Happy Chinese New Year!!

Kung hei fat choi!! (Wishing you great happiness and prosperity)

To say Chinese New Year is a big deal here, would be an understatement. It is a week long celebration with 3 days of most of the city being shut down. We had the opportunity to enjoy some serious Chinese culture with Joe’s extended family!

Dinner with some of the family Friday night
before the big holiday.

The celebration usually starts the weekend before Chinese New Year with family getting together for a dinner. The holiday is very much about family and many gather from all over to spend time together. Joe has an Aunt (His Fathers Sister) and her kids and extended family in Hong Kong as well as other cousins and some family even came in from Malaysia for the holiday. He was able to see some family members he hadn’t seen in 50 years! So as per tradition, some of us met for dinner the weekend before and had a good time.

All that was left of this chicken was the head on the plate! :)

On Tuesday, February 5th was the first day of Chinese New Year. We met at one of Joe’s cousins apartment, which is very large for Hong Kong standards and they fit about 30 people in there. Many people think of Asian’s as being a bit subdued and kind of quiet but that is not my experience at all. This was a party….and a very loud one at that! Every time someone new came in, everyone yelled (not exaggerating) as loud as they could, greeting them warmly with hugs etc. One of his cousins brought out some photo albums with lots of pictures of his Dad, Grandparents, and Great-grandparents. Pretty awesome, and now he can scan the pictures and add all of it to the genealogy he has gotten while here. Remembering ancestors who have passed, spending time with family, and wishing everyone health, happiness, and prosperity is what the tradition is all about.

Snacks at the cousins before
Dim Sum

Family at the cousins.

One of the cool things is a tradition called, “Lia sei”, where the older people give a red packet with money in it to anyone younger than them. The tradition is that the RED is a symbol of bestowing happiness, safety, and prosperity to the receiver for the coming year. A lot of the older family members were walking around giving the red packets to everyone younger than them. Then the tradition is that the oldest person there, which was Joe's Auntie Anna, sits in a chair and the little kids line up first and they bow and say, “Kung hei fat choi” and then she says it back and gives them a red packet. Then the adults go through the line and everyone does the same. It was cool to be part of that tradition. We ate some traditional “snacks”, that I couldn’t even explain and then a few hours later we all went to a restaurant for Dim Sum.

Lia sei

Lia sei

Cousins... Bill, Maria, Canness

Auntie Anna and Uncle Eugene

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Parade!

Parade

That night we had tickets to go to this famous Chinese New Year parade with most of the couple missionaries and Area Presidency. There were 65 acts and floats from all different parts of the world. Dancers, cheerleaders, acrobats, and all kinds of “acts” I couldn’t even explain but you just had to be there. It was pretty spectacular and it was fun to be up close. It is the “Year of the Pig” so most everything was of course pig themed, cute and creative. When it is the year of the rat, not sure how they are going to make a rat look cute, but I’ll just have to see it in pictures. :)

Parade

These little kids in pig costumes were
so adorable! They did this cute dance.

Middle of the day! NO PEOPLE!!

These stairs are painted, and to see them without massive amounts of
people was pretty amazing!

The rest of the week the city was still pretty quiet, and it was awesome to travel on public transportation with so few people! The end of the week we had Zone conference and made Hawaiian Haystacks and Scotcheroos. (They are like Rice Krispy treats on steroids ha ha, with a chocolate and butterscotch topping) It is a total Utah/Idaho dessert. The missionaries from the States were so excited and LOVED it. The missionaries from other countries, especially from the Philippines, were like, “What is this?”… Ha ha.. but most really enjoyed it and were very happy. When I see the missionaries at other times they say, "Sister Kwan! What are we having for our next Zone Conference”. It’s so funny that it is this huge topic of discussion now.

Since Hong Kong is where the church office building for the Asia Area, it covers 22 countries and 11 missions within the area. What that means is, the entire organization of the church in these countries get direction from here in Hong Kong from the Asia Area Presidency, who get their direction from Salt Lake. All affairs of the church, leadership, all congregations, buildings, temples, all property, legal affairs in being compliant with the different countries laws etc happen here in Hong Kong. The China Hong Kong mission with 120 young missionaries is only one of the 11. The Missions Presidents Conference usually takes place twice a year here in Hong Kong with all 11 Mission Presidents/wife in attendance. It’s a time for training and direction from the Asia Area Presidency and this next one is next week. It is really fun to help with the preparations and be a small part of that and fun to visit and hear about the different countries. 

Asia Area in Yellow

Note: Our area is the Southern Asian countries which includes India. Asia NORTH is: Japan/Guam, South Korea. Tawain is it’s own area as well as the Philippines.

We just learned that the Hong Kong Temple will be closing in July for a major renovation that will be about two years. Sad, but it needs to be done. They just broke ground for a temple in Thailand, and one in India and Cambodia is coming shortly. The stories and crazy things that have happened in order for the governments to allow this is pretty cool. We don’t know all the details, but the legal department here who handles that stuff with these countries have had some major hoops to jump through and it’s pretty much a miracle.

The weather is warming up a lot. It’s been absolutely beautiful here and back into the 70’s. Those who live here say it is usually pretty cold (I say that loosely) in January and February but it seems Spring has sprung early.

Sometimes life can feel mundane and we can judge how "things are" based on what we see on the outside of a situation. It's easy to forget that change happens on the inside, for good or for bad. The small and simple things we do really do matter. They determine wether we are confused or not. Close to God or not. It's the small and simple things that bring love, light, hope, and peace into our lives. Those things are not tangible but nevertheless very real. The simple act of deciding to pray everyday and asking for direction, protection, and peace can change our lives overnight. Lets not forget that it's always darkest before the dawn and just because we can't see things happening, it doesn't mean they aren't. The gospel is true and will bring you more peace than what some may think is possible.

Love you all!
Sister Kwan

SCTOCHEROOS! Yes, that is 6 batches in two pans. :)

Chinese New Year decorations in a store. This was all over Hong Kong.

Flowers are a big part of the holiday. Before New Years,
people buy flowers symbolizing wealth and prosperity.
Store after store were FILLED with beautiful flowers!

Very common for huge buildings to have these LED lighted decorations.

Gathering at his cousins.

Saw this cute little girl on a train. She's all dressed
up in a traditional dress for Chinese New Year.