by Kelvin Qiu

My experience at the bilingual camp was surprising and certainly opened my eyes to the disparate nature of economic and living conditions encountered across the world. The experience helped me see firsthand not only how lucky this Taiwanese village was to have a loving pastor and healthy congregation, but also to glimpse how hard it would be for Christianity to reach remote villages and isolated communities around the world. It would be so difficult for many villagers in places less relatively developed than Taiwan to attain the mere basics of survival, like running water and clean food, much less readily find Christ. In this respect, the mission trip has given me insight into the magnitude of work we as Christians must undertake to bring light to those born in more difficult conditions outside America, as we are so blessed to be.

Living in Taiwan personally taxed me to a large extent. This primarily came as a result of the heat, the humidity, and the prevalence of bugs. As someone who has lived in the Pacific Northwest my whole life, and consequently encountered little of the aforementioned, my trip to Taiwan was much less a culture shock than an environmental one. The climate enervated me to the point that I got heatstroke on the third day of camp, and had to spend most of my time lying down. I also came down with a persistent cough due to the rather wet conditions. While the climate stood as the most pervasive problem for me during this trip, it is good that while constantly there and bothering my attention, the heat was usually just bearable enough to allow me to function as the others did. I’m pretty glad that I managed to carry on despite the heat and perform God’s work.

Another difficulty I encountered in Taiwan was the sense of loneliness and alienation from all my friends back in America. At the mission we had internet, so I could constantly receive my friends’ communications on Facebook, yet due to the time delay and the requirements of the day over the course of the mission I was unable to effectively or frequently communicate with them. Given the active world they seemed to be interacting in, for me it felt like I was trapped as an observer looking in to what my friends were doing, excluded by time and location. To cope with this I had to turn my renewed attention to bearing with the heat and making my way through each day of the camp.
Meeting the children as well as the Taiwanese counselors was an interesting experience for it demonstrated to me the wide variety of people who could come to find God, as well as the impact which different upbringings and cultures could have on behavior and discipline. Our group had a particularly troublesome child who liked to nickname himself “Boss” both in Chinese and in English. In an American classroom I believe he might well have received many time-outs and been excluded from disturbing the class, yet the Taiwanese counselors were always very patient and willing to spend personal time with him to quiet him down and even play with him in their free time. Furthermore there were some very quiet and shy girls, with whom I began to feel frustrated with as I could not understand why they willingly came to this camp but would then not engage with the class. After seeing my Taiwanese coworkers, especially a nice girl named Rachel, address that problem as well by spending many a quiet minute with these individuals and gently encouraging them to participate more, I saw how God truly blesses the Taiwanese co-workers, these college age kids, who volunteer their summers to come down to villages and teach.
I’m glad to have had the opportunity to serve alongside these passionate and dedicated workers, and to have done something meaningful this summer under God’s name.