My second year at VGM was much more intense and difficult than last year. I had a second year class instead of a fourth grade class, and naturally, the younger kids are much louder and much harder to control. They would scream and laugh as we chased them back into the classroom. Many of them would whisper or talk to each other while we explained instructions, forcing us to repeat ourselves many times. I’m glad that God gave us enough strength to persevere through the tiring week.

This year, I was tied up in a knot of homework, tests, and paperwork for my transition from middle school to high school. Because of this, I had very little time to prepare for the mission trip. Additionally, I was in Las Vegas for a week before the mission so it took my mom and me over 24 hours to get back to Seattle, pick up our luggage, fly to Taiwan, take the high speed rail to Chiayi, and catch ride to church. With no time to adjust my jetlag, most of my week was exhausting. With the Cambodia mission trip after VGM and a family vacation to Germany after that, I spent about 6 weeks out of the country.

Chinese is not my strongest language so I had a difficult time communicating and interacting with the kids. As a result, I felt like I was a lot less useful addition to the team than before. On the first day, we played duck duck goose but I couldn’t find the right words to explain how the game worked. Most of the time, I was afraid that the students wouldn’t be able to understand me so I rarely spoke to them. Instead, I devoted most of my time practicing my magic and origami, which eventually because surprisingly useful. When the other teachers were tired from teaching, I could perform magic to entertain the kids and use up spare time. At the Kaohsiung Zoo station, Melchi and I folded origami animals as prizes for the students that answered questions correctly. I watched in amazement as children lit up with happiness when they received my paper creations.

Eventually, I developed my relationship with my students by performing magic and folding origami. Although I couldn’t speak fluent Chinese, I realized that I could still use the talents that God gave me to my advantage. I’m thankful for my amazing teammates for being so supportive of me and for this wonderful opportunity to have another life-changing experience.