We served an 18-month mission as temple ordinance workers in the Hong Kong Temple (May 2017 to Oct 2018). For a period, we were assigned to a branch where members included about 180 Filipino sisters who were working in Hong Kong, far from family. We took turns with other pairs of full-time couple missionaries to provide lunch for them. While our turn came only one Sunday a month, it was quite a challenge since we served in the Temple till late Saturday afternoon, leaving us little time to plan and prepare the meals.
Our turn came one weekend and we headed to the wet market, each with a trolley in hand, right after finishing our duties at the temple that Saturday. When done, our shopping trolleys were filled to the brim – Elder Chiu’s trolley in particular, was filled with two large boxes of big red apples. Without a car, we headed back from the wet market to the Wan Chai chapel on foot, cautiously manoeuvring the trolleys through crowds of people on the streets, while trying to avoid traffic and potholes on the pavement too.
Unfortunately, along the way, the wheels on Elder Chiu’s trolley gave way due to the heavy load. The two boxes of apples fell off the trolley and apples were rolling all over the place – onto the kerbside, along the street and some into the drains. We panicked in the moment and scrambled about trying to salvage as many apples as we could before they got trampled by pedestrians or run over by passing vehicles. We could not lose the apples if we wanted to feed all the branch members.
At that moment, two sister missionaries appeared out of the blue and immediately joined us in salvaging the scattered apples. We knew without a doubt that they were angels sent by Heavenly Father to help us in that critical moment. But the moral of the story was not so much about not putting all our apples into one basket. Rather, it really is about how the Lord sends angels to help us along the way when we are on His errand. As we worked to serve the 180 members of the branch, we were blessed with the sisters’ assistance.
At another time while on duty in the temple, a group of Indonesian sisters had come to perform Temple Work and brought with them their family record cards for proxy ordinances to be done. These cards had to be updated when each ordinance had been completed. As Sister Chiu was about her work, she heard a soft commotion: one of the Indonesian sisters found that two of her family ordinance cards were missing. The sister was close to tears, brimming with frustration and worry as losing the cards meant not being able to continue with their temple work. Sister Chiu uttered a silent prayer as she joined the search and received an impression to check a drawer in the office, even though this drawer had been searched previously. In the drawer, she saw a stack of card files and went through them. To everyone’s great surprise and relief, she discovered the two missing cards clipped under a stack of unused ordinance cards! We all felt at that moment how Heavenly Father had prompted Sister Chiu to search in the right place. Once again, we saw the Lord’s hands in aiding those who serve Him on His errands.
We have a strong testimony that Heavenly Father has personally guided us through many miracles while we served him in the Temple. We know this is His and Jesus Christ’s work so that all His children both living and dead will enjoy the eternal blessings He has prepared. Borrowing the words of a Primary song, “[We] love to see the Temple and [are] going (back) there someday”. Indeed, Temple and Family History work is one of the most important works we can participate in to further the gathering of Israel.