Hello from beautiful Hong Kong! It's a balmy 31 celsius, high humidity, and scattered sprinkles throughout the day. We're looking at good shopping weather, and in the evening it'll cool down enough so that we can have FHE at the Chapel. As an update; only family is allowed to e-mail me, so please go buy some $1.05 stamps and send them to my new address, which should be to the right in my contact info box.
Elder J E O'Gara
18 Dorset Crescent
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong
We flew from SLC to LAX, and I talked to some ladies from Cordoba about the Temple. We flew from LAX to HKG, through American, Canadian, more American, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, possible Koren, and then Taiwanese airspace, then landed in HK. 15 hours in the air, with a good half of it being occupied by talking to my new friend Nina, from Denmark. I got her address, so the missionaries there should be getting to her in a couple weeks. I love being a Missionary! Also, the flight food was really yummy, Cathay Pacific wins.
"Heung Gong" means "Fragrant Harbour", and boy is it ever! Real Asian food, turn a corner; durian, turn a corner; duck pond, turn the next corner really fast; roasting duck, don't turn anymore corners! You can probably look up all these places... Breakfast yesterday was at AOK in Kowloon Tong near Dorset Crescent, Lunch was at Café de Coral at Festival Walk, and dinner was at the Mission Home, 18 Dorset Crescent. Breakfast today was at the Mission Home, Lunch was at a different Café de Coral on Festival Walk, and now I'm here!
My trainer, or "dad" is Elder Marrott (think Merit), hence the name of this post. He is taller and thinner than me, and from Arizona, I think... He lived in Meridian for a few years. My "grandpa", Elder Marrott's trainer leaves today, so we got a very rare "3-Generation Photo" with Elder Maddux, Elder Marrott, and I. This is such a great group of young people! About 100 missionaries, with 1/4 locals, and between 1/4 and 1/3 Sisters. It's great!
Right now, open a new tab and look up "Mong Kok" on google maps. That's my area! Well, actually; it's TST, I can't pronounce the full name, but it's the Mong Kok MTR (subway) stops. It's steriotypical HK, so pretty much the best area to get "born" into. We have a ward of 120 stalwart members, and 1,000 less-active members that are going to become stalwart. Yeah, as in once we get them all coming back it'll be a strong Stake. How exciting is that! We are on the 14th floor (sahp sei), and boy, do we have a view! I look out my office window at the street below, full of people walking from shop to shop, feeling like a detective from a movie. There are so many people here, it's so good!
It's almost go time, so I will go get back to my Missionary work! I love you all so much! This is so much fun! Everywhere I go all I do is try to make people happier! Even if they don't accept the Gospel, I know that because they talked with me, they are happier people! That's what matters; helping people know that there is a point to this life, there is hope, and if you'd like to know how you can not only have that hope, but true and ever-lasting happiness; I can help you find it! This is an amazing work that I am about! I can feel the love of God flow through me as I strive to bless others! I can feel His hand guide me to those that I can help. Yesterday I taught 2 lessons at a park, and I don't know if either of them will end up joining the Church, but I know that they both went home happier because they could see my happiness, they could feel my excitement, and I had them both read the last 2 paragraphs of the Book of Mormon; so I also planted a seed of interest in their hearts.
I am so glad that God, through the Book of Mormon and this opportunity to do this great work, has, is, and will bless me. I know that His prophets have so much guidance to give, and even though it may be difficult to follow their counsel at times, I have seen how it has blessed me, and I intend on seeing how it wll continue to bless me! I know that it can be difficult to choose the right at times, but I promise all of you; that if you learn to rely upon the Lord, He will show you His strength. He is our Father, He wants to bless us, so just let Him! Allow the source of all power and light to energize and illuminate your life! No, it's not easy to allow someone else to take control of what you do, but once you realize that navigating the roads of life is crazier than driving in HK, you'll learn to love having someone else at the wheel. I love you all, I know God loves you, and I know He wants to help. This is my testimony, my knowledge of the truthfulness of my message, and I write it with the intent to glorify the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
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