Dear friends,
My family and I are thankful for your friendship and prayer. We wish you all the best during the Christmas season and the coming New Year. This year is full of God’s grace and mercy. My treatment ended in March, and the prognosis of breast cancer went well. I gave up my doctoral study in Lancaster and denied full-time job opportunities because the priority of my life was changed. Before I clearly know what our Father in Heaven wants me to do, I prefer to spend time with my family, close friends, Christian brothers and sisters, other breast cancer survivors, and the kids/teens who haven’t known how valuable they are.
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| Family BBQ with neighbours in the Mid-Autumn Festival and some gathering with family and friends |
http://www.hometown.org.tw/eng-2011/caseStudyAction.do?method=doDetail&&engId=18
I’ve never been so relaxed after I grew up. With limited workloads, I’m able to cook dinner for my family, to have deep conversation with close friends, and to borrow interesting books from libraries. I think it’s a testimony of Matthew 11:30 – “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Finally, I learn how to ignore the evaluation of the world and simply count on Him.
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| Try to be a good cook for my family. :-) |
In addition, this summer I participated in two voluntary vacation programmes in East and South Taiwan (Hualien & Pingtung) respectively. Our main job was to assist local students’ homework and to accompany them, as I shared before. The four-week experience taught me how wide the rural-urban divide was. Interpersonal trust relationship was established over time, so a short-stay volunteer could be a helper at most. The rural communities needed local residents or long-stay volunteers to come forward and to be the kids’ spiritual guides. As a social worker said, “some kids are tired to pretend that they like to play with big brothers and sisters from urban areas.” I realized that rural areas in Taiwan couldn’t be my harvest.
Fortunately, God opened a window in Taipei City. I became a volunteer tutor for the Champions Education Association R.O.C. The Christian founders of the association thought that social problems could be decreased when young people rooted in correct value. Hence, the association designed course materials and invited Christian brothers and sisters to teach in Taiwan’s junior high schools. The materials included how to value oneself without bias, how to deal with problems and emotions, and how to get along with friends whose gender differed from his/hers. Until present, over 400 schools have been allied with the association. Last year, our priest started to teach in a junior high school near our church. This term, I joined his team. It’s nice to see students’ changes in the classes. Our priest’s wife told me that last year a student promised to face his drug-taking problem after our class. They also discovered some potential family (sexual) violence cases and then were able to prevent it.
At church, I serve as a greeter on Sunday worship and coordinate an English Bible Study for the youth group. We had the Bible Study twice only. I’m still learning from doing, but I thank God and our priest giving me the chance to share what I had learned in England with the teens. To celebrate Christmas, we’re having a party in the park beside our church this Saturday afternoon. Our youth and kid groups will perform one of the shows. During the past three months, they have practiced drumming and dancing once a week very hard. I’m indeed proud of them.
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| The voluntary activities and the drumming and dancing practice of our youth and kid groups |
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| Go hiking with friends for the Nature beauty and the warm friendship. |
Praise the Lord! My family are all in good health. The most wonderful news this year is that my niece Jenny was enrolled by the best university in Taiwan. My nephew Alan will take the University Entrance Examination next year. Hopefully he can pass the exam without stress and have a good result like his sister. Another good news is that we will move to a four-room flat next year. Each of us, my Mum, my two big sisters, and I, will have our own room. I’ve been thinking of the interior design for over two years because it’s part of pre-sale homes*. Thank my family giving me such a big present while I was having chemos. It brought me lots of fun and hope.
(*Briefly to say, pre-sale homes refer to new homes that are being offered for sale before construction, in order to decrease the funding stress and the sale risk of the constructors. It’s a unique real estate system in Taiwan.)
Wish you and your beloved ones have a happy Christmas and New Year,
With lots of love and prayer,
Carol
