The Fruits

This week we've been blessed to see some of the fruits of the gospel in the lives of others. We had a strange and wonderful dinner with Michelle Cerdon, one of the Filipina sisters who was about to return to the Philippines. First the wonderful: Her faith to recognize the Spirit prompting her to take this frightening step was uplifting and inspiring to us. She has since confirmed that she was able to find work almost immediately in the Philippines. Yaaah! 

Now the strange: We ate dinner with her at Pizza Hut. First, when I wanted to wash my hands and asked for the bathroom, they directed me out of the restaurant and across the street to a mall. Then, we ordered a "fruit jelly salad" because we were curious. What we got was a tossed salad with some small jello cubes--really weird, huh? 

Now some thoughts from Laraine about "fruits" of a different kind:  

Father's Day: I have never seen a sweeter tribute to men and fathers in my life. These sweet sisters went all out to honor these men in our branch, from the decorations, to the table settings and the banners and of course food. They had a list of characteristics and they numbered them. Then they had the men choose a number. Whatever corresponded was their banner. A little ironic that Chuck got the "The best cook dad" banner. Ha ha. It was a great day. 

 

Yesterday was the first baptism we have had in the branch since we got here. This sweet sister Frendilyn (sp) has been investigating the church for a couple of months. After she was baptized she shared her testimony, life experiences, and challenges. She has been through a lot of trials in the past couple of years and some of them were because of her choices. She had lost hope in God and in her life. The gospel has brought her back to God again and having hope for a better life. She is so sweet. 

She had a dream during one of her most difficult times of a place that felt like heaven and was very peaceful. This past month she went to the temple with some of the sisters and just waited there for them. She said when she saw the temple, she recognized it was the place that she had seen in her dream. She inspired all of us. I recognize that having the gospel in my life, my whole life, I take for granted the truths and blessings I have enjoyed. It was nice to be reminded that we truly are blessed to know there is a God in heaven that loves us and because of the atonement of our Savior we can always start fresh and move forward. 

 

Serving in this branch is the sweetest part of our mission. I will be teaching the sisters a course in Self Reliance which will help them in moving forward in their life. It is a new program the church is using. 

Michelle Cerdon - getting ready to return to Philippines

"Fruit Jell Salad" from Pizza Hut - see little jello cubes? 

Ready for our food

Men of the Peninsula 2 Branch, and a few visitors

Elder Chamberlain -- "Best Cook Dad" You know that is so TRUE! Chuck lives to cook!

Friendilyn, baptism day. 

Friendilyn's baptism

Elder and Sister Wasson with Friendilyn on her baptism day

Busy Week - Captions Only

Elder and Sister Lyon - Farewell luncheon

Elder and Sister Lyon - Farewell Luncheon

Regular view outside our window

Newest Couple - Whitmans (Replacing Lyons)

E/S Powell

E/S Coffey

E/S Van Wagenen

Sweet Sister Stott - leaving mission early for medical issues

Elder Stott at Farewell for he and Sister Stott

Laraine on a "Basketball Mission" - Penn 2 Branch 

Laraine on "Basketball Mission" - Penn 2 Branch

Volleyball with Penn 2 branch Filipina Sisters

Penn 2 Branch Sisters

Kirsta and Venim Jequinto - Branch President's Daughters

Laraine on "Badminton Mission"

Laraine showing off for the Filipina's

Laraine showing off for the Filipina's

Penn 2 Branch lunch 

Trying some new tastes made by Filipina Sisters

Enjoying an interesting looking kind of egg with brown yoke

Effects of interesting looking egg with brown yoke

Still suffering effects of brown yoked egg

Sisters from Penn 2 Branch

Sisters from Penn 2 Branch

Next to Mainland border, before our narrow escape and avoidance of prison time

Pathway to 10,000 Buddha temple (it was closed)

Ate at Ikea in Sha Tin. 

Peak Performance

We were warned that as PA (public affairs) missionaries, our families and friends who see only what we post on blogs, Facebook, etc. would think we're on a mission to play. Well, now we know why that is. We do a great deal of work for our church, but because we're dealing with such sensitive information we can't post much publicly. The goal of public affairs is to help "opinion leaders" and the media understand who we are. Prematurely posting information about sensitive relationships could undermine our work.

So . . . sorry about that, for those of you who want to know more about what we're doing. We'll try to share what we can. We are getting very acquainted with some great people in the Hong Kong Public Affairs Council (a multi-stake council), and have enjoyed their company. We are also getting to know about a dozen other couples who work in the Asia Area office doing humanitarian, family history, communications, medical and mental health, legal, and more.

So with that said, here are some pictures of our P-day last week. We hiked around Victoria peak and had an amazing view of the city below us and the incredible beauty of nature around us. Enjoy!

Top of the Tram (restaurants, shops, observation areas)

Path that circles the peak

Tree trunk covered with this

Some of the buildings on Kowloon side

View of Hong Kong side

Hong Kong harbor from Victoria peak. Kowloon on other side.

Pretty lady missionary found wandering on the Peak.

Handsome man . . . stepped away just as this picture was taken, so it's just me.

Growing out of a tree trunk.

I'm speechless. Don't know what this is. 

Still speechless. This was growing out of the tree trunks. Some kind of Fungus?

 

Calm Finish

When you've done your best, worked hard, sweat hard (yeah, the sweating is pretty intense here lately), there comes a time when you have a chance to step back and reflect on your week. You have a moment of hard-earned calm as you finish your work and feel the satisfaction of knowing you can tuck your week away into the history books like tucking an unruly three-year-old into bed.

Ahhhhh, . . we love a calm finish to our week!

And we sure got one here. The winds were mild, the night warm and mellow. Our ferry ride home was a pleasure. What a blessing it is to be here, serving the Lord in this beauty and among these incredibly industrious, intelligent, and amazing people. Sister Chamberlain is so much fun to be with here. I'm glad she's on my team and I'm sure the Lord feels the same way.

 

Crazy Bus Ride to Stanley

Before receiving our assignment to work with a Filipina Branch (Peninsula 2), we found ourselves with a Saturday and not much to do. "Shopping" (or just walking around) at Stanley Market came highly recommended, so we boarded a double-decker bus in Central and away we went to the other side of Hong Kong Island. At some points along the mountain pass into Stanley, we could almost hear the bus scrape little rock flakes off the rock walls, especially when another bus passed us in the opposite direction and both buses had to scoot as far away from each other in the narrow road as possible. 

We were surprised to be dropped off at a mall--not what we had pictured when others described the great deals you could get at Stanley Market. After walking around a bit, we were confronted by some friendly Americans who were ex-pats from Springville, Utah. The Steeds showed us where to find the real Stanley Market, little spontaneously placed shops covered by a canopy of plastic and corrugated metal. 

Anything and everything was sold under that makeshift canopy, from tiny plastic toys to drones. 

The ride back to Central was the same kind of bus experience except this time it seemed the driver was upset that we were alive and aboard his bus, so was trying his best to remedy both situations. He accelerated like a mad man after each stop and slammed hard on the brakes every few seconds. It was a jarring experience, but a fun day all around. 

Hong Kong Streets on the way to Stanley Market

Stanley, Hong Kong Island

Stanley Harbor (or Cove?)

Happy to be at Stanley

Overlooking Stanley