While in Canada, we were able to visit with old friends from Hong Kong who have recently moved to Canada. It was such a joy to reconnect with Angel and Chup from the Hong Kong Church of God and Sandra and Bernard Hui, whose daughter went to school with Marco. Both families resettled in Toronto this past summer.
Amidst the laughter and memories, we talked a lot about cultural adjustments and adapting to a new lifestyle and worldview-things our family has had to navigate constantly. But a lot of our time was spent talking about the increasingly difficult situation in Hong Kong as the Chinese Communist Party curtails the city's freedoms.
Thus far, we have friends from Hong Kong who have emigrated to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Taiwan, and the United States. All are concerned about the clampdown on freedom of speech, on the Cantonese language, on the educational system, and on media. Many are questioning whether they can continue to raise their children in Hong Kong. We will be trying to visit with some of these families that God put in our lives. Our work travels often take us to the places where they have settled, which is wonderful. With our experience in helping families adapt to new cultures, perhaps this is a new way God wants to use us in the coming years. We love working with immigrants, and migration is expected to increase all around the world.