HONG KONG, WE’RE BACK!
Following a stormy ride (swells from 4 – 6 feet) we got off the ferry at the Hong Kong terminal. Fortunately several of the team had taken Dramamine. Customs in the Mainland was not easy: Brogan’s passport stamp was not clear – the date couldn’t be read – so we had to wait until they decided what to do. Finally, they cancelled the old stamp and gave him a new one. We still had time to spare, but we didn’t have opportunity to check our luggage; had to carry it on.
Because the ferry arrived early, Lynette had not yet arrived, so we just hung out. During our stay in Hong Kong, Lynette will be our “leader. She’s minimal in Chinese and as she tells it, “Directionally challenged.” So, it will be an adventure.
At Concordia International School, we were welcomed by Hong Kong Synod president, Dr. Young (sp) who gave us information about the church body. In recent years, it has developed an outreach attitude so that there is great energy to share Jesus. Schools, social missions, and congregations all work hand in hand to be intentional in their outreach.
The principal of the school, Dr. Chan, met us a bit later and talked about the school. He appeared to be a dignified man, dressed in a herringbone sport coat and good looking scarf around his neck. 100 students, 10 teachers, high standards, but no religious curriculum. In fact, it seemed that the Christian faith was rather “absent” from their programming. No after school Bible study and a feeling of avoidance of the topic. But Dr. Chan did introduce us as “missionaries” and invited us to talk about faith freely. Interesting to note is the connotation of missionary is “one who forces the Bible upon you.” We hope that we can do just a bit to soften and maybe even change that image with the students at CIS.
Our lodging for our Hong Kong stay will be at Liu Cheung Kwong Lutheran Primary School (only about 10 minutes by car from where we stayed last year). Two classrooms were emptied for us; some heat is available in those classrooms, and a special computer room has been set aside for our use. The school staff has been more than gracious in welcoming us to our new quarters.
Walked to the grocery store for breakfast items which for the next four days will be paid for by CIS. Our team picked out cold cereal, juice, milk and fruit. Pretty standard. Later had dinner with Lynette and two new GEO’s (Globally Engaged in Outreach), Judy and Ashley, both from the Omaha area, in fact, both from the same congregation. That congregation is intentionally planning for a mission start among the many Asians in the Omaha area.
Slept on fine mattresses on the floor in the middle of this big classroom; girls had their own separate classroom across the hall.
SUNDAY #2
A week has passed since the last “day of rest” and now we’re in a new community where the Gospel can be freely shared, and we can speak openly about the Faith. Seems strange that a three hour ferry ride can make such a significant difference. And here in Hong Kong, there seems to be a situation where many people are not on fire for sharing the Good News. Of course, there are exceptions.
Yesterday, Lynette shared the story of Albert (whom we had met last year). Albert came to believe while in high school, joined the Baptist church and grew in faith. Several years ago, he discovered the Lutheran church and became a part of it. Now, even though he has finished pastoral studies, he still is not ordained, but serves in a mission station at one of the schools. Albert is significant because through his witness, his mother, in her dying days, confessed Jesus and was baptized. Before she died, she implored her family to come to believe. Today many of his siblings, his father, and a host of others through his testimony at school have come to know Jesus. Oh that such fire were a part of all of our lives.
While the service last Sunday was fairly free and Spirit-filled, today the service will most likely be Spirit-filled, but rather traditional. You see, like the churches in Japan and Taiwan, missionaries brought TLH for worship. And while that liturgy does not necessarily fit the culture, it is the one that is normally used. I am a believer that an indigenous form of worship, letting the church discover its own expression of faith, would be best.
Yesterday, we visited Stanley Market on the north side of Hong Kong’s main island. Lunched. Took the van to the peak. Walked the one hour circle path around the peak. Esaclated to observation deck where we were able to see all of Hong Kong island and also Kowloon – both islands filled with many 25 story apartment buildings and business skyscrapers. From there we headed to dinner at a Japanese sushi restaurant and then spent some grueling hours walking through the “Ladies Market.” Of course, our women shopped. Returned to the school at 9:30 pm, my legs aching.
CIS (CONCORDIA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL)
Monday morning at a high school. I’m bowing out in deference to the students on the team because I figure that they will relate better with the 7th to 12th grade students.
When they returned from the first two periods, I heard: our seventh and eighth graders were very quiet; could hardly get them to talk; the 10th graders were bad – they talked and didn’t listen; only three in the class responded – teacher said that it was the worst class here in this school.
And so the morning will go for our team. At lunch we head out with some of these students and enjoy eating time with them. Should be interesting.
Last night, we watched “Inception” with Lynette and the two GEO’s. Interesting movie; don’t know if I really understood what it was trying to say. Enjoyed popcorn and a beer…kind of a nice touch.
We’re now at Tuesday morning, back at CIS. Yesterday went wonderfully well. We went out with five chosen students for lunch and had a great time interacting with them: Miko, Chester, Christopher, Bonnie, and Kathy. A great Chinese meal of sharing dishes (usually they don’t do this for their lunches – Kathy said that she only shares meals with her mother): noodles, fried rice, and a rice and pork dish.
I am wonderfully blessed with a special team. Even though they could be picky eaters, they are brave and adventurous. They have tried cuttlefish (known by us as squid), goose, pig stomach, all kinds of tofu, eel, chicken feet, frog, pigeon, lotus, and more. Coming on the trip, I didn’t know if they would be so willing to try the many different foods served here.
The team visited another afternoon class and then at 2:30, there was a badminton “kind of” tournament. Ashley and Brehanna participated on behalf of the foreign visitors. A fun event. Today following class there will be a kind of talent show. We’re singing as a group, Brogan will do a solo, and I will make up a story about my right bicep (big because of a torn bicep muscle) and being Wisconsin’s arm wrestling champion.
Last night we went out with the two GEO’s who live at our primary school, Ashley and Judy. We ate at a Korean restaurant – hard to order the traditional dishes because the Chinese characters were there and then an English translation. Jap Chae, bibembop and bulgogi were hard to order because of the interesting translation.
After dinner, we went to the big grocery store to simply look around and if something was desireable to individuals, they could purchase it. Brogan likes to purchase Kinder eggs (German) – they have a neat surprise inside. Not sold in the U.S. because they have parts that you could choke on. Inside there is a paper with warnings in about 25 languages. His prize was a little red dinosaur coming out of an eggshell. Others bought chocolate, sweets, sushi, drinks,
The staff at the primary school is gracious….they go out of their way to make sure that we are comfortable and have everything we need. There is heat (not very common in Hong Kong either), hot water in the showers, a “pantry” to store our food, and computer access (that seems to be a necessity in this day and age).
The hardest part of this trip was our time here at CIS. The hard was because we were informed that the high school students here came from wealthy homes (each student pays 13,000 American dollars in tuition) and that there were other students who were “spoiled” and just kind of did their own thing. But to our surprise, once there was an opportunity to warm up and interact with the students, barriers came down. But mostly, I was surprised at how well the team eagerly left the teacher’s lounge to carry out their assignments. They also creatively designed materials to use in the classroom that would appeal to these students (from the Mainland, Japan, Singapore, India, and one from America).
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