July 2024 was quite an eventful month for us in Taiwan ~ and was marked at the end of the month by the arrival of Typhoon Gaemi🌀 ~ from which Taiwan is still recovering. The worst typhoon to hit Taiwan in 8 years, it caused terrible flooding in the south, major damage to roads and railways, and huge agricultural losses, especially to fish farms and crops like bananas and guavas. Despite all this, we were so pleased to welcome the most lovely visitors to Taiwan, Katherine, Robert and the Cooper family from Co. Durham, UK who showed they were ever resilient and flexible in the face of many changes of plans and rearrangements of their itinerary. They remained wonderfully positive and upbeat throughout. What an amazing family ~ and what an honour for us all to welcome them to Taiwan!

In all my years working with the Church Mission Society (CMS) and being supported by so many wonderful link churches in the UK, it is rare indeed that any of the link church vicars have the chance to actually come and see for themselves what’s going on in Taiwan ~ but it’s just happened, whoopee! The Rev. Robert Cooper and his family were just here, and we had such a great time together! I’ve known Robert since the mid-1980’s, before I joined CMS, when he was Arts Chaplain for the Diocese of Durham, and I was part of St. Michael’s Church, Heighington; I remember he took our church group for a weekend in the North York Moors and we designed and made a huge Celtic Cross together. He was also vicar of St. Andrew’s Church, Sadberge, Darlington, and later, they became one of my link churches, supporting me and CMS in prayer and with financial gifts, and I would visit them every time I was in the UK. Robert is now retired and busy doing photography and calligraphy, though still serving part-time as a hospital chaplain, and Sadberge is now joined with St. Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne, which is also one of my very supportive link churches, led by Rev. Mark East and Rev. Sue Chew. They promised to pray for Robert and his family on their visit to Taiwan – thank you to everyone in Haughton and Sadberge!

Robert’s daughter, Katherine has just completed her first year of training at Cranmer Hall, Durham with a view to ordination next year, and it was she who initiated their visit to Taiwan. First, she came for 2 weeks on her own for a church planting placement, then her parents and son joined her for a further 9 days together. It was quite an experience – of the best kind of course! Here we all are enjoying the crowded Taipei Metro MRT!

Backtrack a little to November 7, 2023, when I posted on Facebook: “The Taiwan Episcopal Church 台灣聖公會 arrives in Hsinchu 新竹! YES! A big month for the Taiwan Episcopal Church as we start a brand-new venture in faith in Hsinchu City, home of the Hsinchu Science Park, with its 360 high-tech companies, including TSMC, the world’s largest independent semiconductor foundry – which has resulted in Hsinchu’s huge economic success and the highest income levels in Taiwan. But until last month, no Episcopal Church. Saturday November 4, 2023 saw the official opening service of our newest church plant, the result of over 50 years of praying, dreaming and planning. Thanks be to God!

Located in eastern Hsinchu very near the science park, above a cake and dessert shop called ‘Aposo2035’ (full name: ‘Apostle2035’, from Acts 20:35: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’), the cakes are exquisite! The business is run by a good friend of the Taiwan Episcopal Church, Mr. Wei-Hao Cheng who has kindly offered the use of his second-floor premises free of charge. After several months of midweek activities, it is hoped to start Sunday services in spring 2024. Please pray for Mr. Shawn Yen-Hsuan Wang 王彥軒傳道, clergy and church members of St. James’ Church, Taichung and Christ Church, Chungli and for all the hard work ahead! GO HSINCHU!”

A week later, on November 15, 2023, Katherine got in touch saying that she had seen my Facebook post about the new church plant in Hsinchu. She wrote that, as part of her Cranmer Hall course, “We are encouraged to seek short block placements (between 2 and 4 weeks) with any church that might enhance our training. Because I’ve been identified as a potential church planting curate and I’m currently placed in a church plant that we expect to plant from again in about 18 months, I was thinking that I could learn a lot from seeing a church plant in such different circumstances.”

The new church plant at Hsinchu is an outreach of St. James’ Church, Taichung under the rector, Rev. Lily Chang, and within a few hours of seeing Katherine’s email, I had heard back from Bishop Lennon Chang, Rev. Lily Chang and Mr. Shawn Wang (now Rev.), who all responded with a big ‘YES’ to Katherine’s idea! And the rest, as they say, is history. Her placement at Hsinchu was from Monday July 8 until Sunday July 21, though she spent that final Sunday at St. James’ Church, Taichung. Katherine was involved in activities for all ages and of all kinds; preaching and leading services, conversation classes, children’s outreach in the park, a children’s craft camp and Messy Church, as well as learning about the local culture and visiting interesting places, meeting people and making friends. All the children – and the adults – loved those pom pom sheep, peek-a-boo sheep and pink pigs, and the Bible stories that went with them! Everyone commented on how talented Katherine is, especially with all those crafts, and so willing to share her gifts, skills and enthusiasm with others. Thanks to the Rev. Lily Chang, Rev. Shawn Wang, Rev. Claire Wang, Yu-Lin and all the team for all their hard work in organizing it all, plus all the meals, sightseeing and social visits ~ Katherine seems to have had a wonderful time, and had a lot of chances to practice her Chinese that she’d learned in preparation for her visit. GO KATHERINE! Check out these photos, taken from the church’s Hsinchu Facebook Page:

After the placement ended, while in Taipei, Katherine took the children’s painted handprints and made them into a picture based on the Hsinchu Church logo. Stunning eh?!

Katherine arrived in Taiwan on Saturday July 6, the same weekend that we at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei started saying goodbye to my neighbours, Rev. Joseph Ho and family as they moved on to St. Stephen’s Church, Keelung, starting August 1. In fact, we spent most of July having farewell meals and parties for them ~ they are much loved and already much missed! Joseph has been replaced by Rev. Claire Wang, who just graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary, USA, and was ordained deacon on July 22. She came to preach at the St. John’s Cathedral English Service on Sunday July 7, and Claire then spent most of the next 2 weeks accompanying Katherine on her placement at Hsinchu. My friend, Ah-Guan was also staying the weekend with us, and on Monday morning, we got Katherine out at 5:00am for early morning exercise – including praise dance in the park! Later that day, we met Bishop Chang at the diocesan office for lunch, before Claire took Katherine off to Hsinchu. I asked Claire yesterday about her experiences working with Katherine. Her eyes lit up and she said that Katherine is so creative, positive, and energetic, and she quickly immersed herself into the culture. She said they worked so well together, and she learned so much from Katherine about children’s outreach and church planting.

On Monday July 15, Katherine had a rest day from the Hsinchu Mission and I offered to take her to Tainan, her only chance to see a little of southern Taiwan while she was here. We went by High-Speed Train from Hsinchu…

The Rev. Mark C. C. Cheng, vicar of Grace Church, Tainan kindly met us and drove us around all day. First stop was to drink tea with Bishop David Lai and his wife, Lily. It was so great to catch up with them, and Bishop Lai is so great at introducing the art of drinking Chinese tea!

Summer in Taiwan is extremely hot and humid, and for most of July it was 30-35°C each day, often with major afternoon thunderstorms, so we planned our sightseeing to avoid the worst of the heat. After a nice Japanese lunch with Rev. Cheng and his wife, we visited the Tainan Roman Catholic Cathedral, my first visit. It is built in an extremely distinctive Chinese architectural style, and is known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of China (中華聖母主教座堂). We even met the RC assistant bishop, who had been Rev. Cheng’s former tutor and chaplain at Fu-Jen RC University, Taipei. His surname is also Lai, so we met 2 Bishop Lai’s on the same day in the same city! Having asked several Taiwanese Christian friends their opinion of the cathedral, they find it interesting, but the large incense burner in front of the altar and the overall design reminds them too much of a Taoist Temple, and the statue of Mary outside looks like the goddess Guanyin. It is certainly all very thought-provoking!

Across the road is the Koxinga Temple, and after a quick look there, we went on to visit the Hayashi Department Store, originally opened on 5 December 1932, during Japanese rule. “Upon completion, the building was one of two such stores in Taiwan with state-of-the-art elevators. The building was bombed by the United States airplanes at the end of World War II. After refurbishment, the building began to be restored in 2006.” You can still see the holes where the bombs fell on the top floor, and also the remains of a Shinto Shrine. It’s a great place for a hot summer’s day!

By then, threatening storm clouds were gathering, and we just got back to the car as the heavens opened. Massive rains fell and motorbikes were swishing their way along the flooded roads! After a short visit to Grace Church, Rev. Cheng and his wife took us for a yummy hotpot dinner, and then we left to return north, Katherine to Hsinchu to start Week 2 of her placement, and me to return to Taipei…

A week later, Sunday July 21, and Katherine’s parents and son arrived at Taoyuan International Airport. If you ever have to meet people at Taoyuan Airport, you can first spend a few happy minutes watching the planes from the observatories on the 5th floor!

And off we went into Taipei to meet Katherine who had finished her placement that afternoon, and so was free to spend the next 9 days with her family. By then, reports were coming in of a typhoon forming near The Philippines, where there was already severe flooding, and several ships were reported stranded or missing. The typhoon was traveling towards Taiwan, and expected to arrive on Wednesday or Thursday. As often happens the day or two immediately before a typhoon, the weather promised to be excellent, so for their first morning in Taiwan, Monday July 22, we went up Taipei 101, Taiwan’s tallest building. There are spectacular views from the 89th and 91st floors, and the world’s fastest elevators to get you there, it takes only about 40 seconds from the 5th floor to the 89th! The weather was indeed fantastic and the views amazing…

That evening, Monday July 22, there was an ordination service in St. John’s Cathedral for 3 new deacons, Rev. Christina Hai, Rev. Alex Tso and Rev. Claire Wang. Claire had invited Katherine’s father, Robert to bring his robes and join the procession. Undaunted by any jetlag, and fresh off a long journey from the UK, so Robert joined the ordination service as a visiting clergy, and reported how wonderful it was! It was good that Katherine could also introduce her family to everyone, including the Rev. Charles C. T. Chen, from St James’ Church, Taichung (left photo below). The Coopers come from Durham, and Bishop David Lai and Rev. Charles Chen both have very clear memories of their visit to a pre-Lambeth Conference event at Durham Cathedral in 2008. At the cathedral entrance, they discovered that only bishops and their spouses were allowed to enter, so on the spur of the moment, Bishop Lai introduced Charles as his Canon, which gained him immediate access. The Diocese of Taiwan is so small that we don’t have any canons, so we delight in telling people that Charles was ‘The Rev. Canon Charles C. T. Chen’ for that day at Durham Cathedral! In the right photo below are Robert and Katherine with Claire holding her gift from Robert. For all the ordination service photos, see my previous blog post here.

The following day, the good weather of the previous day was gone, and rain was coming and going – it was also a little cooler, and remained so for the next few days, a welcome respite from the heat and humidity. We were warmly welcomed by Archdeacon Keith Lee at Good Shepherd Church, Shilin, and also taken for lunch. It was interesting to hear the history of the church and the church-planting ministry they have started at Linkou.

That afternoon, we visited the National Palace Museum. Robert was in his element – he could have spent days there, in fact we went back for a second visit before they left Taiwan, as there is so much to see. There were also a few interactive things for the younger generation. The rain was coming down as we went up the steps outside, as the typhoon got nearer to Taiwan – though it was so hot that we dried off quite fast!

In the evening, we came here to St. John’s Cathedral. Our dean’s wife, Linda runs a huge outreach ministry at the cathedral organizing and teaching Japanese Taiko Drumming Classes, and she kindly offered to teach my visitors for an hour. She also gave everyone one of the drumming T-shirts. Wow, they really loved the whole experience! I joined in too, but even 15 minutes of hard concentration is quite exhausting, and I could hardly keep up! She also invited us to return on Monday evening to watch a Taiko class. Thank you Linda, it was another big highlight of their visit!

We finished the drumming class at 8:00 pm, which was also the time when the local governments of the different cities and counties in Taiwan officially announced the suspension of classes and work for the following day due to the arrival of Typhoon Gaemi. Fortunately, Taipei City was spared the worst, and although we had a lot of rain, we were relatively sheltered from the high winds. Wednesday July 24 was a day when my visitors stayed mostly in the hotel and I stayed mostly at the cathedral. Thanks to Bishop Chang’s wife, Hannah and their daughter for delivering food to the Cooper family holed up in their hotel! Originally we had been planning to go by train to Hualien on Wednesday afternoon at 2:00pm, but all trains to Hualien – and in fact most trains throughout the country were cancelled as from 12 noon onwards. Taipei Metro trains were running only every 15 minutes and the local line which runs above ground was closed completely. We booked one more night at their hotel and hoped we could go to Hualien the following day.

On Thursday however, the typhoon was still here, schools and work were closed for a second day, trains were still cancelled, and it was still raining – but mostly here it was just light rain and it was good to get out and about. Bishop Chang and his family kindly came to the rescue once again and invited us all round to the diocesan office, where we enjoyed a wonderful time sharing together – their granddaughter and Robert got on so well together! And Katherine presented Hannah with a beautiful piece of her own handmade jewelry of the Tree of Life!

Then we took off for a little rainy sightseeing, walking through the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial grounds, past the Presidential Office and as far as Taipei Train Station. We were heading for the Wanhua Mansion, dating from the Japanese Era, which is now a Starbucks coffee shop, recommended by Bishop Chang’s family, as most of Taipei was still closed. There are interesting murals on the walls of the MRT Station and the coffee shop was oozing with character – and people!

On Friday morning, the typhoon had already left Taiwan, but in the south of Taiwan it continued raining and there was serious flooding in many areas. Although southern Taiwan cities and counties were closed for a third consecutive day, Taipei City and most of northern Taiwan was open for work and classes. However, no trains were running south along the east coast from Suao to Hualien as the lines were still badly affected by the typhoon, and one of the railway bridges had actually been washed away. The only way for us to get to Hualien would have been to go round the southern route via Kaohsiung and Taitung, a train journey of 7 hours, rather than the usual 2.5 hours on the northern route. Sadly, we decided that we would have to cancel our trip to Hualien. We had been planning for the whole Cooper family to lead a Creativity Workshop at St. Luke’s Church, Hualien on Saturday July 28, but sadly we couldn’t get there. In fact the line down the east coast, north of Hualien is still closed. The Rev. Antony Liang and St. Luke’s Church did go ahead on Saturday with their own version of the Creativity Workshop, making crafts and cooking, and from the photos, it looks like a good time was had by all! So instead of us being in Hualien on Friday, Katherine suggested we could all go to Hsinchu, so we did!

When she was on her placement, Shawn had taken Katherine to visit the Hsinchu Glass Museum, which she had really enjoyed – and which she now thought that the whole family would really enjoy too – and they could also do some real glass-blowing. So, off we went, and yes the Glass Museum is very special! It is housed in an old Japanese club and banquet hall, that later served as a military police station and the prison cell has been reconstructed out of glass. It’s not a big museum, but we were there for over 3 hours fully occupied with glass-blowing and mosaic-making. Oh yes and a bit of shopping! We also visited our Hsinchu church plant. Thank you Shawn for giving up your time to take us around. We had a great day, even in the heavy rain that fell in the afternoon!

On Saturday, it was very humid, muggy and hot, but we had a wonderful time at the Taipei Zoo looking at Taiwanese endemic animals, birds, reptiles, African animals, koalas and of course, everyone’s favourites, the pandas. 🐼 They were oh so lovely!

On Sunday, the sun came out for the first time since the typhoon. We had originally planned to be in Hualien until Sunday afternoon, but now with a spare Sunday, so off we went to Advent Church at St. John’s University. We met up with Rev. Irving Wu, and newly ordained deacon, Rev. Christina Hai, preaching on her first Sunday as deacon. At the service, there were 3 retired clergymen, Rev. Robert Cooper, Rev. Peter Chen and Rev. Philip Ho, and all 3 were wearing beige shorts, so we got them all standing together in the photo!

After lunch and a wonderful time meeting everyone, we returned to central Taipei, and while the men in our group went home to rest, the rest of us went to the Grand Hotel. What a splendid building ~ and we were treated to mango shaved ice and fresh fruit!

Monday July 29 was their last full day in Taiwan, and Katherine and I started the day very early, meeting at 5:00 am for a You-Bike ride along to climb Elephant Mountain. We were up the top by 6:00 am!

Later that day, Bishop Chang and Hannah kindly invited us all to a very delicious farewell lunch at the local Japanese restaurant…

After lunch, we arranged that Katherine and family would hold a mini-version of their Creativity Workshop at the diocesan office. We invited friends and church members, including my good friend, A-Tu from Trinity Church, Keelung who also brought her own calligraphy brushes and ink to teach Robert some Chinese calligraphy. He was so happy! The rest of us made leaves with the words, ‘One in Jesus’, to go on the Tree of Life banner that Katherine had made. We had black and white photos printed out, and we stuck them on, along with stickers. It was a beautiful result. We also used marbling to produce prayer journals. Yes, it was a wonderful afternoon!

The Tree of Life Banner and our group photo…

On Monday evening, all dressed in their black Taiko drumming T-shirts, we went to watch the Taiko Drummming Class at the cathedral, at Linda’s kind invitation. Actually, we were invited to join the class and play for an hour ~ it was very special! I didn’t stand a chance of keeping up with the rhythm, and Robert gave up soon after, but it was great to watch the others; they kept up and did really well! Everyone was so happy ~ and Linda’s son, Daniel had written some phrases in calligraphy for the Cooper family, what a special gift!

And so finally to Tuesday, July 30, departure day! We started with a special Holy Communion service at the diocesan office chapel, led by Bishop Chang at 8:30 am, and attended by the diocesan office staff. Bishop Chang talked about what an honour and privilege it had been to welcome the Cooper family to Taiwan and what a blessing they have been to us all, sharing their talents and gifts with us, and how meaningful it is for us all to be part of the body of Christ and one big Christian family, and especially also the Anglican Communion. The Cooper family kindly presented us with some more beautiful gifts, including Robert’s calligraphy and Katherine’s jewelry – all stunning!

Thanks to Katherine for this beautiful handmade Tree of Life with an amethyst stone…

Katherine and her son then left for the airport – traveling home via Japan for a short visit. Her parents were flying home directly, but not until the evening, so when asked what they wanted to do, Robert said he wanted to return to the National Palace Museum. So we did!

Then the Grand Hotel – again…

And finally to the airport – with just a Sainsbury’s Bag as their hand luggage!

I see that the Sainsbury’s Bag wording says, ‘Good food for all of us.’ It’s quite amazing that with all the challenges of their visit, the Cooper family did, in fact, find ‘Good food for all of us’. Two of them have dietary needs that would put the rest of us off ever leaving our homes, yet here they came to Taiwan, a country that Google reveals as unsuitable for anyone who is seriously gluten-free. Gluten-free, vegetarian, allergies to onions, garlic and dairy are a fairly major deterrent to going anywhere, but the Cooper family proved to be intrepid, brave and undaunted by the challenges of finding something to eat! We did find a few places where everyone could eat together and enjoy something from the same restaurant, and the most widespread of those was MOS Burger, the Japanese burger company. They cater to all dietary needs, especially as they have rice buns as an alternative to bread, sauces with no onions or garlic, a range of vegetarian options and a menu in English. So MOS Burger to the rescue it was, and we had at least 4 or 5 main meals at their various branches. The right photo below is me, Catherine (with a ‘C’) and Katherine (with a ‘K’) meeting near the MOS Burger at Hsinchu High-Speed Rail Station ready for our trip to Tainan. It’s the closest we got to a photo IN a MOS Burger Store!

A big thank you to Katherine and her family for coming to Taiwan and for sharing all their creative skills, gifts, wisdom, enthusiasm and love with us, as well as all the fun! Thanks be to God that everyone was kept safe throughout the visit ~ please do pray for those affected by Typhoon Gaemi and for all the relief and reconstruction work. Hualien was badly affected by the earthquake on April 3 and its tourism industry continues to suffer, so the sooner the railway line is back to normal, the better for the people of Hualien as they try to get their economy back on track. We also pray for Katherine as she starts on the second year of her course and for her family ~ and we hope you’ll all come back again one day soon! ❤️