Farewell Hong Kong

One last great week of being Missionaries.

The week started with a special meeting with all the Hong Missionaries both old and young gathering together with Elder Stevenson, Elder Christenson and Bishop Causse. It was like other meetings we have enjoyed with Apostles and young Missionaries, very personal and insightful.

We heard from Elder Evans, Sister Causse, Bishop Causse, Elder Christenson and Elder Stevenson. Elder Evans shared personal relationships and experiences he had with the others. Sister Causse spoke of her family’s conversion and recited one sentence in Cantonese that she remembered from being a student here years ago. Bishop Causse reminded the Missionaries that he was here on assignment just as they were and the blessings received over a lifetime by fulfilling assignments received. Elder Christenson addressed the nature and role of the Holy Ghost as a member of the Godhead. He reminded the Missionaries that the Holy Ghost is significant in realizing all truth and the importance of seeking the spirit in all we do. Elder Stevenson brought a whiteboard into the room and taught the Missionaries how to teach a concept or principle, invite the investigator to live it,  and then to promise them a result. In his presentation he left the rostrum, attached a wireless microphone to his lapel,  then walked among the Missionaries teaching, asking questions, role playing and sharing personal experiences.

We believe there were many Missionaries that attended the meeting and will be sharing stories to their grandchildren about the time they spent with Elder Stevenson.

The next morning, we shared Dim Sum with the Hui’s, Wong’s, Ted Yan and Sellers. The Hui’s and Wong’s wanted to thank us for working in the Temple with them and celebrate our friendship.

Later in the day we were invited to dinner at Elder and Sister Sorenson’s apartment with the Fergusons. Sister Sorenson had prepared stuffed porkchops and they were delicious. This is the Sorenson’s second Mission and he promised that after this Mission he would teach us how to catch fish at Otter Creek.

The next afternoon we took all eight Filipino Sister Missionaries to lunch at Triple O’s. It’s a such a satisfying experience to watch these little Filipino girls eat hamburgers, fries or onion rings, and a milkshake. They are so loving, innocent, and pure.  As we realized this would be our last time to spoil them it broke our hearts.

We met Petts in TST at the clocktower at five pm for dinner. We arrived first and were able to see them before they saw us.  It was obvious that not much had changed since they left their Mission nine months ago. They looked just the same, sounded just the same and we enjoyed being with them just as much as we did while they were here serving their Mission.

The next day all the Area Missionaries went to the YMCA Buffet for lunch and we all got a pleasant surprise when everyone got a twenty-five percent discount on their meal because there was a March birthday in the group. After lunch we met Chatterton’s and went to the Lady’s Market for the last time, Mom and Marilyn wanted to make one last contribution to the hawkers of Hong Kong.

On Friday, we cleaned out our cubicle and had our last Friday Lunch with all our Senior Missionary friends. Elder Hyde prepared two crock-pots of home made clam chowder and two big round loaves of home made bread. After lunch we said goodbye and left the office for our final time.

We went home thinking our happiness tank was as full as it could be when we got word that Jess and Parker’s family just increased by one. The initial information we received was  that a healthy grandchild had been born and that Jess had done a super job.  No one dared share the gender with Karen. Parker had previously told Karen that the sex of our new grandchild would not be revealed to her until after she returned home. After what seemed a lifetime to my sweet wife Jess was well enough to share the news that the baby was a 6lb 4oz boy. 

This is the Mission that just keeps on giving.

The only thing we had left to do was attend our Branch on Saturday for one last time, at least that is what we thought.

Later that night we received an unexpected call from the Young Elder’s notifying us that Tina Augusta, one of their investigators would be baptized tomorrow and she had requested me to speak at her baptism. The baptism was being held in the same building we attend Church, it would be held before our church started.   It was just another blessing being added on to an already Mission full of blessings.

Saturday, we enjoyed a baptism, a confirmation, and a wonderful block of meetings in a Filipino Branch in the middle of eight million Chinese. It was our last hurrah as Missionaries and boy did the Sisters make sure we went out with a bang. After all of the meetings, they sat us in the middle of a room and we celebrated with song, dance and testimony  of the time spent together.

We left the building Saturday night knowing that our work here is finished. We also realized that we have completed our service here with honor.

We hope that our Mission  will be an example to all our children,  grandchildren, their children and their grandchildren.

The End

Brother Chan,  one of the security guards in the Office Building.  Such a fun person,  we'll miss him

Front Left to right:  Sister Sellers, me, Lynn, Brother and Sister Hoi, Elder Yan.  Back:  Elder Sellers, Sister Wong.  Elder Sellers was the missionary to Sister Wong's family when she was a little girl.

Sisters Salangad, Romero, Batista, Bannagad, Arago, Miranda, and Almanza

Welcome Griffin John Robertson.  We haven't met and we love you already!

Baptism day for Tina

Our Saturday Branch made our last day with them amazing!

So Many Highlights this Week

We enjoyed our 75^th week as Missionaries this last week and like the previous seventy-four it was a GREAT WEEK IN HONG KONG!!!

We started the week with a visit to Tai O on our P-day with Chatterton’s hoping to see a pink dolphin. Mom had hopes of seeing one and is disappointed in my lack of faith that pink dolphins exist. We ended the day playing games and were glad when Elder and Sister Salmon joined us.  It was a lot of fun, Elder Salmon is pretty sure Elder Gong will be called into the Quorum of the Twelve.

Tuesday, we and the Ferguson’s, who are coming home the first week of April, had our farewell lunch with the Asia Area Presidency. Elder Funk was curious as to whether or not we would make it home in time to see a spring baseball game. Karen replied that we had new grandchildren that are a higher priority.

We had dinner that night with Bishop Jimmy Chan and his wife Jo. They are a wonderful couple who I am sure will visit us in Utah. Jimmy and Jo will continue to be a strong asset of the Church here in Hong Kong for many future years.

We were assigned to speak in the every-day Branch this week which means you speak every day. So, we were the speakers in a Sacrament Meeting every day this week. We think that by the end of the week we knew our talks all too well and so did the Jones and the Jensen’s who had to hear them every day this week.

We went to the Temple and completed our last assignment as Ordinance Workers Wednesday night and after Officiating our last endowment session President Ng thanked us for our work and released us.

The next morning, we attended our monthly session as patrons with the Area Presidency. That night we had dinner with the Crockets and enjoyed the evening.

Friday, all the Senior Missionaries sang a farewell song to us at lunch time. Elder Ferguson wrote the lyrics to the toon of the yellow brick road. Sister Sellers accompanied on the keyboard and it sounded great. One of the blessings we have received while serving is making so many new friends.

That night we met Joyce Chan, her three children and their spouses at the Temple to do sealings. You would think that seeing the blessing of four generations come into the Church would be as good as it can be, but we learned this to be short sighted. We brought several family names that needed some work done including my grandfather’s brother Lane, and they brought some family names including Joyce’s grandparents on both sides with all their siblings adding potentially multiple generations of converts to the Church. It also allowed their family a chance to help us with our family. It was an indescribable spiritual experience and an incomprehensible way to end a Mission.

Heavenly Father truly saved the best for last.

Our visit to Tai O fishing village was fun.

I captured this pose of Lynn standing under a blow fish.

We love our friends Jimmy and Jo Chan.  It's been so wonderful spending time with them during our mission. 

Our last evening to serve as Ordinance Workers in the Hong Kong Temple

Highlight of our mission.  We spent the evening doing sealings with the Chan family.  This is the family that Lynn baptized in 1973.  We were so blessed to reconnect with them while were were here.  We've spent time in the home of Grandma and Grandpa Chan who are now in their 90's.  We've gone to lunch together with members of the family.  We were at the Temple Marriage of Rita and Alvin (couple on the left).  We went to the baptism and Lynn stood in the circle to confirm Lance's son a couple of weeks ago.  What a way to conclude our mission doing sealings for their and our family names.  Lynn Baptized 1st and 2nd generation  Brother Chan's.  Now being a part of ordinances for the 3rd and 4th generation,  and even their ancestors!  It doesn't get better than this.
Left to right:  Rita and Alvin,  Tracy and Lance,  Misty and Sheldon,  Us,  and Joyce.

Birthday Week

This week started with Karen’s Birthday! The Filipino Sister Missionaries and I pulled off a fun surprise party for her at our little apartment in Hung Hom. Four companionships of Sister Missionaries and two sets of Senior Missionaries knocked on our door with birthday cards and goodies to eat. Sister Chatterton brought a red velvet birthday cake and the Sister Missionaries brought mango floats. Karen had no idea and was surprised when everyone showed up.

The next day we spent the morning working in the office until lunch time.  We then went to lunch with the Fergusons. They will be leaving two weeks after us,   we wanted to have lunch together before we all left Hong Kong.

We also received an invitation from Elder Funk to join the Area Presidency and their wives for a farewell luncheon next Tuesday. It seems a little early to us for a farewell lunch but the Area Presidency and other Senior Area Directors will be leaving for Salt Lake soon to attend meetings associated with but held prior to General Conference.

Thursday, we had our first bi-weekly call with other Area Public Affairs Missionaries in Annie’s new office on her big screen TV. Later in the day we attended our weekly Welfare Meeting on the ninth floor. It was the third week in a row that I was listed on the agenda to give the opening prayer and the third week in a row that I have been late.

In the meeting there was a discussion led by legal concerning when and how we could help refugees migrating to different countries in the Area. There is a lot of state specific rules in the twenty-odd countries we work with from Mongolia to the north down to Timor Leste in the south.

Friday, we did some OLCRM training with the Montagues who are serving in Malaysia. The work-flow process was well accepted, and we believe it will be of great assistance to the Public Affairs work here going forward.

In the evening we were treated to dinner by Elder Stan Parry and his good wife Carol. We dined at a very nice Thai restaurant in Tsim Tsau Tsui on the Kowloon side.  The restaurant was located next to the Star Ferry Terminal with a harbor view and we were able to watch the sunset and the heart of the Island business district in Central light up across the water.

The next morning, we met the Cory’s who treated us to breakfast before church. They took us to the “Flying Pan” a western restaurant operated and named by a Chinese entrepreneur that thinks he named his restaurant after a western cooking utensil. This is one of the few places that you can find a western breakfast and the only place in Hong Kong that we know of that serves biscuits and gravy. This was also a farewell meal that Elder Tim Cory and his good wife Joyce wanted to have before we left.

We spent five or six hours in church and then were treated to another meal, this time with the Jones and the Jensens. We served in the Every-Day Branch Presidency with these two Senior Missionary Couples  in Wan Chai. It was another good meal, this time at the Outback Restaurant. We have been told that we will be released on the 17^th from the Branch so this was another special occasion.

While eating dinner we discussed how excited the Branch members were when President Jones announced that President Nelsen and Elder Holland would be in Hong Kong on the 21^st of April. They will be holding a special meeting in the Hong Kong Convention Center for all the members here in Hong Kong and because it will be on a Saturday night all the members in the Saturday Family will be able to attend.

Speaking of visits, Elder Stevenson with a member of the Presiding Bishopric and one of the First Quorum of the Seventy will also be visiting Hong Kong and hold a special meeting for all the Missionaries here on the twelfth of March. Fortunately for us it is before we leave so we will be able to attend.

A lot is going on right now including a lot of eating.

A surprise birthday visit from Chattertons,  Jensens and the sister missionaries!

Lynn's turn,  a birthday surprise for him!  Left to right:  Sister Bautista,  Sister Romero,  Sister Rodriguez,  Lynn,  Sister Salangad,  Sister Miranda,  Sister Almanzor,   Sister Nelsen.

Outside of Sweet Basil Thai Restaurant in TST

Going home on the Ferry