My final Mission Conference

Dear Mum and Dad,

First off, no, the blog doesn't bother me - I'm fine with it. :)

This has been yet another busy week, as every week seems to be now. Today was a trip with the Zone to the Hong Kong History Museum, which was very interesting. It started at the formation of the planet and went all the way through to the turnover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule. I get the feeling it was built after the turnover, because it seemed to point out every natural disaster and war in Hong Kong up until 1997, at which point, life became much better. The British were shown as being horrible Opium barons who failed many times at communicating with the locals, so we started taking things by force. Apparently our only contribution to Hong Kong was opium and gas powered streetlamps.

I found out something interesting - Hong Kong is the world's largest shipping container port, with most of the containers being stationed in Kwai Chung, my area. That's nice.

Another highlight of this past week has been Mission Conference. It was held this past Tuesday 14th July, which happens to be the 60th anniversary of Elder Matthew Cowley dedicating the land of Hong Kong to the preaching of the Gospel, atop Victoria Peak. As such, mission conference was very special - it was also held atop the peak. It was President Chan's first conference, and was a little different to President Van Dam's style, but it was also really enjoyable. As a missionary soon to return home, I was asked to give a departing testimony. I spoke of how God loves us, and said, "God loves the Chinese people. He loves the Philipinas...He even loves the Americans sometimes." I hadn't meant to say it quite like that, but it was said. Thankfully, the Americans of the mission (a good 95% of the missionaries) have already gotten used to my sarcastic comments about their homeland.

As far as Harry Potter goes, everybody in China loves it too. As per usual, I'm trying desperately to avoid posters and adverts on busses and trains, and trying desperately to steer all conversations away from the topic, for fear that a younger missionary will blurt out the ending and ruin my two years of successfully avoiding finding out what happens in the final book. Right now I am blessed to not know anything. I'm considering asking President Chan for permission to begin reading the final book on the flight home, but I don't know if I will. After all, just because I'll be done with the mission by that point doesn't mean I'm released yet.

Ivan's case has become more complicated - or, more rightly, we now understand his situation better. We went over to his house last Saturday to ask his mother's permission. It turns out that she's not 100% sane. Elder Fisher tried for a good 20-30 minutes to get her to calm down enough just to stop screaming and listen to us for a second, but no such luck. Eventually we left defeated. So now we're working on a new attack strategy. But it might be a while.

So what exactly is a Merlin season pass? Is that just a regular season pass with a picture of Merlin on it, or is that the name for the lifetime pass you can buy? :P Legoland sounds like a lot of fun - I'm sure we can arrange a trip when I get home. Proms in the park sounds like fun too. As does the next Harry Potter. But you know what's interesting? Thinking about all the things I used to do when I was at home, like watching films, listening to music, playing computer games, reading books and comics - none of that stuff really seems very important right now. Perhaps that'll change once I'm surrounded by it again, but right now it doesn't have a great appeal for me. The time in every Move after Mission Conference is always the fastest, and we already have some kind of Zone Leader meeting schedualed for every day for the rest of the Move. We'll see how things go.

At Mission Conference, we were privileged to hear from President and Sister Goo, who are the current China Hong Kong Temple President and Matron. 20 years ago President Goo was the Hong Kong Mission President, and another 30 years before that he was one of the first missionaries in the Southern Far East Mission. This mission has gone through a lot of changes in a relatively short period of time. It was interesting to learn that when President Goo first started his mission, they didn't even have the Book of Mormon in Chinese yet! It's interesting to think just how new the Gospel is here. Sister Goo spoke to us and told us of her trials growing up as a pioneer in Hong Kong - one of the first members back when she was in her early teens. She said that her mother refused to let her go to all of her church meetings on a Sunday, so she would wake up extra early and do every possible chore around the house before everyone woke up, to kind of "guilt" her mother into letting her go - but she was only to go to the first meeting, and then should come home. She wouldn't come back. She'd stay for Sacrament meeting, and when she got home, the house would be locked. She'd wait there on the doorstep until dusk, when her older brother would open the door for her. All because her mother's minister told her every week how evil the Mormons are.

Then one day she and her best friend (who had introduced her to the church) were called into her headteacher's office at the Lutheran school she was attending. They were both expelled on the spot with no explanation. It was only later that they found out that this was because they'd been inviting schoolfriends to church activities and the Lutheran church's activities had been losing attendance.

This was a great disgrace to her and her family, and many family members would tell her again and again how worthless she was for being expelled and joining some horrid cult. But Sister Goo wasn't going to take that lying down, and stuck to her dream of graduating from University and becoming a teacher, even when everybody around her told her that she could never do it. She said that on the day she graduated from BYU Provo, her family members thought that she was crying because she was graduating, but she was really crying because she was so happy to have finally achieved her dream, despite such hard opposition throughout her life. Both she as President Goo (who was raised in Hawaii) are amazing examples of Chinese pioneers.

And do you know who else are great examples of pioneers? Neil and Debbie Loffhagen. Thank you so much for your sacrifices on my behalf. I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with such wonderful parents. Two weeks ago, you gave me a quote from Marcos A. Aidukaitis' Conference talk, "Because My Father Read the Book of Mormon". I agree with what he said. Because the two of you read the Book of Mormon and walked against the wind, I've been abundantly blessed throughout my life.

I love you lots and pray for all of you often,

Elder Matthew Loffhagen