He takes my breath away

So.... if you have yet to fall in love with Him... our God is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! He just stinking IS!! I was grading one of my students' journals today at a coffee shop, and reading through part of Mark, and praying, and just spending time with the Lord. I was talking to God about something that's been on my heart and mind all week, and I finally wrote my prayer out to God (helps me process what I'm saying to Him, and helps me go back later and see how He's answered specific prayers). Towards the end, as I've written this nice, semi-formal letter/prayer to God; I got fed up with myself. And said, alright God, you know what's on my heart and mind, so who am I kidding? It's not like you'll only hear the words I say out loud, and not hear the words I'm screaming in my mind. So, I wrote what was really on my heart, and pleaded with God. Being completely real with Him, sharing my insecurity in not trusting him completely w/ this certain area of my life, and asked for a sign. I real, tangible, specific, big sign. I said, "God, you know me, and so you know it needs to be really clear."

I ended, and was about to head back home. But just as I was leaving, another YWAMer, and new friend of mine came in for coffee. We chatted momentarily, and then she discovered something. We both gazed out of the window, in awe at this incredibly beautiful rainbow God had just painted across the sky. She went back to her reading and praying, and I slowly walked outside. The world around me was a blur, and God was speaking LOUD and CLEAR. This was by far the most vivid, full, colorful, and totally complete rainbow I've ever seen. And the sun was already set! God was Saying, Miranda, you remember Noah? You remember how I protected Him, and then gave him a vivid promise through something really tangible? Well, here ya go Noah Rockhill. My breath was literally taken out of me, like someone punched me in the stomach. The Taiwanese couple walking next to me heard me gasp, and actually looked back to make sure I was physically alright. God amazes me; and never ceases to surprise me at how quickly, how incredibly He answers prayer. It was the confirmation I needed exactly when I needed it (if not sooner). Remember His promises..... remember who He is.

WOW!

website

Here's some more information about our base here in Dan Shui, our base website is www.ywamtaipei.com

and our specific DTS website (new) is www.dtstaipei.com

blessings from DanShui,
miranda kay

dreads

Well, my latest endeavor here in Taiwan will begin in about an hour. I'm putting dread-locks in one of the students' hair. Yikes! I'm nervous and excited, and I'll let you know how it goes.

This first week of classes/activities went very well. All of the students are adjusting to each other, and the fast-paced lifestyle of DTS. They've begun reading the books for their first book report (Is That Really You God? by: Loren Cunningham). And they've all begun ministry at the ROCK coffee bar that YWAM runs here in DanShui.

Thanks for your prayers. The students who have been on the fringe, so to say, are doing much better...... getting into the group, talking to people, intently listening to the speaker's teachings, etc. It's incredible to see what God's doing in the hearts of the other students as well. Your prayers are heard, and felt from afar. God is moving in this city. It's wonderful. His truth is penetrating the hearts of the Taiwanese, and changing their lives.

In a few hours I'm taking some of the students into Taipei City, to the largest night market in Taiwan; Shilling Night Market. But for now, I must run to the office and get some saturday afternoon things done. :)

Blessings to you all. Dream big; God is bigger.
Miranda Kay

up for the challenge

Well today was the first official day of class for the new DTS.... and we made it! :) We ended up with ten students; six guys and four girls. The students I wrote about before are here, and settled, but we also have Stephen (from LA, but is Taiwanese and speaks good chinese), Szh Fan (the boys have given him the english name of "Matt") from Taiwan, and Lee Yo Rou (the boys have given him the english name of "jake").

Each student is VERY different from the rest; all have different life stories, family stories, and places that they are in life. The girls are the spiritual leaders, as a whole. But that doesn't mean our guys don't love Jesus. But please be in prayer as the majority of our guys come from difficult backgrounds, all 6 guys are 20 or younger, one is re-doing DTS, and one isn't even a Christian yet... (I'll explain that in a later blog). They're digging right in from the start; this week's teaching is on Hearing God's Voice and the Fear of the Lord. Today was mainly the first. Our base director Don Gillman is teaching this first week. Wonderful stuff. Thank you for caring and for praying for me and the rest who are involved in the school. The following are some specific prayer requests I have for this week.

Please pray for the students;
- that the one who isn't a Christian yet will come to understand Christ's sacrifice for him, and what his role in alife devoted to Christ looks like...... and that the ones who haven't been walking with God recently will be shaken up by Christ; radically changing the way they live out of the overflow of their heart's desire for more of Him!!!!
- that they will learn to love each other inspite of their differences, and include each other in their daily lives/activities
- that they will be bold in the way that they share Christ through their lives and words in the ministries they work in

and for the staff;
- that we will love the students out of the overflow of our love for Christ, and that it would be unconditional love
- that we will wait on the Lord on behalf of our students; and when God speaks, that we will be obedient and bold in speaking into their lives.
- that the students will see Christ at work in our lives, and desire a deeper walk with Him because of that.

visa visa (said in the little ceasar's "pizza pizza" style voice)

I'm back in Taiwan with.... a visa. Not the right one, but a visa. and thank you Jesus, I won't have to go back to Hong Kong to get the new one. I just have to get a health check thing done here in Taipei at a certain hospital, sometime in the next 2 months and then get the visa switched over from a 2-month visitor visa to a year-long ARC (alien residence card). :) More to come about Hong Kong, and the beginning of school. We start bright and early tomorrow.... and I didn't get much sleep in the airport in Hong Kong last night; imagine that, with bright lights on the whole time,and a terribly uncomfortable table/chair to sleep on, and the PA system going off every 15 minutes to remind me of all the ways to not get swine flu. :) Ok, so all of those things are true, but God did grant me small increments of rest, for which I was very grateful for. And I made it through today... but alas, I'm exhausted. But, as I said in my last blog... God is strong in my weakness; and that's true for my physical weakness too. So; I'll trust Him for tomorrow, and know that He is my portion..... physically and otherwise.

Thanks for your prayers. I'm alive, and well, and have a visa of some sort. =)


ps- for those of you who don't understand the title... don't worry. It's just Miranda being tired and punchy..... and knowing Abby will appreciate the joke. :)

pressing into grace

yes, i go to hong kong in a few hours.. and for those of you praying.. THANK YOU.... I'll let you know when I'm back in Taiwan, (very) hopefuly with an official residency in Taiwan (crazy.. I'll be a resident). :)

But... for today. God is strong in my weakness. He's been pounding this into my head for some time, but I've never gotten it. And I still don't, I'm sure. But, I get it more now than ever before. I've always desired strength. I was the tom-boy, i was strong, i could lift it, move it, throw it, hold onto it.... typically. And it made me mad when I couldn't. And in the same respect; I've been doing that with sin. I'm strong enough... or I should be,right?

WRONG!!! God has told me time and time again through His word and through situations that I'm not strong enough. I can't do this. I've tried; a long time. It never works, so why do I think that next time it will? I'll magically be able to overcome things on my own......and when I have Him... why in the world would I want to (do it alone)???

In Chinese they'd call me fong-szzh (crazy). I have the creator of the universe; why do I try to take on that role? He wants to do this for me; why don't I run straight to Him and thank Him for His desire to live in and through me? He doesn't want to be a part of my life, even a big part....He wants to BE my life, my strength, my portion. And I'm beginning to let Him. And it's amazing; So freeing.

So; I'm pressing into the heart of the Father. Pressing into grace.

Nitty Gritty Info-fitty

Ok, so yes, another lame title.... like I've said before; maybe God will grant me an abundance of creativity by the end of the year, so the blog titles won't be so odd... we'll see. First off; THANK YOU for your prayers this week. Quite a few things have happened that have been direct answers to prayer, and I know that's not a coincidence. Most of them have been conversations; three with students who are coming this week, and one with Kevin, the guy I blogged about in my last post.

Second; I wanted you to know who I'm working with, and who we're mainly ministering to. The following is a bit of information on each of the people on staff for the Fall 2009 DTS. And following is info about the students coming to the Fall school. Their pictures will put a face with a name, and I've added a picture on the left-hand side of the blog with all the students on one picture, and all the staff in another... so they're always there, when this post is long gone into the depths of the blog archives. :)

STAFF :

Brent and April : Brent is the school leader, and is the only man on staff... pray for him....! :) April will be helping as she can, with the school and staff; but she's in the process of pioneering a ministry that works with prostitutes in Taipei and Dan Shui, so she has her hands full.. They will not be living with the school in our house. They're from America (family.. he's from a dairy farm in PA...we've already shared farm stories. woohoo!)
Rachel : This is her 2nd school staffing, she did DTS directly before she began staffing. She's in her 30's. She's from Singapore, and she's extremely organized. Oh, and she doesn't like fans or AirCon (what they call air conditioning here). Oh yes, and she dyed the tips of her hair green the day I moved in... she's crazy and we love her. :)
Phoebe : From Taiwan, and has been involved with YWAM Taipei for 5.5 years, but this is her 1st time staffing DTS. She's 29, and is dating a Canadian, so she's learning to like hockey. Her father is struggling in the hospital with medical issues related to diabetes.... PLEASE pray for him. He's a Christian, but her mother's not. The first time this happened (the diabetes hitting him all at once), her dad came to Christ, so we're all praying that God will use this time to bring her mother into the Family!
Lily : She's from Taiwan. She's one of the most kind people I've ever met. She is in her 30's, and just finished her DTS. This is, therefore, her 1st time staffing. She and I get along very well; our personalities are quite alike. She calls me "Asia girl." I love her :)

STUDENTS -
Jeanine: A beautiful woman in her 30's from the Dominican Republic. We've talked a couple times already and it's been a blessing. She arrives tomorrow at 6am.
Danny : Oh Danny.... if you live in this house for one day, you'll hear that; probably multiple times. :) We love him, but he's a handful. He's 18 (and loves to tell you he's a man), he's from Paraguay but has lived in Taiwan for 6 years, so when he doesn't understand my English I try it in Spanish, and we're usually ok. :) He didn't graduate from the last DTS, so he's doing it over... not very typical, but Danny's not a typical guy. Pray for him.
Elizabeth : She's 19, and her parents are friends with the base director. She's gotten herself into some not so great stuff, so pray that this will be a time of true healing for her. She's from Virginia, and God also blessed me with a great conversation with her last night. :)
Emily : She's part Hawaiian and part America, but has lived her whole life in Okinawa, Japan; her parents are missionaries there. She's 18, and we have mutual friends from here on the base. We've had a couple of wonderful talks also.
Timy : Timy's from Pennsylvania. He's 19, and has asked more questions about DTS than anyone ever thought possible. We've had a few good talks as well, and he seems like a great guy; God's gunna shake him up. :)
Leo : Leo is a very new Christian, but very excited about DTS. He's only 16, but God has done a work in his (non-christian) parents' heart and they're ok with him taking a year off of high school to do DTS. He's from here in DanShui, and is just a peach of a guy.

Thanks for praying for us all. God hears. Blessings to you as you continue to pursue the heart of the God who loves you more than life!

please pray

Just a quick update from here in DanShui. Today's been a bit of a tiring day; a great beginning to a seminar this morning, and a long staff meeting this afternoon (where we only got one of the three planned things accomplished.... go figure). It was frustrating too, I'm already finding myself getting frustrated because of language barriers.... if only every little phrase of staff meetings didn't have to get re-said in another language. Sigh, but that's my own pride and selfishness and impatience talking. Pray that God will continue to humble me, and help me to realize much of my frustration comes because I'm simply impatient.

Despite the crazy day, I was just rejuvenated a few minutes ago when I talked to my friend Kevin. Kevin is a boy that is studying at the largest University here in Dan Shui. He was in an English club (more of a class) that I taught along with two university professors, when I was here two years ago. Anyway; he and I have kept up, via the internet off and on since I left Taiwan last time. And, in talking to him tonight he said he would like to come to the ROCK to see me tomorrow night. He is nervous; because he has lost a lot of his english since we left, because there is no one to practice with. But I'm praying that his fears are calmed, and that I am able to speak to him about why I came back to Taiwan. He is not a Christian and doesn't understand the concept of grace like Christ gives. Please pray for Kevin; that we will be bale to communicate well (with the help, I'm sure, of one of my taiwanese friends), and that through him I will be able to re-connect with the group of students that I got to know two years ago, and that I can share Christ's love and salvation with them!!

To the King,
Miranda Kay