This week we were encouraged by God’s generosity and the commitment of God’s people as we met with representatives from seven Taiwan C&MA churches (photo).  The churches will take turns to send members to help run our church’s Fall semester of children and youth programs.   Events will be held twice each month for each age group.  Please pray for us as we continue to communicate with these volunteers.   Please pray that more students will register to attend the children’s “Weekend Happy Camp.”  (There are some families who are “thinking about it” and have not yet made a decision.)

We are celebrating today the faithfulness of the Lord as we mark the fourth anniversary since Kathy-Lu’s open heart surgery to repair her broken heart valve.  As the Scriptures say:  “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!’ The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:22-26)

Some friends are coming to visit on Friday and bringing a Taiwanese Christian friend with them.  Their friend is originally from Baozhong and still has family living in the area.  Yesterday a couple of youth showed up at our door with some papaya.  Lorne had met one of them recently at the wedding.  He said that it is his aunt who is coming to visit us.  We are amazed at how God weaves things together and begins to put the pieces in place.  Please pray for us as we have a number of people like this to follow-up on over the next few months.

We are privileged to live in a world where communication has become much more convenient and reasonable.  However, on long weekends when we hear that families are travelling to be together, we are reminded of how far away we really are.  We also miss out on special family events–such as celebrating a life well-lived, or celebrating a wedding.  We are thankful for family members who are supportive of us through prayer and words of encouragement even though we do not get to be together very often.  We do not often take time to recognize the sacrifice they are making as we live so far away.  Would you please pray and ask God to bless and care for these people who are very special to us.