Hong Kong: Most significant experience
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HONG KONG — President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated a building here on Tuesday, Aug. 2, that replaced a well-known, historic building that he bought for the Church in 1960, and was used by it for many years.
The historic building, Kom Tong Hall, housed many of the Church's administrative functions in the Asia Area, and also served as a meetinghouse until it was sold to the government of Hong Kong in 2004.
President Hinckley talked about Kom Tong Hall before offering the dedicatory prayer for the new Church Administration Building in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong.
Arriving at the building, he took a quick tour of its offices, chapels, classrooms and other facilities.
To the delight of members sitting in two of the building's three chapels, there to watch the proceedings on television monitors, President Hinckley stepped in and greeted them on his way to the main chapel on the first floor.
The previous night, President Hinckley had dedicated a similar building in Taipei, Taiwan. It was President Hinckley who dedicated the temples in both Taipei and Hong Kong. In fact, he said, the most significant experience he ever had in Hong Kong was the inspiration for the design of the Hong Kong China Temple.
He said that in searching for a place for a temple, he and a Church real estate employee looked all over the island and all over Kowloon and all over the New Territories. Returning to his hotel, he was disturbed and didn't know what to do, he said. After "pleading with the Lord that He'd tell us what to do," he went to sleep. Then at 2 a.m., he woke up, he said, and envisioned what could be done.
"We could build a tall building on property we owned and build a temple on top," he said.
The baptismal font would be on the lower level and the floors in between would contain a chapel and classrooms as well as offices and other facilities.
"We followed that same pattern in New York City," he continued, speaking of the Manhattan New York Temple which he dedicated in 2004.
About the building he was dedicating, he said, "It is so beautiful and so serviceable and such a great asset for the Church. I am profoundly grateful to anyone who had anything to do with it."
After counseling the members to be worthy to obtain the blessings of the temple, and before offering the dedicatory prayer, President Hinckley said, "I just want to tell you how much I love you. You are wonderful people."
Also speaking at the dedicatory meeting were Elder Daryl H. Garn of the Seventy, Asia Area president, and Elder D. Allen Andersen of the Seventy, second counselor in the Asia Area presidency.
During his talk, Elder Garn said that some time ago he informed President Hinckley that two new buildings needed to be dedicated and then waited.
"I was so happy when the prayers that he would come were answered," he said.
Many people at the dedicatory meeting also saw President Hinckley when he dedicated the Hong Kong China Temple in 1996.
Pak Ming Ng, accompanied by his wife and three children Tuesday evening, said he operated the hotel elevator for President Hinckley and his wife, Sister Marjorie Hinckley, when they came for the temple dedication. Now an area coordinator for the Church Educational System in Hong Kong, Brother Ng said he felt President Hinckley's love and caring for the people. "We felt his love and we also loved him," he said.
As his journey continues, President Hinckley's schedule called for stops in Delhi, India, and Nairobi, Kenya, before arriving in Aba, Nigeria, to dedicate the temple there on Aug. 7.
E-mail to: ghill@desnews.com
