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

Monday, January 7, 2013

It's been amazing and I am sooooo happy!

Hi Everyone!!!

Wow, I didn't realize how tired I was until I sat down in front of the computer!

I'm glad you had such a great New Year!  Since we go to bed 
at 11:30 here I wasn't fully out before I heard whoops and hollars from our neighbors and honking from outside, but that was it for our New Year celebrations.

Thanks to everyone, my zone has been very jealous of me for the past few weeks!  I had a huge stack of mail on Wednesday when the Zone Leaders came back from HK.  President and Sister Hawks were here yesterday and I already had another stack!  It's been so fun to have so much mail!!!

I'm going to start with questions today and then I'll write about my week.

Questions: 

1 - How many Sisters are coming to Hong Kong on the next transfer? 
     2 or 3  
 
2 - How many Sisters are coming on the transfer that in March?  15 missionaries!!
     I think 7 sisters!  April has 26 missionaries and 16 sisters!!!!  EVERYONE is going to have to train.
 
Ok so this week was FULL of miracles!!! I don't even know where to start!  We are teaching this lady named E., she is from Indonesia and is just here for a few weeks waiting for her HK visa.  She is just eating up the gospel and is excited to be baptized.  Saturday we were teaching her about fasting and after the lesson she broke down.  She is facing a lot of challenges right now and it is really tough.  Finally we asked Elder Welling if he could give her a blessing.  I did my best to explain what a blessing was, but I wasn't sure how much she understood because her English is ok, but not great and she was so emotional.  I know she  understands now.  After the blessing, she looked relieved and said she felt God's love for her.  She also smiled, straightened up and said, "Well, what's our next activity?!!!"  I love her so much!  She looked better and happy at church yesterday too.  She thanks us all the time for seeing her and said, "Sister Nelson and Sister Law, you give me the spirit!"  

We met K. and taught her about the Book of Mormon and she has been reading everyday.  She couldn't come to church yesterday because she had to do something to prepare for work tomorrow.  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!  We were so sad!  I'm praying for her, she has had so many blessings bringing her to the gospel she can't forget now!  

We met a lady last week and she has scheduled us several times, but had to cancel.  Saturday she finally met with us and had a lot of questions!  She was very excited when we gave her the Book of Mormon at the end.  She is very sweet and I hope we get to teach her again!

Heavenly Father has been blessing us and this area sooooo much this week!!  It's been amazing and I am sooooo happy!

President Hawks did interviews with us yesterday, since Sister Law has less days than I do, it sounds very likely that I could be here next move too!  Although, it will be terrible for my Chinese, I would love it!!!!!!!!!  I really, really love serving here!

Well, I better go, we're planning to go wander around the Venetian today apparently there's and anatomy exhibit there!!!  I love you all soooo much!!!

Love,

Kasey