Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
First of all, I want to wish all of you:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
May the spirit of the Christmas fill your home
with peace, joy and love!
As for me, I spent Christmas at Holy Family Church Shenzhen as you can read below.
I left for Shenzhen on Dec 23, 2017 and attended the Fourth Sunday of Advent anticipated Mass besides the morning Mass the next day.
Several volunteers set up the inspection machine on our Church’s door on December 24 p.m. Several volunteers were in charge to receive donation because our monthly collection is not enough to cover the monthly rental fee.
There were around 600 people for the 7.30 p.m. Mass inside the Church and hundreds people were watching through the big television on the outside ground. 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 Infant 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 School’s children, youth choir and middle age choir followed by the visit of Santa Claus. The religious articles store was moved to the ground floor to have bigger space. 
There were around 500 people for both Christmas Day Morning and Evening Masses. Mrs. Mai invited Fr. Lu several parishioners and I for lunch. It’s not a public holiday.
There were seven babies baptized by Bishop Sun of Handan Diocese on the morning Mass of Holy Family Church. There were 9 priests and 11 sisters including myself besides Bishop Sun during afternoon Mass. Five couples renewed their marriage vows. The Church was full. There was a banquet after the Mass for all the guests from other Churches and our volunteers.
Fr. Lu, several parishioners, and I attended the Mother of God Feast Day in Mother of God Church Shenzhen followed by a banquet on Jan 1, 2018.
Besides visiting families either at their homes or hospital, I organize youth gatherings of Holy Family Church Shenzhen, St. Anthony’s Church Shenzhen, Immaculate Conception Church Shenzhen, Zhuhai besides summer programs at Holy Family Church Shenzhen, Christ the King Church Shenzhen, and Zhangjiakou.
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 pageviews of my blog reached more than 190,000.
With the help of several donors, I help several sick people through Charity Fund of Holy Family Church and the wechat of Jinde Charities.
While in Hong Kong, I am still visiting the inmates in Tailam Center for Women. I joined the tour to Tailam Center for Women, which was organized by Prisoners’ Friends’ Association; attended our Annual General Meeting and the certificate presentation to the inmates at Shek Pik Prison.
Here were my several activities after Easter 2017: trip to New York to attend our Inter Assembly Conference besides “The Art of Forgiveness Workshop”; retreat at Salesian Retreat House (http://www.sdbrh.org.hk/): trip to Beijing, Fuqing, Ningde, Jilin and Shenyang to visit the local community; trip to Hawaii to attend our Asia East World Section meeting; Memorial Mass and Thanksgiving Dinner of Maryknoll Family China; home visit to attend a family matter besides enjoying the visit of Sr. Joanna, MM, Sr. Amutha, ICM. Mrs. Clare, etc.
And, last but not least, I want to thank you for all your support, love, hospitality, gifts and especially your prayers during this year. It’s been another year with a lot of “God with us” experiences.
Here is the link of the pictures during Christmas and Holy Family Feast day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/11848830@N02/albums/72157690242860141
Hong Kong, January 3, 2018
With love and prayer,
Sr. Anastasia B. Lindawati, M.M.
Let’s do simple things with simple love to make God’s love visible
