Thank you for visiting and we like to wish you the choicest blessings this Christmas Season brings and for the coming new year of 2006 too!
Our December month experience and thoughts are recorded in the following 2 blog posts below so we hope you will enjoy browsing through it. We look forward to your comments which you can add by clicking the "COMMENTS" link found below. Remember this small instruction to choose an identity by clicking 'Other' before you publish your comments as most of you are not a 'blogger with a display name'.
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With Love,
Sun Fu & Geok Lee
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
How a young boy ushers in the month of December 2005
It was the end of November and Ray our eight year old was left home alone with his Dad. While I was busy working on the computer he started asking where the Christmas decorations were kept. Being preoccupied, I told him to ask the maid and soon he was opening up the boxes in the living room. Although I was busy, I couldn't help noticing his patience and determination to assemble the Christmas tree all on his own! He put on his Santa cap and got to work, insisting that I put on a Christmas CD for him which I did. Soon his mother came home with his older brothers and helped to put up the rest of the ornaments. The time sequenced photos follows :
Can you see how proud and happy he was with his accomplishment?
As December month approached, days went by quicker with greater anticipation. The boys' two older sisters, one now in Utah USA and the other in Beijing China have been planning to return home for Christmas. What a joy it would be to have the whole family together again for Christmas as it's been awhile since that happened. Unfortunately, the two older boys Han and Shuan has a school band trip to perform in Taiwan over the Christmas period! Nevermind, we thought, as the boys will be back before New Year's Eve and then we will truly have the whole family together again after all!
Soon the girls started arriving from afar as the photos below depict.
Su from a long flight starting from Salt Lake City airport
A few days later, Fei arrived from Beijing in a much shorter flight
Our Christmas Eve turkey dinner with Fei & Su home together with grandpa and our regular guest, the gym coaches of our children, the Yongs. The children are hidden in the back table.
Just before bed time, Ray made sure Santa had milk and cookies for his anticipated visit!
It's Christmas Day with presents left by Santa who finished the milk and cookies but where are the two older boys Han and Shuan? They are in Taiwan with the school band pictured below for some exchange performances there!!! We will have a full family reunion on New Year's eve.
With the two oldest boys away, the gap was soon filled with family from Singapore joining us for the year-end celebrations.
Post dated event : Click here to roll forward 6 years later in Nov 2011 to see the recollection of this event on Ying Er's 19th birthday, the children's cousin on the far left of the middle row, celebrated on 11.11.11.
Another boy born in the month of December 1805 ushered in a whole new dispensation of time
As the world over celebrates Christmas and the birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in the month of December, we as latter-day saints commemorate 200 years since the birth of the boy prophet Joseph Smith on 23rd Dec 1805. I was inspired earlier in the year (refer to my visit to Upstate New York.) to visit the place where it all happened. I am referring to "The First Vision" that was an answer to Joseph Smith's prayer in finding truth among the competing religions during his time in the early part of the 19th century. As a result of the visit, I was only further inspired to live more fully the principles taught by the Savior as restored by Joseph Smith, a name now as had been prophesied, is known throughout the world for good or bad. (See Newsweek Cover Story.) I am grateful to have gained my personal testimony or experience on the existence of God and the reality of his work among us today. Newsweek Cover is seen below -
The highlight of the year for us came as an opportunity to participate in a choir performance invited by our church friends in Singapore. With a cast of actors from the Church members in Singapore, we managed 3 performances over two nights in a public auditorium to portray the life and contribution of Joseph Smith. Below are some photos of the events held at Lee Foundation Theatre on Nov 17 & 18 in the year 2005 :
The highlight of the year for us came as an opportunity to participate in a choir performance invited by our church friends in Singapore. With a cast of actors from the Church members in Singapore, we managed 3 performances over two nights in a public auditorium to portray the life and contribution of Joseph Smith. Below are some photos of the events held at Lee Foundation Theatre on Nov 17 & 18 in the year 2005 :
Video of musical parts of the play.
Postdated event:
4-5th April 2020
With great anticipation before viewing the General Conference Session on the theme of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, I came across this video of the making of the First Vision movies. I am amazed how we have matured in the information era where so much is shared with great transparency:
My first post in the Spiritlane journal for the year 2020 shares much about the excitement in my heart despite increased troubles evident locally and internationally. The Restoration of the Church has become so relevant not just for me but for all the world I believe.
Happy Anniversay
A picture can paint a thousand words.
Yet no words can express my feelings at this moment.
Thanks Giving in America
Here's wishing all our friends and family in America Happy Thanks Giving!
Our thoughts and well wishes are with you always throughout the year!
We are grateful for the many fond memories of past years and those to come.
Happy Birthday Shuan!!! (November 8)
Wow, we finally arrived at the finishing point for the endless family birthday celebrations!
Now everyone gets to look forward to our next birthday--and it won't be until April. Well, we can talk about that later, but for now we have to highlight the star child, even though it's been almost a week since we had our cyber birthday party on Yahoo!
Now everyone gets to look forward to our next birthday--and it won't be until April. Well, we can talk about that later, but for now we have to highlight the star child, even though it's been almost a week since we had our cyber birthday party on Yahoo!
Can you tell which one is the birthday boy?
That's our birthday boy up close
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHUAN!!!
Birthday, Birthday, Birthday!!!
Are we turning this blog into a birthday dedication space? During the 6 weeks Dad had been away from home, we had celebrated 4 birthdays on cyber space. Here is the most recent one:
Am I still in New York City? Ray's Birthday?
In the subway without graffiti?
China town again?
No, I came to Hong Kong to visit my old missionary companion Elder Wu who served with me in 1981 in Malaysia/Singapore. See old photos of the mission.
Ray celebrated his birthday today in Hong Kong too? Noo... he celebrated it back home in Kuala Lumpur and Dad could only call him earlier in the day to wish him as did others who were away from home, namely his two sisters Fei and Su. Due to the the reunion dinner in Hong Kong at the same time, Dad missed out on joining the online celebration of Ray's 8th birthday. Good thing Mom helped him record the events of his special day on his blog.
A very unique trip to New York indeed
As I prepare to leave New York City in the early hours of the morning, after spending a good 10 days here, I can conclude that this trip is unlike any other that I've done previously.
The last trip with my wife a few years ago was typical of how one would spend in the city; walking through Central Park, going to the more famous though not the tallest, Empire State building, seeing Broadway shows, taking a boat ride to see the Statute of Liberty or simply wandering into the many art galleries or museums. Even though I've been to New York several times in my life, there always seem to be so much to do and never enough time. I seem to get a different perspective each time I come and this time around it turned out to be even more special!
For a start I had spent so much time in the Flushing Chinese District that I am convinced that if I woke up in any of the Chinese Districts in the city, I could really believe that I was in another city of Asia. It reflects how strong the Chinese culture seems to be as no matter how far the people are away from home or how unique the country of migration seem to appear, they seem to maintain their own culture. They truly live just the same way as if it was at home with only maybe some minor adjustments! I felt very much at home indeed with the food and the language.
What was more distinct on this particular trip was that I had an inkling to drive to upstate New York to visit the sacred site of the LDS Church in Palmyra. After so many visits to New York, it is only this trip that I had a strong desire to go there.I had provided myself a good 10 days in New York to give myself time to make this journey as it is quite a drive away from the city but time soon slipped by and I had only a weekend left. On late Friday afternoon, I borrowed two boys from a Singaporean family I was staying with and we headed out to upstate New York to visit the Sacred Grove in Palmyra where the boy prophet Joseph testified that he had seen the living God in 1820.
It was a very wet, cold and rainy day when we arrived at the visitors center of the Church. After a tour and film presentation that was more for the 2 non-member boys that were with me, we headed out to see Joseph's log cabin home where the Smith family lived. From there we proceeded to walk the path towards the trees where the Sacred Grove was located. We ended up walking with a small group of people and as we got into the thick of the forest where it was already dark, I exchanged conversations with the people who were walking with us with an interesting discovery. One caucasian lady was a returned missionary from Taiwan who spoke Mandarin. She was with her husband and they decided to take a photo of me with two other women in our group, one of whom was from India and another Chinese woman who was from Taiwan. Looking back at the time of 1820 at this remote secluded forest where Joseph received the important revelation that would lead to the restoration of the Church in the world, I wonder if he ever foresaw that there would be visitors to this grove of trees one day from Malaysia, India and Taiwan???
The last trip with my wife a few years ago was typical of how one would spend in the city; walking through Central Park, going to the more famous though not the tallest, Empire State building, seeing Broadway shows, taking a boat ride to see the Statute of Liberty or simply wandering into the many art galleries or museums. Even though I've been to New York several times in my life, there always seem to be so much to do and never enough time. I seem to get a different perspective each time I come and this time around it turned out to be even more special!
For a start I had spent so much time in the Flushing Chinese District that I am convinced that if I woke up in any of the Chinese Districts in the city, I could really believe that I was in another city of Asia. It reflects how strong the Chinese culture seems to be as no matter how far the people are away from home or how unique the country of migration seem to appear, they seem to maintain their own culture. They truly live just the same way as if it was at home with only maybe some minor adjustments! I felt very much at home indeed with the food and the language.
What was more distinct on this particular trip was that I had an inkling to drive to upstate New York to visit the sacred site of the LDS Church in Palmyra. After so many visits to New York, it is only this trip that I had a strong desire to go there.I had provided myself a good 10 days in New York to give myself time to make this journey as it is quite a drive away from the city but time soon slipped by and I had only a weekend left. On late Friday afternoon, I borrowed two boys from a Singaporean family I was staying with and we headed out to upstate New York to visit the Sacred Grove in Palmyra where the boy prophet Joseph testified that he had seen the living God in 1820.
It was a very wet, cold and rainy day when we arrived at the visitors center of the Church. After a tour and film presentation that was more for the 2 non-member boys that were with me, we headed out to see Joseph's log cabin home where the Smith family lived. From there we proceeded to walk the path towards the trees where the Sacred Grove was located. We ended up walking with a small group of people and as we got into the thick of the forest where it was already dark, I exchanged conversations with the people who were walking with us with an interesting discovery. One caucasian lady was a returned missionary from Taiwan who spoke Mandarin. She was with her husband and they decided to take a photo of me with two other women in our group, one of whom was from India and another Chinese woman who was from Taiwan. Looking back at the time of 1820 at this remote secluded forest where Joseph received the important revelation that would lead to the restoration of the Church in the world, I wonder if he ever foresaw that there would be visitors to this grove of trees one day from Malaysia, India and Taiwan???
As I conversed more with the group I discovered some interesting things. The returned missionary was Mariane Maxell and when she mentioned she was from Alpine Utah I mentioned the Bangerters and she shared that she actually once dated the brother of Paulo Bangerter's wife Jalayne! Then the woman from Taiwan named Shuli mentioned the name of her friend Amanda Crandell whom our daughter Fei knows in Beijing. What a small world it is in the Church I thought!
We all rushed to our car as it continued to pour. I spent a few minutes in the car to make a pact with the boys to love one another as brothers to help reduce the squabbling between them as young brothers often do, reminding them this date of 22nd October as the date of our pact. As a reward I would take them to Buffalo and Niagara Falls for another night before we would return back to New York City. Suddenly I realized the significance of this date! 22nd October is the anniversary of my mother's death 23 years ago! What a spiritual experience it turned out for me in that cold rainy day visiting the Sacred Grove in upstate New York.
We all rushed to our car as it continued to pour. I spent a few minutes in the car to make a pact with the boys to love one another as brothers to help reduce the squabbling between them as young brothers often do, reminding them this date of 22nd October as the date of our pact. As a reward I would take them to Buffalo and Niagara Falls for another night before we would return back to New York City. Suddenly I realized the significance of this date! 22nd October is the anniversary of my mother's death 23 years ago! What a spiritual experience it turned out for me in that cold rainy day visiting the Sacred Grove in upstate New York.
The Church has more photos of the Sacred Grove as can be seen here.
Post-dated event
17 & 18 Nov 2005
The family from Kuala Lumpur traveled to Singapore for a Joseph Smith's Bi-centennial Celebration of his birth as recorded in this future journal post.
Some of the photos taken in the unique trip to New York visiting the Sacred Grove in Palmyra found above were used to create this video taken from the future journal post mentioned above.
Spacetime-Travel
From the 1st Quarter 2018 to Oct 2005, from Kuala Lumpur to the location of Palmyra New York State.
Post-dated event
17 & 18 Nov 2005
The family from Kuala Lumpur traveled to Singapore for a Joseph Smith's Bi-centennial Celebration of his birth as recorded in this future journal post.
Some of the photos taken in the unique trip to New York visiting the Sacred Grove in Palmyra found above were used to create this video taken from the future journal post mentioned above.
Spacetime-Travel
From the 1st Quarter 2018 to Oct 2005, from Kuala Lumpur to the location of Palmyra New York State.
My Consciousness leads me back to this post of my trip to Palmyra just because Elder Bringhurst in the center above, connected to me on Facebook messenger after being back home in a place named Charlton, New York State.
In 2018, we have Google Map to help one quickly find any location, so when I checked and found that he was in up state New York, my mind reminded me of my unique trip to a historical place of the Church where Joseph Smith received his First Vision in what is called the Sacred Grove in Palmyra.
Technology is such in 2018 where not only can one see a map of an area, with Google Earth maps, one can also see an aerial photo from the Satellite of an area one is looking at. The arrow on the top right shows the Sacred Grove where I had walked to in the rain in Oct 2005 as shared above. The left area is to pinpoint a spot where I could maneuver using Google Earth on the computer to see the ground photo below pointed out by the left arrow marker I made.
One can CLICK HERE to see the actual ground view from the Google Earth map and do some maneuvering by using the mouse to move the cursor around the photo image of the area to enjoy a virtual tour created by modern technology!
An interesting line of thought I had in adding this video here is that while I was at the Sacred Grove as shown in the above photo of my visit to Palmyra, I met two other Asian visitors in that year of 2005. Who would have thought an Elder from near the area would be coming to Malaysia, over 10 years later, to share the Gospel in Mandarin as well as English!
Am I really in New York City???
Look at where I'm staying with the surrounding lush green trees
or where I had dinner
The concert I went to
The ladies I've met
The people in the streets I've walked
The shops I passed by...
... that I walked into to meet the owners
The friends who took me shopping
The bargain shoe shop I walked into...
... that sold me all these shoes!
The office space we were considering
The bookstore I bought books from
The temple session that I was invited to attend
Was I really in New York City you think?
Most definitely with smart looking men in uniform like these two...
... and limos like this on the streets!
Eating my favorite food in a Greek restaurant!
I was in the business district of Flushing on Long Island
They say the world is in New York City and I just love this place!