Laos and Myanmar Visitors

In November and early December we had the privilege of hosting visitors from two of our countries; Laos and Myanmar. Our Laos visitors were Branch President Khamphee and his wife, Boualay. We had met them in July when we visited their country. President Khamphee is also the driver for our two missionary couples, so we had many hours together as we visited English classes, wheelchair and prosthesis factories, and ceremonies for a school clean water project. (See our August blog). The main purpose of their visit was to attend the Hong Kong Temple to receive their special endowment ordinances and to be sealed together as husband and wife eternally. This was a long anticipated journey. They have been church members since 2004 and this was their first visit to Hong Kong. The following letter was sent back to our couple missionaries in Laos, Elder and Sister Riser and Elder and Sister Fountaine. They in turn forwarded it to several couples who had served in Laos during the past five years. To our surprise, one of these couples was Cecil Clark and his wife, our dear friends from Stanford and Provo times. It is a small world.

"We have a had a delightful time this week with Khamphee and his wife. I'm sure they will want to share the week with you and other members of the branch when they return. We thought we'd give you a brief account of how things went, and send a few pictures. They took many on their camera. We met them at the airport on Monday with no problem. The arrival area at the Hong Kong airport is very nice. It is spacious and thus it is very easy to spot your people. They were pretty tired. They slept some in the Bangkok airport Sunday night, and dozed on the bus from Laos to Bangkok Saturday night. They did receive their patriarchal blessings in Bangkok and enjoyed District Conference. We took them to the temple on an airport bus and although it was a Monday, President Goo, temple president, was there to greet them and take them in his car to the patron housing apartment about 3/4 of a mile away. We left them to rest and explore the area. They walked to the temple each morning and returned at night. They could have taken a bus that goes very close, but they chose to walk.

On Tuesday, we accompanied them on their endowment session. I was able to assist in the initiatory for President Khamphee. They listened intently and seemed to be impressed with everything. As a sealer, I was able to seal them for eternity. They then fed us lunch. They took their food each day to the Temple and ate in the basement eating area. We returned to some meetings in our office and they went on another sesson. They did the baptisms for their families on Wednesday and inititiatories. They also did 2 endowment sessions.

On Thursday, we were in the temple with the other missionary couples and the Area Presidency for our monthly temple activity. Khamphee and Buoalay joined our session. I did one of his male names as well. After the session, the couples and Area Presidency held a testimony meeting in the adjoining ward meeting house while President Khamphee and his wife did another endowment session. After that session, I officiated at the rest of their sealings including their two deceased sons, each of them to their parents, and some of her additional sealings. We finished all but two male that needed the endowments finished before ther sealing. They will do those tomorrow. We then did some sightseeing. We took the MTR train with its three tranfers to Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island and dazzled them with the tall buildings and traffic. We took them to our area administration building and they met with Stanley Wan and Terry Oakes who remembered them from earlier contacts. We showed them the building and went to the tram that takes visitors to the Peak, a prominent hill overlooking Hong Kong. The view is spectaculor, day or night. After supper at Burger King, we went by ferry back to Kowloon and then a doubler decker bus ride back to the temple. They sat on top deck in the front seats so they had a great view. It was 9 p.m. when we got them back, so we were all tired. We said goodbye and felt the warmth of their thanks. They are sure they can get to the airport tomorrow morning okay without us. The airport bus stops very close to the apartment.

Thank you for helping us share Hong Kong with this special couple. We will remember this week forever. Elder and Sister Smith

We greet them at the airport. They are tired but they are still smiling. President Khamohee speaks good English but his wife only a little. The smile communicates greatly.

In front of the Temple fountain.

We enjoyed so much our time with them.

In front of the Area Administration Building in Wan Chai.

We went to the Peak at night time.

This was our first visit to the Peak at night. The lights of the city are beautiful.

Our second couple to visit was Elder and Sister Loughmiller on their way back to Texas at the end of their 21 month mission to Myanmar. Because we were unable to visit Myanmar this summer because of visa restrictions, this was the first opportunity we had to visit them in person. We met them at the airport and they stayed at a hotel, South Pacific, just behind our apartment. Because we were very busy with our Asia office Senior Missionary Conference and many new projects to get approved, we let them take a couple of tours on their own. We did take them on a boat to see the night light show and we took them to see the Temple. It was closed for winter renovation which was disappointing, but they still loved to be on the grounds and get to see the building. We visited the mission offices on the 2nd floor and Elder Kau, Mission Secretary, showed them the first floor chapel and classrooms.

We met the Loughmillers at 6 p.m. on December 2 and walked over to the ferry. The ride wasn’t real crowded. The weather was cool, but we enjoyed seeing the lights. Many of the buildings were decorated with Christmas designs. That was different from what we saw earlier in the year when we took the ride with the couples. We stopped at KFC for a little bit to eat on the way home. They seemed to have enjoyed the day. We stopped to buy some jewelry from a handicapped sister in a wheelchair that was on the crossover bridge. Her name was Nikita Tam. She spoke good English and said she had made the items. Jeanie bought two pendants and the Loughmiller’s bought 5 bracelets and two pendants.

The Hong Kong Temple.