Happy Hong Kong Return to China Day!

Dear family,

It's been a busy week. We've had a lot of miracles and a lot of memorable experiences.

Yesterday was a very interesting day here in Hong Kong - it was the twelfth anniversary of Hong Kong returning to Chinese rule. There are mixed opinions on whether or not that was a good thing here. For us missionaries, it just ended up being really annoying.

Every Wednesday we send a District to a regular service project at a charity called Crossroads - I think I've mentioned it before? We normally go and dig trenches or prepare shipments of cargo to third world countries. This week, our district went. It took us about an hour on the bus to get there, but when we arrived, the entire place was empty. Confused, we explored around a bit, and Elder Bagley mentioned that this had happened once before, on Christmas Eve, because the charity was closed. I suddenly remembered that it was a national holiday, and at that moment we spotted a passing staff member who lives on site, who was heading home with a bag of shopping. When he saw us he said, "I'm so sorry! We tried to contact you and tell you not to come today!" Well, all we could do was laugh, then hop on the bus and go home.

Later in the evening, everyone was anticipating a huge firework display that was going to go off in the middle of the Hong Kong harbour. A lot of missionaries had gotten special permission to go, but we'd had a better plan - after hiking up the infamous "Monkey Mountain" (so named because it has a lot of wild monkeys) with our ward last month, we'd found a large rock on the top of the mountain with a wonderful view of all of Hong Kong. Having been to the fireworks before, I knew that finding a good view is incredibly difficult, and we determined to hike up Monkey Mountain last night with the ward again to watch the fireworks. It was a missionary organized activity, but unlike the last time when we only had Young Men, this time we had a wide range of ages and genders - including an elderly lady, affectionately called "Paw Paw" (Grandma) but the locals.

We hiked most of the way up the hill and Paw Paw was getting tired, so half the group stayed to watch the fireworks at a bridge over a dam we found, which gave an excellent view, while the rest of us continued up the hill for an even more excellent view. We got there in time for the fireworks and watched the flashing lights of Hong Kong below us. We waited. And waited. And waited. I called one of the Mandarin Elders who was down among the crowds to see if the fireworks had started yet, and he said no. About half an hour after the fireworks were schedualed to start, he phoned me back and said that because of a protest on Hong Kong island, the police had cancelled the fireworks. Well, it seemed that everything we were trying to do that day had been cancelled, and again, I couldn't help but laugh. We all made our way back down the mountain and back home.

This week we sat down with an investigator, I, and set a baptismal date. Ivan's situation is interesting - he told us of his great desire to keep all the commandments and be baptised, but unfortunately his mother is very much against him doing so. She's threatened to burn down the church is he comes back. Every now and then, he would sneak out on Sunday morning to come to church, but for the most point he'd been cut off from us - until about two weeks ago. I'm not sure why, but two weeks ago he started attending church regularly again, plus many of the activities we have during the week. I asked if his mother knows where he is when he comes to church, and he said that she probably suspects.

So on Tuesday we sat down with him. Elder Fisher laid down a few options for baptismal dates with him, and promised him that if we set a date and pray and fast, God will provide the way for him to be baptised. The only question in the matter is when. I prayed to know when he should be baptized, and immediately after the prayer, he got up off his knees and sat back in his chair. "Wow," he said, "wow. I just heard a really clear voice say 'three weeks' time'." As we looked at the calendar, he again felt very strongly about the 12th of July, which at the time was three weeks away (now it's more like two). The three of us committed to make it happen. We will fast, pray, and Ivan will ask his mother for permission. We're about to see a great miracle take place.

I think I would indeed like to go to the Manchester Conference, and if Julian and Chris are going, that makes things even better. Tell Jess I'd really like her to go too.

I do not know a Jessica Gray, but I do know this - One time when Julian went down from his school to visit Sally Ann, he was in the process of writing a letter to me, and she and her flatmates saw it. So I imagine that might be the connection there.

Everyone here has heard about Michael Jackson's death - what a surprise! Oh well.

Thank you for the extra money. I don't think it'll be necessary, but thank you anyway. I don't have much of anything I need to buy, apart from Dad's Buddha statue. A while ago I decided to buy some Hong Kong films to watch when I get home, but didn't want to have to go into those film shops while I'm still serving here. So I got a member by the name of Joe to help me out. For $150 he got me six DVDs which have all, at one point or another, been on the bus stop ads while I've been here. That should be fun. So now I'm done in that respect and probably won't be buying very much else before I come home - it's when I get back home that I'll be needing money. School, driving lessons, a car, a computer, new clothes...oh dear. So much to buy and no money to do it with.

In the meantime, if there's anything else anyone wants me to get, let me know. My time is up for today.

Love you lots,

Elder Matthew Loffhagen