Cornucopia

 Dear kids and grandkids,

Another busy week. Lots of pictures this time around. So buckle up and hang on. I'll explain as we go.

First, we are in the middle of another major typhoon tonight and tomorrow. We are already at a "9" out of "10".  Very high winds, rain at over an inch an hour all through the night, flooding, mudslides, etc. This is a picture of a guy taping up signs and barring the doors with steel rods towards the bottom. Also notice the sand bags at the bottom of the doors to keep blowing rain from going in under the doors.

We had to run into the office this morning (church had already been called off) before the typhoon got upgraded to an "8". Buses, trains, etc. shut down after an "8" is put up. This is Grandma in her newly acquired raincoat, braving the rain.

And this is me braving the wind with my poor umbrella. It got blown every which way but still survived -- barely.

But now, back in time to yesterday. We joined several other senior missionary couples on an informal tour of Macao. Macao is a separate former colony just south and down the coast from HK. When the British colonized HK, the Portuguese colonized Macao a hundred or so years ago. It was returned to China in 1999 and has been under China's control since then. But it is very European in architecture and some food. It is also the Las Vegas of China. Full of casinos (patterned after the Casinos in LV) but also with a very charming "old town" -- where we spent most of our time. Although you see Chinese signs everywhere, Portuguese is the second language (with some english here and there.)

Here is a sign in the immigration building advertising one of the shows in a casino downtown. This ones for Carli. Wouldn't it be cool to see Sound Of Music in Chinese??

Being portuguese, there are some beautiful old Catholic churches in the old town. This is St. Pauls church. 

Here we are entering the town on Portuguese street.

Lots of good Chinese street food up and down all these streets. Here I have just bought a bag of some of the very best li hing mui (called wah mui here) I've ever had. Seedless too! Behind us you can see the old facade of an old Catholic Cathedral which burned down over a century ago. This stone facade and the steps going up to it are all that are left. It is a big tourist draw.

As you can see. I loved all the posing that takes place here.

Another view of the cathedral from a side alley.

A beautiful cobblestone street straight out of old Europe, but all the signs are Chinese. You can see a bunch of our group on the sidewalk on the right.

The front of a police car.

We loved the colors everywhere.

Mom with a couple of her buds.

Another narrow street called Lovers Lane!

And another somewhat wider. But no cars.

Fresh, still hot real Chinese almond cookies. Yum!! We tried to buy a bag but they just insisted giving them to us.

In the afternoon we went to visit some pandas. They love and treasure their panda bears here.

Finally, Dick Hansen and I decided it was time to kick back. We were reading about some Japanese history. Dick served as a missionary in Japan.

In the evening we walked down several colorful streets like this.

And of course we had to eat. These yellow things are the biggest wonton that we had ever seen or eaten.

Delicious. And look at those noodles.

Now changing subjects. Back to this morning. On our way into the office to pick up some files and my laptop (since the office will be closed tomorrow) we walked through the bus terminal next door. It was filled with these tents and blankets on which dozens of Filipino women were having their lunch. They are the domestics that work for local families and this is what they do on their one day off. They really have no where to go and the city is full of clusters of these sweet women. They love to get together and eat, do karaoke, and ....

...some of them go to church.
Here a Filipino preacher is teaching her flock at church on the edge of a typhoon.  The white spots are rain as it started to fall.

There was something very powerful about listening to this woman as she passionately exclaimed to her friends that "the only thing that matters is a relationship with Jesus!" 

We loved how they had brought flowers, a "podium", and many of them were dressed in Sunday best. Again, never mind the raging typhoon.  
Just before I took this picture I walked up and introduced myself to the preacher since they were all looking at us. I told them I was a fellow Christian and missionary. I showed them my tag. They loved it and waved at me as I took their picture.

And here we have  several Indonesian Muslim domestics on the escalator on the way to their picnic in a typhoon. Check out their bags and backpacks. 

Finally, we watched two sessions of conference today. We enjoyed it so much, and the message seemed to be the very same as we heard being preached at the Bus Station Church: "The only thing that matters is a relationship with Jesus!"

But the remarkable experience for me came at the end of the morning session when the mixed tabernacle choir (a portion of the members were from all over the world, including a gentleman from HK that Mom and I sang with when we were part of the Golden Plates Choir several weeks ago). The choir sang "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing"; it was beautiful and moving. I was impressed not only with the beauty of the music but also with the absolute joy the choir member exhibited in their singing. I haven't felt the spirit move me like that in a while. 

If you didn't see this or you skipped it you must go watch it, or watch it again.

We love what we are doing here. But we also miss all of you so much.

Have a great week.

Mom and Dad, Grandpa and Grandma