During our three week cruise from the US to Taiwan, there were a number of missionaries that were on board. We were one of three families who were bound for Taiwan as career missionaries, one couple was going there for language study before continuing on to their final post. Others were headed to Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. The fellowship on board was great, and the food was exceptional. We enjoyed stops in Yokohama where we made a quick trip to Tokyo, and in Kobe, taking in the Expo in Kyoto before making the final leg to our destination: Keelung, Taiwan.
As we neared the port and prepared to dock, we could see a contingent of folks with a huge sign that read “Welcome to Taiwan.” It was truly a welcome sight, because we had been asked to delay our arrival in Taiwan because the missionaries there were entertaining visitors who were enroute to the Baptist World Alliance in Japan.
However, as we began the process of debarkation, one of our fellow passengers, a veteran missionary planning to study language in Taiwan, remarked “Your Taiwan missionaries have had a fight, probably at mission meeting.” We were astonished, and wondered how he could tell. As it turned out, the mission had had a huge disagreement at their mission meeting. It was somewhat unsettling, but we were so excited about finally arriving at our place of service, we quickly forgot it. A missionary couple who had fairly recently arrived were to be our hosts during our “settling in” period, and transported us from the port of Keelung to Taipei, where we were housed temporarily in a musty apartment which had been shut up for some time. On the positive side, we were within walking distance of the US Navy Exchange where we ate some of our meals. It wasn’t long before we were visited by another veteran missionary, who asked if we would like to move to the house of a missionary family who was on furlough. Since the residence was located near other missionaries, and adjacent to the house we would eventually move into, we readily agreed.
I was invited to go with a missionary to the Prayer Service at one of our older, established churches, and was glad to do so. However, even though we had adjusted our time clocks as well as our body clocks gradually during our trip, I still became drowsy very early in the evening. I became aware that I had dozed off during the service when I imagined I could understand everything the preacher was saying. The visit proved to be very beneficial in other ways, because this was the church where Benjamin Kuo, whom we met in New Orleans, was the Music Director. He had suggested that I might consider attending the church and assisting with the music as I had time. Little did I know what the Lord had in store for me. I did begin working with the choir there, which was composed of college age young people. The experience gave me an opportunity to utilize my training and experience in music while practicing the Mandarin language that I was learning.
At the same time, I was asked to assist the Baptist Radio-TV Studio by directing their choir in doing recording for their various radio programs as well as preparing them for appearances on local television. The choir also represented the studio on a tour of churches down-island, allowing me to see more of the island and its churches while enjoying close fellowship with the choir members, who were also employees at the Studio. Having heard a recording of indigenous Chinese hymns recorded by a Lutheran missionary, I decided to include some of these in our repertoire, and thus grew to love the Chinese musical idioms represented in some of these hymns.
Although directing the Studio choir was very satisfying in many ways, it seemed to me that in order to reach the younger generation of Chinese we would need a singing group nearer their own age with music that appealed to them. So, I began searching for young people who had good voices and who would be willing to do evangelism through music. Naturally, I began with the choir of young people that I was working with at Ren Ai Baptist Church. They formed the nucleus of a singing group that would be called the “Reverberations” and which would continue to share the gospel through concerts, television appearances and recordings for fourteen more years. More about them in the next post.
Our Scripture passage for today is found in Colossians 1:28-29. This passage became our motto and should be the motto of every missionary. May it inspire you as you share the good news of God’s love with a world in need of His Divine love and mercy. The version quoted here is from the Amplified Bible, and every word is powerful.
29 For this I labor [[b]unto weariness], striving with all the [c]superhuman energy which He so mightily enkindles and works within me