Diquattro Time

 Dear Family,

How are all my loved ones at home? We saw a darling little girl tonight on our walk home from the park. She was probably Violet's age and she was posing for her dad while he took pictures of her with the skyline in the background. It was the happiest thing to watch, but it made me miss all my posers at home!

It's been another great week here in Hong Kong full of assignments and the stress that comes with them. It was my turn to speak in the Everyday Branch and speaking in church is always stressful even if the congregation is small. They don't hold meetings on Mondays and on Tuesday I practiced, reviewed and prepared only to get bumped at the very last minute because there was a visiting General Authority who wanted to speak that day! Of course this was a great blessing for the women who were overwhelmed that someone like that would want to visit them. They took tons of pictures and couldn't stop smiling. 

I don't generally get too anxious over speaking until the last minute and that proved to be the case on Wednesday when I actually had to speak. When they give you the assignment they give you a topic and then tell you to be prepared for 10-40 minutes! This is because they never really know for certain if the other speakers will be there given that their bosses can be mercurial. I was ready and figured I'd just sort through my information on my feet when I saw whatever time it was I had left. But as the meeting started my anxiousness set in as I second guessed my confidence at re-writing my talk on my feet. After the sacrament, Loida, the first speaker, gave a remarkable talk on discipleship and charity...and she spoke for about 15 minutes. As she finished my brain was trying to sort through what I might say with the remaining time. There was a planned musical number and I sat back for that grateful I had a few minutes to think. Then I listened as the councilor in the branch presidency explained that a few years ago he had been to a concert at the conference center and listened to a woman from Scandinavia sing a beautiful song titled Slow Down. My ears perked up because as you all might remember, I was at that concert too and we have all listened to Sissel sing that song on YouTube.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFe84U__kt8  ) 

I was in awe that they would try something so ambitious and I was very curious to see what would happen. I can only say I was not prepared for what happened next! I admit, I assumed that this could only be an average to mediocre version, because who can do it like Sissel? Well, Analyn can. I was amazed! So much so that according to my friend in the congregation, my jaw literally dropped. Analyn  hit every note, held every fermata, and sang with such a sweet but powerful tone. My mind simply went blank and tears gathered as I watched and listened to this domestic helper who cleans house for a living praise God in ways I can only dream of. Let's be clear, I was NOT the highlight of that meeting!

Analyn on the left and Loida on the right.

I spoke two more times and every time was different, but there is something quite sacred about being able to take the sacrament four extra days in a week and to do so with the remarkable faith that these women have. They only have 1 day off a week after working often 16 hour days and they spend it at church, often going to the temple first before they come to the chapel. Dad and I are continually marveling at what we observe in them.

When the meeting started on Friday this sister leading the music was the only one who had come to the church, she was joined by the sister on the iPad on the podium. By the time the sacrament was over there were 7 more sisters, but truly, sometimes this branch is about serving the one. The congregations during the week vary from 5-30, you just never know.

As for our day jobs, they too were busy and interesting. I have received an additional assignment from Elder Johnson of the Asia Area Presidency to help the Asia Area develop some new expanded training for the Primaries. This is requiring me to reach out to women all over Asia and try and really get a handle on how Primary is working, and not working, so we can develop training that is useful in the real world of the church here. I'm pretty excited about this challenge and have loved the conversations I've already had with Indonesia and Hong Kong. This promises to be creative and interesting.

For Dad things were very busy this week as usual. Because most countries in Asia dislike religion in general, everything is a challenge from apartment leases, to banking, to permission to even meet. There is always something interesting to talk about. This week there is a whole country that would be happier without us so that's kept everyone busy. And it is turning Dad into a real work nerd. He is having so much fun that he literally wants to work on Saturdays and can't wait for Monday's to come.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers him declaring emphatically a few months ago that he would work 9-5 in Hong Kong and that was it! Well, that's not happening! Luckily, I like what I'm doing too, so we're happy here!

We went prowling around Saturday night and found this hamburger place called Two Ediots. It's close to the office and everyone loves it.

We loved the outdoor eating that's practically on the road of this side street. It sort of reminds us of a favorite place from when we were here before with AJ and Kelsey, but it's not the same.

Our best guess after watching for a few minutes is that this is a fortune teller. She was set up under on overpass and these women were all every intently listening to everything she said.

And this is food you wish you could eat. It's called Mango Mochi and it is delicious. Its essentially a half a mango wrapped in rice gelatin. I know that sounds suspicious, but you're going to have to take my word for it. It's amazing!

We hope your week has been as interesting as ours. We still find ourselves checking out all things Guatemalan and love that we now have a new part of the world to love!

Be good and know that we love you so much,

Love, Grandma and Pampa