Month Two- We'll try to get better about these titles

Well, it’s my turn now.  Carol has always been good at getting her thoughts typed up quickly and I’ve always been really good at getting my thoughts typed up slowly.  But now it is Mid-Autumn festival time in Hong Kong and that means 2 days off and extra time for me to whip up a blog of my own.  So, here goes…

The past week has been jam-packed with all kinds of exciting stuff.  We took the kids for a hike on a 3K nature trail this morning.  We stopped off at Subway (which just opened up here a couple stations away) on the way so we could have a picnic lunch.  The hike had an awful lot of stairs for a trail that was given the easiest possible rating, but our kids were awesome troopers and walked the entire thing, not to mention the trip from our home to the trail and back.  We knew Josiah was pretty durable, but the first couple of weeks here in HK Ava wouldn’t even walk down to the shop on the corner without begging to be held, so we were impressed.  The trail started off fairly harmless, we spotted a toad only a few feet onto the trail, but then our hike quickly became more exciting than we had planned.  We’ve heard stories about aggressive monkeys, so when we saw a group of them mingling on and around the path we got a little nervous.  When they did not budge even as we passed by I was more than a little worried that they were going to smell our sandwiches and demand payment to pass.  Fortunately we did not encounter any aggressive behavior, and instead had the interesting experience of walking next to wild monkeys within arms’ reach.

During the holiday we also took advantage of somewhat cooler temps to visit the HK Heritage Museum and stroll through the park nearby.  We also stopped off at a nice Vietnamese restaurant to try some Pho (we’ve heard lots of people rave about it, we’re not raving, but it was good).  Josiah did say that it was the best food he’s had, but he tends to live in the moment so that was not a surprise.  For example, the other day Carol asked him what his favorite part of HK was and he said it was the pink truck they had just seen.  Anyway, now that the weather is starting to cool off we’ll hopefully be able to get out and explore a little more.

I spent Wednesday through Friday at middle school camp (MSC henceforth), which was an overnight camp for all middle school students and teachers.  I wasn’t sure what to expect but MSC was very cool.  We rented out the local YMCA which had cabins, a pool, lots of recreation areas and a cafeteria.  I was rooming with five 6^th grade boys and also was responsible for the room next door that did not have an adult (there are some distinct differences between US and HK 6^th graders which I will not delve into but which make this scenario not as scary as it sounds).  The three days were well planned, utterly exhausting and tons of fun!

Half of our middle school students

We had a great speaker and the first night he spoke about how God doesn’t look at a person’s outward appearance but their heart.  The most exciting part was that many of the students accepted Christ for the first time.  About a dozen 6^th grade boys all came to the back after he spoke and I prayed for them.  Now that camp is over we’re starting voluntary Bible study/discipleship groups that will meet during lunchtime a couple times a month.  I’m hoping that the boys I prayed with and others will come and grow spiritually as we meet together.   

My facegroup (homeroom/advisory)

Getting back to teaching has been really great.  For me it has been the proverbial riding a bike.  (I also hope to find out soon if actually riding a bike is like the saying!)  I am teaching humanities, which is a combination of language arts and social studies.  Because I teach two subjects there is another humanities teacher that teaches the same content and we share a classroom as well.  She’s been teaching 6^th grade for over 30 years in places like HK, India, Beirut and she is a native New Zealander.  She also leads our staff professional development, has ADHD and is tons of fun.  So while I’m quite busy teaching, I’m also trying to be a good student and learn as much from her as I can.  All in all I’m having a great time teaching and getting to know my students.

Lastly, we got our first visitors to Hong Kong!  One of Carol’s old high school friends and his wife moved to mainland China for missions around the same time we left for HK.  They were visiting family in Hong Kong during the holiday and made a visit to our home too.  It was so nice to spend time together and catch up with old friends as well as share our experiences thus far. 

Praises and Prayer Requests

Thank you God for a great week of middle school camp and for the students that made the decision to accept Christ!  Please pray for the new Bible studies that will begin soon.

Please pray for my grandmother who is now at home with my parents in hospice care.  One of the hardest things about being so far away from family and friends is that you really feel the distance when things happen back at home.