Getting Trunky!

Elwin and Shirley at the Yun Chung Taoist Temple on 4/9/12

     Our 18 months is almost up!  Hard to believe how fast it has gone! Each week is special.  But, April 8 has to be one of the best.  Our dear friends, the Liu's, called to see if they could go to church with us.  We never want our friends to feel pressured that we are trying to get them to attend our church.  Right or wrong, we always want to enjoy our friends as they are, and it didn't matter if they were members of our church or not.  We are more than happy to answer their questions about the church, but that's where we stand.  So, we were joyous when the Liu's asked.  Then, Henzer and Wendy e-mailed that said they would like to come to Hong Kong to attend church with us, on April 8.  Since we were in Shenzhen the day before showing the new senior missionaries around, we met Henzer and Wendy in Luohu, Shenzhen and invited them to come to Hong Kong to spend the night with us.  They obliged. 

    April 8 happened to be the day that the Church re-broadcasted the 182nd General Conference in Asia.  The schedule is much the same as the schedule in the US a week prior.  It took the Church a few days to have the conference proceedings translated into various languages, hence the one week delay.  So, we decided that it would be great to go to the Sunday 10 AM Broadcast.

    The Liu's daughter is 8 years old.  I went online and found several activities she could do during the Conference.  Our family back home also sent links to various things that children could do during conference.  So, the big group of us, started our trek to church at 7:45 AM on Sunday.  We took MTR East Rail to Hung Hom and then took Bus #104 to cross the Hong Kong Harbour to Wan Chai.  Everything went well and Elders Edwards and Brailsford met us at the church.  These two elders have met the Liu's, Henzer and Wendy several times before, so they were the hosts.  The process went well, except with the translation, it was difficult at some points for our friends to understand.  Going to a conference re-broadcast may not have been the best way to introduce non-members to the church.  Everything went as well they could, with Cindy drawing pictures, coloring, etc.  Thanks for the activities for children to do during conference time. 

     We all came home to lunch, including the 2 missionaries, that I prepared ahead:  chicken curry and rice, soup, scones and rolls.  For desserts, we had brownies and blackberry cobbler.  We briefly talked about the purposes of the conferences and what they meant to us.  Kam Liu was excited to join the missionaries in an English conversation class held in Kwon Tong, near where she works, once a week.

    Our time in Hong Kong is almost up!  Our Sonicare toothbrush handles broke, the toaster oven baked the last batch of garlic bread last night and decided to retire and went south, the curling iron stopped working, the water cooler broke, the toilet water runs all the time...Don't you think it's time to go? 

    We will miss the dear friends we've made here.  2 weeks seems to be too short to prepare to go home...