Sacrament Meeting Speakers--All Week!

On the 6th floor of our Church Administration building, sacrament meeting is held every day but Monday. There are a number of domestic workers, mostly from the Philippines, who are unable to attend church on Sunday, so a program has been established to give them the opportunity to attend church on weekdays. A regular 3-hour block is held, with 2 senior missionary couples providing leadership. Since the congregation is usually small and made up of new converts, and since those missionary couples, the Steeles and the Warmoths, don't want to speak all the time, they extend speaking invitations to the other senior missionary couples and other people who work or serve in the building. This has been our week to speak, which has been interesting to give the same talk over and over in Tussy's case, and to explore a variety of subjects, in Craig's case. After we speak, we ride the elevator back up to our office and continue our service there each day. 

Wait for a While

A prime example of the honor and dignity of Hong Kong people presented itself a few weeks ago when we were out shopping. A shopkeeper had left this shoe store briefly; there were stacks of shoes lining the sidewalk up against the store, and only a string with a handwritten sign barring anyone from entering the narrow shop. That is just one example of the trust people have in the honor and honesty of most of the city; we regularly see someone's bags or belongings sitting by a door; items for sale are stacked outside where they could easily be taken without being seen, but it's obviously not an issue. What a great place to serve!

Noonday Gun

Since Monday, December 27th was a holiday and the office was closed, we headed over to the Noonday Gun. We first heard of it on the Geocaching website, since there's a virtual geocache there, but it's a famous place in Hong Kong history. The cannon itself is on land purchased by Jardines, a shipping company, in 1841. The story goes that Jardines' private militia would fire a salute when the head of the company would arrive in Hong Kong. Such a salute was supposed to be reserved for government officials and senior military officers, so Jardines was ordered, as punishment, to fire their little cannon at noon every day. During the occupation of Hong Kong by Japan beginning in 1941, the practice was discontinued, and the cannon disappeared, but in 1947 the Royal Navy donated a six-pound gun to replace it and the sound was again heard each day. 
We arrived a little before noon, and sure enough, there was a small crowd gathered. A dignified man in a military uniform solemnly marched to a bell, rang it twice, went to the cannon, held up the shell for everyone to see, loaded it, and pulled the trigger: BOOM! (it had explosives but no projectile) After ringing the bell again, the gates were unlocked and all of us were allowed in to tour the small area and get a close-up look at the old cannon. 

Our Christmas Card to You

Most of the time, we picture the Savior in His exalted, glorified state.  We know he has been resurrected, that he appeared with our Heavenly Father to Joseph Smith in 1820, and that he runs His church today (and in fact rules the universe) from His heavenly home. 

At Christmastime, however, we appropriately remember him as seemingly an ordinary child with good parents of humble means.  Actually, his family was very poor.  The comparison between Christmas as it is today, versus the actual first Christmas at the Savior’s birth, could not be more stark.  The world today seems to be celebrating something very different from what the holiday actually represents.  There is definitely a magical feeling in the air for most of December.  Those of us who call ourselves “Christians” sincerely believe this feeling is brought about by the Spirit of the Lord prompting us to value and ponder the meaning of the birth of the Son of God – no matter how many Santa Clauses and Christmas trees we see on the streets.

In 1976, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke of Mary, Joseph and Jesus’ economic condition at the time of his birth:

“I, like you, need to remember the very plain scene, even the poverty, of a night devoid of tinsel or wrapping or goods of this world.  Only when we see that single, sacred, unadorned object of our devotion—the Babe of Bethlehem—will we know why the giving of gifts is so appropriate.”

If we can somehow picture the Savior’s birth occurring in our day and time - even without anyone knowing who this baby really was, surely Mary would have had a hospital birthing room, with highly educated nurses and doctors attending to her.  Joseph would have been given sanitized slippers, scrubs, mask and cap and would have been permitted to comfort Mary amidst all the medical technology surrounding her.  But the reality of Jesus’ day made it otherwise.  From Elder Holland: 

“With only Joseph’s inexperienced assistance, Mary herself brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in the little clothes she had knowingly brought on her journey, and perhaps laid him on a pillow of hay.

Then on both sides of the veil a heavenly host broke into song, “Glory to God in the highest,” they sang, “and on earth, peace among men of good will.” (Luke 2:14, Phillips Translation.) But except for heavenly witnesses, these three were alone: Joseph, Mary, the baby to be named Jesus.  At this focal point of all human history, a point illuminated by a new star in the heavens revealed for just such a purpose, probably no other mortal watched—none but a poor young carpenter, a beautiful virgin mother, and silent stabled animals who had not the power to utter the sacredness of what they had seen.  Shepherds would soon arrive and later, wise men would follow from the East. But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby - that’s how Christmas began.

It is for this baby that we should shout in chorus: “Hark the herald angels Sing Glory to the newborn King!  Mild he lays his glory by, Born that man no more may die: Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.” (Hymns no. 60)

May the Lord bless each of us as we strive to remember that He WAS born in a lowly manger, but for the greatest of all purposes in the history of mankind:  to rescue us from the Fall – that we might return and live with Him and our Father, if we make that our greatest goal, and the central purpose of our lives.
Love, 
Craig & Tussy

The Magician Elder Norman and His Lovely Assistant Sister Norman

Elder Lee gets the hooey stick to change directions. 

Our big Staff & Senior Couples' Christmas Party was held today, and because he can speak Cantonese, Craig was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies for the talent show portion of the party. Not one to let an opportunity pass him by, Craig figured he should exhibit a little showmanship in between introducing the acts, so he came up with a few Cub Scout-quality feats to entertain the audience.
He pulled out a hooey stick and demonstrated how he could make the propeller change directions by having people who had birthdays in December say "Hooey!" People seemed amazed.
He had Elder Taylor volunteer for the next magic act, where Craig cut Elder Taylor's tie into pieces, assuring everyone that he would restore the tie back as good as new. He hemmed and hawed and had Elder Lee come up and say "Hooey!" into the microphone, but was unable to get the tie back into one piece, to the surprise of the audience. It was hilarious.
When he asked for Elder Warmoth to allow him to perform magic on Elder Warmoth's watch, many audience members yelled "No!" and were horrified when Craig put the watch in a bag and pounded it with a hammer. Naturally he couldn't get that back together, either.
Everyone enjoyed the displays of talents, such as singing and hula dancing, in addition to fun group games, as well as lots of tasty food, for a memorable Christmas celebration.

The audience was entertained when Craig cut up Elder Taylor's tie!

Grocery Shopping, Part 2

You may recall back in October the receipt spotlighted here, where we spent almost $250 in Hong Kong dollars for just a few select imported items. That really was only part of the story, so here's some more of it. Everyday items are comparatively inexpensive, unlike those rare American items; in fact, groceries are much cheaper here. Remember, HK$100 equals about US$12.88, so when prices are mentioned, it just sounds like a lot. For instance, on a recent trip we got three peppers in a package, (one green, one yellow, and one red), for HK$18.30; US=$2.35. Bananas were HK$2.70/lb; US=35 cents/lb. Oranges, HK$3.60 each; US=46 cents each. Ground Australian beef (imported since they don't have cattle in Hong Kong) HK$19.90/lb; US=$2.56/lb.

My favorite: Park'NShop; you will notice
it's in the basement of a building, like
almost all grocery stores. The funny
thing about the name? NO ONE drives to
this store; we all walk!

There are three things we have to remember when grocery shopping in Hong Kong: first, bring our own bags, or they charge 50 cents per bag. Second, only buy enough to carry home comfortably in two bags, or our arms ache. Three, there are  at least 4 grocery stores within a couple of blocks, but none of them have everything we want, so we go from store to store. It's an adventure! Coming soon, a description of the wet market. 

Ho Man Tin Chapel

When Craig served in Hong Kong from 1975-1977, he attended the groundbreaking for the first chapel on the Kowloon peninsula, the Ho Man Tin building (pronounced Haw Mun Teen). He completed his mission before seeing the building finished and dedicated. However, we now serve in that very same building! It's about a 20-minute bus ride, through a tunnel under Victoria Harbor. A Chinese ward meets there in the morning, then our branch, the Peninsula 2nd branch, has the afternoon block. Craig serves as 1st counselor to the branch president, Elder Gibb, who is also a senior missionary assigned to the Area Office . Our branch consists primarily of Filipino and Indonesian sisters who are in Hong Kong working as domestic servants; it's one of the smaller branches with about 60 attending each week. There are several such branches in the area, a new phenomenon since Craig was here 35 years ago. Two other senior couples, the Steeles and Warmoths, serve in what is called the Everyday Branch, where these sisters can attend church Tuesday through Saturday, even if they're not off on Sundays. 

Sitting Out Areas

Every few blocks in the crowded urban place that is Hong Kong, there are small pocket parks, appealing little places where there are inevitably people sitting. These are not the typical neighborhood places of the United States where you might see a few families, perhaps some children; the denseness of the population, combined with the relatively small flats where most people live, make these "sitting out areas" essential. Few of them have any actual grass, but there are always nice trees, perhaps some shrubbery, to soften people's lives.

Instituting Faith

On Fridays the senior sister missionaries are able to take a break from our duties and attend an Institute class taught by one of the area presidency's wives, Karen Pratt. (Last week when she and her husband had to make a last-minute trip, I was the substitute, but it went smoothly and was O.K.) We have been discussing recent General Conference addresses, which Sister Pratt has grouped by subject. The latest talks, by President Eyring and Elders Scott and Edgley, centered on faith. Faith is such a seemingly basic concept, but Sister Pratt had us stop and examine what faith is, before going on to these talks, and I found it most enlightening. 
We all know that faith is the first principle of the gospel, so we usually just rattle off the other three: repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, but being the first, it is foundational for a reason. Faith must be centered on our Savior, Jesus Christ, in order for it to lead us to salvation. In fact, it is our trust and confidence--our faith--in the Savior which motivates us to obey Him. It is our accepting His Atonement, and applying it in our lives, which helps us not only want to repent, but to avoid sin. As our faith increases by study, prayer, service, and obedience, we can actually feel it working in our lives. I acknowledge that it is faith that has helped me feel peace in my heart, because I do have confidence in Jesus Christ. His love is real. We can each have that assurance, which is what makes His gospel so vital.  

A Closer Look at the Purple Building

Since it's only a block away from the Church administration building, it wasn't difficult to take some close-up pictures of the purple building. We were able to conclude a few things about the place: it only has motorcycle/scooter parking in front of it, and there's a website posted right at the front of the building: www.theV.hk                                        

Yum Cha with the Best

We had the high honor of being treated to dim sum, a fancy breakfast, by two of the most admirable women in Hong Kong: Millie Lai and Melody Ho. They served missions at the same time Craig did, in the mid-70's, and they have stayed in close contact with each other ever since. Millie still lives in nearby Happy Valley and serves as an early morning seminary teacher in the Church administration building, so at times she is leaving when we get there and we get to see her. Melody, on the other hand, responded to inspiration some time ago and moved to Shenzen, in China, to more closely help fledgling branches there, even though it meant having to learn to speak Mandarin and make new friends. Neither of these sisters has married but they don't let that distract them from the missions they feel they are still on to help the gospel grow in Asia. They are both remarkable and it was a great honor to have them yum cha, or drink tea (we of course didn't actually drink any tea, but that's the customary word for a get-together where eating and conversation takes place) with us and introduce us to new delicacies of dim sum.

'Tis the Season

We have been amazed at the abundance of Christmas decorations on buildings and in shops here--they really know how to decorate. We went to our first party of the season at Andrew & Sandy Lai's in Repulse Bay on Friday the 3rd, and posed at their huge tree. Andrew, a native of Hong Kong, and Craig served their missions together. The picture on the right was taken last week when we were on Kowloon-side at the 1881 Heritage complex. 

Lover's Rock

Last Saturday (the morning of the 2nd Thanksgiving dinner) we hiked up to Bowen Road with the Sackley's--it's one of their favorite places. We had noticed a sign that pointed to "Lover's Rock," so since we are in love with our spouses, it seemed like an appropriate place to explore! We found the stairs leading up to the Rock quite steep, and surprisingly, at every possible nook or turn in the trail, there were ramshackle altars spray-painted red, with well-worn little fireplaces littered with ashes.The higher we climbed, the more evidence we had that this was not what we envisioned--a picturesque, quiet place for romance. It was, instead, a place for people to seek--by burning incense and fake money--help with their decisions about marriage. At least there were some great views, including the Hopewell revolving restaurant we had recently visited.  

THREE Thanksgiving Dinners

You'd think in a place that doesn't even celebrate the American holiday Thanksgiving, that it might go unnoticed. Thursday was a normal business day, but that night we took a taxi over to Andrew & Sandy Lai's house in Repulse Bay to join them and about 25 of their other friends for a traditional turkey dinner. Craig & Andrew served their missions in Hong Kong at the same time, though Andrew is a native. He met Sandy, who's from Idaho, when they were at Ricks (now BYU-Idaho), and they have lived here ever since. It was an enjoyable evening with lots of tasty American foods including pumpkin pie. 
Then on Saturday, all of the missionary couples got together to enjoy turkey, stuffing, and gravy prepared by the wives of the area presidency. All of us couples brought mashed potatoes, string beans, sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows on top, cranberry sauce, fruit salad, homemade rolls, and apple & pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream on top. It was hard to believe we were still in Hong Kong after that feast!
We thought we had seen the last of the turkey (an expensive, imported item here), but then we attended our new branch, the Peninsula 2nd, which meets in the HoManTin building on Kowloon-side. After the regular meetings, we were treated to a more modest meal which consisted of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, with some sort of tapioca fruit pudding for dessert--our third Thanksgiving dinner for 2010. 

Our very American meal! Kevin & Suzan Nield and Verlin & Pam Lee shared our table.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Tussy was responsible for pulling
together decorating the building

As we've learned, there is quite a tradition associated with decorating the Church Administration building for Christmas each year. The FMG, or Facilities Management Group, an impressively competent group of people, bring the boxes and boxes of decorations over from the rented storage facility. By virtue of Tussy's position as assistant executive secretary, the responsibility for organizing the decorating, specifically getting everyone involved in the different areas, and of course providing refreshments, fell to her. Because everyone was so willing and enthusiastic, the event was a great success! 

The Mysterious Purple Building

One block over from our Church Administration building there is a unique building, which we can see from the stairwell when we run errands from the 10th floor down to the 9th or 8th. It is completely purple, down to the tasteful umbrellas on the two outside patios, which are separated by a purple fence. It doesn't look like a typical Hong Kong building. We haven't seen anyone there so it seems mysterious. As we figure out more about it, we'll let you know!

The Only Revolving Restaurant in Hong Kong

From the elevator as we rode up to the R66 Revolving Restaurant in the Hopewell Center 

(it's on the 64th floor but 66 minutes is about how long it takes to make a complete revolution). 

Along with several of the other missionary couples, we walked over to the R66 restaurant for lunch last week, since it's only 10 minutes from the Church Administration building. As you can see, it provided spectacular views of this part of the city. The buffet  was quite good, (especially the desserts!), and at HK$120 per person was reasonable, though we wouldn't want to spend that much on lunch every day. When the Hopewell Center was completed in 1980 (the year we were married!) at 708 feet/216 meters and 64 stories, it was Hong Kong's tallest building. 

The Changing Coastline of Wan Chai

Craig standing in front of the boulder that the Hung
Shing temple was built around; the incinerator back
there is used to burn paper models of nice items to
somehow send the real things up to ancestors.

Lowell & Susan Bishop, who serve as temple missionaries here, joined us for a walking tour of the fascinating land reclamation that has added valuable space along the harbor coastline, an endeavor that began in 1890 and goes on today. We saw three buildings which were on the original coastline: the 1913 Post Office, the 1872 Blue Building, and the Hung Shing temple which is build against the boulder that had been an altar on the shore in the 1800's. See a map and read about it here:  http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/things-to-do/images/wanchai-ever-changing-landscape.pdf (the Wan Chai police station shows up on this particular map and the building where we serve, the Church Administration building, is next door on the corner of Gloucester and Fleming).

That taxi is driving where water used to be, and this old Post
Office was originally squeezed between the coastline and
the rocky hills behind it. 

One of Hong Kong's oldest structures that has not been
razed to make way for skyscrapers, the Blue Building
is awaiting renovation. Note the original street sign
stuck to the side of the building.

For a simple but cool animation of how the coastline has changed: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Wanchaireclamation.gif

A Couple of Run-Ins with the Police

Well, we didn't have this run-in,
but the poor taxi driver did!

The police have a strong presence here in Hong Kong, which is comforting; the motorcycle officers look like something out of Star Wars and those are very prestigious jobs, kind of like jet pilots, according to Craig. The Wan Chai police station is next door to our Church Administration building, and one of the security guards, James, had been telling us that it would soon be closed down to be turned into a museum. His main concern was the police canteen which he declared had the best authentic Chinese food in Hong Kong; he wanted all of us missionary couples to have the opportunity to eat lunch there before it was too late. So a group of us walked over, along with several full-time staff members, to partake. We had 3 tables of about 8 to 9 people each, and each table was served 9 dishes ranging from sweet and sour pork to fish with their heads still on baked in a delicious tomato sauce. This grand meal cost us HK$50 each, a mere US$6.44, and really was unique and something we won't be able to do again. 

A feast shared with Tony, Leo, Jaymi,
the Whitmans, Elder Paul, and Kevin.

Tussy and Sister Whitman with two of Hong Kong's finest.

The New Handbooks

 

We were in attendance at the Worldwide Leadership training on Saturday, November 13th to hear about the positive changes in how the Lord's Church is administered. Then for our weekly building devotional to senior couples and full-time employees this week, the area president shared with us how he had been privileged, almost 4 years ago, to be asked by the First Presidency to provide input for such an endeavor. Having lived away from Church headquarters for 15 years, he had the unique perspective of how the Church is run in distant countries. The two concerns the First Presidency had were, first, the family: how families were being negatively impacted by the number of meetings and the place the family had to take because of those meetings. In fact if you watched the training you may recall that Elder Bednar wished he could do away with the word "meeting" and in its place refer to them as "revelatory experiences." That is certainly a change of thinking. The second concern was how to relieve overworked bishops by doing such things as engaging the ward council more fully. The result of years of work and inspiration was presented to us as two Handbooks. It's exciting to see these improvements and be part of implementing them. For more information about this, go to http://new.lds.org/church/news/new-handbooks-introduced-during-worldwide-training?lang=eng

Impact of Insight

As we all watched General Conference last month, you might have had the same feeling we did when, during the Saturday afternoon session, Elder Kevin R. Duncan, after relating a moving story of the pioneers in 1848, began outlining the "Fourteen Fundamentals in Following a Prophet," a speech given in 1980 by then-Elder Ezra Taft Benson, at a BYU devotional at which we were in attendance (having been married about one month!). 
"Wait," we all wanted to say to Elder Duncan, "that's already been presented to us, just this morning! Weren't you watching?!" (Elder Claudio R.M. Costa in the Saturday morning session, had also used it)
 In our weekly Institute class on a Friday morning not long after, our teacher, Sister Pratt, assured us that had not been a mistake. Her husband, Elder Carl Pratt, has spoken in General Conference so she knows the routine: the text of the intended speech of each participant invited to speak is required to be sent in some months in advance; once, Elder Pratt was asked to remove a quote he had in his talk, because someone else was also using it.
So we were blessed with hearing President Benson's 14 points twice in one day. Perhaps like you, we pondered what we should do about the significance of that repetition. Tussy once had a college professor who helped the class by pointing out that anything he said more than once would definitely be on the next test. 
So our conclusion has been that as we have been counseled to read from the Book of Mormon daily, and that, as point #2 was "the living prophet is more vital to us than the standard works," we should study the words of the living prophets at least as often as we do the standard works: daily. This practice has brought more insight to our personal study and spiritual growth, and we continue to be enriched by General Conference. 
Oh, the picture at the top doesn't really have anything to do with the topic, but it was recently taken at a couples' FHE; Tussy is listening to Nancy Altadonna Steele, who used to live in New Jersey, and beside her, Pam Hickman Lee---blogs are always more interesting if there's a photo included, right?!
For videos, audios, and text of the recent Conference, go to : http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-1298,00.html

Security

Living in a huge city like Hong Kong (7 million people!) it's understandable that safety is a concern, and that is well-addressed at Harmony Mansion, as the photos below detail:

At the entrance to our building, there's a keypad where we
enter a 4-digit code, which unlocks the double doors. There
is a closed-circuit camera, and we can turn our TV to a
channel to see who is there, if we get a call from someone!

Once inside, there is a security guard. This
one, Wilson, is a member of the Church!
The mailboxes and elevators are here, too. 

Next we wait for an elevator. When one finally
comes, we press "12" for our floor. There is
a lot of stainless steel which cleaning ladies
polish throughout the day. 

All of the floors look exactly the same, with
granite walls and floors; there are 14 flats
per floor, some larger than others. 

Our flat has a heavy stainless grille door we
unlock and slide away before unlocking
the actual door to the flat. 

Looking from our door out into the long,
narrow hall where Craig stands in front
of the door to the stairs, which being
12 stories up, we do not take!

Hiking in the City

For a recent group activity, seven of us missionary couples walked about 2 1/2 miles up to a park which provided great views of Hong Kong along the way. As we have said, a nice side-benefit of serving a mission in the setting of the Asia area office is having a built-in social group of extraordinary friends. We serve together in the Church Administration Building during the week, attend the temple, live in the same apartment building, Harmony Mansion, and have FHE twice a month, and we still enjoy getting together informally as well. Except for missing our families and friends, it's a great set-up!

Sister Sackley (her hubby took the photo); the Whitmans; the Gibbs; the Lees; us;
the Linfords; the Pauls.                 

It is a privilege to have a temple nearby--sometimes we forget that this temple
is in China, a place that just a few years ago was hostile towards outside
religions. Not only does this temple serve the people of Hong Kong, but much
of Asia, as well. Groups of Latter-day Saints from Mongolia, India, Singapore,
Cambodia, Malaysia, and other countries travel long hours for the opportunity
to attend the Hong Kong temple.
This temple is special to us because it is where Craig was sealed to his parents
in a sacred ordinance last year about this same time. Craig actually lived on this
spot back in 1975 when the mission home was here.
The ten missionary couples here, along with the Asia area presidency, meet
 once a month for a session, then a testimony meeting afterwards in a
chapel on the ground floor. Our first time joining in was yesterday, and it
was an exceptional experience, where we felt privileged to be able to
participate. To conclude the event, pizza was delivered back at the
office, and as you can guess, in Hong Kong that's quite a treat.

Nothing Loss Nothing Gain

As we walk along the sidewalks full of people, we've noticed a good portion of them have on T-shirts with words, slogans, or pictures. There's the predictable assortment of Hollister, Abercrombie, and Aeropostale, but there are others, too, such as the title of this post. If it weren't rude to take pictures of people as they walked by, we would be tempted to do it, but being respectful, and honestly not wanting to make fun of them, we just enjoy the wacky translations they wear. 

Can you name 33 fresh vegetable?

We've actually been impressed with the ability of most Hong Kong people to speak English; we certainly wouldn't want to have to learn it, it's so unpredictable compared to Cantonese. Some usage makes us wonder, though, such as this napkin from KFC: are they referring to the chicken, the napkin, or something else?!

This is supposed to attract customers. . . .

Looks like an inviting store, right? But what
they sell is. . . alcohol!

We had a fun adventure shopping recently at the Wanchai Market and thought you would enjoy some of what we saw.

These were dried--appetizing, huh?

We've Been in Hong Kong One Month!

The CAB is the orange building with the gray
spire in the center of the photo.

Everyone has had this feeling at one time or another: you feel as if you just got somewhere, but that at the same time, you've been there forever. That's our feeling looking back on our first month in Hong Kong! We feel such gratitude to the Lord for this opportunity and acknowledge the blessings that are all around us. Just being in this wonderful place, with its rich culture and history, is a privilege. The Chinese are truly noble and admirable; we've met many extraordinary people, and in fact get to daily associate with some of them.
     Our mission is somewhat unique in that we walk to "work" every day in a high-rise. There is not room here to outline the history of the Church in Hong Kong, except to mention that in the mid-70's, Craig lived and worked in a mansion that the Church had purchased, known as the Kam Tong. Some 20 years later, the government decided they wanted that historical structure, and at the same time the Church was outgrowing the old building anyway, so it was turned over to the government to become the Sun Yat-Sen Museum.


 In exchange, a lot of the red tape to build a new building was eliminated, paving the way for the Church Administration building, or CAB, also known as the Wanchai building, situated on busy Gloucester Road just blocks from the harbor. It is truly a blessing to everyone who serves or worships there: there are four chapels, numerous classrooms, and of course, from the 7th-10th floors, Church offices. We're on the 10th floor since we work closely with the Asia area presidency. They have apartments on the 11th and 12th floors. Noting how the Lord's work has progressed in this area over the past 61 years, since Matthew Cowley dedicated the land for the preaching of the gospel in 1949 (more about that later!), it's evident that the Lord's hand has been here in Hong Kong overseeing the spread of His gospel.

Looking down on our building from the 46th
observation floor of the Central Plaza
building across Gloucester Road.