Time's a Tickin'

October 17 (Monday)

It doesn't matter how many watches you have, it doesn't give you any more time!

...and so the trend continues. By now, you must all think that all we do on our mission is eat! Well, aside from our work at the Temple, it pretty much seems that way. Now that we are into our final month, there seems to be farewell dinners regularly with people wanting to get together before we leave. So far this month, we have 16 dinners booked. We haven't had to buy much for groceries. We're trying to use up what we have.

Another "final" but not really, lunch at the YMCA buffet. The Bodily's leave tomorrow. In the evening, Shirley made apple pie for dessert, so we all gathered at their place. She makes the best apple pies!

Sorry, still no photos! They won't download. I think something is wrong with the ipod which John takes all our photos on. They won't download to either of our computers.


October 18 (Tuesday)

The Mongolians are still here from last week. We had another group of Thai's come today. There is a new temple announced to be built in Thailand. It will likely take a few years before it is opens. That will take away a lot of our patrons. Then when they build a temple in Mongolia (hopefully, that will be announced in the near future), then that's another group that we won't see much of. By then, hopefully, there will be more Chinese members filling in the void.

The Church is growing each week and each week, we see more and more new patrons coming. The Filipino sisters also make up a large part of the attendees. When I think of the countless number of members that come from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Jordan, India, and other surrounding countries that so faithfully attend the temple, my heart is full, and I will miss this wonderful experience.


October 19 (Wednesday)

While sitting in the late afternoon session, I could hear the roar of thunder. Oh, that sounded so ominous. As soon as the session was finished, it was announced that the Temple would be closed for the rest of the day, cancelling the last 2 sessions. There was a "black" storm warning...heavy, torrential rain. Thankfully, President Wong offered to drive us home. Many streets were flooded, and traffic was backed up to a standstill in some places. Rivers of water were flooding the roads. This is typhoon season.


October 20 (Thursday)

We've been following the U.S. election. Watched the final debate. Don't have a clue who would be the better president. Out of the 300 million people in the U.S., this is the choice they have? So sad. It really does make you ask, "What is this world coming to?"

On our way home through Metropolis, there were a whole bunch of vendors selling food items and random wares. It's always fun to check out what they have. I found some cute little cloth pouches and stickers which I thought would make a nice gift for our little primary girls. We also couldn't resist the "duong" (sticky rice and filling wrapped in bamboo leaves), and "ngo mei guy" (sticky rice with chicken wrapped in lotus leaves). Yum.

After our shift today, we walked over to Wonderland to pick up some white envelopes. It was getting late, so it was a good excuse to eat out rather than go home and cook. Charm's Cafe is a relatively new restaurant in the area, so we thought we would try it out. Oh my, I was so pleasantly surprised! We both had an 8 ounce U.S. premium steak, grilled to perfection, with a yummy garden salad with sesame dressing, and the vegetables just burst with flavor. I give this place a 9.5. Where they lost the .5 was the dessert, which didn't quite match up to the rest of the meal. We might have to go there again before we head home.


October 21 (Friday)

Typhoon Storm Warning Category 8! That means stay home. Everything shuts down and the city is virtually at a standstill. On one hand, it's nice to get a day off, but on the other hand, we can't go anywhere or do anything because everything is closed. It's like when we get hit with a blizzard back home. Bummer. At least it gives me time to catch up again on blogging, except I still can't get my pictures to download!


October 22 (Saturday)

After our shift today we headed over to Kwai Fong to pick up John's new pair of eye glasses. They're cheaper here than back at home. Did a little more impulse shopping then went to get groceries. Elder and Sister Stevens arrive tonight. They are temple missionaries. With the Bodily's gone and the Ngai's and us leaving shortly, they will be needed.  As usual when new missionaries arrive, we stock their apartment with basic supplies and greet them upon their arrival. They are from Springville, UT.


October 23 (Sunday)

It was a boo hoo day. I've had a few of them lately. Today was our last day in Pen 3 Branch. John and I gave our farewell talks. Vilma and Sonny Wen's son, Parley, just returned from his mission in England so there was a welcome home dinner for him at the branch. There's always comings and goings, nothing stands still. Change is good, though sometimes hard. I will miss all the sister of Pen 3. As a parting gift, we gave each member of the branch a copy of John's pointalism picture of the Hong Kong Temple and a "Moroni Swish" pin.

Sorry, still no pictures.