Sports Day

This week at school was an easy week: Monday and Wednesday were Sports Days, Tuesday was Professional Development day, Thursday is a day to recuperate from the activity of Sports Days and then Friday we actually have school.

So SPORTS DAYS: The school divides the students into 4 groups(houses): Red, Yellow, Blue and Green. Most of the time there is any intra-school competition it is done between these houses. Sports day is 2 days of Track and Field events. I thought I would share a little video of the Cheer Competition. This is the Green House doing their little dance.

Baptism

Shortly before I moved back to the States, 4 years ago, one of my students Beetle introduced me to a friend of his that had just returned from studying in the US for a year. Crystal had been a student at CWGC but the year I worked at the school she actually was in the states, so I didn't teach her. Even though we didn't have much time to spend together before I moved home, we really hit it off and have kept in touch all of these years.

A few weeks ago Crystal got in touch with me to let me know that she was going to be getting baptized and invited me to come. So this past Sunday (Dec 9th) was her baptism. It was so great to be able to witness her public expression of faith.

Crystal giving her testimony before the baptism. Unfortunately, the service was all in Cantonese so I wasn't able to understand what she said. But Crystal and I have talked many times about her life and her Christian walk so I'm sure I know what she shared.

Crystal and Beetle after the Baptism.

Primary School

The entire school system here in Hong Kong is different from the States. Another example of a difference is that the 6th graders have to interview for which school they will attend the next year. Seventh grade (Form 1 here) is the grade that my school starts. So Saturday I went with some other teachers to one of the nearby primary schools to interview the 6th graders. Basically, I asked them questions about themselves and their families. When asked about their families, many of them responded with something like this: "My family has 4 members. I have a hardworking father and a beautiful mother and a younger brother. On Sundays we like to go to the park and play games together, we love each other very much." What a cute response, but after listening to over 60 students, it was very tiring.

While we were waiting for the interviews to start, I went into the assembly hall and watched some of the younger girls practicing for the choral speaking competition. I couldn't help myself and I had to record it. They are doing a poem in Chinese. The video is just ok, it was so cute in person.



After practicing the girls took a little break. They are so adorable...

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was spent with 25 friends.

Newsletter 4

Hello Friends,

Happy Belated Thanksgiving. I hope that the Holiday was enjoyable for you all. Obviously since the pilgrims didn’t arrive in Hong Kong or China, they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here. So I didn’t have the day off. But on Sunday a group of friends got together and we had a Thanksgiving meal. There were 25 of us who got together to celebrate and give thanks to God. After dinner we went around the room and shared what we were thankful for and sang worship songs. As much as it’s strange to not be with family for the holidays, this group is very much like family and so I wasn’t homesick at all.

Since it’s the time of being thankful, I thought I would try to keep this newsletter short and just list out the prayer requests and my Thanksgiving list.

Prayer Requests:

* Juliana—Friend from my small group. She is searching for direction and I’m not really sure that she is a Christian.

* Franklin Graham Crusade—Starts on Thursday (Nov 28) and runs thru Sunday (Dec 2). We are taking our upper level students to the festival on Friday.

* Speech festival—I have been working with 7 students on their poems for speech festival. Pray that their nerves will not get the best of them when they do their performance and they won’t be stressed from the added work.

* Christmas Season—as the Christmas season is approaching pray for students’ hearts to be open to the message of Christmas.

* Levi Scheu—Levi was on the mission trip this summer with me and he is going to be returning a week. He will be here on Dec 16^th. He really connected with the students this summer and will be spending the week hanging out with them. Pray that he will be able to use this time for some really good conversations with the students. Also pray for his safe travel.

Things for which I am thankful:

* Prayer and financial support from my friends and family at home.

* Letters and Cards—I love to get things in the mail from home and they always seem to arrive on a day that I need some encouragement

* Nikelle and Stuart—They really helped me out a lot in my transition here.

* Other teachers at the school—They have helped so much in getting settled into work, and my home.

* New Friends—one of my big concerns in moving was that I would be alone, or that it would take a long time to get connected, but God has provided so many wonderful friends. Friends that have quickly become my family-away-from-home.

* Location of my apartment—I know that might sound like a little thing, but the location is probably the best I could ask for. It’s 20 minutes to school, 30 minutes to Church. There are 3 grocery stores with-in walking distance of me. 7-11 right around the corner. And it’s quiet!!!!

Picnic Day

Friday was Picnic Day for the School. Every grade chooses a location to go to and they spend the day there. Some classes go to the beach, others go to parks, my class choose to go to an Amusement Park called "Ocean Park." OP has 4 Pandas, and a huge aquarium, and lots of rides. It's also on two sides of a mountain so you take a cable car over the mountain...Gorgeous views. Here are some pictures of the sites and my students. and a little video of the Dolphin Show.

Traffic

I thought you would like to see a typical night of traffic in the area I live in.

Interesting food

One thing about living in HK that's great is that I love sushi and it's cheap here. It's also a fun thing because you sit at a counter and there is a train of sushi that passes by. You just choose off of the line what you want and at the end they count up your plates. I went with a former student recently and took some pictures to share with you. This is the counter you sit at and the sushi just goes past on the little conveyor belt. If you want something you just take it off. The little faucet below the train is for hot water to make your tea.

Here are the plates that Giovanna and I ate when we got our sushi.

I also went out with a some friends after church one Sunday to a Chinese Tea House. One of the girls ordered a tea that was interesting as it brewed. I made a video of it as it was brewing.

Bible Study

I am leading a Bible Study on Thursdays at lunch for three Form 7 girls(seniors). All three are Christians but haven't really learned much about the stories in the Bible, so we are studying women of the Bible. We are also memorizing Bible Verses. As we learn them, I will post them here. (I will have a link on the side so you can quickly locate this post to see our bible Verses.)

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Ways to be a light in a dark world

When I was in College at Purdue, I was involved with an organization called Worldwide Discipleship Association. (WDA) The group was similar to Campus Crusade, but rather being focused on evangelism, WDA focused on discipling Christians. They wanted us to be Christians who after graduation could be lay leaders in our churches. There were many ways that we were discipled...Bible Studies, leading Bible Studies, Leadership meetings, weekend retreats and meeting one on one with a staff member.

One time in a leadership meeting we took a spiritual gifts test to find out exactly what our gifts are. Of course everyone's were different, yet we are all called to the same thing: Sharing God's love with people. One of the staff members Kevin Scott introduced us to a way to do it: Servant Evangelism. We would do service projects and when asked why were were doing it we would respond "just to show you God's love in a practical way." One of the ones we did that sticks out the most was on a Saturday morning we hit the big party area of town and knocked on people's doors asking if we could take out their trash for them. After collecting their bags of beer bottles, we gave them a card that told them why we were doing this and then if they had any questions to contact the number listed or come to one of our meetings. Everyone we connected with that day was shocked that we would do something like that. What an opening it gave us to share with others.

I have since realized that Servant Evangelism can also be called Life Evangelism. Living our lives to help others, to show them God's love for them. Since arriving in Hong Kong, I have been praying for my ministry with my students and have been a bit frustrated that it hasn't been developing as quickly as I like. But this last week or so, God has shown me ways that I can be ministering, but instead to the community I live in.

• My apartment doesn't have a washing machine, nor does my building. I was frustrated about this considering that they are not cheap to buy and then I would have to pay someone to install it. Of course I needed to get my laundry done in the mean time and so down the street about a block is a little laundry shop. I took my clothes down, dropped them off, tried to communicate to them that I wouldn't pick them up that evening but rather would the next day. I got my clothes the next day and didn't really think anything more about it until 3-4 days later. I was walking early in the morning to train and I see a man walking towards me with a great big smile on his face and he waved at me. I realized it was the laundry man. He recognized me (well ok, I do stick out a bit). I realized at that moment, that my lack of a washing machine was all part of God's plan. If I had a washing machine, I probably would never meet this man. Now,anytime he is at the front of his store and I walk by we wave. I visit his store about every 1-2 weeks to do laundry and even though we can't communicate very well, I am able to be a light. I'm planning on having one of the teachers at school help me with a Christmas card to him written in Chinese.
• Another person who I have come into contact with on my way to school is a Domestic Helper and the little boy she watches. Everyday I see them waiting for his school bus as I am walking to the train. These past few days I have gotten a smile back from her.
• The security staff in my building
• The workers at the 7-11
• The two old men I see every Thursday night on my way home from Bible Study
• The ladies at the salon around the corner

Please pray for me as I shine God's light in these peoples lives. Pray that my own being wouldn't get in the way and cast a shadow.

US Military

USS Essex

There is an organization in Hong Kong called the American Women's Association (AWA), I have connected with them and have joined a program they do called "Meals in the Home." This program is to offer a meal to some of the sailors who come to port here. I thought this is the least that I could do as a thanks for what they do for our country. This weekend a ship came into port. Since my place is pretty small, I decided to take them out for dinner for... nope not Chinese food, rather, I took them out for Italian. I was supposed to host 3 sailors, but one (Tom) ended up changing duty times with another sailor and so he couldn't join us. So I took Diane and Gary out. On Sunday when I met them at the Pier, Tom was on duty, so I was able to meet him as well. After dinner I took them to a night market and then down to the peninsula side of the harbor. As you think about it, say a prayer for our service men and women. These guys have been away from their home port and families for the last 8 months and still have about 2 months on this tour.

Gary

Diane

Tom

After school on Monday I went down to the pier again and Gary took me on a tour of ship. What an amazing thing. The pictures below are of my tour on the ship.

Hallway on Board

Longer hallway on board

One of the boats that the USS Essex carries on board.
You can see by the size of the boat compared to me, and this is inside the Essex, the Essex was huge.

One of the many helicopters on board

Transportation in HK

The main way that I travel around in Hong Kong is by the MTR (subway) I live in between the Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei stations so I can easily walk to either one. I was recently shown this video about the MTR and thought you might want to see it. First is the song about all the stations names and then there are some added bits. These are the sounds of the MTR...The announcements that are spoken at every stop. The announcements are said first in Cantonese then in Mandarin and then in English. ENJOY!!!

Friends

As I mention friends on here, I will hope to have a pic of them so you can see them. I will also make a link on the side to this page so you can easily refer back to the pics.

Nikelle and Stuart
Nikelle and I lived together when I lived here before. They were nice enough to let me live with them for the first 5+ weeks that I was in HK and also paid for a lot of food for me and drove me places in their car.

Teachers

Here are pictures of some of the teachers with whom I work. (I will continue to add people's pictures here so I will add a link to this post on the side. If I mention someone in my blog, hopefully I will have a pic of them.)

Koey and I are cubicle mates. She teaches English.

Natalia sits on my the other side of my cubicle wall.
This is her first year at this school and she teaches English.

Mr. Tom (his sir name is Tom) when I lived here before he is the one who gave me my Chinese name. Kind of my adopted dad. (my dad's name is Tom)

Daphne is also an English Teacher. She takes great care of me.

May teaches English, too. She and I both love Fashion and enjoy spending time together.

Denise Jim (everyone calls her Jim) teaches English. She is the head of the F.3 Class English Lessons.

Newsletter 3

I am moved in!! Not yet settled in, but I have now slept 4 nights in my own place. Last Thursday IKEA delivered the last of my furniture that I had ordered (bed, wardrobes, and bookcase) and then on Saturday morning a moving company came and picked up my suitcases and boxes from Nikelle's place and delivered them and me to my apartment. I spent the rest of the day Saturday and Sunday afternoon trying to get organized. I have made quite a bit of progress but still have lots to do. Once, I get it done, I'll take pictures and post them so you can see my cute place.

Since my apartment is pretty small. I had to get a single bed and I am used to a double. The other night I almost fell out of bed 3 times. And I'm not sleeping well. I think I am subconsciously aware of the smaller bed and so I am not letting myself get a deep sleep. Please pray that I can let go of that and sleep deeply.

This past Saturday night, I went to a Singles Event from my church. It was a movie night... not really an easy way to meet people while you are watching a movie, but I was able to meet a few people. Hopefully, I will be able to connect with a good group of friends to have as a local support and encouragement. Also, I think I have found a small group Bible Study to be in. The study meets on Thursday nights. The entire church is going to be going through the study SHAPE (it's part of Purpose Driven Life Program).

School is really getting going now. Along with my classes during the school hours, I also am teaching 3 lunch classes a week and then every other week I am teaching 3 after school classes a week. I am also the advisor for the English Society which requires me to have committee meetings (lunch) and General group meetings (after school). During the fall, many students are preparing for the city-wide Speech Festival... I am also helping 6 students with their preparations for that. One lunch a week, I am leading a senior girls bible study. We are starting this week. I am excited about it. I have 3 girls and two of them were one's who went with us to Yunnan this past summer. (Jan and Connie)

So as you can see, I am pretty busy with school things. Please pray that my "job" won't keep me from ministry. I don't want to forget why God has me here. Pray that I will use all of these contact times with students to build relationships with them, not just be their teacher.

Prayer Requests:

1. Friends--for encouragement and support.
2. Sleep--I haven't slept well the past 4 nights.
3. Bible Study at lunch
4. Not let work hinder my ministry

Praises:

1. Moved into my new place.
2. Friends--I am meeting people.

Mid Autumn Festival

Tonight (Tuesday) is the Mid-Autumn Festival, the second most important holiday in the Chinese calendar. Mid-Autumn Festival is when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, and is to celebrate the abundance of the summer's harvest.

The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake. Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 3in in diameter and 1 1/2 in thick. A thick filling usually made from lotus paste is surrounded by a relatively thin crust and contains yolks from salted duck eggs.

For more information on what Mid Autumn festival is about check out these sites:
DiscoverHongKong.com Wikipedia

Typhoon Warnings

Well this morning, I woke up to strong winds and lots of rain. I thought I better check the weather channel to make sure it was safe for me to leave the apartment. What I found was that Typhoon Signal #1 had been raised. Since most of you reading this have grown up in the midwest and are not used to Hurricanes, I thought I would give you some background information on the Signals. I don't want anyone to worry about me if you hear sometime that a signal has been raised.

1--This is a stand-by signal, indicating that a tropical cyclone is centred within about 800 km (500 miles) of Hong Kong and may affect the territory.

3--Strong wind is expected or blowing generally in Hong Kong near sea level, with a sustained speed of 41-62 km/h (25-39 mph), and gusts which may exceed 110 km/h, (68 mph) and the wind condition is expected to persist. Winds are normally expected to become generally stronger in Hong Kong within 12 hours after the issue of this signal. Winds over offshore waters and on high ground may reach gale force.

8--Gale or storm force wind is expected or blowing generally in Hong Kong near sea level, with a sustained wind speed of 63-117 km/h (39-72mph) from the quarter indicated and gusts which may exceed 180 km/h(111 mph), and the wind condition is expected to persist.

10--Hurricane force wind is expected or blowing with sustained wind speed reaching upwards from 118 km/h (74mph) and gusts that may exceed 220 km/h (136 mph).

about 3 hours before they raise the #8 they announce it and everyone has to run home. The entire city closes.

We also have rain warning here.
Amber--Heavy rain has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong, exceeding 30 millimetres in an hour (1.2 in/h), and is likely to continue.
Red--Heavy rain has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong, exceeding 50 millimetres in an hour (2in/h), and is likely to continue.
Black--Very heavy rain has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong, exceeding 70 millimetres in an hour (3in/h), and is likely to continue.

When the Rain warning is Red, school is cancelled for the day.

Newsletter 2

Since last writing to you, I have been able to secure a flat. I just can't move in yet, due to the fact that I have no furniture. I got the keys to the place last weekend and on Sunday went to Ikea(a big home store) to find the items that I needed for my place. After spending 3 hours picking out furniture, I went to place my order and they didn't have in stock half of the items that I wanted. More importantly they didn't have the bed in stock. The bedroom in my apartment is very tiny. Ikea has lots of beds, but only one was a size that would fit in the room. So I am back to square one on the bed again. I am planning on going out this week to a few different places to hopefully find a bed. Please pray that I can find this quickly and have it delivered soon. The rest of my furniture is being delivered on Tuesday night sometime between 6 and 10pm.

The day I received the keys to my apartment, I went with my realtor to sign the papers at the building so the security guards would know who I was. After signing the papers, the security guard said something to the realtor in Chinese and then she translated for me in broken English. "No pray in morning." "No pray Buddha." After hearing these sentences a few times, I realized what she was actually saying. The building doesn't allow praying in the hallways to Buddha in the mornings. Often times families will have little alters outside of their front doors, and will present offerings, burn incense and pray very loudly to Buddha. I am very thankful that I found a place that doesn't allow that. At the same time this makes me very sad, that the people believe in this.

School has started up and I am meeting lots of students. My brain is on overload with the number of students that I am meeting. The school is on a seven day cycle. (We don't go to school on the weekends) but in that seven day cycle I teach 18 lessons. 9 different classes. each class has 40 students in it and so that means I have 360 students to teach. I hope that I can eventually learn some of their names. Please pray that my mind will grasp them easily.

Praises:

• I found a nice flat, the location is great. 5 minute walk to the train and then just two train stops from the school, so about 20 minutes total from door to door. Then to church is about 30 minutes door to door.

Requests:

• able to find cheap/nice furniture
• able to quickly learn the students names/connect with students

Morning Assembly

Every morning the students have an assembly. Sometimes the students are split: upper classmen in one location and lower classmen in another. Sometimes the entire school is outside for the assembly. I have to admit, I don't know what is talked about at the assemblies except for one day a cycle when it is English day. As you can see in the picture the students all wear uniforms to school. Girls: Blue dresses. Boys: white shirts and blue trousers.

If you are interested in seeing more about the school here is the website: http://www.cwgc.edu.hk/

My place

Here is a video of my apartment. Enjoy the short tour.

Newsletter 1

I have arrived safe and sound in Hong Kong. The first few days were spent adjusting from the Jet Lag, I'm not sure if I am completely over it yet or not...I am still waking up pretty early. Even before my alarm.

I have started my apartment search. Apartment searching here is different than the states. Every apartment/flat is individually owned, so you work with a realtor to see some places. But unlike the US where realtors have access to other company's listings and can show you various areas of town, the realtors here have a certain area of town and only their company's listings to show. So this makes looking for a place very difficult. Luckily, some of the local teachers have been helping me. I had tried to do some apartment searching online prior to my move, but unfortunately I didn't realize that most of the prices listed online are not inclusive of all the costs (building management fee and a government rate the renter has to pay), so I am finding they are more expensive than I thought. This is going to mean a tighter budget for me, but I know with God's help, my money can stretch to make this adjustment. I am also finding that they are smaller than I thought, apparently they include space from the elevator lobby in the size listed for the apartment. Also they all need a good cleaning. (Mom do you want to come help) Another part of the process that is different is that you negotiate the rent with the landlord through your realtor. So I have put an offer on a place and I'm waiting to hear back from the realtor. –(In between writing this and sending it, I got a call from the realtor. The landlord won't accept my offer. So I am back to square one with looking at flats)

School starts this coming Monday, I'm excited about getting started and meeting the students. Since I was just here in July on the mission trip, I was able to meet some of the students I will be teaching. It will be great to reconnect with them. It is also going to be great to reconnect with students from when I lived here before. I actually went to the grocery this afternoon to get my dinner and ran into one of my old students. It was so great to see May again. We exchanged numbers and will be getting together next week for dinner.

Thank you all for your prayers and support, I really appreciate them.

Praises:

• Safe travel to Hong Kong


• Helpful colleagues to help with adjustment

Prayer Requests:

• Staying on a tight budget


• Finding an apartment


• Adjusting to teaching


• Connecting with Students