What Are The Chances?

 

When Lowell and Susan were in the MTC, they met Elder Wall who was being called to speak Mandarin in Hong Kong. Lowell worked with Elder Wall's father in the Translation Division at Church headquarters for a number of years, so it was fun to make this connection. Recently, here in Hong Kong, we ran into Elder Wall with a new companion of his and were chatting with them on the way to the train station. Just before separating to take different trains, Lowell asked Elder Wall's Chinese companion what his surname was. He replied, "Ngai." He had already told Lowell that his parents had both been born and raised in Hong Kong but were now living in Canada.

Only moments after leaving the two elders, Lowell began putting two and two together. He and Susan had known a Charles Ngai and the girl he eventually married, Shirley Fung, forty years ago in the Tsim Sha Tsui Branch of Hong Kong. They continued their association with them as they both attended BYU and Lowell, Susan, Charles, and Shirley were all members of the Asian Branch on BYU campus. Charles and Shirley later married and eventually moved to Canada. We knew they had at least two or three children ( in fact, Elder Ngai is their fourth and youngest).

Could this possibly be a youngest son of their's? He would be about the same age as our youngest daughter, Amy. Lowell found the missionaries phone number and called to ask Elder Ngai if his parents were Charles and Shirley Ngai? He answered in the affirmative . We had the two elders over for dinner and a nice chat. What are the chances that Elder Wall (whose father Lowell worked with) and Elder Ngai (whose parents Lowell and Susan both know) would be called as companions? What are the chances that we would meet the two of them together during a ten minute walk to the train station and rediscover this long enduring relationship? Some things are just meant to be. This was one of them; a tender mercy.

Temple at Ping Che

 

Susan has been wanting Lowell to take her to see the Chinese temple at Ping Che (about 30 minutes' ride from where we live) for some time, but Lowell has been saying, "If you've seen one Chinese temple, you've seen them all." Well, we finally went and they did have some interesting things on the grounds, though the temple itself looks much like most of the others seen previously. This one is particularly outstanding, however. We enjoyed the ride, the grounds, and the beautiful architecture. Because Chinese New Year is just around the corner, some added decor (like the large tangerine trees) had been added.

Chinese New Year and More

As we move away from the red poinsettas of Christmas adorning the temple grounds, we come into preparations for next week's Chinese New Year as witnessed by the festive decorations (even a dragon at the grocery store), the "must have" tangerine tree (like our Christmas tree at Christmas) and the large lighted lanterns adorning the walkways of our apartment complex.



We recently visited the Wetlands Park in Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong with the Elias who are originally from Hawaii, but more recently from Kaysville, Utah. It took us two weeks to complete our goal as the first week we went, we discovered the park was closed on Tuesdays (the very day we had gone). We went again last Monday which was a better weather day and enjoyed some beautiful flowers, scenery, a few wild birds, and a nice time with a couple who we enjoy getting together with.

Recent Invites and Our Own Little Mountain

We get together with the other temple missionary couples once a month for family home evening and a meal. Upper left are the Poons (originally from Hong Kong, but more recently from Canada) and the Lindsays (from Arizona) in one of those settings. Lower left are the new missionaries for our area (Sister Kim from Korea and Elder Wortham from Kansas on either side of Lowell) along with Sister Hawkes and Elder Harding who have been here for some weeks. Continuing down the right side are pictures of our recent invite to a "hot pot" party by members of our ward where everything from noodles to veggies and meat are put in a pot of boiling water and then everyone fishes out what they desire to eat.



We discovered only recently that there is a paved trail up Butterfly (Wu Tip) Mountain (Shan) which we see out our window every day and is only ten minutes away. Susan has decided it makes a good exercise activity for her so we have begun the trail on a number of occasions and each time are getting a little closer to the top.

Success At Last!

After working with Brother Chan Tak Fai for three months, trying to get him to come back to Church following an absence of nearly four years, Lowell and Brother Choi, a counselor in the stake presidency who home teaches Brother Chan, finally tasted success today when he came to the full three-hour block and even gave the opening prayer in the priesthood session of ward conference! Lowell has been meeting with Brother Chan pretty much on a weekly basis since learning from his parents, the stake patriarch and his wife, that this young single adult, who should be attending Lowell's Sunday School class, had no interest in attending Church. He said it was boring and felt the same about the scriptures. His job permits him to come to Church now only twice in a month. He works eleven-hour days pumping gas, twenty-eight or twenty-nine days out of every month. Lowell has been able to get together with him early in the morning in a park near his home before he goes to work and now has him reading the scriptures daily, praying, paying his tithing, etc. He is now working on getting Brother Chan a new member friend in the same building he lives in to continue the fellowshipping long after Lowell and Susan return home.

Potential Members

 

Lately a favorite activity has been assisting the elders in our ward in teaching lessons to investigators. Most often, this takes place in our apartment, being the most convenient place to meet.

One of the investigators, Peter Tang, treated us and the elders to dinner at a local cafe close to our home (he actually lives in a high rise adjacent to the one we live in). We were served a type of lamb stew with cooked lettuce and a number of new unmentionables which originally looked a little scary but turned out to be very tasty. It was kept hot on the table on a little gas stove. It was fun to eat some foods we haven't tried before.

We were able to get a picture with four of the investigators we've helped teach (left to right: Bro. Choi, Elder Harding, Peter Tang, Elder Cope, Lowell, Bro. Chau, and Bro. Leung, who was recently baptized). We are sad that Elder Cope is being transferred this week. He is one of our favorites.

We've also discovered a nice mountain trail ten minutes walk from our apartment passing some gravesites and continuing up to the top of Butterfly Mountain which we see every day from our apartment window. It provides a pretty good workout.

Celebrations!

 

There have been celebrations of all varieties as of late. There were Christmas celebrations, New Year's Eve celebrations, the 17th birthday celebration of a recent convert (pictured above), and other significant events. We spent much of our first day of the new year (2010) assisting the missionaries (also pictured above) teaching discussions to three different individuals throughout the day at our apartment and another one the evening following. Some of those individuals showed up at Church this Sunday and were favorably impressed by what they felt. They will be back and soon will have baptismal dates to celebrate their entry into the kingdom of God on earth. We are soon to celebrate our sixth month of service here in Hong Kong and find it hard to believe the time is slipping by so quickly. There is much good coming of it all, however, and for that we are grateful.