Greetings from St. Matthews Lutheran School, Hong Kong VBS Day 2, this is Paul posting under Suzy's log in name.  As you can see in the photos, the smiles of the children we are spreading God's word to are priceless.  Day 2 brought much more enthusiasm from the kids and they seemed to lose some of their shyness from Day 1, especially the older children.  The younger children, most of them are more at ease and love to interact, and giggle, a lot!  It was neat to see that the older kids are starting to learn the words to the songs we have been teaching and the dance moves that go with the songs.  Side note: Even this VBS instructor currently posting this blog is much more at ease dancing, singing and being in costume, which by the way, was well out of my comfort zone going into this.  But, as we know from Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," which would include singing, dancing, and wearing a costume all in order to praise Him, right?  It also helps, when your co-instructors are truly fun and pretty awesome people to work with.  Day 3 will come and go by quickly tomorrow, and it will leave me wishing we had a Day 4, because this truly has been so much fun and such a rewarding experience.

After VBS, and some down time to relax a while, we broke off into groups accompanied by one of the teachers from St. Matthews to act as translators, to go have supper with one of the students and their family.  I believe that each of us is of the opinion that this experience, outside of VBS itself, is the most rewarding of the trip.  To be welcomed into a strangers home in a foreign country to share such elaborate meals is really eyeopening.  Their homes, which are really very tiny apartments, are quite modest to say the least.  The food they prepare is of multiple courses, and multiple dishes, and there is so much it is hard to imagine that they can afford such an extravagance.  But every family was so welcoming, warm and gracious, you could tell they were genuinely happy to have us in their home.  While their homes may be tiny, and they may not have a lot of "stuff" like we have "stuff," it was obvious they were a happy family and it was easy to feel that sense of "home."  Also of note is that some of the families whose homes we visit may not be Christian.  Their children may attend St. Matthews, but that may be the only exposure they have to Christianity.  The home that Sharon and I visited was such an example.  Our teacher who accompanied us informed us that the parents of this family will attend functions at the school occasionally.  It was asked of us to lead them in prayer before our meal.  Who knows, maybe with their daughter in St. Matthews, and a prayer before a meal in their home by strangers from the other side of the world a tiny seed was planted?  It may take time to grow, but each time we come back here, more tiny seeds will be sown that may grow and bring someone to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.  That is what is really exciting about this whole experience.

Please continue to pray for Suzy, as her back is still in much pain.

I also have a personal prayer request for my dear friends in Christ, Curtis, Julie and Jaxon Klein, (members of Christ Lutheran Church, Lincoln).  This family lost their son and brother Keaton Klein earlier this week when he was called to his heavenly home while traveling and studying abroad in Europe with a group of students from UNL.  This family is in tremendous pain at this time due to this devastating loss.  Please pray for them during this time of confusion and pain.  Thank you.