Anne and Rhena’s amazing trip to Taiwan was quite something else. 🤣🤣 It coincided with four days of real Taipei ‘Weather-with-a-capital-W’, which means rain, cold, and wind for all four days, and it only stopped raining in Taipei as they left for the airport on their departure day, arrgh! But hey, what a great time we all had, almost non-stop smiles the whole time – even as we set off for the wettest, coldest, windiest day of the trip; here we are last Sunday morning on the Taipei MRT, umbrellas and raincoats all ready!

Anne and Rhena were here for their first visit to Taiwan to see me, to see something of the Taiwan Episcopal Church and to see what I’ve been up to for the last few years. As I’ve lived in 3 main places over my 25+ years here, so we had a little trip back through time to meet special people and see special places that have been a big part of my life so far in Taiwan. Yes, I’d have loved to have taken them to see more people and more places; four days was definitely not enough. A big thank you to everyone in Taiwan who welcomed Anne and Rhena with such kind and generous hospitality, it was much appreciated. I started by welcoming them at the airport…

They arrived on Saturday, March 29 from the Philippines, and we officially started their visit with a delicious welcome dinner at the nearby Xiang Duck Restaurant hosted by the Bishop of Taiwan, Bishop Lennon Yuan-Rung Chang, who himself had also just arrived back from meetings in the USA earlier that morning. Also at the dinner was Bishop Chang’s wife Hannah, together with Lisa and Setu, who are both at Advent Church – they had met Rhena in her home on their travels with me some years ago, so it was a nice reunion for them and everyone was so happy to connect up – here we all are!

Before Anne and Rhena’s visit, for the previous 2 weeks it had been very hot and sunny all over Taiwan, with temps each day in the 30’s. However, a cold front had arrived in time for their visit, and all signs of ‘hot and sunny’ were long gone! 😭😭 Sunday March 30 was exactly the opposite of ‘hot and sunny’ – it was totally wet, miserable, cold and windy! Of course, we all know that if you don’t laugh, you cry, so we laughed instead and set off for Advent Church at St. John’s University, Tamsui (my former home for many years) in all the jackets and raincoats I could find, with the largest umbrellas – and of course the biggest smiles. We received a very warm welcome from Rev. Irving H. H. Wu, Deacon Christina and all the church members, including that day’s preacher, Rev. Philip Ho. After the church lunch, we went further north up the coast to visit Susan’s home for a tea party and to visit her goats, chickens and garden, right up near the northern tip of Taiwan. Susan and her husband gave us such a warm welcome, and it was great fun! Thanks to Lisa and Setu for coming too and providing the cake and lots of lively conversation, including sharing very movingly about the importance of student ministry. Wet yes, windy yes, cold yes, but hey everyone really enjoyed themselves. Thank you Advent Church!

On Monday March 31, we set off very early by High-Speed Train for Tainan, south Taiwan, where, guess what, it wasn’t actually raining! In fact, the sun even came out a little, and it was mild. Thanks to Rev. Mark C. C. Cheng for picking us up at the station, and taking us on a short city tour, first to the Our Lady Queen of China R. C. Cathedral, which is fascinating…

Then past Tainan Theological College, where so many of our older clergy (and a few younger ones too) did their theological training….

Our main purpose in going to Tainan was to visit Bishop David J. H. Lai and his wife, Lily, now enjoying their lives in retirement, and we had a wonderful time drinking tea and sharing fellowship. They have played a large part in my life and ministry, and have always been fully supportive of everything I’ve ever done, so it was great to see them in person and introduce them to my visitors. Anne and Rhena just loved learning all about tea and were so happy to be presented with copies of both of Bishop Lai’s books, one of his sermons and the other about tea and faith. Bishop Lai also shared stories of his time in Ireland and their visit to the Lambeth Conference in 2008, when they also visited my parents and my home churches. So many tales to tell, thank you Bishop and Lily Lai! After lunch, Rev. Cheng took us to visit Grace Church, where, together with his wife, we looked at the proposed plans for the new church building and prayed and blessed the site….

And so, onwards by High-Speed Rail north to Taichung!

In Taichung, we were met by our lovely newly-ordained deacon, Yu-Lin, who is also my former colleague in the St. John’s University Chaplaincy; she kindly drove us all to St. James’ Church for a tour and tea-drinking with the rector, Rev. Lily Chang. We heard all about the plans for church-planting in the newly-created central deanery, and about their outreach ministry to the families of children in their care. In the evening, we had a wonderful dinner with Rev. Charles C. T. Chen, his wife, MaryJo, son and daughter-in-law, Samuel and Luanne; it was so special, thank you! St. James was the first place I lived and worked in Taiwan, and Charles and his family were a large part of my life during that time – and have continued to be so ever since. We heard stories of Charles’ time in the UK and Ireland, ah they are so funny! Charles and MaryJo recently celebrated their 90th birthdays, and Charles is still celebrating Holy Communion at St. James services when Lily is away – he’s as full of energy and enthusiasm as always!

On Tuesday, April 1, Anne and Rhena’s final full day in Taiwan was spent in Taipei, first visiting St. John’s Cathedral, where I introduced them to the kindergarten children, and then we met up with Dean Philip Lin, Deacon Claire and Miriam – and ended up having a tea-party up on the 4th floor, and, yes, Anne and Rhena presented me with a very lovely birthday present, thank you!

Then to the diocesan office, where we had a farewell lunch with Bishop Chang and the office staff – and we also said a big welcome to Sheerah, who started work at the diocesan office on that day in the youth ministry department. Often, the diocesan office staff have lunch together once a month and a cake to celebrate any birthdays that month. April 2 was Bishop Chang’s big 70th birthday, and my birthday was April 3 – I know Bishop Chang received at least 4 cakes, and I received 3, and so these are a few photos of all the birthday celebrations over the past few days! Thanks to everyone for all your birthday wishes, presents and blessings!

Anyway, back to April 1, and after we had said our goodbyes at the diocesan office, it was time for a few hours of sightseeing, a whistle-stop tour in the drizzle to the Grand Hotel for coffee, Shilin Night Market (with some wacky outfits on sale!) and Taipei 101, which came out of the clouds for us – so they could even see the top for the first time on their visit!

And on Wednesday, April 2, we were all up very early for 5:30 am check out and off to the airport for departure – see their suitcases loaded up with gifts (including lots of pineapple cakes!) from all the delightful people they met while they were here!

Thank you Anne and Rhena for coming to Taiwan ~ it was so wonderful to see you both and a great honour to introduce you to some of the amazing people here in the Taiwan Episcopal Church. You’ll have to come again to see some of Taiwan’s sunshine, mountains, beaches and beautiful scenery, which I promise you does exist in plenty!🤣🤣

PS: The Taiwan Episcopal Church has a new Facebook page and a post in Chinese about Anne and Rhena’s visit, the link is here – so please check it out and follow! It’s also posted here on Instagram.