Urbana is coming up sooon! i'm so excited so i decided to post about our missions trip. I wrote this letter over the summer as an update for those who partnered with me on my mission trip to Taiwan in July. Last week I was registering for classes and got really frustrated cuz i couldn't get into the basic writing class and the idea of me going to summer school came up. That just got me even more upset cuz I was trying to leave my summer vacations (while i still have them) for missions trips. Well, I guess we'll see what happens.
Our God is so great! He has safely brought our Taiwan Missions team home. During the 2 weeks we were able to witness God working in Taiwan and I would like to share with you my experience
We stayed in the small city of JuSan (竹山) in the Nantou County area. Currently, JuSan is only about 1% Christian since it is a rural area and rather traditional in culture. The old church building consisted of a small, one room chapel with large walls surrounding it. Because of these walls, the community could not see what happened inside the church and Christianity became a mysterious religion that people feared. About a year ago, those walls were broken down and the church was rebuilt into a beautiful 3 story building with large windows that welcomed the community. Along with the remodeled building, the new pastor of the JuSan Church had a vision to be a church for the community and really be apart of life for the Taiwanese people.
The launch of English Camp and VBS was the first step towards reaching out to the community. As we spent time and worked with the children, their desire to be loved became apparent. Many of the students came from broken homes where they either only live with one parent or their parents sent them away to be raised by their grandparents. As a result, many of them have grown up with a sense that they are not loved. Attending the camps became extra special because they felt loved and accepted by the people in the church and by the end of the first week, almost half of all the students raised their hands to accept Christ into their hearts. Although we cannot physically be there to follow up on every child, we can trust in the Holy Spirit and continue to pray for the children.
Another amazing blessing that we got to experience was the growth of the youth group at JuSan Church. Their youth group is a decent size of about twenty teenagers and young adults. However, very few bonded as brothers and sisters in Christ and even fewer were excited about serving the Lord. The pastor had asked them to help with English Camp and VBS and during those two weeks, the Holy Spirit began to change the hearts of the youth. As they helped our missions team teach the children about how great our God is, they began to experience God for themselves on a personal level. Soon they changed from a group of people who merely attended church to fellowship powered by the Holy Spirit. They began to love being with one another as they served together in the church and grew in their spiritual walk with God.
I really learned to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit during this trip because I was so limited in my speech and with what I could share. Although the language barrier proved itself difficult to overcome, we were encouraged by 1 Thessalonians 1:5 which says, “because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction”. I was reminded that it is not by my own power are tasks accomplished, but only through the Holy Spirit.
I thank you for your support and keeping our team in your prayers because we know that it is only through prayer that we were able to do the will of our Father. It was such a big blessing to be a part of this mission trip as I was able to take part of God’s plan and purpose for His people. Praise the Lord.
Hastening the day,
Katie Kuo
snack time during english camp! me and one my my students, jennifer It was hard to remember their chinese names... so i called this one brian hehe look how close the youth group grew! belinda and james with some of the youth from the church local visitations bike trip bonding time! me and mathew's first graders performing their english song (: street evangelism
So, in my last post I said a couple things were in my head that i kinda wanted to blog about. One of them being my high school best buddy, Ashley! In my brain and behavior class, we were watching these videos about people with williams syndrome and they're genuine friendliness and lovnig nature reminded me of Ashley. I remember the looks of joy on her face whenever i walked into her classroom at lunch to pick her up. As we went down the halls she'd kiss and wave goodbye to everyone and point at me trying to say "this is my best buddy!" And of course, I didn't always feel the same way about people with disabilities..
For years, I zoomed by the special education classrooms, afraid to look in and often feeling very uncomfortable. I didn’t know how to act or what to say and so I avoided trying to build relationships with any of the special education students. However, the summer before my senior year, I spent my Troy Tech Internship at a clinic for children with developmental disabilities and it changed my world! Signing up for best buddies was a hard decision for me. I didn’t know if I was good enough to fulfill all the responsibilities of the peer buddy. The thought of being unable to successfully making a friendship haunted me, but however nervous I was, I knew I wanted to do this and I was excited.The first time I met Ashley, she greeted me with shout of joy and huge hug. The smile on her face warmed my heart and I knew that she had immediately accepted me as her new friend. Although all the uncertainty of whether of not I could be a good buddy to Ashley had disappeared in the blissful atmosphere, new challenges lay ahead for us. Communication with each other was often very difficult and her wheelchair was hard to deal with. It always took an extra long time to get places becuase i didn't know where the ramps were or we'd come across something we couldnt get over. After many lunches and with much perseverance, we were slowly able to find a way to communicate with each other and to laugh together. I eventually learned to get her chair places safely and how to fix the parts of the old chair as they became jammed. (we celebrated the day she got a new chair and parts no longer got jammed!) Although it took some time to learn the tricks of the trade, she always patiently waited for me to figure things out. Before I joined best buddies, I saw weekly lunch meetings as a responsibility – something that had to be done. But the more time I spent with Ashley, the more joy I took in spending time with her by helping her get around and taking her to places that she cannot go on her own.Seeing her face light up when I come to visit is one of the best parts of the week because with her, there is no fear in being you. You can act as silly or be as dorky as you want and she’ll love you as much as ever. Being Ashley’s friend really taught me to appreciate the simple things in life and how to value friendship as she does.
bottom line... i miss her alot. can't wait until winter break and i get to go back and visit her!
Wow, its been a really long time since i last updated this. It actually might have been my longest break from writing! Summer just got really busy and i got so behind after the back to back retreats and missions trip that i didn't even want to try to blog everything.. and eventually got lazy.
Well, as always, there's a lot on my mind but I don't quite know how to organize them into coherent words.
Hmm, I this week is the start of week 7 at UCI :] and I really enjoy it here. Life is so much more chill than it was in high school and i can finally say the words myself... Troy was harder than college. I feel like life is really starting to begin... sounds super cheesy, but really! I have time to actually do things i enjoy now like play guitar, spend some quality time with friends, do things for church like writing Yolanda letters, sleep, and start the little projects i always wanted to do but never had time/energy. Looking back tho, I'm kinda thankful that troy super over prepared us so that I can enjoy college life now. But i still wouldn't recommend anyone to go there because i feel like its a damaging place for people like me who arent academically the brightest. This sounds super bitter, partly because i probably am, but I'm a person who values encouragement and you don't really find much of it at troy. It's mostly a place filled with "you can'ts, you'll never be able to's, or that's just not enough's " BuT all that's in the past... its time to move forward :] I know in the beginning I was rather upset about going to Irvine instead of SD, but now i'm super thankful that I didn't get into SD and got to stay close enough to home so that I can go home every weekend. Big and exciting things are happening in our little TPC Joy church and I'm glad to be there and apart of it all. I guess God's just slowly teaching me to trust and obey in his soverign plan. It was so painful for me when i didn't get into SD because it ruined all the plans I had made for myself, but God is good and i'm here to serve Him. "For I know the plans i have for you declares the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" -Jeremiah 29:11 There's still much i'd like to xanga cuz all the little things i think about blogging have accumulated in the last like.. 6 months. buT i gotta go to my sociology discussion now. I'll be posting again soon, hopefully :]
It's finally over! congrats class of 2009! Though there were many many long nights and stressful things throughout the last four years, I'm actually going to miss that place. Troy was soososo hard... but that experience grew me in many different ways and i appreciate everyone of them! I've complained ALOT about it over the years, but i guess thats a part of the whole experience of it all. Four years went by like the blink of an eye and now im off to start a new chapter at UCI! very much exciting.
summer is SO PACKED!! There is so much to do to get ready for our two retreats within the next 2 weeks and our mission trip that is drawing nearer. Belinda and i have been running around trying to prepare for everything coming up and its tiring... but i love it! I love being this busy for the Lord. Although it can be stressful to have so much going on in my mind. its a good kind of stress and the kind of busy i love doing. I must say its rather hard coming up with a whole missions program out of scratch.. but im very excited. Hopefully this can be the start of a new ministry in my lifee?? I really hope to do missions with joni and friends for people with disabilities around the world when i get older but recently we got this letter from Sam and Helen about an orphanage around their home with 92 kids with disabilities living there. After our mission work at the church is done... i'm hoping to go visit the Livingstons and im hoping i get to visit the orphange... MY hopes are that something will spark and i'll be able to help out there... but i dont know if that's what God has in store.. just gotta keep praying :]
my awesome buddies <3 where's waldo/katie?
of course justin gots his funny face on. the first person i ever met at troy! ANd he xangas.. so he's ultra cool my favoritest brother... who doesnt seem to smile in pictures anymore Jameeees! JAF buddies <3 the rents jonny seems to be MIA lately ICT partner <3 we were a good match hehe favoritest sister! our boys and their cool black shirts with white stripes the next best thing after cathy :| SAM YEEEEEEEE! :] shawno (:
I'm gonna be gone for the next six weeks! 2 for retreats and a month in Taiwan. I hope you wont feel deprived of my xanga entries....... :P hehehe
