BBQ...Chinese Style!

Leih hou wonderful family and friends!

I have SO MANY THINGS TO SAY THIS WEEK. I don't think I'll be able to say them all. I can't type fast enough!!!!!

First of all, TODAY was awesome! Our ward had a BBQ up in Sai Kung (like an hour bus ride away) and oh my goodness it was gorgeous and so much fun. I'm serving in the most beautiful, amazing, wonderful, fun place in the entire world, just in case you guys didn't already know!!!!! And riding a bus was one of the best parts hahaha. Because we always ride the MTR and we're in the middle of the city, we don't get to see the beautiful parts of Hong Kong very often. BUT HOLY COW. It's amazing. I really want to tour HK on a bus one day. The bbq was a blast. The way these Chinese peeps do it is the BEST. It's just a weenie roast basically, but they bbq whatever. Chicken wings, hot dogs, fish balls, bread, and whole fish are among the most popular ones. And THEN. They smother it in honey before they roast it. MOST INGENIUS IDEA EVER! We gotta try it when I get back!!! It was delicious. And so much fun! Cheung Sha Wan Ward is the greatest in the entire world. Everyone is just one big happy family! I love it SO much!

This whole week I was looking forward to conference like Christmas. And it didn't disappoint! Wasn't it amazing?! I had too many favorites.... Elder Holland (of course!), President Uchtdorf, President Eyring, Elder McConkie, Elder Bednar...... okay pretty much all of them. They were all so good. It was the most wonderful spiritual refresher! I literally can't wait for April! We got to watch it in English upstairs in the church while all the Chinese speakers watched it downstairs. Technology is the biggest blessing.

I saw Deonn Stott in the choir and freaked out a few times :) It was fun to see a face from home!

This week...

We helped YJ resolve her concerns about baptism! Still heading for October 27 as her baptismal date! She was worried that she'd just barely started believing in Christ and felt like she needed years of time to prepare herself. It was cool to be able to testify to her that if she had enough faith in herself, she could be ready by the 27th. She is so amazing. I wish we had more time to meet with her. She's got a pretty stressful and crazy life. I love her so much, though. I know she'll get baptized!

We met a girl named R a few weeks ago and contacted her. She was obsessed that we were foreigners and so we thought she'd have no gospel interest. She agreed to meet with us, and we thought it was because she had English class interest. NOPE! When we met with her she said she wanted to meet with us to learn more about religion because she wanted to be religious! WHAT!? who says that?? It was awesome. We're a little bummed because she doesn't live in our area :( We're the queens of finding investigators for other areas. But still happy to be furthering the work somehow!

We heart attacked a LA this week. That was fun! (pictures to come!) Some lady that walked by kept saying "wow hou leng!" (so pretty!) and we tried to contact her but she wasn't too interested. Maybe just by seeing us doing a good deed (like heart attacking the door of a LA!) she will want to meet with missionaries in the future. There is so much of that here.... planting seeds. I just have to continue to have faith that people will see my Christlike acts and want to know Christ because they know me. I've decided that's my mission motto. I want to live my whole life in such a way that when people know me, they will want to know Christ because they know me.

We met with A this week! I contacted her a week or so ago, and found out her sister is a member living in AZ and she met with missionaries 20 years ago! I just randomly met her on the street. DEFINITELY not a coincidence. I'm thankful that the Lord led me to her and hope that she'll continue to have interest in the gospel. Something really cool happened. She was pretty quiet the first part of our lesson, and then we shared Alma 32:27 with her. She read it and then said, "How did you know this would touch my heart?" in English. It was so sweet. I love following the Spirit and seeing the fruits of doing so!

I absolutely love what I'm doing. I was thinking today about how much I love this place and love these people. I don't ever want to leave. If I could stay in a time warp and be 20 and a missionary in HK forever, I would do it in a heartbeat. I LOVE what I'm doing. Every single day brings so many new adventures and surprises and miracles.

I loved in Elder Bednar's talk when he said that sometimes, when we ask the Lord for specific blessings, he withholds those blessings and blesses us with something else. In my journal that night, I went through and wrote some specific times in my life when I prayed for something to happen and instead got something else. Not the least of which was this wonderful mission. I think about where I was a year and a half ago and am SO INCREDIBLY thankful that I am here right now. The Lord knows what He's doing with our lives. We just have to trust Him. I do. I trust Him. Mom, I loved your email. "I'm a believer." I am, too. Completely and 100% believing and trusting in my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I hope you all are, too.

I love you all more than I could say! Thank you for your wonderful examples and your wonderful support! You really are the best family and friends in the world!

Love forever and always,
Sista Gwokamole
xoxoxoxoxxoxo