October 2009

Africa to Asia
An insight into the ministry of LCM S missionary
Megan Birney serving Christ in Hong Kong

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Hello from Hong Kong! October has flown by just like September. I was encour-
aged at the beginning of the month after finding out that all of the schools we
work with have significantly increased their enrollments for the 2010 school year
(and we’ve only been here for 2 months)! Incredible! Lutheran T.S. Siu Leun
School (LSL) has tripled the size of the incoming P.1 class (first grade) from this
year to next year. Praise God! The more students enrolled at LCHKS schools, the
more students that will be exposed to the Gospel in classes, extracurricular activi-
ties, and visiting short team mission teams.
September and October are traditional celebratory times for Mid-Autumn Festival.
We were able to participate in several fellowship activities to celebrate including
moon cake making, karaoke, BBQ, and ‘glow stick fest’ at LSL.
In November, I will be blessed to begin working at Lui Cheung Kwong College
(LCKC). On the 8th we participated in a worship concert to introduce ourselves to
the student body. I will be helping to plan student fellowship for Form 1 (7th
grade) students on Wednesday afternoons beginning in November along with inte-
grating English into classes on Friday afternoons. Teaching has been going great “Every good and
at all of our schools. Everyday I am in awe of all the wonderful opportunities God
perfect gift is from
places in front of me.
We celebrated the 5th anniversary of Abiding Grace Lutheran Church (AGLC) on above, coming
October 10th. AGLC is located inside of Concordia Lutheran School North Point down from the Fa-
(CLSNP) and the congregation is made up of a lot of students and alumni of
ther of the heavenly
CLSNP. We had a great time being able to celebrate the growth and outreach
they have experienced in the last five years! lights, who does not
On the 17th, we welcomed 456 people into Holy Word Lutheran Church (HWLC) change like shifting
for a special event with famous Hong Kong singer Agnes Chan. Agnes both sang
and spoke at the event and the Lord helped her touch the hearts of the people
shadows. He chose
attending in an awesome way! to give us birth
We began teaching an “Introduction to Jesus” lesson to our P.4 and P.5 students through the word of
last week. The lessons have prompted questions and curiosities that are incredible
and opens the door to take the next step in conversation with them. Please pray
truth, that we
for these students as the Lord works through our words to touch their hearts. might be the kind of
The Lutheran Church — Hong Kong Synod (LCHKS) will celebrate their 60th anni- first fruits of all he
versary on the 31st. We praise God for the past 60 years and the work ahead of
our AWESOME God within the LCHKS.
created”
Blessings to you! James 1:17, 18
 October 2009
LCMS World Mission
800-433-3954
www.lcmsworldmission.com
mission.info@lcms.org
Learn more about the work of
LCMS World Mission in Asia:
www.lcmsworldmission.org/asia
Contact Info
megan.birney@lcms.org
Postal mail can be sent to:
Miss Megan Birney
Concordia English Center (Tuen Mun)
Lutheran Tsang Shing Siu Leun School
P.S. No. 5 Butterfly Estate, Tuen Mun, N.T.
Hong Kong
Check out my blog:
acrossanoceansizedlove.blogspot.com
Visit my project page:
www.lcms.org?13343
Download my prayer card:
www.lcmsworldmission.org/prayercards
Access my photo albums:
picasaweb.google.com/megaroonski
If you would like to receive this newsletter electronically, please e-mail me at megan.birney@lcms.org!
Prayer Requests
“For this reason, I kneel before the Father…” Eph. 3:14
• That God would continue to open eyes and ears for our EFL ministry in HK; for opportunities
to speak the Gospel in a meaningful way to the 1500+ students we interact with each week.
• Praise for the significant enrollment increase for next year at both LSL & LCK!
• Strength, courage, and love to share His grace with the people of Hong Kong.
• Our lunch ministry at CLSNP; that the students who come to practice English conversation
will continue coming and be open to learning about the Gospel.
• Praise for Abiding Grace Lutheran Church; they celebrated their 5th anniversary on 10/10!
• That the Lord would continue to be prevalent in the lives of the Fluegge family. Praise for
providing funding through their support raising efforts in the US. Prayers for their travel and
transition to Pretoria, South Africa on 11/11!
• For the Lutheran Church - Hong Kong Synod (LCHKS); that the Lord would continue blessing
the efforts of the LCHKS in growing God’s kingdom.
Praise that the LCHKS is celebrating it’s 60th anniversary this month 10/31!
• The students & professors at the CLET in Dapaong, Togo; that God would steady their
hearts to pursue their calls to leadership training in serving the Lutheran Church bodies of
West Africa.
• My CUNE Family Life Ministry graduate program.
• My fellow LCMS long-term missionaries serving internationally, for the opportunity &
strength to live out Christ’s love through service around the world.
• For the hearts of those needing to know the grace of our great God
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! We spent two weeks celebrating mid-autumn
festival this past month. 9/26: We celebrated by making our own moon
cakes with the youth at Abiding Grace Lutheran Church (picture below
with our very own lanterns!). 9/30: We celebrated with the parents, stu-
dents, and teachers at Lutheran Siu Leun School which involved eating
more moon cakes, karaoke, and games; it . Mid-Autumn day was 10/3
and we celebrated with a BBQ on the beach during our service trip.