Tribute: In Remembrance of Dad 4

連結 (link): 中文版緬懷李老師 4

Speaking of living in the school dormitory for the teachers, there is also the story of my father being saved. Mom and Dad have always been free and open-minded. Although Mom and Dad never forced us to believe in Christ, their beliefs have influenced our beliefs to some extent. In dad’s later years, he was more burdened with whether his children or grand-children were saved and believed in Christ. He called his grandchildren five loaves and two fish (5 granddaughters and 2 grandsons). He pointed to the family photo at his granddaughter Kailie’s wedding and told those of us who have been saved should work in groups of three to pray for the unsaved family members who stand beside them in the photo, and lead them to believe in the Lord.

Hark back to the story of living in the school dormitory for the teachers. Dad said that although the dormitory next to the library of Beitou Junior High School has its own kitchen, it was very tiny. One day, a math teacher who lived in the school dormitory for the teachers near the farmland (let’s call it farm) was going to move out. The farm was a little further across the street from Beitou Junior High School. The dormitory was surrounded by farmland. When dad learned that this larger dormitory was going to be available, he negotiated with this teacher so he could move in. At that time, the principal happened to be away so he moved to this larger dormitory on his own initiative. The principal was furious when he came back because the principal often used the school dormitory as a bargaining chip to attract good teachers. My father argued that his former dormitory could also be used as a dormitory for the new teacher. The principal could not argue with him and had to let him live on the farm. We can see the persistence of my father’s fighting hard based on the principle.

New dormitories were added more and more on the farm side. Each time the number of new dormitories was increased by four units. We had more and more neighbors. Just like that, several years passed, and suddenly incredible disasters came. In the four units we lived in as if cursed, one teacher fell ill and died one by one each year. When it was the turn of our next door neighbor, he knew a dormitory in another area was opening up so they moved out quickly. A teacher, a classmate of dad, did not believe the curse so he moved in next door. But a year later, he still couldn’t escape the curse and passed away from cirrhosis of the liver. Then, it seemed that it was our turn being cursed. Dad was terrified and had a hard time sleeping. He was very ill, but he went to the hospital and couldn’t find anything wrong with him. Is it a coincidence? Or is it God’s arrangement? Looking back at the testimonies of my father and mother now, I feel more and more that God always arranges everything even in small matters and exceeds our expectations. When my father fell ill, a teacher from my mom’s school preached the gospel to them, and they started to go to the 12th hall at the Church in Taipei on Gongguan Road for church meetings. Moreover, the brothers in the church were going to build a five-story duplex apartment. At first, my father booked/ordered one unit for the purpose of investment. After the construction started, the person booking the other side of the duplex found the apartment was too small so they canceled the order. By then my father was so worried about what happened in the dormitory that he decided to buy the other side of the duplex to make the whole floor for our family. So in the 1970s we moved out of the cursed land and moved to a new home blessed by God — “the Brothers’ house”. Because the whole building was almost the brothers and sisters in the church, they slowly led my parents to believe in the Lord and be baptized. After a while, Dad also started to go to prayer meetings in the morning with Mr. Ding (a very old and kind elder) and other brothers. They sang, prayed, praised and worshiped God. Dad started living a church life. Although my father was busy with work and gradually distanced himself from church life, the experience of this period of time was also the source of his future journey back to the Lord.

The dormitory near farmland seems to be a cursed place. (I still remembered that when I was young, I often had nightmares at night. The nightmares seemed to decrease a lot after we moved out of there). But this house has a yard and a big banyan tree (looking at the old photos now, the big banyan tree doesn’t seem to be as big as I remembered). We often played make-believe (play house) under the banyan tree. We folded banyan leaves into spoons, used flat stones as dishes, and then drew the paper dolls to pretend as guests visiting each other. We were full of the imaginations and used the local materials to play house (make-belief). There are flowers and fruit trees, papaya and guava, in the yard. During the Chinese New Year, the neighbors would accompany each other and go door-to-door in the teachers’ dormitory area to pay New Year’s greetings. It was very exciting and fun. I had a happy childhood here. And at that time, our family was the first to use a gas stove, with a TV and a flush toilet. When I was a child, I felt very proud. Looking back now, my father’s ability to increase income and reduce expenditure is the best. Although we were not rich, we lived very comfortably. I think God’s blessing and protection have always been in it. Because the following year after we moved out, it was flooded and our expensive piano won’t be able to withstand the flooding.

The first photo is from the 1976 Beitou Junior High School Graduation Album. Dad is in the first row and second from the right.
There were four photos taken in Beitou Junior High School. It is hard to imagine that I have lived in the school since I was born. When my sisters and brother were born, we moved away.
There are four photos of my home near the farm. In fact, there are four children in both photos. But in one of the photos, the fourth kid bent over in the corner and couldn’t see him clearly.
Unfortunately, no representative photos of the “Brothers’ House” were found.

How God leads people to salvation and walks the path of His life is tailor-made for each individual. In the United States, I also coincidentally met several brothers and sisters from The Church in Newington. Because I had contact with the local church when I was a child, the familiarity and the wonderful coincidence made me surrender and turn to the Lord. My father also aroused his desire to follow the Lord after he lived with us in the United States. After dad returned to Taiwan, my sister was also seeking God at the time and God led her to Taipei Holy Church. When my father was sorting out old photos, he found a group photo of my mother and my uncle at Taoyuan Holy Church. Dad thought it was God’s intentional arrangement so he returned to walk God’s way in Taipei Holy Church. Since 2007, my father has been steadily walking this path of God’s life.