Friends … well it’s Tuesday night, almost 10pm as I’m writing this blog.  Today was / is Gloria’s birthday as she turned 25 again.  We went out for dinner at a local restaurant in Tai Wai which is a few MTR stations away from where we are in Shek Mun.  As a family, we thankful for Gloria and how she continues to faithfully love, comforts and encourages our family.  During this season of our lives, she has tirelessly worked hard at making sure we are all well adjusted, that our boys have enough to eat, and often times than not, goes out multiple times to buy groceries because our boys are eating way too much!

Thank You Gloria … we love you!

It is also the eve of Typhoon Hato.  Many of us are hoping that it lands, hits, comes, rains, on Hong Kong.  I’m liking it to the equivalent of having a “snow day” in Canada … but that never happens because the Board that I used to work for never really cared for the safety of the teachers.  That’s another blog.  So … we wait for the rain and the high winds to come.  Will blog about the experience if it does come!

Well, as I’m sitting here thinking about what to share with you all, a couple of things do come to mind.

First … we have now been in Hong Kong for a month.  Yes … 1 month.  Many of us share the same sentiment, which is, it feels like we’ve been here for a year.  A lot of things have happened, challenges, new friends, relationships, new colleagues, learning multiple streams of media, cultural differences and adapting to the weather.

Second, and perhaps the most challenging aspect of living in HK … is looking for a new church family.  We have not exhausted our search, however, it is becoming more difficult to find a church community that we can call home.  The churches that we have visited have sincere people, a love for the Lord from what we see, great worship sets at a  couple of churches, but, we have yet to find a strong Bible, Exposition preaching church.

Friends back home, be thankful for what you have.  Be thankful for Ian, for his faithfulness in preaching the Word every week!  Pray for him.  Encourage him.

As for us, it is our prayer that we find a church that preaches the Word of God unapologetically, a church that lifts high the name of Jesus, a church that firmly believes in the power of prayer.  We would appreciate your prayers as we continue to seek out a church to call home.  Are we concerned?  Not at all.  In His time, we will be connected to a strong Bible believing church. I’m confident that the Lord did not call us to Hong Kong to see us flounder in our walk.

And so … time for some much needed rest friends.  We are enjoying ourselves here in HK.  Both Gloria and I have been given the opportunity to encourage many people, inside my class (side note: going through Philippians with my grade 4’s, we pray at the beginning of the day and we also end the day with prayer, we have worship in class, etc.) and with Gloria being able to encourage other women.  Thankful for the opportunity to serve at Harvest Durham which has enabled / prepared us for this season of our lives.  Also thankful for our time at Harvest York and serving at AWANA which was so timely as we prepped for our time here in Hong Kong.

Stand firm in the faith.  Be faithful.  Be obedient.  God is at work friends.

You are loved!