Release From The Temple Presidency

Though is has only been 7 1/2 months for us serving with them in the presidency, President Charles Goo and his wife Helen have completed their three years as temple president and matron of the Hong Kong Temple. The Goos return home to Hawaii tomorrow and the new temple president (pictured at left), John Aki, and his wife who are also from Hawaii (though she is a native of Hong Kong) have arrived and selected two new counselors to serve with them. We will resume our role as temple missionaries for our remaining three months here. A farewell (for the Goos) and welcoming event (for the Akis) was held last evening and attending were a number of temple workers, two of whom (pictured at bottom right) were Sister Ruth Lau Shiu Yuk King (a former missionary companion of Susan's) and Brother John Yim Yeuk Hon (one of Susan's converts). This temple mission has been and will continue to be a great blessing in our lives.

Disneyland? On a Mission?

That's what we thought too---going to Disneyland while on your mission? Whoever heard of such a thing? But, go we did. Susan had been wanting to go for a long time and we finally found a few other venturing couples who thought they might enjoy it as well. We did select a perfect weather-day, so that made it nice. There were two great shows making the costliness worth it. Disneyland in Hong Kong is really small comparatively, but they do a great job and we were excited to see some of the Chinese in an "out of the box" kind of role! They are usually so quiet and to themselves. Seeing them lively and encouraging others' participation was worth more than the rides.

Juggling All We Need To Do

It seems that we can never get used to our rotating schedule at the temple necessitated by our being associated with the temple presidency. Out schedule rotates every week and rotates within the week. Lowell is always having to check his schedule to be able to answer anyone about whether we are free on such and such a day.

We have had a number of groups to the temple these past couple of weeks. A large group from Thailand, smaller groups from India and presently a group from Indonesia. Each has brought its attendant blessings---family file names to be baptized for, own endowments to prepare for, sealings to perform. Unfortunately, we seldom get a chance to catch a picture with any of these people, being that we are usually inside the temple.

President Goo and his wife will be leaving in another week having completed their three year assignment. This of course means we will be released from the presidency and so will have another new schedule to adjust to. There have been and will continue to be firesides and farewells, dinners and other get-togethers until they actually do leave, so we will continue juggling our schedules for at least the next week.

We did squeeze in an acrobatic performance last week with a few other missionary couples. The group was from Xinjiang, China and are actually of Uygur ethnicity. They performed some heart-stopping stunts, most without safety cords (and no safety nets) many feet above the stage. You can imagine how high the performers are in the air (upper left) as they perform on the outside and then inside of two revolving wheels which themselves are propelled by the shifting weight of the performers. One is even jump-roping on top of a spinning wheel as it reaches its zenith.

Focus on the Temple

The focus really is on the temple! The architects who designed the new Kowloon Tong chapel, part of the Legacy Center now functioning directly across from the Hong Kong Temple on Cornwall Street, did a marvelous job of placing a window on the floor above the chapel (upper right) in just the right position to capture a view of the temple across the street. This reminder for all who pass by directs their attention to that holy place in which they may paricipate in saving ordinances. The oldest son of the Lam family, Angus, (back left, lower left) has recently been ordained a deacon and has now had opportunity to perform baptisms for the dead as has Brother Leung Kai Chung (left, lower right) who we assisted in teaching before his baptism last year. Here, the missionary (Elder Cope) who taught him (back center, lower right) and his present companion came for a last "good-bye" prior to his returning home next month.

Lowell had the sweet opportunity this past week to seal Brother and Sister Narambat of Mongolia (he is standing directly behind his wife in the flowered dress, upper left) to each other after they and a son of their's (second to the left of Brother Narambat) were endowed. Lowell also sealed the oldest daughter (very pregnant to her mother's right) to her husband (standing behind Brother Narambat) and then all six living children and two deceased children to Brother and Sister Narambat. A son and daughter of the couple are currently serving missions in Mongolia but were permitted to come for the sealing to their parents. The youngest two boys performed hundreds of baptisms during the week. The foreign couple pictured are the Lassons (who were in the MTC the same time Lowell and Susan were last July) who accompanied the family from Mongolia.

The Narambat family have a remarkable story to tell. The oldest son (deceased) was murdered about ten years ago when he was nineteen. The family discovered a Book of Mormon among his belongings; read it, and subsequently came in contact with the Church. All joined. The oldest daughter also served a mission. It doesn't get any better than this!

Celebrating Susan's Birthday in China

The Lam family in our ward helped Susan celebrate her birthday by inviting us and the elders over to dinner (lower left). Susan and Lowell took advantage of having Susan's birthday off from the temple to go into China (making use of our remaining visa entry) and visit the Chinese Folk Cultural Villages in Shenzhen. We saw representative ethnic groups including (clockwise from upper left) the Dai, Miao, Wa, Uygur, Li, Mongol, Musuo, and Yi tribes in their native costumes and cultural display of dancing, singing, feats of agility and instrument playing. The festive entry (left center) to the place was spectacular and the day was a success.

Some of This, Some of That

We have done a little of this and that lately---all part of the weekly scheduling of things that should, need, or are wanting to be done.
We have had groups to the temple recently from Thailand and Cambodia, and individuals from mainland China, Singapore, and Indonesia. Pictured here (upper left) is Elder Gong and his parents from Szechwan, mainland China. Elder Gong returned from his mission in Adelaide, Australia to Hong Kong enroute home so he could meet up with his parents who were both coming to the temple for their own endowments. He was then of course sealed to them later that day. The parents left the next morning to go back to China with his passport and airline ticket accidentally in their possession. Our assistant temple recorder performed a small miracle by contacting the parents before they crossed the border, taking a bus to meet them and retrieve the documents; then taking a taxi to the airport just in time to give the son what he needed to be able to continue his flight home.

We went with the other temple couple missionaries to the revolving restaurant at the Hopewell Center on Hong Kong Island (far left center and lower left). We enjoyed a wonderful buffet on the 62nd floor of the cylindrical building (note elevators going up the outside of the building providing a breathtaking view). We also had the local sister missionaries over for dinner that same week before one of them was transfered.

At the end of the week, Susan prepared dinner for about eight young women and their leaders and a few of the leader's children (center top and bottom) following an activity they had participated in earlier in the day. Needless to say, our small apartment is often frequented by "hungry" visitors.

Today, we visited the jade market in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon (right top and bottom) with the other missionary couples. With a little bartering help from Lowell in Cantonese, some were able to leave satisfied that they been on the right end of a good bargain.

1881 Heritage and Cheung Chau Island

During the past couple of weeks we have been to a few new places. One, the 1881 Heritage Building (lower left) in Tsim Sha Tsui, once housed the Hong Kong Marine Police Headquarters. It is now a hotel, shops, and somewhat of a museum. The metal time ball (far right center) used to be manually hoisted and dropped at 1:00pm each day for ship captains in the harbor to reset their instruments before going out to sea again. The view is now of course obscured by numerous high rise buildings, etc.

We also went by ferry to Cheung Chau Island which has a quaint feel and gave Susan an opportunity to wade in the ocean for a moment (upper left). It was a very hot day and many people were using umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun. We saw a blind man playing a native Chinese instrument (lower right) on our way to the ferry.