First Piece of Pizza

Last week I stayed for 3 days with the family of this little boy, who at the moment I snapped this picture was enjoying his first piece of pizza ever in his young life. Why did he have to wait so long?

Teagan and his little sister Amara were born intolerant to absolutely anything having to do with corn (and almost anything has sucrose in it these days), suffering stomach aches and other unpleasant reactions whenever they ingested it. Doctors helplessly stood by doing nothing, going so far as to intimate that the allergies/intolerances were only imagined.

After years of preparing special corn-restricted diets, mom and dad were at the end of their ropes. At the suggestion of the mother’s mother, the parents went to see a faith healer by the name of Randy Clark. He prayed for the two children--- not in any sort of large-scale special meeting but quietly and behind the scenes.

In the last couple of weeks since their visit, the couple has been cautiously optimistic that their two children have been healed!

The mother showed me three books by Paul King her mother had sent her:  Genuine Gold: The Cautiously Charismatic Story of the Early Christian and Missionary Alliance, Nuggets of Genuine Gold: Experiencing the Spirit-Empowered Life, and Anointed Women: The Rich Heritage of Women in Ministry in the Christian & Missionary Alliance (I read the first title a few years ago and translated a few pages worth of quotes from it into Chinese).

This is the second instance of parents believing God healed one of their children in less than a week. Here’s the first one I heard from another mother last week in Charles City. So that’s the story behind the little boy’s picture above!

New Asian Friends in Lincoln, Nebraska

Last Monday I hopped a ride down to Lincoln, Nebraska, where I’m  visiting and speaking for the next couple of weeks. To my surprise, when I got out of the car in front of the home of my host family, I was greeted by a man with Taiwanese ancestry—the first I’ve met in Iowa or Nebraska.

Kevin is a cancer doctor at an area hospital. His wife Maybelle, a Filipino American, is a PA (physician’s assistant) in another location. Both Kevin and Maybelle are faithfully living out the call to “Be Light” in the marketplace.

Kevin invited me to “job shadow” with him yesterday, visiting  patients and hanging out in his office at the radiology clinic. As you can see, he’s a huge Jeremy Lin fan!

Read more about Kevin and his Taiwanese roots on page 23 of this article about Lincoln’s 20 Under 40.

Also, for anyone interested in leaning more about cancer, Kevin highly recommends the recent bestseller The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Besides church meetings and meals, other activities I enjoyed this week included taking Kevin and Maybelle’s friendly pit-bull Laoban 老闆 (Mandarin Chinese for “boss”) for an hour-long walk while his owners were working. LaoBan pulls very hard on the leash!

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Thursday night after basketball with a few men from the church and community, we enjoyed some Vietnamese-style sandwiches, bubble tea, and coffee!

Charles City, Iowa

Last Friday I rode 6 hours from Nebraska to visit friends here in Charles City and Nashua, Iowa. Last year and on several other previous occasions, they  visited us in Taiwan.

Last year back in Taiwan my neighbor and friend Mr. Ding had drawn and presented this picture of a dragon to Sheila. She and her husband  since purchased a box for it and put it on the shelf in their house in Iowa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also last night, we passed by the famous country church below.

Tomorrow, westward to Lincoln, Nebraska!

American Beef

Yesterday afternoon my new friend Steve took me around with his brother and son while they moved cattle from one field to another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Moving Cattle

On the third trip, they moved two bulls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the farm, these calves had just been weaned from their mothers a few days previously.

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Weaned Calves

In the evening I had another chance to share at the church again. People asked lots of good questions.

Cabin in the Country

The friendly folks here in Brunswick, Nebraska (population 129) have put me up for my 4 day visit in a lovely cabin by a pond on remote private property…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a little too chilly fo sliding down the sliding board, using the diving board, or for swimming, but I’ve enjoyed walking around.

 

 

 

 

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I woke up Sunday to a dozen or so wild turkeys. There are also deer and blue heron to be admired from the comfort of the front porch, dozens of easily-spotted trout in the creek just behind the cabin, as well as the beautiful starry nighttime sky far clearer than any I’ve observed for several years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To top it all off, earlier Monday evening before rushing off for an appointment I enjoyed pulling in three good-size largemouth bass-- 2 of which pulled on the reel’s drag--- all within a half hour!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early Tuesday morning I caught 4 more nice ones—in just a 20 minute span!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday I had the privilege of sharing three times about Taiwan.  Though there were no meetings Monday, I enjoyed getting together with two couples for good meals and conversations. Meetings are on for both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. A great start to tour so far!