The mighty Musk Ox

Blog post 52

Now that our emotional resilience class is over, I have had a new church assignment for the last few weeks which will continue through the rest of our mission. I am the new Hong Kong Island district Young Women specialist with a staff of one, me. I’m to help with occasional activities, being in charge of girls camp, providing food for Sunday after church devotionals with teens and their parents, speaking in sacrament  meetings, training, and random things like organizing the youth choir for next months district conference. Yesterday I presented training to Young men and young women leaders, with a theme of building on Christ as the sure foundation. Thankfully, the area president had created a masterful power point which I was able to use. One of the slides really caught my attention, which I’m sharing here.

Surely you are all familiar with this mighty long hair beast? They live way up north by the arctic circle. Though not aggressive, when their young are threatened by wild dogs or wolves, the adults circle around the calves and protect them as a group like you can see in this picture. Pretty effective, I’m sure.


If we think of parents or youth leaders as acting similarly, what type of dangers can we protect our teens from? The list is surely endless. I am relieved and grateful my wonderful children are all grown adults though of course I can’t help being concerned about their children, my grandchildren and as of a few days ago, my new great grandson, now an innocent infant just arrived from heaven. What will they face as they grow and what can I do to protect them from all the challenges of todays world? Yes we can be good examples. Yes we can teach them and encourage them and love them, no matter what choices they make. We can testify of truths which can strengthen them and which can help them stay close to their Father in Heaven and Jesus  Christ. We can let them know happiness comes from keeping Gods commandments and following His plan for us. As the older ones mature enough to stand on the outer circle, we can hope they too will be aware of the younger and more vulnerable calves. They can in turn serve as good examples.

I also have seen the power of a protecting herd in our Island branch of our sweet domestic workers. Many members of their families, all of whom are back in the phillippines, are behaving badly, especially  a high number of unfaithful husbands. These wives and mothers are aware of difficulties at home but feel a need to stay her to earn money to support their respective families . Late at night when their work is done and they are alone in their rooms, they reach out to and support each other through phone calls, photos and texts. They pour out their hearts, they listen, when they are together on Sundays, they rally around those in greatest need, hug together, counsel together and cry together. One of the strong pillars of the branch, Maribel Pedro, has lived and worked here with one employer for 17 years, sending home her earnings to family all that time. Yesterday she invited us and several other senior missionaries to join her in a farewell dinner before she leaves to return home for good.
Here she is, with a smile and heart as big as they come

.

While we are all happy for her, there will be a rather large gap in the circle of protectors surrounding the newer and perhaps weaker women. There were tender and tearful tributes  to Maribel shared, she also teared up recalling her many friends and memories of her time in Hong Kong, but happily she is at peace that this is the time for her to leave. In doing do, she gets to live the dream so many of them work towards. But the remainder of them will just circle around a little closer and new women will move in.
I’m constantly inspired by their faith in God, that he knows and loves them and that everything will work out in their lives.

A few days after my leg injury, though I should have taken it easy, I felt good enough that we went to the gorgeous Hong Kong heritage museum with a side trip to a nearby Buddhist temple. An entire gallery is dedicated to martial artist film star Bruce Lee.

A major special of sculpture inspired by famous local martial arts novelist Jin Yong was mesmerizing. Here we are in front of the studly Eagle King,

and next to him was a very impressive  dragon queen, looking like something out of Lord of the rings. Another special exhibit shared videos and costumes of famous singer/actress Anita Mui

There were plenty of rooms filled with Chinese artifacts like this cozy looking pillow…

And we chuckled at the big pop section showing music, tv, radio, films and live  entertainment in the 60s and 70s. Not sure who would buy an LP record entitled Rhapsody of the Four idiots who try to look like long haired Beatles as I think I would opt for an album by a duet of Annette Funicello look alikes called The Chopsticks.

But most impressive I think was the section dedicated to Chinese opera, with scenery, costumes, props and videos.

They still perform outside during fall festivals but a little of the music goes a long way. Just watching a few minutes of clips of classic plots was enough for me.

Across the river we visited the Che Kung temple, built to honor a 13th century military commander in an attempt to stop an epidemic. Evidently the plague disappeared on the day the temple was finished. Here is the giant statue of Che kung

And Tom cozying up to one of two giant lions guarding the entrance.

I didn’t capture worshippers lighting incense or praying since i did so earlier.

My parting picture to make you smile is this photo taken in the virtual makeup booth of the Chinese opera exhibit. Can you guess who the model is?

As april draws to a close, we will have warmer, rainy and steamy weather all week. So we learn to carry our umbrellas with us at all times!

Hoping you are all happy, healthy and at peace with the world.

Love, Janeen and Tom in Hong Kong