郭德士夫婦2008年請安函

Dear Lim Sek Iong,

I am happy to write to you at this time to thank your Committee for your expression of care for former missionaries in Taiwan. You must know that all of us who served in Taiwan are very grateful for our years there and for the opportunities to work with the Christians in the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan. We have deemed it a great privilege to pray for your people and we hope to continue in this time of political and economic change in the island.

You may be interested to know that former missionaries and their families are happy to gather together when the opportunity comes. Our time in Taiwan has made changes in our lives and we are happy to meet our Taiwanese brothers and sisters in Canada. We thank you for the gift from your people in the TCCCNA and we wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas.

John and Flora Geddes.

P.S. Our Christmas letter is in the attachment  

                                             Christmas 2008

                                                                      Waterloo Ontario 

Dear Family and Friends,

     Advent is a beautiful season of preparation for receiving the Christ child anew in our hearts.  Our choir sang at both 9:00 and 11:00am services Dec. 7th “An Advent Gospel” with our Senior High LOGOS which included granddaughters, Tamara and Alisia.  Our choir will sing Lessons and Carols at both services Dec. 21st and again Christmas Eve when there will be four services.  Fortunately, we only sing at the 9:00 pm service.

     Our family gathering December 27th  at Deb and Paul Schlichters’s here in Waterloo will include Jeremy and Aaron’s girlfriends, and Tamara and Maria & Rob’s family and Heather and Earl Cooper from Bowmanville, and Kate and Laurie if our weather cooperates.  Jen Cooper, our eldest granddaughter is in England this year, but she may even turn up.

     Paul, Juliette and John in British Columbia and David, Chia-Chi and boys in Taiwan complete our scattered family.  Paul and Juliette’s eldest daughter, Alexis, graduated from the National Ballet School in May and she is now dancing in Rotterdam for a year.

      Jack and I visited Taiwan the month of March for the celebrations of the opening of a new Fine Arts Building with swimming pools at Tamkang High School where we first taught English in the early sixties.  The Principal, Albert Yao, and one of Jack’s students at that time had invited us back several times for celebrations.  But, this was very special with the beginning of Elementary classes in the refitted historic girls school with two grade one classes, each with a Chinese and an English-speaking teacher.   Two more classes are to be added each year for six years.

      We had a great time with our Taipei grandsons, Alex and Nicholas, now nine and six.  We had carried a croquet set with us which got used a few times on weekends.  Alex is in grade three at Shihdong elementary school and has to write his characters every day.  Nicholas attends the TYPA program at the American School where David looks after the after school music and athletic programs.

      In July we again drove to Murray Garvin’s cottage near Gravenhurst for the fifth annual Taiwan Missionary Reunion which included Joy Randall, Wilma Welsh, Marilyn Ellis and Grace McGill, Diane (Petrie)Osborne, Louise Gamble, Terry Samuel and Paul and Mary Beth McLean. Most of us hope to meet  again Dec. 20th for Grace’s 85th birthday.

      Jack and I are doing well physically.  I am fully recovered from surgery Oct. 6th to repair a prolapsed bladder.  Jack continues to have recent memory problems that are be-coming a growing concern; he is having more testing done to learn how to slow the process.  We are blessed to be in Waterloo with family and expert professionals to care for us.

      May you and yours have a blessed Christmas and all the best in the new year.

 Sincerely,                  

Jack and Betty Geddes