Have yourself a little Hong Kong Thanksgiving

Hi Family,

Thanksgiving was the same day as my hump day so it was fun. We ate lunch together as a zone and it was actually pretty impressive. Sister Cote and I made apple pie which was insanely hard because we are in china but we made it work. President and Sister Lam stopped by and played games with us and it was a good time.   But the best part of the week was that after seven months I think we found a good investigator!( Loud cheering and celebration here please) She's so cute. Her name is Carrie and we met her at McDonalds last week and she came up to me and talked for a little bit then I gave her a flier and she gave me her number. I'm pretty sure she thinks my first name is Terry (along with the rest of China) because she texts us "hi Terry this is Carrie" hahaha people are way to freaked out that we go by Sister. So I called her the other day and we scheduled her and then when we met with her on Saturday she had looked on our website and learned all about Joseph Smith. She even came across some anti but told us that she didn't think that stuff was true. She said that it makes sense and she thinks it's true. She told us we could see her again next week. And she even lives in our area! I'm super excited. Anyways, it was a good week. I will continue to pray for Paul's basketball. Its clearly a priority for me.
Also Elder Kim made korean noodles for his thanksgiving dinner dish because he hates american food but actually they just tasted like spicy ketchup spaghetti did you ever eat that in Korea?

This week we had interviews with the Sister Training Leaders which is weird because she STLs are my comp and Sister Adams who I literally sleep three inches away from so I don't know why we still have to have interviews. But in our interview she asked me how I have been able to stay positive in seven months without investigators who were ours. I was kind of taken back by that question. But my heart is so full of gratitude for the mission I've had. It's been the hardest thing of my life but it has been the very best thing of my life too. There's a quote in this book President lam gave us I think it's by Boyd K Packer and in it he says "your mission is the time of great healing" I have felt that. I thought when I first came out that I was doing this for other people but I have learned that I did it for myself. God has taught me so much and given me more than I ever thought I deserved. I'm so grateful for you and your example and your love and everything you are to me.

Love you thanks for emailing me!

Flying Bananas

 Just so you know, they put fishballs in the pizza crust.  This is not acceptable.

Hello amazing Family!  Big changes have happened this week......
So my area is still..my area. It struggles. We literally had a banana thrown at us from the top floor of a building the other day. It was actually pretty funny but only because they missed.  In Sister Cotes last area they were humble and very receptive to being taught.  This surprised me as this is the only area I know.  Ive thought about this alot.  I told her that I feel like a people who are willing to throw bananas at us are more gutsy and far more humorous than the humble receptive crowd.  We both laughed alot over the thought but Im sticking with it.  Bring me the courageous funny banana throwers and lets really talk about whats important.   I am praying so much that Sister Cote and I can find a new investigator. In our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader he asked how much time we spent teaching this week and when I told him an hour he just looked at me with his mouth open wide and said "that's the most sad" hahah I died. Yip, we hear you brother, it is the most sad, but welcome to our world of being female in Hong Kong and pleading with people to listen to you.  It was pretty much the most embarrassing thing of my life. Okay not quite, as you well know I have alot more embarrassing,  but almost. My new companion is awesome. We discovered last night that we watch all the same tv shows and had a trip down the memory lane. It feels like a planet ago.  She feels very much like a sister and I feel thankful God sent such a fun loving soul to me at this time when we need a fresh kick start in this stagnant area.  We have laughed alot. The laughing heals me head to toe from exhaustion.
  We met this 11 year old kid named Peter last week who got obsessed with us when we met him on the street cause we're american. He started singing all these songs and asking us if we knew what all these American things were and wouldn't even let us get a word in. Then we gave him a flier which means he has our number and yeah he's called us, not an exaggeration, probably 300 times since we met him. Hahah I die. He's so cute. We usually don't answer and Sister Ng said we should block him but I told her God loves all his children and that convinced her to keep him. Last night Sister Cote had her first conversation with him and it was the funniest thing of my life.  How can you not love this kid?  What if he is my only investigator?  Oh please, God moves in a mysterious way.  Im not kidding I really do feel a pull to this sweet hilarious kid like dont push him away. Anyways. Im doing good family.  God is strengthening me from the inside out.  Just like you always say, the situation doesnt change, but you change and grow and it looks so much brighter and hopeful with time.  Im so thankful for this precious new companion.  She was made for me right now.  We are going to laugh and try and work and notice how bright the sun is every day.  Have a great week family

This is for those who arent listening

Hi my cute family, Happy Halloween!! I opened my mission call one year ago today. It honestly feels like last month, time has been crazy. I remember being so excited when Dad called me and told me that the mail came. On the drive over to the house we talked about where I could go and what I was expecting. He told me in the car ride of the hopes he had for me through my mission and it makes me smile now to think about how I have been able to experience so many of those things. I often go back to this car ride with dad and remember how loved and safe I felt.  It has been a saving grace for me on my mission when I feel lonely.  Thanks Dad. 

This week has been a special one for me. Honestly, it's been a hard six months. Sister Ng and I have been working hard. We have goals every day of talking to as many people as possible, but despite our goals and even our success in achieving them we haven't been able to have any investigators. It's heartbreaking to see so many people get sooo close to having the gospel and then choosing to reject it. 

This week especially I have been feeling heart broken for my Hong Kong. They are so good. They make me laugh everyday.  As Sister Ng and I were walking the stairs down to the subway the other day I had an overwhelming feeling of love and concern for these people. We were up at the top so I could see all of these people in the station. It sounds strange but I felt literally called to them.  There were so many people. And I just wanted to run to every single one of them. The hardest thing is that they reject the message we try to share with them. We talk to so many of them but nothing seems to come out of it. It makes me sad, they deserve so much more. They are so good. 

I have been praying more earnestly than I ever have on the behalf of other people. I have been asking Heavenly Father to please give them more. Let them have light. Let them find a way to be able to accept it. As I plead with Him I realize that He wants the same thing. He and I currently have the same will, which is amazing to me.  That is why He is helping us do what we do, because so much more than my surface level love for them is His deep and abiding love for them. In general conference this past month Elder Nattress told a story about how his Mom would read him the Book of Mormon and he thought it was a waste because he wasn't listening. He then said that this gospel is for the boy who isn't listening. I testify of the truth of that.  This is unconditional love. He amazes me day by day. 

I hope you know (and of course you do and why am I even saying this but I'm a missionary just let me do my thing) that He loves you the same way. I hope you know my good Dad, and my sweet Mom, and my beautiful sister, and my sweet, precious brothers that you are loved beyond any measurement we are capable of comprehending. I sure love you too. You are loved, you are loved so much more than you could ever know.

Show me how to struggle gracefully

Hello sweet family,

Some weeks are just a little better than others.  This was not one of those weeks.
There's a song by Sleeping at Last called Son that I love. The words to that song have been playing over in my head all week. At one part it says "show me how struggle gracefully".  Also because this week has been kind of a difficult one those words have meant even more to me. I hear the words in my head and I feel like they were written for the situation I'm in write know. There is beauty in the midst of all of this hardness. Mom will put the words to that song on my blog and also listen to it for me.  Thank you.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlDejzC3Tr4)

show me who i am and who i could be.
initiate the heart within me
until it opens properly.

slow down, start again from the beginning.
i can’t keep my head from spinning out of control.
is this what being vulnerable feels like?

i swear i'll try, try, try to breathe
’til it turns to muscle memory.
i'm only steady on my knees;
one day i'll stand up on my own two feet.

i’ll run the risk 
of being intimate with brokenness.
through this magnifying glass,
i see a thousand finger prints
on the surfaces of who i am.

show me where to find the silver lining
as the mercury keeps rising,
’til the glass or my fever breaks.

show me how to struggle gracefully.
let the scaffolding inside of me be strong enough
to hold this tired body up once more.

and i will try, try, try to breathe
’til it turns to muscle memory.
i feel the pressure in my blood
building up and liberating me.
so i will try, try, try to breathe
’til it turns to muscle memory.
i'm only steady on my knees.
but one day, i'll stand on my own two feet.

i'll run the risk 
of being intimate with brokenness.
through this magnifying glass,
i see a thousand finger prints

that ran the risk
of being intimate with my brokenness.
i was given a gift of hope 
in a thousand finger prints
on the surface of who i am.


The work is slow right now it hurts me because we are trying so hard.  Literally morning till night.  Sometimes when we talk to people they say "Oh, are you guys mormongau?" mormongaau is a terrible translation the church used to use and it almost sounds like "devil's gate church" and so people have some pretty messed up ideas of us. It's pretty awkward to say uhh yeah thats us...but we're not evil? "  Once I said Do these faces look evil to you? and the man refused to answer.  You gotta have a pretty strong sense of self here.  

This is our friend Pheonix and her son. Pheonix is a former investigator. The Chans are the senior missionaries who found her. Because they are leaving at the end of this month they took us all out to dinner together and Brother Chan drew these cool pictures of the temple for us. 

ll my whole life you always talked so much about Grace. Grace, grace, grace, haha you and Dad said that word more than anyone on the planet I think. :) And on Wednesday somehow your prayers managed to once again send me grace, and this time a real life Grace. The other week I was on exchanges with Sister Hansen finding in our area. We this adorable girl whose name is...Grace! We spoke with her in English because she is from Mainland China so her main language is mandarine. Her cantonese is good but she likes English best. We invited her to come to English class and that night she sent us a text thanking us for inviting her and that she would be there. So last week she came to English class and afterwards met with the mandarine speaking sisters for a lesson. Then earlier last week she sent Sister Ng and I a text that said she would prefer to meet with missionaries who speak cantonese and english and not mandarin. Sister Ng and I just looked at each other in silence because on one hand we felt so happy and hopeful that Grace wanted to meet with us (and when you have no investigators that's quite a beautiful thing) and that maybe we could teach her. We ended up talking with President and deciding that it would be the best thing for Grace to hear the missionary lessons in her native language, mandarin, but that if she wanted to meet with us sometimes to practice English that it would be okay. That was tough. But anyways we ended up meeting with Grace on Wednesday (Mom's favorite Day of Atonement :)). During that lesson we talked to Grace about Jesus and discovered that she has the purest heart I've ever met. She has such a strong desire to learn about Christ. At the end of the little lesson we invited Grace to say her first prayer. She looked a little nervous and asked us "so will I see him or will I just feel him in my heart?" It was the sweetest thing. We told her that she would just feel him in her heart and she quickly nodded and said "oh, okay." Then she said her prayer. Oh Mom, it was the sweetest prayer in the whole world. I swear more precious words have never been said. She closed her eyes and said, "Dear Heavenly Father. I'm Grace. I am very homesick right now. I feel lonely. I want to feel you. Please come to me. Amen." When the three of us opened our eyes we all had tears and I wanted to hug Grace for eight years. Then on Friday she came again to English class and asked if we could meet again on Saturday with her to review what she had been taught that day in mandain in English. When we saw her on Saturday she was practically skipping. She told us that she was having the "happiest day since coming to Hong Kong." When we asked her why she replied that she had prayed the night before to ask Heavenly Father to help her and immediately after she was filled with joy and peace. She is such a beautiful girl. She's here in Hong Kong going to college. I can't even describe how angelic she is. It makes me so happy that she has been able to feel how Heavenly Father really will come to her. He won't leave her alone. I wish that we could be Grace's missionaries. It's pretty sad for Sister Ng and I that we can't be the ones to teach her. Really heart breaking if we're being honest. But I feel so very blessed to get to know her and see her sweet spirit grow.

Thank you for your love and prayers.  I feel them every day.  Please pray for my Hong Kong to feel a tug for the need of Jesus in their lives. 

A Childs Prayer

FAMILY 

This week was our ward Chinese barbeque! We were so excited because we had a couple of investigators who said they would come, but the night before it rained super bad so they almost had to cancel it. But by some miracle it was sunny enough that we were able to go and Sister Jung and Bak Pohpo came! It was a super fun activity! While we were there I was talking to two little girls in our ward Gigi and Ji Ching.  They are both eight years old and adorable. Gigi isn't actually a member because her parents don't want her to get baptized, but she comes to church every week with Ji Ching's family. We were playing and talking together when it started to rain. They got pretty worried and asked me what we should do. So almost jokingly I said "pray", because I'm a missionary and that's what we do and also I was implying that they pray on their own. But they just looked right at me and said "Ok" and then Gigi says, "I'll say it." They then bowed their heads and Gigi said a prayer for us, right there in the middle of the park. It was such a sweet prayer. She thanked Heavenly Father for our activity and asked Him to bless the sky not to rain. After we said amuhn and looked up there was a woman standing right by the table we were sitting at, looking at us. So I walked up to her and asked her if we could help her. She asked me if we had just been praying. I told her yes and then she started telling me about how she was also a Christian and how prayer was so powerful. I ended up being able to talk to her about the Restoration and Joseph Smith's prayer. She walked away afterwards without saying much, but I thought to myself how amazing it was that the example of two little eight year olds gave a lady the oppurtunity to learn about the gospel. Prayer really is so powerful. I'm grateful that these little girls reminded me of that this week. 

So keep on praying for Hong Kong and I will keep on praying for you okay? Love you all so very, very much. xoxo <3 

Oh my beautiful Hong Kong

 This is the amazing beloved Ms. Chou.  She is showing us how you summon the wind.  Im not sure how this could ever be useful in your life, but she is showing us the dance move and flower pose you need to do to call upon wind.  Good ol' Ms. Chou.

 These are moon cakes.  Do not let the delicious sounding word confuse you.  There is nothing cake about it.  Its like flavorless peanut butter with an egg yolk in the middle.  I dare you to eat one and not gag. I don't understand why nobody here wants to eat real cake. They're so crazy. And skinny. Oh yeah, maybe that's how they do it...

 Oh by Beautiful Hong Kong.  I love it here.  It is one of the most beautiful places you could dream of.  It really is feeling like my home.

Hong Kong really is so pretty. I absolutely love it. Something I've yet to get a picture of is the MTR bridge on Sundays. Sunday is most people's day off. There are a ton of foreigners that come here to be maids for rich Hong Kong people. Mostly they are from the Philippines, Indonesia, and sometimes India. Since Sunday is their day off they all go and sit on the bridge. They line their blankets on the sides and take off their shoes and sit there eating food and partying and it's the craziest scene I've ever seen! So much fun. Especially because the foreigners are actually kind to us. 
 There's a little boy named Don in church who I've been trying to win over for the past five months and yesterday I think I finally did it. He came up to me before sacrament and just kind of stood there waiting for me to talk to him so I asked him if he was excited for the primary program (which was the most precious thing in the world. I died. So much) and he said yes and gave me a high five. Haha. Chinese people aren't extremely friendly so this was quite the triumph. 
Also he had a singing solo in the program that was the most incredible thing on Earth. So cute. 

 We saw Brother Chou again this week. He's still as adorable as always. Still has questions about Jesus being an alien and about smoking a thousand packs of cigarettes a day. But he is very precious. I have alot of hope and good feelings when we teach him.

 Actually Sister Jung is becoming more willing to schedule us more. She actually told us that she believes our church and the Book of Mormon is true and also believes Joseph Smith is a servant of God, but not a prophet. We're hopefully seeing her next week.

On the bright side while finding this week Sister Ng and I met this sweet old lady and she ended up coming to English class and church! She hit it off so well with one of our members Sister Yip. She is like eighty years old but plays the piano amazing and after church showed us all. She was loving the spotlight. It was adorable. However we have to turn her over most likely because she's from Indonisia but her mandarin is better than her cantonese and we're supposed to give mandarine speakers to the madnarin missionaries. That's pretty sad. Also because we found another cute new girl who also met with us at the church but she lives outside our area so we have to turn her over too. And Sister Yip introduced us to her friend who wants to take missionary lessons but she also needs to be turned over to mandarin missionaries. We are very good at finding people we can't teach. Oh well. More blessings.

I am happy family.  I am starting to love the missionary life and work and feel what I am doing is meaningful if for no one else for me.  I realize how much I love you the longer I am away.  I just have one last request. i read Genesis chatper 9 today the last verses and it is some crazy stuff! It's about Noah cursing his son and I can't use google but could you maybe look it up for me and see if there's some symbolism there or why it's included in the Bible and send that to me next week?   That would be great.  I love you guys soooooo much!

its worth 1000 words

Hello family,
Im doing my letter a little different this time.  Im sending home a bunch of pictures to show you what my life is like.

 We spend alot of time riding this and trying to strike up conversation with people.  I love the purple seats.

 This picture is so you can see the cool boats behind me.  There are alot of little docks like this around

 Some of the beautiful area we cover  Honestly the water here is quite beautiful.

 So many of the building are just breathtaking.  They are exactly what you would picture in your head Hong Kong China would look like

 I love this little spot.  Its beautiful to me.

 So we pass this guy alot.  His music is amazing.  He looks like the most relaxed peaceful person Ive ever seen.  Sometimes I wish I had his life.

 Yes.  Exactly.  We spent a long time gut laughing about this burger.  Its mine of course.  And yes I ate it.  And no you cant see that picture.  Its private.

 This is because i wanted to impress you with how clean everything is here.  Its not normally empty but it is always sparkling clean.

 My precious friend.  She is about my favorite person ever.

 Ok so this is my new favorite Jesus picture.  This picture speaks to my heart more than any other I have ever seen.  I love these precious Chinese children.  They are truly gods children.

 More beautiful scenes

 from our walks and walks and walks.  Pioneer children might be jealous of us.

 So this might seem comical but I know little points of interest are sometimes interesting.  Our tiny little apartment is small and clean and cozy.  Isnt this the cheeriest shower youve ever seen?

 I included this because we sortof live and die by this map

 View from our window

 My darling Sister Viazzo and I

 This is where we eat

 and cook

 Mom thanks for teaching me cream of mushroom with anything goes over rice.  This is my new favorite over plain rice.  We love it!

 Another apartment view

 On a visit with our friends

 Where we sleep.  It really is homey despite the small size

living space

 Sometimes if there is nowhere to sit you just sit wherever and eat as fast as you can.  This is me having a quick snack in my normal chinese stance.

So I will end with this picture of Mr. Chou.  He is the reason I am actually here.  Not the cool scenery or cool food or fun living conditions.  It is for sweet souls like our beloved Mr. Chou.  So he is our first real investigator.  I cannot tell you what this has done for Sister Ngs and my spirits.  He asked us at first if God was an alien.  I thought to myself oh no we have a crazy person here.  But I looked at him and he was troubled and sincere.  He wasnt trying to be dumb.  He just was trying to wrap his head around the concept of God and what it could mean to him.  As we talk to him, I honestly feel the sweet promptings of the spirit saying these are the reason missionaries come.  We treat him good and he eats it up. He also wears the same purple tank top every time I see him which makes me laugh.9 Im pretty sure it says he believes in telekenisis. Someone please google. )   Sometimes at church he tries to escape because church is boring for him, but we are aiming to touch his heart.  I know God is real.  I dont know if the Jesus picture with the Chinese children effects you the way it effects me but it chokes me up with gratitude to be here whenever I look at it.  Ive come a long ways in my heart since I arrived off the plane as a scared Utah girl.  I feel bold and confident and ready to help.  I just want to help people.  I dont want to bother or give unwanted messages.  I pray we can find the people our message will help.  I think we will.  I feel as hopeful and happy as I ever have.  Find someone to help family.  Make it a great week.  I love you.