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)

Bible Study

My Bible study group took some time off this summer and when we started back up this fall, Andrew and Rachel asked me to join them as part of the leadership team. Our group seems to have trouble with people committing to come to the study, so we thought we would try to meet every other week so that it wouldn't be such a pressure on people to come but it didn't seem to work. We also wanted to challenge the members to do homework, to be in the Word daily and so we chose a study that I have done before, but one that is definitely beneficial: Experiencing God. But at this time, I don't think our group is spiritually mature enough to do homework.

We will be staring I Peter in February. We are just asking that they read over the chapter prior to coming to Bible Study. We are also going to try to start up some accountability groups within our study. Hopefully, we will be able to encourage each other in our walks and the three of us leaders will be able to disciple the members a bit more.

Please pray:

• they will start to hunger for God in their lives more than just on Sundays and Thursdays.
• they will be open to being held accountable
• they will be willing to commit to coming to study more frequently than they have in the past
• they group would feel connected to each other and more like a family to each other.
  

On a lighter note: The Church sponsored a Wii Competition for all of the Bible Study groups. The competition consisted of Boxing, Swimming, Tennis, Running, Hurdles and one or two other events. Since no one in my Bible Study had a Wii, we figured we would just go and have fun. Well we ended up sweeping the day. We won every event!!

New School Year

The end of August brought about the start of a new school year, and with the new school year there are lots of new changes.

Since Nikelle is getting married this year, she has resigned her position at the school, so change #1: A new Native English Teacher. Paul is the new teacher. He is from England and has been living in Hong Kong for 2 years prior to starting at CWGC. Although he's not like Nikelle in personality or teaching style, he and I work really well together. We have quite a good time and I've done somethings socially with him and his wife, Angela. Paul does not have a religion and his wife is Buddhist. Pray that I can be a good witness to them.

Me, Paul, and Angela out at an Indian Restaurant

Change #2: I am teaching quite a few more classes this year. So this year, I teach 860 students. Basically I see them once every 14 school days. The thing that makes me so frustrated is that I don't know my students names. Not seeing them very frequently and having so many makes it difficult.

Change #3: Along with my classes, I am also in charge of a few extra activites. I am helping to run the English Ambassador Program, the English Society and also Student Lunch time Performances.

Please pray for the remaining school year that I will be focused and organized and that I can make a difference in these Students lives and my co-workers lives for Christ.

Typhoon Season

Well typhoon season is upon us now. And it looks like Hong Kong is going to be getting a direct hit on Friday (Hong Kong time) But luckily the typhoon which was forecasted to be a category 3 didn't make it that high and is only going to be a category 1 when it hits.

Lots of New Posts

Well I just posted a bunch of new posts. Not including this one, I just posted 6 new posts. I hope you enjoy reading them all.

New Church Location/New Worship Pastor

Back in May our church officially opened its doors. Well, the doors to the new location. For the last 8 years, my church has been nomadic: every Sunday a different location. Every Sunday God provided a location for us to meet. Back in October, the church Elders announced that they had finally found a location for the church and asked for a church vote. The church also needed to raise money to be able to do the building out of the space. The people of the church voted positively for the location and they also pledged to give the entire amount that was needed for the buildout. $20million Hong Kong (almost $3 million US) By the time the building was complete in May all of the money had been raised. The new address for the church is 633 King's Road. If you are interested here's my church's website. Island ECC

Along with a new building, we also got a new worship pastor two weeks ago. His name is Jeff Caylor. He's originally from INDIANA!! Most recently, he worked in Colorado Springs for Focus on the Family. Besides being a worship pastor, Jeff is also a recording artist. He has a great CD that you will want to check out. jeffcaylor.com I think you will really enjoy it.

Ann Leaving

I mentioned back in May that Ann Osburn was going to be coming to Hong Kong for 2 months. Well, that two months has already come and gone. She arrived on May 13th. I had made plans for the next day's lunch for us to eat with the Nelson's who are from Evansville and currently live in China. They were passing through Hong Kong on their way back to the states. So for Ann's first official meal in Hong Kong she had Italian food. Since I had to go back to school, they took her on a bit of a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong island and took her to a very popular place.

Krispie Kreme Donuts.

Ann spent the next few days getting over jet lag and adjusting to life in the big crazy city. She started her classes on Monday May 19th. She had two classes a day one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Form 5 students who had been out of school since February, studying for and taking public exams, came back to the school to be in her classes. This was additional practice for their oral English Exam that they had to take during June.

Towards the end of the school year, the Form 5 students have a graduation dinner with their teachers, and since Ann was currently working with them on their exam practice they invited her to join too. It was a nice evening. I hadn't seen some of the students since February, so it was nice to see them again. It was funny to see some of them too, because I am so used to seeing them in their uniforms and for this dinner they get all dressed up.

Ann, Janice and Me

Vivian, Iris and Phoebe --
(They call themselves the VIP girls: because of their initials)

One of the things that Ann was hoping to do while here in Hong Kong was visit an orphanage in Mainland China. Unfortunately the Chinese government has stopped all groups going to volunteer at orphanages until after the Olympics. But Ann got to do something that she wasn't expecting to do. I have two friends here that are Bible Smugglers. I introduced Ann to them and they asked her if she would like to go with them. So the week before Ann left she went across the border twice smuggling Bibles.

While Ann was here we also did quite a few fun things...Disneyland, Shopping and Massages in Mainland China and Afternoon High Tea at the Grand Hyatt.

Ann left on bright and early on July 7th. It was really hard to see her go and not to be getting on the plane with her. I cried at the airport and pretty much the whole way back to my apartment. It was really weird walking in and not seeing her and her stuff. I had gotten used to having a roommate for the last two months and now I had to go back to being by myself.

Ann hadn't been feeling well right before she left Hong Kong, so as soon as her plane landed in Evansville she went to the doctor and found out that she has Mono. Please pray for her as she continues to recover from that and also as she continues to seek God's will for her life. For me, please pray that I won't be as homesick as I have been this past month. It really makes it hard for me to be an effective witness when I really want to be in the States. I apologize if you emailed me this month and I didn't get back to you. It's hard to write when you are homesick.

Navy Visit

At the end of June another group of Navy Ships were in town. This time I hosted 4 sailors from the USS Decatur. The end of the school year, we only have half days, so I was able to meet up with them in the afternoon and take them through Hong Kong Park and to the Peak. Then Ann joined us for another great dinner at the "American Peking Restaurant." We had a great meal and a fun time. After dinner we headed to the ladies market so they could do some shopping.

Charles, Ann, Me, Nichole, Beth and Sonya

Nikelle's Bridal Shower

My dearest friend here in Hong Kong is Nikelle. She and I lived together the first time I was here and over the four years that I was back in the States, we continued to keep in touch: she came to visit me and I came back to Hong Kong to visit her. Then when I moved back, she was very generous to open her home to me until I could find a place to live.

Well she is getting married this October, so I decided to throw her a Bridal Shower. Apparently, Bridal Showers are an American thing. None of the ladies in the English Department had ever been to one. Not even Nikelle: she is from Australia. It was a pleasure to plan this for her and a blast to be at since everything was so new for all the ladies.

Working on the word scramble

Using Toilet Paper to design a wedding dress

The three TP brides

The whole group
Back: Koey, Melva, Daphne
Middle: Christina, Teresa, Ann, Nikelle, Katie, Natalia
Front: May, Florence, So

Filipino Ministry

Back in January I got the opportunity to do a cooking class for some Filipino ladies who are a part of the Filipino ministry that my church runs. This ministry is an outreach to domestic helpers. The cooking classes are so that the women can learn to cook "Western" food for their employers. I found out the end of May, what good cooks these ladies really are. The church held a cooking contest for them and I got to be a judge. We had to judge not only on taste but also the presentation of the food. It was all so good; it was hard to declare a winner.

Shannon Hilliard--Pastor's wife gave the devotional

Yummy Food!

Some of the ladies

If by chance you know some different Filipino foods, here is a list of the dishes and drinks that they prepared.

Ube Halaya, Fresh Lumpia, Pancit Malabon, Puot Pao, Guinattang Halu-Halo, Glutinous Rice in Lumpia wrapper, Maja Blanca, Banana Turon, Biko, Bibingka, Buko Salad, Palabok, Leche Flan, Bihon Guisado, Suman Inangit, Calamansi Juice, Sagot & Gulaman, Pinamansi, Halu-Halo, Mango Puree Sago.

Prayer Request

Why do I seem to start my newsletters with some variation of "it's been too long" I don't know about you but time just seems to slip away and I don't always find the time to sit down and write out all that has been going on. I need to get better at doing little bits when I have time, rather than trying to find big blocks of time.

It is definitely Summertime in Hong Kong. The combination of heat, humidity and pollution makes it awful to be outside. I am so very thankful for Willis Carrier and his wonderful invention of Air Conditioning. I wouldn't be able to make it in HongKong without it.

Back in May, I sent out some prayer requests so I thought I would update you on these.

1. One of my students, Ruby: her father just passed away last week. It was very sudden and unexpected. Please pray for comfort for her and her family and also for any financial needs that they may have without him. (She is doing fairly well, I don't have much of a chance to talk with her, but when I see her in the hallways she is always full of smiles, so I think that is a good sign)

2. One of my students, Phoebe: her mom has been diagnosed with Cancer. I am not sure what kind, but they are doing more tests on her. (Phoebe said that the tumor is not cancerous after all, but the doctor wants to watch it and will be doing follow-up checks regularly on it)

3. One of my co-workers, Teresa: her daughter was rushed to the hospital yesterday due to some kind of epileptic episode. The doctors are doing tests, but are unsure of what is causing this in her. Her daughter is 7 years old. (Teresa's daughter is home from the hospital and hasn't had another episode. Please pray for wisdom for them as they try to decide if they should put her on medication or what type of treatment that they should do.)

4. A friend of mine: she has been dealing depression. (She has realized her need for Jesus, realizing He is beyond just a distant thing that is talked about at church, but rather that she is able to trust Him with all of her needs and rely on Him for strength to deal with all things. Please pray that she will continue this searching and reaching out for God. She is starting to come to church with me and we are doing a Bible Study together every week.)

In all of the situations please pray for wisdom for me in talking with them and comforting them. Pray that they will see Jesus through me and that I can point them to the one that will give them the ultimate healing and comfort. (God has truly given me wisdom in a variety of situations. As it says in I Corinthians, I am able to “boast in the Lord.” I have been able to point people to God and explain that the wisdom I have is not my own, but rather from God.)

5. Ann arrived last week. Please continue to pray for her adjustment to life in HK. Also pray for the time she spends with the students that she will be able to connect with them quickly, help them with their English and show them Jesus. (Ann has come and gone already. The eight weeks she was here flew by. I have more about her time here in a post on my blog. )

Thank you all so much for your prayers and the continued financial support, I am so thankful that I have this support team behind me. I couldn't be here without you.

Earthquake in China.

I have heard from quite a few people wanting to make sure that I am ok since there was an earthquake in China yesterday. I am fine, I didn't even feel anything. To give you a perspective on where I am vs. the location of the earthquake...the distance from Evansville would be if there was an earthquake on the Kansas/Colorado Border (approximately) As you can see from the map below, the earthquake was in central China and Hong Kong is down on the coast.



But just because I'm ok, don't stop praying. Almost 10,000 people have died and many more are still trapped/missing. Also please continue to pray for the victims of the cyclone in Burma/Myanmar. The Burmese government is hardly allowing aid to come into the country and hundreds of thousands are going with out food and clean water.

Newsletter 6

Well it has been too long since I last wrote an official newsletter and for that I apologize.

Sometimes when you are in the moment of life, you don't always see the ways that God is working. Not because you don't want to see it, but rather because you are so busy living life. A few years ago, my Pastor from my church in Indiana challenged the congregation to look for God in little things of everyday life. It was something that I tried to do but I have to admit I got back into the hustle and bustle of life and I didn't always see how He was working in the little things every day. I have a friend who often send emails telling of how and where she sees God working. These "I Spy" emails have been my little reminders that I need to be looking for God, not just in the big things but also in the little things. Imagine how much more wonderful our worship would be if we really saw Him working in everything in our lives.

I have been trying lately to look for God in the little things. Here are some ways that I have recently seen God working in my life and through me.

• Moving and settling here cost me quite a bit more than I expected. In the last two months, people have continued to donate money to help with these costs. I am so very greatful. ( Since the checks were given through the church, at this writing I am still not sure who gave, but please know that I am so thankful for your generosity.)
  
• Good Friends--God has blessed me with good friends both at home and here. There have been many times when I have been homesick and I have come home from school and a friend had sent me a card. They have all been so encouraging.
  
• A few months ago my friend Liz asked me if I knew any teachers that were needing a job because her school was looking to hire. I told her I didn't but I would keep my eyes and ears open. Days later I was contacted by an old friend from Evansville, Josh. Josh and his wife Patricia had been living in China, but this past summer they were arrested for having a church meeting and kicked out & banned from China. He was wanting to be as close to China as possible to be able to still work with the pastors he worked with there, so he was hoping to move to Hong Kong. Did I know of any jobs or any other connections. Long Story short...Josh and Patricia moved to Hong Kong 3 weeks ago and he is working at Liz's school.
• At the end February my friend Nikelle and I were driving in her car in a very congested area of town and we were basically sideswiped by a bus. The bus was pulling out from a bus-stop and didn't accurately judge where his back end was. He hit us starting at the front tire and finished by ripping off the front bumper of her car. God protected us in that Nikelle was paying attention and was able to stop before we were hit. If she hadn't stopped, we would have been farther up and the bus would have hit right where I was sitting. When the policeman arrived, we were so thankful that he spoke English.
  
• God has given me the gift of gab and hospitality and I have been able to use that when the US ships have come into town. I have been able to host 3 different groups for dinner. This last group that was in town used my talents of tour guide too.
  
• Last week was English week at the school. We had lots of different activities for the students to participate in and I was in charge of quite a bit of things. God has also given me the gift of administration so I was able to use that in preparing things. There were sometimes when I was needed in two different places at once, and wasn't able to give 100% to either thing, but in the end everything ran smoothly and the whole week was a big success.
  

I know that I could go on with more things, but then this letter would be too long. So, on to prayer requests.

Prayer Requests:

Students:

• Health--There has been a scare recently of a flu outbreak in Hong Kong. So now everyday the students have to check their temperatures before coming to school and show their homeroom teacher what it is. In March there were 2 primary students in Hong Kong that died from the flu.
  
• Endurance--School doesn't end here until the middle of July. The students are already seeming antsy to get out for the summer.
• Form 5 & 7--They are taking their public exams now.
  

Orphanage in Mainland China: The orphans have been sick a lot recently and so the visits have been put on hold

Church Move: Since my church here was first started, it has been a nomadic church. We haven't had a church building that was actually ours. The church has tried to rent the same space at the convention center every week, but it hasn't always been available so we have moved around the city. You always had to check the church website to make sure you knew where to go for church. Well finally the church has found a location for a permanent venue. As long as the construction work stays on schedule we will be moving into the new facilities in the middle of May. Please pray that the move goes smoothly and that this new building will be used for the glory of God. Having a permanent venue will open a lot of doors for the church to do ministries that they haven't been able to do before.

Josh and Patricia--That they will continue to get settled in their new home and that their adjustment to life in Hong Kong will be smooth. Please pray for their ministry that they have had in China and that the distance that the pastors will have to travel to meet with them will not be a hindrance to them.

Ann Osburn--She will be coming to volunteer at my school. She will be here from May 13-July 7th. I listed a bunch of prayer requests on the blog for her. The big ones right now are for her preparation time and her China visa. One of the things she is hoping to do is to go to the Orphanage while she is here and she needs to have the China visa for that.

Accountability Groups--I am currently in an Accountability group with 3 other gals. Please pray that we would be consistent with meeting together and praying for each other. Also I am going to be meeting with the leaders of the other groups in hopes to try to encourage them to be accountable as leaders and to be mentors for the gals in their groups.

I would love to hear how you have seen God working in the small things in your life. Leave me a comment or if you don't want to share it on the blog drop me an email.

SPECIAL VISITOR

In less than 30 days I am getting a special visitor to my home.
My friend, Ann Osburn.

Ann and I met last in February '07. I was standing at the table for the Hong Kong mission trip and she came up to the table and said that she was interested in learning more about the trip. Well fast forward a few months and Ann was one of the 1o who went on the trip to Hong Kong and China last summer with me. While on the trip, Ann was able to build relationships with students both in China and in Hong Kong. During this trip, God also worked in Ann's life regarding the direction she should go for her education and future. Ann decided to change her major to English Education and is now currently working on her degree at USI. God has opened the door for Ann to come to Hong Kong again this summer. This time she will be here for 8 weeks.

Ann arrives in Hong Kong on May 13th. During her time here she will be doing a variety of things:

1. Connecting again with the students she met last summer and doing Bible Studies with them.
   
2. Working with Form 5 students as they do last minute preparations for their Oral exams
3. Doing presentations at Morning Assembly
   
4. Visiting the Orphanage in China
5. And anything else for which God may open the door
   

Please pray for the following things regarding her trip:

1. All of her support will be raised.
2. Her preparation time will be fruitful.
3. She will be able to get a visa to China. She doesn't need one for Hong Kong, but to be able to go to the orphanage she will need one and China is not accepting applications for them here so she must get it before she leaves the USA.
   
4. She will have safe travel
5. She will be living with me...Two girls living in less than 400 sq. ft. YIKES :)
   
6. Our time together would be a time that will bring us closer as friends and will bring us closer to God.
7. She will quickly adjust to HK life
8. She will not experience homesickness
9. She will quickly reconnect with students from last summer.
10. She will quickly connect with new students.
    
11. She will have good time management
12. She will have discernment--She will have the opportunity to work with about 200 students, pray that she will be able to see where God is already working in their lives and she will be able to come in and work along side God.
    
13. Her relationship with God will be strengthened and deepened by this experience.