Precious Time Spent with Loved Ones in Georgian Bay Area and Other Places

Modern day lives are busy1 We are busy running around each day focuing on fulfilling our daily needs and working to complete our obligations. Thoough being retired, I am amazed at how fast times goes and how little I could accomplish on a daily basis unless I follow a regimented strict schedule. But who would want to follow such a strict daioy timetable after working hard for thirty to forty years. Last fall we attended our best friends' daughter's wedding and we had such fun catching up that it reminded me of the wonderful time we used to have.

Unless one makes a conscientious efforts to connect with our loved ones regularly, we can easily lose touch with them. I am mindful of this fact as I could easily not meeting up with my close friends and loved ones for months at a time. Fortunately, we have some quality time to look forwward with our loved ones at our timeshare for a week every so often. Last fall, we did just that. We invited our retired minister and a couple who could really need sometime to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Being at our timeshare at Collingwood is a refreshing time for our souls and a time when we can rejuvenate ourselves. We thanked God for this place everytime we were there! Other needy and younger family members could also use some help and encouragment from the older members of the family. My sis and I try our best to support them as well.

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Also, E. came home a couple of times for a weekend last fall and we went to see a baseball game and spent some family time together!

My best friends moved out of the city to another town and we hadn't seen each other for a little while. So we packed our bag and visited them for a few days and went to see my teacher friend in Bellville, Ontario.

We enjoyed our catching up time so much with two old friends that we visited another long lost friend and my sis who moved to Hamilton a oucple of years ago. RT Toronto, Canada

Agape Student Dinners - Supporting Students in their Transition Year in Waterloo, Canada

We have been running an important and meaningful activity for the past few years. In the previous spring and fall term, we hosted a free bi-weekly dinner for young people in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Most of these young people were studying at universities and they often were here alone away from their families for the first time.

To help make the transition easier for them, we tried to connect them with other students and provide them with a relaxing, welcoming and friendly environment where they could share their ideas and concerns. We always had a good time whenever we met at our dinner meeting.

Wateroo University, Canada, runs on a 4 months semester system. Therefore our dinner guests also changed every four months as they would rotate from their study term to wrok term every four months.

We planned special dinners for students depending on the season, for examples we had held a Thanksgiving dinner, a Halloween pumpkin craving activity, a Christmas dinner etc.

We were so blessed with the youthfulness, the energy and enthusiasim of these young people coming through our door. We were really thankful and grateful to God that we had this opportunity to serve the students and others in the Waterloo region!

RT, Canada 01-122023

Guangzhou Library - A Beautiful Place to Visit & Rest of Our Trip in Guangzhou, after Dali, China

Monday - Visit to a Chinese Police Station We went to the local police station to have some travel documents verified. Our first time at Chinese police station, not aw scary as I thought. A busy place. But I was surprised that we were looked after within a short time. Y. also ran into some of his colleagues from work. As foreigners working in China, visiting the police station and dealing with your travel documents there is just part of a normal life. 08142023 Tuesday - Shopping at IKEA, China Y. went to Guiyang to hang out with the new friends he met there. We went to Ikea ourselves taking a taxi there but the cab driver dropped us off at the old Ikea site. We walked around the mall a little, had dinner, then took the subway to Ikea. We bought a few things to help furnish Y.'s place. One of the reasons we wanted to be in China was to help him a little. Having moved into his own place not long ago, he needed a few things. Therefore we went to IKEA and bought a few dishes, racks etc for his place to make it more functional. We were happy to get these things for him. But after shopping at IKEA, we had a problem letting the taxi driver know where we were supposed to be dropped off. We did have a language problem as the driver didn't understand It took a little while but we did manage to get home! 08152023 Wednesday - A new fridge We bought a fridge from Walmart a few days ago; it arrived today and we were very excited. We tried to clean up n decluttered the apartment as much as possible b4 Y. came back from Guiyang. I got rid of lots of stuffs such as old worn out clothes, socks etc. The final cleaning was the balcony n those big plastic boxes stored there taking a lot of precious space. I was Very happy about the result. S. worked hard putting together the IKEA drying rack which fit perfectly over the washer. It creates more space for hanging clothes to dry. Yeah! 08162023

Thursday - The Guangzhou Library After lunch, we went to the Guangzhou library located down town. Y. also showed Us how to take the public transit to go around the downtown area. His apartment is really convenient as we only took 1 bus to go straight there. Guangzhou Library - a beautuful, modern building with multi floors. One of the most beauriful n well equipped libraries we have ever seen! The most striking part was how busy the place was! I really liked the family reading area, lots of parents reading with kids n having a nice time sharing a book . Such heartwarming scene and so good to see! We went home for dinner and Y went out with a friend while we stayed home n watched CCTV which offered some excellent programs. Really enjoying our time in Guangzgou, starting to feel like being home ! 08172023 Friday Y needed to go again to the centre to deal with some document issues. We went and explore the area by ourselves. We discovered a shop selling Chinese herbal teas. So we sat down n enjoyed some old fashion Herbal teas which I used to have when I was a kid in HK. Saturday - Meeting with Darrell 19082023 Sunday - Attending a Church Service / Football Practice/ Shamian 20082023 Monday Y. had an appointment at 6pm I got up early n did 2 loads of laundry for him n organized his closet for him. God, I Pray that the holy spirit will guide him n change him to be more responsible n organized of his things and possessions in his life. 21082023 Tuesday - Mural Village - a Short Visit to Zhuhai Wed. - Beach at Zhuhai THIRSDAY - A day visit to Taishan, China From Zhuhai to Taishan, the village where my dad came from was about 80 km. Called a car and rode out to Taishan village. It was raining hard and we walked around and talked to 2 elderly villagers who told us about the village. It used to have 400 plus villagers, now only around 40 living there. Most houses have been abandoned for years. A few Taishanese liked us, did come back to visit n donate money to erect a marker at the village entrance with a couple of stone benches. Other new buildings included a cultural centre n a public washroom being kept clean n available for visitors' convenience. It made me reflected on how much sacrifices our ancesenters had made in order for us to be able to enjoy what we have today, thank you, for all the Taishan Chinese people before us! - 24082023 Friday - Our Last Day before going back home from Guangzhou Last day we were in China. Y tried his best to make it social for us. 1. Went to a vegetarian buffet n it was delicious 2. Went back home , Y needed to check on the water situation in the washroom and talked to his neighbour. In the meantime, I tried to cook n finish all the veggies in the fridge.

3 Y. took us to visite little Africa n tried some of the local food. I share a bible scripture with him in the restaurant with him. It was about the 4 friends who brought the paralyzed man to Jesus.Glad I did!

We also went to the jazz club n met Y's friend and enjoyed the jazz music in Guangzhou! Never expected to find such a beautiful building for a jazz club in Guangzhou. After we did all that. We went back to the place. I stayed up, cleaned and packed everything. 25082023 Saturday - Catching Our Flight Home in Taipei Both S. and Y. Misread the flight departure time of the flight from Guangzhou to Taipei where we would take the plane back to Canada. We went to Guangzhou station but didn't have time to make the flight. Y. came up with an alternative. He ordered a taxi taking us to Shum Chen, from there crossed the border to HK where we bought new tickets to fly to Taipei and connected with our flight back to Toronto. I blamed myself also for not reading our flight tickets more carefully. Can't depend on S. nor Y, to read the important info alone. I must remember this for the future! Thank God, Y's plan worked and we were able to catch our flight to Taipei where we stayed a night and then caught our plane back to Toronto the next day! Thank God for protecting us during our entire journey in Asia! 26082023