Obviously I have already returned from my mission trip from Hong Kong, however, while I was there, I took time to blog about what went on during each day of the trip. Our hotel did not have free wifi so I wasn't able to post my writings while on my trip. I wanted my lovely blog/Facebook readers to have the opportunity to know what all went on during my trip, so I have decided to post my ramblings here. I am going to post these blog posts up over several days because if I posted the whole thing, you would be overwhelmed with all the words (I know...I'm long-winded) :)
I hope you enjoy seeing what God did on my mission trip to my heart city - Hong Kong. ENJOY!
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Overview
This long-awaited time has arrived! I have traveled for my fourth time all the way to Hong Kong, China. Goodness gracious, I love this city. I love the people, I love the atmosphere, I love the way of life. When I was 10 years old and was able to live two years of my life here, I realized how special a place this city was and have carried that realization with me ever since. If it wasn't for Hong Kong in my life, I wouldn't be the person I am today; namely, passionate about missions and ministry-minded. This place has truly shaped my life, for the better, and I guess that's why I feel so at-home here. As I walk or ride around, I always have the feeling that I am supposed to be here which I know is God's peace showing me that I am right where he wants me to be. Clearwater Bay Internatonal Baptist Church (CBIBC) is my heart church as it is the place where I learned truly what it meant to have a servant's heart. I am so thankful that I get to give back to a church that gave so much to me by leading in VBS again this year. Many people shaped my life at CBIBC and have remained some of my dearest friends today. They invested in my life and inspired me to invest in the lives of children as well. I'm forever grateful to them and SO glad to be able to minister with them now as an adult.
Through these next few blog posts, I hope to take you with me on my Amazing Wonder Aviation (the theme for Lifeway's VBS) journey to Hong Kong. These posts will be informative for you, reflective for me, and hopefully inspiring to the both of us. "Hold on tight, as we take flight!"
The Flight/First Night in HK
My first flight was from Knoxville to Chicago. This flight was actually really quick and easy. The nice thing about the Knoxville airport is that it is small. You can't get lost because there's not many places for you to go. That quickly changed when I arrived in Chicago :) Going in to this process, I knew that Chicago would have multiple terminals and that I would have to find a tram to get to the international one; but what I didn't realize is #1: How crowded it would be and #2: How cramped it would be. I began to look myself for the place where I needed to go, but after seeing how crazy everything was, I turned around and asked an airline agent. Thankfully, she was very helpful. I had to leave the domestic terminal, ride a tram to get to the international terminal and then go through security in order to get into that terminal. It wasn't necessarily hard, it just took a bit of time. When I arrived to my gate, I sat down and waited for the plane to board. Not 15 minutes later, I looked up and there stood the team I was traveling with! They were supposed to be on another flight that had left 2 hours before. I thought to myself, "What on earth?" I found out that their flight was delayed and that they had requested to travel on my flight so they could get to HK on time. The only problem would be that their luggage may not make it with them on this particular flight. Their airline promised them, however, that they would make sure that if it didn't, it would make their original (aka delayed) flight. (I can already hear you chuckling under your breath, you know that this didn't happen...but more on that later). We boarded and began the long flight to Hong Kong.
15 hours. That's the length of time it takes to get from America to Hong Kong. When you're on a plane for that long, it's almost as if time stops and you are living the same time over and over and over again. Sheesh. It's a doozy for sure. BUT thankfully, it's the worse part of the whole trip. There are also movies, tv shows, and music to occupy your time as well. That flight wasn't too bad, except for the last 3 hours. That is the time where your brain goes into the "GET ME OUT OF HERE" mode. My brain has done that the past 2 times I have come to HK and didn't let up this time either. Once we touched down, however, I began to feel better.
We exited the plane, went through immigration, and then I went to get my luggage (as this was my original flight and it was on the plane). Once I got my luggage, I turned around but didn't see anyone from the team behind me. I went out of the terminal, thinking that's where everyone was, and was greeted by our hosts. Ooops. I hoped the rest of the team wasn't waiting for me or thinking I was lost. I got to see my dear friend Janice and meet a new friend, Jennifer. While we waited, I went to get a SIM card for my old phone so that I could call locally and internationally. A few minutes after I came back, the team came out. They still didn't know whether or not their luggage had made their original flight and said the airline would call later in the evening. We journeyed on the Airport Express MTR to Kowloon station where we caught a taxi to our hotel. You've gotta love HK taxis. They drive fast and furious :) BUT they are really good at what they do, so you can't complain. We got to our hotel where I unloaded my stuff (since I was the only one who had stuff). We are staying at the YMCA near the harbor. It's a gorgeous view - day or night. After that, we went to a pizza place to grab a bite to eat. It was nice to have familiar food on an empty stomach. Don't get me wrong, I love Chinese food, but when you've been on a 15 hour flight and this is the first thing you're eating while not being in the air...it's nice to have something familiar. We ate, came back to the hotel, and prepared to go to sleep. I knew from expereince, however, that jet lag would prevent me from getting too much sleep. Oh well, it's all a part of the process....
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| The view from the hotel room! Simply stunning. |
Saturday/Prep Day
Jet lag woke me up at about 4 am Saturday morning. I got about 4 hours sleep, pretty typical for me when traveling to Asia. I tried to go back to sleep until about 6, but realized it just wasn't gonna happen so I got up and got things ready for the day. After a wonderful breakfast at our hotel, we went to the school where we will be doing VBS to set up and decorate. Just one problem: the team's luggage (with said decorations as well as all their clothes) hadn't arrived yet. Come to find out, their luggage had not made their original/delayed flight and the airline had attemped to put it on the next flight to HK (but the agent wasn't for sure). A CBIBC member was actually at the airport dropping someone else off, so he offered to be the contact at the airport and help figure out what was going on.
When we arrived at the school, we met everyone and were directed to the rooms we would be working in. So...everyone except for me, just set up their room the way they wanted to while me and my lovely assistant, who just happens to have the same name as me, set up and decorated our room. It looks so cute and I think the kids will love it too. After decorating our room, we went down to the main hall and prepared namebadges and t-shirts for the kids. The VBS director's daughter, who will be in my class, helped me with putting colored stickers on the namebadges. She is adorable and I can't wait to get to know her better this week. We finished with registration, then had a kind-of debrief about what to expect, what to do, and what to know.
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| My sweet classroom - I wanted the decorations to be inviting for 4 & 5 year olds - I think we accomplished that :) Thank you First Baptist Morristown & Renai Richey for the decorations!! |
What we did find out was that this year's VBS is a record-setter. This is the biggest number of children ever registered for VBS - 101 confirmed, possiby 120. Shew. That's A LOT! What makes it a bit harder this year is that there are less workers. Our God is greater than our situations, however, so He will provide - that I'm sure of. Some other cool facts about the kids this year: #1: only 50 of the registered children have attended VBS before - meaning that this is the first time for many of the children to experience VBS #2: few of the children have any church affiliation #3: two of the children are from Mainland China and are here staying with relatives to attend VBS in the mornings (this is pretty cool if you ask me...).
We then dismissed and went to lunch. My close friend, and best Sunday School teacher ever, Faith and her husband Oscar invited us to the University where he teaches to have dim sum lunch. Dim sum is Chinese food that is small in portion size - so basically, like snack size. I didn't like it when I was little, but, for the most part, really like it now. It was a nice lunch, but I could feel myself getting tired. I knew jet lag would hit eventually and I pretty much pegged it right on time. After lunch, we went to a mall so that the rest of the team could get clothes as their luggage isn't expected to arrive until tomorrow. We then traveled back to the hotel for some rest. As we traveled back, we heard that there was a typhoon warning. As I am writing this portion of the blog, it is thundering and lightining incessently (for my Morristown friends...Noah found the Hong Kong thunderstorm button...FYI) :) Thankfully, the storm wasn't too bad. Once it ended we went out to eat at a Southwestern-type restuarant...I know, "Southwestern in Hong Kong??" Let's just say HK cuisine is very "eclectic"...ha ha. We came back to the hotel and crashed...hoping to get a good...FULL...night's sleep. (I'm holding out hope here....) :)
All in all, it was a very productive and good day. I look forward to tomorrow, going to church, and seeing all my friends from years past. I am also getting really excited about VBS! God has amazing power and I can't wait to see how He shows it this week during VBS!
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Stay tuned next time to find out what happened on Sunday and the beginning of VBS! See you next time!!
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