Yes, that is what Luke 10:3-4 says. "Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack (bag), no sandals..." Okay Lord, so I'll only be taking only a toothbrush, toothpaste, tissues, papers, a pen, my passport and a tennisball. I trust You to provide EVERYTHING else I need for this 11-day journey. Man, and what a diverse few days it was...
So, during our time in Taiwan, we split the team into groups of 3, gave everyone a few days to pray for direction and then headed out, not just to tell people about Jesus, but really being His hands and feet, by living in complete dependency of God. We so easily say that we trust God, but when push comes to shove, we realise that maybe we don't trust Him as much as we thought we did.
Gerrie, Albie and myself felt led to the small town of Guangfu – which is halfway down the country, on the east coast of the island. We were ready and excited to get there immediately, but God first needed to prepare our hearts, by teaching us to wait on Him and what it means to really trust in Him.
After walking for 6 hours through the streets of Taipei, since we didn't have any money for the train and no-one would give us a lift, we arrived at Taipei Main Railway Station, trusting that from here we would catch a train to Guangfu. God is going to provide 3 tickets for us. So, we waited. And we waited. And we waited...
For 4 days, we were hanging around the train station. Inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs. We knew everyone working there! And they knew us, since we're 3 foreigners, wearing the same clothes every day! You can't really miss that. Luckily we were "welcomed" into the community of homeless people living on the train station. From sleeping on the dirty floor the first night, we were upgraded to sleeping on cardboard boxes! What a blessing! One of them even "made" our bed for us one night.
The other challenge we faced during this time, is that you don't just find food lying around. We were blessed with sushi and bread on our first night, but that lasted only until breakfast the next morning.
Deuteronomy 8 – Do not forget the Lord.& nbsp; Remember how God led you through the desert – to humble and test you in order to know what's in your heart, whether or not you'll keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, something your fathers didn't know, to teach you that you don't live on bread alone. A very humbling, and hungry, 2 days is what followed. Man, what an amazingly special time this was! When the flesh is weak, the Spirit is strong! Philippians 4 – I'm rejoicing IN God! Like Paul, I know what it is to have a lot and to go hungry. And I've learned in whatever situation I am, to be content.
Day 4, we were still waiting. Quite weak in our bodies, but rejoicing in the Spirit. 2 girls approached us and invited us to a free medical clinic, where they test your blood pressure, blood sugar and you have an opportunity to see the doctor, if you need any medical assistance. This is a "service" they offer every 2 months. We headed out, with our boxes, which they thought we were using for recycling. They were surprised that we're actually sleeping on them at night! After filling out the forms, the tests showed that our blood sugar is way too low (which I think is normal if you haven't eaten for 2 days!), but they found it difficult to understand what this whole Luke 10-thing is about. Still, they blessed us with an amazing meal for lunch! Praise the Lord!
On day 2, I felt God saying 4 o'clock. Hoping that that will be when we'll be leaving, we waited until 4pm, and nothing happened. Still, we felt God saying, "How much do you trust Me?" So we waited some more. On day 3, we were lying outside the station on one of our cardboard boxes (I must just say, if we were just sitting outside, we'd look like regular tourists waiting for a train, but the moment you sit on a cardboard box, you immediately look like a homeless person!), when a woman walked past and handed us a pamphlet of their church. The only thing we could understand on it, was 4:00. So we knew we had to go to church the next day.
So we did, and that's where part 2 of our journey started! We met Shining, an amazing man of God, who blessed us with money to buy food for ourselves and the homeless people, as well as 3 train tickets to Guangfu and back to Taipei! He also took us to a coffee shop/church in Taipei, with very nice iced hot chocolate and an "Aroma" of Christ that fills the streets of Ximen!
Day 5, after buying food for some of our homeless friends, we were on a 5 hour train, heading to Guangfu!
Guangfu is a beautiful, small town, surrounded by green mountains and home to many of the Amis people, one of the 14 aboriginal tribes in Taiwan.
We spent the afternoon walking around the whole town, surrounded by rice fields, but didn't find our "Person of Peace" yet.
Planning on sleeping on the street again that night, God rather sent us on an exciting "treasure hunt" around town. This led us to a hotel for the night, which meant that all the money we've been blessed with to buy food for the week, was gone again. Just like that, we were back to completely trusting God to provide food for us again. (Luckily, because eating in faith is so much better than trying to provide for yourself!) Still, we were very grateful for the room, our first shower in 5 days!
Day 6, the search for our Person of Peace continued (Luke 10:5-9 – look for your man of peace). We decided that the police should be able to help us, and they did; driving us around town and dropping us off at the most beautiful church, on a hill, looking out over the whole town of Guangfu.
We met with the Pastor, who opened her church and heart to us and gave us 2 rooms to stay in for the week. She was such a blessing to us, even providing food and clothes for us!
Over the weekend, we spent time with the youth in her church, sharing with them about missions and encouraging them to walk in the freedom that is ours through Jesus Christ – John 8:36 "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
I must interrupt myself, back up a bit and just add, when we were sitting outside the train station in Taipei, we looked up at a building and a saw a banner with the name "Bethany" written on it.
We only realised the significance of this banner when we met our other woman of peace on day 7. Her name is Bethany.
She runs a restaurant, amazing ministry, reaching out to the Amis people, various schools and anyone who comes in to have a pizza. Through her ministry, and new friends from the USA and Canada, we were able to visit a few of the schools;
Share a lot about South Africa (and drawing our flag);
Do a few dramas and tell many people about Jesus;
And testifying about all that God is doing in our lives, with her family all her staff too.
She taught us how to make aboriginal dumplings;
We made our own pizza;
And she even provided all we need to bake a traditional, South African melktert! (But it came out a bit different than my gran's).
The whole Luke 10 journey was amazing! God just led us every moment! Sometimes it was really tough, physically, especially the first few days. But you can't truly say that God is all you need, until He's really all you have. Those few days waiting on the train station, I was so content. I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, because I know, waiting there, we were in God's will. I felt so blessed! No earthly blessings can compare to spiritual blessings and growth. When I am weak, God is strong!
Dad, I love you now more than ever! And you are more real to me now, than ever before!
I must just add, when we were all back in Taipei, after our Luke 10 journeys, our team wallet, with ALL our team finances and team bankcard was stolen out of our hotel room. That didn't steal our joy. We kept praising God, holding on to all the lessons He taught us during Luke 10 and kept testifying about His provision during these 11 days. That same night, a church (unknowing of the robbery) blessed us with money for our team. EXACTLY the amount that was stolen... Our God is an awesome God! Jesus is Lord!