Swimming Pool Thoughts

When I go swimming I often have contemplative thoughts while I swim. Things that I think to pass the time in the pool. I usually swim the breast stroke, which is the least demanding of the four strokes. It's also easier in a crowded pool where doing backstroke will leave you ending up crashing into others and the freestyle will also do the same since you go fast and you can't see others. The butterfly is just too exhausting.

My thoughts were this. I was reflecting on my prayer for you before you slept and I feel that I should have also prayed God would continue to work in your life so that you would continue to live in a way that is pleasing to God. Often in our lives we think of what can do to please ourselves or to please others but we must consider above all else whether it is pleasing in the eyes of God.

It took me a while to re-gather my thoughts since there's no way for me to write things down while I'm in the pool. I'm a little tired right now but I'll leave you with a photo of my reward after swimming. It's okonomiyaki! I was reading the wiki article on it and I like the meaning of the name, 'what you like'.[wiki] The style of okonomiyaki I had was Hiroshima style with yakisoba, bacon and veggies on the inside, egg and sauce on top and a doughy layer at the bottom. It was quite yummy and it came with oolong tea and takoyaki (octopus balls).

Out with Dad

In Hong Kong gas lamps are somewhat of a rarity and so my dad wanted me to take some photos of the few gas lamps that are left here. Although it looks like an electric bulb it's actually supplied by the gas lines. They were preserved as a part of the heritage of the old Hong Kong.

Please click on the pics, especially the last one, you can see much more detail and you can read about the history of the gaslamps. I guess it's probably like the gaslamps in the gaslamp district in San Diego? Expect things in Hong Kong change so much that very little is saved in the turnover of buildings and structures from old functions to new ones.

Hope to see that blog post from you too. I meant to blog about the trip so I guess I'll do that this weekend. I get to receive your package tomorrow too! I'm excited.

'Interview' With the Church Elder

As you know, today I had an interview with Church elder. It was pretty interesting, just talking about our faith and sharing our testimonies. His testimony was very interesting so I wanted to share it with you.

The Church elder who interviewed me, Mario Damo, was born and raised in the Philippines. He is the youngest of his 6 siblings and his dad died when he was only 10. This was made worse by the fact that his mom basically left him to fend on his own when she moved to the US by herself. Since he was the youngest and his siblings were mostly married he had to fend mostly for himself with one or two relatives taking care of him. This was the first crisis in his life and he gradually got into a downward spiral. He started smoking and drinking when he was only 11 and he often got into trouble.

When he was 14 he heard the news that his mom would return to the Philippines. His spirits were lifted and he was hopeful that he could restart his life again. However, shortly after his mom returned she also passed away, leaving him truly alone. At this time he came to the realization that he was an illegitimate child, born of a different mother than the one who raised him, and that was the reason he was not loved as much by his mom and his siblings as he should have been. Even though he was an illegitimate child his mom took good care of him while his father was alive and cared for him like his siblings. At this time of crisis he sought to find his biological mother, who was still alive. She already had a new family with children of her own and he managed to contact her through some family connections. Since she already had a new family she refused to accept him back into her life. So Mario's life continued to get out of hand. He continued to drink and smoke heavily, often getting drunk and smoking 2 packs a day. He didn't do well in high school and by the time he was 17 things were not looking very good for his life.

I forget the exact order of the following events, but needless to say he was in a very desperate situation where he was willing to turn to help from any source. So one day he was watching a TV show called 'The 700 Club', a Christian TV show. At that time he did not even really know anything about God but he desperately needed help so when the show closed with prayer he prayed as well and even though he did not fully understand what it meant to receive Christ into his life, that was what he did when he prayed.

He was able to quit smoking and drinking and turn his life around. Around this time he had to drop out of college because he did not have enough money but he was saved when one of his siblings helped to pay for his tuition. He studied very well for his CPA exams (I'm not exactly sure about the details on this one, it's near the end of the story!) and performed 2nd best nationally. He was invited to give a graduation speech and he was proud that he could publicly announce that Jesus Christ was in his life and helped to save his life. He would later go on to get baptized at the age of 27 and for the past 4 years he has been living happily in Hong Kong with his wife. He is now working for Coca-Cola and his wife is currently studying at the MBA program at HKU.

Next time I should also ask him about how he became a Church elder. I enjoy listening to other peoples testimonies! It helps remind me of how God is working through all of our lives.

My Testimony (First Draft)

I grew up in a predominantly Buddhist household. I was never deeply religious and I was taught to be self reliant. This led to many problems in my life. I led myself to carry the burdens of life and not share with others. This led me to adopt addictive habits in my life, such as the indulgence in gaming, alcohol and pornography, and instead of facing the issues or work in my life I led myself to my indulgences. The first time I heard about Christ in my life was when I was young in Primary School where during Christmas time we would often hear about the nativity story and sometimes about the life of Jesus. Many of my close friends and classmates were also Christian and they would often invite my family and me to Church on Sundays. I would go with my parents since they were open minded to exposing me to the Church experience but since they were not believers themselves I never had the opportunity to truly experience the love and caring of a Church community and to truly grow closer to God during my early years. I was taught how to pray but being young and naïve I prayed to God to show himself to me, to prove that he existed. I prayed that he would talk to me and answer my prayers. This went on for a few nights but I convinced myself that God could not hear me.

It would not be until many years later that it took an emotional crisis during my secondary school years to return me to Church at the suggestion of my parents, and with their emotional support too. I felt like this time in my life truly helped me to recover from my emotional crisis, but yet again my stay at the Church was short-lived. The crisis was led on by my inability to cope with the stresses at my school and my striving to remain self reliant. However I did not truly learn from this crisis and my harmful habits remained. It took me a second more serious emotional crisis during my college years in the States to reach out to God again. I went to an evangelical event on campus called Impact 1 that strived to share the stories about how God was working in Africa. In retrospect I truly felt the Holy Spirit move through me as I heard the stories and joined in the songs of worship. I was given my first personal Bible at the end of the event and I even talked to others about my new interest in the Christian faith. However even though Christ was knocking on my door, my stubborn heart refused to receive him. I would spiral further into my emotional turbulence and I almost even dropped out of college when I had to take an academic term off to come home to recover. I was blessed that I would be able to return to my studies and even graduate. When I look back into my former spiritual life it confuses me why it took me so long to come to Christ. It took me two crises to both bring me closer to God again. I feel blessed that it did not take a third in order for me to come to Christ. While I was at college I met a good friend who was Christian. When she told me at first it did not really strike me. I had many Christian friends in the past and I associated being Christian with being good. We developed a close friendship and she eventually became my girlfriend. Being a good Christian girl she invited me to go to Church. I was very open to the invitation due to my good experiences with Churches in the past. At first I enjoyed going so that I could take away the moral message from the Church service but I was reluctant to to truly believe in God. It would take nearly a year later for me to come to Christ. My girlfriend was concerned since I was moving back to Hong Kong from the States. I was blessed to find the Church community at Island ECC. Going to the services made me even more curious about Christ so I joined myself onto the Alpha course. The Alpha course was the pivotal point in my Christian life. I could truly experience the community and caring of the Church in an environment where all questions about faith could be asked and answered. I saw God moving through other people's lives and change them and this affected me too. When I look back on my previous spiritual experiences I know understand that Jesus was always knocking on my door and that it was only because of my stubborn heart that I would not let Him into my life. My previous Church going experiences were not a waste because they gradually led me to a true understanding of God. My walk through two emotional crises without faith was a way for God to call out to me and point out the sin in my life. During the Alpha course there was a retreat and during this retreat I truly felt at peace and I felt closer to God. I felt the Holy Spirit moving through me again, as I did before during Impact 1. I prayed the sinners prayer and I truly felt at peace with clarity of mind. I came to Christ. Though through my human eyes it felt like it took me a long time to come to Christ I know and trust in God's perfect timing.

Since coming to Christ I now have a clearer outlook on life. I am still an imperfect person but by God's grace I know that He has always been reaching out to me throughout my life. Since I have accepted Him into my life I can now trust in His power and I know that I have never been alone in my life since He has always walked with me before I even knew His name. With God in my life I am no longer bound to my former bondages, addictions to gaming, alcohol and pornography. I now know that there is God in my life and despite any trouble I face He is all that matters and Jesus will be in my life.

It was a rainy day...

...But now I'm done packing, and I get to see you soon!

I had dim sum (yum cha 飲茶) with high school friends. It was pouring outside, my jeans and favorite black shoes got soaked, I'm getting them dry by tomorrow so I can wear them. I was late so I had to make my own way to the place. It was a good 10-15 minute walk from the MTR station and I only had a rough sense of direction since I'd never been to the place before, I was only given the Google maps. The funny thing is I managed to, by chance, walk up the right set of stairs that leaded right to the front of the restaurant. However, I forgot the name of the restaurant because the sign is only in Chinese characters. Also I managed to write the wrong street name so I thought I was at the wrong place. Therefore I thought it was too good to be true, that with only a rough sense of direction I would manage to get to the right place. So kept walking, till I realized I was too close to the next district. I then headed for shelter and tried frantically to call my friends, but they didn't pick up at all, or so it seemed. I headed back to the restaurant I first saw and decided to head in. Luckily enough it was the right one, since my friends turned out to have no phone reception inside. Next time I should follow my gut instinct, not everything is too good to be true.

The food was good, although I didn't manage to eat too much since I was late. Had the standard fare, siu mai, bao, char siu fan (叉燒飯), fish in corn sauce with rice, 猪肚, 香片茶...some other goodies.

I left at 2ish, thinking that I was late for Baptism class. I arrived at 2:50pm, which would have been late if class started at 2:30pm. But I was actually early since class started at 3pm. I was even there before the Pastor and most people came in a little late anyway due to the rain.

That's my little story for today, two lucky coincidences or at least so I think. I've just about finished packing up and I've also just finished reading Purpose Driven Life. Thank you so much again for giving the book, it has been a good guide for my early spiritual growth and I hope to keep it up.

I pray your lesson goes well. Thanks for writing that packing list, it really helped me. I copied it into my Google tasks and ticked off the boxes one by one. All I have left to pack are my flip flops (doh I just remembered) and the 年糕 since I would prefer to pack them at last minute to keep them as cold as possible for the longest duration of time. I really miss you and I can't wait to see you at Milbrae.

Look At What I Got!

Hey Boo, I got lots of pretty 年糕 for you. I hope you enjoy these pics! There was also a Chinese Big Band from 上海that came to play at our mall, they've been playing for several days leading up to Chinese New Year. The Hello Kitty one is actually turnip cake, we can have it for breakfast I think it'll be yummy. The other 年糕 are sweet ones, the one with two fishies are for us to share with your family and the one shaped as a gold brick is for the kids at Isaac's school. Don't be too naughty when I cam with you from class. As I write this I'm Skyping with you at home, it's time to go to school soon and be a good boy. I love you and I can't wait to be there with you.

Just A Few Thoughts About Sweet Nothing Blogs

Hey lover. I hope you slept well. I wonder how many hours my baby sleeps; what time she wakes up; what she dreams about; and does my baby still snore a little at night?

I was thinking about our blogs a little more and I realized that they're a much more effective way to communicate if we continually update them and continually check them. That way we can truly keep up with each other, reflect on the day that has past and condense it into a blog post. Photos and other creative things help too. I recorded a song with my mom before she left actually, I'll let you listen later maybe. I don't like listening to my own voice, but maybe you'll appreciate it. We can also use our blogs to jot down ideas, little creative things, poems, stories. Maybe we don't have to finish them, but I noticed a big blue button that says 'save now', so you can save a draft when writing a new post. Then you can get back to it later by clicking edit posts.

I hope we can have fun in this way. Only 5 days till we meet again my sweet. Until tomorrow, enjoy this silly photo of mine.

Love,

Tev

First Blog for My Boo

Today I went to Mong Kok to buy the Polo Shirts for your dad and the Chinese New Year decorations. It was little lonely going by myself, it reminded me of going with you. I took a few photos of where I went and the things I bought. Remember the Bonjour? We bought the soap and cosmetic things from here. You can see an ice cream truck too, it's kind of iconic of Hong Kong since it's been around for a while, they have them all over Hong Kong. Also got a pic of a snack stand and the Ladies Market. I got a pic of an old man playing guitar and singing too, I found him kind of funny 'cos he was playing off tune, but in a very confident way.

So in terms of things that I got, I got 3 polo shirts (2 short, 1 long sleeved) for your dad and two Chinese New Year decorations. Let me know if it's enough :). You can have a look see, I got a little wall display decoration and a paper latern.

From Drop Box

From Drop Box

From Drop Box