Advent

Dear friends and family,

We hope that you have begun this festive time of year with peace in your hearts and joy in your life! We had the pleasure of attending two lovely services yesterday at St. John's Cathedral to mark the start of our Advent journey, first the regular 9am Sung Eucharist service and then a special candlelight 'Carol Service' at 6pm comprising of eight readings and beautiful, more obscure, carols sung by the Cathedral Choir and guests, Queen's College choir from Cambridge University, UK. It was incredibly gorgeous for the senses! We soaked it up and look forward to the next carol service on the fourth Sunday of Advent! The readings were done in different languages, as the Cathedral holds Sunday services in several languages, and all came together for this beautiful event. We were too tired and hungry to linger afterwards for the wine and cookies on the lawn, however, the atmosphere seemed great and we hope to join the party next time.

We decorated the Christmas tree in between services, and our apartment has taken on a distinctively red and festive appearance. When all is up and sparkling we will take some pictures for your viewing... but if you ask me it's the best looking tree I've ever seen! (We got a hand-me-down fake tree from departing missionaries and have transformed its 'Charlie Brown tree-look' into something really special with our decorations and some illumination!)

Hope to hear from you soon,

Love,
Katrina and Ryan

Founder's Day and Seminary Outing

Greetings friends!

The semester is drawing to a close here but our lives continue to be very busy! The seminary community has recently had some exciting events that we have (of course) participated in and we would like to share the experiences with you:

November was a full month, with reading week, 'Founder's Day' and the 'Seminary Outing' all added to our regular calendar of classes, 'family outings,' faculty meetings, etc...

Reading week is pretty self-explanatory: classes are not held that week so students are given the opportunity to catch up with their work before the last weeks of classes and final exams. faculty members do not teach that week, but we are on campus full-time to offer assistance to students with questions and offer our support. Fewer people were at lunch, however, a surprising number of students actually did show up every morning and spent the entire day in the library! These are serious students we have here at LTS! I think that when we were students many of us used reading week to catch up on sleep or stay up late for a party but not most of our students- if they did stay up late it was probably to work in their churches!

You may be asking yourself what 'Founder's Day' is... and indeed, we did too, as we didn't get an explanation of the event before we experienced it first hand- and as a result, came to school that Friday a little under dressed and almost missed the big morning chapel service to mark this great day! That would have been very embarrassing... thank goodness our dear office-mate reminded us we needed to attend (he had learned).

I will try to give you an idea of what it was like: Picture 'Homecoming' (without football), with alumni returning for the day, mix those images in with 'Parents weekend' as most students brought parents, spouses and even children to one or more of the events held during the day and into the late night, mix in 'International Night' as the international students wear their national dress and perform a dance or song from their home country and also have a display table about their culture, and finally add to that veneration for the school's founder and two very long church services, as well as a huge buffet with a birthday cake for the school, and you have an idea of what 'Founders Day' at LTS means. We were exhausted when we made it home after 10pm (and we left early!)... but, it was incredibly fun! If any of you are planning a trip to visit us next fall, I would recommend being present for this amazing day of celebration.

The international students, in particular, put on quite a show, and looked beautiful in their traditional dress. They are very proud to share their culture with the rest of us. The large group of students from Myanmar/Burma did a traditional dance with sword swaying and all, and it was lovely to see that despite all the troubles and oppression in their home country that their spirits are strong and they remain fiercely proud of their identity. Please keep praying for the people of Myanmar/Burma.

The local students also had talent shows, with one of our students doing a magic show, and several choirs performing in English and Cantonese. It was delightful, as teachers, to get to be the audience, and cheer our students on in their artistic performances!

The 'Seminary Outing' is like a class trip planned by the Student Association (similar to student government or student's union) that we all attend. This year, the outing was to the park near the Peak on Hong Kong island. We gathered early in the morning to take touring buses to the location and then 'played games' for a couple hours and sang kids songs. Similar to the retreat we attended in August, it was like Vacation Bible School or camp, and we played games I haven't enjoyed since I was ten years old! It always seems strange to us westerners on the faculty that we should all be adults and yet be singing kid songs in a circle and then play a game of tag ... and indeed some faculty refuse to participate in any such 'childish nonsense' but Ryan and I do our best. It's a good thing we are in shape! In fact, when it came time for the family groups to compete in games, we are proud to announce that our family kicked butt and won the grand prize of vouchers to Starbucks and McDonald's! Apparently this is the reward for our vigor and spirited vitality- and we hope that this continues even after we have cashed in our points and consumed fast food!

It has been so much fun being a part of this dynamic and caring community. We can hardly believe that our first semester of teaching is almost complete, as final exams begin next week, and we thank God for the gift of such intelligent and kind students during our learning period- I only wish all student-teachers could be so fortunate as we have been.

Thank you for your prayers,

Peace,

Katrina and Ryan