Week 51--August 5-11, 1013

It was Garnalee's turn to give the thought for the Monday devotional. She gave 15 Ways to Be Happy From the First Presidency and the the Quorum of the Twelve. We had a very special experience today. A young sister, Dan Wang,a who is a family history consultant in her area of Zhengzhou in the center part of mainland China. She came with another sister who was going to the temple to receive her endowments. Sister Wang served a mission in Salt Lake City and spoke very good English. We had the opportunity to give her some training on Family Tree and to help her print off the temple ordinance request for her grandmother. She was so excited to take it to the temple to perform the work while she here in Hong Kong. What a special experience for us. Our Family Home Evening was a night of games after Elder Aardema reminded us that is was in 1915 when the First Presidency instituted Family Home Evening. In 1969 the First Presidency reemphasized Family Home Evening to be held on Monday evenings. In September of 1970 Monday Night Football began. Coincidence? I don't think so!

Tom finished the second vest he has been knitting for Cody and Mason. Garnalee sewed on the buttons and then Tom blocked it. We will get them in the mail this week. Tom has been working on the July expense reports for the other FH missionaries in the various countries. We also developed our agenda for our monthly Family History meeting with Elder Wilson.

Garnalee spent Wednesday morning helping Filippina sisters in the Family History Center. She has decided that if the sisters have a desire to work on their family history that the library needs to open. So the library will be open at their request on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 11 AM-noon. Tom is working on the next farewell song which will be to California Girls from the Beach Boys.

Tom has been doing some family history work on his line by adding sources to individual ancestors. That is one of the great new features of Family Tree.

On Thursday we had a welcome luncheon hosted by Elder and Sister Wilson for Elder and Sister Funk, the new member of the Area Presidency.

We all gathered for a group photo before the luncheon.







We had our meeting with Elder Wilson and Steve Tsai, our area manger. In the course of the meeting both of them encouraged us to go the East Malaysia for a Youth Conference in December and to visit each of the Family History Centers. We thought we were done traveling but I guess not.

We had a 20 minute presentation Friday morning to Elder and Sister Wilson and Elder and Sister Funk about what we are doing in Family History. We had originally developed an hour presentation that we had to whittle down to 20 minutes.

 Construction sign by the YMCA building.

Close up of the lashing that secures the bamboo scaffolding. Each tie only takes the workman a couple of seconds. It is amazing to see the delicate structures going as many as 70 stories high.

 There is an open walkway through this building that we go along each morning. This is the closest we have been to the bamboo scaffolding. It is amazing to see it go higher each day.

 The building encased in the scaffolding.

If you look closely you can see men (spiders) climbing on the scaffolding. See the upper left corner of the building.















We spent part of Friday afternoon trying to get a couple of new Family History computers up and running. We need more technical training, so will turn it over to the District IT guy when he returns from the States. For a change in pace we went to an Indian and Thai restaurant for dinner. We had Tandoori chicken, Pomelo Salad, Indian Naan, and Mango Sticky Rice for dessert.

We had a baptism for Sister Jill Pormelda. She never has the same day off so she has been attending the Everyday Branch and our Branch. We attended so Tom could welcome her to the Peninsula 2 Branch that she will attend when she has Sundays off. It was a wonderful baptism, and she shared a very sweet testimony after her baptism.

After the baptism we went to the Peak with Elder and Sister Lasson. Garnalee stood at the back of the tram and took pictures as we headed down the mountain. While we were at the Peak Garnalee bought Tom a "chop," which is a seal he can use to sign his calligraphy paintings. The chop has our Chinese name "Ha." Harrington is too long. Chinese commonly have only one syllable surnames. Ha in Chinese means spring.

 The tram coming up the mountain.

People exit on one side of the tram and then load from the other side.  It cost Tom HK$11 to ride the tram and Garnalee HK$28. Tom gets the geezer discount.

The tram as it comes into the station at the top of the mountain.

 Looking down the tracks. It's about a 45 degree angle.

 Passing the other tram heading up the hill.

The crowd waiting at the bottom for the tram. The line extended out of the building and there was a sign that said, "Two hour wait."

 We rode an open topped bus to the ferry pier.
Garnalee with Elder and Sister Lasson.

One of our dear sisters, Sharon Salinas, is returning home to the Philippines. She always has a smile and a hug for all the sisters. She has been the chorister for Sacrament meeting and a Relief Society teacher. She has a beautiful voice and often sings solos with the choir. She is going to be missed. She is one of the first sisters we met on our first Sunday at Pen 2.