever want to meet and have been making us feel right at home.

Last week, on Sunday, Emily and I attended the First Presbyterian Church of Owensboro’s service. We had sent an email to a bunch of pastors here in Owensboro a few weeks before arriving asking for help in finding housing. The presbyterian pastor, Eric, had emailed us back and we wanted to go catch up with him. The congregants were extremely welcoming and it was really great to get a chance to find out that the pastor recognized us right when we walked in because he had seen pictures of us here on our blog.

Today, Emily and I went with her grandfather to his church, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Owensboro. It was very interesting and definitely got me thinking about stuff. It was quite different from any service I had ever been to before. One thing I really liked was that there was time for members of the congregation to get up and share their joys and struggles with everyone.

On the jobs front Jesus has provided as well. The first few days Emily and I were here in Owensboro we drove around and stopped in everywhere there was a currently hiring sign to fill out applications. We also went to the temporary employment agencies. After doing the latter we have both become huge fans of temp agencies. Tomorrow we both start work at Columbia Sportwear Company’s midwest distribution center, jobs we obtained from Jeff at Spartan Staffing…thank you Jeff! The other temp agency that found us work but that we ended up not taking was Peoplemark. Both agencies were great. There are definitely jobs to be had as we have only been here a week and a half and already are turning down jobs and interviews.

Last week we both got a workout at Packaging Unlimited. It’s one of those places that is a day-to-day thing. If you get there early enough you have a job that day. We arrived at 5:30am, got our names added to the list, and began our shift at 7:30am. Emily spent the day making boxes for peanut butter jars and I was stacking packages of Ragu onto pallets. No air conditioning and minimum wage made it a little different from the jobs we are accustomed to but I have to say I really enjoyed it. Working there forever would have been horrible but doing really hard work every so often is something I really get a lot out of. I liked it so much I went back for seconds the next day.

This new job has pretty good pay and is air conditioned as well. We are both very grateful and excited for tomorrow morning at 6am when we begin our first shift at Columbia!

Other than that we have been having a great time with Scott and Ruth, Emily’s grandparents, and Winnie, Emily’s Aunt. They have been wining and dining us at some of Owensboro’s best eateries. That reminds me, anyone in Owensboro, Kentucky should definitely give The Famous Bistro a try. Excellent food and great service.

Well I guess that’ll do it for now.

Here in Taiwan it is quite common for people to remain close to their high school, or even junior high school, classmates throughout their entire lives. Many of my Taiwanese classmates spend weekends throughout the year, going back to their home city to visit with a group of high school classmates that planned a get-together. A fifty plus year old Taiwanese man we know went on regular walks with one of his high school classmates up until his untimely death. While these are only two examples there are countless others.

I am understanding more and more why this is the case. Like my current university program, Taiwanese high school students spend every day and every class with the same group of students. It is bonding to say the least. Everyone knows exactly who the slackers are and who the hard workers are. Everyone knows who is getting into playing guitar and who is getting into partying. Everyone knows everything about everyone.

At first, I think it was pretty strange for us as foreigners. But I have to say that after three years of it I have really come to enjoy it. There are definitely the clicks and groups and all that. But at the same time there is definitely an overall togetherness amongst us. I am hopeful that this bond remains even after graduation. Next year won’t be the same with Gina and Jennifer and Ken and the rest of my classmates who will be exchange students away in their various locales.

While I disagree with educational philosophy and practices here in Taiwan in many regards, I have become a big fan of grouping students into classes that remain together throughout a program’s duration.

“how wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. For the frontiers of knowledge are inevitably being pushed back further and further, which means that you only think of God as a stop-gap. He also is being pushed back further and further, and is in more or less continuous retreat. We should find God in what we do know, not in what we don’t; not in outstanding problems, but in those we have already solved. This is true not only for the relation between Christianity and science, but also for wider human problems such as guilt, suffering and death. It is possible nowadays to find answers to these problems which leave God right out of the picture. It just isn’t true to say that Christianity alone has the answers. In fact the Christian answers are no more conclusive or compelling than any of the others. Once more, God cannot be used as a stop-gap. We must not wait until we are at the end of our tether: he must be found at the centre of life: in life, and not only in death; in health and vigour, and not only in suffering; in activity, and not only in sin. The ground for this lies in the revelation of God in Christ. Christ is the centre of life, and in no sense did he come to answer our unsolved problems. From the centre of life certain questions are seen to be wholly irrelevant, and so are the answers commonly given to them…In Christ there are no Christian problems.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, taken from his book Letters and Papers from Prison

We have, among other things:

~Spent weeks painting the outside of a building, and getting some pretty amazing tan lines.

~Worked for Michigan State University’s Cafeteria system, both as secretaries and kitchen hands, depending on the day.

~Labored a summer in the corn fields of southern Michigan, de-tasseling. Don’t know what that is? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detasseling

~Donated plasma. Michael calls this “selling his body.” He wrote quite a few posts about it.

This summer, we are again able to afford the plane tickets. This is a miracle in itself, because we already went home once in March for my brother’s wedding. Glory to God, he answered our prayers and provided Michael with a job just in time! I love answers to prayer!

Now, we’re waiting patiently for the perfect answer to our next request: a way to stay in Owensboro, KY for the summer with my grandparents. Grandma and Grandad are precious to us, beloved family and two of the most interesting and beautiful people we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Neither one of them has trusted in Jesus as their savior, though, and we both feel very led to spend time sharing Christ with them and serving. If this were last summer, there wouldn’t be a problem – they had a big, beautiful house with plenty of space – but they’ve just moved into a retirement home with no room for us. We can’t afford a hotel for more than a night or two, but want to stay for more than a month. So, what to do? Good question. We’ve been talking to family about this for months, with no one offering to let us stay with them. We’ve just recently started to email churches in the area, asking for help, knowing that God always provides – even if it’s through strangers!

I was talking to my friend Loreta at church this morning, a woman who has hours and hours of stories about the provision and faithfulness of God. Michael and I had asked the church for prayer about our living and job situation this summer, and she wondered  if God had answered our prayers yet.

“Not yet,” I said, “We’re waiting patiently.”

She clapped her hands like a giddy child, beaming, “God will bring you the perfect gift! I have something I’m waiting for, too. Let me tell you.”

Over the past few weeks she’s been praying about where He wanted to send her, and received overwhelming confirmation that He wants her in Poland. Poland?! She called the coordinator of the organization, asking with confusion if they needed help.

“Oh, YES! We’ve been emailing and calling you for months, but we couldn’t reach you! Please come as quickly as you can!”

That was enough for her. She booked her ticket to Poland, using all the money she had.

“But what about the rest, Loreta, all the money you still need? And you only have a week and a half!” I was incredulous.

She looked at me and smiled. “Emily, I have had God provide for me over and over again in my life, in so many ways that my faith is unbreakable now. He has made it clear that He wants me there. He’ll bring the money. I’m going to Poland.”

We clasped hands and prayed for each other, holding each other accountable to believe in faith that God gives what He promises. Always enough, and just what we need. What a dear woman. She has encouraged me in so many ways.

So, now we wait. School ends next Friday, and we fly home on June 28th. Everything is up in the air still, but the plan is to stay in Michigan for 2-3 weeks visiting family and friends, then drive down to Kentucky to stay for 4-6 weeks. God will tell us where to go and what to do, when the time is right.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. -Hebrews 4:16

Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights, in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadow. -James 1:17

If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! -Matthew 7:11

We believe in faith and trust in God’s unchanging goodness. This life is filled with sweetness.

One of the things I crave, when I go to the States to visit, is Qdoba/Chipotle burritos. Those big, soft, stuffed full of goodness burritos were always something I wished I could have here in Asia. Sadly, the restaurants that serve burritos here in the Taipei area, yes there are a few, are expensive and pretty much not good. I might even go as far as to say their food is bu hao chi (不好吃), Chinese for bad tasting. This is of course exempting Eddy’s Cantina. However, Eddy’s is all the way up in Danshui so to go is quite a trek and not something that can be done spur of the moment; the way most of the trips Emily and I take to restaurants happen.

All this has changed however. Oola Mexican Grill has opened their doors just two MRT stops away from where we live! They’re logo is so similar to Qdoba’s part of me thinks they stole it right off of the Qdoba website. The burrito bar style is exactly the same, minus beans. The taste isn’t quite as good as Qdoba, but nonetheless it is the best Mexican food I’ve had in the city and I am far from complaining. Plus, they even have guacamole and very decent chips! And…drum roll please…the prices are very reasonable.

Please Taipei residents, please embrace this restaurant and don’t let it go out of business.