Dec. 21: our expected due date

We now know that our baby's expected due date will be Dec. 21, 2007--just in time for Christmas. It actually feels more exciting than Christmas as a kid. Maybe a church would like to have a real live Baby Jesus for their church's Christmas drama-production?....maybe not.

We will be going back in Saskatoon for the delivery at Royal University Hospital. Alice will likely stay in the hospital for a few extra days and we'll stay in Saskatoon at our parents' place for a few weeks. I think Mom will help out with the cooking. I'll help out by taking care of Baby and getting lots of practice changing daipers. We are feeling more excited each day as the day approaches. We already have a lot of baby stuff either given to us, or from second-hand garage sales this past summer.

We just finished 4-weeks of pre-natal classes and now I feel like a student with head knowledge but no practical experience with babies. There were a lot of things I didn`t know, e.g., there were two types of mother`s milk, epidermal is an optional pain-killer where a tube goes through the mother`s spine. Ughh....I`m glad I`m a father and won`t have to go through so much pain as a mother. That`s why we celebrate Mother`s Day in May.

Alice will stop working on Dec. 15 and I`ll take a break from internship from Dec. 20 to Jan. 1. Then return to Prince Albert for Jan. 2.

Been having fun in internship

It’s hard to believe that Alice and I have lived in Prince Albert for 3½ months. It has been a very good experience for me in internship. I’m getting to do all the pastoral duties like preaching (2x/month), leading services every alternate Sundays, hospital and carehome visitations, plus some home visits. These are regular things I do like clockwork and I'm having fun doing it. The more I serve here as Intern Pastor, the more I feel affirmed that pastoring is for me. So I praise and thank God.

My favorite thing in internship so far is preaching. I love preaching, the preparation and writing, and also the delivering of sermons. It has been really fun. In my weekly visitations at the seniors home, one lady I've been visiting each week was so kind. She had been collecting coupons for us, including coupons for baby diapers. Starting after the new year, I will also start a bible study for a seniors group at another seniors residence downtown. Hopefully, this group will be more stable because they have time. Please continue to pray for my work here at Messiah.

I’ve also started a youth group that meet every Friday night. It kind of died out some years ago because there was no one to lead it after a key youth leader left. Our youths in our churches need leaders. Without leaders, they are like young sheep that wander away, and sometimes wander completely away from the Christian faith.

The other ministry area that’s been on my heart is for young adults in their 20s and 30s. When I look out among the congregation, there are not many in this age category, maybe one or two. This ministry has been non-existent at Messiah Lutheran; therefore, I’m trying to start up a young adults group but we can’t seem to get people out so that we can meet regularly—so far it’s just been every 2 or 3 weeks. But I can only just try to be faithful and just meet with them and get to know them one at a time.

Dear friends, please continue to pray for my ministry work here at ministry.

Our Baby Girl

Some of you probably knew that Kevin and I are expecting a new baby girl in January. By God's grace, we are able to have a baby in our late 30's. It has been 2 years since we got married. We feel so blessed by God to establish a Christian home from 2 person to 3 person. In the future, I (Alice) will post more news about the progress of my pregnancy and the growth of the baby. I hope that we can connect by emails, blog or facebook.

28 Elk in Waskesiu, Prince Albert National Park

Mondays are our day off so Alice and I went up to Waskesiu Lake located in Prince Albert National Park (about 45 min.) from the City of Prince Albert, which is only one of Canada's 43 national parks. We saw the most amazing thing. There were 28 elk grazing and laying on the grass in the open picnic area. It was a real sight to behold because I never dreamed of seeing this many elk in one place at the same time. Two of them were bulls, and about 8-9 baby elks, and the other 18 were females. If this were in an open field, it would have been a heyday for a hunter. They would have easily shot their limit, but again, this was in a national park. We’re hoping to head up there again before summer turns to fall and do a little BBQing.

We’ve moved to Prince Albert, Sask. and have already been here for 3 weeks. I have officially began my internship at Messiah Lutheran Church as Intern Pastor. I have set up my office, computer, and furniture. Things have begun rolling and ministry is off to a good start. We’re getting used to the new city and surrounding, the people, and hope to build new friendships and relationships with others here. Please pray for us that God will guide us and lead us.

Getting reading for our move up to Prince Albert, Sask.

We are back in Canada now. We are feeling a little more relieved now that everything is more stabilized. Alice is feeling much better now and more energetic. I am also feeling like I am getting more things done. This week, we got most of our errands done. Now I am painting my parents deck so we can have a BBQ outside.

We are now in the midst of preparing to move to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (pop. 45,000) to start my internship at Messiah Lutheran Church. Last week, we drove up to Prince Albert to look for an apartment and found a place about 5-6 blocks from the church. This is more convenient because I can also go home for lunch. We will move some of our stuff into our apartment on July 27. We will rent a small 10-foot U-Haul truck because we don't have much stuff. We are looking forward to getting settled into our new place.

I was told that Messiah Lutheran Church has an average of about 150-200 attendance on Sundays. It seems like an active congregation for a Lutheran church. I anticipate I will feel a little nervous but that's the excitement of a new place and new people.

Returning back to Canada sooner than expected

We will be leaving Taiwan on July 8 (which is earlier than expected) due to difficulties with her pregnancy. Please pray for her. She was in the hospital this past weekend here in Changhua. It was good that we had travel insurance to cover the hospital expenses. She wanted to return back to Canada sooner so I called up the airline at 1 a.m. Due to our circumstances, Air Canada was kind enough to allow us to change our departure date back to Canada with a change fee. Please pray for Alice's health. The doctor gave her some medication and she is okay right now.

a department store with washrooms with different themes

Last week, we went to another big department store in Taichung, Taiwan. This one is called Chungyo Department Store. It one was similar to Sogo but it wasn't as high-end so we didn't feel as intimidated, however, it is still considered a fancy department store, even in relation to North American department stores. What blew me away were that the washrooms with different themes (click on 下一頁>> under the picture to see the different floors' designs). That's way too cool... something a country-bumpkin like me has never seen before in Canada or the US.

Chung-Yo is a 15-floor store and they also have elevator hostesses. Man, I love the idea of elevator hostesses. That's what I call full-serve. I asked again if I could take their picture and this time they didn't say "No" so I got a snapshot…I guess persistency pays off (I'll put this picture on the blog later when I get a chance). As the elevator door closes, the elevator hostesses bow before the people as a gesture of thanks and respect. This comes from the Asian way of "giving face." This bowing also happens when the store opens and when the store closes. A group of workers will go outside of the store at the open and close of each day and bow to thank their customers. I didn't get to see this but it would be very interesting to have actually seen this. Bowing is a very Japanese thing to do so Chinese people don't do this here. This is not surprising since the store's Japanese style of merchandising and service was modelled after the chain store Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. Most people in North America have not seen department stores like this because it is a Japanese style of shopping.

What also blew me away were the numerous full-service restaurants and food court restaurants on the top three floors. There must have been 20-30 food court restaurants on one floor. I ordered an individual hot pot that that was heated underneath with a flame. I'm liking the Asian way of eating. It's so different from North Americanized-style Chinese food. And it seems cheaper to eat here in Taiwan than it is in Canada.
Here's a long review about Chung-Yo if you have time to read.