A Weekly Summary

Tuesday, April 8th:

Instead of going to my workshop in the morning, Mirjam wanted us to clean the kitchen of the missionary house and finish washing the dishes on the Hope House 7th floor for when the guests come for the 70th anniversary. In the afternoon, I started my first shift on the 7th floor of the Joy House. Esther taught me the routine and how to do everything I will need to do when I’m there. To be honest, it was a bit stressful learning it all. In the evening we had one of our last practices of our Easter play before being able to perform the real thing twice this week!

The after dinner duty, with one of the residents helping me dry and put them away.

Wednesday:

All the teachers had a class, so Tian and I were asked to help out in the morning by entertaining all the Hope House residents, boys and girls, from 9:30 to 11:30. We (mainly Tian) came up with some group games to play, like telephone with actions, Simon Says, musical chairs, guess that song, etc. It was fun hanging out with everyone but also exhausting trying to come up with things to do. In the afternoon I went to the 7th floor, this time doing everything Esther taught me to do yesterday by myself, since she was in Taipei picking up her brother. Tian and I first grabbed the two bins of laundry, then sorted the clothes by their numbers while Tian washed one of the residents. Then I washed one of the residents, helped with dishing up supper, washed all the dinner dishes, rinsed off the aprons and clothes and put them in the washing machine, brought the food cart to the kitchen, and brought the dirty laundry to the washing place. I was very tired at the end of the day, but honestly, I enjoyed my time, especially since I had a lot to do, so the time went quickly.

Getting ready for a game of a classic game of telephone but with actions.

Another classic game: musical chairs.

Thursday:

I was asked to help out in the craft room from 8 am to 11:30 am & 2 pm to 3 pm because the teacher was going to help set up the art exhibition for the 70th anniversary. I didn’t do much, just sat there and occasionally walked around the room looking at their artwork and commenting on how nice it was. After lunch I grabbed a bubble tea before heading to watch dance practice. The last hour in the craft room was fun; I put on some music, and we were dancing along to it. Mirjam said that I could have the afternoon off, so what better way than to spend that time on the 3rd floor? I did feel unwell, though, since I was up at 7 am and super tired, but still I wanted to spend time with them before my busy week on the 7th floor. They were all surprised to see me, especially Wang Laoshi, and she laughed when I explained to her I was “resting” on the 3rd floor. I was going to take some of them to McDonald’s, but in the end I didn’t, which was probably a good thing. Instead, Mirjam took me to the city to buy a new SIM card for my phone. We also went out for dinner at this fancy Japanese restaurant, one of my favourites here, and bought Esther a birthday gift—flower earrings.

Wang Ji: a delicious place.

Friday:

In the morning I was back in the bakery after not being there for two days; it was so nice. They have been really busy filling a large order. We made cupcakes and also had 4 large chocolate cakes to cut and package. Then we went to the adjoining room to put all that they made yesterday and today into cute containers. In each container we put a drink, a slice of red bean toast, a bun filled with pork floss, a chocolate chip cupcake, a slice of chocolate cake, and 2 snowball cookies.

Packing Station.

It was Esther’s birthday, so we wanted to celebrate by going out for a nice dinner, especially since her brother was there. We let her decide, and she picked a really fancy Thai restaurant by the ocean. It was so cute, and the food was amazing! I had a main dish with a variety of different foods, a thick chocolate shake, and a slice of German apple crumble cake that Tian made.

What a beautiful place!

Look at all the foood!

A chocolate overload. Yum.

Saturday:

We all helped take a group of residents, mostly those in wheelchairs and those with other physical difficulties, out to a park to just walk around for an hour or so. Honestly, it wasn’t that interesting as we just walked, and I feel sorry for the residents because it is their big, exciting outing that they get. I ate my lunch with the 3rd floor residents and picked up a black tank top that Wang Laoshi was going to lend me from her daughter because my choir outfit shirt is too big on me. At 3 pm we went to Mirjam’s church to practice our Easter performance before we will perform it Sunday. Afterwards, we went out for drinks and fried chicken. I invited myself to dinner on the 3rd floor, mainly to hang out with them and celebrate one of the residents birthdays with them. It was fun. Wang Laoshi got a tiramisu and a cheesecake, which were both delicious. I helped them do their regular evening routine, washing dishes, taking temperatures, and just hanging out by talking, mainly with Wang Laoshi, until 9 pm.

Each of us were assigned residents to look after, I was assigned a sweet elderly lady from the Joy House 7th floor.

A birthday celebration!

Sunday:

We finally got to show our performance with a group of people—Mirjam’s church. It was a lot of fun to see all of our hard work pay off. I was really surprised with how smoothly it went, and all the parts that we had a hard time with were done to perfection. The members all seemed to enjoy the performance, which was nice. Mirjam said that a few people asked her when we were performing it again because they wanted to come watch! When we were finished, the pastor was going to pray for all of us, and a group of people came to lay hands on us, and they all prayed at once. There was a lady who came up to me and put her hands on my shoulders and started praying over me. I had absolutely no idea what she was saying, but I was touched anyway because I could tell, through her voice, that she was sincere. The church ordered a bian dan, a box containing rice, vegetables, and meat, for all of us to eat. Again, Mirjam took us out to have a drink in reward for all of our hard effort. Since we have had a few really busy days, I opted to take the rest of the afternoon to just rest. Although, like yesterday, I asked Tian Laoshi if I could eat dinner with them since the rest of the gang was gone and I didn’t want to be by myself. In the end I stayed on the third floor until the teacher was done with work and the residents were going to bed, 9 pm. I have to treasure all the time I have left with them, and now that Tian and Esther’s guests are here, I would be on the 7th floor all week except for one day.

Happy Easter!

Tuesday:

I had my first day on the 7th floor by myself. I was slightly nervous, as I don’t really know the teacher so well, so I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to communicate. As I’ve proven many times, there was nothing to be afraid of. There were 3 teachers today, but even so, it was a lot of work for me since the two main residents that usually help were gone today. Despite that, the time went by pretty fast, and I enjoyed myself. I went to go pick up the clean, folded laundry, which thankfully was only one basket. Afterwards I went up to the 7th floor and began sorting it by numbers. I washed one of the residents and just got down in time to pick up some of the residents from school. Then I started to help with the dinner preparation, which consisted of putting on their bibs and cutting up their food. After dinner I washed, dried, and put away all the dinner dishes. Rinsed off the clothes and bibs and put them in the washing machine. Then I brought down the dirty clothes to the clothing building and the cart to the kitchen and threw out the compost. I couldn’t believe how fast the time went, and it was 7 pm already.

This is a very very sick girl on the 7th floor. My job is to give her liquid slowly dripping it into her mouth with a syringe.

We received more guests this week, all from Germany. Two more past short-termers, Johannes and Nils, arrived; they served here 10 years ago. Johannes is Tian’s fiancé, and Nils is a friend. The other guests are a family; the mother was one of the first German short-termers to ever come here over 20 years ago. She’s been back several times but brought her husband and 3 children this time since it’s Easter break. I told Kajsa and said that would be us in the future, haha.

With all the guests and a few Bethesda staff.

Wednesday:

I was asked to help in the craft room from 9 to 11:30. In the afternoon I was on the 3rd floor, as Tian and Esther were both working, which was fun! We had a lot of laughs as we were putting on our outfits. Since we had our first practice performance of all the dancing and singing for the 70th anniversary, we had a very early dinner. I think the practice went very well; everyone has been working so hard on their parts. It was very amusing seeing everyone’s dancing outfits and watching them dance in them. I also enjoyed practicing the singing parts that I am a part of.

Left: Tian Laoshi. Right: Wang Laoshi. I’m in a different outfit to sing with the residents but would later change into what they are wearing when I sing with the teachers.

Singing with the residents.

Friday:

Since it was Good Friday, we did a little service in the chapel with the Hope House residents and staff of Bethesda. Mirjam asked Tian, Esther, Johannes, Nils, and me to sing some worship songs. Then we performed our play, Mirjam did a short talk, and we did the Lord’s Supper together.

Singing Easter songs.

The nativity.

Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.

The last supper.

Saturday:

The residents had their last baseball day. There was singing, dancing, one round where everyone hit the ball and ran then at the end everyone received a participating medal as well as a customized mug with their picture on it. I really enjoyed hanging out with all of them.

Picture with some of my 3rd floor group :)

The volunteers that came with the residents to baseball.

Mirjam and I are the only ones here from the big group; the rest went to stay at an island near Taiwan for a few days, so we did a few things together. We went on a very successful shopping trip, and I checked off my list of several gifts for people back home, which is a big relief. For dinner, we went to our favourite we-have-no-idea-what-to-eat restaurant, Subway. Tomorrow after church, Mirjam, I will go out for lunch, and I’m hoping to hang out with the 3rd floor in the afternoon.

On Another Note:

My mom is boarding a plane to Taiwan on Tuesday, so very, very soon! Please pray for her, that it would be a safe journey here. It’s a long flight and she’ll be by herself handling two suitcases (one full of gifts that I’ve requested her to bring lol). It’ll be bittersweet as my time here draws closer to an end, but ultimately I’m looking forward to her coming and showing her the place I’ve called home for the last 3 months and the people who are like family now :)

Well that’s all for now,

Soli Deo Gloria,

Hosanna