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