Dear Prayer Partners and Supporters of Cross Cultural Connection,
The new year of 2014 has started and we all have another 363 days to go before 2015! What will we do with those days? What did we do with the days of 2013?
I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to serving our Lord in 2014! How did you spend your holiday season? One thing I did on January 1 was watch the original Disney version of
Cinderella on our local English TV channel. In the whole movie there has always been one scene that stands out…the advice given to the dog, Bruno, on how to get along with the cat, Lucifer. Cinderella tells Bruno she knows what he needs to do. Simply put, she says: “Learn to like cats!” Wow! Think of all the implications of that statement! It reminds me of Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
This is my prayer and goal for the coming year: to not act, react, or think as what people perceive as normal behavior, but to renew my mind so that I can discover God’s will for His honor and glory! A big challenge for sure, but attainable one step at a time. I thank you for your prayers for me in this regard.
As you may imagine, holiday time this year was quite different for me without Ken, but realizing that I need to keep focused on the work ahead, helps me a lot. That is why Romans 12:2 is especially important at this time.
December 2013 had some memorable events; the most notable was that Allen Chow, a long time Christian and attendee of Fairview Park Christian Church formally placed his membership with FPCC on December 22. Allen is the father of two: Dareth and Lok Hymn who are both in the older children’s (VIC’s) Sunday school class. He has recorded our sermon times every Sunday for a few years now, and posts them regularly on Facebook. You can look up these on YouTube under Fairview Park Christian Church Hong Kong.
I spoke for the New Testament church in Tsim Sha Tsui on Dec. 22. The topic was Jesus, the Light of the World.
Scott and Evelyn’s three J’s came over to make Christmas cookies on Dec. 23. They were joined by Dareth. The girls made the cookies while Evelyn and I made cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast.
Christmas day was busy with a program at church and a fellowship meal afterwards. We had several guests including parents of Sunday school children who do not usually attend. There were around 50 people all together. The VIC’s (this stands for Very Important Children! The name they gave to themselves) had practiced and Scott helped make a video of a skit they did. This was the highlight of the program. It may become a tradition, as they did this last year also. Every one enjoyed at the food during the lunch time and there was not much left! We had turkey, lamb, curry, lasagna, a special hot and gingery tofu, and much, much more.
I started off the month of December by spending 4 days in the hospital with a sprained knee. I used crutches and a cane the first few days of being home and now am not using them at all. The stairs going up to my apartment were troublesome for a while, but now is not a problem. I guess I must give in to the fact that age is creeping up on me! I can run in my mind, but not with my body! No more races for me. I am still using my stretching bench and that is very helpful. Again, thank you for prayers on my behalf for physical needs.
We started off the month of January with a prayer meeting for our church. Everyone is bundled up inside the house because it is COLD inside, just as it is outside. Four of the Filipinas came. We had breakfast and then the prayer time.
Allen signing the membership book Dec. 22.