hey from h.k.

if you don't know how excited i was about coming to hong kong, you should check this post from april. needless to say, i was pretty pumped. i've been wanting to see this city for a few years now, so spending the last few days here has literally been a dream come true.

we got here early wednesday morning and literally spent all day hiking around the city, seeing all the sights. dr. stroope called it his "infamous hong kong death march." funny. this is such an incredible place. it feels a lot like new york city, but even more international (obviously). there's not a single culture here--it's a melting pot of hundreds of cultures. it doesn't even feel weird to be an american walking around because there are SO many different nationalities represented here. it's pretty fascinating actually.

on thursday, we met with some staff members at kowloon international baptist church. a truett alum is on staff there and a couple of current truett students are interning there for the summer. the senior pastor is one of my former pastors at my home church in longview. it was really great to catch up with him and to hear about what church looks like for them in hong kong.

some of my favorite people in the world live in this city. there's a group of 15 people that moved from auburn to hong kong last fall and have been living here trying to figure out how to love on university students here. grace campus ministries has been through such a journey in the last year. it was really fun to see them and to hear where they are in this crazy process. the director, matt dean, met with my group for coffee. of course i loved introducing the team to someone who means the world to me, but maybe more importantly, it was good to hear the struggles they've faced this year. i think it's tempting to have a romantic idea of moving overseas and loving on people, but realistically it's not that easy. i was so thankful their honesty and humility.

the rest of the team spent last night seeing more sights around the city, but dr. stroope let me get away with my auburn friends. i don't think he could possibly know how much that meant to me. it was so fun to see their world here--their apartments, the turkish restaurant where they eat every tuesday night, their mtr (subway) stations, etc. every thursday night they have a team dinner at the deans' apartment, so i was pretty excited about getting to be a part of that. last night's team dinner was actually a surprise baby shower for the littlepages--how fun is that?! i can't believe they're going to be parents SO soon. we had a blast eating good homemade mexican food (such a rarity on this side of the world), playing baby shower games, giving them gifts, and watching the office. spending so much time with the deans, the littlepages, jason, malorie, katie, and the rest of the team was so refreshing. i'm so thankful for these people and count them as some of my deepest and closest friends. the way they are knowing the lord and following him in faith here is both encouraging and challenging to me.

this morning we met with a guy named sam say. he lives in hong kong but has started an organic coffee farm in laos. it's an incredible story and an incredible means of reaching such an unreached country. i would do a terrible job of explaining it, so check the website to learn more about it...and while you're at it, buy some of their coffee! it's delicious! he was absolutely inspirational--his passion, his heart for the people of laos, the innovative and creative ways he thinks--it was a fascinating conversation.

we leave tonight for INDIA. it's finally here. we fly from hong kong to delhi to chennai, where we'll spend the next three days. i have no idea what internet access will look like as we travel from city to city, but i'll try to post as often as i can. thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayer support.

i already can't wait to write about our next adventures...