Saying Goodbye to Sister Barcocols

Our December calendar is beginning to look the Chinese New Year fireworks. We have so much going on here right now that it will be difficult to keep up with it all. Karen knows how to use the invite function in Outlook and is wearing it out here in December.

This week begin  visiting a secluded white sand beach on the east side of the peninsula at Clear Water Bay. The temperature was in the low sixties so besides ourselves there were only a couple other people on the beach. We enjoyed the sounds and sights of the serf as each wave would form, crest, and crash before disappearing into the sand.

After about an hour we left and stopped for lunch at Big Bite when we received a message that Sister Barcolcols’ brother had passed away unexpectedly, and she would be leaving to go home to the Philippines later that day or in the morning. Her flight was postponed a day, so we were able to see her and offer our condolences before she left.

We love and worry about the Sister Missionaries serving here that after their Missions are returning to a quality of life that would be difficult to endure. We wish there was more we could do for them and their families.

Horse racing is big here in Hong Kong and has been for years. I remember as a young Missionary seeing billboards advertising the races at the “Happy Valley Race Track” and hearing the name, “the Hong Kong Jockey Club”. So, Karen and I mostly out of curiosity decided to go to the races this week. Having never been we did not know quite what to expect and are pleased to report that it was a lot of fun. The horses were amazing, not only were they physically marvelous but the way they competed against each other to win was more like a human than an animal.

We had a good week at the office and continue to progress with the Opinion Leader Data Base and CRM. We had productive conference calls with both Salt Lake and Washington D.C. concerning how we can best utilize the system. We also saw “Light the World” kick off in all the countries in our area and are excited about the campaign being a great success similar to last year.

We took the Filipino Sister Missionaries (Sister Cory joined us), to lunch to say a sad goodbye to Sister Barcolcols (sitting to the left of me).   Her brother passed away,  President Lam sent her home to stay.  She would have completed her mission here in February.   He told her she needed to be home with her family and finish her mission teaching them the gospel.  Sister Barcolcols and her brother  were the only 2 members in all of her immediate and extended family.  Her brother had completed his mission and was engaged to be married in the Manilla Temple in May. 

Left to right:  E/S Beckstead,  Sister Barcolcols, Sister Cory, Sister Salangnad.

Who would have thought our first horse race would be in Hong Kong!  This was really fun!