Officers Serving Overseas – Majors Glenn and Julia Price (Hong Kong)
The Australia Territory has 32 Aussie officers serving overseas, one at International Headquarters in London but based in Australia, and 10 overseas officers serving in different appointments here. Over the coming months, Global Focus will feature many of these officers – who they are, where they’re serving, the joys and challenges they face and what life looks like for them in their unique corners of The Salvation Army world.
Majors Glenn and Julia Price left Australia in December 2023 with their sons Matvei, 13, and Nikita, 18, to take up new appointments in the Hong Kong and Macau Territory as of 1 January 2024 – Julia as Protection Coordinator for Children and Vulnerable Adults and Spiritual Life Development Secretary, and Glenn as Secretary for Business Administration. Glenn and Julia (who is originally from Russia) previously spent over 10 years serving in Eastern Europe. Salvos Online journalist KIRRALEE NICOLLE recently caught up with them to find out how their new life is going.
How have you found living in Hong Kong, particularly after so much experience in Eastern Europe?
It’s a very different culture! With our history of living in Russia and Australia for such long periods of time, we had never imagined ourselves living in Asia. We speak fluent Russian and English, so we have always felt very comfortable using those languages, but now we are trying to learn Cantonese and it is a very challenging language to learn. On the street, English is not spoken very frequently here, so we are finding ways to adapt. I (Glenn) have been learning to use a translation app to carry out tasks like buying groceries – I used it to find garlic the other day! We’ve also been adapting to working alongside others who don’t share our languages. Our church services and church songs are also entirely in Cantonese, and often a kind person will translate to English for us.
Can you tell me a little bit about your roles and what your work days look like?
Glenn: I’m Secretary for Business Administration, which might sound like a boring job, but I enjoy it! We will typically start our day with the Territorial Morning Prayers/Chapel for 15 minutes, then I will go to my office and start going through my emails, which are always full. I oversee nine departments including our Finance Department, Recycling Program (like Salvo Stores/Family Stores), Booth Lodge (a TSA hotel), Communication and Fundraising, Design Media Department and trade initiatives. The list goes on! Something interesting is that we use signed bank cheques here often, so a part of my job is signing a big stack of cheques. It’s a very administrative role, and I think one for which God has been preparing me for many years. That is something I have become very confident in – that God uses everything in our lives to prepare us for what is next, and that he is currently preparing me through this role as well.
Julia: I am working as a Protection Coordinator for Children and Vulnerable Adults as well as a Spiritual Life Development Secretary. The main way to sum up my work is that it is all about people. We have 35 schools including childcare centres, nurseries and kindergartens. We also have centres for the elderly, and work with those with disabilities as well, so there are many in a vulnerable category. My other role as Spiritual Life Development Secretary provides the opportunity to engage with the officers on regular basis and teach our cadets. It is a beautiful reminder that we are not just an International NGO here, we are ‘salvation’ people who want to maintain focus on Jesus and bring hope, love and joy to the community.
Can you tell me about some of the day-to-day things that have changed for you since moving such as your living arrangements, transport and school. What do those look like for you?
We no longer live in the western suburbs of Sydney in a house with a green lawn outside, with fresh air blowing and cockatoos screeching in the morning. We live right in the heart of a city on the 13th floor of the same building we work in and take a lift down a few floors to our offices each day – the Territorial Headquarters for Hong Kong and Macau. Apartments here are typically quite small, and we have adjusted to new living conditions. Glenn’s day starts at 5.30am each weekday and he takes our younger son Matvei to school on the Metro to commence school at 7.40am. Nikita keeps busy studying the Cantonese language on the Hong Kong Island. His lessons are on weekdays, and he studies in a small group. Glenn will also often play darts at home with our sons as a way to continue the tradition of something we did before we lived in Hong Kong. Julia has been baking bread for 18 years, and it’s a tradition she continues here as well, partly for that continuity and also because bread here is very different and the cost is so high. Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. For instance, one litre of fresh local milk here costs the equivalent of $5 AUD.
Are there other things about Hong Kong that Australian readers may not realise?
The history here is phenomenal. It is so vast and deep, and fascinating to see it so well-preserved, such as the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre just near The Salvation Army Headquarters. One thing that is interesting is there is very little grass here. Apart from maybe some small bushes, there is little greenery and lots of buildings. The incredibly large population and concrete setting means there is also very little quiet time. There appears to be no silence or solace from the passing taxis, buses and millions of people. Julia wrote in her devotional journal soon after we arrived, “Lord, there is no quiet time. How can people stop and hear your voice?” But it is beautiful, and God is everywhere, in both the noise and the quietness.
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