Christmas,
New Year… and an extended time in Hong Kong!
Our time in Hong Kong was during
Christmas, a large number of visitors came to visit the ship which was a great
experience specially after being closed for public over the past 9 months when
the ship was in dry dock! During our time there, a friend of mine met 2 local
teenagers at the skate park, he was able to share his testimony with them and
eventually they prayed with him to receive Christ! This was a start of a great
friendship and discipleship! They came to visit the ship and we managed to
provide both of them their first ever Bible! On several occasions we were able
to meet with them, follow up and walk with them in their first baby steps with
God! Our time in Hong Kong came to an end, separation and saying goodbye was
not at all easy for them, but it was time to move on to Taiwan, however, God’s
plan and probably the prayers of two 14-year-olds brought us back to Hong Kong
sooner than anyone could imagine, because few hours after we started sailing,
we had to turn back due to some technical difficulties in the engine room! This
gave us another few more weeks in Hong Kong and several more opportunities to
meet with them!
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| The queue of people waiting to come on board |
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| Christmas on board |
Homeless under the bridge
This extended time gave us more
opportunities and encounters. One day while exploring Hong Kong at night with
my friend Alex (Sweden), we passed by a homeless person sleeping under a bridge in front of a
cemetery area. Something brought us back to him, I had some snacks in my
backpack and my friend felt like chatting and praying with him. He was Eric
from Pakistan; he could speak little English and was so happy to receive the
little we could offer. When asked if he knew about Jesus, he pointed to a
statue of Jesus in the cemetery and surprisingly to us, when asked if he had a
Bible, he went to a small backpack he had and brought a book that was
definitely an Urdu Bible! We encouraged him to read in the Bible, prayed for
him and went on our way! We could see how touched he was by this encounter,
specially that probably nobody ever stops to talk to him or to acknowledge him!
Hopefully he will come to know Jesus and remember him through “these 2
strangers” that stopped to talk with him and to show him God’s love!
Drug Rehabilitation Island
One day I had the opportunity to visit a drug
rehabilitation center, which was a whole island, a very beautiful and peaceful
place! This center is run by a Christian organization that hosts drug addicts
who want to get rid of their addiction. They live on this island, disconnected
from the outside world and a typical day on that island consists of worship
time, Bible teachings & Bible studies, plenty of personal Bible reading and
devotion time and fellowship! We could share with them through dramas, worship
and a testimony, we had lunch with them and then they took us on a tour around
the island to see how they live and what they do, they also shared with us
their testimonies and experiences. I met 18-year-old Khem from Nepal, who was
dragged into drugs at a young age and ended up in this center where he got to
know Jesus and accepted him as his personal savior. His mother who isn't even a
Christian supports him during his time in the center. His desire is to see his
whole family come to Christ and after his rehab he wants to be a social worker
or a volunteer in an organization to help others struggling with drug
addictions!
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| Chatting with Khem |
