More thoughts and impressins from Joe

Wow - So much happens in our day as a team that you can't put into an
email... the cultural differences, language differences, sights,
sounds, smells, food tastes, rituals and traditions of Taiwanese
culture - and of course the 90 teenage kids that surround us before
camp officially starts each morning.

The camp has raised quite a stir in the town as we got front page
exposure in the local newspaper with a picture of our team. The
headmaster of the school took all of us out to dinner last night at a
seafood restaurant a short distance from the ocean. Although the
camp has existed for four summers, this is the first time the
headmaster has extended this invitation. Maybe more about dinner
later :) The first day of camp was designed to meet the teens through
games, conversation, and skits and begin building friendships. The
camp is well organized and the material thought out to help the kids
get to know us and vice-versa. The children are quite inquisitive
about the "foreigners" in town and although most are shy, many ask
questions about our life. I think Karelyn and I are the only two who
are totally clueless during Chinese-only conversations. Other members
of the team at least know some of the language. Although a bit
difficult at first, I'm becoming more comfortable each day.

Today, the second day, was designed to help the teens think about
their future and their dreams. After opening activities, we broke up
into our small groups and did English role plays about different
occupations. In the afternoon, the BCF team performed a skit
explaining the dream of Martin Luther King to end the injustice of
racial segregation. Later in small groups, we asked the teens to
think about their future, hopes and dreams. The teens in my group
seemed to seriously consider the question and most shared serious and
thoughtful answers. The four-day camp is designed to build
relationships with the teens and then, on the optional fifth day,
explain the scriptural principles of faith in God and the work of Jesus
Christ. I'm very impressed with the hard work many local university
students (our co-workers) put into each day in planning, preparation,
and activities. I'm also amazed at how much the kids have begun to
trust and befriend us in just two days - I'm sure a result of the
prayer many have put into this effort.

Matt's First Day of Camp

Ok so today was the official first day of the camp and man what a day!! My group of eleven children (seven girls and four boys) is called the Spiders!! After an opening of games and some very active songs, we began our classes. Though I’ve never taught formally I thought I was pretty good…or maybe not. The children were very quiet at first and received three gold awards for good behavior, but then I tried to be more casual with them and I soon became their big brother. This meaning that I was now their human target, punching/kicking bag, and the “Interesting Teacher”. As one of the older groups, the children have Ok English but they primarily used it to call each other names. The afternoon games and activities were a lot of fun… with water!! Almost everyone was either soaked or going to be very soon. During that time, each group would go from different activity stations and “pay” for the fun by doing their group cheer. Unfortunately for the Spiders, their group leader had only made up the cheer ten minutes before. Let’s just say that the children were not more comfortable with doing a weird dance that had to do with yelling “SPIDER!! SPIDER!!” over and over again. The lunch break consisted of the kids snickering at me as I attempted to perfect the chopsticks. Overall, the day was a success and I believe that the children learned a lot. The camp ended and Andrew, Allison and I challenged some of the campers to a game of basketball. It was not pretty.