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.