Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Chinese New Year, Feb 2010







Well, all my January visitors have come and gone. Even the weather is mellow now. We are really blessed despite the costly recession in the States that affected us. The new Masters program is on a good start in its second quarter. I have received news that five to seven new students may join us the next school year. In the meantime Wife is really enjoying teaching the Sunday school adults class. I have stuck to my resolution of writing ten new sermons a year. In fact, I completed two so far.

I am excited that an article I wrote for CCCOWE's Pastoral Magazine was in the mail yesterday (6th). Of course, the publicity for http://www.preachchrist.com/ is invaluable. I still believe that my web ministry will outgrow my preaching and teaching ministry since it is global as well as local. In the meantime my local ministry is getting crowded. In less than 24 hours I have received two invitations to speak - one for a July 1st holiday retreat, and another for a weekend retreat in May, another public holiday.

After four months at Ma Wan I finally ironed my own clothes on Friday. I had to. There are no cleaners here that cater to a shirt or two, so I may as well save time and money. Sunday's rainy day (7th) was the longest that I can remember. It rained before I woke at 7 am and did not let up after I got home at 5 pm. A tall man like me dislikes the rain because short ladies keep poking me with their open umbrellas. They open their umbrellas for no reason even under a sheltered area. My consolation is a visitor e-mailing me and thanking me for my "encouraging" message.

Chinese New Year is four days away, I am feeling it. Today I threw away most of our recycled newsletters and magazines. This year we are heading to Zhongshan in Guangdong with our relatives for the new year. None of us will be in town, so we may as well celebrate together on the tour package we booked. But before that there's still a lot to be done, especially in getting rid of old stuff. This is the part I like best about the new year - when you live in a small apartment of less than 500 sq. ft. I got a cherished thank you e-mail from a sermoncentral.com visitor: "Hello Dr.Yap thanks for the message God Bless and more power to your ministry In Christ, Pastor Alvin."

I returned yesterday (15th) from a rich three-day HK$1,500 Chinese New Year tour of Zhongshan, Toishan, Hoiping, etc. Hoi Ping was most interesting. The Diaolu (碉樓) houses, built by returnees from the States, were hailed as Guangdong's only world cultural heritage. One of the finest hotels on our tour was the famous King Century Hotel. Another delight on the trip was staying at a spa resort, which boasts of 108 spas on the premises. The food was OK, but visits to the Mongolia and Yunnan cultural centers were disappointing. After the trip I got an email from buddy Michael, who told me his family was from Hoiping. The next day Dickson of Chicago, whose parents were from Hoiping, visited me in Hong Kong. On the shopping front I found bargains in a Lee Jeans jacket for RMB$75 and a Slazenger sports pants for RMB$50. Overall, it was good to take a break. For the new year, I break in two new shirts, a new T-shirt, two Chinese New Year boxes of Kleenex and a bag, besides the new jacket and sports pants I bought.

My first day of work after Chinese New Year was the only day, as far as I could remember, I managed to catch the early 7:40 am train to Yuen Long. Today (day 5) I do not feel so good because I caught a flu in the cold just by walking to the building next door in the morning to get coffee. (Hong Kong Observatory recorded the lowest temperature of the year at 8.2 degrees Celsius) Anyway I received an e-mail from China to warm me up:
"Hi: 感谢您每次发来的信息!我虽然忘记了是在哪里订阅的您的邮件,但每次发来的这些文章都使我受益匪浅!这些文章虽然比我订阅的别的每日查经都要长,但是我看得是最仔细的,因为每次都有收获。愿神继续带领您的这些文字事工!以马内利!Bu, Lake (布拉克)"
"Dear 葉牧師,新年快樂,主恩常在。多謝你講章的分享,它對我們教導現今的弟兄姊妹對愛情、婚姻有正確的觀念。謝謝!C K敬上" (19th)

Chinese New Year comes with an expensive price. I noticed my hairline receding, which is is bad news. There is so much one can do to hold age off. Hong Kong is as humid as it gets. The humidity level here is over 90%. It wasn't like that the first year I was here, but the floors on the streets have been wet since Monday (22nd). There is no letting up. Even my bathroom floors and refrigerator seem to be leaking water.