2000-10-28

Hello from Taiwan! 10-28-00

Dear Family & Friends,
This past week has been a little different in routine (next week will be different too). Five employees of the International Mission Board (in Va.) are visiting and bringing good changes. The guys are here to set up the network system (in Jackie’s office) and to train the Taiwan Mission employees to use new software. This will especially jump-start Jackie in his administrative/computer ministry with the Mission office. Jackie has thoroughly enjoyed watching and learning from these guys all week. He will receive additional & specific training next week also. Thank your for praying for customs to release the office computers. They were released the day before these guys arrived!

Although Jackie and I have been attached at the hip for many months now, that has come to an end as we settle into new routines. While Jackie was at the office watching & learning from four of these computer guru’s, I was in the conference room (located in the basement of our apartment building) with about twenty other missionaries and our personal computers. We received excellent training from one of the guys all week in Microsoft Power Point, Outlook and Excel. These applications are very helpful to all for ministry presentation, personal contact/scheduling and for record keeping. We received some training about the security issues also. Some of our folks travel in/out of the mainland where persecution for Christianity is a growing reality. We need to practice security with a secure computer server for their sake; we will come in contact with many while we are stationed here. I feel like I’ve learned quite a bit.

We had the computer guys over for some American food last night and enjoyed being able to share our new home with them. Many opened their homes to us when we first arrived and we know the comfort of a home cooked meal! We are taking a break from our language study during this special time of training and hope that we don’t loose what we’ve learned so far. However, as we visit with these guys, we find ourselves teaching them words and phrases in Chinese, which does reveal that we have made a little progress!

Thank you for praying for a personal ministry for each of us. God has led Jackie to be a discussion leader in the men’s BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) in the Matthew study. When he said “yes??? to the teaching leader’s invitation, Nelson (the TL) shared how Jackie is an answer to prayer. The weekend before he met Jackie, his Area Advisors (stationed in Hong Kong) visited with him and challenged him to pray specifically for the needs of the men’s class. That very weekend, Nelson asked the Lord to send him an experienced BSF discussion leader! Jackie is very thankful that Nelson waited about three weeks (for us to adapt to Taiwan) before asking Jackie to pray about being a leader. I continue to pray for the ministry of God’s choice for me; please pray with me as I wait. Please continue to pray for us as we seek creative ways to embrace the people of this country with Christ’s love.

Our daughter Paige was in a wreck last week. We are very thankful that the only thing hurt was her car! Please pray for her as she waits for insurance coverage and repairs. Our son Travis is traveling in Canada at this time. Please pray for his safety. It’s during this time that the reality of being so far away from all that is familiar, and all that is dear to us, is difficult. Please pray we will rest in God’s peace concerning these matters.

If you haven’t visited our website http://bellcentral.dhs.org lately you might want to give it a look. We updated some things and added some photos. If you cannot connect with our site, please try again. Sometimes the server is down. Travis (our Webhost) is having difficulties with the cable service. Hopefully it will be resolved soon.

We love hearing from you and want to thank you for praying for us and for sending email to let us know how to pray for you. Please stay in touch – our hearts are still in Texas with you!

In His Kindness, Colossians 3:12-17 17 And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord
Jackie & Fran Jesus, and come with him into the presence of God the Father to give him your thanks. TLB