Hosanna Crowell

As I mentioned before, there are 110 residents living in Bethesda. It is a place that cares for kids/teens/adults who have special needs, whether physical or mental, and provides them with real-life skills while also teaching them about God. Bethesda is very well run, everything is extremely organized. This is the Monday-Friday schedule for the House of Hope residents: 7 am the residents get up. They have to make sure their area is clean and make their beds. 7:30 am is breakfast which the residents do themselves. 8 am they go to their workshops. 12 pm is lunch. 1 pm they[...]

Busy. Busy. Busy. This is the best word to describe Bethesda right now. This week was especially busy though, because we did many activities with the residents and had several guests arrive. Here is a recap of each day this week: Saturday: We took 20 Bethesda residents to an opening ceremony for baseball directed at people with special needs. The residents, who had never played baseball before, had so much fun hitting a ball with the bat, running around the bases and cheering each other on! But the biggest excitement was the McDonald’s they got afterwards haha. Every Saturday for[...]

Many of you have asked me what Bethesda is like and what I'm doing here so in this blog post I'll do just that! The place is huge! Kajsa and I are what is referred to as the “missionaries house" This is where all the short-termers stay since it is in the middle of the courtyard and has easier access to everything. All of us have our own bedroom, but Kajsa and I decided on day one to share a room. We chose the smaller because it is darker and hoped it would be warmer if two people were in[...]

Hello Friends, First of all, I want to happily say that we made it! It was a long journey, and yes, there were times when it was hard to keep going, but we persevered and now are safe and sound at Bethesda. I want to say a big thank you to those who prayed for us during our trip; it means a lot to us. We left for the airport at 6:30pm even though our flight didn't take off until 9:50pm. We wanted to get there early enough so that Kajsa and I could get seats together, which we were[...]

新年快乐! Happy Chinese New Year! Wow, 6 days until my friend Kajsa and I leave. Time really does fly. The last few days have been busy with work and finishing the final necessary things for my trip. Today was my last day of work. I was sad to say goodbye but felt much better knowing it's only for 3 months and that I’ll be coming back to my job, which is really nice. On January 12th, Kajsa and I went to visit the church that is a part of Liberty Corner Canada. They wanted to meet us and our families,[...]

Getting to Know Taiwan – A Land of Beauty and History Hello again, friends. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas celebrating with friends and family and remembering the reason for the season. Today is January 1, 2025. Happy New Year! Looking back, 2024 has felt like it went by quickly. It was a good, memorable year for me, and I hope for you as well. As I prepare for my trip to Taiwan, I thought it might be helpful to share a bit about this amazing country I'll soon be calling home for three months. Taiwan is[...]