Happy Lunar New Year!

More than two million cars travelled the freeways on Tuesday evening/night as people travel home to spend New Year’s Eve (Wednesday) and New Year’s Day with their families.  Predictions are that on Friday and Saturday the number will likely exceed three million.  (The 23.37 million people that live on this island own more than 15 million motorcycles, including scooters, and about 7.5 million cars.)   Many couples will visit first with the husband’s side of the family, and then travel to be with the wife’s parents on the day after New Year’s Day.  With all those cars on the road, and the traffic restrictions enforcing the number of passengers in a car during peak times, we are choosing to stay close to home.  We will have some friends stop in and we will see some people when we go out in the community. The Spring Holiday will last until next Monday or Tuesday, when people return to work or school.

The Chinese culture designates each year according to the Chinese Zodiac.  The new year will be the Year of the Sheep.  Because the same Chinese word is used for both sheep and goats, it is also referred to as the Year of the Goat or Ram.  Aside from loving to eat lamb, we are reminded that sheep, lambs, and goats are frequently mentioned in the Bible.  They are used for sacrifice, as a scapegoat, for the Passover meal, and even to describe Jesus as He came to earth to rescue mankind.  In written Chinese, the character used for righteousness is the character for the sheep or “lamb” above the character for “me.”  The Lamb of God covers us and makes us righteous in God’s sight.  May the mention of “Chinese New Year” or “Year of the Sheep” remind each of us that we are special to God and made perfect in Christ Jesus.

Please pray for those who are the only Christian believer in their families to be compassionately bold in their witness to family and friends during these days.

Please pray for many people worldwide to hear and understand that Jesus, the Lamb of God, loves them enough to be sacrificed for them. Pray for the seeds of the gospel to bear fruit in their lives.

Thank-you for praying for us during our team strategy discussions last week.  We ask you to join us in asking God to answer our team’s Vision Prayer:  “O LORD, for Your glory, grow reproducing communities of disciples, transformed by Christ, transforming working-class Taiwan, and the world.”

Please pray for H and J who came over today and prayed to receive Christ as their Saviour.  Please pray that these elementary aged children will grow in their new faith.

We focussed on learning the Creation Story on Sunday. Can you tell it accurately in 3-5 minutes? What details are important to include, and what ones can be learned later. We found out that we did not know the story as well as we assumed. Our goal is to focus on telling the story to those unfamiliar with Christian teaching. Please pray for us as we encourage people to learn more stories with us and seek to be alert to opportunities that God gives us to share them.

These days are full of preparations for the Lunar New Year (often called Chinese New Year). It is a time when everyone does major house cleaning. It is also a time when people evaluate their lives and resolve to make efforts to improve themselves and their way of life. Next week there will be a number of days designated for traditional worship, and many are planning the time that will be spent with family and friends. We are distributing New Year blessings. Please pray that God will use them to encourage people to desire the love and peace that Christ gives to those who stay close to Him. Please pray that throughout the season Christian believers will have words and actions that proclaim the truth seasoned with love and grace.

Our IW team will have a two day retreat February 13-14 to prayerfully discuss strategy. Please pray for effective communication with each other and a clear sense of God’s leading.

Thank-you for praying for the conference in Thailand.  There was a clear sense of the Holy Spirit at work.  As we return we want to continue to hear His voice, and sense His work in our daily lives.  Please pray for daily submission to, daily filling by, and daily empowering of the Holy Spirit.

What does being “On Mission Together” mean?  Some aspects that come to mind are:

1) sharing our hearts and having others come alongside with words of encouragement and praying with each other
2) working together on projects to demonstrate the love of Christ as we hold camps or build something together
3) contributing resources to accomplish the task and wisely managing what is received
4) facing hardships together and expectantly asking God to intervene in situations
5) rejoicing together when we see God do something in us, through us, or in spite of us

Today we are facing one of those hardships.  We are at the start of a new budget year.  Expenses such as rent are fixed and paid in Taiwan dollars.  We anticipated that it would be that way but not that the Canadian dollar would weaken so drastically and so quickly.  Today it buys about 7% less Taiwan dollars than it did six weeks ago.  The exchange rate is not something we can control.  BUT it is something that we can pray about!  Please join us in praying, asking God what He desires us to do.  We want our leaders to do more than listen to the advice of financial pundits. The resources belong to God, and in faith we want to join them in seeking His direction for their use.  Please pray about this rather urgent need.

The youth will be having a movie night at our home on Saturday.  They are just beginning their Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) vacation.  Please pray that our interactions with them and others in the community will help point them toward a relationship with Jesus.

Words are important.  They communicate by their nuance as well as by their meaning.  That is why we are having trouble figuring out what to call our Wednesday updates.  If you have a suggestion for us to consider, please feel free to pass it along to us.

The first word we want you to hear from us this week is THANK-YOU!  We heard that there was strong year-end giving to support the global initiatives of the C&MA in Canada.  We appreciate the efforts you make to participate financially.  Thank-you for using some of the resources God has entrusted to you to support international workers (such as us) and the costs of the ministry.

The second word that comes to mind is “prayer.” Thanks for being intentional in praying with us.  We have also been encouraging children and youth to pray about their schoolwork, relationships, etc.  Today we were encouraged when we heard that one of the fourth-graders had encouraged his Mom to pray to Jesus.  When she responded that she did not know how, he said he knew and could teach her.  Please continue to pray and join us in helping others learn to communicate with the God Who hears and answers prayer.

The third word that we want to focus on is witness.  We are going to be learning and teaching others to tell a different Bible story each month, beginning in February.  People are much more willing to listen to short stories than they are to listen to a formal presentation of the gospel.  So we want to tell them stories that will help them personally discover Who God is, how the relationship with God functions, and how they can experience a restored relationship with that God. We are hoping that will help even those who are strongly resistant to hear some truths about Jesus.  Please pray for us as we learn the story in our adopted languages (Mandarin and/or Taiwanese) and encourage local believers to join us in the adventure of telling Bible stories to those around us.

We are in the process of working as a team (Whites and Lus) to prepare a short report about our work for the month-end regional meeting in Thailand.  Please pray that the video segments that will be filmed by different people in different locations over the next few days will be successful and that Albert will be able to splice them all together without too much problem with the result being a coherent story.

Thanks for those who have written and invited us to share when we will be in Canada this Spring.  We still have some openings in the schedule April 20-22 and May 14-20.  Feel free to dialogue with us if a time on one of those days works for you.

Happy New Year!

We have seen the reports of cold snowy weather that is greeting you in this new year.  Our cold weather did not bring snow, but rather high levels of pollution.  The government warnings tell us to be careful and to wear surgical masks when outdoors.  We are spending additional time in the room with the air cleaner, and are trusting God to keep us safe and healthy.  Thanks for praying about this.

The start of the new year brings anticipated changes to our team working relationships.  We are rejoicing that Albert and Elaine have completed the full-time component of Taiwanese language study.  They will continue studying part-time and will use some of their time for greater involvement in the Baozhong ministry. The plan is for them to move to Baozhong early this summer.

The start of the new year also means that our desktop computer which was purchased in 2007 is now officially retired.  We are thankful for those who give to our work special fund to provide for computers and their upkeep.  We are thankful for our laptops that are capable of the daily tasks demanded.  Please pray that computers and technology will be tools that enhance the ministry and not something that demands major time and resources due to problems.

This week we are talking to the schools where we volunteer about our schedule for the next semester (Feb. 23-June 30) .  Because of our trip back to Canada there will be an extended time when we are not available to help.  They will discuss the situation and make decisions over the next week or so.  Please pray for God arrange our involvement so that it is best for everyone involved.  We are thankful for each opportunity we have to share life principles and helpful stories with the students.

On Saturday (Jan. 10th) there will be children and youth activities.  Volunteers from two Taipei churches will be coming to assist us.  Please pray that we will be able to contact the students and encourage them to attend.  We also want to be inviting people to join us for the small group worship time on Sunday morning.  Please pray for receptive hearts.

Thank-you to those who contacted us to arrange opportunities to share while we are back in Canada this Spring.  We will be commuting from Abbotsford during that time.  There are still some times available (daytime or evenings) if you would like connect with us.  Please write to schedule a time for you and your group.  The weeks we are available to share are:  April 16-22 and May 14-20.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thank-you for praying for us this past year, and especially this past month as we had additional outreach activities.  We are encouraged as we remember

• The involvement of the children at different activities throughout the month.  From decorating the tree, to their own pre-Christmas Weekend Happy Camp activity, carolling on the streets, and even one boy who has attended two Sunday activities.
• Telling the children in the schools that the story did not begin with the manger story, but rather with the prophecies even a few thousand years previous.  Those were new details about the Christmas story that some had not previously heard.
• Distributing candy bags in the schools where we work, and in the community.  The fact that our candy bags had a few more pieces of candy than previous years meant that many people felt that we were generous and it made them more willing to talk to us about Christmas and what it means.
• On Christmas Eve morning Lorne was requested to don the Santa suit to help our town’s largest elementary school celebrate.  It provided an opportunity to tell them about Saint Nicholas and how his worship of Jesus motivated him to be generous and give to the poor.   This meant that even the younger students whom he does not regularly teach had a chance to see and hear that Santa is only a game we play and not the true reason for Christmas.
• Receiving a gift of almost six dozen egg tarts on Christmas Day that we were able to share with neighbours and friends.  It is fun representing God by being generous.
• Opportunity to share with the youth that attended the Christmas party.

This week we have time off from teaching in the schools as people have holidays on January 1-2.  This will provide us an opportunity to do the year-end bookkeeping and statistical reports.  It should provide us a chance to catch our breath after a month with a number of extra activities.  We will also have the opportunity to work on some long-term projects that had been set aside for a few weeks.

Family News:  Our son Ethan asked Jill Shipley and she said “Yes!” that she would marry him.  So there is extra happiness in the Taiwan White House as we anticipate this event and their future life together.  Please pray for them as they plan for a summer 2015 wedding.  They will both be studying for the next four months.  Ethan will be at Ambrose University, in what is hopefully a final semester of study in the business program.  Jill will be in Quebec doing an internship.

We (Lorne and Kathy-Lu) are planning a Spring 2015 trip back to western Canada for vacation and ministry.  We will be based out of Abbotsford and are already scheduling times to connect with supporting churches April 16-22 and May 14-20.  If you, or your group, would like to connect with us during one of those two weeks, please contact us so that we can put you on the schedule.  We are excited for this opportunity to meet with those on mission together with us.

These are busy weeks for us.  We apologize that last week’s update did not get sent out.  We trust that you have not forgotten to pray for us.

Last Saturday, our house was filled with happiness as children attended the Weekend Happy Camp activity.  In addition to singing songs, playing games, and hearing the Christmas Story, everyone wrapped dumplings together.  These were then boiled and eaten.  They tasted good!  It was a great fun activity for everybody.  We appreciate the team of workers who came from Simpson Alliance Church in Taichung that made this happen.

That evening a number of youth joined us to prepare the Christmas candy bags that will be given away in the schools and at the various church activities.  This year more than 1300 bags are ready, each one with candies and a tract.  Please pray that receiving this small treat will be an “experiencing God” moment for at least one recipient.

This week began with a Monday morning prayer meeting with as many of the C&MA international workers as possible attending.  Lorne made what was to be a quick stop on the way home, but it took a little longer because of a burst water pipe at the home of a friend.  Thankfully the water had been turned off so no major flooding occurred.  It was easily repaired and the house is ready to be short term team lodging next weekend.

Plans for the rest of the week include

• Inviting, inviting, and more inviting of people to come to next weekend’s Celebrating Christmas events.
• Prayer walking and visiting with people we meet.
• Preparing our home to host those who will stay over after Friday evening’s caroling.
• Preparing and teaching English classes on Thursday and Friday afternoons.
• Telling the Christmas Story to four classes of third graders on Friday morning.
• Christmas carolling on Friday evening.  We will be joined by a few Songshan Alliance Church members.  Albert will be leading the singing, using his guitar and the new portable sound system.  We want the local residents to hear the good news about Jesus loving us all.  We are hoping that some of the children from the community who are excited about the event will be permitted to attend. (See additional request below.)
• Saturday morning the team from Songshan Alliance Church will visit in the market, talking with and blessing people.
• Saturday afternoon we will be providing support for the Christmas celebrations happening at Amazing Grace Alliance Church in Yuanchang.  We will be encouraging the youth that we know to be involved in the program being led by the Alliance Church from Taitung.
• Sunday morning we will have our church’s Christmas Celebration. We are hoping that more Taiwanese can be used during the singing and sharing.  We have invited a local Taiwanese pastor, Rev. Simon Chang, to assist us that morning.

Please pray for strength and endurance for the above and the many other small things that happen throughout the week.  According to the weather forecast, Monday is supposed to be the warmest day of the week.  A cold front is moving in and the temperature is supposed to hover between 12 and 16 degrees Celsius.  (Temperatures in the low teens and below are considered to be extremely cold by Taiwan standards because people do not have heaters in their homes.)  We ask that you join us in praying that the weather will not be too cold and windy for carolling.

Kathy-Lu continues to struggle with cold symptoms.  At the moment she whispers more than she talks.  We would love for her to be healed of this persistent cold and also to have enough voice to be able to participate in the carolling activities.  Please pray that God will heal her.

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends and those who join them with thankful hearts this week!  We are planning to attend the celebration with our American co-workers on Thursday prior to afternoon classes at Fuhsing Elementary School.

Flexibility is something we must have.  We learned that the Taiwan government has declared January 2, 2015 a holiday, giving people an extra long weekend. BUT in order to maintain productivity, citizens of Taiwan will work and go to school on December 27th (in in lieu of doing so on the above mentioned holiday).  This means that the elementary students will be in class on that day and unable to come to our originally planned activity.  This also means that Lorne will be telling Bible stories in the elementary school on that Saturday morning.

Saturday, November 29th is the Municipal Election Day for all cities, counties, and towns in Taiwan.  Because our town is located in a county, voters must cast ballots for both the county and local leadership positions.  In addition to mayors and councils, neighbourhood chiefs will be elected on that day too.  Loud campaigning is typical of rural areas such as ours, with broadcast trucks playing their messages from early morning until night, fireworks at all times of the day or night, parades through the streets, and door-to-door campaigning.  Our ears are ready for a rest from such activity. Please pray for the people of Taiwan as they elect all of their civic leaders on Saturday.

We are thankful to report that Kathy-Lu’s recovery from her cold has continued, and Lorne has been protected from sickness.  Thanks for your ongoing prayers for this.

We proceeding with our preparations for the Christmas activities mentioned in last week’s update.  Please pray that we will have many opportunities to talk about Jesus during this Christmas season.