Go forth and teach...

    It's hard to believe that we had a total of 13 missionaries at Victoria III Branch today.  On Sunday, Feb. 12, Elder Cui, who just returned from the Houston, TX Mission, came to the Branch to be released by the Hong Kong International Distract.  His parents came from Nan Chang, China, to pick him up to take him home. This may sound familiar to those who live in the U.S., Canada, and some other countries, where some parents would come to pick up their missionaries from the mission field.  But it's quite a surprise to see parents from China coming to pick up their return missionaries.  You see, most people don't even know that there are missionaries coming out of China to serve missions, because our missionaries are not allowed in China.

Our Missionaries

     Elder Cui was asked to bear his testimony during the sacrament meeting.  What a great missionary as he shared some of his missionary experiences.  Watching his parents smiling as they listened to their son speak made us realize that we parents all over the world are so alike.  We may have cultural differences, but we want our children to stay close to Christ and make Him the center of our lives.   Also, Elder Chia from Singapore spoke to us at the Sacrament meeting.  He is on his way to Taichung, Taiwan to serve his mission.  His parents currently live in Hong Kong, so he came to Hong Kong before leaving for Taiwan.  He spoke Mandarin with a slight Singaporean accent, which was quite pleasant.  We are sure he'll be rid of that accent soon though.     

    On Sunday, Feb 12, we attended the baptisms of two young ladies in the Victoria III Branch.  Sister Lin and Qin are young ladies who have come to the waters of baptism after being taught by the missionaries.  Sister Lin didn't arrive until minutes before the baptism because her parents weren't sure if they should sign the permission paper for her to be baptized until the last minute.  Sister Qin is already out of high school and was pretty sure what she wanted to do and her parents gave her their blessing to be baptized.  She reminded me of my own parents who gave permission when I asked to be baptized into the LDS Church at the age of 18.  They only asked if I understood what the Church stood for and if I could abide by those rules.  "I was born of goodly parents..." as Nephi wrote in the first chapter of the Book of Mormon.  How blessed we are who have the support of our parents.  Some parents will probably take longer to come to understand the new world their children came in contact with.  But we are all children of God and are at different junctions.  "Love thy parents" unconditionally.

    President Perkins of the LDS Asia Area President was the concluding speaker.  He told us that the difference between the proud and the humble missionaries is great.  The smart elders with pride can not progress.  He admonished us to be humble servants of the Lord, to continue to learn, to teach, and to progress.  He says that there are Chinese in almost every country of the world.  Our Heavenly Father is gathering them.  What a prophetic statement!