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