For the Strength of Youth

This week we were able to get a lot done in and out of the office.

We started the week out participating in a large FSY (For Strength of Youth)  activity that included a Youth Service Project.  Our purpose in attending was to take photographs, collect information for a Newsroom Article and to meet new Opinion Leaders. The event was wonderful with hundreds of youth participating in putting together school kits that will be distributed through Pak Oi, a large NGO  (Non Government Organization) that operates here in Hong Kong as well as in China. After the youth assembled three thousand kits in the Kowloon Tong Chapel there was a nice ceremony outside. Elder Meurs joined some of the youth to present to Senior Executives and Directors of Pak Oi the assembled kits. Pak Oi accepted the kits and announced that two thousand of the kits would go into China and one thousand would be distributed here in Hong Kong.

Part of our responsibility to support the Senior Couples serving in different countries outside of Hong Kong but inside the Area is to be their social support. When they want to talk about personal issues but have no one they can talk to in the villages or rural areas they live in they can always call us. This gives Karen countless opportunities to talk to other Senior Missionary sisters about their families. This week we made our monthly call to the Dowds who are serving in Cambodia. We talked for over an hour about everything but the things on our agenda. The highlight of the conversation was when I asked Sister Dowd why she was sending out emails at one-thirty in the morning and not sleeping. She complimented me in noticing and shared with us that she could not sleep so she got out of bed and left the bedroom because the computer was in the small living room adjoining her bedroom. She had been on the computer for about an hour when Elder Dowd came walking out of the bedroom toward the bathroom. She said Elder Dowd wears a mask over his eyes when he sleeps so he had this mask pulled up and he also takes out his teeth when he sleeps, so he trudges into the bathroom with no teeth and his mask half on and back to the bedroom without even noticing her. The four of us were laughing so hard while she is telling us this story and when she finished all that he could say was, “remember honey, it was for better and for worse.”

We heard another funny story this week. Tom Crockett’s wife called him at the office the other day and told him that the hose coming from the wall into the toilet tank was leaking so she called maintenance. So, a couple of Chinese guys came up to the apartment and she showed them the problem, they acknowledged the problem and turned off the water leading to the toilet and took off the leaky hose. They told her they would be back in three days with a new hose and that she could not use the toilet until they returned. She told them that would not work and they needed it fixed today. She could not get them to understand and they eventually left. On the phone, she strongly encouraged Tom to come home and help her because they needed a working toilet, so Tom left the office to rescue his wife. When Tom got to the apartment she took him in the bathroom and showed him the missing hose. He immediately called maintenance and told them that he needed them to come up to the apartment, three days without a toilet is ridiculous and they needed a solution. Five minutes later the same two guys knocked on the door and when Tom opened the door he gasped, one of the guys handed him a  bucket!  Tom thought they were suggesting they use the bucket,  when in fact,  they were suggesting they use the bucket to flush their toilet.  After all of this however,  maintenance fixed their toilet that evening!

This week we had an FSY Conference here in Hong Kong,  (For Strength of Youth).  The young men and women (and even some Primary children who joined in the service project),  prepared school kits for underprivileged children in China.  It was so cool.  This activity was the first day of their week long conference.

Elder and Sister Meurs were  honorary participants. They are wonderful.  Elder Meurs is a new member of the Asia Area Presidency.  He officially began his assignment August 1st,  but he's been here quite a bit the past couple of months.  They are from Australia.

This is Annie,  our Assistant Public Affairs Director.   Annie,  is a huge Minion fan,  and had been given these Minion glasses from someone who had just come back from the states. The other day we had a skype conference call with Salt Lake.  Dad and I were at our apartment,  Annie was at the office.  We were laughing so hard.  She didn't realize that we had her on our screen during the skype call.  It was so fun to show her this picture we took!