Monday, March 4, 2013

I was soooooooo sooooooooooo soooooooooooooo happy!!!!!!! Really really happy!!!

Kasey is coming home on Friday!!!
You are invited to an Open House to welcome her home!
Sunday, March 10 - 1:00pm-4:00 p.m. at our house.
Send me an email (knelsonb@sbcglobal.net) and I can give you further details.

Hi Everyone!

Ai!  Time is flying so fast!  It's so surreal.  Yesterday, during sacrament meeting, the Bishop announced that I would be sharing a testimony because I would leave this week.  We came in right before the meeting started because we were waiting for someone at the train station, so the Bishop had not had a chance to tell me that I was speaking.  I leaned forward to the sisters in front of me to clarify what he said, and when I would be speaking and they sweetly informed me that this was my last Sunday and that I would need to share a testimony.  I'm glad that they reminded me of that.  

Soooooooooo many good things happened yesterday.  First of all, we had a family come to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of our investigators came with her husband and son!!!!! She did not seem very convinced after our lesson on Saturday, but her friend who is also a member of the church spent a lot of time talking to her and she came!!! They all seemed to have a good time!!!!  

The My Conversion fireside was last night.  This fireside happens at the end of every transfer.  The missionaries who are finishing their missions can invite a convert to come and share their testimony.  AM came and spoke and she did a great job!  I could tell she was nervous and she kept asking me what she should say.  But, when she sat down she said, "I could feel the Holy Ghost so I knew whatever I said was good."  Wow!!! It was also really sweet to see her sit with her daughter during the hymns and point to the word in the hymn book so her daughter could follow along.  I remember you used to do that for us mom.  

Also, E. was able to come!!! When I called her this week she said she had to work, but somehow she made it!!!!!  I was soooooooo sooooooooooo soooooooooooooo happy!!!!!!! Really really happy!!! She looks great and happy!!! 

There is this sweet girl named M., she and her Aunt were baptized about a year ago.  We go over to their house to help them with English and to teach some of her Aunt's friends.  We spend about 4 hours at their house each week, but we're busy the whole time with lessons, lunch and English help.  It's a lot of fun.  They took us for ice cream after we visited on Saturday and the whole way there, Mandy just held my hand.  She came up and hugged me several times yesterday and told me how sad she was that I was leaving.  She is adorable, and I'm glad she warmed up to me!!!

On the escalator down to the MTR, I heard a voice say, "Leung Ji Muih!!!!"  I looked and saw a sister from TKO riding up on the escalator.  She is back from Mainland for 2 weeks and heard that I was finishing my mission and that the fireside was tonight.  Even though she was late, she came to see me.  We're supposed to meet with her for dinner this week.  I went finding with her one of my first moves in Hong Kong and we could hardly communicate; now we can!  It was such a blessing to see her.

Last week, I was worried about not giving enough my last week.  Of course my mission hasn't been perfect, because I'm not perfect, and sometimes it's hard to admit that.  However, as I was going to sleep last night I just felt soooooooooooooooooooo happy and content.  I really feel good about my mission and I'm excited to take what I've learned and use it for the rest of my life.  I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of each of His Children and that I needed to come here to the China Hong Kong mission.  Probably, not so much that I could help these people, but so that they could help me.  It is not us missionaries who do the converting, but it is Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost.  I have been so blessed to be a part of that process.  

I love you all so much and can't wait to see you on FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Kasey

Monday, February 25, 2013

I can't believe how fast time is going!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone!

I can't believe how fast time is going!!!!!!! Friday we were at Kowloon Tong for a mission conference and Sister C., (the mission secretary) handed me a big white envelope with my flight plans and schedule for the last week. It did not really hit until then, and it still has not hit quite yet, I just have more to do now!

The thing I love about this area is that I get to see people from my old areas all the time!! Sha Tin, Tai Wai and Ma On Shan are the 3 wards in the south part of the stake. For some reason, these three wards also have a large part of the stake leaders in them including, all of the stake presidency, the area 70, former mission president, Young Women's Stake president, a sister in the stake primary presidency and several high counselors. Since traveling from one end of our stake to the other by public transportation takes less than an hour, people are always visiting our ward for one thing or another. 

There was an Asia Area Mission Presidents conference in Hong Kong this week. Elder Evans the head of the missionary department came. We had a mission conference on Friday and he spoke. It was so neat. He talked a lot about the temple, the Book of Mormon and the Atonement. Something really interesting that he pointed out is that the Book of Mormon is to be read from the beginning. Often we will have investigators jump around to different chapters, but by doing that they miss the full effect that it can have. If they are going to find out that it's true, they need to learn the same way we did, from the beginning. Isn't it interesting that the first things recorded in the Book of Mormon are about a family. And an imperfect family at that. They had their challenges as well, but the gospel helped them know how to face those challenges. He pointed out that the Book of Mormon is a pattern of people's experiences and sections on the atonement. He talked a lot about the atonement and how we need to make it a part of our lives. I realized that I need to be applying the atonement in my life more deeply and sincerely. I've been trying harder to pray and repent more sincerely, and it's working! I realized after the conference that being a repent person is the only way to really have satisfaction with my mission or even my life. I think a lot of the time I expect myself to be perfect and sometimes I'm even afraid to repent each night because that means I need to think about all the ways I was not perfect that day and then admit they are wrong. That's uncomfortable!!! However, I'm realizing that as I do that, I'm becoming more confident and satisfied with myself and my mission. It's not fake, not just being satisfied with everything except the things I don't want to think about. I can be satisfied with everything. I'm just amazed at how much I've learned about the Atonement and Jesus Christ on my mission, but I'm still learning more!

We met a girl the other day. She was sitting on a bench reading when I went up to her. She said she did not have any interest, but Sister Clements did a wonderful job of talking about our purpose in life and how we can have true happiness. At the end, she allowed us to pray with her. When we opened are eyes, I saw that there was water on her glasses, I seriously looked up at the sky trying to figure out how it could have rained that hard that fast and me not have gotten wet!!!! Then I realized she was crying! There are so many people who just need love, they come across mean and cold, not because they are, but because they really don't feel like they are cared about. And I get to tell people everyday that they are cared about by AT LEAST 4 people, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and Sister Nelson and Sister Clements!

I called Y., a young woman that I met earlier in my mission yesterday and she doesn't have to go to school next Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Between normal p-day stuff, my exit interview and packing (yuck!!!), we get to spend the day with her!! I'm so excited!!!! I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week!!!!!

Love,
Kasey

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

Kasey is coming home on March 8!!!
You are invited to an Open House to welcome her home! 
Sunday, March 10 - 1:00pm-4:00 p.m. at our house. 
Send me an email (knelsonb@sbcglobal.net) and I can give you further details.
We went hiking for P-day and I made a big deal about NOT wanting to eat oreos so I walked in and found them on my desk, too bad it was weekly planning and I was hungry. . . 
Hi Mom, Dad, Kelli, Nathanael and Savanna!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! I love you all so much!!!!

Well, they moved me out of Macau last Saturday, and if you want to see my apartment just look at the pictures I sent you last April. If you want to see my companion look at the pictures I sent you in November!!!! I'm back in Tolo Harbor!!! This time in the Tai Wo ward with Sister Clements again!!! I couldn't be happier!!! I'm also glad that my new area is at least somewhat familiar because it's so close to Sha Tin/Tai Wai where I spent so much of my mission!!!!

E. in Macau got baptized on Sunday!!! I got to talk to Sister Jamison about it and she said it went so well!!! It was the perfect timing! I love E. so much, she had a lot of obstacles on the way to being baptized. She was ready a long time ago, but for one reason and another things got delayed. I have no doubt that she was supposed to be baptized last Sunday, it was incredible to see how much she grew in those few weeks. I knew she was ready to be baptized and I know she will be solid throughout her life.

Ok your questions first:
1 - Have you been able to run lately?
Almost everyday!!!!
2 - If the guards don't let you back into Macau, can you at least get your stuff? How does that work?
Well, President Hawks likes to avoid missionaries going to Jail.. . so he just moved me out before the Chinese New Year so that I wouldn't have to fight crowds on the day my visa expired.
3 - Are you learning how to speak Tagalog from the Filipino sisters in your branch?
A little, but I accidently left my Tagalog notebook in Macau!!! I remember Hello and Thank You and really that's all I needed, my brain couldn't handle that and Chinese.
4 - What is a bogou? Does it mean letter/email?
Yes, it's our weekly report to president Hawks.
5 - Do the sisters in the boarding house have husbands and children with them or in the Philippines or are they single sisters?
Some do, but usually their families are still in the Philippines.
6 - Since you are in Macau, how do you think that the New Year celebrations will affect your work?
I thought they would because a lot of the Philipinas would have holiday that day.

Wow, so because I'm back in the same apartment I can constantly pick Sister Nielsen's brain about how Tai wai is doing and there are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many miracles happening there!!! I'm so happy!!! Remember those 2 girls from mainland that Sister Lin and I taught? They came down again and got baptized!! V. is going to BYU Hawaii, there is a lady that we met on the Bus shortly before I left who is now taking the lessons, one of the less-active members that we had started working with is coming to church each Sunday, Brother L. who Sister Lin contacted while we were together is still meeting with the Elders and coming to Church regularly. There is boy that remembers meeting me and Sister Lin and he is now meeting the sisters, a 12 year old girl we started teaching has been baptized and is doing great. And sooo many other great things happening with the Elders' investigators too. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Those moves were sometimes hard, and I remember we did not have any investigators for a long time. I remember one time getting frustrated and saying to someone, "our area is doing terrible!" but immediately after feeling so silly because I had a feeling come to me that this is the Lord's work and only He knows what needs to happen and when. I felt that during finding and other times too. Even after several hours of what sometimes felt like wondering around because no one would stop and listen to us while we were finding, I still felt like something good was going to happen, and it did!! Eventually, even though it came differently than I expected. Every one of those hours was worth it. I've been studying and thinking a lot about faith lately and I'm still trying to figure out how to apply it in my life, but I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for giving me a little faith to work with throughout my mission so I can learn how it works and see the blessing of it. I still have a lot to learn, but I've learned a lot as well. Heavenly Father is so amazing and he knows exactly what we need, when we need it. He knows the person we have the potential to become and he will help us to do that if we will humble ourselves to let Him change us. It hurts sometimes but if it didn't, then we would not grow. Heavenly Father lives and He loves us and he gave us Jesus Christ because he loves us. The Atonement was not easy, but He did it because He loves us and He wants every single one of us to be able to come unto Heavenly Father again and through Him he can. Better yet, I get to tell people about this EVERYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life doesn't get much better than this!!!


Ah!! Time's almost up!! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

 
Kasey

Monday, February 4, 2013

Another miracle

Kasey is coming home on March 8!!!
You are invited to an Open House to welcome her home! 
Sunday, March 10 1:00pm-4:00 p.m at our house. 
Send me an email (knelsonb@sbcglobal.net) and I can give you further details.

Hi Mom, Dad, Kelli, Nathanael and Savanna!

Wow! The music fest! I haven't thought about that in a while! Is it still on Super Bowl Sunday? Is Savanna Still in Cadet band or Varsity? I can't remember? How fun! I'm glad the Bathroom is going well. I thought of it today while I was cleaning the bathroom. Most bathrooms here are tile on the floors and at least part of the walls, there is a drain in the floor and about a 1/2 inch or so piece of tile separating the bathroom from the rest of the house. The showers all have the head on the end of a hose and they clean by spraying water on everything. The lip keeps the flood in the bathroom and the drain takes it all away. I was slaving away on my hands and knees and kept finding dust bunnies and hair, then I decided to do it the native way and it worked so much better. If you're putting tile on the walls anyway, you should make it Asian and add a raised doorway too!! It's not uncommon here to walk in to use the bathroom and it's all wet. Sometimes the shower, sink and toilet are all in the same room to save space. The bathroom IS the shower, so EVERYTHING gets wet. They do it in kitchens too sometimes. That was a shock to me during deep cleaning last year, but will make it so much easier this year.

E is getting baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been praying that she could have her interview yesterday because I didn't want her to wait any longer and I really, really, really, REALLY want to be here when she gets baptized!!! E. is amazing! She told us this week that she has been having some trials, but she knows it's God's way of strengthening her faith, kind of like, "Do you believe me now? ... What about now?" I love her so much! It's been amazing to see her grow over the past month!

Another miracle. There is a woman named V. that we found when I was still with Sister Hintze and Sister Clements. We called her one Sunday morning and invited her to church and she came! Well, we've kept some contact, but she has not had a holiday for 2 months!! We ran into her miraculously on Christmas, and called her a bit afterward. I'm not sure what happened, if she stopped answering her phone for a while or what, but we haven't called her since the beginning of January and I had honestly forgotten about her. Yesterday, she walked in during Relief Society and I was like, "Huh, she looks familiar, who is she?" Then Sister F., one of the Sisters in our branch shared about how excited she was to see one of her friends come to church because she had met the missionaries. In my head I was like, "Oh yea V., I remember that was such a cool miracle." Then it clicked! Sister F. was currently sitting next to V. at church!!!!!!! Ah!!!! Well, she has Thursdays off and we are going to see her this week!

We are teaching a lady named T. right now. She is from Mongolia, but her husband is Portuguese and works here. She met the missionaries and went to church a long time ago, but has forgotten most of what she learned. We finally were able to meet with her this week. She is soooooooo ready to learn!!! I'm so excited to teach her!!!! We will probably be able to meet with her everyday or almost everyday. Sister K. is visiting with us. She is so perfect for her!! What an experience for the K. family!! They are from Utah, but Brother K. is working on a project at one of the casinos here. They have 4 little kids and they're all here! They are the blondest family I've seen but they are here in China having the most cultured experience ever!!! It's so cool! The Philipina sisters love their little kids, especially the youngest boy and they sometimes eat it up and sometimes tolerate it well. It's so fun to watch them here.

Tonight we get to go to Mama Beth's house for FHE! I'm so excited!!! I'm glad we changed our plan to go eat buffet today. That would have been hou sanfu!! (san fu is like terrible miserable, suffering hahaha)

I love you all so much and hope you have a good week!! FYI Chinese New Year is next week, so I might not be able to E-mail until Wednesday or Thursday.

Love,
Kasey



Monday, January 28, 2013

"You can't be here that long!!!!"

A man was walking his turtle in
Top Seoc the other day!!!
Sister Jamison and Me
More from that cool park across from the church
Hi Everyone!

We were able to go to the temple on Wednesday. We got sat down and there were several people there for the first time!!! 2 of which were 2 Sisters that Sister Far helped baptized!!!! How exciting!!! The daughter is getting married next month so she and her mom went through together. The other is a girl who is coming on her mission to HK!!!

Getting our visa stamped was fun. As we were leaving Macau, the guard flipped through my passport, flipped through again, looked at my picture, looked at me, flipped through and looked at the guard next to her who was doing the same thing to Sister Cook. Finally her guard said, "Bei Keuih jauh!" (Let them leave.) Then Sister Cook said, (with a smile) "You definitely have to let us out." I'm glad they did, I wouldn't want to be stuck in jail on my way to the temple. On the way back in, I got similar looks from the guard. He stamped my passport and then asked if I could understand Chinese. I said yes and he told me that I had 20 days, but this was the last time. I couldn't come back. Sister Cook was still at the desk, but I was able to tell her I got 20 more days before they ushered us out the door. They took her aside and questioned her and said, "You can't be here that long!!!!" (Even though they told us we could!! hahaha) She said, "Well, my friend has been here that long, and you let her through!!" They couldn't believe I had gotten through!!! hahahaha She ended up with the same number of days that I got. So we have to be out by the 12th, but unfortunately we have zone conference in HK next week, so they will probably take us out then.

My new companion is Sister Jamison!!! She is from Idaho and super sweet!! We have been having a lot of fun together!!!

This week E. brought 5 friends to meet with us!!! They are all soooo sweet!!! They were all Philipina too, which is uncommon because the language barrier often makes it so Indonesians and Philipinas aren't usually good friends. One of them said, she is "Philipina at heart" It is so cool to see her interact with people. She gets along with everyone and it doesn't matter that she can't speak their language!! Her boarding house situation has turned around completely. Instead of being lonely and hurt all the time, she has several friends in the boarding house and they are nice to her. It really shows the power of priesthood blessings and fasting.

Ai! Why can't I remember what happens when I get to e-mail time?


The missionaries were in charge of preparing food for FHE on Saturday. We made a fruit salad, and Jello. The Elders did peanut butter sandwiches (classic Philipina snack) and the Wellings made soup and crackers. (It was paid for by the ward, we just had to do the foot work) It was yummy! One of the brothers kept commenting, "This is so healthy" "It's all healthy stuff!" "Not like the stuff we normally have." Just goes to prove, it's sometimes ok not to deep-fry everything!

Well, I have a few more minutes, and I'm not sure what else to write, so I will share a scripture that Elder Welling shared with us last week 1 Nephi 18:1-3 replacing the word "boat with the words "my life" sometimes we need to build our lives not "after the manner of man" but if we do that, then we will be blessed!"
1 Nephi 18:1-3

1 And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship.
2 Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.
3 And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.

Ok I think that's all for this week! I'll work on pictures and add things if I think of them!!! I love you!!!

Love,

Kasey

Monday, January 21, 2013

It has been an awesome week!!!

We went to visit an old lighthouse that we can see from our house. It is still in use today.

Mainland in the distance
 

This is one of the main streets that they blocked off and used for the grand prix in November. You can see that it's also a race track if you look at the turn.

 These are from a cool park across the street from our church. We go finding in it sometimes, but last week we went and took pictures. Apparently it used to be a rich guy's house/yard!
Wow can you believe it's already January 21?!!!  I'll start with your questions:

1 - Last week you mentioned that Sister Law had a U-turn.  What does that mean? 

We have to exit and re-enter Macau in order to renew our visas when we run out of days.  Mainland is a lot closer, (you could easily swim there, and probably be able to hear each other shouting in some places, it's soooo close!) We can’t go to Mainland, so we take the ferry to HK, buy a ticket, (Elders usually get McDonalds because it's cheaper there) and take the boat back.  On Wednesday, since I'm exiting with Sister Cook and Sister Heaton we will probably get to go to the temple!!!  

2 - Who went with her when she had to go?  

No one, we just dropped her off at the pier and picked her up 2.5 hours later.

3 - How are your shoes, clothes holding up?

Sooo good!  I've inherited a number of new things from the "give away" drawers in our apartment.  I have too many clothes if anything.  The shoes are great!  The elastic hasn't broken since last March.

4 - When was the last time you were in a car?  I imagine that you have only been on buses, trains and ferries. 

Oh gosh I don't remember . . . yeah I have no idea.  Do Taxis count?  If so, then 6 weeks ago.

5 - How do you think it will be to be in a new area for just a couple weeks before you come home?  It sounds like it would be about 10 days.  Is that correct?  

Probably.  I'm praying that I get 30 days when I exit on Wednesday so that way I can stay until the end.  But even at that I might have to come out for a few days so that I can attend Career workshop.  I think it will be fun!!! I hope it will be.  We had 24s this week and I did Chinese work.  It was fun!  I can still speak it! (Thank goodness!)  My brain hurt from trying to understand.  It made me realize how much I LOVE international work. I know I'm supposed to be here!! 

It has been an awesome week!!! We taught a TON of lessons and had sooooo many referrals!!! We have been really, really excited!!! The sisters at President Marcello's boarding house have been on fire still and we've gone to their house to teach lessons almost every day this week.  One of the sisters is here waiting for her visa to Hong Kong, so she is not busy and uses her time to help us!  She has scheduled several people to see us!  It's been especially nice because our church was getting new front doors last week so we were not able to use it for a day and a half.  

We planned to visit a member who runs several boarding houses on Friday. Instead, she took us to 2 of the boarding houses and had us teach some of the boarders there.  She did the same thing on Sunday.  We have 8 referrals just from her this week!!! It was amazing!!!!  

E. is still great, except she's moving back to the Philippines tomorrow!!! We were praying for her to find a job so that she could stay here with her husband, but apparently Heavenly Father has another plan.  She wants to continue going to church so we will refer her to the missionaries there.  

Sister E. is doing great!  We were teaching about dressing modestly and she asked about a mini skirt she wore to church last week.  We explained that we wear skirts that come to her knees and she said, "thank you for explaining to me, I won't wear it."  Luckily we had some extra skirts that other sisters had left so we brought those for her.  She had already found another dress by church on Sunday and looked beautiful!!!!

Well, it is time to go!!! I love you all!!!!

Love,

Kasey

Monday, January 14, 2013

I am sooooooooooo excited!!!!

 
 
 
 
 
 
A cracker thing that Sister Law had me try.  It's just 2 saltine crackers stuck to each other with melted sugar (like honey, but thicker) with a stick stuck in it.  Super simple but yummy!!! 
Chinese Noodle Soup that I made
Hi Mom, Dad, Kelli, Nathanael and Savanna! 

Wow! I can't believe Christmas break has come and gone! The picture of you and Dad in Chicago is so cute! You look great! It's funny how different of a city it is from HK or Macau, but it's still a big City. How fun! I'm excited to see the new bathroom! Good luck living on 1 shower for the next 3 weeks!! yikes! I can't believe Sister Hamilton is already getting transferred. She's been there for a while. Hearing you talk about how you take care of the missionaries just reminds me again that YOU'RE AWESOME!!! Thank you for loving and serving and caring for the missionaries so much. You're doing the kinds of things that really make missionaries love the work.

Speaking of moves there is a Huge chance that I will be here for my last move!! Crazy right? Sister Law just had a U-turn this week and they told her it was her last time and that she has to leave on February 1. I have the most days so I'll probably be here until my days run out and then get shipped back to HK for whatever time is left. I am sooooooooooo excited!!!! Just one heads up, don't be too excited about my Chinese I've been doing my language study, but it's definitely gotten worse because I don't hear it everyday. But it's ok because I'm in the best place ever!! 

Sister Ev. is doing awesome! We taught her about fasting last week and she did it! We asked her how it was and she said she felt stronger. She said she also fasted for "her missionaries Sister Nelson and Sister Law that they can be strong." I thought that was sweet. She has seen sooooo many miracles since she's been here. 

While Sister Law was doing her U-turn, Sister Welling was my companion. (She is the Senior sister here) We taught a lady, M. we met in San Mallo a few weeks ago. It was really cool to teach with Sister Welling, a Senior missionary and a young missionary will approach teaching in a whole different way, but the way she taught was so simple and full of love and belief because she's experienced it!   

M. is really good.  Her only day off is Saturday so I hope we get to see her next week. 

Sister El. is also really good. She wasn't really answering our calls, but one of the members called and scheduled her to meet with us. I can tell she is already feeling the Spirit. She really enjoyed the Joseph Smith video. We met her at 2 and she was just waiting for church, but there were no other sisters yet, so we ended up teaching her about the Plan of Salvation too. She really just ate everything up!!! I'm really excited to see her again!

Tuesday we were on a bus coming back from Taipa and we were planning to go to San Mallo to find. As we rode past Top Seoc (another place where we normally go finding) I saw a lady sitting at a picnic table looking miserable. I pressed the stop button and we got off the bus there. We went up to talk to her, but she just ignored us. I (kind of awkwardly) set a Plan of Salvation pamphlet by her with our name and number card and we left and walked to San Mallo. I was a bit disappointed because I felt like we should try talking to her and she didn't respond. Well. . . Saturday we were finding in Top Seoc and started talking to this really nice lady. She had a few extra minutes so we took her to see our church. As we walked she said, "I think I saw you here earlier this week" We didn't remember her face, but Sister Law put together it might have been the sad lady from before and asked if we gave her a pamphlet. She pulled it out of her purse and said she read it!!!!!! hahaha she is super sweet. We wrote down her number and hope we can see her again! 

There is a sister named Sister J. who is living at the same boarding house where several church members live while she waits for her visa. She offered to go with us to "find new friends" whenever we go. We went with her around her neighborhood last week and met some really good people. The owner of the boarding house, a church member, made us write down their numbers for her so she could, "call and follow-up" hahahaha she also said, "Invite them to my house and if they don't want to come, call me and have me talk to them." She is so funny, but such a blessing because we never ever have to worry about our investigators not feeling welcome at church. They usually get sucked in and we hardly have a chance to talk to them.

Last week we went to The Venetian. It's a Casino in Taipa. We didn't go there to gamble of course!!! We went to see an Anatomy exhibit called "Body Works." You've probably heard of it before, but it was pretty expensive so we walked around the mall that is decorated to look like Venice.  We then around the outside which is built to look like Venice and had a fake snow storm regularly at night time. (We left too early to see it, but we got to see the remains!) It was really cool. The casinos are HUGE here!!! We got soooo lost.

Today we went shopping and I found a pair of "Cheap Monday" (no kidding that is the brand) black skinny jeans with 34 inseam for 88 MOP!!!!!!!!!! Apparently they sell for like 300 US and I bought them for less than 10!!! What!! They practically drag on the ground. Today we're wearing non-pros to go see a lighthouse so I'm soooo excited to wear them!

Today we are going to the boarding house for a Family Home Evening. We've been there a lot this week. There are at least 10 sisters and all but 1 are members.  The other 1 is our investigator. I'm sooo excited I love visiting all of them!

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!!
 
Love,

Kasey