Yep, spouses outing day ~ and what a great day we all had ~ YES, it really was amazing!

While the bishops gathered for meetings all day, sharing and learning about ‘Theological Context and Mission Challenges’ in Taiwan, Hong Kong and then Pakistan, we made the most of the day and took the spouses out to experience something of Taiwan life……

One trip was planned for them to go to the National Marine Museum and Jiu-fen, led by Trinity Church, Keelung church members, and one trip was to Dharma Drum Mountain and Jinshan, led by us…

In the event, it was all so amazing that nobody wanted to leave Dharma Drum to go home! In fact, nobody even wanted to go to Jinshan, which we’d planned for the afternoon.  Most of us could have stayed on for hours more, there was just so much to see and learn.

We’d gone to Dharma Drum to learn about Buddhism, and we learned loads.  We were guided around by the world’s most lovely guides, led by most delightful Buddhist nun you could ever get to meet in the whole world ~ and between them they explained everything about their faith and practice, and the more they shared, the more questions we had and the more we wanted to know and experience….

So much to see and to learn in fact that we extended our trip by an hour, and could have extended it by many more!

What a fascinating day ~ plus a wonderful coffee break and great lunch ~ and we finished the day with sweet potato cakes bought for everyone on the way home…..

Smiles all round as we got off the bus!

Got back to the Grand Hotel to find the bishops ending their meetings, and there was Bishop Samuel Azariah from Raiwind, Pakistan who obligingly posed for a photo with our good friend, Canon Peter Ng, Asia-Pacific Officer of the Episcopal Church….

It’s certainly all happening in Taiwan this week!

Now praying for the typhoon that is moving northwards in our direction – hope it doesn’t have too much of an effect, just a slight lowering of temperatures will be fine!