Leih hou all you people!
First off, I got the postcards you all sent from the family reunion! I LOVED them so much! I am always so amazed at how much my family loves me and how awesome they are. Man. I just love you guys. I died laughing at Mikell's postcard ;) and all of you! I just LOVED them! Thank you!
I have soooo many things I want to say about my new area! I absolutely love it here. It's awesome being back in the middle of everything. I didn't realize just how isolated it was in Macau until now, when I get to see other missionaries every single day! It's awesome!
On Monday while we were at the mission office, I saw Elder Barker from the MTC. It was hilarious to see him because he acted like I'd died. He was like, "Hey! What are you doing here?!" haha he also thought it was really funny that I had a British companion as my trainer because of how often I did a British accent in the MTC. hahaha. Then we went to the church on Tuesday for district meeting and I saw Elder Nestman from the MTC! He also acted like I died. He was like, "Wow! I haven't seen you in forever!!" And also Elder Beal from the MTC is in my district now! it's so great! I've missed my MTC friends! :)
I absolutely love living with Sister Pearl, Tidwell, and Aldana. We have a lot of fun together. It's a little bit weird because we're in two different areas (in Macau we all went to the same branch together and saw each other a lot more). It's pretty different here. We live in Kwai Fong, but our area is Cheung Sha Wan, which is like 15 minutes away. And the church for our area is like 45 minutes away. We're on the MTR sooooo much every single day. We spend a TON of money on traveling. Like $550/month. But that's in HK dollars. Anyway, as far as both Sister Aldana and I know, we are the only companionship that doesn't live in our area OR have the church in our area. Weird. Super different from Macau.
Anyway, this area is awesome! We are in a ward now instead of a branch! Yippee! We work really closely with our elders, something we didn't really do in Macau. That's been really fun! I like our elders, Elder Allen and Elder Liu. They're also the zone leaders. They're super funny and both from America (AZ and UT).
Sister Aldana and her comp just barely opened this area last transfer! So we've been doing a TON of finding. I haven't done finding like this in awhile. And it's WAY DIFFERENT HERE. In Macau, people were way more laid back. They were way more willing to talk to you. It's been pretty hard, hot, and discouraging. One day this week, no one would listen. I mean NO one. And when it's already 7:30 at night and you've been finding since 12:30 and you still have an hour to go before you can go home, sometimes it's all you can do to keep going. I had to stop Sis Aldana and say, "Can we pray?" Prayer is so powerful. I know that's what keeps me going through all of the hard days. It's amazing to see what miracles Heavenly Father gives us when we humble ourselves enough to ask for His help.
We do have one investigator that is pure gold. Her name is YJ and she has a seven year old son named K. They are AMAZING. They started out with absolutely no gospel interest, but because of English class, they started having interest. and now she has a baptismal date for the end of September! Okay I wanted to die yesterday, they are so awesome. They came to 3 hours of church and then later last night we called them to schedule them for this week. Sister Aldana talked to her for a while, then K wanted to talk, so she talked to K, then YJ asked if she could talk to me! So then I chatted with her for a while and then K wanted to talk to me, so I talked to him for a while. Oh my goodness I wanted to cry. I love them so much. I LOVE being able to love so quickly and so fully! When I hung up the phone, Sister Aldana and I just looked at each other and were like freaking out because they're so AWESOME! Gosh. I wish I could describe it.
This week we did an English fast (only speaking cantonese. obviously.) from 12:30--6:30 on Wed and Fri. It was SO good! Seriously. We never did that in Macau and I felt like it helped my Chinese a lot! It gave me more confidence too. Like I can actually do this! It's gonna be okay! Haha, at one point we were by this mall around dinner time. We went inside to see if there was a food court, but we didn't see one, so we walked up to the Information Desk. The lady behind the desk watched us approach with a terrified look on her face, like, "Don't come over here, I don't know English!" So I walked right up to her and said, "Leih hou!" and immediately her face totally relaxed and she asked how she could help me. Then we had a full on conversation in CANTONESE! And I did allllll the talking. I was soooo happy! I LOVE when people don't expect us to be speaking Cantonese but then we are anyway. Ahhhh :) love it!
So, there you have it. The challenges and good times of this week. I absolutely LOVE being a missionary. Struggling through the hard times to experience the joy of bringing people unto Christ is the best feeling in all the world. I can't get over it. I love this so much! I love all of you! Thank you so much for everything you do for me. I feel all your prayers. TM, 1st ward, I love you! Thanks for your prayers! :) I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you!
Until next week!!
Love forever and always,
Shay Bay Bay
Gwok
xoxoxo
I forgot! Next week we get to go to the temple! YAY! But that means that our P-day isn't till Thursday. So you won't get an email till Wednesday night. Just didn't want you to worry ;) I love you all! xoxo
8.26.2013
8.19.2013
AND THE BIG NEWS IS....
Hello family and friends! I love you all SO much! Your letters keep me going and support me SO MUCH! You have no idea. Except PARKER and JAREN. Write me NOW. like, right now. Before you forget. Kthanksbye. :)
SOO! Who's excited to hear where I am?!! I am in Cheung Sha Wan! An area of Hong Kong -- it's like right in the middle! And my church building is the same building as the mission office! Crazy!! I'm so excited to be back in the middle of everything! In Macau we're super isolated so it's so exciting to be back here! AND my companion is American! AND she got here.... get this.... THE MOVE BEFORE I DID. So she's only 2 months ahead of me. Oh my goodness... hahaha. We need the gift of tongues and we need it now! It'll be great though :) Her name is Sister Aldana and she's from Springville. And the BEST part is...... I'M LIVING WITH SISTER PEARL AND SISTER TIDWELL!! Sister Pearl is my best friend from Macau and I was with Sister Tidwell in the MTC! I'm stoked! We actually haven't been there yet... we're at the apple store in Kowloon Tong. I just got over here to Hong Kong and we couldn't wait to email! :)
But oh my goodness... I am going to MISS Macau. It's like heaven on earth. Last night I was saying my prayers and I said, "I never want to go home." And then I was like, wait what? Did I just say that??? But yes, it's true. This is the most wonderful experience I've ever had. Ever. You have to hear what everyone did for me in Macau:
1. G.M. gave me a really cute necklace made of pink jade in the shape of a rose. She just held my hand for a really long time and gave me this pretty necklace and kept hugging me and speaking in Chinese that I didn't understand. She kept saying, "Heimohng leih wuih faan leih!" (Hope you can come back!) Ahhh I just love her. She is such a special lady.
2. One of the YW in Macau 1st Branch that I've become really good friends with, H.K., did the SWEETEST thing. After church she came up and she was like, "Come here!" So then we go to a corner of the church and she pulls out of her backpack a tupperware thing of spaghetti. K this is so cute. The very first time we met, she was practicing her English and she asked me what my favorite food was. I said spaghetti. So SHE MADE ME SOME before I left! Oh my gosh I wanted to cry. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?! Ah I was dying. I love her so, so, so, so much. She is so cute and such a good, good girl. And she wrote me the sweetest letter. I took pictures of it but I can't send the pictures today, boo :( Next week! Ahhhhh I LOVE HERR.
3. S, one of our investigators, came to English class on Thursday and brought me a cake. So nice! She's great. She's getting baptized in October. She's SO golden. Man. She was kind of hard to teach because she has so many questions, but she is so ready. She'll be such an amazing member. She's so willing!! Anyway, then on Sunday she brought me more gifts! This really cute Chinese electric fan! Haha i love it! And an umbrella and some tissues! Perfect! I love love love them.
4. B gave me a cute journal :) You know me, I love my journals. I think I'm going to have 50 by the end of my mission. I just love to write! Anyway, we had a great lesson with B last night. She is so awesome. She doesn't believe that she really can get an answer about whether the church is true or not. Sister Lau and I had a huge impression to show her this Mormon Message "Waiting on the Road to Damascus." It was SO perfect. I love seeing how we're guided by the Spirit :) It's so cool.
5. I also got a cute letter and bookmark from another YW in our ward, T. I'm really going to miss H.K. and T. They're so awesome!! They're willing to go out with us ALL THE TIME. They have such strong testimonies of the BOM. They're both such good examples. Both of them want to come to BYU so maybe I will see them again! I hope so. :)
And wow, I'm going to miss my Macau sisters so much! Sister Cutler, who's been with me from my very first day in Hong Kong. Sister Capucion, such a cute Philippina who is like the sweetest person I've ever met. Sister Palmer, who just got to Macau a week and a half ago but is sooo much fun. Sister Yeung... gosh I lOVE Sister Yeung. I almost cried saying bye to her. She is so much fun. I love her to pieces. And of course Sister Lau!! My trainer! It's weird that I'll be with completely different elders and sisters, but I'm so excited to start in this new area with Sister Aldana!
This week there was a typhoon.. nothing new, really. There are typhoons all the time. But this one was a signal 8! Which means we had to stay inside BASICALLY ALL DAY. It was sooooooo boring. The rain was pounding against the windows and the wind was howling. After our studies and calling everyone we'd ever talked to before and everyone in our records, we were bored stiff. There's only so many calls you can make. We cleaned our apartment from top to bottom, did some phone lessons, and then FINALLY were able to go out! But it was still raining like crazy so we did some door knocking. I'm going to miss door knocking SO bad. I really like it. Oh well. New ways to find here!! :)
Hmm.. what else from this week...
Oh HAHA. I haven't really told you any language flubs yet. I've got some good ones. So in Chinese, 12 is "sahp yih" and 20 is "yih sahp." So I get them confused. I've told a lot of people I'm 12 years old :) haha. Sister Lau would always go into fits of giggles and I knew I'd said it again. I think I've got it down now ;) Also, I was doing my language pass off with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Chan. I was teaching him the plan of salvation, and accidentally said, "Yuhgwo ngohdeih gancheuih YehSouGeiDuk, Tinfuh wuih beih ngohdeih hou hou ge chingfaat." Which means, "If we follow Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father will give us a very good punishment." Elder Chan was laughing so hard :) whoops!
Man, I just really love this work. I can't believe I've been here for one and a half moves already! WHAT?! It's flying by. I love what I'm doing. I've never, ever, ever been so happy in my entire life. I wish everyone could experience this happiness. There is nothing like it in the world! I know the Lord lives. He loves me. He is guiding my life, and He is guiding this work. With God on our side, who can be against us?!
I love you all. Thank you for your support and love. It means the WORLD. :) Until next week!!
Love always,
Sister Shay
xoxoxo
SOO! Who's excited to hear where I am?!! I am in Cheung Sha Wan! An area of Hong Kong -- it's like right in the middle! And my church building is the same building as the mission office! Crazy!! I'm so excited to be back in the middle of everything! In Macau we're super isolated so it's so exciting to be back here! AND my companion is American! AND she got here.... get this.... THE MOVE BEFORE I DID. So she's only 2 months ahead of me. Oh my goodness... hahaha. We need the gift of tongues and we need it now! It'll be great though :) Her name is Sister Aldana and she's from Springville. And the BEST part is...... I'M LIVING WITH SISTER PEARL AND SISTER TIDWELL!! Sister Pearl is my best friend from Macau and I was with Sister Tidwell in the MTC! I'm stoked! We actually haven't been there yet... we're at the apple store in Kowloon Tong. I just got over here to Hong Kong and we couldn't wait to email! :)
But oh my goodness... I am going to MISS Macau. It's like heaven on earth. Last night I was saying my prayers and I said, "I never want to go home." And then I was like, wait what? Did I just say that??? But yes, it's true. This is the most wonderful experience I've ever had. Ever. You have to hear what everyone did for me in Macau:
1. G.M. gave me a really cute necklace made of pink jade in the shape of a rose. She just held my hand for a really long time and gave me this pretty necklace and kept hugging me and speaking in Chinese that I didn't understand. She kept saying, "Heimohng leih wuih faan leih!" (Hope you can come back!) Ahhh I just love her. She is such a special lady.
2. One of the YW in Macau 1st Branch that I've become really good friends with, H.K., did the SWEETEST thing. After church she came up and she was like, "Come here!" So then we go to a corner of the church and she pulls out of her backpack a tupperware thing of spaghetti. K this is so cute. The very first time we met, she was practicing her English and she asked me what my favorite food was. I said spaghetti. So SHE MADE ME SOME before I left! Oh my gosh I wanted to cry. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?! Ah I was dying. I love her so, so, so, so much. She is so cute and such a good, good girl. And she wrote me the sweetest letter. I took pictures of it but I can't send the pictures today, boo :( Next week! Ahhhhh I LOVE HERR.
3. S, one of our investigators, came to English class on Thursday and brought me a cake. So nice! She's great. She's getting baptized in October. She's SO golden. Man. She was kind of hard to teach because she has so many questions, but she is so ready. She'll be such an amazing member. She's so willing!! Anyway, then on Sunday she brought me more gifts! This really cute Chinese electric fan! Haha i love it! And an umbrella and some tissues! Perfect! I love love love them.
4. B gave me a cute journal :) You know me, I love my journals. I think I'm going to have 50 by the end of my mission. I just love to write! Anyway, we had a great lesson with B last night. She is so awesome. She doesn't believe that she really can get an answer about whether the church is true or not. Sister Lau and I had a huge impression to show her this Mormon Message "Waiting on the Road to Damascus." It was SO perfect. I love seeing how we're guided by the Spirit :) It's so cool.
5. I also got a cute letter and bookmark from another YW in our ward, T. I'm really going to miss H.K. and T. They're so awesome!! They're willing to go out with us ALL THE TIME. They have such strong testimonies of the BOM. They're both such good examples. Both of them want to come to BYU so maybe I will see them again! I hope so. :)
And wow, I'm going to miss my Macau sisters so much! Sister Cutler, who's been with me from my very first day in Hong Kong. Sister Capucion, such a cute Philippina who is like the sweetest person I've ever met. Sister Palmer, who just got to Macau a week and a half ago but is sooo much fun. Sister Yeung... gosh I lOVE Sister Yeung. I almost cried saying bye to her. She is so much fun. I love her to pieces. And of course Sister Lau!! My trainer! It's weird that I'll be with completely different elders and sisters, but I'm so excited to start in this new area with Sister Aldana!
This week there was a typhoon.. nothing new, really. There are typhoons all the time. But this one was a signal 8! Which means we had to stay inside BASICALLY ALL DAY. It was sooooooo boring. The rain was pounding against the windows and the wind was howling. After our studies and calling everyone we'd ever talked to before and everyone in our records, we were bored stiff. There's only so many calls you can make. We cleaned our apartment from top to bottom, did some phone lessons, and then FINALLY were able to go out! But it was still raining like crazy so we did some door knocking. I'm going to miss door knocking SO bad. I really like it. Oh well. New ways to find here!! :)
Hmm.. what else from this week...
Oh HAHA. I haven't really told you any language flubs yet. I've got some good ones. So in Chinese, 12 is "sahp yih" and 20 is "yih sahp." So I get them confused. I've told a lot of people I'm 12 years old :) haha. Sister Lau would always go into fits of giggles and I knew I'd said it again. I think I've got it down now ;) Also, I was doing my language pass off with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Chan. I was teaching him the plan of salvation, and accidentally said, "Yuhgwo ngohdeih gancheuih YehSouGeiDuk, Tinfuh wuih beih ngohdeih hou hou ge chingfaat." Which means, "If we follow Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father will give us a very good punishment." Elder Chan was laughing so hard :) whoops!
Man, I just really love this work. I can't believe I've been here for one and a half moves already! WHAT?! It's flying by. I love what I'm doing. I've never, ever, ever been so happy in my entire life. I wish everyone could experience this happiness. There is nothing like it in the world! I know the Lord lives. He loves me. He is guiding my life, and He is guiding this work. With God on our side, who can be against us?!
I love you all. Thank you for your support and love. It means the WORLD. :) Until next week!!
Love always,
Sister Shay
xoxoxo
8.12.2013
I Almost Got Arrested...
HEY FAM!
Before you get too concerned about the subject of this email.. I'd better tell you the story:
This past week was moves, right? Right. So they announced moves and SISTER LAU AND I WERE TOGETHER AND STAYING IN MACAU! Yay! I was so excited. Sister Lau and I were like hugging and sooo super happy to be here together still :) Sister Pearl got transferred though. I was so sad. She is my best friend here in Macau and I love her to death! But a mission = change. So it was all good.
So then Friday I had to do my second U-turn. I was a little nervous because I had to do it MYSELF... buy my tickets in Chinese by myself and go on a boat by myself for an hour over to HK and then turn around and come back. But it was no big deal. I kind of enjoyed having alone time actually.... shh don't tell anyone. Companions are awesome but it is nice to be alone sometimes :) hehe. ANYWAY. so I got back to Macau fine and I was standing in line to go through customs. That's when they stamp your passport and give you however many days or whatever. I knew I would get 20 days and there would be no problems, but when I stepped up to the counter and gave them my passport, they started freaking out because I got two 30 days in a row. They had like 5 people come over to look at it and they were all speaking really fast Chinese. And I was BY MYSELF. Finally one guy came around the counter holding my HK ID and my passport and said, "Follow me."......
I went to the "Interview Room."
It was so scary. It was this little white room that had a code to get in and a little metal bench and a desk. The immigration officer sat down at the desk and then did something on the computer with my passport and HK ID for like 45 minutes. I was trying so hard not to cry. Haha it sounds like it wasn't a big deal but it was really scary. At one point he was like, "Why you here in Macau?" and then he saw my nametag and said, "Ohh... Mormon." and then typed on the computer again. So there I am in a little interview room that looks like where they question convicts on movies.. in CHINA... can't speak the language very well... can't remember my own name for crying out loud, I was so scared. After 45 minutes, the guy showed me a paper and said, "You have to leave Macau in 10 days. Go to immigration today at 4:00 and get your visa for 10 days. If you forget, they will kick you out today."
10 days??!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went back and found my companion and the other sisters she was with. I cried. Ha. It was so embarrassing, but A) that was a very traumatic experience, and B) I don't want to leave Macau!! So yes. I am here in Macau still -- soo happy about that! -- but I have to leave on Monday :( I don't know where I'm getting transferred yet so I guess you'll have to wait for that news AGAIN!
I read a quote today in the Ensign from April conference that has changed my life. I think I'm going to make it my life motto:
"As we follow Him, He blesses us with gifts, talents, and the strength to do His will, allowing us to go beyond our comfort zones and do things we've never before thought possible." --Elder Robert D. Hales.
I have thought of that quote every single day since reading it. I thought of it sitting in that little interview room. I have shared it with all of my investigators. I KNOW that to be true with all of my heart. I never in a million years thought I'd be serving a mission... let alone speaking Chinese. When I got my mission call, I was scared spitless. But I chose to follow my Savior. I chose to give Him everything I have, and He truly has blessed me with the ability to go beyond my comfort zone and do things I've NEVER before thought possible. Whitney, I know He'll do the same for you at college. Mina, same for you. Dad, your time will become easier to manage because you are choosing to follow Him. Mommy, you will be given extra strength in whatever area you need it. Parker and Jaren, if you put the Lord first, everything else will fall into place. I know this is true with everything that I am. I feel this with a conviction that is hard to describe. I love my Savior. I love my Eternal Father. I know they are with me on this mission. Wherever they need me to go next, I will go, because I know they will allow me to do so without fear. It's such a comforting, wonderful, empowering thought!
Our investigators are doing SO GREAT. Man, I just love them. I tell them all the time, too. Haha they might get sick of how many times I tell them. But they're so awesome. They have such huge desires. I love seeing the gospel change people. I LOVE this work. It is the best thing in the world!
This morning we watched "Joseph Smith: the Prophet of the Restoration" with B and I was filled with the Spirit. What a way to start P-day!! :) At the end, we just bore a simple testimony of Joseph Smith and of the Restoration. Then I said the closing prayer. I said, "Chan ngoi ge Tinfuh" (dear Heavenly Father), and then I started BAWLING. I could barely even speak. But I prayed that B would feel the message of the Restoration was true and that she could know that Heavenly Father is real and that He loves her. I know she felt the Spirit. I hope she really can know those things. I love her soooo much!!!
We've been having a little bit of a hard time getting our investigators to church. This week we're going to work on testifying of the importance of being at church and partaking of the sacrament. It truly is the most important part of each week. Even in China, when I can't understand 99% of church, the sacrament is still a special and sacred time when we get to renew our covenants and remember our Great and Loving Savior.
Family, I love you soooooooooo much. I hope you know that. I hope you feel my love across continents and time zones! I am so thankful for you and the strength you give me. Keep the faith! It's worth every bit of adversity! :)
I LOVE YOU!
Love love love love love,
Shay
Gwok
xoxoxo
Before you get too concerned about the subject of this email.. I'd better tell you the story:
This past week was moves, right? Right. So they announced moves and SISTER LAU AND I WERE TOGETHER AND STAYING IN MACAU! Yay! I was so excited. Sister Lau and I were like hugging and sooo super happy to be here together still :) Sister Pearl got transferred though. I was so sad. She is my best friend here in Macau and I love her to death! But a mission = change. So it was all good.
So then Friday I had to do my second U-turn. I was a little nervous because I had to do it MYSELF... buy my tickets in Chinese by myself and go on a boat by myself for an hour over to HK and then turn around and come back. But it was no big deal. I kind of enjoyed having alone time actually.... shh don't tell anyone. Companions are awesome but it is nice to be alone sometimes :) hehe. ANYWAY. so I got back to Macau fine and I was standing in line to go through customs. That's when they stamp your passport and give you however many days or whatever. I knew I would get 20 days and there would be no problems, but when I stepped up to the counter and gave them my passport, they started freaking out because I got two 30 days in a row. They had like 5 people come over to look at it and they were all speaking really fast Chinese. And I was BY MYSELF. Finally one guy came around the counter holding my HK ID and my passport and said, "Follow me."......
I went to the "Interview Room."
It was so scary. It was this little white room that had a code to get in and a little metal bench and a desk. The immigration officer sat down at the desk and then did something on the computer with my passport and HK ID for like 45 minutes. I was trying so hard not to cry. Haha it sounds like it wasn't a big deal but it was really scary. At one point he was like, "Why you here in Macau?" and then he saw my nametag and said, "Ohh... Mormon." and then typed on the computer again. So there I am in a little interview room that looks like where they question convicts on movies.. in CHINA... can't speak the language very well... can't remember my own name for crying out loud, I was so scared. After 45 minutes, the guy showed me a paper and said, "You have to leave Macau in 10 days. Go to immigration today at 4:00 and get your visa for 10 days. If you forget, they will kick you out today."
10 days??!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went back and found my companion and the other sisters she was with. I cried. Ha. It was so embarrassing, but A) that was a very traumatic experience, and B) I don't want to leave Macau!! So yes. I am here in Macau still -- soo happy about that! -- but I have to leave on Monday :( I don't know where I'm getting transferred yet so I guess you'll have to wait for that news AGAIN!
I read a quote today in the Ensign from April conference that has changed my life. I think I'm going to make it my life motto:
"As we follow Him, He blesses us with gifts, talents, and the strength to do His will, allowing us to go beyond our comfort zones and do things we've never before thought possible." --Elder Robert D. Hales.
I have thought of that quote every single day since reading it. I thought of it sitting in that little interview room. I have shared it with all of my investigators. I KNOW that to be true with all of my heart. I never in a million years thought I'd be serving a mission... let alone speaking Chinese. When I got my mission call, I was scared spitless. But I chose to follow my Savior. I chose to give Him everything I have, and He truly has blessed me with the ability to go beyond my comfort zone and do things I've NEVER before thought possible. Whitney, I know He'll do the same for you at college. Mina, same for you. Dad, your time will become easier to manage because you are choosing to follow Him. Mommy, you will be given extra strength in whatever area you need it. Parker and Jaren, if you put the Lord first, everything else will fall into place. I know this is true with everything that I am. I feel this with a conviction that is hard to describe. I love my Savior. I love my Eternal Father. I know they are with me on this mission. Wherever they need me to go next, I will go, because I know they will allow me to do so without fear. It's such a comforting, wonderful, empowering thought!
Our investigators are doing SO GREAT. Man, I just love them. I tell them all the time, too. Haha they might get sick of how many times I tell them. But they're so awesome. They have such huge desires. I love seeing the gospel change people. I LOVE this work. It is the best thing in the world!
This morning we watched "Joseph Smith: the Prophet of the Restoration" with B and I was filled with the Spirit. What a way to start P-day!! :) At the end, we just bore a simple testimony of Joseph Smith and of the Restoration. Then I said the closing prayer. I said, "Chan ngoi ge Tinfuh" (dear Heavenly Father), and then I started BAWLING. I could barely even speak. But I prayed that B would feel the message of the Restoration was true and that she could know that Heavenly Father is real and that He loves her. I know she felt the Spirit. I hope she really can know those things. I love her soooo much!!!
We've been having a little bit of a hard time getting our investigators to church. This week we're going to work on testifying of the importance of being at church and partaking of the sacrament. It truly is the most important part of each week. Even in China, when I can't understand 99% of church, the sacrament is still a special and sacred time when we get to renew our covenants and remember our Great and Loving Savior.
Family, I love you soooooooooo much. I hope you know that. I hope you feel my love across continents and time zones! I am so thankful for you and the strength you give me. Keep the faith! It's worth every bit of adversity! :)
I LOVE YOU!
Love love love love love,
Shay
Gwok
xoxoxo
8.05.2013
ON FIRE WITH MISSIONARY WORK!
Leih hou!!! (or as Park would say, Lay who. haha)
How are you all this week?? I miss you so much! Thanks for sending me letters from the family reunion! I loved getting them! I hope you guys had NO fun at all without me and Ben there. I know you didn't ;)
Can I just start this email out by saying.... I LOVE THIS MISSION! I love what I'm doing sooo much. I love my companion, I love my mission president, I love this branch, I love Macau, I love these sisters I live with, I love our investigators, I love the two senior couples, I love the people we walk by on the street, I love everything about being here. I can't imagine being anywhere else or doing anything else. This is the best thing I've ever done in my whole life. It's so rewarding and SO happy! :) It's tough, but man. COMPLETELY worth every tear I've shed :) haha.
I wasn't on earlier because guess how we spent P-day today?? With Gou Mama. I can't believe I haven't written about Gou Mama yet. She is the best lady in the entire world. She's 79 years old... and she's taking piano lessons from Sister Welling (senior couple) and she comes to teach member present lessons with us ALL THE TIME, she invites the missionaries over to eat all the time, she's taking classes from Macau University... she's just amazing. I want to be Gou Mama when I grow up. Anyway, she invited the sisters over for lunch today and we were there for 2 hours just hanging out at her house! It felt like going to grandma's house. Except this grandma speaks Chinese :) it was so awesome! We played her piano and then she played the simplified version of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" that she's learning and we all sang. It was so awesome :) best P-day ever! She is my idol. I will send you a picture of her so you can appreciate how cute she is. She's the best :)
SOOO! The "dark transfer cloud" as Sister Hawks calls it is upon us! We find out the transfer news TOMORROW! So I find out tomorrow if I'm leaving Macau or not! I can't believe it. I could be leaving this wonderful place with all these wonderful people that i love! WHAT. It's crazy. I'm so sad. but also so anxious about where I'm going I can't handle it! Sonext Monday I could be emailing you from some new place in Hong Kong! If I leave, I will leave on Thursday. CRAZINESS! Guess you'll all have to wait until next week to find out!
Okay, this week was just awesome. I wish I could better put it into words. Actually, I wish I could just film me telling you all about this week and then send it to you. That would be better. ANYWAY.
Monday: We had P-day, shopping and stuff. And then we had a lesson with B that night. Oh my goodness it was an amazing lesson. We decided to have a little testimony meeting with her. It was so powerful! We all cried. Then we challenged her to get baptized. She immediately started shaking her head and saying she couldn't do it, and I said, "Stop. Before you decide you're not going to do it, pray about it. We felt strongly that we should invite you to be baptized. We want you to think and pray about it. When I decided to go on a mission, I was terrified. I've never wanted to serve a mission before in my life, but when I made the decision, I knew Heavenly Father would provide a way. And look at this. I'm here, in Macau, learning Chinese. I don't know how, but Heavenly Father has provided the way for me to do this. He will provide the way for you too." It was really powerful. I really hope she gets baptized sometime soon, but even if it takes her a little longer, I know she will someday. She's sooooo awesome. Ah. I just love her so much. I told her like 50x in our lesson. "We love you. We really love you. Did you know that? We REALLY love you." She was like, "I know! I know! You love me!" haha we were all laughing. Ah. Love that girl :)
Thursday: There we were, in our apartment. Dinner had just ended and we were going to do some more weekly planning when our cell phone rang. I said, "who is it?" like I always do and Sister Lau said, "OL!!" I almost DIED. Remember OL? How she hasn't called us or answered our calls/texts for 3 weeks now?? SHE CALLED US! I was acting like a crazy person. I jumped out of my chair and started hugging everyone, on the verge of bursting into tears and crazed spurts of laughter. I couldn't stop laughing/crying. I kept saying over and over again, "I'm SO happy!" (like Morgan, hahaha) and I was dancing all over the apartment. OL told us her popo's been really sick and she's had to take care of her the past 3 weeks! She hasn't had time to answer the phone or call us back, but she's read our texts every night. EXCEPT this week we decided to give her a break. So ever since last Sunday we stopped texting her. She said, "Why'd you stop sending me the texts?" Sister Lau said, "We thought you didn't like us anymore!" She said, "No no!" OH MY GOSH. I can't explain this happiness. I was beside myself. I felt like Ammon. You know, when he got so happy about converting the Lamanites he literally passed out? I about passed out too :) There is so much joy in this work! It's the most wonderful thing in the world! I LOVE OL!
Okay, so I'll try to answer your questions now:
A typical day for us in Macau: we get up at 7am, do 30 minutes of exercise. We usually go running or else just do exercises in our apartment. I like running more because I get more of a workout. Then we get ready for the day and eat breakfast. Then we do an hour of each: personal study, comp study, and lang study. Then we have appointments or finding or LA finding or whatever else we do during the day! Once a week (on Sat mornings) we have correlation with the missionaries and the ward mission leader. He's really awesome. We don't go to ward council but the zone leaders do.
It's about a 10 minute walk from our apartment to the church. We are SO lucky here. It's not like that in Hong Kong.
Macau is a special place because the whole entire island of Macau is our area. In Hong Kong, only like 4 MTR stops is an area so it makes it a little more complicated. We have to ride buses or walk here though. No MTR in Macau.
No, I haven't had to speak in church but on my first Sunday here all the new missionaries bore their testimonies. That was scary haha. but that was a long time ago. Every time I go to a new ward I'll bear my testimony the first Sunday I'm there. No lessons in church either. Although I make comments sometimes in our Gospel Principles class! That's always a little scary! :)
No, most of the members don't speak English. Or if they do they're not very confident. So we speak Cantonese pretty much! And a lot of body language! Haha!
My companion is straight up British! She doesn't speak with a Chinese accent haha :) she speaks in a completely British one! She thinks my British accent is awful. Dang it. I thought I was pretty good haha. We speak... mostly English... although we are trying to SYL more. Actually I'd say we speak mostly Chinglish. I am getting pro at my Chinglish. Throwing in random Cantonese words all over the place. It's awesome!
Tell Uncle Tyler I could understand his message to me in Mandarin! "Hello! You are a very good missionary!" I can understand some Mandarin! Like, a very little bit. Like shi shi ni and ni hao ma and chuan jiao shi haha. But I wonder how much of it I'll be able to understand when I get home. Tyler, Mikell, Kaden and I could have secret conversations!! That would be cool!! :)
Well fam, it is time for me to get off now. I love you all SOOOO much. I hope you have the best week ever. I really love you guys. Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. I need them! I'm loving this work though. I love the Lord. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. I love every minute of every day here in Macau. And I really, really, really love YOU!
Love always,
Sister Gwok
xoxoxo
How are you all this week?? I miss you so much! Thanks for sending me letters from the family reunion! I loved getting them! I hope you guys had NO fun at all without me and Ben there. I know you didn't ;)
Can I just start this email out by saying.... I LOVE THIS MISSION! I love what I'm doing sooo much. I love my companion, I love my mission president, I love this branch, I love Macau, I love these sisters I live with, I love our investigators, I love the two senior couples, I love the people we walk by on the street, I love everything about being here. I can't imagine being anywhere else or doing anything else. This is the best thing I've ever done in my whole life. It's so rewarding and SO happy! :) It's tough, but man. COMPLETELY worth every tear I've shed :) haha.
I wasn't on earlier because guess how we spent P-day today?? With Gou Mama. I can't believe I haven't written about Gou Mama yet. She is the best lady in the entire world. She's 79 years old... and she's taking piano lessons from Sister Welling (senior couple) and she comes to teach member present lessons with us ALL THE TIME, she invites the missionaries over to eat all the time, she's taking classes from Macau University... she's just amazing. I want to be Gou Mama when I grow up. Anyway, she invited the sisters over for lunch today and we were there for 2 hours just hanging out at her house! It felt like going to grandma's house. Except this grandma speaks Chinese :) it was so awesome! We played her piano and then she played the simplified version of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" that she's learning and we all sang. It was so awesome :) best P-day ever! She is my idol. I will send you a picture of her so you can appreciate how cute she is. She's the best :)
SOOO! The "dark transfer cloud" as Sister Hawks calls it is upon us! We find out the transfer news TOMORROW! So I find out tomorrow if I'm leaving Macau or not! I can't believe it. I could be leaving this wonderful place with all these wonderful people that i love! WHAT. It's crazy. I'm so sad. but also so anxious about where I'm going I can't handle it! Sonext Monday I could be emailing you from some new place in Hong Kong! If I leave, I will leave on Thursday. CRAZINESS! Guess you'll all have to wait until next week to find out!
Okay, this week was just awesome. I wish I could better put it into words. Actually, I wish I could just film me telling you all about this week and then send it to you. That would be better. ANYWAY.
Monday: We had P-day, shopping and stuff. And then we had a lesson with B that night. Oh my goodness it was an amazing lesson. We decided to have a little testimony meeting with her. It was so powerful! We all cried. Then we challenged her to get baptized. She immediately started shaking her head and saying she couldn't do it, and I said, "Stop. Before you decide you're not going to do it, pray about it. We felt strongly that we should invite you to be baptized. We want you to think and pray about it. When I decided to go on a mission, I was terrified. I've never wanted to serve a mission before in my life, but when I made the decision, I knew Heavenly Father would provide a way. And look at this. I'm here, in Macau, learning Chinese. I don't know how, but Heavenly Father has provided the way for me to do this. He will provide the way for you too." It was really powerful. I really hope she gets baptized sometime soon, but even if it takes her a little longer, I know she will someday. She's sooooo awesome. Ah. I just love her so much. I told her like 50x in our lesson. "We love you. We really love you. Did you know that? We REALLY love you." She was like, "I know! I know! You love me!" haha we were all laughing. Ah. Love that girl :)
Thursday: There we were, in our apartment. Dinner had just ended and we were going to do some more weekly planning when our cell phone rang. I said, "who is it?" like I always do and Sister Lau said, "OL!!" I almost DIED. Remember OL? How she hasn't called us or answered our calls/texts for 3 weeks now?? SHE CALLED US! I was acting like a crazy person. I jumped out of my chair and started hugging everyone, on the verge of bursting into tears and crazed spurts of laughter. I couldn't stop laughing/crying. I kept saying over and over again, "I'm SO happy!" (like Morgan, hahaha) and I was dancing all over the apartment. OL told us her popo's been really sick and she's had to take care of her the past 3 weeks! She hasn't had time to answer the phone or call us back, but she's read our texts every night. EXCEPT this week we decided to give her a break. So ever since last Sunday we stopped texting her. She said, "Why'd you stop sending me the texts?" Sister Lau said, "We thought you didn't like us anymore!" She said, "No no!" OH MY GOSH. I can't explain this happiness. I was beside myself. I felt like Ammon. You know, when he got so happy about converting the Lamanites he literally passed out? I about passed out too :) There is so much joy in this work! It's the most wonderful thing in the world! I LOVE OL!
Okay, so I'll try to answer your questions now:
A typical day for us in Macau: we get up at 7am, do 30 minutes of exercise. We usually go running or else just do exercises in our apartment. I like running more because I get more of a workout. Then we get ready for the day and eat breakfast. Then we do an hour of each: personal study, comp study, and lang study. Then we have appointments or finding or LA finding or whatever else we do during the day! Once a week (on Sat mornings) we have correlation with the missionaries and the ward mission leader. He's really awesome. We don't go to ward council but the zone leaders do.
It's about a 10 minute walk from our apartment to the church. We are SO lucky here. It's not like that in Hong Kong.
Macau is a special place because the whole entire island of Macau is our area. In Hong Kong, only like 4 MTR stops is an area so it makes it a little more complicated. We have to ride buses or walk here though. No MTR in Macau.
No, I haven't had to speak in church but on my first Sunday here all the new missionaries bore their testimonies. That was scary haha. but that was a long time ago. Every time I go to a new ward I'll bear my testimony the first Sunday I'm there. No lessons in church either. Although I make comments sometimes in our Gospel Principles class! That's always a little scary! :)
No, most of the members don't speak English. Or if they do they're not very confident. So we speak Cantonese pretty much! And a lot of body language! Haha!
My companion is straight up British! She doesn't speak with a Chinese accent haha :) she speaks in a completely British one! She thinks my British accent is awful. Dang it. I thought I was pretty good haha. We speak... mostly English... although we are trying to SYL more. Actually I'd say we speak mostly Chinglish. I am getting pro at my Chinglish. Throwing in random Cantonese words all over the place. It's awesome!
Tell Uncle Tyler I could understand his message to me in Mandarin! "Hello! You are a very good missionary!" I can understand some Mandarin! Like, a very little bit. Like shi shi ni and ni hao ma and chuan jiao shi haha. But I wonder how much of it I'll be able to understand when I get home. Tyler, Mikell, Kaden and I could have secret conversations!! That would be cool!! :)
Well fam, it is time for me to get off now. I love you all SOOOO much. I hope you have the best week ever. I really love you guys. Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. I need them! I'm loving this work though. I love the Lord. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. I love every minute of every day here in Macau. And I really, really, really love YOU!
Love always,
Sister Gwok
xoxoxo
7.30.2013
Eggplant...YUM!
Leih hou FAM! :)
I looove you guys so much and am happy you got to go to Idyho! I hope you told everyone I said HELLO and I love them soo soo much!
ENGAGEMENTS: Ally Holmes! Oh my goodness congratulations! I'm so happy for you and wish I could be there! Aubree Hansen! Congrats! wowza all my friends will be married by the time I get home. That is sooooooooooooooo weird to think about. Marriage is like the furthest thing from my mind right now... haha.
Think about Mulan. Think about every part of it, the busy street with the grandma crossing it with her eyes closed, the old men playing chess, the shirtless men spitting on the side of the road, the worshipping of ancestors, the little sticks on fire, the gardens.... I'm talking EVERYTHING. Now picture me in Mulan. That's exactly how I feel. hahaha seriously, this is Mulan! It's the most bizarre thing! I was thinking about how similar it really is this week and laughing and quoting parts of it with the other sisters. I'M SERIOUSLY IN CHINA! WHO'S FREAKING OUT?? :)
Anyway, this week was so good! The work has been slowing down quite a bit... some of our investigators are on holiday and a lot of them aren't picking up their phones :( but we push forward as usual and continue to LOVE every second of the time we have in Macau! To answer your question Dad, transfers ("moves") here are every 9 weeks, so we haven't had one yet. We had to have some "mini moves" to accommodate some new missionaries coming in. But my first move is almost over! Craziness!!! August 8 will be moves and I'll find out whether or not I'm leaving Macau! I seriously can't believe it's already been 2 months. Time has FLOWN.
On Tuesday we did exchanges - my first time! I was with Sister Cutler and WOW she is a powerhouse. I feel like I learned so much! She is such a clear teacher. It was so awesome to be able to learn from her. She's a stellar missionary. She goes home in December, but her Canto is rockin' awesome. Gives me hope for mine :)
....but seriously, speaking of Cantonese, I feel like something clicked this week. This week was a big turning point. I now feel like I get most of what happens in lessons!! Sister Lau and I have really awesome balance and we can teach with a lot of unity! I am learning SO much SO fast! It's crazy! The gift of tongues is real, people. Pres Hawks always says, "The language will come faster than you think, but slower than you want." SO TRUE. I want it to come faster, but when I look back at how much I know and understand already, it's absolutely incredible. I'm learning Chinese! This is so insane!!!
We have a lot of people that can't meet with us because of work and stuff, so we've been doing a lot of quick lessons over the phone. It's been really cool. Like the other day, H JM only had a minute to talk to us, so we sang her a hymn over the phone. It reminded me of your story you emailed me last week, Mom. It really brought the Spirit. I love the hymns so much. I love singing. I may not be very good, but I just love music. I loved how you thought about me when that girl played "How Great Thou Art." That always reminds me of Michelle because she told me that was her favorite song, and then it became mine. Michelle, I love you and miss you! I hope you're doing well! :)
Random fact about me that I've learned while I've been here: I LOVE eggplant. I really do. It's absolutely delicious. Why didn't we ever eat eggplant before Mom??? When I get home, we're having eggplant all the time. I'm making it for my roommates and everything - Mina, Hay, Morg, get ready!! :)
In my personal study this week I have learned so much about faith. The Lord gives us trials -- be it lice (which by the way is GONE!!! YIPPEE!) or no investigators or heat or a new language or just a bad hair day (every day....) -- and these trials shape us. When we have hard things, we push through and then we are blessed. I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me :) and what a blessing that is!
I love you guys ssoooooooooooooo much! I miss you like crazy, but I LOVE THIS WORK! I am a missionary! It's insane, I can't believe it, but WOW I would never trade it! I love it I love it I love it! sorry this email isn't very long. Today for P-day we're going shopping so I gotta run!
Keep emailing me and writing me! I love and live for your letters! :) I LOVE YOU ALL!
Love always,
Shay
xoxoxoxo
I looove you guys so much and am happy you got to go to Idyho! I hope you told everyone I said HELLO and I love them soo soo much!
ENGAGEMENTS: Ally Holmes! Oh my goodness congratulations! I'm so happy for you and wish I could be there! Aubree Hansen! Congrats! wowza all my friends will be married by the time I get home. That is sooooooooooooooo weird to think about. Marriage is like the furthest thing from my mind right now... haha.
Think about Mulan. Think about every part of it, the busy street with the grandma crossing it with her eyes closed, the old men playing chess, the shirtless men spitting on the side of the road, the worshipping of ancestors, the little sticks on fire, the gardens.... I'm talking EVERYTHING. Now picture me in Mulan. That's exactly how I feel. hahaha seriously, this is Mulan! It's the most bizarre thing! I was thinking about how similar it really is this week and laughing and quoting parts of it with the other sisters. I'M SERIOUSLY IN CHINA! WHO'S FREAKING OUT?? :)
Anyway, this week was so good! The work has been slowing down quite a bit... some of our investigators are on holiday and a lot of them aren't picking up their phones :( but we push forward as usual and continue to LOVE every second of the time we have in Macau! To answer your question Dad, transfers ("moves") here are every 9 weeks, so we haven't had one yet. We had to have some "mini moves" to accommodate some new missionaries coming in. But my first move is almost over! Craziness!!! August 8 will be moves and I'll find out whether or not I'm leaving Macau! I seriously can't believe it's already been 2 months. Time has FLOWN.
On Tuesday we did exchanges - my first time! I was with Sister Cutler and WOW she is a powerhouse. I feel like I learned so much! She is such a clear teacher. It was so awesome to be able to learn from her. She's a stellar missionary. She goes home in December, but her Canto is rockin' awesome. Gives me hope for mine :)
....but seriously, speaking of Cantonese, I feel like something clicked this week. This week was a big turning point. I now feel like I get most of what happens in lessons!! Sister Lau and I have really awesome balance and we can teach with a lot of unity! I am learning SO much SO fast! It's crazy! The gift of tongues is real, people. Pres Hawks always says, "The language will come faster than you think, but slower than you want." SO TRUE. I want it to come faster, but when I look back at how much I know and understand already, it's absolutely incredible. I'm learning Chinese! This is so insane!!!
We have a lot of people that can't meet with us because of work and stuff, so we've been doing a lot of quick lessons over the phone. It's been really cool. Like the other day, H JM only had a minute to talk to us, so we sang her a hymn over the phone. It reminded me of your story you emailed me last week, Mom. It really brought the Spirit. I love the hymns so much. I love singing. I may not be very good, but I just love music. I loved how you thought about me when that girl played "How Great Thou Art." That always reminds me of Michelle because she told me that was her favorite song, and then it became mine. Michelle, I love you and miss you! I hope you're doing well! :)
Random fact about me that I've learned while I've been here: I LOVE eggplant. I really do. It's absolutely delicious. Why didn't we ever eat eggplant before Mom??? When I get home, we're having eggplant all the time. I'm making it for my roommates and everything - Mina, Hay, Morg, get ready!! :)
In my personal study this week I have learned so much about faith. The Lord gives us trials -- be it lice (which by the way is GONE!!! YIPPEE!) or no investigators or heat or a new language or just a bad hair day (every day....) -- and these trials shape us. When we have hard things, we push through and then we are blessed. I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me :) and what a blessing that is!
I love you guys ssoooooooooooooo much! I miss you like crazy, but I LOVE THIS WORK! I am a missionary! It's insane, I can't believe it, but WOW I would never trade it! I love it I love it I love it! sorry this email isn't very long. Today for P-day we're going shopping so I gotta run!
Keep emailing me and writing me! I love and live for your letters! :) I LOVE YOU ALL!
Love always,
Shay
xoxoxoxo
7.22.2013
Sleeping During the Prayer? :)
HELLO FAMILY! AND FRIENDS! all you people! i LOVE you!
I hope your weeks were amazing! Mine was! I wasn't on earlier because we went to MGM for buffet lunch today! It was so much fun. Haha one of the brothers in the international branch is from Vegas and he works there so he got us buffet half off... which is like $6 American dollars. We took advantage of that! It was so much fun! I'll send all our cool pictures later. We had a blast :) Macau is like Vegas, but it's cleaner, and there's no moral filth, and it's Asian. So it's basically way cooler than Vegas (sorry, Haley). It was awesome!
I wrote another very, very, very long list of things to tell you in my planner. I hope I get through them all haha.
MOM! I GOT YOUR PACKAGES! Oh my goodness you are the best mom ever! it was the best day of my life when I got them. Sister Yeung and Sister Pearl went down to the church and Sister Lau and I were staying at home to do our studies. When the other sisters came back for lunch, they came in the door and said, "It's going to be the best day of your mission so far." And they had my packages! Mom, you are so awesome! You sent me so much! I'm so happy! Seriously, thank you so much. Everything you sent has been SO helpful. Sister Lau and I were like stoked to have new "lice toys." We've been using them every night. Sister Lau says it's like a treasure hunt to find the eggs. Mmm. So, THANK YOU. That was such a blessing. I love you so much Mommy!!!!!!!!
Funny story about that "mmm" in the previous paragraph. Asians do this ALL the time. Us American sisters call it a grunt, but the Asian sisters were like "No! It's like.... a murmur of assent." Anyway, all of us have picked it up. I say "mmm" to EVERYTHING. I'm sure it'll be a habit throughout my mission. So funny. I'm slowly becoming Asian :)
This week we found a new investigator, a little popo named L Popo. We accidentally rang her doorbell when we were looking for the light in the staircase of the apartment building we were in. We taught her a little lesson on her doorstep and said a prayer with her and she invited us back the next day. So the next day, we went and talked to her about God and prayer and the Holy Ghost. It was a great lesson! At the end, we invited her to say the closing prayer. We taught her how to pray like 3x so she would be sure to do it right, then we all folded our arms and closed our eyes. She didn't say anything. After like 30 seconds, I peeked at her. She was sitting there with her arms folded, head bowed, eyes closed. I looked at Sister Lau. She was looking at me. We both didn't want to interrupt her in case she was saying a silent prayer, so we just waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. I looked at Sister Lau again -- her face was red from trying not to laugh. I suddenly had THE BIGGEST URGE TO GIGGLE. I had to look away, pinch my arms, and think of something sad so I didn't laugh out loud. You know when you get the giggles and nothing you do can make them go away? Yeah. It was like that. We waited. And waited. And waited. Past the time it would have been okay to interrupt her, so we just had to keep waiting. It was HILARIOUS. We were both sitting there holding our breath trying SO hard not to laugh. After like 4 solid minutes of just sitting there, Sister Lau said, "Amen" really loud and Lahm Popo jumped. HAHAHA SHE FELL ASLEEP. Oh my gosh it was so funny. We were dying the second we walked out of her apartment building :)
This week we got a new sister in our apartment! A surprise exchange happened and Sister Jamison went to HK and Sister Capucion came here! She is from the Philippines and is Sister Cutler's companion (they're wokring the international ward.) Sis Capucion got called here Tagalog speaking. Crazy right? Anyway, she's awesome! We love her a lot. So many changes in a mission!
You'll get a kick out of this one. I started playing our "game": whenever we hear someone's keys jingling outside the apartment door, I go, "What are we going to do??" We've pretended to be asleep a few times. {Reminds me of the billions of times we've done it with the Belchers :) Kerry and Brad, miss you guys!!} The other sisters thought I was crazy and weird at first but now they all do it too :) hahaha. One time Sister Cutler and I yelled, "That's rubbish!!" off Harry Potter in our British accents. But the best was when we decided to turn off the lights and hide. We heard Sister Yeung/Sister Pearl's keys jingling and Sister Cutler dived over to the light switch. We barely got it off before they opened the door and we were all crouched behind our desks almost peeing our pants laughing. It was so fun! :) I just thought I'd let you know, I'm bringing a little bit of the Wilcox family traditions to our apartment in China!
This week I feel like I've learned so much about humility. A lot of our investigators couldn't see us this week, and OL still hasn't answered any of our phone calls or texts :( it breaks my heart. I called her last night and left her a message: "OL, it's Gwok Jimuih and Lau Jimuih. We miss you! We love you! Please call us back!" that's all I knew how to say, but I really hope she knows how much we love her. It's crazy that I feel SO much love for her and I haven't known her that long. This work is helping me have a greater capacity to love. It's amazing. Anyway, with so many investigators not being able to see us, it really made us take a step back and remember that without the Lord, we can't do anything. We are His missionaries, but He is in control. He can give us harder weeks where we don't have as much success because He wants to teach us humility.
I was reading in my personal study one day in 3 Nephi and I wasn't getting much out of it. It was chapter 16 and it was hard to understand and I was tired. But then in verse 2 of chapter 17, Jesus says to the Nephites, "I perceive that ye are weak, and ye cannot understand my words." Wow. It felt like Jesus was speaking right to me. Yes, Lord, I am weak. I cannot understand so much of this. It reminded me of Elder Holland's talk from this last conference, "Lord, I Believe." So I pulled out the Ensign and read that talk. What started out as a not so great personal study turned out to be AMAZING. I was really humbled. Isn't it amazing that if we believe, if we simply have the desire to believe and then start to act, the Lord makes up the rest for us? It's such a blessing. I sat there almost in tears, thinking, "Wow. Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. Strengthen my weaknesses. I have so many. I fall short every single hour of every single day. But through thee, I know all things are possible." They truly are. I testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He is also my best and closest friend. Here in Macau, when I'm too tired and too hot and too discouraged and ready to give up, He strengthens me. He lifts me up. He is there to make up the difference in all of our lives, if we are willing to repent and come unto Him. I know this is true with everything that I am. I feel so blessed to testify of these things every single moment of every single day. Being a missionary is the greatest thing in the world!
Elder Welling (senior missionary) shared a quote with us this week: "All that I am and hope to be I owe to my angel mother." I feel the same way. Mom, I owe you everything I am and everything I want to become. You are so amazing! I feel so blessed to have such great parents and such a wonderful eternal family. You all mean EVERYTHING to me! Also Elder Welling knows how to play the piano and the other day he was playing my FAVORITE SONG EVER. It's an arrangement of "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul." You guys HAVE to look it up. It's on spiremusic.org. PLEASE GET THE MUSIC and then please learn it! Whit, Park. Oh my goodness it's beautiful. Park, why don't you learn it and then Whit can sing it. It's aboslutely gorgeous. Makes me cry every time.
Well, I guess that's all the time I have this week :) I love you so much! I'm so happy you are my family and we are so close. I LOVE your letters. Thank you so much for loving and supporting me like you do. You are all awesome! I pray for you every single night. Have a great week! I love you, I love you, I love you!
Love,
Shaylee K
Gwok
xoxoxo
I hope your weeks were amazing! Mine was! I wasn't on earlier because we went to MGM for buffet lunch today! It was so much fun. Haha one of the brothers in the international branch is from Vegas and he works there so he got us buffet half off... which is like $6 American dollars. We took advantage of that! It was so much fun! I'll send all our cool pictures later. We had a blast :) Macau is like Vegas, but it's cleaner, and there's no moral filth, and it's Asian. So it's basically way cooler than Vegas (sorry, Haley). It was awesome!
I wrote another very, very, very long list of things to tell you in my planner. I hope I get through them all haha.
MOM! I GOT YOUR PACKAGES! Oh my goodness you are the best mom ever! it was the best day of my life when I got them. Sister Yeung and Sister Pearl went down to the church and Sister Lau and I were staying at home to do our studies. When the other sisters came back for lunch, they came in the door and said, "It's going to be the best day of your mission so far." And they had my packages! Mom, you are so awesome! You sent me so much! I'm so happy! Seriously, thank you so much. Everything you sent has been SO helpful. Sister Lau and I were like stoked to have new "lice toys." We've been using them every night. Sister Lau says it's like a treasure hunt to find the eggs. Mmm. So, THANK YOU. That was such a blessing. I love you so much Mommy!!!!!!!!
Funny story about that "mmm" in the previous paragraph. Asians do this ALL the time. Us American sisters call it a grunt, but the Asian sisters were like "No! It's like.... a murmur of assent." Anyway, all of us have picked it up. I say "mmm" to EVERYTHING. I'm sure it'll be a habit throughout my mission. So funny. I'm slowly becoming Asian :)
This week we found a new investigator, a little popo named L Popo. We accidentally rang her doorbell when we were looking for the light in the staircase of the apartment building we were in. We taught her a little lesson on her doorstep and said a prayer with her and she invited us back the next day. So the next day, we went and talked to her about God and prayer and the Holy Ghost. It was a great lesson! At the end, we invited her to say the closing prayer. We taught her how to pray like 3x so she would be sure to do it right, then we all folded our arms and closed our eyes. She didn't say anything. After like 30 seconds, I peeked at her. She was sitting there with her arms folded, head bowed, eyes closed. I looked at Sister Lau. She was looking at me. We both didn't want to interrupt her in case she was saying a silent prayer, so we just waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. I looked at Sister Lau again -- her face was red from trying not to laugh. I suddenly had THE BIGGEST URGE TO GIGGLE. I had to look away, pinch my arms, and think of something sad so I didn't laugh out loud. You know when you get the giggles and nothing you do can make them go away? Yeah. It was like that. We waited. And waited. And waited. Past the time it would have been okay to interrupt her, so we just had to keep waiting. It was HILARIOUS. We were both sitting there holding our breath trying SO hard not to laugh. After like 4 solid minutes of just sitting there, Sister Lau said, "Amen" really loud and Lahm Popo jumped. HAHAHA SHE FELL ASLEEP. Oh my gosh it was so funny. We were dying the second we walked out of her apartment building :)
This week we got a new sister in our apartment! A surprise exchange happened and Sister Jamison went to HK and Sister Capucion came here! She is from the Philippines and is Sister Cutler's companion (they're wokring the international ward.) Sis Capucion got called here Tagalog speaking. Crazy right? Anyway, she's awesome! We love her a lot. So many changes in a mission!
You'll get a kick out of this one. I started playing our "game": whenever we hear someone's keys jingling outside the apartment door, I go, "What are we going to do??" We've pretended to be asleep a few times. {Reminds me of the billions of times we've done it with the Belchers :) Kerry and Brad, miss you guys!!} The other sisters thought I was crazy and weird at first but now they all do it too :) hahaha. One time Sister Cutler and I yelled, "That's rubbish!!" off Harry Potter in our British accents. But the best was when we decided to turn off the lights and hide. We heard Sister Yeung/Sister Pearl's keys jingling and Sister Cutler dived over to the light switch. We barely got it off before they opened the door and we were all crouched behind our desks almost peeing our pants laughing. It was so fun! :) I just thought I'd let you know, I'm bringing a little bit of the Wilcox family traditions to our apartment in China!
This week I feel like I've learned so much about humility. A lot of our investigators couldn't see us this week, and OL still hasn't answered any of our phone calls or texts :( it breaks my heart. I called her last night and left her a message: "OL, it's Gwok Jimuih and Lau Jimuih. We miss you! We love you! Please call us back!" that's all I knew how to say, but I really hope she knows how much we love her. It's crazy that I feel SO much love for her and I haven't known her that long. This work is helping me have a greater capacity to love. It's amazing. Anyway, with so many investigators not being able to see us, it really made us take a step back and remember that without the Lord, we can't do anything. We are His missionaries, but He is in control. He can give us harder weeks where we don't have as much success because He wants to teach us humility.
I was reading in my personal study one day in 3 Nephi and I wasn't getting much out of it. It was chapter 16 and it was hard to understand and I was tired. But then in verse 2 of chapter 17, Jesus says to the Nephites, "I perceive that ye are weak, and ye cannot understand my words." Wow. It felt like Jesus was speaking right to me. Yes, Lord, I am weak. I cannot understand so much of this. It reminded me of Elder Holland's talk from this last conference, "Lord, I Believe." So I pulled out the Ensign and read that talk. What started out as a not so great personal study turned out to be AMAZING. I was really humbled. Isn't it amazing that if we believe, if we simply have the desire to believe and then start to act, the Lord makes up the rest for us? It's such a blessing. I sat there almost in tears, thinking, "Wow. Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. Strengthen my weaknesses. I have so many. I fall short every single hour of every single day. But through thee, I know all things are possible." They truly are. I testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He is also my best and closest friend. Here in Macau, when I'm too tired and too hot and too discouraged and ready to give up, He strengthens me. He lifts me up. He is there to make up the difference in all of our lives, if we are willing to repent and come unto Him. I know this is true with everything that I am. I feel so blessed to testify of these things every single moment of every single day. Being a missionary is the greatest thing in the world!
Elder Welling (senior missionary) shared a quote with us this week: "All that I am and hope to be I owe to my angel mother." I feel the same way. Mom, I owe you everything I am and everything I want to become. You are so amazing! I feel so blessed to have such great parents and such a wonderful eternal family. You all mean EVERYTHING to me! Also Elder Welling knows how to play the piano and the other day he was playing my FAVORITE SONG EVER. It's an arrangement of "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul." You guys HAVE to look it up. It's on spiremusic.org. PLEASE GET THE MUSIC and then please learn it! Whit, Park. Oh my goodness it's beautiful. Park, why don't you learn it and then Whit can sing it. It's aboslutely gorgeous. Makes me cry every time.
Well, I guess that's all the time I have this week :) I love you so much! I'm so happy you are my family and we are so close. I LOVE your letters. Thank you so much for loving and supporting me like you do. You are all awesome! I pray for you every single night. Have a great week! I love you, I love you, I love you!
Love,
Shaylee K
Gwok
xoxoxo
7.15.2013
My Designer Rubber Shoes
To the best family and friends in the world,
How are you? Wow it sounds like Philmont was INCREDIBLE. I wish I could have been there! I TOLD YOU BEFORE I LEFT YOU COULDN'T DO ANYTHING COOL WITHOUT ME! ;) just kidding. I'm doing plenty of great things without you. Someday we'll have to experience them together! Even if it's just in heaven watching back on the big screen of our lives ;) I wrote a HUGE long list of stuff I wanted to tell you in my planner. So here goes:
I was reading this week in my personal study about the Gadianton robbers and that immediately made me think of us reading it together as a family. Remember the "secret signs and combinations" we gave to each other? Haha so funny. I will always remember that. {this keboard is awful by the way, we came to a different library and i don't like it} I have the best family ever! We make everything fun, even scripture study! :) I love you guys so, so, SO much. Seriously. Don't forget it!!
So here in Macau, they give you 30 days to be in the country, then you have to leave, then they give you 20, then you have to leave, then they give you 10. BUT sometimes, they make mistakes and give you extra days. Anyway so on Wednesday a few of us had to do our "u-turn." I also had to pick up my Hong Kong ID, so Sister Pearl, Sister Jamison, and I went to Hong Kong! It was fun, and also a good reminder that Macau is SO different. When I get transferred it's going to be crazy getting used to the difference! Anyway, we got my ID (I'm officially chinese now!) and then came back to Macau, where they stamped our passports. The moment of truth: how many days would we get? 20 as usual? Or 30? GUESS WHAT! We got 30!!! Which means the next time they stamp our passports, we'll get 20, then 10 after that! So we got extra days!! :) We still don't know for sure if Pres Hawks will take advantage of that and leave us here or not (moves are on August 8), but we hope so! Macau is like a wonderland! So many miracles here! It's amazing!!
Guys. Sister Lau and I have been SO incredibly blessed. You have no idea. Guess how many investigators we have. Good ones, too. Like they have potential! EIGHT! We started out with NONE! The Lord has given us the most prepared, wonderful, amazing, inspiring investigators. I seriously can't even believe it. Sister Lau keeps saying, "This never happens! I've never had so much success! This is crazy!" Oh my goodness this life is the best! I love missionary work!
On Monday, we had a birthday party for one of our investigators, OL. She is so awesome! She just turned 18. I love her so much. We took her a little cake we bought for SO cheap, and a card (thanks for sending me those cards, i'm using them up and loving them mom!) It was fun. We had a member YW named T come and help us. The lesson was so good and then we took a bunch of pictures! We also extended her a baptismal date and she accepted!September 15th! So happy! But then... the sad news... she didn't come to church on Sunday :( We confirmed her Saturday night and it seemed like everything was good! But then on Sunday she didn't answer any of our calls and texts. We still haven't heard from her. Breaks my heart. I hope everything is okay. She is so amazing. I want her to have the gospel so bad! I have been praying my heart out for her. I hope she doesn't give up!
I finally bought me some water shoes... SO UGLY BUT I AM IN LOVE. I need to take a picture of them. They're seriously gross. They're not crocs brand (I refuse, Dad. haha) nah, the crocs brand were just more expensive. But they are rubber and hideous. But SO fongbihn (convenient... haha my Chinglish comin' out!) It rains here all the time, and socks are such a maahfaahn (inconvenience). So. I now wear crocs. You can make fun of me if you want.
Also. Chinese people just give themselves English names, and whenever I ask someone's name they always give me their English name because they think I don't speak Chinese. (They're right! haha! But not for long!) So far, I have met a Monkey, Rabbit, and Fish. All girls. NO JOKE. I have to stop myself from laughing sometimes. We're also teaching someone named Angel. The other sisters have someone named Candy. So funny :)
Last night we met a guy named C who was from Romania. His accent sounded pretty Nacho Libre, though. I don't know... anyway, we were looking at a map because we were less active finding and were a little lost, and he came up and said, "Can I help you?" (say it like Nacho). He tried to help us but he couldn't read Chinese either so finally he gave up. He looked at me and said, "Can I be straight up with you? I only talk to you because I want practice my English." Haha so funny. Then he asked us if we could go out for drinks sometime. We shook our heads and he said, "Like a Coke?" hahaha. Sister Lau said, "Well, we missionaries share a really special message that we'd love to share with you. So if you want to buy us Cokes and bring them to our church and listen to our message, that would be great!" We ended up exchanging phone numbers and I'm still not sure if he just wants to drink Coke with us or actually hear our message. Either way. Hahaha.
LICE UPDATE. For all of you who care. (By the way, thank you so much for all of your support with my lice trial! It means so much that I have so many people thinking of/praying for me. I am so humbled by the many people that love me. I love you all, too :)) I still comb my hair out every night. I'm not pulling out live bugs anymore. So that's good!!! I'm still pulling out eggs though. But I feel like it's getting less and less! No one in my apartment has gotten it, either. What a blessing. Straight up miracle.
It seems like life is getting better and better. The times when Sister Lau and I get the giggles so bad it hurts and we can't get through hymns or prayers, when we sprint to make the bus, when we have amazing spiritual lessons when I cry, when we get a new investigator and we're so excited we jump up and down... all these things make the really difficult moments worth it. Because yes, this is difficult. But oh my goodness, it's the best thing I've ever done. Best decision I've EVER made. I don't want to waste one SECOND!
I love you so much. I tell Sister Lau every single day how much I love you. She says our family sounds so fun. We really have the best family EVER! Dad, thanks for being such a great dad. You are such a good example to me. Mom, every time I think about you it strengthens me. I'm so glad I served a mission so we can have one more connection, one more thing alike. I love you so much and I'm so glad we're best friends! I really can't tell you how much your emails and letters mean to me. You are such an amazing woman and mother. Thank you for everything you do and are doing for me. I LOVE you :) Whit Twit, I miss you like CRAZY. Holy cow. I love you so much. You are so amazing. I was reading your email thinking "okay my sister is so much stronger than i am." You are going to be such an awesome college student. I know you're going to LOVE it in Idyho. I love you. You are so strong!! You can do hard things! You already have! You amaze me. I love you i love you i love you! Parker, your pictures from Kenya are so stinkin cute! You are such a great example! I can't believe you did that. Went to Africa all by yourself and did such hard things! It's not easy being in a foreign country and serving people all the time, but isn't it soooooo worth it? That will be such good "practice" for your mission. I am so proud of you! I miss hearing from you but I hear you're WAY busy. Busy with good things :) I love you Park! Jaren Kincade, how are all your camps going? I think it's so cool that most of your summer will be those camps! You are having all sorts of good experiences that are so fun too. Wow. Lucky lucky duck. How is the rest of summer going? Have you had fires with your friends? Bike riding? Floating the canal? Fill me in okay? I love you SO MUCH!
Have the best week. Remember how much Heavenly Father has blessed us. Try to give back to Him by blessing others :) I love you! So much!
All my love from the other side of the world,
Shay Bay
Gwok
xoxoxoxoxox
How are you? Wow it sounds like Philmont was INCREDIBLE. I wish I could have been there! I TOLD YOU BEFORE I LEFT YOU COULDN'T DO ANYTHING COOL WITHOUT ME! ;) just kidding. I'm doing plenty of great things without you. Someday we'll have to experience them together! Even if it's just in heaven watching back on the big screen of our lives ;) I wrote a HUGE long list of stuff I wanted to tell you in my planner. So here goes:
I was reading this week in my personal study about the Gadianton robbers and that immediately made me think of us reading it together as a family. Remember the "secret signs and combinations" we gave to each other? Haha so funny. I will always remember that. {this keboard is awful by the way, we came to a different library and i don't like it} I have the best family ever! We make everything fun, even scripture study! :) I love you guys so, so, SO much. Seriously. Don't forget it!!
So here in Macau, they give you 30 days to be in the country, then you have to leave, then they give you 20, then you have to leave, then they give you 10. BUT sometimes, they make mistakes and give you extra days. Anyway so on Wednesday a few of us had to do our "u-turn." I also had to pick up my Hong Kong ID, so Sister Pearl, Sister Jamison, and I went to Hong Kong! It was fun, and also a good reminder that Macau is SO different. When I get transferred it's going to be crazy getting used to the difference! Anyway, we got my ID (I'm officially chinese now!) and then came back to Macau, where they stamped our passports. The moment of truth: how many days would we get? 20 as usual? Or 30? GUESS WHAT! We got 30!!! Which means the next time they stamp our passports, we'll get 20, then 10 after that! So we got extra days!! :) We still don't know for sure if Pres Hawks will take advantage of that and leave us here or not (moves are on August 8), but we hope so! Macau is like a wonderland! So many miracles here! It's amazing!!
Guys. Sister Lau and I have been SO incredibly blessed. You have no idea. Guess how many investigators we have. Good ones, too. Like they have potential! EIGHT! We started out with NONE! The Lord has given us the most prepared, wonderful, amazing, inspiring investigators. I seriously can't even believe it. Sister Lau keeps saying, "This never happens! I've never had so much success! This is crazy!" Oh my goodness this life is the best! I love missionary work!
On Monday, we had a birthday party for one of our investigators, OL. She is so awesome! She just turned 18. I love her so much. We took her a little cake we bought for SO cheap, and a card (thanks for sending me those cards, i'm using them up and loving them mom!) It was fun. We had a member YW named T come and help us. The lesson was so good and then we took a bunch of pictures! We also extended her a baptismal date and she accepted!September 15th! So happy! But then... the sad news... she didn't come to church on Sunday :( We confirmed her Saturday night and it seemed like everything was good! But then on Sunday she didn't answer any of our calls and texts. We still haven't heard from her. Breaks my heart. I hope everything is okay. She is so amazing. I want her to have the gospel so bad! I have been praying my heart out for her. I hope she doesn't give up!
I finally bought me some water shoes... SO UGLY BUT I AM IN LOVE. I need to take a picture of them. They're seriously gross. They're not crocs brand (I refuse, Dad. haha) nah, the crocs brand were just more expensive. But they are rubber and hideous. But SO fongbihn (convenient... haha my Chinglish comin' out!) It rains here all the time, and socks are such a maahfaahn (inconvenience). So. I now wear crocs. You can make fun of me if you want.
Also. Chinese people just give themselves English names, and whenever I ask someone's name they always give me their English name because they think I don't speak Chinese. (They're right! haha! But not for long!) So far, I have met a Monkey, Rabbit, and Fish. All girls. NO JOKE. I have to stop myself from laughing sometimes. We're also teaching someone named Angel. The other sisters have someone named Candy. So funny :)
Last night we met a guy named C who was from Romania. His accent sounded pretty Nacho Libre, though. I don't know... anyway, we were looking at a map because we were less active finding and were a little lost, and he came up and said, "Can I help you?" (say it like Nacho). He tried to help us but he couldn't read Chinese either so finally he gave up. He looked at me and said, "Can I be straight up with you? I only talk to you because I want practice my English." Haha so funny. Then he asked us if we could go out for drinks sometime. We shook our heads and he said, "Like a Coke?" hahaha. Sister Lau said, "Well, we missionaries share a really special message that we'd love to share with you. So if you want to buy us Cokes and bring them to our church and listen to our message, that would be great!" We ended up exchanging phone numbers and I'm still not sure if he just wants to drink Coke with us or actually hear our message. Either way. Hahaha.
LICE UPDATE. For all of you who care. (By the way, thank you so much for all of your support with my lice trial! It means so much that I have so many people thinking of/praying for me. I am so humbled by the many people that love me. I love you all, too :)) I still comb my hair out every night. I'm not pulling out live bugs anymore. So that's good!!! I'm still pulling out eggs though. But I feel like it's getting less and less! No one in my apartment has gotten it, either. What a blessing. Straight up miracle.
It seems like life is getting better and better. The times when Sister Lau and I get the giggles so bad it hurts and we can't get through hymns or prayers, when we sprint to make the bus, when we have amazing spiritual lessons when I cry, when we get a new investigator and we're so excited we jump up and down... all these things make the really difficult moments worth it. Because yes, this is difficult. But oh my goodness, it's the best thing I've ever done. Best decision I've EVER made. I don't want to waste one SECOND!
I love you so much. I tell Sister Lau every single day how much I love you. She says our family sounds so fun. We really have the best family EVER! Dad, thanks for being such a great dad. You are such a good example to me. Mom, every time I think about you it strengthens me. I'm so glad I served a mission so we can have one more connection, one more thing alike. I love you so much and I'm so glad we're best friends! I really can't tell you how much your emails and letters mean to me. You are such an amazing woman and mother. Thank you for everything you do and are doing for me. I LOVE you :) Whit Twit, I miss you like CRAZY. Holy cow. I love you so much. You are so amazing. I was reading your email thinking "okay my sister is so much stronger than i am." You are going to be such an awesome college student. I know you're going to LOVE it in Idyho. I love you. You are so strong!! You can do hard things! You already have! You amaze me. I love you i love you i love you! Parker, your pictures from Kenya are so stinkin cute! You are such a great example! I can't believe you did that. Went to Africa all by yourself and did such hard things! It's not easy being in a foreign country and serving people all the time, but isn't it soooooo worth it? That will be such good "practice" for your mission. I am so proud of you! I miss hearing from you but I hear you're WAY busy. Busy with good things :) I love you Park! Jaren Kincade, how are all your camps going? I think it's so cool that most of your summer will be those camps! You are having all sorts of good experiences that are so fun too. Wow. Lucky lucky duck. How is the rest of summer going? Have you had fires with your friends? Bike riding? Floating the canal? Fill me in okay? I love you SO MUCH!
Have the best week. Remember how much Heavenly Father has blessed us. Try to give back to Him by blessing others :) I love you! So much!
All my love from the other side of the world,
Shay Bay
Gwok
xoxoxoxoxox
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)