Where is Heaven?

June 30 (Tuesday)

"How far is Heaven? It's not very far. In temples of God, it's right where we are."

The Lord said: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the temple is the most sacred place on earth. It is the house of the Lord, and just as the inscription on the exterior of the temple states, the temple is "Holiness to the Lord."

Hong Kong China Temple

It was an exciting day as we start our mission in the Temple. We first met with President and Sister Wong and were set apart as Ordinance Workers. The Hong Kong Temple is very unique. Because land is so difficult to acquire, the Temple was originally built above the Church Office Building. Eventually, the offices were moved elsewhere, and now the building is virtually all Temple except for the second floor, where the Temple President and his wife reside.

The temple district serves more than 1/2 of the world's population including China, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Macau, and 9 different languages are spoken here. The two main languages are Cantonese and English. What a relief for me.

Because there are so many domestic workers that are members, and they only get one day off a week. Once every third month, the Temple is open on Sunday to accommodate these sisters. There is a sacrament meeting available every day of the week also to accommodate the domestics. Hong Kong is very unique in how the Church operates here.

My first day was basically getting oriented as to where everything was located. The design of the Temple is very confusing, and I feel like I need a GPS to navigate through the many halls and elevators. The Celestial Room is absolutely magnificent. It's brilliant and bright done in a contemporary Asian motif, with a colour scheme of white, silver, and pewter, and of course an abundance of crystal chandeliers. Like most celestial rooms, it just takes your breath away.


July 1 (Wednesday) - Canada Day!

"God keep our land, glorious and free!" I love my country. I miss not being home to celebrate this special day. Happy Canada Day to all our fellow Canadians!

Proud to be Canadian!

Sister Nora Chan, E/S Ball E/S Chan, E/S Bodily

However, it was a special day in Hong Kong also, Unification Day, the uniting of Hong Kong with China. Being a statutory holiday, the Temple was extremely busy. Every session was packed to over flowing. The baptistry too was overflowing with about 30 young men and women from outside of Hong Kong. My heart was full as I felt the spirits of these dedicated young saints who traveled so far to come do temple work. There were many sealings and first time attendees. The Church is growing so fast in the Asia Temple District.

After a busy day at the Temple, we decided to cool off in the pool. The pictures on the internet are so deceiving. The pool looked rather small, but to our surprise it was huge--probably about 3 times the length and 4 times the width of the Sewick pool back home. Cool, clear, crisp, clean water with numerous fountains spouting water. I only have to do 21 lengths instead of 64 to do my mile.


July 2 (Thursday)

Happy 95th Birthday to my Mom! We Face Timed with her on her ipad today but it was still July 1 back home. Seems like everyone had a wonderful Canada Day with lots of activities. Check it out on Facebook.

We work at the Temple Tuesday and Wednesday. Then today is not a "day off", but called an "other assignment day". We are to use it to do church related activities or any assignments which we may get from our branch. We weren't given any specific assignment for today, so we went shopping at the Hung Hom Market. This was a really fun area - lots of fresh markets, veggies, fruit, meat, pastries, and a mish mash of small business within the food market - clothes, housewares, seamstress, and knick knacks.

E/S Ball introduced us to their favorite lady at the pork market.

Beautiful array of fresh fish

All kinds of live sea food: fish, clams, crabs, squid, oysters, and live frogs...

Ancestral worship shrine out on the street

In the markets, people are always asking John about his name tag. This is a great opportunity for John to tell them a little about who we are and why we are in Hong Kong and a little about our Church. It's so wonderful that he speaks the language. I just stand by his side and silently smile. :) It has given him numerous opportunities to give out "pass-a-long cards" an introduction to our Church  :)