My emotion while on the way to minister at Sinim Home in Jakarta was different from serving in other places. The feeling was one of reuniting with family members I haven’t seen in a long time.

Back in September of 2013, Pastor Abel Hsu invited me to hold a conference at their church. I first met the group of my Christian brothers and sisters from Mainland China, most of whom left their homeland in search of better work opportunities. In adapting to their new ‘home’, they faced many difficulties, including culture shock and language differences. Day by day their heart grew lonely until they found Sinim Home. This church became a home for overseas Chinese in Jakarta, and both Pastor Hsu and his wife treated them as family. From eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival, to gathering to make dumplings on Chinese New Year, they have created an atmosphere so warm that words cannot express the closeness formed among the church members. When they sense something wrong, with love they would admonish one another, instead of ignoring the problem. They are willing to go the extra mile, helping many to come back to Christ.

Those from China work as Chinese teachers, having signed a two-year contract. Thus, once someone comes to know Christ and is discipled, he/she will have to go back to their homeland. Only a few stay and become staff members at the church. Sometimes, it might seem a waste of time and money, considering all the effort they put in. But for Pastor Hsu and his wife, this is not the case. They see it as a chance for these disciples to return to their homeland, becoming church planters or serving at one of the churches in their homeland.

This amazing and generous love really touched my heart, and drew me to love this group of overseas Chinese. I always want to share with them all that I have in order to build them up.

In November of 2016, Pastor Hsu returned to his Heavenly Home, and thus in 2017 his wife became the second pastor for Sinim Home, continuing the missions of her husband, Pastor Hsu. Even though we were saddened by the loss, the staff workers and I felt more motivated to attract more not-yet believing Chinese to come to know Christ and to continue God’s purpose in Jakarta.

The theme this year is “Life Coach Walking You Through Life”. Six lectures are included: Quality parent-children interactions, How to communicate with rebellious teenagers, Adjusting through pressures in the work place, The art of arguing in marriage, Mid-life Crisis, and How to live an abundant life for the elderly. The goal is to be able to fulfill the needs of the attendees regardless of their age and gender.

After a month of concentrated preparations, designing activities, with the help of our young and artistic assistant, Abby, who created the PPTs, our one desire was to glorify God and fulfill Pastor Hsu’s passion of seeing more overseas Chinese turning their lives to Christ.

Although I have been to Jakarta about eight or nine times, none of them has been as intense and difficult as this one. On September 18, two hours after the plane took off, I was shivering from the inside. As soon as the plane landed, even though I was so cold, I started to sweat. I changed my sweat drenched clothes more than once. During the evening prayer meeting, I had to cover my legs with a towel, at the same time my upper body was still dripping with sweat. When I had changed into my fourth set of clothes, I thought to myself, “Why don’t I just put on a robe, since I’m down to my last set of clothes?” I sent a few texts to my friends for prayer and the sweating stopped the next day. Thank you, God. However, my stomach started to hurt at 4 a.m. on September 20th. Again, my clothes were completely drenched in sweat. This was the first time I have ever experienced this kind of pain in my life. I started to have diarrhea around 7 a.m., and again I sent texts for prayers for my health condition. I thank God for listening to our prayers for he stopped all the pains and symptoms. I didn’t experience any physical pain while I was serving that night.

I am really thankful that the three topics that were introduced on September 21st went smoothly. At midnight of September 22nd, I was strangely awakened by the pain from my stomach, and I started to have diarrhea again. I immediately texted people, asking for prayer. After going to the bathroom about seven times, I felt a lot better at 10 a.m. Still feeling week, and having to sit while preaching the sermon, God guided me to finish the two afternoon topics.

Even though the spiritual warfare was intense during the missions trip to Jakarta this year, God’s grace is always sufficient. May God continue to lead newcomers to His church.

Thanksgiving:
1. The translation of the “IGNITE” one-year marriage curriculum has been completed. Thirty-two churches have started to use it.
2. Sixteen pastors and Christian brothers and sisters participated in the “Walk Out of Grief” support group held at Taitung’s Bread of Life on September 1st. God’s love overflowed and attendees felt greatly comforted.
3. The “Group Crisis Intervention” Course sponsored by Taitung’s Arise Church on September 2nd and 3rd was attended by 20 individuals with great responses and feedback. We hope to open this course in different cities.
4. The “Walk out of Grief” Workshop held at Pingtung Micah Church on September 6th was used by God to help a pastoral family with three young children as they just lost their father, the pastor, due to a car accident.

Prayer Request:
1. May God prepare the speaker and co-host churches for the “Take Your Life Back” Conference set for June of 2020.
2. May God use both DVD sets of “IGNITE” and “Healing the Hurt in Your Marriage” to help Christian couples to grow in their relationship. May God also lead non-Christian couples to attend and prayerfully to come to know Christ.
3. May God guide and lead us to open more “Walk Out of Grief” and “Group Crisis Intervention” Courses in different cities across Taiwan.
4. “For Men Only” will be accurately and beautifully translated.
5. May God continue to use Lifting Hands Network publications to bless the Chinese community.