Sunday, June 5, 2011

    As reported on the last blog, I caught the flu and stayed home for a couple of days from the temple during the week.  By Saturday, I was feeling much better and was able to get a few things done.

   We had a great fast and testimony meeting.  One thing that stood out was the newly baptized lady who got up and bore her testimony.  She has been looking for a church to attend.  She remembered her grandfather telling her about the LDS church when she was very young.  When she met the missionaries, the memory came back.  It didn't take her long to know that this was what she wanted, to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a powerful testimony.  A couple visiting from the States shared their testimonies too.  The man was from Hong Kong and served a mission here.  He went to BYU, some 40 + years ago.  Married a sweet girl and settled in the States.  His sweet heart passed away about 5 years ago.  He met his present wife in Los Angeles.  She's from Shenyang, China.  I'm not sure if I heard it right that she joined the Church when she was still in China.  Both have strong testimonies and planned to stay in Hong Kong for another week visiting his relatives.  Visitors do bring a special spirit to us.  We are very blessed.

     One of the highlights of the month was to have the young missionaries over for lunch.  We usually do this on the fast Sunday.  Since we missed Memorial Day weekend, we celebrated on June 5 with the missionaries.  We had the traditional hamburgers, grilled chicken, a big pot of chili, coleslaw, and ended with homemade brownies, topped with ice-cream and chocolate sauce.  Personally, I think the dessert was the best part, but our conversation was a lot of fun too.  By the way, this is not typical fare for us; it was special for the missionaries.

    We had 6 missionaries, plus a new convert, Brother Lee, who we joined us.  We talked about Sunday School lessons, working as missionaries in Hong Kong, and other tidbits.  The Leonards couldn't come, so we didn't talk about Chinese history as Scott is an avid Chinese history buff.  Two of the missionaries will be going home in a few weeks.  We could see the love they have for the people of Hong Kong, especially the Mandarin speaking people.  These missionaries were trained to speak Mandarin, to meet the needs of the influx of people coming out of Mainland China.  It was awesome. 

    We are now finished with 1/3 of our mission.  In less than a year, we'll be home.  We miss our children, grandchildren, and friends.  Hope you are all doing well.

Being Sick in Hong Kong

    While Elwin went through some serious issues with his heart in Hong Kong, we came to respect the medical professionals who treated him.  Both Dr. Fung and Dr. Pei received their medical degrees from UCLA and were very competent.  They made decisions on what needed to be done and carried through efficiently.  The thing that impressed us the most, of course, has to be the skills, but one thing stood out.  The doctor gave us his cell phone number and e-mail address in case we had questions after office hours.  After the surgery, the good doctor called each morning for 3 days to insure that things were going well.  Except for the dear medical friends in our neighborhood in St. George, we don't think we ever got that kind of treatment from any of our doctors.

    I caught a cold a couple of days ago.  I went down to the temple basement dining area to have some lunch, but didn't feel very well.  Immediately, when my friends at the temple saw that I was feeling sick, they went to work.  Sister Chan made me a very strong cup of herbal drink to treat colds, and watched me drink it.  She then gave me directions on what I needed to do at home.  I felt better and went upstairs.  Then, Sister Shau saw me.  She said that I didn't look well.  So, she gave me a wonderful neck and shoulder massage.  By then, my lymph nodes were swollen.  She advised me to go home and rest.  I thought I'd just rest a little and wait for Elwin.  Then, two more sisters came to check on me and took over whatever I was doing so I could go home.  By the time I got home at 3 PM, I was running a fever.  But it was comforting to know that people cared about my well-being and were so helpful.  

    Not knowing if we should go to the hospital or a clinic somewhere near us to treat my ailment, Elwin called the Church doctor in Hong Kong since I looked pretty sick.  The good doctor prescribed some medication.  We live about an hour away from the pharmacy we usually use.  Elwin called the pharmacy and the LDS pharmacist filled the prescription and told Elwin she would deliver it to the Temple (half an hour's travel time) for him to pick up.  She did this once already for Elwin when he needed some medication.  We insisted that it would be too much inconvenience for her to come all the way to the Temple to do such thing, but she did it for us.  We are truly surrounded by angels.

    We also met a special gentleman who practices "Tui Na", the Chinese bodywork massage therapy.  I did some research and found this website to be very helpful to explain what "tui na" is.  http://tcm.health-info.org/tuina/tcm-tuina-massage.htm

    A brief description is as follows: 


Tuina (Tui Na) is an Oriental Bodywork Therapy that has been used in China for 2,000 years. Tuina (Tui Na) uses the traditional Chinese medical theory of the flow of Qi through the meridians as its basic therapeutic orientation. Through the application of massage and manipulation techniques Tuina (Tui Na) seeks to establish a more harmonious flow of Qi through the system of channels and collaterals, allowing the body to naturally heal itself.

   Brother Cheung is a health professional who does "Tui Na".  He has treated us regularly and I certainly can feel the difference after he manipulates my musculoskeletal and ligamentous alignments.  It hurts like crazy when he works on me, but afterwards I feel such relief.  I came to Hong Kong with serious plantar fasciitis and every step I took was painful.  He told me the problem was the circulation on my ankle and my leg.  After a couple of manipulations, my pain on the foot was gone.  Now I can walk normally again.  It was truly amazing.

    For those who need to see a doctor in Hong Kong, go to the local doctor's office, and they are board certified.  Don't know the cost though.  But if you are in China, you would go to the hospital and they'd assign you to a doctor.  The cost is very little, 50 cents to register, 75 cents to see a doctor that they assign you, or if you want to see the head of the department, then you may need to pay as much as US$2, plus whatever prescriptions you need.

    We truly are surrounded by angels.  We are so grateful.   

Sunday, May 29, 2011

    We made it to Church in record time, 48 minutes. today, Sunday, May 29.  It was because Bus 104 (takes us to Church in Wan Chai) at Hung Hom MTR station was there loading their seemingly "tons" of people.  It kept loading and loading, giving us time to run from the train station to the bus stop.  Wow, lucky us...we would have been late if we had to wait for another bus.

   We heard three people speak to us this Sunday.  They all talked about listening to the Spirit as it whispers to us to give us directions, warnings, and comfort.  After the church service, two young ladies were baptized.  They bore testimonies of how they came to meet the missionaries and felt the Spirit.  One young lady, Sister Yang, was attending another church at the time when she came across the missionaries.  They invited her to attend church with us, and she immediately felt the spirit when she walked in.  She has been coming and bore testimony that this is the happiest day of her life to find the a church that she truly feels that she belongs to.  We were touched by her spirit.

   After church, we came home and fixed a chicken and rice casserole for the dear friend who has been sick.  At 4 PM, one of our student-friends, from Shandong University days, sent his brother to see us.  Henzer and his brother Hayden live in Shenzhen.  Hayden is graduating with a Master's degree in IT and is looking for a job.  He sent his resume for Elwin to critique.  So, Elwin invited him to our house to interview him and to help him finish up his resume.  They spent 3 hours talking and sharing ideas.  Hayden left happy.  We hope his job hunting is successful!

   Monday, May 30, is our p-day.  After doing our p-day work, we headed for Ocean Park, an amusement park in Hong Kong.  It was a beautiful day, in the 70's, and we had a fabulous time.  We even took a roller-coaster ride, and Elwin did just fine.  He's ridden many roller coasters, and this one was tame. No worries!  We spent about 3 hours there and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.  The Wiley's will enjoy this very much.

   Something eventful happened on Tuesday, May 24, when an Apostle from the Church came to speak to us.  A special missionary meeting was called at 3 PM on that day.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came to visit and his talk focused on the young missionaries.  He gave them praises for coming on a mission for the Church.  He, then, admonished them to be diligent in proclaiming the gospel, to listen to the Spirit and to be the emissaries for the Lord.  It was a very powerful talk as I saw these young missionaries (around 100) came out of the meeting very touched.  On Wednesday night, Elder Holland spoke to the Hong Kong saints at the Wan Chai Church Building, while Elder Bednar spoke to the single adults at the Kowloon Tong Church Building.  Unfortunately, we were on duty at the Temple and were not able to attend either one of the meetings.  The Temple stayed open during this time, and we did have a couple of visitors from the US at that time.  We did feel very special to have the Apostles visiting us here in Hong Kong.

Ocean Park, Hong Kong

Part I of the Ocean Park

 

A Picture Tour of Shirley's Hike

Friday, May 27, 2011

     Don't have to be at the Temple until 2:15, so I decided to go on a longer hike this morning.

1. Ground 0 - that's our apartment on the 26th floor, G Building.  Started off at 8:35 AM, I took off going south along San Wan Road.  Follow the road to the Overpass to cross the railroad track and also Fanling Highway.  It is about a 10 degrees incline on the Overpass.
2. Reach the Avon Park within minutes.  There were people doing kung fu, walking, jugging, dancing, doing exercises on the park equipment, walking dogs, pushing strollers, wheel chair, etc.  
3. The Chinese instrument group meets at the pagoda playing their music.  The group consists of 5-8 old gentlemen, enjoying themselves at the park and sharing their talents.
4. The Park has a ball field, open air theater, lots of old banyan trees.
5. Ground 1 - Entrance to the Wu Tip Trail/Mountain.
6. A nursing home is on the right after the entrance.
7. Nice trail, with about 8% incline, mostly, but after the 3rd rest stop area, the steps become more steep.
8. Ground 2 - a little "Guan Yin and Buddha altar", one can hear the Buddhist music coming from the Buddhist middle school off the trail. There are benches to sit and rest!
9. Ground 3 - quite steep stairs to lead you to where there is a covered pagoda and a patio for people to do kung fu, dance and whatever exercises you see there.
10. Ground 4 - the top of the Wu Tip Trail, after many steep steps.  You can choose to come back down on the same trail, go right to the northern end of the trail, or turn left and go down to Wah Ming Estate.
11. I chose to go down to Wah Ming Estate.  The steps down are steep, but the views are  spectacular.
12. It was 3.8 km from Ground 4 to Wah Ming Estate.  I made it by 10:15 (started @8:35)
13. Grocery shopping @ Wah Ming Estate:  a wet market, Park and Shop, a bakery, a few restaurants there.
14. A mini bus 52A, and big bus #273 would take me back to Fanling Rail Station.
15. Couldn't find the station (too exhausted to find it), so I walked home.
16. Walk down Wah Ming Road, then through Avon Park, the Overpass, then home sweet home.
17. The whole trip took a little over 3 hours, including grocery shopping (about 45 minutes).
18. It was a fun, moderate hike.  I would recommend it to everyone.

 

 

Fun with the Millers/Dalbys

 

A Very Long Day, 5/22/11

     Visitors coming from afar...we are delighted!

     It was so fun to welcome our dear friends' cousins, the Dalby's and the Miller's to Hong Kong, today, Sunday, May 22.  We left for church services at 8 AM and didn't get home until after 10 PM.  No rest for the wicked, on a day of rest.  It was a very long day indeed.

    President and Sister Aki from the Hong Kong Temple were our speakers at Church today.  They brought such a beautiful spirit with them.  Sister Aki spoke in Cantonese and Sister Pai was her translator.  President Aki spoke in English and President Lin was his translator.  We are lucky to be working with them at the Temple.  It was so encouraging!  One sister came afterwards and asked if Elder Davis and I would be willing to teach her more about temples.   

     After Church, we were able to do some home teaching and visiting teaching.  Since we live so far out, and with our temple working schedule, we opted to do our visiting after church.  It was fun as people are not usually rushing home after church like we do in the US.  Many people would stay and visit.  We met a family from Shenzhen.  They were not members of the church, but the son wanted to bring his parents and brother to attend the church services.  The young man is a junior at BYU.  He loves BYU and begged for his parents to let him go to BYU after attending a university in New York for a semester.  He majors in Accounting and already has secured an internship at Wall Street for the summer.  He's home for a short visit and brought his parents and his younger brother to church.  We also met a couple of young ladies from the Mainland who came to take gospel lessons from the missionaries.  They are going to be baptized next Sunday.  Elwin visited with a young man who is a junior in college and was baptized a couple of months ago.  I visited a young lady who has a 7-year old son.  Her story is a very sad story of the struggles young Chinese women who came from Mainland.  They are not legal residence of Hong Kong, so not allowed to work, but do have a child born here, so they are stuck in between.  We also visited a couple with American husband, Hong Kong wife and a 3-year-old son.  We enjoy visiting with them very much.  

    After the church services and visiting, we went to the Hong Kong Grand Harbor Hotel to meet our new friends.  It was pouring down rain and we weren't quite sure why the bus was taking a long time to come, so we took a taxi.  This was our 3rd time of taking a taxi in Hong Kong.  The hotel is located right by the harbor, hence, the Grand Harbor Hotel.  What a beautiful sight with a glass wall looking out to the harbor.  There was a wedding party taking pictures.  The beautiful bride and the handsome groom had an entourage of 8 bridesmaids and 8 escorts.  It was a beautiful sight.  The Dalby's and the Millers got there around 4 PM.  We were delighted to meet them.

     We first took our new friends on the local bus #15 to the Hollywood Mall to have lunch.  Then, we walked to Lan Lian Garden.  The rain stopped just long enough for us to tour the garden.  It was such a serene place, and the noises of cars and trains nearby were quite muted.  We were all delighted to be there right after the big rain.  The whole garden seemed to be rejuvenated after the hot summer shower.

     After the garden, we took the Tsung Wan Line Light Rail and went to Tsim Sha Tsui for the "symphony of Lights" at 8 PM.  It was so crowded and the light show was not nearly as pretty as the ones we saw before.  It was quite a disappointment.  But it was a good day, nonetheless.    

     The picture below is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hong_Kong_Night_Skyline.jpg if you prefer to see one in full resolution.

    Monday morning, we were pleasantly awaken by our young grandchildren on Skype.  We then called everyone and got online with the group video call.  It was great, except for one video kept on getting dropped.  Still, the grandchildren were so happy to see each other online.  Poor Johnny strained his shoulder and collar bone and was wearing a sling.  Noelle's 2 arms are still in the casts, but should come off the next few days.  She's very happy about that, as is her mom.

     After we talked to the children and grandchildren, we did a fast P-day clean-up.  I think I twitched my nose and the vacuuming was all done.  Elwin finished the wash early, so we were able to get out and to meet the Dalby's and the Miller's for our tour today.

    We first went to Tsim Sha Tsui and took the Starr Ferry to Wan Chai.  At Wan Chai, we took everyone to the a very tall building in Hong Kong,  88-story Two International Finance Centre.  We were allowed to go up to the 46th floor and got a great view of the harbor and the buildings around it.  We stopped and had lunch at Subway on Jaffe Road in Wan Chai.  We then stopped by the Church Headquarter on the corner of Gloucester and Fleming Roads.  It's a beautiful building.  We went in and immediately felt the peace and tranquility from the outside world.  

    After the visit to the Church, we took everyone to Johnston Road and picked up the Ding Ding double-decker street car and headed for Central.  We went up the hill on the famous Mid-levels travelators and went up the longest escalators in the world to Caine Road where Dr. Sun Yat Sen's Museum was located.  A couple of postings on this museum appeared in the previous blogs.  It was the Kom Tong Hall, that we referred to before.  It was a fun ride going up and our friends enjoyed the tour very much.  Elwin and I opted to stay at McDonald's down below since we just visited this place for the second time last week.

    We then headed for the jade market.  We decided to take the mini bus down to Central to catch the light rail to the jade market.  It was a fun excursion.  We were all exhausted after touring the jade market, and the Temple Street night market.  It was another good day.

    Last week was mostly work.  But, we celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary a day late, on Saturday after work.  We had a wonderful teppanyaki dinner at the Mix C Mall in Shenzhen.  Elwin bought me a Joyoung blender for the special occasion.  It grinds nuts, makes soybean milk, smoothies, etc.  I missed "the blender" so much, now I have a substitute.  Great gift!

    We look forward to the special days this coming Tuesday and Wednesday when two Apostles of the Lord come to visit Hong Kong.