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GOOD NEWS IN ASIA

15 MARCH, 2013

Operation Hong Kong

Yoshiko and I explored Hong Kong for several days.

Grace Gospel
Fact Finding in Hong Kong
Hong Kong children lead the world in Math, Science, and Reading scores on international tests. South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan are runners up. In all these countries, students study all day and then go to cram school at night. Japan is similar, but not as extreme. The standards here seem to be dropping. Hong Kong is a powerful business center and is very popular for its food and shopping. Yoshiko and I tried a number of places and enjoyed both eastern and western dishes.

We spent our rst day traveling from the airport and nding our hotel. We explored our neighborhood near the hotel. On our second day, we explored downtown Hong Kong and visited a beautiful park. We took the boat pictured on the right across to Kowloon. On the third day, we took a trip to the New Territories and looked around the

shopping malls. On the fourth day, we went to Lamma Island, which is a 35 minute boat ride away. On the fth day, we went shopping and picked up some clothes at much lower prices than Japan. We thought about opening a bank account but reconsidered when we discovered the low interest rate.

HONG KONG AND THE STARS: BRUCE LEE & JACKIE CHAN One of Yoshikos favorite things was walking along the avenue of the stars. Behind me is a statute of Bruce Lee. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed all the sunshine along with the stars! Yoshiko had to get into the act and run the camera, as you can see in the second photograph to the right.

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SHARING THE GOOD NEWS WITH THE JAPANESE Before I went with Yoshiko to Hong Kong, I met a young man named Takeshi at the hot spring in town. This hot spring (or spa) is located close to my place of work and is next to the gym where Yoshiko attends. As it turns out Takeshi also works at the gym and has run into Yoshiko several times. Takeshi and I have met twice now. The rst time, we spent getting to know each others interests and hobbies. Today I introduced the good news message from the Bible and shared how I became a Christian. He is very patient because I am very rusty in Japanese. I havent used a lot of the Bible terms in Japanese for about ten years now and Ive forgotten how to read the characters and some of the grammar. I covered the basic points of how the Bible is a unique book and how there is an Old Testament and a New Testament. I choose John 2: 23-25, where we could learn a little about the person of Jesus. 1. Jesus is God and could perform miracles.

GOOD NEWS IN ASIA

changes our image of who God is. Most humans think that God hates them and they put God out of their thinking. Takeshi has a lot to chew on from our rst discussion of the Bible. He will go to Hiroshima next week and we will meet the following week at his university and he will show me around. ! I also met with a co-worker of Takeshi two days ago. His name is Shyota and he is also in his 20s. Shyotas personality and interests are quite dierent from Takeshi. Shyota loves snowboarding and hip hop dancing. He also dresses like a hip hop dancer. His reason for meeting with me is to learn English in exchange for Japanese. We met for about 3 hours and started to get to know one another. We also had lunch at an Indian restaurant. He wants to meet with me next week and will introduce a friend of his. I must admit I do feel the generation gap.

15 MARCH, 2013
! We also have to do all the good things that Americans have to do at the beginning of the year, such as ll out taxes, only we have until May because we are overseas. In my case, I have to convert Korean won and Japanese yen to US dollars. ! Yoshikos parents seem to be doing well. We met with them several times at the beginning of the year. Joes parents both seem to be doing well in the U.S. ! Kaori passed her classes last semester and will have one more academic year to go. She gets so wrapped up in her school work that she forgets to text us, so we dont know too many details about what is happening in her world. We know that she has been hitting the gym in the morning, attending classes and then hitting the library at night. We hope she keeps passing all her classes. Best wishes to all State side. May 2013 be a protable year for you.

! I will be nishing up the school year next week. There is a Grace and peace, holiday in the middle of the week 2. He didnt trust people and Yoshiko and I havent made Joseph Holleran 3. He knew what was in man plans yet. She has been suering Utusnomiya, Japan from allergies. She goes to the We then covered the following allergist every other day, because facts about man: her face and scalp are itchy and ! He is a sinner she has red dots here and there ! He cant attain righteousness. on her body. I hope she pulls through this season. She still ! Sinners are on the pathway to gets in her exercise at the gym hell. and shes been begging me to ! God loves sinners and sent join. I may just do that. Christ to die for sinners. Christ paid for sins with his own blood. ! After my school year nishes, ! God forgave sins at the cross I will head down to Tokyo to get and he wants to dispense eternal training for a few classes for the life to all who will believe this new school year, which starts in message. The Bible message the middle of April.

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