Mid-Autumn Festival

Last Saturday we went to Macau for some self-reliance training for the Macau district and Elder Chandler presented a fireside in the evening.  It was the fourth time that we went there and we haven't gambled even a penny.  (not that we ever have gambled!)  We spent all of our time at the church with the wonderful people there who were able to get off work and come.  Of course, these wonderful brothers and sisters had prepared a delicious dinner for us after the fireside. We have been busy and we're also presenting some workshops for about 250 people, mostly domestic workers, on the national holiday on Monday so we're staying strong to the end of our mission.

Here's the poster Elder Chandler designed for our event on Monday.

Also, it's time for Mid-Autumn Festival again. The employees said this sign said something like "Welcome to the Moon Festival"  The harvest is great or something like that. Following are some facts from Wikipedia:  The Mid-Autumn Festival is the second grandest festival in China after the Chinese New Year.  It takes its name from the fact that it is always celebrated in the middle of the autumn season.  The day is also known as the Moon Festival, as at that time of the year the moon is at its roundest and brightest.  On the festival day, family members gather to offer sacrifice to the moon, appreciate the bright full moon, eat moon cakes, and express strong yearnings toward family members and friends who live afar. In addition, there are some other customs like playing lanterns, and dragon and lion dances in some regions.

First, we needed to prepare the food.  Here's Sister Thong, Elder Thong, Sister Corry, and Holly who works in the office.

Some of the lanterns are quite involved to set up.

Getting the games ready: can you read this?

Probably you can read this.

Here are some close-ups of some of the lanterns.

Then it was time to begin.

So the two games were in Cantonese and the other in English.

Most people don't really like the moon cakes so they had ice cream and fruit for us, too.

Also from Wikipedia:  Mid-autumn festival is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial ceremonies.The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon had a close relationship with changes in the season and agricultural production so to express their thanks to the moon and celebrate the harvest, they offered a sacrifice to the moon on autumn days. 

By the way, our friends Elder and Sister Kendall will be coming home later in October.  They follow us by a few weeks as they arrived here a few weeks after we did, too.

Don't these mooncakes look delicious?

Moon Cakes from Wikipedia: The Moon Cake is the special food of Mid-Autumn Festival.  On that day, people sacrifice moon cakes to the moon as an offering and eat them for celebration.  Moon cakes come in various flavors according to the region.  The moon cakes are round, symbolizing the reunion of a family, so it is easy to understand how the eating of moon cakes under the round moon can evoke longing for distant family and friends.  Nowadays, people present moon cakes to relatives and friends to demonstrate that they wish them a long and happy life. A rich thick filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste is surrounded by a thin crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.  Moon cakes are usually eaten in small wedges.
(Moon cakes are not our favorite.)

We will miss all of these great employees who have become our friends.  As a side note, I was talking to Sister Thong, a senior missionary here, who is from Hong Kong and she said that when she was young they used to buy several boxes of mooncakes and they would pay for them ahead in installments.  They would give their relatives each a box of them. (yum?)

Here's a short video of our gathering:Mid-Autumn Festival

Here's the game we played at our activity:

1. What kind of vegetable is unpopular on board ships?
   Ans: A leek
2. 6 = 12, 3= 6, but 5 does not = 10, how come?
   Ans: There are six letters in 12 , three letters in six and 3 letters in 10.
3. I always follow my brother but you cannot see me, only him. You cannot hear him but you can hear me. What are we?
   Ans: Thunder & lightning
4. How do you make the number 7 an even number without addition, subtraction, multiplication or division?
   Ans: Remove the s and it becomes even.
5. Every night I’m told what to do and each morning I do what I’m told, but I still do not escape your scold. What am I?
   Ans: An alarm clock
6. I go up and I go down, towards the sky and the ground. I’m present and past tense too, Let’s go for a ride, me and you. What am I?
   Ans: Seesaw
7. What word looks the same upside down and backwards?
8. Ans: SWIMS
9. Can you name three consecutive days without using Sunday, Wednesday and Friday?
   Ans: Yesterday, today and tomorrow
10. What flies when it’s born, lies when it’s alive, and runs when it’s dead?
    Ans: A snowflake
11. I am a protector. I sit on a bridge. One person can see right through me, while others wonder what I hide. What am I?
    Ans: Sunglasses
12. I am first on earth, second in heaven. I appear twice in a week, never in a month, but once in a year What am I?
    Ans: The letter “E”
13. What can always be measured but never can be seen?
    Ans: Time
14. What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on?
    Ans: A coat of paint
15. What is the Easter bunny’s favorite kind of music?
    Ans: Hip hop
16. Everyone is attracted to me and everybody falls for me. What am I? Ans: Gravity

We'll really miss Brother Au (shown on the right) as we have worked very closely with him in our self-reliance activities. He'll pretty much be doing it all himself now.

Such a great couple and what great examples of service! They provide church services for the Philippine sisters everyday during the week, and they also help with their needs, and they have faithfully fulfilled their assignment. They are amazing and they are in their 80's, too! By the way, if you're interested, James the Mormon has a good video he made about what goes on in our temples: Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  Also, it's time for LDS General Conference!  Isn't that great?  The sessions will be able to be viewed here:https://www.lds.org/?lang=eng We hope you all enjoy General Conference this week, too!

Big Buddha

Because we only meet once a month for family home evening, we had our last one on Sunday with our "family" from the branch  We are having a lot of lasts and it's quite sad for us as we have grown very close to these wonderful brothers and sisters.

Last Saturday, we took a few hours and went to Big Buddha again, as our friends, the Fergusons,  hadn't been there yet. We went a different way taking the gondola and not the bus, but since it was so smoggy and foggy, none of our photos from really turned out very well.  It was fun though!

From Wikipedia: The statue is 34 metres (112 ft) tall, weighs over 250 metric tons (280 short tons), and was constructed from 202 bronze pieces. In addition to the exterior components, there is a strong steel framework inside to support the heavy load. Reputedly the figure can be seen across the bay from as far away as Macau on a clear day. Visitors have to climb 268 steps to reach the Buddha

Also from Wikipedia: Surrounding it are six smaller bronze statues known as "The Offering of the Six Devas" that are posed offering flowers, incense, lamp, ointment, fruit, and music to the Buddha. These symbolize the Six Perfections of generosity, morality, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom, all of which are necessary for enlightenment

This room is inside the statue and it looks kind of like a prayer room or something like that.

Here's what Wikipedia says: Tian Tan Buddha, also known as the Big Buddha, is a large bronze statue of Buddha completed in 1993, and located at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, in Hong Kong. The statue is sited near Po Lin Monastery and symbolizes the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and faith. It is a major centre of Buddhism in Hong Kong, and is also a popular tourist attraction.

The columns on the buildings are so intricate!

This photo is from Wikipedia as we weren't allowed to take photos of the inside.

Here's what it says about the monastery: Po Lin Monastery is a Buddhist monastery, located on Ngong Ping Plateau, on Lantau Island, Hong Kong.The monastery was founded in 1906 by three monks visiting from Jiangsu Province on the Chinese mainland and was initially known simply as "The Big Hut" (大茅蓬 Tai Mao Pung). It was renamed to its present name in 1924. The main temple houses three bronze statues of the Buddha – representing his past, present and future lives – as well as many Buddhist scriptures.Tian Tan Buddha, a giant Buddha statue completed in 1993, is an extension of the monastery.

Then it was time to go home.

These few brighter photos are from the internet.

Where we got off, there were these little pictures of gondolas on the window.  This would be our son, Eric's name in Cantonese.

This is his wife's gondola, only Crystal should be spelled Krystal and her Chandler name should be Chan, but other than that, it's perfect. (Ha, ha!)

To end our post, we thought you might want to see a photo of one of our favorite Elders, Elder Fung, who was in our English class and who is now at the Missionary Training Center in New Zealand. He is so excited to serve and he will be a wonderful missionary there

Here he is with his companion in front of the Christus statue there. As he is grateful for Jesus Christ, so are we, and we have a testimony of Jesus Christ's divinity, that he is the son of God. He loves us and has shown us the way through his example and through his infinite atonement in our behalf. He is the way, the truth, and the light.

Also, to end our post for today, if you have time, we found this old video about the touch of the Master's hand that you might enjoy watching Touch of the Master's Hand .  Have a great day!