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.