Our Mission Statement: January 2010

January in Macau! The Christmas season is past, as well as the Western New Year.
Our Christmas celebrations were few, but sweet. We went out caroling as a Branch several times - to public parks and gathering places. Most people smiled, and nodded or waved; some were not aware of what we were doing, a few disagreed and turned away. Caroling on a sunny Sunday morning is something everyone should do at least once! We had a big ham dinner for our Zone on Christmas day, and then in the afternoon and evening we hosted the entire Branch at our apartment (those who wanted to come or COULD come). Everyone brought food and we had several hours of fun together. It kept all of us from missing home and family too much. Making phone calls (thanks to Skype!) to family members also helped. One of our favorite memories will always be Jacob (2 1/2) singing "Happy Birthday" to Grandpa while his big sister, Sarah, played "Joy to the World" on the piano!
We have started January with many forays into the back streets and by-ways of Macau, trying to find less-active Branch members--actually with some successes. We are getting VERY good at finding streets--NOW, if everyone could spell them correctly (in Portuguese, of course) and then give us the name of their building (in Chinese of course), AND get all of the building numbers, floor numbers, and apartment numbers right, we'd have it made! That's asking a lot of people whose mother tongue is a dialect from the Philippines or Indonesia.
We had a Mission activity in Hong Kong early in January, and were able to make our first trip to the Ladies Street Market and the Jade Market. We had a wonderful day to do it - warm and sunny; apparently everyone else in Hong Kong thought it was the perfect day to go there also - it was PACKED! We enjoyed the experience, and found some neat little items--we'll go back.
One of our "cultural experiences" lately was to watch a Chinese funeral - or graveside service. I was doing some laundry on our little back balcony, and heard small cymbals and bells. Our apartment building is in front of a large cemetery; I looked down, and saw a man dressed in a yellow and black hooded robe at the side of a grave. He was playing the instruments, lighting incense, and throwing pieces of paper in an open grave. Then, the funeral procession came through the far gates and wound its way to the gravesite; the people wore robes of some sort with hoods - black, white, or yellow. They put the coffin in the grave, then each person filed by and threw a handful of dirt on the coffin. The cemetery workers shovelled all the dirt into the grave, and the mourners filed back by, accompanied by the cymbals and bells, this time bowing three times and lighting an incense stick to put in the mound of dirt covering the coffin. After they'd all done that, they turned around, and filed back by once more, this time lighting a rolled-up piece of paper from the burning incense, bowing three times at the foot of the grave, and throwing the burning paper into a burn barrel. When they were done, they removed the robes, threw them in a pile on the ground, and filed out of the cemetery in the same orderly fashion they entered. I need to read more about the customs and rituals of this area--it was fascinating to watch.
We are looking forward to Chinese New Year, which starts Feb. 14 this year. It's the Year of the Tiger! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Sanlihn Faailohk!!!

Macau - looking NW out of our 18th floor living room window. The tin roofs are about 6-8 stories high, so street level is WAAAAAAY down there!

Mission Christmas dinner - along with the Tim-Tam Slams, it doesn't get much better!

The streets of Macau - on a clear day, you COULD see forever; but we haven't had one yet (a clear day, I mean...) In the background is the Grand Lisboa Hotel/Casino--the "great and spacious building"!