How the Dream Began

It seemed like forever since we had lived and worked in Hong Kong. That was particularly true when I heard from Ilene Bertschman that a group from the Church at the Crossing, in Indianapolis, was going back to help the church with renovation of a new facility.As she shared about the trip, I said, "I would love to go back to see the church, but I am in the middle of residency training at Methodist Hospital (in Indianapolis) and there is no way I could afford it on the stipend that I am receiving this year."The next week, Ilene told me that the church would pay 1/2 of the cost of my trip. Wow! I wasn't sure if I could take 10 days off in the middle of my unit. I checked with the coordinator of the program and she agreed to let me go. I couldn't believe it.

I needed to give the group (going to Hong Kong) a response in one week if I was going . The problem was that I did not know from where the rest of the funds would come. Talking to Tim Broyles, the mission pastor at the Church at the Crossing, he said, "I believe the Lord is wanting you to go and he will work out this need." I stepped out in faith.

I wrote letters to a few former churches that had supported us when we were missionaries in Hong Kong. I received responses from the Maiden Lane Church of God in Springfield and a few members from the congregation in Bedford, IN where I had pastored. The funds had been supplied and the dream began.

Partners in His Service

Details of the Trip

The trip starts Friday morning November 2, 2007 from Indianapolis at 9:43 AM taking us to Chicago where we will catch our next flight that will fly non-stop to Hong Kong. We leave at 12:16 PM and arrive in Hong Kong on Saturday afternoon Novevember 3, 2007 at 4:55 PM Hong Kong time (HK is 12 hours ahead of EST which will make our arrival Saturday morning 4:55 AM - 16 hours of flight time!!!).

I will be heading back to Indianapolis from Hong Kong on Sunday November 11, 2007. Leaving Hong Kong at 11:40 AM, I arrive in Chicago at 11:49 AM that same day. (the tail winds must be really strong, don't you agree!) If memory serves me right from our travels as missionaries, the actual time in the air will be about 14 hours coming back. I will be traveling back alone because the other three men in our group - Tim Broyles, David Brown and Russ Jones will be stopping in Osaka Japan for a short visit.

Between these two flights will be a wealth of experiences that I can only imagine. I plan to spend time with the local pastor and his wife, Edmund and Lisa Leung. Edmund and Lisa were high school students when we started working in Hong Kong. Lisa was my translator when I preached at the church. I mentored Edmund who felt the call to ministry while I was in Hong Kong and received seminary training after I left. Lisa has been diagnosed with three tumors behind her eyes and nose that are inoperative. She is 34 years old. Edmund is the pastor of a church that had 45 members when I left and now has grown to over 200.

I want to connect with Jamie and Patrick Nachtigall, missionaries to Hong Kong and their son, Marco. Our church in Bedford was their largest supporter for the past 7 years. I hope to visit the International Christian School that I had helped start in Hong Kong. We had 200 students for grades K-12. Now they have three separate schools for these grades and the enrollment has grown greatly. Some of our missionary friends are still living in Hong Kong. There is a possibility that I could visit a program in Hong Kong related to Clinical Pastoral Education (chaplain training) to observe the similarities and differences from the program we have here at Clarian Health Partners, in Indianapolis.

So many possibilities. I have not tried to schedule the trip from Indianapolis but go allowing God to work out these arrangements and to be present with those I will meet. It has been said that the Devil is in the details, but I can't help but believe that the Lord is in the details of this trip. I am eager to discover and experience the trip that He is planning.

Partners in His Service,

Alan