These twelve letters were written when one of my best friends, Prof. Yang was on his sabetical trip to the US.
I am glad to share these letters to my readers, who could understand intimate friendship, divine communicaiton, and Taiwans current situation through these letters.

letter 1
My dear friend,
I am happy to hear from you so soon. My family has been praying for you as well as your family, mentioning your family’s name in our constant prayers. I am required to teach 11 to 13 hours per week in this semester. I thank God for He led me through the struggle with my health condition in these two years. And I must thank you for your firm support during this period of time, and I enjoyed cooking food with you regularly so much.
In Taiwan, the Cabinet has undergone a minor shakeup, so King Pu-chun now becomes a de facto ambassador in America. In addition, Taiwan and Japan are in a relation of tension for the disputed Daoyutais territory, which has been nationalized by the Japanese government. However, this move will affect the fishing rights of our fishermen, so they staged a protest to the Taoyutais under the protection of the National Defense Ministry.
Hopefully, God will be your joy, rock, and help during your family’s stay in the United States. And I promise that when you come back, I will treat and welcome you to enjoy the Lord’s grace.

Best regards,
Paul Tseng


letter 2
My dear Br. Yang,
I am happy to receive your email again, telling us about your family’s recent situation in Florida. You gain a sense of achievements in your lab work, while your daughter and wife have been learning English. And your family has enjoyed the church meetings and Lord’s grace in the US.
“Floridians are complaining this that business is below par. They tell you that the boom in industry causes this unwholesome situation. When tycoons are busy in the North they have no time for sunning themselves, or even sitting in a semitropical cottage in the rain. Miami is appropriating a few extra thousand dollars for its advertising campaign, hoping to lure executives away from the defense program for a few golden moments.” This paragraph was quoted from E.B. White’s essays written a long long time ago. I hope that besides busy work and church meetings, your family can enjoy a few golden moments when you sun yourselves or even sit in a semitropical rain for a time of relaxation.
“Owe no one anything, unless to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law….Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” This morning my family read these verses in Romans 13:8-9. We keep trying to know more and experience more the words of God, so we keep a fixed and regular practice of morning watch and night prayers. And we will keep praying for your family, hoping everything will be peaceful and joyful with you and your family.

Best regards,
Paul Tseng
Oct. 17, 2011


letter 3
Dear Br. Yang,
I am happy to hear your sharing of the American country life. It is really amazing. I would like to share with you two poems of William Wordsworth, a famous poet in the period of English Romanticism.
“My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky.
…
The Child is father of the man,
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.”
A generation passed away, and the next generation comes. However, natural piety can bind man’s days together, awakening his heart. The more we are immersed in nature, the calmer our hearts and spirits are.
“O blithe new comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering voice?
…
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green.
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen.

And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain.
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.”

The voice of a cuckoo would be a hope, a love. And the voice of chicken can arouse man’s sense of nostalgia, a memory of old days.
These two weeks I have to deal with the mid-term exam of three schools. Hopefully, everything will be fine with you and your family. Please send my best regards to your wife and dear daughter. And I will tell my family about your experience and enjoyment in the American country life.

Best wishes
Paul Tseng
Oct. 30, 2012


letter 4
Dear Brother Yang,
I am glad to receive your letter, which described your pursuit of the beauty of nature in the wilderness, and your joy of enjoying American biscuits on an American street. The simplicity of life and the satisfaction of a humble wish in your heart make you and your family enjoy yourselves. I am happy and honored to share the happiness of your American life.
I would like to quote a paragraph from Thoreau’s “Walden” to share with you the happiness of the country life.
“…I awoke to an answered question, to Nature and daylight. The snow lying deep on the earth dotted with young pines, seemed to say, Forward! Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution. “O Prince, our eyes contemplate with admiration and transmit to the soul the wonderful and varied spectacle of this universe. The night veils without doubt a part of this glorious creation; but day comes to reveal to us this great work, which extends from earth even into the plains of the ether.”
In observing the wild birds, your eyes contemplate with admiration and transmit to your soul the wonderful and varied spectacle of this universe. And I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.
According to Psalm 121, “I lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: whence shall my help come? My help cometh from Jehovah, who made the heavens and the earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep….”
Based on God’s love and faithfulness, He will protect and help you and your family in your life in the US. And after finishing dealing with the mid-term exam of students, I have to start to translate some American poems into Chinese for a friend, a professor and theater director at Delaware University. Enjoy yourselves, and send my best regards to your family.

Best wishes
Paul Tseng
Nov. 23, 2012


letter 5
Dear Br. Yang,
I am sad to hear that you were hurt accidentally. Jehovah is our shepherd, and He will lead us to the green pastures and beside still waters. Although we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He will comfort us with His rod and staff. Goodness and loving-kindness will be with us for the length of days. Hallowed is His name, and His kingdom comes.
I am invited to teach a class of seniors in the college of Nursing English writing in the next semester. This will be very challenging and cheerful, for I can use my all strength to help these young people to their benefits with my professionalism. And I am translating poems for a movie director of New York and correcting an English publication by a Taiwanese professor. I try all means to know Christ more and experience Him in a real way. Constantly reading the Bible and regularly thanking and praying to Him are my daily practice. My family will go south to Kenting National Park for a vacation during the Chinese new year. And we certainly always pray and mention your family’s names in our prayers. Grace and peace will be with you as well as your family. Keep in touch.

Best wishes
Paul Tseng Dec. 13, 2013


letter 6
Dear Brother Yang,
I would like to tell you about the current economic situation of Taiwan. The Legislature cut over NT$37 billion in expenditure from the central government’s 2013 budget, the most in six years. The axe falls hardest on retired civil servants, teachers and servicemen who saw a NT$1.67 billion cut from the proposed NT$13.48 billion in year-end bonus budgets. In addition, a Moody’s Analytics report on Taiwan’s economic outlook was released, and indicated that the country’s gross domestic product growth for this year will improve significantly to 3.8 percent. It appears the worst is over, and Taiwan’s export-oriented economy is poised to take advantage of improving global economic conditions. On the other hand, U.S. companies paint a relatively bleak picture for their operations in Taiwan, according to the American Chamber of Commerce’s annual business climate survey.

The current economic situation of Taiwan is bleak, influencing to some extent the welfare and year-end bonus of retried servants and teachers. As a public servant, my wife’s planned retirement is influenced, as well.

And due to God’s grace, my prayers are answered, so I am privileged to serve four to five classes of students in the coming semester after the Spring Festival ends. I have a very sweet and warm experience of Christ in the teaching service of this semester. Praise and thanks should be paid to God.

Finally, send my best regards to you as well as your family.

Best wishes
Paul Tseng
January 20, 2013


letter 7
Dear Br. Yang,
Thanks for your letter letting my family know your recent situation and your admirable marathon race.

Taiwan’s cabinet resigned on Thursday before a reshuffle touted by President Ma Ying-jeou as adding new skills and capacity to his government, but his poll ratings remained near historic lows.
Premier Sean Chen announced his resignation last week over health reasons after his cabinet came under fire for poor handling of the economy. He will continue in a caretaker role until a new cabinet, to be headed by current Vice Premier Jiang Yi-huah, 53, takes over on February 18 after the Lunar New holidays.

And the freeway and rail networks were inundated yesterday afternoon as people across Taiwan and on its outlying islands started heading home for the traditional Lunar New Year holiday family reunion.

Due to God’s grace and our constant prayers, I eventually got a very high approval rating last semester among students. My soul is comforted and my heart is relieved. I am required to teach the courses including listening comprehension, reading, writing next semester. The workload is challenging but the prospect is delightful.

According to Jemeriah 30: 17-19, God will apply a bandage unto me, and my
wounds will be healed, and out of my habitation shall proceed thanksgiving,
and the voice of them that make merry, and we shall not be diminished, and
God will honor us, and we shall not be small. These words are really what
I have experienced during the past two years right after I had been
hospitalized for a nervous-breakdown. And undeniable is the fact that all the grace comes from the support of my family, my close friends and my church. Dear Professor, and dear brother, you are surely one of the most important angels in my difficult times. Thanks for all you did and helped. I will still keep praying for you and your family, especially your dear daughter. Hopefully, we can see your family soon.

best wishes
Happy spring festival
Paul Tseng
Feb. 9, 2013


letter 8
Dear Brother Yang,
I am so happy to receive your short message which soothed and comforted me so much. It is really kind of instant help. Spring is coming.

And as for today’s Taiwan’s political situation, President Ma Ying-jeou and Premier
Jiang Yi-huah confirmed that they will take part in the referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. According to Presidential Office spokeswoman Lee Chai-fei, not only will the president participate in the referendum, but he also urges the entire nation to vote.

I really love the verses quoted from Jeremiah 29: 11-12—“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you in your latter end a hope. And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray untome, and I will hearken unto you; and ye shall seek me and find me, for ye shall search me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith Jehovah.” With thoughts of peace, God will give us a hope only if we seek and find Him.

In addition, I bought a lot of fresh apples for the pastor at the Baptist church, saying hello to him about two weeks ago. With the start of a new semester, I need to face many challenges and pressure. I need your prayers, which must be a big support.

Sincerely, I can hear from you again soon.

Best regards,

Paul Tseng March 6, 2013


letter 9

Dear Brother Yang,

Psalm 73: 23 goes in this way, “Whom have I in the heaven? And there is none upon earth I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.” Looking for God’s way and searching for His help are the way and secret of my life. Day in and day out, I accompanied my wife and son and daughter to read through the Bible verse by verse and chapter by chapter. Our only hope is to turn to Him, gaining blessings and peace from Him.

In March, I came back to Baptist Church to seek for communication and biblical help. My heart is warmed and soothed. However, I still need time to further mingle with the saints there. Upon your family’s arrival in Taipei, I will invite you to a welcome party to keep communicating with you and share your rich experiences in America.

As for the society in Taiwan, a closest top aide of President Ma is detained for graft, which again seriously tarnished the clean image of this KMT government. And Nuke Four Plant is likely to put in the coming referendum to decide on its fate of halting the construction. Surely, nuke-free is a consensus all right, but the electricity rate will definitely cause inflation.

My Son Ian has established a habit of reading the Bible before going to bed, and he won a price in the speech contest of his school. It’s God grace and wisdom which shaped and cultivated him. And my daughter Joy has an affectionate relation with me. Furthermore, the core relation between my wife and me is divine and biblical.
Trials and sufferings paved a way for cohesion and construction.

Finally, we still constantly mention your family’s names in our daily prayers, hoping to see you soon.

Best wishes Paul Tseng in his service of the Lord April3, 2013


letter 10

Dear Brother Yang,
I am so happy to see the photo of the backyard and fruits you took in the U.S. As William Wordsworth’s lines in The Prelude,
“To hold fit converse with the spiritual world,
And with the generations of mankind
Spread over time, past, present, and to come,
Age after age, till Time shall be no more.
Such minds are truly from the Deity.”

While conversing with Nature, we indeed undergo a spiritual talk with The Deity, the Triune God.
The outside world has been changing. According to the latest issue of Time, American economy seems to be coming back since the high-tech manufacturing has been booming. Instead of outsourcing in China or other developing worlds, the manufacturing of American high-tech industries is now returning to the American soil, creating a tremendous number of jobs. In fact, the labor cost in China has been rising, and the quality and productivity are relatively poor. However, the automation system and the workforce of high quality can ensure the sustainable and steady development of American manufacturing.
In addition, the lady of iron passed into history. The former Prime Minister died for several strokes, ending an age of conservatism. The lauding and loathing of her would be gone with the wind, as well.

Finally, According to 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, "Love has long patience, is kind; love is not emulous of others; love is not insolent and rash, is not puffed up, does not behave in an unseemly manner, does not seek what is its own, is not quickly provoked, does not impute evil, does not rejoice at iniquity but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

May God’s love and peace with you and your family. And I hope to see you and your presence soon.

Best wishes

Paul Tseng April 20, 2013


letter 11
Dear Brother Yang,
I am happy to know that your work in the US nears the final stage, and that you are prepared to come back to Taiwan. And my family also enjoys the fun your photo brought to us. I hope to treat and welcome your family at a Cantonese-style restaurant for good tea and some delicious dishes and good conversation.
My son Ian is elected by his classmates to the representative of his class to run for the head of the students’ association of his school. This morning his team will have a public speech to the whole school. Although he does not intend to be elected to serve as the head of the student commission, the campaign experience will make him stronger in mind and in spirit. Thank God for this.
In addition, my work at school is welcome and approved by students since I make a lot of efforts. I have been informed to continue teaching eight hours at the nursing college in the next semester. Thank God for this.
As for the Taiwan’s international news, a fisherman was shot to death by a Philippine state vessel, which led to a large-scale protest and a tough reaction of the Ma Administration. The response of the Philippine government is not satisfactory and well accepted by locals.
And I will share two Time magazine clips to you. One is about the new life church in America, which reaches the social outcasts and those forgotten people. The other is about Xi Jiping, president of China, who is pushing for the realization of the Chinese dream.
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“Wifredo De Jesus, better known as Pastor Choco, embodies the true definition of what Christ said the church should be. As the senior pastor of New Life Covenant Ministries, one of the fastest-growing churches in Chicago as well as one of the largest Assemblies of God congregations in the nation, Pastor Choco encourages others to go out into the community not just with words but with his own actions. Under his leadership, New Life is reaching out to the outcasts and forgotten in our society—the homeless, women suffering with addiction and prostitution, and young people in gangs.
But his influence spreads far beyond the Chicago area as vice president of social justice for the nation’s largest Hispanic Christian organization, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. With Hispanics playing such a large role in the expansion of the evangelical church in the US and their vast influence on the political landscape, Pastor Choco is and will continue to be a strong, ardent voice on the direction of our country. “

“As China embarks on period of renewal, the role of Xi Jiping, its new President, is central. Each of the five generations of leaders since the founding of the People’s Republic of China has represented a particular aspect of the Chinese experience. Xi’s is that of the children of those Chinese who traversed the purgatory of the Cultural Revolution. He found his own life disrupted, as he was sent to the countryside for seven years.
Xi is convinced his generation’s hardships gave it the strength to face the challenges of adapting China to the consequences of is success. He has put forward a sweeping reform program designed to move millions to the cities, streamline bureaucracy, reorient the economy away from state-owned enterprises and fight corruption.
In foreign policies he has posed a key question, Can two great, partially competitive countries substitute cooperation for conflict? The answers of both sides will determine the world’s future. Based on my meetings with Xi, his answer will be both thoughtful and forceful.”
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And I hope to see you soon.

God be with you as well as your family

Best wishes

Paul Tseng
May 16, 2013


letter 12

Dear Brother Yang,
I am happy to receive your brief message and a photo, which shows the magnificence and greatness of the Mississippi River, one of the symbols of the literature of Southern America. The sight of the river arouses my memory of Mark Taiwan.
Mark Taiwan, a famous writer for humor wrote “The Adventure of Huck Finn,” which vividly depicted a black boy’s adventure on the River of Mississippi, and which also served as a masterpiece of Southern American literature, focusing on the misery and discrimination and suffering of black people.
In addition, I would like to share with you three Chinese poems related to the topic of the rivers. Through them, we can see the sense of history and the sublime nature of the ancient world.
Chen Zi’ang
On Climbing Youzhou Tower
“Where are the sages of the past
And those of future years?
Sky and earth forever last,
Lonely, I shed sad tears.”
前不見古人，後不見來者！念天地之悠悠，獨悵然而涕下！

Wang Zhihum
“The sun beyond the mountains glows;
The Yellow River seaward flows.
You can enjoy a grander sight
By climbing to a greater height.
白日依山盡，黃河入海流，欲窮千里目，更上一層樓。

Li Bai
“My friend has left the west where towers Yellow Crane
For River Town when willow-down and flowers reign.
His lessening sail is lost in the boundless azure sky,
Where I see but the endless River rolling by.
故人西辭黃鶴樓，煙花三月下揚州。孤帆遠影碧空盡，惟見長江天際流。

Furthermore, I am supposed to tell you some striking news about Taiwan. Two news clips are offered as follows:

Ex-President attempts suicide: prison officials

“Former President Chen Shui-bian attempted suicide again on Sunday in Pei-de Prison Hospital due to disappointment over a recently approved amendment to the Accounting Act, prison official said.”
“According to prison official who questioned the ex-president over his suicide attempt, Chen expressed frustration over his long-pending application to return to the Democratic Progressive Party, and the passage of an amendment article to the Accounting Act on Friday.”

Ex-lawmaker to be cleared of wrongdoing: Justice Ministry

“The Ministry of Justice is poised to release former lawmaker Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) from incarceration, following its approval of amendments to the Accounting Act.
Yen is currently serving a three and a half year jail sentence for charges of corruption, as he was found guilty of spending more than NT$20 million in government funds a hostess bars and karaoke lounges, during his term as speaker for the Greater Taichung County council between 1998 and 2000.”

Concerning Taiwan’s political and economic situation, the approval rating of President Ma reaches a historic low point. Weakness and inability are the common criticism. We need to pray for the government in order to live a peaceful and steady life.

And I am also supposed to share with you some biblical verses. The power of words is immense. We have to always speak positive words to bless others and ourselves, for the tongue can determine a man’s fate and future.

James 3: 5-7, “Thus also the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things. See how little a fire, how large a wood it kindles! And the tongue is fire, the world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set in our members, the defiler of the whole body, and which sets fire to the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell.”

Finally, everything goes smoothly in my family and church. The Baptist church will hold a children camp in the summer vacation, which you used to serve in the past. And I have a long-term commitment with the nursing college to translate their medical reports into English. They have given me some school funds for the commitment. Teaching and translation are my work now. And I enjoy my work.

Best wishes for you as well as your whole family

Keep in touch

Paul Tseng
June 5, 2013