Amanda and Her ErHu

This is Amanda.  She is a missionary in Taiwan.

Amanda plays the erhu, also known as the “Chinese violin” or “Chinese two-string fiddle”.  The erhu has been around for more than 1,000 years.  The erhu’s sound is made by the vibration of the python skin with the bow.  (Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu)

I recently interviewed Amanda:

1.  What is a typical day like for you?
Every day/week is different.  Since I am a tent maker (see answer to next question), I go to work (school) 4 days a week.  This semester, I teach 16 hours a week, and I have a few office hours.  I also take time to clean my home and run errands.   The rest of my time is mostly spent building relationships mainly with students.  I eat lunch with them, invite them over for dinner or to spend the night, or go out with them.  It is in the building of these relationships that I get opportunities to share Christ.  I also enjoy prayer walking in my neighborhood, and try to do so on a consistent basis. 

2.  Do you raise your own support?
I am a tent maker.  I work at a school here in Taiwan–this gives me a visa and helps to pay the bills.  Namely I am a tent maker right now because I have college loans I must pay off and the cost of living is less here than in the States, so I should be able to pay them off faster here than if I were living in the States.  There are a few generous people who have supported me financially, but mostly the Lord has met my needs through a teaching job.

3.  Name three specific needs you have.
God is kind.  At the moment most of my needs are met.  This has been the hardest question to answer.

1. I want to go home this summer and need things at my new school to be worked out as well as next year’s visa to be renewed.  This is always a cause for stress as the entire process is out of my hands.  So, for things to work out and for me to have peace in the waiting.

2. I moved to a city where our team has no other members.  There is a couple currently in another city in Taiwan planning to move here–for that I am thankful.  So the need is for all the details of that move to work out and for even more coworkers to join the harvest.

3. For my college loans to be gone, and to be a good steward of the time, talents and money God has entrusted me with.

4.  What keeps you going on the hard days?
Prayer and good friends.  I can call friends here or in the States on Skype and be encouraged instantly.
5.  What do you miss the most from home?
Family and friends, Mexican food, blue skies, Blue Bell, and stars twinkling in the night sky. 

6.  How long have you been in Taiwan?
If you count the year I was an exchange student, I’ve now been in Taiwan nearly 6 years.

7.  What is the name of your mission organization?
Since I came as a tent maker, I don’t have a sending agency, but I have partnered with Hokkien Harvest.  They are a people-group focused team sponsored by the Southern Baptist’s International Mission Board. 

8.  When was the last time you were home?
Summer of 2006.  Lord willing, I will go home again this summer!!  I can’t wait!!

9.  What is the strangest things you have eaten?
These things don’t sound so strange to me anymore . . . “Squid on a stick,” chicken feet, chicken hearts, chicken lungs, seaweed (not just the dried kind around sushi, but the wet slimy kind too), sea slugs, shark, a 1000 year old egg (only thing I refuse to eat ever again so far). I also have eaten all of a shrimp–head, legs, tail and all.

You really must read her blog post about the 1000 year old egg!  Click here.

 

10.  Share a funny story…culture or language related.
I’m having a hard time thinking of anything funny right now.  I know once, when I was first starting to learn Chinese, I was practicing how to say words like “cup,” “plate,” “knife,” and “fork.”  When I got to “cup” I misspoke and said a similar sounding word that means “shut up.”  EVERYONE at the table got very quite . . . I was so embarrassed. 

The nonverbal sign for “come here” in Taiwan is the same as “go away” in America.  So there are plenty of times that this has caused confusion.

 

 Sharing my testimony in the park. 

(I speak Mandarin, the translator was going from Mandarin to Taiwanese.)

 

 What I spend most of my time doing is building relationships with students.  Most recently, this past weekend, I met with students who had graduated a few years ago.

 

Every year I also invite my students to my home for a “Christmas party.” I have about 6-7 parties for anywhere from 12 to 30 students per party in my home–sometimes it gets quite crowded.  It is a chance to build relationships and share Christ.

Please visit Amanda’s Blog:  Following An Unknown Path