Yesterday was Labor Day, a public holiday; I went hiking with some members of the Yan On Free Methodist Church. We climbed uphill and downhill for 5 hours. Among us there were 3 little girls around 5-6 years old. They walked all the way on their own, of course with a lot of encouragement, with the goal of having ice cream and a hamburger at MacDonald's after we had finished the hiking. Finally, they did have ice cream. And as for some ladies and me, we had afternoon tea and durian. I did not mind walking a long way on smooth mountain tracks, but I didn't like the rough slope up and down. When we went down the slope, my two feet were shaking! It was a real laboring day! Fortunately, it was cloudy but with a very good breeze. I enjoyed the hills and the green grass, and it brought me back to Psalm 23.

Many people are afraid to go shopping or abroad because of SARS; therefore many people go to the suburbs. The suburbs are clean because people are tidy and put all the garbage into the trashcans. SARS has trained HK people to become more hygienic and clean.

In HK, many people are quite frustrated because of SARS, and so am I, because the Asia Regional Sitting and APFMMA meetings, trips to Taiwan , Mainland China and other trips are cancelled. Because of the cancellation of the APFMMA meeting, we lost the deposit of HK$9,000 (US$1,153) on the campground, and the Asia Regional Sitting lost more than US$1,200. I was very unhappy with that. The second thing that I was not happy about was that the headman in some leprosy villages advised us not to visit or do wound care and eye care because the patients there are not strong enough to fight the virus.

All nurseries, kindergartens, and primary schools have stopped all classes for more than 6 weeks. For the nurseries and kindergartens, some parents have not paid school fees for April, and do not want to pay for May. Therefore, about 200 kindergartens have to close down and dismiss their staff because so many parents do not want to pay the school fees. Our Chun Lei Nursery (where Yan On Free Methodist Church is located) will be in serious condition in May. Please pray for this, and also for the managing committee.

However, there is a very good effect because of SARS. Hong Kong is cleaner, people's hearts are warmer, and neighbors are friendlier. Many medical doctors and nurses, medical staff, Red Cross people, and ambulance personnel say that they have found again the mission and satisfaction in medical service in this critical period; and they will serve HK people with their heart and life, not for money. Many people donate money to the hospitals for buying facemasks and other protective equipment for the doctors and nurses.

In our office, we are going home an hour earlier so that we do not need to fight the rush hour, and also can have more time to rest, regain strength, and more time to clean our houses! All things work together for good!

I am now planning for the trip to the US the end of May to visit some churches and friends. However, I am advised by friends to delay the trip until the end of June for the General Conference in Seattle , with the hope that by that time there will be no more spread out of SARS in Hong Kong . They worry that I might be kept in quarantine at the airport upon arrival, or at the worst, I might be a virus carrier without knowing it, because the incubation of the virus is about 10 days. They say that I have to be considerate for the people there. Maybe I should delay the trip.

Please continue to pray for God's mercy on Hong Kong at this time of SARS, as well as pray for Beijing and Taiwan . SARS is still spreading out and there seems no sign of it stopping in a short time.

Thank you for your prayer for the gastritis. My stomach does not hurt in the night now, and I can sleep well now. And I find that eating just a small amount of very soft food is good for my stomach; otherwise it still hurts. This is really a "thorn" for me.

An URGENT prayer request

please pray for the surgery and recovery of GRACE FU, who has found A TUMOR about 3 cm IN HER BRAIN last week and will have surgery on Monday May 5. This is very sudden to us and also a blow too. Grace is a very good worker from Hong Kong working with Ruth Winslow in the leprosy village. Pray for wisdom of the doctors, God's healing and protection too, because there are SARS patients in the hospital.

In God we trust,

Polly