India and Malaysia Pictures--June 2-June 16, 2013

Picture before the baptism of the 78-year old husband, father, and grandfather in Hyderabad. Tom was one of the witnesses.

 Dinner after the fireside on Saturday, June 1, at the Paradise with Brother and Sister Pulla.

 Posing with Sister Pulla, the District Presidency, and Naresh Godi, the Family History Country Adviser for India.

 At the first birthday party of Alivia Godi with her mother and father. The first birthday in India is a big event for the child. The family gathers together to celebrate.We suspect the celebration is held because formally, infant mortality rate in India was so high that reaching a first birthday was a milestone.

 Charminar. Char means four and minar means minaret. It was built in 1591 by Muhammad Quil Qutb Shah of the region to memorialize the 4000 who died of a plague including his wife. This structure is as well known in southern India as the Taj Mahal is in northern India.

 Travel in Hyderabad is by 2-wheeled, 3-wheeled, or 4-wheeled vehicles as seen in this picture.

Photo from the top of Charminar with our guide. We had a private tour and got to go to areas where the general public is not allowed. We were approached at Charminar by many locals to have their picture taken with us.

This elegant and immense structure is the tomb for a single person, Hayat Baksh Begum. See the next picture to learn more about her.She is the only woman in the tomb area of the Shahs.

 The Golconda (Shepherd's Hill) Fort had a circumference of seven kilometers and was an impregnable fortress.  It is a ruined city formerly the capital of the ancient kingdom of Golconda built in the 13th century. At the outermost wall can be experienced the fantastic acoustical effects in which a hand clap at a certain point under the dome can be clearly heard at the uppermost pavilion almost a kilometer away. This acted as a warning note to residents in case of danger.

A pot of Biryani prepared by the Pullas for our dinner. 

 A group of Saints that had gathered at the beginning of the Ipoh Family History Open House.

 Chris Liew and Garnalee at the Open House. Chris was kind enough to take us site seeing on Monday, June 10.

 An example of one of the many displays at the Ipoh Open House.

Elder and Sister Harrington's fan charts. This was a reminder to the visitors at the Open House that you don't need to be a genealogist to begin your tree. The important thing is TO GET STARTED.

 At the Open House the youth performed two sketches. This one was an unhappy family who found happiness through listening to the missionaries, accepting the Gospel, and going to the temple to be sealed as "A Forever Family."

This sketch was about a boy who was a striving to be a commandment keeper. We loved this sketch because the little 5-year old boy on the right was acting as the "bishop" during the interviewing of the "Mother."

 The theme of the Open House was, "The Branches of the Future are Rooted in the Past...."

 This shows several recent converts and their family trees.

 A list of the videos that were shown at the Open House.








These banners were hung up around the city.

Another one of the displays.

 

Above is the monastery on the inside of the caves.

At the caves there was a pool and feeding area for a huge group of turtles. We fed them tomatoes. We knew some of the turtles must be quite old because of their huge size.

 Chris took our picture with the god of love.

Our picture with the dragon at the entrance to the cave.

Photo with Shirley Chong in front of the god of mercy who performed so many great works during his life that he came back to life as a woman.

Ipoh, Malaysia is known for its huge limestone caves. This is a view from inside the cave looking out. One of the caves we didn't get to visit was large enough for the Japanese army to hide in during their occupation of Malaysia in World War II.

This was our Titanic pose just to show how large the cave is.

The entrance to the cave.

Lunch with Shirley Chong, Sister Seow, and Chris Liew on our last day in Malaysia at a Chinese restaurant.

India, no pictures--May 26-June 1, 2013

We pretty much spent the whole week fine tuning our presentations and getting ready for the trip to India and Malaysia.  Garnalee packed everything over the couple of days prior to departure so Tom stayed out of the way.  Tom is coming down with a cold just in time for the trip. :-(

Garnalee did some training with Anna Poon from Singapore.  She is the FHC director there.  She had prepared a nice PowerPoint to train consultants that she shared with us.  Danny Chin, records acquisition manager for Asia, came by too.  He showed Tom the Family Search Wiki page that has some helpful tips on doing research in Asia.

Rather than spread Tom's cold to everyone in the Temple on Thursday night, he went home and went to bed early.

At the senior luncheon Friday Elder Heaps and Elder Frandsen made a presentation on the take-aways from the recent meetings with Elder Neil Anderson and Elder L. Whitney Clayton who were here last week.  During the lunch time, Elder and Sister Bertin shared about 15 different fruits commonly available here that we may not have tried.  They included star fruit, Lychee, wax apple, guava, dragon fruit, mangosteen, and others.  Some were very good, others were just for the experience.

We left for the airport at 8 PM Friday night.  The flight was non-stop from HK to Hyderabad.  In the airport we met a young Indian couple from Rajahmundry who had just gotten married in the HK temple.  We also met the MLS senior missionary couple, the Allisons from Calgary, Canada and know the Whiteheads who just went home.  The Allisons were escorting the couple to the Temple.

We arrived at Hyderabad 3:30 AM Honk Kong time (1:00 AM local time).  We were glad to have the extra 2 1/2 hours to try to get some sleep before our long Saturday.

At 2 PM Brother and Sister Pulla, Stake Family History Consultants, picked us up to take us to the Church where we would be doing a Stake Priesthood leadership training at 5:30 PM.  Right after the training, we began a fireside with several Young Single Adults joining the group.  Several members bore their testimony of the importance of FH work and then we were given an opportunity to add some remarks.  Garnalee spoke about some of the stories she remembers about her father and mother.  One of the great new features of Family Tree is to be able to upload stories.  She intends to do that soon.

On the way to the church we saw a procession of musicians (drums and horns) who accompanies a group that was carrying the body of a deceased ancestor to be cremated.  The body was carried on a stretcher and was covered with a white cloth.  It was adorned with flowers.  There were about a dozen pall bearers who carried the stretcher at about shoulder height along the uneven street.

After the presentations were over, everyone wanted to have a picture taken with us.  It was after 9 PM before we left the church.  Brother and Sister Pulla took us, along with a niece and nephew, to a restaurant called Paradise, for dinner.  On the way to the restaurant we passed another procession of drummers and horn players.  We immediately thought it was another funeral, but it was a wedding.  These music accompanied processions celebrate all of the major events in a person's life.

The famous dish in Hyderabad is called Biriyani.  It's a flavored rice dish with mutton or chicken.  We had both.  There were several sauces to put over the top.  One sauce was a milky color made with yogurt, cilantro, and carrots.  The other sauce looked kind of a creme chicken gravy made with green chillis.  It was very spicy.  I think the Pullas were a little offended that we didn't eat more, but we ate all we could.  We arrived back to our hotel at about 11:30 PM.  Long, but rewarding day.

We discovered that our adapter to load photos from our SD camera card to the computer, is still at home in HK.  We'll have to add photos when we return home from Malaysia.

General Authorities Visit Hong Kong--May 20-26, 2013

Tom has been made first councilor in our Branch Presidency. So his first experience was to attend presidency meeting and to be asked by the Branch President to be the concluding speaker in Sacrament meeting that would start in 20 minutes. He gave a wonderful talk. He can think quickly under pressure.

We have passed our nine month mark and we are what is referred to by missionaries as "over the hump." We can't believe that our mission is half done.

We have been preparing training for our trip to India and Malaysia. We will give presentations at two firesides in Hyderabad, India. We will then travel to Ipoh, Malaysia, where we will help with the two day Family History Open House and then speak in Sacrament meeting. Then after church we will catch a train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to give a training and then back to Ipoh that night.

Tom has been practicing Chinese calligraphy. He wants to make a gift for each of the senior couples that says "Families Can Be Together Forever."

We woke up Wednesday morning to discover horrible weather conditions. There were five different advisories issued by the Hong Kong Observatory. A Black Storm Warning for heavy rain exceeding 70 mm per hour and strong winds and advises people to stay indoors, we received 8 inches of rain that day. There was also a Thunderstorm Warning, Flooding Announcement, Landslide Special Special Announcement, and Special Weather Tips. We stayed home until the Black Storm Warning was lifted at 10 AM. We then went to the eye doctor for follow-up on Tom's surgery last week.

Tom got to use his Spanish this week. The mission president received a letter from the parents of a Latin American missionary who will arrive soon be in Hong Kong. He was able to translate the letter for the mission president.

 Elder and Sister Treasure with a couple they met several years ago in Nepal, and they have become like family to them and they have adopted them.The young boy, Samuel, who is nine was born later and is like a grandson to the.







We had a special event this week. Elder Neil L. Anderson, of the Quorum of the Twelve and Elder L. Whitney Clayton, of the Presidency of the Seventy, have been traveling throughout Asia. They started in Thailand, then traveled to India, on to Beijing, China, and finished up here in Hong Kong before returning home to Utah. They spoke to all the missionaries in Hong Kong on Friday morning. He spoke about as you gain a greater understanding of the Atonement then your faith and desire to serve will increase.

The Castletons and Frandsens received a beautiful Edible Bouquet from "Beyond 5." Beyond 5 is  five LDS young men that have formed a band and will be traveling throughout Asia in August. The organizer of the band is one of the Castleton sons who also composes songs. The Area Presidency wants the youth of Asia to be exposed to contemporary uplifting music.  The Castletons and the Frandsens have been helping with all of the organizing.



All enjoying the Edible Bouquet.










Saturday Garnalee helped with the refreshments that were provided for the Priesthood training that was given by Elder Anderson and Elder Clayton. There were 70 local leaders trained in one session and 30 local unit leaders from mainland China in the other session.

It rained really hard for several hours on Saturday again. We have seen an increase in the rain and the temperature over the last couple of weeks. Hotter and more humid!

We had the opportunity to hear Elder Anderson speak again on Sunday at a special conference for the China Hong Kong (English) International District and the China Hong Kong Stake. He spoke on Hong Kong being the gateway to all Asia and how the Gospel will spread from here. The Lord doesn't care about position. He cares about discipleship--the keeping of covenants, love, magnifying your calling, service, etc.

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.