A letter from Yen Hee and Choon Lim in Taiwan
July 1, 2009
Dear Friends in mission,
14 students wearing their traditional tribal clothes during worship.
On April 24-25, 2009, during our celebration of the Hualien Aboriginal Campus Ministry (HACM)’s 10th anniversary, we were filled with thanksgivings in our hearts. We felt grateful to you for your prayers and support. We have been missionaries for 18 years, first in South Korea for six years doing Island Medical Mission and next in Taiwan doing Hualien Aboriginal Campus Ministry (HACM) for 12 years (which includes two years of language study). We deeply thank you for your faithful support and prayers during these years. We had many difficulties and struggles, but we were always able to overcome them thanks to your prayers and support.
The theme for the celebration and for 2009 is “Catch the Fire.” We want our students to receive the spirit God’s mission that former Presbyterian missionaries to Taiwan had so plentifully. We want the students to see how we are called to mission by the resurrected Christ, who commanded us to be His witnesses. Just as we received Don McCall’s mission torch (see our last mission report), we want to hand over the spirit of the mission torch to our students and to the 14 tribes in Taiwan. So during the thanksgiving worship service, our 14 students entered the stage wearing their traditional clothes and holding a sign that explained their identity and described their traditional cultures. Then we watch a history of HACM on PowerPoint. After that, we all stood up and sang our theme song, “Revival.” Neither of us could stop ourselves from crying. We thanked God’s love and the guidance of the Holy Spirit’s that we were able to obey Jesus’ great commandment.
Our students playing tug of war in the gym.
The moderator of Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, the Rev. Asing-Aman delivered the sermon, and the principal of Yu-Shan Aboriginal Seminary in Hualien, the Rev. Bu-Sing, and three others delivered congratulatory speeches. The moderators of the presbyteries of the Amis, Taroko, and Bunun tribes attended, and their church members offered hymns and special traditional dances to God. Of course, our students took a big part in it as well. The special worship took more than two hours. After the worship, we participated in different sports in the gym. At night students and alumni got together at the mission center and held a special celebration party. The next day, Sunday, we went with the alumni and worshiped God together and then they went back to their homes.
It was a long and tiring two days, which took a year to prepare for. But we felt God’s grace and blessings during the event and preparation. We wish you could have seen the event—how God used us to glorify God’s name. We can’t fully express our feelings about this celebration, but we can tell you that our students have truly appreciated your help and prayers for 10 years.
A great piece of good news is that the Buddhist Chiji Technical College (formerly called the Nursing College) group named “Rock” participated in the National Gospel Contest in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. There were 23 contestants, and we got the first place. Praise the Lord! With 34 students, we rented a bus from Hualien. It was a four-hour ride to Taipei, but it was worth it. We will do it again next year.
In front of the Doulos ship our students are dancing.
The last good news is that we have been working with Doulos to spread the gospel to unbelievers in Hualien. When we first established the HACM, the Doulos mission ship came to Hualien and worked with us. Coincidentally, after 10 years, they returned to Hualien. Doulos brought people from 43 nationalities with 340 crew members (most of them 18 to 25 years old) coming from various backgrounds, who all work together for the common purpose to be a life-saving ministry. For two weeks we worked together, as our mission center became one of their posts. We challenged them and they challenged us as we did mission work together, participating in worship, group and sports activities.
As you know now, we are going to have a six-month interpretation assignment from July1 to December 31, 2009. We will participate in the New Wilmington Mission Conference from July 18 to 25 and then in World Mission Challenge 2009 from September 22 through October 24.We will visit your churches between these dates. Several churches have already requested us to visit, but we have not heard from other supporting churches. So please let us know if you want us to visit you and share our story with you in person.
Without your generous gifts and prayers, we would not have had this successful ministry. With your financial support and Don McCall’s “mission torch,” PC(USA)’s mission work will continue to serve the people in Taiwan, especially among the aboriginal college students in Hualien.
May God be with you, bless you, and protect you!
Yen Hee and Choon Lim
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 128
