On 15 February, we were warmly welcomed in Kaoshiung by our sisters from Shangwu. After a lunch of Taiwanese-style noodle soup by the sea and a short stopover in the community in Shangwu, we arrived happy and tired at the Vicariate House in Taitung-Malan. A full 25 hours had passed between our departure from Ingenbohl and our arrival in Malan. Here in Malan, too, all the sisters from the communities in Taitung gave us a very warm welcome. As the Chinese New Year had just taken place, we were greeted with small firecrackers (Lady Crackers), garlands and a song.
On 16 February, we met the Sisters of the Vicariate Leadership for a first discussion. The Vicariate with its missions and communities was presented.
In the afternoon, we visited the Regional house of the Bethlehem SMB Missionary Society, whose mother house is in Immensee, Canton Schwyz. Brother Augustin Büchel showed us with great enthusiasm the impressive exhibition on the Bethlehem Mission in Taiwan, which was created to mark the 100th anniversary of the missionary society. Over coffee, we looked back on the shared past of the Ingenbohl sisters and the Bethlehem missionaries, first in Manchuria and then in Taiwan.
