I love p-day. We usually go out shopping for groceries or other stuff. Today we just shopped in our local area. Came across an awesome shoe sale and ended up buying 3 pairs of comfy all leather shoes, hair cutting shears, 2 tops, and a few miscellaneous kitchen items.
Just one last stop before heading home...it was a crowded little store with super narrow aisles. I accidentally bumped into a lady. Said, "Sorry" and continued on my way. She followed me and as I turned around, she inquired about my name tag. Not knowing quite how to answer in Cantonese, I had her follow me to John who was patiently waiting outside of the store. To our delight, she wanted to know more about our church. I was so excited! She wanted us to meet her son and said she lived just down the street. So we followed her to her home where we met Constance her son. We asked if they would like to meet with the missionaries on Tuesday, and they were happy to do so.
As soon as we got back to our condo, I called Sister Pack who is in charge of the young proselyting elders and we arranged to meet all together on Tuesday at 4:00. I can hardly wait for our meeting. I had prayed that we would be able to find someone who was ready to receive the gospel. Looks like someone found us.
August 11 (Tuesday)
We had a short shift at the temple today and hurried home so we could be ready to meet with the missionaries and Phoenix, our investigator. John went to her apartment to walk her over to our place. Unfortunately, her son Constance, excused himself from joining us. We met for about an hour. Most of the time was just spent getting to know her better and understand her situation. It's very personal so at this point I will not be sharing it in this blog. The good part is that she will meet again with us tomorrow. I still feel very positive. There was a reason why she approached me about our church. She seems to be a genuinely good person.
August 12 (Wednesday)
John went to pick up Phoenix, and again she asked him to go up to the apartment to talk with Constance. He said he didn't want to meet with the missionaries. He is very shy and didn't like to be in a group setting. He said he would be more comfortable just talking with John. I wonder if he just needs a father figure. So John said he would just meet with him one on one on Thursday. As they were leaving the apartment, Phoenix said good-bye, which caught John off guard because he was under the impression that she would be coming back to our place for another discussion with the Elders. I don't know if she felt that there wasn't enough time to meet since she had to go to work, or if it was just an excuse. Of course, we were all disappointed, but will continue contacting them.
August 13 (Thursday)
Happy Birthday to "DEBO" our good friend and also know as Grandma Deb to some of our grandkids. It's always nice to have a spare grandma around. Thanks for always being there when needed.
Today John went to meet up with Constance. He left around 3:30. We were supposed to meet the rest of the senior missionaries at 7:00 to help set up the apartment for Elder and Sister Lee, a new senior couple coming on Friday. By 6:00, John still wasn't home. Me, being a worry-wart, began to worry about what was taking him so long. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea meeting one on one. Isn't it missionary rules that you always go two by two, never alone. What if Constance was a real weirdo? 6:30, and still no John. By 6:55, I finally called Elder Bodily and said that John wasn't home yet, and asked him to come pick up the supplies from me that we were supplying and I told him I wouldn't be going to help set up until John returned. 7:05...finally, he shows up. Lesson learned...never leave your companion. No one on one meetings. That rule is there for a reason.
Anyways, about Constance. John and him had a very lengthy visit and he got to know a lot about him and some of the issues between him and his mother. Hopefully, we will be able to help both of them. We will try to meet again next week.
August 14 (Friday)
We had the late shift at the temple tonight, so ate out 'cause we didn't feel like cooking when we got home. Good excuse. Elder and Sister Lee arrived around 9:30. All the senior temple missionaries were there to welcome them. They were originally from Calgary, but moved to Texas. Small world, Elder and Sister Ngai are also from Calgary, the Edwards from Red Deer, then there's us from Lethbridge. Alberta is well represented. Hard to imagine, just 8 weeks ago, we were the new ones just arriving.
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| Pres. & Sis. Wong, Ngai's, Bodily's, Ball's, Nora, Chan's,
Elder and Sister Lee - front centre.
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Another week over. Tomorrow will be our special Sunday Opening at the Temple. It happens once every quarter. Because so many of the domestic workers only have Sunday off, this gives them the opportunity to go to the Temple at least once every three months. It will be an extremely busy day.
August 16 (Sunday)
Coincidence or an answer to prayer?
Today is our special Sunday Opening at the Temple. Once every 3 months, the Temple opens on Sunday to accommodate the domestic workers, who are unable to attend the Temple because their only day off is Sunday, and the Temple is always closed on Sunday. The Hong Kong Temple is the only Temple which was granted special permission by the First Presidency to open on Sunday to give these special sisters the opportunity to go to the Temple.
Because of the large number of sisters that attend on this special day, we had to recruit missionaries from other departments to come and assist. One of the recruits was Sister Chamberlain from the Public Relations department. She was assigned to work with me in the same session. We had a few minutes before our session began, so it gave me a chance to visit with her and get to know her.
I told her that John and I had originally requested a Public Affairs mission. But as it turned out they needed someone ASAP, and we weren't available until June, and the Chamberlain's were available immediately, so they were assigned to that department. Then to my delight, she invited me to write for them and submit any faith promoting stories to their department for publication. So, I guess I get to do some PR work after all.
As our conversation progressed, I mention that some of our family were coming to Hong Kong. I mentioned that Wayne would like to set up a fireside. I briefly told her about him and his music. Tears began to fill her eyes as she told me how she'd been praying over the past few days, not knowing how she was going to tackle this assignment. President Lam had wanted to put on some kind of faith promoting event around Christmas time, to invite people and introduce them to our Church as part of the PR program. She had no idea who to contact or what to do to put on such a big project. When I mentioned Wayne, everything just seem to fall into place. She was so excited.
I also mentioned that Elder Zak Love, a member of Beyond 5, had been called to the Hong Kong mission and that he and Wayne are good friends. Perhaps they could perform together. More tears. So coincidence? or an answer to prayer? I think the latter.
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