6 Cookies

After the Typhoon last week, Sunday, I made beef stew with a borrowed slow cooker.  When I said a slow cooker, I mean it is a SLOW cooker, it took 4 hours for the stew to warm at high!  Anyway, I started making it on Saturday, cooked from 3 to 10 pm on high, then next morning, I have it on medium from 8 to 5 and it was just right, despite the fact that it took so long, it was good, We invited the Normans (Sister Norman is vegan, so Elder Norman was glad to have some meat) and Sister Lee over for dinner.

We have not been able to do much with YSA besides visiting different wards each Sunday.  We are still not quite sure about what to do with communication.  We were glad we are able to take a more of an active role with the FSY program.  We met with the local couple that will be over FSY, Brother Ryan Lee and his wife Callie and Brother Timothy Leung who is over Logistic.  Ted updated the spread sheet on the time line of when things need to be done and I was able to translate (update) the organization chart into Chinese.  The one Salt Lake did was done not quite the same as the English version.  There were assignment made and most of all, the meeting was more effective done in Chinese without having to keep translating it back and forth from English to Chinese etc.  We have wonderful leader to work with.  I was able to type up a summary of our meeting so everyone could follow up... All though years of serving as Stake YW secretary did not go to waste!!!  I was able to get in touch with Sister Hansen in Salt Lake and get a lot of thing going before the end of the week.  It is going to need a lot of training of local leaders and ysa leaders but it will be great for the youth in both Hong Kong and Taiwan.  I anticipate being very busy this next week to get a more accurate timeline going with training, ordering supplies etc!!!  We were able to meet with Elder Kuan who came in from Taiwan for training and he was glad that we will be able to help him with Taiwan; theirs is going to be 800 youth!!!

So why the 6 cookies?  In one of our meeting with Elder Wong, he talks about our callings in related to the areas we are serving, some areas are more ready for the whole program of the church but others are not, so we have to do small thing over a period of time, Sister Beckstead mentioned that they make cookies in their condo over the weekend, the oven is so small, they could only bake 6 cookies at a time.  Elder Wong used this to liken the church in the Asia area, if we were to make American size cookies, we could only bake 6 cookies at a time because of the small oven, verses in America we could make 18 cookies because of larger oven.  In order to make more cookies here, the size of the cookies might have to be smaller so that you could make more at one time.  It is so amazing that we can learn a lesson from baking cookies!

On the training meeting on Friday, Elder Evan shares D&C 31 with us.  It was the section when Thomas B. Marsh was called on his first mission, there are promises made that is applicable to our mission, I have been feeling we are being under use despite of the assignments we were given, We are not having a lot of stuff to keep us busy, We have been praying for more opportunity to help and be of more useful.  This section answered my question and I felt my answer was answered and the Lord is and has been very much aware of our desire to serve:  verse 2 talks of the blessings Heaven Father would provide for our family while we are serving our mission, verse 3 that this is the time for us to serve and verse 9: BE PATIENT ... so I will be patient and continue to pray to have the strength to serve the way that Heavenly Father would have me serve!!!

There are so many tender mercies this week:
We prayed for missionary experiences:  Monday and Tuesday, on the way to home, we were stopped to ask some families why there was a boat coming into the boardwalk, we found out people take those special boat out to open sea to do high stake gambling, we asked where the couple are from and then introduced ourselves and gave them a I am a Mormon card; we were also able to share our testimony a couple times with random people that came into the Chapel thinking they were visiting our temple.  On couple from Chinese seems very genuine, He has a lot of question about God in general, we taught him the first vision, the restoration and gave him a copy of the book of Mormon, taught him to pray and ask that he read and pray about our message.  He is only in Hong Kong for 48 hours but he stopped by our church.  Our message about eternal family impresses them.  We invite them to come back to visit us again when they come back next time.  I so miss being a proselyting missionary!!!

Working on translating and writing in Chinese on the computer has been a challenge.  However, I am surprise how much characters I could remember and I was able to use google translate and MBDG English to Chinese dictionary to help me.  I made a pamphlet folder for us to use when visitor comes to the Chapel.  We are so glad that Elder and Sister Thong has started doing this and we are now able to assist them when they are busy with their assignment.

We have a surprise visit from one of Sister Thong's friend from Seattle, Her name is Virgina Leung.  As we visited, she realizes she knew my mom and dad when they lived in Iowa with David's family.  I was so glad to hear her story and it reminds me that we are all related in one way or another.  She said that she served a mission in Iowa in the last 70's, there was only one Chinese family in the small town she served and it was David and Jennifer and their small family, she remembered visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Chan and knew of their two daughters in Seattle, She had always wanted to meet them but never had a chance.  Some time last July (2016) she went back to Iowa for a visit, the town was still small, she wanted to find the building she lived but it was demolished.  In its place is a big apartment building, she then visited the chiropractic school, the parking lot was big, she decided to park and walk up to the park, she remember the Chan family that was so nice to her when she was a missionary.  As she looked around, she noticed a small pledge on tree next to her that read  "Dedicated to my parents, Wayne and Faye Chan, by David and Jennifer Chan", she was so thrill to now meet me!!! What a small world it is when you are members of the Church!

Friday night, Ted and I was able to have dinner with Auntie Choi-Ying, she is a good friend of Ted's mom, we haven't seen her for over 30 years.  She is 93 years old and is still very fit.  She travels between New York and Hong Kong and then to China 2-3 times a year.  It was so good to visit with her.

Found these two signing on the ferry, Can you tell what they are talking?  Don't think it is ASL!

Elder & Sister Thong (Mulkiteo), Sister Virgina Leung (Seattle)

Walking home late one nigh, forgot how pretty the harbour of Hong Kong is a night.  Can you see the big wheel?

Aunt Choi Ying, she is 93 years old, keeping loading Ted's plate to feed him during dinner!

Gary Lew was one of the AP when I served in Hong Kong, We both served under President Mitchell.

Want to know how to make fried chinese donut?  This is how you do it!

P-day a day early? Or a three days weekend!

Well we encounter the first Typhoon in Hong Kong, actually over the last week, we have had Typhoon 1 warning but it didn't materialize into anything, but this recent one if for real; started Wednesday with "Black rain" and then slowing moved from a T1 warning to T3, then T8 today, Cyclone Haima is coming in from the Phillipine and make landfall around noon, I have to say the Hong Kong Observatory was spot on when they said the heaviest rain and wind would start around noon, the rain and the wind came down hard right around noon, I took a short video for you to enjoy, you could see the rain coming in side way, I could hear the wind right thru the window!!!  The thing about this is that the air is still very warm, there are only limit bus for transportation, and MTR also slow down on their schedule, if we were to go any where, we will have to call Taxi, since most things are closed (school, stock market, stores), there is really no place to go, so we are going to enjoy some netflix today beside updating my blog!!!

We had a busier week.  We started to get some names memorized for the local leader (in Chinese), there are six stakes and quite a few bishops for us to get to know, I make up a chart with pictures and names below it so I could at least half intelligent when we meet them - putting names to faces.  We are working on training material for the couple and logical person who will be in charge of FSY (For The Strength of Youth) program, it is a program like the EFY program and has proven record for countries outside US to be successful with the youth.  We were going to have meeting with them on Thursday but had to cancel because of the Typhoon!  Hopefully, we can get another meeting schedule for the next week.  I find members in Hong Kong are very busy and Sunday seems to be a day they are willing to give since they already in Church.  We finally get hold of Sister Lo (Suzanna) on the phone.  She was very hesitant to meet any other day other than Sunday!

We also got asked by Elder Wong to accompany him to mission tour this week, Elder and Sister Thong usually helped out but Elder Wong asked us to come help him on Thursday, We are so impressed with Elder Wong and the missionaries, Elder Wong is a great teacher and motivator and the missionaries are so great.  In this particular tour, the Elders provided a musical number that I recorded.  The music is written, composed/arranged by Elder Arnett of Vancouver, Washington.  Elder Ledingham and Elder Earls sang.  Elder Wong love the song so much he recorded it (that's why I recorded).  He wants this song sung at his funeral!!!  Elder Wong was so impressed with me because I know how to use his Iphone to record the song when the young missionaries did not!! I have to confess that I could not take the credit; if Brenda did not teach me how to use it to record our talk, I would not have helped Elder Wong!  Thank you, Brenda!  I would share with you the song but I don't know how to upload on here. If you know how to do it, please let me know!

This looks like my wind shield when I am driving, but it is just out of my window.  See closely you can tell the rain is side way!

Later this evening, we invited Charles and Fanny Chan to come over for pot stickers and congee, they live on the 15th floor so we are not breaking mission rule to be out on a T8 day!

This little egg ball is my favorite!

Met Sister Viazzo from Pleasanton, California, Alex Tang is her Stake Counselor

This is an old clip of the ferry, the deck has been pushed out and more buildings, no more rickshaw anymore, but I thought it is cute to see when it was like before!!!

It was a GREAT Sunday!

It has been 3 weeks before we had the opportunity to take the Sacrament.  We had General Conference before we left, then we had General Conference again in Hong Kong when we arrived. I really missed having the opportunity to take the sacrament and renew my covenant.

We had a busy Sunday!! Being assigned to work with the YSA, we decided we need to visit each of the wards in the 6 Stakes - a daunting task, I know but we were determined to do two wards each Sunday.  Since the YSA has a planning meeting for the upcoming Convention in November in Kowloon Tong, we decided to attend the two wards there today.  The two wards are Shum Shui Po and Cheung Sar Wan; their meetings were back to back.  It so happened that the Stake President was visiting in one of the ward so we were able to meet him and he gives us the name of the high counselmen that works with YSA, Later we were able to meet the wife of a couple that has been working with the YSA in the Hong Kong area, they work under the direction of the area Seventy, Zeno Chow, who happened to be best friend with the Millers.  This sister's name is Suzanna Chan and as we talked, we realized she was at BYU Prove in the 80's and remembered Ted!  What a small world.  We plan to have meeting with them sometime this week so we can 'pick their brain' to know in what way we could help the YSA program!!  Then we attended the YSA convention planning meeting, I am at awe at how prepared these young people are!!

Found some friends Ted knew, to the left is Brother and Sister Daniel Poon, Brother Poon served under President Wheat.  Brother and Sister Jacky Lee, whose son Sherman lives in Nancy's (Ted's sister) home when he was studying in San Francisco!

The Spirit has touched us and reaffirmed to us that Heavenly Father is in the details of our life.  The Spirit was especially strong as we listened to President and Sister Patrick Wong who will be finishing their 3 years temple mission in about two weeks.  I am going to attempt to write what I hear their testimony today:

Sister Wong:

The temple is the refuge for us and can answer many of our questions.  A sister from India joined the Church against her family's tradition and was disowned. After her father died, she was allowed to return to live with the family, however, as she decided to receive her endowment in the Hong Kong Temple, her older brother objected but she decided to go anyway, as she was sitting in the temple, getting ready to receive her endowment, she worried if she had made the right decision and that she might be disowned again.  After she received her endowment, she was elated because all her questions were answered and she told Sister Wong afterward that she knew she made the right decision and that she had received revelation regarding her life during the endowment!!  Another incident was about a sister from the Singapore.  This sister was in Hong Kong to take out her endowment before going on a mission, her parents were active members of the church but had since divorced and left the church, the mother had traveled with this sister to Hong Kong, dropped her off while mother was waiting outside in the lobby.  This sister was weary because she was a day late to the temple because of her flight got delayed.  As sister Wong greeted this sister, her heart was heavy and she has no escort with her.   Another sister from Indonesia works in the temple on the same day. She felt she needed to go to the temple early because she needs to borrow some clothing, she arrived at 7:30 in the morning (an hour and a half early).  As she stepped out of the elevator, she met this young lady and was surprised to be greeted by her with a big hug.  As it turned out, this sister from Indonesia was baptized by the father of the sister from Singapore.  This young sister recognized the sister from Indonesia she had met her when she was 10 and was well acquainted until they lost contact with each other.  She asked the Indonesia to be her escort and at the end she was given a phone number of the father and hopefully with renewed contact, there will be a miracle of the father returning to activity!  Sister Wong bear witness that the Lord is very much aware of our need, this meeting is no co-incidence, who would have know a delayed flight and a prompting of going to temple early would resulted in such a reunion!!

President Wong testified the power of the temple and the blessing that came from faithful attendance.  He humbly acknowledged how grateful he was given the opportunity to be an instrument in God's hand and the many miracles that he had seen during his 3 years service.  First, the power of inspiration is true and God is in charge of his House.  He related a story about a family from Indonesia being sealed in the temple, he was washing dishes in his kitchen before starting his shift at the temple when he received a call from his counselor, they were sealing a family but their little son was unconsolable, each time they tried to take him away, he cried harder and harder.  When President Wong come to the family, he was told they had a plan to wait for the little boy to fall asleep before performing the sealing, President Wong returned to his resident to finish doing the dishes when he unmistakably heard a voice:  "you are the President of this temple, you have the authority to command all thing to obey you, you need to do something now!"  He returned quickly to the family waiting room, approved this little boy now being held by his father, this little boy was only two years old.  President Wong walked up to this little boy with out stretched arms, speaking English to him and told him he is a good little boy and asked him to be good, the little boy was calm.  Then President Wong asked the attendances to do the sealing now, as they enter the sealing room, the boy did not cry but was very attentive, President Wong continues to ask him to be good in English, the boy was willing to allow the helper to place his hand on his parent's hand, in fact, he was so comfortable that he actually climbed onto the alter to place his hand on his parents.  When the sealing completed, the Sealer jokingly told President Wong that he was impressed with his authority that even a little two years old obey him!!

Second, President Wong testified that whom the Lord called, He qualified.  He related he had retired and enjoyed retirement, however, after a few months, he was called to work in the temple in Australia, He was able to be trained and prepared to his calling to be temple president.  He was impressed to study the gospels in the New Testament and in the Book of Mormon so he could know Christ better. He said "How can I be the master of His house if I do not know my master!"  As he started his service, he received training for temple president.  His impression is that straight obedience is important.  He was told if he thought he knew better the Brethren, he would probably be released quickly.  A short time after he started his service, he felt impressed to ask the Brethren to allow him to open the temple on Sunday once every quarter to accommodate the Filipino sisters because they could not attend the temple during the week.  This issue weighted heavily on him, he drafted an email to Salt Lake but he was concerned because of the training he received that he might be asking for something that would not be allowed, he was about to delete the email when President from the every day branch knocked on his door.  They visited a little bit and the President expressed to him how grateful he was that they are able to provide an every day branch (Sunday service on weekdays) for the sisters to attend.  President felt this was an answer to his concern, he sent his email to Salt Lake and within two days, his request was granted.  Hong Kong temple become the first temple to open its door one Sunday every quarter to serve those that could not attend during weekdays!

Lastly, he testified that God will bless us as we serve Him diligently and that He hears and answer our prayers!!  His family was blessed while he served in the temple.  One of his daughter (divorced with a young daughter) was able to be married in the Australia temple during his service.  His son-in-law jokingly said that his marriage was because of the righteous prayers of two temple presidents (President Wong and His own father who is the temple President of the Australia temple)!!

President Wong ended his talk by sharing the letter he wrote to his children:  I bear witness that God lives and Temple are indeed Heavenly Father's house.  I did not seen Christ hands but thru services I come to know of his works; I did not see his eyes but I know he watches over me and my family; I did not see his ears, but I know He hears and answers my prayers, I did not see his feet but I can follow the footprints thru his gospel, I did not see his mouth, but I can hear his words thru reading the scriptures and listening the words from the living prophets!

I too would like to bear my testimony that God lives, this is His church and that there are no co-incidents, we need to recognize God's tender mercies in our life, I am so thankful Ted and I can serve Him at this time.  No matter how in-significant or how big, I am thankful I can be part of this great work to help build up His kingdom on the earth.  I know He loves me!!!  

This picture taken in front of the Kowloon Tong Chapel that is across from the Hong Kong Temple.

Second P-day

 2nd P-day:

We spent the morning with David and Jennifer Saturday.  Jennifer and I walked to the wet market and bought breakfast, then we went to a pharmacy to buy some medication for Jennifer.  I was able to find out I could get my medication from them if needed.  Then we drop off David and Jennifer at the bus stop, they took the 21 A bus that would take them all the way to the airport.  They are flying out to Japan and will come back on Friday, then they would begin their humanitarian work in China.  We ran into the Beckstead who was exploring so we took them to the wet market, Sister Beckstead was in heaven as she took pictures to send home to her children!!!

Breakfast: Congee in the middle, cheung fun (rolled rice noodle), fried Chinese donuts with cheung fun, sesame ball and fried noodle.  We ate that for breakfast and dinner!!

I have never had to iron Ted's shirt all these years, now part of my Saturday chores!

Found massage chair in the club house, I never like them before but I love having some "knitting" done on my calf!!

On the way to the bust stop, we meet Elder and Sister Hathaway (temple missionary). Elder Hathaway taught Ted's family when he was missionary in Hong Kong in the 60's.

We finally have assignments!!!

The afternoon of my last post, we have an appointment with Elder Wong at 3 pm but he was so busy with meetings that we did not meet with him until almost 4:30; It was worth the wait!  He assigns us to work with communication (same as public affair but it is communication within the church to church members).  There are six Stakes in Hong Kong and there has not been a communication specialist for the last two years, The Chamberlains had been focusing mostly Public Affair for Hong Kong and Taiwan so now we will be working with the Becksteads with them focusing on Public Affair and Ted and I do Communication.  Our second assignment is working with the YSA in Hong Kong.  Elder Wong would like to 100 couple married!!  Lol, we are going to be modern day match maker in the 21st century!!!  Any one has ideas we can accomplished this and has worked with YSA , please send us an email!!!   Our last assignment is to work with the Norman (and eventually might assume) the assignment of working and putting together the FSY, For the Strength of Youth, activity (EFY in the Hong Kong and Taiwan) for 2017.  Elder Wong's final comment is that all these can change any time!!!

Well, I am so glad we now at least has some thing to focus our energy on.  We spent Friday morning finding out how many ward there is in Hong Kong and see if we could visit each of the ward, We have not been assigned a ward to attend and Elder Wong wants us to visit each ward to see and get a feel on where we think we should go.  I got contacted with one of the employee who is also a committee member for the upcoming YSA convention in November, we hope to attend their meeting this Sunday in Kowloon Tong.  In the meantime, I joined their YSA facebook group and I am very impressed at the activities they have!

We also spent Friday morning at the immigration office to get our Hong Kong ID, Ted was able to get his ID but they would not let me because my name has changed and they want either my naturalization papers showing my name change or the ORIGINAL marriage certificate.  We are so blessed with modern day technology; I was able to get hold of Florence, my sister, thru facebooking with  Ada, then Florence went over to my house and with Melissa Davis' help, we facetimed and was able to find my marriage certificate.  Hopefully, once I get that in the mail, I will be able to get my HK Identification and then onto getting our travel permit into Hong Kong!

David and Jennifer flied into Hong Kong and stayed with us Thursday and Friday night.  They have a humanitarian trip planned in a couple weeks into China but decided to come a week early so they could make a scenic trip to Japan with some friends.  We had a nice visit with Jennifer's brother and sister-in law, we had our first Dim Sim lunch since our arrival to Hong Kong.  We were so stuffed!!  Luckily, we were busy in the office so we didn't get too tired after the full meal.  I also learned from Sister Orton on how to process missionary application - she is in charge of inputting all of Asia's missionary papers and getting them ready for the area presidency to review and then submit them to Salt Lake for processing.  The Ortons will be here for another 4 months.  Elder Orton is a retired Urologist and Sister Orton is a nurse.

We left the office early to travel to Discovery Bay for a farewell dinner with the Chamberlains before their departure tomorrow morning.  The senior missionaries here love Mexican!!  We were so stuffed we shared only an order of fish taco and it was expensive!!  $150 HKD which equals to just over US$20!!  I will probably not visit this place very often, however, the companions were great and we got to walk around the small place that was filled with foreigners and it was not very crowded, it feels like we are back at the states!  We missed our ferry with the big group coming home in the evening because we over spent on our Octopus card (the ferry ride was $40 each way!!!).

Took the bus to the Central pier #3 to catch the ferry to Discovery bay, saw this Ding Ding going to Kennedy Town where I was born and raised as a teenager.

Twin tower, this one is on the Kowloon side, the other one is across the harbour on the Hong Kong side, you will see it below.

  I love the sound of the birds as we walked off the ferry and on the way to the restaurant.

The ferry passed this mansion:  It is the resort for the Hong Kong Disney, sorry for the blurry picture, the window was up and it was misty.

Discovery bay, on the top of the mountain is big "Buddha" and to the left of the housing project I was told was the church, The church has a small English branch here that meet in a school for domestic workers who work for wealthy Expat.

Everyone that went: From left to right: Ted and me, Sister and Elder Orton(medical); Elder and Sister Chamberlain; Elder and Sister Roberts (legals), Elder and Sister Chandler (Self-Reliance) and the new missionaries, Elder and Sister Beckstead (Public Affair)

Night view of the same twin tower shown above.

Taking the Star ferry, we rode on the bottom level this time, no air conditioning but only cost $2 HKD!

View of Hong Kong side Twin tower, this one has a round top floors.

Ted with the Twin Tower as backdrop.

Patience is a virtue!

Today is Thursday and we are still patiently waiting for our assignments.  We would have been okay if we were busy but we are not!  The hardest thing is when other asked us if we know what we are doing yet, we can only say so many times: we don't know.  I guess you can say this is a little trial for us.  We went from the high of the MTC, feeling motivated and inspired to do the Lord's work, then the excitement of arriving Hong Kong and getting familiarized with our surrounding, getting to know every one in the office, now we are ready to work but having no assignment make use feel like we are "useless" and idle!  We have been offering help to others in the office but they are also busy with their own assignment and it is hard for them to come up with something for us to do!  Needless to say, we are learning patience and having a good attitude about this.  The term "waiting for the Lord" takes on a little different meaning for us!  The good thing is I am able to keep up with my posting and journal in my blog!

Every Wednesday, there is a Institute just for the sisters, on the third floor high counsel room, we are studying the new Testament, Each sister in the class take turn teaching and it was Sister Funk's turn yesterday, she taught from Luke 15-17 about the lost sheep, lost coin and the prodigal son.   The lesson I learned most is from Luke 16 about the unwise steward, we read from James E. Talmage:
“It was not the steward’s dishonesty that was extolled; his prudence and foresight were commended, however; for while he misapplied his master’s substance, he gave relief to the debtors; and in so doing he did not exceed his legal powers, for he was still steward though he was morally guilty of malfeasance [wrongdoing]. The lesson may be summed up in this wise: … Be diligent; for the day in which you can use your earthly riches will soon pass. Take a lesson from even the dishonest and the evil; if they are so prudent as to provide for the only future they think of, how much more should you, who believe in an eternal future, provide therefor! If you have not learned wisdom and prudence in the use of ‘unrighteous mammon,’ how can you be trusted with the more enduring riches?

My take away from these is that we should not judge un-righteously, even the most wicked has some good in them that the gospel of Jesus Christ can change and the atonement can make a different in their lives, The gospel is for everyone even the most unworthy!  We need to live our life in such a way that we can emulate Christ's virtue, patience and charity!

After class, I went with Sister Roberts, Norman and Funk over to Central and shopped at two American Stores that carries some bulk items from Costco.  I found some Onion soup mix so I might try making the delicious baked potatoes Celi Miller made!

Another new couple came in last night, the Becksteads, they are replacing the Chamberlin who will be leaving Saturday, doing Public Affair.  We also went over to the Chamberlin's last night and "shop", since they are leaving, I was able to get some pillows, storage containers and spices for my kitchen, that is how the law of consecration works among missionaries!!

Elder and Sister Beckstead who arrived yesterday, Elder Beckstead served in Hong Kong 73-75 under President Bradshaw/Wheat.  They are also parents to Sarah Warner who is friend to the Millers.

General Conference - 2nd times around!

We did not have a regular weekend for church because this is General Conference weekend for the Saints in Hong Kong.  We spent Saturday as our P - day and then listen to Conference on our computer at home, Saturday and Sunday morning, We went into the Church Administration Building (CAB) for the Sunday afternoon session because Elder Wong requested to visit with us after the session.  We had a very good visit.  He had just came back from the States, dropped off his youngest daughter at BYU.  We met Sister Wong also.  They are a wonderful couple.

Elder Wong told us that usually they would have couple come in and has specific assignment like public affairs, legal, medical or others but with us, they did not feel their is one special project so they just extend it as Member Leadership Support.  He told us to go home and think about what we would like to do but we let him know we are opened to anything he needs help with.  We left the meeting after an hour and a half with no specific assignment. So Ted and I am going to just ask around to see what needs to be done and help out anyway we could until the Area Presidency assign us something to be in charge of.

Monday is a public holiday for people to visit ancestry graveside, we were invited to join with the Victoria 1 branch for a hike in the Shing Mun Reservoir, there were lots of monkeys around who are quite aggressive and would get very close to us to get food.  I was very impress with those sisters, they ages from 23 to 50, has be domestic workers in Hong Kong 1- many years, working and sending their money home to the Philippians, Madagascar.  Some of these sisters are very educated like nurse or engineers but they make less money doing their profession in their country verses being a domestic worker in Hong Kong.  So Sad!!! All of them has to leave their family, their own children to come to Hong Kong to work and care for other children!  But they are all so happy and supportive of each other, this is true sisterhood as you look into their faces!!

Today, I was able to help Elder Kendell who is over the Every day branch, translate when he visited with a sister from Malaysia, this sister was recently diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer and was in the process of trying to decide whether she should stay in Hong Kong for treatment or to return home to Jakarta.  I was able to clarify with her about her treatment and that it might be best she go home when she is well enough instead of waiting to finish the 4 sets of treatment as she would wanted in Hong Kong.  I was glad I could help her out, at the same time, I feel how strong she is!!  Even though she has no family support from her married son, she feels if it is God's will she has to face this trial at this time, she would go home.  I pray that Elder Kendell could get the support she will need in Malaysia for when she returns.  I am so grateful for the systems that the Church set up:  Relief Society, visiting teaching, home teaching, etc.  All these are set up so that we could truly help and support each other!!!

Shing Mun Reservoir  in the back

Monkeys perching on the tree, ready to come down for your food.

They came out when they smell food!

Week One - MTC

Ted and I entered the MTC on Monday, 9/26/16.  We were warmly welcomed by the MTC presidency and introduced to the other 81 (40 couples plus one sister missionary).  It was amazing to sing together in "Call to Serve", it was powerful.

We check in to our rooms then started classes in learning Preach My Gospel.  We were assigned district with a district leaders:

 Elder and Sister Adams, District Leaders, they are from Sacramento CA, (very young couples in their early 50's and late 40's!), They are going to New York in charge of CES/ Institute.

 Elder and Sister Dibble, from Orange County, CA.  This is their second mission.  Elder Dibble is 82!  They will be serving as office support in Japan.

Elder and Sister Hansen from , This is also their second mission.  They will be serving YSA in London, England.

With our teachers on the last day:  Sister Yonk on the left and Brother Hollingshead (just married a month a ago).

First P-Day

Can't believe it is already Saturday!!!  General Conference was last Saturday and Sunday in the States but in Hong Kong, they broadcast the sessions this weekend.  Members are encouraged to attend in the various stake/ward building, Being we have listened some of the sessions in the States, we decided we would go and explore on our own and shop and prepare for next week.

Saturday is also laundry day, we were told we can't wash a lot in the small washer/dryer combo, I can't believe how long it took - over an hour for the dark and another hour for the light!!  Even though there is a dryer component to the washer, we were provided a drying rack, it actually takes less time because we didn't have to wait for the dryer to get done before doing another load, Needless to say, it still take me a full day and drying till the next day for 4 days worth of clothing!!!

Aisles in the grocery store.

Laundry day, drying rack in the living room!

Wet market, fresh fishes, this is what I remember the market looks liked!

Ted bought some roasted chestnut from street vender!  They were very good!

We retrace the direction given to us by Sister Norman on Wednesday and luckily we had some landmark to help us navigate - MerciBenz - we could find the Park n Shop and Welcome super market, we also found a little shop next toe Welcome that has a lot of things I could get to set up the kitchen, you can see below how narrow the aisles are, crowded with peoples.  I even find some thin oreo (chocolate) and orea waffer!!!   My favorite is the Maltesers!!

My favorite candy, it comes in dark too!

We walked up to the wet market, bought ingredients for making Wonton and Potstickers.  I was able to make them while listening to conference in the afternoon.  Now the freezer is stocked for dinner next week!!!

Oreo chocolate thins and waffers!!

Spent US$50 for all these!  Pot stickers and Wonton in the Freezer by the end of the night!

Still no assignments!

Elder Norman, Elder Chamberlin, Ted, Elder Charles and Fanny Chan (from Vancouver, Canada)

Brother and Sister Wong, Brother Wong was the bishop for Kowloon Tong ward when I was serving in the 80s.  Brother Wong's mother joined the church the same time Ted's mother joined the church.

Elder and Sister Jerry James - Elder James taught Ted's family back in the 60's.  This is his third mission back to Hong Kong, They serve in the mission home.

The four honored couples for the evening event.

Well, the area President Elder Funk and Elder Wong are back, they got in early in the morning around 6 a.m.  I got to say hi to Sister Funk but did not see both Elders at all.  They came into the office and have a departure lunch with the outgoing Executive secretary and wife, Elder and Sister Whitman.  Then I assume they went home to sleep.

Ted and I was hoping to at least visit with them to get an idea of what we will be doing but it didn't happen. We checked with other missionaries in the office and was able to help out, Sister Norman who is taking over Sister Whitman's job was overwhelm so Ted was able to help her streamline some of the duplicate files.  I was able to help Sister Lee (Mental Health Specialist) who was busy with interviews with missionaries who were struggling with either mental health issue or emotional issues.  She was asked to compile a cooking certificate program for local members in the every day branch so that the Relief Society can help them improve their skills into to get better paying jobs.  I was able to help her organize her files and put them into a excel sheet so she knows what she has, hopefully I could help her finish the project.

I walked down to the 9th floor and met our niece Ashley Chan, she used to live in Windsor Park Condo, in fact she was the one who helped us get the condo and managed it for a couple years while she was at the Y.  She is now working for the church as a facility manager helping to acquire land for buildings in the Asia Area.

Then I walked down to the 3rd floor (got to get as much steps as I could if we were going to be in the office all day!), Paid our deposit and met the President for the every day branch, Ted and I were ask to speak in the wards for November, we will be speaking on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the second week.  President Kendell asks that we switch our talk a little bit during each day but hopefully we can give the "almost" same talk with different audience. No topic was assigned so we could just talk about "us"!

We left the office around 4 pm to take the 182 bus (I am writing this out so I could remember who bus to take) to Kowloon Tong where the Temple and the new chapel is for a special dinner and testimony for the three new Elders that returned to Hong Kong to serve and the Chamberlin who will be leaving.  This event was organized by Edward Lai who also served with Ted under President Wheat.  Initially it was just for their group of missionaries and that he expanded it to include pass missionaries who served, We had a wonderful turnout, I met Sister Loong (Wong) who taught our family back in 1976 and Brother Bill Shum whom I taught.  It was so fun to see everyone!  After dinner we had a wonderful testimony meeting for almost 2 hours!

Sister Wong (Loong) and me.  She said she will put me in touch with Sister Lee who also taught us.  Sister Lee lives in Melbourne.Austrialia 

First day in the Office

The  Normans took us to the office this morning, we walked and then take the 301 express bus under the cross harbour tunnel to Wan Chai, it only takes about 30 minutes to get to the office from where we live.  We were given "keys" that allow us to go up to the 10th floor.  We also has an LDSCHURCH.org email address.  Ted was assigned a phone number so you could look up the directory and call.  You will have to find Ted to call me because I share a phone with him!! The phone system allows us to call Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam with what they called VIP, there are no long distant charges and the phone is also a video phone!!! So high tech!

Since the area presidencies are not back from their visit to the States for General Conference, we do not have any assignment yet, we spent the morning getting acquainted with the other staffs in the office, and get our computer working.  Then the Cox visiting from China took us all out for lunch and we tagged along with them to the peak in Hong Kong to see the place when there was a marker carved on the rock to show when Hong Kong was dedicated for missionary work.

Catching the 301 express bus to cross the harbour.

This Cross-Harbour tunnel was built in 1976, it was surrounded by water on both side before, now it is surrounded by tall building.

Lunch with the Normans, Chamberlins, and Coxs.

These four served together 40 years ago under President Jerry Wheat, from left to right, Elder Chamberlin, Brother Cox, Elder Norman and Elder Yan.

Here is a picture with their better halfs, the Chamberlin are leaving their mission in a couple weeks; The Cox are working in China.  He is the school principle for the International school, visiting Hong Kong; The Norman and us.

This is the marker, carved by the mission president that dedicated Hong Kong for missionary work on July 14 1949.  It is at the peak in Hong Kong.

We arrived in Hong Kong!!!

We left Salt Lake City at 3:30 a.m. on 10/3/16 to catch the 6 o'clock flight to Dallas Fort Worth, Had a 3 hours layover to catch our flight to Hong Kong, My daughter-in-law, Jessica's parents were able to meet us at the Dallas airport and took us from domestic gates to the International gates (from A concourses to D concourses), We were able to spent a hour visiting, Jeannie and Wei were so nice, they brought us a sack lunch that last till the next day, airline meals were fine but the lunches they packed for us were much better!

We were glad we upgraded our seats, even though we paid a little more money, our seats were wider and we were able to recline a little more so we could rest.  Ted took a couple nap during our 16 hours flight to Hong Kong, I did not feel tired but was able to sleep, may be 2 hours.  We arrived Hong Kong at 5:15 local time on Tuesday, 10/4/16.

We were blessed during our trip:
1.  We checked in our luggage which contained of four large bags, each weighing 49 plus lbs, then we had our two carry on and personal items, I was concerned that we would have a hard time rolling those luggage and the heavy back pack Ted is carrying and my computer and Ted's CPAP machines, we would be in trouble if the route to exit to meed Jessica's parents were long ... but when we got to the gate in SLC, the attendance come on and said that because it is a full flight and there are limited overhead compartment spaces, they are asking for volunteers to check in their carry on bags and they would be checked in to the final destination, we took advantage of that and did not have to take our bags with us while we were in Dallas ... a tender mercy from the Lord indeed!

2.  When we get to Hong Kong, Celi Miller's brother, Brat Chick, was waiting for us at the gate to walk us out, he works at the immigration office in Hong Kong, it was so nice to be escorted!  He even took a picture of our flight coming in (see below), We did not have to stand in line to go thru custom, At one point, when Brat took our passports, we were standing there waiting for him, I jokingly said to Ted "we would be in trouble if someone come up to us to ask for our ID as we have nothing to show them!"  Ted said "we have our Washington license!"  Brat came back with our passports all taking care off, we are allowed to stay until January, 2017.  He then took us to pick up our luggage, all six pieces, there are no charge to get a cart to load our luggage, so we were able to get two carts, Brat walked us out and we were meet by Elder and Sister Norman.  This was the easiest foreign travel I have ever done!! ... another tender mercy!!

So far we did not have any problem with jet lag, we got to our apartment around 8 p.m., we stayed up until about midnight local time to unpack, then was able to sleep for 6 hours, we were up again by 6:30 a on Wednesday, Sister Norman (Tussy) took us around places where we could shop for groceries and when we could walk to the subway in the morning, Then we were on our own the rest of the day, since I grew up on the Hong Kong island side, Ted and I took the MTR (Mass transit railway) over to the Central district, we recognized a few old buildings that still existed but there are so many new buildings, even the coast line was pushed out with reclaimed land and buildings put up
when it used to be waters.  We walked about 23000 steps on our fitbit at the end of the day!!!

Elder and Sister Thong took us out to TST for dinner at the Harbour City mall.  There are variety of food you could ordered, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai and deserts, you would order and then paid at the cashier, we were given a phone that would light up when our food is ready.  It was so quick and easy.  We finally got home around 9 p.m.,  Our feet were tired but we did not feel the effect of jet lag ... another tender mercy!!

We are excited for tomorrow when we could go into the office at the Church administrative building in Wan Chai over on the Hong Kong side.

Elder and Sister Norman picked us up from the airport.

Our plane arrived Hong Kong

Our excursion to Central on the Hong Kong Island

Below the Menion are the tunnel to the old pier which has been pushed out 1/2 miles

The short building is the only one I remembered from 30 years ago, the ones on either side are all new.

This will be my down fall, they looks so delicious!!

The only two street that still has street vender in the Central District,

Lai Yuen East/West street

Old style pawn shop

Star ferry pier on the Hong Kong side

New building on the Kowloon side pier