A letter from Yen Hee Lim in Taiwan
June 2012
Dear Friends in Mission,
After the event, with Alumni and Graduate students.
Often we seek discernment when we make any decisions in order to obey God’s will. When we decided to serve in Taiwan instead of Ethiopia, we prayed fervently to God and sought others' suggestions. Finally the Holy Spirit helped Choon to discern his future plan when he was praying. This year he also had to make another a big decision. We thought we would serve with the Hualien Aboriginal Campus Ministry (HACM) in Hualien, Taiwan, until our retirement. But we had to discern about our new position, the regional liaison for East Asia, which covers Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China, and Taiwan. He felt he wasn't equipped well for it, but his friend Rev. Jeff Ritchie who had helped us to become PC(USA) missionaries with the Island Medical Mission in Korea in 1991 sent an email and said Choon should apply for it because he fits it well. His missionary friends in Taiwan also suggested it. To make a long story short, when Mienda Uriarte, PC(USA) area coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, visited our mission fields in March 2012 she told Choon that he had the position. Please pray for his new position, new mission fields.
Special Gathering in the front yard
Since then we have been very busy preparing for the new position and doing the programs we had already planned. One of the important programs was the “12 Hours Worship,” which started at 9:00 am and ended at 9:00 pm on Sunday, May 27. Right before it we had a 24 Hours Chain Prayer for six days. Last year missionaries in Hualien had to help signing up for praying from midnight to 6:00 am, but this year our students signed up for most of this time. Not only did more of our students participate in the Chain Prayer, but also more students joined the 12 Hours Worship, which increased from last year's 430 students to 540 students. The quality of it also was better than last year. We had many wonderful testimonies. For example, when a Dong-Wha University professor had cancer, she met God. Another, during the 2009 landslide in Taiwan a Dong-Wha University student, Samina, lost her father and house but found God in the midst of it. The last one was a Ta-Han Technical College student sharing his height and weight problem when he was in elementary school. He told how he struggled with his classmates’ violence and maltreatment and then overcame it. Many times we all cried and prayed together. We saw a lot of students confess their sins and want to renew their life. We have to mention our music band. They served more than 10 hours with joy. We didn’t see or hear any complaining about their long hours of work, especially by the drum player and keyboard player. They wanted to serve Jesus Christ since “freely we received, freely give” (Matt.10:8). What a wonderful 12 Hours Worship it was!
Washing Graduate student's feet at the yard
On the 10th of June we had a very special event, the Graduation Worship Service, Alumni Gathering, and Farewell Worship Service. At the Graduation Worship Service there were 17 graduate students and in our HACM tradition, Lapas (our new co-worker) and Choon washed their feet. It was very emotional because it would be Choon’s last ceremony to wash their feet. While washing their feet, he couldn’t keep from crying because he felt their tears falling down on his head. When every student shared what they had learned in HACM after the ceremony, we all cried because they couldn’t hold their emotion. There were a lot of thanksgivings, beautiful memories, and encouragements to help us and strengthen us as we move on our next new journey.
The Alumni Gathering started on Saturday (6/9) evening. We met those who hadn’t come to HACM for many years. We have served HACM 13 years after two years language study in Taipei. Now many alumni are married and have children. They serve their communities as leaders and in their churches as deacons. Some went to seminary and became ministers. The good news is that one of our alumni has taken Choon’s position. Her name is Lapas, from the Ami people. She was a member of our Christian group when she studied at Ging-Chong Business College, and then she went to Jade Theological Seminary in Hualien and later became a local minister. Her husband also graduated from the same seminary and served as our HACM secretary. Choon asked Lapas to join the washing feet ceremony. We handed over our position to her as, kneeling down before the students, she and Choon washed feet together. Please join us praying for the new HACM worker.
Mienda Uriarte, Area Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific visited our HACM
We have truly equipped our students to serve in their churches and society. Because of it, we are filled with joy now, but without your support and prayers, we couldn’t have done all the programs. From the bottom of our hearts, we deeply thank you, the members of the PC(USA) and our partner church PCT (Presbyterian Church in Taiwan), and especially all the supporting churches and individuals. Furthermore, we want to remind you that our mission journey doesn’t end here. We need your help and prayers more than ever because for the new work we will have more challenges and difficulties, political, cultural, theological, and economical. We will take each step with Christ who strengthens us, but we need your friendship to walk with us as you did before.
On June 27 we will leave for the U.S. for Interpretation Assignment. Our mission base will be Mission Haven in Decatur, Georgia, until October 6, 2012. If you want to invite us to hear how God uses us, please let us know. Use the e-mail link below to write us. Finally, we again beseech you to walk with us for the new journey together.
Together in Mission,
Yen Hee and Choon Lim
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 205
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