Days of May - Finishing Strong

We... and our students... are working hard for a strong finish to this seminary academic year.

Final edits for a ground-breaking dissertation
take place at our kitchen table.

The defence of the dissertation... on Hospice care in Myanmar... is coming up next week..

First complete sermon given in English!  -- Keo, one of the Lao students sponsored by the  ELCA -
is flanked by his English teacher, classmates, and much love and support.

Yours truly had the opportunity to take a class in the History of Christian Mission.
Most important take-aways? 1) the translatability of the Gospel and 2) It's not "our" Christianity
anymore (not that it ever was a religion that only belonged to one ethnic group or culture)
Visiting prof. Dr. Bas Plaisier was fantastic as were my fellow students.
From left to right can you guess our nationalities? (Hint: they include
Hong Kong Chinese, Mainland Chinese, Myanmar, Dutch, American, Indonesian, Vietnamese
Answer on the bottom of the blog)

Ah, sometimes in the flurry of the last weeks of classes, it's good to get high.
Yes, you know what I mean.

High up on the Hong Kong mountains, with Dr.s and students.

The semester is almost at an end!!!

Breathe deeply, take the opportunity to marvel.

Do you see the rainbow?

So, last Thursday I hand-delivered the final packet of student visa applications to the Hong Kong Immigration department. We have nineteen international students hoping and praying the Immigration officials will say yes. Typically we don't find out for sure until the last minute, and only after numerous letters, phone calls, additional documents have been submitted. I can only hope my approximately two months of labour on these applications (so far) have not been in vain.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. 

Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that 

your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 

(St. Paul, encouraging the Christians in Corinth 1 Corinthians 15:58 )

ANSWER TO THE ETHNICITIES OF THE STUDENTS/PROF. IN THE FOURTH PHOTO DOWN (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT): USA, VIETNAMESE, MYANMAR, INDONESIAN, DUTCH, MYANMAR, HONG KONG CHINESE, MAINLAND CHINESE.