Welcome!

Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ. While I have posted a couple of times before, this is post will start my regular upkeep of this website. So welcome to “Live Like A Champion Today!” I will use this website as a means of conveying information about my mission work in Taiwan and my experiences throughout this next year. It will be a supplement to my newsletters and emails. Think of this as an online journal of my experiences, which will showcase my thoughts and feelings as I live and work in another country.

This journal will focus on the spiritual, physical, emotional, and practical aspects of my journey. Above all, my hope and prayer is that this will be an INTERACTIVE website. I would like to use this as a means to communicate and grow in relationships with people who stop at this site. Please feel free to comment or ask questions at anytime. I will either answer questions within the comments section of each post, or I will answer them in the next journal entry. In order to post, you do need to register at the site. Just pick a screen name and password, and enter this when you post. There is no cost to do this, and if you have any questions about it please email me at mark.wolfram@lcms.org.

So here are my thoughts for today:

Camp was an awesome experience as usual. The thing I love most about camp is that it is an escape from the rest of the world. Being up there for one week, I never left the grounds. The most important things were the kids in my cabin and the other kids at camp. We had fun together playing games, sports, crafts, and learning about God’s love and his mission for us. The theme this year was Spy Cubs, and we were all secret agents working for the Cheif. This year was especially joyous as I got to share with my campers about my upcoming mission to Taiwan.

I returned home to Des Moines yesterday, and was exhausted. Today I met with Rev. Stephen Oliver, who is serving at China Lutheran Seminary at Hsinchu, Taiwan. I had a chance to hear him preach and then enjoyed lunch with him. It was a blessing to meet him and hear about his ministry. Through all of these experiences this past week, God stirred up excitement in me. The departure seems really close and I eagerly await the chance to go over to Taiwan and witness Christ’s love.

Prayer requests for the coming days:

Thanksgiving that God has provided friends and family to fund and pray for me throughout this coming year.

Interaction:

Describe something that you are thankful for today.

Leaving for camp!

I have to post once more before I take off. I am on my way to camp for a week of camp counseling. After listening to Anne's blog, I look forward to similar stories of screaming kids. Oh well, I love it up there! Okoboji is such a fun time in the summer. Sorry this is going to be short, but my mother is in my ear about the fact that we have to leave ASAP! I do love her, but right now I think her urgency is comical. I'll be back in one week, and will have this thing going on a regular basis. Possibly I can get some pictures on the site as well. Alright, I need to go. Take it easy.

Really up and running

Alright, I think I have figured some of this stuff out now. So while I had the site up before, now I want to actually use it. Thoughts from today:

I went and visited the elementary kids I used to work with in Nevada, Iowa. It was truly a blessing to see them, and was reminded of why I love working with children and being a teacher. It sure beats the monotony of McDonald's. I have only one week of that left, and then will be taking a week to camp counsel at Camp Okoboji. I am so excited about going back to camp this summer.

That's all for now. Take it easy!

Up and Running

Wow, I actually got this set up. I am just writing this post to see if it will actually work. Nothing flashy, but I have to go to work soon anyhow.