Pictures from the baptism of Sister Huang.

Easter Sunday!

It's a good thing we had some joyous activites this Sunday to take my mind off David, Karen and Beth meeting together with their spouses and children for Easter dinner and the famous Easter egg hunts. This year Karen and JR are hosting. I imagine they will have two egg hunts as is the tradition; one for the little ones and then a challenging one for the older children. It's always so fun for me to watch. I have felt homesick today and can only imagine what Thanksgiving and Christmas will be like.

But there were some very good parts to this Easter. We attended Serramonte Ward (Filipino) as is our usual pattern and then we drove to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to pick-up Elders Lee and Christensen who had been transferred to the Oakland side of the mission. Today they had permission to return here to attend the baptism of a sister they had taught before the move. It was wonderful to see them again and to see them looking very happy and healthy. We then drove to the Pacfica chapel for the baptism for Sisters Huang and Zheng.

You'll notice on the program that Mandarin is read from right to left so you'll see their surnames "first" as far as our way of reading goes. Also, the Chinese people are so very considerate of us. The program is in Mandarin and English just for Tom and me. All the talks were translated; again just for us. Everyone attending, except us, understands Mandarin and quite a few also understand English. We love working with these people.

Sister Huang has been a joy to watch grow in her acceptance of the Gospel. She is a very happpy woman and her husband and son are supportive of her. They are pleased with the changes she has made in her life and are showing some interest as well in learning more.

New District

Saturday evening, we were assigned to a new district in the mission. Up to this point we've been meeting weekly and reporting with the Filipino missionaries, but as of this week, we meet with the Chinese. The change makes good sense. We spend more time with the Chinese missionaries and give them more support than the Filipino. This is really just a minor change because we will continue to support and work with both groups. It felt good to see how pleased Elder Chen, the district leader, was to have us in his group. It will require a change on their part...no more district meetings conducted in Mandarin.

We'll Miss Jim!

Friday evening was "Jim's" last time at English class. We will miss him a lot! He has been offered a job as a cook at a restaurant in Santa Cruz and the distance is just too great and the hours just not right for him to continue to attend. Jim's Chinese name was a tough one to pronouce so Tom called him "Jim" and he loved it. Whenever we'd say," Hi, Jim. How are you doing tonight?" He'd grin from ear to ear. Most of the students in our class go by English names since arriving in San Francisco. They just find it so much easier to tell others, "My name is Bill, or Anna, or Susan..." A few have very short, simple Chinese names so they use those...like Su and Ye.

The number of students attending  the classes has increased over the past several weeks. However we never know exactly how many will be there. Smetimes a student will get an opportunity to clean a house or do some other chore and make some money and they need to take whatever opportunities come up. Even those that have regular jobs sometimes have extra work they need to take care of. Most live very, very modestly. So a regular job for Jim was welcome news for him.

It's been a full two months since Jim started attending English classes. When he first arrived, he could read some English, but he couldn't speak it. Over those two months, Jim has attended City College two days a week and our English classes three times a week. He's such a likeable person. He has a gentle heart and he's not afraid to work very hard. City College does a great job teaching grammar and we do pretty good at teaching conversation. Between the two, Jim is proficient enough in English to work in an environment where he needs both Mandarin and English.

It's a Different World!!

San Francisco, CA may only be 650 miles away from Hillsboro, OR, but it's a different world. The other day in Costco, I mentioned to Tom that I wouldn't even know I was in the US by looking at the Costco employees and customers if I couldn't see the English signs in the store. We were standing in line waiting to checkout. There were long lines and many, many customers. All the employees I could see were minorities and so were all the other customers besides us.

Our mission is not much different. We have mostly foreign-born elders and sisters. Out of the 17 arriving new missionaries only one is from the good old USA. We have 2 from Tonga, 1 from Singapore, 1 from Hong Kong, 2 from Japan, 1 from Fiji, 1 from West Samoa, 3 from Samoa, 1 from New Caledonia, 1 from Mongolia, 1 from Brazil, 1 from Honduras and 1 from Mexico. This provides quite an exposure to different cultures.

After Fisherman's Wharf, we drove down "the crookedest street in the world," Lombard Street and then on to the Palace of Fine Arts. Following our sightseeing, we had the sad job of taking Beth to the airport. It was a wonderful visit with her.

Then it was on to Fisherman's Warf. By this time we were hungry and stopped for lunch at Fog Harbor Restaurant before seeing all the attractions.

Then it was on to the Wells Fargo Museum. Both Beth and I have worked for Wells Fargo in the past and I must say they put on a great display.

Tuesday Was a Tourist Day Too

Tuesday was Beth's last day with us; so we tried to fit in as many interesting places as possible. We started the day in Chinatown.

Beth's Visit!

All I can say is, it was WONDERFUL to have Beth with us for four days. Sure do love that girl! We're looking forward to seeing our other children and grandchildren too. Family is the BEST!

Monday We Were Tourists!

With Beth here for a few days, it was the perfect reason to be tourists. We started out at one end of Golden Gate Park, then on to Golden Gate Bridge, across the bridge to Muir Woods and back to Golden Gate Park (which is huge) and ended the day watching the sun set over the ocean right here in Pacifica.

What Could Be Better!!!

This past Sunday was super!! Beth was visiting us, we viewed General Conference and there was a baptism in the San Francisco 7th Branch.