Mon, May 4th - 7:10PM

Massive Major blog update

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written a blog.  This will be brief but informative.

I've been a bit sick with a flu, then a virus, then with bell's palsy which affected the left side of my face.  The facial nerves were not working properly and the muscles were weak.  It left my left side a little droopy.  Many people have been sick.

Discipleship is going well.  People are growing.  They are memorizing scripture.  Pray that they will take the next step in sharing their faith with others.  Some of my girls are doing just that.  One young lady has shared the OMF Chronological stories with coworkers and friends.  Two woman have received Christ.  One has been baptized.

As the school representative for TLI (my language school) these last couple of months have been quite different. 

I've had the opportunity to share the gospel with a couple of people at the school. 

Another couple had a terrible time physically.  The husband (Steven) had to have emergency surgery on his intestines.  He almost died. 

Another couple (Sean & Hanna) got married in South Africa and returned to have another wedding in Taiwan.  They are believers.  He is from S. Africa and she is from Finland.  They just found out that she is pregnant.  Praise the Lord!

Another pastor and wife (Tad & Hannah) just had a baby boy (Titus) on the 29th of April. Again Praise the Lord!

Please pray for Mary.  She is a pastor's wife who got into a bicycle accident and broke her jaw.  Please pray for a full and quick recovery.  She has 6 children at home that she is caring for and teaching.  They had to sew her jaw and she has a couple of rods. She is a strong woman of God.  However, this is not easy for anyone.

My language studies are doing quite well.  Everyday is an improvement.

The ship MV Doulos came into port about a month ago.  They had just sailed from the Philippines.  I had the privilege of being a committee member and helping out the missionaries onboard.  This ship is the oldest passenger vessel in the world and the largest and oldest floating bookstore as well.

I did some informal translation for people onboard the ship as they wanted to go to different places in the city.

The head teacher (Cindy) came to my home for a few days of rest.  She is from the Kansas City area.  What a small world.  We hit it off quickly.  It was amazing. We had a wonderful time together.  At the end of her stay we were eating at a pizza place when a man walked up to us and started a conversation with us.  After about 20 minutes he received Jesus.  Praise the Lord!

Two other women from the ship stayed with me for a few days.  One was from Trinidad & Tobago and the other from S. Africa.  Again we had a wonderful time together.

I had the oportunity to visit the ship several times and take the ship's crew out to a great coffee house up in the mountains.  Many ship's crew went there afterward.  It is called Mountainside Cafe.

Easter Sunday some of the crew came to HsiaoKang and sang with the youth from my church as we lead early sunrise morning worship.  This is when I found out that I had a problem.  I couldn't play the shofar.  I didn't understand why until about five days later. (Bell's Palsy)

This was the first time that a western medicine doctor encouraged me to see an eastern medicine doctor.  It was quite interesting.  I did see the eastern medicine doctor and he helped me quite a bit.  The western medicine doctor said that I would recover totally. He did a facial nerve test.

Also on Easter we had six people get baptized.  It was a wonderful time together.  I gave a hug to one woman and she burst into tears for joy at being baptized.

I became friends with Betty & Karl from Alaska and Lanie & Yohan from Holland.  We spent some time together.  I had the privilege to have them plus the Captain and Gary the electrician to my home for some R&R plus a good home cooked meal.

The ship had over 100,000 visitors during their stay on the ship.  Several people came to know Jesus.  The names were given to local pastors who will follow up on them.

Please pray for Vera from Brazil.  She is supposed to have thyroid surgery in Hualian withint the next week.

I had the opportunity to preach two services at Shepherd Covenant Church in DongGang.  About 60+ people rededicated themselves to the Lord and to be passionate about Him to Him and to others.

Also, at Nanzhe Higher Ground church around 60 people made commitments to be totally sold out for Christ and to have God develop His character in them.  What a blessing.

My mom had gall bladder surgery about little more than a week ago.  She is having some problems with the recovery.  Please lift her up for total healing.

We are going to start another English based Bible Study at the church.  There are 7 levels of English.  From low to high (1-7) .  Monday evenings is level 5 & 7.  Thursday evenings is level 2 & 3.  Please pray for me and my preparation for these classes.

The Shepherd Covenant Missionary Training School (Gospel Class) is going well.  Pray that the students will be able to complete their assignments with joy.  They are struggling especially with their work and class schedules.

In a couple of hours I'll be going to the Philippines.  I may or may not be able to get e-mail.   I'll be there for about three weeks or so.  One of the Ladies from Nanzhe Higher Ground Church translated the book: Discipleship: A way of Life and the Discipleship seminar book.  We have them all printed.  I'm taking them with me to the Philippines now that they are in English and Tagalog.  Another man from my church has translated the same into Chinese.  Praise the Lord!

The following is my tentative itinerary for the Philippines:

May 5 - arrival & overnight stay with Pastor Tito's family in quezon City

May 6 - go to the Baptist Guest House in Pasay and rest for a couple of days & be available.

May 8-9 - time with Hayley in Pampanga

May 10 - speak in Shalon-Oceans of Life Ministries (new church planting ministry)

May 11-15 - Football (Soccer) officials of the Philippines

May 16 - Travel to Mindoro

May 17 - Speak in Amaina Worship

May 18 - Free time

May 19-24 - Amaina Youth Camp (Discipleship Camp)

May 25 - 27 open for other ministry opportunities.

Prayer items:

1.   Health & Safety

2.   Be prepared for all that God wants to do through me

3.   Daily disciplines

4.   Preparation for new semester of Chinese & teaching English Bible Classes

5.   I really want to see many people saved.

6.   We've raised about $107,000 NTD ($3,000 USD)to purchase a jungle vehicle.  Please pray that we'll be able to get this vehicle at a reasonable cost.  We probably need a little more unless the Lord gives us the vehicle at a lower cost. 

7.   May 31 in the Global day of prayer.  Pray for unity and a breakthrough in the   heavenlies for Taiwan.

8.   Please pray for my mom's quick recovery from surgery & rehabilitation. She is 80 years old.

9.   Please pray for Mary's quick recovery.

Scripture:

Philippians 4:13,19

Psalm 2:8

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Thank you for your prayers.

Pastor Xiao Yang