Weldon Kitchen figured it was lost forever.

Since moving myself and my family to Hong Kong where I’m opening an Asia office for my online marketing firm, I’ve had countless opportunities to think “If I hadn’t served as a Mormon missionary, I wouldn’t be doing this today.” The skills I learned almost 20 years ago as a missionary have been invaluable to my career as an entrepreneur, and never more so than now as I live and do business in a foreign country. In 1994 I became a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are more commonly known by the nickname “Mormons” or simply “ LDS.” But I was not a missionary in Hong Kong or Asia where I live now. I served in Manaus, Brazil, where I learned Portuguese, rather than Mandarin or Cantonese. Prior to 2013 I had never been to Asia and knew very little about China or its neighbors. Most of my exposure to Asian culture came from growing up in Arcadia, California. There is a significant Asian population there, but despite this I can’t say I learned all that much about Asia from my Asian friends, who were intent on learning English and assimilating into American culture. But going to a foreign country where I didn’t know the language or the culture wasn’t new to me because I had already done it as a 19-year-old in Brazil. Here are some of the lessons I learned as a missionary that are helping me as I open an office in Hong Kong.

A lot can change in four years . . . FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL

Prior to the general women's session of the 186th Semiannual General Conference, Sister Neill F. Marriott, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, and Sister Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president, helped bring comfort to Church members in Louisiana, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.

Last year, AdAge ranked the Church's #ASaviorIsBornvideo and campaign as one of the top 10 most viral ads during the holiday season.

In a recent sacrament meeting talk, a ward Young Men president recalled having taught the lesson in the ward’s priests quorum not long before.

As Latter-day Saints, we try to keep the Lord's commandments, but sometimes we tell ourselves things that simply aren't true and that keep us from even trying.

Unable to speak, it was only recently that Josiah Cullen found a way to communicate with the world. Nothing surprised his mother as much as when Josiah wrote his first independent sentence.

Jorgen Sumsion spent the fall semester studying biostatistics at Brigham Young University, but he's not enrolled this semester.Sumsion is still in Provo, but the 18-year-old is at the Missionary Training Center preparing for a Mormon mission in Taiwan. He plans to continue his studies at BYU -- after he returns from his two-year mission.

The story of Hanukkah is also a story of our heritage that tells about the protection and dedication of something Mormons hold dear, a temple.