Three weeks to go!

Hello again!
We're not sure how strict the internet censorship is in China so we'll probably remove all explicit religious references before we start publishing from there.

So since our last post, preparation for the trip has been coming along! Team building has been going well and we have begun brainstorming for our English lesson plans. Our visas were also processed this week so that is definitely an item of thanksgiving.

As we go deeper into the month of May, it has finally hit us that we will be going on our trip very soon! Melody has already been in HK for 2 weeks, I will be leaving for HK this Friday (for a 2 week family vacation), and Greg and Esther will be joining us on June 3rd. Because this is the last Sunday I will be in Toronto, Greg, Esther and myself were commissioned at my church this morning. We got to share a little bit about our trip and then Pastor Richard prayed for our team. This was of particular encouragement to me because it was a reminder to me that we are not going "alone" but that there is a faithful network of people who will be praying for us while we are away. That is a fantastic piece of knowledge :)

Here are some ongoing prayer requests for our team:
1) language - that we will be able to pick up as much Mandarin as possible before we leave and that we will be able to effectively communicate with locals when we are in Asia
2) health and adaptation - that God will build up our immune systems before we go and that we will be able to adapt to the climate, food, and time zone quickly and easily once we are there
3) housing in HK - we will be returning to HK on July 1 for a time of debriefing and some sightseeing and our housing plans for that leg of the trip just fell through. Please pray that God will provide housing for us at that time (July 1-4)
4) Esther's travel arrangements - Esther is unsure when the best time is for her to return to Canada - please pray for wisdom and for affirmation from God for her decision
5) that God will continue to challenge us in our personal walks with Him and that He will use the trip to teach us about His character and His heart.

At the same time, I have got to say that preparation for this trip has already taught us a lot about reliance on God and His provision. On numerous occasions in our preparation, God has provided for our needs (God is so good) and we believe that He will continue to do so.

Anyway, I am really excited and can't believe that we will entering Asia as a team so soon! Stay tuned for more updates :) Thanks again for your support

our team!

(aka MEGE... or rather EMGE in this picture)

hello hello! Welcome to our blog! Our team has decided to update this blog instead of sending out individual email updates because
1) we share many of the same friends so some prayer partners would be getting 4 emails about the same thing,
2) this is a little more time efficient, and
3) wouldn't you agree that this is more visually pleasing? :)

Note about the blog title: it's called Tales from the Motherland mainly because I thought that was catchy haha. None of us were actually born in China or Taiwan... Greg's family is from the Philippines! But all of us do felt drawn to East Asia so maybe it could be our pseudo-motherland for the next little while :)
Note about the blog address: mege = acronym for Melody, Esther, Greg, and Emily. "mege" is also one letter away from "mega" so you can try to remember our blog's URL by purposely misspelling "megatrip" :)

Anyway, thank you so much for your support of our trip - we appreciate all the encouragement that we have received and the prayers that have been prayed on our behalf. We know that it would be impossible for us to take this journey alone so we're glad you're taking it with us.

Come back soon for more updates - hopefully we can post a mini bio of each member and some prayer requests before we go. Until then, thanks again, we hope you have a lovely week :)