Monday, July 23, 2012

What lies ahead? New international students arriving in Hong Kong

New seminary students from

Indonesia
Myanmar (aka Burma)
India
Laos
and Cambodia

are preparing to travel to Hong Kong in the coming week(s) for the summer orientation program.

For some of them it will be thier first time in an airplane.
For some of them it will be their first time out of their home country.
For some of them it will be their first time actually using English (many of them have learned English only in the classroom, and as someone who had four years of high school French before traveling to France and being shocked by having someone actually speak FRENCH to me and expecting a coherent answer.... I can testify to you that the prospect of speaking and functioning in English and eventually writing papers in English may be quite rightfully terrifying to some!)

For some of them it means they are saying good bye to their families for one, two or even three years. For a few this may mean saying goodbye to young children, or a husband or wife, or aging parents.

They are doing it because they have a commitment.
A hope for
A calling to

serve all people through God's global Church.


For those of you with time and inclination - below is a Powerpoint I put together about international students from the Mekong at our seminary - Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong.

Please keep the new students 2012-13 in your hearts and prayers.  Especially the two Cambodians who are still awaiting their visas - and the Chinese and international staff and faculty who are preparing for a new academic year.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -- Jeremiah 29:11

May God's angels watch over them... may they and we be attentive to the Spirit's promptings to serve and grow in love and knowledge.

Threefold Paths of Mission MEKONG Students

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Graduation Week at LTS in Hong Kong

Under a canopy of flowers
Ready for one last Hong Kong hike with Dr. Wayne

Education doesn't only take place in the classroom! A pre-graduation meal at a Thai restaurant, literally a hole in the wall, the food is great!
Getting ready for graduation
Graduation choir
New LTS-Hong Kong Alumni!

Dr. Wayne with Jimmy from Myanmar, who finished an M.Th. helping his church develop a Christian course in sex education
Dr. Wayne with his first doctoral student, Dr.Saw from Myanmar, whose thesis deals with counseling IDP's (internally displaced persons) from among the Karen people in Myanmar.


... with Fotani, who completed an M.A. in Theological Librarianship

...with Sokly from Cambodia, who has a special interest in issues of good church stewardship and ethical entrepreneurship


Heading home to Myanmar for a half dozen LTS graduates - the gorgeous airport in Bangkok, Thailand.
Big smiles! Heading home!

Mommy's now a theological "Doctor"... and she's back home in Myanmar after three years away, ready and equipped for teaching at the local seminary in Yangon.
In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” 
  -- Isaiah 25:9