Combined Report

[Formosa] Hsihu's regular two-day retreat in May fell on Mother's Day, which was also the birthday of our dearest Master. Fellow practitioners from around Formosa and their relatives and friends gathered to celebrate this meaningful occasion and present their best wishes to Mother-Master. Exquisitely decorated by fellow initiates, the Hsihu Center took on a beautiful look! Colorful balloons, ribbons, and balls on the trees swayed in the wind.

The retreat's entertainment program began in the afternoon, featuring a fashion show of the latest spring and summer designs from the Happy Yogi collection; solo performances on the piano, flute and Chinese zither; contemporary dance; frontier dance; interactive singing; and street dance presented by teenage initiates. The choral and solo singing of original songs, performed by initiates from Taipei and Kaoping, praised the greatness of our compassionate Mother-Master and invoked tears of longing among many fellow initiates.

[Hong Kong] In early May, fellow initiates in Hong Kong began preparing to celebrate Master's birthday and Mother's Day with great sincerity. We initiated the group-signing of a greeting card so that it could reach Master in time. On Mother's Day, celebrations were held at the Tian Shan Center, where we had designed some contests related to retreat matters. The contests were both fun and exciting, bringing much joy to the initiates, and also reminding us of the wonderful moments we had in retreats and group meditation sessions. A small choir-the Happy Angels Chorus-recently formed by fellow initiates in Hong Kong, performed many beautiful songs with a guitar accompaniment.

The greatest surprise was receiving Master's hand-written reply to the greeting card from Hong Kong initiates. Her kind and sweet words of blessing evoked sweet memories of the wonderful days we have spent together with Master in the past.