We have been busy!!

Well, hope everyone is busy spreading the news about our fundraiser!!Can't wait to see who won what and how things are going. This first one doesn't seem to have made an affect, but slowly but surely, things will get moving.

It seems that I can't figure out a good color and blog design. This is not my cup of tea, so please all bear with me!! Adding on the next few days we have people and guests coming out our ears:-).  Then when that is all done, Luke goes for a ministry trip to China, to teach to the underground Bible Institute. He was asked "How do you tell God's will and and God's plan?" by a student via chat room last week.....glad he is the teacher and not me!! 0.0

Well, two babies met their forever families and will be at AIT later this week. So happy!! And as God has it planned, one newborn came in and another due any day. God has been good in keeping us busy!! Please pray for mommas and babies as they get adjusted, each a different way.



This weekend we received a phone call from an organization who said they had a hotline phone call. The 20+ year old momma is in the beginning of her 2nd trimester, kicked out of hom and boyfriend broke up with her. She had told our hotline person she would sleep at a friends house and then come here by train. Though when she got here she said she ended up sleeping at a 7/11 with her friend accompanying her. She is living in a fairy tale. Denial, that's what it is right now. She is denying that there are issues. Her parents will want her back, her boyfriend will think all is ok. She immediately said "no adoption." We said we never thought that!!! our purpose to give mommas in crisis a safe haven, physically, emotionally and spiritually during this time. We offer, in fairness, counseling in both, but there is no requirement. I think she was like "OH".  She has a way to go. She needs prayer though.



Morning Light Christian Association is working on it's first fundraiser here. We are going to do a Pizza DIY (that is the plan!). Pray for us as we hate to and don't really have the man power to do all this, but at this point, it is much needed.  We have some ideas for moms to get some things done and all. So please pray. We really do need coworkers, but we just can't pay them!!



What fundraisers could you all do?

Look what the mommas have been doing....

 Our wonderful mommas have been busy. Our 3 mommas and a single momma have been busy learning the art of cross stitching. They have done Christmas coasters! We are taking orders:-)......

1 set has 6 coasters

1 set = $10

 

Let me know if you want to order them...

mommas......

Well, my Friday was long and was so glad to finally get home! I did find out that our 3 mommas had their prenatals. Two are very close to delivery and one has a bit to go. One is having a c/section and was very happy to hear the dr say, no exercising or anything strenous before your surgery date. Now she has an excuse:p The other, well, she is doing well, hanging on and has swollen feet. But she is doing well. Our other momma, due to previous situation from last year, she is here on trial period. Dr has told her (again) that baby is too small, she is anemic and she needs to take care of herself. Other than us force feeding her, there is only so much that we can do. We watch her intake and all, but she has to want it too.
Unfortunately, this is a mentality we have seen again and again. Momma comes to us in second trimester, which is too late for an abortion, or the abortion would be too expensive and they can't afford it. So, she doesn't really WANT the baby, she can't have an abortion so she just goes on with life. If she takes care of HER body that is fine, but she doesn't want the baby, so why bother really. It is such a selfish mentality. Though, on the other hand, it is a way of "ignoring it and it will go away." They can't keep the baby, so do anything they can to be as distant as possible. It is sad.

I have given a book "When Trouble Comes" to a single momma who has been coming to church. She is one of our "graduates". She has agreed to go through it with me. PLEASE PRAY that she will meet with me. I really feel that her spirit is getting closer to opening up and her seeing her need of a Savior. Pray for Irene.

This week will be busy as usual. Pray as we meet with a non resident as well.

To God be the glory GREAT things HE has done......and will do!

Deana

This is the day....

"This is the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Well, today we took Bethany to get her paperwork figured out. I am so glad we don't have to travel hours and hours away like in some countries, but stupid issues, we have them here too.

First, the volunteers there were instisting on speaking English with me and didn't look happy when I was like "WHAT? you need 6 copies of the passport?" She was like NO!! print....she was TRYING to say xerox copy but it was not sounding like that!!

Then Bethany takes all her paperwork out (that she thought she left in the USA but found it here!!) and Mr. Chen, head of something at Foreign Affairs was like "oh, do you know Hillary Clinton? she needs to sign your paper, this no have her sign." He was trying to be funny in an unfunny way meaning, Secretary of State signature. YEAH! they NOW say that, oh, she needs to have her fingerprints checked by FBI. -.-  never a dull moment here.......poor Bethany.......I wanted to cry for her. SO I will be up at AIT tomorrow with a momma (birth mom interview)  and ask them about it or if they have the forms or whatever. So totally annoying!

So, then Alexia comes back this afternoon. Had two phone calls that were rather, um, not unpleasant, just like "is everyone in a high position here on drugs?!" (ok, that was very unChristian like, but sometimes you wonder!). First, the form we were given to refill out about how many moms we have had here the past three months, we did. We filled it out according to what they gave us.......well, it wasn't what they WANTED.  They also gave out the wrong email, so we can't just get the exact form they wanted.......are you confused? I am!! Last week they sent us paperwork saying they redid the form, we copied that as they wrote it because they never emailed their form to us. We did the paperwork and took it over, now they say it is not the right format.......seriously wonder if they are trying to cause problems here (wouldn't be suprised!)

THEN the paperwork for our association... get this......we have to have "stand by" for our committee members so if something tragic happens and we need a replacement, then we have one. Well, we were informed that we had two on standby and there could only be one -.- so we had like 30min to redo that paper with one persons name on it, not two.....thank the Lord Alexia keeps good paperwork trails. She was on it and did it right away!!WOOHOOO!!!!!

But this is how my day has been......how was yours? :-)

Double Ten....

Yesterday was "Double Ten Celebration" 10/10 is the day marking Taiwan's 100th Birthday.

Our moms didn't do anything special, just stayed at home, our family went to lunch out in the rain:p

Yup, it rained all day.

Today, 10/11, we got back to work. Met at the office, had a staff meeting. Though as I think about it now, we did not start or end in prayer. Unfortunately, I am being quite honest and saying that it seems when we have meetings things pop up and people running back and forth and we forget about prayer. We need to start a regular meeting time and starting with prayer!!

Saturday we had a new momma move in. She looks sooooooooooooo young.....well.....she is! She is 21yrs old. Lynn (I call her that) thought her long time boyfriend would want the baby and her, but well, as the story goes........nope. Her family kept her at home as long as possible til neighbors started getting suspicious. So she moved in on Saturday. That makes 3 mommas we have right now.

I was looking back over our monthly reports, and it seems we average 5 mommas a month, though not at one time. It seems there has not been a month since Chinese New Year where we have NOT had a momma living in the home. Unfortunately, the home is old and the weather here is humid. We repainted  the first two floors back in February, and now they are starting to bubble and peel.....great! So we are possibly looking for a new place. There are a few issues we are working out and how we can do this under our new association. But we know  God will work it out. We also know that this is a work that cannot stop. Too many mommas need a place to live, a place to care for them.

Pray for our current mommas: Lynn, Judy and Baby (that is what she says her name is -.-)

pray they can stay healthy physically and we can heal them spiritually.

Oil in my lamp....

This is a ministry is not for the faint of heart. There are times when you just want to smack people, and times when you don't know if you are coming or going. Times when you really want to go to a seminar, but for some reason God puts things in the way and you just follow God's leading.

A mom called, we had talked to her before. The "story" was that she was pregnant with another man's baby and her husband didn't want the baby. I followed up with this momma on Friday. Well, not what it seems. Baby is her husbands, but she wants a divorce because he is too traditional.....more or less meaning that her (21yr old with a 3yr old and now pregnant) idea is to just have fun, where her husband's idea (he is 30yr old and working, they have been married for one year!) is she needs to be responsible. So, she ended up hanging up on me. Another story for that book in the making!!LOL! (she was the one I wanted to smack....very immature!)

But later, a former mom who adopted her baby out, came by. She does every so often. She told me the funniest thing (she didn't think it was funny....she was quite serious.) She went to the temple the other to do the ritual (long story), and she saw someone she faintly knows, but the lady was crying and all and so our momma, Ah Fen, went and talked with her. The lady was in despair of some issues and contemplating suicide, she had no one to talk to so she came to the temple to talk to Matzu (Sea goddess), but she felt the sea goddess was ignoring her (uh...duh!! yeah...it is a block of wood or metal decorated well!). So Ah Fen tells her she can tell her problems to the foreign pastor's wife (me!!LOL!!) and told her story. The lady is like "so they will talk to non Christians?" yeah!! but churches ask for money and I don't have money.......Ah Fen told her, well, they have never asked for money and I have eaten there alot (she tends to come to potlucks!!LOL!). The lady said she had been at a church for a bit but when she ran out of money, she was asked to leave (ok...that is the 3rd time I have heard of a story like that!). So anyway, Ah Fen was like "Shrmu (what I am called in Chinese, means Pastors wife!LOL!) I may have talked her into coming on Sunday." Though Ah Fen might not come-.-

But I was excited to see that we had made an influence on her that she could and would tell others to talk to the "foreign Shrmu".

See, that is what we are here for!! Making an influence!!God knew I needed that at that time.

Pray was we reach out to another momma this week. She will be with us a short time, so pray we can have an influence on her!!

We still need Morning Light Angels!!   

To Give or Not To Give

As you know our ministry, Morning Light Home, is having a fundraiser. I know, you are probably think "yeah, yeah, yeah....you are always asking for money." Well, I feel like that too! On this end of things, I will be quite honest and let you know that I abosultely hate asking for money or donations, seriously.....it is like begging I feel. But at the same time, I feel that the Christian family needs to be made aware of the needs of the ministry here and pray about how God can use them in the ministry.

It is very hard finding funds. We started this ministry at our house 2 years ago. Then we "partnered" with a Christian organization that was "so excited" about the helping the women here in Taiwan. The organization had an inhouse agency that did adoptions. Crisis pregnancy center, adoptions, they went hand in hand, no problem. But towards the end of last year, we were beginning to not have peace anymore under the agency as they were giving pressure in areas that we felt were not necessary. After much prayer, counsel and thought, we chose to step out on faith and leave them. Especially after we asked "I thought we were partners" and that was taken off the website, and we were told "we are your boss." We do appreciate the time that we were under them and we learned alot. We humbly backed down and decided to let God be our boss and help us fight our Goliath's.

                                                                                   http://www.goodmanphotography.com/

Taiwan is not a third world country. You can not make it on $30US a month here. That would pay for a month of national insurance, but leave you with $5US for the rest of the month. To rent a small room is $60US, one gallon of milk is $7US+ (ask me how I know!). Taiwan on the outside looks like a developed country, but on the inside it is not. It is a country covered by the dark cloud of Satan's lies and sin. It is a country where abortion is birht control. It is a country where 40%of adult married women have had an abortion and 50% of unwed adult women have had one. It is a country where the live birth rate is 166,00 in 2010, yet the yearly abortion rate is 300,000-500,00. A country where last year 3,000 babies were aborted just becaue they were girls.

Taiwan has a population of 23+million, yet there are only 3 crisis pregnancy centers. Praise God we are all Christian centers. There are family counseling centers that counsel moms to abort. So you can see how important our work is? it is a spiritual warfare to say the least. In our ministry,the only home on the east coast of Taiwan, we have ministered to over 100 mommas in these 2 years. That means over 100 babies saved from the awful pain of an abortion, and 100 mommas saved from the spiritual issues involving an abortion. We have heard many times over, "I am so glad you all are doing this, where else would I go?". Families ignore them or cast them out of the house, friends slowly go away, boyfriends abandon them, they can't get a job, no place to live. That is why we are here, ministering those that no one wants to minister, yet at a crucial time in their lives.

You can probably see from the above the urgency in getting our funding to keep this ministry going. Even if you just donate $5US, that is helpful. The blog has items you can donate and get a chance to win. Or you can be a Morning Light Angel and support us for as much as you can. You can send it through paypal (panshrmu@yahoo.com) or you can get our mission agency address on the blog.

                                                             

While not every Christian is called into the mission field or this type of ministry, Christians are called to help. Please pray about what part God would have you do in protecting the lives of the unborn.



Til the Trumpet Sounds,

Deana, Alexia, Wuli
Morning Light Staff