"Safe? Of course He's not safe! But He's good"

Hello friends and family!!

I hope this update finds you well and accomplishing all of your New Year’s resolutions. It has been about 6 weeks since my last update, sorry guys! So… since it has been a while since my last update, this may be a long one. So before we begin, grab yourself a nice cup of coffee and make sure that you are comfy J

Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? My DTS headed out for outreach on December 5. Heading first to Port Elizabeth, then a 20 hour bus ride to Johannesburg where we stayed overnight. We then departed the next day for another 18 hours of flying/layovers before finally arriving in Hong Kong. That was almost worse than travelling to South Africa from the States (which was give or take about 35 hours of travel) Getting through customs was far easier than expected and my team was able to get through without any complications. Thank you Jesus! Our accommodation situation was far better than I could have imagined. Having heard many, many stories from previous DTS students, I was prepared for the worst. We were staying in a 900 year old village, the oldest in Hong Kong which was inhabited by the Tang clan, so everyone within the village had the last name of Tang. Talk about confusing when addressing people! Our apartment was a 3 bedroom, 1 bath with a nice living room and a decent kitchen. As nice as it was to have our own apartment, some of the utilities within took some adjusting to. For example, the kitchen had a tiny countertop with one gas burner so cooking a simple dinner of spaghetti could take a good 45 minutes. Or the shower situation which was a bathroom with a toilet, sink and hand held shower head. No tub, no curtain, and a tiny drain equaled a shower standing over the toilet and trying to wash your hair. Awkward!! I can’t complain too much though considering all the luxuries I had compared to other outreaches.

So…we arrived in Hong Kong December 8^th I believe, and were super lucky to be able to relax for a few days before beginning our Christmas Outreach program. Christmas Outreach began on December 13^th, so for the first few days we had an orientation on the base, village, and Hong Kong. We also had mini lectures, so to speak, about evangelism and sharing your testimony and things that were going to be helpful during the outreaches. It was awesome to receive those lectures, no matter how brief, because they were very informative and were a great asset to attain for outreach and even just for life. We were also taught dances and dramas which we were to perform during the outreaches. We learned routines such as a choreographed drama called “It’s my life”, a clown skit, a Samoan island dance, “Jingle Bells”, and a skit called “Eat Work Sleep”. I was not involved in each but rather we were split into groups which were each given a performance or two that they learned and would perform. Each team would go on outreach for two days and would spend the third day on the base serving. (Since there were 3 major teams) Each outreach our team would go on would consist of two or three of our performances with a few testimonies and a preaching at the end. After all was said and done, we would break off with our ministry partner to go talk to the spectators and share the gospel with them. I was so thankful to have been paired with a “veteran”. Mirjam is a staff at the Hong Kong base and it was wonderful to have her as my partner considering she has done this stuff before. But not only had she done it before, but she challenged me to go and talk to people, instead of hiding in the shadows while she talked to the people. (Which to be honest, was far easier) Some of the places we had outreaches included: Five Flags aka Star Ferry Pier, Temple Street Market, schools, drug rehabilitation centers, and Chelsea Heights mall. My favorite, being a future teacher and all, was the school that we were able to go to. It was so cute! Before we performed for the school, each class was brought into the library where we were sitting and came and talked to us to practice their English. They each brought a script and would start out by saying “Hello. My name is _________. How are you today?” As a polite response I would say that I am well and would ask them how they are doing. You could see the panic come across their face as they realized that they did not know how to respond since that was not on their script. After asking us questions about ourselves, what we like, why we are here, and such they would give us either a Christmas card or a bookmark. Some of which hilariously stated: “My name is Gary Chan. I like green frogs. I like red watermelon.” Or “Merry Exams!!” Or “I miss you baby!!” Most of the outreaches did not result in many miraculous healings or thousands of salvations but rather most of them, we were able to encourage many Christians that we came into contact with and I truly believe that we were able to plant many seeds. When mailing a postcard back home to my family, there are dozens of people that touch it and are involved in the process of getting it into my momma’s hands but typically only one is able to be the one to deliver it and put it in her mailbox. That does not discredit the other’s work, it simply means that they are a means to the end and I believe that it was the same with the Christmas Outreach. Though we were not able to be the ones to be there when they give their life to Jesus we were able to be one of the ones to help plant the seed and to help deliver their heart to Him. That does not mean though that we didn’t see any salvations!! Our team, in fact, saw about 10 salvations throughout the outreach. Most of which took place at the drug rehabilitation centers. How cool is that?! I enjoyed every minute of the outreaches and being pushed in my faith to step out of my comfort zone and of my western thinking to approach someone and ask if they know Jesus.

Christmas Day was a bit difficult, to be quite frank. However, I was expecting that it would not be like a normal Christmas. And to my relief it was not a normal Christmas for my parents either. Christmas morning there was a HUGE brunch with made-to-order omelets, pastries, fruit salad, and multiple kinds of coffee. There was worship later that morning and a showing of the movie Elf which helped relieve some homesickness since that movie is a tradition in the Bethke family. I was also able to call my parents, which was wonderful! That night was full, between a large international dinner, a talent show, and a gift exchange. There was not a whole lot of time to think about the fact that it was Christmas morning back home, which helped a lot. Even though all the activities helped take my mind off from not being home, it ended up feeling more like a party and less like Christmas day. Which looking back now, I supposed helped because it made it feel less real that I was not home for the biggest holiday of the year. But be sure that next year I will be making up for sure with the lack of Christmas spirit this year. Beware Scrooge! New Year’s Eve on the other hand was easier to handle. That night my team and I celebrated with snacks and card games. We rung in the by praying together as a team and thanking God for the past year. I don’t think I could come up with a better way to spend the new year!

After Christmas Outreach, my team stayed in Hong Kong for about another three weeks to continue outreach. We took a few days off again to rest and were able to head to some tourist destinations such as Stanley Market. We also got to go to Victoria’s Peak which was simply incredible!! Victoria’s Peak is the highest 360 degree view of Hong Kong City and has a tram that takes you up the mountain at incredibly steep angles. It was pretty scary at time! I greatly appreciated Petro, our outreach leader, giving us time off to rest before we continued with ministries. She has been such a blessing and am so grateful that she joined our team.

For about two weeks we continued to doing ministry within Hong Kong. Some of the ministries included serving at an organization called Crossroads, teaching Sunday School at a church, and going down to the Red Light District in Wan Chai. First off, Crossroads Organization. What an incredible company! Crossroads is exactly what it’s name is. It is a crossroads between need and supply, so to do this they accept donations of any kind from individuals and businesses. They accept anything from old computers to clothing to furniture to school supplies. And then when a ministry or country calls in need of something, Crossroads goes into their warehouse and sends it to the people in need. Like the flooding in Thailand for example, when it happened Crossroads sent out tons of first aid supplies, clothing, and anything else the people could need at no charge to them. They also have simulation modules to give people a real life experience of things such as HIV/AIDS, a refugee camp, a drug addict struggles, loan sharks, life in the slums, and so on. The coolest part of it all is that when they first started the simulations they invited the big wigs of Hong Kong to come and try the refugee module. So about 20 CEOs and presidents of large corporations in H.K. came together for about 24 hours, without their watches, cell phones, laptops, or anything of value and were placed in a smoky room with men with guns and had to “survive”, so to speak, for 24 hours under those conditions. After the experience these extremely powerful men walked out of the experience weeping because it totally changed how they viewed life and how they want to manage their companies. Seeing that is was a success, they took this simulation to the Global Economic forum held every year. Some of the biggest names in the market have done the refugee module including people like the CEO of Gucci and of Nike. (Which is so impressive, considering Nike is one of the worst organizations known for child labor and exploiting workers at the expense of cheaper manufacturing.) And what better way to change the world then to change the minds of the people with the most power! It was such an incredible opportunity to serve there and would love to go back one day to serve again and to try some of the simulations. Another one of our ministries that we did was teaching Sunday School at a local church. It was so cool how it worked out because before we left, Petro’s pastor told her about a South African family that was living in H.K. and working at a church there. We got into contact with them and they invited us over for a braai at their apartment. We thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company and felt at ease with them instantly. We were going to lead two after school programs as well but were unable to because there was not enough children. Our last Sunday in H.K. though we were able to go to St. Andrew’s Church and teach the children’s classes on the topic of missions. The age group that I worked with was 7-10 so before the lesson we arranged to play a game, similar to 4 corners but whenever a country (which where the corners) was called on the children had to give a fact about the country that they were “in”. One of the boys when called upon, standing at the America corner, shouted “AMERICA HATES GOD!!” It was definitely one of those moments where you want to laugh but it’s not appropriate to and you don’t want to embarrass the child. So I simply told him that he and I would have a chat later and that we can talk about America. It was so funny to hear the facts that the children would come up with about that given country. I cannot even begin to express how happy I was to get to work with children again, since that is what I love. I was so grateful that we were able to do that and able to work with children. One of our other ministry opportunities was going down to the Red Light District. I have always wanted to do that, and going down there that night only deepened my desire to one day work with it more. Once a the R.L.D. we went to a local park and prayed and worshipped for about 30-45 minutes and immediately you could sense a change in atmosphere. Stepping off the train I was overcome with a presence of evil and just a feeling of a dark cloud covering the area but as soon as we started worshipping it vanished and I just felt a total weight off my shoulders. We broke off into groups of 2’s and went out to go talk to some of the ladies. My friend Alicia and I started walking and tried talking to the ladies but unless you are talking business with them, you get chased away by the madams. While we were walking around we just started praying and proclaiming territory and rebuking the enemy. Even though we didn’t have any incredible salvations or healings or anything I am confident that us just being there and praying was doing something, if not in this realm, for sure in the spiritual. As we were walking though, a few men started following us. At first we thought nothing of but after a while when they were still behind us despite us crossing the street and zigzagging, we started to get a little nervous. After a while, they started closing in on us and the closer they got, the worse their comments were, making derogatory comments, saying what they want to do to us, and so on. Alicia and I were getting pretty nervous and were realizing that we were powerless against three men, each about twice our size. So we began to pray! As we prayed under our breath, I was totally filled with a spirit of power and was not afraid. I know that it was not me but the Holy Spirit that gave me that power because there is no way I could have been calm and at peace without the Holy Spirit in that situation. So yeah, we just started praying under our breath and proclaiming that we are princesses of God, of the Most High King and that we are surrounded by a royal army and that we cannot be touched! That the enemy will not harm us because we are protected under the blood of Jesus. As soon as we said that the men suddenly turned around and left. I still can’t get over how at peace I was with the situation and how calm I was! Anyone that is close to me knows that in emergencies, I panic. I freak out and flail around like a chicken with its head cut off. So for me to be calm in the midst of being followed, speaks volumes. And just shows me that much more how good the father heart of God is!!

Where to start about Petro?! I figured I would say a little something about her and brag a little bit since she has been so good to the team. She has been so incredible and has encouraged us to call her Tannie Petro which is Afrikaans for Auntie Petro. Which is exactly what she has been! She told us bedtime stories and sang to us and has been protective in anything that comes against us. I appreciate her support and love and encouragement. It is so evident how much of a gift of leadership that she has. Having led 17 DTS’s she knows a thing or two about outreach but I never once felt that she was above me but rather like an auntie, she was superior to me but loved me just the same and I am so thankful. Knowing how our lecture phase was, she arranged for us to have teaching while we were in H.K. I just cannot even express how thankful I am and how much I love her!

So…my apologies for a) not having written an update at all while in H.K. and b) for this being so long. The team leaves again for outreach on Monday to Cape Town for 2 weeks and then the Garden Route for about 2 or 3 more so it will be a while before another update.

Prayer requests:
- My team and unity (though praise God we are getting better!)
- Our outreaches in Cape Town and the Garden Route (safety and ministries)
- And pray that time flies by so I can come home quickly ;)

All my love,
Amanda

Q: What kind of dance do frogs like?
A: Hip-Hop J