BYU Young Ambassadors in Hong Kong--May 13-19, 2013

Tom presented the message at the devotional this week. He decided to use the thoughts from one of the sisters in our Branch of things we should say and do to our mothers.

We worked on the MTC Wish List which is a list of things we wished we had learned while at the MTC. Elder Mack Shirley, of the Church Family History Department, contacted us to because of the letter we had sent to Sister Tomlinson last January. He asked for our input as he is doing a presentation to the Missionary Department later in the week of suggested training to be given at the MTC.

We started deciding on what presentations we will give when go to India and Malaysia. Our India Visas came through so we will definitely be traveling at the end of the month to both countries. We will go to India first and have the opportunity to give some Family History training in Hyderabad that has never been done before. We will present at two firesides and give training to the priesthood leadership and the consultants. We will then travel to Ipoh, Malaysia, to help with a Family History Open House there.

Tom had the cataract surgery on his right eye. It went well. When he was checked the next day he found he could read close up and see the computer fine but he will still need to wear glasses for distance.

We had a very humbling experience this week. Elder Watson, the Area President, came to us and asked us to come up with a way to teach the First Presidency letter from last October 8, to priesthood leaders coming here for training from local units in China and Thailand. The members in these countries may only get to go to the temple once in their life because of distance and expense. Our plan was to have the members prepare their 4-generation pedigree chart and put that information into Family Tree. 98% of the members outside of the United States don not have their 4-generations in Family Tree. We then said that the youth could interview one of their living relatives and place that story with a picture on Family Search. They could also assist the older members to input their information. If they reserved names for the temple then those names should be released if they can't complete their work within two years. Elder Watson complemented us on doing such a fine job as we gave him exactly what he was looking for.

Tom helped prepare another farewell song this week for Sister Hamilton. We had her farewell luncheon on Thursday, May 16. As an introduction, Tom said, "You may have heard of Rogers and Hammerstein, well move over because the new writers are Woolley and Harrington.

Friday was Buddha's Birthday so the office was closed. We went to serve in the temple. We officiated at the 8 AM session. There were 23 males and 16 females most of whom were from the BYU Young Ambassadors group. They were in Hong Kong for performances. They had been in China for three weeks and would go home on Monday.

We went to dinner Saturday evening and then to the BYU Young Ambassadors performance.

Elder and Sister Gregory,  PEF missionaries, enjoy the meal.

 We went to dinner at V Cuisine where we were treated to a nine course dinner. We had Egg Drop Soup, Shrimp with Broccoli, Cashew Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Eggplant dish, Baked Beef dish, Fried Green Beans, Steamed Fish (see the picture) that was netted out of a large tank and prepared just for us, Roasted Chicken complete with head, and then fresh fruit. Each dish came out one after another and was placed on the large Lazy Susan in the middle of the table. This is the typical style of serving meals in a fine restaurant in  Hong Kong.

Patrick Cheuk, one of the local Church employees and former stake president in Hong Kong, accompanied us to dinner and ordered all the food. They didn't speak English in the restaurant. He is cutting up our fish into serving sized pieces. Elder and Sister Castleton look on.

Elder and Sister Treasure enjoy the dinner.

 Sister and Elder Frandsen and Sister and Elder Watkins also loved the dinner.

Elder and Sister Aardema and Tom didn't even slow down for the picture. There were 19 people in our group sitting at two tables.








We enjoyed the high energy performance of the BYU Young Ambassadors. They closed the performance by singing "I Am a Child of God." Our performance was the only one where they sang that song which was the last performance of their tour. Based on the wonderful spirit of all the performers we believe the future of the Church is in good hands.

New Eyes to See the Beauties of Hong Kong--May 6-12, 2013

We met with Brother Luk, the Family History Country Adviser for Hong Kong. We are trying to find ways to promote family history work in Hong Kong. We offered our help.

We worked with Sister Gloria from our Branch to input names of her family into Family Tree. It is nice to work with a member on family history instead of answering e-mails all day.

Tom had cataract surgery this week. He is amazed at how much more vibrant colors are and everything is clear and bright. He noticed many new wrinkles that he is sure weren't there the day before! He is so pleased with the results that he is having the other eye done next week. The doctor came highly recommended from the Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City. We were pleased to learn that our insurance will pay for most of it. If we home then it would be covered 100% by Medicare.

We decided to walk the Promenade on Friday morning. It was 80 degrees with 92% humidity. That was a mistake, at least from Garnalee's perspective. No more walking the Promenade for her.

Tom has been busy writing words for a farewell song for Sister Ruth Ann Hamilton. We enjoy the fun and the "roast" that is given to the departing person. She is a 70 year old single sister who is very active and fun to be around.

We took the Halls, a young couple in our Branch who are here for six months, and the Cowleys to Big Buddha.

Tom (notice no glasses), Matthew Hall, Seantay Hall, Sister Cowley, and Elder Cowley waiting to catch the 360 Crystal Gondola. It is a gondola with a glass floor and walls.

 The gondolas pass each other. The ride is like a chair lift at a ski resort.

 The path that hikers choose to walk to Big Buddha. If you are adventurous it is a beautiful walk. The picture was taken through the floor of the gondola.

 Parts of the hiking path are stairs that go straight up the mountain.They don't believe in switch backs. The path was built to service the gondola towers but is used by many hikers. Tom is considering doing this hike when the weather turns cool in the fall.

Tom and Garnalee at the Big Buddha.

Turtles sunning themselves on the rock.

I asked Tom to go stand by the bird so I could take his picture. He said, "You mean with the chicken?" It is actually a peacock.

 One of the areas that we missed when we went to  Big Buddha the last time was the Wisdom Path. There are 38 split logs planted along the trail. Each had a Chinese proverb written on it. Each stella was about 20 feet tall.

 The Chinese characters craved into the stella.

Tian Tan Buddha statue (informally known as the Big Buddha) was erected in 1993. Sitting 34 metres high and facing north to look over the Chinese people, this majestic bronze Buddha draws pilgrims from all over Asia.

Sitting in the harbor is the world's largest rubber duck promoting world peace. It was created by a Dutch artist. The duck is 16.46 meters tall and weighs 600  kilograms. It would be a great promotional gag for the annual Idaho Falls Great Duck Race, but it cost over $1,000,000 HK or $125,000 US to bring it to Hong  Kong.

May Day/ Andrea Bocelli--April 29-May 5, 2013

We had our pictures taken to attach to our visa for India. We are hopeful that the visa arrives before our scheduled trip. If not then we will have to delay our trip.

We visited with an ophthalmologist this week as the vision in Tom's left eye was getting blurry. The cataract had gotten worse so we scheduled the surgery for May 8. This doctor came highly recommended from the Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City.

May 1 is Labor Day in Hong Kong and a holiday. We volunteered to serve in the temple that day as many of the Chinese workers weren't available to serve. In our session there was a 91-year-old man from Thailand who came to receive his own endowment. He was very frail but his spirit was strong. Garnalee was treated to a late birthday lunch with Sisters Gong and Wilson, the wives of the Area Presidency.

 We had a May Day Relief Society Meeting. Each of the branches prepared a dance to perform. Dinner was served after the dances and each of the branches prepared a dish to share with everyone.




Discovery Bay Hawaiian Hula

 Peninsula 3

The best branch in Hong Kong Peninsula 2 performing their dance.

Our branch prepared a meat and vegetable concoction that was placed in a won ton wrap and then wrapped in tin foil and steamed. It was very good.

Mandarin Branch Fan Dance












Thursday morning was chilly and windy. The first Thursday of each month is always a spiritual feast as we attend the temple with the Area Presidency and all the area senior missionary couples. Tom and Garnalee were assigned to be the officiators for the session.  The temple session is followed by a testimony meeting in another room of the temple. It was Sister Hamilton's last testimony meeting and the first for the Aardemas and the Gregorys. All five bore their testimonies. We then returned to the temple in the evening for our regular assignment.

We are trying to find a way for the members coming to the Hong Kong Temple to come prepared with their ancestors names ready to go. In a conversation with Elder Wilson we decided to try sending the names of the members who are coming to the Temple to the Family History Missionaries in their country so they receive the assistance they need. If there isn't a missionary in the country where the member is coming from then we will send the members names to the Country Adviser for help.

After a busy day at the office we attended the Andrea Bocelli concert for which we had purchased tickets a couple of months ago. It was a wonderful show. He was backed up by a wonderful symphony orchestra and choir. Our only regret was none of his songs was in English. Tom understood the one in Spanish and could pick out words from the Italian. However Garnalee decided you didn't need to understand the language to feel the emotion to the music. What an amazing voice he has! What really impressed us was how long he could hold a single note.

After three long days we slept in on Saturday morning and had a relaxing day.

All work no photos--April 21-28, 2013

We have found coconut tarts that we really like here. Garnalee is  going to have to see if she can find a recipe when she gets home. A coconut tart is kind of like a macaroon in a pie crust. They are really yummy.

Each Monday we have a devotional for all of the senior missionaries and employees. We all take turns fulling the assignments. This week is was Garnalee's turn to conduct. Tom redid his map of Asia showing all of the Family History Centers and added the new centers that we have approved since we arrived in Choibalsan, Mongolia and Sibu and Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

We have been designated as trainers for Share Point which is a storage program similar to Drop  Box that is used by the Church. We spent time training Elder Dodson and Sister Aardema hos to use the program and upload documents.

We met with Elder Wilson for our monthly meeting. He shared with us information that he received from the Family History Department prior to General Conference. We have lots of work to do as one of the facts given to him was that 98% of the members outside the United States have not uploaded their four generation information. So we will be encouraging the other family history senior missionaries and the consultants to work with members in accomplishing this task. At that meeting Elder Wilson also approved our trip request for training to Hyderabad, India, and helping with a Family History Open House in Ipoh, Malaysia. We have to apply for a visa to India. Hopefully it will be granted.

One of the things that can make us feel at home is to discover there is a Melaleuca store in Hong Kong. We visited the store with one of the other sisters who is a member and purchased some items with which we are familiar. However, we couldn't purchase multi-vitamins from them as they are not allowed to sell them in Hong Kong.

We had District Conference this weekend so we didn't go site seeing. However, Ironman 3 was released in Hong Kong on April 25 so we decided to go see that Saturday morning. It was a great movie. We then spent Saturday evening and Sunday being instructed by our District leadership. Our District conference started with a Social on Saturday evening. We had taco salad, brownies, and fruit. Saturday evenings messages all centered on obedience. Tom attended Priesthood leadership on Sunday morning. Sunday's messages were on conversion and preparation for various life events. After District conference there was Auxiliary training. We gave a training on using Family Tree to the Family History consultants.

Cheung Chau Island--April 14-21, 2013

Monday evening we attended a meeting where a Hindu spiritual leader spoke on the Five Pillars of Spiritual Living which he said are (1) Turn your life over to God; (2) Everything happens for a reason; (3) Do your duty; (4) Do your duty and a little bit more; (5) Practice silence--meditate. We felt that some of the things he said rang true with what we believe but he didn't have the fullness of the Gospel. We were given a special invitation to this meeting by the tailor that many of the senior couples have used. Eighteen of the senior missionaries attended the meeting and then we had the opportunity to personally greet him.

We were saddened to awake Tuesday morning and hear of the bombing at the Boston marathon. 

We arrived at the ferry Wednesday morning and saw this U.S. destroyer berthed at the pier next to the ferry pier. 

We spent the morning looking at the updates for Family Search and Family Tree. We love the features of adding photos and stories. Tom left work early because he wasn't feeling well. By the time I arrived home he had slept for several hours. We then went to the dinner appointment we had for the new PEF couple that had arrived. The Greporys are from Draper, Utah, and replace the Kellys.

Our Thursday conference call wasn't very productive as only two of the couples were on the line with us. We went to the temple in the evening and had the opportunity to be the witness couple for an endowment session. 

This is what greeted us Friday morning instead of the beautiful Hong Kong skyline. The clouds were sitting on the water and we could see the tops of the buildings. Usually it is the reverse.

Because of the dense fog the ferry was delayed and we crossed slowly with the fog horn blowing.

Our Fridays are filled with Garnalee attending Sisters' Institute with a discussion being held on one the conference talks. We discussed President Monson's talk on "Obedience Brings Blessings." We have a Senior Luncheon on Fridays and each of the senior missionaries takes a turn instructing.  Sister Bertin gave a presentation on the Elder Lorenzo Snow's mission to northern Italy. He converted many members there. After here presentation Elder Gong invited all of the missionaries to help in a project to consolidate all available information about any country in Asia. That information is then used as the Area Presidency meets with leaders of Asian countries striving for Church recognition. We have volunteered to train all of the missionary couples to use Insite along with providing Family History information. 

Saturday we went to Cheung Chau Island, which is a fishing village, as our monthly senior missionary activity. We took the Fast Ferry from Hong Kong Island to Cheung Chau, a 30 minute trip. 

 The little lady in the boat is bailing water from the boat. She had gone from the little cement pier in the lower right corner of the picture onto the raft. She then pulled herself out to the boat on the left, climbed across to the boat she is in, and continued on to the boat on the right. She moved the big green box and adjusted the motors. She then moved to the middle boat and started bailing water. When she completed her tasks she got on the raft and pulled herself back to the pier.

 Lounging among the dried fish. So little time and so much to to choose from.

Cutting up of the fresh fish that was originally four feet long.

 In a fisherman's paradise, Sister Jenna Jackson enjoys her McDonald's hamburger, fires, and coke.

Tom has no trouble eating his seafood fried rice with chopsticks.

 Not even the rain can slow down the hungry eaters. Missionaries quickly learn to carry an umbrella with them wherever they go just for this situation.

The mode of transportation on the island is the bicycle or by foot.

 After reading the sign, Garnalee decided not to go into the water.

 There are many interesting rock formations on Cheung Chau. This one is called Elephant Rock. You can see his back, head, and trunk.

One of the elderly local ladies selling dried fish.

Tom went with one group to explore a pirate cave while Garnalee went on the scavenger hunt and climbed the Mini Great Wall. He arrived back at the ferry pier and thought Garnalee had already left. So he got on the slow ferry back to Hong Kong. While he was waiting in line for the ferry to dock, a man approached him and asked, "Are you Tom Harrington from Rigby?" It turned out to be Jay Schusky, former debate coach from Idaho Falls High School. They meet each when Tom was debate coach at Rigby High School. He recognized Tom even though 28 years had passed.  Small world!  They were  able to catch up on those intervening years during the hour long ride back to Central.  Jay was in Hong Kong for only four days, so it was an absolute miracle that they even saw each other.

Conference Week--April 7-14, 2013

At our Monday devotional Sister Frandsen was the speaker. She titled her talk "It's a Miracle." She told of some of the accidents that her daughters had and it was a miracle that they had survived. She also told of the miracle of the missionaries finding her when she was searching for a church. It was miracle that she and her husband meet because he was from Utah and she from Connecticut. Garnalee was so touched by her talk that that evening she reflected in her journal on some of the miracles that  have happened in her life. Such as Tom and Garnalee meeting just before the Single's Ward was disbanded in Idaho Falls. Scott surviving two very serious illnesses and being struck by lightening. We encourage each of you to take some time and reflect on the miracles that have happened in your lives.

The Aardemas from Odgen, Utah arrived to take the place of the Whiteheads as the Area Auditors. He is a former school administrator and she ran her own preschool. They served as the mission president in Slovenia. We hosted the Aardemas for dinner with Castletons on Wednesday.

Tom approves all of the travel budgets for the family history couples in Asia and updated all of the accounts and sent them out to the missionaries.

We spent the week reading the conference talks so we could extract quotes from them to put together a document that will be used by the Area Presidency and Seventy for talks and training as they travel around Asia. We finished up on Friday just before lunch.

Elder and Sister Kelly at the Farewell Luncheon. Their song was to "If I Only Had a Brain" from the "Wizard of Oz. Sister Woolley completed the editing of that song.

Elder and Sister Whitehead at the Farewell Luncheon. Their song was to the "Flintstones." Tom completed the editing of their song. His talent is really shining when it comes to putting words to a song.

Some of the group at the luncheon.











On Friday Tom bought a 1933 King George V one-cent Hong Kong coin for $10 HK. That is 1000 times the face value of the coin but Tom says it's a nice looking coin. When he asked about the coin at the shop, the clerk pulled out a large bag containing 1000 coins (Tom estimated). So they are not as rare as he thought.

Saturday and Sunday we spent viewing General Conference at the Wan Chai building.

Tom checks his Pro-time every Sunday morning. Today it was 2.7 which is excellent.  His health has been very good while we have been on our mission, considering that just prior to our mission there was some doubt that we would be able to go at all. Our stake president gave Tom a blessing as we entered the mission. In that blessing he promised Tom that his health would not be a concern. It has truly been a miracle that his health has been so good and the promised blessing is being fulfilled.

Birthday, Easter, Kelly Farewell--March 25-April 7, 2013

For Jennifer Chan's birthday we several of the couples took her to lunch at Al Dente, an Italian restaurant close to our building. Jennifer is a paralegal for the law department in Hong Kong for the Church.







Garnalee had a bad cold the week of March 24. She stayed home one day and worked on the trivia questions we were doing for the Family Home Evening we were are in charge of in a couple of weeks.

Thursday, March 28, we had a torrential down pour. We have a short walk from the bus stop to the temple but because of the heavy rain and even with an umbrella we were both soaked by the time we arrived. The street was running a river of water and we both got a shoe full of water when we stepped from the street to the sidewalk.

Heather celebrated her 30th birthday this week.

The office was closed on Friday, March 30,  Good Friday. We went to the Brass Factory in the New Territories. Tom bought a singing brass bowl. He can really make it sing, Garnalee on the other hand can't get it to sing. Tom also bought a beautiful wood bowl carved from the tree trunk of a tree.

We went to see the movie "Oz, the Great and Terrible" on Saturday with several other couples. It has been rainy all day. Next to the movie theater is an indoor skating rink. We could feel the cold air coming up from the floor. There was just a thin layer of ice on the floor but seemed to be enough for the skaters. This would be a fun place on a hot summer day.

Saturday, March 30 we attended a fund raising concert for a school that educates underprivileged children from China and Hong Kong. The founder of the school is an LDS woman from Hong Kong who is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. The concept is educate children through the arts: music, dance, and drawing.





Tom prepared the lesson for the combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting. We downloaded several videos from the Church website on the Savior's Atonement and Resurrection. We had the computer and protector all set up ready to go and it worked fine. However when it came time to present the videos the projector wouldn't project onto the screen so we ended up setting the computer on the pulpit with the microphone to project the sound. It would have been better if everything had worked correctly but it was a good lesson. In the evening we went to the Wan Chai building for an Easter concert by the Hong Kong China Stake and Song of the Heart singers. The music was exceptional. Garnalee bought chocolate covered  Maltser bunnies for an Easter treat.

We had Monday, April 1, off for Easter. Tom went to the office to meet with a non-member who was searching for information on his ancestors. Tom found some information for him from Family Search and then ordered a micro film for him. Hopefully the film will have the information he is looking for. Tom and Garnalee were in  charge of Family Home Evening and they had the couples play a trivia game about Church History. Garnalee had typed up 160 questions for the game but we only used 60 of them. We did play an April Fool's joke on the couples. Our first Trivia question was: What is the newest mission in the Church and is the southern most mission? We saw this on a video of a young man who is waiting for his mission call and  had a joke played on him by a friend. The friend had prepared an official looking envelope and a letter with the mission call to Antarctica and he was to speak Emperor Penguin. It was very funny to watch the young man's reaction. We got all of the couples to laugh about the joke of a mission being in Antarctica.

April 4 is Ching Ming Festival which is like our Memorial Day back home. The Chinese people visit the graves of their deceased ancestors, sweep and clean them up, and leave flowers or other mementos. We had a temple assignment that day since the office was closed and spent 7 hours in the temple. Unfortunately there was a Branch activity also planned for that day that we missed. They went to Cheung Chau Island and they had a wonderful time but we were needed at the temple.

Saturday, April 6, arrived with a Monsoon warning in effect. We took the Cowleys to Stanley Market since they hadn't been there yet. We had an enjoyable time visiting and shopping with them. They are becoming good friends.

Sunday morning, April 7, we watched the first session of General Conference before going to our own Church meetings. We are assigned to select quotes from all of the talks that will be used by the Area Presidency and the Area Seventies as they go to trainings and Stake and District Conferences.

 The Filippina sisters perform a farewell dance for the Kellys. The sisters really love to perform. Many of them sang songs to the Kellys.

 Elder and Sister Kelly look at the scrapbook given to them as a farewell gift.

The sisters perform another dance for the Kellys and get into place to spell out "Farewell." Then they spelled out "We love you."

 And finally "We miss you."

A group photo on the day of the  Kellys' farewell.