What a privilege to witness the kindness of the Taiwanese people. Before camps start for the summer, they held an official Farewell Party for us and two of the teachers who were retiring. Last week was a big week. At different times it was good to take time to share a meal and say good-bye to elders from my church, an English student and our faithful security guard at the complex where we stay. Sometimes enjoying home-cooked food, sometimes at a restaurant trying the famous local delicacy, sometimes meeting their distant friends and relatives, it made for an memorable time.
Then came Saturday night. Mr. Huang from Nan Jung coordinated a time for Wes & Julianna and baby Savannah, Jonathan Sater, Po Hao, Kuan Ter and their families, and I to have dinner at a mountaintop restaurant between Kaohsiung and Mount Bei Da Wu the mountain we had climbed earlier. It wasn’t a candlelight dinner. The sunset and the breeze provided a perfect setting. Even after dark the lights of Kaohsiung and Ping-tung glittered on the horizon. Most of all I enjoyed getting to know their families, share pictures and putting my Chinese to practice again. How grateful I am for the lessons on relationship that I’ve learned from them. Relationship puts the right perspective on time and makes all the work worth while.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven ,where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-20).