First letter from the MTC

Adam sent home a letter describing his first day at the MTC.

His first activity after settling into his room, "... I soon was in class with my lao shi (teacher), who only spoke Mandarin to us.  I was pretty good, but I still need practice and wish I had done a little more Pimsleur. Oh well!"

Adam has two companions, Elder Wilde and Elder Chang (see photo in the earlier post).

After meeting with his Branch President, Adam wrote, "President Deng gave me just the advice I needed: Focus first on coming unto Christ and growing my testimony, and then on the language."

As the new missionaries are organized into groups, Adam is made a "district leader", responsible for a group of missionaries going to Taiwan.

He is off to a good start.

First photos at the MTC

Thanks to Aunt Carole, we got some photos of Adam during his first days at the MTC.

With companions

With Aunt Carole's friends

Outdoor meeting

Mandarin speaking missionaries

MTC

After spending just 5 weeks at home, Adam entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC) today. He was lucky to have Aunt Ruth and Grandpa Li take him down to Provo, UT. He will spend the next 9 weeks learning how to preach the gospel and speak Mandarin. While he will miss his family and friends, he is excited to embark on this 2-year journey and to share the gospel with the people in Taiwan.  Adam thanks everyone for the amazing support he has received, especially his relatives, his great friends at UCLA, and his Church friends both in SoCal and in San Francisco.

With Grandpa Li

MTC

Same Blog, New Missionary

The last missionary from the Kwok household is entering the Missionary Training Center at BYU in Provo, UT, today.
This blog, originally created for Ben and then Thomas, is now "repurposed" to chronicle the activities of Adam Kwok, who will serve in the Taiwan Taichung Mission.
If you are interested, browse through the archived posts for Thomas when he was in Malaysia and Singapore from 2010-2012.

Thomas completed his mission and is now home

After 2 years of a very rewarding and successful mission, Thomas returned home from Malaysia this morning.  After meeting with Pres. Dillender, the stake president, he did the two things he missed the most: eating at In-And-Out Burgers and singing with his brothers.  This is the last posting of the blog.

In-And-Out

Singing with brother Ben

Singing with Brothers Ben and Adam

The Final Week

Over the last two months, he and others organized 2 successful church activities.  Here are some of the photos at these events.  Thomas was released as the Group Leader on Sunday.  He is working hard to achieve the goals he set for himself as a missionary, knowing that they are in reach even if he only has 4 more days in Malaysia.  He will go to Singapore on Monday to meet up with the other missionaries who are also returning to the US.  He leaves for San Francisco early Tuesday morning.

During the month of May, he attended a zone meeting in Ipoh and met many good people in Sitiawan.

Zone Meeting in Ipoh

Flats in Sitiawan 

With a family Thomas and his companion are teaching.

With Elder Martin, Thomas' companion at the Provo Missionary Training Center.
[Go to the July 10, 2010 post to see what they looked like 2 years ago.]

Dinner with new friends from the Philippines.

Thomas and others also organized 2 successful church activities. The first event was in early May, when the Chinese Branch members and the Malay Group members got together to have Family Home Evening.  Lots of people attended and had a good time together.

Joint Family Home Evening in Sitiawan

The second was a Gawai party at the church.  Gawai is a big festival for the Ibans from the State of Sarawak on the Island of Borneo.  The celebration includes lots of food and traditional dancing.

Gawai party decorations

Gawai Party at the Sitiawan Church.

Iban dance during Gawai celebration

Poco poco dance

4 missionaries in Sitiawan and a local family.

Return Date Set

Just got word that Thomas will return to the US on Tuesday, June 12, 2012.  He'll be on a Delta flight that goes from Singapore to Tokyo, then on to San Francisco, arriving around 9:30 AM.  We can't wait.