FEBRUARY 17, 2015
This
morning we were up and off fairly early.
We had McDonald’s for breakfast.
Hong Kong is very expensive and McDonald’s is literally the cheapest
option for food! We rode the subway up
to the temple area and walked and found the temple. It was beautiful of course. Dad and everyone except Richard, David, Mason
and I went in the temple to do baptisms.
I stayed with Richard and the little boys and we met the missionaries at
9am. We had prearranged for Richard to
have the missionary discussions with Mandarin speaking missionaries while we
were at the temple today. Richard
actually had the first discussion with an missionary in Kuala Lumpur who spoke
Mandarin, but he actually gave the lesson in English. Richard asked lots of good questions and he
said it was helpful to have the discussions in Mandarin. Richard had the 2nd and 3rd
discussions today. After the baptismal
session, Dad and I went and did a session together and Amy and Kelli had already
stayed and done a temple endowment session instead of the baptism session. It was so nice to be at the temple. It was so fun to see the kids all excited to
find the temple and to be there!
After
the temple, we went over to a mall. Dad
had taken kids there while I did a second session with Amy and Kelli. Rachel and David did some ice skating and we
of course ate at McDonald’s. We headed
back to our apartment. We thought about
going to the baptism at 6pm, but we were quite exhausted. Most days there at the mission home across
from the temple, they have a baptism at 6pm.
People will come over from Mainland China and have prearranged meetings
with the missionaries. If they have
preapproval from the leader in China, they can have all the missionary lessons
that day and be baptized at 6pm. Today
while I was in the temple, there was a young gal from China who was receiving
her own endowments and was all by herself.
My heart yearned to be able to speak Chinese to her and to be her “mother”
as she went through the temple. The
faith of people searching for the truth is so inspiring! When people in China hear about the church
and want to be baptized, they will often send 1 family member to Hong Kong to
get baptized. After 1 member of the
family is baptized, then the other members of the immediate family can go to
church and I am pretty sure that they can be baptized in China, but only if one
member of the family has already been baptized outside of China. There are amazing stories.
FEBRUARY 17, 2015:
We are now in Hong Kong. We went to the temple today.
It was really fun to see how excited all of our kids were to find the
temple!!! "There's no place like home!" It was fun to see
Richard curious about why we were so "giddy" and excited to see the
temple and to be at the temple. Dad and the kids went in to do baptisms
and I sat with Richard (our Chinese boy) and the little boys (David, 11 and
Mason, 6). As we waited to meet the missionaries, Richard had several
questions and it was great to talk to him about the temple. Richard spent
about an hour with the missionaries and afterwards he said that it was alot
easier to understand things they way they taught him and that the pamphlets
helped to make things very clear. I think part of it was that it was in
Mandarin so that eliminated any language barrier and to "lag time"
for him to process and translate difficult vocabulary in his mind.
Richard seemed really happy all day so I'm thinking that is a good sign.
I'll send a picture of him with the missionaries.
Another cool thing was to hear from the missionaries there about
how people from China call up and seek them out to come and get baptized.
For example, this morning the Mandarin speaking sisters were waiting for
an appointment of 2 youth, ages 16 and 18, who were coming from Mainland China
to receive all 8 discussions (is that the right number?) and then be baptized
at 6pm. Evidently, this happens quite often -- now this is information
that would be best if you DID NOT spread around everywhere. Work and
progress in China is not for Facebook and mass emails. So I share this
with you as family and because it is really cool, but be careful sharing it too
far and wide.
So, what happens is that people in China will learn about the
church and want to know more but they can't learn about it it China so somehow
they connect with a local church leader and are sort of
"pre-approved" for baptism and with his recommendation, they come to
Hong Kong and receive all the discussions in one crash course and are baptized
at 6pm. Pretty amazing, huh! Now, after they are baptized, they can go
back to China and can legally attend the local branch of the church AND their
immediate family members can attend. So due to finances, a family might
send one member to get baptized in Hong Kong and then after they are a member
then the rest of the family can attend and I believe they can be baptized in
China if their immediate family member is all ready baptized. I think it
is amazing!
Another cool example of faith that I saw today was in the temple.
I saw a young woman who had to have been in her early twenties and she
was heading into the temple with what I assumed was a "first time"
recommend. She was all alone. I saw her upstairs and tried to talk
to her but her English was limited yet my Chinese is even more limited. I
found out that she was there to take out her own endowments and was there all
alone. She said that she was in Hong Kong with her father, sister and
brother but I didn't figure out if they were members, nonmembers or perhaps
they were the people that were going to be taught by those sister missionaries
that day??? I think that might be the connection!! I offered to
stay and be her escort, but the workers said they would take care of her. My
heart just longed to love her as I thought about her great faith and courage
that it took to come to the temple for the first time AND all by herself.
Wow!!!
One more China story to make you chuckle -- you will love this
one! Last summer, shortly after we arrived, some long time members in our
Suzhou branch told us about the branches in Shanghai. In Shanghai, they
rent a floor of a conference center for their branch offices, classrooms and
then a large hall for the Sunday Sacrament Meetings. Since they are a religious
group using a public place, the government requires that a Chinese religion
officer attends their meetings and monitors their activities. That is all
fine since we have nothing to hide. So, the Shanghai branches are on
their 4th Chinese religious monitor because the others who have come to listen
and monitor the activities keep getting baptized!!! Isn't that
fantastic!!!! Once the government official is baptized, they lose their job and
have to be replaced by a new worker. The Chinese government is actually
helping the gospel to be spread amongst their people rather than
"control" it! The Lord's work WILL go forth AND the church IS
in China!!! It is just here and spreading a little different than
"typical." :)
I send my love and support to you across the miles! I'm so
proud of you and your great work!
Happy Chinese New Year!!! This is a week of celebration!
Chinese New Year day is February 19th -- it will be the year of the goat,
I turn 47 on February 21st and Rebecca turns 17 on February 27th. We are
so blessed!
Love,
Mom
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