Thursday, July 26, 2012

All it has done this week has rained, but it's been exciting!!

These are the coolest pants ever! They are so comfy! All the Chinese have them!!!

 The museum 2 Pdays ago.

 
Hello Mom, Dad, Kelli, Nathanael and Savanna!

Happy new car day!  That's so cool that you have a spaceship (new minivan) to drive around now!  I can't wait to ride in it when I get home!! I'm glad that you are all so busy with different things it's so fun to hear about all of it! 

Well, maybe we can have our climates negotiatiate and China can share some of the rain.  All it has done this week has rained, but it's been exciting!! We had a typhoon on Monday!!!!!!  It is quite exciting when you're in a 27 story block of concrete, but not so much if you're a tree, or actually anything out side for that matter.  The Typhoon was announced as a level 8 typhoon at 6 on Monday so we all had to go home.  The public transportation is open for about an hour after a typhoon is announced, so the MTR was packed and some of the buses were already stopping, but overall it was a pretty organized system for everyone to be heading home at one time.  Sister F. and I slept in the living room because we have big windows next to our beds. I'm glad we did, the windows didn't break, but I could hear doors and trees banging all night, so it was good to know I was safe.  It actually got up to a level 10 overnight, and we could see the damage in the morning.  But since Hong Kong is already a neigborhood of huge cinderblocks, the damage was mostly just fallen over trees and a few broken windows, almost any other place would have felt the damage a lot worse.

NGM is baptized!  Not without excitement, of course.  It rained while we were walking to the chapel and of course we forgot to bring an umbrella so the baptismal clothes got soaked!!! And of course the whole language barrier thing is sometimes an issue. I don't understand their English they don't understand my Chinese, but things always ALWAYS work out, and once the service started it really was great.  NGM was so happy and so was her family.  Every time a grandchild got baptized, she said she would get baptized with the next one, but now she finally did.  We visited her yesterday and she made sure to tell us that we should have told her to wear ear plugs.  Sister Kelly jokingly said "Ok NGM next time you get baptized we'll tell you to wear ear plugs."  To that she said, "I've already been baptized I don't need to do it again!"  Haha she is adorable.  The Elders also had a baptism, his name is J.  He stood up to bear his testimony after he was baptized and said, "So I'm supposed to share a little bit about how I met the missionaries and I why I decided to be baptized. . 'and it came to pass.'"  Did I mention that he's read the entire Book of Mormon already?

V. is getting baptized in 3 weeks, we talked to her the other day and I think everything has really clicked for her.  She talked to her mom and her mom doesn't oppose her getting baptized as much as she expected.  I'm soooooooo excited!! We also taught M. yesterday and we re-taught her about the restoration. We invited her to pray to know if this church is  the true church.  She said, "You know, you invited me to pray and I don't think I need to, I already believe this is the true church."  Before when we talked to her she said she believed in Christ, but also believed in other Gods too.  She said yesterday that she read in the bible that Christ is the "King of Kings" and then she said, "If that's the case, then I should probably follow Him."  Wow, it's just hitting me as I write this, MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I read D&C 123 :17 - ("Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be reveale,"  in personal study this morning.  I think it is my new favorite scripture.  As we try our best to cheerfully do whatever Heavenly Father asks of us, we will be able to see His hand in our lives and the miracles He's doing.  As I've tried to learn and improve through hard times, it hasn't made it easier, but it has made it easier to see the miracle.

Ok I better go so I can send pics!!!

I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kasey

Thursday, July 19, 2012

EEFY - English Especially For You

Hello!!!

Question:
Do you and Sister Kelly do Pday activities (email, groceries, etc.) on your own or with other missionaries?
Sometimes it just depends on the p-day
News of the week -

1) We are no longer serving in Ma On Shan!! President Hawks has been worried about the sisters serving in 3 wards and has made this change mission wide. We will keep working with the people we are currently working with, but from now on the Ma On Shan Elders will be teaching all investigators unless there is a specific need for sisters. I am sad to leave the people in Ma On Shan, but I am so excited to only have to serve in one chapel. I know we will be able to give a lot more to our other wards now. I'm soooooo excited to get to know the members better.

2) We have EEFY (English Especially For You) in 2 weeks. Our zone leaders organized a find yesterday. They decorated a wheeling white board with pictures from last year and we took it to one of the MTR stations and stood there for 2 hours passing out flyers. I will try to send pictures it was a lot of fun! We also have cool side bags to advertise.

3) NGM is getting baptized on Sunday!!! It's sooooo neat to be able to help her and her family! She is awesome!!

Yikes! Sorry this is so short!!!

I love you all!!!! Ga yauh!!!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Mangoes and Shrimp!

Barbara's note:  Kasey's Birthday is on August 9. If you would like to send a birthday message to her, comment here or send me an email (knelsonb@sbcglobal.net) and I will send the message to her. If you would like to send a card, her mailing address is:

Sister Kasey Nelson
China Hong Kong Mission
18 Dorset Crescent
KowloonTong
Kowloon
Hong Kong

Sending a card or a letter requires $1.05 in postage.  I know that she would love to hear from everyone. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!
Barbara


Hello Everyone!
hmmmm. . . That sounds familiar busy, but good. Usually by the end of the day I can't give a solid report on what happened that day. Considering I haven't had a ton of journal time either, I'm hoping at least the very important things make it into e-mails pictures or paper!

We have a summer missionary!!! I am soooo excited!! Her name is Sister M. I already know her! She is from Kwun Tong and would help the Kwun Tong Sisters a lot so I would sometimes run into her while I was serving in TKO. She is ADORABLE!!!! Yesterday we had a packed schedule we went Sha Tin to Ma On Shan back to Tai Wai then BACK to Ma On Shan and back to Tai Wai again. Not the most effective as far as travel goes, but it was one of those days where there was no way around it. While we were planning we scheduled a few places where we could hopefully do personal study. Yesterday when we met, she was very concerned because she hadn't had time to do personal study but said she read a few verses while she was eating! Wow!! I'm already learning from her example and obedience so much!!! She is almost 20 and is working 2 jobs. A lot of the reason is so she can save money to go on a mission herself. We scheduled to meet her at 11:45 this afternoon and couldn't find her for about 30 minutes because she was talking to a popoh about the gospel and didn't hear her phone!!!! I love her!!!
NGM had her baptismal interview yesterday. She wanted us there for it, which usually doesn't happen. Since we already had to have the interview at her house, our district leader said it was fine. It was neat to hear her testimony. It's very simple and she mixed up the law of chastity and word of wisdom, but I know she loves Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and her family and she is trying to continue doing good things. I'm so excited for her! Her baptism is next Sunday!!!

Last week I got a strange rash. It started as a few red bumps around my lips on Sunday afternoon and then spread across my cheeks and up to my forehead. It actually never looked too bad, but man it ITCHED!!!!!! I ended up buying an ice pack on Tuesday to help soothe it. I think I might be allergic to mangos because members fed us quite a few mangos throughout the weekend, or maybe one of them wasn't quite ripe. I don't know. Sister Kelly and Elder Passey had similar things on their arms and legs. I heard a good deal of Chinese remedies. Tuesday morning, a member opened a little container (like you would use for mints) of rock salt and had me eat 6 grains (is that the right word, Cantonese is "lahp"), and then drink lots of water to flush my system. That afternoon we taught G. and Sister L. was with us. They spent a good 20 minutes fussing over me, calling Dr. N (NGM's daughter- in-law) to set an appointment, telling me I needed to wash my face with vinegar and then with potatoes. Finally G. offered to take me to a pharmacy and have the pharmacist look at it. Luckily, before I could get myself into any more mess, Sister Hawks returned my call. She told me to use hydrocortisone and not put anything else on it and take Benadryl at night. I decided to trust her and Sister Castleton's wisdom!! Sister Castleton is the mission nurse. Chinese people have this theory called "Yiht Hei" or "hot air." Someone explained it to me at FHE on Sunday. They believe that everyone one has an inner fire and some foods will fuel the fire and some will make it colder. It's important to keep a balance. For example "li chi," mangos and a lot of junk food are "yiht hei." If you eat too much yiht hei you are more likely to gain weight or break out or have acne. They even have what is called "leugn cha" "cool tea." It's Chinese medicine that reduces yiht hei. (It doesn't taste that bad and is not against the Word of Wisdom so sometimes I'll get one after a chang out). Apparently the combination of mangos and shrimp is especially bad, so I had a lot of people ask me if I had eaten them together. I think the most useful advice from a Hong Kong person came at the same FHE when Elder Wong got the bishop's son who is a doctor to come over and look at my face and then gave me some Benadryl that he happened to have. (I was glad to have the Benadryl until I could buy some!)

Oh Wow! Time is flying I have 7 minutes!! Today we went to see the Picasso Exhibit at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. The tickets were sold out again, but we realized that a half-year museum pass was only 30HK more than the Picasso exhibit ticket and would get us into any museum in HK until January. I think the $6 US was worth it just for today! We also looked at an exhibit about Cantonese Opera. It said something about a troop being in Chicago! Maybe we can see a Cantonese Opera sometime!   

Ok your questions:
1 - How is the weather? It has been hot here, but are you able to stay cool when you are inside?
It's getting hot!!!!! Usually we're at the church, or in the MTR or bus, all of which have AC, so it's not too bad. We have 2 hours of AC besides sleeping time in our apartment, since we're usually not home for studies in the morning; it's nice to have it when we get home at night.
2 - Are the church buildings air conditioned?
Yes thank goodness. People often bring sweaters or shawls to church!

I love you!!!!
Kasey

Thursday, July 5, 2012

There were a TON of monkeys on top of the Sha Tin Chapel on Monday!

Hello!

I just read the e-mail statement for our support cards. They send us one each week with a balance that is at least a week old. One transaction said "HASE/TAI PO MARKET MTR O" people here pronounce their F's "effu" and their R's "arro" so MTR is said MTRO but I had no idea they would actually write it in!!! h hahaha

This week I feel like has been crazy, but it all is a blur and I can't figure out exactly why it was so crazy.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to bear my testimony in our Sha Tin ward. As I got up, Elder Wong, the area Seventy that is in the ward whispered "just share your testimony." I was grateful because that is all I can effectively do in Cantonese. I choked up a bit as I told these members that I know Heavenly Father lives and loves us and this is why we have this gospel. This is why He sent Jesus Christ to suffer for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins and be worthy to return to Him. This is why he calls prophets and through Joseph Smith restored this church and the Book of Mormon so that we could have guidance to know how to do God's will and keep His commandments and apply the teachings of Christ in our lives. I know these things are true and that's why I am a missionary. It was simple but as I was speaking I felt a strong love for these people and a desire to work even harder so that I can gain their trust so we can work together to bring others unto Christ.

I talked to A., from my previous area the other day. She said Y. has a baptismal date for the 22 of July and that the two of them are planning to go to the temple after that to do baptisms together!! I am sooooo excited!

We met the new mission president yesterday. He was at a meeting with Elder Gong, a regional general authority and was a bit late. We all got there 5 minutes early and were sitting ready to go for a good 10 minutes. It was so funny how stressed out everyone seemed. President Hawks is good. We each had to stand and introduce ourselves (2 minute introduction) it was weird and a bit awkward because the normal introduction things (what I like to do, my major, what kind of career I want) feel like they apply less and less to me the more I am on a mission, and it would please me to say, "I am Sister Nelson, I was "born" in TKO, and now live in Tolo Harbor. I am a missionary. My favorite thing to do is missionary work. I think I used to live in America and might have gone to College, but I kind of forget what that was like. . ." Ok it's not that bad, missionaries aren't robots but being a missionary is really who I am right now and it is AWESOME!!! Anyway, President and Sister Hawks seem great. President Hawks comes across pretty strict and I was a bit intimidated as he talked to the group of us, but we had one minute interviews after the meeting and I was amazed at how personable the interview felt even though it was just a minute long. He said somethings that really helped me.

Um. . . on a silly note there were a TON of monkeys on top of the Sha Tin Chapel on Monday!

Questions:
1 - Two weeks ago you said, "I'm almost definitely staying, otherwise Sister K. would be off-white washing a 3 ward area!!!" What does that mean?
Well, white-washing is having a companionship where both companions are brand new to the area. I called it off-white becase she would have only been there a week and have to lead the area.

2 - Did the missionaries do anything to celebrate Independence Day?
We said the pledge and sang the National anthem. Sister K. wore patriotic colors. I decided my outfit, though cute, a bit tooo patriotic for meeting the mission president. Especially since he's American. We also sang patriotic hymns for companion study yesterday and today. It's been weird to sing in English because I can use harmony!!!!

I am always so happy to hear about everything going on! I am also so happy to hear that Nathanael survived the bike trip with energy to spare! I've been praying! Kelli's quilt looks cute!! Are ya'll going on vacation this summer? I forgot what you said your plans were.

I don't say this enough, but thank you for your sacrifices so I can be here. People ask us all the time how we live since we don't have a salary and I am reminded of how much you are giving so I can be here. Thank You Thank You Thank You!!!! I know Heavenly Father will bless you so much for your sacrifice. This is the best thing I ever could have done and Dad said at the end of his e-mail that I will be grateful I did this. I already know it!!!

I love you all so much!
Kasey