喜宴 --- The Wedding of Guanzhong and Muli

#2013-0810

Jintian gen laopo dao Taizhongshi Dongxinglu de Feichang Zhan (非常棧 地址：台中市東興路二段 150 號) canjia ta yiqian suo dailing de "shixi laoshi" Zhou Muli (慕理) de xiyan.

Xianzai Muli yijing chengwei zhengshide guoxiao laoshi le. Feichang gongxi ta, ji youle wendingde gongzuo, you youle ke tuofu zhongsheng de "baima wangzi" -- zhe shi mingfuqishide "liye" jiashang "chengjia" la!

Duo nian yiqian wo cengjing jianguo Muli. Zhidao xianzai laopo dou hai zanbujuekou de shuo: "Muli shi ge hen huopo, hen jijijinqu de nuhai. Ta shi hen bang de nuhai!" Wo que yinwei jiu wei jianmian, jihu xiang bu qilai ta zhang shenme moyang le. Soyi, neng canjia tade hunli/xiyan, dui wo eryan, ye shi yijian nannengkegui (hen youqu) de shi.

Women zhongyu jiandao Muli de "ling-yiban", jiu shi xinlang, Chen Guanzhong (冠中). (Qing canyue xialie dier yiji daoshu dier zhang zhaopian.) Rang wo zai yici zhufu Guanzhong han Muli zhe yidui xinren:

Hai kuo tian gao shuang fei yi,

Yue yuan hua hao liang xin zhi.

(海闊天高雙飛冀，月圓花好兩心知。)

新人［冠中和慕理］進場

上菜之前，牧師 作 謝飯禱告

新人及親屬 逐桌敬酒

Alpha 啟發課程：首次聚會

#2013-0809B

本季「Alpha 啟發課程」第一次聚會：

19:00 - 1945　歡樂晚餐

19:45 - 20:00　詩歌

20:00 - 20:45　介紹及影片

20:45 - 20:50　燕鈴見證

20:50 - 21:15　討論分享

21:15 - 21:30　總結、散會

討論題目：

1. 甘立克牧師曾立定許多生命目標，你曾立定什麼目標沒有？請分享。

2. 你曾有過空虛或孤獨的感覺嗎？你如何面對呢？

3. 今晚的信息中，有沒有特別觸動你或令你感到意外的地方？

.                      --- (All above) photoed by Mookoo Liang

.                     --- from Kuan Hung Lai's Facebook

A Farewell Party for Maura and Tom Walsh

#2013-0809A

Mingtian Tom han Maura jiu yao likai Taiwan, hui Meiguo qu le. Buguo hui Meiguo zhi qian, tamen hui xian dao Riben wan ge san-si tian. Wo zhufu tamen "lutu yukuai, yi lu shun feng" (旅途愉快、一路順風).

Tom and Maura will be leaving for the United States tomorrow, but before returning to their homeland, they will visit Japan and stay there for about four days. I hope they'll have a safe and pleasant trip. Bon voyage!

Jintian zhongwu Sheng Yage Tang de jiwei daibiao renwu, tebei zai Huiwen Lu (惠文路) de Huangxi [Chunv Xun] (皇璽 處女蟳) wei tamen jianbie (餞別). Huansonghui zhong, yuanjiandu Youzhu daibiao jiaotang ji youeryuan zhizeng liwu -- yidui kehao Zhongwen xingming de yinzhang, zhongguojie diaoshi, han chaye. Wo juede tamen de Zhongwen xingming fan de hen hao. Wei Tianmu han Wei Moli (魏天牧、魏茉莉). Yuanlai shi Lin Yizhen fanyi de. Zhen shi tai qiaomiao le!

St. James' gave Tom and Maura a farewell party today. They were invited to Royal Crab Restaurant (皇璽處女蟳) for lunch. That is a popular restaurant located on Huiwen Road, Taichung City. During the luncheon Tom and Maura were given such gifts as Taiwan tea leaves, Chinese knots [for decoration], and a pair of personal stamps (or seals) engraved with their Chinese names -- 魏天牧 [Wei Tianmu] and 魏茉莉 [Wei Moli], which, in my opinion, are very good and meaningful translations! (How smart Tiffany Lin was! It's she who gave them their Chinese names.)

Wo shangge yue jiao Tianmu han Moli jibende huayu. Soyi wo han laopo ye shouyao canjia le zheci de canhui. Gaixie Zhu, rang women shishi you ping'an, chuchu you xile!

I taught Tianmu (Tom) and Moli (Maura) basic Chinese for one month, in July. That's why I (as well as my wife) were invited to this farewell party. Oh, thanks be to the Lord, who gives us joy . . . and peace!

同遊「沐心泉」-- An Outing on Father's Day

#2013-0808

How to celebrate Father's Day this year? -- I don't really care about this kind of question. But some people do.

This morning Jean and I went hiking in the mountains with her close friends who are members of the music band Four Degrees C (四度Ｃ樂團). Our destination for today was Mu-Xin-Quan (this title implies "Heart-Bathing Springs"), located in Xinshe District, Taichung (沐心泉 地址：台中市新社區中和里中興路 60 號). We spent most of the time "appreciating the beauty of nature" over there -- especially interesting to me are singing birds, dancing butterflies, green plants, yellow flowers, a mountain stream, and a rather big river (called Dajia Xi, 大甲溪).

We could clearly see the Dajia River (大甲溪) down in the deep valley when we reached the crest of the hill. (See photos far below.)

On our way back, someone raised the question: "What shall we do to celebrate this Father's Day?" And some others echoed in a loud voice, and said, "Yes, it is Father's Day today! We have three fathers with us!" They sounded strange and a bit tricky, but . . . . (See the last 10 photos, the very last being the small but clear stream that I've mentioned above.)

Now I also remember how my friends and I "celebrate" our Father's Day last year (2012). Although Father's Day falls on August 8th -- the eighth day of the eighth month, we had a special "celebration" in the apartment of our friends Zhuhe and [his wife] Yanling on August 5th, 2012.