Happy Chinese New Year

For a Chinese New Year celebration several of the young Elders, senior couples,  and our good friend Sheldon Poon met for a wonderful lunch.

These traditional trees are all over the place in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year.  They are  everywhere.  Especially the ones with the tiny oranges.  The red envelopes are "Lai See"  Chinese people put money in red envelopes and give as gifts to family members.

All the senior missionaries had a Chinese Hot Pot dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve.  Really authentic.  The 2 senior couples  who were  born and raised in Hong Kong prepared it all.   Communal cooking in one large hot pot -  as you can see mine was really hot,  as in temperature was really hot,  not the flavor.

Our friends John and Marilyn Chatterton arrived just last week.  They are serving in the Temple.  This is really fun for Lynn and John having served their missions here together in 1973-75.   What are the odds,  that couples who have been friends for years get called to the same place!   This was a good grocery shopping day for the 4 of us.  One of the first things we bought were the largest grocery bag/carts we could find.  These 2 we bought were the only 2 to choose from  in the size we wanted.   Lynn and John hate them because they are girly!

Walking through Victoria Park on Day 2  of Chinese New Year.

It’s easy to forget how wonderful a city is after forty years, but Hong Kong is truly one of the great places in the world.

This week was the week before Chinese New Year and reflected as much. At home, we could compare it to the week before Christmas. All the employees and businesses around the Wan Chai office were busy helping seven and a half million people making final preparations for the weekend.

 The Chinese New Year http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/chinese-new-year is something you cannot explain it can only be experienced. We began the New Year Celebrations by attending the parade in TST, a major population center in Hong Kong, where we were entertained by a myriad of marching bands, lion dancers, magicians, and acrobats. The evening was further enhanced by Elder and Sister Ferguson sitting next to us and Sister Ferguson sharing a bag full of goodies with us.

Besides the Parade, this week, we were able to make our weekly Skype calls to the other Public Affairs Missionary Couples serving in other countries in the Area. The Dowds, in Cambodia, had a particularly successful week and they were kind enough to share it with us. We also enjoyed another lunch with Sheldon Poon at the YMCA buffet.  He invited six young Elders and three other Senior Missionary couples to a pre-New Year lunch celebration. He is doing some great work with Craig Jessop, former Tabernacle Choir Director, through music conductor workshops in China.

Thursday night we arrived at the Temple for our weekly assignment and enjoyed a busy night. We were able to fill in for the Chinese workers who were busy with family commitments associated with the holiday. It was a special night and we enjoyed multiple opportunities in a few sessions that we probably could never experience in many sessions at home.

We continue to work with the Kendell’s, and Petts in the everyday Branch and we thoroughly enjoy this assignment. As far as I know this is the only place in the world that a full block of Sabbath Day meetings is held every day of the week.

We hope and pray that you will all be blessed with good health and prosperity in this new year of the rooster, “Gung Hei Faat Choi“!

Lynn and some of the Elders doing the Dragon Dance!