12th email from Hong Kong

Merry Christmas one and all!

This is my closest email to Christmas itself, and a lot has happened in the past few days.

For Christmas, I have recieved a new companion! His name is Elder Walgren and he is from Provo, making him my third Utah companion. He was actually Elder Alspaugh's MTC companion, which is pretty fun. He seems really cool and I'm looking forward to serving with him.

I'm still in my first area, West Point, on Hong Kong Island itself, so now I get to show around this new companion, who has spent most of his mission in far more rural parts of Hong Kong and has never served on The Island before. Elder Alspaugh is now a Zone Leader somewhere else, and I still get to enjoy Elder Ng as my own Zone Leader, with Elder Lewis (who I have yet to get to know) with him.

Moves are done in a very interesting way here in Hong Kong. With the exception of Temple Square, we are pretty much the smallest mission in the world (please correct me if I'm wrong and there's a smaller one), and being blessed with our Temple/Mission Home/Chapel, as we have been, every Elder and Sister who moves goes to the Temple, leaves their old companion behind and finds their new one. We had a rather fun trip to do so today.

Elder Alspaugh and I went to Seminary this morning, as we do every Preparation Day, so as to integrate with the ward. After that, he packed his last few things into his bag and off we went. We had been told that our post - including several packages - was waiting for us in Wan Chai, the main church building on Hong Kong Island, having been brought there by the Zone Leaders who had visited the temple recently. This was a little awkward, as it meant that in order to pick up Elder Alspaugh's, we had to go there first, then carry his packages with us back to the Temple.

A huge mass of bags for all the missionaries had formed just outside the MTR station, and Elder Work was there with his companion, watching over them (so that they didn't have to be hauled to the Temple). I stayed with Elder Work while my and his companions went to the Temple. Eventually we were relieved by another companionship coming through, and we went up. I picked up a Christmas card from Ted and Sue Pickerskill and some new supplies, and then after Elder Work found his new companion, Elder Ng and I went back to the bags to see if our new companions were waiting for us there.

Elder Lewis was indeed waiting for Elder Ng. I stayed on bag duty. Eventually, Elder Walgren arrived and we greeted, and I let him go up with some other Elders to the Temple to pick up his stuff while myself and another Elder watched the bags. We got to a point where there were two companionships watching over the bags, both of which had to leave quickly, and myself stuck in the middle, companionless, kind of in a threesome with both. Eventually Elder Walgren returned and we watched the bags for a while more as both companionships (and the one that escourted Elder Walgren) left. Finally we were relieved from our post (I myself had been there on and off for about 2 hours) and we headed back to Wan Chai, where I picked up my Christmas packages, and we went on our way. It was an incredibly long journey back and forth, and I'm now very tired from carrying other people's suitcases around all day.

Now I'll bet you're wondering; "Packages? Why more than one?" and for that I must ask you to thank Big Steve. He sent me a big box of nicely wrapped presents, which according to his card he bought on lastminute.com, and tonnes of Salt And Vinegar crisps! I was amazed when I opened it, and was thrilled. So thank him very much from me. I've not yet opened your package yet, as I'm saving it for Christmas (as I am the crisps and the wrapped presents Steve sent me).

Anyway, to business. In order to phone you, I'm going to buy a phone card. The most convenient time for me to phone will be 10pm my time, which I believe is 2pm your time - if that's not right, just expect the call at whatever time it is in England when it's 10pm in Hong Kong. Just in case, though, bear in mind that this time is subject to unexpected change at a random time, and so while I'm aiming for phoning at this time, it may not be the time I actually phone, depending on how things go. But it can't possibly be any later than that, because I have to be in bed by 11:00. Did I tell you that in Hong Kong, because of the busy city life and the active night-life, we get up at 7:00 and go to bed at 11:00? It's really nice to not have to get up at 6:30.

Just as a note of warning for you - the mission rule states that my call home cannot exceed 40 minutes in length. Elder Ng's been very blunt on that; 39 minutes is fine, 41 minutes is against the rules. I guess there are a lot of missionaries who find it hard to stick to that.

Yesterday, a family in the ward called the Woo family "cheng'd" us out. To cheng in Chinese is to invite/ask/give, and so to cheng someone out is to buy them dinner. They took us to some kind of strange foreign restaurant called "KFC", which was rather odd. The KFC menu in Hong Kong is somewhat different than in Britain - no chips, apart from those criss-cross fries they called "Web Fries" at Burger King when Spider-Man came out - but they do have Portuguese Egg Tarts! Po-Tas, as they're called in Cantonese, are really popular here. Because it's Christmas, they had special "Winterberry" egg tarts, which looked to me suspiciously like a normal egg tart with two blackberries and a raspberry on top, with powdered sugar sprinkled on it.

After eating lots of chicken and various other things, Elder Alspaugh and I went and asked the lady at the till (we were eating in the restaurant) for 14 glasses of hot water. We then took them to the table, mixed in some hot chocolate mix we'd bought, and introduced them to the tradition known as Tim Tam Slam.

There's an Australian biscuit in Hong Kong called a Tin Tam - basically a penguin bar, only it doesn't taste as good. To Tin Tam Slam, you bite off both ends of the Tin Tam, and use the biscuit as a straw to drink the hot chocolate; sucking it up through the goopy middle layer. It's really weird and I've never had much success with it, but it's a mission tradition. So we did it with the Woo family, and basically none of them were willing to try it. I know how they feel.

My first day with Elder Alspaugh, I was ridiculously hot. When we first got into our apartment, I was so hot and tired that I could barely move. Elder Alspaugh got a nice big bowl of cold orange juice for me, which I eagerly drank, but he then went away and presented me with a bowl of Dim Sum; two little balls full of stuff floating in hot soup. I could NOT eat that; I was going to die from the heat as it was, let alone with boiling water in my stomach. Somehow I managed to decline without hurting his feelings too much, and all seemed well.

That night, after having promised me all day, we were going to do this "Tin Tam Slam" thing, he finally said that it was time. I was just about ready to pass out, I was so tired - and still rediculously hot. He reconsidered doing it with me then, but Elder Chan, another missionary in our apartment, insisted, as it is tradition. So I very reluctantly stuck my face in a bowl of hot chocolate and drank it through a biscuit. It was pretty horrible. Finally, satisfied I'd done enough, Elder Alspaugh helped me finish my hot chocolate and I fell into bed and slept very soundly.

It's been 11 weeks since then, and for the first time, I have a new companion. I'm excited to see what will come of the time I get to spend with him, what our relationship will be like, and how the work will progress as we do it together. It's going to be a very interesting experience - and one I'm very much looking forward to.

I did send you a Christmas package with a few little things in - very few - and I hope you enjoy them when they arrive in approximately...February. There's also a Japanese hymn book and a bracelet for Suzi in there, which I'd really appreciate if you could help get to her. It's cheaper for me if you forward it on via Royal Mail or some such system.

Anyway, it's time for me to go. I love you all and hope that you have a Merry Christmas, and a fun time doing whatever you're going to be doing.

Lots and lots of love,

Elder Loffhagen