The Potter's Hand

As I've been thinking through leaving here soon, I am torn a little because while I am positive going home is the next step on my path, this place has become my home this past year and there are definitely some people and things I am going to miss.

Tonight, at church, we sang the song "The Potter's Hand" and I was really moved by the familiar lyrics: "I'm captured by Your holy calling\Set me apart, I know you're drawing me to yourself ... Take me, Mould me, use me, fill me\I give my life to the Potter's hand\Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me\I give my life to the Potter's hand."

I really want this to be my prayer. I know that each experience and path He leads me down is to mould me and use me to His glory, and really, that should be my only goal. Not "I need to make X amount to pay rent" or "have X to be satisfied." I really want to me used, guided, led, and filled for Him and not myself.

I realize more and more that even if right now this place isn't His long-term plan for me, that just the faith it took to pick up and come here, to experience this past year, and now to pick up and leave again ... all these things are part of His moulding me. And this moulding is a life-long process through which He will continually remind me of His greatness and also use me to show Him to others.

I want the Potter do His work in me.

The Child Whisperer (or, how to use food to win the hearts of children)

Normally at our weekly Bible Study, we have between 7 and 10 kids. That may not sound like many, but they can range in age from 5 to 14, and that makes it a little tricky to come up with activities that they can all enjoy. (We're also pretty limited on resources.)

Several of the kids have gone on vacation with their families, so right now we just have three kids. Liz, the other person who I lead with, and I have decided while we're low on kids we should do some different activities that are easier with a smaller group. Last week, Liz arranged a whole scavenger hunt using different verses, and ending at McDonald's down the road.

I wasn't sure how to top this, but felt pretty sure using food would be a good place to start. And let me just say right now, I totally rocked Bible Study! I got the recipe for something called Chocolate Chiffon Pie from a friend, and it's basically butter, chocolate, custard, and cookies. I looked up verses that mentioned each of these things, or at least closely mentioned them (wafers=cookies, sweet words=chocolate), then came up with verses that said things like "mix" or "pour" or "melt." So as we read each verse, we did the action in it. It was so fun!

Nobody fought over who got to stir next or who gets the first spoonful of chocolate. They got to use their hands to crush their cookies and got to mash the chocolate into the custard. Everyone was happy, and eager to do more. It was such a great afternoon! I personally was really uplifted by the time spent with the kids, and it put a happy ending on my (sort of) stressful day.

Saturday Night on Film!

Tonight, my friend Sidney and I headed over to the Hong Kong Space Museum to watch a movie showing there, made by Medecins Sans Frontieres, about different people around the world living in crisis. It was supposed to be great, but when we got there, it was sold out.

Already having made the trek into the city, and not wanting to head home just yet, we instead opted for adventure as captured on video and photos. We took lots of videos all over the place, and many, many photos as well. But since I don't feel up to editing all of it at the moment, I've chosen two that are good (enough) already that show some cool things in HK to post here. The first is me standing on Nathan Road in TST, and the second is me on the Star Ferry, which connects Kowloon to HK Island. Enjoy! :)

Jacinth

One man visiting our team, tonight got up at dinner to tell a story of a girl named Jacinth he met in December in a village about two hours outside of Chennai in India. Jacinth is ten years old, and has been a bonded worker since she was only five. Her family, five years ago, had to borrow the equivalent of about $45 US and in repayment, Jacinth works twelve hours, six days a week with a half hour lunch break, making 2,000 cigarettes a day. She makes less than $1 US per week doing this. And she has been doing this since she was five. At this rate, she should have been able to pay off the debt after just one year, but since her family is poor and needs the money, they haven’t paid off the debt yet – a debt which must be paid in full, and not in installments. Her story is very common in this village. Families borrow money to pay for medical needs and food – things that they need to survive. And for what many of us may spend in a day or two on movies or dinner out or other things, these children in India spend years in hard labour to make. Of course, bonded workers are illegal but, especially in small towns, this law isn’t heavily enforced. And these workers tend to be girls, though some are boys, because the boys are sent to learn a trade or receive further education since it’s more likely they will make more money and therefore are invested into more than the girls. 15 million children in India are bonded workers (and that’s just in India). How do you help 15 million people? You can’t, really, but you can help one at a time, as you hear their stories and meet them face to face, such as this man did. It reminded me again why I am here, and why I work for an organisation that is empowering other organisations in villages like these to better the lives of children and so many others who are hurting, struggling, and dying.

I was talking the other day to a friend in the US about the movie Slumdog Millionaire, and how sad and shocking some of the scenes were. I too was saddened by it, but I can’t say I was shocked. I hear stories and see pictures of children, such as Jacinth, almost every day in the work I’m involved in in Hong Kong. I don’t think I’m immune to its shock, but I’m also not sheltered from it and it’s become part of the information I am exposed to daily. I just hope I don’t lose this awareness when I am back in the States. As sad as it can be, it is necessary to know the evils in the world, and remain motivated to share the heart of the One who wants to bring peace and justice to all who are weary and weak.

Sensory Overload

Last night, I invited a new guy here from the UK (Dave) to come to church with me. He just arrived in Hong Kong a few days ago, and had not yet left the New Territories (NT) where we live. Just as a side note - We always refer to going out of the NT, and into Kowloon or HK Island, as ‘going to the city.’ This doesn’t mean where we live is rural farmland, middle of nowhere. We have plenty of high rise apartments and shopping centres, but overall the NT tends to be less developed than ‘the city’ where trees and greenery are non-existent, the sidewalks and streets are swollen with people and vehicles, neon signs are everywhere, and noise and balanced chaos invade your ears at every turn. In the NT, there are still people and businesses, but it tends to be more like a suburb to the city. Life is a bit quieter and calmer here.

So I collected Dave and we boarded the 962 bus to the city, crowded as always on a Sunday, and had an uneventful 40 minute ride into Central, on HK Island. Getting on the bus in the NT, life is calm and quiet… but disembarking into Central is loud, crowded, and chaotic, particularly on a weekend.

It was interesting to me to see this through the eyes of a newcomer to HK. It’s really a sensory overload. So many people, vehicles, signs, sounds, and smells. People handing you leaflets to purchase a new phone plan. Knots of Filipino women chattering in high pitched voices, taking over the stairwells. Exhaust from bus after bus puffing in your face if you’re not careful. Tourists stopping abruptly in front of you to snap a photo of a nearby skyscraper or the view over Connaught Road. There is just so much going on.

We crossed the road via the elevated walkway, weaving through the masses of people. Then we headed down onto the other side of the road, and descended again into the MTR station to head three stops over to Jordan, on the mainland in Kowloon. I had to top up my Octopus card (my public transit card), so we snaked through the station to the ‘Add Value’ machine, Dave trailing behind me, taking in all the people and shops bustling about us. Then we passed through the turnstile, through the station, and down another escalator to the Tsuen Wan red line to take us to Jordan. Once we boarded our train, Dave looked at me and said, “I would be so lost and confused if you weren’t here.” I guess I just take for granted this weekly routine I have of travelling so effortlessly through the confusion of the city. I’ve just done it so many times, and wandered around the city so much on my own in this past year, that I’ve learned so much about how to get around this place, and I actually really love being in such a busy environment.

We exited the Jordan station, and headed over to the church. He laughed as we approached, because off this crazy busy road (Nathan Road), tucked away is a traditional, red brick church … just not what you’d expect.

After church, we walked down Nathan Road, and he took in the big, bright signs everywhere (giant, neon Chinese characters for different shops and buildings), the Chinese chatter all around, the people crawling everywhere, and long crosswalks spanning these lively streets. We ended at the Temple Street Night Market, where he remarked again on the sensory overload. Stall upon stall lined up with every type of ‘traditional’ Chinese souvenir you could ever want, fake Gucci and Prada bags, pirated DVDs, cheap t-shirts and keychains, and many other things. People crowd in to look at the wares, and we joined them, Dave trying his hand at bargaining with the vendors.
Afterward, we met up with some friends to take the mini bus home, racing along the highway, the speedometer beeping as our driver exceeded 105 km/h.

It was so interesting to me to see Hong Kong through the eyes of a new person. I tried to remember what it was like when I first came here, and I know I too experienced a bit of a sensory overload myself. But I actually really love it. I love my church, and that’s why I go at night (since the service is in the evening) but I also have to admit I am glad to be in the city in the evening because the lights and the noise are amazing. I love the feel of a big, crazy city. I’m so grateful I get to live here, and experience this place. It will definitely be a change to go back to the (in comparison) quieter city of San Antonio.

Cooking Sri Lankan Style

I have a neighbor and friend here called Sally who is from Sri Lanka and makes the absolute best food ever. Her curry in particular is amazing. (I’d never really eaten curry before coming here, but have discovered a deep love for the stuff and really wanted to learn how to make my own before I leave.)

Last night, she invited me and another friend, Laura, to her home to teach us her culinary secrets. We started by cubing the raw chicken, then crushing slices of garlic and ginger in a pestle to release the flavor. Then I heated a clay pot, added some olive oil, and set the garlic/ginger mash to roast, which smelled so wonderful. Next I chopped tomato and onion, and added to the pot. Next came the best part – adding Sally’s homemade curry powder, made from coriander, cumin, and other things I don’t remember. We added some more stuff, simmered, stirred, and eventually had a beautiful pot full of deliciously curried chicken.

While I was doing this, under Sally’s supervision, she was making dhal. She also made some amazing vegetable dish and steamed brown rice.

Laura was desperately trying to write everything down so we could try and re-create the meal on our own another time, but Sally only uses her eyes to measure things so we had a tricky time working out measurements. I think we got it mostly down, and I can only hope I can make it as well again.

I also loved the amount of fellowship time we had while things were simmering. I learned so much about Sally’s background I had never heard, and appreciate even more now what an incredible and strong single mother she is, and how she has really survived a lot of challenges to be the person she is now.

It was a great night of cooking and spending time together. As many may know, I’ve discovered a love for cooking while I’ve been in Hong Kong. This is probably the most complicated dish so far, but I can’t wait to make it when I am home for people and bring a little bit of my Hong Kong life back to Texas.

Torrential Downpours Have Returned!

Ah …. the squally thunderstorm season has returned to Hong Kong, with flair. It has sprinkled a few times over recent weeks, and the skies have looked a bit gray, but nothing really happened until today.

Late this morning, the skies darkened until it almost looked like nightfall. The humidity was hitting a climax, and I knew that at any moment the rain would break loose. And it did. Oh, yes … it did…

I had just returned home from a quick run to the grocery store for a few bits of fruit, and was standing in my kitchen looking out the window when it all started. I steeled myself up to walk through the torrential downpour back to work. Reverting to my behaviour from last year during such storms, I threw any concerns about appearances to the wind, and rolled up my pant legs, threw on some flip flops, grabbed my flimsy umbrella, and headed out of my apartment.

Thunder roared all around, the road was a river, and I slogged through it, pelted by rain (in such storms, umbrellas don’t do much good actually). I got myself up to the building I was headed for, shook myself off, and slid into the office, wet all over. My teammates soon followed, equally drenched.

I love the rain, but it’s not too comfortable to sit around wet all day. Also, I am really hoping my apartment doesn’t flood again, like last year!