Lary Leaving for the Village

I will leave shelter Tuesday morning, March 10 here, and go to Haulien. I will be staying in a hotel owned by a church member. The motel is about 10 minutes from the Mei Lin Baptist Church. I will have an electric scooter to use in getting from hotel to church if I feel comfortable doing that. I would love to be able to do that. An electric scooter does not require a Taiwan drivers license.. Pray for safety while traveling on scooter. It won't go very fast. I will share gospel with aboriginal people around there. May not have wifi while doing this. Should have wifi at hotel where I am staying and at the church. Not sure what else I will be doing while there. Rocked World performance at the church on Friday or Saturday night, not sure which. Mike C. will arrive I think Friday night so the performance is probably Saturday night. I will attend worship there and will come back with Mike to Taipei Sunday afternoon. I will worship at Bread of Life church this coming Sunday. Sarah and baby Joel are also going there to worship. Keep me in prayer as I begin teaching this coming week - March 17,18, 20 - with Jeri and Conner absent. I will be teaching at Ji-Sui Junior High School on Tuesday and Wednesday and New Taipei City Zhongzheng Junior High School on Friday. Whatever you can imagine I might need prayers for and then some is requested.

--Lary

The Latest from Lary

The latest from Lary:

This morning went very well. Left shelter at 6:00 am rode the subway and then taxi the school. Arrived 30 minutes early. Saw more students go through the gate this morning than I had over my teaching career.. Waited on Jeri and Conner and Michelle and Naomi (the others on our team) to get there. We had to wait a little bit at the beginning because they were having a tornado drill to start with. Inside the gate in front of the school were several basketball courts in the space behind the gate to the front of the school. Instead of the 1000 7th graders meeting in an auditorium, they had them sit down ion the court in the area in front of the school. They were all dresses in Orange pants and jackets. The microphone was placed on the steps leading to the front of the school. Jeri spoke first, then Conner, then myself. God gave us each the words to speak. All of the words spoken by each one of us went together smoothly. I didn't know what Jeri and Conner were going to say but one of Conner's points fit perfectly with what God laid upon my heart to share. The students were well behaved, focused, and attentive. The 8th graders were identified with similar attire but the color was blue. The freshmen wore like pants and jackets which were a chartreuse color. After the students were dismissed they had to go past us in going to their classes. We had in hand sheets of paper that explained the process of what they needed to do in order to sign up for the drama club. All of us were empty handed when the students were all gone away. I know I had at least 20-25 sheets in my hand. I am not sure how many sheets were printed.

Tomorrow we will return to the same school ( same time) and meet with the 8th graders and do the same thing.  Tomorrow afternoon Jeri, Conner, and I will work on lesson plans for classes day1 and if we have time work on day 2.

Thank you for the prayers!  Keep praying please!

Prayers for Lary as He Goes

Lary leaves for Taiwan on Tuesday.  As he goes, he has asked that we, as his church family, pray the Prayer of Jabez daily for him.

The Prayer of Jabez

"Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request." 1 Chronicles 4:10

Please be in prayer as he leaves on Tuesday at 6:10 am.  Pray that God would be the 'pilot' of his plane.  He has some short layovers before connecting flights.  Please ask that the planes be on time or even early to these locations and that manuvering through what might be unfamiliar airports be smooth and simple.

He is scheduled to arrive in Taipei, Taiwan at 6:25 pm their time and 4:30 am Missouri time on February 25.  Additionally please ask that it is simple to go through customs and that the person who is picking him up is on time and easy to find.  Upon arrival begins the adjustment to their time zone, so please pray that he is able to sleep when he is supposed to and able to be alert and awake when he's supposed to.

Be looking for more updates and prayer requests from Lary in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Togo Winter Trip

We just returned from another trip to Togo and it was a great one!  On this trip we focused on two areas: 1) business development, and 2) researching the unreached Anii people of central Togo.  

Our main objective in Togo is to see people won to Christ.  Why then do we teach business classes? Because we believe that strong business create jobs and wealth, which in turn increases the resources necessary to plant new churches, which in turn win more people to Christ.  We partner with a church in Mision Tove, Togo in a church planting strategy that desperately needs resources to plant new churches.  While we as a church could simply send them money, that is not sustainable and is not the best method of church planting.  We really want the local church to spearhead these efforts with minimal funding coming from the US.  Most every missions agency agrees that the method with the greatest long term sustainability is to have active local involvement and buy-in.  

Therefore, we are trying to do what we can to get the resources necessary from within Togo to plant these new churches.  We believe that strong businesses owned by members of the church will do just that.  They already have a heart for that.  We have seen our partner church plant five churches on their own and we want to put more fuel on that fire. 

The team taught business classes in two villages, Mission Tove, and Atsave with 41 and 27 business owners attending, respectively, The topics taught were: How to analyze profitability, how to set yourself apart from the competition, and how to set up record keeping for management decisions.  The members asked a lot of great questions which we tried to answer thoroughly.  While this took a lot of time, many of the questions applied to everyone there so it was beneficial for almost everyone.  

Stay tuned to hear more about the Anii people group!  Kevin Ginnings led that trip and we hope to hear more when he gets home from Togo in a few days.

We would love to answer any questions you may have about the trip, so please let us know!  Keep in mind, we have two more trips this year if you feel God calling you to serve internationally.  The dates will be July 12-23rd and October 2-15th.

--Dennis

Did You Know This about Taiwan?

So, you know Heart of Life does missions in Taiwan.  You may even know someone who has gone to Taiwan.  Maybe you yourself have even visited Taiwan.  But, how much do you really know about this little country??

To find out more about the country, the people, their religion, things that help share the Gospel there (referred to as "bridges"), and hindrances/barriers to sharing the Gospel, click the link below.  

Taiwan Country Profile

(The link is from the International Mission Board (IMB) who Heart of Life occasionally partners with and has had and continues to have a long-term missionary presence in Taiwan.)

Pray for Pastor Daniel's Family and Those Traveling to the Funeral

As many of you may have heard on Sunday, Pastor Daniel's wife, Comfort, passed away.  Pastor Daniel is one our main national partners in Togo.  Please remember to be in prayer for Pastor Daniel and thier four children:  John Mark, Emmanuel, Sunday, and Blessing.

Dennis R. and Kevin G. will be traveling to Togo on Thursday in order to be there for Comfort's funeral. Please be in prayer for them as they travel there and then travel back to Missouri following the funeral.

Peek in at Taiwan

Good News Mother Church--English camp has been going on

First scene of Judgement House.  Many lives have been changed.  They are doing a remarkable job.

WATCH out for that kid...!

Photo credit and quotes:  Scott L.