Weeks 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

As the weeks get busier and busier it gets harder and harder to write a new post.  So much happens so quickly!  The dear Keung family has a family dinner every so often and they celebrate all of the birthdays in their families that have happened since their last get-together.  We were delighted to be invited to their party which was held at the home of Chi-Mae and Ricky Wong.  Ricky is in the Hong Kong mission presidency.  I am amazed that they can get so many people in such a small space! It
was pot luck of which we bought cookies and then left them on the train--along with our favorite bag!  I think I'm getting a little better about eating some of the food here that has not been on my radar and I thought never would be.  I'm getting a little used to seaweed, and I may even try congee soon!  Ricky sang karaoke the entire night!  

The next day--our anniversary--we were invited to have lunch with the Area Presidency in their home on the 12th floor.  They always host the new senior missionaries to lunch in their apartments.  Apartment, did I say?  Aside from not having a yard, and being on the 12th floor, it was a regular home!  They have beautiful apartments that are quite modern and nicely furnished.  We very much enjoyed having a nice lunch and getting to know the Area Presidency better.  The wives are delightful and of course the food delicious.  

I still teach the conducting course which I embellish a bit.  Dan had a large poster made for me with the grand staff so that I can write notes, measures, etc. on it and wipe it off.  But of course, it's very hard to wipe expo marker off of laminate.  If I do this class again I will buy a wipe-off board and use permanent markers to create my own music staff.  The class has gone well with an average of 6 per class, 4 days a week.  (not counting the missionaries)  This was week 6 and is the last technical week.  Next week is a review.  I will give them a test of about 20 questions the week after with a graduation ceremony after that.  They are very excited about it.  Anyone who has passed the class (which will be all of them, I hope) who wants to go on to keyboard gets to do so.  

The church music department has a grant program funded by a family named Harmon that makes it possible for keyboards to be in most places around the world where pianists are not readily available.  (which I fear may soon be in the US due to a decline in music lessons among families)  If a person wants to take piano lessons, usually from a senior missionary in most places, they can take a keyboard home with them to practice.  If they complete the keyboard class they can keep the keyboard.  It's a very generous program from the church and the Harmon family.  It has been used here in Hong Kong several times.  Because I will be teaching piano lessons and currently have one student, Perla, Salt Lake is shipping over a dozen keyboards and resource material.  

Speaking of Perla, she's had about 5 lessons now and will be playing in her Sacrament Meeting this Sunday as the ward pianist has just moved to the Philippines.  Perla will be playing the sacrament hymn with one finger each hand.  I'm so excited!  Her bishop can't wait for her to be totally ready.  Perla has been a member of the church for one year and will be attending the temple in July for the first time and has me to go with her.  I'm so excited for her!  

We had a Saturday activity going to the Sikh Temple.  There is a small segment of Sikhs here in Hong

Kong.  It was a very interesting morning learning of their beliefs and interacting with them a bit.  Afterwards Dan and I took off walking, and walking, and walking, and.....yes, a long way!  In the
rain for part of it!  We ended up at the Kam Tong building on Castle Road which used to be the main church here in Hong Kong.  When Dan was here as a young missionary he and 5 other missionaries lived upstairs on the 3rd level.   It is absolutely beautiful with wooden staircases, stained glass windows and beautiful floors. The church bought the building in the late 1950's and used it as a church, home for missionaries, then later the Church cooperated with the city and it was turned into a museum honoring Sun Yat Suen who was the founder of modern China and its leader until about the 1940's.  

Every Tuesday evening we leave the office to take the MTR-Mass Transit Railway to the temple.  We have been called and set apart as temple workers and have spent the first few weeks training and memorizing what we are to do.  What a perfect temple to begin being a temple worker!  It's small and rather quiet in comparison to other temples around the world.  However...on my first week to actually do something everyone went into a tizzy when two busloads of people pulled up in front.  There was an area conference for Seminaries and Institutes for all of Asia which includes our entire area and also Asia North, which includes Japan and Korea, and they all came to the temple!  So I immediately went to work--truly trial by fire--and loved it!  Afterwards I ended up in the Celestial Room and was able to chat with some of the dear people.  They are all so wonderful and sweet--and appreciative.  Just this week we were actually able to work in the endowment room.  We can hardly wait for Tuesdays to come around.  

One night after work as we were heading out of the building to go home some of the sister missionaries from the Philippines were leaving so we took them to dinner to our favorite noodle place called the Cooked Food restaurant.  It's actually on the third floor of the Wan Chai wet market where you can buy fresh produce, fish and meat from individual vendors.  The third floor is a large, open room with dozens of tables, but different vendors run groups of the tables.  It's not what you would call clean, or even orderly, but it's authentic and has great noodles!  The sisters were so happy to be treated to dinner.

Later on in the week we had visitors from the US--the Hubrichs from Fruit Heights.  They are good friends of the Paxtons which is how we know them as we've done several things together.  They are in Hong Kong going to the temple with some friends.  They went on a mission to Germany while Brother Hubrich helped to renovate the Frieberg Temple and met and baptized a wonderful couple from China.  This couple has been members for a year and are now getting their endowments.  The Hubrichs brought me chocolate chips and American measuring cups from Diana Paxton.  What a wonderful surprise--and wonderful friend!  

We were able to attend a wonderful musical performance put on by the Lion Rock Stake.  It was called 'He Is Risen' and included a couple of wonderful pianists, ukulele performers, vocal soloists, a missionary choir and even a 9 year-old violinists that blew us all away.  There were slides of the life of Christ that were shown in conjunction with the musical numbers that were very moving.  Afterwards we went to dinner with Zeno and Esther Chow so that we could get to know them better.

May 1st was a public holiday--Labor Day.  Since we were a little behind at the office we came in to do some work, then had a Family Home Evening with all of the senior missionaries including the temple and mission home missionaries where we had a special dinner to say 'good-bye' to Elder and Sister Wong.  We have come to love them during our short time here and even took them to dinner one night.  They will be leaving in mid June to spend time with their family in the US before leaving for their 2-year stint as Mission President of the Vancouver BC Mission taking over for Ron Burt.  We will miss them.   Elder Wong is the one that I work with in processing the missionary applications.  As I complete my part, I meet with him and go over each application before he submits to to Salt Lake City.

The next day we had a special meeting with the Area Presidency where they announced who would be taking over for the Wong's--Elder and Sister Meurs from Perth, Australia.  They both spoke to us and we feel very blessed to have such wonderful people to take the place of the Wong's.  They have been here for a couple of weeks now getting to know us and what each person is assigned to do.  I look forward to working with him in my duties.

Wednesday was another public holiday Buddah's birthday, so the office was officially closed again.  The little run of holidays is nearly over.  We spent the day with Alky's family and some friends of theirs on Grass Island, out by the New Territories.  We finally got to meet Alky's daughter, Chloe and Alky's husband, Ming.  We hiked around the island, and even tried to keep a free-ranging cow from trodding on one family's picnic!  We loved hiking by the ocean!  We visited a dam and saw some very interesting large cement blocks used for keeping the dam from overflowing.  To top off the day we came back to our apartment complex--Harborfront--and had dinner in the cafe.  

We have been able to make friends with two of Eddie Lai's sons, Patrick and Vico and their one-month old baby girl, Valerie, and a few nights later Manfred and Ashley and their 4-year old daughter, Gabby.  Such wonderful people!  We hope to be able to be with them much more in the future.  We were treated to lunch on Labor Day by their mother, Julie, and since we serve in the temple with her on Tuesday nights, she brought sandwiches one night for us knowing that we wouldn't be able to eat before our shift.  She is also treating us to a big dinner next next in honor of Dan's birthday!  

We finally met up with Fiona Wong and took her and two other ladies whom we have gotten to know and love and who are friends of hers, Chi Fang Wong and Millie Lai.  We have known and loved her for many years--since Dan's mission,  She has since returned to Toronto where she's lived for 30 years.

Esther Chow came to our Wan Chai building one day so that we could do some practicing on one of the songs that her choir is singing that has some tricky rhythm.  She called to tell me that she was bringing lunch and asked what I didn't want to eat.  I told her that I wasn't yet comfortable eating much that lives in the ocean.  I don't think I could stomach sea cucumber (have you seen it on the ocean floor?  Gross!) seaweed, although I have had some of that and some of the other interesting things that live there.  The fish isn't bad, although it's always served with the head attached.  Remember 'Christmas Story'?  

We sister missionaries have an Institute class among ourselves every Wednesday morning that we take turns teaching.  The Area Presidency's wives attend which we love.  We have been studying the New Testament from the Institute study manual.  Last week was my turn to teach Thessalonians.  I was quite nervous but enjoyed so much studying and learning more about Paul and his ministries. I'll have to-get to teach in another couple of months.  I look forward to Institute class.

In one of our wards me met a man named Brian who is actually from Utah.  He does a bit of acting, although we haven't seen him in any movies.  He has returned to church activity in the last few months and is engaged to be married next month.  We were able to take him and his fiance to dinner. He attends choir in his ward after church on Sundays where I've been conscripted by the choir director to improvise a piece of music that the choir director wanted to perform.  Therefore, we race back from wherever we are on Sundays for choir practice.  We have been asked by another ward to help them sing for their stake conference next month so will start attending that choir.  

After visiting the Sai Wan ward a few weeks ago we were invited to have a quick lunch with Sister LoLo and then dinner with the Ng family.  I have made a great bond with Stella, and her husband works here on my floor and tries to teach me Chinese!  Their son just got engaged last night to Carrie Wong, Tony and Chi Fang's daughter!  They are a darling couple.  They will be wonderful future leaders for the church in Hong Kong.

Alky invited me to go shopping last Saturday at Sham Shui Po with she and her daughter.  It is an area of Hong Kong that has been relatively untainted by the modernization of Hong Kong.  There were carts and tables with goods all around, little hole-in-the-wall (literally) shops with cheap goods for sale and lots of open air food vendors.  We had a blast and went in an out of little shops for a couple of hours, relishing in the sights and smells, then had lunch at one of the little potaus.  I want to do this again!

After leaving Alky and her daughter we walked to Victoria Peak tram, saw how long the line was--miles-- so took a taxi to the top.  It is the highest point in Hong Kong and you can see in all directions.  It was a little cloudy and drizzly but the view was still spectacular.  At dusk the beautiful buildings light up, some with laser lights and moving pictures.  It's a sight to behold!  There are shops and restaurants on the Peak so we had a wonderful dinner at Bubba Gump's.  (yes, that's right!)

Last Sunday was quite a day for us.  We had been asked to be the featured speakers at the District Conference Fireside which includes all of the Filipino wards and a couple of other wards.  It was sponsored by the Self-Reliance group who wanted us to talk about our Tabernacle Choir experiences and how it related to Self-Reliance.  Huh? I asked.  After reading the 12 points, I realized that it indeed does relate very well.  We in the states take self-reliance for granted because we grew up with the most of the principles of self-reliance instilled in us by default, but in some countries that isn't the case.  Many of these Filipino sisters learn the principles and then go back to the Philippines and use them to establish some type of a business that will help them earn money to survive.  Survival is a problem in so many countries where it is so hard to get work and support themselves, let alone a family.  That's why so many of them come here to Hong Kong to be a domestic helper, sometimes in very bad conditions so that they can send money home to their families.  Many of them have children that are being raised by the grandparents or the husband while they are here raising someone elses's children.  So sad.  We were fortunate to find our old power-point presentation that we'd given several years ago for a ward.  With a few tweaks, we resurrected that and then same a few songs and gave a narrative talk.  Thankfully they loved our presentation.  

Which brings us to this week, finally!  Monday night we went to Whampoa after work and walked all around looking for a particular Indian restaurant that is owned by a very nice woman that we met on the bus.  After a while, we found the restaurant in a very run-down area of town, but her restaurant was clean.  However, she was not there.  Sad!  The food was VERY HOT and SPICY!  It was authentic and reminded us of our two trips to India with Operation Smile.  Now we'll have to go back to try to find her again.  We left our card with her so let her know that we had been there.  

The next night we went to dinner with Cheng Woon Ming and his wife, Linda, and Rose Ma.  We had a delightful time reconnecting with Ming from early Operation Smile days.  He was a dentist that went with us a several missions.  He and his wife are lovely people and we made a pact to get together again soon.  And the food was the best food we've had in Hong Kong!  

The next night we took Monique Wong to dinner.  Dan has been on several Operation Smile trips with her in the past and I finally got to meet her.  She also is a lovely person and we again made a pact to get together again.  Yes, we go to dinner too much but are connecting with such wonderful people!

Which brings us up to today!  After cleaning our apartment (which doesn't take long)  we came over to Wan Chai where I got a haircut.  That is quite a treat here.  First they cut your hair, and then give you a 15 minute wash and head massage!  Ohhhhhhh......After which I got a pedicure.  Now I feel like a new woman!  The pedicures are not in typical places like you find at home, nor are they given by Vietnamese.  They are hard to find, but we found a two-story building that had little stalls all around that mostly did pedicures.  The place I got mine was out in the hallway--chairs lined up along the wall.  The carry in dishpans with a plastic bag liner filled with warm water.  Yes, quite different, and I hope I don't get a toenail fungus!!!  But the end result was very nice so I'm happy.  

It is Saturday and P-day, but we came over to the office to do some catch-up work since I'm quite behind.  My days this week have so  many interruptions with my conducting class and practicing with Sister missionaries all week in the afternoons helping them get ready to sing at a baptism tomorrow, and other mundane interruptions, that I have a hard time finishing my real job.  Therefore, here we are.  However, we received a call a short while ago from the 'bishop' here in the Everyday Saturday Branch that there was a very sick woman on the 6th floor.  He was quite relieved to know that we were here in the building when we should have been home.  We found a dear Filipino sister who is investigating the church.  She became quite ill and was very lethargic but nothing life-threatening.  Dan said she need rehydrating so made arrangements for the sister missionaries and our branch president to accompany her to the hospital by taxi.  We found out that she is being abused by her employer.  Dan called him to let him know what was going on.  He seemed very sympathetic and will go take her home when she's feeling better.  It's his wife that's abusing her by pinching and scratching her and punching her.  We think that part of what's wrong with her is her employer since she's only been working for them for a few months.  This type of situation is quite common, unfortunately.  It makes me grateful for the employers who treat their domestics with kindness and caring.  We've become quite attached to these cute Filipino sisters and it pains me to think that they can be taken advantage of.  

So it's always an exciting week in Hong Kong!  We are so grateful to be here and to be a part of the good work that is happening in this part of God's vineyard.  

Love, Dan and Marian  (Dad & Mom, Grandpa & Grandma)