Hong Kong...

Well... Hong Kong is beautiful. The weather is not EVEN as cold as I had anticipated. Big coat, gloves, hats, really not necessary. At night the big jacket may come in handy but a light sweater will certainly suffice during the day.



The first night here in Hong Kong we found the temple and did baptisms. SUCH a cool experience. The little temple workers were so adorable. The sister working in the dressing room was the sweetest thing, with the warmest smile. I kinda want to bring her home with me. There were 6 of us that did baptisms and we joined a group of youth that were in the temple.
The girls in the group were about 14 and so funny. They were so interested in us, where we came from, our names, everything. One of them was determined to teach us all the Chinese she could. Ha. She was funny. The Brothers in the Temple doing the baptising and confirming all spoke English and they gave us the option to have it done in English or Cantonese. We thought it would be neat to hear it in Cantonese, so we did and it was a memorable experience.


The Temple itself wasn't at all what I had expected. It doesn't sit on a big piece of property at all like all the ones that we see. It is right beside the main road, that's why all my pictures are so angled, there wasn't much room to work with. However, still such an incredible feeling being on the Temple ground. Beautiful inside and out. It's crazy how the same it is, no matter where you are. The feelings you get and emotions you feel. I'm so glad we were able to go.




Today we woke up and went to a bakery down the street for breakfast. Things here in Hong Kong are more expensive than Mainland so we haven't eaten much because we're responsible for food during the weekend here. Anyways, then we had a tour for the first part of the morning. Our tour guides name was Alan and he was hilarious. Ha. And he was super sweet. He was telling us all the places we need to go while were here and everywhere we shouldn't waste our time going to (which is great because we eliminated a lot things off our list :)
We went to the top of Victoria's peak and saw the entire island and city from the highest point. It was incredible. It's phenominal how many buildings there are and the picture dosen't even show everything because the fog is so thick. CRAZY! The drive to the top of the peak was beautiful too. Everything is so green and lush. Mmmmm. LOVE IT! So, on our way back down the peak, we stopped by a little fishing village called Aberdeen Fishing Village. That was fun, fishers make good money here.
After our tour, we went to a restaraunt for lunch to try dipsome, a food that Hong Kong is known for apparantly and there are many different kinds of it... but evidently the kinds that we tried were the worst ones to try because we weren't too excited about it :) Tasted more like a ball of fat. ha! but... hey, we had the experience and we tried dipsum!
The rest of the afternoon was ours, so after lunch some of the girls took naps or updated their blogs (ha) I'm so horrible at this, you guys are lucky you have something to read right now :) Anyways, Jaimie, Brianna and I took a walk around the city just for kicks really and to find some American food for a girl in our group that was having issues with food. I don't know... but.... it was way fun. We saw a different side of the city, a good side. We found a bunch of cool parks and met some nice people and.... AND...... I HAD A SOFT SERVE VANILLA ICE CREAM CONE! Only Rebekah, Tarah, and Catie can really appreciate that because they know how much I absolutely love it! Mmmmm.
So that night we went to a really cool thing they do here in Hong Kong. It's called the Symphany of Lights.
We went to the pier and saw the whole skyline and the city lit up,.
but then they played music and lights to go with the music on the tops of all the skyscrapers. It was pretty awesome. Everyone should google it. We ate a a really cool burger place on the pier called WOW burgers, haha... so awesome and listened to this guy who had a gig that night on the pier. He was absolutely awesome. I'm gonna try to post a video of him. SO COOL.
Sunday Morning.... ah yes. We woke up early and went to church on the first floor of the Hong Kong Temple. SUCH an incredible experience. Seriously, that made Hong Kong all worth it for me. It was just a small ward but the Bishop and the Stake President were so sweet. Everyone made us feel so comfortable, they set up headsets for us and a translator so we could understand. One of the speakers was a younger sister. She was in her late twenties and she gave an incredible talk, but her testimony afterward was so special. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. There is no question in my mind. The members here are just like members anywhere else. They love the Savior and are striving to be more like Him and they have trials and struggles just as we do. The church and the gospel are perfect. We are not, but because the gospel is, someday we can be. We have so much to learn. There is so much I don't know. The Lord's plan is designed for us to succeed and learn. It is so great. I loved the members, I loved the feelings...I loved being there in the temple. No matter where we go, the feelings are the same. I am so grateful to be apart of it.

*** pictures to come very soon. ***