blessings.

God has been so good to me. And he continues to pour out his blessings on me. I'm honestly not sure I could properly put into words the beauty of some of the tangible things he has blessed me with. . so here are a few of my favorite pictures from the pass few days. .

lunchtime.

friendship.

peace.

sweet love.

boys.

the beauty of a team.

joy

today was explosive.

With water balloons, water guns, buckets, water bottles and a hose, who knew Pui Ying Secondary School could have so much fun? My team had a massive water fight today with our students after our morning classes. William, the coordinator for the English camp at our school was just observing. For a while I thought he might have been frustrated by all action and extreme mess from all the water and balloon scraps. But he talked with Rachel, my team leader later and he was so glad we allowed the kids to just be kids. He said that they never get to do anything like that.
I feel like more than anything William was just taking in the extreme joy on the faces of the kids. It was probably overwhelming.

first day, quick rundown.

Oh man, am I tired!
Teaching can be intense, especially when its a foreign language and you don't know the students' native one. Today was our first real day of teaching. And let's just say, it was a little intense, but it gave me good vision for the future.
I'm excited about the relationships I will be able to build with my students! Although, there are a few troublesome ones. This one guy, Wilson, certainly has a difficult heart. I'm not sure what it will take to really get him to behave, but prayer is always helpful. :] My other students behaved pretty well, and several seemed a little interested about the reason I was at Pui Ying to teach them English. Please pray that I will take advantage of every opportunity that God sets in front of me to really get to know the hearts of my students so that He can be much more glorified in their lives.

"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
1Peter 1:13

Massage in Hong Kong

Last night, about twelve of us were traveling down the streets of Hong Kong. Biscuet, the guy who connected me with ELIC, was traveling around town with my team when all of a sudden, we decided some of us should go get massages! Fun right? oh yeah, hilarious!

When we began our journey to the spa from the street below, we started walking up an enclosed set of stairs after we passed a locked gateway. The width of the stairs couldn't have been more than about four and a half feet and it seemed pretty sketchy. We all got to the door of the spa and passed around a few of the menus of all they offered at the spa. There were feet massages, full body massages, etc. Seemed pretty exciting for sure. Especially considering they were really cheap!

I'm not really into foot massages (because I would kick someone in the face), so I opted for a full body massage. Laura, Biscuet and Grace all decided to go for the forty minute foot massage. Derek had never had a real massage before so he decided that a full body massage was a good idea too. Everything was pretty normal until Derek and I were escorted to a room with two beds.

Thankfully there was a towel and a set of pajama like things sitting on each bed. We looked at one another and decided we should change. Thankfully there was this shower thing connected to the room, so I stepped into the shower to change and he changed outside of it. After careful warnings and communications, we realized it was safe and we were ready for the folks to start the massages. But. . . that didn't happen right away. We were sort of standing around, laughing at the whole experience when, there was a knock on the door.

One of the women that worked there came in and pointed to the shower. Apparently we were supposed to make more use of it than just using it as a changing facility. This wasn't just a shower that had a regular dark curtain or anything, it had a sliding, frosted glass door. Not exactly the most appropriate thing considering the circumstances, but we figured we should listen to the Asians. So Derek hopped in the shower and I sat on the floor facing the door going out into the hallway.

And all of a sudden, Biscuet walks in. He commented on how sweet the room was, with the two beds and the atmosphere, that was super close to the ELIC offices! He was excited to get to go there with his boss. But then he wondered where Derek was. Of course, I pointed to the shower and he started laughing! And truly it was hilarious. The whole circumstance was so so funny!

Finally, Derek finished showering and I proceeded to take a shower of my own. As I was drying off, the Asians started knocking on the door of the room. The masseuse had arrived and were ready to begin. Not knowing if I had a towel or not, the woman who ran the place insisted a towel be given to me. Derek was stuck with this job. Attempting to guard me and himself, he backed up toward the shower and asked if I had a towel, which, I did! But all the same, it was a little awkward.

Finally, I had the pajama things back on and could get the actual massage started. It was probably the most awkward and hilarious thing I've ever had happen in my life, and let's just say, Derek and I are really good friends now! And that if I plan on getting another massage I'll be going with one of my girl friends from the team!

But I guess when in Asia, do as the Asians do.

harbor interactions

i'm falling for this city. its beautiful. we've finally gotten back from the island of Cheung Chau and have moved into the heart of Hong Kong. Of course, there are so many people, but it has been a blast! My team continues to be knit tighter together and the love that we are able to pour out is absolutely beautiful!
Yesterday we were able to meet the officials of the school our team will be working with. They were such sweet people. I'm so excited about finally getting into the classroom and learning on a very intimate level (that's in contrast to riding the MTR with thousands of people, of course!). Derek and I will be talking about them on the Engage blog on a post coming up, so keep your eye out! http://engagehk.posterous.com/Yesterday my team journeyed to the Harbor where they have a light show displaying from the colorfully lit buildings. It was a blast for sure, but my favorite part was meeting Ronald. He's a Hong Kong native and has such a big heart. He was completely pleased to hear that we were all here to teach English and to spread love. He was so encouraging to my heart. To know that the people here want to continue to grow in community and spirit is so reassuring. When I mentioned that being here was the first time I had ever even been in an airplane, he was not only surprised but exclaimed 'oh, keep coming!' Being surrounded by darkness the small lights of hope provide such a beautiful encouragement to the body.

Training&Team

Ah, we have been in training pretty much all morning. But its been great! I adore my team and we were actually all able to snag a table together for lunch just a little while ago! Its been the first, since the dining area is a little packed. But its been great. Trust me, I am going to be a pro at using chopsticks whenever I get back to the States!
We all seem to be meshing so so well. I'm so excited about actually getting to the teaching part of this adventure. But, I love having an opportunity to stop and bond with all of the teachers that will be across Asia this summer. We're all learning so much. But, to be honest, I would be so overwhelmed if I wasn't an education major. Every one else is getting a lot thrown at them at one time though. I know its been pretty intense for some of the folks on my team. But I'm so positive that we've been placed together so that we can learn so much from one another. Its gonna be great!So we're on the Hong Kong island of Cheung Chau and it is absolutely beautiful. The scenery is nothing like I've ever seen in North America. Its incredible.
Please be thinking about my team as we all continue training and working together. Rachel, Laura, Lisa, Chisom, Derek, Lauren, Julia, Charlie, Emma and I are so excited about all that is going to be happening here!

First Flight, etc.

Hello friends! I’m sitting on flight 879 on my way to Hong Kong, and let me tell you, this is one long flight! Seriously, I feel like I’ve been flying all day long. . oh wait, I HAVE! When I got off in San Francisco I overheard someone ask what time it was and the response was 11:30. By that point in my day, I had gone through about four 11:30s! And then of course, I could finally begin my international flight!

It has been so great to finally meet so many of the faces that I’ve only seen through profile pictures on Facebook. Oh, and they are all such sweet people! Laura and Kyle are my flying family and have been such great fun on the journey! Especially since Kyle is from Canada! Talk about fun to listen to talk! We’ve been able to take restroom breaks together, as whenever I have to get up, we all do because I’m in the window seat. And enjoyed a tasty airplane food meal together! Yum! No seriously, it wasn’t too terrible!

But anyway, I just wanted to update from the plane and send a few things to be praying for.

First off, several of our team members were not able to join us on our flight. This is pretty upsetting since they couldn’t travel with the group and be reassured with ELIC folks’ company, so pray for their reassurance.

Secondly, I have been getting random surges of inadequacy. I know God has prepared me for this journey or I wouldn’t even be on this plane, but the whole not speaking a word of hardly any foreign language will get to me every now and again.

Although, I will say, God has certainly done something right with our team! The planning is great. I have some great feelings about us all meshing together. In fact, I’m a really big fan of Laura. She’s cracking me up right now!

blinking

i never saw this coming. this whole, traveling across the earth thing. seriously, its exactly twelve time zones over.

this is big stuff. this is life changing stuff. but then again, all our lives can be. Its about what we make them. Do we make our everyday lives life changing stuff? we could. we really could. and not just our own lives. more importantly, those around us.