So what has it been like since returning to Taiwan on August 8, 2019? See what we mailed out to our print subscribers to Livingston Letters in November. Please subscribe yourself as well if you’re not getting our letters at the form at the bottom of this page.
Countdown to Taiwan (Printed in Mailing on July 24, 2019)
During our busy summer and our 4th move in a year we could only manage to write our print letters. Below is Helen’s famous, handmade scrapbook-style letter sent out as we were counting down the days to our departure for Taiwan.
As our kids get older, we here more and more from them as they process the joys and sadness of living in two worlds. See what they handwrote below about this year in America and our return to Taiwan. (These were first printed July 24, 2019 for subscribers to Livingston Letters and later posted in Dec 2019.)
If you would like more letters from us, please drop us a line and subscribe to our Livingston Letters. Not everything we write will get on this blog.
Wrapping Up Our Time In Kentucky
So what did we gain from our school year in Kentucky? How did it prepare us for life serving in Taiwan once again?
For our kids, life in America was not a time of re-entry. For them it felt like their first entry to American culture as residents. Read what they said about culture shock and life being so different to what they were used too in Taiwan. (These were first printed April 6, 2019 for subscribers to Livingston Letters and later posted in Dec 2019.)
Announcing MissionStream Finally!
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Helen's Signature Homemade Scrapbook Style Letter
FAQ on Ministry in USA
Leaving a Regional Conference with Beyond in Malaysia
Do you still need financial support?
Yes, we are serving in missions in America short-term, our only wages are from our non-profit company. This will also enable us to continue for another term of service overseas in Taiwan as career missionaries.
How can we help? Our monthly budget is fully funded with BEYOND through June, 2018 but see our wish lists below for other fun, personal ways to help while back in the USA.
What are your travel dates and locations?
We’ll be working in the S.F. Bay Area (May 26-July 1), Portland, Oregon (July 4-15), and then take a road trip moving to Asbury Seminary, KY as alumni to settle in the community there for the school year. We’ll return to our same sublet apt in Taiwan, in July, 2019.
Why live in Kentucky?
As alumni of Asbury Seminary we'll have access to one of the largest seminaries in the USA with countless opportunities for ministry training. While working as missionaries locally, we will audit classes.
What ministry will you do in America?
We’ll continue serving as missions speakers and trainers at churches, reporting to supporters, upgrading our ministry skills, and coaching local believers.
We enjoyed attending Taiwan Sunshine's Retreat for families with special need children
Kid's Wish List
(Non-tax deductible gift)
- Summer camp 4 Kids
- National Parks Pass
- Voice Lessons (Joy & Helen)
- Six Flags Tickets
- Rodeo Tickets
- Horse Camp (Joy)
Parent's Wish List
- Reliable car to borrow
- Date-night help
- Games, movies, music for travel
- Chinese language helpers
- Laptops for Helen & Lily
- Camera for Newsletter Photos
Thanking God
1. Our budget goals were fully met through supporter's generosity in giving.
2. Reserved a spot for our whole family go through a debriefing week at CIT, crucial for workers returning from long service overseas.
3. A productive time training colleagues and discussing our transition at a Beyond regional conference April 5-10.
Prayer Requests
- God’s leading to partner with a new mission agency
- Rest & Renewal from God in the busyness of changing homes, jobs, and country
- Good housing needed in California May 25-June 2 and Wilmore, KY for the whole school year.
Why This Nurse Visits Families After Discharges?
Sam Shares Pregnancy Support Services with Local Medical Clinic for Referrals
On the last day of an Asia for Jesus conference, I was sitting way off to the side toward the top row of a basketball arena with over 2000 people in attendance. Suddenly, a sweet young lady waves at me and though I recognize her from an Asia for Jesus event from a year ago, I did not remember her name.
She asked, “Do you remember what you prayed for me last time in the prophetic prayer time?” I shook my head with a smile and said “No, sorry.” C’mon, I don’t even remember her name, how would I remember what I prayed for her about?’ I thought to myself.
“I still work as a Hema-dialysis nurse at the hospital in Taipei and I’m trying to shine there to be a fire starter, just as you encouraged me to do," she excitedly shared! “I convinced my resident doctor to come to this conference because he is also a Christian, but please pray for him, because he has much medical training and has a hard time believing in healing miracles.” I nodded in agreement, because it took me a long journey to come to the place of faith that I live in too.
Helen Shares Flyer for 40 Days of Prayer for Life with Lily Livingston
She thanked me for encouraging her to share the gospel to not just individuals she knows, but to find a way to influence the whole family if possible. “Since we talked and prayed, I find every opportunity to visit my patients in their home after they are discharged from the hospital and share the gospel with the whole family. I love what I do since I am single, I have more time to go do visitations. But I wonder if I need to go to seminary to do more ministry?” I shook my head "No," as she was talking. And she continued, “That is what my pastor said too. He told me to stay where I am and influence the medical world for Jesus and I can go visit the families without having to go through seminary training. And lately, as I pray more about this calling, I believe God will call me more into visiting families in the rural countryside.”
Tears streamed down my face at this point because I needed this conversation with Nurse Wong. The fire in her eyes tell me that though I have always wanted to go into the countryside, God sees my heart and that through people I meet, He is moving them into the places most unreached. God knew that at times I struggle with letting my physical therapy profession be “dormant,” while I am a career missionary in Taiwan. Time and time again, through medical professionals like Nurse Wong, that randomly found me in the corner of the stadium, God reminds me that He will work all things out for His glory, in His own way, in His time. He also shows me that nothing goes to waste with God. I meet many people like Nurse Wong that are not even in my radar of people I’ve officially “trained,” yet from one encounter, they are doing amazing and brave things out there to share the gospel to families all over Taiwan. Praise God!
Love Always,
Helen Livingston
Fortune-Teller's Family Turn to Jesus
"Oh man, it'd be a miracle if so-and-so became a Christian..." C'mon. Let's have a moment of honesty and admit that we've all thought that way. I know I have, especially with one family so rooted in Buddhism and the head of the household is a fortune-teller.
Construction Workers Gather to Burn Spirit Money for Blessings on Their Work
After a few years of ministry with this family, I had a sense that God was turning up the heat on things when the Mom had an accident, and family dysfunctions started to surface. Then I heard from the only believer in that family, that her sister-in-law was acting very strange suddenly and they saw that she was demon-possessed. Indeed the spiritual warfare was fierce in that week. Worship and prayer took place in this home openly with believers invited into the home. The brother, sister, and Mom were more open to hearing the gospel. This made the father more angry with Christians. Although the deliverance was not as dramatic as I've witnessed before, there was a slow recovery.
Many in Taiwan will turn to Jesus from these power encounters like Elijah and the followers of Baal. How many will continue to follow Jesus in a journey of love and worship after they are introduced to Jesus? Although Mom, sister, and the brother have prayed the "sinner's prayer", they continue to struggle with old habits of idolatry when faced with challenges. So, pray for wisdom and patience as we serve families like them to encourage the entire household to walk with God together.
~Helen
It All Starts with a Conversation
How do you make connect with people interested in spiritual conversations? Helen, her friends, and colleagues give us some tips in this “First Contact” on how reach out. We don’t have all the answers, but hope this gives you a glimpse of us in action. There is no acting, this is real life here in the video!
Family Secret Becomes a Family Passion
Not long before my mom passed away, she revealed a well-kept family secret and said to me, “Helen, I never told you that I regretted having an abortion before you were born. I was so scared then. Soon after that abortion, I was surprised to find out I was pregnant with you. And I knew that no matter what, I was going to keep you because I felt so sorry for what I did.”
I didn't have much time to ask her about the details before coming to Taiwan. However, I kept the thought in my heart of "Why did I get a chance at life but not "that" sibling?" As I wrestled over this heartache, two friends told me of their vision to build a support center for pregnant women in crisis. So, after much prayer and steps of obedience, the Pregnancy Support Center (PSC) had its grand opening in January 2016. I thought, “If my Mom had a support center like this when she was in her crisis pregnancy, I wonder if I would have had the chance to get to know my sibling.”
Although Sam and I have focused much of our time on evangelism and training others, we both care so deeply for the work at PSC. So, in the next few months I will be helping to support the staff in a transition time by visiting over 100 obstetrician clinics in the central Taiwan area. We want clinics to trust us by referring pregnant clients to us to for special counseling and a safe home to live at. In this Kingdom adventure, I hope to be a light in these dark clinics where many of these doctors are not just delivering babies, but doing over 10 abortions a day.
Giving women a better chance to choose LIFE feels great since I’ve been given life myself. I want to live to fight for LIFE whether it’s babies or people with addictions, disabilities, or spiritual brokenness. When there is a calling that meets a deeper part of my story, I've got to answer it. How about you? What is your calling? How does your calling reflect your life story?
Prayer Points
- Strategic consultations on our ministry strategy.
- Decision-making on our kid’s education for the next 2-3 years
- Fortune-teller’s family as they are softening toward Jesus
Thanks for your support, at the end of the last year we received many generous donations! You are what keep us supplied and energetic to continue our ministry here. Please keep up with the prayers too and let us know how to lift you up as well! All your recent letters and cards have been encouraging to us!
Much Love,
Helen for the Livingstons
Radiant New Colors In Life
What?! Color on my walls?!?
"What's the big deal? Who cares?" This was my attitude for 41 years of my life until last week. The painter of the new apartment asked me "What color would you like the rooms?"
“Seriously? I get to choose? That's so amazing.”
Why is that so amazing? I realized that as an immigrant child growing up in America, my parents were on survival mode for decades. We kept the same second-hand furniture and white walls for decades. Then when I immigrated to Taiwan, I repeated the same pattern and had boring white walls. There was culture shock in the first years, not to mention having a baby and then the crisis of my parent's battle with cancer. I was grateful to just to have the basics of a roof over my head.
In recent years after the storms of grief have passed, Sam and I looked at our old home with its cracked white walls from the earthquakes, flooring that we were about to fall through, a lack of good windows, and we knew it was time to move.
I’d accepted a black and white uncolorful environment as ‘good enough’ for too long. Now the color in my walls is a symbol of healing, restoration and replacing generational patterns of mere survival with a colorful, thriving way of life. We long for this new beginning to allow our family to shine more brightly from the inside out. Thank you without your love and prayer over these past 7 years in Taiwan, we could not thrive and grow to be a blessing to those we serve. How about you? Are there grim looking parts of your life that could use fresh new colors to make it radiant again? We love to hear from you!
Prayer Requests:
- Our eyes would be open to share God's love with contractors or friends that help us move.
- Developing good relationships with the new neighbors in our building.
- Hearing from God regarding His heart for ministry in this new location.
A BIG MOVE Into the Heart of the City
After 7 years living in our first home in Taiwan, we are moving to another apartment! God opened up an amazing place in the heart of the city, close to “People’s Park,” known for the annual Jazz festival, street performers, and the crowds it attracts every night. You can even spy on us via the Google Street Maps links above if you want to have some fun. In the first linked photo, you’ll see a typical Taiwanese mail carrier in a green uniform on a motorcycle.
Although we are thrilled to have more space for our growing kids to homeschool, we have mixed feelings. Sam wasn’t too sure he would like the new hip and chic neighborhood compared to the old and weathered, quieter neighborhood we’ve been living in. We all have some sadness about losing a connection to the memories we've had in this home and neighborhood. Even the 7-Eleven around the corner feels like our "second home.” We are there every other day or two for coffee, reading the newspaper, or popsicles for the kids and know all the life stories of the people working there. We've prayed for and prayed with the mail carrier, Mom & Pop café, and so many others in our neighborhood.
So, gradually we are helping the kids adjust to the idea of a new neighborhood. Today, we trained them how to take the bus independently from their school to the new home. As we celebrated with a family walk enjoying popsicles at the park, an elderly lady noticed us and asked, "Are all these YOUR kids?" I responded, "Yes, Shang-Di (Lord God) blessed me with a lot of children. Aren't they awesome?" She responded, "Are you a Christian? You must be to have the courage to raise them and love them." As I followed up on the conversation, Nathan says "Look, Mom, Dad is having a deep talk with the park security guard." And I knew that God was helping even the kids see that the opportunities to shine for him in this new place were everywhere. We all came home from visiting the apartment with a new sense of peace and excitement. Our rental lease for the new place will start November 1, so we have time for remodeling and packing up for the move just seven minutes away from our current home.
We are so grateful for the many people who have been praying for us to have a good relationship with the landlord because it was not a simple process to sign the lease. At the end of our third meetings in 2 weeks, the landlord said "I've never seen tenants more honest than you. I've learned a lot from you already and I can see that Shang-Di takes good care of you." From a man who does not yet know God personally, he did see something different in us. Please pray with us that him and the 5 other families in our building will know that difference in us, is Jesus.
With Love,
Helen for the Livingstons
Please Pray
Thank God for a weekend visiting Leah & her Dad. She got to see how I share Bible stories with her Buddhist neighbor whose Dad recently passed away.
Packing up and remodeling the new place is a big load of extra work on top of normal ministry work. Pray that we will be a light to those working with us.
We had the joy of facilitating the translation for an American family who came last month to pick up Scottie, the first Down syndrome baby to ever be adopted at this 50+ years old orphanage. Pray that more families will choose life for their unborn children.
Whole families Following Jesus
Many ask me, “Helen, I hear you say that God doesn’t want us to be satisfied with just the extracts out of a family (individuals) following him, but that whole families can learn to follow Jesus together. How have you seen this happen?” I’ve shared before about Dan’s family making a decision to remove their idol shelf as a whole family to follow Jesus.
This summer, I’ve also had the privilege of walking with my friend Leah to see the deliverance of her Dad. Our family was thrilled to see the transformation of Leah’s Mom after she became a believer a few months before she passed away. Leah’s Dad has been grieving the loss of his wife for 2 years and turned to smoking and drinking. His actions began to really hurt himself and his family. When this family hit rock bottom a few months ago, God came to the rescue. I was able to visit him at the hospital with Leah and after long talks, he made a decision to choose God’s way. "I can't keep on living like this. I want to change," he admitted. We talked in Taiwanese, prayed for Jesus to be his Savior, and sang together the old hymn, "It is well with my soul." Leah said it was the first time she has ever heard him sing.
Since then, it is amazing to see the transformation and joy restored in his life and family. He is on a journey of reconciliation with his sons. So, pray together with us as we seek God’s wisdom for how to continue discipleship with families like Leah’s. We know that in the Bible, Cornelius and his household, Lydia and her household, and the Philippian jailer and his whole household followed God as a family unit. So many people honor the family and older people here, that God can really be praised even more when people see the effect on a whole family changing their ways to follow Jesus.
Nathan's Magic Show for Kindergartners
Family in Action
"Hey kids, tonight, we're going to take an hour before dinner and prayer walk around our neighborhood. As we walk, and pray, we can see what doors God opens for us to talk to them about Jesus." "What? All of us, together?” They reply with a little whining tone of voice. “What if we don't know what to say?" “We’ll just see who is friendly and willing to talk with us. Then a spiritual conversation might just happen.” Sam tells them, "Nathan and Gracie will go with Mom to the temple park, while Joy and Lily will go with me to the nearby school running track.”
3 years ago Beyond President, Kent Parks, and his core leadership team overseas inspired us into evangelistic prayer-walking when they led us out into the neighborhoods of rural Taiwan to prayer walk and evangelize even without being able to speak Chinese. Since then our family keeps our heart soft toward hurting people by going out into our streets, parks, and school campuses to simply pray and have spiritual conversations. We don’t need tracts, we just start with small talk and shift into a spiritual topic, continuing on if the person shows interest.
Sometimes I get too busy and self-important to slow down to notice my neighbors, let alone love them like Jesus. When my To-Do list becomes all-important, I might fail to notice my neighbors and pray for them. There are needs all around such as the depressed, bearded young man down the street who constantly plays video games or the hard-working Mom recycling trash to make enough money to support her daughter with Down Syndrome. Prayer walking reminds me to see people with God’s heart again. Also it sets aside time to practice moving from simple conversations into spiritual topics like, ‘What do you think about heaven and hell?’ or ‘Why do you make offerings in your religion?’
So how about you? Could this bring some excitement into your walk with God? Grab a friend and get out in your neighborhood to walk and pray. Ask God to see what He sees there. Then you can strike up some conversations. Often God has prepared somebody for you to meet who is willing to talk on spiritual matters. Contact us if you want some suggestions, we’d love to share more ideas on prayer-walking.
Prayer Requests
Praise: For a fruitful summer so far traveling to Thailand and serving at the Taiwan Missionary Fellowship conference. I was able to initiate and create a prayer room to welcome all missionaries in Taiwan to seek God and return to His heart for intimacy.
. Helen has had the joy of translating for the adoptive parents of Bobby, a special 5 year old boy with Down Syndrome who will get adopted by his forever family on August 30.
. I (Helen) am wanting to focus some time to developing my Taiwanese language. I’ve spent the past 7 years learning Mandarin, but God is showing me His power when I share the gospel in the Taiwanese language because it seems to cut to the heart of the older generation. Pray for me to find a good tutor to help me develop more spiritual vocabulary to share the gospel more effectively.
What if the Grinch stole your Christmas away?
Work. Work. Work. Streets are bustling. All businesses still open. Just another ordinary day. After all, none of us would go buy cake and celebrate the birthday of a stranger.....because for the 98% in Taiwan that do not know Jesus and 28% who have never heard even the gospel message....Christmas is just another ORDINARY DAY!
That's so sad but it's true here.Taiwan is a Buddhist/Daoist stronghold so there isn't any holiday for Christmas. Please pray for Christians in Taiwan to share the love of Jesus with those around them, and to say "WE HAVE ROOM HERE FOR YOU JESUS, COME!!!"
Sam and I have had the opportunity to proclaim the gospel weekly to the various classrooms that our kids are in! We also make a big statement pulling our kids out of school for 2 days to celebrate Christmas. We let them lounge around on Christmas Eve after family worship and communion. They like to drag out their blankets and have a sleepover by the Christmas tree in the living room. This has been the Livingston tradition since they were toddlers. It's a funslumber party for them and I guess it beats sleeping in the manger!
What are your Christmas traditions? We'd love to hear from you. Our annual letter should've came to your street mailbox, but if not, see our latest Livingston Letter online.
We hope you have a lot of FUN and CELEBRATE Christmas Day!
Helen & Sam Livingston