Hi from my side of the world.

This is just a short update to say that I'm still alive & doing wonderful. :)

Everything at school has been good & continues to keep me on my toes.

It seems as though my schedule now is as busy as it's been since I moved here because there is so much I'm fitting in before I move back. Only five more weeks until I'll be on a plane bound for Texas. It seems so surreal. It's so exciting & yet I know I'm going to miss Taiwan & everyone here more than words can say. I can already see myself at strange Asian markets looking for strange food & walking up to random Asians to ask them if they can speak Chinese to me. :) I'm savoring every minute of these last five weeks I have here & looking forward to the next season of life in America. God has been so good to keep my heart focusing here & yet expectant of what He has next for me. I've felt so blessed & content.

And every time I picture myself walking out of security at the airport & seeing the faces of my family - I can't help but smile. As if my heart wasn't fond enough, a year has definitely made it all the more fond of them. :)

Saphrin came back to Taiwan to see her students from last semester & to visit my roommates & I. I'm loving having her here! We all are. 

I'll write more soon! :) God has & continues to amaze me with how He is working. He is so good & so powerful!!

If you think about it, please pray that I finish strong. That I look back & see the last month I was here in Taiwan as being the month that I poured the most into every single kid, made the most of every situation, pursued the people God has put in my life here & saw even the hard things from God's perspective. That's my prayer for these next five weeks.

God bless.

Link.

Good morning :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ypEVwJkg0

This is a slideshow my roommates and I put together around Christmas time as a gift for our Boss, HT. He is the one who had the vision for the school I work at. It got put on youtube, so I thought I'd pass the link along.

This video is just a small taste of the amazing opportunity I have here to see God at work...everyday. I am blessed beyond belief and am treasuring every day I have left in this beautiful country. A little over two months left before July 10th when I move back to the States. It's all so bittersweet. :)

life.

How I spent most of my Saturday :)

What my kids had written on the board when I walked in class a couple times last week. :)

My roommates! They are such a blessing.

The weeks leading up to Easter, during our night classes, we taught a lesson on Easter. Shared the Gospel with our kids & taught them the reason for the holiday. :) It was awesome!

The board in my classroom on my birthday. :) I had a wonderful 21st! It was so unique and meaningful....definitely one I'll never forget.

A trip down south with some friends over winter break.

Wo de boabai.

I serve a big God.

Hi friends.

I want to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has and continues to pray for me. Over the past month or so, I have felt the prayers like none other.

Not only has God been working at my school, in my community and in me - but He has and continues to be my Healer and Restorer. He is so faithful!! I'm blown away with who my God is.

After going up to Taipei for multiple tests, seeing a couple doctors and trying to figure out what was going wrong with my body -they finally gave me some answer. Basically, the Doctors said I had an imbalance in my autonomic nervous system to control blood flow. The technical term for my condition was Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. It's a crazy long name and I don't even understand all those words. :) Thankfully, it is a condition that my body has fought and will continue to get over completely.

Your autonomic nervous system is involved in the control of heart rate, blood pressure, etc. The main thing this effected was my bodies ability to get blood to my head fast enough. Which was resulting in dizziness, lightheadedness and if my body didn't recover fast enough - caused me to faint. My heart rate would increase in excessive increments to help my blood to circulate fast enough, and yet my body would struggle to get blood in the right place at the right time to do what my body needed to do.

And while my heart rate was going up, my blood pressure would drop making the whole process more difficult than it should have been. :) Since your autonomic nervous system is responsible for regulating your organs, it can take a toll on other bodily functions. Which is why I was getting severe headaches and constantly exhausted.

It's been about a month now since I figured all of this out - and I cannot tell you how much BETTER I'm doing. The Doctor's had me make some drastic diet changes, put me on some vitamins and other things. I started running everyday...which I was doing some before but not this consistently. I am SO very grateful for the prayers and in awe of a big God who has and continues to heal me. In about two weeks, I went from praying about the possibility of going back to Texas until I figured everything out to feeling almost 100% normal again and back to normal energy level. I was AMAZED. God is so good!!!

So once again, thank you to those who have prayed for me. The enemy really hates my life here and the difference Jesus makes in my kids and in the people here in Hualien. And I believe that the things I've gone through physically lately were his way of attempting to discourage me. But my God is greater. And has proven Himself faithful over and over and over again through this whole process. And I have and continue to be strengthened and stronger through it all. Which I'm so grateful for. :)

I'll post some pictures and another update about life soon. :)

<3

Priscilla

Prayer?

Hi friends.

I don't have much time, I just wanted to ask for prayer for a specific thing.

I've had some health difficulties lately. The Doctors think they narrowed it down to my thyroid not working properly, but it's still in the air exactly what is going on.

Anyways, I went up to Taipei week before last for many different types of tests. I'm going back up tonight to meet with the MD and the Nutritionist that I saw to figure everything out and see where I go from here.

I'll give a better report of everything when I get back, but I would love some prayer! For favor with the Doctors and clear understanding as to what's going on and how to best get me better. And ultimately, that Jesus would completely heal me.

I am feeling so much better today then I have been in about three weeks. So I'm so grateful for that. :) God is so gracious to His children!

Thank you. :)

Beautiful in its time.

"..He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Also, He has put eternity in their hearts,

except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."

Ecclesiastes 3:11

---

You know what occurred to me today? I haven't walked on carpet since I came to Taiwan.

The more I thought about it this morning, the more I realized how much I missed it. :)

As soon as I move back, I'm walking on carpet with no shoes and eating a grilled cheese. It's decided.

Random...but oh so true. :)

Since I allowed way too much time between my last post and this one, I'll go through my life since then. :)

Christmas.

A full week and an amazing class. A 10 hour teaching day on Christmas Eve. Teaching them to make snowflakes. Telling them about Christmas in America and showing them pictures. Giving them each their own gift. Teaching them about the beauty of giving. I enjoyed every minute of loving and teaching my kids that week. They were God's Christmas gift to me. :) 

Waking the girls up early on Christmas morning for a breakfast of danbings and hot chocolate. All sitting on my bed, opening our gifts to each other in our pajamas, talking about Christmas traditions we love and laughing.

Getting off early on Christmas day. A nice dinner with my roommates and a visit to a friend who was in the hospital on Christmas night. Skyping with my family on their Christmas morning and being as much a part of everything as possible back at home. :) Missing them so much it hurt but feeling so full of the beautiful gifts God gave me here in Taiwan.

It was an amazing Christmas. :)

The weekend and week after Christmas threw a curveball that none of us expected. Saphrin (my closest friend here in Taiwan and an English teacher in Yuli which is an hour south of me) was in Hualien staying with me over the weekend. On a walk back from downtown to my school, her heart rate increased to a dangerous level, her lungs began to close up and she collapsed in Alana and I's arms. Davina, who thankfully was with us and speaks Chinese, called an ambulance. 

I spent 7 hours that night in the emergency room. Praying the hardest I've ever prayed. Talking Saphrin through how to breath. Holding her hand, quoting scripture to her and only leaving her side when I was on the phone with her Mom in America.

I've never been so scared.

But as all of Creation shows us, our God is a big God.

God gave us our miracle that night and Saphrin left the hospital 7 hours later.

She flew back to America around the middle of January to see her Doctor and get some tests done. It looks like she won't be coming back to Taiwan - at least not for a couple months. So we're praying and trusting in a Sovereign God who always has a plan more beautiful then our own.

January 9th my winter break officially began! 3 weeks *almost* completely off. A few office days to prep for next semester, but school was out.

It was an much needed, refreshing, fun break!

A friend came over to visit Saphrin and I during our break! We had some fun adventures....it was definitely an eventful 10 days! An adventure for sure. :)

Break continued along with some traveling, Chinese New Year, spending time with my roommates, speaking at the youth group at our church, catching up with some friends from home, spending some time with friends here, working on my Chinese and catching up on sleep. :)

We had a week of camps (very similar to a regular school week for us) two weeks ago and the semester officially started this past week. It's going to be a busy semester! We have double the amount of kids on campus per week, and I have double the amount of teaching periods. It'll be crazy and I'm excited for the semester. :) I have a feeling it will all go by so fast. Even our first day in the semester flew by so fast it left us all wondering what had just happened.

I'm looking forward to everything God has in store this semester. It's going to be an awesome next several months here. I can hardly believe I've already been here for almost 7 months! 

More soon.

Priscilla

my angel.

"Teacher,

I miss you miss you miss you miss you miss you miss you miss you miss you!

I send you letter. You must look for it.

Teacher I very much love you and I forever will remember you.

Pris teacher. I know my English name is Angel. 

But really, you are the angel because your heart. It's like an angel's heart."

- An email from one of my students from last week. Her name was Angel.

She sees me as her teacher. 

But in reality, she taught me more then I ever taught her....

And I'll never forget her smile.