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!