Life sure can change in an instant! We have been really busy and engaged in the work here in Hong Kong. Always a lot going on. Two weeks ago Joe and I got a message from my sister that our Dad had gone downhill really fast and that it was not looking good. He had Parkinson's dementia and had been in a care home for about five years and would have been 82 this December. He passed Thursday, October 18th and I'm sure he is having an amazing reunion with his sons, Dan and John as well as his parents, brothers, and many more family members.

I'm grateful for modern day technology. Since we have been on our mission these last five months, I have been able to FaceTime him so we could see each other and talk including the last week of his life. I was able to say, "I will see you later" and let him know it was ok to go. I'm grateful for the knowledge I have of the plan of salvation and that I will see him again. His memorial will be on November 3rd in Fair Oaks, and it will be good to be with family for a few days.

As far as life here, things are moving forward with our assignments. Joe is extremely busy with the environmental humanitarian projects in Taiwan and Mongolia. He does the work from Hong Kong, and has a lot of conference calls with the teams at Brigham Young University. We may be going to Mongolia together next March which would still be totally and completely freezing, but an awesome experience. Joe and the BYU engineering teams are not only putting together a heating system that will keep the air clean in the Ger or Yurt (big tent they live in) but they are coming up with a low cost alternative to Ger living. It would change the infrastructure of these tent cities and give them a more permanent home. He is on conference calls two nights a week and involved in a tremendous amount of research, as these are very involved projects.

We had a hiking activity for the Young Single Adults here in the Stake we have been assigned to. The young missionaries were able to go as well because they brought people they were teaching. A word that describes the culture here in Hong Kong, and frankly most of Asia is: DUTY. It's all about duty, study, and work. It was so good for everyone to go have some fun in the outdoors and dress in hiking clothes. I think I liked that part as much as the hike because we are in dress clothes all the time... Like ALL the time. There were 26 of us. It was a beautiful day and the view from the top was incredible. You can see the south China Sea, the skyline, other islands, and miles and miles of rainforest.

A couple weeks ago while working in the temple, there was a family from Micronesia. I had no idea where that was in the world but it's a series of little islands that make up that area. This family was a husband, wife, and three kids and they had saved money for two and a half years to be able to make the trip to the temple. It was so awesome to see the sacrifice of this family and to see them be sealed and receive those blessings that they had waited so long for. Last Tuesday, 8 women from Thailand came to the temple for the first time, and we both loved being a part of their experience as well.

As for me, I'm doing a lot of planning, ordering, preparing, and getting ready for 4 huge events coming up. Meals for 50 at a missionary training and a 150 for zone conference, a Hong Kong wide fireside event with Brother Owens who is the General Young Mens president of the church, as well as a Hong Kong wide Ball/dance for the YSA's. There are a lot of logistics that go into all of that. In the middle of those events, we are going back to the States for a few days for my fathers memorial which I would not miss for anything. Lets just say, I am not bored or lacking things to do.

Last Sunday we were invited to have dinner at this family's home. In Hong Kong, we travel by bus, a mini bus, which is what it sounds like, and the MTR which is the high speed train. You still have to walk part of the way to get where you are going. We had left our apartment at 7am that morning and had traveled an hour and a half to visit a ward (congregation) that we had assignments in. Later traveled another hour for a meeting somewhere else, and then an hour to this family's home. They were so kind and gracious. With all the public transportation, we still ended up walking 5.4 miles that day and got back to the apartment about 9:30 that night exhausted.

I've been thinking a lot about commitment. The truth is, commitment really isn't commitment until its tested. We can say we are committed to whatever, but what happens when we "don't feel like" doing the thing we say we are committed to? I guess that is when we find out what is most important to us as we see the choices we make. In this last conference address, President Nelson asked us to take a look at where we spend our time and where are our priorities are. A worthwhile exercise for all of us for sure.

All in all, we are happy and where we need to be right now. Life is good and we are both learning and growing in ways that are helping us become better people. We love and miss our family and friends and send our love and prayers always. May you feel the love of the Lord and the peace that is possible through the Savior of us all.

Love,
Sister Kwan

Our hike at the Peak with two Sister missionaries who came with us.

This is one of the YSA's that the Sisters are teaching .

This is the site at the Peak where the dedicatory
prayer took place that opened up Asia for missionaries.

Hike at the Peak on Hong Kong island.

When you go to a grocery store and are in the deli section?
Here is a grilled Salmon head.  Yep!

Dinner at a family's home. 

They didn't used to do Halloween here in Hong Kong, but it's becoming more of a thing.  This was a street market that was all Halloween costumes.

Ah! Cooler weather!

The weather is cooling off! The last week it has been so much better with only about 57% humidity instead of 90% :). Perspective! We have been here for four months now, which is crazy. In some ways it doesn't feel like it's been that long and in others feels longer.

September was crazy busy. Too much going on but things are getting manageable. There are so many needs and places we can put our time and energy. Sometimes it's hard to know where that should be, but we are getting it figured out.

October 1st was the Self Reliance symposium here in Hong Kong and I was the keynote speaker. There were about 220 people in attendance and the majority were Philipino domestic workers who are women. I've shared about them before, but most have college degrees and can make more money being a live-in maid for a family in Hong Kong than working in their own country. A huge part of their culture is the expectation that the daughter of the family leave and make a living for the parents, siblings, children etc. Some get married and have kids, and then support everyone until their own daughter can do it for them.

Part of the issue is very carefully helping them understand what self reliance means. That they need to help themselves and their family members by not enabling the belief that if they have money they are expected to give it to the family. Some of these women have husbands who have girlfriends and babies back in the Phillipines that they are also supporting (eek).... This is a real issue here in Asia and not an easy solution. Years of culture telling them that THEY are completely responsible for the financial wellbeing of the family no matter the personal cost to themselves. They end up taking out loans to pay their families bills which keeps them stuck here for years.

My talk was about remembering who you are and sharing some tools that transcend culture, race, or situations. Tools that help us figure out what our next steps are and how to find peace in the process. There were also three workshops that day and Joe gave one of them. His was: Presenting yourself with Confidence. He did a great job. The other two were on financial management, and managing family relationships with boundaries. In other words, learning to say no and encouraging their family members to get jobs and support themselves. The good news is, we are seeing some shifting in their thought process and there are some great stories from a few ladies about how they have helped their brothers find jobs, or other family members start a business, or only pay for the essentials like medical or insurance.  At least the pendulum is swinging the right direction.

Funny story... The Stake we serve in, (several congregations or wards make a stake) was having a musical talent show, as as you could imagine lots of incredible piano playing, and violins/string type of instruments that were fantastic. How it was explained to me from a native Hong Kong Cantonese speaker, is that in general they don't sing. The language is spoken from the back of the throat so they have to work really hard to learn to make certain sounds. SO, imagine 5 ladies singing on stage and all the sudden they break into rapping.... in Cantonese. Now, on a good day I do not understand rapping in English so I guess in the scheme of things it was the same? I don't know, but it was entertaining for sure.

General Conference! Wow! I'm so grateful to be a part of a "living church" with modern day revelation. I'm excited about the huge changes and can see how it will support and encourage us personally and as families in our continued conversion to Christ's church. In Asia, because we are a day and a half ahead of the USA, they watch conference the following weekend. We didn't want to wait so we watched part of it already before our Sunday meetings on the 7th. You can find all the sessions of General Conference on LDS.org.

Quote from Elder Bednar from conference that I loved. "In our Savior we find joy... and in Him we find assurance of peace in this world and in the eternal life to come."

There is a lot of uncertainty in this world and in most of our lives. I'm grateful for the knowledge that I have and the peace that it gives me.

Love you all!
Sister Kwan

Famous holiday called, "Mid Autumn Festival".  Where you eat moon cakes (not my favorite) and look at the moon.  They also have dragon dances in different parts of the city and this one, Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance is the largest.  Joe sweet talked a security guard in a building and they let us up to watch it from the balcony.

Part of the festival decorations all over the city.

This is the fire dragon dance... It is over 200 feet long 
and it was all lit incense (very smoky).  Pretty amazing to watch.

CHICKENS... Notice the live chickens in the cage on the left, 
and the plucked ones in the case on the right. 
You even have the half naked man working in the back. :)

Speaking

Presenting yourself with confidence.

Workshop

At the event with a few of the ladies.

Justin and Sharie Childs visited us from 
Taiwan where they are teaching English. 

200 pound tuna fish! It had just been caught that day
 and this restaurant will use it for the next couple days.

After the typhoon, we now have a full 
harbor view from our apartment. (eek)