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:

• 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..

Anyway, despite the heat and rain and humidity, this week was another week of miracles. We started off the week by our district leader telling us, "In order to reach your monthly goals, you need to get 9 new investigators this week." We were like uhhh.... last week we got ZERO. But then we looked at each other and decided, you know what? We're going to do it. We can do it!! We put our minds to it, and man, they just fell from the sky. Heavenly Father loves us SO much. He gave us 6 :) not quite 9, but I'm not complaining. With faith, anything and everything is possible! THIS WORK IS TRUE!!!!!! I love being a part of it!!

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: