What are we building with our lives?

Hello everyone,

Ni hao ma? That means "howdy" in Chinese. We pray that our Ellis family missions update finds you all doing well.

Recently, we have had the blessing of a visit from Aunt Chelsea from California, one of Katie's sisters. All of us had a wonderful time introducing Chelsea to our new home, Taiwan. From the distinct smell of the chodofu (a local tofu), to the bright lights and people of the night market street, it gave us an opportunity to think through what we love about Taiwan and how it is truly becoming a place we call "home". One of the sights of Taipei that we visited was Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper in Taiwan, and the tallest in the world from 2004 until 2010. I have attached some pictures of that, as well as some interesting information about the skyscraper itself.

Taipei 101 is a landmark skyscraper located in Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei 101 received the 2004 Emporis Skyscraper Award and was hailed as one of the Seven New Wonders of the World (Newsweek magazine, 2006) and Seven Wonders of Engineering (Discovery Channel, 2005). The tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening. Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. The name of the tower reflects its floor count. The tower is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. Taipei 101 is designed to withstand the typhoon winds and earthquake tremors common in its area of the Asia-Pacific. Planners aimed for a structure that could withstand gale winds of 60 m/s (197 ft/s, 216 km/h, 134 mph) and the strongest earthquakes likely to occur in a 2,500 year cycle. Skyscrapers must be flexible in strong winds yet remain rigid enough to prevent large sideways movement (lateral drift). These features combine with the solidity of its foundation to make Taipei 101 one of the most stable buildings ever constructed. The foundation is reinforced by 380 piles driven 80 m (262 ft) into the ground, extending as far as 30 m (98 ft) into the bedrock. Each pile is 1.5 m (5 ft) in diameter and can bear a load of 1,000 metric tons (1,100 short tons) - 1,320 metric tons (1,460 short tons). The stability of the design became evident during construction when, on March 31, 2002, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Taipei. The tremor was strong enough to topple two construction cranes from the 56th floor, then the highest. Five people died in the accident, but an inspection showed no structural damage to the building, and construction soon resumed. Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers along with Evergreen Consulting Engineering designed a 660 metric tons (728 short tons) steel pendulum that serves as a tuned mass damper, at a cost of NT$132 million (US$4 million). Suspended from the 92nd to the 88th floor, the pendulum sways to offset movements in the building caused by strong gusts. Its sphere, the largest damper sphere in the world, consists of 41 circular steel plates, each with a height of 125 mm (4.92 in) being welded together to form a 5.5 m (18 ft) diameter sphere. Another two tuned mass dampers, each weighing 6 metric tons (7 short tons) sit at the tip of the spire. These prevent damage to the structure due to strong wind loads

Taipei 101 was the first building in the world to break the half-kilometer mark in height and the first record-setting skyscraper constructed in the new millennium. The record it claimed for greatest height from ground to pinnacle now rests with the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (UAE): 828 m (2,717 ft). Taipei 101's records for roof height and highest occupied floor briefly passed to the Shanghai World Financial Center in 2009, which in turn yielded these records as well to the Burj. Taipei 101 displaced the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the tallest building in the world by 57.2 m (188 ft).

(me again) You can't help but think about the story in Genesis 11 when you are standing next to this building^{. "} Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." You have to wonder if you aren't looking up at a modern day tower of Babel. Are we still that consumed with "making a name for ourselves"? The irony struck me that the builders of Taipei 101 worked so hard to grab the title of "world's tallest building". For 6 glorious years, they could boast that Taiwan had the undisputed title. Then Dubai decided to enter into the competition, and just like that, the world's tallest building was the Burj Khalifa, not Taipei 101. How much longer until Taipei 101 becomes the 3rd or 4th tallest building? who really knows what the 5th tallest building in the world is? God challenged me to think about what I am trying to build in this life. What do I spend my time, money, and dreams on? Am I building my own Taipei 101 or am I part of building something more lasting? Being a part of building God's kingdom is something that will last. Helping others in this world, serving the poor and needy, and sharing the life changing story of Jesus will build a structure that will be taller than anything ever built (Revelation says the "new city" is into the stratosphere!) Paul talks about this spiritual building in 1 Corinthians 3:14 when he says, "If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward."

Taipei 101 is a great place to visit and marvel at what man can accomplish. Nothing, however, will ever compare to what God is building in our lives.

Praise Reports

* All of the $8,000 tuition we needed for the first semester of the kids' Christian school came in! In just under 2 1/2 weeks!

* We had a great visit with Aunt Chelsea from California.

* Sophia and Max will start their Chinese tutoring next week.

Prayer Requests

* We would love to have a van so that we could get around to places that the bus or metro don't go.

* We need some extra tuition money to pay for the Chinese lessons this summer for Katie and the kids.

* Wisdom on planning out an outreach this fall for our family.

* Super language learning abilities for all of us with Chinese.

* Wisdom for Sean; he has been meeting for over one month with 3 college guys who are interested in Christianity.

Thank you all again for your prayers and support. We miss you all greatly, and want you to know that you are in our prayers and hearts.

blessings,

Sean, Katie, Sophia, Max, Joseph, and Kai Ellis

Final 80 for Education Ellis family fundraiser update!

Hey everyone,
This is the final 80 for Education Ellis family fundraiser update. The reason that this is the final update is that God has provided all of the $8,000 for our kids to go to school while we do missions here in Taiwan! Praise God! We had some more $100 and $200 donations, and then one donor let us know that they are giving us the last $2,000. Wow! We wanted to thank you all for your prayers and generosity. Words can't describe how blessed we are to see everyone join in to help us be here in Taiwan. Our kids are thrilled that they get to go back to the Christian school with their friends, and continue to learn Chinese.
Just one week ago, I was teaching the book of Zechariah. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I was actually teaching our Bible School in South Africa through the Internet. Israel was struggling during the time of Zechariah's ministry, as their return to Jerusalem from exile wasn't matching what they expected. They had expected to reestablish Israel's kingship and independence, and see the prosperity of Solomon's kingdom come back. Instead, they were surrounded by enemies, living in the ruins of Jerusalem, and had even stopped rebuilding the temple. Even though God had taken a whole empire down to allow them to return, they still struggled to be grateful because it didn't all happen as they "expected". God began to speak to me about my expectations in what being in Taiwan would be like. Despite the challenges of moving overseas, He has shown me how He wants me to live in a place of gratefulness, and celebrate what He has done. We intend to celebrate big time for what God has just done for us and our kids! There will always be financial challenges as well as "stuff" we think we need and don't have, but we can't miss the "empires" that God is tearing down all around us in order for the eternal Gospel to go forward.
If any of you wanted to give toward the fundraiser but didn't get to, we still have some other projects that we are raising funds for. We are still looking for a used van ($4,000) and need some more tuition towards Chinese lessons this summer for Katie and the kids ($1,200). As always you can give through clicking on "Donate" on this website, mailing a check into YWAM Montana, or placing money into the offering at Living Waters Church.
Check out the beginning of our celebration in the video below.

6th 80 for Education Ellis family fundraiser update

Hey everyone!
Many of you have emailed us to see what happened with the fundraiser, since yesterday was our deadline of June 1st for the tuition for our kids here in Taiwan. A little over two weeks ago, we had nothing (zero, zip, nada) toward sending our kids to school in the fall. With all of your generosity and prayers, we had $6,000 come in! Praise God! Unfortunately, that was $2,000 short of what we needed. After talking with the school, they agreed to let us pay what we had, and gave us until the end of July to pay the rest. We only had to pay a $100 late fee, and avoided having to pay interest. So, if you would like to help us finish off this last $2,000, you can click on "Donate" in the top right corner, or you can send a check in to YWAM Montana, 501 Blacktail Road, Lakeside, MT 59901 and make the check out to YWAM including a slip of paper indicating it is for Sean and Katie Ellis (you have to mail a check in if you want a tax deductible receipt).
It has been such an incredible thing for our children to see God provide. When we told them that we were moving away from their home to go to Taiwan to do missions, it was a difficult time of saying goodbye to friends and their own country. God has continued to meet them just where they are at, helping us send them to the Christian school this year, providing new friendships, and encouraging them that He is with them. Our prayer was that we would do missions as a family; the children just as involved as we are in this faith journey. As we have prayed with the children these last two weeks, it has been great to see the look on their faces when we tell them of another donation coming in. God also answered one of our prayers by providing someone who can help Max and Sophia with their Chinese this summer. They are actually excited about this, even though it is their summer break from school. Max teaches me new words in Chinese all the time (like french fries and ice cream!).
Thank you again for helping us be here in Taiwan as missionaries! Check out our new video update below.