HEYYY! Guess what?! This last week was THE BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE! BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION!!!!
oh my goodness I don't even think I could type everything fast enough!! Seriously though, I've never been happier in my entire life. I said that in the MTC. I said it in Macau. But now here in Cheung Sha Wan, I really mean it :) LIFE COULDN'T GET BETTER!!!
F: is a literal fantasy. And yeah, that's her name :) isn't it great?! People here just give themselves English names. And then if they don't like them, they change them. Right now we're working on naming Sister Yeung :) anyway, F. She is AMAZING. She went to mainland all week for work and so we couldn't contact her at all, which was a bummer. But then she showed up for church! On time! And brought her BOM! And LOVED it! She joined the ward choir afterwards! haha! How amazing is that?! And in our lesson, she started crying and said, "i don't know why I feel so good right now!" THAT'S THE SPIRIT! i wanted to shout it because i was grinning from ear to ear. AND she accepted a baptismal date :) December 29! WHOOOO!
C JM, C C, and Y Y: GREAT. So great :) I'm pretty sure she's a single mom... but they are awesome! They love church. They came again yesterday and loved it. C JM says such great prayers and I can really tell she wants to keep learning more. She's a miracle. She just fell right into our laps. Ahh I love them.
J JM: ALSO a complete MIRACLE. Last week's FHE at our member C's house with her COULD NOT HAVE GONE BETTER! C and J JM became best friends right off the bat, and later in the week C invited J JM over so their daughters could do homework together. BEST FELLOWSHIPPER AWARD! It makes me so happy when that happens. Those are the kinds of investigators that get baptized and stay active. :)
W: Did I write about W? She calls herself W but spells her name "W" it's great :) She was going to get baptized in Jehovah's Witness church but then we snagged her :) she's awesome! Also so prepared. Also has a baptismal date for January 26. Also has been to church twice. Also cried her eyes out when we watched The Testaments at our ward party :)
......Do you understand what this is? This, my friends and family, is INVESTIGATORS. Real ones. Progressing ones, in fact. Real, progressing, wonderfully prepared INVESTIGATORS. I don't think you can possibly understand how happy we are. Sister Aldana and I have worked through WEEKS of trying to help people progress, trying to help them come to church, trying to help them have interest, and NOW.... the blessings are coming in faster than we can count. We don't have room enough to receive them all :)
5 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH.
8 INVESTIGATORS AT THE WARD THANKSGIVING DINNER.
Complete happiness :) The work is moving! The Lord is blessing us SO much! I am so humbled by the many, many things we've been given this week. Heavenly Father truly is mindful of us. This work is HIS. There's no way we could do it on our own. Ahh, I love it SO much!
Also, Sister Y in our ward (the one that gives us fruit every week!) had us over for Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night. BEST MEAL OF MY LIFE. It was so delicious. She made the most beautiful delicious turkey I've ever seen/eaten. It was on a big platter surrounded by roasted pineapple, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes. I should've taken a picture. But my camera died :( there were mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin choc chip bread, that broccoli/onion/bacon salad that's MY FAVORITE!!! (Mom, isn't that great?! i thought of you! :)), corn, carrots, and pumpkin pie for dessert. Plus she made us our own loaves of pumpkin choc chip bread. She's an angel. She's so American. We LOVE it :) I don't realize how much I miss American food till I eat it.
Annnnd... our ward also had our ward Thanksgiving party last night! BEST WARD ACTIVITY. There were so many referrals there, so many investigators there, and basically the whole time we felt like chickens with our heads cut off. We ate food, watched The Testaments, had a great testimony meeting, took our investigators to the MTR, waved goodbye with big smiles, and then when they were gone, we took a deep breath and both said at the same time, "Oh my gosh that was so stressful." But the BEST kind of stress! The kind of stress that means we had TOO MANY PEOPLE THERE!
Ahh. I LOVE this work. I'm so THANKful to be here as a missionary. I'm so THANKful to be in Cheung Sha Wan with Sister Aldana. We're scared that the 2nd week in December, one of us will move. Things can't be this good for this long ;) LIfe is wonderful. I have never been happier. The work is hard, but worth it. We'll "carry on, carry on, carry on!" You too! Have the best Thanksgiving ever! And eat a LOT of American food for me!
I LOVE YOU ALL WITH ALL MY HEART! I'm so thankful to know all of you! I'm so thankful for all the love and support!
Happy, happy, happy Thanksgiving!
Love always,
Gwok Jimuih :)
xoxo
11.18.2013
I Believe in Miracles!!!
LEIH HOU!
First things first: Dad! Happy birthday on Wednesday! I'll be thinking of you! You're getting so old!! ;) jk... you're still the youngest dad out of everyone i meet. So no worries :) Spence, happy birthday on Sunday!
Okay, this week was AMAZING. Absolutely amazing. Miracles are real. Prayer and inspiration... they're real! Sister Aldana and I said several times, "Oh my goodness! PRAYER WORKS!!!" Who woulda thought!? ;)
MONDAY: We had FHE over at a member's house with us and the elders. It was fun! They have a baby and a 3 year old son named L so it was a great time. We had Elder Allen be the "tree of life" and had him hold a bunch of Chips Ahoy cookies as the fruit. Then we had some floss (we couldn't find any regular string) as the Iron Rod. It was fun :) I played the piano for the opening song and oh wow... my piano skills are sooooooooooooooooo rusty. It's so sad! I can't play anything anymore because I NEVER ever have time to play the piano. I hope that skill comes back to me fast after my mission. I'm trying to find all the opportunities to play that i can... but they are few. I played at zone conference though. So that was good.
TUESDAY: We taught our investigator J JM at her house. HER HOUSE IS SO NICE. Oh man. It was beautiful and it had the BEST view of HK! I love this city!!! We went with our bishop's wife and she helped out so much! Love good lessons!
WEDNESDAY: The miracles! So we went finding... for like a really long time.... and we were not having any success. We go to the park. We see this mom. She rejects us. We move onto the next mom. And she's really nice! Her name was C JM. So we invited her to English class that night. She said yes she would for sure come! Yay! So we brought her to English class with her two daughters, C C and Y Y. It was great! Afterwards we gave them a tour of the church and then we sat in the chapel and taught them how to pray. It was AMAZING! THEN... we invited them to church. And they said yes right off the bat! 9 am? No problem. 3 hours long? Also no problem. WHEN DOES THAT HAPPEN??!! never, i tell you. It was great :)
THURSDAY: Zone conference. Best one yet. Nah, idk. They're all absolutely phenomenal. I absolutely LOVE my mission president and his wife. They are wonderful. Have you seen that new mormon message with Elder Holland talking? about taking the right road? It's SO GOOD. Go watch it. President Hawks showed us that and said really powerfully, "Elders and Sisters, you're on the right road." I felt the Spirit testify that it is true. I am on the right road. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. Hong Kong, China. It's wonderful. I love being a missionary here.
President Hawks emphasized a lot in zone conf that we need to learn how to be better missionaries, but more importantly, we need to learn how to be better people. He talked a lot about when we go home and what we will have changed, what we will have accomplished, who we will BE. He talked about finding a future spouse that is as good as Sister Hawks :) He talked about the things we were learning and how we will apply them in the near future as mothers and fathers and teachers. It was powerful. I thought a lot about the ways i'm learning. I thought a little bit about when I come home. Before, when I used to think about home, I thought of it as the same. Home is familiar. You are all familiar to me. But I realized this week..... it's not going to be the same. Because I am not the same. I am different. I see things differently, I view things differently, I have a different, stronger, better relationship with my Father in Heaven and my Savior, and I will have had so many life changing experiences. I love it. I love this mission. I love the ways I'm changing. I love who I am becoming through Jesus Christ.
SATURDAY: Okay. So a few weeks ago Sis Aldana and I had this inspiration that we needed to go visit C, a member in our ward. Did i tell you about C? She is AMAZING. Anyway, she had no referrals that night to give us but then on Friday night she called us and invited us to her son L-L's birthday birthday. {PS: I'm in LOVE with L-L. And he's 4. He's the cutest little kid EVERRRRRRR!} anyway, her friend was there with her two little girls! REFERRAL!!!!!!!! We never get referrals. It was the most happy exciting thing ever. This lady is super nice too! We thought it was so cool that we were prompted to go see C and then she gave us a referral. :) So then after the birthday party we went out finding. It was soooo hot. I was so pooped. We both were. And we were having noooo success. But then the office elders called us. They were like, "Get back to the church right now! We have a member referral for you!" So we go back to the church. And this member from mainland is there with her friend! Her name is F :) I know, right? It's like a f :) And she was AMAZING!!!!! Seriously. so, so prepared. Referrals are always so much more prepared. SO SO exciting!
SUNDAY: I'm running out of time... arrrghhhh.... but C JM and her two daughters came to church! And they LOVED it! :) Yay yay yay! :)
Ah poop. I wish I could write everything down. This is like little glimpses of the many, many miracles we were given this week. I'm so happy to be here and to witness so many tender mercies of the Lord. I LOVE WHAT I'M DOING!!!!! It's the best thing in the world :)
I love you all so much! Have a great week! :) I know I will!!
Love love love love love,
Sister Gwok
xoxoxxoxoxox
First things first: Dad! Happy birthday on Wednesday! I'll be thinking of you! You're getting so old!! ;) jk... you're still the youngest dad out of everyone i meet. So no worries :) Spence, happy birthday on Sunday!
Okay, this week was AMAZING. Absolutely amazing. Miracles are real. Prayer and inspiration... they're real! Sister Aldana and I said several times, "Oh my goodness! PRAYER WORKS!!!" Who woulda thought!? ;)
MONDAY: We had FHE over at a member's house with us and the elders. It was fun! They have a baby and a 3 year old son named L so it was a great time. We had Elder Allen be the "tree of life" and had him hold a bunch of Chips Ahoy cookies as the fruit. Then we had some floss (we couldn't find any regular string) as the Iron Rod. It was fun :) I played the piano for the opening song and oh wow... my piano skills are sooooooooooooooooo rusty. It's so sad! I can't play anything anymore because I NEVER ever have time to play the piano. I hope that skill comes back to me fast after my mission. I'm trying to find all the opportunities to play that i can... but they are few. I played at zone conference though. So that was good.
TUESDAY: We taught our investigator J JM at her house. HER HOUSE IS SO NICE. Oh man. It was beautiful and it had the BEST view of HK! I love this city!!! We went with our bishop's wife and she helped out so much! Love good lessons!
WEDNESDAY: The miracles! So we went finding... for like a really long time.... and we were not having any success. We go to the park. We see this mom. She rejects us. We move onto the next mom. And she's really nice! Her name was C JM. So we invited her to English class that night. She said yes she would for sure come! Yay! So we brought her to English class with her two daughters, C C and Y Y. It was great! Afterwards we gave them a tour of the church and then we sat in the chapel and taught them how to pray. It was AMAZING! THEN... we invited them to church. And they said yes right off the bat! 9 am? No problem. 3 hours long? Also no problem. WHEN DOES THAT HAPPEN??!! never, i tell you. It was great :)
THURSDAY: Zone conference. Best one yet. Nah, idk. They're all absolutely phenomenal. I absolutely LOVE my mission president and his wife. They are wonderful. Have you seen that new mormon message with Elder Holland talking? about taking the right road? It's SO GOOD. Go watch it. President Hawks showed us that and said really powerfully, "Elders and Sisters, you're on the right road." I felt the Spirit testify that it is true. I am on the right road. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. Hong Kong, China. It's wonderful. I love being a missionary here.
President Hawks emphasized a lot in zone conf that we need to learn how to be better missionaries, but more importantly, we need to learn how to be better people. He talked a lot about when we go home and what we will have changed, what we will have accomplished, who we will BE. He talked about finding a future spouse that is as good as Sister Hawks :) He talked about the things we were learning and how we will apply them in the near future as mothers and fathers and teachers. It was powerful. I thought a lot about the ways i'm learning. I thought a little bit about when I come home. Before, when I used to think about home, I thought of it as the same. Home is familiar. You are all familiar to me. But I realized this week..... it's not going to be the same. Because I am not the same. I am different. I see things differently, I view things differently, I have a different, stronger, better relationship with my Father in Heaven and my Savior, and I will have had so many life changing experiences. I love it. I love this mission. I love the ways I'm changing. I love who I am becoming through Jesus Christ.
SATURDAY: Okay. So a few weeks ago Sis Aldana and I had this inspiration that we needed to go visit C, a member in our ward. Did i tell you about C? She is AMAZING. Anyway, she had no referrals that night to give us but then on Friday night she called us and invited us to her son L-L's birthday birthday. {PS: I'm in LOVE with L-L. And he's 4. He's the cutest little kid EVERRRRRRR!} anyway, her friend was there with her two little girls! REFERRAL!!!!!!!! We never get referrals. It was the most happy exciting thing ever. This lady is super nice too! We thought it was so cool that we were prompted to go see C and then she gave us a referral. :) So then after the birthday party we went out finding. It was soooo hot. I was so pooped. We both were. And we were having noooo success. But then the office elders called us. They were like, "Get back to the church right now! We have a member referral for you!" So we go back to the church. And this member from mainland is there with her friend! Her name is F :) I know, right? It's like a f :) And she was AMAZING!!!!! Seriously. so, so prepared. Referrals are always so much more prepared. SO SO exciting!
SUNDAY: I'm running out of time... arrrghhhh.... but C JM and her two daughters came to church! And they LOVED it! :) Yay yay yay! :)
Ah poop. I wish I could write everything down. This is like little glimpses of the many, many miracles we were given this week. I'm so happy to be here and to witness so many tender mercies of the Lord. I LOVE WHAT I'M DOING!!!!! It's the best thing in the world :)
I love you all so much! Have a great week! :) I know I will!!
Love love love love love,
Sister Gwok
xoxoxxoxoxox
11.12.2013
a MIRACLE and 2 drunks...
Hey hou, leih hou! :) Family and friends, how are you?! I hope you know how much you mean to me and how much I love you all. Thank you so much for the wonderful support and love. I feel it so much out here! :) You're the greatest!
So, here are some highlights from the past 4 days since I last emailed!
SATURDAY: The COOLEST thing happened! Ahh, it was so, so neat! It's kind of a long story.... so a few weeks ago during weekly planning, Sis Aldana and I went through our book of former investigators and prayerfully picked a few we would focus on this past week. So there's one named F. She was investigating like 7 years ago. Her mom is a LA, who actually used to be in a different ward but moved here to CSW. anyway... that's not even the story (i hope this makes sense!) So. This record has: a wrong cell number, a bad address, a home number that no one picks up, and a Brother S that used to help them fellowship. So Saturday night I'm totally DETERMINED to find out more information. So I call Brother S. He was no help at all and was actually pretty rude to me. He kept saying, "I don't know her! She's not in this ward! I live in Causeway Bay, you're in Cheung Sha Wan!" I kept trying to explain and he would have none of it. So I got off the phone pretty discouraged, told Sister Aldana about it, and then we both just shrugged our shoulders and said, "oh well, what do you do." And then I was like..... wait. Where's our FAITH?! So I called the home number again. A guy answered and when I asked for F or W JM (her LA mom), he was like "Wrong number!" and hung up. Again, I was like, okay oh well. And then I thought again... NO. Where's my faith?! So I said a quick prayer and called the home number again. It rang and rang and rang.... and then a girl picked it up. IT WAS F!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was probably the coolest thing that's happened to me on my misison. Well, idk, i've seen a lot of miracles. But it was so amazing! I was able to talk to her and get some correct information for her record. At first she was super skeptical, but I kept chatting with her and little by little she warmed up! At the end of the conversation, she gave me her cell phone number and said, "Keep in contact, Gwok JM!" :D i WAS STOKED!!!!!!!! New investigator/LA/part member family right there! I'm so excited! Straight up miracle :)
In other news....
-We had 2 investigators at church yesterday! Yay! But.... not yay. Because they were both COMPLETELY drunk. It was so bizarre.... I felt so bad for them and so stressed the whole time they were at church. Babysitting drunks is now part of missionary life...
-Zone Conference is this week.... yay! I LOVE LOVE LOVE zone conference and hearing from our leaders.
-We visited a LA yesterday and she gave us some salad.... apples, corn, and cucumbers drenched in mayo. Weirdest thing. Sis Aldana and I couldn't decide if it was delicious or if it was the grossest thing we've ever tasted.
-Anyway, I've got to be going now. Sorry so short. Next week will be better! I love you all SO much! Have the best week ever! :)
All my love,
Sista Shay
xoxoxo
So, here are some highlights from the past 4 days since I last emailed!
SATURDAY: The COOLEST thing happened! Ahh, it was so, so neat! It's kind of a long story.... so a few weeks ago during weekly planning, Sis Aldana and I went through our book of former investigators and prayerfully picked a few we would focus on this past week. So there's one named F. She was investigating like 7 years ago. Her mom is a LA, who actually used to be in a different ward but moved here to CSW. anyway... that's not even the story (i hope this makes sense!) So. This record has: a wrong cell number, a bad address, a home number that no one picks up, and a Brother S that used to help them fellowship. So Saturday night I'm totally DETERMINED to find out more information. So I call Brother S. He was no help at all and was actually pretty rude to me. He kept saying, "I don't know her! She's not in this ward! I live in Causeway Bay, you're in Cheung Sha Wan!" I kept trying to explain and he would have none of it. So I got off the phone pretty discouraged, told Sister Aldana about it, and then we both just shrugged our shoulders and said, "oh well, what do you do." And then I was like..... wait. Where's our FAITH?! So I called the home number again. A guy answered and when I asked for F or W JM (her LA mom), he was like "Wrong number!" and hung up. Again, I was like, okay oh well. And then I thought again... NO. Where's my faith?! So I said a quick prayer and called the home number again. It rang and rang and rang.... and then a girl picked it up. IT WAS F!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was probably the coolest thing that's happened to me on my misison. Well, idk, i've seen a lot of miracles. But it was so amazing! I was able to talk to her and get some correct information for her record. At first she was super skeptical, but I kept chatting with her and little by little she warmed up! At the end of the conversation, she gave me her cell phone number and said, "Keep in contact, Gwok JM!" :D i WAS STOKED!!!!!!!! New investigator/LA/part member family right there! I'm so excited! Straight up miracle :)
In other news....
-We had 2 investigators at church yesterday! Yay! But.... not yay. Because they were both COMPLETELY drunk. It was so bizarre.... I felt so bad for them and so stressed the whole time they were at church. Babysitting drunks is now part of missionary life...
-Zone Conference is this week.... yay! I LOVE LOVE LOVE zone conference and hearing from our leaders.
-We visited a LA yesterday and she gave us some salad.... apples, corn, and cucumbers drenched in mayo. Weirdest thing. Sis Aldana and I couldn't decide if it was delicious or if it was the grossest thing we've ever tasted.
-Anyway, I've got to be going now. Sorry so short. Next week will be better! I love you all SO much! Have the best week ever! :)
All my love,
Sista Shay
xoxoxo
11.07.2013
Cheng Outs!!
Helloooo there all of my favorite people in the world! (If you're reading this, you count! :))
How was this week for you?! Actually, this past week and a half? I hope it was awesome. I loved seeing Halloween pictures and hearing all about it. And I LOVED getting mail! Mom, your card was the cutest. Michelle, I LOVED all your pictures and your letter made my day! Gigi, thank you so much! Whit, your letters were THE best. I read parts of them out loud and we all died laughing :) Ah, I just have the best fam/friends EVER! I love you all!
So oh my goodness this week was crazy. First off, YJ! We happened to RUN INTO HER when we were finding! ( i don't even remember what day it was... i forgot my planner today and my planner is my brain...) But it was crazy. We were talking to someone else and then all of a sudden Sister Aldana just screams, "YJ!!!!" And I turn around and there she is! It was the craziest thing EVER! We met with her the next day and she is so insanely busy. It's definitely our biggest struggle right now. Everyone is so busy with school, work, school, work, school, work...... AHHH JUST LISTEN TO THE GOSPEL PEOPLE!!!!!!!!! Yeah. But we're working on helping YJ come to church. This Sunday, we're crossing our fingers! Cross yours too!
We've been teaching LJ, she's our referral from our recent convert. She's great! We're going REALLY slow because she has no previous knowledge about religion at all. But she has a really special place in my heart. She just seems like a lost soul, and I know the gospel can really bless her life. We're actually eating dinner over at our recent convert's house with her tonight! so stoked!!!
Who else.... we started teaching a JJ (does everyone know that JM means ji muih which means sister? so like sister j in english). She's also GOLDEN. We got an awesome fellowshipper for her that really helps out a lot with our crappy chinese. She's also being a real friend for her. Sometimes it feels like fellowshippers come because they feel like they have to, but GJ (our fellowshipper) is really being a great friend. I love it when that happens :)
We're full up on cheng outs this week! (people inviting us over to their house to eat dinner) which NEVER NEVER NEVER happens. especially with investigators. But this week we're having one tonight with L JM, one tomorrow with a ward member that will give us so many referrals!!, and one on Sunday with J JM! We're so excited! Cheng outs are a big deal. If people trust you enough to invite you over to their house, they're golden :)
Randoms:
-Mom, trash day? I have no idea haha. When our trash can gets full, we take it out to the landing on the stairs where there is a bigger trash can.
-We don't know our neighbors.... A) because one of the apartments next to ours is being renovated right now, and B) because we don't live in our area. We live in Kwai Fong. We have to go over 2 MTR stops to even get into our area!
-Next holiday? No clue.... no clue at all. Thanksgiving? Y JM in our ward, the one who gives us fruit every week, is having us over for Thanksgiving dinner on the 17th! So excited! And our ward is having a Thanksgiving party on the 23rd. But regular non-members don't even know what Thanksgiving is. We tried to explain it to someone. They didn't really get it. "So you just eat food? And do what?" us: "um....give thanks! and eat! a lot!"
-The weather is soooo bipolar. One day I can wear a sweater and be comfortable, and the next day I'm hot again and getting a little bit sweaty. It's the weirdest thing to hear about snow and cold weather. Like whit, your date in the snow? Yeah. Can't imagine it.
-We have started doing finding with this display... basically like this big poster... idk how to describe it. But we set it up in Sham Shui Po, which is like CRAZY busy with people, and it was great! We got some numbers and emails to work with, which is always good!
-Today in the temple was absolutely amazing. I've been struggling lately, feeling like I'm not good enough and I'm not doing enough to further the work. But today in the temple was so needed. I sat in the Celestial Room and just felt Heavenly Father's approval so tangibly. I know He is pleased with me. Yes, I am so far from perfect. I mess up every day! But that's why we have the Atonement. That's why we have the Savior. With Him, all things are possible. We can wake up every day and try a little harder to be a little better. I know that Heavenly Father is so merciful. He is our perfect, loving, endlessly patient Father. I'm so grateful to have felt His love and presence today in the temple. It was a special, sacred time. I'm so thankful for the temple!
FAM. The house is BEAUTIFUL. I'm so excited to see it :) Keep sending pics! I LOVE seeing them. You guys are awesome! I miss and love you so much! Thanks for the incredible love and support. I love, love, love, love, love you ALL!
Love always and forever,
Sister Shay
xoxoxoxo
How was this week for you?! Actually, this past week and a half? I hope it was awesome. I loved seeing Halloween pictures and hearing all about it. And I LOVED getting mail! Mom, your card was the cutest. Michelle, I LOVED all your pictures and your letter made my day! Gigi, thank you so much! Whit, your letters were THE best. I read parts of them out loud and we all died laughing :) Ah, I just have the best fam/friends EVER! I love you all!
So oh my goodness this week was crazy. First off, YJ! We happened to RUN INTO HER when we were finding! ( i don't even remember what day it was... i forgot my planner today and my planner is my brain...) But it was crazy. We were talking to someone else and then all of a sudden Sister Aldana just screams, "YJ!!!!" And I turn around and there she is! It was the craziest thing EVER! We met with her the next day and she is so insanely busy. It's definitely our biggest struggle right now. Everyone is so busy with school, work, school, work, school, work...... AHHH JUST LISTEN TO THE GOSPEL PEOPLE!!!!!!!!! Yeah. But we're working on helping YJ come to church. This Sunday, we're crossing our fingers! Cross yours too!
We've been teaching LJ, she's our referral from our recent convert. She's great! We're going REALLY slow because she has no previous knowledge about religion at all. But she has a really special place in my heart. She just seems like a lost soul, and I know the gospel can really bless her life. We're actually eating dinner over at our recent convert's house with her tonight! so stoked!!!
Who else.... we started teaching a JJ (does everyone know that JM means ji muih which means sister? so like sister j in english). She's also GOLDEN. We got an awesome fellowshipper for her that really helps out a lot with our crappy chinese. She's also being a real friend for her. Sometimes it feels like fellowshippers come because they feel like they have to, but GJ (our fellowshipper) is really being a great friend. I love it when that happens :)
We're full up on cheng outs this week! (people inviting us over to their house to eat dinner) which NEVER NEVER NEVER happens. especially with investigators. But this week we're having one tonight with L JM, one tomorrow with a ward member that will give us so many referrals!!, and one on Sunday with J JM! We're so excited! Cheng outs are a big deal. If people trust you enough to invite you over to their house, they're golden :)
Randoms:
-Mom, trash day? I have no idea haha. When our trash can gets full, we take it out to the landing on the stairs where there is a bigger trash can.
-We don't know our neighbors.... A) because one of the apartments next to ours is being renovated right now, and B) because we don't live in our area. We live in Kwai Fong. We have to go over 2 MTR stops to even get into our area!
-Next holiday? No clue.... no clue at all. Thanksgiving? Y JM in our ward, the one who gives us fruit every week, is having us over for Thanksgiving dinner on the 17th! So excited! And our ward is having a Thanksgiving party on the 23rd. But regular non-members don't even know what Thanksgiving is. We tried to explain it to someone. They didn't really get it. "So you just eat food? And do what?" us: "um....give thanks! and eat! a lot!"
-The weather is soooo bipolar. One day I can wear a sweater and be comfortable, and the next day I'm hot again and getting a little bit sweaty. It's the weirdest thing to hear about snow and cold weather. Like whit, your date in the snow? Yeah. Can't imagine it.
-We have started doing finding with this display... basically like this big poster... idk how to describe it. But we set it up in Sham Shui Po, which is like CRAZY busy with people, and it was great! We got some numbers and emails to work with, which is always good!
-Today in the temple was absolutely amazing. I've been struggling lately, feeling like I'm not good enough and I'm not doing enough to further the work. But today in the temple was so needed. I sat in the Celestial Room and just felt Heavenly Father's approval so tangibly. I know He is pleased with me. Yes, I am so far from perfect. I mess up every day! But that's why we have the Atonement. That's why we have the Savior. With Him, all things are possible. We can wake up every day and try a little harder to be a little better. I know that Heavenly Father is so merciful. He is our perfect, loving, endlessly patient Father. I'm so grateful to have felt His love and presence today in the temple. It was a special, sacred time. I'm so thankful for the temple!
FAM. The house is BEAUTIFUL. I'm so excited to see it :) Keep sending pics! I LOVE seeing them. You guys are awesome! I miss and love you so much! Thanks for the incredible love and support. I love, love, love, love, love you ALL!
Love always and forever,
Sister Shay
xoxoxoxo
10.28.2013
No more AC, miracles, and Korean BBQ!
HELLO!! You know what's sad? That all of you are not in Hong Kong. That all of you don't get to do this every single day.... preach the gospel and speak Chinese and laugh so hard and work so hard and love the Lord..... I hope one day you can all know what it feels like to be doing what I'm doing :) I LOVE IT!!!
So yes, as the email says, this week was the beginning of no more AC! The zone leaders texted us saying that we can't use it anymore. We haven't been using it during the day - only at night - but we were all dreading turning it off for the night. We opened up our windows and the first night wasn't bad. The second night was pretty comfortable! And the third night, when we woke up, we were all COLD! after exercising and getting ready for the day, we were sitting in our study doing personal study with our window open. So I'm sitting there and I'm like, "hmm... i feel weird... what is this feeling.... I WANT A SWEATER." So I went to my suitcase and dug a sweater out and put it on! It was the weirdest thing ever and I LOVED IT. I can't wait for the weather to really start cooling down! I WANT WINTER. During the day it's still pretty hot here, but it's starting cooling down in the mornings and nights! yay!!!!!
This week started out slow and hard again. Lots of finding time. LOTS. We were also kinda sore because last Monday I led us in an exercise routine that killed our legs for the rest of the week ;) haha whoopsies! But yeah. Soooo much finding time. There were a couple days when I had to take a deep breath and remember why I'm out here doing this. But the Lord gives us trials, and then He gives us blessings.....
Like Friday. We went finding (surprise, surprise) and we got to this park and there was almost no one there. But I was like, "Hey, i have this feeling that we need to say here until we teach a lesson." So we stayed. We talked to everyone and no one was interested. We still stayed. 10 minutes before we were going to head back to the church, we ran into an investigator Sister Aldana had had before I came to this area! WE JUST BUMPED INTO HER! Her name is LJ. She was so happy to see us! Her phone broke and so that's why she stopped having contact with Sister Aldana before. It was a straight up miracle. Who bumps into people that they know in HONG KONG?! Heavenly Father definitely wanted us to see her again. We scheduled her for the next day!!
Or Saturday. Saturday morning we taught LJ again. We met her in the park, and her daughter, S, was so sad. She was just crying and crying and we couldn't have a lesson. So finally I said, "S I'll go play with you!" and we went and played on the playground together so Sis Aldana could talk to her mom! It was fun :) these little Chinese kids! They're the CUTEST! After that we taught A at the church. It was so good! We taught her the Restoration and at the end, committed her to pray about Joseph Smith's experience. She said, "I can't pray and get an answer. There's no way I could get an answer from God." so i said, "Let's kneel down right now and see if God answers our prayers." She said the prayer and it was SO GOOD! After the prayer we asked her how she felt. She said warm and comfortable and good. We testified that is the spirit. It was just such a good feeling! After the lesson we went outside (we were going to go eat lunch) but then she was looking at the temple across the street, so we asked her if she wanted to go over there and she said yes! Who needs lunch?! We went over to the temple with her and walked around the courtyard and sat in the waiting room and felt the spirit of the temple. It was soooo good. She's definitely getting baptized someday :)
Or Sunday! Sunday we had 3 investigators at church! One of our members brought her friend and we got to teach her! Someone in our ward's little 2 year old daughter had a birthday so they brought birthday cake and SO MANY egg salad sandwiches for everyone and after church we had a party! haha i love this ward. I love this place.
I am aboslutely LOVING this mission. I love everything about Hong Kong!! I'm so, incredibly, wonderfully, fantastically happy to be here!!!!!! Keep praying for us, but don't worry. We're learning loads. The Lord knows what He's doing :) and I trust Him completely!
I love you all so very, very much!
加泅! 夫父愛你們!
Love always,
Shay Bay
xoxoxxo
PICS!
So yes, as the email says, this week was the beginning of no more AC! The zone leaders texted us saying that we can't use it anymore. We haven't been using it during the day - only at night - but we were all dreading turning it off for the night. We opened up our windows and the first night wasn't bad. The second night was pretty comfortable! And the third night, when we woke up, we were all COLD! after exercising and getting ready for the day, we were sitting in our study doing personal study with our window open. So I'm sitting there and I'm like, "hmm... i feel weird... what is this feeling.... I WANT A SWEATER." So I went to my suitcase and dug a sweater out and put it on! It was the weirdest thing ever and I LOVED IT. I can't wait for the weather to really start cooling down! I WANT WINTER. During the day it's still pretty hot here, but it's starting cooling down in the mornings and nights! yay!!!!!
This week started out slow and hard again. Lots of finding time. LOTS. We were also kinda sore because last Monday I led us in an exercise routine that killed our legs for the rest of the week ;) haha whoopsies! But yeah. Soooo much finding time. There were a couple days when I had to take a deep breath and remember why I'm out here doing this. But the Lord gives us trials, and then He gives us blessings.....
Like Friday. We went finding (surprise, surprise) and we got to this park and there was almost no one there. But I was like, "Hey, i have this feeling that we need to say here until we teach a lesson." So we stayed. We talked to everyone and no one was interested. We still stayed. 10 minutes before we were going to head back to the church, we ran into an investigator Sister Aldana had had before I came to this area! WE JUST BUMPED INTO HER! Her name is LJ. She was so happy to see us! Her phone broke and so that's why she stopped having contact with Sister Aldana before. It was a straight up miracle. Who bumps into people that they know in HONG KONG?! Heavenly Father definitely wanted us to see her again. We scheduled her for the next day!!
Or Saturday. Saturday morning we taught LJ again. We met her in the park, and her daughter, S, was so sad. She was just crying and crying and we couldn't have a lesson. So finally I said, "S I'll go play with you!" and we went and played on the playground together so Sis Aldana could talk to her mom! It was fun :) these little Chinese kids! They're the CUTEST! After that we taught A at the church. It was so good! We taught her the Restoration and at the end, committed her to pray about Joseph Smith's experience. She said, "I can't pray and get an answer. There's no way I could get an answer from God." so i said, "Let's kneel down right now and see if God answers our prayers." She said the prayer and it was SO GOOD! After the prayer we asked her how she felt. She said warm and comfortable and good. We testified that is the spirit. It was just such a good feeling! After the lesson we went outside (we were going to go eat lunch) but then she was looking at the temple across the street, so we asked her if she wanted to go over there and she said yes! Who needs lunch?! We went over to the temple with her and walked around the courtyard and sat in the waiting room and felt the spirit of the temple. It was soooo good. She's definitely getting baptized someday :)
Or Sunday! Sunday we had 3 investigators at church! One of our members brought her friend and we got to teach her! Someone in our ward's little 2 year old daughter had a birthday so they brought birthday cake and SO MANY egg salad sandwiches for everyone and after church we had a party! haha i love this ward. I love this place.
I am aboslutely LOVING this mission. I love everything about Hong Kong!! I'm so, incredibly, wonderfully, fantastically happy to be here!!!!!! Keep praying for us, but don't worry. We're learning loads. The Lord knows what He's doing :) and I trust Him completely!
I love you all so very, very much!
加泅! 夫父愛你們!
Love always,
Shay Bay
xoxoxxo
PICS!
French Toast, Noodle Soup, and Ovaltine...Random!!
Sweet pants we bought!
Fun with grapes...this is ward FHE
Korean BBQ!
10.21.2013
LEIH HOUUUUU!
I couldn't think of a more creative subject than "leih hou!" haha sometimes my brain doesn't want to work...
GUESS WHAT?!!!! Elder Holland is now over the Asia Area! HE'S IN CHARGE OVER HERE!!!! I freaked out when I heard! Seriously! I hope he visits us next year! That would make my entire LIFE if I got to meet Elder Holland as a missionary. Ahhhhhh!!!!!! And the Asia Area Headquarters is here in HK! So we have a pretty good chance! whoohooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Missionaries get excited about the weirdest things.
ANYWAY. Hello!!!!!!!!! How are all of my favorite people this week!? :) I hope you are all doing well! This week was crazy... so many miracles. I've gotta tell you about it all!
But first the bad news. YJ hasn't answered the phone since last Thursday. Over a week. We're bummed... looks like her baptism next week can't happen because she missed 2 weeks of church and no contact with us. We're not really sure what's going on. We've been praying for her like crazy. I won't lose faith in her. Keep praying for you, will you?
So. Our investigator pool has been rapidly shrinking and we're not really sure why. We've been trying our hardest to keep all of these awesome people, but everyone in HK makes themselves so BUSY all the time. It's frustrating! Needless to say we've been doing a TON of finding.
Tuesday finding: We took J and A-K, two youth in our ward. A-K is getting ready to leave on his mission in Texas in January and Jacqueline is 20 and is just working right now because she wants to go to BYU-H. They're both awesome and we had so much fun finding with them. We went to a park and it was so cool to have so many of us there! A-K went and started shooting hoops with some other guys and then I saw him giving them fliers and talking about church! J helped us find 2 girls named V and V that wanted to come to English class! After finding with them for hours, they came back to the church and had dinner with us. They're great :) I LOVE our ward here!!!
Wednesday finding: We were not looking forward to it. We had nothing planned for the entire day and when you're looking at your planner and all it says is "finding" from 12:30--7:00, it gets a little discouraging. But we decided to really pray about where we should go and what time we should be there. We took 20 minutes before we went out and each knelt down and said our own personal prayers and then wrote down 5 places on a piece of paper. When we compared, we had 2 that were the same. We felt like we should go to Mei Foo first. And let me tell you, it was AMAZING!! Literally the first people we talked to gave us were 2 ladies named A-L and they both gave us their numbers! THAT NEVER HAPPENS! Then we turned around and there was this guy named S that said hi to us and told us about his 2 little daughters and wife that would love to learn more! WHAT?! It was incredible! The whole finding block was that way! Then that night we went to English class and E came and V and V came.... so we were so busy we had to go on SPLITS after English class to teach them all! THAT NEVER HAPPENS EITHER! It was so amazing! I taught E (with C from our ward who is so awesome) and we gave her a baptismal date! WOW! I just can't even tell you how happy we were this day. Ahhh the church is true! And I get to be a part of telling people about it! :D I LOVE IT!
I'm running out of time so I'll tell you about a hard thing we went through:
One night we were so bummed. Haven't heard from YJ, no success that day really, we were just wiped out and really discouraged. We got ready to do our planning session. Before every evening planning, we always sing a hymn. I chose "How Great Thou Art". By the end of the song, we were both in tears. We knelt down to say our prayer to begin planning and I said the prayer and just cried. Then we both just sat there on the floor of our office and cried together for a long time. (Okay, so I cried a lot and Sister Aldana cried a little and watched me cry for a while) We had a really good talk about the Atonement and how we know that Jesus Christ helps us in our trials, even small ones like having a bad day. It was a really good experience. I'll remember it forever, sitting there on the hard tile, crying, and feeling the power of the Atonement and knowing everything would be okay.
I am so thankful to be a missionary. I'm thankful for the downs because they make the ups sweeter. I'm thankful for the ups because they strengthen my testimony. I'm thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and for the strengthening, enabling power of His Atonement. I'm thankful to be here in China, where the missionary work is hard, but it's so jihk dak ge (worth it). I LOVE this mission so much. I love the changes that are happening in my life. I love the Lord. I LOVE these people. I love all of you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for EVERYTHING! Keep the faith! Ga Yauh!!!!!
Love always,
Sista Shay
xoxoxoxoxoxox
GUESS WHAT?!!!! Elder Holland is now over the Asia Area! HE'S IN CHARGE OVER HERE!!!! I freaked out when I heard! Seriously! I hope he visits us next year! That would make my entire LIFE if I got to meet Elder Holland as a missionary. Ahhhhhh!!!!!! And the Asia Area Headquarters is here in HK! So we have a pretty good chance! whoohooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Missionaries get excited about the weirdest things.
ANYWAY. Hello!!!!!!!!! How are all of my favorite people this week!? :) I hope you are all doing well! This week was crazy... so many miracles. I've gotta tell you about it all!
But first the bad news. YJ hasn't answered the phone since last Thursday. Over a week. We're bummed... looks like her baptism next week can't happen because she missed 2 weeks of church and no contact with us. We're not really sure what's going on. We've been praying for her like crazy. I won't lose faith in her. Keep praying for you, will you?
So. Our investigator pool has been rapidly shrinking and we're not really sure why. We've been trying our hardest to keep all of these awesome people, but everyone in HK makes themselves so BUSY all the time. It's frustrating! Needless to say we've been doing a TON of finding.
Tuesday finding: We took J and A-K, two youth in our ward. A-K is getting ready to leave on his mission in Texas in January and Jacqueline is 20 and is just working right now because she wants to go to BYU-H. They're both awesome and we had so much fun finding with them. We went to a park and it was so cool to have so many of us there! A-K went and started shooting hoops with some other guys and then I saw him giving them fliers and talking about church! J helped us find 2 girls named V and V that wanted to come to English class! After finding with them for hours, they came back to the church and had dinner with us. They're great :) I LOVE our ward here!!!
Wednesday finding: We were not looking forward to it. We had nothing planned for the entire day and when you're looking at your planner and all it says is "finding" from 12:30--7:00, it gets a little discouraging. But we decided to really pray about where we should go and what time we should be there. We took 20 minutes before we went out and each knelt down and said our own personal prayers and then wrote down 5 places on a piece of paper. When we compared, we had 2 that were the same. We felt like we should go to Mei Foo first. And let me tell you, it was AMAZING!! Literally the first people we talked to gave us were 2 ladies named A-L and they both gave us their numbers! THAT NEVER HAPPENS! Then we turned around and there was this guy named S that said hi to us and told us about his 2 little daughters and wife that would love to learn more! WHAT?! It was incredible! The whole finding block was that way! Then that night we went to English class and E came and V and V came.... so we were so busy we had to go on SPLITS after English class to teach them all! THAT NEVER HAPPENS EITHER! It was so amazing! I taught E (with C from our ward who is so awesome) and we gave her a baptismal date! WOW! I just can't even tell you how happy we were this day. Ahhh the church is true! And I get to be a part of telling people about it! :D I LOVE IT!
I'm running out of time so I'll tell you about a hard thing we went through:
One night we were so bummed. Haven't heard from YJ, no success that day really, we were just wiped out and really discouraged. We got ready to do our planning session. Before every evening planning, we always sing a hymn. I chose "How Great Thou Art". By the end of the song, we were both in tears. We knelt down to say our prayer to begin planning and I said the prayer and just cried. Then we both just sat there on the floor of our office and cried together for a long time. (Okay, so I cried a lot and Sister Aldana cried a little and watched me cry for a while) We had a really good talk about the Atonement and how we know that Jesus Christ helps us in our trials, even small ones like having a bad day. It was a really good experience. I'll remember it forever, sitting there on the hard tile, crying, and feeling the power of the Atonement and knowing everything would be okay.
I am so thankful to be a missionary. I'm thankful for the downs because they make the ups sweeter. I'm thankful for the ups because they strengthen my testimony. I'm thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and for the strengthening, enabling power of His Atonement. I'm thankful to be here in China, where the missionary work is hard, but it's so jihk dak ge (worth it). I LOVE this mission so much. I love the changes that are happening in my life. I love the Lord. I LOVE these people. I love all of you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for EVERYTHING! Keep the faith! Ga Yauh!!!!!
Love always,
Sista Shay
xoxoxoxoxoxox
10.14.2013
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
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
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