The Long Goodbyes

Today is our last day of readings, as well as our last party. It seems unreal; we've gotten so used to life here and the people here that leaving Taiwan is far from easy. It won't exactly be a quick trip to make in the future if we get "homesick." We may only have grown an attachment of six weeks' worth, but that seems like enough considering the relationships we've made.

The party tonight will be hard; goodbyes aren't often easy here, even when you're meeting up with that person again the next day. To read with these people five days a week for six weeks and suddenly stop is a strange feeling.

I don't think we knew how much we would take back from this trip before we started. I've met and gotten to know people that I probably won't be able to see again soon, if ever. These six weeks have done wonders to my experience as a human being, and more importantly, my faith. Working with the Bible every day (even if it's the same story) and with members of the church here has been nothing short of good for me, and I hope it was good for those I worked with as well.

Thank you all so much for helping us get this far. We look forward to relating our experiences with you all when we return!

-Briannon Trimm

Pizza Hut...

...is better in Taiwan than America.

Last weekend's party was Mexico-themed! While pizza has nothing to do with this, I felt the information vital, but not long enough to be independent.

Our last party was hosted by Ginny Flores, incapacitated due to a sprained ankle, and Ben took over the role of teaching the "cumbia" dance.

Mustaches were distributed and faces were (not) slammed into birthday cakes. We met a young child named Jimbo who proceeded to own everyone at pin the tail on the donkey. He won the donkey.

Seeds

This past Sunday, Ben delivered the morning's sermon to the church, with the help of another church member's interpreting (Mantex Hsu). He spoke about his experiences doing mission work. We're very thankful that the congregation wanted to hear from us, after all they've done for us here already. We'd like to ask you guys to pray for their success and that they grow in the future. They've been nothing short of amazing so far.

-Briannon Trimm

Communication not Spoken: Kindness

As I was waiting for the bus today it was raining. I did not have an umbrella with me, because with the crutches it makes it inconvenient to carry an umbrella also. (I hurt my ankle last Monday while ice skating, but it's only a sprain) I was waiting and the lady next to me grabbed my arm and pulled me next to her to be under her umbrella. She was sharing her umbrella with me! She continued to help me as I got into the bus and when we arrived to our destination too. We have encountered so many different people who have shown us kindness like this lady showed me today. I am deeply going to miss the people of Taiwan.

-Ginny Flores

You guys might want to know where we live....

Here're two views from our apartment. We have this great mountain of a hill to climb each day to get here (given no justice through my photo, of course). We're really close to a hospital, so you guys don't have to worry too much about us. And we certainly know how to press buttons that say "emergency" on them in Chinese, even when we don't mean to.

Week Four is Here!

At the beginning of the project, the six week wall towered above us, with so much time to get to know the church and our readers. Now that we're moving toward the middle of the fourth week, we're all looking for the proverbial brakes here to slow us down! Conversations with our readers have recently become deeper and have covered things beyond the lessons; each of us are asked questions often that we're not even sure how to answer. We certainly have more things to ponder that we haven't thought of before.

Some of our readers have dropped (many are traveling to America, and one to Germany), but we're still blessed with a surplus to draw from. The church here is doing great work bringing all of these people together for this project.

Ben and I will have a total of three new readers (as well as one that signed up in the beginning but only started to come now)! Two will begin today.

Please continue praying for the project; all the help you have given us has done wonders!

-Briannon Trimm

And the Winner Is...

Everyone!

Yesterday was our "Silly Olympics" Party, hosted by Ben Hocher! Our readers competed as teams for tiny plastic medals that don't fit over their heads, and it was fun! The competitions included bouncing chopsticks into bowls, face oreos, malt ball bridge, cup stacking relay and a human knot! The competition ended with bean curd ice cream (thanks, Grandma!) and heavy rain.

Our project continues to be blessed with a surplus of readers, and as the third week begins on Wednesday, we feel our individual relations deepening, and conversations become more meaningful.

Howdy, Y'all!

Last night was the first team-planned social event (planned by our own Ginny Flores), and the theme was Texas! Feedback indicates the party was a success, and the bar was set pretty high for future plans.

In case you missed them, here are some photos:

Ginny taught about Texan culture, and a group of people in Taiwan learned how to line dance (and some even got the hang of the "Cotton-Eyed Joe").

In other news, our first week in Taiwan has passed! We've all met most of our readers and have finally (somewhat) adjusted to our schedules here.

Please continue prayers for the project!

May 29

Almost a week has gone by, and the team is hard at work with an insane amount of wonderful people. The week's motto: "If you don't know what it is, eat it."

On Saturday we held the project information meeting, and were blessed with more readers than there were slots to fill. We're busy trying to find the best way to help as many people as possible join the project. Of the two choices we could have, too many or too few readers, we aren't complaining.

Throughout the week, each team member has met most of their readers, and so far it's a wonderful group of people from all ages and backgrounds, eager to talk with us. We work with open schedules from ten in the morning to nine at night, depending on when readers can come.

The hosts have treated us far better than we could have asked for, and we look forward to working with them for the next five weeks here in Taipei.

This weekend we will host our first party, Texas-themed, planned by Ginny Flores! Look forward to that blog post later for the update, or stick around for next week's post.

We'll keep posting weekly updates on the Facebook page, and from here on out will post more frequently here, with shorter posts.

Here's a link to our blog: http://utaustinlst2014.blogspot.com/

This week's post written by: Briannon Trimm

In Transit

After a short warm-up flight from Dallas to LA, the team now awaits the plane that will bring them to Taipei!

For those of you who don't know, one of our team members, Damian Silvas, is sick at home with meningitis and was unable to make the trip. The team met with him last night and he seems to be feeling better, and a good recovery is on its way. Thank you to all who have prayed for his health so far! Please continue to do so; the team is hit hard with his absence and we're praying that he take his situation in stride and recovers quickly.

Will we wind up in Australia? Is that really Ben's passport? Will we make it back through security with all of these delicious goodies baked by Jinny McCall? What day will we actually land in Taipei???

Stick around, and find the answers to all of these questions, and more!

Meet the Team!

Ginny Flores

Ginny Flores is a sophomore in the McCombs Business School at The University of Texas and is from Rockdale, Texas. This is her second Let’s Start Talking Project in which her first project was last summer in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Ginny is the youngest of four, one sister and two brothers. She enjoys music, outdoor activities, and quoting movies.

Ben Hocher

Ben Hocher (pictured on the right) was born in Austin, Texas in the US in 1995 to his parents Brien and Karen Hocher. He has one brother named Matthew Hocher. While he is now back in Austin studying petroleum engineering, his home is in New Braunfels, Texas. He has been growing up in the Church of Christ and was baptized the summer of 2012. He enjoys playing the drums, the guitar, and just about any other instrument he can get his hands on.

Damian Silvas

Damian Silvas was born in Austin, Texas in 1995 and was raised in different parts of Texas after his parents divorced. He spent his years after the fourth grade in Paradise, Texas (name of the town is not illustrative of the scenery). He didn’t really pursue God until the 11th grade. Through a series of trials, God called him and enabled Damian to give his life to Jesus Christ in the 12th grade. He graduated in 2013 and decided to attend the University of Texas at Austin. With his free time he enjoys playing guitar, fellowship with his brothers (and sisters) on campus, playing with his dog, music, and cooking.

Briannon Trimm

Briannon Trimm grew up in the “Barbecue Capitol of Texas” (Lockhart, TX) to a Church of Christ family. She has one younger sister named Maura. She went to elementary school in Austin, Texas, and now attends UT there, where her faith has been tried and greatly strengthened. Her mother is a teacher, her father is a mail carrier / writer, and she grew up among shelves crammed with books. She loves drawing, and hopes to pursue a career in production design for films. This is her first LST project, first mission trip, and first time out of the country.

Hello, and welcome to the official UT Austin's 2014 Let's Start Talking Team Blog!

In less than a month, the team will be on the other side of the world in Taipei, Taiwan!

Don't know what we're all about? This year, four students from Longhorns for Christ (Ginny Flores, Ben Hocher, Damian Silvas and Briannon Trimm) will travel to Taiwan on a mission trip. There, they'll work five days a week for six weeks one-on-one with readers to improve their conversational English skills. They'll be working out of a workbook based on the Book of Luke, sharing the story and love of Jesus Christ.

From this point on, you can expect to find weekly, in-depth posts on our project. We'll be using this blog, as well as our Facebook page.

All of your help has been greatly appreciated, and we're rapidly approaching that airport and first meeting with the people we'll be working with this summer!