WELCOME TO HONG KONG!

 

 

 

We've been in Hong Kong almost a week now and are getting over jet lag pretty well. 

Every one here has been so kind to us!  Our apartment was loaded with food and there have been couples assigned to take us to dinner for the last 3 nights. 

Our apartment is nice but I won't take pictures of it until we find a place to put everything.  Here is the view from our window.  We are on the 15th floor of a very nice apartment building.  All the senior couples live here.

Note the stone dragon on the roundabout and the misty mountain between the buildings.

Our friends show us how to get to work and home again.  We have taken the bus most of the time but today we took the Star Ferry both ways and loved it.  I think that is the way we will like the best.  After dark the harbor is so beautiful.  It has been rainy and cloudy/foggy all week, but not too cold.  

View of the Hong Kong Harbour



This is the Wan Chai Church Office building and Chapels where we work each day.

We work with a great couple, Scott and Karen Smith.  He is the Branch President and David is his counselor and also the membership clerk.  On Saturday, when we have over 100 women attending, we have 2 other couples who help us.....Elder and Sister Pack and Elder and Sister Johnson.  We call each group a "family".  It's really the only family these women (and a few men) have here in Hong Kong.  Most have left husbands and children behind in the Philippines and Indonesia and work here to support them back home. 

Elder and Sister Smith and David waiting for the shuttle in front of our hotel

David wrote the following:  (I'm sorry it's blue.  I'm not a good enough blogger to know how to change it!!!)

We are assigned to the Victoria 2^nd branch.  This is the every day branch which means that we hold the 3 hour block Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday and Saturday.  One other couple serves with us or rather we serve with them.  The first four days the “family” of Philipina women are small...30 or so... but on Saturday it is about 100+.  These women are all domestic workers here in HK and are pretty much in slavery.  They are wonderful women and I think our assignment is pretty much an amazing one.  Today (Sunday) and Monday are our days off so today we went grocery shopping.  Weird except that we have already had five Sabbath days previous in this past week.  That is it in a nutshell.  Only this church would do something like this. 

 

 This is part of our "Thursday Family".  The other couple had come to take us out.



This is some of our Thursday family.  The other couple are friends who have come to take us out for the evening.



 

One night we went to Lantern Festival which was held outside.  It was raining, but we enjoyed being there

 

 

One of the best things about being on a mission is that we have the technology to Skype with our family.  Here we are.....talking together.... It is wonderful!!

 

David had a neat experience so he wrote about it to thank our MTC teachers: 
(Once again, I don't know why it's not written in white like everything else!)

Dear MTC instructors,

Last Wednesday, our first day here in Hong Kong, I had the opportunity to be in a first contact discussion with two Elders and a young mother from Beijing.  She is so golden and I am confident she will soon be baptized but the neat thing was that I personally committed her to be baptized at the end of the meeting and she accepted.  She then gave a truly beautiful prayer and I am sure she had never prayed before.  She is moving to Hong Kong and is excited to now be able to invite spirituality in to her life.  I will let you know when I know the final results with this young woman.  I guess you taught me well. 

Sincerely, Elder David Towers