Mission: Hong Kong

Wow, I cannot believe that our team is down to our last week in Hong Kong.

We spent this past week helping the Kowloon Central Corps with their day camp. The children that attended this day camp were not children from the corps. The corps put up posters and advertisements about the day camp and parents signed their children up.

The purpose of the day camp was to help the children with their English, to teach them about junior soldiers, and most importantly to teach them about Jesus.

Our role in the day camp was to teach an English song in the morning and to teach the vocabulary words each day. At first it seemed odd to us to have such a small role because we have been completely in charge of our day camps the past weeks, but it was really great because the rest of the time we got to just hang out with the children and get to know them.

Each day there was a theme for the day and there were even several outings throughout the week.

On Monday the kids were introduced to the camp and the them was Hong Kong in Your Eyes. In the afternoon the children made models of popular Hong Kong attractions to place on a large map of Hong Kong.

On Tuesday the children learned about the rich and poor. In the morning we played a game where the children performed tasks to earn money, then they had to pay for their snacks and lunch. There was even a “rich” lunch and a “poor” lunch depending on how much money the children earned. Then in the afternoon we went to a senior center and asked an elderly person to help us buy some food for $10HK (about $1.50 US).

On Wednesday the children learned about meaningful eating. We went on a field trip to a tofu pudding factory, had lunch at a Korean buffet, and then visited a mooncake/wifecake factory. Mooncake and Wifecake are chinese desserts, I will post some pictures because I am not sure how to describe them.

On Thursday we went on a field trip to Lamma Island. We went to a fisherman’s village in the morning and then on a hike in the afternoon.

On Friday we went to different places through the area and the children had to perform a task. For example, we went to the ferry pier and the children had to pick up some rubbish(trash).

Friday afternoon the children were invited to give their lives to Christ and we had about 20 kids who gave their lives to Christ.

On Saturday the children learned about the junior soldiers program. There were many children who expressed interest in joining junior soldiers.

On Sunday the children sang the camp song and Jesus Loves Me during the service and then we had lunch with the children and parents. It was sad saying goodbye to the children, because we really got to know them during the week.

The most difficult thing this week was the language. Everything was in Cantonese and we did not always have a translator.  This was more difficult in the beginning but towards the end of the week we got used to not know completely what was going on. This helped us to get to know the children better as well because we were always asking then what is going on.

This week I learned to write my name in Chinese. I wish I could show, but it will have to be the next time I see you because well I learned how to write it, not type it.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

Tracy

This was by far my favorite week of the summer. We spent the week working at the Chan Kwan Tung Kindergarten, which is located in the same building as Command Headquarters. Each day we sang songs, went over a memory verse, told a Bible story, and either played games or danced.

The dancing day was so much fun because none of us are really dancers, but they asked us to lead dancing so we did. We taught the kids the Macarena, the chicken dance, the hula, and a dance called popcorn. It was so much fun watching the little kids dance.

We also spent some time working with the children on worksheets. I was in the three year old class, so worksheets meant we just got to color. The best part was the children didn’t realize that we didn’t speak Cantonese, so they would come up to us a speak to us in Cantonese thinking we understood what they were saying. It was so cute.

This week was difficult for us because there was a lot of misunderstandings about what the principal wanted us to do and the teachers had many different ideas about how we should lead our programs. But at the same time this week was full of so many blessings.

The children were always so excited to see us. They were excited and ready to do whatever we had planned for them. Also by the end of the week many of the children knew the memory verse and the songs that we taught them.

Next week we will be helping to lead an English day camp at the Kowloon Central Corps.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. I will be adding pictures of the kindergarteners to my Flickr site soon.

Tracy Pilewski

We were tremendously blessed yesterday during our visit to The Salvation Army Shek Wu School. Shek Wu is a special school, basically a school for students with disabilities.

At the school there are students with Autism, Downs Syndrome, Epilepsy, and heart problems, as well as other disabilities.

Although we were nervous before going to the school, everything went very well. The students were so excited to see us. In fact when we got there the teachers brought all of the students into the school hall so we could greet them and they could greet us. Our first session was with a tenth grade class.

We were asked to sing songs with them because it was their music time. All of the students were very excited when we told them we wanted to sing This Is The Day because they knew the song in Cantonese.

Our second session was with second grade students. They we a lot of fun, we played Simon Says and sang the Hokey Pokey.

Then it was time for lunch and we got to eat with the students. The school provides lunches for them and they eat together in their classroom. At the end of our time at Shek Wu we were all sad to be leaving, we could have easily spent much more time there interacting with the students.

Thank You for all of your prayers and support,

Tracy Pilewski

We have been really busy this week. We spent time at Ann Wyllie Memorial Primary School, Tin Ka Ping Primary School and the Kam Tin Corps.

At the Primary Schools we lead assemblies teaching the children songs, games and a Bible story. At Tin Ka Ping after the assembly we split up and each went into a classroom to share with the students about ourselves and our experiences in Hong Kong.

My teammate Brittany and I were together. We told the children the story of Jesus calming the storm, taught them the song “With Jesus in the Boat,” and then just let them as us questions.

In our first class we were asked a lot of simple questions about ourselves and what it is like in the U.S., but in our second class the kids surprised us with some big questions.

Here are some of the things we were asked by the third grade students:

* How was Jesus able to calm the storm?
* Why did God name Jesus “Jesus”?
* Why did Jesus die?
* Why did God send Jesus, Why not just kill the devil?
* Wasn’t God mad at the people who killed Jesus?
* Who created God?
* How old was Jesus in the story?
* How old is Jesus now?

It was exciting to me that the children had so many questions about Jesus. We not only got to share about Jesus with the students but also the teachers. Although the schools are Christian and run by The Salvation Army, not all of the teachers are Christians.

At the Kam Tin Corps we are leading a ten-day Day Camp. Today we finished day four. We are helping the kids learn English using the Fruit of the Spirit as our theme. We are helping them to memorize the verse and teaching them about a different fruit each day. It has been so exciting hearing them learn and understand a little bit more each day.

July 1st was a holiday here celebrating when Hong Kong went back to China. That evening we met up with some friends that we met at the Chinese BBQ we attended last Saturday. They took us to the Golden Bauhinia, which is a statue that was given to Hong Kong as a gift from China. Then they took us out to a Hong Kong style meal. I was even adventurous enough to try pigeon and octopus, and they were both actually pretty good.

Thank you for all of your prayers and Support.

Tracy Pilewski

I feel like I have so much to share with you since the last time I wrote, but I will try not to write too much. Our program at William Booth Secondary School went well. We had a group of about 35 Form 3 (9th grade) students. It was an English class, so we played games and talked to them to encourage them to practice speaking in English. The teachers were really excited that the students had an opportunity to practice speaking English with native speakers. Many of the students were really shy at the beginning but started to open up as the program went on.

After our program the principal and vice-principal took us out to a traditional Chinese meal. We got to try 3 different Chinese teas, I have no idea what kinds of tea they were though. They were good but it took a little getting used to because they do not sweeten their tea. We also tried lots of popular Dim Sum items but again I don’t remember the names. The most interesting thing about our lunch was when they brought the plate of chicken the chicken head was on the plate. Our guide/translator Timothy tried to get the team leader Matt to eat the chicken head, but then the principal told us that they don’t usually eat it because it is mostly bone.

We went to William Booth School again yesterday, but this time for a united youth meeting and Chinese BBQ. There were probably around 150 youth there from 6 different corps. We broke into 10 teams and played some games. For example there was a 3 legged race and a game where they had to shoot balloons with guns that shot little plastic pellets. Then it was time for BBQ. Chinese BBQ is a bit different from they way we BBQ in the U.S.A. Basically everyone sits around a fire and puts their meat on a stick and roasts it over the fire. Similar to how we would roast hot dogs or marshmallows, except there were more food choices. We roasted hot dogs, meatballs, fish balls, chicken wings, corn on the cob, and pork chops. It was quite interesting cooking the pork chop, but it tasted delicious.

This morning we went to the Kowloon City Corps for worship, and celebrated the corps’ 18th anniversary.

Some interesting things I have learned:

• Chinese people believe that it is ok to eat any animal whose back faces the sky.

• It has rained a lot since we have been here and we are often told that if it rains when someone comes to visit it is a sign of good luck and it means that the visitors are important.

Thank you for your prayers and support,
Tracy

Over the last couple of days my team has really learned the importance of going with the flow and rolling with the punches.

Yesterday we were prepared to lead a program at the Lam Butt Chung Primary school and to go and visit some families with the officer at the Tung Chung Corps. But then because of a tropical storm and typhoon warning school was canceled and we had to stay home all day yesterday.

Luckily we were able to get some more planning done and by the afternoon the wind and rain had calmed down enough that we were able to venture outside for dinner and even to visit a market called the “Ladies Market.”

Although it was still raining this morning we were able to make it to Tung Chung as planned. In the morning we led two programs for some of the children at the Lam Butt Chung Primary School.

It was a lot of fun teaching then songs, a Bible lesson, and playing games with them. Of course there are some things we will improve for our next programs but overall things went very well and the children had a great time. At the end of our programs the teachers presented us with tote bags and a magazine about the school as a souvenir.

We were originally told that in the afternoon we would break into two groups and go out for home visitations, but at the last minute the plans changed. Three members of our team lead a program for some children that take part in an after school program run by the corps, while Chris and I went for home visitations. We visited two families to talk with them and share the Gospel message.

The Corps Officer, Captain Peter Tso, told us that home visitation is one of the largest ministries of the corps. I had never done anything like this before, so it was kind of a struggle for me. I think it went well though; we had some good conversations with the families and gave them some information about the corps and the programs at the corps.

Tomorrow we are off to William Booth Secondary School to lead a 3 hour program with 9th and 10th graders. They want us to teach them about American Culture, so it should be an interesting morning.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

Tracy

More pictures at Tracy’s Flickr Photostream

Since my last email, we have spent most of our time planning for our upcoming Day Camps. I think we are making good progress – we have finished planning for the next two weeks.

Yesterday afternoon, after a long day of planning, Brittany and I met up with an officer couple from Australia in the Elevator. They were on their way out to an international fellowship that meets once a month and invited us to join.

We rode the ferry over to Hong Kong Island and then got on another ferry to Lamma Island, where we met up with the other internationals. There was about 10 people in the group from all over, from Canada, Togo (Africa), Asia, and Australia, all working as missionaries in the Hong Kong area.

Lamma Island was a really interesting place also. It is the third largest island in Hong Kong but very different from Hong Kong city. On Lamma island there are no buildings with more than 3 stories and there are no cars, so the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed than the rest of Hong Kong.

While we were there, our group took a walk to the beach and just enjoyed being away from the tall buildings and business of the city for a little while. We also had a nice dinner overlooking the water as the sun was setting.

This morning we went to our first church service in Hong Kong. The service itself was very similar to a service in the U.S. except that everything was in Cantonese. The translation they provided was fun, they gave us each a set of earphones and a radio and the translator spoke through a microphone for us. The only thing was the radios picked up a lot of static so I could hear clearly for a little while and then I had to move my radio around because it would keep losing the signal.

After the church service everyone got into small groups to share about their weeks and to pray for each other. I really enjoyed this time to get to know some of the people from the corps.

Here is a link to some of my pictures from Hong Kong so far. I will continue to add more throughout the summer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracyp01/sets/72157605747039436/

Thank you very much for all of your prayers.

Tracy

We were able to connect to the Internet, so that is very convenient.

When we first arrived we went to dinner and then came back and went straight to bed.

Yesterday we went to a nursery school graduation. There were about 300 children (ages 5-6) graduating from nursery school and moving on to primary school. It was such a cool show. I say show because it was much more than a graduation ceremony. All the kids walked onto the stage and received a certificate. Then the kids performed dances and songs.

After the graduation we went to lunch and then we went to the Heritage museum of Hong Kong, it is one of 12 museums in Hong Kong.

Then we rode the MTR, which is like a subway here, back to headquarters where we are staying. The MTR is very efficient there are trains that go just about everywhere in Hong Kong and the trains come by the station every 2 minutes.

When we got back to CHQ (Command Headquarters), we had an orientation with the DC (Divisional Commander), Major Ma. Basically we went over our schedule for the next six weeks. It looks like we are going to be very busy, we have a lot of Day Camps on our schedule and English camps.