USS Denver

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I was able to show my thanks and gratitude to 4 servicemen by hosting them for the day.

We met up for a Dim Sum lunch and then I took them to the Chinese Garden.

Christopher, Kevin, Quentin and Kevin

We then headed to some local markets. Quentin has a new baby girl at home, so he wanted to buy some baby clothes for her. Then we headed to one of the many shopping centers. A popular thing to do in HK is to take pictures around any kind of display that might be up at the mall. So we had to do it too.

In front of the Christmas display at the Mall
Kevin, Me, Kevin, Quentin and Christopher

Please pray for these guys. They are all really young: Quentin is only 19. He is very homesick and since he has a new baby at home that is making him want to be home all the more. I have been keeping in touch with him via email and am trying to encourage him.

Sports Days

Sports Days are a highlight of the school year for the students. They wouldn't be typical students if they didn't love the fact that they get three days away from academics (2 for competitions and 1 to recuperate).

The two days of competition are a series of track and field events and also cheering competitions. My job during these two days is to be the announcer and supervise student announcers. We end up having so much fun doing our job. It ends up being a great time to get to know the students better, and on a much more personal level.

Kinphen, Elfleise, and Nikki

three of our student announcers

Me and Paul

Passion World Tour

Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, and Louie Giglio came to Hong Kong as part of their 'Passion World Tour.' It was a great night of worship with Christians from all over the world.

One of Chris Tomlin's songs is called "God of this City." During all of their songs, they played videos with the lyrics on the big screen, and for this song, they used videos and photos of Hong Kong. Here are the words to the song.

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation, You Are Bridge: For there is no one like our God, There is no one like our God Chorus 1: Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done in this city Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here Verse 2: You're the Lord of Creation
The Creator of all things
You're the King above all Kings, You Are You're the strength in our weakness
You're the love to the broken
You're the joy in the sadness, You Are Chorus 2: Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done in this city Where glory shines from hearts alive
with praise for you and love for you in this city Greater things have yet to come
Great things are still to be done in this city Greater things are still to come
And greater things are still to be done here

I have really been praying about my future. As you know my original time in Hong Kong is set to end in August '09, I have been praying about what God is wanting me to do next. I do feel that He is calling me to stay in Hong Kong, but doing what, I'm not sure. Please pray that I will have wisdom in making decisions about where to work and where to serve. I know that He is going to use me as part of the greater things He is going to be doing in Hong Kong.

Some of you might know Greg Mosby, a missionary from CFC here in Hong Kong. After the Passion concert, he made his own video for the song with pictures of HK. Here it is.

Nikelle's Wedding

Nikelle was one of my roommates when I lived in Hong Kong the first time. I moved home, but she stayed here. Three years ago she met Stuart at a Rugby Tournament, and as they say, "The rest is history."

October 11th Nikelle and Stuart got married and they asked me to do one of the readings in the wedding. I guess teaching has helped me get over my nervousness of speaking in front of people (at least a bit), so I did the New Testament reading.
Please pray for Nikelle to continue to grow in her relationship with God and for Stuart to come to see his need for a Savior.

USS Benfold

The first week of October brought the USS Benfold to town. Again, I hosted a few sailors: Mark, Mike and Jake. Because the day they were in town was a public holiday, I was able to spend the entire day with them. I asked them what they were wanting to see, and they said they wanted to see things that typical tourists wouldn't see. So took them on an interesting adventure.

We started out with a Dim Sum lunch and then headed up to Monkey Mountain. This is a country park where monkeys run wild. I went there when I lived here before and didn't have a very fun experience, so this was my first time back in six years. It wasn't quite as bad as I remember it to be, and the guys really enjoyed it.
On our way back into town, Mark joked about wanting to see Jackie Chan. I told him I couldn't do that but I could get him to Jackie Chan's office.
Our next stop was a Chinese Garden. This was a beautiful, peaceful place and the funny thing is that there is a freeway that runs right over it, but you don't even realize it. It's just so relaxing.

After the Garden we went to the Hong Kong history Museum. This place really is a must for anyone who comes to visit Hong Kong. The history of this city is just amazing.

And because this was Tuesday we had to hit Tequila Jack's. TJ's is a Mexican Restaurant that I have found that is about 20 minutes from my place. Every Tuesday they have a special on their ground beef tacos. only $10hk/each ($1.25 US) This is such a great deal, because normally their tacos are $70 for 2. ($10 US)Mike, Me, Jake and Mark

Group from Evansville

My former boss, Jeff Howell, and his cohorts from U of E's MBA program came to Hong Kong on October 1st. They spent a few days here before heading into mainland China for two weeks. It was so great to see Jeff and even though I didn't know the others beforehand it was so nice to talk with Evansville people.

October 1st is China National Day, so I met up with Jeff and we watch the fireworks from the roof of his hotel.
Since I had to work everyday while they were here, I met up with them in the evenings to do a bit of sightseeing and the last night, we went out for Peking Duck.

Jeff is in the light blue shirt sitting next to me.

Minori's Birthday--fundraiser for Africa

My dear friend, Minori, has such a heart for Africa.

This past summer she was able to go on two different mission trips to Africa. One in Rwanda and one to Uganda. On the second trip she met a couple that is starting up a ministry working with Street children. So for her birthday in September, she had a party. Everyone was to bring food to share and money in any currency in units of 26 (because she was turning 26) You wouldn't believe the different currencies that were brought to this party. And after all was counted and converted into Hong Kong Dollars, the final total was $15,000 HK (about $2,000US)