friends discovered many things to do in Hong Kong. A trip up the

mountain on the cable car was scary to Jenny, but the sights of the city

lights below were beautiful. On another day they visited the Tiger Balm

Garden with the many grotesque life-size Buddhist figurines depicting

scenes of what the Buddhists think hell will be like. Seeing these

unusual scenes made the Carltons thankful for their faith in God.

Each morning at the breakfast table the Carltons spent time in prayer

for the Chens, asking God to give each of them the opportunity to share

their faith . They wanted to help their new friends find peace with God.

Often Tim and Ruth had questions about being a Christian and even Mrs.

Chen had begun asking questions of Mrs. Carlton. Only Mr. Chen seemed

disinterested and would quickly change the subject whenever his children

mentioned things they were learning about prayer and the Bible. He

confided in his wife that it might not be good for his business if he

showed too much interest in Christianity.

On their first Sunday, the Carltons attended an English language church

with the Whiteheads. They had invited Tim and Ruth to attend with them,

but the Chens had declined because of a family gathering. Tim and Ruth

were very disappointed, but their parents said it was an important family

day and they could not miss.

Ruth asked Jenny, "Could you and your family pray that we will be able

to go with you next week? I do want to hear more about Jesus, but my

father isn’t sure it is the thing for Buddhists to do."

"Oh, Ruth, we will pray for you. I want you to come with us, too,

because I know you would love this church and the people there. We met a

lot of other children there, and many of them were Chinese children. Some

of their parents are Buddhists, too. We’ll just have to pray that Jesus

will change your Dad’s heart so you and Tim can come with us."

That night the Carltons took some special time to pray for the Chen

family. And they reminded each other that all they had to do was live

like true Christians, and let God do the rest.

Dad then announced that they were in for a special treat the next

evening.

"Mr. Chen has invited our family to join them at the floating restaurant

in Aberdeen Bay. Let’s see, here is a picture of it. Mr. Chen gave it to

me this morning so we would know what we were going to see," he said.

Jack and Jenny leaned over to look at the picture.

"Look at all those little boats around the big one", exclaimed Jenny.

"It looks like a mother hen with her little chicks all around."

"Why, I never thought of it that way," said Dad, "but you’re right,

Jenny. Mr. Chen said these little boats are called sampans, and the

people who own them live on them. That is the only home they have. They

spend their whole lives on the small boats and rarely come ashore to buy

anything."

"But where do they get their food, Dad?" asked Jack.

"Mr. Chen said that some sampans are floating stores. Some sell food

like vegetables and rice. Others sail around among these boats and sell

pots and pans. Why Mr. Chen said there is even a barber on one of these

boats. He just comes by, and if you want a hair cut, you call out to him

and he ties up by your boat. You just step over into his boat and get

your hair cut."

"Boy, that must be something" said Jack. "All you would have to do is

fish all day long and never worry about school."

"That’s where you’re wrong, Jack" said Dad with a big grin. "There is a

large boat out in the harbor where some missionaries have a school and a

chapel. All of the children come to school on the boat and on Sundays,

they go there to church!"

"Isn’t it dangerous for little children," exclaimed Mother in surprise.

"I would be afraid the babies would fall overboard and be drowned."

"You would think so," answered Dad, "but these people tie a rope around

them with a gourd on their back. If they do fall into the water, the

gourd keeps them afloat until someone pulls them back on board with the

rope."

Jenny was fascinated by these boat people, but when Dad said they would

even get to ride one of these boats out to the restaurant, she was really

excited.

"Oh, I can hardly wait for tomorrow to come," she said. "Will Ruth be

going, too?"

"Oh, yes, the whole family will be there. This will be a big outing for

them, too," replied Dad.

Jack had been listening to this whole conversation without saying a

word. Dad turned to him and asked, "What’s the matter, Jack. You haven’t

said a word. Do you think you will get seasick on the sampan?"

That made Jenny laugh, but Jack didn’t think it was funny.

"Of course I won’t get seasick! I was just thinking about something Tim

told me a few days ago. He said his Dad said there used to be a lot of

pirates in Aberdeen before the British came."

Everyone groaned at the word pirates. They all spoke up and told Jack to

forget about pirates for one day.

But Jack persisted: "That’s right. Tim’s Dad said there aren’t any

around now, but he did say there are a lot of smugglers in Hong Kong, and

some of them are in Aberdeen! Now what do you think of that?"

Mother interrupted and asked, "Have you gotten Tim all keyed up about

pirates and smugglers, too? Oh, Jack, I’m afraid you’re going to be very

disappointed because smugglers don’t walk around in broad daylight. And

besides, I hope we never see a pirate or a smuggler!"

Jenny looked reflectively at her brother and wondered what made him

think of pirates all the time. On the other hand, she also remembered

that the conversation about pirates is what opened the door to talking

about prayer.

The whole family was quiet now as Jenny said, "Well Mom, the whole

subject of prayer got started the other day when Jack and Tim got talking

about smugglers and I told them that you were praying that God would

watch over Jack and keep him out of trouble. "Well then," commented Mom,

"Maybe this whole matter of pirates isn’t all that bad after all."

"Yes," confirmed Jack. "Now Tim and Ruth are asking questions about God

and prayer and all kinds of things. Maybe God can even use my interest in

pirates to help Tim and Ruth learn about God."

"Oh, all right, Jack" laughed mother, "but let’s pray that Tim and Ruth

will understand about the gospel without the smugglers."

Dad laughed at that and said, "We’ll just have to trust the Lord to

bring the Chens to the knowledge of Jesus as their Savior, and if we meet

any smugglers in the process, we’ll trust Him to protect us. But now it’s

time for bed. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

Jack went off to bed with a funny feeling that they were going to meet

some smugglers before they finished their vacation. But smugglers or no