Elder Ward

My very first facial Yay!!


Sister Flora's baptism

  This morning, April 28, I got a call from president Chan.  That always starts your heart beating fast!  He has called me to be the new Distribution Coordinator for the mission.  Tonight I will pack my things and tomorrow morning the APs will come pick me up to go to the mission home so I can start training.  I don't know exactly all it entails, but I do know that form Monday to Friday I will be in the mission home doing office work, Saturday and Sundays I'll be in International proselyting, I get to drive, I will live in the temple and I'll become a District Leader!  I have mixed feelings about this as I will miss the people in Aberdeen, but I'll go where the Lord wants me to go.
   The first week in the office has been pretty crazy!  We had to run all over Hong Kong to get my drivers license and check out some apartments.  On Satuday i did my first day of international missionary work, which is completely different from Chinese work.  Most of the people we talk to are domestic workers from the Phillippines or Indonesia and most all of them are women.  We're speaking English, Cantonese, Tagalog...well some of are speaking those languages!  I stick mostly with English!
   We had a huge youth conference with youth coming from all over for meetings and activities.  An EFY band called National Tribute came all the way from the States to play most of the music we've been listening to on our iPods since we went into the MTC!  But it was cool to have so much going on.  We had dinner with Pres. and Sister Chan in their apartment in the temple...pretty weird to be living across the hall from your mission president!  Got to help orient new missionaries on Wednesday.  It was fun to see how excited and nervous they were and to remember that i was just like that about a year ago.
   This week we've been moving furniture and i've been driving a big white van, on the wrong side of the road!  I've also been getting lots of exercise lifting furniture into and out of tiny elevators.  Office work is a different aspect of missionary work.  instead of spending the majority of our time on the streets sharing the gospel, we are serving the missionaries and doing things behind the scenes.  The Lord is blessing us in all we do, especially on the days we get to go out to proselyte.  We are getting lots of referrals from members and have 4 solid baptismal dates now. 
  Wow - i've been living in Hong Kong for an entire year (May 25).  I used to thing one year was a long time, but it's beginning to seem shorter and shorter.  A lot has happened in that year.  I've gotten used to eating just about anything, whether it swims, or crawls, or flies; whether it has bones, no bones, fat, or cartilage.  I've kind of learned a new language; i'm meeting loads of new people from just as many different countries, and I've done my best to share the Restored Gospel with them.  I've seen miracles; i've received blessings and i've seen the lives of others change because they accepted the gospel.  Sister Flora was baptized last Sunday.  She was so excited and ready.  My companion, Elder Cheong baptized her. 
   Elders Holland and Bednar were in Hong Kong this week.  They each gave some powerful talks and shook hands with all of us.  Elder Bednar even came into our apartment (he was having dinner with Pres and Mrs Chan) and talked with us for a bit.  Pretty cool to meet two Seers and Revelators.  We are pretty lucky, not to mention all the things they taught us in the two days there were here.  We are really blessed.