a visit from Harvard (of the midwest) students

The past month I've been busy in tour guide mode with a group of students from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO. The group was led by my good friends and former co-workers Keevin and Stephanie McGlumphry. Normally groups just stay for a couple of weeks but this group blessed us with their presence for a whole month! At the left is a picture of them in Taidong which is on the east coast of Taiwan.
When groups come we try to give them a taste of what it's like to be a missionary here. The ministry being done here is so diverse that no matter what your strengths are you can find a place to serve. The students were able to visited an orphanage, a prison, as well as several schools and universities. And since we are a church planting mission we tried to show them the many different ways that a church can be started. I love our group of missionaries and I think it's cool how God can use such a diverse group of people to work towards a common purpose so it's fun to introduce our ministry to new people.
It's hard to summarize a whole month of fun, stress, excitement, adventure and laughter in one little blog so here are some things that stand out in my mind--
STEPHANIE!! The most anticipated part of this trip was the return of Keevin and Stephanie to Taiwan. One of the many things Stephanie wanted to do while she was here was go out for tea at the Rose House. When we were all one team we would do accountability together once a week at a tea house. When we would go the the Rose House we would always get shushed because Stephanie is so loud!:-) Actually, it was probably all of us being loud but we always blamed it on her because she has the loudest voice and laugh out of all of us. This is a picture of me, Alicia Edwards, Stephanie and Angie Pagel revisiting old times.

Laughing with Keevin.
One of my first memories of Keevin is him dancing around the streets of Taipei in a rain storm with an umbrella singing "Singin' in the Rain". He is probably one of the funniest people I know and he reminds me alot of my brother so it's fun to spend time with him. Plus occasionally when I visit him in America he lets me steal his Dr. Pepper. He's the best "SBFF" (substitute best friend forever) a girl could have! Here are some fun pictures of him from the trip. A couple of them might tip you off to the reason I now call him "Creepy Keevin"






Getting to know the students. This group was so great. They were willing to do whatever we asked them to do whether it was leading a girl scout meeting or cleaning "dirty black death" out of a rain gutter. And they were just fun to hang out with. Plus they were good at entertaining themselves, which makes my job as unofficial tour guide much easier. They also worked really hard at learning Chinese. There were so many funny things that happened on the trip, which I won't share because you probably had to be there to think they were funny, but everyday since they've left something reminds me of them and I just have to laugh.
I just really can't say enough about how special they are to me now! They are great friends, potential SBFF's(watch out Keevin!), brothers and sisters in Christ and one super hero sidekick!


Girls Night! I would say more but we all know "What happens at girls night stays at girls night"
I was blessed to get to spend lots of time with these amazing girls!









Introducing the American students to my Taiwan students.









Getting up at the crack of dawn to see a movie w/ Stephanie
ok, so it wasn't exactly the crack of dawn but it was pretty early for a movie (8:35 a.m.) and for a person who hates mornings it was quite a challenge. But anything for movie time with Stephanie... and Johnny Depp.















Watching Jillian get in touch with her inner homegirl
ok, not really, it's just a cute picture and makes me laugh so I had to include it.




Seeing Taiwan through new eyes.
I will never be able to look at this drink company's logo the same way again after this picture.
I've lived here long enough now that most things aren't really foreign to me anymore. So when groups like this come it's fun to see things from their perspective.
Thanks Derek for the pictures!