Mission Adventures in Hong Kong: October 2019

It is the middle of October already and it is finally cooling off. We still have some days where it is almost 90 degrees/87%humidity but there is a nice breeze and most days are around 82 degrees/50% humidity. I'll take it!

We have had some visitors in the last few weeks!! All three of Joe's kids came to visit for a week! It was so amazing for them to experience Hong Kong for the first time with their Dad. They went to see many of the touristy places, but also saw a bit of his childhood as well. He took them for a walk starting in Wan Chai where his childhood home was, which has now been replaced with a different building. They got to hear lots of stories and walked to the "ding ding" that he would ride to school which is a double decker cable car. (Yes, it really is called a ding ding). They got off the cable car at his old stop and walked up the hill to "St. Josephs College" which is a private Catholic school he attended for the 7th and 8th grades. A church is also attached where he was an alter boy. There was a time he wanted to be a priest and go to a third world country and do humanitarian work and then he turned about 15 years old and that was out the window. :) ha ha.

Another really cool thing we did was, Joe has several cousins here in Hong Kong from his fathers side and we had them all over for dinner. They visited and told stories of "Grandma's old store" in Wan Chai and how his family lived above the store and how as kids they would get customers and the many adventures they had there together. Emily, Joe's daughter videoed a lot of the conversation that was half in Cantonese and half in English. We get together with the cousins but his kids had never met them, so it was great that they could get to know each other a bit and share the family history.

Another activity was we went by ferry to Lamma Island. The hike is beautiful. At the top of the mountain there is a lady with a refrigerated cart with fresh cut ice cold pineapple. As I was enjoying my pineapple, I was thinking... She hikes up this mountain pulling her cart everyday to be at that spot to sell her goods... and how many people think they have it so rough? We could see the China Sea, beaches, rainforest, old abandoned home/huts along the way as we went around to the other side of the island. We enjoyed lunch at a famous restaurant there and then took the ferry back. They had lots of adventures that week and had a very memorable time together! It was wonderful having everyone here!

Two days after they few home, Chelsea came to stay for a week! We had so much fun. She had lived in Hong Kong and China for a year a while ago so she was familiar with the area. It was fun to explore with her. We saw new things that neither of us had seen before. One of the coolest things we did was go see the Chi Lin Nunnery. It is a Buddhist monastery with Monks (of course), but there is this garden attached to it that was incredible. I've included a lot of pictures.

One of the days, she helped me prepare a meal for the missionaries for Zone Conference. I made Hawaiian Haystacks and it was so fun having her do that with us! After making lunch we hiked up 10,000 Buddha's, which is another monastery that is very cool. We also had an all day boat tour out in in the South China Sea in a place called Sai Kung. This trip was previously set up for all of the couple missionaries so it was fun she could be a part of that. It was so peaceful out there! We toured 4 different small islands, and stopped at one, ate at the only restaurant on the tiny island, and hiked a bit. You might be surprised to know that Hong Kong is FULL of hiking areas, beaches, and countryside. I loved having her here. :)

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games as we still had assignments to fulfill while family was in town. Sometimes one of us would go handle a few things while the other one was making calls or emailing from the top of a mountain, ha ha and meeting up with the group later. It worked out just fine and that is the beauty of serving a mission later on in life. The framework and "missionary work" is very different than that of the young ones with the schedule and other rules they have. We can have family come and visit, do not have a specific preparation day, and do other things as well. As long as we are fulfilling our assignments we have a lot of leeway. That being said, Joe still had HOURS of work to do with Mongolia and other things, so he would often work from 10pm - 1am or later while his kids were here. :)

The political climate has changed a lot of things here. The feeling is a bit strained and this will probably go on for a while. We have had to cancel many activities because of protests which are heaviest on the weekends. Work schedules for the people here are such that activities/meetings have to be held on Saturday nights or Sunday afternoon/evenings.... including protests. :( The members in Hong Kong are a bit frustrated and struggling with focus but the first priority is safety. The challenge is that even if the protesting is not in an area where our activity is happening, people still have to get home and may have to go through areas with issues. They also have been shutting down the MTR (public transportation train) in the evenings to try to curtail the damage that has been happening to the stations. We have resorted to having YSA meetings in video conference rooms so we can at least plan and keep things moving forward. Our goal for these meetings is to help them focus on hope and faith that even though we don't know exactly what will happen, to trust that they will be ok and keep moving forward with their lives. It is a huge challenge and there is much fear and uncertainty right now. We also are doing some planning for upcoming events as well as the 2020 calendar.

In my last post I talked about a woman I met in a grocery store who came up to me asking about my missionary name tag. She saw the name of Jesus Christ on it and had questions. I had to use google translate to talk with her and she had been praying for something she knew was missing in her life. Her name is Kga Kga and the young missionaries have been teaching her for a few weeks now! She is progressing nicely and is excited about what she is learning but more important than anything are the feelings and the peace that she is experiencing as a result of her growing faith. She sees that her prayers are being answered and that God loves her and her family. We are having her over with her daughter and the missionaries Saturday for dinner and a missionary discussion. We are looking forward to that.

General conference was really wonderful. We watched it online at our apartment. Otherwise, we would go to the church where it is translated into Cantonese, only to be re-translated BACK into English for me. :):) Totally loved it! The warnings, the blessings and promises that were made were comforting and gives perspective with all the crazy stuff happening in the world and our every day lives. I think it was Elder Hollands talk where he said, "Can the blind lead the blind"? "It means nothing if we don't find Jesus in the conversation". It's easy to get caught up in life, or even in the wonderful worthy pursuits we are engaged in. Being reminded that the center of all of it must be about Christ and that is what being a Christian is all about.

Love to you all!
The Kwans