wfn.org | City churches still actively helping out four months after Typhoon Morakot

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3015 Edition

>December 7~13 2009

City churches still actively helping out four months after Typhoon  Morakot

>Reported by Chen Wei-jian

>Written by Lydia Ma

It’s been four months since Typhoon Morakot wrecked havoc in  southern Taiwan

during Father’s Day weekend. However, city churches in Taiwan  haven’t forgotten

their Aborigine brothers and sisters in Christ whose homes and  churches were

>destroyed or washed away by the storm.

On December 5, Chiayi Presbytery’s Hsin-Ying Church and Eden  Social Welfare

Foundation co-hosted a concert next to Shan-Mei Presbyterian  Church near Alishan

Mountain. They invited Tsou Aborigines living near Alishan region,  including

members from four other Aborigine churches, to the concert and  encouraged them

to stay afterward for some fellowship. Both organizations also  donated money they

had recently collected for post-Morakot rebuilding projects.

Church bands from as far as Taipei also came to Shan-Mei Church to  attend the

concert and deliver financial donations and gifts they had  collected. Among the gifts

received were Christmas presents for children, Sunday school  textbooks for

>children, and stationery.

During the concert, Eden Foundation also set up some booths with  interesting

games for children to play. These games were also a form of  therapy geared at

helping children who are experiencing post-traumatic stress  syndrome.

According to Hsin-Ying Church’s pastor Rev. Wang Feng-Jung,  his church had sent

mission teams to Shan-Mei Church on several occasions prior the  typhoon and

members from both churches knew each other well. After the typhoon  hit, it was only

natural for Hsin-Ying Church to continue reaching out to Shan-Mei  Church. The

purpose of this concert is to remind city churches that they must  continue reaching

>out to typhoon victims.

For Aborigines residing in Shan-Mei village, recovery has been  painfully slow

because they depend entirely on income generated by tourism. Since  the typhoon

wiped out most tourist sites, rebuilding had been harder for them  than for others.

Despite these circumstances, Hsin-Ying Church discovered that  their Aborigine

brothers and sisters are not only working harder, but also  demonstrating a lot of joy.

This overwhelming sense of peace and joy was evident during the  concert when

Aborigines stood up to praise God with the worship band.

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