On September 2, 2019, I received a very special message, and it made my day! The message said, “Hello Catherine! I am going to get married on December 14, 2019! Our wedding will be held in St. Peter’s Church (Chiayi). We want to invite you to attend our wedding, we would be happy if you can come!”

🥳🥳🥳 YES! Of course I must go, I just have to be there!🥳🥳🥳

🥳 ISAAC IS GETTING MARRIED, YIPPEE! 🥳

And so it was that yesterday, 220 km south of here, in the lovely little church of St. Peter’s, Chiayi, a young and handsome Isaac 瑋杰 Wei-Chieh and his lovely bride, Angie 雅馨 Ya-Hsin were married.

THANKS BE TO GOD!

And, thanks be to God again, cos I was there too!

But I was not the only person to travel to Chiayi from Taipei; Isaac’s grandfather and some family members had also set off early to be there for the 3:00 pm wedding. And they were also, like me, going back the same day. Actually it took me 5 hours each way, and that included 90 minutes by High-Speed Rail from Taipei to Chiayi. But it was well well worth it! This is Isaac’s grandfather and the family….

Isaac is the young man who I got to know a few years ago through my visits to St. Peter’s Church, Chiayi for a series of youth Bible Studies. He was teaching nearby at the time, was a relatively new Christian and had joined St. Peter’s Church – and was helping to lead the church youth group. In the summer of 2016, he was one of 3 delegates from the Diocese of Taiwan to take part in a CCEA Youth Forum in Malaysia, and as a result of that trip, we arranged for him to share his experiences with us all at an event at St. Peter’s, when Raj Patel, CMS Regional Manager for Asia came to visit Taiwan in October 2016 (see that blog post here). We were all most impressed. The Church definitely needs more people like Isaac! Here he is with the St. Peter’s youth group….

That event in October 2016 at St. Peter’s was held while the vicar of St. Peter’s, Rev. Simon T. S. Tsou, was away in the USA for a 3-month training program with the Diocese of Los Angeles. As Simon recounted yesterday at the wedding, it was also while he was away in the USA, that Simon’s wife informed him that Isaac had started to bring a very nice young lady along to church. That young lady was his colleague, Angie – at the time she was interested in the Christian Gospel and taking part in Bible Studies, but had not yet found a church to go to. She continued at St. Peter’s, and soon afterwards was baptized, they got to know each other better, and well, as they say, the rest is history! These days, they both work in Kaohsiung, and worship 3 Sundays a month at St. Paul’s Church, Kaohsiung, and one Sunday a month at St. Peter’s. So the wedding was held in St. Peter’s, led by Rev. Simon Tsou, but with the vicar of St. Paul’s, Rev. Cheng Chen-Chang giving the marriage blessing.

The St. Peter’s Youth Group, many of whom have since moved away for university study, all returned to sing at the wedding. Isaac also sang his own song for his new wife. Ah, it was very moving!

There were lots of church members there from St. Paul’s, Kaohsiung…

And even more from St. Peter’s, Chiayi…

Many congratulations to the happy couple, may God bless them in their new life together, and as they continue to serve him and serve in the church! Thanks be to God for them both, they are so lovely. Please do keep them in your prayers.

I left for home straight after the service and refreshments – after all there was a 5-hour journey to face – but we were all given a little pack of yummy homemade cookies for the journey. Such thoughtfulness! Thank you Isaac and Angie and all at St. Peter’s Church for a great day, it was a wonderful and very special occasion!