Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ,
Christmas is a season of hope, a season of
love, a season of blessings.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Selamat Hari Natal dan Tahun Baru!
圣诞快乐！
How
was your Christmas celebration? May the best gifts of Christmas be yours: The gift of love. The gift of hope. The gift of joy. The gift of peace. The gift of
happiness. The gift of Jesus!
(Kate
Summers).
I left for Holy Family Church on Dec 22, 2017 ready
for preparation for Marriage class but nobody could attend it so I organized
things here and there. I attended the Fourth Sunday of
Advent anticipated Mass besides the Sunday morning Mass the next day.
Several volunteers decorate the Church, set up the inspection machine on
our Church’s door,
receive
donation, and sell religious articles
at ground floor besides being the fire safety team and parking team.
There were around 600 people (based on seating capacity only) for the 7.30 p.m. Mass inside the
Church and hundreds people were watching through the big television on the
outside ground.
Mr. Cai prepared slideshow
of last year Christmas Masses pictures with karaoke style Christmas song. There were around 500 people for
11.00 p.m. Mass. Several of them are
neither Catholics nor attend Mass regularly. After the first Mass, there was a
procession of the
Baby Jesus
statue from ground floor to the manger followed by prayer time in front of the
manger for the parishioners. There were
performances in between the
two Masses: the Sunday’s School children
and youth
choir followed by the visit of Santa Claus.
There were around 500 people for both Christmas Day
Morning and Evening Masses. Mr. Zhang invited Fr. Lu, several parishioners and I for
lunch. It’s not a public holiday
in China. There were seven babies baptized
by Fr. Lu on the Christmas Day evening Mass. According to a parishioner, she attended
several Masses a day (even four times for Sundays: anticipated Mass, morning
Mass, Mass at other Church and evening Mass) with the hope to get more grace. I told Fr. Lu about it with Fr. Lu so he gave
clarification about it during the homily of evening Mass.
Besides
visiting families either at their homes or hospital, I still organize youth gatherings of Holy Family Church Shenzhen (http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.com/2018/08/sharing-aug-2018-youth-gathering-holy.html)
besides preparing for Holy Family Feast Day.
I still
continue my cyber ministry through group chat and blog. Total members of the group chat, who receive
the information, are more than 30,000 persons (of more than 80 group chats), who are living in several cities. I am still uploading my missionary journey on
my blog http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.com and the page views of my blog reached more than 207,000.
With the help of several donors, I
help several sick people through the We Chat of Jinde Charities.
Here were my several activities after Easter 2018 (several activities were written on my
Thanksgiving Letter: http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.com/2018/11/thanksgiving-letter-2018.html): home visit to attend a family
matter; trip to Quanzhou; visiting our two cemeteries; attending gathering ofSisters by Focolare; SARS 15th Thanksgiving Mass; Graduation Mass and Ceremony of MCS Primary Section; Variety Show of Maryknoll Fathers' School; Cana week (http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.com/2018/07/sharing-2018-cana-week.html); gathering of Retired Staffs of Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital; Spirituality Forum (http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.com/2018/08/sharing-18th-spirituality-forum.html); Eucharistic Celebrations for
Perpetual Profession, Silver Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee of
the Sisters of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians; being one of the jury of Indonesian Catholic Community Reading the Bible contest in Hong Kong; Thanksgiving Mass and Annual General Assembly Society of St. Vincent de Paul Central
Council of Hong Kong; Golden Jubilee of Sr. Marilu; Graduation Mass and Speech
Day, Fun Fair, School Opening Mass and All Souls Day Mass of MCS Secondary
Section; several talks organized by Hong Kong Diocese; pilgrimage
to Israel (http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.com/2018/12/sharing-2018-pilgrimage-to-holy-land.html); Conference
on Teilhard de Chardin; 
tour to Shek Pik (maximum security) Prison; Winter Solstice Festival
Celebration; Maryknoll Family China Christmas party, besides enjoying the visit of several friends from Indonesia.
As I am writing this
letter, my heart are full of gratitude for all your support, love, hospitality, gift and
especially your prayers during this year.
It’s been another year with a lot of “God with me” experiences.
Here
is the link of
the pictures during Christmas at Holy Family Church:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/11848830@N02/albums/72157699175196900， 平安夜弥撒度盘 https://pan.baidu.com/s/19D7p7fsTrHBx373GhCB38g，
Hong Kong, December 28, 2018
With love and prayers,
Sr. Anastasia B. Lindawati, M.M.
Let’s help each other to live less waste living for a
better world
