Wow! Thanks for praying! Elyssa started work last Tuesday at Ralph’s Farm Market on Fraser Hwy in Langley. She says she is enjoying her new job. Please pray for her as she continues to learn about her responsibilities.

We would appreciate your prayers for God to help us find a suitable place for Elyssa to live mid-June through the end of August (after Lorne and Kathy-Lu leave for Taiwan). Lord willing, she will continue university studies in the Fall.

Thanks for remembering to pray for Kathy-Lu as she has surgery on Thursday, May 3. Because it is scheduled as a day-surgery, most of her recovery will be at home.

Please pray for our son Philip. He has a lot of discomfort and pain in his hip and leg due to a pinched nerve in his back. He continues to work, but the pain is making life difficult. Please pray for God to heal.

We are still looking for a dry place to store some special belongings (wedding china, special keepsakes, etc.) while we are in Taiwan. If you know of a place that is available, please let us know.

We have been sharing at different churches and asking people to pray with us regarding six important prayer needs for the Hidden in Plain Sight Ministry:

1. That prayer would be the foundation of what we do.
2. A Taiwanese Co-Worker,
3. A Small Group Ministry for Adults.
4. Ministry to Children and Families.
5. Ministry to Youth at Risk.
6. Creative and effective ways to share the gospel

If you would like a bookmark reminder with the requests, please let us know and we will send one to you. (Also available in Chinese.)

Thank-you for praying as Lorne travelled and brought Elyssa home. It is good to have her with us. She is enjoying being with all the family (including her niece, our granddaughter Juliet). Elyssa will be applying for summer employment beginning Monday. Please pray for God to supply the right job for her.

Last summer, when Kathy-Lu had her routine mammogram, an irregularity was discovered. When a follow up ultrasound was performed a couple of weeks ago, the irregularity appeared to have changed shape and texture. After seeing the specialist last Wednesday, the decision was made that she should have surgery to remove it and the tissue surrounding it. This additional surgery is scheduled for May 3. Thank-you for praying for our family during this time.

Departure for Taiwan is scheduled for 8 weeks from Tonight. We are trusting God that there will be no delays. When we arrive we expect to spend time renewing our visas, visiting with neighbourhood friends, and cleaning our house. There will be lots of cleaning after a whole year away. Please pray that God will even now begin to arrange for our “re-entry” into the community, arranging the opportunities to renew friendships and to share with friends about the Hope that is within us.

Our number one prayer request for the ministry in Taiwan continues to be the need for a full-time Taiwanese-speaking coworker. Please “pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields,” especially the work in Baojhong, Taiwan.

Thank-you for praying as we shared at North Richmond Alliance Church.  We are encouraged by the enthusiastic response and the number of people who told us that they will be praying for the Hidden in Plain Sight Ministry.

Lorne will be spending many hours in the car this week, travelling to Invermere to share and then to Calgary to bring Elyssa home from university.  Please pray for safety and for good weather conditions—recently there have been snow storms in eastern BC and in Alberta.

Confirmed scheduled events for the next 9 weeks before we leave for Taiwan:

• Apr 18     Invermere – Lorne at Lake Windermere Alliance Church
• Apr 25     Langley – Kathy-Lu at Mountainview Alliance ESL Class
• Apr 29     Abbotsford – Heritage Alliance Church
• May 6      White Rock – Peace Portal Chinese Alliance Church
• May 15    Abbotsford – Kathy-Lu at Heritage Alliance Women’s Tea
• May 14-16   Lorne in Toronto for meetings
• June 8-10    Vancouver Island – Kathy-Lu  at Ladies Retreat

Please pray for wisdom as we make preparations for our return to Taiwan.  These include:

• Shopping for clothes and items that we cannot purchase there.
• Sorting items for what will be sold, given away, and stored.
• Finding a place to store important keepsake items.
• Finding a buyer for our car.

The Taiwan Alliance denominational leaders will be meeting to discuss our church planting strategy.  Please pray that God will give them wisdom as they consider this and seek to advise us.

He is Risen!

What has impressed you as you reflected again on the events that we celebrate at Easter?  At the service Good Friday evening, I was impressed by the wide range of emotions that the disciples must have experienced in just over a week.  There must have been a lot of hope and even security as Jesus rode into Jerusalem.  There must have been shock when Jesus changed the traditional Passover meal.  At other moments they experienced confusion, exhaustion, anger, fear, frustration, disillusionment, disappointment, etc.  Then came the third day and the resurrection and a whole new range of emotions.  Thinking about the lessons they learned at each stage of the story brought the story to life in a new way for me (Lorne).

We frequently think about our friends in Baojhong.  They have little opportunity to hear the truth of the Easter story.  We want them not only to hear about Christ’s death and resurrection, but also to know the Lord Jesus in a personal way.  Please pray that God will help them to believe when they do hear the Gospel.

Elyssa stayed in Calgary for the Easter weekend.  She writes final exams on April 14-19 and comes home to Abbotsford on Friday, April 20.  She is still trusting God for summer employment.

Our departure from Abbotsford for Taiwan is planned for 10 weeks from today.  We are beginning to think about shopping for things to take with us, selling our car, disposing of furnishings, etc.  If you are aware of an attic or crawl space that has room for storing some of our keepsakes for the next four years, please let us know.

We are looking forward to sharing this week at North Richmond Alliance Church Thursday, April 12 through Sunday, April 15.

Praise the Lord that the C&MA in Taiwan at a meeting March 31 affirmed its desire to send a missionary couple from Taiwan to the Middle East next year. Please pray for these Taiwanese churches and individual believers as they make decisions about pledging their financial support.

Praise the Lord that Kathy-Lu’s recovery from surgery is going well. She is able to begin to do some activities again, but must be careful to not over-do it. Thank-you for praying for her and the continued recovery process.

April 5 is the Tomb Sweeping Holiday also known as the Clear and Bright Festival. In addition to tidying the graves of ancestors, families traditionally spend time in ancestor worship rituals. Please pray for Christian believers to have opportunities to explain their faith as they interact with family members.

Special services are being planned during the Easter season in Taiwan, including some missionary-led church plants. Please pray for God to use the Easter celebrations to expand His kingdom for the glory of His name.
♦  A Good Friday service will be held in Yuanchang.
♦  A Easter Sunday service will be held in Sihhu.
♦  A Easter baptismal service will be held in the Taipei Ximen District.

Tim and Penny Iverson, international workers serving in Yuanchang, received a request to help with English classes at the largest elementary school in Baojhong (where we live). They will talk to the English teacher involved letting her know that we would be willing to consider this opportunity for community service after we return to Baojhong. Please pray for God to continue to guide in the start of the new church, including opportunities for building relationships.

Please continue to pray for the need for a Taiwanese C&MA church to partner with us in the Baojhong Hidden in Plain Sight work. Believing that it is better for churches to plant new churches, we see this as an important strategic step.

Last week, plane tickets were arranged for our return to Taiwan. Please pray for God to provide storage space for some special personal belongings that we need to leave in Canada.

Please pray for the ongoing planning for the First Annual Vision Prayer Trip. We desire prayer to continue to be a foundational part of the Hidden in Plain Sight Ministry.

We like our new website: www.hiddenintaiwan.org         Please check it out and bookmark this new location. Special thanks to Dave Dick for helping with the new design. We will continue to add more photos and content over the next few weeks.

The C&MA pastors in Taiwan will hold Strategy Meetings March 29-30 This is a special time for mutual encouragement and for discussing matters of importance to the Taiwan C&MA family of churches. Please pray that God will use the time to maintain unity and bring greater cooperation within the denomination.

Please pray for God’s leading as informal inquiries are made to find out which C&MA pastors and churches may be willing to partner with us in the Baojhong church planting work. The timing is in God’s hands, but we are praying that this partnership can be in place prior to our return to Taiwan in June.