Wow, it’s been six months already. Time really flies in Hong Kong. I mean REALLY FLIES! There is so much activity and hustle and bustle in Hong Kong that it really is easy to say, “Where did the time go?”
To briefly recap: as you know, Heather was seven months pregnant when we moved to Hong Kong. Paul came out two weeks early at the beginning of November 2012 with the older children, Justin and Hannah, in hopes of securing an apartment, painting it, and furnishing it with beds before Heather, Nathanael (age 10) and Eliana (age 4) arrived. Well, that didn’t happen. Instead, once Heather arrived, God brought us to several areas, some with very appealing features might I add, to give us a broad overview of what Hong Kong had to offer and to take us through truly evaluating and praying through what place the Holy Spirit was leading and why. Through divine circumstances we were forced to leave the hotel we were temporarily staying in and find short term stay in a district of Hong Kong on the Kowloon side called Sham Shui Po. To be honest, it was not what we expected when we booked the stay online, and planning to actually live there was the farthest thing from our minds. Sham Shui Po, we are told, has the highest poverty level per capita in all of Hong Kong. The financial, spiritual, and emotional needs of much of Sham Shui Po are blatantly obvious. It is “old” Hong Kong, and much of it is run down and dirty. It doesn’t exactly scream “Home Sweet Home” to the average American. But during our two weeks of living in temporary housing in SSP, God began to speak to our hearts. He opened our eyes and impressed upon us that He wanted us there to live among the locals, to get to know them, to love them with His Love, and and to tell them about His Son. Once we were clear on that, the “right” apartment was finally found and there was much peace. It’s the kind of peace that surpasses all understanding as the seven of us now reside in about 890 sq/ft with no oven, no dishwasher, no hot water in the kitchen, only two stove burners, and a fridge half the size of the standard American ones. All this for the whopping price tag of $2,500 USD a month! Just to put it in perspective, we pay twice the amount to rent here for 1/3 the space we had in the States. We suffer from sticker shock here sometimes as rent isn’t the only expensive thing in Hong Kong, but God has shown us from day one that He is the perfect Provider and continues to show us regularly.
In early February Heather gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Cyrus, safely at home. At the last minute the midwife came down with the stomach flu and could not make it to our apartment. By God’s grace, Paul delivered the baby and Hannah was his “nurse”. There has been no shortage of “interesting” turns of events since coming to Hong Kong, but we’re learning more and more how to let go of “our agenda” and embrace His. Cyrus is now 4 months old and a joy to behold. He has a sweet disposition and many arms always ready to hold him. We are thankful to the Lord for giving him to us and eagerly await God’s plan for him to unfold. He is the only Ling of this generation to have a Hong Kong birth certificate, which will eventually give him the coveted 3 stars on his Hong Kong ID.
Once we arrived in Hong Kong we began attending an International and somewhat larger sized church called Evangelical Community Church. It’s well spoken of by one of Paul’s childhood friends so naturally that was our starting point in connecting with believers here in Hong Kong. Although we felt God would have us eventually minister among a more local and smaller church, we could not deny His peace and love fellowshipping at ECC. We quickly began knitting hearts with leadership and our children easily got plugged-in to the age appropriate groups they offered. Currently, Justin is helping lead the University and Young Professionals Group as well as serving on the audio and visual crew. Hannah is part of the high school group and serves at the church office on Fridays, utilizing her gifting in graphic design and other office duties, as well as being part of the newly formed choir and VBS team. Nathanael has made some great new friends at church as well, and Eliana’s new best friend in Hong Kong shares her name with a slightly different spelling: Eleana. The two Ellie’s can often be found holding hands, playing, and giggling.
We can very clearly see God’s hand leading and guiding us into relationships in amazing ways. Besides forming friendships with several locals in SSP, there are several other areas of connections being made. One opportunity the Lord has provided to share His love and get to know other Hong Kongers has been through a Cantonese/English Meet Up group which meets weekly. For two hours each week most (and sometimes all of us) go to a nearby cafe and are paired up with locals who desire to improve their English skills. We in turn improve our Cantonese skills while chatting about various topics completely of our own choosing! Needless to say, we take the opportunity to talk about why we are in Hong Kong (most people often ask us) and ask them to teach us how to say things pertinent to the Christian faith. In learning how to speak better Canto, we have their full attention as we share the gospel! How great is that!? Paul, Justin, and Hannah have all begun to form relationships with people from the Meet Up group who are non believers but are open to knowing more about Jesus and the Christian faith.
Another ministry that we have recently been involved with is a local Christian organization called “Hope of the City”. It is a nonprofit organization that desires to expand into Sham Shui Po with the remodeling of a rundown warehouse-turned-Community-Center and has an outreach to SSP called “Adopt a Family”. This is actually a very specific answer to prayer. A couple months ago we began praying for God to show us a family or person we could partner with to supply financial, spiritual, and emotional support. This organization is pairing up families that have expressed a desire for such assistance with people or families like ours who desire to give of their time and resources. In addition to this ministry, Paul and Nathanael have had various opportunities to show God’s love to some very needy people. One of these is Mr. Gung, a homeless double amputee they witnessed one morning who had fallen out of his rusty and tipped over wheelchair. After helping him regain his bearings, they treated Mr. Gung to lunch and shared God’s love with him. He confessed he had heard of Jesus and occasionally attended church services for the homeless but had not yet made a commitment to Christ. He was genuinely touched by Paul and Nathanael’s time with him and willingly took the Christian literature Paul offered him. We pray he will make a decision for Christ. After their time with Mr. Gung, Nathanael said his heart felt “God’s joy” and that it felt even better than going to Toy’s R Us to buy a new toy!
The initial burden Paul felt for getting connected with a smaller and more local body of believers (ECC is local but the congregation is mostly English speaking and multicultural) seems to be unfolding before us even these past few weeks. Through a sister in Christ at ECC we were introduced to a nearby fellowship that is Cantonese speaking, meets in the industrial district, and is more of a cell group of believers. The pastor has for the past couple decades been building strong believers through intimate discipleship and teaching throughout Hong Kong. Several churches have been birthed from this organic movement. In the past few years God has placed on his heart to reach the estimated 300 cities that still have not been reached for Christ in mainland China. Since he has discipled these churches long enough to be self sustaining with elders and a pastoral team in place, he is preparing to move permanently to China with a goal of reaching 100 cities in 10 years. Much like how Paul the apostle in the book of Acts would stay with a city group of believers, disciple them unto basic maturity, and then move on to reach the next city for Christ. This fellowship is mainly new believers who have had no previous experience with church. Their passion and purity for Jesus and worship is truly beautiful and transcends any language barriers that currently exist. And amazingly, ECC used to support this church in its distant past, and the new pastor at ECC is highly interested in pursuing rekindled connections. Paul feels very excited that he can be the bridge between these two fellowships as ECC is desiring to reach the locals at a deeper level and partner with those already successful in doing so. The local Chinese church meets on Saturdays and reserves Sundays for outreach opportunities. This schedule conveniently allows us to attend both congregations.
Another big opportunity we have found here in Hong Kong is the ease of short term missions trips. Since Hong Kong is considered by many to be the gateway to Asia, it has been a blessing to find that our church, ECC, is extremely missions minded. Back home we were accustomed to churches scheduling summer missions trips. However, this church has them year round! From mainland, to India, to Cambodia, this church is really on the move for Jesus! In fact, Paul, Hannah, and Nathanael are currently planning to go to Mongolia in July to minister to orphans and street kids that have for various reasons ended up living in sewers. However, Justin had decided to minister to “Left Behind Kids” in mainland China. LBK are children who have been left behind by parents that have not been able to find local jobs and have had to take up work in distant cities. As our living expenses are quite high here in Hong Kong, there is a need to raise about $2,500 to be able to participate in these upcoming trips. We hope you will feel free to contribute as the Lord leads. For tax deductible receipts, please make your checks out to “Chinese Baptist Church of Miami”. Please do not write anything on the check but include a note indicating “Ling Family Missions” and mail your contributions to:
Paul Ling
14501 Rosewood Road
Miami Lakes, FL 33014
If online payments are more convenient for you and you don’t need a tax deductible receipt, financial support can be accepted online via PayPal to pling [at] activesite.net. Thank you so much for your willing hearts!
All in all, God has been more than gracious to help us adjust considering the many different changes that have occurred so drastically in the past year. We all love dim sum and many of the traditional Hong Kong favorites like Daan Tot, Yen Tzao Chow Fun, Gaun Chow Au Haw, Dao Fu Fa, and Gi Dan Tzai, just to name a few. Our flat is small but homey, and we feel extremely blessed that God provided us a way to have an electric dryer, which is very rare in Hong Kong. Heather is especially thankful for that! Also, when initially looking for apartments, we were told it was pretty much impossible to find four-bedroom apartments (we intended to use the fourth bedroom as Paul’s office and Heather’s homeschool room), but God provided! Not only do we have a four-bedroom, which of course it pretty tight on space, but because it is an older building, the ceilings are much higher than newer buildings, which adds to the appearance of having more space and feeling not so tight. Since space is a luxury few have in abundance here in Hong Kong, we really appreciate that little bit of extra room!
We are truly grateful for your partnership through prayer and finances. God has been packing in a lot during the past 6 months, and we definitely felt your support uplifting us. We have listed some of our greatest prayer needs below. We thank God for all of you, and we would love to hear how you all are doing as well. Please let us know how we could be praying for you guys too. May God Bless you and your families as you live and serve Him!
In Christ’ Love,
Paul, Heather, Justin, Hannah, Nathanael, Eliana, Cyrus
Our greatest prayer needs at this time are:
* For Nathanael to be ministered to in his transition. He struggles with loneliness because not only did he leave some really special friends back in the U.S. but we no longer have a yard to play in. He can no longer go outside without Heather and ride his skateboard or play. Also, we live in an area where there doesn’t seem to be other children for him to play with. His only friends are at church so during the week he really misses other kids and activities.
* For Ellie also to have more opportunities to play and get exercise. Heather is often busy with the new baby or homeschooling and since we no longer live in a single family home, it is not safe for Ellie to go out without someone taking her.
* For Heather to be able to learn Cantonese quickly and to be able to fulfill all the duties that homeschooling, motherhood, etc require as well as being this year’s VBS decorating and prop leader.
* For Paul: Above all to have eyes fixed on Christ and focus on walking in the Spirit. Continue to improve in Cantonese to a point of being able to minister and share the gospel more effectively. Wisdom and guidance to minister to the family and in leading them into areas of ministry as a family and as individuals. Financial provisions through tent making and business as a mission (BAM) opportunities.
* For Hannah to be diligent during the summer to catch up on school (we had to take a long break from school while transitioning). And also for her to be strengthened by God to do all that life with 4 siblings requires of her. Pray for abundant patience, mercy, and God’s love for her siblings as well as time to properly maintain healthy relationships with each one. Hannah has been learning and growing a lot these past months but really feels the opposing spiritual attacks. Please pray for strength and wisdom for her in the difficult times.
* For Justin: guidance and favor as he prepares to research and apply for local universities, for boldness and wisdom in sharing Christ with his non-believing friend Adam, diligence to seek the Lord with all of himself, and for grace and wisdom to lead well in the young adults group, especially among the young men.
* For Cyrus to continue to grow healthy and strong!