February!

Unfortunately, since it's been so long since I last posted I must fill you all in on a lot of February! Everytime I would go to make a post I couldn't think of many exciting things that have been going on. haha A lot more of my time has definitely been spent going to classes and simply getting settled more into life here instead of a crazy adventure everyday. However once looking back there are definitely a lot of my life to be talked about! So here we go ...

I've gotten back into the routine of running several mornings a week. The weather has been perfect for running, usually in the 70s, so it's been really nice to take advance of that before it starts to get really warm here soon. Which reminds me that the humidity has definitely picked up in the last couple weeks. It's 70-80% humidity everyday ... you all should be glad you don't see my hair, it simply can't handle that kind of humidity, frizz everywhere :) I've been seeing the sun less often though so I'm praying for some sunny days to be coming up! So anyway, there's a park next to campus that I have been running at. I'm not exactly sure how big it is or far I'm running, but I usually download a John Piper sermon from his website (about 35 minutes long) and just run a couple laps until it's over. It's been a really great way to get my mornings started since most of my classes are in the afternoon and also just a great stress reliever!

Classes are going well! I'm finally starting to have assignments to do and besides finals pretty much everything is due in March so work load is definitely picking up. I'm glad though because I almost have had too much free time on my hands. haha Any of you who see me at Mercer and the sleepless wreck I can sometimes be probably think I'm ridiculous for complaining about too much free time but I've actually learned that I enjoy having a pretty structured schedule so I feel like I'm being productive with my life! I think the busier I am the better I use my time. One of the classes I'm taking here involves four field trips, 3 that are in Hong Kong and we've already gone of two of them. They've been really awesome and informative! We got to visit a forest preserve in Hong Kong ... yes, in the midst of all the city and pollution and over-population there's a forest and it's wonderful ... the most fresh air I've breathed in awhile! We also visited the wetland area which is in the northeast area of Hong Kong. IT was really beautiful there too! There was a lot of open, flat farmland and farmers out on their hands and knees picking vegetables, quite the relaxed and quaint life. Anytime I'm able to visit one of the islands here or an area away from the city I just love it. The city can be fun but it's when I escape for a bit that I feel I can breathe deeply again :) The last field trip we went on was two weeks ago to the district of Central. This area was very historical and I saw sights of both Victoria Town (the more modern, and English part of Central) and China Town (the areas with more chinese influence). One of the coolest buildings in Victoria Town was a little tea house that has been around for several hundred years and maintained from when the British still owned Hong Kong. We also saw St. John's cathedral, an Anglican church that was built when the English first came to the island. One of the cool sights in China Town was all the chinese medicine shops... they were everywhere! I will list just a few of the medicines you might find there: deer antler, lizard, and a mariad of skin looking items that I'm not sure exactly what they are?? haha I did not make any personal purchases. Above are pictures of: some "medicine?", the wetlands, A Mercer sign for all you Mercerians out there!! haha Apparently Captain Mercer was an important English man and I found this street on the Central field trip, and the last picture is looking through some trees over to a mountain at the preserve.

Let's see, another cool thing I've been up to is that I started the Cleansing Stream Seminar at my church. This is a seminar that focuses on healing, freedom, and discipleship and we meet every other wednesday from two weeks ago until the beginning of April and there is also a retreat weekend. I will be honest, two weeks ago when I first got there and saw that I was the youngest person there I really doubted if I had made the right choice in signing up.... yet since then I have learned how glad I am for signing up! I ended up meeting two other girls at Universities here in Hong Kong that are also going through and God has really been using this as an opportunity to break down some walls in my life. I started struggling with issues in my faith a little bit before coming to Hong Kong but since arriving here they definitely became for intensified. Of course in my own mind I'm frustrated with God and wondering how he could let me struggle like this when I'm already dealing with so many changes and the general lonliness of being abroad! Yet I'm coming to see and realize how of course, God has never left me, but he is using everything in my life as an opportunity to refine my faith into something even stronger. It often doesn't feel like that, but I know His purpose is beyond what I can see and feel. I know that God has allowed me to come to Hong Kong alone so that I could be away from everything that is comfortable and the daily clutter that can keep us from focusing on Him, and to really be able to stretch me and force me to listen and learn many things that I would never have learned otherwise. This last couple weeks I've been learning to get past my mind and feelings and to be able to listen to the Holy Spirit and what He is telling me... a hard thing to do here because I promise you, I've had a lot of feelings these past two months! haha Here's the part where once again I ask for your prayers! I'm honestly going through a period of the most testing my faith has ever seen and sometimes it can be very discouraging, but I know God will bring me out on top in the end! Pray that I will continue to TRUST Him and SEEK Him and will continue to learn to distinguish His voice amidst all the other voices that sometimes cloud my mind... and I thank you immensely for your prayers! James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything"

Last but certainly not least, yesterday I went to Maccau!! I will first fill you in on a little history of Maccau. Until 1999 it was a colony of Portugal, but it now belongs to China. Maccau is a little island about a 1 hour ferry ride from Hong Kong... it really doesn't feel TOO much different from Hong Kong in parts but you get stamps in your passport so that's exciting! haha Anyway, Maccau is sort of known as the "Las Vegas" of the east today but what we mostly went to see was the historical sights. There is a lot of really pretty Portuguese architecture and they've done a better job at maintaining history than Hong Kong has. Hong Kong sorta just loves anything that is modern and considers anything older than 40 years 'old'. Much different than Europe! The picture to the top left is the ruins of St. Paul's cathedral in the background. To the front is me stuffing my face with a porkchop burger, and yes, it was very tasty :) Anyway, this was probably my favorite part of the day. They mostly just had the front of the cathedral still in place but they also had parts of the ground that were covered in glass and you could see the original foundation. They also had two museums connected to the ruins. One was a crypt for the bones of many Vietnamese and Japanese matrys from the late 1500s and early 1600s. All of the martyrs had attended St. Paul's to get their schooling so that was a really neat thing to be able to see. It's always good to remember how lucky so many of us are today to not be persecuted for our faith... definitely a blessing so many around the world don't today experience! The other museum was full of religious art that dated back several hundred years, one large painting really stuck out to me and it depicted the martyring of over 20 japanese Christians in the late 1590s ... they were actually crucified. I had no idea stuff like that occured in Asia, my Asian history is definitely pretty pathetic. The picture on the right is at a fortified wall that the Portuguese build in the 1600s. It circled around a pretty large area, had several spots with cannons sticking out, and was just pretty cool in general! I really enjoyed getting to see these big historical sights :) We saw several other smaller sights throughout the afternoon but last night we went to the Venetian hotel. The idea is that it's supposed to be set up to look like Venice so in part of the hotel there was a little river that ran through it and a few gondolas that you could take rides on. In general this hotel is HUGE, has over 3,000 rooms, and a whole lot of places to gamble. If any of you have visited the Opryland Hotel that's a little bit of the feel that I got except with a lot of the room taken up by gambling rather than trees. There was basically a shopping center inside and then the best part, a theatre! A couple girls and I figured out there was a Cirque du Soleil show going on last night and were able to attend! I really wish I had photos to show you all but we weren't allowed to take any picture. It was incredible though! The strength and control over their bodies that these acrobats showed was out of this world. They also just did an incredible job with the theatrics and had people flying through the air, a giant "globe" that floated around, lights, and beautiful music that featured stuff from all different parts of the world. I've realized while typing that there's no way to relate to you how wonderful it was but I will say that if you ever have a chance to see one of their shows you definitely should! Ok well I think that basically sums up my life so far :) I guess I will end how I end all other posts by saying that I miss you all dearly! Hope to hear from you all soon!

with love in Christ,

Deborah

Happy New Year!

I would like to first welcome you all to the year of the ox! haha I have seen more stuffed/fake cows this week than ever before in my life! Unfortunately I have made it to the end of my week off from classes and have to re-enter into the world of school tomorrow ... gross. This week was mostly filled with lots of relaxation, a few experiences in the world of Chinese New Year, hiking, and a trip to Lantau Island! I'll try to fill you in on a little of each :)
I think I watched one movie every day. haha For most of you that know me I'm not a big movie person but we found this room on the first floor of the dorms where you can plug your laptop into the tv and there are some very comfy couches! More comfortable than the beds here by far! Anyway, it was great to just sit and do nothing sometimes, that is something I definitely never got to do last semester so I was thankful for that for sure.

The two pictures above are from the new year market. This is a night market that is only open the few days before the new year and they sell all sorts of things ... mostly stuff that is supposed to bring you good luck and fortune for the new year. However, a lot of stuff is also simply for the sake of buying! About half of the market is flowers, some is food, some stuffed animals/trinkets, or other random things you would never expect to see. haha It was definitely an experience as you can see from the thousands of people around me. My dad's friend Ivan and wife Theresa are actually the ones who took me with them and we had to leave at the end because it got so crowded the the police were actually beginning to do some crowd control. They actually took me to a shopping district after that and had me try all sorts of local foods! Some of these foods include fish balls, coconut drink with fish eggs, a mango dessert, white carrot cake, mango mochi (kind of a rice dumpling with mango in the middle), this bitter drink that looked a bit like coffee, and straight up coconut with a straw in the middle! Surprisingly, there isn't much I have tried and didn't like! I will say though that there is some sort of bean curd food that they sell on the streets that I refuse to try because simply smelling it makes me want to get sick haha. Later this week on Thursday Ivan also had me over to their apartment for dinner with his family. It was such a great experience and I feel very blessed to have them sort of taking me under their wing as my "chinese family". :) They served me a more authentic chinese meal here but I loved it! We each had a little bowl of rice in front of us and then there was about 10 different dishes of stuff to eat on top of it and I loved the variety and having so many different things in one meal. Some of the foods included broccoli and chicken, beef, chinese sausage, sushi, lemon chicken wings, fried coconut, carrot cake, and a bunch more than I am now failing to remember. The food was great though and honestly, not a whole lot like American Chinese food at all!















On Monday night was the new year's parade. We were a little disappointed because we couldn't see very well because of the crowds of people and there was always a lot of time between each float or band! It was still really awesome to see some of the floats such as the one above showcasing Disneyland in Hong Kong and the chinese dragon in the picture on the right :) Later I saw on a tv some of the parades that were happening in China and they looked pretty incredible so perhaps that's where we needed to have been!

On Tuesday night was the fireworks. We went down early to the area where they would be showing on the harbor and off of boats between Kowloon and Hong Kong island. However, we judged incorrectly how much time to spend at dinner and by the time we got down to where the fireworks would be it was CRAAZY! haha surprised? There were so many people and as we were about to pass the area where we would get to see the fireworks on the plaza we watched the police block it off :( We still got to see all the fireworks that were high in the air but missed ones that were closer to the water and land. Crazy story, actually one of the boats that was shooting off fireworks caught on fire and another boat that had people on it started to fill up with water and they had to be evacuated. Luckily though no one was hurt! The fireworks were still incredible to see and hear echoing off the buildings around us but as I stood right up against lots of people i didn't know I couldn't help but wish I was able to see them over the water :)

The only big thing we did this week was take a day trip to Lantau island. Once we took the subway there we took a cable car over some of the ocean and through the mountains and I can't even put into words how completely beautiful the views were! Hopefully the pictures will help a little bit. The two big attractions on the island are the biggest buddha in all of Asia as well as the Po Lim monestary which is also very famous. Although I enjoy seeing and experiencing the different cultures, it is quite strange and foreign for me to watch people worship other gods! Part of the worship here that is popular is lighting bamboo sticks and incense. It's an odd feeling to be around it all. Nevertheless though the architechture was incredible as well as all of the views everywhere we turned. We noticed some really long hiking paths across the island while on the cable car so we are hoping to return soon to do some hiking before it gets really hot!

The other big thing I wanted to tell you all about is about the church that I have been attending. I've gone two Sundays in a row now and also to a young adult service that they have on Saturday night. I can already tell that this church is going to be an incredible blessing to

me this entire semester. I have already met some wonderful people who are really excited about the Lord and I can see it! As I mentioned a little bit before, I have had a lot of struggle with my relationship with God lately, just feeling like He has often been very silent. Of course this has been very hard for me while also going through the challenge of being away from home and in such a new environment! I know that God has never left me or forsaken me but I have nevertheless often felt at a loss of what to do. I attended the young adult service on Saturday night and left very encouraged! A couple different girls prayed with me and just encouraged me that God often does remain silent to teach us a many number of things. I know that I certainly do still have a lot of learning and growing to do and unfortunately that often does come through some hard or painful situations! I guess I just ask for all your prayers! Prayer that I will continue to seek the Lord with all of my heart and will not grow weary! Prayer that God will show me my purpose here and lead me to the places and people that he has ordained for me to meet :) I am now looking to get involved with a mentor, small group, and hopefully an upcoming seminar at the church! I'm excited to see all that God has in store for the next few months and how he will use me! As always, I miss you all and still look forward to hearing about all your lives back home :)

“The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” Psalm 145: 17-18

With love in Christ,

Deborah

Some Thoughts ...

So this morning I went to a church called The Vine, it's across in Hong Kong Island so it takes about an hour to get there including walking. That being said, I went by myself so I had two hours of thinking/listening to music to get some good thoughts in so I decided to share them with you all!

1) I've decided that when I return to the States some habits that I pick up are going to be considered very rude. For example, because there are sooo many people everywhere and places to be, it is very common to be run over, run into, pushed, etc. and no one really thinks anything of it or says excuse me. At first it may seem that people are rude, but really it's just part of the culture! If you need to get somewhere it is sort of every man for himself and you can't apologize to everyone you run into because you would spend all day saying "sorry". That being said, I have learned to fend for myself and push if I have to get on the subway, off the subway, but I'm going to have to be careful not to take these manners back home with me :) The second "bad" habit is not opening doors or greeting people. I think this sorta goes along with the first. There are so many people that you cannot greet them all! This ends up finding its way into situations where there are few people around. The biggest time I've learned to stay quiet is in the elevator. I live on the 10th floor so I have to take the elevator whenever I'm feeling too lazy to take the stairs and at first if there was only me and a few others there I would say hello and smile. For the most part all I received in return were blank stares or looks of confusion. haha Needless to say, I no longer greet everyone i see :) Hopefully I can lose that habit when I get home as well, especially in the South because everyone will think I'm very stuck up and rude!

2) What I've come to really love and appreciate is being a minority and constantly being around people from all over the world. At first, not fitting in (looks wise or actions wise) is what made me feel very uncomfortable and want to run back home to every place and person that was familiar to me. However, I really enjoy it now! A couple nights ago I was able to go to get a Thai dinner with 2 students from Finland, a student from Austria, a student from Germany, a student from Amsterdam, and 3 from the States! It was so cool to talk about our different homes and just learn a lot about other people from around the world. After church today a group of young adults went to get lunch and this included a girl from Canada, one from England, two from Hong Kong, and one from the States. I've realized what a blessing it is to have my mind opened up to what else is out there. It's so great to not just be on vacation but to know I will be here for awhile and REALLY get a feel for the Hong Kong/Chinese culture. It's especially neat during all of the New Year festivities! So anyway, although I do still miss everyone from home terribly, I'm also excited to get to know so many new people and places. I can only imagine what it will be like to get back to the US where everyone speaks my language and isn't Asian. haha I have no doubt that will be a culture shock in itself!

To expand on the church comment, I really enjoyed the church service and the people today! I'm excited to get more plugged in there and see all that God has to teach me. I have realized I have SO many things to learn and it's great to be halfway around the world but still meeting with a fellowship of believers and seeing the Spirit at work! Well ... hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday and will talk to you soon!

with love in Christ,
Deborah

Photos and Chinese New Year!

Well, as for the upcoming week I have no excuse for not keeping you all posted on my life! Monday is Chinese New Year so we have the entire week off from classes! Many of the international students have decided to travel during this time and my friends and I looked into going to Beijing, Thailand, and the Phillipines, but none of the trips ended up really working out last minute. The good news is that we will be able to experience the new year here! I haven't really seen much yet in that regard but I will be sure to post photos and explanations of the interesting things I end up seeing :)

I tried to post a blog solely of pictures a couple days ago but it didn't work out so well. I am going to still put some pictures on here once I can get the internet to work more quickly but if you'd like to see ALL of the photos I've taken so far the link is http://picasaweb.google.com/dcarley06/MyTravelsInHongKong?authkey=vp5UyfJ3ouI&feat=directlink.

So Happy New Year everyone and I will be talking filling you in soon!

Week 2!

I apologize for it taking me so long to make another entry into the blog! I can honestly say that just about everyday I think “I really need to update my blog” but somehow it doesn’t happen! As you can imagine, many things have happened now that I have been here for about 2 ½ weeks. I can’t believe it’s been that long already! I have to admit that when I first got here and told everyone I’d be here 4 ½ months, it seemed like an eternity. Everyone told me it would go quickly and I didn’t believe them but I do now. Now that classes have begun and friends have been made, the time goes much more quickly and the homesickness is more few and far between.
It took me quite a while but I finally have my classes under control. Although I’ll be getting credit for them, not one will count towards my major! Haha Oh well, I’m excited though because I really enjoy all of them and am already learning so much. My schedule includes International Business, Introduction to Mandarin for Non-Chinese speakers, Modern Chinese Society, and Hong Kong and the River Delta Survey (a class where we get to take some field trips!). The classes are formatted a little differently here and the grades are basically made upon an individual paper/presentation, a group paper/presentation, and a final exam. The final is 40, 50, or 60% of the final grade in each of my classes so I will definitely have to take them seriously :) I look forward to being able to speak to you all in Mandarin when I get home! Haha
I’ve gotten to get some cool stuff since being here as well. Two weekends ago I went on a hike of Lion’s peak a couple subway stops from the campus on Saturday with some friends. Then on Sunday I got to do the same hike but further with my dad. I’ve also just enjoyed meeting some of my dad’s business friends. Last weekend my dad and I went to dinner with his friend Ivan, his wife, and son up on Victoria’s peak which is on Hong Kong island (actually a separate island from where I live on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong). It was beautiful looking over at all of the buildings in Kowloon and also across the bay at the ships and boats at night. Two days ago I also got to go out on my dad’s friend Tian’s yacht into the China Sea! It was absolutely incredible to be surrounded by all of the mountains and islands out in the ocean! Tian even let me drive the boat a little although it scared me to death haha and my dad and I did a little skiing. (Well, I did a little skiing and my dad did a lot :). Last night was actually the last night I get to spend with my dad before he heads back to the US! It is sad but it’s been a blessing to have him here for a bit and to get to make some memories together in Asia.
Apart from the incredible experiences, meeting some great new friends, and starting class, a big thing that’s been going on involves my relationship with God. In the past couple months I have struggled some with God being very real in my life. I felt like I was seeking His face a lot and His will for my life but He always seemed very distant and it’s been a big test of my faith! I know that having me come to Asia alone and completely out of my comfort zone has definitely been in His plan. Since being here I’ve discovered how He really should be my only dependency in life. There was nothing no one and nothing here to make me feel better at 1am when I felt completely alone and homesick in my dorm room … except my Savior. He truly has comforted me though and given me strength through some tough times. He’s also completely broken me to the point that I’ve seen how everything in this life is completely meaningless if not for Him! The mountains and beautiful views I see mean nothing if I can’t see His work and love behind them and my relationships here have no meaning if not to share God’s love with others. Everything in this world will eventually pass away. I am really striving to learn to make God my everything and my strength everyday! I praise the Lord for how much he has already taught me and I am looking forward to what will come in the next few months! I thank you all for your prayers and support and miss you very much! Don’t forget to also let me know how your lives are going :)

“Turn my heart toward your statues and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; Preserve my life according to your word” Psalm 119:36-37

With Love in Christ, Deborah

ps. I am going to put photos on soon, i promise! I just need to get them on my computer first!

Hello and my address in Hong Kong!

I don't have a whole lot of time right now but I wanted to just send out a quick first post! I am safely in Hong Kong and am on my third day of dorm life over here. Most importantly, I am finally getting over jet lag! It's amazing how much worse life seems when you're really tired and disoriented :) haha I finally feel that I can sypathize with my sister when she studied in Spain and had a hard time at first. I'm happy to say though that I am starting to feel much more comfortable here than I was at first.

I also wanted to put my address on here because I had a lot of people ask me to send it as soon as I was able to. So here it is!

Room 1002 R North Tower

The Hong Kong Bank Foundation Building

Student Residence Halls

Hong Kong Baptist University

5 Baptist University Road

Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

And yes, that is the longest address ever :) Feel free to send me fun things whenever haha. Now I just have to figure out how I go about retrieving my mail ...

I also wanted to encourage anyone who is able to or wants to be able to talk to get skype! It is a free program you can download online and it allows two people who are both signed in to be able to talk and also video chat for free. The best times to talk to me would be early in the morning or late at night. During your afternoon I am fast asleep over here! Also, email me at any time! I'd love to hear from you all! dcarley06@gmail.com Well I've got to get to dinner but I am hoping to make a longer post this weekend, especially because we will be doing a Hong Kong tour tomorrow as part of our orientation so I'm sure i will see some great things!

Also, the picture uploaded is of the view outside my dorm window ... pretty amazing isn't it!? Sure beats both Mahomet and Macon :) haha

With love in Him,

Deborah