Week 3 - A week to remember

Haha so when i wrote the title of this post, I kinda laughed when i thought of how its sounds like " A walk to remember." Anyway, This week is one for the history books in my opinion. It started out slow to be honest and I didn't think it was going to pick up, but I was way wrong. Sunday we went to our friend Paul' s church. It took about 45 minutes on the subway train to get there from our apartment! anyway, we got there at lunch and we met with the Korean church members who had prepared a meal for us. It was some kind of vegetable mixture with black suace and rice - seriously one of the best meals I have had here! Also I tried what is called " Kim-chi''- which was SPICY HOT cabbage. It was one of the hottest vegetables I have ever had haha! Anyway we went to the IFN service at 2 and it was ok. To be honest, I was extremely tired and found it very hard to focus on the message. After the service, we went home for a nice long nap. When I woke up, we decided to go to Ruby Tuesdays with Maik and Ellison - Ruby Tuesday( good times ).

Well, monday we went to HKU and sat in on some "secret meetings." This is what everyone calls them, but most of the people in HK know about them considering there was an article about them in the newspaper. There was also a television documentary recorded about them on PBS here! These meetings are during lunch and a professor shows intellegent design vidoes in his office to show students that there is another option besides evolution. Pretty neat idea. It was pretty good. We then went to the office for our weekly meeting. Following Sunday morning, the beginning of the week felt extremely slow, and I honestly felt useless. I have apparently been suffering from " culture exhaustion", which even though you may not do anything during the day, you feel completely tired. I felt this way for about 4-5 days straight. Tuesday was a blur, and I honestly dont remember too much of what happened. Wednesday was our Sabbath and I went to the park for about 2 hours and wrote my thoughts and read the word; really energizing. Thursday I went to see one of my friends sing in a choir performance, and I met a guy named Andy. Andy is a neat guy, and he is studying french! After exchanging numbers I went to the performance. After hearing a few songs in chinese, 2 speakers presented messages... In chinese! Luckily I was given a headset to listen to the translator. Afterwards I went home and rested.

Friday was the best part of the week. It made the week worth the wait. On friday I went to campus with tommie and we sat down and had lunch alone. I always kinda feel like a dork eating alone, but we dont know anyone. So after lunch, I decided to be brave and to step out of my comfort zone. I saw Andy sitting with about 8 students at one table. I stood up, and my feet started moving. When I reached the table I awkwardly stood there waiting to talk to Andy. When he noticed I was standing there, he introduced me to all the students and they asked me to sit down (Awesome!) I struck up conversations with a few of them and began asking the typical "getting to know you" questions. After a while, I got a few of their phone numbers and then, as tommie went to chat with our other friend Bryan, I went up to the dorms with three of the students. They showed me a very interesting instrument and they taught me how to play a few songs! After hanging out, we went to Andy's room and hung out until he had to go to class. Friday was a good day; only to be followed by a better night. We went to KIBC for a prayer and praise service, and I played piano and tommie played electric guitar. We played 12 songs and I felt like Father was there with us. Finally after such a long and wonderful day, a group of us went to Dan Ryan's American restraunt and had dinner.

To wrap things up, this morning I went to play basketball with the guys at a school court and we played quite a few games. I really am not good at basketball but i love it. I played about 5 games until the ball smashed me in the face, broke my glasses, and cut my eye. We went to lunch and just hung out while watching a Korean drama on tv. For the evenning we went with Ellison to to starbucks and sat for about 2 hours talking about everything. We went to dinner and finally just got home. I love Hong Kong! I have been here for over a month now and I feel like this is where I need to be!

Until next time,

Andrew

Well I have been here a total of 2 weeks. It is finally starting to seem more and more like home, rather than some distant and foriegn city. I am getting around town a lot easier than before and I know how to get to people's apartments, the church, and the campuses. So things are pretty good. I had dinner with our german friend last night at Ruby Tuesday and we talked a lot about small groups and the world wide church as a whole. It involved some theology which was good and he told me some more of his story. We then went to his house and played xbox for a couple of hours (haha). In general I feel like we are slowly entering the campus life here and we are going to try and expand our friend network by trying to meet new people. I honestly feel like the idea of just sitting down with people at lunch and trying to strike up a conversation with them seems a little strange, but I know it is how friendships can be made. I actually wish I would have practiced it more in the states. But alas, I am going to have to conquer my fear of rejection and throw myself out there into this big world. I recently met a few students who are pretty awesome. I cant wait to meet more. hopefully this sunday I will go to my friends church which is about an hour away, and I hope to be able to get plugged in, not only there but of course in the KIBC small groups. As for now, I will tell you that I am enjoying life and trying to live to the fullest. It is amazing to see how father is changing my mindset on so many things. Just the other day I was thinking about my life 2 years ago. When I was a freshman I came into college closed minded. I came in with the mindset that I knew everything (man was I wrong). I look back and I remember a certain conversation I had with my friend jamie where she was trying to broaden my horizons and I wouldnt budge. I remember saying "All I want to do is spend the rest of my life in GA and I can do ministry there." Wow - who knew that 2 years later, father brought me to HK, and I have dreams of living in San Francisco! wow things have changed....

Thankfully im always changing - in a good way thanks to Him.


Sincerely,

Andrew

City Life

Well, I have been living in Hong Kong for a little over a week now, and though I am semi getting used to it, I know that there is still a lot of stuff to come. It still amazes me to walk down the street and to see so many people. I love it though. It may sound typical, but at first I couldn't stand the crowds. I felt so rushed and I felt as though I was in everyone's way. As time has gone on though, I have experienced the strangest feeling. I feel very comfortable around the large groups of people. I literally feel a warmth of the people; as if we are connecting. I am enjoying so much these people and this place, though at the same time I have been reliving my college semesters in my mind. I miss BPC so much. I miss my H100 guys from last year, and I miss J200 from this year. I miss Sunday nights at the little chapel, small groups, smoothie night; but I know my time will come when I will be called to return. So for now, I am learning new things, meeting new people, and trying new things. Today I went to some basket ball court and played with some of my new friends. Though I definitely need practice, I enjoyed myself and I really had a great time. Though I tripped and fell on my back, jammed my thumb, bruised my hand, and my nose bled, I had a great time haha. I am sitting in my apartment watching the only english channel we have, and I am just resting fromt he day. It is pretty crazy to think that even though I am in Hong Kong, I can basically get western food anytime i want. However, I am going to try and stick with asian food for a while. Its so crazy to see chickens and ducks hanging in windows, and to see full fish on a platter for a meal. Though its different, its not bad; just different. Hopefully this week I will be able to meet many more students on the campuses so that I can get to know them. I really enjoyed our gathering time last night where we played the guitar and sang some awesome songs. I am getting ready for church tomorrow where I can hopefuly hang out with students. At the moment I am reading through James and when I finish reading through the short book, I plan on doing a much deeper study.

Well thats about it for now,

I will try and keep in touch more often,

Yours truly,

Andrew

My first HK weekend

I'm here! I finally made it.

It's a lot different than I could have ever imagined. I live in an apartment in an area of town call "Mong Kok" which in Cantonese literally translates into "crowded corner" ( <-- understatement) Ha anyway as a side note, Mong Kok is literally the most densely populated area in the world. It has a ratio of 250,000 people per square mile, and we live right on the edge. It is easy to see how it could easily be the worlds most populated place. There are so many things here and so many people. It is hard to walk down the street because you are always bumping into people in every direction. So its the complete opposite of Mt. Vernon, Ga. Haha However, I dont feel like it is a big problem, I feel close to the people in more way s than I thought I would already. I feel like there is a sense of community here, though it is a large community at that.

Saturday we went all over town and visited the major tourist sites just to get a look around the town. I was a little more than overwhelmed. There was so much to see and do. It is hard to believe I am here, but at the same time it is hard to imagine that I will get used to this fast paced lifestyle. I am tired early in the evening as of now, but hopefully I will venture out and have many adventures in the city.

I went to church this morning in Kowloon - the other side of town - and it was pretty good I must say. I enjoyed hanging out with the students. We didn't have our study at the church, rather we all got on a bus and traveled a couple of blocks away to an apartment where we split into small groups and had a great time. We then left to eat lunch in the mall - which there are A LOT of malls here. The first mall we went to on saturday was 12 stories and was huge. The mall we went to for lunch had an ice-skating rink in it. We had lunch and ventured out alone for the first time to try and make it to our apartment. We finally made it and rested up for the long night. I just got back from dinner with our supervisor, and two friends. We went to a sushi bar where I had raw salmon as an appetizer, EEL fried rice, as a main course, and I also tried some strange meal called beef cury hotpot, which was the most intresting looking meal I have seen in a while. After that we went for ice cream and had a nice time to meet and chat about life. We just got back and I am tired. I am about to go to sleep, but I thought I should blog and let you guys know how things are going. Much love, Andrew

Prodigal believer

Dear Father,

We are sorry that we left you. It was the worst decision we have ever made. We have been alone in the world now for a while. We are sorry that we ran off and tried to do things our own way. We see now that your plans and desires were the best there was. We havent even come close to finding someone who cares about us like you have. To tell you the truth, its been rough. We have had the worst jobs, we can barly afford things to eat and drink. We have no home. We are at the end of our road. I know it may sound crazy, and You have every right to say no, but we want to come home. We wont even expect anything from you. let us just be a servant in your house. We dont deserve to be welcomed back. We dont even deserve for you to hear me out. We are sorry.


~ Your children~


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Dear sons and duaghters,

I love you. Even though you have run off, I miss you. I long for the day when we can be together forever. I think about you all the time. There is never a minute that goes by that your not in my thoughts. I wish nothing but the best for you. I want you to live the life that I have prepared for you. Even though you left me, I wont hold it against you. You are my children, and I love you dearly. I will welcome you back always. You will never have to live alone and you will always have whatever you need. I will always give you food to eat and water to drink. You will never have to worry, because I will always be here for you. When you come home, I will give you my best. I have already forgiven your past. Come home.

I love you,

~Father~

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As believers, we have forgotten our first love. Lets turn back to Father! No matter how far we fall, He is there ready to pick us up again.

Andrew