Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sunday, July 24

    Where did the time go?  The blog is one week behind...must be having too much fun, or too busy.  The week of July 18, we worked the PM shift, 2:30 - 9:15 PM.  It's nearly 11 PM by the time we arrive home.  We are busy, but happy!  We continue to try to help the new temple missionaries.  They are adjusting quite well.  When one is doing the Lord's errand, the blessings abound.

    One happy thing for me when we work the afternoon shift is that it affords me time to go out for hikes, walks and grocery shopping in the morning.  I was able to do the above mentioned things almost everyday, from Tuesday to Friday, July 19-22.  On Saturday, we went to Shenzhen in the afternoon to get my hair done and do some small shopping.  We love the sour milk from China, which is not available in Hong Kong.  We usually pick up 2 or 3 of the 2 litter bottles of this sour (yogurt) milk at the grocery store, such as Wal Mart or Trust Mart in Shenzhen.
   
    The most amazing thing that happened had to be that I was able to get hold of Sister Shih,  who was baptized on Jan. 9, 2011.  The missionary who baptized her was getting ready to go home and asked if I'd try to get hold of her to invite her to the farewell party.  I tried several times to call her without success since she has moved a couple of times since moving back to China, but I felt confident that I would be able to talk to her this time, which I did.  On my first try to her cell phone, she answered.  She was delighted that I called and told me that she was doing well.  When I told her that her missionary was going home and would like for her to attend his farewell, she said she very seldom travels by herself, but she would pray about it and see if she could come to Hong Kong to attend the farewell and visit the temple.  She called me back the next day, Thursday, July 21 and told me she would come.  I was so happy and told her I'd wait for her at the temple on Saturday.

    When we got off the bus at around 2 PM on Friday, July 22, the Elder called to tell me that Sister Shih was here at the Kowloon Tong Station.  I asked if she would come to the temple then, and she agreed.  What a happy reunion that was.  She did temple work for her late parents and late husband.  It was very emotional and we all felt the Spirit.  I walked her to the bus station afterwards for her to check into the hotel in Wan Chai.  She invited us and the missionaries for lunch on Saturday.  Everything worked out so well.  We had a delicious lunch buffet in Wan Chai at the Charter House.  She insisted on paying the bill which was around US $100 for the 5 of us.  She was very gracious.  She brought me special summer drinks and bought me a skirt at the Time Square mall.  She even took off her special bracelet and gave it to me to remember her.  I was overcome with her kindness.  It was a very special weekend because of her.
Sister Shih and Shirley


    On Sunday, July 10, 3 people were baptized.  I forgot to include this event in the July10 entry, partly because we had a 7-hour day and we were so tired and went to sleep in the train and missed our stop.  In any case, here was what happened:

   Sister Liu 劉國萍, Sister Wu 吳晶, and Brother Pong 溤源浩 entered the waters of the baptism and became the newest members of Victoria III Branch on Sunday, July 10.  劉國萍 is a senior at the Hong Kong Polytech, is very friendly, outgoing and pleasant.  Sister Wu is probably in her 30's and came to know the gospel a few years back.  She is shy and didn't say much.  Brother Pong is in his 60's and lives in Hong Kong, but is on his way back to China for the summer.  He has had the missionary lessons for a couple of years, but never could make a decision on what he should do.  Every night when he wanted to read the scriptures, his family would interrupt him and made it very hard for him.  He remembered the missionaries told him the only way to know what he should do was to read the scriptures and ask the Lord to help him see it clearly.  Well, one morning, he decided to get up early to read the scriptures and to pray without his family interfering.  As he did, he opens up his scriptures, the words jumped up at him so clearly.  He read and read and received a confirmation that the gospel was true and wanted to be baptized.  Of course, the missionaries were very happy, we were happy for him, and the most happiest of all was of course, he, himself.  We enjoyed hearing their conversion stories.

3 comments:

  1. What a week! I'm glad that you are able to help people who are alive too! :) Keep up the great work.

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  2. Sour milk!? You drink it on PURPOSE?!

    What kind and generous members you have met there! I loved the story of the man who was always interrupted while he was reading the scriptures!
    Do the members do a lot of missionary work or is it mostly the full-time missionaries?

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  3. Well, sour milk is actually a thick yogurt milk. We developed the taste for it when we were teaching at Shandong University. It's quite tasty actually.

    Generosity is like the widow's mite in the Branch. Can't tell you how kind some of these people are. Every time I coughed, this young sister would buy me some medicine and she's dirt poor with two young children, no husband. It's been quite an experience.

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