December 1, 2014 - 8 People at Church, and Ben was Baptized!

Elder Tse standing in front of the Kwun Tong chapel, which is in a somewhat remote area, next to a bunch of car garages and a sort of rough highschool.  There may be a brothel right down the stairs, I try not to look too closely.

This is our thanksgiving feast, featuring:

Turkey, potatoes, really sweet sweet potatoes, carrots, Malaysian Curry Balls, hot dog pineapple finger food, rice crispy treats, jello, brownies, and a bunch of other stuff, including stuffing (which I don't hate so much anymore).

Those are the flash cards the mission provides.  I have to cut them out myself, it is very tedious.  I have learned over 600 by now.  I can actually read a decent amount, because I can sometimes guess what it's saying based on the characters I know.  Super fun.

I drew that hand.  I still know how to draw.

The smaller one is Ben Fok, who was baptized, the older one is Erik, who is a recent convert who just became a priest this Sunday about 1.5 hours before he baptized Ben.  The missionary to my right is Elder Tse, my companion, the former missionary to my left is Brother Au, who was with me when we found Ben.  (Note from Barbara: look at the little girl peering between Elder Morrell & Elder Tse. Adorable)

We go through a bag of rice that big (8 kg) in about 2 weeks at our apartment.

Sorry, I had to manage some other emails that were piling up and send all those awesome photos so my time is not too long. But this week was amazing! We had a great time teaching throughout the week, got a lot of investigators with members together. We have some guy named Peter who Elder Tse and I found 2.5 weeks ago, scheduled for church, and then were unable to recontact. His number was incorrect, and he didn't show up at church. We marked it off as a normal fong (missionary slang). At the same time, the Kwun Tong elders suddenly found a new investigator who just randomly showed up at church but left before they could teach him. Named Peter... We didn't put the dots together for a while, and in fact while on exchanges in Kwun Tong I called the guy and scheduled him for the Kwun Tong elders to teach. Then on Thanksgiving we ran into him again, rescheduled him, then when we got home found out he was the same guy. Turns out he lives on the border of NTK and Kwun Tong, but he is ours. He's an amazing guy; he pays really close attention in lessons, has a lot of great insights, has a lot of faith and patience towards the Lord, and seems pretty golden. Apparently God really wants him taught now, because he has guided so many missionaries to find him recently.

This week we were teaching Mr. Lo, and our fellowshipper (set up by the ward mission leader) was super old. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation, and every time we asked the fellowshipper any questions he would say some almost indecipherable stuff that I am afraid was about the temple. We will not be finding him again to help us teach. On the bright side it all went over Mr. Lo's head and he continues to do well.

Then on Sunday we had an amazing day. 8 people at church. It was stressful but awesome, and I really am happy that the ward can see so much success. I hope it will get them excited. And best of all, Ben was baptized. I was so happy to see that. The former Elder Au came to watch, a recent convert did the baptism, and it all went amazingly. Ben is an incredibly humble, earnest, and sincerely motivated 17 year old. I have no doubts that he can Endure to the End. This is the purpose of missionary work, to help people like him find the happiness that can only come through the gospel.

Dad,

Mr. Lo is doing pretty great. The reason why is because he is incredibly humble. Very few men his age are, to be honest. But he has a very sincere, childlike desire to learn the gospel and do well. He reads really slowly, but you can just see that he takes it really seriously and he really wants to keep the commitments we give him. And he loves church. I love seeing him at church; he is just totally fitting in and enjoying the familial spirit there and being converted. He has a lot he needs to learn, so it may be a while for his baptism, and he needs to quit smoking and tea, but I have a lot of faith in him.

Maybe the flesh is the rest of your hand that fell into the machine when you cut yourself and has been adapting to the new environment. It may be you.

No, you failed to mention the Bast worship. Believe it or not I am in a place where that is an actual thing. Though, most of the investigators we teach don't believe in ancestor worship or look at it as only a tradition that their grandparents make them do. How blessed I am that my grandparents only ever made me eat with proper form.

David,

You and Joseph next to each other is interesting. I think that Joseph looks short because in my mind you aren't that tall. So strange.

There is a famous old Lady in Hong Kong named Lai Yi, which means aunt Lai. She is about 94 ish years old, if I recall correctly, goes to every English class that we teach, and apparently cheated her family out of a ton of money, which is how she lives now.

How is the programming coming? I recall before you planned on modeling the house and surrounding environs...

Mom,

Thanksgiving was pretty great. We all got authorized to spend $40 per person to make a zone meal, so we met in Wan Chai on Thursday to eat for 3 hours. We were supposed to be in charge of vegetables, but we didn't have any really good ideas, and we were delayed because we taught a lesson and then had to call the police to get some high school kids who were fighting outside the chapel to leave, so we got there late and our contribution became a plate of chopped up carrots. Pretty sad. I took the rest of the stuff we'd bought home and decided that I'd just pay for it all, because I'm super rich right now for some reason. I have a description of the food in the picture email. Then on Sunday our ward had a family home evening (FHE are rarely on Monday here, people are too busy) that had at least half our ward there plus an investigator and some non-members, and they had a lot of good food. Some pies and a real American style spiral cut ham. Made me think of Grandma Carmack. So I ate well this year.

I have really grown to appreciate the meaning behind the phrase, families can give us more happiness than anything else". I can understand that feeling that you had at Thanksgiving.

Abby,

Ahh, it's nice to have the full report. Even as a little girl your memory was the most accurate of us all (e.g. the memory game story), and now it is you who faithfully sends me the report of any special occurrences. Yes, your package is on its way. How about mine? And why don't you and Becca ever answer my questions? I met some little girl (daughter of potential investigator) who plays the Yee U, like a Chinese violin.

Rebecca,

There was some little girl in our English class who was in a ballet class, so I showed her your photo and said, "My sister is prettier and a better dancer than you." Then she cried and ran away.

Just kidding, but I did show her your photo. I will miss Nutcracker. Sorry, little time. Answer my questions from last time.

Joseph,

4x the resolution. That movie must be pretty good to warrant a 4th expensive watching. Poor you, 2 weeks no laptop. I find myself not being bothered too much by no computer, though I do still miss Starcraft at times. But I know that this is worth more than any game. Though it sometimes is hard to see, some things in life are impermanent and others make a real lasting effect.

Love you all!

莫長老