BBQ on the Beach!

Every once in a while, you have to take a break and enjoy the fact that you live across from a beach.

It's not actually a very nice beach ... the water has quite a bit of trash in it (coming down from China), but it's nevertheless nice to be by the water and enjoy the sand.

A group of us from Crossroads decided to take advantage of the weather yesterday and have a barbecue on the beach. It's an inexpensive but fun way to relax from the rigors of work we face all week together. It took a while for the guys to get the fire going, which was amusing until I thought I might choke from smoke inhalation. (Seriously, they started burning paper plates because the coal wouldn't heat fast enough, and there was so much smoke!)

We had lots of sausages and chicken, and it was so nice to just sit around and chat together for a while. We laughed, and teased each other like family.

I sometimes can't believe I live here, and how different my life is. But it's all so very good, and the challenges definitely have big rewards.

Recap

So without my laptop, my blog posts have gotten a bit infrequent. Here now I provide you with a brief recap of the past week.

Below is my post about driving on the left side of the road. Tuesday night, I had my first solo experience driving when I had to drop someone off at the airport, then come home. I did so well and got through all the roundabouts on the way home without a hitch. I crossed the first bridge (to Tsing Yi), and then ... I missed the turn to the next bridge. It comes up fast, around the corner, and when I saw it I was in the wrong lane and there was a car in the next lane so I couldn't get over. And there is nowhere to exit and do a turnaround from the highway, so I had to keep going. I decided, as annoying as it was, to head back to the airport since it's the only place I know how to get home from. But then I took another wrong turn. So in summary, I got very lost, late at night, did some illegal u-turns and other things, then made it back to the right highway and got home. And all the while I was using the blinker for the wrong directions because it's backwards and confusing. Oh well!

The other news is my friend Mark (who many of you know) came to visit. He lives in northeastern China, and took a 36 hour train ride (it's a huge country!!) down to Hong Kong. He was only supposed to stay a few days, but couldn't get a return train ticket until today (Thursday) so his stay became a week. We've had fun doing the tourist thing, and he's done some work around Crossroads and been hanging out with my friends here. It's kind of weird to have someone from my 'other' life mixing with my life here, but it's very good and it's been a lot of fun.

Now to work stuff. We take a lot of donated goods and give them back to the community. We wanted to start writing up these 'match stories' (as we call them) for the website, and possibly for some other things too. So I went today and met with a charity here that provides legal assistance to migrant workers who have had their rights abused. They provide these women with shelter as well as handle their court cases. Crossroads supplied the beds and other things to bring the shelter into existence. It was a really special time for me to meet with a recipient in person, and really see the impact our work has had on this organization and the people it works with.

So that's my story for the past few days. It keeps being busy, but it also keeps being an adventure.

Team Movers

At Crossroads, we have so many short term people that come and go, so we have a team called “Team Movers.” These people are drivers who do airport runs for the team.

I love to drive, and decided I wanted to be on the Team Movers. The only catch to driving in Hong Kong is they drive on the left side of the road (British style), meaning the driver’s seat is on the right of the car.

Despite this, I felt pretty confident I would be ok. And then as the day of my first drive approached, which was last Saturday, several people asked, “Have you practiced yet?” So, I took this as a sign and found a brave soul to practice with me.

Christy, an American who has been living in Hong Kong and Australia for the past 8 years (and has gotten used to driving on the left), went with me, and was very sympathetic.

But, it was still weird to drive on the opposite side.

I think the hardest part was the blinker is on the right of the steering wheel instead of the left, and the windshield wipers are on the left instead of the right (basically, they’re swapped from how they are in the U.S.). So, this meant I kept turning on the windshield wipers when I was changing lanes and trying to signal. Also, you push it up to go left, and down to go right, which again is opposite from the States.

The other hard thing was all my natural reactions were opposite to how I needed to react. This just meant I really had to pay attention to what I was doing (not that I don’t always when I’m driving!). I felt like I was 15 in Driver’s Ed again.

When turning left, I had to remember to stay to the left. When coming to the window to pay the parking fee at the airport, I almost gave the money to Christy, thinking she had to pay because she was on the driver’s side. And there were moments where I would be going to the left, then think, “Wait, is this the correct way?” because I was getting my natural way of driving muddled with the new way of driving and forgetting which was the correct way here (but not so muddled that I ever did it wrong and endangered us, so don’t worry!). They also use roundabouts here, which made me a bit nervous, but it wasn’t too busy out at the time I went, fortunately.

So, I’ve had a new life experience, and I’m excited to do it again and get more comfortable with driving on the left, though I fear how this will affect my driving back in the States. Oh well!

Communication Blackout

My laptop died last week (it was 6 years old) so I have far less computer access than before which is why many of you have not heard from me. So, be patient, please. And please, if you feel led, lift up this need for a computer. It's not just for my personal needs, but also for work needs as well, and life is a bit more complicated without a computer. Thanks!

4th of July ... on the 5th!

So I am constantly surrounded by a myriad of other nationalities here at Crossroads, the majority of which are Australians. And since I'm always outnumbered, and also since everyone likes to pick on America, I can't really say much about my country without being berated and told how much better Australia is. It's actually a little annoying, because America's still my home, and I'd appreciate a little respect.

In light of this, myself and the other four Americans (Christy, Josh, Kara, and Lonita) on our team of over 70 decided to have a little 4th of July celebration. Schedule conflicts kept us from celebrating on the actual 4th, so we switched over to the 5th. And it was a glorious night!

We began with the classic 4th of July feast of hot dogs (real American ones!), potato chips, watermelon, and even some red, white, and blue Jello. (Aussies don't get Jello ... they call it jam, and they call jam jelly .. it's all very confusing). And we all made the similar observation: "Wow, I didn't realize how few of us there were until we all got in a room together." Our numbers may be few, but our patriotism is big, especially when we've been cut off from our fond traditions while in Asia (and Christy is married to an Australian, so she really misses Americanisms sometimes).

We decided we needed to take this incredibly rare opportunity of being just the Americans to do a little reconnaissance work and talk about all the things the Aussies and Brits here do that make no sense to us. They put a "u" in color and honor (colour and honour), they use the metric system and measure temperatures in celsius, and, worst of all, they write their dates out of order. April 7, 2008 becomes 7-4-08 instead of 4-7-08. What's up with that?

Then, Kara, a fellow Texan, had the truly inspired idea of heading out to Disney and watching the fireworks. At Crossroads, we have been very blessed and have a few cars that have been given to us. They are generally used for business needs, but as it was Saturday night, we were able to use one of the vehicles to drive to Disney, a 40 minute drive away on Lantau Island (and cheaper than taking public transport). We arrived at the Hollywood Hotel, where we sat in the parking lot to watch the fireworks (it's free to watch from the parking lot). They lasted about 15 minutes.

We then took a walk through the grounds of the hotel, and it was thoroughly American, being the Hollywood Hotel. The grounds were amazing, and they were playing good ol' rock and roll music. We walked through the pseudo Hollywood, and took many silly photos.

Christy and I had decided to theme things up a bit, and printed out some American flags that we took with us. Throughout the evening, the goal was to get the flag in as many photos as possible. Great fun!

So it was a completely ridiculous, silly evening, and I loved it. Every one of us was from a different place in the States, but we still had so much common ground. Everyone was willing to be embarassed and take photos with the flags, especially Kara who had no problem pulling out the biggest flag for every photo, and she's lived in HK the longest (5 years).

It made me realize how much I miss talking to people who have the same cultural background as me. Kara and I both talked about how surprised we were at how different it was to be talking with just Americans, and it was almost a little bit of a relief not to have to work to re-word something or think about the other person not relating to you. It was just nice to indulge for the evening.

And we finished off with homemade apple pie. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Kara and her hot dog

Kara and Christy

Me!

Kara and Lonita

Kara and Josh

This is Helen who caught up with us at the end. She's British, but we let bygones be bygones.

Apple pie!

My Place

Ok. So tonight I was all ready to come home and write about the beach, and its therapeutic value to me. I was going to tell you how, only a five minute walk away, I find the much needed peace and quiet I so need each day. I walk along the beach in the cool of the evenings, my sandals in one hand and my pants rolled up. My feet sink in the soft sand and I listen to the gentle break of waves on the shore. Few people are out on the beach in the evenings, and there's a calm stillness about the place. I walk, and think, and talk with the Father about all kinds of things. I need this break each day, and I look forward to the exercise and the therapy it brings me.

But, as I was leaving the beach today, trodding my usual path back home on the road, I passed to my right a wide sidewalk that I've never been down before. I always pass it when I'm leaving the beach, but I've never given it much thought. Today, something struck me and made me consider it. I had already passed it, so I backtracked and took this mystery path. (No fear, because it is well lit and well used, I just had never been down it.)

As I walked along, the beach below was in sight on my right, and a big luxury hotel was to my left. Soon I passed the hotel, and it was water on both sides of me. A few runners were using the path, as well as some hotel patrons and locals, but not too many, so I had my quiet space.

Now, usually when I walk the beach, it only takes me about 20 minutes because the parts that I can walk between are limited (because the tide is so high right now). I always feel like my walks get cut short because of this. So it was so nice to find this new path!

When I reached the end, I was very pleasantly surprised.

I saw up ahead three golden dolphins perched in a plaza at the end of the path. I entered what is called "Dolphin Square." The dolphin statue sits in the middle of a very large, flat, circular plaza (so not sure why it's called Dolphin 'square', but that's another matter). It was sort of like a peninsula, jutting out and surrounded by water on three sides. Just across was the airport, and in the darkness I could watch planes land and take off, but they weren't so close that the sounds were loud or distracting. Just lots of lights coming and going. And I could see the dark mountains behind the lit buildings, and then the shimmering water ... it was just beautiful. And the plaza itself was relatively empty, with just myself and two others in the massive expanse.

I'm so grateful to have been drawn to this place, and to have a new 'spot' to chat with Him, to clear my head, and to have some 'me' time. It is definitely going on my usual route for evening walks.

Our Friends in Lesotho

Tonight, I was reminded of why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Crossroads has so many layers. Starting as just a small family wanting to make a difference, it has blossomed over the past years into a family of more than 70, each of us hailing from different countries around the world and all sharing the same call to work with this organization. It has really only been through the Father's guidance and blessings that this place functions the way it does, and as well as it does without making any revenue or hiring any workers. We're all volunteer and all our costs are covered through the generosity of others. We are able to serve the needy and the poor on a global scale because of the simple call this family followed over ten years ago to collect used goods in Hong Kong and send them to those in need across the nations.

So back to tonight. Each Wednesday night, our team meets together for dinner, singing, 'chatting', and study of the Word. This evening was special because a couple working in Lesotho that we have been able to send goods to was present and asked to share with us.

The man (whose name I can't remember!) got up, and spent several minutes just giving thanks for what we have done to help him and his wife. I was so moved. He is a doctor and his wife, Rohini, is a dentist. They are both from Sri Lanka, but after getting their degrees decided to move to the U.S. and try to become prosperous there. As this man said, he's never even heard of Lesotho. But, as the Father does, He called this man to start a clinic in Lesotho, using his and his wife's gifts to serve the underpriveleged there.

They have been there now for over 20 years, and through the goods they have received from Crossroads, they now have desks, exam tables, beds and bed linens, and many other items for their clinic. They have also started a primary school and high school in the area, and again, furnished these places through donations from Hong Kong.

It was powerful to hear their testimony. And I was overwhelmed at how the Father has used our team to pour encouragement and life into what He has led this couple to do in Lesotho. The Father certainly has some very mighty plans! And this is just one of so many we serve. What a privelege to hear direct from this couple!

His stories were amazing. And he and his wife were so kindhearted and funny that I can see how well they must connect with their patients, and all in His name. This man told us of how he is trained in surgery, and will perform all kinds of surgeries depending on who walks in the doors. He also told us that those in Lesotho who seek the medical profession practice in South Africa, leaving Lesotho with poor medical care. The hospital nearby often calls him in because they can only perform part of a surgery and need him to come in and finish. This haphazard way of treating people often leads to fatalities. He also spoke of the fear of HIV. Many abandon the medical field in Lesotho for fear of contracting the disease from their patients.

This couple went on to explain that the majority of the population they work with is women and children as husbands go to South Africa to work in the mines. Even when the men come back into the country, they refuse to see a doctor like this man because of his love for the Father. Instead, these men will visit witch doctors or look for cures elsewhere, and will only see this doctor if they are dying. They may even restrict their wives and children from seeing this doctor as well.

This couple finished by telling how the community they are in is becoming more and more receptive to the Message they bring, and they are amazed by the work the Father is doing in this place.

I have lots of food for thought tonight as I remember those on the very front lines, and the ways that the Father takes care of all His children in so many, many different ways.