Church is one feature of our lives that remained consistent when we moved from Maine to Hsinchu. We still get up on Sunday morning, have breakfast and listen to NPR news (from Saturday). Then head to Liujia Presbyterian for worship. Although the service is entirely in Chinese we manage to sing along to hymns we recognize, greet neighbors in the passing of peace ceremony and read English translations of the bible verse chosen for the day's sermon. And thanks to modern technology, a handheld translator (also known as a cell phone) I can read the announcements for the week.
1. Prayers for the elders with health problems, that they may be relieved of their pain and recover quickly.
2. Prayers for the sisters who are expecting new children in their homes. (There are many of these as a result of the influx of young families in this area drawn by the growth of the tech industry).
3. Prayers for the countries facing an increase in novel coronavirus infections and deaths, including the USA, Brazil and India.
It's this last one that surprises me a bit. I know back home we often pray for those in other countries suffering from war and hunger. We lift our thoughts to those who face drought and natural disasters in far away places. And yet I never consider that those people might just as well be praying for us.
This month Taiwan made news in the US twice. We heard from many of you regarding the news of the tragic train accident on the east coast of the island. Although it was several hours drive from where we live, it was still close enough to wonder... would we know anyone, who knew anyone in the accident. And then this past week we received notice regarding possible water shut-offs in our homes if rains don't soon come and refill the reservoirs. Taiwan has made the news in the US again. But besides praying for rain for us, you might consider the impact it has on you!
As it turns out, Taiwan's drought may have an impact on the US economy. As Americans have started buying new cars again, a shortage of computer chips has put a damper on production. And as it turns out, the city of Hsinchu where we live is the hub of the semiconductor industry. The young families who are filling our church are also the people hired by the tech boom in Taiwan where the lion's share of computer chips in Asia are produced. This feeds the production of many things in the US, automobiles among them.
And as it turns out, the two issues - water and semiconductors - are quite closely linked. The semiconductor industry uses around 63,000 tons of water a day. That's only likely to increase in the coming months and years. To take some pressure off the public water supply, the industry has developed a water recycling system as well as a desalination plant to provide fresh water, but water limits have threatened chip production.
These are just a couple ways we still feel connected to our home and we understand even more how the world is linked in a global network. Thank you for your prayers and we continue to pray for all of you.
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