These are the things we seek for, the noble qualities, the goodness, the true and beautiful, in both people and places, ideas and causes. We found much of that as we gathered with the 11 mission presidents and their wives in Hong Kong this past week.
In this it is the small things that seem to stand out as memorable. A pair of scissors can tell part of this story. The nail scissors in MB's carry-on were claimed by the most thorough flight safety screeners in Hanoi, prompting remorse, and a search for replacements. Our initial search was delayed at my insistence on doing an alternative task, but then thing after thing thwarted our return to the search. On Thursday evening as we went to dinner with our small group, we passed a place we thought might carry them and plotted to return following the meal. When we bumped into another member of the group who was returning from escorting the others back safely to the hotel, he asked if we had been successful. We reported that we had not been, having searched the cosmetic and nail care aisles thoroughly, but in vain. But the following day, he surprised us with a small pair of scissors suited to the task. It was a small thing, but we felt truly ministered to by another virtuous servant.
This was the very principle we had come to appreciate as we met with our own missionaries the prior week in a leadership council. We talked about how we could become more effective, about how we can more meaningfully invite more people to share in our efforts to find people to teach, invite them to repent, be converted and baptized. The thing that makes the most difference is ministering to their needs, loving them enough to see, feel and respond to their needs. Probably the most profound effort by many people to extend the invitation to come unto Christ is documented in the book of Third Nephi. When he first appeared to the group of several thousand people at the temple in Bountiful, they did not know who he was. But by the end of the day, they had each been able to feel and see for themselves, in a way that indeed ministered to their needs. And their response? The entire night they noised abroad that he had come and would come again the next day such that the audience was multiplied many times. Because he had ministered, in all the personal, loving, comforting, lifting and virtuous ways that means. For our missionaries seeking referrals from members or others, this paradigm was enlightening. 
Our time in Hong Kong was the kind of spiritual refreshment we needed in many other ways as well. We were able to visit the temple and were instructed in ways that we can help our missionaries be recognizable to others as true ministers. 
We had time to pause in the very beautiful Nam Lien gardens and contemplate the beauty there. 
These photos can give you a sense of the balance of wood structures, water features, "venerable trees" 
and rock that characterize the space. We could easily have spent several hours here in meditation, and not been mistaken for one of the nuns who live in the adjacent court. 
While a big portion of the planning for this seminar must have been the food, we were fed in many ways by our area presidency, Randy Funk, Sam Wong and David Evans, who each brought their own talents, experience and perspective to the challenges we were facing. We also had some time to meet the Area Seventies who joined us for dinner (interrupted by the area office missionaries frolicking through the gym (aka dining room) performing their version of the traditional Dragon Dance to drum accompaniment. 
What can one say about missionaries likeing to have fun? At any age. Sitting with us was Elder Woo, whom we learned works for the Singapore company responsible for the tungsten contacts used in almost 90% of the automobile horns worldwide. In Asia, he might be easily cursed if that word gets out!
We've also been pleased to see the departure of two young missionaries leaving from our mission to serve after they have some training in the Manila training center. This is probably the most important step in building a firm foundation for the future of the church here, at least if my assessment of how that effort has impacted the church in Hong Kong, where the "bun dei yahn" elders and sisters I served with and thereafter, are the core of experienced committed leaders for the six stakes there now, and the temple. Sister TA's setting apart involved many supporters, including some family, and many friends,m even some investigators. We look forward to her return (to serve here!) 
To come back to where we started, these sisters and elders are virtuous, they are of good report, they are praiseworthy. And our hope is that there are many who will seek after them. ("Find or be found!" Is the mantra.)
