Yilan Family Mission Christmas events

Peter Truasheim

During Christmas 2009, Yilan Mission volunteers performed seventeen Christmas performances in Yilan County, Nanao and Hualien. These visits included hospitals, handicapped centers, elementary schools in aboriginal villages, an orphanage, nursing homes for the elderly and a university Christmas party.

Thanks to the kind sponsorship of Activated Ministries we were able to distribute at the facilities 1,100 Activated magazines, 110 The Garden children’s storybooks, 300 Christmas Secret children’s drama with CDs, 60 Christmas Beat audio CDs, and 1,350 Christmas posters, all for free.

On Friday the 11th of December we made a trip to the Wuta and Jin Yangvillages near Nanao to deliver 900 kilograms of rice, which was donated by the Dong San Farmers Association. Nan Ao is a somewhat isolated but beautiful valley surrounded by majestic high mountains on the East coast of Taiwan. Because of its geographical isolation the area has very limited employment opportunities, making life more difficult for those living there.

In addition to the rice, we distributed children’s story books and Christmas magazines for children and adults. In Nanao, pastor Pai, who is a retired pastor and is from the Taiyatsu aboriginal tribe said how much our assistance was appreciated as there was so much unemployment so many and needy elderly in the area. Pastor Pai has been distributing the items we bring to his village to the needy for nine years now.

In the evening of the 11th of December we performed our Christmas show at an orphanage in Luodong, which is run by Buddhist nuns. The children enjoyed hearing the message of Jesus birth at Christmas and were especially thrilled to receive the books and Christmas magazine sponsored by Activated Ministries. During the show a group of young foreign volunteer English teachers participating in the ISAC program arrived and stopped as they entered the building to see the show. After the show they thanked us for coming and said they thought our show and the publications we gave the children was a very special treat for the orphans at Christmas.