We Arrive Home

Omar Khayyám penned the poem:

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

Arriving at Portland airport, greeted by McKay and Kayla

Our final arrival in Idaho, greeted by Kristi and Katie

Wonderful welcome home posters by the grandchildren!

Elder Coffey describes his feelings.  "Time has passed and I stand at the brink of change which I cannot change. No matter what I do both time and I must go on. Yet my heart has loved serving as a humanitarian missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My heart and mind will miss all those I have associated with.  So many have shared their hearts and minds with me.  I will miss the sites and smells and humidity of Asia.  In my hope I will continue to watch for the growth of the people in Asia.I will miss everyone.  Often in the future I will hear a word, smell a smell, see a person or scene and a flash of remembrance will remind me of you - you who have touched my heart and made the last 23 months a dream of a lifetime.  May you all be blessed for making my life so much sweeter.  Thank 

you, sincerely.'

We flew into Portland for a layover and enjoyed a quick lunch with McKay and Kayla.  Then we flew into Idaho Falls where Katie and Kristi met us at the airport. What a joy to be with family again and to see the sweet faces of the grandchildren, hold them, hug them and love them.

Today, March 12th, we were officially released by our stake president, President Lewis, of the St. Louis North Stake, via Skype.  

Our path through our mission has led us to incredible heights and amazing       vistas.  It has been such a joy, such a revelation, such an incredible blessing to have served the Lord full time.  Our hearts and our lives will never be the same.  

Robert Frost so well penned, 

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

Video

The Roller Coaster of Goodbyes

It is extremely hard, if not impossible, to explain the range of emotions that are coming in swells, more and more frequently as the days speed by.  On the one hand, we are excited to go home and see our children and our grandchildren, four of whom we haven’t met in person yet.  As we Skype them and talk about seeing them soon, I can hardly wait to hold them in my arms! 

On the other hand, I break into tears as I talk to the sisters at the branch, or work one on one with a sister and her challenges, or offer support to another in her time of distress.  Or share with another on her hope and joy in the future. They are darling sisters whom I love dearly and may never see again in this life.

Again, the thought of not sitting in front of a computer all day at the office brings a feeling of relief and joyful anticipation.  On the other hand, by the same token, the thought of no longer being involved with the moving forward of the great humanitarian work throughout Asia, of seeing the breadth of humanity in various countries of the world - of just up and leaving it all behind - is nearly more than we can bear. 

One of our treasured memories - our visit to Nepal

The roller coaster is spinning faster.  It is extremely hard to say goodbye to all of this. Our treasured memories will stay with us forever. 

How can one adequately describe what a senior mission is like?  It is simply not possible.  As with younger proselytizing missionaries, the greatest experience has been the growth in ourselves. What we have learned, what we have grown to understand, what we have learned to love, has been far more than anything we could have ever dreamed of.  There is no way, sitting back in our living room in St. Charles, Missouri, that we could have even dreamed of the amazing experiences and opportunities that would have been ours in these short 23 months.

Our last day as serving in the Hong Kong Temple:

Our release papers from serving in the Hong Kong Temple

Our last weekly Area Welfare Coordinating Council Meeting:

Weekly Area Welfare Coordinating Council Meeting

I think the greatest part of this mission has been the blessing of working closely with members of the Area Presidency - Elder Gerrit W. Gong, Elder Randy D. Funk, Elder Sam C.H. Wong and Elder Siu Hong Pon - as well as our association with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in Timor-Leste. We have been able to see how the Lord reveals His will to His servants, and how revelation guides and directs this Church. 

Tonight our replacements - Elder and Sister Nielson - arrived from the United States.  They served several years ago in Lao as the humanitarian couple, so they come already with experience.  They will do a wonderful job!  They'll take our apartment once we leave - we spruced it up nicely for them. 

Elder Coffey visits with Elder and Sister Nielson at the airport

This  mission has been one of the greatest experiences of our lives. Missions are tough and have challenges, to be sure, and you have to push through those challenges, just like anything else. But when you allow the Lord to be your partner, when you allow Him to guide your choices, when you stay focused on why you came on a mission - it is glorious beyond description.  

SHARING WARMTH AS WELL AS A HANDSHAKE

After the devastating earthquake that rocked Nepal in April of 2015, thousands of people, particularly in the mountain villages, were left without shelter. Their stone homes which had protected them from the cold now lay in piles of rubble at their feet. With little resources to rebuild a secure home, many are still living in temporary metal and bamboo shelters like this one.

Several families were living together in this shelter.  It is made with corrugated sheet metal.  And they live not far from Mount Everest in the Himalayan Mountains.  What is it like to live inside a metal shelter in the middle of winter in the Himalayan mountains?  I cannot even imagine.  

Under the direction of our Area Presidency, and in partnership with the government of Nepal, LDS Charities ordered 10,000 wool blend blankets to distribute to the villages most affected by the earthquake. Our amazing couples in Nepal, Elder and Sister Oliphant and Elder and Sister Weaver, worked hard to make all the arrangements.  Together with the Area Office we got the blankets ordered from a factory in China (there were no wool blankets available for purchase in Nepal and we can't get anything across the border from India), shipped by truck down to Lhasa, Tibet and then to the Nepal border, and across into Nepal. Thank you to Ryan Lee from the Area Office for these photos.  He flew to the Chinese manufacturing company several times to ensure that our blankets were being made as ordered.

Our blankets are bundled up in bales and are ready for loading and shipping.

Loading 500 bales onto the trucks.

Ready for the trip to Lhasa, Tibet

At Lhasa, they had to unload the bales from the big trucks and re-load them onto smaller trucks so they could make it through the Himalayan Mountains.

Then they made their way through the Friendship Highway - seen below.  This dangerous narrow stretch of road is subject to avalanches, mudslides, robbers and tumbles down the side of the mountain.  We prayed for our blankets!

Courtesy of flikr.com/Steve Hicks

Gratefully, they safely made it, and distribution of the 10,000 blankets was able to be made.  Thank you to Elder and Sister Oliphant for these photos. In the below photo, the bales of blankets are stacked and ready for distribution to this particular village.  You can see the earthquake damage in the building behind the blankets.

Just what we ordered - yay!  The LDSC logo was stitched in the corner of each one.

This man was all smiles for his blanket.  Blankets were handed out to individuals selected by the local village and district government to ensure that only those most needy received them.  Recipient families received one blanket each, regardless of the size of their family.

This man is named Talibas Thresha.  He only had a couple of teeth, but he was very happy to get the blanket.  Here he is walking home after he got one at the distribution.

This is Hari Gurung.  He is 53 years old and from the Chap area of Nuwakot District. 

He said, "We are feeling cold.  Lots of people come and only give us a handshake and say 'Hi'.  You bring us a blanket." 

We asked if the people were happy with the blankets.  He said, "Just look at all the people smiling."

This family has received their blanket and will begin their walk back to their village.  Some travel for several hours to come to the distribution site.  Their villages are often so remote that vehicles cannot reach them.  Some have to cross suspension footbridges to reach the supplies.

In this photo you can see one of the suspension footbridges in the background. The villagers are receiving blankets, tarps and rice.

Supplies loaded on backs, the villagers begin their long hike back to their homes, sometimes several hours away.

10,000 wool blankets. 10,000 warmer homes. Not to mention the tons of other supplies of food and emergency items that have been distributed to those suffering from the earthquake last year. 10,000 blessings.

Thank you to everyone for making this possible.

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  (Matt. 25:40)

"This is Manil Toka (the little girl) with Dipu Tamal holding her.  

They had made the hike from the village just to see us."

Christmas in Hong Kong

What a wonderful time it is to be serving the Lord as we celebrate His sacred, transcendent birth.  Hearts are made tender as we contemplate loved ones far away, with home-spun traditions, smells, tastes and music, little ones laughter and joyous memories.  Yet with that tenderness comes a sense of the sacred rising deep within.  We remember His words, "But seek he first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:3)  All these things!  All that we hold dear and treasure in our hearts.  All for which we seek.  All things!

Christmas in Hong Kong - it's one of a kind!

It started in early December with a sister missionaries Christmas dinner with the Area Presidency wives - Sister Gong, Sister Funk and Sister Wong.

Then there was the Area Office Christmas Devotional - 

with the following group photo:

This was Elder and Sister Gong's last Christmas devotional in the Asia Area.
 Elder Gong has been called to the Presidency of the Seventy and will be sorely missed.

Our Area Public Affairs people planned and organized a number of Christmas events - including an amazing community service project with over 1300 fleece blankets for the elderly - donated to agencies throughout Hong Kong.  On one 

Saturday, hundreds of volunteers gathered in three different chapels throughout Hong Kong to cut and tie fringes and prepare the blankets and color Christmas cards.

Elder Coffey joined the children and others in coloring the Christmas cards which accompanied each fleece blanket.

Sister Chamberlain, the Public Affairs champion who organized this massive event.

The woman in the red hat heard about the service project and came in off the street to join us.  She was thrilled to be there!

We met this sweet family from India in the mall earlier in the week, and invited them to join us.  The mom wants to teach her children the blessings of service.  They loved their experience!

So Merry Christmas from Hong Kong! There's always something amazing going on!  We are ever grateful to be in the service of the Lord - however He needs us.                                                    Next post - Christmas Peninsula 3rd Branch style!

Lessons and Laughter in Lao

Elder Coffey and I visited the country of Lao to meet our humanitarian couple and inspect some of the humanitarian projects and processes there.

In Vientiane, the capital city, a happy chatter filled the room as students giggled through the opening exercise of vocabulary review. Deseret International Charities (DIC) English lessons were in full swing for government employees in Vientiane, Lao. Our senior humanitarian couple, Elder and Sister Bush, oversee the teaching of 500 students each week. Laughter erupted as the students followed Sister Bush in a round of Hokey Pokey, learning body parts while singing the fun American dance.

Elder Coffey joins in a round of Hokey Pokey

The six Elders who are serving in Lao are teaching at the Center for Medical Rehabilitation. These stalwart young men come from the United States, usually without knowing another language. They learn Thai in the Missionary Training Center and begin their service in Thailand.  They are later assigned to Lao, where they quickly pick up the new language.

But these Elders have gone even further.  They are teaching English to deaf students  - using Lao Sign Language, which they also learned on site. And the students love them!





American Thai-taught Lao-learned Lao-Sign-Language English teachers!  I'd say the gift of tongues is alive and well in this little corner of the Lord's vineyard!

At the Center for Medical Rehabilitation, we next observed disabled employees assembling wheelchairs which will later be used for some of our wheelchair projects.

This  man is trying out his new trike wheelchair.  A happy grin spreads over his face as he looks back in gratitude. It's such a simple thing - but a wheelchair can make all the difference in restoring dignity of the human spirit.

Later we were driven to the small village of Nabong.  We were fortunate to be accompanied by the Deputy Director in the Ministry of Education and Sport. We were headed to a water handover ceremony at the Nabong Primary and Secondary School - 750 students and 35 faculty. In a recent clean water and sanitation project, DIC built 12 toilet stalls, 4 handwashing stations, and piping and filters for clean drinking water. 

Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education and Sport inspects a handwashing station.

The 2 hour ceremony of speeches, dance, song and lunch were evidence of their extreme gratitude.

Girls dressed in traditional Hmong costumes.  Hmong are a minority group living in the area.

Click here for a video of these beautiful young women as they danced for us at the ceremony -  Hmong Dancers

Elder Coffey with some of the beautiful dancers

        Distributing school kits 

Dressed in costume for their dance routine, They were a little shy, but finally consented to a picture.

Traditional Lao hair style

But the "Fun Team" stole the show. Look at the faces of these young people as they watch in amazement when the "Fun Team", as the Elders are affectionately called, break out in an unexpected dance routine that rocked the school!

 Video of Elders Dancing

Life will never be the same for this school!  After the ceremonies, the "Fun Team" leads the students in water rocket launching. It is always a huge hit wherever they go.

The Elders have worked hard. Their shoes will probably never be the same either!

Meanwhile, the school staff have been cooking up a lunch for their visitors. 

In the pot go the veggies for our delicious lunch!

No need for too many utensils - fingers do the trick in Lao!

After the meal, the staff wash up the dishes in cold water.  Cold water dish-washing is typical in Asia.

Elder Coffey tries to get some of the students to pose for a picture.

There you go! Smiles and all! 

The greatest joy we experience on our mission is when we are out with the people, seeing their lives, their homes, their world. And everywhere we go, it is the humblest of people who carry the largest smiles. To act in the name of the Savior - to help restore dignity, lift out of poverty and bring hope to families - this is the healing mission of LDS Charities and of Deseret International Charities.

The LDS Charities website explains, "Sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LDS Charities follows the admonition of Jesus Christ to help others in need. Jesus Christ taught His followers to give meat to the hungry and drink to those who thirst. His gospel includes taking in the stranger, loving neighbors, and visiting those who are sick or imprisoned. He taught that we are to love and care for each other, visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and lift up those whose hands hang down and whose knees are feeble."

"To touch the soul of another human being 

is to walk on holy ground."

                                  Stephen Covey