did you bring your baby?

hello again! it's bud this time, and things in hong kong are going quite well. it's been almost a week since we've left and it really does feel like it's been a great deal longer, as the two of us are adapting nicely to our new surroundings. within the past 5 days we've been here, i've got a nice prospective avenue for work [that will get me and christin a work visa to live here legally] and a possible permanent residence in a village house not far from where we're staying now! praise God for His provision and faithfulness!

we went to the vineyard on sunday after the confucious seminar saturday and despite a strange bit of misunderstanding that i won't get into, it was quite good. we're enjoying the food, meeting new people, learning words in cantonese and of course the general atmosphere of hong kong... i love it here and i'm glad christin loves it too.

hopefully, christin will be having her orientation with ministry opportunities out here, so the two of us can begin to participate the end of the week. it seems that we will probably be doing this for the next month and possibly beyond, considering it will take some time before my visa comes in provided i get the job i'm looking at... please pray that i will! in the meantime, we've been reading and watching quite a bit of anime to pass the time [got christin into bleach] until our ministry can truly start.

one thing that has really been weighing on my heart that needs prayer is the huge language barrier that exists between the two of us and the rest of the city. it's killing me right now that i can't speak the same language as most of these people, and every day new opportunities seem to be passing by for ministry, simply because i cannot say what needs to be said! i will probably ask around about some sort of language training, a cantonese class perhaps, that christin and i can attend to start learning the language faster. hanging out with friends and learning a word or two here and there is great, but i need something a bit more efficient without stressing out our few chinese-speaking friends we have here! pray that God would provide an avenue for that.

anyway, as i said, things are going well and we hope the same for those back in the states. much love from christin and myself, and thank you so much for your prayers and support! we couldn't do it without our brothers and sisters in the Lord, and we're so thankful for the church of God. thanks for reading and if you have any prayer requests for us, please post them in a comment... we do so enjoy reading comments here! grace&peace. bye.

we've made it!

so we're here in hong kong and the current time is 6:52am. i keep waking up earlier and earlier. anyone who knows me, knows that i do not like to wake up early and would rather sleep in! the first day i was here, i woke up at 6am, the next day i woke up at 9am, and today i woke up at 5:45am. so this morning i thought to myself, i'm not going to go back to bed - i'll spend some time with the Father and post a little something on here. we've been here a total of 2 days and already i'm amazed at what peace i have so far. i was convinced that i was going to be completely culture shocked, homesick and that i was going to freak out the very moment i got off the plane; but that was not the case at all. don't get me wrong, i'm sure i'll have my moments eventually, but i'm so glad its not now. so what can i tell you all that you would want to know...

we live in a high rise apartment flat on the 25th story (the very top floor)in sheung shui, hong kong. its not a very big town but there are a lot of people here, as there are a lot of people everywhere. we have 2 roommates that are here only for two weeks as they are visiting and bringing bread to china. after that we will most likely get new roomates. its kind of fun to have people coming and going, we get to meet so many new faces and here heaps of stories on top of that. these two men are in their 70's probably and from florida. they are kind of personal and stay to themselves a bit, but they are very sweet. :) we have met a lot of people from the office we work for - mostly from ireland, and they seem very cool. a lively group thats for sure! we've been up and down hong kong. we visited the walk of stars - which is kind of like the hong kong version of the walk of fame in hollywood - only with chinese actors (ex: bruce lee, jackie chan, jason lee, etc.).

we went to fo tan, fanling, kowloon, kwun tung (i think i butchered that - i'll ask bud when he is awake), tsim sha tsui, and a place pronounced but i know i'll butcher the spelling "chui chueng cheun". again, i'll ask bud to clarify and help me with that - as he is MUCH better than i am, i geuss because he's been here before and i have not. hehe, that would make sense to me at least. every town looks a bit different but not drastically, until you get to the village and then it looks more like a rural area, dirt roads, 3 level village houses as opposed to the 25 story high rises, with stray dogs walking freely. i like the village a bit more i think, its the closest thing i will ever get to my white picket fence! haha. :) another thing i've noticed thats a big difference is that just within hong kong - the different towns have different temperatures. don't get me wrong, all of hong kong is very hot and very humid (like walking into a brick wall) but certain towns are not as 'bad' as others. i'm getting used to plastering my hair into a bun and not worrying about it the rest of the day!

i could go on and on about the legistics of hong kong. for example: how all the people are in a hurry to get to where they are going, how they don't stop to apologize if they bump into you (not because they are rude but its just not a big deal to them), they do not have very much of a personal bubble, you come to recognize the smell of the wet market in every town and they all smell the same, you kind of remember peoples faces but its very hard to do so when there are 7.5 million registered people. you notice that there are 7 and 8 year old children walking around with no children, acting as little adults going from school to whatever their next destination is. you also walk by and you will smell a sweet aroma of incense burning; but its not so sweet once you realize that this is apart of their ancestory worship - tying them into the life of their ancestors. you also see people who are very respectful to their elders, very emotional speakers and very personal and to themselves.

you have the difference in culture and people but one thing still remains: these are all people created in the image of our Father, with souls that need to be saved just as i have been saved. last night i had the priveledge of going to a confucious seminar where jackie pullinger, a very amazing, Father filled woman spoke to her congregation about the culture and belief system of the chinese (remember - we are the foreigners) to the chinese. she was very bold in letting them know that the school systems, that the general way of thinking is flawed and unnecessary. i took about 5 pages of notes (granted it was a 7 hour seminar!) that i will probably publish on a personal diary and link it to this page once i've done so. just check back soon with that. this seminar was an amazing gift from our Father, it helped me see even better and even more closely what i'm here for, what bud and i are here for.

at the end of the seminar we had a time of talking to our Father and healing was happening! have you ever been set free from a pattern of thinking that was weighing you down, a demener that was put upon you by years of rituals and 'this is the way of your people'? this is a huge part of the chinese culture. the people of china/hong kong are taught that there is no room for error, that they are bad, that they have to do well in their studies. they start this way of thinking at the age of 1 years old! they have schools for 1 years old. i was thrown back by that. in the states we may have day care for 1 year olds where we may tell them what colors are but i do not believe that there are any full blown schools for the age specific to one years old. and they are taught that they must study their books because they are right - do not ask questions because that is insubordinate, just trust without explanation. i was heart broken.

but again at the end of the night people were being set free, apologizing for things publicly, and i have never once been apart of such free worship in my life! it was amazing. we were singing songs of adoration (yes! i sang in cantonese! - one song everyone started clapping at one part and i was eager to find out what they were saying. after they repeated the song a few times in cantonese they sang it in english and the part they clapped at was that HE rose from the dead! they were celebrating). it was wonderful, i got choked up a bit. to see them just stretching their hands out in adoration and love for their Father without a care in the world was amazing, to see them reach out and pray for one another, to see them crying and pouring themselves out. it was just amazing. again, i'll post everything i learned from last night at a later time. anyway, we're going to church today and i'm eager to learn more of what jackie pullinger has gleaned from the Father and His word. i hope to continue to learn from these wonderful people, and i hope to continue to fall more and more in love with them.

maybe next time i'll tell you what words i learned in cantonese. i'm afraid this blog is already a bit too long so i will end it now. please keep praying for the people of hong kong, china and all of asia (and of course your own neighbors and friends). pray that they will be released from the thumbs of their ancestors, that they will not buy into the lies that if you're not a super student that they are stupid and bad. that they will be released from their bondage and rise with the Father and hold on to the Father of truth. be blessed!

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my first post.

so lets see if this works like it should. :) this is my first post on hkmissions. so - hi there. bud and i were married on april 28! so it will be a week tomorrow, how insane is that? we are doing well out here in good old maryland. we'll be here for 2 more weeks - and even though we're not doing a whole lot, i'm having a great time being able to experience spring in my home town with my new husband and my wonderful parents and family. its good for me.

i think i'll express one of the prayer requests that i have so those that read this will know what i'm asking for prayer for. :)we still need to sell my car so please keep that in your prayers. we have a potential buyer and i hope that it happens. also - i have pretty severe asthma. its under control but it does get quite irritating having my asthma dictate what i can and cannot do. please pray for healing if thats what the Lord wants for me and if not - pray that things will work out fine regarding my asthma in hong kong. also - please pray for my homesickness. i got horribly homesick in california when i first moved there. i think it will be different in HK because i now have my husband - my new family. but still - its going to be difficult leaving my parents/family. so if you want to keep that in your prayers that'd be awesome.

so i guess right now thats all i have requests for - on the personal side. obviously, i ask you to join us in praying for the mission set before us, the persecuted church, our fellow brothers and sisters in china who are in need of encouragement and discipling and anything else - that the Lord will provide it and that bud and i will be open and willing to do everything the Lord has asked us to do and will ask us to do. please pray that we keep our focus set on our Father so that no matter what - we are doing it as one flesh.

God Bless you all. till next time.

much love,

christin joy newman

praise God from whom all blessings flow.

hey everyone. regarding our last post, the need has been met! my parents have decided to let us stay at their place for the 9 days we'll be in town after going to maryland. God is funny sometimes... i'm glad i didn't have to ask my dad to stay here and he just volunteered. that's a good thing.

in other news, we should be getting our one-way tickets to hong kong in a few days in the mail here at my parents' house... which is exciting and scary. one-way... wow! we're excited to start this new chapter in our lives and in our walk with the Lord, as a married couple. only three more days and i'll be a married man! that's awesome. anyway, thanks for reading and supporting us! i'm pretty sure this will be one of the last posts for a while. until next time! grace&peace. bye.

- bud.

little help here?

hey everyone. i booked our return flight from maryland tonight, and we will be returning to california on the 21st of may. this being said, we are in need of a place to stay for the 9 nights we are going to be in town. if anyone has a room they can let us take over for any or all of those nights that would be absolutely wonderful and we would be totally blessed. thanks so much.

things are going much better and we are lining things up slowly but surely to get out of the country and start working God's work... it's strange not knowing where we're going, but God gets the glory when we have to completely rely on Him to keep us going through it all. i am learning so much through this experience, and as hectic as it's been, i wouldn't trade it for anything. for all the heartache, i know it will all be replaced with pure joy when christin and i step off the plane in hong kong to start the rest of our lives doing God's will together.

it will be amazing. it already is! thank you all for reading and praying and supporting. please send a link to this blog to your friends and spread the word of what the Lord is beginning to do here in hong kong! grace&peace. bye.

worst week ever?

well folks, it's been an absolutely 100% insane week here in san marcos, california. i suppose i'll give the rundown here since it needs to be said. there are a few other things i should be working on right now but i think this is important.

1. things were going just fine last saturday, even up to sunday morning when christin and i were making preparations to leave the country on may 30th as planned to start our new life - anew and next to completely broke - in hong kong. we soon discovered that getting rid of christin's car was going to be harder than we thought, and to be perfectly honest, we panicked. our immediate reaction was to change plans and delay our move to hk, and so we did. we had planned to relocate to norfolk, virginia and christin would work at the east coast office of amron. things seemed well. this was the plan on sunday.

2. christin, upon arriving at work on monday morning, learned that the previous offer to let her move to the east coast office [where we could save money and be able to get rid of the car and move more comfortably] was now retracted. so we panicked again... and came up with a new plan to stay in california. we spent lots of time and effort looking at apartments and a newer, higher paying job for me; since we would be spending more to live here than previously anticipated in virginia. christin got the o.k. from her boss, carolina, and things seemed well. this was the plan on monday.

3. tuesday rolls around, one day before christin leaves for maryland to get the wedding things in order for our wedding next weekend. literally as she is walking out the door of her work, christin's boss, carolina, comes up to her crying and explains that she will not be able to come back to work at the corporate office here in vista, california. there are more details surrounding this but the result is the same - our plans were shot. so here we were, back to plan 1 and scurrying around trying to get rid of the car... but this time more prayerfully and seeking God for what He wants us to do in this situation. we had a few very bad options, and we basically had to pick one of them. this brings us to the present.

i have come to the conclusion that God had been telling us no. oh no, we need to get rid of this car! let's move to virginia and save money! God says no. okay, let's stay in california and save money! God says no. so we ask... what do you want us to do, Lord? and the Lord spoke to my heart that we are to go to hong kong.

yes i believe this is what God wants, and yes i believe now is the time.

so we are going into this almost as blind as we were in the beginning... we have one lead on what to do with the car, someone who is interested in taking over payments, and the other option is to return it to the dealership. the reason we are slightly more blind in going back to plan 1 is because this time there is no safety net. we're 'jumping off a cliff' as pastor ritchie so accurately stated yesterday when we prayed with crossweave [our church]. so the conclusion...

now, more than ever, we are in need of finances. things are going to be ridiculous trying to get out of the country, and establishing ourselves in a new country. yes, i am still planning to work in hong kong, but that will take time to get set up and the work funds flowing. in the meantime, we need help. we are asking everyone who knows us to please give as the Lord has prompted you, knowing that even the widow's mite, given out of her sustenance, was worth more than a healthy giving out of excess.

yes, this is a 'we need money' post. no, i don't like posting those. yes, it is absolutely necessary. we get married in 10 days and we move in about one month. please continue to pray for us. i hope the next post won't be so tragic. grace&peace. bye.

the first of many.

hello all, and welcome to hkmissions.com's official blog! there isn't much to report, short of that preparations for the wedding are going well and we [christin and i] look to be on course for our scheduled departure date from the u.s. on may 30th. we are not sure when kristen and the others will be joining us, but we hope it will be soon. perhaps you will see an update sometime soon from one of those two... that'd be awesome. *hint hint*

well anyway, i'm only posting this to test what it looks like, and yeah! there we go! i hope you have a pleasant stay and all that jazz at our blog. leave a comment if you wish, check out the website yada yada yada. thanks for coming. grace&peace. bye.