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Complaining"Remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." (Numbers 11:6)
As I read through Numbers 10 and 11 today I could relate with the people of Israel back then. It has been hard to be in a weird place of transition here in Canada. We're home for a little longer than planned and feeling a little bit out of place. It is very easy to slip into a mindset of 'remember in Taiwan...' Just today I was thinking about the great yummy slushy drinks we could get for only $1 just down the road from our apartment.
But God knows where we are and where he wants us. And if I've learned anything from the book of Numbers, it is that God is just like a parent: complaining is not pleasing to him. When Cassie whines because she isn't getting what she wants it is a little bit annoying, I admit it. But how often am I just like her? It was a good reminder to me to be thankful and appreciate right where I am and all the great things that I have here for this time! Picking a Name How about Bono. Bono? Yeah, Bono... maybe he'll be a big star! Yeah, we always have to name the little one in womb. The last one was 'Beaner' and this one is 'Bono' :) It is very exciting to have a little sibling on the way for Cassie! We are due on April 17th, so obviously we are not very far along. Please pray for safety and health for Bono. Of course everyone wants to know, so what are your plans? Where will this one be born? Right now our plans are: September-December: Winnipeg January: Taiwan to staff Titus Project Feb-March: Lead an outreach team March-May: Home in Winnipeg to have the baby June: In Europe running Titus Project (Location yet to be announced) Obviously all of this is held tentatively based on what happens with my mom, but these are the plans so far. For a quick update on my mom, she is doing well, chemo has been hard but not unbearable. She goes for surgery at the end of September. Please pray that when they operate they find that the cancer has shrunk to nothing :) Food PoisoningUgly words...food poisoning.
I was tempted to describe each and every moment of my ordeal but I figure that most of you have gone through it yourself. And besides, though texture and color are important attributes, we usually only like to see them in beautiful things like art.
But it hurts like crazy! Aaannndd, I missed out on the party... hate that! But sometimes this stuff happens. So I took the opportunity to remind myself of the good things in my life. I thanked God for a beautiful and wonderful wife, the opportunity to do what I really enjoy, the care and love from so many friends and family and many other things. And in just a couple of days I'm back to normal. Of course, its not always easy to keep a positive and hope-filled attitude but it sure does help make life more enjoyable. And I don't think I could have done it my own. I've learned from others and been strengthened by them as well as by God. Confessions...Yesterday was a frustrating day all around. Expectations not being met are one of the biggest causes for anger and disappointment.
On saturday night we found we had been exposed to chicken pox. Expectation #1: This friday we were going to go on a road trip with my parents to visit my brother and his wife in Calgary. Because of the Chicken Pox it looks like that probably won't be happening. Expectation not met.
Expectation #2: Get to the walk in clinic early so that I get in fast, find out if I am immune to the pox. Hopefully I will get the results quickly. After driving to 2 walk-in clinics that were both closed, I finally ended up at one that was open, took 3 hours to get in, drove downtown to give blood, and I won't get results for at least 5 days. Expectation not met.
Expectation #3 Take Cassie for pox vaccine so the symptoms will be not as bad if she does get it. Unfortunately we don't have a pediatrition so we had to take her to a walk in clinic with a pediatrition at Higgins and Main, waited for over an hour, and finally got her vaccine. Expectation met, but very slow.
So all that complaining to confess that yesterday I had an awful attitude, I was tired of waiting. I was inside comparing the great medical system of Taiwan with here. I knew I had a bad attitude and I couldn't shake it off.
Today I'm still disappointed about not going on the road trip, and also sad about probably not being able to see my mom for awhile until all the chicken pox virus is gone. BUT thankfully with a new day comes a better perspective. I also heard a story this morning about a man who was bumped off of a plane because it was over booked. After complaining and grumbling he was eventually put on the next flight. Wasn't he surprised when the plane he was supposed to be on crashed!
Expectations not met can be frustrating and bring out the worst in us, but there is grace. I'm thankful for grace. Grace and Perspective. Something I've Learned This WeekThe men's group at our church meets every Wednesday evening. We chat for a bit, get up to date on each others' lives and spend the last hour reading from a consecutive passage in the Bible and talking about it. We just recently started Exodus and some of the guys have never read it before, which usually makes for some interesting discussion. But discussion without change of thought or lifestyle isn't worth much. So here is something that I have learned and also am trying to put into practice.
Learn
Moses was afraid to obey God. He didn't want to go back to Egypt. He didn't want to lead the Israelites to freedom. He didn't believe in himself. He made excuses (some valid, some not). But eventually he did obey. The first time, it didn't go too well. But he persevered through some difficult situations. And in the end, Moses succeeds - in a big way. Pharaoh is quite the opposite. Of course, he didn't want to obey God either. But unlike Moses, he disregarded God completely and suffered much. In fact, he became so adamant against God that he even ignored the pleadings of his officials, who had eventually changed their views. And in his selfishness and stubbornness, he brought catastrophe on his own people.
Change
So now I've learnt something that I need to put into practice. That is, as I make choices throughout the day, I begin to do what I know is right (obedience) because I know it is for my good. So when Cassie is being cranky, I take her for a walk to give Mom a break. When the driver on the highway doesn't want to let me in, I don't freak out at him, I take a deep breath. When the room is a mess, I don't wait for someone else to clean it up, instead I initiate tidying. Well, it could sound like I never make bad decisions or disobey on purpose. I still do. But being reminded regularly makes me more aware of my choices during the day. God doesn't beat me over the head about my mistakes but instead he forgives me and reminds me that I will have another opportunity to make the right choice. And that, brings a smile to both of us. Missionaries-In-Residence"So...um... what are you guys going to be actually doing while you are home?"
It's a common question and a good one! What exactly will we be doing?
Because officially we are missionaries that are sent out by Kilcona, and because we really have a heart for this, we will be investing time into raising the awareness of world missions and issues in our church. We are still brainstorming what that will look like, but for now it includes: working with the Global Impact Team, visiting different life groups and sharing about our work and the needs around the world, teaching Adult Sunday school classes, and of course praying with Pastor Bruce and others.
Ben will be going to Montana for three weeks to work with Titus Project there. It will be a great opportunity to see Titus Project run in a different location to get a good idea of what other things we can think of incorporating in Europe.
Of course we will also focus on spending time with my mom, the rest of our family, and our friends. So our weekly schedule will look like this:
Of course this schedule is somewhat flexible, especially when fall starts and life groups start filling in the evenings. BUT for now our wed-fridays are open to get together with people in the evenings. Give us a call: 334-8784 It is good to be home. We sure do miss Taiwan and all of our friends, but it is good to be home. Ben and I really haven't seen many people yet because we have been spending most of our time with my parents. I've been to my mom's chemotherapy with her. We've gone to a support group and met some great women. Of course we've also gone shopping for Cassie. This is why I came home, and I am so glad I did. Love you so much Mom, we'll keep journeying together. Home in CanadaWe made it safe and sound back home to Winnipeg, Canada!
 It was wonderful to be picked up at the airport by our family!This week we will be resting and spending time with our immediate family. We are really excited to get to church this sunday and then we will start spending time with our friends. We'd love to connect with you so feel free to give us a call or send us an email. You can email us at badoerksen@hotmail.com and we've also got a landline at Angela's parents house, (204) 334-8784. We hope to borrow an answering machine soon, but if we're not home, feel free to leave a voicemail at (204) 977-2950.
Thanks everyone again for your friendship and prayers! We feel SO blessed by everyone!
With love,
Ben & Ang The value of investing in othersThe difference between addition and multiplication.
Ben and I love to teach the bible. BUT we are only two people. That is why we love Titus Project. Because then we get to train more people to do what we do and it makes more of a difference. Today we sent out 4 people to go teach all over Taiwan and 5 people to go to the big country just North of us. Sometimes we forget how important it is for us to work with Titus, because we don't always see the long term results. But let me contrast two different scenarios.
1) A few years ago Ben and I went and taught in the Philippines. We taught for a week in a bible college. We still keep in touch with the pastor but we have never been able to go back.
2) Around the same time as the Philippines we went to Indonesia with a Titus team. We were able to work with a few churches. The next year we took another Titus team back there and because of the relationships we built the last time we were able to run a short bible school with pastors and leaders. Now two of the members who were on that Titus team are thinking about taking another team back there next year to keep working with the same people!!
Moral of the story: working in teams and multiplying yourself is much more effective then just doing it on your own!
We are leaving in three days to come home to Winnipeg Canada! Looking forward to seeing many of you soon!
Over Half WayOur time has been full with giving our cousins a taste of missions, teaching and mentoring 10 new teachers, planning a teaching schedule for them in Taiwan, and packing up our apartment! Whew! I'm tired just reading that last sentence.
To be honest this past month has been really tiring, I'll even use the word 'busy' to describe what I have felt (sorry that is an inside joke for our faithful blog readers).
As a reminder, we train people to teach the bible. We give them 3 weeks of classroom training and then take them out to teach for two months. For this particular Titus Project Ben and I will only be participating in the 3 weeks of classroom training. We are already finished week two! We helped set up the schedule for the two months of teaching here in Taiwan but our friends Rachel and Reyna will be leading the team while Ben and I head home to Winnipeg. We have our flights booked for the end of July and are so excited to be with friends and family again in the not so distant future!
Our students are really great, there are 10 of them and they are working so hard to prepare themselves for being bible teachers. I've been so encouraged getting to know them. One of our students Rebecca just got back from leading a DTS team in Afghanistan and Pakistan, she's amazing! Two of our other students are going to be living in Taiwan long term so this is a deeper investment for them than simply 3 months. I could write about all of our students because each of them have a story and an exciting future!
Even just writing this, I am again refreshed thinking about the impact we have the opportunity to make. Thank you to all who make this possible for us!
Carter Chavez ReportingWell I'll start off by saying Hi, my name is Carter Chavez and I am Ben's cousin. God has allowed me the amazing opportunity to come over to Taiwan and serve with Ben and Ang. It's been really cool to come over here and see how God is using them to further his Kingdom. They wanted me to talk about some of the things that I have enjoyed about being here. So here they are with #1 being my favorite. #5 SBS class- I had a chance to sit in on an SBS class (the class where you study the whole bible inductively for a year). We were studying 1 John and it was really fun to study a lot of the historical background about the book and look at why John wrote the book. #4 The food- I love food and the food over here is amazing!!! It's been so fun to try all of these new foods and getting to experience Taiwanese culture! #3 Prayer- It's been so cool all the time we pray out here. Every time we get together or do anything we are always just praying constantly. It's been a great reminder how how important prayer is in our daily lives. #2 Cassie- It's been such blast getting to hang out with her. She is such a cute little character who is so fun to be around and to play with. I love every minute of being with her and it gives me such joy to be around her! #1 The Rock- The Rock is a cafe ministry where locals will come to work on their English. We will give them drinks and just hang out and talk with them in English. For me this has been the hardest thing, yet the most rewarding. It takes a lot of energy for me to keep a conversation going and to share the gospel as well. It is great though to die to myself and rely on God for strength and for him to use me in the way he wants. PhilippinesIt was such a pleasure to go and teach in the Philippines two weeks back! I had two full mornings to teach through Joshua. It was probably more a treasure for me as I watched Joshua conquer the land that God had given the Israelites. In a similar way, we are praying about our future and asking God what land he is sending us to. Then during one of their worship services I was able to share more about our hopes and had them pray for us.
We are SO blessed by everyone praying for us. Thank you for your prayers!
Anyway, I concluded the week by giving them some ideas about how to teach well. Then on Sunday, they took a bus, a boat and some walking to get to a little church where they blessed them with some testimonies, worship and a message. It is really rewarding to be able to give some training and see people use it right away and bless the church!
Thank you so much for this opportunity. We are just one part of a whole team who makes this possible! My walk homeAs I was walking home today from our office I contemplated this blog.
What am I going to write about? I need to write...but?????
So I decided to give you some glimpses of my walk home.
Update on my momFor those who are praying for my mom, I just wanted to let you all know that she is back at home and still just waiting on more tests. But she is feeling okay and glad to be at home. Please keep praying for her, my dad and the whole family as we play the waiting game. One thing I have learned from my mom-> waiting does not have to mean worry. She always says, 'Lots to think/pray about, nothing to worry about!'
In other news our cousins Carter and Sydney are coming to visit us for a whole month! They get here next week and we are so excited to have them. This will be their first time in Asia so that will be lots of fun. They will be helping us as we get Titus Project underway again. This time we have 11 students, one team going to the Big country to the North of us and one team staying right here in Taiwan! Exciting!!! I will never leave youGod has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
6So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid...
Heb 13:5-6 (Also found in: Deut 31:6,8; Jos 1:5)
This is true, I have found this to be very true the past few days in the unknown uncertainty of sickness. I'm praying that this truth will be known by all of my family. Please pray with Ben and I. My homeland :)As we flew into the Ukraine I looked around at all the people. After observing the size of their noses I said to Ben 'these are my people' :) This was the last stop on our trip to Europe. It was really exciting to see all that is happening in the largest country in Europe! We spent three days in Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine. Interestingly enough, it really reminded me of Winnipeg. It has two major rivers that run through the city and the trees and foliage are very similar. The population is quite a bit bigger at 3-4 million, they speak Russian and Ukrainian, and there is still a lot of corruption- but overall the impression I had was, did I fly home to Winnipeg or am I in the Ukraine. We went up to the top of an Eastern Orthodox church and looked out over the city (Ben climbed all the way up the bell tower carrying Cassie! What a dad!) and we saw lots of flat land just beyond the city. It looked similar to the prairies around Winnipeg.
We had a great time visiting the YWAM SBS staff there in Kiev and they showed us AMAZING hospitality taking us out for lunches and dinners! Perogies, Holopchi and yes, yummy Kulbasa! You can see pictures of our time there on the side of this blog. Also we took a video of us going up the longest escalator I have ever seen!! It took us over two minutes to get up the escalator! Sweden, Germany and Family!Question and Answer with the ABC Family
Q: What was your impressions of Sweden?
A: Wow! Did we just fly into Lake of the Woods? What a gorgeous place. YWAM
has a large campus (over 50 acres) with Trees, Horses, Flowers and many
buildings. It is a 5 minute walk from a salt water sea- amazing! The hospitality
we received was overwhelming as we enjoyed meals with SBS staff, the Bible Core
Course leader, the head of the training department and everyone on the base.
Q: I see pictures of you with a group of children- who are they?
A: An amazing coincidence (if you believe in those!) We just happened to be
in Europe at the same time as Ben's sister's family decided to take vacation
there for a friend's wedding. We had two wonderful days with Mike, Lisa and our
four nieces and nephews! They found an apartment that we could rent
all together, so we shared meals, walked around Frankfurt and just relaxed
together. It could not have been a better time! Plus it was Cassie's first
birthday (see her blog down the page) and what a gift from God to be able
to spend it with family.
Q: Where are you now?
A: Right now we are in the Ukraine. The YWAM base here is a lot
like Taiwan. All the staff live in different apartments and the schools run in
some different places. The main place is a boat that is secured to a dock.
That is where we are staying. It used to be a restaurant but now YWAM owns
it and operates out of it. We'll talk more about Ukraine in our next post
because we just got here last night.
Q: Has God spoken to you yet about where to start Titus Project?
A: Not yet, but God did speak to Ben to read Psalms 77. At the
end it talks about God leading His people Israel and Ben felt God spoke
that as a promise that He will lead us as well, so we feel a peace
about waiting to hear God speak. Europe WhirlwindThis is my first time in Europe (besides the one day I left the airport in England). What an amazing place. In Germany I was impressed with these beautiful small villages where all the houses have red roofs and are encircled by farm fields that look like patchwork. Here in England the brick homes that line the streets remind me of a street in Winnipeg called Wellington Crescent (but not nearly as large).
Today we had a really great meeting with a man named Phil. Phil has been working with YWAM and particularily the School of Biblical Studies (SBS) in Europe for around 15 years. He gave us a really warm invitation to bring Titus Project to Europe. This is so important from a man who knows the most about the different YWAM bases here. Having his blessing will mean a much easier integration for us to join this European YWAM community.
Please keep praying for us as we travel to Sweden tomorrow. We are really sensing the value in this trip for bringing clarity and direction. Today as we prayed I felt God give me picture of a farmer. Imagine the perfect farming conditions, think of Manitoba or Saskatchewan. It is a large bountiful harvest of wheat...a bumper crop if you will. But then the farmer takes the abundance of food and brings what is needed to the hungriest parts of the world. In a similar way we are doing the same thing. Taking the abundance of SBS graduates in Europe since there are so many and bringing them to teach in the hungriest parts of the world.
Titus ConferenceWe're in rural Bavaria. The people are friendly,
the homes well cared for and the gardens tended. This week we've had a lot of
meetings. Usually meetings tend to be pretty much the same no matter what you're
doing. But this time it was a little different. The nature of our department is
that we are very few and we work all over the world. Actually, its a little bit
like the gardens here. Each home has a little garden and the gardeners need to
make time to talk together. If they don't, then their carrot patches might
suffer... Ok. So you can't take the analogy very far but the point is that we
didn't even know most of the people in our department (which is Titus
Project).
So this week we finally got to meet the rest of our
team - and it was well worth it. We spent much time in prayer together, talking
about the things we've been doing, things that have been working well and things
we need to improve on. We are SO thankful for our coworkers and friends who have
given much to be doing what we are doing. Thank you for your prayers for us this
week, they have been put to good use.
This coming week we will be visiting some of the
potential places in Europe where we might run Titus. England, Sweden and
Ukraine. Sadly we won't be able to visit a number of other bases that are also
very real potential locations like Romania, etc. Please keep praying for us. We
are all doing great, Cassie is travelling well and making lots of friends as
usual.
Ben and Angela- Football Coaches!Blue Forty -Two! Blue Forty-Two! Hut Hut Hut!!!
Okay, well, maybe we aren't football coaches per se... But our lives are similar in a way. We have an on season, and we have an off season. But do coaches stop working in the off season? No way! Well, neither do we. Our to-do list is as full as ever. But what do we do you ask? Some of the things we are working on right now are:
Plus we are preparing for our next Titus which runs in 2 months from now!
So while we may not be on an outreach at the moment we are not short of things to do. Don't worry though. I am still keeping my New Years resolution and not using the word 'Busy'. Instead I say, my life is full of purposeful, important things that I love to do. And the most important thing? Hang out with my daughter!!! I get all my work done during her nap times and taking turns with daddy!!!
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