Into The Storm

As I write, I am experiencing my first typhoon. A typhoon is the name for a hurricane sized storm that takes place in the Pacific Ocean. Yesterday saw a lot of rain and some powerful winds. Today there is even more rain, and the winds have continued. On campus, branches and wires are down on the ground everywhere. I was told that the worst is up North closer to Taipei, but it still is affecting us down in Chia-Yi. Today was to be the first day of school. We were to have meetings and an assembly where new teachers were going to be introduced to the students. The school closed however due to the typhoon. So this is a “snow-day” of sorts for me.


A picture from my front door of some of the fallen tree branches.

In spite of the weather, yesterday was very productive. I had meetings with Andrew and Mike and we planned our grading policy and first week of lessons. All three of us will be teaching the same classes. We each have 6 sections of senior 1 (sophomore) writing, 6 sections of senior 1 Bible class, and 6 sections of senior 2 (junior) writing. Doing the math shows that there are 18 sections of 20-30 students for each grade level. I will post another time on practical and logistical aspects of teaching at the school.

This Friday is our first Friday Night Bible Study. It is a time of song, games, and learning about the Bible for kids. On Friday I will be playing guitar and Molly will be playing piano to lead music time. Yesterday we selected the songs we will play and practiced them. I am very excited to get started with Friday Night Bible Study and will post in detail sometime in the next week.

Also, if you notice there is a new link on the webpage. On the right you should be able to find Mark’s Pictures. I have started an online photo album. You can click on the link at it will take you to a website that will store my pictures throughout the year. If I add pictures to it, I will write a note about it on this website.

Prayer requests: Safety for all people caught in natural disasters, especially New Orleans and Taiwan. Pray that this would be a chance to witness Christ’s love.

Pray that our Friday Night Bible Study will go well, and that the Holy Spirit will work to strength faith or bring faith to those that attend.


New Pictures: I have albums for Concordia Campus, my house, school stuff, general pictures from my first week in Taiwan, pictures from our group trip to Tainan, and pictures of a trip to Taichong. If you ever have questions about the pictures please post them in a comment section or send me an email. I would be more than happy to explain them further.



Interaction: I would like to know if you have heard about the Taiwan typhoon in your part of the world. I really have no idea how widespread the coverage is. Also anyone from the states I would be curious to hear the latest about what has happened with New Orleans.