Here we are in Hong Kong

November 2, 2011

We started our mission with one day of training in the Church Audit Department in Salt Lake City followed by 5 days in the Provo MTC. The MTC experience was quite intense but very uplifting and spiritual. There were about 20 other senior couples in
our MTC group who were assigned to serve in the four corners of the earth. We were surprised how many of them had already served multiple times and were starting their second, third and fourth missions. The number of senior couples entering the MTC is up about 20% this year as more couples are starting to serve.




We arrived in Hong Kong one month ago today to start this mission adventure. We spent the first week in a hotel because our apartment was not yet ready so it took a little longer to start getting settled into our permanent accommodation which is a fairly pleasant - but small - apartment on the harbourfront on the Kowloon side of the city. The Area office is on Hong Kong island so we take a double-decker bus under the cross harbour tunnel each day to get to work. It takes about 20 minutes to get there.

Street outside Asia Area Office

The most difficult adjustment for us has been what one sister missionary referred to as foraging for food. And while we initially thought the comment was quite funny that is exactly what grocery shopping is like here. Getting to know where the stores/shops are that have the items you want has been a real challenge. You cannot find all that you need/want in one location and if you find something in one store one time you may not find it there the next time you go back. And of course without a vehicle you have to walk to the store and carry everything back home so you are limited as to the amount you can buy on each trip to the store. So you have to pick up a few things on almost a daily basis.

View from our apartment

There are 10 other senior couples serving in various assignments in the Asia Area Office. They have all been so kind to us in helping us get our bearings here and trying to make us feel comfortable. Our Area Audit assignment involves the supervision and ongoing training of 13 Assistant Area Auditors comprised of local members scattered throughout the Asia Area from Mongolia to Indonesia and Taiwan to Pakistan. Our primary purpose while we are here will be to strengthen the local priesthood leaders through our training and coaching and to help them understand the sacred nature of the tithes and offerings of the members for which they are accountable. We are members of the Area Audit Committee which is comprised of a counselor in the Area Presidency, the Area Director of Temporal Affairs and the Area Controller.

We have also been called to serve as temple ordinance workers one evening per week in the Hong Kong Temple which is a new experience for us. Faithful Saints come from all over Asia at great sacrifice in many cases to attend the temple here. It is a small but very beautiful temple. We have also been assigned to work with a Branch, in the Hong Kong International District, comprised of about 150 women from the Philippines who are in Hong Kong working as domestics/nannies/etc. to help support their families back home. There are five of these branches in Hong Kong including one that meets everyday - Tuesday to Saturday for those that have only one of those days off work. The branch we are assigned to has had one or two convert baptisms each week we have been here. It is really quite sad that these women that have left their families - including husbands and children - to come here to work under conditions that in many cases border on slavery. Part of the challenge for the Church here to to try to help these Filipino sisters understand that they should implement a plan in their lives which will enable them to go home and be with their families. Some of them have been here as long as 25 years. So our mission assignment has three very different aspects to it.

Hong Kong really is an amazing bustling metropolis filled with sleek modern skyscrapers and some not so sleek or modern. There are 7 million plus people in this city and one neighborhood known as Mong Kok is said to be the most densely populated area on earth.

P-day at Kowloon Walled City Park