Wow! The time is flying!! You go back to school next week and it almost classifies as "the middle of August!!" Crazy!!! It's going just as fast here, moves seem to get shorter and shorter. Thank you for all the birthday wishes and cards and e-mails and love! I got your packages last week and the card from the ward yesterday. Thank you for celebrating for me too! (Seriously! I'm glad you did!) I haven't had a chance to open my presents yet (my companion was DEAD by the time we finally got home last night so we got her to bed as soon as possible! But tonight we're hopefully going to celebrate! Hahaha!
Thank you for telling me about Kristy's mission call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah!!!! I'm sooooo excited she's going to an Asian mission!!!! AH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm glad to hear that Justin is doing well, I'm so excited for him.
Questions:
1 - In Primary, the kids sing the HELLO song to kids that visit. The kids like to sing Hello in different languages. I'd love to teach them how to say Hello in Cantonese. Can you phonetically teach me how to say it? Would that work or is it too likely that I would teach them wrong without hearing it? Maybe it would be best to wait until our Christmas phone call.
You should be fine
reading it. It's leih (like the things
you wear to a luau or potato chips "lay") hou (like hohoho Merry
Christmas) the hou is a rising tone if you want to worry about it, but it'll be
fine if you don't.
2 - Tell me about your
new companion.
My new companion is AWESOME!!! Her name is Sister Lin, she is from Mainland, but moved to Australia when she was 21 for school. She speaks Mandarin but her English is perfect and her Cantonese is already super good too! She is 29 and already has her Master’s degree in Information Systems. She is absolutely adorable and I feel like she is going to be a very good missionary and a great companion! I am just sooooooo incredibly excited to work with her and learn from her. I'm going to have to keep reminding myself that I need to be a trainer and teach her things because I feel like there is already so much I can learn from her.
3 - Who are your
roommates now?
Sister Fernalius and
Sister Lier. Two of my most favorite missionaries in Hong Kong!!!! I have a
great companion and great roommates!!! I'm soooooooo happy!!!
4 - What are Tim Tam Slams?
Tim Tams are cookies
that have a hard chocolate coat. You bite two opposite corners and then put one
end in milk or hot chocolate and the other in your mouth and drink out of it
like a straw. When it gets soggy, the goal is to slurp it into your mouth
without using your hands. Rice bowls were meant for Tim Tam Slams!!! (I think
that's why it's an Asian mission thing)
5 - If you were home,
what would you pick for your birthday dinner?
Fruit parfaits, Mandarin oranges and Chicken salad and homemade bread!!!
I have celebrated my
birthday 5 times already!!! I feel so loved!
1) Sister Kelly bought me a cards case for my octopus card and couldn't wait to give it to me so gave me an early gift a few weeks ago,
2) Our un-birthday last Wednesday
3) Monday at FHE Sister
Mak made a cake and asked if anyone had an August birthday. Sister Kelly ratted
me out. Everyone who the cake was for (me, Bishop Mak, Sister Kelly (because
she was leaving) Freddie who just got baptized) took a picture with the cake
before we ate it and I think they sang, I don't remember.
4) Tuesday night was moves calls, and Elder Pofreman sent us on a Scavenger hunt. Turns out only the sisters actually went and the Elders all went to the Relief Society room. When the sisters got back, they were waiting with finger painted signs, brownies, ice cream and root beer floats for me and Sister Far!! I have the best companion and Zone ever!!! (Sister Kelly was the mastermind)
5) Yesterday!!! Sister Hawks said she was going to call me, but President Hawks reminded her that we would be trying to get out the door with luggage so she told me when I saw her that President Hawks "saved" me. Our summer missionary Sister Chan, bought me a blueberry cheesecake and we ate it after correlation, and Sister Kelly played happy birthday on her iPod and we sang and danced in the morning.
6) Whenever I get around to ACTUALLY
celebrating it with Tim Tam slams and a package!! Hahaha!
Yesterday was nuts!!! I feel so bad
because Sister Lin's first day in Hong Kong was CRAZY!!!! That is why we
e-mailed today because when we finally got home we had less than 10 minutes to
leave again and didn't make it to e-mails on time and couldn't schedule another
time because we had an appointment.
Sister Lin and I are both learning
together, because I honestly have NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but the good thing is Heavenly Father knows not only what He's doing, but what
I'm doing too, and President Hawks reminded us to not focus on what we can't
do, but on what we can. No one I know had a perfect trainer or was completely
perfectly happy the first 2 moves of their mission, but I can do my best to
explain and be patient and help my companion adjust. It's still going to
be hard for both of us, but the end result can still be good.
Ok I've got to go so I can send some pictures! I love you all sooooo much and miss you I'm realizing more and more really how soon it is until I will see you all again (time is flying!) and it freaks me out!! 5 moves isn’t that long!!!
Kasey
This is an excerpt from a snail mail
letter that I received from Kasey last week. It is really interesting:
In the church people
talk a lot about how China is still closed to missionary work and how exciting
it will be when it is opened. China is more open than we realize.
People come down from Mainland every week just to get baptized. At
least weekly I hand a flyer or pamphlet to someone who lives in the mainland.
Our recent convert AH took Word of Wisdom and Family pamphlets to share
with her family a few weeks ago. There are Christian churches in
Mainland, but they are run by the government. Since our church won't
allow the government to do that, we can't be established fully there. The
government likes our church because we obey the laws, so members are allowed to
meet and have meetings. I tell you what, when China opens fully it's
going to be INCREDIBLE!
Almost everyone over 30 here is a convert. Very few were born and raised in the church. As such the member missionary work is incredible! It is awesome and humbling how much members care for and love the missionaries (part of that is why I had pizza for lunch & dinner yesterday and I've barely eaten anything today and I'm still stuffed). If I see someone new at church I just need to head in their direction and someone will introduce them to me. Each investigator has a ward family and they are all excited for their baptism!
No comments:
Post a Comment