Week of Thanksgiving

This last week we had several memorable experiences beginning with a special moment last Sunday.  I was sitting on the stand, gazing at Karen, and pondering the reality of her having the opportunity to serve as a full time Missionary. It occurred to me that she has patiently waited many years to enjoy the reality of entering the realm of serving full time and then returning home with the honor of forever bearing the title of a “Returned Missionary. I was overwhelmed with a surreal feeling of gratitude to be a part of her opportunity to realize a lifelong dream.

We attended a devotional on Tuesday and were taught by Eder Meurs. He shared a video recording of an interview he did in Australia before being called into the Quorum of Seventy. The televised interview was a similar format to MSNBC Business with a news reporter like Lou Dobbs in America. The take-away of Elder Meurs message was the importance of relationships and the value added when developing and managing a project, especially of the size and scope of the one being discussed in the interview.

On Thanksgiving Day, which is not a Hong Kong holiday, we worked in the office in the morning and then met Elder and Sister Chatterton, their daughter and son in law at the Hopewell Center for Lunch. The Hopewell Center houses a revolving restaurant on the sixty-second floor of the building that serves one of the two finest buffets in the city. Our plan was to eat and then spend the afternoon catching up on some work in the office but after feasting and revolving for the better part of two hours we went back to the apartment and enjoyed a wonderful nap!

The day after Thanksgiving we worked in the office (I’m using the word work rather loosely here) until three o-clock and then went down to the lobby to help decorate for the Christmas holiday. The men that work at the security desk in the building oversaw bringing in all the boxes of decorations from storage. As they brought them in they were unpacked and put in their proper places based on photos of years past. The decorations included a large nativity set, wreaths, bells, lots of holly and ivy, and of course a larger than life Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree and all the decorations were opened, and the tree was assembled and decorated by at least a dozen people. All of them were warranted by the size of the tree and the multitude of boxes containing bows, ribbons, and decorative Christmas ornaments of every size and shape imaginable. Upon completion of this organized chaos, those involved stepped back to admire the now newly created work of art. No doubt it was beautiful, and just as everyone was congratulating one another on this miraculous feat of a human army working together someone noticed an undisturbed box somehow passed over. The group gasped when the box was opened and they found in it the Christmas tree lights that should have gone on the tree first.

Friday, we kicked off the “Light the World” campaign by hanging a large banner on the outside of the building. My personal opinion is; in the years that follow they find something different from this humongous piece of canvas hanging from this beautiful building. Hopefully some kind of high definition laser projection that does not have a negative impact to the architecture of the structure holding it up.

The end of the week featured a Thanksgiving feast worthy of the holiday being celebrated at home. Turkey with cranberry, stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy, rolls with butter, sweat potatoes, and at least a dozen pies. Shared with the Senior Missionaries assigned to the Asia Area and a few others including Sister Evans. It was a time to be thankful for and to reflect upon another year of blessings received.

This is the TSZ Shan Monastery and Guan Yin Statue.  This is the world's tallest bronze Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy, also known as Kwun Yum).  Yes, she's bronze, painted white!    We visited here with other senior missionaries,  it was beautiful.  Not to mention finally getting some perfect weather for adventures.

            Robert and Cheri Jenson,  us,  Teddi and Randy Jones,  Marilyn and John Chatterton.

On Thanksgiving we went to lunch with our friends the Chattertons,  their daughter and son-in-law.  This is the view from the Hopewell Center  - Grand Buffett.  It's a revolving restaurant on the 62nd floor.  The view was good,  the food was great!

Our decorating day was the day after Thanksgiving.   We can't believe it's almost our second Christmas here in Hong Kong!

Totally random,  this is the view from our office window,  (our view is looking behind our building).  Not very attractive,  but none the less,   I've grown accustomed to it !

A Really Good Week

This week was a much better week than last week because Karen was feeling much better. The antibiotic given to her by Elder Sellers finally kicked in and she was “up and at um” like she had never been sick a day in her life. She completed a couple of her newsbriefs  to the Area Presidency and attended her Institute Class.

We had a video call this week with the Hubbard’s and Montague’s. The Hubbard’s are serving in India and the Montague’s in Malaysia. The Montague’s stayed on the video call after the group call and shared with us that they have been asked to keep a low profile by the Mission President for a while because of some political issues in the Country. It was sad because they have recently arrived and are so eager to bring the Church out of obscurity and to have to sit still for the foreseeable future is very disappointing and difficult. It will be interesting to observe the windows that will open for them in the next few weeks through patience and obedience.

We had multiple video calls with Elder and Sister Dowd this week. We were able to help her post some pictures in a Newsroom article and reviewed with her a second article. Their departure date moved up a week, so they will be leaving the end of December. They are a lot of fun and we enjoy visiting with them a lot. Their home is in Houston but they have children in Utah so we are hoping that we will be able to spend time with them after our Mission.

We attended a concert at the Hong Kong Concert Hall this week featuring the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and a world-famous pianist named Luganski. Review: Nikolai Lugnaski/HK Phil/Charles Dutoit-masterful Rachmaninov, effortless Stravinsky, restrained Ravel. I enjoyed it and was particularly emotionally moved by the last number, as I listened to it I felt like I was musically being led through the Temple Endowment. It was a remarkable experience to see Luganski play the piano, Karen and I talked about it and are agreed that he wore out the piano by the of the program.

Sister Lee’s replacements arrived Saturday, Karen and  I took them to church on Sunday. We attended a Cantonese Ward because we wanted to see a primary program in Chinese. Elder and Sister Whidden were great sports and enjoyed the experience as much as we did. It is so fun to participate in a Sacrament Meeting in China and know that the same program is being held all over the world this month by primary children of most every nation, kindred, and tongue.

Lynn had fun flying Elder Yan's droan this week.  Boys will be boys,  even if they're boys in men's bodies!

Sister Norman (left) and Sister Cory didn't have to work too hard to persuade Lynn to help them with preparations for our Senior Missionary Thanksgiving!

I love that wherever you are in the world,  this is the time of year for the Primary Presentation!  We attended a Cantonese Ward having theirs today.    Afterwards I snapped this photo of the poster they used to help the kids with the program!   We are all so different,  but at the same time,  we are so much the same!

Next Week Will Be Better!

This week’s entry will be short because Karen has spent the week in the apartment with a Urinary Tract Infection, and I have been running all over trying to find what she needs to help her feel better. Elder Sellers (our mission Doctor),  has had her try three different antibiotics to fight the infection,  finally,  this last one seems to be working.

Tom and Annie have both been out of the office as well, so I spent as much time in the apartment this week as in the office. I did however have an opportunity to meet all the Area Service Center Managers at a Conference being held here in Hong Kong. 

We also attended the Temple Wednesday night, (which Karen probably should not have) and were asked to attend a Session as the Witness Couple. We don’t have the opportunity to attend the Temple often as Patrons so this was fun to experience the Temple in this capacity.

Karen and I were invited to speak in the Peninsula 3rd Branch Sunday, but Karen did not feel well enough to attend, so I spoke for about forty minutes and the Branch President made a few comments. I enjoy the confidence that we have as Missionaries to teach and testify without apprehension when called upon. A speaking assignment as a Missionary does not seem to carry the burden of the same assignment at home. We love to find opportunities to share the feelings of our hearts out here.

Karen’s starting to feel better,  so I’m sure that this next week will be better for her. A lesson for us that not every week as Missionaries can be “a walk in the park”.

Sui Kung Village

This week Karen and I were walking home on the promenade enjoying the beautiful lights of Hong Kong Island reflecting off the water in the harbor and realized that someday we will be leaving all this behind. We experienced a bit of separation anxiety before concluding the fallacy of the thought and realized the truth; that we will never leave this experience behind because going forward it will be a part of us forever.

This epiphany applies not just to the view we enjoy every night, but also to the many wonderful people, the culture, the food and even the smells, as well as every other “good or bad” experience we have enjoyed as missionaries on this side of the world. The Lord revealed to Joseph that all his experiences “shall be for thy good’, and we have lived to enjoy this lesson as Missionaries.

This week we visited Yuen Long, in the New Territories (they were called the New Territories the last time I was a Missionary here forty-years ago) not so new anymore. We found a hiking trail and walked towards China for a while and soon came to a river. The river similar in size, depth, and smell to the Jordon back home had a ferry service that we paid a fee and were carried across. The farrier rowed us across the river in this rag tag piece of junk that defied the laws of physics by floating. After we boarded he offered a disclaimer warning us that we may get wet, but the water was only a few feet deep. Of course, this was in Chinese and he seemed quite surprised when we responded to him in his native tongue.

In addition to our weekly Temple Assignment we attended our monthly Area Presidency Temple Session. This was different than any previous like session because the Area Presidency were all out of the country, so they were not able to attend. Our zealous District Leader claimed that someone told us that we should do it anyway, so we did. The Sellers and Beckstead’s provided lunch after, pizza, green salad, and doughnuts.

In the office we spent most of the week working closely with Annie, we really enjoy this part of our Mission. She is always making sure that we are having a good Mission and loves to side with Karen in helping me stay humble. She reminds me often of the Dog House video and that I should stay out of the dog house.

Speaking about staying out of the doghouse, we were talking the other night and we are hoping that all our children will be able to serve a Senior Mission because of the opportunity to spend so much time together. It is a wonderful blessing to spend time with your best friend in the Mission Field because it is an environment that is magical. You are in a realm of the world but not of the world, a place where we can escape the noise of mortality and find stillness.  We have experienced glimpses beyond the present into immortality and what we are promised if faithful.

I would caution our grandchildren that as they serve Missions that the growth experienced as a Missionary does not come fast. It comes slowly, day by day, hour by hour, through faith, obedience, love and a lot of hard work.  None the less, it will happen and just like us, before you leave your Mission you will realize that all the hard work, obedience, and love will lead you to experiences gained that will be a part of you forever.

Preview YouTube video Beware of the Doghouse- Hilarious!

Beware of the Doghouse- Hilarious!