Thursday, May 31, 2012

Happy Almost June!!!

Hi Everyone!!!

Rabbit!!! (I think it's safe to say because I'm closer to tomorrow than ya'll are!!)

Guess what?!! Yesterday was my 6 months in Hong Kong Birthday!!!! The funny thing is I didn't even know until Sister F., one of my roommates dropped a Maxims Cakes box on my desk and said, "Happy 6 months in Hong Kong Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Considering I was getting a bit down on myself and had a bit of a break down earlier, it was probably the best thing she could have done. The cheesecake tasted American too!!! As in cream cheese with a graham cracker crust, not a sponge-type cake that tastes like cheese (the Chinese style).

I had an interview with President Chan on Monday, this time it wasn't a surprise, and it was at the church, not our apartment. It was really good to be able to talk to him and ask some of my questions. He reminded me that every missionary is assigned to their area by inspiration for a specific purpose and there is someone I need to bless here. That helped me a lot. Honestly, it is hard serving three areas and I get tired and I don't want to do it, but that really puts perspective on things, I think with that attitude I can do a lot more.

I've started choosing one Christ-like attribute to work on each move. This has been good because I can try to build longer-lasting habits. I have a "Mission Plan" with my goals for each of my moves written out. When I decide on an attribute I write it on my plan. It has been amazing to see how Heavenly Father has blessed me with opportunities and experiences to teach me this attribute without a whole lot of special effort on my part besides a few personal studies to study that attribute. My Second move I focused on Faith, during that time I had a lot of special experiences with prayer, our apartment was such that I could find time to pray alone in the bedroom or office.  My third move, I focused on Charity and I was companions with Sister H. who is the most charitable and serving person I have ever met, I was constantly looking for ways to serve and help her and other missionaries. Then I decided even before moves calls that last move I would work on diligence. Then I got called to an area with 3 wards and we live in a 4th area. That taught me diligence FAST!!! because now every minute means soooooo much more. This move I've decided to focus on Humility.  That scares me every time I pray for it, but at the same time I'm excited to see what I can learn this move and how I can improve and come closer to Christ.

Questions:

1 - Did Y. from your previous area get baptized?
No, but I talked to her the other day and she said her plan was: Get baptized, go to BYU Hawaii, go on a mission (to Chicago so she can serve in our ward), come home, finish college, get married to a priesthood holder (I said in the temple? and she was like YES!!!!). That made me soooooooooooo happy!!! She is just waiting for her parents to come around, but they are changing. Her aunt commented the other day on how well behaved she was and her mom said it was because she was going to church. Pray for her.

2 – You mentioned Park & Shop and Mannings in a letter what kind of stores are they?
Park and Shop is a grocery store. It's all over Hong Kong!!  The Super Park and Shop is smaller than Kroger though.. . funny huh? Mannings is like a Walgreens.

3 - What is Gai sih?
The Gai Sih is the Wet market. We go there for our veggis and fruit. It's sooooo fun. There are soooo many different kinds of fruits I don't know the names of all of what I've tried, but when I have money I try to branch out from the easy apple orange and banana options and try the pink fruits with green hair, the things that look like plums with oranges on the inside and dragon fruit!!

4 - What is a bundae?
Bundae is pinyam for the Cantonese word for "Native" so someone from Hong Kong. Obviously very valuable when it comes to reading writing and speaking Chinese, but we don't have one in our area, Heavenly Father is blessing us!!

5 - Have your Communication Disorders classes helped you with Cantonese? I just wonder if knowing the anatomy of the mouth has helped you with the new sounds that you need to make.
Well. . . I think it would it I remembered more, it took Sister K. and I a good half hour to remember what Alveolar meant, so it's not great. . . If I remembered the part of speech anatomy where we talked about sounds in different languages it would help a lot. It will definitely be interesting after my mission!
6 – In several pictures, you and the other missionaries are holding two fingers up by your cheeks, like a peace sign. Does that have any special meaning?
Just an Asian thing.. . I'm not actually sure other than they all do it.

Oh no!! Time's up!!! I love you!!!
Kasey

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