Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Home Again

Thursday night we took a taxi to the airport...
boarded a plane...
left the country to... 
America--just kidding we went to Hong Kong to renew our visas. 
Even though I felt a little like I was going home. I definitely wasn't. It was still very exciting. 
That means we have been in China for 150 days and a little more then 150 days left. We are at the half way point, friends. Crazy!

We knew the first thing we wanted to do was go to the Hong Kong LDS temple. Andrew and I were most excited about this. As we turned the corner on Cornwall Street and saw the temple hidden among apartments we were filled with excitement and were eager to get inside. 

HOME.
That is what best describes my feelings the entire time. 
As expected, I have had feelings of homesickness but the entire time I was in the temple I just felt peace.
It's all that I needed. 

The words to this hymn replayed in my mind:
"The Lord is my light; then why should I fear?
By day and by night his presence is near.
He is my salvation from sorrow and sin;
This blessed assurance the Spirit doth bring.

The Lord is my light;
He is my joy and my song.
By day and by night he leads,
He leads me along."


 "The Lord Is My Light,” Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, no. 89



It was a beautiful experience. 
I was sad to leave. 
I am grateful we were all able to be there together in the temple. 
I was reminded of God's love for me and my purpose. 
You can learn more about LDS temples here.




It's hard to maintain such a high level of peace in the big city of Hong Kong and we left that behind the moment we went out that night to one of the popular night markets on Tung Choi Street. 

It was a typical Chinese market with clothes, bags, and cheaply made souvenirs for sale. It was all a lot of fun to look at. The sellers were more aggressive then what we're used to in main land China. Possibly because they know their English is really good and they can swindle more money out of foreigners. 
Little do they know we've been "around the block" a few times and know the way they work. We didn't buy too much because we didn't see a lot that we wanted and they wanted to charge too much. 
I bought an "I <3 HK" shirt and Andrew picked up one with the face of hometown hero, Bruce Lee. 

We were able have a great night out walking the streets of Hong Kong and save a little money in the process. 
I thought some of the coins and bills looked like monopoly money and I didn't want to forget what it looked like so I took some pics. 


They love to put Obama's face on t-shirts and there are knock-off "Beats by Dre" everywhere.


Do you see anything you want us to pick up for you? Place your order! :)

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We ended the day with a tasty meal at Outback Steakhouse which is unheard of around here, with the closest one being 13 hours from Zhangjiagang. It was so fun going out for a real american meal with Hannah's good friend, Ray, from college. He is such a cool guy and made our trip in Hong Kong 10x better. 

You folks in America should consider yourself lucky because those of us in Hong Kong and China our really missing the comforts of home. You don't know how lucky you are to heat up a hot pocket and wash it down with a cold glass of Dr. Pepper. 

Now go off to the snack aisle of the grocery store and pick up something tasty because you can but don't tell me about it.

1 comment:

  1. How awesome is that! In some ways I am jealous of your adventurous spirit, but I can see how you would miss home. Thank you for helping me to remember how lucky we are here and how I'm the only one that can't have a Dr. Pepper now. (Remind me sometime and I'll bore you with that story. :))

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