Back to school at LTS Hong Kong

Chapel flowers during Mid Autumn Harvest Moon Week.

Wayne and I are back in the saddle at LTS Hong Kong, and my jet-lag is totally, finally over (only two weeks later :) So we're back in Hong Kong where --

--we have daily chapel:

(This one led by a recent group of Hong Kong students who did an intercultural exploration/ mission trip to Cambodia and Thailand)

--where I, Christa, at the advanced age of.... oh never mind, let's just say at my advanced age, I have just been accepted into the Doctorate of Ministry program at LTS (part time student, my goal is to graduate before I turn sixty :)
and am taking a course in Diakonia:

snapshot of my class - two Mainland Chinese students (for whom Mandarin translation
is provided) two from Hong Kong, one American (me!), one from Myanmar, one from
Nepal, one from Cambodia. Talk about diversity! 

and one very cool teacher, with years of theological/practical diaconal experience in Hong Kong and Norway
(one of the best teachers I've had, and I've had some good ones)

and, lest we forget that we are in Hong Kong,
 there's THIS, discovered and filmed on our way home from seminary last week:

(My Hong Kong friends assure me that the snakes will soon be in winter hibernation. This Red-necked Keelback snake seems to have a mouse in its belly, if you look closely.)

Happy Mid-Autumn Harvest Moon Festival Everybody!

It's great to be back!

Praise the Lord from the heavens;

3 

...Praise him, sun and moon;

   

Praise the Lord from the earth,

    

10 

wild animals and ... creeping things... 

13 

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

    for his name alone is exalted;

    his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

Return to Hong Kong - Moon Festival - New Beginnings

Flowers awaited me upon my return to Hong Kong.

I'm back in Hong Kong!  This week I start a new job as International Student Coordinator at the Lutheran School of Theology... and as the Mekong Mission Forum Network Implementation Committee Assistant Coordinator... whew, that's a mouthful! Do I know what I'm getting myself into? Not really!

I do know that I get to help serve students coming from Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, who are studying at LTS in Hong Kong, in order to be better equipped to serve their growing churches in countries where few people know who Jesus Christ is, and the people who carry his name are often persecuted.

I start on Thursday. The learning curve for me will be steep.  

Last night we attended a brief memorial service for the Mom of one of the students from Myanmar.  The Mom had died while her daughter was far from home (here in Hong Kong), reminding us of the sacrifices so many families are willing to make in order to help these LTS students follow their calling to study here. But the students reminded each other (and us!) of the hope of the Gospel we share, which make these present sacrifices so worthwhile.

Near the end of the little service, one of the LTS professors stood up to recite, by heart, this scripture passage:

⁹ However, as it is written:
   “What no eye has seen,
   what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
   the things God has prepared for those who love him—
 ¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
   The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
                                                                         -- II Corinthians, 2:9-10

Watching the full moon from our roof on  Moon Festival (Monday night). Today (Tuesday) is a public holiday here in Hong Kong.  "Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars" - Psalm 148:3  The deep things of God, indeed!