Truly awe-inspiring, honest!  Definitely a sight to behold….

Yes it was raining, the beautiful hot and sunny weather of last week having been replaced by a cold front of drizzle and cold, but nothing dampened our spirits on Saturday night at the Pingxi Junior High School as hundreds of lanterns were sent heavenwards.  Truly an awesome sight!

Pingxi is an old coal-mining town in the mountains up beyond Taipei and famous for its annual sky lantern festival, made even more famous in recent years by several international media outlets, including CNN, who have proclaimed it a must-see event….

People can go at anytime to buy a plain lantern, write their wishes and prayers, and send them heavenwards, but even more spectacular are the 3 occasions when the New Taipei City Government organizes a mass launch, and the one on Saturday was the second of these, when 1,950 traditional lanterns were released in 10 sessions….

People had been registering all morning to take part, everything was incredibly well-organized and worked like clockwork.  The first launch was just as it got dark….

The second was for VIP guests, including none other than Taiwan’s President Ma and lots of foreign dignitaries who had also come along to write their wishes and launch the lanterns….

When the lights went out and the 200 lanterns were launched, the sight was so amazing ~ and the collective gasp of awe from the crowd showed that everyone had the same experience, truly awesome!

May Almighty God hear our prayers, and grant us peace and love in this dark world….