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

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

Sweetpeas in Wisconsin - and Sunday School in Cambodia

I am in Wisconsin for the summer... a working holiday as I enjoy the cool breezes, fresh air, wildflowers, among which are these sweet peas, which grow in the thin rocky soil of my little yard.

What I'm also doing is getting caught up on some of my work.. I'm so grateful for the internet.... just this morning I've already been in touch with Christians in Australia, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, Geneva, and of course, Hong Kong! "God's big back yard" is more connected than ever.

***
As part of getting caught up I want to show you the pictures from my most recent trip to Cambodia last month.

I got to visit Kirany, a Lutheran Theological Seminary (Hong Kong) Alumna from Cambodia who is now back in Cambodia, putting her intelligence, training, and loving faithfulness to work with children at a small local church.

 
Kirany works in an NGO during the week, which helps support her and her family (parents, siblings, and beautiful, beautiful little niece) but on the weekends, she's deeply involved with children... who grow in the thin rocky economic conditions of life in the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The view as Kirany took me on a slightly harrowing motorbike ride from my hotel to church in the LIGHT traffic of Sunday morning.  And yes, there were THREE of us on her small motorbike.

The "garden" where Kirany's "flowers" grow!

Lots of laughter and multi-media punctuate the lessons. Creative Christian Education is one of the emphases of the "practical theology" programs at the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) in Hong Kong

Teaching English through Bible songs is an "added value" for children who need English to access the wider world.

See how God's garden grows... in Cambodia!

For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness     and praise spring up before all nations.

 -- the prophet Isaiah 61:11

My First Baptism in the Mekong... (May in Mekong - Day 3)

Sarin and his Mom.

 On Day Three in Cambodia, I was invited by LTS (Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong) alumni Sarah and Sarin to  go out to the countryside, outside of Phnom Penh, where Sarin's parents live in a small village. Sarin's Dad had been crippled years ago, while living in a refugee camp, so his tiny Mom has worked to sustain their family with small business and farming projects.


Sarin was the first in his family to become a follower of Jesus Christ, and one by one the rest of his family came to faith, too.


Except for his Dad, who understandably, had a lot to wonder about this God, this Christ Jesus, this new Lord of his son's.


Through divine interventions... and maybe through the new, fresh voices of Sarin's bride, Sarah, and the beautiful grandchildren they gave to Sarin's Dad... maybe because of their regular visits, their persistent love....

And because of some dreams.  Over the last few years Sarin's Dad has been given some amazing dreams, and discovered that God's Son is for real.

It was an beautiful story and an moving testimony to me, of the power of God's Spirit to draw people to Christ, even in the countryside, even in Cambodia, where recent human history seems to contradict the existence of a caring, loving God.  

"So where were you baptized?" I asked, just out of curiosity.

"Baptized, I haven't been baptized yet.  But -" (he said in Khmer, with Sarah as our translator, but he was looking directly at me) "You're a pastor.  You could do my baptism!"

And there was a basin of water.  A congregation was easily, enthusiastically summoned.  An "acolyte" was found to add more water to the basin. 

Sarah (originally from Hong Kong) and  her father-in-law

A granddaughter who shares special treats with her Grandpa - fresh roast frog!

"You're a pastor, you could do my baptism, couldn't you?"

A congregation is easily gathered

An acolyte adds more water to the "baptismal font"

A preacher has been preached to, by this incredible experience of joy.

A long-married wife is delighted to present her  husband with a gift of flowers in honor of his new birth in Christ

^36-39As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, "Here's water. Why can't I be baptized?" He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. But he didn't mind. He had what he'd come for and went on down the road as happy as he could be.  (Acts 8 - The Message translation of the Bible.... and I kid you not, my Bible just "happened" to be bookmarked at exactly this passage that day)

May in the Mekong - Day 2 - Ants are to Eat (Who Knew?)

Day two in the Mekong region (Cambodia, to be specific, Phnom Penh, to be more specific yet) was spent visiting a world class "Continuing Education Program for Alumni" or CEPA, run by one Danish missionary and two Cambodian colleagues. "Capacity-building" is the key expression, as these three gather together Bible School alumni -- NOT in order to give them continuing education, encouragement, or listening ears... but to teach them how to provide on-going continuing education for each other, how to encourage each other, how to provide a good listening ear for each other.

So often students go through a full graduate program, earning a Bachelor's Degree, only to find themselves out in the Cambodian countryside where the latest data concludes that less than half the population has completed a primary school education.... and may not be very open to the ideas, hopes and visions of a young Bible School graduate. CEPA is trying to help Christian alumni link up with each other, providing a professional community of sorts, exchanging ideas and attentively listening to each other, as well as helping each other listen with new ears to God's voice in the Scriptures and in shared prayer.

Speaking of listening ears, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (scrounged free by yours truly on the Phnom Penh-Bangkok leg of my journey) describes a Harvard neuroscience study which suggest that the opportunity to talk about one's own feelings, experiences, and opinions activate the same sense of pleasure in areas of the brain as do food and money! 

Which suggest to me that a program such as this CEPA is providing the equivalent of manna to hungry Bible School alumni!

Speaking of manna... food which falls from heaven...

Students at the Asian Resource Development Center,  where LTS alumni Sarah and Sarin teach, administer, and counsel.

Students here can earn their Associates Degree in areas such as Computer Science, Accounting, or English.

I had the chance to share with them something of my own Christian faith and understanding... that despite a world which sometimes seems not to care about far away Cambodians, in fact,  they are, each one,  beloved  "stars" in God's eyes, designed for a purpose.

They humored me with great attention.

And then, the day was topped off with a delicious meal of...

Yes, you read the title of this blog post correctly...

Ants. Big ants and little ants. Little brown ants and big green ants.

Ants, shaken down from the mango tree. Fried and mingled with rice.  Sour, crispy and delicious.

 In the past, he let all nations go their own way.   

Yet he has not left himself without testimony: 

He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.      

 Acts 14:16-17

May in the Mekong - Day 1

It's a two hour flight from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh.  I landed in the morning and successfully found my way out of the small Phnom Penh airport and into one of the many taxis eagerly awaiting paying customers. ($9 USD for the 30 min. taxi ride from the airport to my very nice, $30 a night hotel). My taxi driver was a wealth of information giving me a free commentary on buildings as we passed them,  successfully ensuring he would be the taxi driver to pick me up at the end of my five day Phnom Penh stay.

 Given his age I found myself wondering quite a bit about his personal history, especially in the Khmer Rouge reign of terror. Also, I'm just finishing an informative, rather depressing and cynical  book  called Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land. It's well worth reading if you are interested in the Mekong area, or in development, education, or Christian outreach issues.  The book suggests that charity workers may actually be contributing to Cambodia's problems, as a nice infrastructure has been erected for all of the expatriates working with NGO and/or Christian mission organizations (clean hotels, nice restaurants and pleasant walking areas in the main tourist spots) while leaving the countryside virtually untouched... pleasant to look at if you're zooming by in a car, but not so pleasant for children who can't get an education (less than half of grade school aged children  actually get to go to school) or people who need medical care (clinics are poorly equipped and one "nurse" interviewed in the book says she had a three day training course after finishing high school, which qualified her to be the sole nurse on duty for dozens of patients.)

View from the taxi

Another view from the taxi - I can tell I'm not in Wisconsin anymore!

One of our Lutheran Theological Seminary - Hong Kong  international alumni (Joseph) picked me up in a tuk-tuk.

Motorbikes are the most popular form of transportation.  More on that coming in "May in the Mekong" - Day 4

Joseph takes me to one of his church sites, which runs a multi-purpose ministry for families living near and in the garbage dump.

In the small church building, children living in the area of the garbage dump get daily school lessons. I noticed it was all boys in this little school, but I'm not sure why.

View from the church/school, you can see the plastic tarps which serve as roofs for many.

The children are so happy that they have this clean area outside of the church/school to use as a playground.

A man sorting and bagging recyclables from the dump, hoping to earn a few dollars. (A few means about $2 or 3 a day)

The only "backyard" these children know.

Plastic which has been retrieved, rinsed off, and will be bagged and sold for the aforementioned $2 or $3 a day.

What do you think of these two boys  flying home-made kites on the garbage dump!?

This woman was the size of a five year old. She was using a plastic bowl to try and drain flood waters away from her home.

The entrance to her home.

She actually smiled for my camera!!

Meanwhile, down the road a bit, a mother and son were digging to find "buried treasure".

At the Lutheran Theological Seminary and through the Mekong Mission Forum, we aren't making big financial donations to these needs.  What we are involved in is strengthening students for capable, dependable, patient, thoughtful, ethical  pastoral care, counseling, and helping to develop the capacities of others. Joseph sometimes delivers donations of rice or clothing.  He continually encourages the teachers at the little school (and the good news is the children are apparently very consistent in their school attendance although not even grade school is  compulsory in Cambodia). He provides a role model through his own family life. He runs a dorm for university students and (newly) a guest house which also serves to provide some income for his ministries among the poor.

Maybe his generation, and the upcoming one which he is helping to empower, will find their own creative and courageous solutions out of the garbage dumps, corruption and poverty.

If your gift is ... is serving, then serve; 

if it is teaching, then teach;  

 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; 

 if it is giving, then give generously; 

if it is to lead, do it diligently; 

if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. 

                                                                       -- Romans 12:7-8