Week 50--July 22-Aug 4, 2013

At our Sisters' Lunch each place was set with this card and flowers. The card says, "NEW FRIENDS! Make new friends, but keep the old. The one is silver and the other is gold."

 Garnalee with Sister Bertin, Sister Frandsen, and Sister Watkins.

 One of the favorite desserts at the lunch made by Sister Castleton.

We are all ready to try the wonderful variety of food that was provided by each of the sisters.

All smiles!

Front Row: Catherine, sister Aardema, Sister Lasson, Polly, Garnalee, Janet, Carmen, Sister Watkins, Jamyee
Back Row: Sister Heaps, Sister Jackson, Flora, Danise, Sister Castleton, Sister Wilson, LeeAnna, Sister Bertin, Annie, Sister Gregory, Vanessa, Vivien, Sally, Sister Frandsen

A few had to return to work and weren't in the picture.


Each Monday morning we have a devotional with all the senior missionaries and employees. Catherine Kong gave the thought and told us about her personal slip from a high spiritual plain after her mission because she stopped doing the things that brings spirituality like daily scripture reading and daily personal prayers. She encouraged us to keep our spirituality high. For Family Home Evening we watched "Chariots of Fire."

We have reached an agreement with the Hong Kong Mission to allow the full-time missionaries to use Family History Center computers for proselyting. The missionaries came to check the speed of the computers to make sure it will accommodate what they what want to do.

Steve Tsai mailed us 400 copies of the new "My Family: Stories That Bring Us Together" booklets in Chinese to pass out at Youth Conference. We had special permission from the Family History Department to have it printed and distributed here. It won't be released to the membership of the Church until Fall. Hong Kong was the first area to get them.

Tom got his new glasses after his recent cataract surgery. We had a late night because we had to pick up our visitor from the Family History Department in Salt Lake City. She is coming to do Family History presentations at the Youth Conferences and to gather information for how the department can do a better job of assisting the members in Asia with family history.

 Some of the youth gather before the conference at Ho Man Tin Thursday morning. The stakes in attendance were New Territories and China Hong Kong.

Some of the youth with their new T-shirts at Kowloon Tong. The stakes in attendance were Kowloon Tong, Tolo Harbour, and Macau.










We attended to our usual Thursday evening responsibilities at the temple after a very long and busy day.

Tom presented at the Senior Lunch on Friday. He made framed Chinese calligraphy pictures for all the couples. The pictures said "Families Can Be Together Forever."

We had a very busy schedule for Candace Turpin, from the Family History Department, while she was here in Hong Kong. She participated in our weekly Conference Call, met with Danny Chin, Asia Area Records Acquisition manager twice, met with a few Filippina sisters, attended a Family History Sunday School class, and had a Focus Group meeting with representatives from the four stakes and the district of Hong Kong, along with attending church and speaking in Sacrament meeting. To show how small the world is, Sister Turpin was born and raised in Snake River, Idaho, which is only six miles from Blackfoot.

Besides all the meetings we also worked in some sight seeing. We took her shopping at Stanley, to watch the Symphony of Lights, to the Big Buddha, and the Peak.

Enjoying noodles at Dumpling Pro. She was quite a pro with her chopsticks.

 With all the rain we have been having there was a falls at the Peak that wasn't there last December when we visited. Just past the falls is the inscription carved into the rock wall by Matthew Cowley and his party when they dedicated Hong Kong for missionary work. The carving was done with a pocket knife and reads 7/14/49. It was cloudy and cool making our visit to the Peak very enjoyable.

At Big Buddha.

Elder and Sister Woolley are going home. Tom has been busy writing their farewell song over the last couple of weeks. It is to the tune of "How Firm a Foundation" (one of Sister Woolley's favorites).








The boy band, Beyond 5, is touring Asia. They arrived in Mongolia. Sister Castleton, whose son organized the group brand new group, and Sister Frandsen, who is a media missionary, flew to Mongolia to escort the band throughout Asia. The Area Presidency wanted to expose the youth of Asia to positive, up lifting music that they would also like. Their songs are available on ITunes.

It has been really rainy the last several days. It was raining so hard on Saturday that we decided to stay home. We read books and just relaxed.