Coincidence? Or by Design?

September 19 (Monday)

Today, Sister Chau, one of the local temple workers came to our apartment with her tailor from Shenzhen. He had made her a beautiful temple dress and Sisters Bodily, Ngai, Hathaway and myself all wanted to have dresses made. They bought some sample fabrics and he measured us up for our dress. I'm excited to see the finished product. He'll be back in a couple weeks for a fitting. In our excitement, we forgot to take a picture of the event.

Just wanted to get your attention!

September 20 (Tuesday)

We didn't have any orientation to do today. Things look like it will be quieter at the Temple this week.

Dinner: The Hopewell Centre Grand Buffet! And let me just say, it was definitely grand, large, huge, humungo! Cuisine consisted of American (roast beef, roast pork), Japanese (sushi, tempura), Chinese (dim sum, and all kinds of Chinese dishes and soup), seafood (lobster, crab, muscles, clams, shrimp), salad bar, dessert bar, ice cream bar, and a bunch of other stuff. And stuffed we were. The Grand Buffet came with a grand price, so we felt we needed to get our money's worth. We were on the 62nd floor in a revolving restaurant. The view was spectacular!

Starters...

Seafood Bar

BBQ Meats

The Buffet runs the circumference of the restaurant on two levels.

Sushi Bar

Dim Sum, Tempura, and Soup Bar 

Grill Masters

Now that's a Chocolate Fountain! 

Great food...Great company, Rancie's, Bodily's, Hathaway's

Great View from revolving 360 degree Grand Buffet

September 21 (Wednesday)

We went to see Sister Hung today for our massages. I've had a sore arm for weeks. It feels like a pulled muscle. She worked it real deep and did "cupping". Hope it helps. John also had cupping done. It looks pretty weird, but the chinese swear by it that it really works well for drawing out toxins.

Creepy...

September 22 (Thursday)

We had the late shift, so decided to do supper at MOKO. We had just finished dinner and were walking to the escalator when I was hit with a tachycardia episode. That's when my heart decides to take off racing. I don't know what triggers it. Sometimes it is only momentarily, sometimes it takes a while before it settles down back to normal. Unfortunately, this was one of the longer episodes. It was difficult walking because that just agitates it, and my heart goes even faster and takes longer to settle down. So what generally would have only taken us 10 -15 minutes to get home, took about an hour. Things settled down once I was able to lay down and put a cold pack on my heart. No worries, I'm OK.

September 23 (Friday)

Another evening out, this time with Elder and Sister James. They have been working in the mission office and fill other support roles where needed. We enjoyed getting to know them better and had a lovely meal at one of our favorite places, Korean #1 BBQ.

Shrimp, Sausage, Port, Beef, Steak, Ribs

Dessert - Blueberry Cheesecake Shaved Ice

Sister and Elder James and yours truly.

September 24 (Saturday)

Last month we had gone to Sai Kung with some of the area office missionaries. It was such a good experience that I wanted the Temple missionaries to also have the opportunity to experience. So today was the day that we went to Sai Kung and then to the Kau Sai Chau Golf Club. We had a wonderful scenic bus ride to the ferry then over to the island where there are 3 golf courses and the restaurant and club house. After a delicious buffet dinner, we all headed to the driving range to hit a few balls. All we have done with week is eat, eat, eat!

Ngai's, Chan's, Hathaway's, Bodily's, Rancie's, Sister Lee (back), Robert's

At the Sai Kung fishing village

"Junks" - fishing boats

King Crab

Seafood Selection - pick what you want for dinner - they cook it for you.

Local fisherman - today's fresh catch. 

Open street market

Sunset at Kau Sai Chau 

September 25 (Sunday)

Just another Sunday. Our Self Reliance class went very well. Maribel did a super job as facilitator. We initially only had 10 students, but now there are 14. It seems to be a very popular program.

It seems like most of the week has just been filled with going out to eat. So I thought I would share something on a more spiritual level.

Coincidence? Or by Design?

About 20 plus years ago, Elder Ong was serving his mission in Malaysia. He baptized a young lady named Laura. About 10 years later, he bought his family to meet Laura. His daughter Charlene was about 8 years old at the time. Sadly, after that, Charlene's parents became inactive. 

Charlene however, remained active and decided to serve a mission. She was living in Singapore and was to arrive in Hong Kong to take out her endowments before going on her mission. However, her flight was delayed a day, and instead of arriving on Tuesday, she did not arrive till Wednesday. Her mother came to the temple with her, but could not enter.

On that same Wednesday, Laura, the one that Elder Ong had baptized 20 years earlier, had decided she was going to go to the Temple. Since she had to rent clothes, she decided to come a little earlier. 

Laura and Charlene arrived at the same time. Incredibly, Charlene recognized Laura from their meeting 10 years earlier! What a joyful reunion! Laura was able to be Charlene's escort for her endowment session. Coincidence? or by design? 

Charlene's mission call is to England. This same week, another sister from Macao came to take out her endowments before heading out on her mission, also to England. The third endowment was a young elder from Thailand who also got called to England. Singapore, Macau, and Thailand, all three brought together at the same time, going to the same place, the MTC in Provo before heading to England. Coincidence? or by design? The Lord is watching over his army.

"This little piggy went to market..."

September 12 (Monday)

Though today was p-day, no sleeping in for us. We met with Sister Kathy Roberts to take her shopping. Even though she's been in Hong Kong for many months, she has not ventured very far to discover the great little shops in Hung Hom, the area where we live. So today we took her around to some of our favorite places.

"This little piggy went to market"...

Fresh Veggies

Fresh Fruit

Hack a slab of Beef - pick your cut.

Fighting my way out of the fruit market.

After a couple hours of shopping we returned home to fry up some deep fried wontons for Sunni Wen, a good friend who works security at the Church Headquarters. He had specially requested these since he missed out last time we had them at church. Sister Roberts said she'd take them to him for us.

With time running out, we decided to visit the Space Museum. It's closed for renovations until 2019, but they were still showing the 3D imax movie. It was very disappointing as the quality of the film was extremely poor.

Outside the Space Museum

To my Alien Fan Club - Makumba Fans, eat your heart out...

"Makumba lives!"

It was hot and humid and one of the few days that we've seen the sun in a very long time, so we went for a swim. So nice and relaxing. A good p-day.


September 13 (Tuesday)

Our morning started off with a quick meeting with President and Sister Wong, before we had to do the orientation to the Arabian group from Jordan. 25 members have come to Hong Kong, some for their first temple experience. There were some American members living in Jordan that accompanied them. They work for the American Embassy. Thank goodness, they were able to interpret for us. 8 new endowments, family sealings, and other ordinances will keep us busy all week. It's so exciting to have these people come from so far away. They are a true example of dedication and a testimony of commitment.

Members from Jordan

September 14 (Wednesday)

There were many tears of joy over the last couple days. Husband and wife sealed, children sealed to parents, there's always such a sweet spirit present. Families can be together forever, through Heavenly Father's plan! One dear sister lost her husband only 3 months ago. He never had the opportunity to come to the Temple, but today, through special permission, the one year waiting period was waived, and he was sealed to his dear wife. Sweet mercy of a loving Father in Heaven.

The new angel Moroni against a rare blue sky.

September 15 (Thursday)

Happy Moon Festival Day! There are moon cakes everywhere! Personally, I don't care for them. However, John can't seem to get enough. We've been inundated with moon cakes at the temple...all different kinds. The more modern style ones, I like with custard type fillings. The traditional ones with the egg in the middle, I pass off to John and he gladly devours them.

Home made moon cakes by President Hui.

Moon Cakes, Mangoes and Persimmons in Season

Being it was Autumn Moon Festival, a public holiday, the Temple was only open for 3 session, 9:00, 11:00 and 1:00. It wasn't busy at all. On our way home we run into 2 elders. Jasmine, our daughter had told us to keep our eyes open for an Elder Magrath who is serving in Hong Kong. His good friend, Sister Myers, is serving in her ward. They said he was a red head. Sure enough, it was Elder Magrath that we ran into along with his companion Elder Chou. They had just crossed paths with a young man who approached them and struck up a conversation about the church.

Elder Chan, investigator, Elder Magrath, Elder Chou

There might have been some special events going on in celebration of Moon Cake Day,  but we weren't aware of any, so we spent a quiet evening at home.

September 16 (Friday)

Today was a statutory holiday. I'm still confused about the difference between a public holiday and a statutory holiday. Anyways, we were on the statutory schedule which runs 5 sessions between 7:00 and 11:30 am. Unlike yesterday, the sessions were packed to overflowing. It was a very busy day. We finished around 1:00. Then came home and had a nap before heading to Tai Koo to have lunch with Aunty May Soo and family.

Very unusual - braised pomelo pith...interesting...

Their version of a sizzling go ba...not quite the same as ours.

A little camera shy? 

Mike, Agatha, Ernest, Louisa, May Soo, Judy, John

September 17 (Saturday)

After the temple closed today, we had a welcome party for Elder Charles and Sister Fanny Chan. They've already been here for a month, but things have just been too busy to catch them earlier. They are from Vancouver. We enjoyed another fabulous meal prepared by Matron Wong, and her assistants, Sister Hui, and Sister Yuen (chef extraordinaire).

Sister Fanny and Elder Charles Chan 

Asst. Matron Hui, Asst. Matron Yuen, Rae, Fanny, Bonnie, Judy, Shirley, Deb

Temple Presidency and Temple Missionaries with recorders Bro. Chan and Bro. Choi

September 18 (Sunday) 

Today we started another session of the Self Reliance program. Sister Roberts and I just did the introductory. After that, we are just in the class to assist, be the "fly on the wall". Next week, Maribel Reandino will be the weekly facilitator. Being the third Sunday, it was another Branch dinner.

My special friend Coco Yam

John, Nova, Mercy, Judy, Maribel, Masako, Taeia, Rona

Elder & Sister Chan Meet Elder & Sister Chan

September 5 (Monday)

Happy Birthday, Mikey Goodman, our favorite American son-in-law! You're so special, that they declared today a holiday. Enjoy your day.

Guess what we're doing for FHE tonight?

This might be our final potluck FHE gathering with our fellow temple missionaries. It was to get better acquainted with Elder Charles and Sister Fanny Chan. Yes, another Chan couple. There are more Chan's in China than any other surname. If you don't know someone's name, just call them brother or sister Chan, and you have a pretty good chance of getting it right. haha...

Rae and Rob Rancie were missing since they had family here visiting from Australia. What a feast we had: fried rice, spinach salad, curry noodles, taco soup, wonton soup, lions head (Shanghai cuisine), deep fried wontons, and fresh fruit salad with almond jelly.

Charles & Shirley Ngai, Fanny & Charles Chan, J&J Chan, Gary & Deb Bodily, Bonnie & Brent Hathaway 

Merry Christmas!

Just thought I'd start getting rid of stuff now since we will be leaving in 2 months. "White elephant" welcome gift for Fanny & Charles. This tree gets handed down to lucky new missionaries. We inherited it from Helga and Robert Wilson when they finished their mission. Time to let it go... haha!

John gave each of the couples a Hong Kong Temple picture which he drew.

We'll certainly miss getting together with all the senior Temple missionary couples, BFF. We've experienced a lot of fascinating, fun, fattening food, and forever friendships throughout our fabulous mission.


September 6 (Tuesday)

The start of another week with orientation to all the new patrons in patron housing. This week we have visitors from Shri Lanka, India, and Thailand. This will be quite challenging since we don't have any written or recorded information in Sri Lankan language. We'll have to depend a lot on the spirit conveying the messages. Must say that my playing charades does help to some small degree. The Indian people mostly can speak English. And we have workers in the temple that can speak Thai.

 Family from Thailand

Left to right: 6 members from Sri Lanka, 2 from Canada, 4 from India.

Brother and Sister Woodruff from Cardston, Alberta, served a mission in Sri Lanka a few years ago. When they heard that these 6 members were coming to the Temple to be sealed, they decided that they wanted to be here for them. What a precious moment.

All dressed in white for family sealing.

September 7 (Wednesday)

OAD and wouldn't you know it, it rained all day. This was one of the very rare days when we stayed in the whole day. It gave me a chance to start going through our stuff and cleaning out the closet, mini purge. I packed up a bunch of clothes and shoes which I've decided not to take home. I'll take it to the branch and see if any of the sisters want any of it.

Also got all our travel arrangements confirmed for our cruise and return to Canada. Countdown is on.


September 8 (Thursday)

Because there was a Mission Presidents Seminar in Hong Kong today, there was a special temple session held for them. It's always exciting when we to have church leadership come to the temple.


September 9 (Friday)

We had the early shift so it gave us time to go to Central after work. I had another lazer hair treatment. Thought I'd better get in as many as I can before we go home. Shopped a bit a Li Yuen Street. We're starting to look like regulars there. I look so big in this picture, next to this little lady. Really, she was really a very little lady. I'm only 4'11", so I don't know how tall she is. I guess I shouldn't complain about being short.

Korean style kids clothes - so adorable. 

Tsim Sha Tsui - Traffic Jam on the way home - no one going no where...

People Jam in the MTR Station - why you should avoid rush hour!

September 10 (Saturday)

The Church headquarters in Wan Chai was very busy this week with Mission Presidents and Area Seventies coming for seminars. Today it was the Area Seventies turn for a special session at the Temple. Because the session ran after our normal Saturday closing time, the Temple Presidency put on a nice little "snack/treat break" for all the Temple Missionaries who stayed to help run the special session. Always nice to sit and visit with the presidency in a casual atmosphere and munch goodies.

One last photo with our Indian family before they head home.

Out for some last minute groceries before the Sabbath. John has a few favorite places he goes for specialty items. This is his favorite dessert stop. He's a regular there too.

Tofu King Dessert Stand

Very friendly Tofu King employee

September 11 (Sunday)

I had collected 2 large bags of clothes and shoes which I decided I was not going to take home. So today, we took them to church for the sisters to have. There will still be more purging before our time here is done.