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 bless your home
with peace, joy, love and good health!
How was your Christmas celebration?
As for me, I spent Christmas at Holy Family Church Shenzhen as you can read below.
I left for Shenzhen on Dec 21, 2017 and attended the Fourth Sunday of Advent anticipated Mass besides the morning Mass the next day.
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 450 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. Santa Claus threw away candies after 11:00 p.m. Mass. The religious articles store was moved to the ground floor to have bigger space. Several volunteers were in charge to receive donation because our monthly collection is not enough to cover the monthly rental fee.
There were more than 500 people for Christmas Day Morning Mass. Mr. Zhang invited Fr. Lu, several parishioners and I for lunch. It’s not a public holiday. I went back to Hong Kong to attend Indonesian Catholic Community in Hong Kong Christmas celebration at Christ the King Chapel after lunch.
I went to Luo Hu hospital to do voluntary work and attended the annual gathering on Dec 26, 2019 then went back to Hong Kong for Maryknoll China Region Christmas celebration on Dec 27, 2019. There were sacrament of matrimony for two couples on Dec 28, 2019 morning so I went back to Shenzhen again.
Holy Family Feast Day Mass was celebrated on Dec 29, 2019 afternoon. Two 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.
I attended the Mother of God Feast Day in Mother of God Church Shenzhen after doing voluntary work at Shenzhen the Third People’s Hospital on Jan 1, 2020.
I still continue my cyber ministry through group chat and blog. Total members of the single Catholic group chatting is more than 350 members in three groups, 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 221,000.
With the help of several donors, I help several needy people through two local NGO.
While in Hong Kong, I am still visiting the inmates in Tailam Center for Women. I attended the certificate presentation to the inmates at Shek Pik Prison.
Here were my several activities after Easter 2019: CICM Diaconate ordination, gathering of retired staffs of Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital (http://www.olmh-hk.com/intro_background.html), Mentorship and Graduation Mass of Maryknoll Convent School, trip to Beijing, Pastoral Sisters Meeting, Memorial Mass for the Servant of God Fr. Frederick Price, MM and Sr. Corinne Rost, MM, a 13 weeks course on “The Biblical Vision of the Human Person” , Renewal Vows of Sr. Esther, Indonesian Independence Day Celebration, Annual General Meeting of Catholic Religious School Council (https://www.catholic.edu.hk/en/schools-council/hong-kong-catholic-diocesan-schools-council/), Maryknoll Medical Welfare Association Bazaar and Games Day (http://mmwa.org.hk/history.html), Wo Foo Christmas Party (http://www.wse.hk/zh/), Maryknoll Sisters Asia Pasific World Section Meeting in Japan, outing with Indonesian Catholic Community and New Missionaries, several talks besides enjoying the visit of Kim Anh, Mariza 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 a special year for me as God opened up the way to serve more Putonghua speaking people.
Hong Kong, January 3, 2020
With love and prayer,
Sr. Anastasia B. Lindawati, M.M.
Let’s do simple things with simple love to make God’s love visible
