Merry Christmas! 聖誕快樂!

A letter from Emily Seitz, mission co-worker serving in Taiwan

Winter 2024

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Dear friends,

Merry Christmas! 聖誕快樂! This year the Seitz family, after 15 years in Taiwan, will celebrate Christmas in Ohio. I am from Cincinnati and have family there; Jonathan lived in Toledo for middle and high school, and we met as undergraduates at the College of Wooster, so this is a homecoming of sorts for us, although after so many years serving in Taiwan, we also grieve all that we have lost. We trust that God has brought us back to Ohio to serve in this place that is at the same time both familiar and also quite strange, and that with time Ohio will feel like home, even as Taiwan will also always be our home.

Emily’s official goodbye at Church of the Good Shepherd

Some of you may have seen our recent newsletter (presbyterianmission.org/ministries/missionconnections/letter/fifteen-years/), but in case you did not, Jonathan officially left service with World Mission and has taken a call to serve as associate pastor for adult ministries at Liberty Presbyterian Church in Delaware, OH. I will continue with World Mission – working remotely from Ohio – to help with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s Taiwan Ecumenical Forum (TEF) with their newsletters and news feeds and with a couple of conferences for the immediate future. I am also looking to do some concluding Interpretation Ministry visits, either in person or via Zoom, so please contact me if you or your church are interested in hosting me.  

Bible study at Church of the Good Shepherd in Taipei

As we mentioned in the recent newsletter, our 14-year-old daughter, Eva, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF), a rare genetic disease, in December of 2023. For much of her life, her symptoms had been mild, and because our twins, Eva and Eli, were born in Taiwan and cystic fibrosis is very rare in Asia, the twins did not have a genetic screening at birth, which is why Eva was misdiagnosed. However, she had developed concerning symptoms in the past few years that led me to dig deeper and finally to push for genetic testing. Medical care in Taiwan is excellent; however, since there have only ever been a few cases of CF in Taiwan, there is no sort of CF center that most children’s hospitals in the U.S. have. In the case of our daughter’s illness, although her condition seems stable after starting on a fairly new medication that works for people with common CF mutations, a return to the U.S. became necessary to continue her care.

Our older son, Sam, has only two years of high school left, and he did not want to go to the U.S. for college alone, so this was another reason to return to the U.S. 

The Seitz family in their new home in Ohio

In a few weeks, I will speak at our new church at the Christmas Ladies’ Tea about Christmas traditions. I began thinking about how much our family Christmas traditions were influenced by living overseas. Our “family” at Christmas was usually the church, the seminary and friends. One tradition I started at our church in Taiwan a few years ago was Christmas cookie decorating with all the kids. This was always a festive, fun event, and I knew how important a tradition it was for my own kids when our eldest asked me last year if, among all the uncertainty and chaos before and after Eva’s diagnosis, we were still “doing the Christmas cookies at church.” I said “Yes, of course,” and I realized how much the diagnosis had affected all of us. My first feelings had been of shock but also relief to finally have a diagnosis. I do not know if anyone at our church will continue the Christmas cookie decorating tradition, but before leaving Taiwan, I was thrilled when Hsi-Nan, a member of the Bible study group I had started, assured me that he will take my place in leading the Bible study. I also leave Taiwan knowing that another church I served in for a long time has had a stable children’s ministry team in place for many years already.

This Christmas our family will be able to visit all our extended family – in Ohio and Alabama – a first for us! We anticipate celebrating Christmas with our new church family as well and beginning new family rituals to celebrate Christmas at home. My hope and prayer for you all is that the God of love who came to live among us and to teach us will rekindle joy in your hearts this Christmas.

Blessings,

Emily