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.

Island II Branch Activities

As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, an important part of our mission is working in a branch of the church with 200 Philippine sisters and 3 Philippine brothers who are working as domestic servants and drivers respectively here in Hong Kong. There are 4 other branches like ours. Most of the sisters were Church members in the Philippines before they came to Hong Kong. Many served missions for the Church. Many are married and left husbands and children to come to Hong Kong so they could earn money to send home to their families. The children are raised by husbands and extended families, and the mothers go home on holiday to see their loved ones. They keep in touch with cell phones either talking or texting their families. Other sisters are converts from missionary efforts here in Hong Kong. Our branch has had ten converts this year.

I am serving as a counselor in the Branch Presidency. The other counselor and the branch clerk are also senior missionaries. Our wives wotk with the sistersin visiting teaching, class instructors, and just being a listening ear. The Branch President is a church employee, Terry Oakes, who happens to be one of my bosses during the day. So, on week days we are on the 8th Floor of our building. On Sundays we are on floors 1-6. Since the sisters only have one holiday a week, all church activities are held on Sunday except for a few on national holidays. That includes our worship three hours of block meetings, leader planning meetings, baptismal services, home teaching lessons, visiting teaching discussions, family home evenings, socials, dinners, interviews, and handling donations. I start my Sundays by walking to Church at 8 a.m. and end by walking home about 7 p.m. Sister Smith comes a little later and often goes home before me. But it is still a long day for her as well.

The following several pictures were taken at the Relief Society Visiting Teaching Conference in October held after our block meetings. All of the preparation had to be done on Sunday morning. The Relief Society Presidency had pictures of each branch member and individually placed them on a cut out figure and then on a large poster board. Part of the theme dealt with growing in God's garden. The activities included a talk, choral singing, dancing, and then food. Each month the branch has at least one big activity like, this including a dinner for over 100. Many of the sisters are excellent cooks, so they know how to take care of large groups.



This poster took a lot of planning and preparation by the leaders.

The finished project with Sister Divina in front. (Click to enlarge and read the scripture)

The activity committee working on the lunch. They do have fun. Sister Jane, the chairperson of the Activities Committee is in front in the multi-colored dress. Other sisters from left to right are Sisters Violeta, Trinidad, Paz, Sheryl, Roselyn, Leonora, Divina.

Sister Beverly is the Home Teaching Coordinator for the Branch

Sister Gemaly



President Oakes is always ready to add his counsel and blessing on the activities.

The sisters can make costumes out of anything. They love to dance, and get a lot of participation. The sisters range in age from early 20s to 60s. It is hard to tell their age.

Sister Dona loves to dance and her gracefulness is noticeable.

They also love to sing. Their pronounciation of words causes most "i's" to come out as long "e's", but that just adds to the charm. e.g., I am Elder Smeeth. Left to Right Front Row: Sisters Rio, Maribel, Paz, Florinda, Maricel, Emily, Roselyn, Precy, Jocie . Rear visible Gloria, Divina

Sister Jenetta, the tree, is one of the few grey haired grandmothers in the branch. The idea of this skit is to care for each "flower" through love in visiting teaching.



A smiling and fun quartet of dancers. L to R: Sisters Arlyn, Dona, Rhodora, Marynn

The following pictures were taken of our farewell dinner for Elder and Sister Bench. Elder Bench was serving as a Counselor in the Presidency the last few months of his mission. Sister Bench assisted the Relief Society in many ways each week, including with her husband in a family home evening and home teaching group that meets two times a month. (There are 5 groups of 40 sisters, each led by a missionary couple)

The head table with President and Sister Oakes and Sister and Elder Bench ready to eat thedir dinner. Elder Bench served as the Area Medical Adviser for 18 months. His specialty is rhematoid arthritis. Sister Jhona of the Relief Society Presidency looks on.

Their Family Home Evening group performd and sang to them. It is hard to say goodbye to these sweet sisters. They truly become your friends. We are already feeling sad at the thought of saying goodbye in six months.

Sisters watching the performances.

Sister Luz and Brothers Isidro and Noel get ready to sing to the group. Brother Noel is the Elder's Quorum President. His wife and children are in the Philippines. He gives the sisters in the branch a lot of support, and he has a wonderful voice as well. He is 40 years old.

More dancing with impromptu costumes to add to the fun.

I gave a few remarks to thank them for their service. The flowers were presented by their family home evening/home teaching group of sisters. The Benches returned to their home in Salt Lake City.

The couples on the 8th floor took the Benches to lunch at Del Antes. From left to right, E/S Gibbons (ERS), E/S Smith, Welfare, E/S Woolsey (Welfare), E/S Bench (Medical), Sister Oakes, wife of Branch President.

Visit to Macau

October 31. Halloween Day, and we spent it in a neighboring island, Macau. This island is now the gambling center of Asia. Before 1999, it was a Portugese colony just like Hong Kong was British. The gambling started in the days of the Portugese reign, but it has really taken off since the transfer a decade ago. There are 32 hotel casinos, with several names from Las Vegas. Sands, Venetian, Grand. The Venetian is the largest casino in the world with 3,000 hotel rooms. 22 missionaries from the Hong Kong area spent the day as tourists. We travelled by a turbo jet boat for an hour to go the 50 miles to the island. (A 35 mile bridge between Hong Kong and Macau is under construction to be complted in 2016). Elder and Sister Halverson arranged for a bus tour on the island and made the ferry arrangements. In addition to 6 couples from the office, we had the Nields and Berretts, church employees in our ofice. We also had Elder and Sister Kau from the Mission office, Elder and Sister Elia, a new couple working the apartments for the mission, and Sisters Baker and Spoonover from Discovery Bay. The weather was dry and pleasant. The tour guide, Victor, showed us many of the sights. Much of Macau has been built on reclaimed land. Long bridges connect the island to a peninsula and to mainland China. 22 million visitors come to Macau each year. Macau’s population is 500,000, many of them workers for the government and the casinos. One man owns a large share of the casinos. There are no taxes in Macau. That makes the country popular for corporations. .

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Some of our companions. Elder Bench in foreground, Elder and Sister Elia on right.

We stopped at a cultural center with a manmade mountain. The rides for the theme park weren’t open when we stopped at about 10:30, but Jeanie and I walked up to get a good view of the harbor

The theme park and shops are in the front of the "mountain"

Sister Smith on her "mountan" hike.

Some of Macau's hotels and businesses from the mountain top.

The mountain even had a man-made waterfall.

We were dressed casual. The Latter-day Saints Charity shirt was a gift from Elder and Sister Millecam in Indonesia.

We went to the “tower, a needle like structure that had an observation deck on the 58th floor with window floors to look down, and an outdoor observation deck on the 61st floor where they had installed a bungee jump. We didn't see anyone actually try it, but they did have pictures. That was definitely not for me.

A beautiful view of the Macau harbor and downtown from the "Needle"

This is where the bungee jumpers took off. A platform was pushed out and the participant went flying. Not for me!!

We visited a standing wall of an old Catholic Church. The wooden church had burned over a 100 years ago, but the stone front with its statues of Saints was preserved.


We drove by the Government Buildings homes of the rich casino owners on the way to the largest casino, the Venetian. They have recreated Venice with a canal, singing gondoliers, shops, beautiful sky ceilings, and a food court. We had our lunch there. Following is the advertisment for the Venetian.

The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, is one of Asia's most exciting entertainment destination, and nowhere else in Asia will you find such a rare combination of facilities, attractions and amenities. The 3,000 suites, each with more than 70 sqm of space and lavish Italian marble bathrooms take luxury to a new level. Step into the world's largest casino with over a 1000 slot machines and more than 600 gaming tables open around the clock. Experience shopping with over 350 international shops, be dazzled by the street performers, or take a ride on an authentic Venetian gondola, all at the resort. Food service is available any time of the day or night at The Venetian from gourmet meals, to noodle bars, to in-suite dining. The bars and lounges at The Venetian are the perfect places for you to kick back, relax and enjoy quality time with your friends. Leisure activites include swimming pools, the V Spa, V Gym, and the Grado Golf course.

The entrance to the Venetian from the parking lot.

This is the created Venice shop area with its beautiful cloudy artificial ceiling.

This gondolier had a beautiful operatic tenor voice that flled the canal area. They had two boats going. Passengers sometimes were in the boats.

These containers show how busy the Hong Kong ports are. We passed them on the way back home from our Macau adventure.