A fairly momentous few weeks as I packed up in Taiwan and said goodbye to all my friends ~ and then came to the UK! Thanks be to God, all went well, and finally, I’m here ~ happily still with many wonderful memories of these last few weeks in Taiwan…

Lots of memories of daybreak and sunrise at Advent Church and St. John’s University ….

And sunrise down at the sea, with a plane overhead heading to the airport…

The nearby lotus fields are looking stunning, within walking distance of St. John’s University….

Sunset as I headed to the airport on Thursday, July 7….

Taoyuan International Airport is about an hour’s drive from St. John’s University ~ gotta love their large lego version of the airport that’s on display!

I was flying Turkish Airlines, first from Taipei to Istanbul, then transferred onto Turkish Airlines to London Gatwick. Despite news reports about chaos at UK airports, Gatwick was fine. During the course of my journey, Boris Johnson resigned too. Ah yes, welcome to Britain!

I’m very grateful to have arrived safely – and I’m now staying with my brother and his family. They live in a very beautiful old house in Sussex, originally built in 1580 as a farmer’s cottage, and the wooden beams in the living room were originally from a ship, some of them are numbered. I knew my Taiwan friends would love to see photos, and yes, the photos have been a big hit, and attracted dozens of comments on Facebook. Thanks to my family for their wonderful welcome and hospitality!

And thanks to all in Taiwan for your send-off! The last main event in Taiwan before my departure was the Advent Church Children’s Summer Camp, held on July 4-5. This coincided with the second round of Covid vaccinations for elementary school children, and with general worries about the pandemic, so we had expected much lower numbers than usual – although last year, it was cancelled completely, so we wanted to hold the event this year even with fewer children. In the event, there were 32 children, and we had 21 student leaders, who all spent weeks in preparation, and a whole weekend of training. They were a great team and it was a really worthwhile event. I was on hand for taking photos!

We have a video of the summer camp on YouTube, made by Tzi-Wei from our chaplaincy team. Check it out here… it’s fun!

And finally, a big thank you to you all for your prayers and blessings! If you’re here in the UK, hope you are enjoying the summer weather and the long light evenings. Ah yes, England at its best!