More News from Hong Kong

Hello family and friends, we had another wonderful week here in Hong Kong.

This was our third week attending a block of Sunday church meetings on Saturday with the Filipino members.  It is an adjustment to get used to.  We are in Church meetings all day Saturday.  Besides regular meeting and classes,   we have extra meetings associated with assignments,  and after all of that we divide in to FHE groups and have activities and some times lessons.   So we are at the Church from 10:00 a.m.  until 6:30 or later. Sometimes as late as 8:30p.m.  Then on Sunday morning we get up and go to Church again at 9:00 a.m.   We missionary couples who serve in branches other than Sunday (there are branches Tuesday through Saturday),   we have been asked by the Asia Area Presidency to still attend Church on Sunday,   So we don’t feel comfortable doing anything we would not do on the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday.  We have been told that Saturday is an assignment and Sunday is our Sabbath, but Saturday still feels very much like the Sabbath to us.   

In addition to the office work that keeps us busy we had additional opportunities in working with members and opinion leaders. We also continue to work with the other Public Affairs Missionaries serving in other countries in the Area. Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia submitted articles for Newsroom. You can find these articles in Mormon Newsroom.com then go to the international publications. 

There were also several Humanitarian Projects approved this last week that will be a great blessing to many of the poor and needy in this part of the world.

The Island and Peninsula are full of lights and Christmas decorations. We spent some time last week visiting some of the more prominent displays in Causeway Bay, Time Square, Admiralty, and Central. It was a lot of fun but seemed a bit odd with so much Christmas décor, yet no snow and temperatures in the mid to high sixties.

This last week, employees and the Area Presidency were working hard trying to tie up year end business because they will be taking vacation soon, so things seem busy almost to the point of chaos. I expect between Christmas and New Year’s Day it will be very slow with so many not coming into the office. This will give the Senior Missionaries an opportunity to spend more time together which is one of the unique blessings of this mission. 

Have a great week and Merry Christmas to all of you!