Have any of you spent time in Hong Kong? Do you know of its rich history and several of its nicknames? During the next few weeks, Hong Kong will be the center of attention.

Who:   New Life is sending a team of 6 people (pictured above: Scott Reavely, Alicia Taylor, Lynn Bonife, Kenia Castillo, Ricky Ascencio, and Meghan Haugen) to the Pearl of the Orient.

What: The team will come alongside our partners, Nathan and Sarah Pylate, by educating and working with men and women, participating in children’s activities, having opportunities to share the good news, helping with daily responsibilities, and any other needs which may arise.

Why:   As a body, we are to encourage one another. Our presence in HK will support the  Pylates’ continued purpose of impacting the Kingdom.

When: April 15-27

Your Involvement: Prayer and Financial Support

 Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!”   (Romans 10:15).  The HK Team and Pylates are your feet. Be a part of fruitful work.

 Pearl of the Orient: Historically, the region was a major player in the pearl trade, centered around Tai Po Harbour. Pearl harvesting dates back to AD 761. The industry became a tightly guarded imperial monopoly during the Song dynasty.

Last Saturday, July 28, we said goodbye to the Basque students staying in the homes of several families from New Life Church. Five teenagers – Nekane, Pablo, Irati, Nicolas, and Iratxe — (as well as their leader, Arianne) arrived on June 28 to spend four weeks with us practicing their English, learning about American culture, and hearing about who Jesus is. They came through the organization SUSA, Summer in the USA, which partners with local churches to host students from Basque Country in Spain as a step towards sharing the hope of the gospel with what is still a largely unreached people group within Europe. 

Our days were filled with big things like beach trips, hikes, fairs, and kayaking, as well as small things like berry picking, grocery shopping, and some of our normal routines. This short video offers a glimpse into a few of our activities together as a group:

We wanted to share a few stories with the church, because so many of you played a pivotal role in praying for the host families and students, sharing things like beds and food and rides with us, and welcoming them into the youth group and church while they were here. Thank you for your encouragement and support throughout this long and exciting month! 

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"One of the many benefits to having Irati in our family was the chance to experience our normal life from her point of view. Elaine's picture to the right is more interesting to me than the one Irati was taking because it captures not only the landmark sign, but also the Basque student's interest in the sign.

We had a chance to rediscover the city, coast, rivers, and the gorge in a new way. Moreso we had the chance to think about the food we eat, the way we eat together, and the structure of our family times. Does our normal week of schedule and interactions reflect Jesus' love to each other? The language barrier was a bigger challenge then we guessed, but at the end of the day, those are just words. How do we live? How do we relate? Aside from church attendance, what makes us a 'Christian' family? These questions came into focus in a real way."

— Josh + Elaine Hochstettler

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"Laughter – yes laughter filled our home and the homes of our kids when we could visit our local families! Toward the end when Nicolas played in the swimming pool with our four-year-old great grand-daughter, Ady, she told Nicolas that he had become her best friend. The transparency of Nicolas really surfaced the last two weeks in which we saw Beryl and Nicolas really engaging one another in fun verbal exchanges. Overall, we found ourselves desiring to learn more about the Basque people and wishing to be a part of SUSA again."

— Paul + Beryl Metko

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"It was such a joy to host Pablo this summer! We loved getting to take him on some memorable hikes, his first camping trip, and lots of family gatherings. Towards the end of his stay, Pablo became like family to us, and we grew in our laughter, appreciation for each other's cultures, and depth of conversation.  

Surprisingly, this experience also uniquely challenged our own assumptions about our culture, the Bible, and hospitality. Even as we showed him American culture, our aim was to point to a greater Kingdom. And even as we welcomed him into our family, we sought to invite him into the greater family of God."

— Ben + Lauren Edmonds

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"I think what made our time so special with Iratxe was that we all, including Iratxe, saw her as the 6th Zook daughter. Her desire to have sisters and our bountiful quiver, was a perfect match. Iratxe was engaged with us so much in our lives. We are thankful that this was a FAMILY experience that will last a lifetime and, we pray, for eternity."

— Matt + Kelly Zook

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THANK YOU, NEW LIFE CHURCH!

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June 29, 2017

We had yet another huge thunderstorm that started at 11 and lasted for hours. It kept a lot of us awake, but we all still somehow awoke refreshed. Today, we went on a hike to a waterfall where we had a lot of good conversations with the kids and got to know them better.

Chris talked about the Gospel tonight. The kids had a lot of questions ranging from the Trinity to who Jesus is – all of them productive conversations. And, a lot of the kids took steps toward Jesus - those who already professed faith grew closer to Christ, and those who still haven’t believed made steps towards understanding more about the Gospel. We then went to the campfire where some of those discussions continued, and we had s’mores and hot dogs. Thank you for the prayers - they were much needed! Continue to pray though! Camp’s not over, and neither is God’s ministry in Slovenia!

June 30, 2017

We all stayed up dancing the night away and welcomed Stephanie’s and Lisa’s birthday at midnight! The kids continued to ask difficult questions today as we wrapped up camp by having the Oregon Beach Bash and the dance party following.

July 1, 2017

Today we celebrated Stephanie’s and Lisa’s birthdays again, gave gifts to the kids, and packed up to head back to Radovljica where we gave English achievement awards to the kids, and we all performed the camp dance and workshop song for the parents.

July 2, 2017

This morning we went to the church Stephanie and Chris are involved in and shared some about our week and what we saw God do. Later that day, some of the kids from camp came to a barbecue on one of the Slovene’s farm where we hung out and said a few goodbyes.

This was also our last day with the Spokane team.

July 3, 2017

This morning we went to Chris’s house to debrief the previous week of camp, and then went back to Lake Bled to spend more time with the kids. We all went together to go eat pizza and afterwards said emotional goodbyes to everyone.

July 4, 2017

We spent our last day in Salzburg, looking at Sound of Music sights. We had an early night as we had to wake up at 4:30 for the first of many flights!

June 27, 2017

We had another day filled with English lessons, workshops, and games. We played a fun afternoon game called “Ultimate What” where we played Ultimate Frisbee with a volleyball, banana, head of lettuce, fish, octopus, and cat food instead of a Frisbee! All the kids and the building stunk after that – but we all enjoyed it. Later that night we played a murder mystery set up by the Slovene helpers. The kids ran around to different actors asking questions and obtaining warrants for searching apartments. All the Slovenes and Americans had a great time!

June 28, 2017

Today, we had a morning similar to the last couple of days. But this afternoon, we had another crazy storm so we had lots of fun playing foursquare in the rain, playing games inside, and painting nails. And yes, even the boys painted their nails! Tonight, we look forward to relaxing and watching a movie with everyone. The kids are very excited to get American candy, popcorn, and soda.

A big prayer request right now is for energy! Everyone is physically and emotionally drained, and Marcia has a sore throat. And, don’t forget about our prayer calendar. We are talking about sin tonight and the Gospel tomorrow; please pray discussions go well.  Thanks to everyone who has already been praying for us. We really appreciate it!

June 23, 2017

We made it! For those of you who weren’t there, we arrived at the PDX airport at 4:30 a.m. and exited the Slovene airport at 5 p.m. the next day. That is 24 hours of airplanes, airports, and Zurich. At our layover in Newark, New Jersey, we spent most of our time looking for inexpensive food. After our seven hour flight to Zurich, Switzerland, we took to the town and went on a free walking tour around old town Zurich, learning about culture and architecture. We finally boarded the airplane for a one hour flight to Slovenia where Stephanie picked us up from the airport and promptly took us to the training facility we will be at until Sunday morning. Our first substantial meal was stuffed bell peppers with mashed potatoes and gravy on the side. Later that night, we were all awoken to the sound of a thunderstorm that roared through the skies. The next day we learned the ins and outs of Slovene culture and drove to Lake Bled (pronounced: "blade") where we ate ice cream and swam. We are finishing up the day by writing this blog post outside being assaulted by troves of bugs.

June 25, 2017

We woke up and packed our stuff up from training. Then, we took off to the bus station in old town Radovljica where we waited for three and a half hours for the bus and enjoyed ice cream and lunch with the Slovene helpers while waiting. Then, the campers showed up around 12:30 p.m. and we packed our stuff up on the bus and headed off to Mariborsko Pohorje! On the way, we continued the tradition of stopping for donuts and ice cream. After two hours of driving, we arrived, got settled in, and played foursquare with the kids. After dinner, Chris, Stephanie’s coworker, talked and we went off to discuss the evening session. To finish off the night, we played bunco!

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June 26, 2017

Today was the first day of class! All our English lessons went well. After lessons, we ate lunch and played a relay race and team games. The afternoon was filled with another day of board games and foursquare. Chris gave another talk after dinner about how people view Jesus. We then went into small groups and partook in another round of discussions with the kids. Finally, we ended the night with fun board games.

One day into camp, our team is feeling tired; some people are starting to feel like they are getting a cold. We could use prayer that our health would stay optimal, as well as we would continue having good conversations with the kids here in hopes they would understand who Jesus is.

Victory Ranch that is…

All is going well. God is truly at work in the military and all around. Such an exciting experience to see our men and women that are serving us in the military to turn their lives over to God.

I have had the privilege of serving in three different retreats here on the ranch since I arrived.  Each retreat was such a wonderful time sharing our lives with these  men and women.

God has given me a love for the military people and their families that I can't even explain.

I even had the opportunity to go to the Billy Graham retreat center, the Cove, for an Eastern Conference with Cadence. What a wonderful time to meet others that have spent their whole lives serving God. 

I am truly blessed to be a small part of this ministry along with all of you at New Life Church.  Your prayers are such an important part of what we do. I know that this ministry could not be as successful as it is without the prayers that go out on our behalf.

We have already experienced one hurricane since I arrived and we are gearing up for another one this week. I know this one won’t hit us directly but the whole city of Columbia and surrounding cities are really bracing for the worst. But they are all comparing it to last year at this time when they were completely flooded. I ask for prayer as we are in the season for hurricanes that the storms won’t cause the damage that it caused last year. Some people are still homeless.

Thank you for the support and love that I know all of you give. Your prayers are cherished and I also know that I miss you all and can’t wait to share all that the Lord has and is doing here at Victory Ranch in South Carolina.

In His Service,

Cindy Sollers