Christmas in Hong Kong and Moving to Macau

Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong late on the 20th of December.  We were met by President and Sister Hawks of the Hong Kong China Mission and two of our daughters (Sunnee and Kelsey).

We were briefed and had the opportunity to spend several days before Christmas with our daughters and their families. See the special Christmas Socking they made for us.  We had a beautiful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with some of our family.  Sunnee and Kelsey made sure we were taken care of....including this fantastic Elder and Sister Socking from Santa.

Macau

The day after Christmas, we had President and Sister Hawks escorted us to our apartment in Macau.  It is very nice and the Hawks had spent a couple of days in the clean up process.  It looked super and more space than we had expected. See part of the Front Room and the chair we both want.







We had our first Sunday with 3 separate branches...it was 8+ hours of church meetings.  We also attend Church Services on Saturday for those that could not make it on Sunday.  All the people were wonderful.  My heart was touched and I was over whelmed by their goodness and kindness.  We are in a wonderful place.

Missionary Training Center

Scott and Joy Holbrook Mission Blog
December 18, 2014

Joy and I went to the Provo Mission Training Center on December 8th, 2014.  Each day we would drive down from 8 AM-5PM.  We were grouped with other Senior Missionaries.  There were about 30 people from all over the USA.  We were in a district with 4 couples.

On the weekend we finished packing and moving out of the upstairs of our home so Tait and Liz could move upstairs with their family.  It is wonderful having them watch after our home.  Several of the kids and their families came to dinner on Sunday night.  Yoalt dressed up like grandpa.





















On the 15th we began Medical Missionary Training in Salt Lake City.  It was a great training program.  We enjoyed the experience.

We are now ready to go to Hong Kong. We hope to be great contributors.  As we leave, we are sure there are things we forgot to do.  We will miss our family and friends, but we are ready for the adventure

On the way to the Mission 12-7-14

The beginning:

Tomorrow Joy and I enter The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Mission Training Center in Provo Utah.  It is one week of training for all senior missionaries.  We will then be going to Salt Lake City for Joy to be trained as a medical missionary.  It is four days for training.

 

We will leave for the Hong Kong Mission on December 19, 2014.  We are very excited to be going.  Below is the LDS Temple in Hong Kong.



We have been assigned to work in Macau, China.

 According to Wikapedia, Macau is one of the two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong Kong, which is about 64 kilometers to the east, and it is also bordered by Guangdong Province to the north and the South China Sea to the east and south.^[9] With an estimated population of around 624,000 living in an area of 31.3 km² (12.1 sq mi), it is the most densely populated region in the world.^[10]

A former Portuguese colony, Macau was administered by Portugal from the mid-16th century until late 1999, when it was the last remainingEuropean colony in Asia.^[11][12] Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s. In 1557, Macau was rented to Portugal by the Ming Dynasty as a trading port. The Portuguese administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, when Macau became a colony of the Portuguese Empire. Sovereignty over Macau was transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operate with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.^[13]

Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the PRC's Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defense and foreign affairs, while Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, and immigration policy. Macau participates in many international organizations and events that do not require members to possess national sovereignty.^[13][14]

Macau is one of the world's richest cities, with the highest GDP per capita by purchasing power parity as of 2013, according to the World Bank.^[15][16] It became the world's largest gambling centre in 2006,^[17] with the economy heavily dependent on gambling and tourism, as well as manufacturing. Cantonese people from Hong Kong and Guangdong, in addition to the recent mainland tourism from Mandarin-speaking regions, have boosted the economy of Macau significantly. According to The World Factbook, Macau has the second highest life expectancyin the world.^[18] Moreover, it is one of only a few regions in Asia with a "very high Human Development Index", ranking 25th as of 2011.^[8]

We are honored to be servants of Our Heavenly Father to his children in China.  We look forward to this 18 month experience.  We bear testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior and pray we can live a Christ-centered life.