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Our Thoughts on Leaving Hong Kong

Shirley Jackson's Thoughts:

Who would have thought eighteen months ago that the time would pass by so quickly and it would be time to go home so soon? Who would have thought that we would love our Hong Kong experience as much as we did? Who would have thought we would hate to leave our 600 square feet apartment, our busy neighborhood, our beloved senior couples and our office friends? Who would have thought it would be so hard to leave? Who would have thought we would enjoy the Island 2nd Branch so much? Who would have thought we would miss all those new, scary experiences?


Leaving is just one of those bittersweet experience. On one hand we can’t wait to get home to our family, and on the other hand we hate to give up our Hong Kong families. But as with all things, change is inevitable and our time is up.

So we are off - heading homeward.

We packed our things and found that we could get everything in - Amazing! We cleaned the apartment, and it looked so good we considered staying! We were ready to leave. After a short week in China we were ready to head homeward.
We planned on just catching the E11 bus in front of our apartment and riding it to the airport. We just needed a couple of extra hands to get us aboard, and Elder and Sister Bench and Ashley Chan volunteered. And as we left the office, yes we made a quick trip back as well as I worked in a haircut, Ashley told us she was going with us. So there were 5 of us to hoist the bags aboard. We lugged them on and Sister Bench waited on the sidewalk. The bus driver felt we weren’t moving quickly enough, so he took off, with Elder Bench still aboard. You should have seen the look on Sister Bench’s face when we took off down the street with Elder Bench still on board.

Well Elder Bench got off at the next stop and Ashley told him not to worry, he didn’t have to pay! And we were off. Ashley stayed with us until we finally entered the area where only passengers can go. What a great friend!

Farewell Hong Kong. Farewell 12th floor view of Victoria Harbour. Farewell Ashley and Anna. Farewell Joyce and Joseph and our practical jokes. Farewell Security staff to greet us everyday. Farewell senior couples. Farewell wonderful office staff. Farewell Ben - my last good haircut and perm. Farewell Octopus card and bus rides and MTR and ferries. Farewell Island 2nd girls - Sundays will never be as much fun. Farewell strange smells, and fish! Farewell Saturday’s out getting lost. Farewell to the fun, the work, the crowded sidewalks, the wet market, the shopping and the junk stores. Farewell Stanley runs. Farewell to it all - Hello Utah, family, home!

And in only five hours we were home! We left at 3:30pm and got home at 8:30pm the same day - but actually almost 24 hours later. And there they were! The whole Utah bunch. What a beautiful sight! We passed out "treasures" and after they left found ourselves not the least bit tired, might as well unpack before the jet lag kicks in.

Home again, home again! And it’s strange. Good, but strange!


DeWayne Jackson's Thoughts:

This scripture best describes our mission, and is found in the Doctrine and Covenants Section 84 verse 88: "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."


Yes, we were received by the people in Hong Kong and immediately we felt welcome. Our Father in Heaven certainly prepared the way and He was on our right hand and our left hand, and his earthly angles did bear Shirley and I up.

What a great blessing it was for us to serve the Area Presidency. They are wonderful men and we were certainly touched by their acts of kindness and the many things they taught us.

We were certainly blessed by the office staff. From the day we arrived we were supported and welcomed by them. What an opportunity it was to work shoulder to shoulder with Ashley and Anna, we love them dearly.

What a blessing the senior couples are. They become your family away from home and became our very close and dear friends. They all share the same challenges that we did.

What a blessing it was to serve in the Island 2nd Branch. This was one of the highlights of our mission. We were certainly blessed by these unbelievable, dedicated sisters. Sister Bench shared a thought with us that reflects how these sisters really touch you. "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same." These sisters did touch our lives and we will never be the same.

I really didn’t want to serve this mission, but it was one of the greatest experiences Shirley and I have every had. I can’t express my true feelings, there just isn’t enough space. Sister Woolsey summarized our feelings with this simple thought, "Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possible can, for you many never be able to experience it again." We will never be able to experience again what we did while serving in the Asia Area Office.

Last Day of our Mission

At noon the tenth floor lunch bunch had lunch for us. They brought all the fixins for good sandwiches, chips, fruit and cream puffs. The best lunch bunch lunch we've had bar none - but way tooo much!

Tonight we went to the Peak with Vivien, Ashley and Edward Ho. We planned on running home and doing a little packing and getting back by 4:30 in time to go. We never made it home so we just went as we were, suit, tie, skirt and all.
We took the Peak Tram up, we've never done that before. We have gone down, but never up. Then we walked out to show them the date carved on the rock, which none of them had ever seen. We just kept walking, all around the peak trail which took us almost two hours. By the time we got all the way around it was dark and we headed for Burger King for dinner. Dew jumped on the escalator too quickly and missed the floor where Burger King is located, so we had to wait for him to go up two floors before he could come back down to where we waited patiently.
We all ate way tooo much. In fact Ashley and Vivien both ordered Whoppers cut in half and ate half. Poor Edward ended up eating his Whopper, and 3/4 of theirs. He was to the brim by the time he finished. We then caught the bus back down, and it was nice to find out that riding the bus down made all of them slightly sick too. We walked Ashley home and then on to our house, which won't be our house much longer.

All evening they kept thinking of little pieces of advice to give us for our trip to China. And as we left they all told us to call if we needed help. They are soooo very good to us.

Lunch at Tony Romas

Some of the staff took us out for lunch, and guess where they chose? Tony Roma's - American all the way.

Those that attended where; Edward Ho (taking the picture), Samuelanna Woo, Lock, Kam, Anna Leung, Jennifer Chan, Jamie Wong, Nicole Hui, Ashley Chan and Vivien Poon. We had a wonderful lunch, and we are going to miss them, they are such great people.

Last Monday Devotional

When Elder and Sister Newell went home we decided not to have anymore farewell songs, because of the effort of those writing the music and lyrics.


Today was our final devotional with the staff. Elder Woolsey gave a great message about his wood carving. Following the devotional they asked if we would come up on the stand. I thought they wanted us to talk, but NO they sang a special song and it included the entire staff. When they finished singing Sister Bench had prepared a poem for us and then awarded us with a wonderful scrap book with pictures and comments from the staff and coupoes. And then they asked Shirl and I to talk. What a wonderful gift, we don’t know how to thank them.

Poem by Sister Bench
FAVORITE THINGS OF HONG KONG
(Words by Carol Bench to My Favorite Things)
Black rain on Hennessy,
8 typhoon warnings,
Smells of the wet market,
Teleconference mornings,
Chirping of traffic lights,
Screeching ding dings,
We know that these are your favorite things.

Jade market, junk market, Stanley and Soho,
For trinkets and porcelain - shopping you go.
Macau, Big Buddha and views from the Peak,
Sometimes you see all three things in one week.

Early morning hikes
Tsing Ma Bridge lights,
When you're feeling sad,
Just simply remember your favorite things,
And then you won't feel so bad.

Island 2nd Farewell

Today was our last Sunday with the branch. Dew left early and said he felt totally useless, no assignments, no tithing counting, no Home Teaching, just like a visitor. Then we had to speak in church, and luckily we took the whole time!

Group Picture of Branch Members

Tonight our HT group threw a going away party for us, and what a party it was. To begin they all had on grass skirts they had made out of the ever present plastic tying string that you see tied around everything here. Most were green, but there were a couple of white and even a blue. They made them this morning!!! They danced a hula and were they ever good. Then they sang two songs to us, and then made us dance. I am sure if they realized just how bad at dancing we were they would have skipped that part. Then they each told us something they had learned from Home Teaching. They are such wonderful women.

Home Teaching Group

And as a closing song they all sang “Leaving on a Jet Plane”. What a teary way to send us off. And then we took a kazillion photo’s, what fun! And Angel Santos even made sure that little Raphael came today because it was our last time. We will certainly miss them all!

Wonderful Entertainment

Biking from Tai Wai to Tai Po - Senior Couples

The countdown is down to Four days and counting.

Beautiful bridge at Sha Tin

Today we scheduled one last bike ride. And so at 9am we found that the Woolsey’s, Gibbon’s, Erikson’s and the Halversen’s were all willing to go with us.
A bus ride to Sha Tin, and a short MTR ride got us to Tai Wai where we rented bikes. We had several very nervous sisters who hadn’t been on bikes in a very long time, but it was "just like riding a bike" it all came back quickly.

Beautiful flowers along the trail

Left to right - Gibbons, Halversens, Elder Erikcson, Jacksons, Sister Erikson and Woolseys

Along the way we had beautiful spring flowers which off set the foggy skies. The river was full of sculling boats, and even a couple of dragon boats out practicing for the next Dragon Boat races. It was an absolutely wonderful temperature for biking and we loved it.

After a quick lunch in Tai Po Market, at...McDonalds where we saw "Crew" who remembered us, we took the bus towards the Brass Market. By the time we crossed over the mountain we found where the sun had been hiding, and the temperature was much higher. We shopped a bit, and then headed for Yuen Long and our favorite bus ride home, and back into the fog again.

Our Friend David (Crew)

What a great way to spend our last Saturday in Hong Kong!

Lunch with Akis and Dinner with Ashley and Vivien

The countdown continues. Five days and counting.

Today the Aki’s invited us to lunch with their family, who is visiting. We went to the R66, the revolving restaurant at the top of the Hopewell Centre. Actually the building is still, and the floor of the restaurant revolves like a huge phonograph record. If you were still and watched the concrete pillars around the windows you could actually feel it move. The food was wonderful and if you didn’t have enough it wasn’t their fault!

Elder and Sister Aki with granddaughter and daughter.

Left to right - Vivien, Ashley, Shirl and Dew

Our weather has been very foggy this spring, and today was more of the same. Not good if you are having lunch in a "view" restaurant, but it was still beautiful. Everything had that "other world" feeling.

The fog tuned to rain and did it ever! We had great plans to play tennis one last time with Vivien, but it rained too hard and turned all the courts to ponds. But we went anyway, Vivien, Ashley, and Us. This is the first time Ashley has been out to Vivien’s house. In fact it’s the first time she has been out to this part of the New Territories, so it was fun for a couple of "out-of-towners" to show an actual Hong Kong native around.

Serious tennis players?

We had dinner at Pizza Hut, and then headed back home still carrying our un-used rackets.

Beautiful gardens at Vivien's residents

Rained out again!

BBQ at Deepwater Bay - Couples Family Home Evening

Tonight the senior missionary group surprised us by planning a BBQ on the beach at Deep Water Bay. It was such fun! They had hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, chips and veggies. Elder Woolsey got there early and got the fire going and by the time we got there it was perfect for hot dog cooking.

Wonderful Night with the Couples at Deepwater Bay

And to top it off - S-mores! And the coals were just right. We cooked those marshmallows over the coals then slathered them on graham crackers and chocolate. The only problem we found is that the Cadbury chocolate is thicker than our Hersheys at home and it doesn’t melt, but what the heck.
After dinner we sang some songs around the campfire. There was a cute group cooking fish next to us and they couldn’t get their fire hot enough, so when the smores were done they took their food off their fire and put it on ours. Their fish was cooked in no time.

Beautiful Night with Lights Reflecting in Water

What a fun FHE this was! And the lights reflected on the water was beautiful.

Sisters Jackson and Bench Enjoying Hot Dogs

Elder and Sister Gibbons - Guarding Their Food

Elder and Sister Olson

Inter Island Ferries, Hikes and Food

Left to right - Gibbons, Halversen, Benchs, Woolsey, Erikson

As with all things - the end comes.

And today was the last of our couple's days out. It would have been great if it had been all blue skies and beautiful. Well it was foggy and gray, but still a great day. We bused to the ferry terminal and caught the ferry to Peng Chau. We walked through the town center and headed for Finger Hill. Elder and Sister Smith stayed down and explored the town and up the hill we went. It was a good hike, and would have been a great view without the fog. On the way down we passed some really pretty flowers.

Hiking to Discovery Bay

We had a short wait, then caught the ferry to Trappists Jetty. The wait gave us enough time to go to Wellcome and stock up on drinks and treats. The ferry is an old "tub", but it made it safe and sound. We walked up to the monastery and the Smith’s headed down the trail towards Discovery Bay to meet up with us at the end.

Elder and Sister Smith - good sports

The monastery was quiet and peaceful and we fed the fish and turtles. Then headed back down and across the trail towards Discovery Bay. We told the Smith’s it was a nice flat walk. Funny the games your mind plays on you, it had some pretty steep ups and downs on it, but at the end of the trail there were the Smith’s all smiles, waiting for us.

Another short walk and we found the Mexican restaurant. It was such a warm day that we ate on the patio which would have been beautiful on a nice sunny day, but at least the temperatures were perfect. Lunch was delish, then we headed back on the ferry. I think most of us caught a few winks on the way home. Nice day!

We are certainly going to miss these days out together!

Cute sisters in Peng Chau

Flowers everywhere

Our Farewell Dinner

As we prepare to leave Hong Kong, we were invited to the Hallstroms for our farewell dinner. The table and decorations were beautiful. We had a lovely dinner, shared testimonies, took pictures and departed for home. We received the last of the items for our treasure box. It was a lovely evening. Wasn't it just last week were having our welcome dinner?

Island 2nd - Relief Society Birthday

Sister Ancient - Sister Nerlyn

Another Sunday, another busy day. Today the branch celebrated the Relief Society Birthday. They had a skit featuring Youngest RS Sister, Sister Ancient, Sister Young Married, Sister Middle Age, and our favorite Sister Old Maid. It featured an angel as well as tinkling bells. Our sisters certainly know how to put together an interesting event.

Sister Hillim, the District Relief Society President spoke, Sister Oakes gave a brief history of the Relief Society and we played a Relief Society Quiz. These sisters are nothing, if not competitive. Then dinner after. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Enjoying Dinner - Chicken Curry and Rice

Playing competative games

Relief Society skit

Park Island (MaWan Island)

We only have three Saturdays left in Hong Kong. Shirl went to the Asia Area Womens’ Conference and then out for the afternoon with Ashley. I went out to Park Island (Ma Wan Island) and what a treat. It was a mix between the modern residential area and stilt villages. It is a support island for the Tsing Ma Bridge before it continues over to Lantau. A few weeks ago, we hiked to the top of a mountain at night to take pictures of this beautiful bridge, but from Park Island, you are taking pictures from under the bridge, a totally different view.

I hiked and hiked and then decided to get on a circular bus and see more of the island. I came back to the ferry terminal and took five and then caught the ferry to Tsuen Wan to see this city. It had a spectacular park that went on and on and on. Playgrounds for children, water falls and shopping areas. The only way off Park Island is by bus and ferry, there are no cars on the island. The ferries are big high speed ferries departing for Central and Tsuen Wan (major MTR station). I returned back to Park Island, because I wanted to take the ferry back to Central.

Wish we had more time, there is so much to see.

On Top of Finger Hill

Another Saturday, they have been coming around very quickly lately. We decided to go back out to Peng Chau and see if we could find our way to Finger Hill. This time we didn’t follow the hike book, we followed the signs and found it easily. However, we found that we were very close the last time, we just didn’t keep on through a little village, or we would have found it before. Today there was a huge black dog blocking one way, so we went another. At least that way the big, ugly dogs were inside fences, and not running loose. They certainly have big, ugly dogs out on these islands, and they all look pretty much the same, and they are ALL over.


After our successful accent up Finger Hill we went back to catch the ferry over to Discovery Bay. As we approached the pier it was just pulling out. We couldn’t figure it out, it left 10 minutes early. And the ferry we came over on this morning left 10 minutes early also. Why don’t they stick to their posted schedules?
Good question! It wasn’t the ferries that were off schedule, it was Dew’s watch that was dying! That’s right, the battery in his $3.00 watch is dying. Guess we can’t complain tho, he’s had it for a year!

View from Finger Hill

At Discovery Bay we hit the Mexican Restaurant and had a huge lunch. It was soooo good. I have really missed Mexican food. It was a little taste of home.
Then back on the ferry, which also left 10 minutes early also, and back home to grocery shop and get ready for Sunday.

Hike to Sheung Yiu with Senior Couples

Today was a gray, foggy, cool day. Perfect for a day out with the couples. We left early, this was a three bus ride day. And to start the day off right, the #671 bus passed us about a half block away from the stop. Even a large group of running American’s was not enough to get the driver to stop, and so we waited for the next bus. We rode to Diamond Hill which is always a nice ride. There we caught another bus to Sai Kung, where we caught another bus out to the Sheung Yiu Folk Museum and Nature Trail.

Left to right - Jacksons, Gibbons, Smiths, Halversens, Woolseys, Eriksons and Benchs

There were 14 of us today. We stopped at the visitors center of the country park and there in the round about in the middle of the road was 3 water buffaloes, a big bull with about 10 inch long horns, and a mother with a calf. They just lounged in the grass of this small round about, and the calf was cute, it jumped and frisked, but never left it’s mothers side.

Elder Smith taking photos

We viewed a movie about the area before we walked down the trail to the Folk Museum which is a small village which was abandoned in the 1960's and has been restored and now houses traditional Hakka furniture and farming implements. It was quite fun to see how they lived, they had a room for their cattle, and a pig pen right next to their homes. One interesting feature was the hole in the wall to allow their cats and dogs to enter and exit at night. An old village with a very up-to-date idea - doggie doors!

Furniture in museum

They even had dishes in their built in cupboards in the wall, and an old steamer that they did all their cooking in, and lots of old farm implements and jars. One jar had a three inch wide lip running around the top and the opening was in the center. Seems they filled the lip with water to keep ants from getting into the jar. Pretty ingenious.

Shirl and her walking stick

We continued on to the "family walk" and hiked up and over the hill. The temperature was perfect for a hike in the woods. Then back to the visitors center and the beginning of our re-tracing our steps back.

As we headed to the visitors center a few of the slower ones spotted an "elephant ear" plant with huge leaves. Sister Bench stepped down the hill to pose before it for some photo’s. Posing just didn’t seem to be enough so she sat down in the middle of the plant and held onto the two leaf stocks. Next thing we knew she was tipping over backwards, feet over head. Since she has had back surgery not long ago we all forgot to take our pictures and jumped down to save her. But all we heard was her giggling, seems that those huge stocks had just slowly lowered her and she just rolled easily to the ground. No bang, no quick stop, no injury! By this time we were all giggling out of control. After helping her up her first words were, "don’t anyone tell my husband." Which of course Elder Gibbons couldn’t resist doing!

Sister Bench's favorite plant

We stopped in Sai Kung for a late lunch. With all the fresh fish choices, all 14 of us ended up at McDonald’s! So much for broadening our food horizons.

Then back home, where almost all of us hit the grocery stores to stock up for the Sabbath tomorrow.

Eriksons at McDonalds