Dear Praying Friends:
Tea for Three
Last weekend the whole family (Jason, Kristie, and Ellie) went with the Chinese Language Center on a trip into the mountains of Taiwan. The point of the trip was to observe the Chinese tea making process from picking the buds from the tea bushes to drying and rolling. It was amazing to see row after row of tea bushes planted up the sides of the steep mountain slopes and the hard working women diligently harvesting the highly treasured tea leaves. In our opinions, the best part by far was the pleasure of getting out of the city, breathing fresh mountain air and witnessing the spectacular beauty of the mountains.
Religious Conversations
Kristie and I love entertaining and our Taiwanese friends are equally intrigued to come to our home and eat our unusual food (they assume we eat hamburgers everyday). Our goal is to get to know people better and to have opportunities to talk about our faith in Christ. Just the simple of act of praying to God to bless the food often draws interest and questions about the significance of this practice.
The last couple we invited for dinner were a Korean classmate and his Taiwanese girlfriend. During our dinner of pancakes and potato casserole Kristie got the chance to practice her recent lesson from a Chinese text book called “Religious Conversations” by explaining the spiritual meaning of Christian baptism.
Praises and Petitions
- Please pray that the Lord would allow us to have more “religious conversations” through inviting friends to share a meal, language exchange, and the regular interactions with the people we see everyday.
- Praise! Jason won a scholastic achievement scholarship from the Chinese Language Center to help pay for tuition for the Spring semester.
- The last few months have been a time of tremendous blessing with our now 9-month old daughter Ellie but it has also been at times hard and frustrating. Because of Ellie’s active curiosity she often doesn’t sleep well at night, getting up several times to eat, and as a result we are both very low on energy. Please pray with us that she would start sleeping through the night soon.
- Jason is currently applying to graduate programs in East Asia Studies for the Fall of 2008. Please ask that the Lord would lead us as we plan for the next stage of our ministry as we seek to continue to improve our ability to express ourselves and the Lord’s Word in Mandarin and learn more about Chinese culture and society.
Be anxious for nothing … and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6
Yours in God’s peace,
Jason and Kristie Truell
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