I have contact with an LDS young man who we met while in China. He had known that BYU faculty lived in certain apartments in our building and came to our apartment to give a Christmas gift to one, believing that possibly a couple who he had met still lived there. We invited him in and started a wonderful friendship. He had found out that his English teacher several years before (a long story) was LDS and eventually was baptized in Hong Kong and is a part of a tiny Chinese branch in the Yellow Island area of Qingdao. He and his mother came to see us and had dinner last winter. His name is Simon Song.
He wrote not long ago and I told him that we were on a mission for the Church. In the conversations back and forth I told him that we had taught English on Skype to Church employees in Asia and he asked if there was any way that he could be a part of that. I was certain that he couldn't because he is not a Church employee and he lives in Mainland China so a mission could not serve him.
When I was wishing for more to do one day I wrote to him and told him that I would be happy to meet him at 6 AM my time once a week and teach him English. We have met three times so far. We don't discuss gospel doctrine but I have learned a lot about the Church in China presently.
Some general information about the Church in China first. In 1921 President McKay dedicated China but the conditions were so unstable that nothing was done to begin work at the time. He quoted from Jeremiah 3:14 where it says ", ...and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring your to Zion."
In 1949 Elder Matthew Cowley opened the mission for the Colony of Hong Kong. He, with four others went up onto Victoria Peak where they could see the city and face mainland China. They engraved the date into a rock along the path there.
When Mike and I met Charlotte's friends the Linfords in Hong Kong in 2010 they took us up there and here is that picture by the carving.
Last week Simon was able to go to the same spot with our Chinese Seventy Elder Gong and the members of the District Presidency that he serves with. He is the taller one in the center.
Simon joined the Church on his own but had a girlfriend that we spent some time with that he was very much in love with. In the years since we left they were married, she joined the Church and they had a baby boy last fall. He informed me a few weeks ago that he was now serving in the district presidency of one of the seven districts in China that serve Chinese LDS members. The President, next to Elder Gong in the picture, joined the Church from China (I don't know those circumstances) some years before Simon joined. The second counselor joined the Church while studying abroad. I can't remember which country he was in at the time but he is a perfect example of how we see strong members returning to China "one of a city" to prepare the country for the gospel.
The reason that Simon was in Hong Kong last week was because the Church was holding training meetings for all of the Chinese leadership in Mainland China. Simon was able to take Helen with him and they were able to be sealed in the Hong Kong temple.
It will not be an easy time for them. She is already complaining about him spending so much time in Church service rather than at work or with his family. It really is a sacrifice, too. It is all night on a train just to go to his district meetings when they are held. It is just such a foreign thing culturally for them. His mother, who lives with them, will not join the Church because she is still afraid of the government and restrictions. Their branches are small and they are often mostly women
Flash back to Oregon and our mission. We drove three Chinese student to Corvallis to a Christmas party in December. At that time we invited them to come to our home some time to have Chinese food. They came this past Saturday. One of the three has been having missionary lessons with two Sister missionaries who work from the LDS Institute on campus. She is very much in love the getting to know God and the gospel. She is going back to China at the end of February and was very worried that she would lose contact with the Church when she returned because Chinese people were not to talk to anyone except family about the Church.
It just so happens that last week as Simon and I spoke he told me of the lifting of the ban and people can now investigate the Church without being family members. I guess that happened about a year ago. I mentioned it to this girl Jakie and came in to look for Simon's information. I heard her say to the sisters. "This is an answer to our prayers, isn't it?"
I am extremely grateful for these little puzzle pieces falling together and hope that there will be more of this story to report.
1 comment:
That is awesome!
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