Phoebe Chan's Baptism at the Rock Pools

-- The Chan Family --

Phoebe, Briggitta, Johnny and Maegan

The Chan's with Elder Creamer

Extended Family

Gathering at church after the baptism

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for the Chan Family

and DB Branch.

New Eyes in Sham Shui Po

This trip to Sham Shui Po,

my favorite shopping spot in Hong Kong,

was MUCH different than the rest.

A group of us, from our Church Branch,

attended a service project there and

I came home with NEW EYES.

We made our way from the 

MTR (Subway) Station 

to the Nam Chueng Community Center.

There we went through a 30 min. orientation,

ALL IN CHINESE.

I knew what they were saying was very

important so I had one of the girls in our

group translate after.

We would be visiting the homes 

of some of the needy members of

the community.  Our main purposes in 

visiting were to assess their needs and

let them know the community center was

available to them for support.

We were to be positive and helpful.

We wore name-tags to identify us as volunteers.

These were the food bags we delivered.

Canned veggies, noodles and toothpaste.

The streets I was used to shopping on 

were now places where people lived.

Very SMALL, NARROW, OLD places.

We visited three homes -

Home #1 - A little elderly lady, homebound 

with cancer that had spread to her hips so she 

couldn't walk.

Home #2 - An unemployed gentleman living

in a room the size of our bathroom.

He shared a kitchen, with a tiny sink and

one tiny propane burner for cooking,

and a bathroom with EIGHT people.

Home #3 - An 83 year old man

who didn't leave his apartment much

because he lived on the 5th floor and had

to go down, and then climb back up, 

ninety steep and narrow steps.

My shopping excursions to Sham Shui Po,

one of the POOREST parts of Hong Kong,

will NEVER be the same 

because I now see the place with

NEW EYES.

Caleb's 15th Birthday

For Caleb's 15th Birthday

we ENJOYED ...

BOWLING at our local bowling alley.

Fred's BEST game.

My WORST.

And dinner at the local Indian Restaurant.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY you COOLEST kid!!

We LOVE YOU!

Weathering the Storm

Wednesday night we went to bed

with the weather at the rating of T3.

T stands for Typhoon and 3 is the ranking

of the size and strength of the storm,

10 is the highest.

Thursday morning we woke to wind and 

diagonally slanted rain - typhoon rain.  

Fred got ready for work, as usual, and went

out the catch the bus.  

A few minutes later he returned.

The office was closed for the day because

of a T8 warning.  EVERYTHING shuts

down when the warning gets that high.

So we enjoyed the day INSIDE.

This is the way the storm looked for most 

of the day for us.  Not at all what you would

expect while a Typhoon is raging.

The clouds looked ominous and it rained, 

but, all in all, we did not see any ill effects

from the storm.

Though school was cancelled for all of Hong Kong.

Our kid's school day went on as normal.

It was GREAT to have DAD home to help!

Later on in the day the boys ventured out and

discovered some parts of Discovery Bay

had been hit hard by the storm.

We realized the location of our house 

protected us from the effects of the high winds

and harsh rain.

IT'S NICE to have been 

SHELTERED from the STORM.

Bathing Beauties on the Beach

We met some friends for dinner 

at a Thai restaurant on 

Cheung Sha Beach.

When we arrived we were shocked to

find these BEAUTIES bathing on the beach.

They were quite docile and we were

able to get VERY close to them.

It did get a little scary when the bulls

began to fight each other for their territory.

A pair of them even ended up locking

horns and one, literally, got

thrown into the water.

While we were eating dinner the cows

came and laid down just below our table.

(It was too dark for me to get a good picture.)

It brought new meaning to the phrase

"Having BEEF for dinner :)"

JAPAN, Mishima

On our last day in Japan we took

a trip to Mishima to see FUJISAN,

or Mt. Fuji.

Our plan was to take the train to Mishima

and then take a bus or taxi to the base of the mountain.

When we arrived in Mishima we discovered

the trip was going to cost us $300US.

So we voted to stay in Mishima.

FUJISAN can usually be seen from Mishima

but on that day the cloud cover was too heavy

and it blocked the top of the mountain.

Fujisan is BEHIND the BIG, white, fluffy clouds.

We ate lunch at a DELIGHTFUL local restaurant

that had a nice PICTURE of Mt. Fuji :).

I really enjoyed this restaurant because

it reminded me of homes I ate in during

my mission to Hokkaido, Japan.

It felt more like a home than a restaurant.

In fact, I believe it WAS the owner's home.

YUMMY!!! - Katsudon

"Gochisosama deshita"

Which means - Thank you for the delicious meal!

Back to Tokyo.

Another BEAUTIFUL ride!

At the airport

we enjoyed us some SUMO wrestling.

What an AMAZING time we had in 

the BEAUTIFUL land of 

THE RISING SUN!!

NIHON ni HONTO ni arigato gozaimashita!!

(To Japan - Thank you so very much)