Onto the Next Adventure

Hello la! That's the newest addition to my vocabulary. They say "la" after everything here. "Okay la." "No need la." "Can la." I may not go back to the U.S. speaking fluent cantonese but I'm pretty excited about using "la". It just rolls off your tongue so nicely! Anyway, Praise God! I've started to settle into the rhythm of things around here. These past few weeks, I've mainly been trying to get know the students. It's harder to get to know the day students because so many commute 1-2 hours to the school and leave as soon as class is over. But it's been really nice, connecting with the dorm students.  Here students have the option of staying in the dorms for five days (local students) or seven days (international students who are mainly SDA) per week. There are around 10-15 girls on the college floor during the week but a little less than half go home at the end of the week which means things get a lot quieter o...

I've been here at Hong Kong Adventist College for almost a month and as always, it's been a rollercoaster.  Already, God has blessed me with some really cool experiences like hiking in Hong Kong's beautiful nature and visiting their street markets in Mong Kok and at Prince Edward's Station but I have also loved the impromptu experiences like walking to the grocery store after Sabbath to save ourselves the bus fare and playing basketball in the rain.  Over the past few weeks, the campus has come alive as students have returned and classes have begun. It's been a juggling act of meeting students, attending classes, and sitting through meetings to plan different programs. Personally, I find the school cafeteria during lunch to be one of the most terrifying experiences when you don't know anyone and by the end of the first week of classes, I was completely overwhelmed.  But God provided! That Friday, Hong Kong shut down to weather a T10 typhoon, expecting it to be o...

I've been in Hong Kong for almost a week now. It's been quite a week. I think the first few days were the hardest between the jet-lag, homesickness, and culture shock.  I came to campus about a week and a half early so most of the college students haven't moved in yet and the dorm is basically empty. Hence, the loneliness started to creep in along with the question of "What am I doing here?".  Despite the jumble of emotions I was and sometimes still am, God has been faithful.  He has sent people to welcome me and show me around the campus and Hong Kong. He has sent people to remind me of lessons He has taught me in the past like how God uses the littlest things we are faithful in to reach people and how He has given us each our own unique style of witnessing. There is no comparison necessary and there isn't a standard I need to surpass. I'm here to please God, no one else.   This campus is beautiful. It is a small campus in the mountains a little ways from...

Honestly, one of the things I was most nervous for was traveling to get to Hong Kong.  To start, I'm a bit new to flying by myself plus having a layover in Korea where I don't speak the language didn't help but the biggest thing was arriving in Hong Kong. I've heard the horror stories of SMs that had a hard time getting to their locations and I know the devil will try everything he can to keep us from doing God's work.  I worked at Camp Cherokee in New York, one of the SDA summer camps for the summer and signed my contract before I got the visa and purchased the tickets. The contract ended August 12, giving me August 13 to make the 7 hour drive back to New Jersey, to fly out August 14, and arrive on August 15. My flight was set to arrive at 10:30 pm on August 15 while my visa expired at midnight.  There were so many "what ifs" that came with that long process. What if the car broke down on the way back from camp? What if we got to the airport late and miss...

I’m going to Hong Kong because when God showed me His call for each one of His followers to go and make disciples, I responded “Here I am, Lord, send me”. Never would I have imagined that He would send me across the world for a year, away from my family and my friends.   I don’t think I have a very adventurous spirit. But I want to spend my life devoted to His cause and living in surrender to His purposes. Despite my fears, I know that the blessing is in the going.  Already, He has blessed in providing the way for me to go. My first semester in college, I took the SALT program at Southern and that experience and training woke me up to the work of spreading the gospel that God calls each one of us to. My second semester, I started thinking about taking a year off for Student Missions.  I told God if He wanted me to go, He had to make the way. One of the things holding me back was the $150 application fee for something I wasn’t sure I was ready to commit to. Before a c...