May 31, 2007

Dear Friends in Mission,

During our ten years doing mission work in Taiwan, we have moved six times. Every time we had to move, we were concerned about finding a new place. Moving from one location to another can be wearying and stressful, especially to Yen Hee. Settling in a new area and getting established is an overwhelming task. Through these experiences, we have learned that there is no true home on the earth. Our true home is found in a good relationship with Christ Jesus because Christ is our stronghold, our refuge and the fountain of life. We are strengthened and established in Christ, wherever we may find ourselves living.

One of the joys we have had this year is working with college students who went to the village of the Toruko tribe and held a “special praise night.” We gathered with the youth of five aboriginal churches in Ji-Wang Memorial Presbyterian Church and praised God with all our hearts. Besides singing gospel songs, we offered a drama, a student’s testimony, and a sermon, which challenged them. We do this twice a year, once each semester. Local pastors have asked us to do it more often, but due to the schoolwork, we can’t ask the students to do more than that.

College students visit the Bethesda home annually to participate in this ministry to handicapped children.

Another annual event we organize is a visit to the Bethesda, a home for handicapped children. The Christian group from the Buddhist Nursing College visited the disabled children two weeks ago. They sang gospel songs and played games with the children, and then they fed the children who couldn’t eat by themselves. Bethesda is where Yen Hee works as a volunteer. After the activity, we discussed their experience. Most of the students said that through this experience they found another reason why they are thankful to God. They had never thought that being able to walk and eat independently was a great blessing from God. Our group was truly challenged by the disabled children. We prayed for the children together and decided to visit them again.

Wo Gia-won (left), the former chair of the student committee, with his successor at the graduation worship service.

Last week we had a graduation worship service in our mission center. Joy and sadness mixed together. Their graduation brought us joy, but their leaving us made us sad. We will especially miss Wo Gia-won, who was chairperson of the student committee of Hualien Aboriginal Campus Ministry. When he first came to our mission center, he wasn’t interested in Christian activities and didn’t believe in God. Choon paid more attention to him because he had no friends at his school, National Teachers College. He was shy and introverted. Later, he became Choon’s friend and rode to our mission center on his bicycle, which was about a 30-minute ride from his school. He came to the center twice a week to participate in the Friday night college activity and the Sunday worship service. Due to his diligent participation, he became a leader of the Christian group. After three years he was baptized and became a Christian. The following year he became a chairperson of the HACM student committee. (Each college or university sends two representatives to this body.) After he became a Christian and leader, he went back to his village and his local church as an elementary teacher. This is HACM’s goal: to mold future Christian leaders for local churches through our collegiate ministry because they are the hope of the Taiwan aboriginal Christian community. Wo Gia-won is a living example of how HACM strives to put our goal into practice. Please remember him in your prayers as he returns to Nan-Tou, the mountain village where came from.

May God grant you grace and blessing during these summer months!

Faithfully in mission,

Yen Hee and Choon Lim

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 253