Hangzhou, Xitang, Suzhou and Shanghai

We had an extra day off school for the May Day holiday and took the opportunity to visit several beautiful cities near Shanghai. 

The first city was Hangzhou with a visit to the beautiful Hupao Spring Park. 

We took a boat ride on the West Lake. It is pictured on the back of the 1 Yuan note. 6 Yuan are equal to $1.00

This was taken on a canal in Xitang. We had a nice ride on the canal in one of their traditional boats. 

Our next stop was in Suzhou. It is called the Venice of China.  Ancient canals were built for trade and travel. There are still stretches of it in use. 

We took a very relaxing ride up the canal. People always wave and take pictures of us. They make us feel very special in China.

The next day we toured the 10th century Humble Administrator's Garden. 

We especially liked all of the natural rock sculptures in the park. They were dug up from the bottom of the Tai Hu Lake. 

We bought this one as a souvenir.  

More interesting rock sculptures with our guide Momo in the window. 

This was taken in Tiger Hill, another park in Suzhou.  In the background is a leaning pagoda. It was built in 961 AD. 

We ended our tour with a short shopping trip to the "Fake Market" in Shanghai and then back to Guangzhou. 

Hong Kong Blessing Site and Our New Missionary

On a trip to Hong Kong last month we decided to find the spot where the land of Hong Kong had been blessed for the preaching of the gospel.  We had read about it and had directions to the spot where the date, July 14, 1949, was etched into a rock. The blessing was given in front of this waterfall on Victoria Peak.

The hard part was finding the engraved rock which was about 75 yards past the waterfall.

If you look closely, you can see three squares with the numbers 7 14 49 etched inside.  The Apostle Matthew Cowley gave the blessing on that date.

The next day we got exciting news from our new missionary, Theary Chan.  We met Theary in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  We happened to stop at a shop in which she was working in the Street Market. The shop was financed by the mission president and was filled with homemade objects made by needy LDS members. She was working to save enough money to serve a mission. After hearing her story, we met with our travel group and took care of the finances needed. She was then able to complete her mission paperwork.

Here is Theary with her mission call to the England Manchester Mission. She reports on July 27. We are excited to be a part of this sweet girl's life and look forward to her emails.