In researching someone to help me deal with the loss of my son, the Lord guided me to Christian bilingual Dr. Na Min Hsieh who recently retired to Chiayi. She sees me on Wednesday mornings in a church classroom. I praise God for the powerful blessing that she has been to me.

I also returned to see herbal medicine Dr. Zhong after the ancient knots returned to my shoulders. Once again, he dissolved the knots from my neck and shoulder.

Tuesday evenings I go to Concordia Middle School for an English Bible study missionary teachers there. I used to visit Steve Lin when he was in Minxiong in the late afternoons before the Bible study. Now that he is in Yilan with his mother, I have gone several times to visit his neighbor, another former student's mom, Ms. GuiXiang Lin.

 

Ms. Lin who lives behind Concordia Middle School.

Ms. Lin has been experiencing mobility issues, so I unexpectedly met her when I was at Dr. Chen's office for acupuncture. She told me she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She says that Dr. Chen's acupuncture has helped, but she fatigues easily so does not dare to walk far, nor without a cane.
 

I continue plugging through deaconess program classes as my mushy brain allows. This term I am doing Lutheran Confessions (final test May 3) and a second practicum class—this one focused on mercy and communicating mercy as we interact with people of all types.
 
It recently occurred to me that via language study, language exchange and evangelism, I participate in four Bible studies, apart from the Tuesday night English study at with foreign teachers at Concordia. Monday evenings I read Bible stories in Chinese to Kass, Tuesday mornings I study epistles and pray with Joann Li, on Wednesday evenings my dentist's son Luke is reading Genesis to me in English, and on Friday evenings Sarah Chang and I are studying Genesis with Kass. I pray that God's Word will work in all of our hearts, and that our roots will grow deeper into the saving faith and abundant life of Jesus. Because his Chinese teacher is on vacation this past couple of weeks Dr. Michael Lockwood has been reading the Gospel of John to me in Chinese four or five days each week, to improve his Chinese.
 

One of my former students (from around 1985), Laura Fan experienced the sudden death of her father in Minxiong, so she and her siblings all came back for a Buddhist funeral for him. I went with another student (her classmate) Angie Wu, to visit her on Monday, then I went to the funeral Friday noon. It reminded me powerfully that we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We know that our Redeemer Lives! And He is coming back to take us to be with Him forever.
When Laura came back last Friday to deal with her dad's affairs and begin preparing the house for rental, at her request, I stayed with her for four days, because she did not want to be alone in her dad's house. Naomi Lockwood also came over a couple of mornings, and worked very hard, using her gift of strategizing, and her strength to carry many things to the top floor for storage.

 

Mr. Fan's memorial, funeral and settling affairs with his daughter filled a week.

My counselor, Dr. Hsieh, told me that I needed to get away from my office and schoolwork for a couple of days. So, I went with my friends Cathy and Judy, and Judy's husband Jack up into the mountains in central Taiwan, where we could walk in the mountains and by the lake and breathe clean air, pray in quiet places, play cards, eat, talk, and laugh.

 

A beautiful lake reflects the mountain, and my long-time dear Christian friends, Cathy and Judy.

I praise God for you and pray that you are richly blessed as you rejoice in our Resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus. Thank you for your prayerful financial support of me and the church here in Asia. I praise God for each of you, and I pray for you and your ministries, as you make known your needs. You ARE a blessing!

Still in God's strong embrace.

God's peace be with you all,
Barb

 
Contact and Support Information:
Permanent Address:
Barb Rebentisch
5 Fl-1, #167 Gongyuan St,
East District, Chiayi City,
60069 Taiwan
Email: barb.rebentisch@lcms.org
Cell Phone # 651-359-5107
 
Gifts in support of this work can be sent to: 
https://www.lcms.org/rebentisch
https://missioncentral.us/rebentisch
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod PO Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-6861 ("Rebentisch" in the memo line)
Or to:
MISSION CENTRAL 
40718 Highway E-16
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("Rebentisch" in the memo line)