A to Z Full Throttle Missionaries

Friday lunch with all Asia Area office missionaries. We're saying goodbye to the Johnsons who are being transferred to Timor-Leste (AKA East Timor), to open up a humanitarian presence there. We all feel a part of that effort, and it's bitter sweet to see them go. 

Blue Moon over Hong Kong. Taken outside our apartment building, on the promenade after one of our long days.

Elder and Sister Johnson pointing to their new assignment. They'll be great!

For a Mormon Newsroom article, interviewed new Hong Kong Mission President and his wife - President and Sister Lam

Training Hong Kong PA Council on creation of Infographics and Video production.

Dinner out with the Tong's, my former mission companion and his wife. They treated us to Peking Duck. Wonderful, delicious evening.

After dinner "get to know you" magazine game with Public Affairs Council- Kowloon Tong Building

An abandoned village in the hills above Sai Kung, an area I used to work when I was a missionary 40 years ago. These few buildings are surrounded by mountains, vegetation, and wild cattle.

Meet Natasha, one of the next members of the Church. So grateful to have Mandarin-speaking missionaries to take over when we can only go so far sharing the gospel. There are others but we don't have pictures of them (yet).   

These are the Gurkha Guards that keep us safe 24 x 7. A small army of them surrounds our apartment / hotel complex. What? You don't have Gurkha guards at your house? 

Doin' the dirty work. Getting ready to host the new mission presidents' seminar, had to try out some recipes and give feedback to the chefs. Left to right: Me, Sister Whitman, Elder Whitman, Sister Van Wagenen, Sister Inouye, Elder Inouye, Scott Ludlow (legal intern), Carly Ludlow. 

Prepping for a dinner we created for the Hong Kong National Public Affairs Council

Kam Tong 40 Years Later: Gettin' "Reminisc-y"

What does it say about your age when they make a museum out of your old missionary housing? I was privileged to live with about 7-8 other elders in the Kam Tong mansion (or castle) on Castle Road, Hong Kong, for much of 1976. We were the only residents there and had the massive place to ourselves, except on Sundays when there were two branches of the church meeting there. It was an awesome experience. 

It was here where: 1) I met Stephen R. Covey (he borrowed a tie from me and never gave it back) 2) I taught one of Chairman Mao's executioners and was able to get clearance to have him baptized. We filled the font, but he never showed up. 3) I permanently damaged my big toe, trying to move a large refrigerator down some stairs. 4) We baptized quite a few people here. 5) I had the opportunity to be a companion to Elders Rowley and Chan (Charlie Chan). Elder Charles Chan and I shared the same name, so it was fun that one of us was Chinese and the other a "Gwai-lou." It was my third area, and one of the most favorite places I have ever lived. Imagine me trippin' around in this building in my pajamas.  

Today, Laraine and I got to tour the building, now owned by the government and converted into a museum. I told Laraine, "I am not a 'reminisc-y' person, but wow was I doing some major reminiscing." Enjoy these pictures and short video (please excuse my chewing. I had just put some nuts in my mouth);

 

Kam Tong "Chapel" now a museum. Our missionary bedroom was top floor, far left. Amazing wood workmanship and gold leaf in the chapel and other areas. It was an awesome building to live in. 

Baptismal font remains, and much is said about the Church's ownership of the building throughout the various displays.

Heading upstairs to our living quarters. You can't see it well but this is some beautiful stained glass.

Dr. Sun Yat Sen

Front Courtyard. Used to play a little basketball here.

Laraine taking a breather after touring the building. It was very hot and muggy outside.

Some of the amazing workmanship on each of the balconies. 

After touring the Kam Tong, we found an incredible, old-fashioned neighborhoods in the North Point area of Hong Kong. 

Laraine wanted me to get this woman behind her as she squats--something the Chinese people used to do a lot more than they do now. 

The "Ding Ding" in North Point neighborhood

Laraine in a market section of North Point, near the ferry to Hung Hom

 

Proselyting? What's That?

We had a wonderful, miraculous week. We were not called as proselyting missionaries. In fact our mission is very unique in public affairs, working with "opinion leaders." We've often been told that if we baptize an "opinion leader" we've really defeated the purpose of public affairs because we then lose that person as an "opinion leader." Of course, we all recognize that it is better to have someone join the Church than it is to have them as an opinion leader, but the fact remains that proselyting and public affairs do not share the same goal, at least not in the near term.  It is entirely possible to have a very successful public affairs mission without ever speaking one-on-one with a potential investigator, but we have felt the need to do more. We have been praying for more opportunities to share.

So, with that background we had an interesting experience this week. We hopped aboard our hotel shuttle bus for the 15 minute ride to our hotel from the ferry. On the bus was a woman and her little 2-yr-old boy, "Jerry." We sat just behind them and Laraine started to tease the little boy a bit. The woman turned around and spoke to us in very broken English. She was from mainland China and hadn't been here very long. I tried Cantonese with her but she could not speak Cantonese. So we spoke a combination of Mandarin (mine was very limited), Cantonese and a little English. She told us she reads the Bible. We showed her a pass-along card with Chinese characters telling about the Church, with a picture of our building in Wan Chai. She then said, "I look for Church!" She had been looking for a church, apparently, and gave us a card with her phone number.

We looked at each other and realized we needed to get her in touch with Mandarin speaking proselyting missionaries, but how to do that? The shuttle makes one stop at the MTR (subway) station on its way to the hotel. As we were discussing what to do, we realized we needed to speak to Elder and Sister Pack who work in the mission office (as opposed to us who work in the Asia Area office). So we had just decided to do that when the bus made its stop. Hopping on the bus was none other than Elder and Sister Pack, who sat down next to "Kimmie," our investigator! We just reached up and tapped Elder Pack on the shoulder and said, "Elder Pack, this is Kimmie. She is interested in the Church." He gave her some information about an English class, and promised someone would call her that evening.

We got to our apartment and received a call from some sister missionaries who speak Mandarin. They had contacted Kimmie and she had accepted an invitation to attend church on Sunday. Since Kimmie is a neighbor of ours, we hope to be part of her learning experience in the gospel.

Other highlights this week:

• 40 youth from mainland China attending the temple (Mandarin speakers). They all showed up as a surprise, bright and early on the holiday (SAR day), July 1, to do baptisms for the dead. Incredible to see them all there. 
• Doing sealings in the temple in English and Cantonese. 
• Sharing a July 4th dinner (on July 3rd) with a bunch of other couple missionaries--watching "fireworks" projected on a screen from Elder Crockett's computer. Leading the singing of many patriotic songs. 
• Having dinner with Elder and Sister Whitman in their apartment. What fun people! 
• Dragon boat festival on Saturday (see below).