Okay, I know I'm not in this video, but my comp is!! Plus, this guy, Matthew Mok, is awesome! He's in our ward and he is a barely returned LA. His wife and daughter, Emily are our investigators!!! So the girl playing the piano in this video is Emily. That church builidng you see? That's mine :) that bishop? He's mine! Bro Mok's house? I go there EVERY WEEK! I sit on that couch and teach lessons and walk through those streets and talk to these people almost every single day!! :) Just thought it'd be cool for you to see :) I love you all!
https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/matthew-moks-story?lang=eng
4.28.2014
Words on a page! (Letter from 4/27/14)
Dear family and friends,
I'm so sorry last week/the week before that, my emails were so lame. I just have no time at all with all of the exciting things that are going on back home :) (aka, whit's mission call). I'm still freaking out about it. Welcome to Asia, whit! :) it's a wonderful place!!
This week has been a crazy up and down week for us, but I've learned TONS. I always think there's no way I could learn this much in a year, but I have and it keeps coming. The Lord knows me way better than I know myself, that's for sure. There's been a big push in our mission for our "65 in July" goal. It's time to buckle down now!! There's been a lot of stress for more investigators, more baptismal dates, better teaching, everything. We're just raising the bar out here! It's been really good because it's allowed me to take a step back and look at the way I'm doing things. Am I doing everything I can to spread the gospel? Am I being a good teacher? Am I being a good leader/example? Am I balancing everything? Am I listening to the Spirit? Am I helping people have faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ? It's given me a lot to think about.
At the beginning of the week, we had four investigators with baptismal dates. This week, 3 of them dropped. It was really sad and hard. But it's been a blessing. Those people weren't ready. At least all of them, -- Kami, Christina, and Helen -- are still willing to meet with us and learn more. We just have to help them develop more faith before they get baptized!
Our tripanionship is good and happy :) I was being a really huge negative nancy last week and stressing. Everything is going great! We have a lot of responsibility, but it's nothing that we can't do without the Lord and without each other!!
STORY TIME:
1. So we're in charge of Hung Shui Kiu now too, right? Hung Shui Kiu is like a jungle of huts and little houses. It's CRAZY. It is NOTHING like the rest of Hong Kong. And there are soooo many dogs. Sister Aguilar and I are terrified of them. haha. (I know, all my stories involve dogs) So we're in this teeeeny little alleyway and there are dogs lining the fences, all barking their heads off. We were so scared to walk down it, but we had to. Sister Choi said, "20 seconds of courage! I'll count to 20 and we'll walk through!" So we all start counting at the top of our lungs: "1....2....3......4....." all the way to 20, speed-walking through this small alleyway full of giant barking dogs. And when you imagine these dogs, imagine the Sandlot. Like THOSE kind of dogs. It was scary but so good. When we got to the end we were laughing so hard we couldn't even stand up straight :)
2. We went to visit a less active. We walk into her house, and we see this ANCIENT old lady in the corner, just squatting like Asians do. And what is she doing? She's smoking this enormous bamboo pipe. Like, the size of a small tree. It's just between her legs and she's sucking in some gross looking liquid from a bucket between her legs. I don't even know how to describe it. It was DISGUSTING and so weird and just.... shocking. She was totally high and it was really sad but at the same time, just so odd I didn't even know what to do or say.
3. We went grocery shopping this morning. Sister Aguilar turned a corner and almost ran into a cart with a whole DEAD PIG on it. Just a dead pig, chilling on a cart, in the middle of Park and Shop. Its tail still had HAIR ON IT. so gross.
Well, I love you all. I'm sorry the quality of my emails has gone down and keeps declining. I have so much to think about and write about -- I feel like I get here and just word vomit into an email and then send it. Ugh. Sorry.. I'll just have to save the best stories for when I get home :) I love you all so much. Thanks for the constant support and love and encouragement. I love you all SO MUCH! I know this work is the Lord's and I couldn't be happier that I have a part in saving His children.
Have a wonderful week! I love you!
Love,
Shay
xoxoxoxo
I'm so sorry last week/the week before that, my emails were so lame. I just have no time at all with all of the exciting things that are going on back home :) (aka, whit's mission call). I'm still freaking out about it. Welcome to Asia, whit! :) it's a wonderful place!!
This week has been a crazy up and down week for us, but I've learned TONS. I always think there's no way I could learn this much in a year, but I have and it keeps coming. The Lord knows me way better than I know myself, that's for sure. There's been a big push in our mission for our "65 in July" goal. It's time to buckle down now!! There's been a lot of stress for more investigators, more baptismal dates, better teaching, everything. We're just raising the bar out here! It's been really good because it's allowed me to take a step back and look at the way I'm doing things. Am I doing everything I can to spread the gospel? Am I being a good teacher? Am I being a good leader/example? Am I balancing everything? Am I listening to the Spirit? Am I helping people have faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ? It's given me a lot to think about.
At the beginning of the week, we had four investigators with baptismal dates. This week, 3 of them dropped. It was really sad and hard. But it's been a blessing. Those people weren't ready. At least all of them, -- Kami, Christina, and Helen -- are still willing to meet with us and learn more. We just have to help them develop more faith before they get baptized!
Our tripanionship is good and happy :) I was being a really huge negative nancy last week and stressing. Everything is going great! We have a lot of responsibility, but it's nothing that we can't do without the Lord and without each other!!
STORY TIME:
1. So we're in charge of Hung Shui Kiu now too, right? Hung Shui Kiu is like a jungle of huts and little houses. It's CRAZY. It is NOTHING like the rest of Hong Kong. And there are soooo many dogs. Sister Aguilar and I are terrified of them. haha. (I know, all my stories involve dogs) So we're in this teeeeny little alleyway and there are dogs lining the fences, all barking their heads off. We were so scared to walk down it, but we had to. Sister Choi said, "20 seconds of courage! I'll count to 20 and we'll walk through!" So we all start counting at the top of our lungs: "1....2....3......4....." all the way to 20, speed-walking through this small alleyway full of giant barking dogs. And when you imagine these dogs, imagine the Sandlot. Like THOSE kind of dogs. It was scary but so good. When we got to the end we were laughing so hard we couldn't even stand up straight :)
2. We went to visit a less active. We walk into her house, and we see this ANCIENT old lady in the corner, just squatting like Asians do. And what is she doing? She's smoking this enormous bamboo pipe. Like, the size of a small tree. It's just between her legs and she's sucking in some gross looking liquid from a bucket between her legs. I don't even know how to describe it. It was DISGUSTING and so weird and just.... shocking. She was totally high and it was really sad but at the same time, just so odd I didn't even know what to do or say.
3. We went grocery shopping this morning. Sister Aguilar turned a corner and almost ran into a cart with a whole DEAD PIG on it. Just a dead pig, chilling on a cart, in the middle of Park and Shop. Its tail still had HAIR ON IT. so gross.
Well, I love you all. I'm sorry the quality of my emails has gone down and keeps declining. I have so much to think about and write about -- I feel like I get here and just word vomit into an email and then send it. Ugh. Sorry.. I'll just have to save the best stories for when I get home :) I love you all so much. Thanks for the constant support and love and encouragement. I love you all SO MUCH! I know this work is the Lord's and I couldn't be happier that I have a part in saving His children.
Have a wonderful week! I love you!
Love,
Shay
xoxoxoxo
MY FAMILY IS TOO BIG AND OLD!! (Letter from 4/20/14)
OH MY GOODNESS. I'm just sitting here dying inside. WHITNEY'S MISSION CALL!!!!!!!!! ahhhh! I couldn't be more excited and thrilled and wish that I could be there and see her! It hasn't felt real that I won't see you for 3 years till now, whit twit. I MISS YOU SO MUCH! I love you and I'm so incredibly proud of you for serving a mission! You're going to be amazing!!! AND PARKER! You look like a man! Promenade and all! You look seriously so good. And your date looked nice... idk the video was kinda blurry but you guys looked SO GREAT! Wow I can't handle this. I've watched whit's mission call video like 20x already and Parker's prom video like 15x. I love you guys :) I have the best fam in the entire world!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!
By the way HAPPY EASTER :) I hope you guys had the best Easter ever. I love youuuu!
Well.... gosh I bet you don't even want to hear about my week! Too much going on at home! But I'll tell you because it's been a very interesting and emotional week....
So Tuesday was moves calls. ANOTHER TRANSFER ALREADY it's weird and crazy and insane. My mission is passing me by tooooooo fast! (Yours will too, twit. ahhhhh you're going i can't believe it askjaowiejfwosgapweoijwoiejfr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Anywhays. Sister Aguilar and I were pretty sure we were staying together. And we were RIGHT! But at the same time, wrong. Here's our new load of responsibility:
Say hello to our trio!
It's going to be hard... like we can't even think of how to balance everything right now. But it's going to be okay. I know the Lord has a lot in store for us. He loves us more than we can even comprehend, and He will help us. He'll "go before [our] face, and be on [our] right hand and on [our] left." I love Him and I will do WHATEVER He asks me to do. Hard or easy. Because it's all worth it.
Fam, I love you so much! I miss you so much! I'm so excited to see you again! For now I will carry on, carry on, carry on! You can sing it in Chinese: "Wong ching chong! Wong ching chong! Wong ching chong!!" (That is real hahaha. Isn't it great?)
I LOVE YOU!!!!
Love always,
Sister Gwok
xoxoxxoxox
By the way HAPPY EASTER :) I hope you guys had the best Easter ever. I love youuuu!
Well.... gosh I bet you don't even want to hear about my week! Too much going on at home! But I'll tell you because it's been a very interesting and emotional week....
So Tuesday was moves calls. ANOTHER TRANSFER ALREADY it's weird and crazy and insane. My mission is passing me by tooooooo fast! (Yours will too, twit. ahhhhh you're going i can't believe it askjaowiejfwosgapweoijwoiejfr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Anywhays. Sister Aguilar and I were pretty sure we were staying together. And we were RIGHT! But at the same time, wrong. Here's our new load of responsibility:
- We're now in a TRIO. With Sister Choi (a HK person)
- We now have charge of TWO AREAS, Tin Shui Wai AND Hung Shui Kiu, which means two wards, two sets of investigators, two sets of less actives, two area books, two everything.
- AND... Sister A and I are sister training leaders.
Say hello to our trio!
It's going to be hard... like we can't even think of how to balance everything right now. But it's going to be okay. I know the Lord has a lot in store for us. He loves us more than we can even comprehend, and He will help us. He'll "go before [our] face, and be on [our] right hand and on [our] left." I love Him and I will do WHATEVER He asks me to do. Hard or easy. Because it's all worth it.
Fam, I love you so much! I miss you so much! I'm so excited to see you again! For now I will carry on, carry on, carry on! You can sing it in Chinese: "Wong ching chong! Wong ching chong! Wong ching chong!!" (That is real hahaha. Isn't it great?)
I LOVE YOU!!!!
Love always,
Sister Gwok
xoxoxxoxox
Some Picture :) I'm Sorry!! (Letter from 4/13/14)
Part of my letter to President Hawks:
I absolutely loved general conference. I received so much personal revelation and so many answers to prayers! I'm so thankful that we have the privilege of listening to living prophets and apostles. There could be nothing better in the WORLD than what we are called to do right now. I especially loved Elder Holland's talk on Saturday morning. It doesn't matter what we are called to bear as disciples of the Lord. Throw mashed potatoes in our hair, beat us, persecute us... we still won't give up. We cannot be restrained as God's army. I love that. I also loved President Uchtdorf's. It reminded me of Sister Hawks' message on gratitude from a few Zone Conferences ago. Gratitude is everything! And we don't need to wait to be grateful. We can be grateful even when the fiery storms are raging around us. So cool.
Last night at "My Conversion Story" Fireside I was thrilled to see someone I knew! Fantasy(my baptism from Cheung Sha Wan)'s friend Stephanie! She is still meeting with the missionaries every week! When I talked to Sister Berry about it, she said Stephanie's doing amazingly well. I almost cried, I was so happy. It's one of those missionary pay days, when you get to see the fruit of your labors. Ah! I love this work!
I'm sorry this is such a lame short email. I'll write a better one next week. Here's some homework: read Elder Ballard's talk from conference. Then study PMG and report back to me what you've learned!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Keep smiling! Keep the faith! Buckle down; we really are living in the last days.
Love always,
Sister Gwok
xoxoxo
The Good and the Hard (Letter from 4/6/14)
Dearest family and friends,
This week was good, and hard. Hard, but good. Who am I kidding -- my whole mission has been like that. So, so good. So, so hard. Good + hard = best. Because if things weren't hard, they wouldn't be worth it!
The Good:
Mostly just this one thing. Yesterday one of our investigators came to church for the first time with her little son. It was the happiest thing EVER. We were thrilled to see her. After sacrament meeting, she said she needed to talk to us and took us outside. She started crying and told us that the night before, her husband beat her. Kicked her and hit her and threw things at her. AND he beat her son. AND it's been happening since before her son was born, over 6 years ago. She was just sobbing and we were sobbing with her. My heart broke for her. I want to send her off to America, to Utah, and tell her she can sleep in my bed at home with her son. They can have a good life, FAR away from her stupid husband. I can't even describe how much I love these too. They are so good and so innocent. Sister Aguilar and I were really upset about it all day on Sunday. We were both crying as we were writing in our journals about it. Life is SO hard. It kills me to think of our cute investigator going home every night to THAT. I would give her my apartment/bed/food if I could. :( SO sad.
The only thing that makes me feel a little bit better is the fact that through Jesus Christ, this can be made right. Our cute investigator can be healed. Completely healed. Spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally. She can turn her life completely around. That's the wonderful thing the gospel offers to all of us. No matter our trial, whether we endure abuse or whether we have physical disabilities or bad hair days or pain because of guilt or financial problems or WHATEVER, Jesus Christ's Atonement gives us a chance to become new. I am so incredibly thankful for that gift. There is no way to describe how much His gift to all of us means to me. I am thankful that through Jesus Christ, I am clean. I am not perfect, but I can start again every single day to be better and more than I was yesterday. I love being able to share that with everyone.
Fam, I hope you know how good you have it. Whit, Park, Jare... I love you guys so much. You have the best of everything. I hope you're grateful for it and recognize it and tell Heavenly Father how much you are thankful.
I love you all so much. I love this mission experience. The gospel is HOPE. I'm giving hope to Hong Kong. It's the best, most worthwhile thing I've ever done.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Gwok
xoxxoxo
This week was good, and hard. Hard, but good. Who am I kidding -- my whole mission has been like that. So, so good. So, so hard. Good + hard = best. Because if things weren't hard, they wouldn't be worth it!
The Good:
- We had Zone 24's Friday and Saturday! That's where every companionship in the zone gets to go on exchanges with someone else (for 24 hours... hence "24's"). It was so fun! Guess who I went with??...... Sister Aldana! My old companion! It was great! We went to her area, Butterfly, which is beautiful and amazing. It's down by the coast, so there's waterfront everywhere. Loved it. Early Saturday morning one of their less actives invited us to go on a hike with her so we went! IT WAS THE BEST. Wow, I miss hiking. I miss the good outdoors. We shared a message about agency and choosing the right path and ah, it was just perfect. It was fun to be with Sister Aldana and see/talk about the things we've learned and the ways we've changed since we were comps.
- One night, Sister Aguilar and I were STARVING. So we went to this little Thailand restaurant that's like right below our house. We got some good food, ate it, paid, and were walking out when we saw some candy in a dish right by the door. We were like, "Hey, it's like Cafe Rio!" took the candy and left. We were walking by the restaurant again a little later when we realized that the candy we ate was FOR THEIR ANCESTORS. People give food to their ancestors here and put it on little shrines and stuff. We ATE THEIR ANCESTORS' CANDY!!! Oh man, we were humiliated. But we laughed for like an hour. The people that owned the shop were probably like, wow, stupid Americans.
- We ran into one of our investigators, Helen, on the street one night. She was like, "hey! I met this lady whose husband and son died in a car accident. I think she needs the gospel! Want to go visit her with me right now?" We were like, OF COURSE!!! Helen, our INVESTIGATOR, gave us a referral. We were shocked but stoked out of our minds.
- I am learning more and more every day. One of my "3 things" (hey dad, remember when you told me to pick 3 things I wanted to work on over the course of my mission?) is to be a better studyer. It's been awesome to really dive into the scriptures lately, to really pray and speak with Heavenly Father, to really think about my investigators and how I can help them, to really study Cantonese so I can speak it better and better. I love learning. I love study time. I love this gospel.
Mostly just this one thing. Yesterday one of our investigators came to church for the first time with her little son. It was the happiest thing EVER. We were thrilled to see her. After sacrament meeting, she said she needed to talk to us and took us outside. She started crying and told us that the night before, her husband beat her. Kicked her and hit her and threw things at her. AND he beat her son. AND it's been happening since before her son was born, over 6 years ago. She was just sobbing and we were sobbing with her. My heart broke for her. I want to send her off to America, to Utah, and tell her she can sleep in my bed at home with her son. They can have a good life, FAR away from her stupid husband. I can't even describe how much I love these too. They are so good and so innocent. Sister Aguilar and I were really upset about it all day on Sunday. We were both crying as we were writing in our journals about it. Life is SO hard. It kills me to think of our cute investigator going home every night to THAT. I would give her my apartment/bed/food if I could. :( SO sad.
The only thing that makes me feel a little bit better is the fact that through Jesus Christ, this can be made right. Our cute investigator can be healed. Completely healed. Spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally. She can turn her life completely around. That's the wonderful thing the gospel offers to all of us. No matter our trial, whether we endure abuse or whether we have physical disabilities or bad hair days or pain because of guilt or financial problems or WHATEVER, Jesus Christ's Atonement gives us a chance to become new. I am so incredibly thankful for that gift. There is no way to describe how much His gift to all of us means to me. I am thankful that through Jesus Christ, I am clean. I am not perfect, but I can start again every single day to be better and more than I was yesterday. I love being able to share that with everyone.
Fam, I hope you know how good you have it. Whit, Park, Jare... I love you guys so much. You have the best of everything. I hope you're grateful for it and recognize it and tell Heavenly Father how much you are thankful.
I love you all so much. I love this mission experience. The gospel is HOPE. I'm giving hope to Hong Kong. It's the best, most worthwhile thing I've ever done.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Gwok
xoxxoxo
Bringing Summer Back! (Letter from 3/30/14)
Hello my favorite people in all the world,
This week changed from spring to summer in a flash. Which means we're back to:
I did exchanges with Sister Palmer on Friday and learned a lot. Sister Palmer is going home in a few weeks, but she doesn't talk about it. She's focused and clear and LOVES what she's doing in Hong Kong. She was inspiring to me. I'm hitting my year mark this week and it's kind of been freaking me out. Okay, not kind of. REALLY. I don't want to go back home to real life. I experienced the "scared" feeling that other missionaries talk about (that I never thought I'd feel). Sister Palmer helped me realize that I have 6 months left! Relax and enjoy it and keep working hard. I was grateful for her example in leadership and in teaching. I always like learning from other people.
We visited Lai Mei Sze (less active) this week. When she opened the door, she told us she didn't want to see us and didn't want to come back to church. We convinced her to let us come in and talk. Throughout the lesson, she opened up a lot more and by the end she said, "I'm going to make you a promise. I will smoke 2 more cigarettes today, and then I'll quit. And I won't drink beer ever again either." We were like, WHOA!! Okay! :) So then we prayed with her and decided that we wanted to give up something that we love, too. So we decided on chocolate and ice cream. No more chocolate or ice cream for me! It was inspiring to hear her talk about the things she wanted to change in her life. And I'm glad we're giving up stuff with her. It makes me better able to understand what she's going through. Hooray for change!!!
Sister Aguilar and I were sick yesterday morning :( First Sunday in HK that I've had to miss part of church. It felt weird, but I felt awful. We dragged ourselves to sacrament meeting and then dragged ourselves back home to rest for an hour. Then back to the church to teach a lesson. Then back home. Then out to teach a less active. Then back home. Then finally, felt good enough to go to a cheng out. I hate being sick.
Well, fam, I love you so much! I am LOVING the mission. I don't want to ever come home and deal with real life things ever again. I miss you all, but I love this too much. I hope October never comes ;)
I LOVE you!
Sister Gwok
xoxoxxo
Proof I saw/met Elder Holland:
This week changed from spring to summer in a flash. Which means we're back to:
- Sleeping with the fan on and just one sheet
- Crocs! gotta love em
- Least amount of clothing possible
- RAIN! Buckets and buckets and buckets of rain!!! Last night we were at a cheng out with the elders and when we were on the train platform coming home, the thunderstorm warning changed to "Black"! There's red, amber, and black (which is the worst). We ran home with our umbrellas not doing a thing, laughing our heads off. We couldn't hold it back :) it was so fun. By the time we got home, we were drenched! Love it!
- Humidity! Which means no cute hair and no makeup..
I did exchanges with Sister Palmer on Friday and learned a lot. Sister Palmer is going home in a few weeks, but she doesn't talk about it. She's focused and clear and LOVES what she's doing in Hong Kong. She was inspiring to me. I'm hitting my year mark this week and it's kind of been freaking me out. Okay, not kind of. REALLY. I don't want to go back home to real life. I experienced the "scared" feeling that other missionaries talk about (that I never thought I'd feel). Sister Palmer helped me realize that I have 6 months left! Relax and enjoy it and keep working hard. I was grateful for her example in leadership and in teaching. I always like learning from other people.
We visited Lai Mei Sze (less active) this week. When she opened the door, she told us she didn't want to see us and didn't want to come back to church. We convinced her to let us come in and talk. Throughout the lesson, she opened up a lot more and by the end she said, "I'm going to make you a promise. I will smoke 2 more cigarettes today, and then I'll quit. And I won't drink beer ever again either." We were like, WHOA!! Okay! :) So then we prayed with her and decided that we wanted to give up something that we love, too. So we decided on chocolate and ice cream. No more chocolate or ice cream for me! It was inspiring to hear her talk about the things she wanted to change in her life. And I'm glad we're giving up stuff with her. It makes me better able to understand what she's going through. Hooray for change!!!
Sister Aguilar and I were sick yesterday morning :( First Sunday in HK that I've had to miss part of church. It felt weird, but I felt awful. We dragged ourselves to sacrament meeting and then dragged ourselves back home to rest for an hour. Then back to the church to teach a lesson. Then back home. Then out to teach a less active. Then back home. Then finally, felt good enough to go to a cheng out. I hate being sick.
Well, fam, I love you so much! I am LOVING the mission. I don't want to ever come home and deal with real life things ever again. I miss you all, but I love this too much. I hope October never comes ;)
I LOVE you!
Sister Gwok
xoxoxxo
Proof I saw/met Elder Holland:
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