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