Being on a mission doesn't stop life from happening. The Elder of the couple who runs the mission office has some serious health issues and they have to go home next week. He is the one who has been "running the show" for the food for mission Zone Conferences which takes place every six weeks. It is about the equivalent of doing a big ward dinner for three days straight. Most of the church kitchens here are very small with an oven that does not fit a catering size pan. It has one small refrigerator, a freezer across the street in a church apartment, crock pots, and rice cookers to cook food for 60 people (mostly very hungry young elders) for three days. Think about those logistics... How do you get the food there? (no car). Where do you store it all? How do you manage that much food without the conveniences we are used to back home? We are being very creative and I'm learning a lot. :) With Elder Rosekelley leaving, the mission presidents wife has asked me to take the lead on the food so I will be getting a lot of experience on how to manage all of that with limited resources. We are blessed with so many things in the States that I have certainly taken for granted. I am looking forward to this new challenge.
A few other things have happened that has given me a lot of perspective. We serve at the temple here on Tuesday mornings and there are groups of people who travel from Indonesia, Mongolia, and Mainland China to attend and serve at the temple here in Hong Kong. If it is a persons first time going through, the church actually pays for all expenses. After that, each time they come they pay their own way and for most of these families finances are tight. This week a group of people were coming by train from Mongolia and they had been traveling for three days. They had all the correct paperwork and everything was in order. China had let them through their border, and when they got to the Hong Kong border, the government turned them away... Three days of travel, and turned away at the border. It was heartbreaking. The question could be asked, if these people are just trying to serve the Lord and sacrifice and do the right thing, how could this happen?
The answer is that everyone has their agency, and just because we are doing the right thing, sometimes bad things happen. Disappointments, illness, other peoples issues, our own mistakes, and on and on. We are given opportunities all the time to see how we will respond to those challenges and painful situations. We decide wether we allow those things to harden us and turn away from God or turn toward him in faith. Life still happens whether you are in Hong Kong, the United States, on a mission, or in Mongolia.
Speaking of Mongolia, there were several families who did get through the border and it was amazing to serve them on Tuesday in the Temple. I had shared in the last blog post about how Joe is working on this enormous humanitarian engineering project regarding the "Ger" that many Mongolians live in. (a big round tent with a coal heater in the center). The project is to replace the unhealthy conditions of the pollution the coal puts off inside and outside of the tent. Working with these women, I couldn't figure out what the "camping" smell was on their clothes and realized that it was the smell of the coal... These women were so happy to be at the temple. There was also one woman from Indonesia and it was her first time to the temple. She had come by her self and was very emotional and so happy. It was awesome to see her receive those blessings that come from making covenants with the Savior in that sacred place. What a privilege to be a part of that with her.
Funny... We had some people over for dinner who are from here and she was talking about cooking in a hot pot and explained how you buy live shrimp at the wet market and then when you get home you put them in the hot pot with other vegetables, etc for dinner. I said, wait a minute... Each person puts live shrimp in their hot pot at the table to make dinner?? She said, Yes, it's really good!... I said, Nope. I don't kill my dinner, not happening... and I don't eat things with eyes still looking at me. Culture is interesting! It's just what we are used to and what we call "normal". There is no normal, only perception. I'm still not killing my dinner.
We are doing a lot of work within the Stake (area) we have been assigned to serve. Saturday night we are having a dinner at our little apartment with 11 young single adults (YSA's), ages 19-30, who are the committee members helping plan activities. That should be fun. :). I'm making taco soup, rolls, and chocolate chip cookies. (I can feel my kids jealousy from across the world! ha ha). Again, logistics get interesting pulling off a dinner that would be so simple back home. It takes some planning, BUT I will prevail!
Building relationships here also takes time and is so different than what is familiar. Culturally, they are focused on school, accomplishments, work/careers and emotionally they hold things pretty "close to the chest". Literally, they are expected to read by age 3 and are marked as smart or not smart by the 3rd grade. There is SO much pressure to perform that emotionally many struggle a bit. We have visited the 5 wards (congregations) in the Stake we serve in to meet with the YSA's. It was interesting to have 10-15 people staring at us with absolutely no idea what they were thinking. I'm a person who relies on my senses to get an idea of where people are at and there there was n.o.t.h.i.n.g... It was a bit unsettling and I realized I'm going to have to approach things differently. THUS the taco soup, rolls, and chocolate chip cookies. If that doesn't help open them up I don't know what will. :)
All and all, life here is good. I still miss my people :) and yet somehow all is right and things are being taken care of at home as well as out here. Our Father in Heaven loves us all and knows what we need. The Savior is always there ready to help us and give us the peace that is available to each one of us if we ask. This I know.
Love you all,
Sister Kwan
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| Look who we found!! Sister Elaine Wong who served her mission in Sacramento! She is actually in the Stake we have been assigned and is one of the YSA representatives we work with. So fun. |
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| This part of Hong Kong is a must see for visitors. It's called "the mid-levels" in Central on Hong Kong Island. It has the longest set of escalators in the world and is full of fun shops and incredible restaurants. It was VERY hot and humid that day. |
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| This is taken in front of the "Dr. Sun Yeat-sen Museum. The building used to be the Hong Kong headquarters for the church long before the huge building in Wan Chai was completed. The baptismal font is still there. We are with another missionary couple, the Holmsteads from Utah. |
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| Part of the museum. We were being silly and it reminded me of a Chinese version of the pioneer trek. :) |
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| Dr. Sun Yet-sen was a revolutionary who basically is the one who helped end the Chinese dynasty rule of an all powerful Emperor. |
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| Dinner (eek). This is common at many traditional Chinese restaurants. Basically, they take whatever sea food you ordered to the kitchen and prepare it to serve. |
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| More wet market pics! The fruit and vegetables are great although they need to be washed really well. Sometimes we soak the vegetables in salt to kill anything that may be on them. |
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| I don't even know what these animal parts are. Chinese people traditionally do not waste anything. They use all parts of the animal. Zoom in and you can guess what some of it is. :) |
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| Mr. Kwan and his family came down from mainland China and wanted to meet Joe. He is the keeper of the family history held in the "Kwan Temple". |
I said, nope... ha ha ha.
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