Yuli - 玉里

As I stepped off the train in Yuli, I had this sense of returning home. It was wonderful. Don't get me wrong, I do like Yilan, but the peacefulness and beauty of my former home was refreshing. Seeing the people was even better. I saw many, many good friends, and even ran into a number of people by suprise (inevitable in a small town i suppose), including friends, and former co-teachers and students. I got lots of hugs. I answered the same questions over and over again (yes, I'm used to life in Yilan, yes, Hope's really back in America). I visited "the corner place" one of the coffee shops we used to frequent, and they still had our picture up. They told me they look at it every day. It was a wonderful time. I could go on and on, but I'll save that for when I'm talking to Hope lol.

I had a really good day of classes today too. I showed a movie clip from Paycheck since the students had read an article about John Woo, the director. One of my students who I ran into on the train a week or two ago and chatted with for awhile invited me to go to see Harry Potter when it comes out in a few weeks. Hally Potter (as they tend to pronounce it here) is extremely popular. After class I saw a student from the other weeks rotation who I've chatted with a bit between classes. She's a Christian too, actually that was one of the first questions she asked me when I met her. She asked me to pray for her today because she was having some problems. I feel encouraged that I'm starting to get to know my students here better. The more this happens, the better classes go, as they overcome their fear of speaking.

My teacher mentioned in the previous entry is undergoing brain surgery now to remove the tumors. Please pray. Here are the lyrics to a song I'm listening to now:

Faithful One - Brian Doerksen

Faithful One, so unchanging
Ageless One, You're my rock of peace
Lord of all, I depend on You
I call out to you again and again

You are my Rock in times of trouble
You lift me up when I fall down
All through the storm
Your love is the anchor
My hope is in you alone