I know it has been a long time since since I last posted and I greatly apologize for not writing earlier. I could give a couple of excuses why I have not posted before but I will refrain and just let you know what I have been up to these last few months.
The last time I posted was before Christmas so that is where I will start. Christmas is supposed to be be a joyous time when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I usually celebrate Christmas. However this year I was somewhat depressed being away from my family. Most of you know this is not the first time I was away from home for Christmas, but this year I truly felt like that I was away from my family. The years I was in China I served on a team that was really close. We all lived in the same building or building complex. We all had relatively the same teaching schedule and did many things together as a team. My teammates we essentially my family away from home, and when Christmas came we celebrated together as a team or better yet as a family. I do have fellowship with other believers here but I do not have a group of friends like I did in China. Most of the other partners live in downtown Kaohsiung which is half an hour away, and the partners that live nearby have different schedules so we rarely see each other throughout the week. To add to my burden I also had to work on Christmas day, which I have never had to do before. I know that there are many believers who have to go through much worse circumstances, but all these things just came together and made me feel down on Christmas.
New Year's was better; Though I usually don't do anything special for the New Year I got a three and a half day weekend. Yes I had to work on New Year's Morning. Since we Had the extended weekend my roommate and I got on our scooters and went to a place about two hours away and spent two days in the mountains. We stayed in a small village called Maolin. We went hiking at various places and just drove through the mountains stopping at different places to enjoy the beautiful scenery. It was a good time to get away to relax a bit see the how beautiful this island can be once you get away from the city. I was not able to take picture since I still don't have a camera but fortunately my roommate has one so we were able to take some incredible pictures. Because it is a bit difficult to post on this blog I placed them on my facebook page, you can see them there.
The Chinese New Year was the best holiday that I have had thus far. I got a full week off and I went up to Taipei to visit a friend who also served with ELIC. The weather was a bit cold while I was there, but I enjoyed being able to see my friend and being able to see some of the more famous tourist sights. During my time in Taipei I got to talk with my friend about personal and spiritual disciplines in life. Through our conversation I have come to see there are three areas in my life that I need to focus on: The first one is my debt. Though I came to Taiwan to pay off my loans I have decided that I am going to be more active to pay off all my debt so that I do not have any financial burdens holding me back from serving my Lord. Second is my relationship with my Lord. Now I know that may seem a bit strange to hear, but as I look over the last few years I see that my relationship with my with my God has not been what I desire it to be. I have been going through periods of intense seeking and then simple neglect. I have come to see that I need to have a more stable and consistent walk with God. The Last area I will work on is finding a wife. My friend made a comment about Proverbs 18:22 where it says "whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." The idea that he pointed out was that find implies that one is looking. This may open up a big discussion, but I am not going to start that here, if you want to know more then you are just going to have to write me.
Through all the difficulties that I have faced thus far one thing assured me that I am still in the right place. That even when facing some of the problems I have gone through over here I still rather be here serving as a teacher, serving my Lord than being back in the states in the "comforts" of home.
Thanks for your time and I should have a couple of new posts within the next week. Blessings in Christ Name
Joshua
Saturday, March 21, 2009
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