Update from the team!

We received the following update from Laura today:
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Hey everyone!

We're here in an internet cafe enjoying a day off! It's hard to believe that we've only been here for 5 days! Technically, we've been gone a week, but we've been in Taiwan for only 5 days! It's been quite an adventure. Here's how it happened...

It was a dark and stormy night...

Well, no. Actually, it was a bright sunny morning when we left Willmar. Our drive the the airport was ejoyable and uneventful. We arrived at the airport about 3 hours before our flight, only to find out that we no longer had a flight. We were supposed to fly to Tokyo and then to Taipei, all within about 17 hours, but they ended up canceling the flight to Tokyo, which lift us stuck in the US for an extra day. Soooo, we got re-routed to the next available flight to Asia, which didn't leave until the next day. So we flew into Chicago, where we had an overnight layover. Luckily I (Laura) live in Chicago, so my parents were able to pick us up and we had nice comfy beds to sleep in (thank to a few friends!) as opposed to the floor of the gate at the airport. We then flew to Detroit, and then to Osaka, Japan. Upon our arrival to Japan, they informed us that there was a typhoon in Taiwan and that we couldn't fly in until the next day. As a result, we got to spend a night in Japan! Boy was that an adventure! Hahaha. At about 4:00 am we finally boarded our last flight to Taipei. We arrieved on time, met Sandra, our YWAM contact, and started our day!

So far our ministry here has looked different than we thought it would. I guess we didn't really know what to expect, but it was definately a lot less varied than what we've actually been able to experience. So far, we've played in two hospitals, a convelecent center, and residentail home for the mentally handicaped, and a high school. It was inceredible. Each place has been significantly different from the last, and it's been fun to meet people in all stages of life here. Tomorrow we're going down to the fishermen's warf to do some concerts out there. Beyond the music side of things, we've been spending a lot of time at a place called The Rock. It's a free coffee house that YWAM (Youth With A Mission) runs as a means to evangelize and deciple. The Rock offers English classes as well as "hang out" environment where people can come and practice their English with native speakers. We've all had a ton of fun spending time with the students that come. Most of them are universtiy students from the school just down the street from our apartment, so we have plenty in common. There's never a dull moment at The Rock.

Today we're going to downtown Taipei to see the sights with a few of the people here gracious enough to show us around a bit. I've heard rumors of Taipei 101 (which I beleive is the second tallest building in the world), as well as a few other treats that Taiwan has to offer. The food here is incredible and we're all looking forward to eating more of it! Not to mention the fact that we get to spend some quality time with our Taiwanese friends here.

Here are some prayer requests you can be lifting up with us:

• ~Please pray that we remain healthy so that we can continue in our minsitry.
• ~We are suposed to get hit by another typhoon this weekend, so please pray for the safety of everyone here, as well as minimal damage. Especially since they're still recovering from the one we had last weekend!
• ~Pray for the ministry of YWAM and their staff as they work hard to share the gospel and disciple Christians here in Taiwan. ~Pray for 1422 as they start their ministry in the Philippines.

That's all we have. Miss you all, and thanks for all your prayers and support!