As most of you know, or may not know, I am in preparation to leaving on a 2 month journey to the far reaches of the earth; China. I've kept this a fairly small thing until now due to my long duration of stay overseas and will hardly have any internet access and thus creating this blog seemed the best way to solve all sorts of issues, questions and comments.
If you not know by now, I have spent the past 3 weeks trying to get together with everyone in whom I will probably never see again for a good year or so since I will not be returning till August. If I have missed you, I'm sorry. My schedule is already running to its max with as little prep time that I can manage without going to China empty handed.
My scheduled departure date is Tuesday June 2, at 12:20pm, so if you have time you can come see me off at the airport. I'll be there at around 1030 to ensure I get my boarding credentials and everything else in tact before I fly. My scheduled return is Sunday August 2, at around... 13:22 (for those 24-hour clock challenged, that's 1:22pm).
I will be spending the majority of my stay over in HK in which I will be undergoing some extensive training. For my first couple days in which I arrive, I'll be adapting to the time change and getting as much shopping done within my next 24 hours before I'm locked up in my cell. The following week I'll be heading over to the earthquake stricken province of Sichuan in where I will be amongst a team of 6 doing a music workshop. There are a total of around 45 chinese people going including myself, half of which are situated and based in HK and another 20 from Toronto I beleive. I am the only Calagarian and westerner. In fact, I was the one chosen from several hundred young adults to be the Canadian Ambassador. Don't ask me what it means becuase even I don't know. All I know is that that is what they call me. During my stay in Sichuan, I'll be working with my team of 6 in producing 2 hour concerts for the people there twice a day, 3 times a week with a final concert on the saturday for 2.5 hours. Over 80% of the songs are to be sung in Mandarin, 15% in Cantonese and the remaining in English.
As you all would have guessed by now, I don't speak Mandarin, nor can I speak it to save my life. The past 2 weeks have been a gruelling test to see how I can adjust to something that is so unfamiliar with my surroundings and I've failed miserably. I do however have all the english songs memorized. Oh, did I mention that I was also asked to play the piano as well... DUR.... Perhaps if they gave me music I would be able to but I think i'm going to fail that part as well.
After my stay weeks stay in Sichuan, I'll be heading back to HK for a month and a half worth of Leadership training.
In breif, I am working with a group of people from "Breakthrough" which is a leadership camp based in HK for young adults (18-22), to learn more about Christ. This camp is non-secular however the people that run and organize it are Christians, or so I believe. My role here is basically a student leader. I believe I am to help the kids learn and grow through what they teach. Since I was part of this camp 2 years ago, they probably chose me to be a student leader, even though I hardly speak their language. Everything will be Mandarin. Messages, instructions, games, prayers, etc.
I unfortunately will not have a trusty translator by my side to interpret everything like two years ago where I was lucky enough to have a very kind girl in my group who could not only understand Mandarin, speak it, speak and understand Cantonese and understand English, but also was able to translate everything to me when I didn't understand what was being said. In which case, 98% of the time. Though she wasn't a Christian at that time, she had heard a lot about scripture and through me, she was able to understand it more vastly. I was able to share the gospel to her through this "bond" and in the end she became a Christian.
Hopefully this year, I'll be able to not only help one person get to know and become a follower of Christ, but be able to help an entire group live a life for God. I've had many struggles throughout the past several years and I believe they were given to me as a test. This trip, though I won't admit it for a long time, is something that I am looking forward to. I believe that this will definitely make my walk with God more interesting and challenging. Something that I will have the chance to look back upon and relive some of the experiences. A testimony for God and others.
So as I prepare for a very challenging 2 month trip, I ask for your prayer. I am totally stepping out of my comfort zone which I haven't done in years and leaving my life in the palms of God and Jesus. I seriously can't wait to see what's in store for me and how much I can learn.
I will be doing my best in keeping this blog up-to-date everyday and letting you all know what's up and everything else that's going on. Perhaps I might find myself a FOB... haha jks.
Cheers mates.
Brian
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