Women’s Conference
When we first arrived in the Philippines I was told about a women’s conference that is held in Hong Kong for women in Asia that are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I knew right away that I wanted to go; any chance to travel to more parts of Asia is right up my alley. I looked into airfare and hotels and then asked for friends to join me! Lucky for me 2 other ladies here in Manila also wanted to go. So we all bought our tickets, sat by each other on the 2 hour plane flight to Hong Kong and shared hotel rooms. Both of my friends had attended the previous year, so I was relying on them on how to get around Hong Kong. We had a fabulous time exploring Hong Kong and listening to speakers at the conference.
This Associated Sister In Asia (A.S.I.A) conference was started about 6 years ago. A couple of ladies thought that it was good idea to have a gathering of Latter-Day Saint sisters in Asia meet together yearly like they do in the states for “Time Out For Women” or “Education Week.” The area authorities thought it was also a good idea, so A.S.I.A conference was formed. This year there were over 200 women in attendance. We had marvelous speakers: Elder Gerrit W. Gong (1st counselor Asia Area Presidency) his wife Susan, Elder Larry Y. Wilson (2nd counselor Asia Area Presidency), his wife Lynda, Lesa Stevenson (wife of the Presiding Bishop), and Julie B. Beck (Former General Relief Society President ). We also attended 5 different “breakout sessions/classes” with a total of 18 classes offered. And we tied over 85 fleece blankets to be given to the “Crossroads Foundation”. It was a fabulous “get-away” to recharge our spiritual batteries.
Hong Kong has blue, green and red taxis to choose from at the airport. Each color determines which part of Hong Kong you want to be driven to.
Drivers and cars are on the “opposite” side. And all of the taxis had some kind of tablet for the passengers to use.
After we checked into our hotel we had some time to walk around. Hong Kong is very clean and orderly…at least in comparison to Manila.
We needed to eat after we checked in and walked the streets near the hotel. We saw this street food, and did NOT partake since I’m sure they were frying up some intestines.
The conference was held at this building. There are at least 2 chapels and cultural halls, a bunch of class rooms and maybe a mission office in this church building.
Tying fleece blankets for the Crossroads Foundation and making new friends.
Julie B. Beck (in the pink blazer) and other visitors from the United States that spoke/helped out during the conference.
Glutenous rice balls in a mango/coconut juice was like a meal within itself….sounds weird, but it is pretty good.
Both of my travel buddies had their birthday the weekend of the conference. So we celebrated by having “Baked Alaska.”
We had fun eating different types of food…this is a Vietnamese restaurant.
Walking along Avenue of Stars and trying to be like Bruce Lee.
Hong Kong harbor. The conference was held on “Hong Kong Island” so you either have to take a ferry, the underground, or a taxi over a bridge to cross the water to the other parts of Hong Kong.
Skyline of Hong Kong. Every night at 8pm there is a light show where many of these building participate.
The view of Hong Kong as seen from Victoria Peak
Now that we have been spiritually uplifted and had a fun girls weekend, we are ready to go back to our families!
More photos of our Hong Kong conference weekend here.
