Slowing Down: From Hong Kong to Canada | Trinity Talks Podcast

Good morning everyone and welcome to this week's

episode of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla and

I'm glad that you are tuning in this week. We

are sitting down with a couple of folks who have

been at Trinity for a little while but I want

to hear more about their story of coming from

Hong Kong to Canada and how that has shaped their

faith and their understanding of our life here

together. So thank you so much for joining me

on the podcast, folks. Hello. You're welcome.

Thank you, Kyla. Yeah. For having us. Oh, I'm

glad to do it. So maybe I'll just get you to

start by introducing yourselves a little bit.

Do you want to start here? My name is Chivas.

Chivas, last name Chu. I came to Canada over

45 years. Okay. Since 1979, I came here with

my family. And like, I mean here, I were in here,

you know, the first few years going to high school,

and then university, and then work. Yeah. And

then having my family. Okay. Until now. Okay,

great. My name is Marian Chu. I came to Canada

because I have to marry my husband. Okay. I came

here in 95. Yeah. Okay. 85. 85. Yeah, 85. So

I have been here for 40 years. Okay, that's awesome.

And what was your sort of first impression of

Canada? Yeah, for each of us. My first impression?

Pretty boring. Okay. Back then, you know, there's

not as much, you know, like entertainment. Sure.

And the place is too big. Okay. I mean, you know,

like in Hong Kong, back in Hong Kong, you know,

everything is so cozy. You know, you go downstairs,

you can grab things to eat, you know, you can

do all kinds of things you want. Sure. But in

Canada, you have to take the bus or whatever

to go somewhere. And it's so far away. Everything

is magnified by 10 times or more. So it takes

me a while, maybe over a year to get used to

it. But after that, everything falls into routine.

And then I will say, hmm, you know, not bad.

You know, this place is pretty good. I guess,

you know, like at that time, you know, I can

really speak well in English. So I'm a bit nervous

or shy, you know. But later on, you know, like

I start to, you know, become very familiar with

things and make me feel. Maybe, you know, because

Chief was taking care of me, so he got his experience

already. And he just showed me around when I

went to study. I worked on my English and then

went to the ESL class. I went to college. And

I find that it is a nice place to raise a family.

I would say Canada at that time is totally different

from Hong Kong. It's not as busy. The people

are friendly. And it's so easy to find a job

at that time. Yeah, so Canada was sort of less

busy than Hong Kong, and for you at first maybe

it was a little bit boring, but for you it was

a nice change of pace, right? Yeah, yeah. For

sure. Because I, you know, I get over that hurdle

in a harder way, and she get over that hurdle

with you. Yeah, for me it's like because, you

know, like he's my guide. Right. So, you know,

he just... helped me to you know to went through

all the you know all the hardship right you know

like he knows you know what what's the next step

to do you know make your life easier you know

right so you know i'm glad that you know he was

here first yes husband yes yes yes you were telling

me before you knew each other as teenagers in

hong kong right um and then you shivas you came

to canada with your family And then went back

to marry Marion. Yes. And then came together.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I think during

that, like the beginning, early, you know, time

in Canada, I spent most of the time at school.

OK. And and that's where I learned to know all

my friends. Right. And at that time, you know,

I find out the education system is good, you

know, in Canada. And it still is today, you know.

But that gives us a lot of opportunity in terms

of work, you know. You just have to meet the

certain credentials. Sure. Then, you know, you

can easily get into the job you want. Right.

Yeah. Today is a little bit different. Sure.

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's good. Yeah And

when did you folks come to Trinity? How long

have you been here now? We came last Easter.

Okay, so just over a year now. Yes, okay And

so what brought you to Trinity what why did you

want to start coming here or how did you hear

about it Marion? I think we've been we've been

going to our Chinese Anakin Church for over 10

years. And then all of a sudden, you know, we

find that we need a change. We want to explore

more. We want to know more about Anakin Church.

What's the difference? And we need our, you know,

our spiritual growth. So, you know, I talked

to Jesus, you know what, should we go to, you

know, to visit other churches and see what we

can get or we can expect? or we can learn. Right.

And then we find that, oh, okay, we should maybe,

you know, go to the neighborhood. You know, like

in Miss Saga. So, and then we find Trinity. Yeah.

Okay. And yeah, I think we, Marianne already

said, we been in, you know, like a Chinese Anglican

church. over I would say about 14 years, you

know, and I always want to, it's always in my

mind, I always want to find out what the mainstream

Anglican Church is like. Aside from a Chinese,

you know, Anglican Church. This is always, you

know, something I want to explore. Sure. So we

are discussing, you know, like whether which

church we should go to in the mainstream, right?

We have St. Peter's on Mississauga Road and Dundas,

you know, and this other church on Lake Shore,

you know, but all of a sudden we said, hey, I

remember Haseo McCallion, yes, one of the, you

know, politicians, former mayor, mayors in Mississauga,

someone I really respect. And I remember someone

told me, you know, she, she, she was, uh, um,

you know, African also. So I wondering where,

which church she goes to, right? Then I find

out Trinity. Okay. You know, which is very close

to my home too. So here we go. You know, that's

why we come in. And, uh, when I first came into

this church, I find this church is quite different.

Yes. It's very, welcoming. It's a welcoming church.

People carrying a smile on their face all the

time. And this cannot be hide. You know, it's

expressed from inside out. Okay. So you can't

lie. And also, you know, like I, you know, why

I stay in this church for almost a year now is

because, you know, I like the worship, the Sunday

worship. That's one thing. the format is untraditional

you know the evangelical format is I think is

very suitable for not just myself but for the

newcomers who are non -christian yeah yeah you

know And the atmosphere is church, you know,

like bring the peoples together. And that's make

me feel really good about it. Yeah, make me feel

comfortable too. Yeah, that's awesome. So even

though, you know, when we're new, we don't feel,

you know, like a stranger. We feel like a very,

like as he said, you know, well, like, you know,

a warm welcoming. People are very like friendly.

Yeah. and yeah you don't feel like you know you're

outsider yeah yeah that that you know like i

i like that feeling yeah yeah for sure and add

to that is you know the church from what i i

heard and i saw is church also trying to reach

out to the communities right help the people

in need like world vision and also help the people,

you know, like in the community, you know, whoever

in need, trying to give the extra hand, you know,

for what they really need. So that, again, you

know, it makes so much sense for nowadays church,

what every church should do. Sure, yeah. It's

interesting to me that you said you wanted to

sort of understand what The mainline Anglican

churches are like, and then you come and end

up at Trinity, which is kind of a mainline Anglican

church, but it doesn't look like any of the other

Anglican churches. Yeah, the culture. Yeah. The

culture, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you sort of spanned

a lot of different sort of expressions of Anglicanism,

which I think is cool. Yeah. And I'm glad. I'm

so glad that, you know, Anglican is going down

this path because I think in today's world, I

mean, don't get me wrong, liturgy is good because

I know there's a lot of good reason and good

explanations why we're doing that behind it.

So as long as you understand it, then you will

say, oh, it makes so much sense. I mean, you

also have to take care of the other part of the

people who are not, you know, like Christian

yet. And you know, you want them to first, you

know, try to let them come to the church first.

Then once they settle in, once they start to,

they want to explore more about this religion,

then it's the time for them to... to understand

you know at that stage sure not too early yeah

yeah so i feel that i i can tell you kind of

uh when i first went to that um uh chinese church

yeah i thought oh my goodness i went to a wrong

church i went to a catholic church okay i want

i say i want to i want to leave you know not

sure i don't like catholic you know but i because

i was a christian christian you know i wanted

to go to a christian church so um then I find

out all Anglican have all kind of liturgy in

their worship. Yeah, and I think there's different

entry points for different people, right? Like

some people really appreciate the liturgy. I

appreciate a liturgical service and there are

some people that when they're going to a church,

that's what they're looking for, right? But then

there's other people... who this, yeah, they

want a more contemporary or they want a different

sort of way of doing church. Yeah, so it's cool

that we get to have all of the different options.

We see both sides. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah.

So you both went to church in Hong Kong as well,

right? Yeah. So how has your experience of church

in Hong Kong been different than your experience

of church in Canada? The context of the church

activities is more or less the same. The size

is different, because Hong Kong is smaller, so

that you have a smaller group of people in the

church. You say maybe a hundred people in 2000

square feet of space, whereas here you have maybe

a few hundred people in a few thousand square

feet of space. The scale is smaller. Okay. He

is bigger. Okay. But hey, you know, when we were

teenagers, we go to Sunday school, you know,

and we go to cell group, the fellowship. Yeah.

And we also have, you know, go to worship every

Sunday, you know, we have summer retreat, you

know, that kind of thing. Yeah. So it's very

similar. I mean, like Hong Kong is, you know,

as far as religion. You know, you can go to any

religions you want. It's very free to do so.

So it's not much different from Canada. Okay,

okay. And you know, like anytime the church is

open in Hong Kong as well as in Canada. Sure.

Like anything else in the world. But you know,

like so really there's not a lot of difference

in my opinion. In your opinion. What about for

you Marion? I think more or less the same. But

I find that you know, like here, you know, like

you do more, you know, like reach out to the

community. So, you know, you support the community.

So it's a little bit different from in Hong Kong.

Okay. That's how I feel. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Interesting.

And in Hong Kong, the church was in Cantonese

or in Cantonese. And we were talking a little

bit before about, you know, the difference in

the languages and trying to come to church in

English and how maybe that was a bit of a challenge.

At the beginning, yeah. Because, you know, like

when we were little, you know, we learned Bible

in Chinese. So, you know, it is different. As

you said, you know, the language in Bible, it

is not like a modern language. Right. It's a

little bit hard. And then come to, you know,

to Canada to read the Bible in English. We have

to translate. back to, you know, like Chinese.

Right. So it's really a challenge at that time.

Yeah. So now, you know, maybe we, we more familiar

with, you know, the English version. So we find

that, you know, it's not as difficult as before.

Right. Right. But yeah, definitely a shift at

the beginning. Yes. And also I find out something

very funny. Before when I read the Bible in Chinese,

I find out that the description is very explicit.

No, it's not very explicit. It gets to the point,

very real meaning. Okay. More in Cantonese? In

Cantonese. In Chinese. But, on the other hand,

when I read the Bible in English, I find out,

huh. They use a very simple word, but get to

the point too, get the point out too. Okay. Right.

So for example, like now I start using, you know,

like for example, there's, what's his name? Eugene

Peterson? Yes. the messages, that book. I use

that book to correlate, you know, when I read...

Ah, interesting, okay. When I read the Chinese

Bible, and sometimes if something I don't understand,

I will look at his book in English. So it makes

me feel easier, or I can get the message a little

bit easier, you know. And I say, hey, you know,

they use so simple English and then can express...

and that's really you know like something I explore

you know myself and I find it interesting yeah

yeah for sure and the message Bible that translation

specifically is is really meant to be easy and

direct and that sort of thing so yeah I think

that's a good a good kind of pairing yeah you

know what nowadays with all the apps you know

it helps a lot yeah and you know and also so

many different Source that you can get right,

you know get more information or help to understand

the Bible, right? Yeah, in addition to coming

to church. Mm -hmm. Yeah So how do your you think

your experience as immigrants has shaped your

faith or shaped your understanding of of God

Do you want to start Marian? I would say because

it's not as busy in your life. Mm -hmm. So, you

know give you like time to think, I would say.

I would say, you know, you have more time to

do your things. It's not like, you know, you're

always in a fast pace. You don't have your own

time. Right. So now, you know, I find in Canada,

it just is more relaxed. And Sunday, you know,

you're off. So, you know, you can go to church.

You don't have any... like work you have to worry

like before in Hong Kong you know like because

I find it you know always busy busy in your life

so in Canada you know you you you at least you

know at least you know have day that you know

you can go to church right yeah yeah I I think

my wife got a good point about the life here

it's not as busy or as rush as the life in Hong

Kong. You know, it's just the nature, the culture.

Sure. You know, and I think, you know, you probably

have a bit of more of your time to think about

the religion, to think about what the view of

the religion's christianity is all about, and

that makes a difference. Sure. Even though, like

I would say when my wife and myself used to be,

we go to church, you know, we don't feel anything

in depth, also because we're teenagers at the

time. Sure, yeah. And one thing I want to point

out here is also, like we went to church, we

met at church when we were teenagers, then when

Marianne came to Canada and I came to Canada,

There's a period of time that we didn't go to

church until, you know, 14 years ago. And that's

the time that, you know, we start, you know,

understand more about Christianity. I would say

before, you know, we don't know. We don't really

get the real meaning about what Christianity

is. But I believe the seed, the seed. had been

in my heart. Sure. And it just didn't grow until

after so many years. Yeah, yeah. So now, you

know, when we're getting to a certain age, then

we say, okay, you know, thanks God. Yeah. We

start to know more and more about Him. And build

a better and better relationship with God. Yeah,

so you said there was a period of time where

you weren't going to church, and then about 14

years ago you started going again. So what prompted

you to want to go back to church again? Well,

you know what? I believe God has his own timetable.

And it's not what I want to do. And it's what

he wants to do. And if he wants you, my son,

or you, Mary, and my daughter, come back to me.

He has different ways to get you back. Sure.

You know, by the way, Marianne was baptized in

Canada. Okay. And in the Anglican Church that

where she really belongs to before. And I just

know, you know, like some God, you know, really

he has his plan. Yeah. On each one of us, you

know. you know, when he'd say, hey, you know,

you've been away for so long. Come back. Come

back. Yeah. Then, you know, he is that. Yeah.

Yeah. A different way that, you know, who will

bring you back to him. Yeah. It's interesting.

Yeah. It just felt like the right time. Yes.

Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, and you were

also telling me before you have one son. Yes.

Who now lives in Hong Kong, right? Yes. Yeah.

And I was saying to you, you know, that might

feel really hard, but Marion, you said it may

be a little bit hard, but you're sort of at peace

with it. Yes. Yeah. And, you know, it's a surprise

to you, you know, we came to Canada, you know,

we decided to have family here. Yeah. And then,

like, you know, like my son was born here. And

after he finished his university, he said, you

know, I want to go to Hong Kong to work. And

it was a surprise to me. Yeah. And I was so worried,

you know, like, because he doesn't know anything

about Hong Kong. Right. We have relatives there.

But when you travel, it's different from you're

living there, right? Right, yeah. But I remember

in Bible, it said, you know, like, you know what?

When he grew up, when your son grew up. He doesn't

know. He doesn't belong to you. So, you know,

you have to find his own life, right? So I said,

okay. And I said, you know, God, I'll leave you

with my beloved son. I know that you will take

care of him and you will prepare a way for him.

So after, you know, I prayed to God and I find

the peace in my heart. He's doing good now, so

I know that God has a plan for him. And I really

feel it. Thank you so much for taking this time

to share a little bit with us. It's been really

encouraging to hear how God has been faithful

in your lives. shows up at all of the right moments,

I think. Yes. I think, you know, when God wants,

like at different time, God will assign different

tasks to us and also lead us to different things.

Anything He wants us to learn, He will make path

for us to make it happen. Sure. And that's why

when we land on Trinity today, we think, you

know, like one things I know, you know, the spiritual

growth is there for us, you know, and the second

thing is probably, you know, trying to make ourselves

more familiar with the church. Right. And, you

know, like the next step is how we're going to

serve in this church because this is one of the

tasks that each one of us as a Christians needs

to do. Right. Yeah. You know. Yeah. and I don't

feel any pressure you know because you know it

is from your heart and you know God will help

us to to make it get it through right so I we

start to learn not to you know the count on ourselves

right not worry too much not to worry and also

you know any things that have haven't happened

don't worry about it you know deal with it one

day at a time sure you know, that's enough. That's

how I see it. Yeah, that's cool. That's such

a good sort of posture of faith, I think, right?

That, yeah, you're demonstrating that you believe

in God, but that belief actually then like shapes

how you see the world, right? And it shapes how

you're even feeling about the world, right? Like

I think a lot of people would really struggle

to sort of let go and let their kids live thousands

and thousands of kilometers away, or to just

trust that God is leading them into the right

space. But you guys are doing that so well. Yeah.

No, and also I think one more thing I think is

very important to share is that there's so many

things around us which is beyond our control.

So, such as politics, right? All those things,

you know, like It's beyond our control. So don't

get too upset or don't get too gung -ho with

all that kind of things. Because if you trust

God, God has plan on everything. So He is the

one who uphold the righteousness. So let Him

do the plan. Let it see how things go and don't

shouldn't really get upset or anything Because

if you trust Him, don't worry too much. I think

that's very good advice. Thank you again both

for sharing your story. And thank you for tuning

in to this week's episode of Trinity Talks. I

hope that you've been able to gather some wisdom,

gather some stories of faith that will inspire

and encourage you throughout your journey ahead.

And we'll see you again next week.