jousan!

good morning! err... evening. i am going to send out an email to most everyone with details of everything thats going on, but know that things are good. :) i'll have bud update this blog and such. love you all.

agape.

we're here!

hey all. we're in hong kong again for a 4-week trip! we just got in a few hours ago and now it's time for bed. i'll post more on what we're doing this time around for all of you all and we will try our best to update regularly. ;-D for now, please pray for us that we would be effective and very efficient on this trip. we have a briefing with our group tomorrow at 10am, followed by money-changing and delicious food adventures galore, so stay tuned. grace&peace. bye.

- bud.

hong kong memories...

hi there everyone. bud and i are thinking and praying about hong kong and all that is in our future regarding it. i've been terribly nostalgic and missing my home away from home, so i thought i'd post some pictures for you, so you can see what has gone on. i'll try to add captions as well and why the pictures mean so much to me. some are serious and some are just fun. i hope you enjoy.(p.s. until i can get bud to fix the html, some of the photo's are cut off. so just click on them to see the full photo.)

fun times in hong kong:


po ying birthday party. you can't really get around hong kong without her!


po ying's party in pak wai tsuen, north sai kung area.

you really can't get around hong kong without maggie cho either!


maggie again. i think this photo is just too cute!


although she is not a native, i met cami in hong kong. well, i met her in person in hong kong!

friends were made. they are so special to us. we email back and forth as much as possible and stay in touch. but its just not the same as being there with them.

food and tourism in hong kong:


this will hopefully be one of the first things i'll eat in hk when we go back! french toast, peanut butter and honey. :drool:


iced lemon tea, or "dung ling mun cha". the best invention of tea. i dont know why its so good. (so is milk tea but i dont have a picture of it.)


top one noodle, shatin mall. wonton soup - my most favorite soup. i could eat it everyday!


green chopsticks in fanling. they are so nice there and we have become friends with the waitress. she's awesome.


shatin at night. beautiful!


sheung shui, hong kong.


star ferry at night. coming from hong kong island and going back to kowloon/new territories.


at the harbor! azn fingers!


tsim sha tsui at night. oh man its a great place!

the goal of hong kong, to help those to see Christ, to understand their depraved state and to let Him change their hearts:


entrance to our village. we lived in tsz tong tsuen. in our backyard and up a few hundred steps, you reach a temple where people burn incense and hell money to honor and worship their ancestors.


our village in fanling, tsz tong tsuen. you can see a shrine type thing at the bottom of the hills, joss sticks and all. this village needs prayer and the spiritual weight you felt when living there would only be lifted by the hope and grace of Jesus Christ.


the temple behind our house. this is just the entry way, if you want to see more pictures let me know. the grounds of the temple are immaculant. full of gargoyles and fish ponds and turtle ponds and scupltures. you can see a person walking in to burn incense in this photo.


people are burning hell money to pay and "bless" their ancestors that have passed away. this is very difficult to watch.


tseng lan shue, sai kung. this is where bud and i moved to be closer to his work. in this village there were at least 6 shrines and mini temples for people to worship their ancestors.

and last but not least, worship that we were able to join in. its the most remarkable thing. the chinese people, those that love the Lord, pray fervently, pray without ceasing, groan in the Spirit and God meets them where they are and shows them His truth and His light. they pour out their hearts to Him and long to know Him and experience Him more. i only got one picture from church but i think it shows a lot!


sunday worship at the vineyard in kowloon.

with this church we went on an outreach at the beach. we didn't personally talk to people but witnessed people in the church doing so and we prayed a lot for the people there.


clearwater bay outreach.

we're so happy to be here!

hong kong is ripe for God's word and truth to go forth. laborers are needed. praise the Lord for the opportunity to be apart of this work the Lord is doing. :) hope you enjoyed the pics. :)

agape,
christin joy.

we're taking a trip!

hey everyone. i realize its been SUCH a long time since i have written any sort of update. life has evened itself out a bit recently. we're living with the oppenheims still and its been a blessing for us to be there and play with the kids and have amazing edifying conversation day in and day out with steve and liz! we're really enjoying our time with them and feel like they have almost adopted us into their family. its been really great. i'm still looking for substantial work, i've had babysitting jobs here and there and one point had a job but due to strong convictions and i believe the Lord just driving it to happen, that job is no more. bud still works at anderson seedco. in san marcos/san elijo. he enjoys it. he has also started up with school again, going to persue and finish a degree in linguistics. he will finish up at palomar this semester and hopefully next semester or next fall (more likely to be in the fall) he will transfer to san diego state and go to school to finish up. its very exciting as he is also studying cantonese in depth and learning quite a bit! i'm studying cantonese as well, but i'm still very basic and very much considered a beginner. but i'm eager to learn!

God has given us a renewed vision for Hong Kong and continues to redefine it as we pray over it and learn from and listen to the Holy Spirit. i was blessed to go to the heartbeat international with cami kellenbarger a few months back, and was completely blessed and floored at what the Lord did for us there! we were invited because we still have a heart and are looking to start hopes refuge in the hong kong/china area. when we got there it was nothing but special treatment it felt like. we were blessed with great teaching and blessed with meeting amazing people right from the very beginning. we were given a lot of books and things to help start the center and get us on the right track. we spoke with a lot of different people and they gave us a lot of good advice. there were also a lot of people eager to join in the work with us and help us get things started! to top all of this off, i was picked out of hundreds of people at the conference, to do a radio broadcast interview with june hunt from the hope for the heart ministries. she has a radio station broadcast that she does and she was interviewing 6 individuals. so i was able to tell about my background, about the vision cami and i have for hopes refuge and basically just ask for whoever listens out there in radio world to pray for and with us. it was VERY exciting. i was a bit nervous too. hehe.

bud and i are doing lots of ministry at church and such. bud is the worship leader and preaches once a month to our church congregation. he also works hand in hand with ritchie on the basics of the church and such. i help with childrens ministry, worship, and i think i'm going to be helping also with the womens ministry soon. :) its been really great. crossweave is growing and its a beautiful thing to watch as the Lord uses ritchie and bud to preach and teach and to help encourage us with the Word of God. i'm blessed everyday i look at my husband and see how far he has come and how he longs and desires to please the Lord and do as He asks. :) oh and crossweave is celebrating its 1 year anniversary this sunday! we're so excited!!

so now that you know how life is going for us in general - now to update you on things with HK and other ministries we've been blessed to help out with. as you know, we're living with the oppenheims and they are restoring a little stone church and house in france. well we've been blessed to watch and be prayer warriors for their work. they just got back from a 3 month trip (all summer) doing demolition and reconstruction on the house. God is really pulling things together and beginning to form relationships with people out there. please pray for the work going on in france. it looks as though i (christin) am going to be blessed to go to france for a 3 week trip in october/november to help with the work on the house and to meet people. its awesome and i'm so excited! please pray for that and please be in prayer for the little stone church and house! here is a link to their blog and to a video that shows the progress of the house renovations.

http://littlestonechurchfrance.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AHEJvxFyXE

as for hong kong, we're taking a trip/team out to hong kong this winter for a 2 week trip and then taking one more week (hopefully) to go up and visit harmony outreach up near beijing. we are so excited to go back to our home away from home. we'll be taking literature into mainland and the like. i hope and plan to take a few days with cami to look into things needed for hopes refuge and such. we were encouraged at the conference to take a few trips out there before starting hopes refuge to get an idea of cost of items and housing. so i hope to be doing that when we go out. the trip to the beijing area is still tenative as of right now but we plan to helping out with harmony outreach, an orphanage for children with special needs. you can visit their website at http://harmonyoutreach.org and see what they do. they are doing a great work and if all goes well, it will be amazing to help alongside them and maybe even bring them some supplies back from the states. we want to be a blessing to the full-time people there. so please be in prayer for this trip. we are leaving the first week of january.

if you have any questions for either of the trips i mentioned, feel free to ask! :) i guess thats all i can update for now. :) we love you and are excited to keep you updated on future missions trips and where God is leading us.

agape,
christin joy.

in america!

hello everyone! believe it or not, we're back in america. i apologize for falling off the face of the planet for some time but life has proved to be non-stop since we set foot on the american soil. i wanted to give you a quick and brief update on everything thats going on.

in the next few days you should be able to visit HopesRefuge.com and find a proper website for the upcoming ministry/orphanage/crisis pregnancy center! we are very excited to launch this site and although Hope's Refuge does not have a facility or anything like that at the present moment, we hope that the site will be a good source for people curious about things such as STD's, Abortion and will be able to continue to check back for more updates on Hope's Refuge! once the website is live, i will let you know! also, in regards to Hope's Refuge, next week i will be attending the Heartbeat International conference in Dallas Texas! i ask that you keep both myself and cami (as she is able to attend as well!) in your prayers for traveling mercies, for open ears and hearts to the things we learn and that the trip will give very valuable information that will help us in the upcoming stepping stones of Hope's Refuge. please also pray that we will be able to have some time together to continue to collaborate ideas! once i return to california, i will be starting up a job to help us be able to save money so we can get back over to Hong Kong and other places the Lord is calling us! i have been blessed with the opportunity to be trained at Birth Choice of San Marcos to be a Lay-Counselor. this is a great opportunity for experience in helping woman of all ages choose life and give them options other than abortion! (oh and before i forget! since HopesRefuge.com will be live soon i believe that means that our hkmissions site will be deactivated as we'll be using the new website.)

update on bud! as soon as bud has been back from Hong Kong he has been put to work. he got his old job at good old Anderson's SeedCo. back working full time and preaching once a month at our church! he's also leading a small group on wednesday evenings and we both attend a small group on Monday evenings. we're also slowly getting involved with the youth group of our good friend Matt Unwin's church. bud is growing and its so exciting to see the amazing things the Lord is doing in and through him. he's playing music with some friends and they hope to use their band as an evangelistic tool to preach the gospel, in action, in word and in song. we'll keep you updated on that. please pray that the next few weeks while I am gone, he is able to get a lot of things accomplished and that the two of us won't miss each other too much!

so needless to say we're very busy. God has been extremely faithful in providing us a place to stay with our dear friends Steve and Liz Oppenheim and their amazing kids! we were blessed to find an affordable car that was in good shape shortly after bud returned to the states. God has been blessing our socks off with our constant fellowship with friends and the amazing growth we see in our church, Crossweave. being able to work hand in hand with pastor ritchie and everyone else on the core team has been a blessing. although we long for Hong Kong and miss it a lot, we know that the Lord has us here for the time being. and as you can see, its all been amazing and a blessing! we are also blessed to be able to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of being married in a couple of weeks! WOO COME ON APRIL 28!

we ask that you continue to pray for Hope's Refuge, for Crossweave and for the other miscellaneous things we're doing in our day to day lives! i will update you when the Hope's Refuge website is live and i will send out another email to let you all know how the conference went! we thank you so much for your support and prayers and we love you so much!

agape,
christin joy.

changing of times...

hey everyone! so there has been yet another change in our plans. one that is bitter sweet. first off, bud's work will not be able to keep him on at work through the month of february due to some circumstances with bud's replacement. so we basically are forced to leave earlier. well, theres just really no point in bud staying any longer in hong kong then necessary if he has no job and his wife is not there. so with that said, here are the change of plans. we have been offered a place to stay and get back on our feet by an amazing family, the oppenheims. they have been a great encouragement to us while we have been out here, a great support in time of need and just overall great friends to chat with about the amazing wonders of our Lord and Savior. i had wrote them an email expressing the stress about what was going on and asked for prayer and if they had any suggestions on how to make things move more smoothly. they replied with "come here and get on your feet".

so while the details between us have been worked out and plane tickets have been adjusted, we will now be coming to california. we'll be living in murrieta and working alongside our home church, crossweave, and having the ability to get back on our feet. its an amazing blessing for us and we are so blessed to have friends that would care and be willing to help this much. when i started this email, i explained that this was bitter sweet. this obviously means we are not going to kansas and i so want to be with our friends daks and cami who have also been great encouragement and support to us. we'll just keep praying to see how the Lord moves and guides us in the next few months of things and see where God takes us next. we love you daks and cami. SO much!!

well, i am arriving january 31st - with monster truck, our dog! and bud will be arriving february 11th with mistress ching, our cat! things have worked out so well and we are so grateful that the Lord is watching over us and moving us in the direction He sees fit. we are excited to come back and help alongside crossweave and we are excited to see our friends and family in california. i still plan to go to the conference in texas in april, please pray that whatever job i find will be okay with it and that everything works out with that. also, please pray for my nerves as i hate going through customs and security and all that alone. also please pray that bud and i won't miss each other too much, although its only 2 weeks which is an improvement of the month and a half we were going to go without seeing each other. :) praise the Lord for His provision and guidance. praise the Lord for friends like daks and cami and the oppenheims. :) praise the Lord for the opportunity to come out to Hong Kong and help in practical ways. praise the Lord for the awesome friends we have out here and will miss and plan to come and visit. we're not leaving hong kong forever, we'll be back!

agape,
christin joy.


***update***

after showing the flat to a man who is from Los Angeles (how funny, eh?), he wants the flat and we are now in the process of working out the change of names on the lease! :) how amazing is our God? it was the first person to look at the flat and he took it. so good. :) amen and amen!

things have changed...

hello all. well, i realize i just emailed a few days ago but there is a lot that has transpired and we feel that it is best to let you all know so that you can join us in prayer for the next steps in our lives. i don't really know how to start this email, so i suppose i'll just start to explain.

last week, bud found out that his work was willing to cut his contract in half, meaning we would not be bound in hong kong for his contract at work. with that offer, we talked and prayed about it and decided that this may be the best course of action. we have decided to come back to america much earlier than we had thought. we spoke with ritchie, our pastor at crossweave in california, we spoke with both of our families and the general consensus was to come back, regroup and see what the Lord would have us do at this point of the journey towards Hope's Refuge. so we threw out some ideas of moving back to california and even back to my hometown in maryland. but none of these were feasible, due to financial constraints.

with that said, we spoke to our good friends daks and cami kellenbarger who live in wichita, kansas. cami and i both have the same heart for Hope's Refuge and would be able to collaborate ideas and study together. daks and bud have been good friends for quite some time, daks was even in our wedding - so that will be great fellowship for both of them and we will all be able to work together to see where the Lord is leading us in our next steps in our lives. daks and cami have a very big heart for the chinese church and for chinese children. it will also be great to be around another married couple with missions on their heart!

so with all these things and factoring in that kansas is much more affordable (face it - california AND maryland are just ridiculously expensive and almost unlivable in some places) - we decided to move to kansas. it was a hard but not a hard decision. its the best step for us right now and we have a vision of returning to california in the future when and if we are able. it all depends on how the Lord continues to lead us. i know that this probably comes to a huge shock to a lot of you, if you have any questions about anything, please let us know!

with all of this laid out - please be in prayer for the following things:
* that we will find someone to replace us at our flat.
* travel mercies. - i am leaving january 31st with monster truck and will be spending a month and a half w/o bud, trying to get a job and get a head start on things before bud returns. bud will leave march 1st and go to california for a couple weeks.
* please pray that bud will be able to find a cheap but good car and get some things settled in california
* that he will have a safe trip back to america and to kansas as he drives there. (thankfully it should not be winter anymore by the time he comes and he will not have to deal with any snow on the roads!)
* please pray that bud and i will remain strong during the time apart as it is going to be hard for both of us.
* please pray for the Hong Kong church, the children that we will no longer see, our friends we will miss, our neighbors and people who we planted seeds in.
* please pray that the Lord will bring us back quickly, even if its just for a short trip to take literature to mainland.
* please pray that all the logistics of leaving here will be taken care of and that we will have no further surprises.
* please pray that the transition will be as smooth as we're hoping it will be, that i will get a job and be able to help out with daks and cami (as they are being amazing and letting me stay with them for a little while. love you guys so much!), to help provide and get things started.
* that both bud and i will get good paying jobs that we'll be able to at least enjoy until the Lord brings us back to Hong Kong/China or wherever He feels is the next place to show us.

please let me know if you have any questions. you can email me or bud. he checks hkmissions@gmail.com on a day to day basis, so if you want to talk to him, you can email him. we love you and ask that you join us in prayer as we make this next step in the journey the Lord is laying before us. we love you all so much and are so thankful for all the prayers and support you have given. we will continue to update hkmissions for a little while, but we will most likely be switching to a more Hope's Refuge focus, i think bud is going to make a Hope's Refuge website. we'll keep you updated.

agape,
christin joy and bud newman.

in the mean time..

hallo, from hong kong once again. i hope that your christmas and new year were eventful and blessed beyond all that you could comprehend. i pray that Jesus was seen throughout it all and that you are able to see this new year as another opportunity to serve Him. theres been a lot and not a lot to report. the past month of december (and even part of november) have been quite interesting for bud and i. first i got sick, then bud got sick. then i got sick again and bud hung on to his sickness as though he LIKED it. then we both gradually got rid of what it was that we had. then i broke out with a high fever for 4 or 5 days (it was ridiculous, going from freezing and shivering to waking up in a pool of sweat because the fever meds started to work, the whole shebang) and then all of a sudden; i was better. but now its january 5 and i am sick again. this time the doctor gave me antibiotics and other pills to help with recovery. the bad thing about it is the medication makes me very jittery! so i feel as though i'm wiggling in my chair when i'm actually not! don't get me wrong, i like to dance in my chair just as much as the next gal, but not when its involuntary (and when only i can feel it and no one else can see it)! so that was our month of SICK. we think that the cause of my sickness and part of buds is that our little flat, although we love it, it has a big problem with mold. and unless we take EVERYTHING out of the house, flood the place with bleach for a day and then mop it up, i don't see how its going to go away. it may come down to a professional cleaner.

in december, i started working a lot more. i teach every saturday still and then i also did a few jobs, substituting at bud's centre. i also received my dependency visa finally - and when i went to activate it, i had some trouble with hong kong immigration. when i filed for my dependency visa, they did not switch my "status" in hong kong to "dependent" when they should have. so i tried to leave the country to go into mainland china only to find out that i am considered an "overstay-er" in hong kong, so i will have to pay a fee. granted the fee is only $160HKD which comes to about $20.50USD so its not a big deal. just a pain and inconvenience. but fortunately, hong kong immigration was very nice in the whole ordeal. also, they realized that my old passport was canceled (because i got a new one to change my name from my maiden name to my husbands last name - weird... i have a maiden name now. woah! the things you realize after being married for a bit. haha! sorry! back to the story) and said i may not be able to cross into china. so they took the liberty to call china immigration and see if they would allow me to cross into china (considering my old visa did not have a stamp saying canceled on it so i believe that it is still valid) with proof of my old passport that has my chinese visa and my new passport to show that i'm the same person, just have a new last name now! unfortunately, china said that they would not allow it. which is strange because i have spoke to 2 separate people who had their names changed and they were able to cross with both passports. so i don't know - maybe china is just cracking down a bit harder these days. so we are in the process of getting my chinese visa switched over to have my new last name. apparently it is very cheap and i'll have it in 4 buisness days. so thats good. and then i'll be able to cross into china and validate my dependency visa. hoorah!

bud and i celebrated our first christmas making phone calls to the states and having a long conversation via skype and instant messenger with is parents/family. that was really nice. we also went to "fat angelos", an amazing italian restaraunt for dinner. we were forced to spend $300 HKD for the meal and we had to figure out, just how in the world do we spend that much money? we're used to keeping things as cheap as possible! it was pretty funny. that was about the extent of our christmas, quiet but nice. although we very much missed all of you in america! we love you! our new years was even more quiet. we barely even realized that it had hit 2008/midnight. we didn't want to travel down to the harbour to see 7millionish people swarming the place, so we decided to stay home. and at that time is when i started feeling sick again. so we just made phone calls to say happy new year to people and that was that. bud and i also celebrated my 24th birthday! eww, i'm 24 now. gross. such a weird age, i can almost rent a car! so the first half was kind of sucky - full of miscommunication and stress (mostly because i was not feeling good and was being moody). but the second half was good. i went down to sheung shui, got meds from the doctor and then bud and i went to Friday's (yes they have friday's here, also california pizza kitchen, outback steakhouse and ruby tuesdays) for my dinner. it was delicious and fun, although the room was freezing so we left as soon as we were finished eating. (the weather has been in the 50's and bud and i feel ridiculous because we're freezing when most of you that are reading this are in the 30-40 degree mark with snow or cold rain! - sorry, we've turned into wimps. even i have! i'm very ashamed. ;-P)

anyway, now we have some things on our plate that we will not divulge yet, but will in due time. but please pray with us that we will know the best course of action regarding the things before us. that we will listen to the voice of the Lord. that we will choose wisely (wow, a flash of indiana jones just came into my head) and that if there is to be a sort of transition, that it will be smooth and stress free. we love you and thank you for baring with our lack of updates and what seems to be lack of things to report. but i assure you, when things pick back up (when we're not sick anymore and things around town have calmed away from the holiday season) - we will keep you better informed. now i must go! i am going to be late, meeting my friend maggie for lunch before work! when i get home from work, i will also write some prayer requests for you. i have a few! love you all. be blessed.

agape,
christin joy.

think big, its a texas thing!

jou san, (good morning)

i am assuming you are reading this in the morning, since you're sleeping right now as i type this! silly time difference! i have not filled you in on hope's refuge in quite some time so i thought i'd take a brief moment to do that now. :) i have been doing my research and reading the books that Heartbeat International sent me. I have also been on the waiting list of Mother's Choice, a local pregnancy center/orphanage volunteer waiting list. so while things slowed down for hope's refuge a bit, things have been coming to mind with the direction and the movement of the center that God has instilled in my heart. many things come to mind and into my little leather journal that i keep all my ideas in. well, ANYWAY - just recently, i received an email from Nathan Burd from Heartbeat International. he has been diligent in helping me and keeping in contact with me and keep me abreast of things that may be in my interest. well, you can read the below email and see that the Lord is still moving, regardless of the slow time that bud and i are in at the moment. bud and i have been invited to a conference that will no doubt continue the process of starting hope's refuge and will, i believe, shed some amazing light on areas that need to be discussed, etc.

unfortunately, bud is committed to work and would not be able to take any time off, not a substantial amount that is. so in his place, cami kellenbarger (our good friend daks wife and my right hand of hope's refuge) will be going in his place. we ask that you please pray that bud and i are able to provide the money for the plane ticket and a little spending money while i'm in the US. also that we can find the best deal on a round trip plane ticket. it looks like i will be flying to kansas to meet with cami and she and i will drive to dallas together. i am very excited and hopeful that the Lord will continue and remain faithful in providing our needs in the best interest of His children. this conference is going to be a blessing, it will answer a lot of questions, give me more questions to think about, allow me to talk to other people who have started similar centers and give me a lot to chew for the remainder of our time in hong kong until the Lord brings us back to the states for a period of time.

to reiterate and to be clear (sometimes i ramble!) these are what i'm asking you to pray about:
** affordable round trip ticket for me to kansas back to HK
** that the funds will be available
** for safe travel mercies to and from kansas and to and from hk
** for God's hand over the conference
** clarity in the direction of Hope's Refuge
** continued unity in the direction and decisions of Hope's Refuge between bud, cami, daks and i.

if you feel the Lord leading you to donate to help cover the price of a ticket for me to attend this conference, please email me and i will let you know how to go about that. we appreciate all your help and prayers in the past and we love you all very much. i will keep you updated on whats happening with the conference and my trip to the states.

agape,
christin joy.

----

Dear Christin,

I hope you are doing well. I wanted to contact you about Heartbeat International's upcoming annual conference, April 16-19 in Dallas, Texas. We typically have around 600 people attend and we offer a variety of sessions relevant to those working in pregnancy centers. We also have daily keynote speakers, many pro-life exhibitors, and a multitude of networking events.

In even-numbered years, we try to arrange for international guests to attend. Would you and Bud have an interest in attending this conference? It might be very helpful as you consider various options for Hope's Refuge.

We could offer you a scholarship that would cover the cost of your registration fees, hotel accommodations, and most meals if you are able to come. Please let me know if you have an interest in attending. You can get some information about the conference here:

http://www.heartbeatinternational.org/Trainings/2008_Conference/conference_update2.htm

Our entire conference brochure, including all topics and speakers, will be available in early January. Let me know if you are interested and I will send you additional information.

Thanks and God bless,

Nathan Burd

Director of International Program & Public Policy

Heartbeat International

www.heartbeatinternational.org

from sai kung district... kind of!

hi everyone!!! we are now officially back online as of today! (our thursday, your wednesday evening). let me first tell you that the move, while it had its stressful parts, it was still a big success and thanks to our old upstairs neighbor byron barrett and his wife emily - we were able to get everything we wanted to move out of the house and into our new one. we also are very thankful to have maggie cho who helped us find the moving company and helped set things up and we are very thankful to po ying (pronounced bo wing) for helping us in our desperate call of "help, we don't speak cantonese and our moving people do not speak english!" haha. ;-D but we are now officially in our new house. we're sleeping on the gigantic couch for a while until we find a bed that will fit in our house that is not too expensive. :) the couch works out just fine for us, as its large and comfy. :) although mistress chang (our kitten) now has to sleep with monster truck because we have no room for her to cuddle with "mom & dad" haha. our new flat has a few quirks and let me tell you - we are learning new ways of living just by being in this house.

for example: we do not have a washing machine - so i have now been tasked to wash our clothes by hand outside. (anyone know where to buy a washboard, although that sounds funny - i'm serious haha. does anyone know where to get one or could maybe send me one or umm... yeah! hahaha) so i hand wash our clothes and we have rigged a clothes line outside our front window so they dry. it worked out nicely and i'm going to have the strongest arms in the world if i keep it up! also - our kitchen at the moment does not have a functional sink so we wash our dishes in the bathroom. ;-P but the kitchen pipes and sink will be fixed this sunday. :) there are a few other quirks that i'm forgetting at the moment but we really are enjoying our new place. having bud home an hour earlier is such a nice change of pace for me. :) i can have dinner ready by 8:00 instead of 9! and he is not overtired anymore, so we are taking more walks with the dog and having time to get out and meet the neighbors!

which leads perfectly into our new neighbors. our next door neighbors are a young married couple with 4 dogs! 1 of which is a puppy and they will be giving it away in about a month. the wifes name is grace (i do not know her chinese name yet) and i still have yet to learn the husbands name. but they are very sweet, she is a primary school teacher part time and the other time she works as a social worker. i live next door to a social worker. hopefully once we get to know each other better i can ask her some statistics about hong kong and learn some information from someone who is directly involved with the hong kong lifestyle and social issues and such. having a friend like that will be great for my research. her husband is a mechanic who works on cars. he spoils monster truck with little treats almost everyday before he goes to work. one day he was giving her a treat and she became so comfortable with him she walked right into their house! haha, silly dog. they are also expecting a baby the middle of march. i asked her if she was excited and to my surprise, she is not actually excited. she said her body has not made her feel very different so i guess that means she just doesn't feel like its that big of a change yet. i'm sure she'll be more excited as time draws closer.

the neighbor upstairs had 3 dogs and i already forgot her name and what she does but she was also very sweet. its also very nice to have neighbors who are both chinese and speak very good english. it helps us where we lack in our chinese (me more so than bud, he is more functional than i am). while on a walk with monster truck, one lady was admiring her and said "you have a very beautiful dog" so that started a conversation with us. her name is rosa and she is filipino. she has a contagious smile and she is very friendly and talkative! she told me that just talking to me for the past 5 minutes, she feels as though we've been friends for a very long time. she is a domestic helper to a 101 year old chinese woman with skin cancer but no other problems. she has been helping her for nearly 6 years i think is what she told me. she's lived in this village for 7 years and has been in hong kong for 10 years. she is a single mother of two children and works basically 7 days a week. she has a very generous and kind heart and i look forward to getting to know her better. she promised the family of the 101 year old lady that she would remain working for her until she passes away because she loves her and doesn't want her to ever be alone.

yesterday, i was yet again taking monster truck for a walk and people continue to stop and pet her or say 'beautiful dog' or something along those lines. yesterday, however was especially sweet because 2 beautiful children (i think they are indonesian) came up and said "is this your dog?" and then started to pet her. they started smiling and laughing and asked "can i hold the string" meaning the leash and so i let them both have a turn. they were so sweet and wanted me to come to their house and play, but i didn't think it was appropriate, their mother (i'm assuming) was there and i just didn't feel comfortable going over there after having met them and the mother for a few minutes. but i plan on walking around that time again so they can see monster truck and i can play with them some more. it was so nice to have some time to play, we actually ended up playing for nearly 10-15 minutes. hopefully i will get to see them more too. so all in all - its been a really great move so far. the people here are incredibly friendly and the neighborhood itself promises for a good mission field. while taking walks i have found at least 4 people with shrines in their homes. one of which is rather large and every night at the same time i see the same woman and man kneeling and burning incense inside their home. there is also a small worship hall/temple in the corner of the neighborhood that i plan to prayer walk soon. its so sad that everywhere you go - the ancestry worship is everywhere and that people are in bondage to these things. hopefully bud and i can start to make some friends and relationships and the Lord can help us to bring these people the awesome freedom they can have in our gracious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! they are in need of some freedom.

i don't know if we told you but i now have 2 part time jobs. one that only pays for my travel too and from and its one day a week and the other is a substitute position for bud's company where i will get paid. :) i have a meeting with my first job this upcoming thursday, the 15th where we will be going over some details of the class that i will be teaching (english) too and go to some local bookstores, playgrounds and grocery stores. its a play group where i can take the kids out of the classroom to stores and the like to teach them what things are like "orange" or "apple" or "see saw" or "book". its a christian centre so i am able to tell the kids about the bible and about God and such. i know that its not something i'm supposed to do openly but i'm excited that i've even been offered to tell them about God and the bible and Jesus. :) the other job is doing what bud does, only as a substitute and i have my first job for them december 24th and then again on december 27th. :) i will also most likely be primarily working in the mid-levels centre and bud works at the sai wan ho centre. so needless to say we will not be taking time for our honeymoon at christmas time like we had hoped for but thats okay. life is going to be 10x's more full and more interesting than it has been. God is so good in providing everything we NEED and even the things that we want, in an orderly fashion that suits the life God wants us to have.

also, we have started going to a different church. we will probably test out a few more, but the one we've been attending lately has been really good. we weren't sure about it at first but that was because we kept going to services where the head pastor was not teaching. once we went to one with the head pastor - we found that it is a sound church with really good ministry opportunities. we really loved going to the kowloon vineyard (jackie pullinger's church) but we felt it would be a smart idea to see what other churches and places of worship hong kong has to offer to its many different "types" of people. there are so many different people with different lifestyles - so it is nice to find different places of GOOD and SOUND worship for people. the one we are visiting now is a southern baptist church. the people are very kind. theres another church we hope to visit in north point sometime soon too. we'll keep you updated with what we find and about the good and the bad that we find. :) i really think that this move has enabled us to become more available with the people in hong kong. since we are not actively taking literature into ch*n* (we thought we would but God led us in a different direction) - it is better for us to be around large groups of people where we can "bump into" strangers or however else the Lord sees fit to bring people into our lives to tell the gospel too, to make friends and fellowship. :) its been really good. we'll keep you updated on the changes. our spirits have been lifted (as they were down for a while with some drama and spiritual warfare that was going on for about 2 months) and we have even in this short period of time of living in our new place, been prepared to hit the ground running this race to win hong kong for the Lord.

well, with that said i should get going and take the dog for a walk :) see who else i meet on my journey's! yay for monster truck being a big help in breaking the ice - seeing as, believe it or not, i am quite shy in talking to people for the first time. anyway, we love you and we'll talk to you soon. sorry that this is kind of long and i'm sure i've left things out. hopefully i can get my loving husband on here to write an update on anything i may have forgot to tell you.

agape,

christin joy.

oh the construction!

lately i've been waking up feeling quite fatigued like i could sleep all day. but i get up regardless and spend time with my husband before he goes to work and then i start my day. yesterday, i admit, i relaxed for the day and tried to get rid of this tiredness, but to no avail, i'm still tired! haha. usually, during the day i'm doing research and feeding the homeless lady that eats out of our rubbish bins. recently, i've also been taking prayer walks around the village, praying for all the ancestor idolatry that goes on everyday. i've been walking up to the large and famous temple behind our house. so many people go up there on a daily basis to pray and offer up fruit and hell money to their ancestors. it is truly depressing. today i walked up there and just slowly walked around the grounds with monster truck (our dog) and prayed. a lady was there praying with her daughter, so i walked up next to her and simply said yesu oi nei (Jesus Loves You). she looked up at me and looked as though she was going to cry. she walked out shortly after and quite quickly.

i dont know if i can get in trouble for that, but fortunately for me and those around, i do not care. ;-P i know some people use tracks as a tool to tell people about the Lord. i've never felt comfortable doing that. i definitely do not have any problem with it, as i know that if the Lord can use someone like me, he can use anything to speak out His truth. but personally, i'd rather talk to people or pray over them silently and wait until the Holy Spirit opens up an opportunity or shows me what my next move is to be. i'm slowly learning that one of my biggest jobs here in hong kong is to be a silent warrior, one who prays.

for the past week, there has been an incessant amount of construction happening outside our house. literally i could toss a rock and it'd fall into the huge gaping holes that have been dug. its been quite irritating as you can imagine, since its loud and stinky! thankfully, we move next week and we will not be bothered by that anymore. but the construction men love monster truck! they think that she is just the cutest thing in the world. on occasion they have actually stopped working just to bend down and pet her. ;-P i think its really funny to see these strong men ogle over a fluffy, small 4 pound dog! so today, i went out and watched what they were doing for a few minutes and prayed for their safety and i prayed that if they didn't already know the Lord that they would either provide me an opportunity to tell them or that someone else will come in and let them know the true gospel of Jesus Christ. i will have to be very in tune with the Lord's calling as there are about 10 guys out there and i want to be safe. so we'll see what happens and what the Lord asks of me. i'll let you know. maybe this will be a time where i do use simple tracks to hand out to each of them. we'll see what comes of it. the Lord be glorified.

agape,

christin joy.

please pray.

this blog has nothing to do with Hong Kong. in fact it has to do with california. please be praying as california is on fire, again. i know that california catches fire every year, but unfortunately - its hitting quite close to home, as most of san diego county is on fire. i have friends who have been evacuated from their houses in ramona and friends in san marcos and escondido and vista - waiting to be evacuated. please pray God's protection over everyone. that there will be no more casualties and that if God sees fit to send a mighty rain, that He will do so. i have attached pictures of the backyard of bud's parents house and a picture from the front yard. its hitting a bit close to home for my comfort. so please be in prayer! thanks.







agape,

christin joy.

In Jesus name, we press on.

hey everyone. my wonderful husband called and reminded me that it has been a little while since we posted a new diary entry about the ministry thats going on out here. so i'm going to try to let you all know everything thats been happening, as briefly as possible. i have a tendency to write a lot, so i apologize for my long-winded-ness. haha. :) so this is whats going on with Hope's Refuge, Local Ministry and our daily lives.

kristen and i took a trip to the island a few weeks ago to apply for my new passport. on our way back, the weather was absolutely gorgeous so we decided to go to the harbor in tsim sha tsui and sit and talk about the Lord. well, we ended up sitting there for about an hour until we were joined by two men from nigeria. i must admit that the reason these two men came up to us and started talking to us was to flirt and hit on us. but we were able to change the topic and talk to them about the Lord, give them the gospel, invite them to church and learn what is holding them back from living life for the Lord. the man i spoke with, his name was wilson - he knows a lot of scripture, he seems to have a huge fire for the word of God when he speaks about it. i told him the gospel and then he finished my sentences for me. i think the major thing that is holding him back is the fact that he does not think anyone is interested in hearing, he doesn't think people will really care, especially coming from him. the other man, whom kristen was speaking with, his name was freddie and he was fighting accepting Christ because of the lust of money. you could tell that after hearing about the things of the Lord, the Spirit was working on his heart. unfortunately, they have not come to church - but hopefully they will one day.

Hope's Refuge. i've been making phone calls, emailing lots of people, talking to people here in hong kong about my ideas and i am learning a lot. just recently i received 2 large manuals and 1 smaller one from the organization "heartbeat international" who, if you recall from a previous entry, has told me that i could be affiliated with them once i get Hope's Refuge up and running. they have been a huge help and everything i'm learning is both exciting and even more of a confirmation of the desire and vision that i have, but also a bit overwhelming. its scary, looking at everything that goes into starting a pregnancy center just in the USA and then trying to figure out how to take those tips and fit them into the hong kong life and such - its a bit intimidating. but its a good way to keep the Lord as the head of everything and know that when it starts it was totally by His hand being over it. so that part is very exciting. :) so i am learning a lot. i am going to post some of the things i'm learning on a separate page and once i do, i'll post the link on here. but one of the things that is standing out from the research from the heartbeat international manuals is "do not aim for perfection, you won't get anywhere. instead, aim for excellence." and i'm reminding myself of that all the time.

recently i have had the privilege of giving lunch to a local homeless woman. i still do not know her name and i still do not know how to speak to a chinese woman who obviously has some mental instabilities and she speaks no english and i speak very poor cantonese (hardly any!). but i see her poking through the rubbish bins daily wearing the same gray and blue floral shirt, carrying a plastic bag and wearing sandals. she is very sweet but does not like all the stray dogs. she swings that bag wildly at them, sometimes even at monster so i make sure that monster doesn't go around her. but i've been making her a pb&j sandwich everyday i see her. and when she leaves, i simply say "jeh sou oi nei" which means "Jesus Loves You". i also had the privilege of meeting two foreigners last week in tsim sha tsui at the harbor. we talked for 2 hours. one has invited bud and i to visit her in mainland china. both taught english, one taught english in korea and obviously the other is in mainland china. i hope to continue talking to them and start a good relationship. :) if you remember, please pray for claire and tiffany. those were their names.

and last but not least - whats going on with bud and i as of late. we were having a hard time finding a place to live that was closer to bud's work, affordable, as well as a place that would allow animals. we really thought we were going to have to get rid of at least the dog, which is hard because these animals have become part of the family. its kind of silly i suppose but its SO true. :) so with all of that prefacing what i'm about to say, let me first say we DO NOT HAVE TO GET RID OF THE ANIMALS!!! we found a place in sai kung, its another village house like what we have now, which is near the beach, an hour closer to bud's work, big enough for me and him and has a spare room if we ever have visitors or need to offer the room to someone in need. the only downfalls are a) we need to fully furnish the house as there is nothing in it. and b) the bus fare from the village to the train station is a lot more expensive then we're used too. but it is worth it and totally a God send. :) we will be moving in on or a little before november 1 and we are really excited. oh and one more thing - bud and i and i think danny and kristen, are going to visit a new church this sunday, so we can see what is available all over hong kong. :) i will let you know how it goes and once i have all my research up online, i'll give you all a link to that as well. :) we love and miss you all.

agape,

christin joy.

dreams, visions, prophecy.

we've had a large amount of prophecy come our way in the past month, some by dreams and visions, some by direct revelation. it makes me proud to say that my wife has been gifted and hears the direct voice of the Lord to give wisdom, to correct, to encourage and empower. through our friends (and family) also, our God has given words and pictures to build up the body of Christ, which includes us.

recently this body of text has been brought to our attention. isaiah 55 reads:

Come, everyone who thirsts,come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

that which God provides is abundantly superior to the provision a man can make for himself. it is not to say that we should not labor, should not spend, should not be about the working world... but what is the purpose when God is able and willing to provide much more at no cost. bring your burdens, your weary hands and hearts, let Him fill you with His good food and water. seek not the things that are deceptively empty, set your heart toward God and seek wisdom in all things.

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

we are now in a nation which we do not know, among people with whom we can hardly even speak... our purpose here may be shrouded for the time being, but it is daily being revealed where our place is in hong kong. the Lord asked us to answer the call to a far away and unknown land, and now a nation that does not know us is running to us. it is my belief that the nation that does not know us is not hong kong, which is not to devalue our current position as the following scriptures will show. we are here, for a time now, possibly a time later. the nation that is running to us will manifest itself once we are adequately prepared for that calling.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God knows what He is doing. there are people around us, even among us at times, that seek to devalue the work of God in our lives and through our being in hong kong. these will be dealt with by the Almighty Himself and i for one refuse to be burdened by them. God's ways are greater, infinitely superior to our planning. we are naught to question what Christ has called within and without.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout,giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

our Lord does not do things by accident, for random purposes, for fun, for show. the rain that falls has a purpose, and the snow from the heavens a reason behind its coming. we are in hong kong for a reason - to get settled, to pay off debt, to better know the area and its customs/laws? all of the above? whether we know or not, it is folly to think that God will not use us despite our impotence. rather it is by our inability to do what we will to do that God's power and glory are magnified.

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

the conclusion of the passage, the fruit that bears forth from our ministry, is quite an exciting prospect. raising grand trees amongst a great number of thorns, brier, a cornucopia of impossible circumstances... we are excited. wherever our ministry is in the long run, we know what it is - to raise soldiers among weaklings and naysayers. we anxiously await the harvest for which we prepare and sow. thanks to all whom are daily praying for and encouraging us. grace&peace. bye.

an exciting email for hope's refuge!

hi all. its 1:27am and i should be going to sleep. as you could probably tell from my last message, things have been a bit stressful with spiritual warfare. well, life is a bit more stressful with finances and moving and such. but the Lord is so good to remind me and encourage me that He is the Lord of All creations and the Lord that provides what we need when we need it and gives us glimpses of the future and even visions of our eternity in heaven. how amazing is our Lord?! here is one example: today - bud came home from work and we sit down and talk about things regarding to our financial status, his job, our up and coming move to hong kong island and our last month here in fanling. i got a bit discouraged and i could tell he was too. so we prayed. just a simple prayer that the Lord would provide and keep our Faith in Him strong. after we prayed, we went into the living room and i checked my email and when i checked one of my accounts, my daily bible verse for the day was:

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."
~ matthew 7:7-8

now, i don't want to be over-spiritual about things and know that i tend to steer away from participating in the "flip through the bible and let your finger land on a random verse" technique. but sometimes, i believe the Lord does use things like that to get our attention because He is a loving God. although they are not so random when its from God! anyway, so that was one way the Lord lifted my spirits and got me more focused and able to be soothed by His comforting arms.

the second way the Lord lifted my spirits was through an email. a few days ago, i emailed Heartbeat International as Focus on the Family had encouraged me to. so as i was checking my email and about to sign off for the night, as soon as i refreshed my page there was a new email. i checked it and it was from Heartbeat International. here are some excerpts from the email:

"Also, if you are interested, you could affiliate with Heartbeat. This would allow you to receive our Pulse Newsletter and it would include your center in Worldwide Directory of pregnancy resource centers. We would waive the international affiliation fee and allow you to join at no cost..."

"...As you can imagine, we don’t have too many contacts in China. Do you believe you’ll be able to start and openly operate a pregnancy center there? Is Hong Kong open to this sort of work or is it discouraged? I’d like to learn more about your experience there if you are willing to write back. And we’d like to help if we can..."

to read the full email, go ahead and click this link and it will take you to a print screen of the actual full email! :) please keep this in your prayers and that i will not get ahead of myself and ahead of the Lord's timing. please remain in prayer for our financial situation and please pray that our move to causeway bay will be easy and stress free! love you all. thank you for loving us and caring for us and keeping us in your prayers.

agape,

christin joy.

so things are interesting right now...

nei ho ma (how are you). so life has been pretty interesting lately. i'm not even quite sure where to start! don't worry - things are fine. the Lord is sufficient in providing and leading and guiding us in our every needs so there is no fear or worry to be had! wow, it sounds like i'm getting ready to drop a huge bomb in your laps, so i'll just get to the point! how's that? :)

well as you know we had friends come and visit, got to participate in getting some good books to china, got to do a lot of touristy stuff. we walked up to the temple that is literally up a few flights of stairs behind our house. basically - just got to walk around hong kong a lot and it was actually good because it helps you to recognize how lost this country is in so many different ways. from the ancestor worship, money being very important (these people LOVE to shop for things i'm sure they don't need), pressure on the children and a very confucious lifestyle amongst a lot of the older population. for me, the hardest thing is to see how a large majority of women who are pregnant don't look beaming and thrilled. now, i know that with chinese culture, people that walk by you on the streets kind of stick to themselves just getting to their next location. and let me not lead you to believe that all women out here that are pregnant are not happy. there are women who you can tell are just beaming at the very thought that they have a little "them" inside their tummies.

but there is a large amount of women that i see that my heart breaks for. its like the Lord lets me see that they are stressed, working hard and maybe even scared. also, knowing that in the chinese culture if you're pregnant and not married, its disgraceful, it just gives me more and more of a drive for me to start Hope's Refuge. i have come to the idea that it is going to take a bit of time to get this ministry established. that being said, i have spent and am spending a lot of time on research, getting contacts (i.e. Focus on the Family, Care Net, Prolife America) and ideas. when i first got here, i was introduced to 2 separate organizations that do amazing work out here in hong kong. the first is home of loving faithfulness who takes in orphans (children up to adults) with physical and mental handicaps. the other is mother's choice who take in children and pregnant girls who need a place to stay, as well as have a pro-life outlook.

when i first got here, i thought, sweet i'll work at home of loving faithfulness. went and had an amazing time with the people there for a few hours, have had great correspondence with the top people of the organization and was praying about spending my time there. that being said, things have changed for bud and i as well as kristen who lives with us currently and danny who was going to be moving in with us. kristen feels led to move and work on getting our Love Letter to the people of China, full time. danny feels the same. bud and i on the other hand have been given some other ideas that we've been praying about and ask that you keep us in your prayers. he works in sai wan ho, which is nearly 2 hours away from where we live now, in fanling. home of loving faithfulness is in sheung shui/fanling. with the news that kristen and danny are being called elsewhere bud and i think it best to move closer to his work so he does not get burnt out with all the travel and long hours.

i believe that this move is from the Lord. not only will we be closer to bud's job meaning he and i will be able to have more time together (because as of right now, i only see bud 3 hours a day mon-fri and maybe a hour or so on saturdays and then of course all day on sunday and it can be difficult, since we're newly married! this is the normal lifestyle for people out here who work and since we want to live here legally and get ourselves established, he needs his job.) but i then would be nearly 2 hours away from home of loving faithfulness. i think the Lord was preparing me for this move way in advance, as i have not officially dedicated all my time to home of loving faithfulness. i have been quite hesitant. but the funny thing is, the center i want to start, Hope's Refuge, is almost exactly what Mother's Choice is doing. the only difference i believe they have from Hope's Refuge is Hope's Refuge will be entirely Christ-Focused.

mother's choice is on hong kong island. bud's job is on hong kong island. so right now i'm praying that the Lord will move in a mighty way and place me at work in Mother's Choice. i have emailed them and await their reply. i am praying and thinking that this will be a great opportunity for me to see how they run their center's, see how they provide for the children and young women and see how they work together as individuals with a common mind. so as much as it may seem that life is kind of slow right now (because it is), i truly believe the Lord is just taking His time in getting us situated in the life that he has given bud and i. having more time together will allow us to go out in the mornings and get to know people without being stressed for time and be able to invite them over for fellowship, will allow me the time to do more research and if all goes well, work alongside people with almost the exact same vision as i have. this will also allow bud to not feel like all his time is taken up by work, as it has been since we are so far away (which is very discouraging to him).

so with all of this i bring to your attention that this is a foothold the enemy is trying to use to divide friendship and fellowship, to steal the joy of our Lord and Savior and has caused some pretty lame tension around the house. things have been laid out on the table and we are letting the Lord bring peace back to this household. but for a few days (for me a few weeks for me. i had the feeling things were getting sketchy around here for about 2 or so weeks now) things were very stressful, people were getting in their flesh and things were not being dealt with properly. now that things have been dealt with, we can begin healing from the attack the enemy made.

i will end with this, please keep everyone in your prayers as this is a kind of weird time but exciting time because it just gives us more opportunity to praise our Lord and have faith in Him. but here are some specifics:

1) i'm getting my name changed on my passport and getting my dependency visa. please pray that this will go smoothly.
2) the Lord's guidance and that i may hear his voice clearly regarding mother's choice. if i do get involved with them, i will have to go through the work visa process the same as bud did, which will be another hurdle to jump when it comes.
3) guidance for kristen and danny in their relationship as well as their callings from the Lord
4) that bud and i will find a good place to live for not too expensive near his work. we have found a few options and are waiting for a call back from a few, so hopefully i'll be able to tell you an update for that in the next week or so.
5) that moving will be easy and not take up too much of our time and not stress us out.
6) that we'll get through the rest of this month on our limited funds, until bud gets his first full paycheck.
7) full restoration of friendships from the attack from the enemy
8) God's will in everyones lives and that we will be sensitive to the Spirit moving us, move when we need to move and stop when we need to stop and wait when He calls us to wait.
9) the souls and the people of hong kong and china, that the Lord will use us to help them see the need for Jesus in their lives and the way out of the bondage of sin and ancestor worship
10) for the slow but steady research and move towards the start of Hope's Refuge

i think thats it for now. other than that, if you feel lead to donate to HK Missions, let us know and we can let you know how to go about doing that through a non-profit! please let us know how we can pray for you, please comment or email us and let us know how you're doing. we miss you and love you all very much. OH and please pray that our desire to have mexican food will simmer down. haha, we miss mexican food SO much. haha, and well - the mexican food here, if its not extremely expensive its not good. ;-P so thats that. love you all so much. talk to you soon!!

agape,

christin joy.

i am married to a legal resident of hong kong!

thats right! my husband is a legal resident of hong kong. he received his work visa today! praise the Lord! now i get to apply for my dependency visa and then he and i are set to stay in the country for at least one year. :) just a quick update. love you all.

agape,

christin joy.

po ying brought over hello kitty uno cards!

hey everyone. i wanted to write an update on some things! bud started his job this past saturday and he has been working non-stop since (minus sundays, he has sunday's off). he is pretty tired because he is climbing about 1000 stairs (thats not an exaggeration) every morning. see, he works in mid levels and thats about 1 hour and 45 minutes away from home and 20 of those minutes are spent walking up stairs! haha. so its hard on him, but its only for this week that he works at that center. next week he starts at the other center where he will still be traveling that amount of time but not up all those stairs! but on the lighter side, he is enjoying teaching the kids and he has good things to say about it. hopefully when he gets some time he will update. please pray for perseverance as its quite a bit of travel time and its hard for him and also it takes up a lot of his time but he will be doing runs into china once a week and as things come closer for Hope's Refuge then he will be helping with that any way he can too. and church on sundays' so life is a bit busy for my lovely wonderful husband bud newman. his birthday is sunday! he'll be 26, hehe. we got him a kitten, we pick it up in 2 weeks after it gets the vaccinations it needs. its a precious little kitten, only 1 month old, fun and fiesty. we'll post pictures soon. so monster truck will have a little sister. very fun. hehe.

i will be starting my volunteer work with Holf next week or the following which is exciting. it will get me the experience i need that will help me with Hope's Refuge. :) speaking of Hope's Refuge, i was encouraged by one of my contacts from Pro-Life America to contact focus on the family as they had just recently posted an article about hong kong and china women. read below the correspondence:

this is what i wrote them:
Hi there, my name is Christin Newman and I read the article about pregnant women in china finding a safe haven in hong kong. here is the link to the article: http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000005266.cfm

i am currently living in hong kong, just moved here about 3 months ago. my husband is teaching english as we get settled in and do long term/life long ministry out here taking bibles to mainland china as well as working at a local "orphanage" that caters to disabled children and adults. we've been blessed with opportunities out here. after having read your article, it totally coincided with the vision the Lord has put on my heart to start a crisis pregnancy center/orphanage in the new territories of hong kong, where i live. it would be a christian organization and not for profit.

we are only in the beginning/vision stages of everything and i wanted to ask if you had any ideas or suggestions, if you had contacts i could speak with about starting off. i also wanted to ask for prayer and anything else you may want to offer. it was amazing how your article came out a few days after i launched my beginning website for the ministry i will be starting - hope's refuge. please take a look at my webpage if you like, it helps give a better idea of what we're aiming at. http://christin.newman.googlepages.com

this has been a dream for me for quite some time and have been praying for it for a long time. hong kong is an amazing city that needs the Lord and needs to see that there truly is value to life, even the unborn lives that they are so easily disposing of, day in and day out. i will be adding more to the webpage, as you can see its not completed. its just a preliminary. :) we're not looking to start this ministry for a while, but i was encouraged to contact you and see what you thought and see if you could give any ideas, offer any sort of support or point me in a good direction. sorry for a long and drawn out email. if this is the wrong email to send this too, please forward it to the correct person or email me and let me know who i should get in contact with. thanks so much!

agape,

christin joy newman.

and this is what they wrote back:
Thank you, Christin, for your e-mail to Focus on the Family.

We appreciate the time you have taken to write us. Our desire is to be of assistance to you in any way that we can. It blessed us to learn that you would like to start a pregnancy resource center, as well as an orphanage. We'll be praying that the Lord will guide you with His wisdom in the days ahead as you reach out to those in need.

As you requested, we have provided the following Web site links that may be of interest to you:

http://www.heartlink.org/directors/benevolentresources/

http://www.voiceoftheorphan.org/Display.asp?Page=Home

Before closing, you may wish to get in contact with the following organizations. Perhaps they also may be able to assist you in the manner you have envisioned:

CareNet
44180 Riverside Parkway, Ste 200
Lansdowne, VA 20176
703/478-5661
703/478-5668 = Fax
info@care-net.org
http://www.care-net.org

Heartbeat International
665 Dublin-Granville Road
Columbus, OH 43229
614/885-7577
614/885-8746 = Fax
support@heartbeatinternational.org = E-mail
http://www.heartbeatinternational.org = Web site

LIFE International
72 Ransom Avenue, NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
616/248-3300
616/248-3500 = Fax
info@lifeinternational.com = E mail
www.lifeinternational.com = Web site

Again, thanks for writing. May the Lord bless you for your commitment to save the lives of the innocent, and may His Spirit add power and conviction to all of your efforts in this regard.

Sandra Reagan
Focus on the Family

so that is pretty exciting news. very promising. how amazing would it be if the Lord blessed Hope's Refuge with a large support and sponsorship like focus on the family? that would be so awesome. please join us in praying for that!

other than that, we are just enjoying our company and new roommate that came in, as we said before, a few fridays ago. unfortunately, daks and cami leave monday and tuesday so we'll be sad when they leave. but Lord willing, they will be returning soon. they have enjoyed their time here, which is good! well, i'll let other people update soon - hopefully. haha. :) *hint, KRISTEN UPDATE! hahaha*hint*. i'll write more later, i just wanted to let everyone know of the update from focus on the family. oh and please be in prayer for Crossweave, the church that bud and i are apart of back in california. they have been so faithful to us in sending us prayerfully, keeping us posted on their website as their church missionaries and such. they have their grand opening this sunday as their first OFFICIAL service. they have had a couple previews but this sunday is the big opening. the Lord has been faithfully providing this very opportunity and i trust that Lord will be making a big noise with their ministry. if you're in the california area, check them out! here's their website: http://crossweave.org/

okay, i am finished now. don't forget to leave us comments to let us know you're still reading and still in contact with what we're doing. we love you all so much and miss you too.

agape,

christin joy.

p.s. we are still praying for bud's work visa and we're expecting it in a couple weeks, keep praying alongside us regarding his work visa.

this is for people who i don't have on my email address....

hello family and friends,

so things have been pretty busy as of late. :) its been good though. our good friends kristen (one of our new roommates), daks and cami arrived last friday and we have been pretty non-stop. we have been doing a lot of tourist stuff, showing them around, introducing them to the hong kong culture and eating amazing food. (i think i gained like 3 pounds but thats okay, it was worth it because it all tasted so good). kristen blessed me some new clothes which i was definitely in need of (and they are girly! yea, thats different for me but i love them!) and then they brought bud tortillas and such. i also got a few new books to read for encouragement. we went to the vine, a college group that meets on saturday evenings in central (hong kong island). we wanted to show the polar differences between the church we attend on sundays and one of the 'better' churches in hong kong. thankfully, we serve a great God who has blessed us with a church - the kowloon city vineyard, pastored by long time missionary to hong kong jackie pullinger. :) all i want to say is please pray for the churches in hong kong and that they will be sensitive to the sweet small voice of the Holy Spirit and respond accordingly.

so we went to church on sunday and we were refreshed by being in the true presence of the Holy Spirit. Joining together as a family of believers and joining together the way you read about in the book of acts. its so good. :) then we hung out with po ying and watched movies. on tuesday we went on a long walk up to the large temple that is behind our house. it is quite depressing, knowing that people spend so much money and devote their life to a "god" that is dead, will never be alive and all their worship and love for this "god" and "spirits" and "ancestors" is all in vain. its hard on me to see it. this month is ghost festival month, so there is lots of spiritual warfare happening at the moment. maybe a little more than normal because people are inviting "ancestors" which translates to us as demons, to walk freely around the area. its been quite a sad month, seeing ancestoral worship everywhere, in random parts of the streets and such. :( please pray that the Lord will be gracious and help us all in learning the language out here, its frustrating walking by and not being able to talk to people and tell them about the freedom they could have in Jesus Christ. but at least it keeps us praying all the time.

the walk up to the temple was pretty crucial so poor cami and i have been waddling around because our legs hurt from the 200+ some steps we climbed. ;-P but kristen and i plan on making that apart of our work out, every other day. wooo! so wednesday we got everyone briefed with some ministry opportunities out here. and yesterday, thursday, we were able to participate is some amazing activities. it was awesome. after we went through, we spent time haggling prices and hanging out with people at the "blue mall" which is well, 5 levels of amazingly fun stress in mainland china! haha. we were able to offer some gifts to some men we ran into and it was awesome, they seemed quite happy to have been given a gift and to read such awesome stuff. :) praise the Lord for the victory is totally his.

today kristen, cami and i went out on a girl date and talked more about hope's refuge and got some good ideas. please begin praying for the opportunity and finances for possibly kristen and i to come to the states and talk about hope's refuge with some churches. if you're interested in having a briefing about the vision, please contact me. i would love to answer any questions and i'd love to hear any ideas if you have any. :) it was good to sit and fellowship with awesome ladies of the Lord and it was awesome for daks and bud to have some guy time, just hanging out. :) its important!

bud starts his job tomorrow and hopefully he will hear the status of his work visa. once he has his work visa, i can then apply for my dependency visa which will mean that neither bud or i will be required to leave the country for a year and apparently the first work visa is the hardest and renewing it is easier. so please continue to pray that the Lord will bless bud with this job and the work visa so everything will go accordingly. once i have my dependency visa, i will begin more looking around for possible places for hope's refuge as well as start my part time volunteer work with home of loving faithfulness. i will also hopefully be devoting a few nights a week helping the rehab ministry that is apart of our church, the vineyard. :) :) so thats that for now. also, remember - bud's birthday is coming up!! september 2!!! :) send him love notes at hkmissions@gmail.com if you want. haha. :)

i will get going now, love you and will update more once things are a little more calm.

agape,

christin joy.

missions complete! bohahaha!

hello everyone. as the title of this blog says, one leg of the mission to hong kong is now complete — i got a job! i will be working in sai wan ho [which is on the east side of hong kong island, very far away, but beggars can't be choosers] working at native english learning center. my work visa is still in process, so please be sure to keep praying for us, specifically that the government would approve my visa like any other standard application and no problems. we're hoping for smooth sailing! the great news is that i will only be working half days monday to friday and one full day saturday; and i will be making way more than we will need to live out here.

that said, we are coming into a bit of a financial situation between now and when i get my first paycheck [which won't be until september 31st]. we're running low on funds that we had saved to get here, and we need prayer and support from home to be able to pay for food, transportation and rent/utilities for the next two months. if anyone is interested in donating, feel free to check out the form on the hkmissions website, or contact me through e-mail.

so, like i said, now we're back to waiting for another few weeks. i start paid training at this new job [though at the mid-levels centre] on the 25th of august, so pray for that. kristen moves on the 16th and daks will be coming with her for a three week trip, as most of you already know. please pray for safe travels when the time comes for them to get over here. some time this week i will hopefully be updating the hkmissions website, getting the placeholder pages off there and including our two other full-time missionaries [danny mays and kristen gautreaux]. until next time, thank you for your prayers and comments! grace&peace. bye.