CMS missionaries Sam and Shan-Shan Chrisp are learning language and culture as they prepare to work with students in Taiwan. Here Sam shares some recent answers to prayer for ministry opportunities.  

Sharing the gospel 

Over Easter, Shan-Shan was able to use her imperfect Taiwanese to share the gospel stories of Jesus’ death and resurrection with a local grandmother. Praise God that she understood, and after asking lots of questions, wanted to pray a prayer of faith with Shan-Shan! 

However, this grandmother has had to move further away to be cared for by relatives, so it’s been hard to follow her up.  

We’d love to help her hear God’s word for herself. But this is actually quite hard. Like many older Taiwanese, she can’t read. And even if she could, the Taiwanese language is mostly spoken and not written (unlike Mandarin Chinese). 

There is an audio Bible version of the traditional Taiwanese Bible. But the translation is quite old and hard to understand—it makes the English KJV look easy by comparison. Any non-Christian trying to listen to it on their own is not going to understand much. 

Please pray for Shan-Shan to be able to follow up with this Grandma, and  that we can find a modern Taiwanese audio Bible in a format she can listen to. 

Entrusting the gospel 

Felix is one of the young men in our church that I have been meeting with one-to-one. This year he quit his job to start doing a ministry internship, working a few days a week for church, and studying part-time at a local Bible college.  

He comes to our house once a week to have dinner and meet with me for training in one-to-one ministry and leading Bible studies. He has lots of patience as I struggle to explain things in Chinese!  

Please pray our church leadership will have wisdom as they train Felix, and for our time together to be productive. 

Thank you for praying for us and for opportunities for us to share the gospel. We’re excited to see God answering your prayers as we serve him in Taiwan. 

PRAY 

Give thanks that Shan-Shan’s grandmother has decided to trust in Jesus. Pray that a suitable audio Bible in Taiwanese can be found so she can grow in her faith.