Easy Bake Oven SUCCESS!

It's a good day when you can cook food you enjoy with ingredients you love! This I have completely taken for granted back home in the States. We had the young Sister missionaries over for dinner with a newly baptized member. I decided I was going to give the easy bake tiny oven a go and made lasagna. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but making anything with cheese/dairy involving an oven in Hong Kong is kind of a big deal. The Sisters thought they had died and gone to heaven because they had not eaten cheese in about 9 months. We also had salad, french bread, and for dessert we had brownies/marshmallow and frosting and went over the top with ice cream as well. Whoo hoo... I think I was as happy as they were. I have been asked how big of a dish will fit in the (toaster) oven and the answer is a 9X11 barely fits but I made it work! (mostly, ha ha)

With our assignments we work with the younger missionaries in the area so we have them over for dinner and have them bring returning or new members with them. It's a great way to get to know people and build relationships. We have a set (2) of Sisters, and a set (3) Elders who we directly work with. Saturday night we fed the Elders (Elder is a term that the male missionaries are called regardless of their age). We had pork tacos, watermelon, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. Now this doesn't sound like a big deal either but believe me making anything here takes some planning and getting use to. There are only two stores I can get tortillas from and they don't always have them. You can't get corn tortillas at all, but you can find hard taco shells. Tomato's, lettuce, salsa, and avocados are easy to find. Sour cream is tough to find and expensive. You have to be careful of parasites with produce and wash everything really well. Pork and chicken are easy to get, but beef is pricey. Personal products are easy and actually cheaper here. (toothpaste, mouthwash, etc)

Here is an idea of cost for the following products converted into the US dollar:

• Butter            $5     Equivalent of two sticks of butter.
• Cheese           $7     7 oz grated
• Sour cream    $3     4 oz
• Cream cheese$7     8 oz
• Ice Cream      $7     Pint (not half gallon)
• Ground beef  $4     1/3 pound

I told Joe we need to pretend we are using monopoly money for 18 months and just get what we need as far as food. Food is one of the few expenses we have living here and is an amazing way to get to know people and build relationships! It's incredible what people will share when their tummies are happy and full. :) Food is such a huge part of our lives and it makes a big difference in feeling grounded wherever you are in the world. So yes, I am getting the food thing down and that feels much better! They have a gym in the building where we live and a promenade by the water where we can jog so with all the food, I can still fit in my clothes. (eek... ha ha)

Besides figuring out how to live and cook here, we have been very busy with a lot of different responsibilities and assignments. During the day we have different service related things we do.  Sometimes for the HK mission and sometimes for the Asia Area office. Studying cantonese, helping newly arriving couple missionaries, temple service, study of the FSY program as we are the advisory couple for HK next July. Because it is SO involved, we have monthly meetings with the leaders of the local committee here in HK, and weekly meetings with the two other missionary couples advising Taiwan and 4 other countries FSY programs. It doesn't feel like we are doing that much because our lives look so different than what they were back home. Some days are pretty tight with meetings etc, and other days are a lot lighter.

Sunday (today) we were asked to speak in church.... (Remember, this is a cantonese speaking ward.)  So, I'm not feeling the pressure at all because there is no expectation that I am going to be fluent, but Joe on the other hand was pretending like he was not freaking out, ha ha, but totally was.  Things run a bit differently here, and we were not sure what was expected but they ended up having a translator off to the side of the podium with each of us as we spoke.  So this white girl (me) started my talk with a few lines of cantonese and it was SO funny, the translator and Bishopric didn't know what to think and there was this audible gasp, ha ha.. So he translates my cantonese into english and everyone laughed. It was great! Me being me, after the couple lines of "Good morning brothers and sisters, My name is Sister Kwan" I said, "Ok, that's all I've got!" and went on with my talk in english. Joe did amazing. About 70% of his talk was in cantonese and he would fill in with english words and phrases here and there. Seriously, I was super impressed and proud of him for just going for it. This language is no joke... It is very difficult.

As we have been working with newer members or others who may be struggling, the thing that has struck me is how easy it is to forget who we really are as children of God. It isn't enough to invite someone to "pray, and read scriptures, and attend church". Those are all good and necessary, but the purpose of doing those things is to remind us of our worth and who we are in the big picture. As our hearts change, we want to do better, be better, and live better. We are all human and have our struggles. The choices we make will either bring us closer to who we really are or away from our true nature which causes much internal discord. In a General Conference address given by Joy D. Jones she says:
"If the pull of the world is stronger than the faith and trust we have in the Savior, then the pull of the world will win every time. If we choose to focus on our negative thoughts and doubt our worth instead of clinging to the Savior, it becomes more difficult to feel the impressions of the Holy Ghost. Lets not be confused about who we ARE. As we allow the Savior to lift us to higher ground we begin to see things more clearly." (Amen!)

Love you all,
Sister Kwan

Lasagna with the Sisters and Tracy

On the bus back to our apartment... We had to laugh because you see three people on devices, but what you don't see is six others around us on their's. 

A really cool area we found that I call "Little Europe".  There are several cafes with French and Italian food and of course several gelato places. :) 

More of "Little Europe".

More of "Little Europe".  This is one of the places we have eaten at.  They have all kinds of awesome salads, pastas, flat breads, roasted veggies, etc.

There are these small "hole in the wall" stores that have random Kirkland products from Costco. It is the funniest thing! This is a three pound bag of walnuts for $158 Hong Kong dollars. That translates into $20 US. Not too bad for HK... You just have to know where to go.

Perfect milk chocolate chip cookies with caramel pieces...  :)
Cooking 9-12 cookies at a time is all that fits in my Easy Bake.

BEFORE stepping outside in the humidity.

AFTER humidity. Point made.

This was in the 7-Eleven store. $10 HK for two bananas at the check stand, which is about $1.20 US.

What an interesting couple of weeks.  A few really cool things happened. We started serving as ordinance workers in the Temple on Tuesday mornings here in Hong Kong and boy has it been eye opening.

I met a lady who is from and lives in Mainland China. She is an ordinance worker and comes to the temple for two weeks at a time to serve. Because of the laws, she has to go home after two weeks and be back in China for two months before she can return to Hong Kong. After paying for her day and a half of travel each direction, she then pays $100HK a night to stay in the Temple housing for the two weeks she is here. She has been a member of the church for over 12 years. This is absolutely amazing to me. How many of us live an hour or less from a temple but have a "hard time" finding the time to go? This kind of consecration and commitment is really incredible. It isn't like she couldn't find other things to do with her time and money, but clearly this is her priority. This is only ONE story of many people here.

In most parts of mainland China (which is different than HongKong - two completely different systems) they are not allowed to be baptized. The law says that if there is a family member who is a member of the church, they can share the gospel with them and then they have to come to Hong Kong to meet with the missionaries. They receive all the lessons in one day and get baptized that night.  This week, an entire Branch (congregation) from Mainland China had come down to support about 5 people taking the lessons who were then baptized that same day. We are not allowed to talk about exact numbers in their entirety in regards to mainland, but I will tell you that the amount of people coming here is astounding to me. At least 10 baptisms that we know about have happened in just the last two weeks. Think about it... This is a country that is basically atheist with a communist government. Like many parts of the world, many people know there is more and that something is missing in their lives but just don't know what it is....until they hear it. Then it becomes very clear to them. Not only do they act on it, but are then extremely committed and solid. How incredible to see this great work being unfolded before my eyes.

We also met an entire family from Cambodia who had never been to Hong Kong before. They were all going to the temple for the first time to be "sealed" together as a family. In our church we go to the temple and make promises between us and God and it is a very big deal. The final piece (at the temple) is to be sealed, which means that we believe that those marriages and family relationships will continue as we pass into the next life. They were so excited and had probably saved for a long time, sacrificing much to make the trip.

Again, seeing the sacrifice, commitment, and love they have for their Savior as they move forward in their lives is inspiring to me. They love their families, work hard, teach them about the power of the atonement and feel a joy and peace they didn't know was possible.

Our week was busy as we are in the process of building relationships, having meetings and working with the younger missionaries. Tonight, we are having dinner for a newly baptized sister and the missionaries serving in the ward we are assigned to. Basically, we are doing a lot of what we did back home but more of it! We moved into our new apartment and are all settled in which feels great. I'm using the tiny oven for the first time tonight! (Remember the Easy Bake??). I'll let you know how it goes! ha ha.  Should be interesting.

When we left on our mission my brother John was very sick and had been suffering with cancer for a couple of years. In June, I had the opportunity to spend some time with him on the Saturday after we finished at the MTC in Utah before flying to HK.  It was a tender time where we were able to just connect for a bit and talk. He passed on into the next life last night, and I'm grateful for modern technology that connects us no matter where we are in the world.  He will be missed and although I have an understanding of the bigger plan, for those who are left it is never an easy thing.

This week in our institute class we were studying about the fall of the ancient people in the Americas from the Book of Mormon. As the people became more prideful and felt like they didn't need anyone or anything, especially God, it was a slow process but it did not go well. Sometimes it is a numbing process and we don't realize where we are headed and wind up somewhere we weren't intending. The question I ask myself is, what things can I be doing (or continue doing) that keep me present and moving in the direction that keeps me connected to God? Seems simple enough, but we know how distracting life can be.

Life is short... Just ask my brother. Make it count and be intentional about what you are doing and be sure of where you are headed.

Love you all!!
Sister Kwan

This is us before the hair frizz of stepping outside into the intense humidity. LOL

At the Lau's home, a family here in the ward we serve in. Brother Lau was taking the picture. They are stalwarts here doing everything for everyone. Very kind gracious people.

This is the view outside our livingroom window. Cruise ships silently come through the harbor every morning around 6:30am. :)

What a week!

It's been quite a week with a lot of news! We met with the new mission president and he is fantastic.  We helped with the mission leadership conference. Spent an hour cleaning the kitchen at the church before we started preparing food for the conference (Remember the wet market? Eek.). Had a meeting with the Temple President and we are now ordinance workers and will be spending Tuesday mornings there. Yea!

We had several meetings this week with the leadership. 1) The Asia Area Presidency who presides over 22 countries and 11 missions. 2) The mission president over the Hong Kong mission. 3) The Temple president over the Hong Kong Temple. 4) A Stake President who presides over a group of congregations. We had meetings with ALL of them this week, discussing our assignments and much progress has been made!

We have been assigned to work with the Kowloon East Stake and will focus on one specific Ward (congregation) supporting and strengthening the members there as well as a few projects within that Stake. This will be an evolving process as they have not had a couple specifically doing this before.

The Mission President also has several assignments for us in the mission. We will be helping with leadership and Zone Conferences for the younger missionaries every six weeks and I will be taking care of the social media for the Mission. (Pictures, Mission FB page etc.). It can be a great missionary tool for family back home and letting them see what is happening with their kids as they serve here.

We have been asked to be the advisory couple for Hong Kong's FSY (For The Strength of Youth), which is EFY (Especially For Youth held at the BYU colleges) outside of the United States. It is a huge thing here in Asia and as the advisory couple, we will work with two other local couples, who will train the young single adults, who then run the program and work with the youth.  It is run just like EFY at Brigham Young University with speakers that are brought in, devotionals, etc but held at a camp type of resort here and will be sometime next July. The date is yet to be determined.  Our assignment is to support them in following the handbook that has been provided and creating solutions for issues that come up.  This will be an ongoing project with meetings etc. Should be really fun. Most of these kids know english and the speakers and events will be a mixture of both languages (english/cantonese).

AND...  Joe has been asked by the Asia Area Presidency to work on a few engineering projects for Taiwan and Mongolia.  It is a process for purification of indoor air to help with the churches  humanitarian pursuits in developing countries. Most people have no idea how much money the church donates to these causes, but it is in the hundreds of millions. These projects could get really interesting and as I have more information I will share.

As for me personally, besides a lot of great meetings with leaders it has been a week of learning how do laundry here (very different), shop, cook, walk to, get lost and then find the stores that we need stuff from. You know how you get in your CAR, and drive to the store and buy everything you could possibly need for a while? Nope! Or if you forget something, you just run to the store and pick it up?  Nope... Not happening here! Huge learning adjustment curve.

We are just starting Monsoon season, which means the water comes down in sheets that go sideways.  It was so funny....We were on our way to catch the bus to go to church and it just starts raining SHEETS of water and we had an umbrella and everything. By the time we got to the bus stop Joe's suit was literally soaked from the mid thigh down. If you know him, he is very fastidious about his clothing and he was not happy but of course Joe being Joe he had a great attitude and figured it would dry. We both commented that the next couple of months will be interesting. Ponytailed frizzy hair for me and wet dress-suits for him, ha ha. My Natalie said, "Just embrace it Mom". Good council for sure!

Really, I think that is the lesson here about what is really important and what isn't. So much of what we think matters in the scheme of things doesn't. Life is about a series of adjustments. They look very different at times in our lives but the question is, and what should never change are the principles and values by which we live our life. Are we doing the things that matter most and putting first things first? Or, are we caught up in things of the world that compromise our relationship with God and frankly, our peace? We have a weekly devotional with all the couple missionaries here and this morning we read a scripture in 1 Samuel 18:14.  David was the King at the time and Saul was very jealous and had all kinds of pride and other stuff going on and it says, "And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him."  

There you go... That is pretty much it.  Have an amazing week!

Love, Sister Kwan

We are at dinner with another missionary couple, the Holmsteads from Logan Utah and a Sister that came down from mainland China to attend the Temple here in Hong Kong.  We ate at a place called "Pepper Lunch".  You order the meat, rice, and vegetables and they give it to you on this individualized hot plate/grill that cooks the food when you get it.  It was good!

The kitchen group at the leadership conference. This was President and Sister Philips first one and had just arrived 4 days earlier. They are great! Lunch was pizza, a huge green salad and fruit salad, with homemade cinnamon/orange/lemon rolls for dessert. Elder Rosekelley (on the end) made all three kinds of rolls.  The missionaries were in heaven. 

President Philips and Elder Kwan solving the worlds problems. :)

AHH... A little piece of home!!  It was amazing and the food was exactly like back home.  It was beautiful. :)