Watermark Community Church HK, Logo
The logo combines both the modern and the classic. The logo incorporates both the W and M of our name in a way that signifies community. The letters point outward, symbolizing the outward focus that we hope to build into church DNA. Viewed from a distance, the logo emphasizes the cross at its center. Watermark Community Church, launching in the Western District of Hong Kong, October 10, 2010…
Watermark Church HK, Praise and Worship
On June 25th a small group of us gathered for a potluck dinner, then praise and worship. It was our last “official” gathering for the summer, 1st “unofficial” worship service. The Miller’s who are leading the church plant in the Western District will be back in Hong Kong mid-August so I’m sure we’ll be gathering regularly upon their return. If you’re in Hong Kong and interested in joining the webboard that is setup to connect those of us planning to be involved in the launch contact me. Peace
Javi and his Forever Family
These pics were taken from the time that Melanie left with Javi at Eagle’s Nest to the time that he arrived home. Check further down the page for new slideshows of Javi’s Orphanage and Javi at Eagle’s Nest.
Javi Comes Home!!!
Melanie and Javi arrive around 10:30pm tonight. I’m taking the bus out there to meet them (about an hour and a half ride on E22A from Hang Hau), then we’re taking a taxi back. The taxi costs about $40USD compared to $4USD on the bus, but the bus stops running at 10pm and the taxi is much more convenient and quicker, which is nice to have after a 17 hour plane flight with a 20lb child in your lap. Words can’t explain how excited we are! Melanie was able to stay a night in Chicago so that some of Javi’s grandparents could meet him. Enjoy the pics!
Thankful…and in awe of God…
So….this morning Ezri and I headed down to Central (downtown area, Hong Kong) for playgroup. It was a good time, as there were 4 moms and babies…lots of fun toys for the kiddos, tea and muffins (morning tea) for the mums…and conversation between all. Another plus and point of interest is the makeup of the group: one couple (mom and baby) from Congo, Africa, another from the Philippines, another from New Zealand, and then us from the U.S.–diversity can be such a blessing…to see God’s creativity in the people he has fashioned—how amazing!!!
Today was the second of two very rainy days in a row, and so, as Ezri and I left playgroup, we went a different way than usual–so as to avoid the pouring rain. We landed in IFC mall, where I attempted to purchase a 3rd anniversary gift for Jason–something leather. Anyway, Ezri was getting a little antsy, and was begging me for a hot dog…which I had not brought with me…so I decided to try a couple pastry shops, scouring for a ‘pig in a blanket’. When that idea failed, I was passing by a Starbucks and noticed some yummy looking quiche in the pastry case. I passed by at first, heading for the train, but Ezri began to whimper, so I thought rather than set myself up for a long 45 minute train-ride with an unhappy toddler, I’d better head back and try the quiche! So, we ordered one “bacon and egg pie” and a bottled water and lounged to enjoy them. The quiche was surprisingly of little interest to Ezri, but the courtesy baby-size frappucino was very enticing! I let her taste it and then drank most of it, leaving whipped cream for her to slurp up. One of the baristas who was talking to Ezri asked if I’d like a ‘baby-chino’ for her. (I was thinking, “you have a frapp. for babies on your menu?…hmmm…don’t think we need that.”) But then she brought Ezri another tiny cup with steamed froth topped with cinnamon sprinkles! Ezri was aglow! She took it and dipped the straw in the taste–fabulous in the eyes of this toddler! So, the barista–whose name we found to be Sandra–was talking to me as Ezri enjoyed her ‘drink’. It turned out that she was from mainland China and had moved to Hong Kong with her family 15 years past. She spoke pretty good English, and, in making conversation, I asked if she attended a church in HK. She looked puzzled, “Church?” So, I tried to then ask about God,…then religion…and so on….she said, “Could you use simple terms, please?” I was floored! She was a spiritual blank slate! —– (It occurred to me that it was no coincidence that it had been raining, we’d taken a different route home, Ezri had been cranky…and I’d stumbled into Starbuck’s seeking respite in the form of a quiche!!! God is at work!!!) I then began to talk to her about a very ancient book in which we believe (the Bible) that tells us of God… and before I knew it, Ezri was off–darting out of Starbuck’s and I had to run after her. By this time, of course, Sandra needed to get back to work, and Ezri needed my full attention. She asked if we were in the area often and mentioned that she worked there full-time. I told her that we came out that way on Tuesdays, and so could hopefully see her again. That was it…for today. Please pray for Sandra and her family. Pray that God almighty, who fashioned our meeting today, will give her eyes that see, ears that hear and a heart that understands His truth from scripture!!! Pray that God will give me both the words to share the gospel message with her and the boldness to do so.
Thankful to serve a God who is larger than life,
Melanie
Year of the Rat Begins
We got out yesterday to snap a few pics of the New Year’s decorations. Melanie has been sick the past few days (stomach virus), but she went to the doctor today and hopefully will be back to her old self here in a few days. I’ve been on full-time baby duty and it’s wearing me out, not to mention I’m not getting any school work done. About the photos, there are orange bushes everywhere that have some special meaning (which I don’t know exactly). There are red packets in which you give money to others (usually kids) as a blessing for the New Year. Flowers are being sold galore, not sure the exact meaning. Ancestor worship is still pretty big here although it’s hard to tell exactly where it applies and what’s going on publicly. Hopefully by next year, we’ll have someone who is able to explain some of the traditions, superstitions and meanings of all the flowers, oranges, candy, red packets, fish symbols etc. Anyway, Lion dances are pretty huge events and we’re scheduled to have one at our complex on Saturday so we’re going to try to take a clip and post that. There are also many festivals/carnivals which look vaguely similar to Catholic church picnics in the States. If Melanie is up to it, hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to attend some festivities.
Other than that it’s still pretty cold here. We have no central heat and our walls are concrete so living with no insulation pretty much keeps the inside temp close to the outside temp. Thankfully we have a small space heater, but we primarily use it for Ezri at night. This week has been the first time in the 5 months we’ve been here that it’s actually warmer in Louisville than it is here. Of course the warmer temps are causing severe weather in Louisville (storms, tornadoes and such) and it is only cold (or cool) here, but it’s still seems very unusual to see a higher temp in February in the Midwest U.S. than here in the tropical environments of Asia. A friend mentioned that it might be cool to have a snow here to usher in the Chinese New Year, but we’d like to respond that that would not be cool, in fact that would be miserable, lol. You see, in our short time here we’ve become quite “climatized” and accustomed to the amazing weather and aren’t in a big rush to go back.
But anyway, I got to watch my 2nd UofL Cards basketball game on the internet when they played Marquette in part to www.channelsurfing.net . You’d be amazed how excited I get to wake up early in the morning, get online and watch a game on a 3 x 3 (as in 3 inches by 3 inches) stream that is so tiny you can barely read the scores. I was comforted hearing American accents, around here it’s either British, Australian or New Zealander. Well, thanks for checking in. Until next time.
Jason
Hiking the MacLehose Trail
So yesterday we went hiking. We started at Pak Tam Au and hiked over to Ham Tim (beach) which is a little over 5 km and then we backtracked about 3 km and caught a boat to the pier where we picked up bus 94 back to Sai Kung. Last time we hiked the trail, we came across a cow about to have birth. This time we did not come across a cow, but we did run into a baboon (no joke, see pic). After envisioning myself staving off a baboon with a stick in one hand and Ezri in the other, needless to say I wasn’t sticking around to pet him. Besides the baboon, the trip went very smoothly, praise God. It was much less crowded than the weekends and we had a much better handle on time. Today we’re recovering from the hike and trying to finalize all the trip details to Beijing – visas, hotel, transportation. We haven’t decided if we are taking the laptop to Beijing or not, but even if we do, we probably won’t post much until we get back this weekend, we will take plenty of pics for you though! Until next time…
Jason
Hiking in Sai Kung National Park East
I officially finished my last term paper on Friday, December 28th and on Saturday, Melanie and I decided to head up north to Sai Kung National Park, which is known to have many good hiking trails. So within an hour we got ready, including Ezri, decided on a trail, figured out how to get there and set off. Amazingly enough we actually found the trail we were heading for and the day was off to a great start. The next big surprise is that the trail was paved. We were hiking stage 2 of the MacLehose Trail backwards because we found on the internet it was easier to do backwards (start from the top of a mountain) and had beautiful views as opposed to stage 1. It was exactly what the doctor ordered.
We went out to eat about a month back with some friends Melanie has made from playgroup and one of the couples was from Manhattan. Given that he was from the states I took extra joy in conversating with him, a financial analyst. He asked me what I thought about the speed of living in Hong Kong. I asked what he meant, and he went on to express how fast the pace of life was here in Hong Kong even compared to Manhattan, the financial capitol of the world. School hadn’t really kicked in to high gear at the time and I told him that we hadn’t really experienced the speed, living outside the city, but then I wasn’t prepared for the end of the semester either. One thing about finishing the semester in HK. It drags on forever. In the states it seems like you always finish the 1st or 2nd week in December, here I finished the 28th (yes, after Christmas). The professors do it as a favor to the students, but it doesn’t really feel like one, until it’s finished. You know the saying, “If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy”, well the devil has definitely been working on the people of Hong Kong. Anyway, it’s finally finished and I think I finished well, so I’m happy about that. What I’m not happy about is the way it took a toll on Mel & Ez, but Mel has been amazing and I think God has really grown all of us through this period.
Anyway, back to hiking, it was great, if I had a quarter for everytime Melanie said, “It’s so beautiful out here!”, we wouldn’t be going broke. It was one of those days where everything seems to go your way. We had hiked about 3 miles over a substantial mountain, passing a pregnant cow, and were about to a resting point when we thought we’d better ask someone how far it was to the nearest road, where we might be able to flag a taxi for a ride back to town. A nice Australian family was nice enough to tell us we were about a mile and a half away and that we needed to back track. They told us that if we didn’t want to hike up the final mountain we had started from we could take a ferry around to a pier and catch the bus from there. After Melanie & I panicked for a few minutes, yelled at each other a bit, we decided to head back and providentially caught the last ferry for the evening (in the nick of time, whatever that means). Once we reached the pier we boarded the bus back to Sai Kung. I picked up some BBQ (Chinese style), waffles and ice cream for a great finish to the day (thank God for ibuprofen). Enjoy the pics!
Jason for the Case family
Fine Dining, Melanie Shining, Christmas Pining
We had a busy weekend Dec. 14th to Dec. 16th. It started out with a wonderful Asian dinner at Chili & Spice, one of our favorite restaraunts near home here in Hang Hau. Then, some of you may not know, but Melanie was a music (vocal) major her freshmen year at the university. She was inolved in the worship team at the church we met at, but has not been active in any worship ministry since she served as a missionary. Well she finally has come out of retirement and decided to heed the call at Island ECC for vocalists to join the worship team. Wayne was able to get some pics of their practice on Saturday and their warm ups on Sunday. Melanie led us in singing, “Away in a Manger” and she sounded lovely. It was really good seeing her use a God given gift to glorify the giver. In the middle of the slide show we have a few pics of our small group’s Christmas party that took place on the evening of the 15th. Frank and Phyllis have a roof garden and we were able to get a couple shots of their view although it was a bit hazy out that night. We had some great fellowship and great food, Turkey and Duck, sweet potatoes, mash potatoes, pecan pie, YUM!!!
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