Love Never Fails

Today's seminar we talked about how we have to hide in our autorities. That will keep us away from sin, and it will protect us too.

In English class Faith introduced us to the airport. She talked about some things that are in the airport. Maybe it will help us then so we can not make any mistakes. I think making mistakes is very embarrassing.

In choral elective we learned a new song called "Love Never Fails". I think it is special because Karen wrote it. The melody was so gentle, even noble.

In the evening I was asked to help Angel cut somthing. I was really tired. I hope we can do well tomorrow. Everyone worked so hard this time.

Verna Chen
Team 6

We all had a happy time!!

Today is a very special day this morning, we went to a church that was for Americans. The church was so big and beautiful, just like an ancient building. I was so happy that I understood what the pastor said without translation, then we had McDonald's for lunch, but actually we finished it in the car, I mean the host family's car, all of us guys divided into groups and went to different families to visit them. It was pretty cool because my host family is American, so they can't speak any Chinese, but I think it's a good opportunity to let me practice my English. Later, they took us to eat Mexican food, it was really, really great. We talked a lot, we all had a happy time!!

Wendy Lin
Team 5

Bubble milk tea?

Each dinner here always makes me excited when I see it. I almost thought we had bubble milk tea at dinner, and all of us were surprised. I even took a picture for my dinner. But it's not quite like the bubble milk tea in Taiwan. But the pizza tasted good, and that made me happy.

I played basketball with some boys. I seldom play basketball in Taiwan, but since I've stayed in the training center, I have desired to exercise under the sun. After a few minutes, I realized that I'm a lazy girl because I wanted to take a rest right away! I like to sit in the training center and chat with friends.

Cherry Hsu
Team 5

Image Egg Packing Results by Charity Sanders.

Image Diet Coke Gyster (bitterness object lesson) by Karen Chen

Go, Yankees Go!!

The baseball game was awesome. It was my first time to see a live MLB game. Though Wang (the Yankees Taiwanese pitcher) did not pitch, it was a pounding, excited, classic game. I also ate a hot dog and funnel cake, they were all yummy!! Besides, many good songs were played during the innings and break time. It was a phenomenal experience. However, not until carrying Danny (who had a sprained ankle) on my back walking exhaustingly can I truely understand the meaning of a proverb from Spiderman. "With great power comes great responsibility"

Go, Rangers Go!!

Charlie Wang
Team 2

Nice Catch?

This morning and afternoon I was so tired that I fell asleep during class. I really can't remember what I learned today, it's really bad!!! But in the evening we went to watch a baseball game. At first I didn't even want to go because I never had any interest in baseball. But when I got there I was glad I changed my mind. It was so unrealistic! I felt like I was watching a movie or playing a video game. Even though I didn't really understand what was going on, it was still very fun shouting and clapping my hands with people. It was funny. There was one time that I was clapping my hands and Wes and Josh asked me why I was clapping, so I smiled and answered, "Nice catch?" It was a really great game and I had such a great time.

Sophia Chen
Team 6

Birthday Girl!

Today is my birthday! This morning when I went out of my room, I was surprised by the colored ribbons that appeared in front of my eyes. I usually go abroad during summer vacation, so I seldom receive birthday gifts from my friends. Today many people sang "Happy Birthday" to me, I was really surprised and didn't know what I should do while they were singing, but I felt really happy anyway!

This evening we had a Valentines' dinner. The food tasted really good, and I also talked happily with the person next to me! Then we separated into 4 groups and started to discuss ten theings that boys/girls like/dislike. When we heard the answers, we all laughed and clapped our hands, because some of the answers were really interesting!

After that, we started a singing contest. All the guys performed very creatively and it was hard to choose the champion.

At the team prayer time, the people in my group sang the "Happy Birthday" song to me again and gave me some birthday cards that looked like bananas (because the first day I told them my nickname was "Anna Banana") and some gifts. I was so happy that I had such a wonderful birthday!

Anna Wang
Team 4

Valentines Day

It's a very special day because it's my best friend's birthday today. She was in Japan so I couldn't call her and say, "Happy Birthday" on the phone to her. But I still left a message, and I hope she hears it in time.

The basic seminar today talked about forgiveness, and I started to think about who is the person that I haven't forgiven and hate either in my childhood or when I grew up. I came up with several people, and then I made a decision to forgive them and move past the bitterness and pain they had caused.

Today is a simulated Valentines Day, and we had a big meal with a romantic atmosphere. Moreover, I had some good conversations with some people I was not familiar with before and heard the story of how their parents met each other and got married. It is a day with joy and romance. A time for love and God's grace.

Sara Hsiao
Team 5

Roman Chair!

I experienced a horrible thing early this morning. Today the girls were supposed to have PT, and we should get downstairs at 5:55. I'm an early riser, but Fish and I just didn't hear the alarm, and so we were 14 minutes late which means we had to do Roman Chair for 7 minutes....

The V2 session was as awesome as it always is.

A really special thing that happened today was that we made muffins during English class. Because each group made different things, we had four kinds of desserts baked. Mummm... those were yummy. The only pity is that we over-stirred the batter, so our blueberry muffins turned out to be "purple" berry muffins. I love baking.

We went to the park in the evening, during which we played a game and other sports. For me, except for the game (which we all played together) I played volleyball, which is one of my favorite sports. Anyway, we had a great time there.

The small group time is getting better and better as people get to know one another more and more. We shared how God changes our lives during the Team Prayer. Through those girls' testimonies/sharing we could see how amazing His love and grace are. I'm so excited to see how He's working in our lives.

Tiffany Yeh
V2, Team 6

Muffins? in English Class!

What a whole new week! Today is the first day of this new week and I'm so excited, because I believe we're going to have more fun this week, and it surely is. The first thing that made me so excited today was the "English Class". I couldn't even imagine that we would make muffins in class. It was so much fun, I really did have a great time. (Well... it tasted really good. I'm really proud of our team. Everyone is great!) And the next point that made me excited was the outdoor activity. We played a game that I have never played before (capture the flag). I liked it a lot, but I couldn't really run anyway because my legs really hurt. But it didn't matter. I still had a lot of fun. Yeah- it's been a nice day today.

Joyce Chen
Team 5

Week 2!

Today was the start of the second week in VOICE. We went to church and had a very special speech. (I think the pastor was really cool!) Then the lunch was very delicious because it's like Taiwanese taste.

After the meal we went to Wal-Mart to go shopping. The market was so big that we even had to run in order to finish our shopping in two hours. I thought there were many strange products in it that we will never see in Taiwan's supermarket. For example, embroidery floss, clothes, varied bandages which had cute designs on them, and so on. I spent totally $38.66. It was so much fun to go shopping in a foreign market.

The best part of today was the worship time. We sang so many beautiful melodies. They really touched my heart deeply and reminded me that one thing is always more important than the others-- to search for God's joy not human praise.

Gloria Chang
Team 4

Honest Spirit in Worship

Today, we had a touching worship time. God opened my view to see that we could worship with just a panio and guitar. In my original opinion of worship I thought a good worship time needed a lot of instruments, like the keyboard, drums, guitar, electric guitar, and bass or a band. But God revised my idea and reminded me, worship is not limited by singing a song or jumping or shouting and feeling very excited or other things that are only apparent on the outside. It was just a part of the worship. He wants us to worship Him with an honest spirit. "The Purpose Driven Life" said, "Worship stems from loving God, and offering up ourselves to God." Today's worship really touched me, the Holy Spirit came around us and worked. It was amazing. God I love you!

David Chen
Team 3

The Stockyard

We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. It was so interesting to have an opportunity to get to know something about cowboys. I understand now how the cowboys sold cows, drove cows, and raised them. I went to the museum to see lots of different kinds of wagons and famous Texas cowboys who won many prizes in rodeo. There was also a cowboy show. Their performance was so amazing. I like the maze most. We had to find four alphabet letters. We spent 14 minutes to find all the alphabet letters and go to the exit. I really had a lot of fun finding a correct road to the end. It's really good that the visit made us learn about Texas, where we are living now.

The team prayer also impressed me that we had a good conversation with each other. Most people opened their mind to tell us their background of believing God and the reason they came to VOICE. Listening to a lot of stories, I realized that every single person had a different background, some were very horrible, some influenced by church. I was really lucky that I went to church when I was a little girl and I believe Him.

It was really a fantastic day for me. I really like to visit different places.

Charlize
Team 5

Celebration!

Today we had "Thanksgiving" dinner, the dining room and the tables were decorated very beautifully. When we entered the dining room, we'd take a little note that told you which table you were. My table was 6, and there were only two guys at our table. When all the people were seated, we started to share the things you thank God for. I thanked God that I had a wonderful dinner and that I could be here with everyone. And then we started our thanksgiving dinner, the turkey tasted good and the drink was so special!

During the dinner, we played a little game that was to find any vocabulary in three words. Our table did our best but we just found out 85 words, but one of the tables found more than 200!After that the choir came up to the front and sang two songs. I'm in the choir and we just practiced for 2 days and then we could sing for everyone, how amazing! Next we began to play some games which let us feel very inconvenient and let us thank God for all the things he gave us! The game was really fun, an I loved this day!

Anna Wang
Team 4

Early mornings, Tall towers, and Drama

Today we started to exercise in the morning. Although we had to get up early, I felt comfortable after doing exercise with everybody. And then we listened to Dr. Gothard's speaking about the ten unchangeable characteristics we have, such as genders, siblings, intelligence, and so on.

We also performed the characteristics by drama which was really a challenge for me. I think drama is fun and I want to try it again the next time. Besides, the English class was great. Through many interesting games we practiced talking in English with other people and got to know others better as well. I'm looking forward to the English class on the other days.

Singing is a big problem for me because I am totally sick and actually I got a cold. Although I tried my best to sing in the chorus, still it didn't work out. We have learned two beautiful songs expressing our praise and thankfulness to God, and tomorrow we will perform these songs at dinner time.

In the evening, we went out to visit the Reunion Tower which was so high that I was very surprised.

Sherry Huang
Team 6

All of Dallas!

[Today we started exercising at 5:55am. The teacher taught us something like yoga. We stretched out almost every muscle in our body. I felt tired but happy because I thought I was more healthy and energetic.

In the morning was the character course. Mr. Gao (Mr. Gothard) told us to accept the ten unchangeable things that God had designed for us in our life. If we can't accept those things, it means we hate God's design. Later, we had some activities. The most impressive words to me were what Julianna said, "We must be humble first, and then we can give our life to God". I might think that I have given my life to God, but actually I haven't been humble in front of God.

At night, we went outside and walked to the Reunion Tower. It was hot and dry outside. Therefore I had to drink water every few minutes. When we were on the top of the tower, we could see almost the whole of Dallas and we also saw the training center building we live in. When we went back, we felt really tired. I fell asleep almost the minute I went to bed.

Ann Hsu
Team 6

Questions

Morning came creeping into my window, and I suddenly awoke from my deepest slumber. Rubbing my eyes, I reached for my watch, 5:00am. Ah! Thanks to jet-lag. Grumpily I crawled out of my bed and started the day with drowsy eye lids.

Still, the day was beautiful, and the things we were taught were cool. As we went over again the very familiar story of David and Goliath, Karen asked us to especially emphasize the characters of David and Saul as leaders. I was amazed at the effectiveness of the discussion. It was so much better than reading alone.

I could not stop myself from plunging into deeper thoughts. David cared so much for the Lord's heart and His path of righteousness. He was willing to fight for God's reputation, and to give his life into the hands of God. I think that's very precious, and as I thought about it my mind began racing. Bunches of questions came streaming into my brain before I could stop them. Did "I" seek for the heart of the Lord? Was "I" willing to stand up for my God? Was "I" courageous enough to put my everything in the hands of my God? These questions rang in the back of my brain, but I did not have the answers or the answers were not the ones I wanted.

Slowly, I began to realize that as a servant of God. My weaknesses were blocking the wonderful things that God intended to give me. My fears, my complaints, my doubts, etc. were all the first things that popped into my head whenever I stepped on to an unfamiliar road.

Fish Yu
V2, Team 4

Attack comes in many forms

[I awoke to the muted sound of airplanes flying over head, their roar echoing inside my head, pulsing in and through my veins…”Are we being bombed, should I wake up Grace and flee?” The thoughts raced through my brain. I opened my eyes and suddenly the air was filled with silence. Then I remembered: It was only the AC…

And so began my first “real” day at VOICE 2006 the V2 experience.

Most of the Taiwanese students had already arrived the evening before, so I had seen their faces, heard their voices, but had not yet sought to know them. Today was my day.

We began with Wisdom Search as a team, then moved on to breakfast, our grumbling tummies happily satisfied with strawberries and “Training-center-made” granola…the sleepy eyes and sluggish movements of the students only mirrored my own as bites of cereal were consumed. Next came our first V2 session, the TESOL session, and the first installment of the Basic…I of course attended V2. Karen spoke on the basics of leadership; some of its characteristics and qualities. We also looked at the Biblical definition of leadership, or “example” to further comprehend our roles as a leader/example. I was challenged and inspired as I listened to Karen’s and other’s thought on the matter. God was truly in the session.

Next came our TLS class and Bible study. Grace did an excellent job leading, and the time flew by; before we knew it lunch time was here!

After lunch the students were tested for English ability level. The hours passed slowly as their knit brows hovered over their exams…then came the electives. I am helping with drama, as is Charity. Jeff and Grace led, and we just went over the script and had auditions. My team was the best of course. ;-) I like drama.

Dinner came and went---then came the infamous Kennan-led ice-breaker games! Four-on-a-couch and “characteristic-basket-up-set” were the games on the menu, and we played hard and well. I think the ice was not only broken, but melted as well. A successful time was had by all.

Team evening devotions came next, followed by SLEEP. *sigh*
As I laid in my bed, ear-plugs securely inserted, the faint sounds of air planes was heard…echoing in my head…lulling me into a deep sleep…

Thus ended the first “real” day of VOICE 2006 the V2 experience, as seen, heard, and felt by Nomes the Kallbery; eager and excited student of life, fun, and all things pertaining.

Naomi Kallberg
V2, Team 5

Anticipation

Wow! I’m really here! I got into Dallas last night, and had a chance to meet the staff, settle into my room, and get a good night's sleep. This morning I woke up refreshed and ready for a day of anticipation and preparation, because this evening the VOICE students were to arrive.

After our staff meeting this morning, Karen took Charity, Naomi, and I (the V2 girls) out for coffee. The purpose of V2 is to assist the staff and teach the English classes (and whatever anyone else tells us to do). After returning from our meeting with Karen and a quick lunch, we met with Faith to discuss lesson plans for the English classes.

As the day progressed the feeling of excitement and anticipation grew. We had all been working and preparing for the arrival of the VOICE students, and now the time for them to arrive had almost come. We all wanted to make sure that everything was ready and that nothing was forgotten. Preparing lessons, copying music, printing name tags, making birthday signs, the list goes on and on. Then it was time to await their arrival. We did not have to wait for long.

At the announcement of their arrival several of us rushed to the lobby to greet our travel-weary students with smiles. They went to eat and we brought all of their luggage in. It filled the lobby! After dinner they settled into their rooms and then we had orientation.

I think that I have the best group of girls! Now it’s time to turn in and prepare for our first full day with the students, which promises to be just as exciting as today has been. Praise the Lord for His magnificent greatness!

Bethany Rudge
V2, Team 4