Hong Kong - A Lesson in God's Faithfulness

      Our time in Hong Kong was the absolutely perfect end to our outreach adventure! God's timing is always spot on, and I honestly couldn't imagine visiting the countries we did in any different order. When we arrived in Hong Kong, many of our team members were very sick and everyone was pretty exhausted. After three months of travel, the jet lag, germs, and missing home was really starting to catch up with us. But God is so faithful, and this city filled with dazzling lights, delicious food, incredibly gracious hosts, and flush toilets, totally brightened us up and pushed us to keep going for that strong finish! 
    We slept on the floor of a church in North Point, which is located in the eastern part Hong Kong island. Another church gave us the opportunity to team up with them for ministry, and we spent time visiting universities to chat with students, teaching short seminars to younger students, and leading Sunday school. One of our team members has a sister who used to be a teacher in Hong Kong, and we were also invited to two other schools because of her connections there!  We also had time for a bit of street evangelism where we reached out to people from mainland China who were visiting Hong Kong.
Below are some stories from these exciting times of ministry, as well as a bit about our time of unwinding and enjoying some of the touristy side of what I think is one of the most interesting cities in the whole wide world! 

University Evangelism

     One of our days was spent visiting two different universities in Hong Kong. We had no concrete program or agenda, it was just a time to talk to the students in order to better understand the people and culture. This was an interesting day, where God taught me a lot. At the beginning of our visit to the first university, one of my teammates pointed out how our group had a tendency to just try and 'do' as much as possible, without really considering everyone's ideas or new approaches to ministry. It was almost as though it had become a competition of who could talk to the most people about Jesus and come back with the best story. I realized there was a lot of truth in what my teammate was saying, and that I was someone who was definitely guilty of just wanting to take over and go forward with whatever plan I came up with right away. Up until that point I would ask if other people had any ideas, but if no one immediately responded, well that was taken as a no, and I would just step forward to lead. But how is that really loving the individuals we were reaching out to? How can we best love them if we do not first truly take the time to get to know them? How were my actions loving towards my teammates? Isn't it said that a true leader is one who brings out the best in others, rather than just doing everything themselves?
      So, at the next university, I promised God that I would not make up my own plan and start running, but would just be. That I would wait for one of my teammates to come up with something, and that our group would be waiting to see how He wanted us to use this time. As the day came to a finish, we ended up only talking to one couple. The conversation started in the most natural way possible as we sat in a cool little amphitheater discussing different ministry styles. Two students came and sat beside us, we asked them about the protests, about what they were studying, and the discussion just continued from there. When they finally had to leave, we prayed for them and their upcoming exams, and they just couldn't stop repeating, totally baffled, how nice we were. We may not have seen a multitude of people give their lives over to Jesus that day, but two students were hopefully able to see a bit of the love and genuine interest our Lord and Savior has for them through the way He guided our actions.
      Learning this valuable lesson during our final week of outreach may seem a bit ineffectual. But rather than thinking 'too little, too late,' I like to see this as God showing how faithful He truly is. Throughout our whole trip we kept praying that we would better listen to one another, and yet words aside, there was little effort to really make this goal become a reality. Instead of giving up on us, God kept and keeps standing by the side of our team, guiding us, and instructing us, until the wisdom sinks in and sticks. Thank you Jesus for never writing us off as unteachable, but continuing to be there for us, providing grace, mercy, and another chance! I know that in the future even the things I learned on the very last day of outreach will be proven priceless.

Street Evangelism and School Seminars
aka The Best Day Of Outreach

    The day that we did street evangelism in Hong Kong was a 10/10 amazing day of ministry, and my favorite day of outreach! On this same day we also visited a school in the morning. While we did seminars at other schools on other days as well, I want to share the story of my #1 day in detail, so the two sections have been put together.
     We woke up very early and left the house at 6:20am to head to the school we were ministering at. When we arrived at the beautiful campus, we quickly ran through our new drama that had really only just been finished the night before. From time to time I joke about 'my useless film and theater degree' and people always respond with "God will use those talents for something." While we were on the road, God did bless me with an opportunity to use one of my great passions and the skills I learned at university, when He gave me an idea for a new drama. Before you knew it, another one of the team members had found a perfect song for the concept. Two other team members had some dance experience, so together we blocked out some choreography. It took the entire trip, because finding spare time is not easy while you are on outreach, but it did finally get done, and everyone wanted to present it! I was so excited to see it actually put together. We only had 35 minutes for our seminar, but we some how managed to pull off a good morning chapel time with worship, pictures, testimonies, and the drama which is entitled 'Jesus Is My Buddy.' I felt so proud of my team mates, and so grateful for the opportunity and support received while directing the drama.
      After the seminar, we got to teach an actual high school drama class! We were asked to share with the students how drama can be used in missions, and in particular, how useful it is for communicating with people who speak a different language. We taught the students one of our own skits, and they did a spectacular job! They really got into it and were so entertaining! During our time in Hong Kong, we met so many students struggling with pressure, stress, and feelings of not being good enough, due to the high academic success that is demanded in this culture. Leading the drama class was such a nice change of pace, and it was so heartwarming seeing the kids have the opportunity to just express themselves, and be encouraged by the positive response their creativity received.
      As soon as the drama class was finished, we headed to the harbor for street evangelism. At our first location, myself and a team mate did some impromptu worship which drew a lot of the tourists from mainland China over to us. We were even singing the one line of Chinese we knew 'Yesu ai ni' or 'Jesus loves you' over and over again, to different tunes and beats on the drum. We also passed out bags with some goodies and information about Christianity in them. When we left the harbor and went to the downtown area of Hong Kong, I did start to feel a little overwhelmed. Passing out pamphlets and asking people to accept Jesus after just meeting them is not the sort of ministry I am used to or necessarily feel called to. But, that is where God had us, so when one of our translators asked myself and a team mate to share testimonies and the Gospel with people passing by, we said yes!
     We prayed with one girl, talked with and answered a lot of questions with another couple, and then the translator called us over to a group of girls outside a fancy make-up store. I won't lie, when I saw this group of totally gorgeous girls, the same age as us, I immediately thought 'oh man, they are going to think we are so weird, and they probably really, really don't want to talk to us. They will stand there due to a sense of obligation, all the while just feeling like we are trying to force religion on them.' Despite my negative thoughts, we approached them, and started talking. The translation was pretty rough, and I really was not sure if they understood anything we had just said. But then, the next minute, our translator, super casually, tells us that the girls wanted to receive Jesus and were requesting prayer. What?!? They accepted Christ right there on the street, we prayed with them, and we had this wonderful bonding moment. Right as we were about to leave, our translator asked the girls if they knew where Jesus was. One of the girls, who had not said a word the whole time, turned to us, and said in perfect English, "in my heart." That was the greatest moment ever!!! It was the first time I have ever been a part of really 'leading' someone to Christ.  Once again, God showed how incredibly faithful He is, because that was something I had really wanted to be a part of, but had given up striving for. It seemed so out of the blue, but it was a perfect reminder of how God is always already moving in everyone's lives, and it has nothing to do with me, or what I say; when someone is saved, it is all Him!
    The day ended with our hosts inviting us to their home and preparing a delicious Hong Kong style barbecue! Two of the team members had birthdays in October, so we celebrated them, celebrated the day, and celebrated the end of an amazing journey. All while overlooking the bright city, enjoying great food, and even better company.

Winding Down Time 

       During our final days of outreach, we spent a lot of time reflecting; alone with Jesus, with our two leaders, and as a whole team.  God blessed us in such a huge way with this time to really take in everything He had shown us, and everything He promised us for the future. Hong Kong is particularly special to me because while we were there God really revealed the next steps He has for me, and they are to return to this brilliant city! Before outreach, I had been stressing out about what would be next for me after DTS. God reminded me to focus on and enjoy the now, and promised He would reveal the next step to me in His perfect time. So it was just a matter of trusting Him. Then, with so many beautiful little, wonderful acts of confirmation, God showed me so clearly that coming back to Hong Kong to do a Bible Core Course is His plan, and it is something that I am absolutely ecstatic about as well! This one little piece of the puzzle that is my future may not seem like much, but the fact that it fits so perfectly blows my mind every time I think about it. I trust God to time the arrival of the next piece perfectly as well. 
       God also wowed me with His faithfulness through my 10/10 free day, which was a full fun day at Ocean Park. Before I left for outreach my little brother prayed that I would do stuff for myself as well as others, have fun, and "like, be able to go to an amusement park," which I thought was a very cute, but pretty funny prayer for a missions trip. Yet, on my day off in Hong Kong, a group of us were blessed with the opportunity to hit up the biggest Halloween festival in all of Asia dressed-up as kitty cats! How crazy awesome is it that God knows our hearts so well? He really does want to bring fulfillment and reveal His love for His children in deep, meaningful ways we can barely comprehend AND in lighthearted, simple ways too.

Time almost doesn't seem to exist while you are traveling. Until, all of a sudden, it is time to return to where you came from. Then you can't make up your mind whether it feels like you just left yesterday or like that person who was living back home is more like a very distant memory than actually you. I will write one more post summing up the final debrief week in Denver, what it is like being back home, and the life changing lessons that now influence my everyday life. Glory to God for this amazing opportunity! May He bless each one of you, on each of your own journeys, too! Thank you for reading!

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! I say to myself 'the Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.'"
Lamentations 3:22-24

P.S. All the amazing photos that you are probably totally blown away by were taken by my beautiful, wonderful friend Nicola Easterby. If you want to see even more awesome photography you should totally visit her page: http://www.polkadot-passport.com