The members of the church I attend here in Chaojhou have been tremendous examples of generosity. The pastor and his family have provided long-standing encouragement in just about every area and a “Thank You blog” could be pretty long . . . . I will hit some highlights here.
I didn’t have my camera with me the day we celebrated my birthday but the joyfulness of the Sunday School children is vivid in my memory. The Pastor also lent me a good jacket (and a word of advice) for the Yu Shan climb. Other tangible gifts included ready-made dumplings, fruit, a Chinese hymnbook, an invitation to visit the famous Doulos ship in Kaohsiung and, this week, a surprise that probably surpassed them all: a virtually brand new audio Bible in Chinese. Compact and easy to use, it was not only a huge savings for me in terms of money compared to buying the Bible on CD, but actually more convenient and durable. Next to the ‘bpmf’ pronunciation Bible, it’s my single most valuable language comprehension tool. Thank you Pastor James.
Also I am grateful for a place to store my chalk easel–another thing that may have been hard to find elsewhere. The church storage room has a tile floor (which is easy to clean), an overhead fan, and plenty of receptacles. In addition, there is a church elder, the owner of an electrical supply store that I came across early on during my time here purely by “accident”, who not only carries blacklight bulbs but is skilled at manufacturing and has provided easel parts when needed.

I am compelled to give God the glory when I see the kind of brothers and sisters He has placed me with here in Taiwan. One of the ways I aspire to repay their kindness is by maintaining with the Lord’s help the same spirit of all-encompassing generosity when I return to the States. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).