What does Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and the LDS Church have in common?

April 18 (Monday)

Happy Birthday, Rhett! It's great to be 8! We're just waiting to hear when Rhett will be baptized. Jade was thinking they might wait until we can be there which would be in June. But they might do it before they move so he can be baptized in the ward where all his friends are.

If this is how my week is going to be, I'm in big trouble. It started off by sleeping in till 9:15, which wouldn't have been a bad thing, except that we were supposed to meet with the rest of the missionaries at 9:30 to catch the shuttle. You probably haven't seen  me move this fast in a long time. In 13 minutes, I hopped out of bed, brushed my teeth, hot ironed my hair, dressed and ran out to the shuttle just as everyone was boarding. Whew, made it!

Riding the Mid Level Escalator

We rode the Mid Level Escaltor up to the top then walked a few blocks to get to the museum. The Mid Level Escalator and walkway system in Hong Kong is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The entire system covers over 800 metres about 2,600 feet in distance and elevates over 135 metres or 443 feet from bottom to top. It was constructed in 1993 to provide a better commute by linking areas within the Central and Western District on Hong Kong Island. It was an "outside the box" transportation solution generated by a group of civil engineers.

Elder Hathaway had arranged a trip to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum. This building was formerly owned the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There is a long history involving the purchase and sale of the property. It is an amazing mansion. The Church used it as the church offices, meeting house and chapel, and mission home. They installed a baptismal font, which had been preserved in the museum as a reminder of the relationship of the church and the Hong Kong government. Hong Kong wanted to preserve the cultural heritage of this building and turn it into a museum. The Church needed to expand, so a deal was made to "exchange" properties. The church gained a prime piece of real estate in the Wan Chai district. It was a win win situation.

Rob Rancie, Brent Hathaway, Richard & June Lee, John & Judy Chan, Deborah & Gary Bodily

The plaque on the front wall of the entrance to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum 

The Baptismal Font was preserved in the museum as part of the history of this historic building.

Second Floor Balcony - Romeo and Juliet? Definitely not Rapunzel!

The Guys 

Kom Tong Hall - Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Museum, formerly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 

 The exhibition explains how Dr. Sun was transformed from an aspiring medical student into a renowned revolutionary leader. Below is a picture from the brochure (no photos allowed in museum) of the "Four Deperados" and Kwan King-leung in 1888.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen 1866-1925 President and founding father of the Republic of China
and co-founder of the Kuomintang

Unfortunately, they didn't allow any photography inside. They had some amazing pictures and artifacts I would have loved pictures of. Believe it or not, they didn't even have a gift shop like most museums. So there weren't any postcards or anything to purchase. Bummer.

I'm not normally a museum lover, but his one was so interesting and it was nice to learn a little more of the history of China. I guess I was especially interested because my grandfather had close ties to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and his movement to unite China.

After a couple hours in the museum, an outing wouldn't be complete without a meal. Elder Hathaway took us to a fabulous little Italian restaurant, Mo's Place, hidden in the maze of tiny shops and narrow streets.

Fun, Food and Friends

April 19 (Tuesday)

I woke up on time today, and didn't have to rush. It was a very tiring day since I spent about 4 hours doing initiatory work. Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but to be honest, out of all the things we are called to do, this is my least favorite...1 hour is fine, but 4 hours! I was so done.

I was glad to get home with thoughts of relaxing for the evening. Nope...not going to happen. After checking my email, I had to sort out some confusion with our tax returns, emailing back and forth with our accountant back in Canada.

As if that wasn't enough by itself, there was also an issue at Subway with some employees and discussion with Malou whether termination notices were in order.

And of course, I've also been under pressure to try to supply graduation caps and gowns for my Self-Reliance graduating class, and no suppliers are responding to our many requests. Graduation is schedules for May 1, and time is running out.

In between these issues, I was trying to make supper, and my curry chicken, got neglected and slightly burnt and all the liquid evaporated. I threw in another can of coconut milk and rescued dinner. It actually turned out pretty good. I had 2 helpings.

Then I got a desperate phone call from a sister in the ward who was terminated from her employer and wanted to know if my Auntie would sign her into a new contract so she will not be deported to the Philippines. I've been inundated with requests to sponsor family or friends of the sisters in our branch. So many people are so desperate to find employment in Hong Kong. They hope to use it as a stepping stone to emigrate to Canada or the U.S.

So much for my relaxing evening. It's already Tuesday, and I still have 3 biographies/stories to catch up on. I can only do interviews on Sunday, and I lose this Sunday, because of the special temple opening. Then I lose 2 Sundays in May due to a Regional Broadcast, and District Conference. I get this sinking feeling that I may not have enough time to interview all the sisters before my mission is done.

Add another dream car to John's collection.

April 20 (Wednesday)

Looks like my blog entries of Monday and Tuesday sure made up for last week, when I had nothing to say. Today is my day of repentance for grumbling about doing initiatory. I unloaded on Sister Wong. She was very sympathetic to my concern. She related her story about being stuck in the same situation so totally could relate to what I was saying. The difference being, she handled it well, and I not so good. If it was a test of patience for me, I failed miserably! Anyways, she must have felt bad for me because that evening she came over and dropped of half a dozen egg tarts for me (us). She such a sweet, compassionate, thoughtful matron. I love this lovely lady.


April 21 (Thursday)

Frustration continues to loom, as my computer keeps giving me an error message every time I try to write on my blog. Picture Lucy from Peanuts saying, "AHHHHH!" It won't let me "save" what I've written. It won't let me "close" without "saving". If I do try to do either, everything I've written gets wiped out!

We met with Elders White and Phung, and Constance tonight. We all went out for dinner...Yeah! Finally got Constance to come out. We had a wonderful meal, and I was so excited to just relax and hear Constance talk and carry on in conversation. He has opened up so much. We encouraged him to attend institute, so hopefully the Elders can get him to go. His mom gave him a hair cut (sort of). It's still long and bushy. It's an improvement.

Elder Phung, Elder White, Constance, John, Judy

April 22 (Friday)

"It's raining, it's pouring. No swimming for Judy this morning." Though the pool has been opening for 3 weeks now, most days it's been closed due to storm warnings. The last time I recall seeing the sun was February 29, when Carol and Sharon were here.

Went for lunch with Auntie May Soo again, then went to check out some more walkers and wheelchairs. There are a lot of options. She just has to decide exactly what kind will fit her needs.

Test driving a wheel chair.

Later we went to pick up John's pants. I thought it might be nice to get Constance a white shirt and tie and a pair of pants. Maybe, if he had some "church" clothes, he might feel more inclined to attend. We'll take the clothes to Elder Phung, and he will get it to Constance and encourage him to come to church and institute. I believe if you look good, you feel good.


April 23 (Saturday)

Another rainy day. Dropped the clothes for Constance off at Wan Chai for the Elders to take to him. Went home for a nap, then out for groceries. Hope to get a good nights sleep, since we don't have to be up early for church. Tomorrow is our special Sunday Temple opening so we won't start until 1:00.


April 24 (Sunday)

It was another successful Sunday Opening! Everything went so smoothly. We were even ahead of schedule. Elder and Sister Lee did an awesome job coordinating the event. I was assigned to be the 4th Floor coordinator. I had a wonderful team of very experienced temple workers, so it was so easy because everyone knew exactly what needed to be done, and did it. We had 2 overflowing sessions, many baptisms, initiatory, and sealings performed. All in all we all had a wonderful day in the Temple, both workers and patrons.