Saturday morning we got up early to head out to Lantau Island to see “The Big Buddha” . Lantau Island is the biggest island in Hong Kong and it is where the airport is and the HK Disneyland. The Big Buddha…officially called the Tian Tan Buddha is the second biggest outdoor Buddha in the world. Supposedly you can see the Buddha from really far away…even from Macau. To get there once you’re on the island you have to take a sky lift over three mountains and then hike up thousands of stairs to the actual statue.
The sky lift ride was gorgeous. It takes you really high up over all of the mountains on the island so you can see all 200 islands of HK and the mainland. It was about 25 minutes long. There is also a hike that you can take. This is part of the trail. 
When you get off the lift you arrive at this little village full of shops and restaurants. It was so cute. We spent some time shopping around.
Then we began the ascent up to the Buddha. It was super cool because we were really high up on the mountain so there was fog all over. Even at the base of the stairs you could barely see the Buddha, just the silhouette. 
But as you got closer he slowly appeared! (you can barely see the silhouette in the picture at the top of the stairs) He was GIGANTIC lol and beautiful too. There were a bunch of statues surrounding him also (symbolizing offerings towards him). We toured around up top but then all of a sudden it started pouring like no other. We ran down all the steps to try to find cover..but it was pointless because we were dripping wet by the time we did.
Saturday afternoon the branch had a closing social at the Lai’s (the family that I’m staying with). About 150 people showed up to swim in their pool (which hangs over the ocean), kayak, eat, and play games. I had such a blast meeting tons of new people. The members here have the craziest lives and they are ridiculously wealthy lol. One man I met graduated from Harvard, has traveled the world, and now he’s a professor in the MBA program at the University of Science and Technology. The University of Science and Technology is basically the MIT of Asia and the MBA program is ranked #1 in Asia and #9 in the world! One man is the church lawyer for ALL of asia. Another man works for JP Morgan and he travels EVERYWHERE. A lot of them were wealthy political leaders and diplomats.
The sky lift ride was gorgeous. It takes you really high up over all of the mountains on the island so you can see all 200 islands of HK and the mainland. It was about 25 minutes long. There is also a hike that you can take. This is part of the trail. When you get off the lift you arrive at this little village full of shops and restaurants. It was so cute. We spent some time shopping around. Then we began the ascent up to the Buddha. It was super cool because we were really high up on the mountain so there was fog all over. Even at the base of the stairs you could barely see the Buddha, just the silhouette. But as you got closer he slowly appeared! (you can barely see the silhouette in the picture at the top of the stairs) He was GIGANTIC lol and beautiful too. There were a bunch of statues surrounding him also (symbolizing offerings towards him). We toured around up top but then all of a sudden it started pouring like no other. We ran down all the steps to try to find cover..but it was pointless because we were dripping wet by the time we did. Saturday afternoon the branch had a closing social at the Lai’s (the family that I’m staying with). About 150 people showed up to swim in their pool (which hangs over the ocean), kayak, eat, and play games. I had such a blast meeting tons of new people. The members here have the craziest lives and they are ridiculously wealthy lol. One man I met graduated from Harvard, has traveled the world, and now he’s a professor in the MBA program at the University of Science and Technology. The University of Science and Technology is basically the MIT of Asia and the MBA program is ranked #1 in Asia and #9 in the world! One man is the church lawyer for ALL of asia. Another man works for JP Morgan and he travels EVERYWHERE. A lot of them were wealthy political leaders and diplomats.Random pic to break up the text...ha ha This building was built with a square cut out because according to ancient chinese tradition, there should always be an opening towards a mountain so the dragon can fly through it and get to the mountain. 
I felt so lame after meeting all of the younger people at the party. They’ve all grown up in several different countries and know a couple different languages. Their experiences growing up were so different from mine. But it’s cool because my life growing up in Annabella is just as foreign to them as their lives are to me. They were fascinated by how I grew up. I hung out with some of the young single adults all night and I got to know them pretty well. One girl just randomly moved to Hong Kong for hotel development as an adventure and she’s been here for 2 years. She travels all over including Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea, and India…and she’s only 25! Another guy just got here two days ago. He’s been living in NY for the past few years working for a huge company and was reassigned to Hong Kong for 10 months. Another kid grew up in HK for a while and he’s about to start in MBA at BYU this fall so he just randomly moved back to HK for a year. It’s so crazy. A couple of investigators came to the party too. One kid is from Nepal but he moved to HK because has been modeling for designer companies for the past 7 years….he’s ridiculously rich…it’s just so interesting how different each of their lives are. They each have a story about why they’re in HK and it fascinates me.
I felt so lame after meeting all of the younger people at the party. They’ve all grown up in several different countries and know a couple different languages. Their experiences growing up were so different from mine. But it’s cool because my life growing up in Annabella is just as foreign to them as their lives are to me. They were fascinated by how I grew up. I hung out with some of the young single adults all night and I got to know them pretty well. One girl just randomly moved to Hong Kong for hotel development as an adventure and she’s been here for 2 years. She travels all over including Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea, and India…and she’s only 25! Another guy just got here two days ago. He’s been living in NY for the past few years working for a huge company and was reassigned to Hong Kong for 10 months. Another kid grew up in HK for a while and he’s about to start in MBA at BYU this fall so he just randomly moved back to HK for a year. It’s so crazy. A couple of investigators came to the party too. One kid is from Nepal but he moved to HK because has been modeling for designer companies for the past 7 years….he’s ridiculously rich…it’s just so interesting how different each of their lives are. They each have a story about why they’re in HK and it fascinates me. Towards the evening, a huge rain/thunder/lightening storm started so quickly! We tried to run in but there were so many people trying to get in too that we just got soaked…..so we all jumped into the pool with our clothes on and swam out in the rain. It was so much fun. After we all got ready and went out on the town in Yvonne’s Mercedes-Benz. We went to this super nice shopping area and got some dinner and a super nice restaurant and then starbucks for dessert. Its so crazy going from dirt poor Taiwan where the wealthy people don’t even compare to people in the U.S…..to HK. People here don’t think twice about money…they get whatever they want whenever they want without even blinking. Each dish at the restaurant was about $30 and they all considered it to be cheap…..
After going out we all came back and watched a movie. Then about midnight we walked down to 7-11 to get some ice cream and chill on the beach. Really life doesn’t get any better…..
Sunday morning we got to sleep in (woohoo!). It was so nice because I was completely deprived of sleep. We ate lunch and headed to the conference with Elder Oaks two hours early to get good seats.The church building is so different! Lol It’s a huge skyscraper in the middle of downtown! And it’s SUPER nice.
I thought the conference was going to be some huge conference room with tons of people…but it was just a normal chapel with only one stake. So it was really cool to see Elder Oaks when there really weren’t that many people there. The talks were amazing. Brother Hallstrom was there also so Elder Oaks, Brother Hallstrom, and their wives spoke. When Elder Oaks got up, he planned on talking about something completely different. But there are a bunch of filipino women here (there are 5 branches that are ONLY filipino women…no men) that work as helpers for the wealthy people in Hong Kong. They all have children and families back home but because they are so poor they leave their families and come work here and send the money home. He stood up and started his talk…but then all of a sudden he just paused….then said “you know what….I’m actually going to address you Filipino sisters right now…The lord is concerned and he needs you to know…” and then he went on and flat out said that they should not be doing this. He told them to do whatever they can to get out of the situation they are in right now so they can go back home to their families. Everyone was shocked about how bold he was about it. It wasn’t like…I understand your poverished situation so try and get out if you can but I’ll understand if you don’t…it was flat out “get out of the situation as soon as possible because this is not right for you…and it’s not ok. You do not sacrifice your family for money and a better life”. It was so cool to see the actual revelation hit him and watch him bring it forth. It truly was the Lord speaking. It was so powerful, I can’t even describe it. Half of the congregation was sobbing by the time he finished the revelation because the spirit was so strong. After his talk he even stayed after to shake hands instead of rushing out like normal. I stood back because I felt like the other people here needed to meet him more than I did. But at one point he walked past me, caught my eye and said hi. The entire day was such a great experience. This entire trip has strengthened my testimony so much!
After church, we came home and hung out at the mansion with Yvonne and her mom. It was fun to eat dinner with them and get to know them a little better. We had a big movie night with lots of treats, popcorn, and drinks. I’m just completely lovin life right now, it really couldn’t get any better. Thanks Mom and Dad for helping me pay for this trip. It really has been so great and I will never forget it. It just feels so right for me to be here and I’ve come to so many realizations that will change my life. You have no idea how grateful I am.
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