July 4th

So Independence Day was a normal work-day here in Hong Kong. I continued researching some interesting visa issues before we quit early at 5pm. Many of the Americans in the building got together in the 6th floor chapel to sing some patriotic songs and celebrate our nation’s founding. We sang hymns 338, 339, 60, 30, and 340. It was a powerful experience and gave me an opportunity to reflect. A friend recently described me as ‘tender,’ which was kind. A more appropriate description would probably have been ‘a crier’ or something along those lines, at least when I’m touched by the Spirit or something related to my family. Well, the Star Spangled Banner got to me. We sang all three verses and my mind was running the whole time. I thought of the history of the song and the amazing events that inspired its coming forth, our fellow Americans in harm’s way throughout the world, and then the liberty we have as Americans. The freedoms to worship as we choose, travel freely, elect our leaders, and protection in our thoughts/speech/actions even when they aren’t shared by most others are things which have taken on new meaning to me yet again. Lots of my work deals with issues that come to the Church because we are in a disadvantaged position legally. Asia is not Christian (except for the Phillipines, but even there the Catholics give us troubles) and our Church struggles like many other Western religions here to gain acceptance on many levels. Members throughout Asia don’t often have legal protections for their beliefs and face discrimination much more severe than we face today in the US. The whole experience just made me so grateful again to be an American. I am free to think, speak, and worship as I chose. Those mean a lot more when you see life up close where that isn’t the case. We finished our little service with a prayer of gratitude for the blessings of being American and I said ‘Amen’ as fervently to that prayer as any before.

To finish the night off we went to Fat Angelo’s for dinner (Italian on Independence Day?). It was a lot of fun and I got to know a few more of the senior couples that are serving here in Hong Kong. July 4, 2007, I was in India volunteering at camp in the middle of nowhere. When I’m in the USA for 4 July 2008 I’m going to enjoy it!

PS I lost one of my four contacts Monday night. Sadly it was one of the hard ones I don’t have replacements for with me so I’m going to be wearing my glasses for the next week or two until I can get a new one mailed to me. Also, I didn’t take my camera to the festivities Friday, so no pictures. Sorry!