Day 1:
Hi !Greetings from the Chinese University of HK! We are staying at some staff lodges which I suspect are older buildings, because the facilities are not that great. I finally managed to get internet by walking over to the other wing of the building to get Wi-Fi; the LAN cable came to no use!Anyway, I'm going to be attached to the Cheung Chau Church in the New Territories :/
I was hoping to get a church in Mongkok, Kowloon, or Central (for obvious reasons) but looks like God really wants me to work hard this trip. Tomorrow we'll be visiting the HK Monetary Authority & HK exchanges and Clearing Limited & St James' Settlement to learn more about the HK market. Should be quite interesting.
The people here are friendly and most of them speak English decently which helps alot. When the HKers get into their Cantonese they're so fast that I lose track. But it'll be a good canto crash course for me. I am determined to come back speaking more of it.
Something odd to note however, I feel there is a lack of emphasis on God so far during this trip. Everything seems to be focused on how the Church is doing stuff to impact society, or like how the Church needs to reinvent the ways it conducts missions, but nothing on God, which I find quite worrying. Perhaps it's just the first day, but we didn't have an opening prayer, neither did we say grace together before we started the first meal. Hmmm. Just something to think about. This is a short update for now.
"Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." - Psalm 100
So I shared with the rest of the group members how I felt and a few of them echoed my sentiments, but I think that perhaps it's too early to tell. One of the organisers was explaining today that the purpose of this conference was MISSION. And I think I am too used to the simplistic mission trip, where you simply go and provide aid to the people who need it.
Day 3:
As it is very late now, I will try to keep this short and sharp because I want to get to bed! The HKers brought us out to supper and we just got back a while ago. The food was very tasty (and I suspect unhealthy); we had some roasted pigeons & fried squid mouths (this was excellent!)
Just to give a quick summary, the theme for today was "Meaning of Life in the City". We had 2 speakers in the morning who talked about the meaning of life to HKers, first from a secular perspective - he's a social activist who has done quite a number of radical things in his life - and then from a Christian perspective - a prof from the CUHK school of divinity.
Day 4:
Hi people! The typhoon has still hit HK, so we were not able to attend a youth worship service tonight. However, the good thing is that the typhoon will be at its highest level sometime tonight while we're asleep, which means it should have dissipated by the time our programme starts tomorrow! Praise God for that! Today we had another seminar in the morning, and the 2 speakers spoke on the topic of "national identity". As was expected, this was quite a touchy topic with the HK, Taiwan, and Macau participants getting involved. The discussion was insightful and I really got to see first-hand how these non-mainland chinese feel about the mainland government!
As the youth worship service was cancelled, we had a small scale worship service in one of the LT's in CUHK, and the Holy communion was served thereafter. What was special about this service was that each country had a slot of 10min to lead worship, and each country brought their culture and uniqueness to the table: the Koreans with their simple yet passionate worship, the Taiwanese with their lively song & dance, and so on. I was very moved as I thought about how Jesus would've felt looking at us worshipping; He has seen His bride, the church grow from a small community in Asia Minor to communities now all over the world. For this service, many of the participants dressed up in their national costumes, so there was a massive phototaking session thereafter.
Also, I've found out where I'm going for my local church attachment. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheung_Chau Cheung Chau is like a small tourist destination, with good food and good beaches. I will be helping out at the C.C.C. Cheung Chau Church which runs a primary school on this tiny island. From what I heard, the ILHKM participants will be organising a funfair for the residents. Hope that turns out well! It's about an hour ferry ride away though, so please pray against seasickness when I leave for there on Monday.
Day 5:
Hi everyone, This morning we attended Sunday Service at Hop Yat Church, the oldest church in HK. It's a beautiful building and apparently many couples choose to hold their weddings there. After which we visited the Sun Yat-Sen Museum and Victoria's Peak, and we were allowed some time to shop at a shopping centre at Sha Tin. My group wasn't that keen on shopping though so I didn't get to do my part to stimulate the HK economy. Oh well!
Anyway, I got to know my local church group better today. The 8 of us consist of 02 x HKers, 02 x Taiwanese, 01 x Myanmarese, 01 x Korean, 01 x Malaysian, and myself, so you can imagine the communication difficulty we have! Please pray for us to be able to gel together as a team as right now we're all quite untalkative.
As for our itinerary, we only have 2 main events planned, a cooking class for young kids on Saturday (25 Jul 09), and a cultural fair on Sunday (26 Jul 09). Other than that I don't think there's anything formally planned yet. As for accommodation, we'll be split up and staying individually with various church members and their families. Thank you for all your prayers thus far, and I ask for more prayer covering especially for this local mission attachment. Pray for journey mercies as we take a 1h ferry to the island, and for protection and safety throughout our stay there. Pray also for the Holy Spirit to fill all of us continually and guide us as we serve the people there.
Day 6:
Lei Ho! Greetings from Cheung Chau Island! For those of you who read my earlier update with the wikipedia article on Cheung Chau, I expressed worry that Cheung Chau would be very ulu, like attap huts and all. How wrong I was! When I first got off the ferry I saw a McDonalds, a Watsons, and a DBS - yes, our favourite national bank - in quick succession! It's a bit like ubin, but bigger, more developed, and definitely more modern. It's only been 2 days, but I'm really beginning to love this place.
Let me start with what happened yesterday. We arrived at Cheung Chau and visited the Church of Christ in China Cheung Chau Church (6C's). Yes, it's a mouthful innit? After which, I went to meet my hosting family. I am staying in a container, literally, on the top floor of their maisonette kind of house. It's tiny and a bit of a squeeze, but bearable. Best part is that they've got wireless! My hosting family is amazing. They are very nice and hospitable; they consist of a grandma, 2 daughters (one of whom is married), 1 son-in-law, 1 grandson (he's 6 yrs old and very adorable), and a dog. Unlike the mainland HKers, they are less stressed out and very family-oriented. Initially there were some communication problems, but they've gotten better, and we laugh at the times I make mistakes in my guongdong wa & they make mistakes in their mandarin. After dinner they took me out for a walk to see more of the island, and it looks very quaint at night.
Day 7:
Today we had devotion in the morning before we had a proper tour & history of CCCCCC. The church is connected also to a kindergarten which is run by them. The kindergarten building seems quite new. What we'll be doing here is putting together a Kids Cooking Class (for Pri Sch kids) & an East Asia Cultural Fun Fair on the weekend, so we also planned which food to cook - think we're gonna try bubor cha cha - and what stalls to have for the fun fair. After which we went out to explore the island on bicycle & to buy supplies. I hate to say this, but I really don't feel like I'm on a mission trip. Cheung Chau is so beautiful. The scenery is awesome. The buildings have an old world charm. The place is just so colorful. It really is a photographer's paradise. The whole time as we were exploring the island I couldn't help but give praise to the creator, to exalt Him for the wonders His hand has created!
You guys have got to come here one day. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. (Sorry Shaun.)Had dinner with my hosting family again, and we played jenga & some board games after that. They are really a great bunch of people. They've also taken to calling me kor kor in front of the grandson, and he is less shy today.
Prayer requests: Thank you once again for all your prayers. I really thank God for His provision and His love and His creation and He is just an awesome God. Please pray for us in Cheung Chau to loosen up a bit. I feel that today our group dynamic has got alot better, but during discussion times we are still highly untalkative. Also, please pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance as we decide what to plan for the kids here.
Day 8:
Hi everyone, I am rather irritated now because hotmail just lost the entire report I typed out earlier and so I'm retyping it now. Argh. I will try to keep things short. Today was a busy day and not as glamourous as yesterday. In the morning we visited a couple of churches, Peniel church & Cheung Chau Alliance Church. The former was set up by an American missionary, while the latter is the largest church on the island, and both have a drumset in the sanctuary! As we were touring both churches, I was praying in the spirit for each church & the people of the island, and I felt led to pray for the young people in the community. I just feel like God wants to send revival to this land, and an awakening is gonna happen in the youths! Pray along with me! I believe something is in store for them!
After which we visited a secondary school - Cheung Chau Government Secondary School. It's 103 (?) years old and still retains a colonial building. Some classrooms even have fireplaces! And then we went to the local hospital - St John Hospital - to interview the hospital chaplain. We talked with her about her ministry, why she decided to work there, and she shared some testimonies of how she prayed for some patients and they were healed! -Maybe we should introduce a hospital chaplaincy in SG? If not at the govt hospitals perhaps we can start from the private ones?
Oh yeah she was also sharing that H1N1 had affected her ministry. I was praying for her throughout the interview, and I just feel like she's in a very unique position to touch the lives of patients especially in the form of divine & complete healing. Please pray along with me that she will have more of these healing encounters!After these visits we headed back to CCCCCC to properly plan for the East Asian Cultural Fun Fair. I think it only struck us today that we have quite a lot to accomplish. Anyhow, thank God that we're about 70% prepared. Each country is coming up with their own cultural game, and the SG stall (Run by me) will be playing Pepsi Cola! (Some credit must go to Ben Chan for the inspiration). Hopefully the kids don't end up killing each other.
Finally we ended the day with a bbq dinner at the church. The style of bbq here is different, we all sit around a small stove with skewers and cook our food. This way we talk more & eat less, which was the objective, according to my HK friend. Well, i think the SG style is more effective, we talk more and eat more too! Haha..Thank God that my group is getting more close-knit! And thank God that we were able to catch the eclipse today too! Moreover, with the help of 2 strips of film and my shades, we were able to capture it on photo too!
Day 9:
Hi there, My local mission attachment here has been really tiring. Throw in the sweltering heat of summer and by the end of each day I feel like I've been completely sapped of my energy! As such I will strive to sleep earlier tonight, hence the earlier update. Today was another exhausting day. After our daily devotion in the morning and breakfast, we headed to explore the northern part of CC which we had not been to yet. We went on a hike on the "Mini-Great Wall" and were treated to spectacular views of God's creation. We even climbed on some rock formations which overlooked the sea - it was quite scary I assure you - and the scenery is simply magnificent. God is amazing. After which we returned to CCCCCC where we further prepared for our cooking class & the fun fair.
Kai Leng, one of the Malaysians in the group, tested out her Bubor Cha Cha recipe, and let's just say it was a good effort! We were not able to find gula melaka and resorted to gula kelapa instead (slightly different). We also finalised the preparations for the fun fair, buying the prizes and packaging today. One of the bigger prizes are these notebooks of which we are designing the cover to include blessings in our 6 different languages - Chinese (trad.), Chinese (simplified), English, Malay, Korean, & Burmese.
I pray that this will be a prophetic act where God's power is released to the community by means of these books.That's it for today's programme, but let me just expound a bit on the religious practices on the island. I found out today that despite the small size of this place, it has 6 churches on it, and... wait for it... 8 temples! So the churches are kinda losing out? Almost everywhere we go there is an altar or a temple to the Chinese deities. There is also an annual bun festival, one of the main tourist events here, which has origins as a Taoist sacrificial ceremony. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheung_Chau_Bun_Festival)
I just feel like this island has been in bondage to the prince of the air for too long, and God wants to do something about it. Pray that we as a team will be able to plant some seeds here, which will take root, and bear fruit!Thank you so much for your prayer support. I must admit that it doesn't seem as glamourous as the TMT, but I hope you will continue to pray for us here.
Day 10:
Hi everyone, One down, one more to go! We had out Little Chef's class this afternoon and it went quite well :) Praise God! No one got hurt, the kids had fun, and some of them actually had decent tasting bubor cha cha! The kids are really adorable, especially when they've all got masks on. Anyway, the rest of today was spent preparing for tomorrow's East Asia Cultural Fun Fair. Most of the things are in place, and now we're just waiting for the kids to turn up and have fun. Please help me pray for the following:
1. That many kids do indeed turn up. Due to bad planning, the first and only publicity was done on Friday afternoon (by means of us standing in the streets in our costumes giving out flyers), and I think it's hard to expect people to come in 2 days notice. However, our God is the God of the impossible, and I believe that He can help us surpass our target!
2. There is a bit of friction within the group; a few of us including myself are a bit dissatisfied with the poor organisation and time management from the hosting church representatives, and especially with their lack of initiative to take ownership of the activities for this weekend. It's been underlying for a while and today was the first time that the few of us who felt this way voice our opinions among ourselves. Personally, I feel that it's a good learning experience for everybody involved (learn from mistakes). However, pray that this underlying tension will not escalate into something ugly, especially as the end of our CC mission draws closer, and pray for maturity in dealing with our our discontentments.
In a less negative light, tonight my hosting family had a barbecue at their place, on the rooftop outside my container. I can still hear them outside talking! They are brilliant! The grandma, who's the homemaker, did my laundry today without me even asking! She just saw the bag of dirty clothes I had, and washed them all, dried them, folded them, and laid them out neatly on my bed. Unbelievable. God is great! Such awesome hospitality! May God bless this family so richly! Latest news on the h1n1 case: He is doing ok, now being quarantined in a hotel room. Continue to pray for those in his host church who were infected too, that they will also recover. Pray for that entire group that they will be protected from all sickness and harm. Thanks!
Day 11:
Hello there! Some exciting and serious stuff today, before I start:
1. I had my **FIRST HEALING** :) One of my teammates was not feeling well, like she had running nose and flu-like symptoms so I asked if I could pray for her, and she agreed. After declaring her identity in Christ and the authority we have in Him, I commanded the sickness to leave, and she could breathe clearly instantly! All glory to God! She was taken aback at this little miracle and asked how I did it, and I explained that it was Christ in me, the hope of glory. I also went through some scriptures with her, and some basic doctrinal understanding. Thank God for this little display of His glory, and may there be more opportunities to live out the gospel through the demonstration of the Spirit's power. (1 Cor 2:4)! Pray also for a spirit of boldness to exercise faith when the time comes.
****2. One of the Malaysian participants, Brian, has caught H1N1. He is not with my group but is at another church; some of the youths from this church have also been found to have H1N1. Please pray for him and his group who might have to be quarantined etc. Pray for the manifest presence of the Lord to be released upon them that H1N1 will have no place in their bodies in Jesus' name!
Today, the observer group came to visit us in Cheung Chau. (The observers are basically the various Rev's / Pastors from different countries who come to observe the conference) They came to check on us and talk to the local church representatives, before we left to tour the Alliance Bible Seminary which is on the island. It is the largest theological seminary in HK, and it's located here - yup, interesting bit of trivia, but perhaps indicative of something more sinister?
After the tour and lunch, we did publicity for the East Asia Cultural Fun Fair by dressing up in our national costumes and handing out flyers in the street. Tin hei yid sei lo, so I was sweating like a sumo in a sauna, but it was fun, especially when we got reactions of bemusement from the locals. I personally think I looked like Jet Li in my outfit. Don't know if they know who he is here though!
Following the tiring publicity, we had a seafood dinner with some of the church staff at one of the restaurants. Like the fishermen catch stuff and bring it straight into the restaurant for consumption purposes. We had some funky prawn thing (I can't rmb the exact name) which is a hassle to peel and takes years to master peeling. The ppl of CC really love their seafood though; one of the guys, ZZ, told me that his aunt can finish an entire crab by herself, clearing out every morsel of meat within the shell. Ho lang!
We then visited the church's basketball fellowship, a basketball training session held free-of-charge for the youths which ends with a short sharing / message. Interestingly, ask most HKers what sport they enjoy and they'll admit they don't play sports much - they have no time for it! But the people of CC are quite different. Life here is not as stressful / competitive and they enjoy basketball, football, & especially swimming.
Ok then, that's it for my update today. Oh please pray for us tomorrow as we are having our Little Chef's class. We are going ahead with the bubor cha cha & coleslaw recipes, so please pray that the kids will not do anything silly while cutting the vegetables.
Day 12:
Hi all,First things first, urgent prayer request for Brian's team: if you recall, Brian is one of the M'sian participants who caught H1N1. Latest update is that 3 more of them have been diagnosed with H1N1, including Amanda, a Singaporean participant. Amanda says they're doing ok, just gotta visit the clinic regularly for check-ups. I am assuming they are being quarantined. Please keep them in prayer!
Today, our group attended the CCCCCC Sunday School followed by their Sunday Service. This was a very proper presbyterian service, with responsive reading, gloria patri, fourfold amen all. (Something different for me) Thereafter we started gearing up for the East Asian Cultural Fair, and praise God, it went great! As expected, we severely missed our target, but we still had about 30 kids turn up. Moreover, their parents came as well to participate, which added to the fun! The SG stall was a hit! I taught the participants how to play Pepsi Cola 1-2-3 and I was pleasantly surprised at their huge enthusiasm and interest in the game! Even the old aunties took part! (some bullied the young kids though). More notably, one of the CC girls (she can't be older than 9 years old) was impressive. She was able to do splits and actually get her targets!
After the funfair we headed over to the only hotel in CC island, the Warwick Hotel, for the official church farewell dinner. All the hosting families were present, and we had a good time getting to know each other. CC is a very close-knit community and very family-oriented, so everyone kinda knows everyone else and their family too. I tried the local HK beer, called Blue Girl Beer; it's ok only la, not as good as the european beers. Anyway, after coming back home, my hosting family and I had a little gift exchange. They are positively awesome, they put a scrapbook together of the photos we've taken over the past week! They have truly made me feel like a part of their family, and they are such a great example of the generosity that Jesus has called us to.
Ok then, it is so late already! I will be returning to HK mainland tomorrow, and am quite sad to be leaving CC, especially this brilliant family. Will update you from there tomorrow. Pray for journey mercies as we take the ferry & MTR.
Hi !Greetings from the Chinese University of HK! We are staying at some staff lodges which I suspect are older buildings, because the facilities are not that great. I finally managed to get internet by walking over to the other wing of the building to get Wi-Fi; the LAN cable came to no use!Anyway, I'm going to be attached to the Cheung Chau Church in the New Territories :/
I was hoping to get a church in Mongkok, Kowloon, or Central (for obvious reasons) but looks like God really wants me to work hard this trip. Tomorrow we'll be visiting the HK Monetary Authority & HK exchanges and Clearing Limited & St James' Settlement to learn more about the HK market. Should be quite interesting.
The people here are friendly and most of them speak English decently which helps alot. When the HKers get into their Cantonese they're so fast that I lose track. But it'll be a good canto crash course for me. I am determined to come back speaking more of it.
Something odd to note however, I feel there is a lack of emphasis on God so far during this trip. Everything seems to be focused on how the Church is doing stuff to impact society, or like how the Church needs to reinvent the ways it conducts missions, but nothing on God, which I find quite worrying. Perhaps it's just the first day, but we didn't have an opening prayer, neither did we say grace together before we started the first meal. Hmmm. Just something to think about. This is a short update for now.
Day 2:
Today was the first real day of the conference, where we began on the programme proper. I'm quite tired now, so please excuse me if I sound incoherent. Interestingly, this morning's devotion (the SG team does our own devotion as a grp in the mornings) was precisely on what was pressing on my heart last night:
Today was the first real day of the conference, where we began on the programme proper. I'm quite tired now, so please excuse me if I sound incoherent. Interestingly, this morning's devotion (the SG team does our own devotion as a grp in the mornings) was precisely on what was pressing on my heart last night:
"Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." - Psalm 100
So I shared with the rest of the group members how I felt and a few of them echoed my sentiments, but I think that perhaps it's too early to tell. One of the organisers was explaining today that the purpose of this conference was MISSION. And I think I am too used to the simplistic mission trip, where you simply go and provide aid to the people who need it.
In HK, much like Singapore, the society is very modern and MISSIONS in such a context must be viewed differently. That's also why the questioning tends to skew towards "how the Church can meet the needs of people in this setting", through various outreach programmes, etc.
NB: I feel quite strongly about this; alternatively, Christians could and should "infiltrate" all levels of society, take up places of influence, and share God's love; like leaven causing the whole bread to rise. (I feel quite strongly about this) We are called to be as shrewd as serpents and guileless like doves, perhaps it's time to be strategic in our MISSIONS as well.
So anyway, we had 2 talks in the morning on the economy in HK - both speakers focussed on the financial "tsunami", which is expected since the finance industry is their largest. After lunch we went to visit the HK Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the international finance centre (IFC). We took many pictures from the HKMA building though! Great views of the HK skyline and the harbour.
After that we visited St James Settlement which is this series of community welfare settlements located in the city itself, targetted at helping the poor and needy in HK, and run by HK churches. - have SG churches thought of doing this? some people asked me this question during the discussion session but I wasn't too sure.
The SG team also did a short 10min presentation on the SG economy and recent developments like sports tourism - YOG, F1, AYG etc. - and how the church is responding to these changes. I led a short icebreaker game modeled after the price is right and I think many of the participants were shocked at how expensive things are in SG, especially cars! The good thing that came out of today was the interaction with participants from other countries. I got to talk to HKers and Koreans today. (The HK & Taiwan girls are good-lookers, btw.) and I think as the trip progresses I'll meet even more people, which is great. Tomorrow I'll be leading worship with the SG team tmr morning. we'll also be going to Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, and some other place of which the name escapes me now. The HKers have offered to show us around, shopping & eating, and that sounds exciting! Not sure if we'll get to do that on the guided tours tomorrow, but eventually we will. Let me know if you want anything from here :)
Day 3:
As it is very late now, I will try to keep this short and sharp because I want to get to bed! The HKers brought us out to supper and we just got back a while ago. The food was very tasty (and I suspect unhealthy); we had some roasted pigeons & fried squid mouths (this was excellent!)
Just to give a quick summary, the theme for today was "Meaning of Life in the City". We had 2 speakers in the morning who talked about the meaning of life to HKers, first from a secular perspective - he's a social activist who has done quite a number of radical things in his life - and then from a Christian perspective - a prof from the CUHK school of divinity.
After which we visited Wong Tai Shin Temple and Tsim Sha Tsui to conduct some surveys on what the people valued in their life. This was extremely challenging due to the language barrier I faced with the HKers, but what was cool was that I got to interview some foreigners including a Frenchman (in some french) & an Australian. Other than the sight-seeing, we had some group discussions with the HK participants.
In short, I surmise that the HK society is a hugely stressful one, perhaps even more so than Singapore! And the HKers in my group expressed some sadness that their culture was like this. Singapore is so so similar to HK; even our bus & MRT (MTR) systems look alike! And they also suffer the "ungraciousness" that the SG govt is trying to correct, but perhaps to a greater extent. The worship led by the SG team this morning went great. I felt the manifest presence of God in the hall and I think many people were touched. Tomorrow we will be leading a shorter 10min segment during a Youth Worship service in an outside church, so pray that that will go well too :)
Day 4:
Hi people! The typhoon has still hit HK, so we were not able to attend a youth worship service tonight. However, the good thing is that the typhoon will be at its highest level sometime tonight while we're asleep, which means it should have dissipated by the time our programme starts tomorrow! Praise God for that! Today we had another seminar in the morning, and the 2 speakers spoke on the topic of "national identity". As was expected, this was quite a touchy topic with the HK, Taiwan, and Macau participants getting involved. The discussion was insightful and I really got to see first-hand how these non-mainland chinese feel about the mainland government!
As the youth worship service was cancelled, we had a small scale worship service in one of the LT's in CUHK, and the Holy communion was served thereafter. What was special about this service was that each country had a slot of 10min to lead worship, and each country brought their culture and uniqueness to the table: the Koreans with their simple yet passionate worship, the Taiwanese with their lively song & dance, and so on. I was very moved as I thought about how Jesus would've felt looking at us worshipping; He has seen His bride, the church grow from a small community in Asia Minor to communities now all over the world. For this service, many of the participants dressed up in their national costumes, so there was a massive phototaking session thereafter.
Also, I've found out where I'm going for my local church attachment. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheung_Chau Cheung Chau is like a small tourist destination, with good food and good beaches. I will be helping out at the C.C.C. Cheung Chau Church which runs a primary school on this tiny island. From what I heard, the ILHKM participants will be organising a funfair for the residents. Hope that turns out well! It's about an hour ferry ride away though, so please pray against seasickness when I leave for there on Monday.
Day 5:
Hi everyone, This morning we attended Sunday Service at Hop Yat Church, the oldest church in HK. It's a beautiful building and apparently many couples choose to hold their weddings there. After which we visited the Sun Yat-Sen Museum and Victoria's Peak, and we were allowed some time to shop at a shopping centre at Sha Tin. My group wasn't that keen on shopping though so I didn't get to do my part to stimulate the HK economy. Oh well!
Anyway, I got to know my local church group better today. The 8 of us consist of 02 x HKers, 02 x Taiwanese, 01 x Myanmarese, 01 x Korean, 01 x Malaysian, and myself, so you can imagine the communication difficulty we have! Please pray for us to be able to gel together as a team as right now we're all quite untalkative.
As for our itinerary, we only have 2 main events planned, a cooking class for young kids on Saturday (25 Jul 09), and a cultural fair on Sunday (26 Jul 09). Other than that I don't think there's anything formally planned yet. As for accommodation, we'll be split up and staying individually with various church members and their families. Thank you for all your prayers thus far, and I ask for more prayer covering especially for this local mission attachment. Pray for journey mercies as we take a 1h ferry to the island, and for protection and safety throughout our stay there. Pray also for the Holy Spirit to fill all of us continually and guide us as we serve the people there.
Day 6:
Lei Ho! Greetings from Cheung Chau Island! For those of you who read my earlier update with the wikipedia article on Cheung Chau, I expressed worry that Cheung Chau would be very ulu, like attap huts and all. How wrong I was! When I first got off the ferry I saw a McDonalds, a Watsons, and a DBS - yes, our favourite national bank - in quick succession! It's a bit like ubin, but bigger, more developed, and definitely more modern. It's only been 2 days, but I'm really beginning to love this place.
Let me start with what happened yesterday. We arrived at Cheung Chau and visited the Church of Christ in China Cheung Chau Church (6C's). Yes, it's a mouthful innit? After which, I went to meet my hosting family. I am staying in a container, literally, on the top floor of their maisonette kind of house. It's tiny and a bit of a squeeze, but bearable. Best part is that they've got wireless! My hosting family is amazing. They are very nice and hospitable; they consist of a grandma, 2 daughters (one of whom is married), 1 son-in-law, 1 grandson (he's 6 yrs old and very adorable), and a dog. Unlike the mainland HKers, they are less stressed out and very family-oriented. Initially there were some communication problems, but they've gotten better, and we laugh at the times I make mistakes in my guongdong wa & they make mistakes in their mandarin. After dinner they took me out for a walk to see more of the island, and it looks very quaint at night.
Day 7:
Today we had devotion in the morning before we had a proper tour & history of CCCCCC. The church is connected also to a kindergarten which is run by them. The kindergarten building seems quite new. What we'll be doing here is putting together a Kids Cooking Class (for Pri Sch kids) & an East Asia Cultural Fun Fair on the weekend, so we also planned which food to cook - think we're gonna try bubor cha cha - and what stalls to have for the fun fair. After which we went out to explore the island on bicycle & to buy supplies. I hate to say this, but I really don't feel like I'm on a mission trip. Cheung Chau is so beautiful. The scenery is awesome. The buildings have an old world charm. The place is just so colorful. It really is a photographer's paradise. The whole time as we were exploring the island I couldn't help but give praise to the creator, to exalt Him for the wonders His hand has created!
You guys have got to come here one day. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. (Sorry Shaun.)Had dinner with my hosting family again, and we played jenga & some board games after that. They are really a great bunch of people. They've also taken to calling me kor kor in front of the grandson, and he is less shy today.
Prayer requests: Thank you once again for all your prayers. I really thank God for His provision and His love and His creation and He is just an awesome God. Please pray for us in Cheung Chau to loosen up a bit. I feel that today our group dynamic has got alot better, but during discussion times we are still highly untalkative. Also, please pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance as we decide what to plan for the kids here.
Day 8:
Hi everyone, I am rather irritated now because hotmail just lost the entire report I typed out earlier and so I'm retyping it now. Argh. I will try to keep things short. Today was a busy day and not as glamourous as yesterday. In the morning we visited a couple of churches, Peniel church & Cheung Chau Alliance Church. The former was set up by an American missionary, while the latter is the largest church on the island, and both have a drumset in the sanctuary! As we were touring both churches, I was praying in the spirit for each church & the people of the island, and I felt led to pray for the young people in the community. I just feel like God wants to send revival to this land, and an awakening is gonna happen in the youths! Pray along with me! I believe something is in store for them!
After which we visited a secondary school - Cheung Chau Government Secondary School. It's 103 (?) years old and still retains a colonial building. Some classrooms even have fireplaces! And then we went to the local hospital - St John Hospital - to interview the hospital chaplain. We talked with her about her ministry, why she decided to work there, and she shared some testimonies of how she prayed for some patients and they were healed! -Maybe we should introduce a hospital chaplaincy in SG? If not at the govt hospitals perhaps we can start from the private ones?
Oh yeah she was also sharing that H1N1 had affected her ministry. I was praying for her throughout the interview, and I just feel like she's in a very unique position to touch the lives of patients especially in the form of divine & complete healing. Please pray along with me that she will have more of these healing encounters!After these visits we headed back to CCCCCC to properly plan for the East Asian Cultural Fun Fair. I think it only struck us today that we have quite a lot to accomplish. Anyhow, thank God that we're about 70% prepared. Each country is coming up with their own cultural game, and the SG stall (Run by me) will be playing Pepsi Cola! (Some credit must go to Ben Chan for the inspiration). Hopefully the kids don't end up killing each other.
Finally we ended the day with a bbq dinner at the church. The style of bbq here is different, we all sit around a small stove with skewers and cook our food. This way we talk more & eat less, which was the objective, according to my HK friend. Well, i think the SG style is more effective, we talk more and eat more too! Haha..Thank God that my group is getting more close-knit! And thank God that we were able to catch the eclipse today too! Moreover, with the help of 2 strips of film and my shades, we were able to capture it on photo too!
Day 9:
Hi there, My local mission attachment here has been really tiring. Throw in the sweltering heat of summer and by the end of each day I feel like I've been completely sapped of my energy! As such I will strive to sleep earlier tonight, hence the earlier update. Today was another exhausting day. After our daily devotion in the morning and breakfast, we headed to explore the northern part of CC which we had not been to yet. We went on a hike on the "Mini-Great Wall" and were treated to spectacular views of God's creation. We even climbed on some rock formations which overlooked the sea - it was quite scary I assure you - and the scenery is simply magnificent. God is amazing. After which we returned to CCCCCC where we further prepared for our cooking class & the fun fair.
Kai Leng, one of the Malaysians in the group, tested out her Bubor Cha Cha recipe, and let's just say it was a good effort! We were not able to find gula melaka and resorted to gula kelapa instead (slightly different). We also finalised the preparations for the fun fair, buying the prizes and packaging today. One of the bigger prizes are these notebooks of which we are designing the cover to include blessings in our 6 different languages - Chinese (trad.), Chinese (simplified), English, Malay, Korean, & Burmese.
I pray that this will be a prophetic act where God's power is released to the community by means of these books.That's it for today's programme, but let me just expound a bit on the religious practices on the island. I found out today that despite the small size of this place, it has 6 churches on it, and... wait for it... 8 temples! So the churches are kinda losing out? Almost everywhere we go there is an altar or a temple to the Chinese deities. There is also an annual bun festival, one of the main tourist events here, which has origins as a Taoist sacrificial ceremony. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheung_Chau_Bun_Festival)
I just feel like this island has been in bondage to the prince of the air for too long, and God wants to do something about it. Pray that we as a team will be able to plant some seeds here, which will take root, and bear fruit!Thank you so much for your prayer support. I must admit that it doesn't seem as glamourous as the TMT, but I hope you will continue to pray for us here.
Day 10:
Hi everyone, One down, one more to go! We had out Little Chef's class this afternoon and it went quite well :) Praise God! No one got hurt, the kids had fun, and some of them actually had decent tasting bubor cha cha! The kids are really adorable, especially when they've all got masks on. Anyway, the rest of today was spent preparing for tomorrow's East Asia Cultural Fun Fair. Most of the things are in place, and now we're just waiting for the kids to turn up and have fun. Please help me pray for the following:
1. That many kids do indeed turn up. Due to bad planning, the first and only publicity was done on Friday afternoon (by means of us standing in the streets in our costumes giving out flyers), and I think it's hard to expect people to come in 2 days notice. However, our God is the God of the impossible, and I believe that He can help us surpass our target!
2. There is a bit of friction within the group; a few of us including myself are a bit dissatisfied with the poor organisation and time management from the hosting church representatives, and especially with their lack of initiative to take ownership of the activities for this weekend. It's been underlying for a while and today was the first time that the few of us who felt this way voice our opinions among ourselves. Personally, I feel that it's a good learning experience for everybody involved (learn from mistakes). However, pray that this underlying tension will not escalate into something ugly, especially as the end of our CC mission draws closer, and pray for maturity in dealing with our our discontentments.
In a less negative light, tonight my hosting family had a barbecue at their place, on the rooftop outside my container. I can still hear them outside talking! They are brilliant! The grandma, who's the homemaker, did my laundry today without me even asking! She just saw the bag of dirty clothes I had, and washed them all, dried them, folded them, and laid them out neatly on my bed. Unbelievable. God is great! Such awesome hospitality! May God bless this family so richly! Latest news on the h1n1 case: He is doing ok, now being quarantined in a hotel room. Continue to pray for those in his host church who were infected too, that they will also recover. Pray for that entire group that they will be protected from all sickness and harm. Thanks!
Day 11:
Hello there! Some exciting and serious stuff today, before I start:
1. I had my **FIRST HEALING** :) One of my teammates was not feeling well, like she had running nose and flu-like symptoms so I asked if I could pray for her, and she agreed. After declaring her identity in Christ and the authority we have in Him, I commanded the sickness to leave, and she could breathe clearly instantly! All glory to God! She was taken aback at this little miracle and asked how I did it, and I explained that it was Christ in me, the hope of glory. I also went through some scriptures with her, and some basic doctrinal understanding. Thank God for this little display of His glory, and may there be more opportunities to live out the gospel through the demonstration of the Spirit's power. (1 Cor 2:4)! Pray also for a spirit of boldness to exercise faith when the time comes.
****2. One of the Malaysian participants, Brian, has caught H1N1. He is not with my group but is at another church; some of the youths from this church have also been found to have H1N1. Please pray for him and his group who might have to be quarantined etc. Pray for the manifest presence of the Lord to be released upon them that H1N1 will have no place in their bodies in Jesus' name!
Today, the observer group came to visit us in Cheung Chau. (The observers are basically the various Rev's / Pastors from different countries who come to observe the conference) They came to check on us and talk to the local church representatives, before we left to tour the Alliance Bible Seminary which is on the island. It is the largest theological seminary in HK, and it's located here - yup, interesting bit of trivia, but perhaps indicative of something more sinister?
After the tour and lunch, we did publicity for the East Asia Cultural Fun Fair by dressing up in our national costumes and handing out flyers in the street. Tin hei yid sei lo, so I was sweating like a sumo in a sauna, but it was fun, especially when we got reactions of bemusement from the locals. I personally think I looked like Jet Li in my outfit. Don't know if they know who he is here though!
Following the tiring publicity, we had a seafood dinner with some of the church staff at one of the restaurants. Like the fishermen catch stuff and bring it straight into the restaurant for consumption purposes. We had some funky prawn thing (I can't rmb the exact name) which is a hassle to peel and takes years to master peeling. The ppl of CC really love their seafood though; one of the guys, ZZ, told me that his aunt can finish an entire crab by herself, clearing out every morsel of meat within the shell. Ho lang!
We then visited the church's basketball fellowship, a basketball training session held free-of-charge for the youths which ends with a short sharing / message. Interestingly, ask most HKers what sport they enjoy and they'll admit they don't play sports much - they have no time for it! But the people of CC are quite different. Life here is not as stressful / competitive and they enjoy basketball, football, & especially swimming.
Ok then, that's it for my update today. Oh please pray for us tomorrow as we are having our Little Chef's class. We are going ahead with the bubor cha cha & coleslaw recipes, so please pray that the kids will not do anything silly while cutting the vegetables.
Day 12:
Hi all,First things first, urgent prayer request for Brian's team: if you recall, Brian is one of the M'sian participants who caught H1N1. Latest update is that 3 more of them have been diagnosed with H1N1, including Amanda, a Singaporean participant. Amanda says they're doing ok, just gotta visit the clinic regularly for check-ups. I am assuming they are being quarantined. Please keep them in prayer!
Today, our group attended the CCCCCC Sunday School followed by their Sunday Service. This was a very proper presbyterian service, with responsive reading, gloria patri, fourfold amen all. (Something different for me) Thereafter we started gearing up for the East Asian Cultural Fair, and praise God, it went great! As expected, we severely missed our target, but we still had about 30 kids turn up. Moreover, their parents came as well to participate, which added to the fun! The SG stall was a hit! I taught the participants how to play Pepsi Cola 1-2-3 and I was pleasantly surprised at their huge enthusiasm and interest in the game! Even the old aunties took part! (some bullied the young kids though). More notably, one of the CC girls (she can't be older than 9 years old) was impressive. She was able to do splits and actually get her targets!
After the funfair we headed over to the only hotel in CC island, the Warwick Hotel, for the official church farewell dinner. All the hosting families were present, and we had a good time getting to know each other. CC is a very close-knit community and very family-oriented, so everyone kinda knows everyone else and their family too. I tried the local HK beer, called Blue Girl Beer; it's ok only la, not as good as the european beers. Anyway, after coming back home, my hosting family and I had a little gift exchange. They are positively awesome, they put a scrapbook together of the photos we've taken over the past week! They have truly made me feel like a part of their family, and they are such a great example of the generosity that Jesus has called us to.
Ok then, it is so late already! I will be returning to HK mainland tomorrow, and am quite sad to be leaving CC, especially this brilliant family. Will update you from there tomorrow. Pray for journey mercies as we take the ferry & MTR.
Day 13-15:
Hi everyone, This is my final update for the HK trip! I will be leaving tomorrow at 1345hrs from HK International Aiport and arriving 1710hrs at Changi Airport Terminal 3. Should be taking the A380 again! ( Dan, SIA says it's not.)
The past 3 days have just passed too quickly. After our local mission attachments, I expected to have more time for sharing and discussion between the different host churches. Unfortunately, we were not afforded such luxury - a flaw in the schedule I feel - and the discussions were brief, rushed, and concluded too rashly for my liking.
Other than the post-attachment discussions, we played some ball games and had about 3 hours of free time, which I used to head to Festival Walk, a mall at Kowloon Tong. I still haven't had the chance to go to Mong Kok, which I'm rather peeved about! Festival Walk is ok, but it's like a typical mall a la vivocity. Managed to find some good buys though.
Today was an entire day of sightseeing. We had dim sum in the morning, went to the National Museum of History, followed by a trip to Noah's Ark, a life-size replica of Noah's Ark comprising exhibits of the history of the biblical story, environmental issues etc. It is run by a conglomerate of Christian organisations, including the Boys Brigade & YMCA, and I must say it is quite a popular tourist destination which cleverly and subtly includes gospel elements!
After all the sightseeing, we had a farewell dinner / ceremony. Everyone is quite sad to be parting ways tomorrow. I have made good friends from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Myanmar, & Korea, (great connections for mission trips / holidays) and I am intent on keeping these friendships going! I foresee a lot of tears at the airport tomorrow when we part ways finally.
I really thank God for this opportunity to have come for this trip, to learn more about the different cultures, and experience paradigm shifts. I want to share as much with you all as possible when I come back!
I will try to buy some lo po bang home tomorrow from the airport, and some other gifts. If you want anything urgently sms me at my usual number and I will try my best to get it.
Finally, I will end with a short testimony from the team who suffered H1N1 during the past week, recovered and returned to us safely! Amanda, the S'porean from that team was sharing her testimony with us earlier tonight. What happened was the first guy to suffer H1N1 (brian, the M'sian) had a high fever for 3 days and initially was the only one with H1N1. A couple of days later, 2 of the teammates developed flu-like symptoms and the team decided to visit the A&E at the nearest hospital. (which incidentally was in the next district as the area they were in is very poor) They arrived at 1am, and finally got to see the doctor about 4am. At 6am they received their prescriptions and headed back to the hostel.
That afternoon they each received calls to confirm that they had H1N1. The moment they received the news, they decided to come together and pray and worship God, and I believe that was when God acted. Subsequently, they no longer suffered any of the symptoms of H1N1! Diagnosed with H1N1, but not suffering any of its symptoms! That's a miracle! And even during their confinement (in a 3 star hotel, might I add) they continued to meet to pray and worship. Through the struggle they got to know each other so much better and grew closer to each other and to God. Praise the Lord!
Ok then, I am going to sleep now. I will see you all soon :) I am actually getting quite used to all this "goodbye" business, so I don't think I will be too sentimental at the airport tomorrow.
Hi everyone, This is my final update for the HK trip! I will be leaving tomorrow at 1345hrs from HK International Aiport and arriving 1710hrs at Changi Airport Terminal 3. Should be taking the A380 again! ( Dan, SIA says it's not.)
The past 3 days have just passed too quickly. After our local mission attachments, I expected to have more time for sharing and discussion between the different host churches. Unfortunately, we were not afforded such luxury - a flaw in the schedule I feel - and the discussions were brief, rushed, and concluded too rashly for my liking.
Other than the post-attachment discussions, we played some ball games and had about 3 hours of free time, which I used to head to Festival Walk, a mall at Kowloon Tong. I still haven't had the chance to go to Mong Kok, which I'm rather peeved about! Festival Walk is ok, but it's like a typical mall a la vivocity. Managed to find some good buys though.
Today was an entire day of sightseeing. We had dim sum in the morning, went to the National Museum of History, followed by a trip to Noah's Ark, a life-size replica of Noah's Ark comprising exhibits of the history of the biblical story, environmental issues etc. It is run by a conglomerate of Christian organisations, including the Boys Brigade & YMCA, and I must say it is quite a popular tourist destination which cleverly and subtly includes gospel elements!
After all the sightseeing, we had a farewell dinner / ceremony. Everyone is quite sad to be parting ways tomorrow. I have made good friends from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Myanmar, & Korea, (great connections for mission trips / holidays) and I am intent on keeping these friendships going! I foresee a lot of tears at the airport tomorrow when we part ways finally.
I really thank God for this opportunity to have come for this trip, to learn more about the different cultures, and experience paradigm shifts. I want to share as much with you all as possible when I come back!
I will try to buy some lo po bang home tomorrow from the airport, and some other gifts. If you want anything urgently sms me at my usual number and I will try my best to get it.
Finally, I will end with a short testimony from the team who suffered H1N1 during the past week, recovered and returned to us safely! Amanda, the S'porean from that team was sharing her testimony with us earlier tonight. What happened was the first guy to suffer H1N1 (brian, the M'sian) had a high fever for 3 days and initially was the only one with H1N1. A couple of days later, 2 of the teammates developed flu-like symptoms and the team decided to visit the A&E at the nearest hospital. (which incidentally was in the next district as the area they were in is very poor) They arrived at 1am, and finally got to see the doctor about 4am. At 6am they received their prescriptions and headed back to the hostel.
That afternoon they each received calls to confirm that they had H1N1. The moment they received the news, they decided to come together and pray and worship God, and I believe that was when God acted. Subsequently, they no longer suffered any of the symptoms of H1N1! Diagnosed with H1N1, but not suffering any of its symptoms! That's a miracle! And even during their confinement (in a 3 star hotel, might I add) they continued to meet to pray and worship. Through the struggle they got to know each other so much better and grew closer to each other and to God. Praise the Lord!
Ok then, I am going to sleep now. I will see you all soon :) I am actually getting quite used to all this "goodbye" business, so I don't think I will be too sentimental at the airport tomorrow.
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