Team Hong Kong Newsletter #1
Travel, Arrival, and Orientation
December 9, 2007
by Ben Herr

Greetings on behalf of the Hong Kong team. It has almost been a week since we left Harrisburg, and we are excited to have arrived in Hong Kong to begin the adjustment to a different culture, language, setting, and time zone. Starting from the beginning of our travel, our flight from Philadelphia to Toronto was delayed due to bad weather in both places. Since we only had an hour layover in Toronto, we were going to miss the flight from Toronto to Vancouver. This turned out to work for the best, because we got a flight from Toronto straight to Hong Kong, so we actually saved about five hours of travel time because of the delay. We did have to spend 12 hours in the Toronto airport, but we were going to have to do that in Vancouver anyway, so we weren't unpleasantly surprised. We did have to laugh, though, that twenty hours after we had left Harrisburg, we were still only in Toronto.

us trying to catch some sleep in Toronto

We were met at the Hong Kong airport by Glenn and June Kauffman, long term missionaries and the EMM (Eastern Mennonite Missions) Area Representative to East Asia; Shelly (I haven't heard her last name yet), another missionary; Pastor Jeremiah Choi, the pastor of Agape Mennonite Church; and Wincy Wan, the EMM office assistant here in Hong Kong who also attends Agape Mennonite Church. We took a bus to Agape, where we'll be staying for the next eight months. We have two bedrooms that are about 6 1/2' by 9', a bathroom, a shower room, a roof top, and a kitchen. Everything but the kitchen and the roof are on the second floor of the church.

our view from the roof

The first few days Glenn Kauffman gave us an introduction to the mission vision for East Asia, something he does for every missionary or team that comes to serve in this part of the world. We also talked about Hong Kong customs, cultural taboos, and other related topics. We've had a crash course in survival chopstick use, and considering that I never really used them before, I've reached the conclusion that they are easy to use, but difficult to use well. Or even somewhat well. On one occasion, Pastor Jeremiah playfully scolded me for playing with my squid, after my attempt to get a piece of squid from the serving dish to my bowl only succeeded in getting it onto the table and under another dish. We've been offered several "cheats," such as serving spoons, forks, and assistance, most of which we, especially Joshua, have tried to refuse. While I'm on the topic of food, we had heard that Chinese people will eat anything that walks, crawls, or moves. We are finding this to be true, but not only that, they eat just about every part of it. Some of us view this as an interesting opportunity to try new food; others wouldn't agree.

downtown Hong Kong

view of Hong Kong from The Peak

front and center: Chicken feet!

We are also trying to get a hang of the transportation system. This is difficult because the only part of a bus sign we can read is the number of the bus. So far we can get from Agape to the EMM office. That brings up the topic of language. We knew we didn't know much Cantonese, but that is becoming more and more evident as we are surrounded by it. Occasionally we'll catch phrases like "8 o'clock, okay?" or "I don't know," but for the most part, it all sounds new and strange.

For the next two weeks, we'll be working at a center in Tuen Mun where they have English and other classes for kids. We'll be working on fixing it up a bit -- scraping paint, sanding, and painting -- to get it ready for the start of classes. Friday night we met with Susanna Yang, our outreach coordinator, and other members from churches and talked about other possibilities for things we may be involved with. You will definitely be hearing about some of these things in the future.


Praises:
-safety in travel to Hong Kong from Pennsylvania.
-good connections with local church members.
-a relatively smooth recovery from jet lag. I'm not sure I've completely recovered, but I'm certainly well on the way.


Prayer Requests:
-for continued adjustment to a new culture.
-to be able to learn enough Cantonese to communicate.
-for good communication with the churches as we begin to set up different aspects of our outreach.

-Ben Herr