Developing Christ-Centered Leaders in the Emerging World to Reach the Unreached

Jay was asked to speak in church on Sunday about the business we do here and how that coincides with showing God’s love to the Chinese.

Below is the link:

http://www.islandecc.hk/podcast/ieccpodcast.rss

Click on Healthy Heart.

or go to www.islandecc.hk and go to worship services and sermons and click on Oct. 21st.

The link takes you to the whole sermon and Jay is about 30 mintues into it. You can fast forward to Jay’s part or listen to the whole sermon.  It was a really good sermon on the heart and about finding our God-given gifts, talents and passions to serve God.

No matter where you go, one thing is always similar – the kids. And now that we have kids, this is much more obvious. They have made friends here and their little relationships are just like the ones they had back in America -only the languages spoken are varied and jumbled and they use more sign language:) (click here to view pictures.)

Sarah Grace and Hannah both feel more secure when they have friends near them that they can call their own. I guess we are all like that. So, when we moved here and knew no one, it took a toll on us all. We are so blessed to have met people that have become our friends here in Hong Kong. They come from many countries – Australia, Canada, Laos, Singapore, Denmark, Brazil, Japan, Britain, Hong Kong, mainland China, New Zealand, the Philippines and the list goes on.

And eventhough we are moving again, we are coming back to our wonderful friends in the States! (I have attached some pictures of the girls and some of their friends)

This fall we celebrated one of the two most important holidays here in China – the Mid-Autumn Festival. There are many legends about how this day was started in 1000 BC having to do with the moon goddess, worshipping the moon, and rebelling against the Mongols. Now families get together to watch the moon, said to be the brightest of the year, and people give moon cakes to each other and decorate with paper lanterns. Moon cakes are little single serving round cakes filled with lotus paste or black sesame seeds mainly. There are some made with other ingredients as well and for the westerners, Haagen-Dazs now makes them! (click here to view pictures.)

We participated in the holiday by giving and receiving moon cakes and buying lanterns for the girls to carry at the festival. It was an interesting time for us to see more of the Chinese culture. (pictures are under Blogroll)

Jay’s brother John is teaching English in the northern part of mainland China, and during the week-long national holiday (like American’s 4th of July in a way), John came to stay with us. The girls had a blast spending time with their uncle and I think John had a nice vacation, too. We went to the Bubba Gump’s restaurant, went swimming in the evenings and even bowling one night. Jay and John went to Macau one day, which is a small island and separate country near here. It was nice to have some family here to host and to see where we are living and working. You can see some pictures of this holiday week under Links on the left.