An exciting month for us.....

What fun June has been......full of great family events at home and fun with friends here in Hong Kong!

June 5th was our 51st wedding anniversary!

 

We look a little different now, but are still crazy about each other!

 

 

David was so cute on our anniversary.  Somehow he sneaked out without anyone noticing and bought red roses for me and hid them in various refrigerators.  Then after church, he gathered me and all the others around, gave me the roses and then sang “The Rose” to me (a’capella!) while everyone else oohed and ahhhed.  I love that man!  So does everyone else around here!  Someone made a video of it all, but I can't seem to download it, so you will just have to imagine how sweet it was!!

 

On June 6th, our beautiful little granddaughter Rhiannon Towers was baptized.  We are so proud of her for making this important commitment!

 

 

Then came my birthday.  Even though I never listed a word on Facebook about what day I was born, the word got around and I have never had so many birthday wishes, flowers and gifts!  I felt very loved!

 

 



This is Yani, an Indonesian sister from Saturday family, who gave me these flowers.

  

These are Sisters Amor, MaryAnn and Shirley from Tuesday Family, with their flowers for me.

Everyday the message board was full of birthday wishes, like this one from Wilson, one of our few men.

 

 

 

My best birthday present arrived a day late
                        ...Little Lillian Blythe Jasper...our 21st grandchild! 
                                                                                      How blessed we are!

 

 

 

Here in the Hong Kong Victoria 2nd Branch we continue to have fun....and eat.....

........and eat .....                                                     and eat..... 

and eat...... 

and eat......

 

 and eat.....!   Is it any wonder we don't lose weight?  It'sa good thing we walk a lot!

President Smith and David making waffles.








The popcorn popper extraordinaire!  We showed the movie "Meet the Mormons" and David made popcorn!  It was a hit!!...(Both the movie AND the popcorn!)

Our sisters love  to dance and love it when we will join in! 

These sisters are doing a traditional dance to celebrate Philippine Independence Day.

We play crazy games.....

 

Our sisters LOVE to take "Selfies"  Here I am with with Sister Mary Ann while we were waiting for Relief society to begin.

 

 

Probably the hightlight of the month was the Father's Day Party put on by our Saturday Family.  I hurt my knee and couldn't walk so I wasn't there, but David said it was so funny that his face hurt from laughing!  When he showed me the pictures, I couldn't even recognize our beautiful sisters!! 

 

 

 

The few fathers we have were recognized with flowers. 

 

 

Sometimes we get serious.....  One day we did a service project....cleaning the kitchen drawers!

Another day we had a Baptism of an Indonesian sister named Ling Ling.

 

 

We were excited that one of our former Cambodian missionaries, Kong Phean and his family came to the Hong Kong Temple to be sealed.

Another of our Cambodian missionaries, Long Saret, came to Hong Kong for training for his finance job in  in the Cambodian Serivce Center.

 

 

On our P-Day we prepare lessons and talks for the coming week.

 

Sometimes it unexpectedly starts to pour with rain.  If you forget your umbrella, it only takes a minute to get this wet!

 We are so lucky to live in a city full of culture and entertainment!  Here are the great things we were able to fit in in June.

 

 

We decided we needed to go to the Chinese Opera while we are here.  This production had lots of acrobatic parts which were really enjoyable.

 

 It's way too hot to spend time outside, so all our outings have been indoors this month!

THE DISTRICT ART SHOW

The Hong Kong China District, which includes the English speaking branches, held a fun Art Show.  Everybody was encouraged to add something to the displays.  Each of our branches did an activity at Relief Society.  I was amazed at the creativity of our Filipina Sisters who seem to be able to make beautiful things out of practically nothing.

This curtain which goes across a door is made by small beads made of squares of paper cut from magazines.  I wish I had a better picture as they look like they are made of stone.

We had a painting class in Wednesday family, where each of us painted something.  We were assured by our sister who was teaching that anything we created was beautiful.  We were all proud of what we did.

 

In another family we learned how to make cool things out of folded paper.

 Look at these creations made of paper twirled around pencils.  I wish I could find my pictures of the flower arrangements made of straws.

Part of the evening was a Living Art Exhibit.  Each branch picked a painting and portrayed it.

 

Our Branch, Victoria II, did the Pearly Shells Hula they had done at the RS Birthday Party.

This is part of the audience.

 

 

 The District Relief Society fixed a lovely lunch for us.

 

The next day at District Conference our Saturday Family Choir provided the music.  I was so proud of them.  I helped them practice by playing for them, but someone else accompanied them for the performance.  This picture is of us celebrating their success afterward.

TEAM TAYLOR TOWERS!

 

 This week we participated in a virtual 5K walk/run with Team Taylor Towers!  This event was to increase Cri du Chat awareness!  Our beautiful granddaughter, Taylor has Cri du Chat Syndrome or 5p- syndrome, a very rare genetic disorder.  This activity was also a fund raiser to benefit the 5p- Society.  It was a big success and so fun to be included while we are here in Hong Kong.

So TAYLOR......These pictures are for you!  Thanks for asking us to be on your team!

 

 

Here is proof that we did the 5K and more...........

 

We began at our Harbour Front Horizon apartment complex in Kowloon......

 

 

.........and walked along the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade a mile and a half

or more to the famous Star Ferry pier.

 

Enroute we enjoyed seeing "The Avenue of the Stars" and  David stopped to put his hands in Jackie Chan's, of course!

 

Then it was on to the ferry pier where we caught the "Night Star" over to Hong Kong Island.

We changed ferries and took the First Ferry to Cheung Chau Island to do some exploring.

 

 The harbor there was full of colorful sampans and fishing boats

The local residents were preparing for the annual Tai Ping Ching Jiu Festival or Bun Festival.  There is a big parade which features "Floating Children".  This man is rigging up this little girl in a high seat with a foot rest and straps around her legs to make sure she won't fall off while "floating" in the parade.

We enjoyed a break in the shade while we munched on the island's favorite cuisine...
fish balls on a stick!

 

After lunch, shopping in the local market, and a walk to the beach, it was time to head back on the ferry.  A few hundred other peole had the same idea!

 

Hey Taylor!  These kids on the ferry are all saying HI to you!!

After getting back to Hong Kong, we ALMOST stopped for fried squid...

But opted for gelato instead!

Do you suppose these guys know each other???

We topped off the walk home along the promenade with dinner at a yummy German Bier Bar and Restaurant.

Home at last!  A fun day and a great way to support our amazing Taylor who teaches us so much about love, and patience, and life!

 

WE LOVE YOU, TAYLOR!!!!!!

 



Derrick.....and BIG Buddha!

We have a 17 year old young man named Derrick who comes to church most days.  He is an orphan who has been on his own since his parents died when he was 11.  How he managed alone in Hong Kong is amazing. The missionaries found him and he joined the church 4 months ago. He is thrilled to have a family.  All the sisters treat him like a son or a brother and he can’t stop smiling.  He goes to school and had a job until a few days ago.  His dream is to become a missionary next year when he turns 18.  Every other week we have Filipina food fixed by the sisters and he never misses a meal.  The rest of the time somebody is always fixing food for whoever stays around after church.  We usually go home about 7 or 8, but they stay until their curfew, whenever that is!  A woman today said she was so upset this week because she had been sick and was so afraid she wouldn’t be able to come to church…..”to come home and be with my family”, as she put it.

Here is a picture of Derrick next to David and some of our "Happy Thursday Family".  They are some of the most thoughtful and kind-hearted women I have ever met!

 

 It has been another Chinese holiday the past few days and since many women are given extra days off, we have had many more people come to church.  Any day they have off, they are here.  Thursday I met a woman who’s day off is Sunday, so she isn’t in our branch.  I told her I was happy to meet her and she said I would meet her again because she would be able to be there Friday and Saturday as well!  We also had an American woman who lives in mainland China and has church via Skype,come here because her son had to come to HK for surgery.  She came to church 3 days in a row and was so excited to be able to take the sacrament.  There is so much we took for granted before we came here.  How much we have learned already about what is really important!

 Hong Kong is a place filled with an amazing array of things to see and do.  Friday we had tickets to hear the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra play Handel's Fireworks and the Water Music Suite among other pieces.  It was a lovely night out!

Today we visited the world's tallest, outdoor, seated bronze Buddha and Po Lin Monastery.  To get there, we took about a 30 minute cable car up the mountain and could see the South China Sea as well as most of Lantau Island. 

 

The Buddha is so big that it's face alone weighs 5 tons.  Can you see him up there behind us on the top of the mountain?  The Sun-brella has UV protection.... It was a beautiful, cool, but sunny day.



 

 

Wherever you go in China, you climb a million stairs to get there!!!

 

 

This time there were only 268 steps but I climbed EVERY ONE of them!

 

 

Up on top, there were many other interesting statues to see.

 

 

As well as many warriors

 

 The Chinese architecture is so amazing.....

 

and ornate.

 

We ended the day with a new treat.....Mango Volcano!