Andergram Adventures: Associated Asian Women's Conference 2014

I have just returned from a weekend in Hong Kong attending the 2014 Associated Asian Women’s Conference. It was a great blessing to be counted as one among Asian Women. This was the 8^Th annual conference to be held with growth in numbers and spirit every year. A few of the founding women that started this whole event had attended all eight years were in attendance. The opening session began on Thursday afternoon and the conference continued through Saturday noon. There were keynote speakers, breakout sessions and a closing general session on Saturday.

Thursday was a class day for me so we left Guangzhou Thursday afternoon after class on the high-speed train to Hong Kong. We arrived late to the 7:00PM Opening Session and about half way through Elder Funk, of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, giving his opening address. Friday morning we were ready to go full steam ahead with the breakout sessions. Women from all over Asia were attending and presenting, only two presenters were imported for Utah. There was a standing roll call by country of attendance: Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Jakarta, Saudi Arabia and Mainland China, twelve countries all stood together 250 strong to represent their location. I have never participated in an event that represented twelve countries. The common thread that provided discussion on so many levels was “Thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this” Ester 4:14

Asian Women are most definitely amazing women. They are intelligent, strong, independent, committed, and well informed about their role in their country. Each country represents an unusual political structure and set of circumstances that must become part of the daily routine and religious practices. The majority of women attending were expatriot women living in Asia for business purposes, U.S. Embassy and Consulate employees or teachers in English programs throughout Asia.

I have to say I did find it reassuring to understand that many of these women have lived in Asia for many years and their Mandarin wasn’t any better than mine. I remember thinking when we served in the Hispanic Initiative in North West Salt Lake City that the reason that Hispanic Women never learn English is because they cluster with other Hispanic women and only speak their mother tongue. I have been provided a deeper understanding of how exactly that happens. I have witnessed it here with English speakers clustering and only speak English; unable to learn Mandarin and I am sad to say I have fallen in that bucket but I do have great company.

I particularly enjoyed the closing session with Elder Gerrit Gong, President of the Asia Area addressing Asian Women. Most especially I loved hearing from his wife Susan Gong. I worked very closely with Susan when I was the Principal of Lone Peak Elementary implementing the Dual Immersion Mandarin Program. At the time Susan was at BYU teaching Mandarin and I was working with Chinese Native speaking teachers to implement Mandarin Chinese in 50% of the content area for students at Lone Peak. It was a huge learning curve and Susan and I worked tirelessly to stay one day ahead of students. It was great fun to see her in another role.

I am one lucky woman to have had incredible opportunities to allow me to be a life long learner, this one was priceless experience.