Fun meeting with different members

We continue to visit different wards each Sunday.  We are into the 5th Stakes and we love visiting with different ward member each week; Here are some from the last couple week:

We visited Kwan Chung ward and after the block, I could not find Ted.  Came to find out he has a very lively discussion in the High Priest group.  They all want to take a picture.  The gentlemen next to me looked like my brother David and the gentlemen next to Ted is very interesting.  He is very active in politic and belongs to some party in China.  He said the Chinese government is always keeping an eye out at our church.  He believes there are spy from the government in the church but it is okay, because they know and trust our church is trustworthy... he feels the China government wants to run our church in China but they need to learn that our church does not run that way!!   That's the reason why the congregation in China are no bigger then 50 ..   

This is a beautiful sunset we encounter one evening coming back from the office.  I still remember how much we are in awe with the scenery and the night light, now they are just part of our daily coming and going.  It was great to see such a awesome view!

This is Brother David Cheung.  His father passed away recently and my brother David asked that we attend the funeral on behalf of him.  Came to find out, Brother Cheung recognized us.  He used to be a missionary in Seattle and spent time in the Asian branch when Ted was the executive secretary to President SM Richardson.  Brother Cheung remember President Richardson and said he remember us living in Kent and had been to our house in Kent!!  Brother Cheung is a father of 9! now working for the church in Salt Lake.

I was so impressed with his father, the bishop shared a story about Brother Cheung senior and how he is a faithful member.  The senior Cheung came from a broken home and was raised by his aunt.  He would worked and saved and pay his aunt half of what he made.  He became a sailor and was introduced to the gospel.  He realized he needs to improve himself by getting an education.  Then while raising his family, he again worked as a sailor.  Once he found out his wife was not paying tithing, he asked his wife to always pay a full tithes first before anything else.  He knew and trusted that God would provide.  On one of his trip out to sea, the ship was trapped in a storm/typhoon where the engine had broken down.  Brother Cheung was a class III sailor (class I was the highest) There was no way to repair in time to escape the storm.  The whole crew were prepared to die at sea.  Brother Cheung senior felt impressed he had a solution; he was just studying a couple weeks prior in a book, and the problem was the same problem they encountered.  The crew was elated but they were disappointed because they did not have the part to make the repair.  Then Brother Cheung felt impressed to look into a small sack where the part he needed was located.  He was able to repair the ship in time to escape the storm.  He was rewarded by the company and was offered a Class I sailor job instead.  This is his testimony of the blessing that came from obeying the Law of Tithing.

Sister Loong:  (Sister Wong)

We visited Butterfly and Castle Bay ward today and found we know a lot of people in these two wards.  I met my missionary, Sister Loong (Wong) again. After the meeting she invited us to visit her home. We were glad to be able to talk with her and reminisce the good old day. She thanks us for being such golden investigators and I thank her for her service to our family.  There was this little old lady (Sister Lam) who got up and shared her thought.  She is an older lady who joined the church back in 1983.  She reminded me so much of my mother, so humble and sincere at her testimony.  She is so sweet and real!  Her testimony is simple but very sincere.  I just loved her!

Sister Loong has two sons who are both active; older son is the first counselor in the Castle Bay ward and second son is studying at U of H getting his doctorate this August. She is now the grandmother of three boys and three girls.  Unfortunately, her husband is less active.  She shared her struggles and she is still very faithful and strong in the gospel!  We hope to visit with her later.


 

God is always in charge

Time seems to be going faster and faster for us.  I can hardly kept up blogging so here is another post on catching up:

April 20 was my birthday and I have to say I had the best birthday ever; I had the best birthday present from Heaven!

A couple days before my birthday, Ted and I have a chance to give a tour of the building to a young man from China.  It was Monday, the office was closed so we take our time coming into the office. No one was there except us.  We were talking to the guard when a young man came in wanting to visit the building.  He said he is a Christian, studying at the university in Peking.  He was on a sport competition tour over the weekend.  Monday was a free day so he decided to go to the tall building. He got lose and saw the church sign so he came in because he had missed worshiping over the weekend.  We gave him a tour of the building by talking about the pictures and what they mean - something we learned from Sister Linsie Wong on our visit to Taiwan.  He was very impressed with all the pictures and wishes China would allow them in their building.  He asked for permission to take pictures on his phone so he could share them when he returned to Peking.  We told him why he would not see a cross in our church and that we celebrate the "Living Christ" and that how we live our life is a testament to our faith and belief in Jesus Christ.  Then we went down to the media room and taught him about the first vision and the Book of Mormon.  When he saw the picture of God and Jesus Christ visit with Joseph Smith, he raised his hand and asked "Aren't they supposed to be three in one and that God has no form?"  We bore our testimony of the God head, that when Christ was on the earth, He prayed to His Father in Heaven; when He was baptized,  the Father spoke from Heaven and the Holy Ghost descended in the form of a dove; that we are created in God's image, etc, etc.  We testified of the reality of the restoration and bore witness that the Holy Ghost would tell him all thing that is true.  We invited him to pray about the truthfulness of these things we had just taught him.  Then he prayed with us and felt the warm feeling of the Holy Ghost.  He asked if there is anyway he could see all the video the Church has.  We told him he might download the gospel library on his phone but he couldn't because he was still using his phone from China.  We suggest he purchase a HK sim card; then he could download the gospel library app and videos onto his phone, when he goes back to China, he could just switch back to the China Sim card then he would still be able to watch the video he downloaded.  Then we left him watching some New testament videos.

I felt so good and happy for him but then the "fear of men" set into me.  What if when he returned to China, his friends and minister would crushed all that we had planted?  We started praying for him but this doubt and fear keep crippling into my mind.  I prayed harder knowing that God is in the detail of our life and that there is a reason why we get to talk with him.

Wednesday, April 20, was my birthday.  I prayed more earnestly in the morning.  More importantly, I feel I need to repent and have faith in God's plan for me.  I asked that we could be given opportunity to share the gospel.  Ted then has to go to finish signing a lease with a landlord and I was in the office by myself when the guard called.  There is a lady that come in wanting a tour.  She speaks Cantonese!
I did the same thing with her and by the time we got to the picture of Christ holding a black sheep in his arms with the rest of his sheep following him.  I talked about Christ's love for us and how that no matter where we are in life and what stage we are in, Christ is always willing to come for us.  I saw her tear falling on her cheek.  Later we sat down and I was able to share with her about the plan of Salvation, the purpose of life and the Restoration.  I felt the spirit so strongly I told her I felt so much love and my heart cries with joy.  She said she wants to feel that too but is sad that she could not, I testify to her that the feeling she felt at the moment is indeed the Holy Ghost.  When she left, she agree to meet with the missionaries and left her phone number.

I felt so elated and that feeling did not subside for a while.  I feel God love of His children, especially I know He knows me and is very much aware of my desire and wishes.  I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father, for his many tender mercies to me!  I am thankful for being a missionary and able to share my testimony even thought I don't know what they will turn out, more importantly, I know that God lives, Jesus is the Christ and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church on this earth that has all the keys and allows us to have eternal families.  I am thankful for a living prophet today that Christ can speak to and direct His affair on this earth!!!

Tai O outing on Hong Kong Labor day

May 1, 2017

We have couple extra days off this week (May 1), the employees have Monday and Wednesday off because of Labor day and Buddha birthday.  We got invited to join members of the Kowloon City ward for an outing so we decided to join them.  We took the long ride on the MTR to Tung Chung東涌, then took the 11 bus to Tai O, Tai O is a fishing village and we were surprised to find a housing village on wood stills, families would live on houses that are build on woods over water.  There are restaurants and living quarters; brings back lots of memory from back 40 years ago.  We even took a short boat ride out to see the pink dolphins but unfortunately we didn't see any :( 

Elders Nielson (in superman) and Elder Herzog came along too.

Normally as missionary we can't ride boat but because it is commercial boat we could!

Grocery shopping - fresh fish delivered!

Restaurant with home on top.

Going out to open sea

observation bridge

We didn't get to walk over this time because we have to leave, will definitely come back in the future

This is the Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai 珠海 bridge, you should google this.  This is going to be the longest bridge in the world, connecting Hong Kong, Macau and Zhu Hai, China.

To the left of this picture is a man-made island connecting the bridge.  It is very impressive!

My favorite:  Cuttlefish

Just have to post one with a raw cuttlefish!

Seafood shopping in the Tai-O village market

Water park on our way to MTR.  It was hot enough that I would run in the water if I wasn't a missionary!