Lord, it is awesome how you have created the nations and different peoples!  It is so amazing to see the unique way each different culture responds to your great ways.  You have brought people to your name all over the world.  And Taiwan too!  Thank you for caring for them and being willing to love them.  It is such a privilege to see Taiwanese believers praise your name and give honor to you.  There hasn't been a single moment when you have lost track of your plans or changed your mind about Taiwan.  You are always faithful!  
Please continue in your promise to reveal your salvation to the people of Taiwan.  Demonstrate to them your great righteousness.  Lord, please help them with their fear and protect them from the evil one's ways.  You are savior to all, and willing to die for the Taiwanese even before they knew you.  
Thank you for being God alone!  Thank you for dying for my sins and the people of Taiwan's.  Thank you Lord for being in control and working in our lives!  Please bring your salvation to Taiwan through your marvelous ways so only your name will be praised.     

Thomas and Jennifer are a really neat couple serving with OMF in Taiwan.  I was able to meet them in language school, even before they had their daughter, and still run into them occasionally around the island.  

Please pray for their church planting work in the rural area of Zhongpu.  The area can be very isolated from support networks in Taiwan and the ground is hard towards the gospel.  It will truly be God's miracle as he draws people to faith in him!  

Also, please pray that many more people would be willing to come to Taiwan to sacrificially work with the unreached working class.      

Prayercast has produced a great video to share ways to pray for Taiwan.  Please become a prayer partner for Taiwan!  If you would like to receive prayer updates, send me a message through the partnership page and we will include you in the monthly updates.  

Dear Praying Friends,
Do you remember those first few hours, or days, when you became aware of all Jesus had done for you on the cross?  Isn’t it breath-taking, as you think back to the moment you realized how he paid the penalty for your sin.  Then the ensuing feeling of gratitude and peace that followed when he filled your desperate need with his grace and freedom.  It is very exciting to remember our personal stories and also observe God unfolding a new story of grace before our eyes in a friend’s life!  

Thank you for praying for us in the Brothers’ Discipleship House!  We have been praising God this semester for opportunities to be used together as a team to lead our classmates and friends in Bible discussions about Jesus.  We are seeing students regularly return to interact with God’s Word as Jesus feeds the deepest longings of their hearts.  

It has been a huge blessing for me to walk with James (Guanyu), Andy (Yuanrong), Charmy (Fangen), Joseph (Pingchuen) and a few of the ladies as they learn to guide their classmates to examine the Bible.  I have witnessed their growing enthusiasm to share the gospel.  God has also been teaching us how to patiently explain his Word as we live out Christlike lives around campus!  I am particularly thankful that each one of these guys are being equipped for a lifetime of personally following God and helping others know Christ too.  Thank you for your precious prayers!  

Prayer & Praise Highlights
Guys’ Bible Study
Guanyu (James), Yuanrong (Andy), Fangen (Charmy), Pinchuen (Joseph) are stepping out in faith as a team to lead their fellow students in weekly Bible discussions.  We are praying that each student would have an opportunity to interact with the Scriptures and Jesus!   
University Student Fellowship
God is feeding the students through his Word!  Each week we have seen new students join us, and then bring other new students, as we examine the conversations Jesus had with different people in the Gospels.  Please pray each student would realize the eternal relevance of Jesus in their lives.  
Chinese Language
Thank you for your faithful prayers for my Chinese language studies.  I am still working hard at practicing whenever I have opportunities.  Recently I purchased a Chinese Bible to help learn God’s Word in Chinese.  Please pray that I can start to internalize his Word in Chinese to be able to share with friends!
Changhua Church
Our Changhua Navigator Discipleship Center is seeking opportunities during December  to share the true meaning of Christmas with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.  Please pray for each of us to be brave sharing about Jesus in our ‘insider’ relationships.   
(Church website: www.chnavs.org)  
Dava and I
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement for us as we have tried our best to relate to one another across the Pacific through Skype.  We are praying as God leads as a couple that we would learn to serve and honor him together!  I am very excited to see her again this December!    

Praying Forward:
• Developing gospel relationships with Taiwanese friends
• Home assignment position in NavMissions: Associate Director of Short-Term Missions
• Refreshing time in the Word and growing relationship with God
• Move to Amarillo, Texas to continue to seek God regarding future with Dava
• Resettlement transition and needs
• Developmental training and preparation for future ministry in Taiwan
• Part-time job to supplement support needs
• 25 or more friends to join monthly support and prayer team
Thank you so much for praying for the advancement of the gospel in Taiwan!  I would love to share a little more about how you could join me in prayer.  Please also let me know how I could be praying for you during December.  Have a great Christmas with all your family and friends!  I hope to hear from you soon!

Merry Christmas,  Eric

Thank you all for your prayers for Trinity Church in Texas that partners with the churches in Taichung each year.  For the first time, the team spent some time here in the fall with students at the PE College and in Beitun with Pastor Phillip (probably a great relief from the summer heat!).  Please pray that the contacts and new believers at the PE College would continue to grow in their faith through God's leading as they study the Bible with Glenda.  Please also pray for those believers living here helping these students grow in their faith: Glenda, Kyle and Jenny.  

Thank you all for such a warm welcome home this summer!  I made it back to Taiwan last week and the school year has already started.  The next month will be busy meeting new students as they flood back into the university.  I am thankful to have a team of student leaders who are eager to follow God and reach our to their classmates!  Please pray for me personally as I communicate with Dava through Skype over the next few months.  Thanks for your support!

Praises:

• Student leaders who are ready to grow in their faith!
  
• Our church’s growing relationships with local youth and their families.
  
• Great time at home this summer.
  

Prayers:

• Seeking God’s will as we desire to faithfully live out the gospel as a new church in Changhua.
  
• Guidance to meet new freshmen guys and follow-up.
  
• A few new monthly financial supporters.
  
• Good opportunities to exercise each week.
  

Hello, I am back safely in Taiwan!  My sleep clock hasn't totally adjusted yet to time here, but hopefully sometime within the next week.  

It is great to be back with my guys.  Our students will be returning over the next few days and starting in a few hours we will be kicking off the school year praising God together for the things he did in our lives over the summer.  The weekend is also a training for many of the student leaders to help them lead outreach Bible studies and discussion groups about 'Conversations with Jesus' for our weekly meetings.  

Please pray this week:

• For our student leaders to be encouraged as they see God's work in their lives through the summer and depend on him to be Christ's witness on campus this year.
  
• For all the new students coming to campus.  We already have more than 15 contacts to follow-up from friends throughout the island and will be meeting many more new students over the next week.  The first couple weeks can quickly become tiring and burdensome.  Please pray that in all our service and witnessing, God would be glorified and he would draw new students to himself.  Also pray we can walk alongside these young students to help introduce them to the good news of Jesus and mature in their faith in Christ!
  

Thanks for your prayers and look for picture updates on the website in the next few days.

Eric

Thank you for your prayers!  God is answering and the guys ministry is starting to bear some fruit.  Men in Taiwan, compared to women, often respond slowly to the Gospel for many possible reasons including ancestral worship requirements and work demands. This year there have been several new guys starting to put their faith in Jesus as their Savior!  We are still praying for more to be able to know Jesus during the remainder of the school year and especially ask that God would bring some underclassman guys to him.

Upperclassman guys (above): left Jiachuen (Alex, 4th year), back Guanyu (James, 5th year), front Bwotswen (graduate student), right Jhercheng (graduate student).  Pray for these guys as they make the transition out of school and into work.  Jiachuen and Guanyu have been part of the student fellowship for the past few years and have grown as disciples of Christ… now leading others to know Christ too!  Bwotswen and Jhecheng heard about Jesus’ sacrificial life for the first time this year and are beginning to put their faith in him.

Bible study guys (above): left Fangen (Charmy, 3rd year), right Yuanrong (Andy, 3rd year), front Yianjher (1st year).  These guys have been pursuing a relationship with Christ and desiring to grow in their knowledge of him.

Changhua Navigator student fellowship spring break trip to Hualien, Taiwan.

We are asking God to continue to give us opportunities to serve and love one another, building up our unity in Christ. We also hope to reach out to our classmates… sharing God’s great love for them and how Jesus bridged the gap for every person with God by dying on the cross.

A mountain of clouds!  This was a breath-taking sunset over the southern tip of the mountain range running down to Hengchuen City in Pingtong County.  The incredible size of the clouds dwarfed the tips of the mountains and were painted by the setting sun.  Quite often these massive clouds would contain a powerful storm that would blow in from the Pacific Ocean and quickly rumble across the narrow island tip.  Although this cloud formation did not contain any showers, it brought a different kind of refreshment to the region as it passed through.

It reminds me of a verse, Isaiah 45:8, that we are praying for the NCUE campus this year.  Please join us in asking God to rain down his righteousness on the campus so that it will open up and produce salvation.  Our fellowship team will focus on Jesus and who he claimed to be while walking amongst his disciples this year.  He lived righteousness out before their eyes, we are thankful to receive his righteousness and want to know greater how he is continually creating it to grow anew in the lives of students around us on campus!

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The Navigators calling focuses on the advancement of the Kingdom of God. This semester the NCUE Nav students have a desire to share their relationship with Jesus with their families, dorm friends, and classmates. Over the past two weeks, we have been digging into the Gospel. Asking questions like: What is the Gospel? What do we often incorrectly make the Gospel to be? What is God’s mission? How do we fit into His mission? Why do we want to share? How does the Gospel continue to work in our lives after we believe in Jesus as our Savior? What are some Biblical examples of people sharing their faith?—As we discussed this as a group and practiced testimonies, we all shared in a renewed passion to share Jesus. We also saw God speak to our hearts as the Gospel continued to work in us by shinning light on the dark areas of life. It is incredible refreshing to live in the light of the Gospel instead of trying to personally carry the weight of sin!

As we share Jesus’ life, please pray that the Gospel with make great advancements in Changhua through the lives of the students. Please pray for us to share with God’s boldness and strength, so people will be able to see Christ and know him as their Savior and Lord.

You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did –Jesus crucified.

I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate was scared to death, if you want the truth of it and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, The Message)