The Art of Gift Giving

A couple months ago Allen began meeting with two high school-aged brothers to study the book of Luke and help them with their English. Their father and mother were hoping to get them accepted into a prep school in the States for next year. When they invited us over for dinner and to discuss logistics the topic of pay was brought up. Allen tried to make it clear that he was happy to study with them for free and that we really aren't even allowed to have paying jobs in Taiwan. "Oh," they said, "than we can give you red envelopes." (Red envolopes are always given as gifts and may contain any sum of money.) Allen tried to explain further that we really didn't want to accept any money and that we were just happy to study the Bible with them. They then said something about finding other ways to pay us, though it seemed the couple was mentioning this to each other and not necessarily to us. Anyway, the conversation ended awkwardly and somehow we moved on to more comfortable topics.

Allen began going to their home every Thursday night for class, and every Thursday night he came home with a gift "for Kirstie." We've received cute soap bars, little cheese cakes, Chinese cream puffs, honey bread . . . Recently Allen has been working extra hard helping them with the applications for the school in the States. Just last week they received word that both boys had been accepted and one of them received a large scholarship. That week Allen came home with cheese cakes, cream puffs, and a $160 pen. Since then the gifts have been much more in quantity, so much that we are not able to handle them ourselves. This week they gave us a dozen large apples and a pack of 16 milk puddings.

It is exciting to see God working in this family. The oldest son has declared that he and his family are atheists. He has questioned Allen asking if he really believes the stories that they read from the book of Luke. It is rewarding to hear these boys read the Bible aloud and comprehend Jesus' teachings. Though the family will be moving to the States soon we pray that the seeds that are planted in their hearts will take root and that they will meet good Christians in America who will cultivate the soil.