Overdue Hong Kong Update

Hello All!

So I’ve learned that I’m terrible about sending updates.  Sorry about that!  I have also learned that busyness cannot be an excuse anymore!  So this is me at the office writing this update :)  My goal is to send an update each month for my three remaining months here in Hong Kong.  Please keep me accountable! 

I honestly don’t know where to begin.  I’ll try to keep this short by only writing the highlights of all the events we’ve had the past couple of months, beginning with updating you on India, which is long overdue:

Our time in India was precious.  We went village-to-village sharing our personal testimonies and God’s word, trusting He would grab the attention of those who were crowded around us.  Twenty-four people made a profession of faith that week!  God is mighty and powerful.  We also had the most insane drivers…the jeep I was in was eventually hit by a truck, but we were all okay!  We just laughed because we knew it would happen eventually…seriously…the driving was absolutely nuts!  The Lord definitely protected us from any serious danger.

Moving on.  My parents came to Hong Kong the first two weeks in March…we had SUCH a blast!  Probably the best 10 days since I’ve been in Hong Kong!  We traveled through China for the majority of their time here, going to Xi’an to see the Terra-Cotta soldiers and the Great Goose Pagoda (or something like that); Beijing to see the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, and the Forbidden City; then Shenzhen (border of HK and China) to get my dad a cheap, but great quality suit made!  It was so nice having them to myself for 10 days!  They are amazing and am so thankful they came over here to visit.

An hour before my parents flew out of Hong Kong, my boyfriend, Bruce, flew in!  I was really sad to see my parents leave, but it helped knowing that my best friend/boyfriend would be here to distract me from the sadness :)  Bruce was only here for 6 days, so we didn’t get to do anything out of Hong Kong, but we still had a blast!  It was fun taking him around Hong Kong showing him my everyday life here.  He said HK is too fast-paced for him!  I thought that too when I arrived, but it kind of grows on you!  He really did have a great time and I was thankful for the time we had together, mostly just hanging out at Colette and Nathan’s apartment.

We had a very successful service project in mid-March.  Some of our students we to an orphanage that cares for handicapped Chinese children (run by a couple in our church), and others (including myself) went to help clean and organize clothes for a refugee camp in Hong Kong.  I love watching our students serve.

The biggest event of the year was this past weekend…we had the first Disciple Now (that we know of) in Hong Kong!!!  It was seriously amazing!  It was SO much planning, but oh so worth it.  We had 21 students for the weekend, which is a great number for us.  Parents in Hong Kong are so strict about their student’s studies that they spend their entire weekends studying and doing class work.  So, the fact that we had 21 for the entire weekend was incredible!  The weekend covered Ephesians 5:1-21, stressing “be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise.”  We’ve talked so much this year about the church and the body of Christ (which has been awesome) that we felt like we needed to focus on the student’s heart for and personal walk with Christ.  God truly worked in the hearts of our students.  He is faithful.

The next big thing we have is youth camp, followed by a mission trip, which we are combining with four other youth groups here.   Nine students from Dallas Baptist University are flying over here to HK to lead the camp, which will be a leadership/missions training camp.  The day camp is over, we’ll be leaving for our mission trips.  Since we don’t want to send an overload of students to one place, we decided to have four different places they can choose from.  The four include: India, China, Laos (our church has a huge ministry there), and Hong Kong (for local missions).  We are very excited about these two weeks.  Please be praying for the DBU students as they prepare to come here and lead our students, and for our students as they decide and prepare to be a part of camp.

And the last thing…the week after camp is over I’ll be moving back home to Texas!  My flight is booked for July 19^th to fly into San Antonio.  I can’t believe I only have three months left.  I’m so ready to come home, but not ready at all.  It’s going to be so hard leaving the church, the friendships I’ve made, the families that have made HK home for me, and the girls I’ve been discipling (is that a word?) all year long…it’s going to be a rough transition.  Please be praying that my heart and focus will remain in Hong Kong for the remaining of my time here, but also that I will be prepared for the changes that will be waiting for me when I get home.  My life for the four years before Hong Kong was UMHB, which is where my heart is, so it’ll be hard knowing that I won’t be returning there, unless and I can sneak my way into a job there :)  Saying that, I really need prayer for guidance, clarity, and direction as I job hunt for the next couple of months.  I don’t even know where to start.

I’m thankful for each of you.

His,

  Katie

Old Update that I forgot to post...India update coming soon!

Living and Loving Hong Kong

Hello Family and Friends!

Well, it’s been a little over three months since I’ve been here in Hong Kong…it’s so crazy to think about!  I’m settled in and used to the big city now and really love it here.   It’s actually not that big once you know your way around, but it is really crowded, which can be frustrating at times.  I’m really enjoying my time here and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The youth group is doing really well and has doubled in size the past two months.  Our students do an amazing job of reaching out and bringing friends from school to our youth group and events.  My discipleship group is going really well and really enjoying my time with those girls.  Three out of the five girls in my group are a bit challenging because they are one person when they’re in and around the youth and another person when they are around their friends, so I’m trying my hardest to pour into them and spend as much time with them as I can.

Since my last update, we have done so much with the youth.  We had our purity retreat, which went really well; we took our students paintballing after a three week study over God and Spiritual Warfare, God and Science, and God and War; we had a huge combined youth worship service with five other youth groups in Hong Kong; and we just had a “Fajitas and Questions about God” night where the students came with questions they had about God and Christianity…I was so impressed with the questions that were asked.  We have quite a few students who are very mature in their faith and who are growing like crazy.  It was a very encouraging and beneficial night. 

We have also been going into one of the schools twice a week to lead the “Christian Club” (we’re trying to come up with a new name…any suggestions?).  Really it’s just a 30 minute time frame the students have during their lunch time to be together and hear a short message.  Some of the high school students recently stepped up and asked if they could lead the Christian club, which they have done an amazing job with.  They have organized someone to lead the students in a couple of songs for worship and also someone to share a short message each week.  It’s been exciting watching our students grow in this leadership.

This month we started a series on service and will be having an all-day service project at the end of this month.  We haven’t finished deciding on everything we’ll be doing that day, but we do know we will be sending students to one of the districts to work with inner-city kids.  I’m excited to see our students serve in this way.

I forgot to mention in my last update that I’m teaching flute to two students and teaching English to the younger of the two.  Harry and Thomas are my students and they are as sweet as they can be.  Harry, the older boy, is 13 and is working towards an audition for a school symphony.  He has improved so much just in the past two months and wants me to sit in on his audition, which I’m very excited about.  Thomas is 9 years old and is only taking flute lessons because his dad wants him to, but he is really talented.  He started flute when he was six years old!  They take music very seriously here and really push their kids to play a musical instrument.  I also tutor Thomas in English, which is his favorite part.  We read short moral stories together, work on word pronunciation, and then do a fun activity at the end.  I love my afternoons with them.

Oh!  I almost forgot…we’re taking our youth to India in February!  We are all so excited.  It looks like it will be a group of about 20 people including some of the student’s parents.  We will be going Chandigarh, which is northern India.  Basically we will just be going into homes and sharing the gospel and our testimonies.  We also have to have their traditional outfits made before we leave or else we are not allowed into the villages.  Pretty crazy, but fun at the same time.  We are beyond excited and ask for your prayers as we prepare.  You can go to our youth website (which I’m in charge of for some reason…it’s definitely not my forte, but I do what I can) if you want to know more.  On the website is also a page for Gloria, the young girl we support in India.  We will actually get to meet here while we are there!  www.shorehk.com

Well, that’s about all I have for now.  I’ll update in about another month, which will be so much closer to Christmas and closer to me coming home for a week!  Hope everyone is doing well!  Missing everyone!

-Katie

Life in Hong Kong

Hello from Hong Kong!

First, for those who don’t know, I’m living in Hong Kong for a year at International Baptist Church as a youth intern.  My friends, Nathan and Colette Loudin, asked me back in December (before they were married) if I would be interested in doing a year internship in HK, leading worship and mentoring some of the girls in the youth group.  (Nathan is the associate pastor and is in charge of the youth and young adults.  He actually did this internship a few year ago.)  After a month of prayer, I knew this is where I was called to serve, so I changed my major so I could graduate before I left.  It was a crazy semester and summer, to say the least.

Well, it’s been exactly a month and a half, today (Saturday), since I’ve moved here.  In some ways it seems like I’ve been here longer because of everything we have done already, but in other ways, I can’t believe I’ve already been here that long.

The church is small, about 200, but it’s a large family that welcomes everyone who walks through the doors.  I am so blessed by the many mothering women and generous families in the church.  Almost every night for the first month we had an invitation for dinner from a family in the Church…I definitely appreciated that.  Well, there were about 30 youth when I first arrived, but it is truly amazing how much it has grown in the past month and a half.  Each week we see a few new faces, which is so exciting…our youth are great with outreach.  We just split up the junior high (The Shore) and high school (The Village) on Friday nights so we can have more students each week, which has helped because of the limited space at the youth center.

There’s so much I could say, but I’ll just highlight a few things:  we had a beach party as a kick-off for the new school year, which had an incredible turn out (about 40 students);   Colette and I had a crazy fun sleepover with the girls at the youth center;   I’ve seen probably six movies at the theatre with the youth since I’ve been here, which is twice as many as I see in a year back at home (but I’m not complaining…I like it);   we just started our discipleship groups this week, so tonight I’ll meet with my 5 girls for our first session…I can’t wait;   next weekend we have our purity retreat (Love Actually) with four other youth groups in Hong Kong, where I’ll be leading worship and leading a break-out session over dating and sex…so yea, I’ll need a lot of prayer for next weekend;   our next big event after that is paintball, which we’ll doing after we finish a Bible study series over God and War…it’ll be awesome…I’m excited;   and I’ve seen Pandas…that was pretty amazing.  We’ve done so much and have so much planned.  It’s going to be an awesome year.

Weird things I’ve eaten so far:

-duck (is was so gross)

-diced pigeon (sounds awful, and was hard to eat without thinking about what I was eating, but it tasted exactly like the lettuce wraps at P.F. Changs)

-friend seaweed…don’t ask

-sticky rice (a really good dessert, just doesn’t look very good)

I’m living with a lady, Nina, who is originally from China, so I’ve had my share of traditional Chinese food.  Needless to say, I can’t wait for the good Chinese food back at home.  Chinese food in China is nothing like American Chinese food…it’s strange.

Well, Hong Kong is amazing and I’m surprised how much I love it, but I can’t imagine my life anywhere else but here during this next year.  I miss my family, friends, and the boyfriend, but God has truly protected from homesickness, which I am so thankful for.  I’ll be going home for Christmas for about 8 days, then my parents will be coming to Hong Kong for the first two weeks in March, then my boyfriend, Bruce, will be coming the third week in March.  This next year is going to be amazing, no doubt, and I am beyond excited to see the Lord’s hands continue to work in this city. 

I’ll update again in about a month or so.  Hope everyone back at home is doing well!

His,

  Katie

my ticket is purchased and i'm set to move to hong kong on august 10th!!!  yikes!  so excited!