Sunday, Jan. 16 in Hong Kong

   Today we left early as we told the China Teacher who was visiting Hong Kong that we'd pick her up to go to Wan Chai to attend the English Speaking church services.  Elwin and I left at 7:30 and went to Kowloon Tong.  From there, we walked to the temple patron's housing, which is across from the temple.  We picked up her and her friend who had just arrived from Salt Lake City and took bus #182 to Church.

   At the Wan Chai Building, in the elevator to go to our Mandarin Speaking Services, we talked to a young American couple who live in Hong Kong.  Upon a short introduction, we found out he was the son of my dear friend, Carol Lee.  Now, what's the chance of meeting your friend's son in an elevator in Hong Kong, 1 out of a zillion?  What a small world!

  Sister Shih, the lady who was baptized last week, was confirmed during Sacrament meeting and given the gift of the Holy Ghost.  She was thrilled and we were too.  She's set to go back to Fuchow, China in a few days.  My prayers goes with her as she has started a new life in China.  There is an LDS church group there in Fuchow but we don't know where as it is not readily available.  Her son lives in Beijing, and she knows there is a local LDS church there that meets regularly.  She'll work her way up to Beijing since most parents live with their children when they get old.  She promised me that she would come back to Hong Kong in a year and see me at the temple.

   Last week, one of the young sisters brought me some cough medicine because she heard me coughing at church.  It was a pack of Chinese herbs ground into powder.  I mixed the powder in water and took it as instructed.  It tasted horrible, but seemed to work.  This young sister called me on Saturday to see if she needed to bring me more.  What kind things people do here!  Then, Sister Shih brought me a bottle of cough syrup made out of "loquat".  When I started coughing at church, I went out and had some of this syrup.  I didn't cough for the rest of the day.  People here at church are so KIND!  I'm so grateful to have met these sweet people at church.  They don't really know me, but immediately they have adopted me.

   Around 6 PM, we called our friends, the Thelins, in Jinan, China.  They told us one of our Chinese friends wanted to talk to us over Skype.  So, we called and talked to Tricia, a medical doctor who we have befriended in China.  It was so great to renew our friendship with her.  Her son, Bill, who we met in Jinan, and came to visit us at our apartment regularly, had been diagnosed with ADHD, plus Autism.  He's now 15 years old and falling behind in his studies.  Tricia cried and asked us why God gave her boy this problem.  She was always asking us about God when we were in Jinan.  But because we weren't allowed to talk about church, we weren't able to tell her anything about God.  But, she knew there is a God.  She could not understand that she, as a medical doctor, and her husband, a banker, would have a son with problems such as this.  She expected her son to be intelligent, smart and high achieving, but he is struggling.  Her family is torn apart and she is in despair.  We asked her to set up a Skype account so she could communicate with us regularly without going through our friends.

     We are glad to have met Tricia, and we are also glad that the Thelins are there to be her friends.  We know the Lord is merciful and loves all of His children.  We suggested that she google "autism support" and try to get more information. There is little to no information available in China.  She even thought about changing her field in medicine  and go abroad to do research in autism.  We know that one or another of parents will sometimes give up his/her job to care for a child, but our friend is thinking about changing her field of expertise. I hope her family will find ways to help them meet the challenges that face them.

    We talked to most of our children and grandchildren on Skype.  It's wonderful to be able to see them and talk to them.  We look forward each week to get on Skype.  We hope that everyone has a wonderful week!