A Week Full of Emotions

This week was a week full of emotions. We experienced feeling exuberant happiness, substantial sadness, and considerable excitement.

We will save the best for last so let’s start with the sadness. We have become very good friends with Elder and Sister Pett. Stanley is a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer and Judy retired from a Regional Management position with H&R Block. They served their first Mission in San Diego as a Missionary Relations Senior Couple. They then served a second Mission as Service Missionaries at Church Headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City with the Military Relations Department. They are currently serving their third Mission as the Senior Missionary Couple here in the Hong Kong Mission office.
They have completed their Mission and will be leaving next week, so the Sisters in the Filipino Branch hosted a farewell party for them. They had them sit in the middle of the room and honored them in dance and song. They even had two sisters dress up as though they were a young version of the Petts and reenacted some of the Petts life experiences, including their engagement. It was all fun and entertaining for Karen and me until the end when the Sisters began singing God be with you till we meet again. As they began singing the second verse the Sisters reverently began to collect in the middle of the room surrounding the Petts. In an attitude of love and honor they sang with thankful hearts and deep respect for the service rendered by this Senior Couple.

Maybe it was not the emotion of sadness behind all the tears shared by those in the room but for lack of a better term we’ll use the word sadness today.

I mentioned excitement. Before arriving in Hong Kong, we had an expectation that in our Mission Assignment we would be traveling to some of the different Countries in our Area. Upon our arrival, we were told that a travel ban was in place and that our perceived expectation was not realistic. This was of course a disappointment, but like any other disappointment in life you just move forward and that is what we have done. Karen has been working hard on News Briefs and Self-reliance and I have been working hard on the Opinion Leader Data Base and Corus. We have both been busy with a myriad of other assignments we receive daily relating to Public Affairs. We even received a note this week asking us if we would represent the department by attending a funeral, we would never have guessed that part of our assignment would be a funeral.

In our monthly meeting as we were going through the agenda, President Wong, unexpectedly, said to Karen and I, “you need to be traveling to some of these Countries. You need to become familiar with their cultures, and you need to teach them how to make relationships” Karen and I left the meeting a bit confused, asking ourselves if what we think we heard was really what he said. We did not hear any more concerning travel until our bi-weekly call this week with the Senior Missionaries serving in the different various Countries in our Area. After we finished the business concerning the group, Tom asked Elder and Sister Patterson (the Senior Couple in Malaysia) if they would stay on the call. He then informed them that Elder and Sister Beckstead would be coming down to visit them in Malaysia in the next couple of weeks and the four of us should get on skype and work out the details of the visit.

Karen and I are very excited to meet the people in Kuala Lumpur and to become more familiar with the people and culture of Malaysia.

I saved happiness for last.

When I arrived in Hong Kong as a nineteen-year-old Elder, my first apartment was in Shau Kei Wan. My Senior Companion was Elder Adamson and the area we tracked was Wan Chai. A family by the surname of Chan had been found and taught by Elders that proceeded us. I cannot remember if they went home or were just transferred to another area. It was very fortuitous for Elder Adamson and myself because they had done all the “heavy lifting” of finding, teaching, and preparing this family for baptism. We could pick up where they left off and after just a few weeks I could participate in the baptism of an entire family. At the time, I had no idea how unique of an experience this was, in fact I only recall one other family being baptized in the entire mission over the two years I served.

When I returned to Hong Kong as a Senior Missionary, I was hoping that I would be able to find one of the boys from the Chan family. I knew this would be an extraordinary accomplishment especially considering the fact I could not remember his or anyone in his families English name let alone the characters that made up his Chinese name. How do I find a “Brother Chan” in a Country that has so many people with the last name of Chan.

I started asking members as soon as I arrived if anyone knows the Chan family that was baptized in “73” and attended the North Point Branch. It did not take long for me to realize that this was an impossible task after forty-years in an area as transitional as Hong Kong. In the years that have passed, the resettlement areas of my time have been replaced today with nice high rise apartments, and all the residents relocated.  The geographical boundaries of the Church’s congregations have changed, a lot of the current church members are not acquainted with the term “Branch”. I have met very few members that are multi-generational especially among those whose baptized grandparents lived in the old resettlement areas. And then there was the massive flight of anyone remotely associated with the West when the lease with Britian expired and Hong Kong was returned to China. I had resolved in my mind after a couple of months of aggressively seeking Brother Chan that finding any of the Chan family was probably not going to happen.

The other night at the Temple I was checking out a card from the Assistant Temple Recorder. When I asked for the Cantonese card he asked me if I had served as a Missionary in Hong Kong. I told him that I had, and that I served here in 1973 through 1975.  He then told me that his grandfather had been baptized about that time. Until he said that I was not really paying attention, so at the same time he told me his name I was looking at his name tag and heard and read the name “Chan”. I asked him if he knew where his grandfather was living when he was baptized, and he said that his grandfather had been living in Wan Chai. I told him that I had been involved with a Chan family’s baptism in Wan Chai about that time, and asked him if he had a picture of his grandfather. We were both so excited that he had a hard time working his iPhone. Finally, he was able to find a picture of his grandfather and the picture he showed me was so familiar to me, it was like yesterday that I stood with his family in the Gam Tong at their baptism. I have found the Chan family and am so happy to have found them.

Last P day was really wonderful.   We and Sister Nielson,  (our Humanitarian missionary whose husband wasn't able to come with us),  took the 8 full time sister missionaries (who are from the Philippines),  to Disneyland.   They were so excited.  They had never been to Disneyland before. They kept telling us it was a dream come true,   they never believed they would ever in their life time be able to go Disneyland.

Left to right:  Sister Labangco, Sister Caluza, Sister Molina, Sister Brojan, Sister Miranda, me, Sister Baluyot, Sister San Juan, Sister Nielson, Sister Arago.

There was a Rugby tournament going on in Hong Kong,  we saw several teams in the park that day.   When we were walking past the team from New Zealand,  the young man in front stopped us after seeing our badges,  he was excited to tell us he was a member of the Church.   The sisters were so excited for this photo!

After spending a wonderful day at  Disneyland with these amazing sister missionaries,  I believe it was a dream come true for them,  and dad and I were the ones who received the most joy in the day!

Cheung Chau and a Wonderful Week

 We continue to experience great weeks here in Hong Kong. This week began with the monthly Area President’s Devotional. The Area Presidency rotates amongst themselves each month in their speaking assignment. This week Elder Sam Wong addressed the Missionaries and employees for the last time as he prepares to embark on his new assignment. After approaching the pulpit, he invited Sister Wong to come up and share some of her feelings which she did. She is very popular with everyone that offices in the building and will be missed by all of us.

 Elder Wong then shared with us 2 Kings 5:8-14, reminding us that sometimes the test of obedience required for blessings may seem so simple that we won’t comply out of unbelief. We ask ourselves, “How can dipping myself seven times in Jordon cure my leprosy”? It makes no sense to me so I’m not going to do it, I choose to continue as a leper. He then shared 1 Kings 17:10-13 pointing out the contrasting response to the prophet Elijah’s seemingly unrighteous request to a poor widow women and her child, leading to an incomprehensible blessing of, “and she, and he and her house, did eat many days.” The reward of willing sacrifice motivated by willing obedience.

This week we had a breakthrough phone call with Salt Lake concerning a technical project that we have been working on. The team in Salt Lake agreed to support us in creating a business flow in our CRM that will support automated work flows including reminders, prompts, and reports. This will help us manage our relationships much more efficiently and provide us a way to measure our efforts. We are the first Area to ask for this development and Salt Lake’s computer techies expressed a strong willingness to help us achieve this pioneering enterprise.

We had another opportunity to serve in the Temple this week which is always a highlight. Thursday, we met with Elder Wong in his office for our monthly Public Affairs meeting. This is always a fun meeting because we have the opportunity to discuss issues high on the Area Presidencies priority list. He will inform us of future events or activities that need our attention now even though they were not a high priority to us going into the meeting. It is not irregular that after this meeting we have a completely altered agenda for the week. This week he seemed anxious to tie up loose ends as he prepares to turn things over to his replacement so there is a sense of urgency in what he is doing. Tom asked him to share with us any advice that he would give us as a Public Affairs office going forward. His advice was to stay tuned to what the Area Presidencies goals and objectives are and line our efforts up accordingly. He is such a good man and will be such a great Mission President in Vancouver.

 I am going to conclude this week’s blog with a document that I finished this week concerning how Senior Missionaries can be better Ambassadors of the Church. Hope you enjoy it and will talk to you next week.

Being an Ambassador for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Senior Missionaries

How can we more reflect the responsibility placed upon us as Ambassadors of the Savior’s Church? 

Reflect Wisdom

As we ponder the question of Ambassadorship we may want to consider as a Senior Missionary we bring a much different perspective into the Mission Field than the younger Elders and Sisters. We bring more years of living life and all the learning experiences and maturity that come with those years. I have often looked back and wondered, would l have been a better missionary as a young Elder if I would have known then what I know now? Ironically now as a Senior Missionary I ask myself, if I had the virtues of youth today that I had as a young Elder would I be a better missionary now? I recognize that I may have the experience I lacked as a young Elder but have learned as a Senior Missionary in the field that when Oscar Wilde stated; “Youth is wasted on the Young”, he could have followed up with, experience is tethered with age. Fortunately for Senior Missionaries the years of living, learning, and knowledge gained, will ultimately cultivate wisdom and “Happy is the man that has found wisdom.”—Proverbs 3:13-15.

Reflect Experience

Elder Bednar taught; “My dear young brethren, the single most important thing you can do to prepare for a call to serve (a mission) is to become a Missionary long before you go on a Mission. Please notice… I emphasized becoming rather than going. Let me explain what I mean. In our customary Church vocabulary, we often speak of going to church, going to the temple, and going on a mission. Let me be so bold as to suggest that our rather routine emphasis on going misses the mark. The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with “all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. It is possible for a young man to go on a mission and not become a missionary, and this is not what the Lord requires or what the Church needs. My earnest hope for each of you young men is that you will not simply go on a mission—but that you will become missionaries long before you submit your mission papers, long before you receive a call to serve, long before you are set apart by your stake president, and long before you enter the MTC”. (“Becoming a Missionary,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2005, 45). Senior Missionaries over years of obedience to covenants typically have already matured into missionaries because of their experiences. A full-time mission provides an opportunity to experience continued blessings and growth as we serve with “all of our heart, might, mind and strength.” (D&C 4:6) “Nothing ever becomes real 'til it is experienced.” (John Keats)

Reflect Conversion

Dallin H. Oaks taught us; The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord’s teachings and teachers were given that we may all attain “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). This process requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something. ( The Challenge to Become ) In this light, how can we become worthy Ambassador’s for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Here are a few thoughts;
Keep your words, thoughts, and actions in harmony with the message of His gospel. Righteous conduct will influence your effectiveness as a missionary and your personal salvation. Your conduct also affects the trust and confidence of nonmembers, members, and other missionaries have in you. Show respect and love to your companion. Conduct yourself always in such a way that everyone who sees you will recognize you as a representative of Jesus Christ. (Preach my Gospel)

Reflect Example

 The late President David O. Mckay taught; “Every person who lives in this world wields an influence, whether for good or for evil. It is not what he says alone, it is not alone what he does. It is what he is. Every man, every person radiates what he or she is. Every person is a recipient of radiation. The Savior was conscious of that. Whenever he came into the presence of an individual, he sensed that radiation—whether it was the woman of Samaria with her past life; whether it was the woman who was to be stoned or the men who were to stone her; whether it was the statesman, Nicodemus, or one of the lepers. He was conscious of the radiation from the individual. And to a degree so are you, and so am I. It is what we are and what we radiate that affects the people around us.” Hopefully over the many years in planning, preparing and looking forward to the day of serving together as a Senior Couple we have already graduated from just going to church, or going to the temple. But rather morphed into worshipping and renewing covenants when attending church, and have in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. That we have met Elder Bednar’s earnest hope; that we will not simply go on a mission—but that we have already become missionaries long before we submitted our mission papers, long before we received a call to serve, long before we were set apart by our stake president, and long before we entered the MTC.

Reflect Ambassadorship

We have as Elder Oaks taught”; through a lifetime of living the gospel of Jesus Christ become something”. Being an Ambassador is defined as, “an accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country.” Being called by the Savior Jesus Christ to represent him in the world as a Senior Missionary would clearly qualify one as his Ambassador. “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long- suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; “By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile. . . . “Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven”. (D&C 121:41–42, 45)

We took a a ferry to Cheung Chau Island with the Chattertons and Sorensons

It's so different when we get out of the big city.

It's fun seeing the little markets,  here you can buy 1 egg at a time.

There are no cars here,  but people get around just fine.

A morning walk along the harbour toward the sunrise,  and seeing how pretty the reflection was behind us.

Our Filipino Sisters completed their Business Presentations.  They've earned their  certificates of completion.  

An Old Missionary Friend, Robert Lo

This week I met an old friend that served as a Missionary here at the same time I served. His name is Robert Lo,  and he is currently serving as a Sealer here in the Temple. He is from Hong Kong and has lived in Hong Kong all his life. He is an artist and came to the office to pick up a painting that was in the Art Exhibit we helped with a week ago. The piece that he exhibited is a painting of Lehi’s Dream. It was one of the most admired paintings in the show, it received a lot of interest and generated a lot of dialogue about the Church. Robert has a gallery in the New Territories and invited us out to see more of his art and meet his family. We are looking forward to that and are happy to reestablish another relationship here in Hong Kong.

Also, this week we talked to Salt Lake about expanding the capacities of our current opinion leader data base functionality. We are hoping to add processes that will allow us to manage our current and future relationships better. Salt Lake responded with a green light so we have now committed to a project that will take months to complete. We hope and believe that our effort will make a significant improvement in building not only more, but stronger deeper friendships with influence makers outside of our own Faith.

Other than the Area Presidency,  most of the office personnel that attended General Conference have not come back yet including Tom and Annie,  so the office was still quiet. We spent a lot of time this week working with Meltwater and trying to become more familiar with it. We also cut and spliced a syndicated article provided to us from Salt Lake regarding the Easter initiative. We published it in Mormon Newsroom here in Hong Kong on the English site. Finding Lasting Peace through Jesus Christ

The Area Presidency  immediately held a meeting with the Area Seventy this week. It’s always fun to see the Priesthood strength of these General Authorities who are natives from the countries they serve. As I watched them gather I wondered if all the Area Presidencies around the world return to their respective assignments and the week after conference call all the Area Seventies together in their respective areas and share information and direction from the First Presidency.

This week we also experienced the results of the work we did with the Southern China Morning Post, one of the most widely read newspapers here in Hong Kong. There were two articles published with a video as well. I am going to attach the links so that you can read them and watch the video.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2085786/day-life-mormon-missionary-hong-kong

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2085807/shining-light-mormon-church-hong-kong

We hope all of you will have a great week, we know we will.

South China Morning Post

Spring Conference Week in Hong Kong is supposed to be a slow week of quiet and catch up time in the life of a Public Affairs Missionary in an Area Office. The Area Presidency, Public Affairs Director and Assistant Director are all out of the Country attending General Conference. Monday is our Prep. Day, Tuesday is a Public Holiday, and with everyone out of town and no Saturday or Sunday Branch meetings, the weekend should be a breeze.

We started the week visiting the Museum of Coastal Defense with Elder and Sister Sorenson. It is in Shau Kei Wan on the east end of the Island. When I was a young Elder my first apartment was not far from the old fort. The place looks completely different, all the resettlement housing is gone and has been replaced with high rise residential units. The apartment building Elders Ainscough, Winward,  Adamson,  and I lived in still stands!

We were asked to help in the Temple on Tuesday because of the public holiday. The Temple President said that without the help from the Senior Missionaries it would not be possible to open the Temple on a holiday. We thought we would be there for a session,  but ended up spending all morning and half the afternoon. We love all the different opportunities we experience each time we attend the Temple.

Wednesday, we get to the office and are able to work on the Easter Newsroom article among other assignments. While there we get a text message from the South China Morning Post informing us that they are going to publish an article we have been working on with them. They want it to run in Saturday morning’s edition and they would like to send over a photographer for some photos they would like to embed in the article. This sends a bit of a panic through Karen and I,   so we immediately fire off emails and texts to Annie Wong who has been working with the SCMP and is a pro with the press. The long and short of the next two days is a story of stress and panic as we arrange for a photographer and subjects to be photographed. I might mention that the Church has some specific guidelines and not much of a sense of humor when it comes to working with the press. We really did not want to do something stupid and embarrass anyone.

 In the end Annie was able to WhatsApp (a messaging app we use here for text and calling),  us through it from the other side of the world, the article was published and everything turned out fine. In hind sight, it seems like a lot of worry and stress for nothing.

We enjoyed Conference and it was great to sit on the couch and for the first time watch Priesthood Meeting with Karen.

Our first experience dealing with the South China Morning Post.

Last Monday on our P day we visited the  Hong Kong Coastal Defense Museum.   It has an exhibition featuring the history of Hong Kong's coastal defenses since the Ming Dynasty.

Fishing right outside our apartment.  It looks like she is carrying a little umbrella,  but it's actually her hat!

We never get tired of the views.  

My group of Self Reliance sisters in our Branch.  They are so wonderful.  Only one more week to go and they will be qualified to graduate from the program.  

Usually the Filipino sisters do the cooking after Church.  But this week Sister Kendell,  Sister Jensen  and I fixed dinner for them after they watched General Conference.  We showed them Saturday's sessions this week,  next week we will have Sunday's sessions for them.   Lynn and I were able to watch all the sessions at home online.   I've decided it's a luxury to turn on the TV and watch it live.  We made Hawaiian Haystacks,  the sisters loved them.  It was new for them,  and they were a little apprehensive to try it.  We had to explain to them what a haystack was!   One of the sisters had a stash in her purse to share with everyone,  dried fish!   The whole fish.  All the sisters were happy she brought them and they each put one on their plate next to their haystack.  They love those dried fish that look like they have been washed up on the beach and laid in the sun for a week!  

A Week in the Life of Sister Beckstead

Karen will be spotlighted in this week’s blog.

On Monday, Sister Beckstead volunteered us to help Annie Wong’s Stake set up an Art Exhibit at the Exhibit Hall in TST. Annie was feeling a bit overwhelmed Sunday night because of a Hong Kong area wide project that was pushing her professional  abilities to the limit. The Stake had rented prime space in a plush venue in order to show case the artistic talents of members from all the Stakes in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. Thirty-five pieces of wonderful artwork were submitted including a few pieces from members from Cambodia and Taiwan. Annie had many of the pieces in her office and was working on the logistics of transporting them to the site and exhibiting them in a professional manner. Never setting up an art exhibit  before was causing her some anxiety, sensing this, Sister Beckstead steps in and assures Annie all will be well and we will help her.   Monday morning,  we,  along with the  Jensens,   the Yans,  and  four Elders,  met Annie and a few other volunteers from her Stake and were able to miraculously uncrate, unwrap, hang-up and label the artwork like we had done it a hundred times before. It was a lot of work and took most of the day,  but it turned out to be a wonderful project that was displayed all week and was visited by many admirers of art here in Hong Kong.

Tuesday, Sister Beckstead attended a planning meeting with the Area Director and Assistant Area Director. Karen’s “News Brief” assignment was discussed and she was able to give a report of how she was coming with Meltwater.   Meltwater is the software that she uses to help her gather, catalogue, and distribute information to the Area Presidency and other selected leaders in the mission. She searches numerous publications in all the countries in our Area that would be relevant by predetermined topics. Then she selects four or five articles out of hundreds,  places them in a preselected format and emails them to the proper individuals every other day.

Sister Beckstead always starts Wednesday attending institute with the other Sisters in the office, including the wives of the Area Presidency. They are studying the New Testament and they rotate giving the lesson.  Wednesday is always a short day in the office because of our assignment in the Temple later in the day. This week was a special Temple day because Sister Beckstead was assigned in the Ordinance room and participated in a live endowment session. The policy in the Hong Kong Temple is that when a person attends for their own endowment the session is conducted in that person’s native language. This particular patron was from Thailand,  so the session was conducted in Thai.  She has also been in 2 sessions in Cantonese.   

Every other Thursday morning she participates in a multi-country Senior Missionary Public Affairs call. This week the main topics were General Conference and the Easter Campaign, “Prince of Peace.” Issues and action items discussed mostly have to do with translations. The missionary department sends information and videos out to all of the public affairs offices worldwide in English.  In Public Affairs  we work with the Seventies assigned to geographic areas in determining what they would like to have translated.

Friday starts out with a meeting with the Humanitarian group here.  This meeting   is always a highlight of her week.  The meeting starts off with a report on finished projects and pictures and or videos of some of the beneficiaries of the projects. Most of the work we do in the Church does not offer an opportunity for us to see the results of our efforts right away. This weekly meeting is an exception to that concept and it is such a blessing every week to see the lives of so many beneficiaries of the Church’s resources.  The rest of the day is usually a catch up day for everyone in the office so she worked hard on her “Newsbrief” assignment,  then  visited with some of the other Sisters until it was time to head over and take down the Art Exhibit.

Saturday is the day she attends the Saturday Branch.   This week she was involved with her Self Reliance project. It’s a weird day because sometimes she needs to shop on Saturday and it doesn’t feel right to buy groceries after Sacrament Meeting. She also attends Sacrament meeting on Sunday and is mindful of observing the Sabbath on Sunday.