THIS is what I am saying hello to again in a few short days:

Photo by LTS Professor John Lemond

The Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong.

AND I'll finally get to say hello in person to this new group of International Students from Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, whose visas I have been laboring SUCCESSFULLY! to obtain:

 Under the good guidance of Rebecca, the American English Teacher, new students have learned lesson #1 for surviving Hong Kong in the summer: Carry an umbrella with you at all times because the deluge can begin at any moment! (Thanks to Maida from Indonesia for this photo)

And I'll be saying hello to my husband who has been chasing out the cockroaches and cleaning off the daily growth of mold on the walls due to the hot and humid Hong Kong weather (um, right honey, you HAVE been doing these things???) He has also been hard at work preparing for his next set of pastoral care and counseling classes this fall:

There's my husband, "Dr. Wayne" at June graduation ceremonies, looking up at me adoringly.
At least I think it's me he's looking at!

but I'll also be saying goodbyes again... goodbye to my only sister, who has just added a case of shingles to her other health issues:

See, I can be a helpful and loving person from time to time!

and saying goodbye to three sons, aging Mom, my brother and family, goodbye to the quiet woods and dear friends I've reconnected with this summer.

good-bye sons... and salmon dinners!

oh yes and the cat.
Did I mention saying good-bye to the cat?

Well, this is a missionary's life.  And I believe in a God who sends his disciples out from time to time, and this is our time, to be ministers of the Gospel in Hong Kong, and with God's beloved people in Southeast Asia.

Tonight in church the preacher challenged us: "Do you want to be useful to God?"

And my answer is, I do, I really do. This week that means saying a lot of good-byes, so that Wayne and I can say hello to those to whom God sends us.

Thanks for your prayers, and your care, and for sharing our new journey in this coming academic year 2012-2013.

"...Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. ⁷ Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two..."  -- Mark 6:6b-7a