Greetings (January 2001)| Letter (June 2003)

Greetings from the Zimmermans in Hong Kong

Dear Friends,
Ted and I greet you from Hong Kong. Not only are you in our thoughts, but also the people of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hong Kong and the Lutheran Theological Seminary keep you in their thoughts an prayers. The September 11 atrocity has been on the front pages of our newspapers and our minds here these last couple weeks.

At this point, Hong Kong people begin to make plans for the big holiday next weekend celebrating both the traditional Mid-Autumn festival and the newer government holiday for China's National Day. It will be a four-day weekend here, so people take the opportunity to travel into China to visit relatives or just relax.

The Seminary semester is now fully underway. There are 60 new students mostly from Hong Kong, and also from Viet Nam, Myanmar (Burma), India, Korea, Finland, USA and China. These students join the almost 200 students continuing their studies. The continuing students are also mostly from Hong Kong, but some are from Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Macao. Ted says that when he walks into a classroom, he decides which language to speak depending on the students there. Usually the language of instruction is English because there are often several international students present.

Ted is no longer Dean, so he has time to teach a couple more courses and to do some new things for the seminary. One of those is being the liaison with the English-speaking churches here in Hong Kong. The new Dean is Dr. Simon Chow, a graduate of this seminary with his doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden. He and his wife live next door to us and his wife is a missionary for the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Our own family is doing well. We include a picture from this summer when we were all gathered here in Hong Kong (Editor's Note: the picture is posted on the bulletin board in the narthex). Our oldest son has graduated from college and is here in Hong Kong exploring various career directions. Sarah and Jon are both university students.

As the daily news events unfold, we join the millions around the world who pray for peace for all of us. May we each feel strengthened to do our part to share God's love and care with our neighbors, from those next-door to those around the world.

Ted and Janey Zimmerman

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	P.O. Box 7
	ShaTin, New Territories
	Hong Kong SAR
	June 17, 2003

Dear Friends,

You in the churches with whom we communicate are very important to us. We keep you often in our thoughts. We realize there is diversity and uniqueness to your lives beyond what we can imagine. When we do have the chance to talk with some of you at congregational meetings, Ted and I find that very rewarding.

This past Sunday afternoon, Ted and I attended the ELCHK (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hong Kong) Mission Festival. The Lutheran church body in Hong Kong has a missionary family serving in Thailand and a family ready to go to Fiji as soon as the visas arrive. Also, many ELCHK congregations send groups to places in China and Southeast Asia for short-term mission outreach. The seminary where Ted teaches sends students to neighboring countries for mission trips.

It reminded us of what Carl Braaten says about the sending church needing to be in mission as much as any receiving church. A church that experiences the good news necessarily responds not only with loving service, also with sharing that good news sensitively and contextually with one's neighbors. Money is not enough. People are needed for mission to happen. People do the communicating and the caring. People cross the cultural boundaries with the message that God's love transcends geographical lines.

The ELCHK Mission Festival made that very clear. Ted was there merely in his role as one of the members of the ELCHK Mission Committee and the former New Testament professor of many of the younger pastors. It was a joy to be aware of the commitment of the pastors and members of the ELCHK to mission.

Actually, this is not a new part of the ELCHK. It was the Tenth Annual Mission Festival and many of the pastors had been part of the original mission committee 25 years ago. One of the oldest pastors, Pastor Jia came that afternoon despite multiple difficulties including recovery from a stroke. His passion for the church not only nurtured many of the current ELCHK pastors, butshines through in his love for mission.

May we each know and share in that passion for mission as we live out our faith in our daily lives.

Sincerely,

Ted and Jane Zimmerman

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