I Left My Heart in Hong Kong

I had the great opportunity to spend three days in Hong Kong for the Associated Sisters In Asia Women's Conference. Needless to say, it was amazing!

On the ferry going to and from Kowloon and Hong Kong island.

 I had been to Hong Kong before with my family and remember it making quite a first impression on me. You can check out this post to see our first trip there back in May of 2008. Wow, time flies!

This time I felt I could pinpoint why I felt so endeared to this city. It reminds me so much of San Francisco. If the entire city of San Francisco was china town it would be just like Hong Kong. The similarities are endless with the bay, hills and tall buildings. I want everyone I know to go and see the magic of Hong Kong!

A typical market in Hong Kong.

 I flew from Beijing to Hong Kong on my own with no problem at all, except getting ripped off by my Beijing taxi driver. My roommate and friend had gone a day ahead of me. We met up and she took me to high tea at the swanky Conrad hotel. Quite a treat!

Our afternoon high tea at the Conrad hotel.

 Later it was time to head to the church building to register and listen to a few speakers.  While living in Beijing, because it is in the PRC and Hong Kong is not, we do not see church buildings or anything related. I was ecstatic to see a beautiful building with our church name in both English and Chinese on the outside. There is also a large interactive video screen outside where people can walk up, touch the screen and learn about our beliefs. 

The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints building.

 Upon walking into the church building you see this painting below. Look closely, it is not your typical painting. The children are real Chinese children who posed for the artist and the landscape is China. This painting truly touched my heart.

 The talks and lessons I heard in the three days of conference were amazing. Below is the speaker and topic of what I listened to.

Sister Gong- "Be That Blessing in Someone Else's Life"

Elder Gong- "Ye Are A Temple of God"- he is very intelligent and most of what he said went over my head.

Sister Perkins- "Reading the Book of Mormon changed my testimony into a burning testimony".

Elder Perkins- "Covenants in the temple help us to build Christlike attributes". This was a spiritual, practical, organized talk that is so applicable. I loved it!

Heidi Gailey-"Fundamentals In Communication"- I sure did learn a lot in this talk!

Lori Hedquist- "Under Construction: Building your own Personal Temple"- Practical ways we can sustain our spirituality as mothers, wives and expats in China.

Michelle Lowry- "Spiritual Lessons The Marathon Has Taught Me"- To see my full write-up of this parable about running and spirituality click here. 

Melissa Bradford- "The Temple: Template of our Faith and Blueprint of the Living Gospel"- an amazing story of her spiritual journey after the tragic, unexpected death of her eighteen year old son.

Laurie Hoer- "YoubanFa: You Can Do Hard Things"- Amazing talk about saying you can when you think you can't. I needed this!

Sister Watson- "Appreciating our Coventants"- amazing quotes from apostles and prophets.

Elder Watson- "He Imparteth His Word by Angels to Men, Women and Children"- Sweet, sweet man!

Of course one of the highlights was to actually be able to go to the Hong Kong temple! Beforehand we had some time to walk around a nearby mall...and to my surprise they had a See's Candy store! This means home! Tears of joy filled my eyes...really! Until I saw how expensive the boxes were, twice as much as the US! But the woman was so sweet and she gave me six samples. Love her!

Oh the joy!

 It was then time to serve in the temple with some very special ladies! I really missed hubby at this point, but it was an amazing experience that I will cherish. If you have questions about our temples, click here. 

The Hong Kong temple.

Chinese and English!

It's beauty at night.

The last day, three of us took the mid-levels travelator (an escalator that goes up a mountain) to eat lunch. We had yummy Mexican food and dessert at a French bakery. We then took the ferry to Kowloon and walked around the Kowloon park. It is so lush.

 Spring is coming!

There are many things I love about Hong Kong, including the weather! While we were freezing in Beijing, Hong Kong was nice and mild. I can't wait to go back!