"Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." Col 4:5
Today I saw Howard (he is a brother coming from the VCOC) in the Sunday service. He came to Hong Kong to meet his girl friend(Tracy). He knew her through the internet and invited her to go to our HKCC. Finally she has got baptised in the Tsuen Kwan O sector. It is so encouraging to see brothers and sisters using every opportunity to honour God . God does reward them by great blessings, amen!

Bonnie's spiritual birthday - Apr 24

I was delighted to learn of Jane's spiritual birthday is in the same month of mine.

April 24 was a raining day in Hong Kong with Yellow Rain Storm signal. I was occupied by business meeting in the morning and met with my high school classmates visited HK from Toronto for dinner.

I have well prepared myself to celebrate my 9th spiritual birthday with my previous BT buddy, Lucy who was baptized on the same date as mine 7 years later. We met at the coffee shop in the HKECC and took a table at the window side facing the harbour view. We ordered two Chinese congnees and a plate of Choi Yam vegi.

I had a feeling that we are the TWINS born in the Christ. Lucy wrote:

Review the last year, I have learned more and step by step by Iris’s teaching and sisters encouragements in our family (甘心樂意的不只有付出，而更甘心樂意的接受 – 包括批評，分擔，鼓勵，讚賞，支持 ….. 等等等等). Thanks All Again.

There is nothing more encouraging than seeing sister's growth in God's Kingdom. Lucy once gave herself a nick name of "Joyful Blueberry" - the former one is spiritual fruit in Galatine 5 Lucy adores to embrace and the latter one is Lucy's favorite fruit to eat. Bonnie's nick name is "Gentle Melon".

We shared about our marriages, our children and our personal friends......

In God's Kingdom, there is always unlimiting caring and loving stories. I was spiritually fulfilled today. Amen!

p.s. picture of Lim Fengmian reproduced by bonnie in oil pastel

Coaching

God is so encouraging. When I think of wanting to do something, God always opens door for me. Remember I was inquiring about coaching? I looked into the coachville website and I thought how can I do tele-conference when it's lunch time. I'm at work and it's not convenient for me to do that. And then I found out at my workplace that they are offering 2 classes on Coaching (for free). I took 1 class last Tuesday for a day and I really enjoyed it. I realized I'd rather ask the questions than tell a story. Meaning I'd rather be the coach than the coachee. I have to decide if I'll wait for the 2nd class or contact the trainer directly and do it on my own. I have to research all my options and see what God has planned for me.

Spiritual Birthday - Apr 17

I've been a disciple for 11 years now. Looking back through these years had made me realized how much I've changed. Things that I do that I never thought I could....with the power of Christ there were lots to overcome. I'm so grateful to be where I am now...having a relationship with God, being saved, having a purpose in my life, constant growth in my character...I could go on and on. I'm not saying that I'm there or I have arrived because I'm still running the race with all of you...but to reflect back to before I became a disciple I don't think I would like me so much...there won't be any growth because I will just accept me as I am never knowing how to change.

My prayer is that my faith will grow stronger everyday and that nothing can separate me from the love of God.

Jane

Meeting and Separating

「会うは離れの始め。」 This Japanese saying means "When the time we met, it's the beginning of our separation." I found it indicates even deeper meaning that 「天下無不散之宴席。」

Charlotte and her family left Hong Kong for Australia on 20 Apr. I did not do anything radical to show my love to and miss of her. Instead, I silently observe my feeling and pray for her peacefulness. Why? because I have faith in her life is well taken care by God so far and even the days to come.

I encountered many departures and separations in my life. The first one I could remember was moving from Sheung Sui to Kowloon when I was in Primary 3 (8 years old). It was a great turning point of my life. I remember my teacher asked me, "How do you feel now?" I said, "I'm very sad because I will lose all my friends here." Being a little girl, I really felt like that. However, the lonely feeling and the environmental change made me understand that life is more than a holding back memory. Instead, life is a creation process. I decided to make new friends and to enjoy whichever the new environment is in front of me. I became more tough than ever but open up to any new changes.

The compensation for all these was I lost my interest in the harsh city life and routine school study. I missed my childhood in nature until I moved to live in Vancouver and I pick up the eco-psychology study.

God created everything is important to us in his creation. Whichever is created by God is naturally substainable by themselves but material stuffs made by human beings will become garbage oneday and some may even damage the Earth.

My Favorite Art

Do you know I like very much paintings on ancient Chinese ladies. Rox might aware there is a Tong Dynasty lacquer picture in my bedroom. I saw the actual wall painting in Xian back to 1984 when I was still a third year student in Keio University of Japan. I had no money to purchase any sovernir, not even a black and white printed copy of the painting costed about RMB20. Until 2003, I was able to find an artshop in Shenzhen able to re-produce the same painting by an unfamous old painter in Beijing. I paid HK$900 and waited for 2 months for the painting to arrive. And then, this unfinished dream for over 19 years has been fulfilled.

I also collected a Suzhou double-rounded sided emboridery of an ancient Chinese lady. I paid HK$50,000 for it when I was working in the HKTDC, a co-organized of the emboridery exhibition at big discount. It's said to be a fine workmanship of an old artist for a single copy.

Today, I went for a museum tour with Connie and Michelle in the Hong Kong Museum of Art and found another brilliant ink painter namely Lin Fengmian (1900-1991). I just fall in love with his paintings about the ancient Chinese ladies. The original copy costs all over millions in HK dollars so I could only bought a printed card board copy for HK$200 and wish to try to learn by copying.

God creates people with different talent.

mom's awful 71 years old dinner

"Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.”
Prov 17:1

Apart from my wedding, we never have any celebration feast at my own family. Last Sunday I have organized a surprised dinner for my mom’s 71’ birthday. I thought it would make my mom feel happy. However, my elder brother and sisters (they are my step brother and sisters, my mom married to my dad after their mom passed away) did not feel happy about my arrangement. They did not tell me honestly, when I asked them to come for the dinner. By the time, they showed up at the dinner, they were obviously unhappy about having this feast. The reason is that after my dad passed away, they do not feel obligated to treat my mom as their mom anymore. It is so sad to see them not be able to treat us as a family and want to use their way to identify themselves as outsiders. The next day Mom called me and told me that she did not feel hurt any more because she is able to forgive them. However, she still cannot have a sound sleep that night because she felt so bad for them. I pray to God for mercy and I know I need your prayer too.

Connection connects

Yesterday, Michelle told me that she got contact from Justine (Jane's daughter). I am glad to see our connections are in more than one dimension.