tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20863392991486688122024-03-18T22:19:43.074-06:00The Rice DialogueUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-34085800724630966032015-08-19T07:29:00.003-06:002015-08-19T07:31:00.451-06:00Sunday, August 30, 2015 - 9 am - John's Homecoming 1535 East Creek Rd., Cottonwood Heights, UTUnknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-83445939614007736202015-08-19T07:27:00.001-06:002015-08-19T07:27:22.877-06:00Aug. 21, 2015 - John flys home!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-89352106135150998142015-08-17T23:11:00.001-06:002015-08-19T07:26:05.191-06:00Aug. 17, 2015 - Last Week<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Well, this week was super cool.<br /><br />If you're ever feeling hungry and poor and unwanted and you really wish that you could have people show some love to you, try serving a mission for 2 years and then finishing. The ward will open the windows of heaven and poor out food and love upon you even that you have not room to receive it. I can testify of that. We've been fed by so many people this last week. Bishop Chan announced in PEC last week and in sacrament meeting this week that I'm leaving. If only there were more evening in the week. Or lunches. Or Breakfasts. People have been trying to get me for everyone. Honestly, it's not so much a reflection of me as it is a reflection of how the people feel about missionaries. Many are converts here, and they truly love the missionaries. It's been an honor to serve with them.<br /><br />We saw a lot of miracles this week. One of them is the sudden addition of 2 mandarin Elders living in our apartment, one brand new. Another was the confirmation of Jacky Ho, the 9 year old who was baptized last week. I was able to do the confirmation and it was really a sweet moment. His older Brother has been changing a lot too, and will be baptized on the 30th. Then there's Mr. Dou, a cool old guy who we met with twice and who came to church on Sunday, and a Fung who was a former investigator. We taught him while on exchanges on Friday, and it was such a simple powerful lesson. The spirit was just there. He also came to church on Sunday and seemed to like it (there was a returned missionary who's a super powerful speaker.). And the best miracle of all was Mr. Chi, 池超! This is an excerpt from my report this week:<br /><br />We saw a miracle this week. Our investigator Mr. Chi has been working in Mainland and was supposed to be there until the 20th. The last time we saw him he was considering just focusing on his work and being baptized maybe in December. I prayed like Alma the Elder that he would be "brought to a knowledge of the power of God" every night for 2 weeks. No angel appeared to him. But he appeared at the start of Sacrament meeting on Sunday, and now has a firm date for the 30th. The spirit taught him as he prayed, and though he still has some challenges, he's determined, he has faith, he has a penitent heart, and the ward is so supportive of him. I know the Lord answers our prayers. I am so grateful to have been able to serve in his vineyard here, nothing could compare in value with what God has given me these 2 years.<br /><br />I know the Lord Jesus Christ lives; I know he was sent to this Earth by our Father in Heaven, for the salvation of all mankind from death and sin. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore to the Earth the powers of Heaven, the Priesthood of God, so that all who desire might be baptized and gain a remission of their sins. I know the atonement is real, because its power is living and has healed me. I know that the Book of Mormon is true because I have read it and I know of God that it is his Word, and because I have shared it and seen it change the lives of the people of Hong Kong. I bear witness of the reality of the Holy Ghost, for I know that I have felt it testify through me to others, and this is the greatest joy of a missionary. All you still serving, endure to the end. Every trial strengthens our testimony, if we trust the Lord and endure.<br /><br /><br />Dad,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />Thanks for all your prayers and advice. I'd love to go to the cabin, honestly. It'd be great, though I think all the kids might rebel. I'm pretty excited for these next couple days. I've got a lot of lessons and people scheduled, it should be pretty cool. One thing you can pray for for me. I have a goal to find 2 families before Friday, and we haven't gotten them yet. I'll be finding as much as possible, but please pray for us to be guided to them. Oh, by the way, we did an exchange on Friday and I recalled you talking about trying to schedule a lot of lessons to teach. We did and it went very well.<br /><br />Mom,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />As I said, I'd love to go to the Cabin. My only fear is that I'll be bored because there's not enough stuff to do. Honestly it feels really weird thinking about having free time. I agree with the sentiment that Dad said before, most of the stuff that you miss on your mission doesn't seem that cool in comparison. Maybe we can go finding in Island Park. The only two things that I'd like to do that I can think of now would be hiking Mount Washburn and cooking Mapo-tofu for you guys. And grocery shopping.<br /><br />Joseph,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />I thought about it, and I think you were incorrect about the grammar principle last week. I explained when to use 'the' and when to use 'a' to Elder Chan, pretty good stuff. Are you prepping the calculus refresher course for me? I feel a little bad, because I know I instructed y'all to keep a list of good movies, but really honestly I'm not going to watch many of them. But thanks for the hard work.<br /><br />David,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />You should start prepping a German refresher course for me as well. It's nice to know that you're making waves. I guess being infamous is better than being not-famous. That's a cool little English quirk there.<br /><br />I'm just saying I've been doing cool sabbatical things; you've just been sitting on a hot chair waiting for school to start. So really, who's been wasting their time now, eh?<br /><br />Rebecca,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />I have another funny story for you. So, This morning at about 6:00 I was happily dreaming that I was in some weird mock medieval war game thing, and most of the people were either school mates or people in the mission. As a zone leader, naturally I was the leader of one team, and we were battling about 150 other people in some weird school building. My team was losing and all our horses and cavalry were already dead, so I thought up a scheme to even things out (stratagem, as the Book of Mormon would call it, though this was more the Amalakiah type stratagem then the Moroni type) I called a truce to discuss a peace treaty and met with about 20 or 30 of the other team, and as a show of friendship we had some 2o odd guys from my team and we met together in some room. I had instructed my 2nd in command to ready the troops, and on my signal we'd suddenly rise up and kill all the people at the treaty meeting. So at about 6:07 I randomly woke everyone in the apartment up by shouting "STAB THEM!" I kid you not.<br /><br />Abby, the pale duchess of the North.<br />I think that a gradual loss of weight is the best. People who do diets and lose 40 pounds in 2 weeks very often get fat again afterwards. Why? Because they cheated, they found some way to get rid of the fat but they never developed the mental discipline or the healthy eating and exercise habits necessary to maintain it. Your habit of eating healthier is the big success. It's worth more than any weight that you lose. So congratulations, and keep it up. Have a good high goal in mind and make it!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-34624725650360567482015-08-10T06:47:00.001-06:002015-08-10T06:47:36.831-06:00August 10, 2015 - Jacky was Baptized!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Well, dear family (and anonymous tackers on) this week has been pretty busy. But in my last email I felt that I was just too long winded, especially when compared to Elder Perez, so I'm going to do my best to deliver the information succinctly. <br /><br />Recently in our mission, and especially our zone, we've been practicing something called the 4 minute restoration. It's essentially just teaching the Restoration, or other lessons, in the simplest way, as you would the first time visiting someone, or on a train, etc. This morning as we practiced teaching the Plan of Salvation that way, and I learned that teaching that lesson, the knowledge of the plan of Salvation, is essential because it tells people why the Savior matters in their lives. Seems obvious, but I think that's what the spirit does, is make obvious things precious.<br /><br />This week we had a mission tour with Elder Gong, the Asia area president. Did you know that the Asia area includes about half of the world's population? And currently there are like 4 temples in it? But it's growing a lot right now.<br /><br />They focused on 1) finding and 2) the meaning of the sacrament and 3) the reality of our call as missionaries. It was really cool, especially the Wednesday evening devotional. And on Saturday when we met they had me translate for the natives and summer missionaries. That was actually super fun. Apparently my Chinese is pretty good. No, it's just prayers being answered.<br /><br />Because of that we were really busy this week. But we still had some cool success. Jacky Ho, a 9 year old, got baptized on Sunday! We had his interview on Friday, which I was slightly nervous for, but it all went well! Hopefully his mom will send the pictures next week, and if all goes well his bother will be baptized on the 23rd.<br /><br />Brother Chi has been in mainland again this week, so we didn't get to meet him. That's been really tough for me, but I feel okay about it now. I'm just working to get him baptized as soon as possible now. Other than that, we were able to meet with Mr. To this week, whom we haven't met for a while because he was sick. We taught the restoration, and it was simple and awesome.<br /><br />Other than that, nothing too special.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />I always really love hearing you guys go to the temple. They have a whole-Hong Kong Youth Conference every year, and it's basically the topic of every youth talk for the next several months. It might seem simple but I know that here at least it has a great influence on the people who attend.<br /><br />It's been very odd here. I sometimes feel stressed at not having enough time, but today I had the exit interview with President Lam and did some studying before hand, and I basically feel content. <br /><br />Looking forward to see you all again, though I wish it would come a bit slower!<br /><br />The White Sovereign of the North<br /><br />I like that idea of the diet. It seems like it's focused not on restricting your eating but on training you to eat more healthily. We actually did something really similar in our zone training about the 4 minute restoration. We gave people one minute to teach, then 2, then 4. They learned to teach really simply at the beginning, so that by the end it seemed like they had tons of time.<br /><br />I made an amazing meal this week. I took a rice cooker, and threw rice, chicken broth, chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, pepper, and salt into it then cooked it like normal rice. It was delicious!<br /><br />How's the weather been in Utah recently? What are the cats doing? Do you feel different after doing the diet? Are you in the room that the boys used to live in?<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />It sounds like your life is just dominated by dancing. There’s a girl in our ward who's a big ballet dancer and the way she runs around always reminds me of you, because she sort of skips and relevee's and prances.<br /><br />I have to tell you a story that occurred this week in church. The Cheng family gave a musical performance in Sacrament meeting. Brother and Sister Cheng are in their 30's, and their kids are 3 and 4. They sang “I am a Child of God”, and the kids were singing the first verse. It started very well and cute, with the 4 year old girl's head barely poking over the pulpit and the little boy just showing a bit of hair, but right at the chorus the girl just broke down and started sobbing as she sang. The words of the beloved song became more and more garbled by the crying as her mom tried to sing with her to comfort her. Heading into the second verse it seemed for a moment that the Dad and Mom's powerful beautiful singing voices might be able to save it, but the little boy, still very well composed, seemed to decide that the mic was too high and his sister couldn't be heard well enough, so he began to contend with his father for the microphone. Then the climax came when all the babies in the congregation joined with the little sister in sobbing for the finale. Somehow it just got the idea of eternal families across in a way that the music alone never could.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I wish we had more time for finding. Recently we only get a couple hours a week to find. If I could stay here and see all these people get baptized, I'd obviously be happy, but I'd also really love to open up an area. That'd just be so much fun, to have 4 or 5 months to go from nothing to baptisms. But I guess there's no rule that you can't do missionary work if you're not a missionary.<br /><br />It's interesting talking to President Lam, because as a doctor he's got a lot of things very similar to you. He also like physics and dislikes Chemistry, especially organic chemistry. Oddly enough, one of the members over here who I'm friends with was a chemistry major, and he also hated organic chemistry.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />Maybe I'll give you one or two more letters as well. Something cool that happened this week was we went to a meeting on Sunday evening, a devotional, and on the way home we got literally drenched. Luckily I wasn't wearing my Korean pop-star suit, but still we literally were drenched. It just turned on the water and we had no umbrellas. The funny thing was on the way home, literally with water dripping down my face, these people around us felt to inform us that "It's raining! You should have an umbrella!" Thank you, I hadn't noticed.<br /><br />Then we got home and realized that we hadn't closed any windows and our books were all wet...<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />Congrats on the patriarchal blessing, and welcome to the tribe of Ephraim! That sounds so odd. I recall being a bit disappointed at my blessing, because I felt it didn't have anything specific and I didn't see how it would be very helpful. Even for a good chunk of my mission, I didn't really appreciate it, but especially the last third of my mission, I was really able to experience and know that it's true, it's from God, and what it says is important to me. Study it, and don't discount it if it doesn't seem useful yet. <br /><br />I forget, where are we living in BYU? <br /><br />Love you all! Stop counting days!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-42019469326843567142015-08-03T09:16:00.001-06:002015-08-03T09:20:09.666-06:00August 3, 2015 - Greatest Joy in Missionary Work, Knowing You Were Meant to Go to that One Person<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This week has been very demanding in a good way. We've been so busy lately that this week I think we only got about 2 or 3 hours of finding total. That's probably a good thing for me because I really think that I have a bad tendency to just go finding all the time, when there are much more useful things to do, like diligently calling through all the numbers you get from people during finding. I've been pretty well weaned off intense finding since coming here.<br /><br />We attended our mission leadership council and later held our Zone Training meeting this week. The planning required for those takes up way too much time, to be honest, because we always get stuck on the brainstorming stage all the way until a day before the meeting, and then we end up with like a million ideas. But it went pretty well, not perfect of course, but people seemed to really learn from it. We were mostly sharing about attitude this month, and confidence. We've also been practicing teaching a restoration lesson in 4 minutes, which I love because it makes you really think about what the key points are. The spirit really comes when you are able to teach simply and testify of Joseph Smith.<br /><br />We saw a lot of success this week in contacting part member families in our ward. We have been teaching 3 families this week, which I will give more detail on next week when they have a chance to progress. But all have come from persistence and consistency in contacting them, particularly the Fung family, whom I bothered at least 3 or 4 months before finally getting to regularly teach the husband Erik.<br /><br />Jacky and Jimmy are doing well. They are some of the most curious and hard to focus children I know. Teaching them is always a challenge, but a welcome one. It helps me think of more object lessons and creative ways to teach, and their whole family is really awesome (including the Dad, who's one of the aforementioned part-member families. They invited us to a BBQ at their house (I know what you're thinking, how is it done? How do you BBQ within the confines of a tiny Chinese apartment? The answer is a magical little grill stove deployed on the table. Genius) and we started teaching him.). I have a great love of double (and even triple) parentheses. Jacky was sick this week but next week may well be baptized!<br /><br />Mr. Chi is back from Mainland and we visited him a couple times, rushing to teach all the lessons before his interview this Sunday. He asks so many questions and gets so confused sometimes that I thought teaching him a short lesson would be impossible. I was right, until Sunday where we taught an awesome lesson after church which included most of the 5th lesson and was finished in 20 minutes. After that he met with Elder McEwan (also in my group) for the interview, but didn't pass because he still doesn't have enough of a personal testimony of Joseph Smith, he mostly just really believes us. Despite this I'm really really happy with this week. He enjoyed church so much and learned so much, and it was just so apparent that he felt the spirit and was enlightened by it. We're struggling now to see when he'll be able to be baptized and resolve a very foundational concern about if he should focus on his job or baptism, but I know the Lord loves him and will help him.<br /><br />Sorry for writing so much, but you know that I am a rather long-winded fellow. I know the gospel is true. I know Joseph Smith to be a prophet of God, the Book of Mormon to be His word, and I know the Priesthood has been restored. I know that God answers our prayers and in an enduring, grand, and ennobling way loves us. I know these things not only because I have prayed and searched, but because I have taught them to others and seen them change the lives of others. The greatest joy of missionary work is feeling the spirit testify through you of the truth of the Gospel to another, and knowing that you were meant to go to that one person, to speak that word, and to help that soul.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I'll have to learn at the feet of my younger brother in this aspect. I definitely have to put more effort into learning how to go on dates well. I think a lot about how you described your attitude at the end of your mission and I think that maybe we are very similar. My biggest challenge is just to enjoy the time I've got rather than stress about whether or not I've done well enough, and turn more towards the people rather than myself. Honestly I think it'd be so fun to be put into a brand new area and just spend 5 months building it up. <br /><br />I notice that in your every letter you spend most of the time describing other people in our family. I think that reflects on what you really value in life. Thanks for being such a great Dad!<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />I love that feeling of just doing something that you always sort of meant to do but never got around to doing. A couple weeks ago I had an idea to make a hanger for my towel that had sort of been puttering around in my mind for a bit, and then on P-Day I just did it! And it felt good!<br /><br />Jan Corallo was one of the most positive and happy people I knew, and a true teacher. She always had so much faith and love for us. She could have gone through the motions and taught us our technique and passed songs off, but I know she really desired us to play music, to really reach and play better than we thought we could. She believed that even a lazy and reluctant student like me could play Deux Arabesques. I think that is her most Christlike attribute, because truly, that's how Christ felt for us. I loved her, and I'll miss her.<br /><br />I think that Facebook has its origins in Heaven. Though it's a major challenge to many people, and is often over-used and abused, it's definitely one of those inventions designed to help us stay more together. Love you Mom! Don't remind me of the time!<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I think you'd appreciate this perhaps more than most, seeing as you pride yourself on having proper grammar. So I live with Elder Chan, who's a relatively newer native missionary, and who has an intense desire to learn more English. This week I've been teaching him Grammar, and really setting up a foundation for him to understand the real why of the complicated and twisted rules of English. I'm going places most English speakers never dared to dream of. I found and graphed out 12 different verb tenses, and defined the use and explained the serpentine loop-holes of the monstrous 'to'. I don't know if the terminology I'm using is correct but man he's going to get the why of the what.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />I like the idea. I could see that coming into play with a lot of products. Non-radioactive: cereal, milk, clothing, dentures, teddy bears (prey on their love of their children, you know?)<br /><br />I guess one difficulty would be if you really want to make that product work you've got to get the radioactivity down really low, and you'll have a very awkward fine-print label<br /><br />"This product contains some radioactive materials." The best you could do would be "Relatively non-radioactive vanilla" which might not be as catchy.<br /><br />There's a really cool Mormon message called LIFT.<br /><br />Ghengis Rebecca,<br /><br />Look it up.<br /><br />Sounds like the dance camp was awesome, though I have to agree with you I don't entirely understand why. I'll just say that I've been sleeping in twin bunk beds for the last 2 years and I'm a bit taller than you are. We'll totally have to work out together. I've realized that as far as physique goes, being skinny and puny before your mission is much preferable to being huge, because I’ve actually been able to become more muscled than I was before.<br /><br />Abby of the North,<br /><br />I'm so happy to hear about the weight loss. 5 pounds is a lot in one week. Usually that's what people get by the end of a couple weeks. I don't know what I'm supposed to be getting ready for right now; I'm plenty busy as is. I have three questions for you: 1. Stop counting the days! It makes my blood pressure go up 2. What does your diet consist of, and how's it been so far? 3. Do you think you will serve a mission?<br /><br />Love you all!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-53386260171833721722015-07-29T07:53:00.001-06:002015-07-29T07:53:18.871-06:00July 27, 2015 - Stop Counting Down the Days!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Honestly not too much else to report since a few days ago, but life lurches on in an unnaturally fast way. Our investigators are doing pretty well. We've taught the kids Jimmy and Jacky a total of 4 times this week, which is a ton for Hong Kong. Their lessons are so crazy, because Jacky's got no attention span and loves asking questions, and our fellowshipper always gets pulled way off track by them. Friday I was on exchanges with Elder Buss, who knows sign language, so we made sign language names for them to help them get into the lesson. They will both probably be baptized on the 9th of August.<br /><br />Brother Chi should be back from mainland this week and hopefully in the water by the 9th. Our whole ward is pretty excited for him to come back. We weren't able to meet Justin this week, because like I said last time, people are too busy here.<br /><br />We didn't find any new investigators this week, but our zone did amazing. We had set a goal for 60 at the beginning of the month, and by the 2nd week we were at about 17 or 18, so it looked hopeless. But they destroyed it this week, and the coolest part is there are a lot of historically struggling companionships that got them. Being a Zone Leader has helped me start to really rejoice in the success of others. It's not easy for me, honestly, because I'm too competitive, but God doesn't want us to beat each other up on our way home. Life can be a lot more joyful, I've found, when you turn outwards and care for others. That really hit me when I was reading Alma 26 in the Chinese 摩爾門經 about how Ammon felt about his converts. He loved them so much, it just struck me how happy he was and how focused he was on the people he served, how he wanted them to feel what he'd felt and not just to be baptized but to really endure to the end, to see them again in the celestial kingdom. I've begun to feel more of what he describes there.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />Good thing that bike riding is a low impact sport. We'll have to get some good mountain biking in when I get back. It's really cool to see how much everyone has grown since I've been gone, and just since before, I guess. Old Joseph would view that sort of hike as a Herculean task, but it's clear that Now Joseph takes on physical challenges with ease.<br /><br />I agree with you about the half-civilization thing. I think that Hong Kong people don't really get that too much. Usually when they go camping it's just to these "camps" with houses and bathrooms and everything. Not nearly as cool as the King's Peak hike or the 60 miler. It seems that though people change, you and I are still the main proponents of wilderness pilgrimages.<br /><br />I've had a couple dreams about being home on my mission, but they're usually very stressful. Mostly I dream about teaching people. Last night I was dreaming about teaching some family we're meeting today.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />Yeah, I think having a temple right here in the mission has been a big blessing. One difficulty is that I always stress about having a perfect temple trip because we can only go once every two months. I hope to go very regularly when I get back so that I can relax a bit and get more out of it. It's always very comforting, though, to be in the temple. We had interviews with our Mission President after the temple, and it was interesting how different he was from President Hawks. The biggest difference, which I think is neither good nor bad, is just that he's way more relaxed and approachable and casual. It's hard to describe the difference. With President Hawks there was a feeling of respect and soberness, with President Lam there's respect but more casual and open.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I loved reading what Dad said about your physical ease on this hike. I look at you as 2 or 3 levels evolved above Old Joseph. Like in Spore, or Pokemon, you added new abilities and your card got all metallic and shiny to show that it's now a level 9 monster, If you have sprouted giant bat wings by the time I get back I'd be a little perturbed but not surprised. As for me, I think you'll mostly just be jealous of my AMAZING 2 NEW TAILORED SUITS. They look way too nice for my head.<br /><br />The mile run was really incredibly painful. But I feel great about it now. I'm sure you could get pretty fast now if you wanted to, but it sounds like you're more of a distance running guy. What's your running schedule like?<br /><br />Try not to be too disdainful of life, sometimes there's no van to run to. You've got to learn to love the good and forgive the bad in order to be happy.<br /><br />David<br /><br />If you think a red tailed skunk bear is going to be afraid of an AR15 (of course I know what that is, where is your faith in me?) then you've got something coming. In about 78 hours. The incubation period. Of the rage. Of the <br /><br />RED TAILED SKUNK BEAR.<br /><br />Flee to the north lands, before it arrives.<br /><br />See, you're such a bad influence on me. Every week your letters make me revert to a 9 year old. That's cool to hear that you and Joseph both are in better shape. I still think of you as bones and skin and organs, but maybe I'll be surprised when I get back. Make sure you don't forget the temple trip this Tuesday. That habit will be so worthwhile in your life if you can keep it up.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />I know you're not back yet but I love you! And apparently in Dad's mind we're the same person! I did always feel that in the family you and I were really similar. The reading, the hair, the physical prowess, though I think you are a lot more diligent and disciplined than I was. Oh well, I'm taller at least. But really, I love you. Thank you for your prayers.<br /><br />The wolf-queen of the North,<br /><br />(Only she can withstand the Skunk Bear)<br /><br />I am really quite impressed at the diet thing. That is super cool. I've never gone on a diet before, though I do eat pretty healthy now a days. I like how your diet includes Pizza and was preceded by Wendy's. But really, that is so cool that you're doing that. Something I always think is interesting is how God cares about our everyday problems and desires, like a diet. He won't just magically make you skinny, but if you really pray to remember what to do and to have strength to do it, he will help you. The 2 and 3rd week are always the most important because that is where your desire and your determination are tested, and where the habit is formed. I'll be praying for you! <br /><br />Recently we've been making a ton of smoothies, and I made one on Saturday that was about 2 frozen bananas, one ring of canned pineapple, some ice, and some maple syrup, and it was amazing. But I didn't add enough milk so it was like ice cream, which I think is okay.<br /><br />Love you all! Stop counting down the days!</span>
<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-58462447157732488482015-07-23T11:23:00.000-06:002015-07-23T11:23:17.920-06:00July 23, 2015 - My Mission Has Been No Sacrifice At All!<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Well, it's been a while. Sorry, we have temple today and as usual I forgot to warn anyone.<br /><br />This week was pretty good. We have been having a bit more success getting people scheduled and taught. It's one of the big challenges here, getting people scheduled. I don't really believe that people are that busy, but there's sort of a culture of "Hong Kong People are Super Busy" that we always have to break down with common sense, daily planners, and backup plans. It doesn't help that our lessons are longer than they really should be. I'd like to teach more simply and quickly, it's something that PMG is very clear about but that is hard to put into practice. Especially because seeing someone more than once a week is abnormal here. If you want to get someone baptized and you only have one meeting a week, it's hard to fit it into 45 minutes.<br /><br />Brother Chi is probably doing great but you'd have to ask the Chinese consulate to get more info because he's still in mainland. We taught Justin again last week, and it was a great lesson (partially because, like I said before, we got it all taught in 35 minutes.) We were able to really teach out of the scriptures, and our fellowshipper (who's a recent convert) shared a lot of really great experiences that helped him a lot. He just needs to be able to get to church this next month, which is a challenge because of his work schedule. The other main thing we did this week was teach the kid Jacky and his brother Jimmy, a ton. We met them every day from Sunday to Wednesday this week. He could be ready to be baptized, but he's often yaaih, or naughty, and contrary, so it's hard to tell if he actually wants to be baptized or if it's just us trying to manipulate him. 9 year olds. Did you guys ever wonder about that when we were young?<br /><br />Our planning for Zone Training has been pretty tough. Stumped is an excellent word with no Chinese equivalent, meaning unclear or unable to figure out how to move forward. Elder Boyd included it in his otherwise Chinese prayer ending our 3 hour planning bonanza on Tuesday. But I felt a lot of peace knowing that we'd all prayed, we'd all prepared, and God certainly wouldn't drop us now. And sure enough, on Wednesday we started to un-stump ourselves (would that be a tree growing up, or finally getting the stump pulled out?)<br /><br />Something I read recently that I loved was King Benjamin's address in Mosiah 2. He spends some time listing all the things he's done and how great a king he'd been, but follows with the statement that he's not doing it to boast, but to serve God. I used to think it a bit odd how that'd not be boasting, but I realized this last read through that Benjamin simply really wants his people to know how worth it is to serve God. He's felt it, and he wants them to feel it. As a missionary we often have people tell us we're "hou san fu", such a tough life. I can say totally honestly, with King Benjamin, that I am only in the service of my God, that He's given me everything I have and am, and that my mission has included no sacrifice at all. In the words of Brigham Young, I've given up one situation for a better one. God is good, he has no obligation to repay us, but pay us he does. He's answered my prayers, he's redeemed my soul, and he's given me my family, for eternity.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />That sounds like a pretty idyllic week. I remember at Abby's birthday, you'd often mention that you remembered back before she was at school, you'd have a girl's alone morning. Now you can relive those happy days. You should read Caroline's email about grandmas in Russia; it's almost a perfect description of grandmas in China. Very weird to think of flight plans. All my friends are about to finish and I feel super weird reading their emails, because I really don't feel that old at all.<br /><br />I ran into a French less active member named Etienne while on exchanges with the Assistants. It was pretty cool. Do you have any contact with any converts or companions from your mission?<br /><br />David,<br /><br />It sounds like you and Joseph aren't too excited about this High Adventure Trip. Just remember the truism the more horrible it is at the moment, the better the story later.<br /><br />You know, every time I meet anyone who likes programming I say something along these lines, "That's cool, I don't know programming much, but my brother actually designed the engine for Counterstrike while he was in elementary school, it's just that they couldn't put his name on it because it'd be underaged labor."<br /><br />Just so you know I’m almost out of time<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I pity you. But it really is cool how much more in shape you are now. At the beginning of my mission I set a goal to run a 6 minute mile, which I've never come close to before. Yesterday, in the rain, we jogged down to the track, and with Elder Boyd and Elder Busby switching off running next to me as pacers I ran. It was horrible, incredibly painful, and I was reminded of why I hated swim meets so much, but when I finished my time was 5:47.5. I literally collapsed in the grass. <br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />That is really really early and diligent. I'm surprised and impressed. Why do you get up so much earlier than swim team? Not that I disapprove, I think early mornings are healthier, but curious. TEMPLE! YES!<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />I hope you have a fun work-out week with Mom. You should find a time to go to the temple with her. And congrats on the swim meet! As I mentioned, I hated them. But you feel so good after you know you've done your best.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />The thought I've really had recently is about a quote by President Hinckley on PMG page 93 about prayer. It's the desire and dream to feel the Spirit working through me to bless the people and help them come unto Christ. In recent days I've really come to realize that that is the truest measure of a successful missionary, and the sweetest privilege I have.</span><br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-32591291154631190242015-07-13T07:31:00.000-06:002015-07-13T07:31:04.661-06:00July 13, 2015 - Teaching the Gospel is the Most Enjoyable Thing<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Hey, my great family,<br /><br />This week was pretty good, if a little slow in the progress of investigators. I can really honestly say that I'm not trunky at all, I don't dream about going home, and I don't worry about it too much either, but I do feel a bit of time pressure helping this bunch of people get baptized already. We were able to visit Brother Chi twice this week, which has been pretty good, and our bishop got to visit him. He's quit smoking for about 11/2 weeks now, but the real challenge will come now when he goes to mainland, because people smoke a ton there. I have faith in him, though. Other than him, not too much else to report in terms of investigators. We weren't able to meet Kelvin or Jacky this week, but hopefully next week. We have one investigator from a while ago, Justin, who's really busy and hasn't been contacted for a while, but we've been giving him a scripture text each day. He met with us again recently (I was on exchanges) and he's doing great. He said that he's been reading all the verses we send him, and he now believes in Christ! The only challenge is that he's super busy with work, but miracles have happened before and they'll continue to happen.<br /><br />This week I read the Book of Jacob, and I have just been amazed at his teaching. I think that I can sum up what impresses me about him in 2 lines; 1. He is consecrated. The scripture says he and Joseph were not only set apart but consecrated as teachers. His consecration comes in his absolute commitment to God and love of the gospel, and his amazing love for the people he teaches. Read his sermons, and you can't help but feel that he is doing everything possible, using all the energy of his soul to call people to believe in Christ and be saved. 2. As a result, when he speaks, he speaks the word of the Lord. He and Nephi both have this attribute, when they teach they truly represent the Lord to those they teach. Think of the confidence, the faith it takes to really say that with conviction. That's what I want to do. This week I've been praying so hard for the Lord to give me his spirit so that I can speak his word and really help the people we teach. Teaching the gospel, when you have the spirit, is the most enjoyable thing.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />Honestly I would have welcomed some arrows, at least people would be paying a bit more attention. But honestly, I think it has some potential. Some ward member gave us an idea, if we could use a big poster with the Plan of Salvation on it, it might attract more people to stop. The best thing about soap boxing was just the conquering of fear. And the fact that I can say that I did it. Ha.<br /><br />The spirit really cultivates the delicate and wholesome things in life. Like having a really clean house. There was a tropical storm on Thursday, so we had to stay inside in the evening. We called some investigators, but first we cooked a big meal together, made oreo smoothies, and then cleaned our whole house spotless. I love having a clean house. I've noticed that as a missionary I care about you guys a lot more than before. It always makes me really happy to hear about people going to the temple or reading. My life is just focused on people keeping commitments these days. <br /><br />On Sundays we do numbers with the whole zone, and last night I just felt a bit frustrated because I really want to help the missionaries, think of some solutions to help them get more investigators, etc, but I felt like there wasn't much useful advice I could give. What did you do when you were zone leader? You have a lot more experience than I do.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />I have to tell you what I've been eating this week. It's been good. Elder Chan, who is a native missionary who lives with us, agreed to take some money from us and cook for all 5 of us in our apartment for a week. So we've been eating delicious Chinese food. It makes me realize how mediocre my normal cooking is. He made fried chicken, fried egg stuff, fried fish with corn sauce, steamed egg and chicken cake things, steamed fish, all seasoned amazingly. We wanted him to keep cooking this week but I think it almost killed him off last week.<br /><br />My food is not bad either. Recently I've made some pasta stuff with ground pork, Campbell’s cream of chicken soup, and salsa, which was delicious. This week we'll be making two types of Thai curry. It's just difficult with so little time and two companionships.<br /><br />I've been cleaning. A lot. The house'll be so clean for that week that I'm here. Oh, I found out that we might not be allowed to maintain public blogs through emails. There's a rule about using Facebook through family at home, and this might come under that. That's why Elder Boyd's blog went private. If you could make mine private for a while and I'll re-check that next week. Sorry. You could just tell everyone who's in about the private one.<br /><br />Sabbath worship is so hard for people here. Their work schedule is sometimes just ridiculous. But I've noticed that the ones who find a way to keep the Sabbath day holy are also the ones who have the happiest families, who are serving as bishops and stake presidents and quorum presidents, and who seem to have kept the missionary fire in their lives the most. I'm really grateful you and Dad made us not play video games on the Sabbath.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I haven't been running as much as I’d like to be, certainly not 6 miles. There's one route we take in the mornings sometimes that we do in about 15-20 minutes that Elder Boyd reckons must be at least 2 miles, which if so would be pretty cool. But honestly I don't know if I'll be able to keep up too well when I get back. But I will say that at the end of the run I always sprint up the hill of dreams. The first long run I went on was in 10th grade, a measly 5K, and I felt that if I tried to run at all by the end I would fall down.<br /><br />Thanks for going to the temple; honestly that means a lot to me. That goal to go every Tuesday is probably the happiest thing to me in this email. It'll be really tough, especially this first two weeks. Be aware, and plan, and commit yourselves.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />Apparently some Elder in our zone from Sweden was almost a professional Counterstrike player. My companion's dad used to be a game designer before he went into app design and started a company. It's a good business to go into, and it definitely sounds like you've got the stuff to do it. I want to ask how the process of balancing a map out goes, but I think it'll distract me. Don't tell me. Congrats on going to the temple. It's worth so much in the long run. I try to drink a full 2 liters of water every morning during personal study, which then makes me urinate many times in the morning.<br /><br />Horse Clan Chieftess Rebecca,<br /><br />It's so sad that the twins don't love the Farming Game. I guess you can't be friends anymore. Oh well.<br /><br />I've honestly never liked horses. Maybe it's my pride, maybe fear, maybe just lack of Martial arts skills, but I always am reminded that if they wanted to kill me with their legs it'd be too easy for them to. And most of my interaction is not with the actual horse but with the green stinking piles of stuff it leaves all over the hiking trails.<br /><br />Seeing as Dance is not really in session right now, what do you do to stay in shape these days? Do you rely on natural young active lifestyle, or do you do some specific work outs to keep the dance muscles strong? What time of day do you usually get up at? What do you eat for breakfast? Did anyone do night games this summer?<br /><br />The Duchess of the North (cold eyes of fury)<br /><br />Do it! Go every Tuesday! It's totally your choice! That's what's great about life and the gospel, is when you find that something can help you spiritually and lead you to be a better person, you can choose to do it. It sounds so obvious but think of how many people just wish that they were better people without realizing that they can choose to be better people today! Just like you mentioned about reading the Book of Mormon. It's okay that you haven't read a ton, that's actually why I always ask everyone. You recognized you haven't been doing it, and now you can choose to do better and gain blessings. Life is so good!<br /><br />There is almost no grass in Hong Kong, besides at the Hung Shui Kiu chapel (which looks like a random expensive Utah chapel stuck in the middle of nowhere). And even when there is lovely grass growing, they send people to destroy it with weed wackers. So weird.<br /><br />What does it smell like in Utah? What does the house smell like? What is the most stressful part of your day? What is the most relaxing part of your day?</span><br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-16243636883477416182015-07-06T16:10:00.000-06:002015-07-06T16:10:42.915-06:00July 6, 2015 - New Mission President<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Well, my excellent family, I've got some cool things to tell you this week!<br /><br />1. Mission Leadership Council: though it caused us to miss an awesome trip to Crossroads where the other Elders were assigned to clear out a house by throwing things out the windows and smashing the larger objects into throw out of window-able objects with sledge hammers (perhaps you can tell, I really missed it) it was a very very cool meeting. We had to spend quite a lot of time preparing, and we got over there more than an hour before it started because everyone's terrified of being late. I wasn't too nervous this time, having done it twice before, Elder Boyd was a little nervous. That was the first time we met President and Sister Lam, who are really interesting and incredibly nice.<br /><br />2. Zone training meeting, which I was much much more nervous for. Again, lots of time spent preparing that one. We gave a training about goal setting, discipline, and asking yourself "Who am I?" It was not bad, but the feedback we got was that it wasn't sharp or focused enough. We also had a recording that we played intermittently through the training from a Bible video of a Pharisee asking Christ "WHO ART THOU?". We thought it'd be funny and dramatic, but people didn't like it overall. Oh, well, learn something every time.<br /><br />3. President and Sister Lam: We met them at MLC and again at a 2 hour Meet the President Meeting. They are so nice! Really, incredibly open, very approachable, and humble, and frankly sometimes goofy. He's an obstetrician-gynecologist, and you could tell from the cavalier way he described them having 6 kids. They're both converts, their English is almost perfect. Oddly enough, because they learned the gospel in America, they don't know the Chinese for a lot of gospel vocabulary. They are more relaxed than the Hawks, but also very focused on the same things; exact obedience, and building us as missionaries.<br /><br />4. Soap boxing: I think every missionary has openly or secretly dreamed of soap-boxing Dan Jones style and just telling the people straight that they need to repent, but they've always been too afraid to do it or admit it. I went on exchanges with Elder Busby on Friday, and I'll be very honest, I arranged it in large part because I knew that he wanted to do soap boxing as well. So we did. We practiced at home during companion study and Elder Chan and his summer missionary Brother Lau came out and mocked us. Even practicing was terrifying, honestly, but we were undeterred. We had a dream to realize. And so we went to the Tuen Mun Park with our fold-able table, 1/2 foot stool, 8 Book of Mormons and a bunch of pamphlets, and a vision in our minds. Then we found out we couldn't set up the table in the park, so we went next to the park. The time came, I stood up on a wall, and we preached the 1st lesson for about 10 minutes. There weren't a ton of people, so we went to a bridge with a better audience, and again I stood up upon the chair and preached to them. We preached the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd lessons, as well as sharing some about families and just general concerns people have, for about an hour. If you've watched the Testaments, it was like the part where Ammoron is standing and preaching to the people and many look at him oddly before walking on, except we mostly didn't have a crowd. An old lady was the first heckler, shouting at us to "put on a hat, it's too hot and sunny today! You'll get sunburned! Drink more water! Silly young people!" We ignored her taunts and derision, and in true Biblical fashion "fear[ed] not what [we] should...drink" And sure enough, some random members came and gave us sports drink. One guy stopped to take a picture with us, and once a group of Pakistani kids came and tried to steal our pamphlets. It was so much fun, because it was terrifying and we did it until our fear was gone. I felt so uninhibited. <br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I always knew I was an amazing baby.<br /><br />It sounds like this concert tour has been pretty successful, more in the style of the good ole' European tours. Which piece of music was your favorite?<br /><br />Our investigator Brother Chi saw a miracle this week. We gave him a paper with a day by day calendar of scriptures to read and some topics to look for, and it helped him a lot. We visited on Friday and he said that he understood more about God, that he had decided that day to quit smoking and was going to go to a doctor to get some quit-smoking drugs (which he ended up not really needing) and he was really determined to keep his commitment to me to be baptized. I think it's for the right reasons as well. He brought his cousin to church, and she became a pretty good new investigator.<br /><br />We also taught a 9 year old Jacky, but this week was tough because he was sulky about not having as much time to play video games as his brother, so he decided he doesn't want to be baptized. He'll come around, his main concern still seems to be 1. water and 2. people watching him.<br /><br />Our investigator Kelvin came to church for the first time in a long while, but left after sacrament and thought it was a bit boring. He's on the brink of really progressing, I've been trying to figure out how to help him for a while now. <br /><br />We also have some less actives we're working with, including one new one named A Chung, who is 30-something, no job, just plays video games all day and lives with his parents, who worry about him a lot. He's living in denial, basically, and told us that the games were him training his reflexes. But I feel a lot of hope for him. It has also made me really afraid to play video games when I get back.<br /><br />Thanks for all your advice over my mission. I always find it really relevant. You've got a lot of quotes written in my Preach My Gospel. There're some missionaries in our zone who are sort of struggling with attitude, not obedience but just being more faithful and positive. What would you do to help them? And did you do much less active work on your mission?<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />It's good you gave me the Abby style report because she said almost nothing. I'm not too worried about the credits or the classes anymore. Recently I've been really trying to teach the zone about the principle that you can do whatever you really want to. If you decide to do it, and you spend the effort, you can basically do it. I think having an intense semester will help me focus more and exercise more faith than a relaxed one, and should help me keep a better feel for my priorities.<br /><br />Do you think you and Dad will ever do a senior mission after us kids are gone? There are some senior missionaries in our mission who are really amazing, and they play an interesting role in MLC. Sister Holbrook, the mission nurse, gave a presentation about foot health, with pictures to give motivation.<br /><br />The haircut might not be strictly allowed, but no one ever said anything about it, and it's been really comfortable. Have you gone to the temple again with the girls yet?<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />You don't understand. It's so tight I can't even lift too much or my muscles will tear some seams. The pants are fitted exactly to the legs, the sleeves to the arms in a similar fashion. The guy said Korean pop-star style. Do you hear me? KOREAN.<br /><br />I always really enjoyed teaching swim team. You need to learn to rejoice in the success of the children. I think the process Joseph Smith himself went through to prepare to have the plates and be the prophet is also interesting. His role was a lot more grand and exalted than we sometimes realize. I love the example of how he had to return to the Hill Cumorah each year on that one day to receive more instruction. I imagine that there's an untold story there about the struggle to be at the hill each year. I'm certain something came up every time. Would he choose to procrastinate until later in the day? Would he endure?<br /><br />David,<br /><br />I feel you for the blurry eye thing. It's pretty vital as a missionary that our conduct at church meetings be above reproach and an example to members and non-members, which means you cannot under any circumstances fall asleep. But sometimes it's a mighty challenge. Especially when it's all in Chinese and you have to really focus to understand. Luckily if worst comes to worst I can just make it a language study and write down words I don't know. Yes, that still happens. Regularly.<br /><br />Congrats on fulfilling the assignment! See, that's a useful thing you've learned. Now you can really tell if people are being intentionally disobedient or accidentally. How goes the game design? And are you willing to go to the temple this week?<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />Yes, questions!</span><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">How’s life going for you? </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Life for me is very good, because I know that I'm doing righteous things, and when I succeed I have a lot of satisfaction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Are you happier than you were here? </i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Am I happier? I think so, though I think it's very hard to really remember how happy one is. I feel the spirit a lot more. I feel a lot less anger and resentment towards people. I live more honestly because I don't make excuses for myself as much. I know that I'm living the commandments to the best of my ability. Does that answer it? I feel my potential is a lot more unleashed and apparent to me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Is there super weird food there? </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Yes, though it's not all Chinese. I’ll eat anything, though. A member gave us some food that had cilantro in it, and it was amazing, made me think of Mexican food. I ate some super spicy noodles this week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i> Is there one companion you liked the most? </i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">No, I can't pick one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Is there one type of food you love now? </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">I love curry with rice. It's so satisfying. I really honestly love rice. I don't know how to describe it exactly, but an average nice Chinese family meal is my favorite meal.<br /><br />When did the chicken start chasing the cat and not the other way around? I think you're just jealous because my hair is so comfortable and awesome. What crazy things did you say? I agree, I think we were very good friends before the mission. You and I are very similar, I think. Do you think you'll do a mission?<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />I'm also curious for that last question for you. And nice job giving the gift to David. You're very considerate, which is more important than we sometimes realize. I've tried to learn to be more considerate on my mission.<br /><br />What color is it in Utah right now? What is the best and worst thing you ate last week? (as in from now on) Where are you reading in the Book of Mormon?</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-12314264815075749622015-06-29T07:42:00.000-06:002015-06-29T07:42:58.967-06:00June 29, 2015 - My Velvet Smooth Cranium<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is what the barber decided to do with my hair. I didn't ask him to, he just took things (my hair) into his own hands (razor). It's not exactly within missionary standards, and maybe I look like a bit of a punk, but it's might convenient and comfortable. As I write I'm stroking my velvet smooth cranium. And I only need as much shampoo as I usually use toothpaste.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the day that Elder Little went to International and Elder Halvorsen went home.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;">Counterclockwise is ME, Elder Chan, Elder Mangrobang, Elder Little, Elder Halvorsen, and Elder Busby.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOMTsVpu7eRnI4dR89tyB5J0ssKE1igDH_4O_F2g-qgogwWSClfLkDZU4elZQAaYfio5zwldE8OCHyhTNuOryZV9g6iujyhWIcfNyBkCxgdlfwq9neLRYbOoyvckegtzbjNvK1FvIQ-3Pb/s1600/Last+picture+with+Pres.+%2526+Sis.+Hawks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOMTsVpu7eRnI4dR89tyB5J0ssKE1igDH_4O_F2g-qgogwWSClfLkDZU4elZQAaYfio5zwldE8OCHyhTNuOryZV9g6iujyhWIcfNyBkCxgdlfwq9neLRYbOoyvckegtzbjNvK1FvIQ-3Pb/s640/Last+picture+with+Pres.+%2526+Sis.+Hawks.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a picture with Pres. & Sis. Hawks I got after our meeting with the Stake President, of which I will mention shortly. I asked them if we could take it. It was terrifying.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Pretty funny email from you guys today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">This week was good, but we were really busy and we didn't have a ton of chances to go finding or teaching. Our area is still pretty good, though. Even on a sort of off week like this one, we are able to teach a lot of lessons, get some people to Church, and I really feel like our daily actions are leading towards people being baptized, step by step. We taught Brother Chi twice. The first lesson was really difficult because we couldn't really answer one question before he would start to ask another, so we didn't get much done. The 2nd lesson was nice. We based it off the Book of Mormon, and kept it shorter. The spirit was there, and I think we started dealing with his biggest issue, which is not understanding why we need the read the scriptures and not have a real personal testimony of the book of Mormon. He believes us implicitly, and is willing to keep commitments. But I can just see him being challenged by someone after he's baptized, and not having that foundation of faith to fall back on.<br /><br />We are also teaching Jacky, who's an awesome 9 year old, and is willing to be baptized but is afraid of water, Mr. Dou, who is extremely nice and humble but doesn't read too well and finds a lot of things confusing, Kelvin, who's a long term investigator but who has a lot of potential right now, because he's begun to really read the scriptures, and Amigo, who's a super cool form 5 student we found over a month ago, and just recently started teaching. This week we taught him the Restoration and asked where he lives, and he said in Tuen Mun area (Tuen Mun ward is right next to us). We were sad, but you just do what's best for them, obviously, so we turned him over. Yesterday we saw him at church and it turns out he has 2 houses, one in Tuen Mun and one right next to our Bishop. Go figure.<br /><br />As I mentioned, we had the meeting with the Stake President and President Hawks. It's a bit of a high pressure meeting, for obvious reasons. We have a paper we need to fill out (I won't go on a long rant about Chinese paperwork this time, you can look at the last email about this meeting) and despite many reminders, we had to rush to re-write and prepare a ton of sheets from the people in our zone. So much fun! But really, the meeting was cool because it's a chance to learn from real experienced and inspired ministers and administers how to do things better.<br /><br />Abby of the North,<br /><br />Maybe I'll just write you this week. I find it ironic that you call Rebecca a liar, and in the next sentence you reference the fact that you lied about why you couldn't go to the swim meet. There's some parable about that in the Bible, if I’m not mistaken. Something about motes and beams...<br /><br />You can't just say, "Hey, do you wanna play a game?" That's like if I just walk up to people and ask them if they want to be baptized. You have to teach, expound, testify, and then invite according to the spirit. "Rebecca, if we play this game, I know that it will bring peace and happiness to your life, and that you will be less bored and nauseous, and we will have some real things to talk about to Elder Morrell in his email. I know that this game has made me happy. Will you be willing to commit to play this game with me for 45 minutes? And do you have any friends that would benefit from hearing this message and playing this game?" Then you have to get her phone number and email and follow up within 2 days.<br /><br />Rebecca the Great,<br /><br />I just still can't believe that we have chickens now. And that they haven't been eaten yet. The big question that's burning within me now is, did you run when it chased you? Because if so, you're just making it more bold for the next time. I remember at the Darryl and Lorrel Morrell house Beth kicked the chickens when they chased. <br /><br />I think you just get along most with me because you only ever have to interact with me through email. I make no requirements and can't bother you more than once a week. (Though I do require you and Abby and the Brothers and Mom and Dad to go to the temple more) As it says in Robin Hood, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". But being blond surely does play its part. Recently I've been reading the book of 2 Nephi, at the very end of Nephi's ministry, and I'm struck by how he really felt his own weakness. We look at him as invincible, but he had insecurity and a carnal nature to fight against as well (see 2 Nephi 4). But I love in chapter 33, he talks about how he's able to overcome those weaknesses, and it's through love for his people, consecrated prayers, and pressing forward with a steadfastness in Christ. He had faith, he knew what was valuable, and he was exactly obedient.<br /><br />The Undemonstratable David,<br /><br />I never really did the lifeguarding during swim team and lessons shift because I was always teaching. Believe me; being in the chair is not as tiring as being within the pool of kids. Here's an idea for what you can do to not be bored.<br /><br />This week I've been trying to learn more about noticing body language, specifically sitting posture, hands, facial expression, tone of voice, and eye movement. You sit on that chair and you watch people, and look for patterns. After 3 hours, write down what you learned, and apply it the next day. Next week tell me one or two sentences about what you learned. Just do it.<br /><br />I have seen the ads for that movie, though I honestly don't have any desire to watch it. Is the trunky statement supposed to be about the movie or the dating? You sly dog...<br /><br />Joseph the Unencumbered,<br /><br />You better hope you get into that martial arts class, or life will become a endless cycle of fear.<br /><br />I remember fondly the time I spent coaching the team. My view of life has changed a lot on my mission, because now I just am always focused on chances to teach or lead others to achieve excellence. I think about it a lot, so every time someone mentions something like coaching, teaching, etc I want to do it.<br /><br />This week at Crossroads Elder Boyd and I moved several pallets of air conditioners. I don't know why it's so fun but it is. We had a moment of super-human strength as we lifted a pallet jack full of air conditioners onto a ramp. Too much fun. I just got my suits refitted; they should be picked up in about 2 weeks. I followed your advice and got a nice charcoal one. Right now it's just half a suit and covered in threads, but it looks real nice. And it's a tight fit. The guy there is an old man who is totally hilarious, and loves missionaries. He always says stuff like "Korean pop-star style, Obama style, ready to see professor now, tight at the tight spots, loose at the loose ones, so clever fit!" You'd love him.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />I weighed myself after dinner at a member’s house last night, and I am now about 145 lbs with clothes on. But you can't fatten me up because if you do I won't be able to fit into my super new Obama style suit.<br /><br />We've actually been very comfortable climate wise. It's been hot, of course, but probably not as hot as Utah, and the set-up with our room right now has got a lot of breeze. The only time I'm hot is after we return home from running, when I usually feel like there's a furnace underneath me. The Chi family really is amazing. Yesterday he had to leave church early because his daughter was really sick. She insisted on coming despite a fever, but had to go home early, and I felt impressed to tell them about priesthood blessings and we found some brothers to give her one before they left. I don't know if anything will come from it but I hope so. I love that family.<br /><br />My Cantonese is by no means perfect. I record it often and listen, so I know.<br /><br />We'll meet President Lam at Mission Leadership council on Wednesday, which by the way is his second day. No rest for the weary. Elder Boyd is a cool, sometimes goofy guy, very perceptive and good at noticing strengths and weaknesses, and very focused on Character.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />That's really similar to what we want to share in our Zone Training meeting this coming Friday (woah, that's pretty fast). We are going to focus on character and expectations, and the Book of Mormon. Specifically an Idea, which is to challenge all of our investigators and less actives as we teach them to read THE WHOLE BOOK OF MORMON! as inspired by President Hinckley’s famous invitation. Wish us luck! I really think it can help the zone, I just hope we can teach it and apply it in a good way.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-3748699267432861182015-06-27T22:11:00.000-06:002015-06-27T22:12:13.139-06:00June 18, 2015 - Letter from Br. Kwok at the Church Institute Program<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Elder Little, Elder Morrell, and a recent convert</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Elder Little and Elder Morrell with folding chairs (see letter for explanation.)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Dear Brother and Sister Morrell,<br /><br />This is Brother Kwok from Hong Kong. You do not know me but I am writing to you because I met your son, Elder Morrell, yesterday. He is a wonderful missionary and we were able to visit with a new convert sister and introduce her to the Church Institute program. Attached is a picture of Elder Morrell, his companion and Sister Nicole Li. I thought you might be interested to have a copy of this picture.<br /><br />Elder Morrell is a very dedicated missionary. He speaks perfect Cantonese! He and his companion are working hard to serve the children of our Heavenly Father. They are great example of the Gospel and I know if you were able to see what they are doing here, you will be very proud of Elder Morrell!<br /><br />I took the second picture of the two missionaries holding a folding chair - I have never seen missionaries who would bring a folding chair to teach. They told me that they are going to an appointment in a park and the long chair makes it very difficult for them to talk to the investigator face to face, that is why they are bringing a folding chair. I was really impressed. They are determined to teach and they are very focus on what they are doing!<br /><br />Thank you for your sacrifice in allowing Elder Morrell to come and serve a mission in Hong Kong. We are grateful for his dedication, and we are thankful for the sacrifice that you made! We pray for the success of our missionaries, and if there is anything we can do for you or for Elder Morrell, please feel free to let us know!<br /><br />Sincerely,<br /> <br />Kam Tim Kwok<br />Hong Kong S&I office</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-62585410278924222122015-06-22T09:16:00.001-06:002015-06-22T09:16:44.397-06:00June 22, 2015 - Staying in Castle Peak Bay <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">So, this week...<br /><br />We had transfers this week and I stayed in Castle Peak Bay as Zone Leader, but surprise surprise, Elder Little left after only 7 weeks and now I am with Elder Boyd. He's a really cool guy, relatively newer, and he has some amazing faith to see miracles. He understands a lot about attitude and character, and is very perceptive. The mission as a whole had quite a lot of changes, though our zone wasn't too much. Transfers are always pretty interesting, especially when you're the Zone Leader and you know the whole zones moves several hours before they do. But in the end no matter where you serve it's all for the same boss. I am glad to be able to stay in this ward, all the same. I am glad that I have a chance in this last transfer to really work and get some people baptized, and that I can work with the foundation that I've been building here, not in a prideful sense (I hope ) but just that I'm glad that I can have a chance to finish the work I started and was called to do in this ward.<br /><br />On Wednesday we went to Crossraods to serve and we were loading freight into trucks and shipping crates in the heat of the day, which really was oddly fun. I had to take off my glasses because I was sweating too much and they kept falling off, but for some reason it made me really want to work in a warehouse or at a port loading stuff. Don't worry, on the way home I talked to some electrical/computer engineer and it renewed my desire to be an engineer.<br /><br />Our missionary work this week went pretty well, but we didn't get anyone really scheduled until the last half of the week, so we were sort of scrambling to teach everyone and achieve our goals. Church was really cool, because we had a relatively new investigator Amigo there (no one knows how to say his name or what it means, including him) and we finally got to see and teach Brother Chi again. He's back from Mainland, but he's still got some struggles. He doesn't understand really how to read the Book of Mormon, and I think because of that he still has a lot of things that he doesn't really understand about the essence of the gospel, but his desire is still good and he's totally trusting of us and willing to be baptized. This week we are going to help him get that testimony and love of the Book of Mormon, and I can see it just turning the key on him getting baptized. I'm pushing for July for his family. They're so cool.<br /><br />There are a lot of high school kids more available now because testing just finished, like Amigo. I can see some really great things coming this week. This is also President Hawks' last week. We meet with the Stake President and him on Thursday, hopefully I can get a picture with him. He's influenced me so much on my mission.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />It's always really weird to be home alone. I didn't buy a blue suit, just a light grey and a dark grey. The place just has too many choices, and the more you look the more they all look bad. I got to choose the inside fabric, which is bright blue and red anti-respectively. I hope you approve...<br /><br />I saw your schedule and was disturbed that the only science related class was political science...<br /><br />Today I read a really cool talk by Elder Ballard from when he was a 70 about discipline and goal setting. I think that's a strength you have, and I'm really trying to apply that in my life more now. My biggest problem is usually just focus over a long term, and narrowing down goals to a manageable number. I really want to apply that because I feel really driven to make the best use of the time I've got left. <br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I think that at this point in my mission I really understand what you meant by the longer you are out the less you want to go home, and also about feeling a bit panicky. I really really wish I had more time to do better or do more. That's actually been a big struggle for me this week, because I realized that up till now my mission has been sort of selfish in that I mostly serve for myself; for what I want to have done on my mission, or what I want to become, or what I think my potential is, and sometimes what I think I appear to other missionaries or how I measure up to them. I'll worry about how well I teach, but the main reason might be because I worry I don't teach as well as some other missionaries or as well as I could have, not because I want to help people more. Now I'm really really trying to turn more to the people. It's not that I haven't cared about people before; I think that over my mission I've really come to care a lot about the people we talk to and how to help them. But maybe the main focus and the goals I set are more for me. So I'm trying to change. I wish I had more time, but I know that regretting things or wishing or worrying is totally useless, so I resist. But it's easy to say I definitely don't want to be home sooner.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />Yeah, that's one thing that I think that President Hawks has done an amazing job of, is that he has instilled in the mission an attitude where major disobedience just seems absurd, and being really uptight about small rules is not looked down on but looked up to. I think there are a lot of missionaries who don't fully understand the blessing of obedience, but there are very very few who are blatantly disobedient, and it seems to be less and less as time goes on.<br /><br />The farming game is a pretty great game. Thanks again for all the work done with my school stuff. It seems like it'll be a pretty smooth transition. The weather recently has been pretty warm, but honestly I quite enjoy it. The days where it doesn't rain, it's super bright, and about 34 Celsius are really quite bright and happy if you're outside and not inside. Chinese people, on the other hand, seem terrified of any weather condition and seem to only desire to have 20 Celsius and cloudy days. Sometimes old people will outragedly shout at us to get under the shade because it’s too bright. They seem personally offended by our standing in the beautiful sunshine. Oh, Hong Kong.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />You just need to blow harder. I remember at the beginning of my mission I would try to stop people and literally be terrified. It was the worst thing ever, and I would often hesitate, or sort of half heartedly talk to them, which they would often not hear or ignore. Many people still ignore me, but I feel totally entitled to talk with them, stop them, and share with them. That was one reason why I started talking to people on buses, was to develop that ability.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />How could you not want to go on the vacation? It's the cabin, it's like a paradise. Plus everyone knows that it's Dad's future retirement home. You’ll have to get used to visiting when he drags Mom off to live in seclusion after he retires.<br /><br />I think feeling bored is a product of having an I-Phone. It’s a curse, not a privilege, I tell you.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />I'm sorry, I'm almost out of time, but I really really love and appreciate your descriptive letters. It's a really great thing to be able to really hear about how your life actually is. Do you keep a journal? If so how big is it? Because I imagine that you could fill a lot of journals if you started. That'd be pretty cool. There was another 12 year old girl at some activity on Saturday who went out finding with us missionaries (another companionship) and I was with some 12 year old boy, and imagining if you were out finding. It'd be interesting.</span><br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-20751173496083373892015-06-15T09:40:00.001-06:002015-06-15T09:40:45.611-06:00June 15, 2015 - Gospel is True for All People; English, Cantonese, or Sign Language Speaking Alike<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">Hello Family!<br />...<br /><br />Well, I thought something'd happen...<br /><br />Anyway, this week was pretty great; though I'm sure you could have guessed that. If I suddenly started an email saying this week was awful I'd be interested to see what the response was. This week started out a little bit slow because we just couldn't get any of our investigators scheduled for the first half of the week. In Hong Kong we usually only meet about once or twice a week, which is tough. As we did weekly planning on Thursday I was feeling that we had no chance for our goals for member presents or full lessons, but in the last 3 days we pulled through. <br /></span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">But I wasn't there for part of it because I went on exchanges with Elder Shipp in Yuen Long, which is about the most rural part of Hong Kong (though still more densely populated than Utah in most parts). That exchange was really cool because Elder Shipp and Elder Buss are specially assigned to cover the deaf investigators in this half of Hong Kong, and they speak sign language. Yes, I learned much sign language. There originally weren't any deaf lessons scheduled, but we sent out a mass text at 10:00 PM and got 2 people scheduled. They were such interesting lessons. Hong Kong sign language is not ASL, it is based off Cantonese words, but there's basically no grammar. Actually a pretty intuitive language, so I was able to pick up a tiny bit and participate in a good part of the last lesson. I love watching deaf people tell stories. It's so much better than speaking, and it's loud because they tend to make little noises without realizing it and a lot of signs involve fist punching and smacking, which gets super awesome if you have an intense story. In conclusion, the gospel is true and the way of living for all people, English, Cantonese, or sign language speaking alike. <br /><br />Saturday I went back to the world of the hearing, which was fine. We had a good day, taught some lessons, and went LA finding. Sunday was great; we had a really powerful church meeting. A returned missionary spoke and made me all nervous because everyone will be expecting a really good homecoming talk which I may or may not give. Our Bishop was getting pretty intense as well, calling people to repentance Book of Mormon style. We taught a lot of lessons on Sunday, which helped us achieve our goals and really helped some people work towards baptism, and had some great chances to do numbers in the evening. I've really been impressed recently with the importance of love in teaching and leading, and the power that it brings. The Missionary Handbook has a great section on leadership that really inspired me to do a better job during my numbers reports.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />I went to EFY once and OYA twice, because OYA is in my mind superior to EFY, but both are good. Sort of like a microcosm for a mission, which is in turn a microcosm of life. It sounds like you may really have found a good direction for your efforts. I like your comment on it taking time, which is very true. President Hawks talked about that in our last MLC, about how the most important and meaningful achievements in our lives cannot be done quickly, it takes a lot of time. Honestly, would you want to be able to learn it all in one day? It'd be easy, but not very meaningful. I'm trying to read through the Book of Mormon in Chinese and it's extremely difficult, because it takes a lot of time and effort. But I have a vision and a really strong desire to achieve that goal. And I'm going to do it no matter how hard it is, even if I have to spend 10 hours on the plane ride home (I will not take that long, hopefully.) <br /><br />One of the big lesson that my mission has taught me is that with time, you can accomplish really great things. Like Joseph with the film festival, or Rebecca with Dance, or Abby with her end of school party planning, or you with the Mod. In the summer, you've got lots of time and there are a lot of really cool things that you can just do, if you decide to do it. So learn how those codes work, learn it until you are an expert in them, and you'll be able to do a job you love for the rest of your life.<br /><br />Along with that lesson comes the lesson of what things are really worth spending that time and doing. Scripture study, really applying yourself to prayer, temple worship (see President Monson's address, I just re-read it this morning and it's cool) and service are goals that will make your life so much more rich than you can even imagine it being, if you are willing to apply the time and effort necessary to it.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />Our investigators are doing okay this week. Brother Chi is still in Mainland, but we taught Sister Chi before church. It was cool, because recently we feel that she's not been developing the kind of desire for remission of her sins that she needs to really progress. We did a role play with some junior missionaries during language pass offs this week, and I pretended to be her, and had a thought about a possible concern she might be having. Then in the lesson, I was just really really hoping that we could show her that we care about her more and listen, and she shared some really great stuff about how she's feeling about the message, etc. Big progress.<br /><br />We are teaching a kid Riis who is sort of arrogant, and had a really intense lesson about humbling why we are obedient to God's commandments. He at one point proudly declared that he was not a child and was a "Hong Kong young generation person (sorry, bad translation, it didn't sound so odd when he said it). We'd been reading King Benjamin's address, and so I told him to re-read Mosiah 3:19, which seemed too perfect for the situation. The scriptures really came alive in that lesson.<br /><br />Kelvin is doing okay; we had another pretty good lesson with him. He has some problems still because his faith still isn't great enough that he's willing to trust God in keeping commandments. It's interesting because you can see a sort of struggle, where part of him wants to find justification and be lazy, and part of him really wants to be a better person and change his life. Two quotes from the lesson, about 5 minutes apart "I think just smoking less and drinking less coffee is probably enough, right?" "My biggest desire is to quit smoking". But he really got the idea that he needs to start reading every day, so I have high hopes for him,<br /><br />We're teaching a 9 year old named Jacky, who's a bit yaaih (like naughty but less formal) but really clever. I taught him plan of salvation on Sunday, and despite lots of discussion about what color spirits are and the details of outer darkness, he understood really well. He doesn't want to be baptized though, because he's afraid of water.<br /><br />We had a newish investigator named Andrew at church; he was turned over from the Tuen Mun Elders, and seems really good. He came despite serious family disapproval. I haven't taught him a lesson yet, though, so don't know much else.<br /><br />Justin is another really cool new investigator. We taught him on Monday, and I felt impressed to ask him to be baptized and give him a date, both of which he accepted. It strengthened my testimony that our purpose is to help these people be baptized, not just teach and find them.<br /><br />The feeling that I've gained about finding is just how related our faith and our finding are. I really feel in CPB I learned a lot that by really exercising faith when we find, we can see miracles, and help a lot of really needy people. It's changed how I feel about finding. And maybe it helps that we only find for 13 or 14 hours a week instead of 40-50, like at the beginning of my mission.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />A diet based of eating vegetables defeated you. I do find that believable, but I've got to say I really enjoy vegetables here. Remember Chard, that weird green stuff that Dad said he really liked eating as a kid? We have a lot of stuff like that here and it's delicious! When we go to cross roads on Wednesday they feed us dinner, and my favorite part is always the vegetables. I'll cook some for you when I get back and you'll love them. Oh, by the way, at cross roads this week I replaced another air conditioner, and in the process drilled holes through a steel bar and a concrete wall. i don't know why they trust us so much there.<br /><br />I am so happy to hear about the temple trip! Don't let anything stop you from going! And make your brothers go as well. Who are the missionaries in the ward right now? And what was it like having them over? Honestly I feel that when we visit people who have family out on missions they always brag to us about how much better their children are than us, but that might just be insecurity.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />The diet reminded me of an interesting experience this week. We were waiting for an investigator, who didn't end up showing up, but we talked to some skinny guy on a bench. He turned out to be from Vietnam. He didn't speak much Chinese or English, but we figured out that he came here to work, but couldn't get a job because he doesn't have an i.d. card, and has no home, no money, hadn't eaten in 3 days, couldn't find his friend because his phone had no power. I don't know if he was exaggerating, but I think he was telling the truth. He said there was a place where you could get free food over in Sham Shui Po but he didn't have any money to get over there. It sounds like he was begging, but we sort of pulled all this information out of him. He was just sitting on a bench, and honestly he seemed like he was just waiting to die. No will, no hope. We're not supposed to give away much money but I gave him some personal money so he could get to Sham Shui Po. <br /><br />Last week they invited me to play the piano, and I was quite nervous because my practice has been sparse, but I said a prayer and played not flawlessly, but acceptably. So I feel you, Mom.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />I'm just going to say, that whole process sounds an awful lot like how we used to play RISK... But you should start in Australia or Germany, not the US.<br /><br />Why do you throw up so much? Just keep it in, girl! Food belongs in the stomach and the bowels, not the toilet!<br /><br />But in all seriousness congratulations on the dancing. Like I mentioned in David's email, it's an example of what can happen when you are willing to put in serious time and effort. And have the attitude "First I become a very respected and loved politician, I know that’s going to be hard but I can do it."<br /><br />Church will always have something new if you look for it.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I like the Martial Arts class, though I fear it will become a regularly scheduled forum where you can beat me and not be punished.<br /><br />Hopefully that elicited a chuckle.<br /><br />I think the real principle of the credit hours thing is that every hour there precludes more than an hour of homework later, and the intensity is measurably higher than in High School. So 18 hours sound quite nice to me. Are you doing a language there at all? In fact I'm curious what differences your and my schedules have. Math together should be fun, you can help me out. I feel university is going to be a great period of humbling for me. Especially if we learn Judo in the martial arts class. <br /><br />The film contest sounds really cool. I've never heard of a "buddy movie" before but I guess it's a bit self explanatory. <br /><br />How's the study of Preach my Gospel going? Recently I've been researching really in depth about what the real purpose or goal behind each principle in the chapter 3 lessons is, so that I can better understand how to teach them. I just finished lesson 3 today. Teaching the gospel is so interesting; it's such a deep and amazing topic to learn about. Becoming a powerful gospel teacher is the coolest skill to have and the most demanding subject to study. It's so fascinating. You and Dad would really like the Elder Bednar teaching videos I mentioned last week. And you can even watch them on Sunday!<br /><br />P.S. Props for the Sabbath observance, bro.</span><br /> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-91370064405692349062015-06-08T09:39:00.001-06:002015-06-08T09:39:11.711-06:00June 8, 2015 - The Revelation Train<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Happy Birthday Mom!<br /><br />We had a really great week this week. There were a couple reasons, but most aspects of our missionary work were really good.<br /><br />1. Mission Leadership Council and our subsequent zone training meeting. In MLC, as you may remember from last month, we give a report of our zone's numbers and our upcoming goals and actions. We always struggle to think of what we're going to do until we get on the train towards Kowloon Tong, so we call it the Revelation Train. This was President and Sister Hawks' last MLC with us. Elder Little and I will have one more meeting with him there, when we meet with the stake president this month, but it's really weird to think of him being almost done. In true President Hawks style, there was no real difference on the meeting, until the very end when he pointed out that next month as we're meeting with President Lam they'll be getting on the plane. Everyone got a bit choked up.<br /><br />The following Friday our Zone Training went way better than the first one, which was a real blessing to me, I felt that last time my training and the overall meeting weren't that good, and I was really afraid, honestly, that I'd start my training to the junior companions and choke or fail or something. But it was really good, and I really feel that God answered my (fervent desperate constant) prayers about it. I feel like I'm becoming a lot more comfortable being Zone Leader recently, though there's still a lot to learn.<br /><br />2. This week was really great in terms of missionary work, specifically in terms of finding new investigators. We had a lot of people who we contacted a while ago and couldn't teach find us again, and had a lot of really cool finding experiences. For example, Saturday evening. We went finding and right at the beginning saw a blind guy in a mall and helped walk him home, which put us in the path of a cool 20ish year old guy who'd met missionaries before and agreed to sit down for 15 minutes and talk. In 15 minutes we were able to really feel that he wants to be more wise in his life and change, shared a scripture from Mosiah 4 (see if you can figure out which one) and felt the spirit strongly. He didn't reschedule, but it was a sweet moment, and literally 1 minute after standing up from the bench we taught on we met Mr. K, who's from Mainland (speaks Cantonese) and is really lonely, stressed, and worried about his family and son in Mainland. Another really sweet, simple lesson to an incredibly humble man, that really helped him. He rescheduled, thus achieving the goal we set for finding that day.<br /><br />3. Recently I've been spending time during my journal writing each night writing down 10 things I'm thankful for that day, which I've tried before, but not as sincerely as this time, and it's an amazing blessing. I really recommend and invite everyone to try it, do it for a week, and really put some thought into finding something relevant to that day that you're truly grateful for. It's so worth it.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />Last week we also had this Sabbath Day meeting, though ours was just held in the combined 3rd hour class. It was a really productive conversation for us as well, and I really like that our bishop did it that way because it gave a good place for everyone to think about what they could be doing better without feeling too condemnatory. Honestly there's a lot that could improve in that aspect in Hong Kong sacrament meetings. Phones go off regularly, and for some reason the culture here is to answer your phone and half whisper to the person "Hey, I can't talk. Yeah, I'm at church. No, I'll get it later. I can't talk, really."<br /><br />It is definitely something that I've learned about during my mission. If I really concentrate and work hard, I can always get some really important and precious revelation out of church services.<br /><br />Those classes at BYU sound just about right. I still can't really decide for the Civ class, I think I'd really enjoy both. I've also been thinking recently about a creative writing class, though I'll probably do that later rather than this semester. I'm glad that you're so willing to help me pick these so that I don't have to think too much about them.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />Somehow it's hard for me to imagine you and mom on a diet, let alone a wacky one. I usually just imagine you biking or something. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I continue to fake as a bike expert, thanks to my brief stint at mountain biking and my knowledge of the word 'fixie".<br /><br />The Chi family is still doing okay, but it's really hard to help Brother Chi because he goes to Mainland for so long each month. He's got some complicated questions or misunderstandings about why we have commandments and sometimes we fall into the trap of trying to answer them for him, rather than helping him get his own answer. Sister Chi is doing okay, she hasn't been reading a ton, but she loves church and has a lot of friends, and already wants to be baptized. We're just trying to help her move from a social/practicality reason to a real faith in the atonement and testimony of repentance reason.<br /><br />Kelvin is doing pretty well, though he didn't come to church yesterday because he woke up late or felt lazy. That's really his only weakness, is keeping his willpower up when things get inconvenient. But he's progressing well, and now has a baptismal date again.<br /><br />Then there are the tons of new people, but there are too many and I'll just wait till they're really progressing before I say more.<br /><br />I remember you mentioned a while ago about how you discovered how to ask questions to teach people. That's something that I sort of trained on in Zone Training meeting. I taught all the junior companions how to ask more questions, give the investigator some significant time to speak, and by listening and follow-up questions discover what their real need for the doctrine is so you can promise them blessings and give commitments that are really inspired, from the spirit. There're some really cool videos about gospel teaching on the Mormon channel by Elder Bednar, I think you'd like them a lot.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />Which game was this again. the one where you are invisible or the map with an office and courtyard? I hope you have a good time at EFY. President Hawks always juxtaposes (see I still speak English good) a mission with EFY, in regards to intensity and difficulty.<br /><br />I think the only other thing that you need to know from this week is that on the way to the library I met a mom and her 6 or so year old son, the mom was named Psyche (pronounced psych-ee) and the kid was named Bulgy (after the orange bus in Thomas the train engine). So there.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />It's weird to think that I'll have living expenses that I have to work for. I'm sort of used to just doing stuff and having money come to me when I need it, without any real correlation. Though we figured the average hourly wage that we're making once, and it's pretty small. At least I've learned to live and work very very cheaply. This week my grocery bill was about $12.<br /><br />Honestly I don't think I'll even need a T.V. and I won't need too much of a computer. The list that I told you guys to keep will probably go mostly un-used.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />That must be so tough. I do get your reasoning, though. It is important to choose what friends you hang out with because you can't choose to not be influenced by the friends you choose to associate with. I'm glad that at least your standards are high. But here's a cool thought; maybe it wouldn't be good to go with them to their parties, but you could invite them to some things with your friends. That way you can one-by-one give them a better atmosphere and better influence, while simultaneously increasing your circle of influence and preparing yourself for world domination. I imagine that though they may be gold digging, they do really look up to you and care about your opinion and reaction to what they share with you, and maybe they’re secretly disappointed when you decline. I don't know, I was never that popular, but I think it's interesting to think of what you could get done. There's a book by a guy named Clay Christensen called "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" or something like that and it's really interesting.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />Stop saying see you soon, it freaks me out. I assume you mean on Minecraft. It's funny to think that you still play Minecraft. I haven't seen it in a while. There's a cool guy who's from the UK and is here every Monday doing something on the computer and walks around in the library without shoes on. He knows how to live. I bet you're looking forward to running around without shoes on. Are you going to try Mom and Dad's wacky diet? Did you go to the temple again? Love you!<br /><br />Love you all!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-26251901723046980932015-06-03T09:27:00.001-06:002015-06-03T09:27:36.832-06:00June 1, 2015 - The Book of Mormon's Got an Answer for Everything<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sorry it's not much, but this is what I love to eat. Grapes and fried rice. The fried rice is delicious, I'll make it when I get back. You don't need any seasoning powder, that's a lie. grapes are a bit expensive but so good. I was totally out of money this month, which is not like me. But some random couple bought us lunch one day so I was saved.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I want to clarify the one sentence thing last week was pretty funny, I was just a bit surprised.<br /><br />Well, there's really not a ton that I can report on since last Wednesday. We had a great trip to the temple, as always. I think I've mentioned this to Abby before, but I love the feeling that you have as you leave the temple, like you just have no desire to do anything bad...Mosiah 5:2. The Book of Mormon's got an answer for about everything.<br /><br />One of the more fun responsibilities that we have as Zone Leaders is language evaluations. I may have mentioned before, but Language Evaluations are when we meet with the newer missionaries and role play with them, and they pass off a sheet with 13 different lessons from Preach My Gospel to ensure that their language and teaching skills are up to snuff. It's been really cool to do because as a Zone Leader, there are a lot of people that we are responsible for, and we don't have a ton of chances to train everyone one by one. But in language pass-offs we can see how all the junior or younger missionaries are teaching and speaking and give some good training. I've really enjoyed that aspect of being a Zone Leader recently, because I don't think I was good at it when I started. In fact, it was a bit terrifying because I felt like I didn't know how to help or train them. But now it's becoming better.<br /><br />Our Mission Leadership Council and Zone Training are coming up again, so lots of things to plan for. It's tricky sometimes, because I have to learn which ideas are just me wanting to do them, and which are really what the zone needs. There’s a big lesson to be learned in humility and real leadership. Yeah. Translation: there's an idea that I really want to do but I think it'll be replaced so I have to let it go.<br /><br />The Chi family is still about where they were last week, though we had two pretty good lessons with Brother Chi. He just has a lot of topics where he's confused on or has some misunderstanding, so we've been practicing really listening to him and trying to find ways to resolve his real concerns. This Sunday after church we had a cool lesson with him and a returning less active, and answered some questions about the Book of Mormon, and the whole idea of forgiveness after repentance. I was impressed by two things, 1) the Book of Mormon has soooo many important answers in it, and 2) God is really merciful and will forgive all who will accept the Atonement with real intent. Kelvin is still doing pretty well. We had a lesson with him and he had learned so much from the scriptures that we gave him to read beforehand that we didn't really need to even teach. He seems in a position to really change and be baptized. Found a couple new people, but had a lot of people not show up or cancel for appointments. Such is life.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I think you may be right. I don't think that one Zone Leader would really be able to do it alone. Or if they did they wouldn't get much else done. We started a goal last week of having 5 days a week where we plan out 2 hours of consecrated finding time, and treat it as a non-negotiable appointment, and it's been really cool to see some miracles happen from it. On Saturday we found a guy in the last 10 minutes or so, which is often the case. The biggest things that it's done have been 1) it makes us keep doing finding, which is sometimes hard with zone leader things, and 2) it really makes you work and focus absolutely on the goal you set for that time. Really cool.<br /><br />Mom<br /><br />The weather has been quite nice recently, about 33 degrees Celsius, and above 70% humidity. It's been funny because the train stations all have sign for when the train will arrive, and if there are weather emergencies like heavy rain or what have you, they will display them. On Thursday it started saying "Very hot weather warning". So Chinese. Honestly it's not even that hot. You have to drink a lot of water and you'll sweat a lot, but in short sleeves it's very bearable. In the apartment it's sometimes rough, but we have AC in the evenings. Chinese people are just very afraid of the weather. Today we're going to Kowloon to get our temple recommends renewed.<br /><br />That would be nice to be able to hear Stanford Cline’s talk. If it's convenient we could change, but if not I don't care too much. The only sad thing is that he won't be able to hear mine. Ha ha.<br /><br />I feel like you always get guilt-ed in to things like this.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I recall being less than enthusiastic about Graduation as well. Honestly looking back I think seminary graduation is much more meaningful than high school graduation. At this the end of your illustrious secondary academic career I am confident accolades are being showered upon you by adulatory fans school and state wide. <br /><br />What classes are you going to be taking? You are generally more expert in this sort of data acquisition and analysis, so your perspective may be of value to me.<br /><br />Don't say the word crap, we'll be roommates before too long and it won't go down well. <br /><br />David,<br /><br />That's a finely written talk, my boy. My favorite part is the line "If you feel unhappy about a commandment, pray for a change of heart to help you obey." That’s a real deep insight on the real reason that we pray, I think. In a talk that I gave in our sacrament meeting a couple weeks ago, I mentioned something similar along the lines of "You can always have faith that a prayer to overcome temptation is a righteous desire, and as the Savior taught in 3 Nephi 18 if you ask for that in faith, and are willing to do your part on it (e.g. pray with real intent) you will see miracles occur."<br /><br />The jokes, of course, are the real meat of the talk.<br /><br />I think that's a great insight about half-hearted obedience as well. I can testify as a missionary (and D&C 4 is a great missionary scripture) that if you serve your mission half-heartedly you will miss so many precious blessings. There is so much happiness in store for us if we can but learn to obey and truly seek to do the Lord's will. I know that I was definitely not perfect in this aspect before. I recall my attitude towards collecting fast offerings on summer days as being rather less than inspiring. But all the same I'm really grateful that at that time I was given a chance to serve, and I'm glad I chose to obey then because it helped me prepare to learn the spirit of obedience on my mission.<br /><br />I don't want to be preachy, but I think a sincere reflection over our own lives, our duties, our motives, the rules we've been given (whether they be from heaven or from parents) and our level of obedience and devotion to them, would be a real valuable chance to be taught by the spirit. If we do it prayerfully and with a real desire to follow Christ more fully, I know that God will help us see how we could more fully obey his law. The sign of a great talk is real growth in the hearers (or the speaker nudge nudge wink wink). Thank you for the taih sing (I don't know how to translate that, it means like reminder but also a sort of recommitting or taih sing-ing of ourselves, leveling up?), David.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />Honestly I never thought our family could be considered rich enough to have people gold-dig around us. That’s an odd thought. Oh the trials of being popular and pursued by the many, your life must be so hard, Rebecca.<br /><br /> Just remember that those people all have fears and worries of their own, and though some may be very fake, some might really need a good friend or a good example. Hyrum Smith has a cool quote that goes something like "Charity is separating the man from his actions." Or in other words being able to love people despite what they do. I don't mean to sound judgmental or preachy, it's just I remember feeling the same way as you do towards some people. Sometimes while finding you'll talk to people who seem really sarcastic or cynical or uninterested, and then for some reason, maybe because we're missionaries or maybe the spirit, they just break down into tears and share some really heavy burdens with you. You’re a great example to your peers, Becca. Don't forget or underestimate the good you can do with your example. This last week of school may not be academically productive but I'm sure if you ask God's got some things that you could do.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />Thank you for ever detailed exposition of the current events back home. The stalling added nicely to the suspense. Well done. It's really funny to meet 12 year olds, because every time I talk to a kid who's 12 I think of how you are the same age. Very very odd. Usually they don't play violin as well as you or write with nearly the same descriptive power. Also kids in China are really really small, usually. They don't eat enough, sweat too much in the summer, and spend too much time taking tutorial classes, so they all look scrawny and bony. I swear you could take on two average 12 year olds from here in a fight and win. <br /><br />By the way, now that the summers coming and you're more free, you should use your considerable planning skills and plan a trip to the temple again...<br /><br />Love you all!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-68913809539516868102015-05-27T13:17:00.000-06:002015-05-27T13:17:14.724-06:00May 27, 2015 - I Was Spit Upon!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, that was a pretty anticlimactic email. I don't know exactly why you all sent me one sentence emails (I assume time was short? Or you don't love me?), but I would have thought in the next 2 or 3 days you would have reconsidered and sent more ( Or you don't love me?). It's fine. I'm not bitter.<br /><br />This has been a pretty cool week. We were really busy last week with some Zone Leader stuff. We meet with the Stake Presidency every month or so, and discuss all the ward's needs and all the recent converts (RC) and such. Lots of paperwork to fill out from every ward. Let me explain why paperwork is so hard here. Everyone has a Chinese name, which we missionaries usually know as a sound nice and neatly coded in our Romanization system. But for official purposes, that Romanization is 不得 (not allowed). There is a specific British ping yam or Romanization that the government uses that doesn't actually describe the sound at all (just like Kowloon Tong is not close at all to the Chinese name) but is basically randomly decided at birth and can usually be guessed, unless the person is from Mainland originally in which case it reflects the Mandarin pronunciation which will be totally unfamiliar to us. <b>Difficulty one</b>.<br /><br /><b>Difficulty two</b> is that we need not only the English name but the Chinese characters, which many missionaries don't know how to write, which are difficult to look up, and which may have multiple different characters for the same sound. There's a little girl who's an RC in our ward with the name 靜 Ching, but there are 3 Chings with the same sound and the same meaning.<br /><br />Then add in that we need to find confirmation dates and priesthood ordination dates and home teachers and ages for each one, and that Elder Little and I have to collect all of them from a whole zone of very young missionaries, and it gets tricky. But honestly I love it; it's oddly fun to struggle through.<br /><br />Our tri-panionship is now broken up; Elder Busby is training a native named Elder Chan, who is hilariously paranoid about eating left-over food because he's sure it will make us sick. <br /><br />Other news, we had an awesome day on Monday. It was Buddha's birthday, so everyone was free, we met with two kids to eat lunch together and they opened up with "So what's the difference between your church and other churches?". We found them because I had bumped into one of them on 3 different occasions, and he felt like there was some real fate working there.<br /><br />We've been planning our next Zone Training recently, which is going much smoother than last time, though we still take a long time to plan. Honestly our Zone is struggling with new investigators, so we're working on how to fix it.<br /><br />And last but not least, I was spit upon! Yes, just like it says in the scriptures! I walked up to talk to an old man in a train station and he shouted something (probably profanity) and then spit upon me (though luckily it was blocked by my umbrella). He probably meant to insult me; I was rather honored by it. The scriptures take on a whole new meaning. I just need to be stoned now.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />The weather this week has been pretty crazy. It has rained more than Utah will in a whole year, I can guarantee. I don't know why, but people here are really scared of rain. And everyone always just says, "Hey, it's raining!" even when it's really obvious. So we do as well. It rained "Black Rain" on Tuesday, which means that it's big enough to flood things and close businesses. But the warning got canceled pretty quickly and we weren't where the action was.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />So our investigator A Chung who changed his name to A Lai just keeps standing us up and being flaky, so we're not scheduling him this week to see if he'll find us on his own or not. The Chi family is doing okay, but Brother Chi was feeling pretty stressed out because of how many commandments there are, and by the pace we were teaching. We had a really good lesson where we just listened, understood him, answered some questions, and resolved his concerns. Really sweet lesson.<br /><br />This week we also taught a cool part member family, and last week one of our RC's, A Yung, brought both her kids to church, and we taught one of them last night. So things are going well, but we definitely need some more people progressing towards baptism.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />Your comment reminds me of Omni 1:9.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />Make a water feature in the court yard and call it de_water.feature.SUPERBOSS<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />Congratulations on making Dance Company. I don't know exactly what that entails but I do know that I saw them perform in many an assembly Though I don't understand dance, I do understand hard work And excellence It's a habit, not an event This is one sentence because there are no periods!<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />I suppose the birthday party planning you sent me last time was so accurate and complete that there was no need for the typical detail rich Abby report.<br /><br />One last message for 大家, which being translated is big family, or everyone.<br /><br />We're about to go to the temple. I'm not the best example of temple worship because before my mission when I had lots of opportunities to go, I squandered them. And I feel there is still a lot I can do to recognize and receive all the blessing of the temple now. But I do know that it is a great blessing to have a temple on the earth. I look forward today to taking my questions and concerns and having a place to meditate and ponder about them. It's just a chance to put down my problems, serve another, and have spiritual rest. Go to the temple often and together if you can, and just enjoy the atmosphere. It's a free gift to us.<br /><br />Elder Morrell</span><br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-6781462411534925762015-05-18T10:05:00.002-06:002015-05-21T11:23:06.117-06:00May 18, 2015 - Man, I Wish I Had More Time! 我愛你們! (I love you all!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Hello, dear family. I've written a lot of email to you over the course of my mission; do I really need to keep sending them? You could re-read some of my old ones. I'm sure that there's lots of good stuff there. I used to complain a lot more consistently about you guys reading scriptures and going to the temple.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />This week was super awesome, or, as we say in China, chiu kap sai leih. Obviously it was nice to talk to all of you on the phone, and later that day we had a miracle member present lesson that scheduled itself at the end of our P-Day. On Tuesday we had 6 lessons scheduled, though they didn't all come through. 6 lessons in one day is a lot of lessons. Recently we've not had a lot of time to go finding, which stands in stark contrast to the start of my mission. I remember back then most of our days were just finding, for at least 3 or 4 hours. If we get 2 hours straight now we count it long and blessed. Honestly if we actually spend an hour for lunch and an hour for dinner we call it a slow day. On Wednesday, for example, we did language evaluations for every new missionary in our zone, which took about 3 hours. I feel super weird doing language pass offs because I don't really look at myself as being qualified. It’s interesting.<br /><br />This Thursday we had our Zone Conference, where President and Sister Hawks train us. It is President Hawks’ last Zone Conference. He's an amazing guy. I've never met anyone so passionate about obedience. To call him strict is really not an accurate description. He's not nitpicky, he's not Pharisaical, he's just really really passionate about obedience and powerful teaching. I think it's really been a blessing being in this tri-panionship, because there's a lot of power in Elder Busby and Little, and we're really able to teach powerfully, though there's obviously still room to improve.<br /><br />Saturday we had a really cool experience. We went to visit a member, and on the way out suddenly decided to go to a restaurant called Tuen Mun Curry House (a delicious Indian curry house, I got the ox tongue. Yum.) Then on the way out, while walking home, Elder Little suddenly turned off the sidewalk and talked to some guy. We spoke for a moment and in 10-15 minutes taught about the Restoration and got a new investigator. The Spirit really is active, especially if you are willing to set high goals and let them be the focus of your day.<br /><br />On Sunday that principle was again demonstrated. We had a goal to have 2 member present lessons and 1 new investigator, which we had all scheduled. We went to the Lord and promised we would do this if he would help us. If you recall we have two wards to attend right now, so we had absolutely no time to go finding. Well, at 9:00 the first lesson fell through, and at 12:40 the second one did as well. But we were doing what we were supposed to be doing that day, you could say perfect in our Sunday morning sphere. Randomly a member brought a referral to church who we taught between our ward correlation and sacrament, and Mr. Chi (who's been in mainland) felt impressed (or as he said "called by God") to come back to Hong Kong a day early on the high speed rail and attend church so that he could be baptized on his date. We started teaching them after church and couldn't find a member, and suddenly I felt prompted to ask a certain guy who was still there after church ended. We achieved the goal.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />It's interesting to think of you and Dad doing companionship inventory. In this tripanionship we have pretty good ones. I think I mentioned it before but the nicest thing about being will relatively experienced missionaries is that meetings, study time, comp inventories are all very edifying. I imagine you and Dad are the same, seeing as you’re a lot more experienced than the 3 of us in my companionship put together. By the way, we found out at Zone Conference that Elder Busby will train a native on Wednesday, so we will be split up again. Very sad.<br /><br />We had a recently returned missionary speak in both our wards this Sunday. He was really good, the thing that impressed me the most about him was that he seemed to have really figured out how to effectively research and study out questions, and from that had a lot of really cool insights. I learned over the past couple Sundays the importance of being willing to learn, grateful, and humble, especially in church. Because we had to listen to so many talks and lessons, sometimes it would seem a bit boring. I've also noticed that I have a bad tendency to think that as a missionary I am more spiritually mature or knowledgeable than others, which obviously is false. It's hard to learn from Church if you're mentally criticizing others for poor speaking skills or other defects. But this last Sunday I did my best to humble myself and learn, and had an amazing Sunday. I got 2 full pages of notes from it.<br /><br />Our Bishop called us up in the middle of sacrament meeting to speak, which was unexpected, but actually sort of fun. I hope my talk was okay, it felt decent. Maybe I just won't prepare anything for my homecoming talk, I'll just wing it.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />That sounds like a well planned out party. We have an activity coming up in August that I'm partially responsible for planning. I think you're better at planning than I am. It's a weakness of mine. Our P-days are usually pretty boring as well, because we just never do anything. We wanted to go get suits today, but couldn't because we're going to tea (ha ha, that's how they say dim sum in Chinese, it's literal translation is "drink tea") with a less active member.<br /><br />2 questions. Would something go wrong if all the people went out to see the chickens at once? Would they be panicked or something? Also, I don't remember what “Minute to Win It” is.<br /><br />Because you play violin I pretend to be a violin expert as a way to get people to start talking to me. Anytime I see anyone with a violin I tell them that my little sister plays violin. This week I stopped some guy and his daughter in the middle of the sidewalk, totally randomly, by saying that.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />How the heck did school finish so quickly? That's weird. Do you know that your voice literally sounded the most different on the phone? Not only the pitch of voice but the inflections, speech patterns, everything. It must have something to do with all the dancing. No one else's voice changed that much, and no one else dances as much as you do.<br /><br />I remember Abby said you went to the temple recently. Have you gone again? Will you? Why wouldn't you? Hmm? Hmm?<br /><br />I have to agree, I don't think you can explain ballet in writing.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />I do feel that a solid hour of piano is a lot more useful and productive than 5 12 minute slots. I did the same thing before, but in retrospect, and especially now that I've spent some time learning a new language, it's clear that learning for at least 30 or 40 minutes at a time is a lot more useful. How's the German going? I feel a lot more empowered in regard to learning languages now, I'm excited to learn me some German when I get a chance. This Wednesday on the way back from Zone Conference I talked to a guy from Mainland. My Mandarin is almost good enough to hold a real conversation with a reasonably patient person. It's super fun. <br /><br />and as to the question about the smiley face, yes.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />Recently because Elder Busby's knee has some problems we haven't gone running at all, aside from the many many times that we seem to run out of time in the evening and have to sprint back home to make it in on time. I have an odd proclivity to schedule things just close enough together that we have to rush, or manage to talk to one too many people while finding and almost be late. There's a hill under our apartment called the hill of dreams. We ran it 2 or 3 times this week. I love it.<br /><br />The Hong Kong DSE test is finally done, so lots of people your age just don't have to go to school at all anymore. Today in companion study we were studying how to teach Lesson 5 with more power, because it often becomes a sort of rote presentation of information. But today as we practiced teaching about priesthood, I could really feel the power of it. The priesthood is an amazing gift. It is a chance to stand in the Lord's place and do what he would do. I really believe that it has power to do miracles, but that doesn't happen without preparation.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />As I said, an awesome week this week. Our investigator who mystically came to church is Mr. C, who, with his wife, is super awesome and they are preparing to be baptized. I'm just worried because he feels really strongly about his baptismal date, and we might have to move it back because he hasn't quite quit smoking yet. But he's got such amazing faith that I'm not too worried. Kelvin, from a while back, randomly called us and said that he wanted to meet again. He seems to have really changed a lot and is way more humble, is preparing much more intently than last time we met him. We have an investigator, A Lai, who used to be named A Chung but randomly changed his name. He's great, and every time we teach him I feel the spirit, and he seems really willing and ready to learn, but he stands us up consistently 50% of the time. I don't know if you ever had anyone like that. It’s annoying, but he's cool.<br /><br />Love you all. Be grateful for all you have. You have a lot. I am so grateful I get to be a missionary. It's so worth it. Man, I wish I had more time. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-53699181326034110192015-05-11T07:35:00.002-06:002015-05-11T07:35:56.227-06:00May 11, 2015 - Happy Mother's Day<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>(We just got to talk to John on Sunday for Mother’s Day. Even all four grandparents were here. It was great to hear his voice and to think he’ll be home in just over 3 months. He’s working really hard until the end!)</i><br /><br />Thank you guys. You are all so awesome. I really feel blessed to have such an amazing family. And thank you Mom and Dad for the advice. Not just about the suits. You guys are the best.<br /><br />I don't have much to add, our investigators are doing pretty well. We're really busy so it's hard to meet them sometimes. Mrs. C was at church with her kids and we should meet them again this week, her husband is still in Mainland. We found a potential new family on Tuesday, the Chan family, who seem really cool. We originally had the husband scheduled for Church but he had to cancel, and we haven't gotten him again yet.<br /><br />This is a copy of part of my weekly report to President Hawks:<br /><br />"We had an amazing experience on Saturday evening. We had more finding that day and some lessons scheduled and we set some very high goals, but all our lessons fell through and by the evening we had about 1 hour of finding left and only one mediocre street lesson. So we decided that if we were going to reach our goal we needed to find a family. We went out and in about 15 minutes met a couple from Ukraine and Israel, brought them to the chapel and toured them around. It seemed perfect but they were too rushed to teach at that moment. I felt really bad because it seemed that we had failed our chance, but then on the way home we found another mom and her son, toured the chapel again, and scheduled them for church the next day. Then, on the way home (still 1 lesson short of our OL goal) we met a guy who turned out to live in our building and taught him in his house. It was amazing, and we felt like we could succeed and miracles would happen in a way that I've never felt before.<br /><br />It was awesome. There was a certain feeling there that we could do things that we'd never done before. The last guy we taught was an older man, the type I'd usually try a bit and maybe pass over for time's sake. Elder Busby actually told him that we were rushed and asked if we could walk and teach at the same time. And he said yes. And Chinese people never let you into their homes; it's just not the culture. So the fact that we got that to happen was just amazing. There have been a few times like that this week where I just felt like faith was doing the work for us. I set a goal one day to talk to 10 people outside of finding, and I prayed intently that I would do my part talking to everyone if the Lord would help me succeed, and there were times when it seemed like people couldn't not talk to me. <br /><br />That's what I wish I could have started to learn earlier in my mission, because 1 I know that if I can really do missionary work this way people will get baptized, and 2 it's extremely difficult and we need to prepare ourselves as a companionship to do it. Honestly working with that kind of faith is almost terrifying, because you have to commit yourself to a high goal. You can't set low goals and do it, because it won't exercise your faith, and you have to really care about and commit to the goal, because if you don't you won't exercise faith. But that's terrifying to do, and it forces a lot more introspection than I really want to have. But if I could do it..."<br /><br />Anyway, that's just what we've been mulling over as a companionship. It's been great being in this trio. I've really enjoyed it. Love you all! Really, I really truly love you all. And Happy Mother's Day, Mom. You don't need to be perfect to be the best mom in the world. I love you.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-30353303801313006722015-05-04T07:18:00.000-06:002015-05-04T08:23:00.402-06:00May 4, 2015 - Why the Restoration Matters!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ida Chau gave the missionaries this meal in honor of Elder Barker</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, this week was pretty goodly, but strange. I had my last 3 days with Elder Black on Monday to Wednesday. We visited a super rich family in our ward. Their house had 2 stories, which might not sound like much, but believe me, there are probably more old ladies above the age of 95 than homes with 2 stories within a 15 mile radius of this library. So that was fun. Tuesday we had a very interesting district meeting because we announced our moves, which I'll get to in a moment. Wednesday we went to Crossroads, and helped them remodel the free trade shop in there. Crossroads is cool because they all love the Mormons and they fight over who gets to use us when we come to volunteer. Some guy treated us to this crazy good chocolate ice drink randomly. Honestly I would go even if there was a moderate fee to serve there. It's crazy fun. Did you know I know how to open a shipping container now? Yeah, there's a special way to open them. <br /><br />Then Thursday. We went down to Kowloon Tong to the mission office to drop off Elder Black, who is speaking sign language on the island now, and Elder Loderup, who is finishing (Elder Loderup is a really cool missionary. He's by no means perfect, but I looked up to him since he served in Shatin and I was in Tai Wai. And he managed to pack all his earthly belongings into one 50 lb suitcase, so that was impressive.). Then I, and Elder Little, and Elder Busby headed home. <br /><br />I am still in Castle Peak Bay, but now in a tripanionship with Elder Busby and Little (Elder Little served on the Island when I was at Chai Wan, so I know him a bit, Elder Busby's the previous Zone Leader with Elder Loderup, and from my group in the MTC!) and Elder Little and I are the Zone Leaders, Elder Busby is the District Leader. That was pretty unexpected. But it's been really fun so far. Because all three of us are relatively experienced, we've been able to have some really great lessons and set some awesome plans. It's going to be a powerful 3 weeks before we split up again. But we're ridiculously busy, because of Zone Leader things and serving 2 wards. We were at the chapel for about 10 hours yesterday. Went to church twice, had 2 ward correlation meetings, and gave a training in a stake mission leadership meeting. And we've been preparing our Zone training meeting like mad, because neither of us have been Zone Leader before. I haven't gone finding with them yet. <br /><br />I'd like to share something that we have taught several members recently, and which I love to testify of, which is the apostasy. Everyone knows what it is, and most know why it happened, and many can tell you in great depth exactly how and when and where it happened, much more clearly and persuasively than I ever could. So I won't try to teach about the history. But when I teach investigators the apostasy, I'm honestly not too worried about the history either. Sure, I want them to understand that other churches are false, and that is very difficult to teach sometimes, but that's really not enough. For an investigator to care about the Restoration, they need to know really WHAT WAS LOST IN THE APOSTASY. So, what do you think? <br /><br />Usually members will answer; prophets were lost, or scriptures, the organization of the church, priesthood authority. It's really true. All those things were lost. Have you ever thought of what that would mean to you? Mom and Dad, if you had no chance to be missionaries, if you knew you weren't sealed to your parents, or each other, or us kids, would you have made it through medical school or other challenges in your lives? Joseph and David, if you had no chance to repent, to come unto Christ and change, if you didn't know about the plan of salvation, who would you be right now? Where'd you be going? Rebecca, Abby, if you didn't know that you had a Father in Heaven, who loves you, and listens to your prayers even in the toughest and darkest times, could you be truly happy? I think if I didn't have a chance to know Jesus, to be a missionary, or to have hope for my future, I really don't know what I'd tell myself when things went wrong. I can't put it into words, and I'm no great writer or speaker to illuminate this idea, but I just want you to feel for a moment, and let the spirit tell you what it'd be like to live in the apostasy. <br /><br />That is why the Restoration matters. And when people understand that (which is not often) they really understand the need for the Restoration, and they feel a need to know if it's true. I testify that Joseph Smith saw God. Through him the Gospel was restored. I know that God lives, and that families can be forever, and that forgiveness is possible, and that prayers will be answered. And though I'm a missionary, I say that as a normal person, just like you guys or anyone of your friends. It matters to me; I hope it matters to you and to everyone else. <br /><br />And you all have those friends who are living in the apostasy right now. Their restoration hasn't happened yet. So I invite you to remember the blessings the Lord has given us, rejoice, and tell someone else. I know I'm not a great writer, but listen to the spirit of what I'm trying to say and do it, please. <br /><br />Dad, <br /><br />I never thought I'd be Zone Leader, and now that I am I don't know how you'd do it alone. Especially since we at least have Elder Busby to answer our questions. You were alone. It's been super stressful but really fun. We had time for only 30- minutes of personal study yesterday. I've also noticed I lie awake at night for a long time thinking...We'll see how this all pans out. We may be fired in a month or two. <br /><br />Brother Chi and his family are doing great. He's getting ready for his baptismal date, but he's going to mainland soon, and we won’t be able to see him for a bit. His biggest challenge is quitting smoking, but he's got such great faith and is so teachable, I think he can do it much more easily than my previous investigators. Oh, by the way, Rachel from NTK got baptized! I heard that a few weeks ago. <br /><br />The only other guy from CPB ward that we taught this week was A Chung but he changed his name to A Lai just to mess with me. He came to the last 2 hours of church on Sunday and was really interested in Temples. He's a bit flaky sometimes, but he's got really great, pure desire. Hopefully this coming week will be good for him. <br /><br />I feel like you do in the sense of not being able to keep track of things to fix. We already have so little free time and now it's full of Zone Leader stuff. I have a big goal to read the Book of Mormon in Chinese, I'm now in Words of Mormon, but my time is seriously limited now. <br /><br />Mom, <br /><br />Our Mother's Day call should be on Monday, the 11th, 8:30 am my time. If that doesn't work than find a way, because I'm calling then. It should be about 35-40 minutes long. This will be my last call home. Super weird. <br /><br />The weather’s finally been getting hot again. Summer is on its way. It's been really humid recently as well. The deodorant you sent last time is actually super effective. You wouldn’t' think it, but Chinese deodorant is really pathetic. It just doesn't work at all. So thank you. I spent like $200 (HKD don't worry) on a wart freezing thing because I've got a couple warts on my hand and I feel like it's awkward to shake hands. Sorry your email is so random, that's just what I had to say. I'll be more sincere on Mother's Day. But I really do love you. <br /><br />Joseph, <br /><br />I feel like I started to learn that only a little bit senior year and mostly on my mission, so that will serve you really well if you can really apply that in your life. I think you're a lot more mature than I was when I was your age... <br /><br />You say you're my equal as if that was a good thing. Odd. <br /><br />David, <br /><br />First off, I want to say that I'm glad you weren't hurt in the car crash. I do mean the advice I gave last time, but as I was leaving the library I realized that my little brother (Chinese sai lou) was uninjured in a car crash and I didn't really even express any care. I really am glad you're safe. Keep limping on. Good on the German, keep up the legacy. Leaf blowers? Lawn trimmers? etc? <br /><br />I can only imagine your exhaustion. <br /><br />Rebecca, <br /><br />I like how your victory at the tournament is such an expected thing. "Oh, by the way, we got first in everything, so that was nice." Have you ever heard my line of reasoning for why dance is not a sport? It's really not offensive, don't worry. The family we visited on Monday had a young girl, 12 year old, who loved ballet and jazz, so I told her you were better in every way. Just kidding. gong siu je! But it really was like being at home because she kept doing stretches everywhere and randomly standing up during dinner to do pirouettes and jumps. <br /><br />Abby, <br /><br />That was my bread you ate. Mine.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: start;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Frozen yogurt place (expensive).</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Yau family (Rebecca, the girl is like you).</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Elder Little is super huge. I feel very safe with him in our companionship)</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Elder Busby</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-32069567866234924272015-04-27T10:46:00.000-06:002015-04-27T10:46:14.608-06:00April 27, 2015 - It's Going Strong Over Here!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">This is the Light Rail station in Town Center. </span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">My favorite canned meat (not too many contestants there).</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The entrance to our building.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Home</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once again, I do emails 1 hour early and nothing in my inbox...<br /><br />So this week had some pretty cool experiences. Our investigator A Sing was not ready to be baptized this week, which was also a bit discouraging. We had a pretty massive 2 hour lesson with him on Wednesday (combination of him liking to discuss things and me being super nervous for it and preparing too much.) He really hasn't been developing the habits and spiritual patterns that he needs to have a more firm testimony, and he wasn't willing to fast with us yet, because he's still more worried about how his family will feel about stuff more that how God will. But it was inspiring to see how the ward came to support him. There were perhaps 10 ward members who fasted with us for him. This ward is really great. I feel that he's still got good potential, but he just really needs to actually get consistent and humble about reading and praying. His biggest obstacle is trying to figure out how to tell if an answer is really from God or not, and I think that there's no way to teach that without really helping him get that answer first.<br /><br /> And we've had great success teaching the Chi family, who are relatively new. You recall the guy I mentioned last week who showed up at church and asked when he could be baptized. Well, we were able to teach them 3 times this week, which has been really fun and also a great chance to see the spirit working with people. Mr. Chi has no background, and though his understanding of things is still hard sometimes, he has grown so much in terms of testimony it really is astonishing. Like, the first time we met him he didn't understand that God was a real being, he really thought that it was just some sort of internal motivation (not an uncommon belief here). Then he went to mainland for 2 and a half weeks and somehow by the time he got back, through his own diligence in reading and praying, he totally believed in the existence of God. Now he's just got this amazing desire to learn. And his wife is doing great too. We visited Sunday morning and at first, they weren't planning on coming to Church. Then his daughter almost threw a fit because she loves church, and then a member helped get them all there. Amazing family.<br /><br />I see your email has arrived, I will answer it now. It's going strong over here. Keep up the work back home.<br /><br />莫金壽謙 長老 (that second and third character should be connected closer together but the computer can't tell when I write it...)<br /><br /><br />Dang, this was a heavy email. (Editor note: David crashed our kid car in a church parking lot a week ago. John makes several references to that event.)<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />I can see you being a crazy orchestra conductor some day. You'd get upset at everyone being too mechanical and yell "All right, if you’re going to play like that, everyone close your eyes!" And then you'd tell them to "Bend!"<br /><br />You'd love the family that we're teaching. The daughter is 7 and had just woken up on Sunday when we visited them. Then when we started talking about church, she randomly disappeared, then came back in a princess costume and demanded to go to church.<br /><br />Becca,<br /><br />Here and I thought we had 'the connection' because we're both blond and both like reading. And now it's just this "Sorry, you've been gone too long, my love for you expired. It got all stale, and there wasn't enough room in the pantry with all this new classmate love I have to fit in there, so I threw it out. Hope you don't mind." Yeah, that doesn't hurt.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />Oh David david david. At least no one was hurt. I'm sure everyone's told you already, but you know that if someone had been there they might have seriously been injured. But that's what mortal life is about. The important thing is that now that you've proved definitively that it's a bad idea, don't do it again. At least you weren't underage driving the same time (hint hint Dad). What weapons did you have for the invisible game?<br /><br />Keep up hope, and do good works continually.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I feel that I can really sympathize. On my mission I've worked pretty hard on getting good habits and use of time in the evening and morning, because we only have that little time to do whatever we want. Now a days if I have to do numbers late or if we are teaching a lesson and get back late, and don't get my evening schedule done well, it's frustrating. There is a big power that comes from disciplined living; I think you've figured that out a lot faster than I did.<br /><br />I remember going to the chess tournaments and feeling like the whole world was a big chess board, and needing like a day to get out of it. I recall physics being similar, but even more exalted. I guess missions are even more so.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />I suppose me missing the Regents Scholarship deadline was good practice for this.<br /><br />I feel that I learned something about parenting this week. An RC called us randomly and talked about how her 8 year old son had lied about something and had a big problem come out of it, and how she really worried because he was very consistently dishonest. We talked for a while, and as I shared a couple gospel principles that I felt might help her, I sort of had a parenthood epiphany, which was about how to be a real successful parent you have to put yourself aside in a big way. You have to lay aside feelings of selfishness and justification, and be willing to totally forgive. It was a very strong impression because this lady was really struggling with that. I think it's cool because it sounds like that's exactly what you did this week. Thanks for being such a great mom to me. I love you!<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I had some dream last night that I ran across a street and got ticketed by an officer, then somehow drove across a street right after and got arrested, and I was super upset at what it would do to my mission. Coincidence? Probably.<br /><br />Our other investigators are pretty busy and we haven't been able to teach them for a while. I feel that I am not the best at keeping track of and maintaining so many people, like I should call or schedule more consistently. But it's a learning process, I suppose. I had two times on Saturday where we were walking and I had a small feeling to go somewhere or talk to someone and we found some really golden people. Pretty cool.<br /><br />Anyway, love you all! I'll try to send some photos.</span><br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-59759797258503559012015-04-20T08:30:00.000-06:002015-04-20T08:31:50.388-06:00April 20, 2015 - "So, baptism, do you guys set up the date or do I need to set it up?" <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Durian Fruit</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">To avoid injury, please beware of durian spikes.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">Caste Peak 青山</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">And this counts as a sparsely populated area.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">This picture is from the other side, which I think is a lot cooler looking, not as many people.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why pagoda? Because CHINA!</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How are yall doing? Oh, wait, you all already answered. Awkward...<br /><br />Well, we had a cool week, though I literally feel like I say the same thing about every week. Each week I write my report to President Hawks and the first things that come to mind are "this week was pretty tough, wait, be more grateful, this week was amazing, wait, I said that last week, uh..."<br /><br />We did have some challenges this week, mainly in terms of not being able to meet some investigators and few people at church, but other than that it was awesome. We did exchanges as a zone, and I was with Elder Loderup, who's the zone leader senior companion, and finishes in about 9 days. So I'm his last exchange. He's an awesome guy, really funny but has a really intense and inspiring attitude towards missionary work. He's also a good example of good vs. bad trunkiness. He makes jokes all the time about how he'll be gone soon, but in his actual work there is no sign at all. He is still looking for ways to improve his teaching and unity, still looking for how to be more effective, even though he knows he'll be done in a week. That's what everyone should be at the end of their mission. Right now my response to people saying I don't have long left is just to deny and tell them I still have a couple years.<br /><br />We taught a lesson to our investigator Kelvin. We haven't seen him for a bit, and in the last couple weeks, he hasn't really come to church, or read scriptures, or prayed. As a result his testimony has atrophied (see, I can still use big words) and now he doesn't know if God is real, spouted some anti, feels like science doesn't give evidence of God, etc. I asked him if he's really searched for a testimony and he said he had, online. So basically we had a 40 minute smack down lesson. It was sort of cool, actually. I answered his concerns for a bit, but when I realized that he was asking the same questions I'd just answered and wasn't really listening, I just told him that to his face and said he needed to get his own answers through consistent spiritual patterns of reading and praying. Boom.<br /><br />Our investigator A Sing still might be baptized on the 26th or 25th, and he will if I or my faith has anything to say about it. We're going to teach him about fasting this Wednesday and all fast together for him to gain a testimony. If he does. we will then teach all the rest of the lessons in 2 days, interview him and baptize him on his date. It's going to happen.<br /><br />On Sunday we were expecting to have no one there, which is relaxing in a way but disappointing, then Mr. Chi 池兄弟 showed up from his work thing in Mainland and came to church with his two children. Our sacrament meeting was loud, but in a happy way. Then at the end of Elder's Quorum, they were talking about the signup sheet for cleaning the chapel, and they said he didn't need to because he wasn't a member yet, and he leaned over and asked me, "So, baptism, do you guys set up the date or do I need to set it up?" <br /><br />I was a little happy.<br /><br />So we showed him the baptismal interview questions and explained about exactly what he'd need to do to get baptized (explaining, by the way, almost all the commandments in about 5 minutes) to which he had no concern besides smoking and drinking. He has only been to church twice, has only started reading Book of Mormon a little bit a go, didn't know how to pray until 2 weeks ago, and really has only met with Elder Black and me 2 times, but he believes that it's true, and he's willing to be baptized on the 30th of May. And we're going to teach his wife on Tuesday.<br /><br />I know that the reason he knows is because the Spirit of the Lord will tell every humble, willing heart that this work is true, that God is real and is our Father, and that the Gospel will heal us. I know that this is true.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />That was basically it for investigators; we haven't really been able to meet with too many others so far. We got a turnover from the Zone leaders named John who wants remission of sins but doesn't really believe in God... So that's an interesting concern. We taught a really nice lady from Mainland about the Restoration, and it seemed confusing but clicked for her at the same time. Unfortunately we need to turn her over to the Hung Shui Kiu Elders.<br /><br />Some member donated a huge 50 inch TV to the mission, so on Saturday on exchanges Elder Loderup and I stood outside blasting Mormon Messages at people and handing out flyers. It's a pretty cool set up, massive flat screen on 4 wheels, built in USB reader.<br /><br />I feel on my mission I've developed a hatred for having items, so I throw a ton of stuff away. I love having empty desks at the end of the day.<br /><br />I remember that ride. I think the difference in weight gave me the advantage on the uphill and you the advantage on the downhill.<br /><br />One thing I did this week was that I noticed that I really did feel nervous about finishing. If I finished today, I wouldn't be happy. I remember our mission president once said when he finished he was sad but felt like he was ready to go home. So I wrote up a list of 10 points that I want to work on so that by the beginning of May I'll be working in a way and at a level that I'll feel peace about finishing my mission. It's been really good so far.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />I hope you see the hand you've played in taking the YW from 2 to 10. It sounds like you've really magnified your calling and the Lord's done some really cool things through you. We're visiting a member who lives in a place called V City on next Monday, you can look it up, but it's pretty tall, and expensive. Our stake presidency has a guy who lives in a pretty average/poorer area, but who has an amazingly renovated house. It's weird here in Hong Kong. Our apartment is probably the nicest I've been in overall, big kitchen.<br /><br />I'll only be in the guest room for about 6 days, so it could be the bare floor for all I care.<br /><br />Our ward is starting to practice for a Mother's Day music thing. I'm planning on just calling, not doing Skype. What do you think?<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I just noticed that today you guys all emailed in order. Don't judge Mr. Anderson too harshly. I remember you said that his son died unexpectedly a while ago. He may be in more pain for that then seems apparent. If you get a chance, tell him I say hi, and that I wish I'd paid more attention to Chinese History. Ha ha.<br /><br />5 miles is a long way to run. I feel I could do distance really well, I just don't know about the speed. In the morning when we run, the last part is a hill, and I call it the Hill of Dreams and sprint up. My companion doesn't like it.<br /><br />If you think the Khan Academy thing will work, I would like that, but I'm still a bit nervous. Elder Loderup mentioned something called Auditing a class, where you just sit in and watch but don't have to get a grade. I've been considering doing that for Calc 1 to make sure that I don't ruin my university grade out of pride and hastiness, but still considering.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />I would say that if you have a long object and there are chicks nearby they truly are in danger, not just of accidental pole axing, but of real malicious destruction. I'll have you know I've been sleeping diagonal for quite a while now. Just ask Frau Adams about the skit we did my Junior Year in German. It was amazing. And the movie. I bet she showed it as an example. I am so creepy in that movie.<br /><br />I could respond to the comment about Sister Uchtdorf and spirituality, but I won't deign to. If you want to know, look up something Elder Bednar said about Spiritual Patterns. And Repent.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />Don't do cheerleading! That'd make me so sad to come home and have a cheerleader for a sister! I could never go to another sports game without thinking of the blemish in our family. Oh, the shame. The deep,dark shame. This is what happens when people are blessed with dancing skills for too long; they wax strong in iniquity and become cheerleaders. With an iPhone. Please read Helaman 12. Promptly.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />Since you are the reporter of family trips, I will report to you my P-Day exploits. We hiked Caste Peak 青山 which was the first real hike I've done on my mission. It was short but steep, really fun. At the top we could see our whole district's area. The weather was a bit hazy, but it was still good. I love hiking. Up at the top there were these weird caveman style dumbbells basically made of leftover construction material, concrete and rebar. Joseph would love it. The next day we were wiped out. It was rough. But so much fun.<br /><br />You should tell David to take the pants, pee all over them, and put them on her door with a sign that says "oops, I did too!"<br /><br />Or maybe do it with water or apple juice.<br /><br /><i>(Explanation needed! David was asked to a school dance with a pair of pants and a poster that said, “I’d <b>p</b></i></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>ea</b> my pants if you went to Spring Fling with me!” Then she spilled a package of frozen peas all over the pants.)</i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-70575508815650823152015-04-13T08:09:00.000-06:002015-04-13T08:09:31.955-06:00April 13, 2015 - General Conference Weekend! (in Hong Kong)<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Though your email has not yet arrived, I will show mercy on you, because of the many multitudes of my tender mercies, shedding themselves abroad upon my family.<br /><br />General Conference Weekend! My concerns about General Conference are total opposites from what they were before my mission. Before my mission, I felt they were too long. Now my biggest concern is that I have not prepared myself enough or am not paying enough attention and might not be getting everything that I need to from them, hence I desire them to be longer. Now that I mention it, that attitude is an almost perfect reflection of my view towards my mission... I used to think it was long, and now I just wish I had more time to perfect it.<br /><br />I felt a little disappointed, because we didn't have too many investigators there, but it really was a great conference, and I feel that I had some very specific answers. The most consistent and most needed answer was the very thoroughly voiced truth that sometimes it just takes patience and faith and persistence to see improvement. And I loved President Monson's talk in Priesthood Session. Though I'd heard those stories before, something this time made me realize the truth that though we may not have seen or know how to do a particular priesthood responsibility, if we've been consistently doing our best in our callings, we are prepared.<br /><br />I can add my testimony to the many already born that these men and women are called of God and their message is true. Quick question, what advice do you guys have on applying conference effectively?<br /><br />This week our investigators are doing okay, the only main problem being that they are not at church. A SIng is still doing great, and we taught him a short sweet lesson after conference. He only has 2 concerns: gaining a testimony before his impending baptismal date, and having enough time to teach all the lessons before said date. A Chung, who I feared was lost for a time, resurfaced without mention of why he had disappeared for 1 week, and we taught him on Thursday. Then we were again unable to contact him till now. ?<br /><br />Kelvin is not doing great; he seems to be losing his desire to meet with us. Pray for him.<br /><br />Last of all we had some really cool finding experiences this week. We found a cool guy from Nepal named Rabiphagami, who didn't speak English really well, but was really cool, and is very worried about how to help his son who spends too much time playing computer games. We were able to teach him and his wife again, and should be turning them over to the International Elders soon. We also taught an older guy named Paul. He is technically Catholic, but not very religious. He was willing to talk to us, but was sort of playing the sarcastic, cynical, jaded old man type, but as we talked about God and about whether or not He loves us, he broke into tears because he really feels that his life has some serious trials and he feels afraid and guilty. It was a very sweet experience, and afterwards he kept saying (albeit in a slightly cynical old man way) that he believes that we were sent from God. I know that the people around us, no matter how uninterested or hardened they may seem, need the gospel. In General Conference we heard a lot about healing and families that these people need. I pray that we'll all be ready to reach out when God requires us to.<br /><br />Elder Morrell<br /><br />David,<br /><br />So, I'm about to go hike a mountain called 青山, which literally means bright green mountain( as if every mountain in Hong Kong wasn't bright green..) I feel like I used to like lounging a lot more but now I don't like wasting time. That was the worst part of General Conference is that there were some hours in between sessions that we had nothing to do. On the other hand, I've come to enjoy car rides because I never have time to sit and not do stuff. I've been trying to start my Chinese read through of the Book of Mormon, which is going to be tough. Right now I'm in 1 Nephi 15.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />Why on earth would you need a smart phone? I hated getting my phone, and I didn't have to spend nearly as much time with it as you probably will. While I admit there are a lot of useful things that phones can do (finding places, calculating, checking the safety of things, communication,) as a missionary the Phone is always my enemy. He sits there looking so sleek and cool and whispers, 'Don't talk to those two handsome men, look, Jenny just posted a new post, and Rachel texted a new text, and you're about to break 30,000,000 points on Candy Crush, you don't have time for the gospel." And thus he whispereth in their ears until he grasps them with his chains and leads them carefully down to hell.<br /><br />Okay, you probably won't be led down to hell, but just promise you'll spend at least some time looking up scriptures, LDS.org, etc and don't play candy crush ever.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />That's so sad that your ears got pierced. It's a dangerous world out there. Hardly a women alive can survive without her ears being viciously pierced. Well, don't worry, it'll all be better in the end, and I'm sure in the resurrection your ears will be healed.<br /><br />Just joking. Although I do still wonder why people do that voluntarily. It seems like the sort of thing done to slaves in the Old Testament or by Cannibalistic native tribes to their prisoners. Thank you for the itinerary. It is always appreciated. You should go to the Temple. I loved President Monson's talk about it.<br /><br />Thanks Dad and Mom. Sorry, I'm almost out of time. I do want to ask why on earth you let one daughter's ears be mutilated and afflicted another with an iPhone in a single week. Seems pretty heartless.<br /><br />College:<br /><br />Could you send me info on the following classes:<br /><br />ARTHC 201 world civ to 1500 and HIST 201 world civ to 1500 have what difference?<br /><br />ENGL 201 masterpieces of world lit<br /><br />IP and T Hist of learn in art tech sci<br /><br />PHIL 210 science and civ<br /><br />Tech 201 hist creativity and innov.<br /><br />Ihum 240 itro hum. asia<br /><br />arthc 203 survey of oriental art/archetecture<br /><br />va stu 101 intor art drawing non major senior capstone?<br /><br />va 114 drawing<br /><br />va 115 2d design<br /><br />Would those last two be too intensive for a non art major?<br /><br />Also, my biggest concern is that the Calculus class will be tough because I will have forgotten all, and may not be able to catch back up in time. I'm willing to try it if Dad thinks it's possible, but if we do it that way (this may sound fanatical) I'd like Dad and Joseph to come up with a sort of review course for the material covered in Calc 1 so that I can spend like 2 hours a day in my one in between week catching up/reacquainting myself. I don't remember exactly what's in the calc 1 curriculum, so I’d be relying on you, but after all you have patriarchal and matriarchal authority to receive revelation for me, so I'm not too concerned.<br /><br />Really love you all! Even Joseph, who I assume is sleeping.</span><br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-59371098707136247902015-04-13T07:56:00.000-06:002015-04-13T07:56:30.688-06:00April 6, 2015 - I testify as a representative of Christ that He lives, and because He lives we all can.<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hello Happy Family!<br /><br />So we had some cool stuff this week. We got a lot of chances to teach some of our investigators. You wouldn't guess it, but there is a super long Easter break in Hong Kong. All the students are out of school for like 2 weeks, and lots of businesses are closed as well. As I have mentioned before, there are a lot more Christians in Hong Kong than you'd expect, (though most would probably fail the Alma 5 test, they're just Christian-high-school-converts) and there have been some significant Easter activities, but I suspect the real reason for the break is that this year Easter lines up with Ching Ming Jit, which is where people go and jai jou, or baai saan. <br /><br />Which means they worship their ancestors. Hong Kong is not the most devout place in regards to the tradition ancestor worship, especially with the younger generation, but on holidays like this they still get the old ancestral blood pumping and head for the "high places". Old Testament reference there...<br /><br />The end result is that people are pretty available to meet with us. We met with A Sing twice and A Chung twice. And we had a cool newish investigator named A Fung who we taught a really powerful lessons about Plan of Salvation to. It was awesome. You know that feeling where you really feel how the atonement is the center of everything, and you can articulate it clearly, and they feel it too, and everything clicks? Oh right, that's just us missionaries...<br /><br />So that was our week. Pretty cool stuff.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I like that advice. I guess it's always tricky because I'm not perfect either, but I've really been thinking about that sort of teaching by example, and I actually had remembered that story. I know for myself that when people tell me what I'm doing wrong bluntly, it's often hard to accept and change, having it shown or initiated by me makes it a lot easier to take.<br /><br />As I mentioned our investigators are doing pretty well. A Sing has been to church 3 times in a row (which is a pretty big thing in Hong Kong) and he reads Book or Mormon really fast. He's already in 2 Nephi. His only obstacle is 1) I think that he doesn't read every day, he just reads really fast every now and then and 2) He hasn't gotten or at least hasn't recognized a testimony yet. That's always a tough step because we can't do it for him. Elder Bednar has a lot of trainings about making people agents and not objects, so in pursuit of that we gave him an invitation to read a list of scriptures we compiled from the Book of Mormon that talk about receiving testimony or revelation. I'm impressed that the first 1/4 of the book of Mormon has a ton of stuff on that. Definitely no accident.<br /><br />A Chung has been doing well, but he fonged us on Saturday and we haven't got in contact with him since. We had to drop his baptismal date because he hasn't been to church yet and it's too close. So pray for him.<br /><br />A Fung is a cool guy who loves English and German (of all things) and has a mangled hand from an industrial accident that means that he doesn't have to work for the rest of his life. He's started reading and was really impressed by Nephi in I Nephi 4.<br /><br />Kelvin is not doing great. He's been too busy to meet for a bit, and on the phone it seems like he's sort of discouraged/ fed up with stuff. So we need to teach a super powerful lesson this Wednesday.<br /><br />Our other investigators are in Mainland right now.<br /><br />We had some guy at our English class named John who played Guitar and spoke pretty good English, so he taught part of it, played a song called The Wrangle Mountain Song. Do you know it? It's stuck in my head.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />I am super looking forward to General Conference. It is probably the happiest time for missionaries. I always used to have to fight being sleepy before, but now it's just 10 hours of paradise. We've got several investigators who I’m hoping will really be able to obtain testimonies from it, one of whom is an awesome lady named Yaliwe.<br /><br />We met Yaliwe 2 or 3 weeks ago. She's from Zambia, and speaks pretty good English. We just exchanged numbers in a park, and I almost forgot about her, then going through potential sheets I saw her name and called, scheduled for Sunday, and she is awesome. She is Evangelical, but really understood what we taught, and even noted down the scriptures so she could review them later. She'll be coming to the Saturday Afternoon session.<br /><br />One weakness I feel that we have as a companionship that I'm hoping to improve through study is teaching too long. I don't know if the language has anything to do with it, but I feel like we teach too long most of the time, and it takes away from really powerful lessons. Still loving life!<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />Your class may not be impressed, but at least now you know the stuff about Lenin. That's how I felt about a lot of stuff that I learned, it might not be useful for school but it's useful because it is real, and I know it. Like the The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich book. Every time people talk about Nazi's I can pone them because I've read that book. It's awesome.<br /><br />This Sunday, because of numbers and a late lesson, I had no dinner time at all, (after fasting,) and ended up having a piece of bread and some frosted flakes during numbers to break my fast. I don't recommend it. I woke up this morning weak and feeble, a feeling I'm sure that you find foreign.<br /><br />I like the idea of the advanced body weight thing, because on your mission you might not have any work out equipment, but if you know how to do other work outs, you'll be fine. I especially like the idea of the study thing. As I mentioned before, a good understanding of the lessons in chapter 3 will help you much more than you'd think. Being able to say that you've read the whole Bible is a really good thing when you talk to other Christians. And perhaps most important is that you have to really have and be able to share a testimony of the Book of Mormon. You have to know it's true and be able to tell people how it's helped you. Elder Bednar (who is way more awesome than you might think) has a cool thing he recommends, which is to take a blank missionary copy of the Book of Mormon and go through it, looking for a specific topic, for example, the work strength, or revelation, or people giving in to sin, or pride, or humility, etc. It puts you in a position to be taught by the spirit.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />Oh, do be more Surios, dear Brother. Who'd want to touch those nasty red pages? That guy obviously can't be trusted, you've seen that creepy goatee. Just bring me the blue pages and I'll explain. I would right now but the connection is so poor. Just bring the blue pages and it'll all work out...<br /><br />Things like programming never seem as simple as they should be. I feel like that with some gospel things. On Monday we taught an awesome guy who came to church because of his kids, named Mr. Chi. He has absolutely no background, and we spend literally 15 minutes trying to explain prophets to him. We thought he understood, then during some follow questions, he said something like "so if we pray, God will give us a prophet to answer our prayers." Super cool guy, though. He's in Mainland till the 20th, so I'm praying for him.<br /><br />Just while typing that last paragraph, some random guy across from me started talking to us, and in the end we invited him to General Conference. Always open your mouth. <i>jsut.</i><br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />Who says it needs to be done at school? If they really feel passionate about you, just tell them all to come to the field without telling them why, and then give them each a rebar pole and tell them to do what comes naturally. If they start dancing then you should run away.<br /><br />I can't really imagine taking a break from missionary work. There's not much else I'd really do if I was available. I might like to wander around and explore. Or learn Mandarin. I talked to a lot of mandarin people in the last week. Whenever there are big breaks like right now, lots of them come to Hong Kong to buy stuff.<br /><br />School is good, except I literally skipped like 500 times in the last year and a half, and now I have to choose my classes which is super weird (by the way Mom that letter was really well put together. Thanks!).<br /><br />Dance is good, except I hate dancing so I didn't at all for a while. But we've still been working out well.<br /><br />Church is actually really good. I learned a lot this week.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />Thanks for the answers. The questions this week are as follows:<br /><br />1) When was the last time you had Chinese food and what did you eat?<br /><br />2) How is it being in Young Womens?<br /><br />3) Is there any way to go to the temple right now with Rebecca and the Brothers?<br /><br />4) What color is it in California right now?<br /><br />5) How would you describe the smell of Utah and California?<br /><br />6) What is your favorite Book of Mormon character?<br /><br />Thank you all, you guys are great! Easter is an awesome time because we celebrate the most important thing that ever happened. Just remember, that if any of us really understand and remember what Christ did for us those 2000 years ago, we'd never choose to sin. If we really feel and remember what he had to go through to pay for our sins, none of us would choose to make him go through more. I testify as a representative of Christ that He lives, and because He lives we all can.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-11267297344008944382015-04-05T13:03:00.000-06:002015-04-05T13:03:01.214-06:00March 30, 2015 - Going to the Temple Makes an Undeniable Difference in your Day<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since there have been only a few days since my last emails, I'll be brief.<br /><br />After doing emails on Thursday we went to the temple, which was as always a great experience. It sort of takes up your whole P-Day and doesn't seem to have any tangible results, but the difference it makes in your day is undeniable. After that we scoured the mission office for Book of Mormons. Somehow we managed to give them all away and we literally had none to give out, which was awkward because we had an investigator scheduled that night to give a Book of Mormon. Eventually we stole some of the Assistant's and President Hawks's personal one. President Hawks had an idea a little before I got to the mission that we should always carry a Book of Mormon around so that people will see them and be curious, and so that we'll be prepared to give one out no matter where we are. One of reasons that I admire President Hawks is that he never tells us to do anything without doing it himself. I have never seen him on the street without a Book of Mormon in his hands. <br /><br />We then went to Sham Shui Po so that Elder Black and Halvorsen could buy some electronics (because they have super cheap electronics there). While they were buying I was talking on the phone to some lady trying to sell facials. I feel a lot of sympathy for those people so I rarely just hang up on them, and if it's a P-Day and I've got no pressing responsibilities, I take my time to explain exactly why I have no need or ability to buy their trial facial thing. This time the lady endured in trying to sell stuff for 10 minutes, which is more than most, before being distracted and going off on a tangent about us missionaries and our lives.<br /><br />As I mentioned, we moved in with the Zone Leaders and the Butterfly Elders. Well, Friday night as they went to bed they were feeling a bit ill, and from about 11:20-2:50 at night they were vomiting. I have rarely had occasion to pray as fervently or selflessly as I did for them. In the morning they looked like zombies. It was sad, but pretty funny. Fortunately we unclogged out toilet before that all went down.<br /><br />On Sunday we had our awesome investigator A Sing, who totally understands the need for the Restoration and is working for a testimony now. We also had a referral come out of nowhere. Mr Chi, who is the father of a little girl that a somewhat recent convert named Sister Chan was sort of babysitting at church, showed up in the middle of Sunday school to pick up his daughter, stayed to the end of church, and became a new investigator who we will visit tonight. Just so you all know, we never get chances to visit people in Hong Kong. Never. Mr. Chi's interesting because he has a Buddhist background, and really doesn't understand the idea of God. We were talking about how faith can cause blessing to happen.<br /><br />"So if you pray and then really do your part, God will help you."<br /><br />"Oh, so if you pray your attitude will improve and help you."<br /><br />"No, God will help you"<br /><br />*confused stare*<br /><br />"God is a real person, and he will help you."<br /><br />"Oh, okay."<br /><br />Repeated a couple times. He asked the slightly awkward question of if believing in this church meant that we couldn't worship our ancestors, which we answered bluntly but with an explanation that we do respect our ancestors immensely. I think he actually likes the idea of not having to burn incense any more. Pretty cool guy.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />I've still got the big box of -4.00 contacts, I just got rid of the loose ones. The shirts weren't too bad, but the collars and sleeves are getting frayed, and I kept the 2 best ones. Hopefully they got donated, I didn't toss them in the trash, and to be honest I think I just left them on the couch. Sounds like you've gotten quite a lot done as YW President. You were in the Primary with the girls before as well, right? We actually had an interesting thing about that come up in our ward. There were a couple Recent Converts who were given callings in the Primary, which was good for them, but didn't give them a chance to really learn much about the gospel and stopped them from being involved in the Relief Society.<br /><br />They are the classic silk vest looking things you always see in movies. I'll probably buy the fake ones because they're way cheaper. If the kids want them they should tell me their sizes. I feel like I've had good success finding people, but sometimes I don't spend enough time maintaining the contacts we make. I’ve been working on that recently. Love you Mom!<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />HAPPY BIRTHDAY! That is (I just want you all to know that for some reason today I literally cannot type. This is all taking extreme effort. So be grateful.) an awesome story! I think you're better at violin than I was at piano, and I did piano until I was 16. I wish I could hear you play right now. I remember when you started as a 4 year old it sounded horrible. When I left it was good. But if it's bringing people to tears, it's probably moved into virtuoso status (or it's gotten way way worse and they're crying out of pain). In keeping with the family tradition, I love Abby because she is without guile when she writes me emails. She always says just what she feels to me, and I can feel that she loves me. Also, she cries a lot which is funny. She probably cried when she wrote my email. You're awesome Abby. I had a dream last night that me and you broke into some abandoned building and then police with dogs came and tried to hunt us down. I'm sure it's a good omen.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />I'm sure those in the city of Jacubagath could have easily found time to repent, but they didn't and look at what happened to them. Just kidding. Or am I? ...<br /><br />The Doctrine and Covenants is probably the most quoted in PMG of all books of scripture. Lots to do with missionary work. I've read through it from start to finish once, and read most of the sections on my mission, but I am not the most familiar with it. Book of Mormon, on the other hand, and New Testament, I feel quite confident towards.<br /><br />Sounds like the size of the map might seriously affect the TACTICS used to fight on it. Some of the normal TACTICS might not work. Some TACTICS that don't usually work might do better. A TACTICAL genius could probably come up with some great TACTICS and get a TACTICAL edge on that map...<br /><br />Oh, do they ever. They have meanings with almost no relation at all. It makes no sense. Sahp: to pick up, to gather, formal ten. That's what it says, literally. Wuh: stupid, careless, clumsy, crazy, a Chinese family name. unfortunate.<br /><br />Rebecca,<br /><br />Must be cool to be in YW with Abby. You guys should go to the temple together. She's not yet had a chance! It'd be so cool! DO IT!<br /><br />Well, Rebecca, you must be a woman now to have guys fighting over you. No one ever really liked me at all, so I can definitely say that I've never been in that situation. Though the telemarketer I mentioned sort of tried to ask me on a date by the time we finished talking, though I am about as unavailable for that as a person could be right now. <br /><br />So, tell me the deets. Do you like any of them? Do they know that they all like the same girl? Could you set up a tournament to determine who gets to sit next to you at lunch? You could have them engage in knightly combat. Then film them and tell me. Where are you reading in the Book of Mormon? There is probably an answer to this conundrum in there.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />You look way more handsome than me now. I don't want to come home because as long as I'm gone my memory has a sort of magical lacquer that keeps me from fading in their eyes, but as soon as they see the two of us standing together they will all turn against me and choose you. As for who "they" are, I refer mainly to the more mature population of our ward, but it could be just about anyone. Friends, distant relatives, teachers, neighbors, Mom, Dad, even Abby. Ho hum. Well, at least it's another reason to not get trunky for coming home.<br /><br />I believe you said that in your new extra Spartan room you may have a chance at achieving apotheosis. There are a few parks here that have made me feel that. I think the reason that I would encourage a little study of PMG is that it will focus the rest of your study in a really powerful way. For example, chapter 2 talks specifically about how to study more effectively and knowing the doctrines in chapter 3 helps you see why certain scriptures are so important, and reading chapter 10 lets you start to notice powerful teaching example in the Book of Mormon. So try it out. You don't need to spend all your time but spend some of it.<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I believe I mentioned almost all our investigators on Thursday. We got a new turnover from Yuen Long who's an interesting guy. His arm was destroyed in an accident so he's not been working for 2 years. We taught a turnover lesson and basically just explained why it was so important for him to read the Book of Mormon and pray. Always interesting how hard that can be to teach people. They need to feel a need to know if the gospel is true, and an understanding of how it'll bless them, and know how and why reading the Book of Mormon will help them know this thing. We're teaching Mr. Chi tonight, and he's going to mainland for 20 days afterwards, so we really need him to know and understand about the Book of Mormon, because we're not going to be able to meet again and explain more for a good while.<br /><br />I'd like to ask you and Mom a question, what do you think that I could do to have a more effective companion study? I really want to help Elder Black and myself become more powerful teachers, and I think our study could be better. What did you guys do that was effective?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2086339299148668812.post-34235421213584608722015-03-27T07:44:00.004-06:002015-03-27T07:44:39.755-06:00March 26, 2015 - Lots of Cool Miracles<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, usually you guys’ lives are pretty boring but this week really had something to talk about. Impressive. I don't know if I hope they're still there when I get back. <i>(Joseph received a baby chick from the girl he asked to Prom and now we have 3 baby chicks!)</i><br /><br />We really had an awesome week this week. Sorry, I once again forgot to say that in a bit we're heading to the temple. I can't send any pictures because we're in the Apple store, sorry,<br /><br />So, some of the cool stuff. We've had a lot of new investigators recently. Our companionship had been struggling with finding people for a bit, but we set some really high goals during our planning on Thursday for this next week, and we were trying to think of how we could really achieve those goals, what we could do different. We decided to fast for this week, and we decided to tighten up our morning and evening schedule. It's really given me a testimony of the importance of strict discipline and obedience to doing missionary work. I always notice that the great missionaries in the Book of Mormon are described as "having the power of the word within them". I have prayed for that more than anything else these last months, and having an obedient and focused evening and morning are a huge part of that, fasting is also part of that. After that weekly planning we had a lot of cool miracles, finding people on the streets and really teaching good lessons. I've had a ton of cool experiences where we start by just talking and being friends with people and in the end really have great chances to teach them.<br /><br />Right now in Hong Kong a strange and dark thing is happening. It is called the DSE. It is the university entrance test that all grade 6 (last year) high school students take. So everywhere on the street you see people running around with books, losing hair, crying, bleeding from their eyes, etc. Okay, it's not that bad but they all feel about as stressed as we did with AP and IB tests, so they don't have a lot of time to meet. But despite that Elder Black and I have taught several and scheduled for after the tests are done.<br /><br />We've bumped into a lot of foreigners recently, like Vietnamese or Nepali. One especially cool experience was we had about 1 hour to find, and just as we were heading to our finding area I felt like going back and talking to some guy on the train station. Turns out he's Vietnamese, Catholic, really nice, and at the end of the lesson said that he felt it was God's will that we bump into him.<br /><br />On the way to A Chung's lesson, we stopped a guy who looked about 14 but was actually about 22, who was interested in religion but hadn't heard about our church. He's really bright, and very well versed with other churches beliefs, but was really impressed by the idea of modern revelation, new scripture, etc. We almost didn't stop for him because we were in a rush, but in the end he went to church and will probably have a baptismal date by next week.<br /><br />Basically that's the story of this week. I don't really know how to write it, but we had a ton of little miracles letting us meet new people. It's been a cool week.<br /><br />Then yesterday we moved. We still are in the same area, but our apartment changed. We used to live in Hung Shui Kiu, which was pretty far away, but now we live in Tai Hing Gardens, which is a lot nicer and closer. The 2 catches are that there are 6 people; the Butterfly Elders, and the Tuen Mun Zone Leaders ( Elder Busby from my MTC group) which I don't mind, 6 people apartments have some good points. The other catch is that it is a new apartment so all 6 of us moved yesterday. It is ridiculously confused right now. But it's an adventure. Our toilet already clogged, and it turns out that the plunger is broken, and the nearby toilet didn't have any toilet paper, and the toilet overflowed after being used, but, you know, it is what it is.<br /><br />Mom,<br /><br />Don't have your letter yet, but we're heading to Kowloon Tong in an hour, so we'll see. If I could chose I would extend another year.<br /><br />Recently as we've been packing, I've been pretty merciless and thrown a ton of stuff away. I hope it doesn't bother you, but I threw away most of the contacts I had (because I've been told that the plastic actually starts to degrade if they're there too long, and I'm not using them for a while), most of my long sleeve white shirts, most of my old language books, etc. I still feel like I've got too much stuff. But it's hard to get rid of the rest of it. On my mission I've really come to love not having things. I feel before I was very sentimental, but not so any more. I've still got your letters, though.<br /><br />It's weird to think that if I was a sister missionary I'd be done already. How did you feel by the end of your mission? It's been cold recently but we're getting ready for the summer to begin in earnest. Our study room has no AC, so I'm afraid.<br /><br />Joseph,<br /><br />I feel as though you've surpassed me in every way. I never went to prom, never remodeled my room, you probably lift more than I do, I have had not even one chicken thrust upon me, and I don't even know what Apotheosis means. Have you gone to the dance yet? I think if I go to dances back in Utah, I'll just break all the traditions and ask people to their face. Then they don't have time to think of excuses, they have to go.<br /><br />I think Spartan is best. As I told Mom, I've just been throwing things away indiscriminately. Spartan's knew what was up. I like the idea of the mission prep class. Some advice that I would give you is this (and this is from someone apparently made zone leader, so listen) <br /><br />1. Get a habit of regular scripture study, not just at night, but preferably in the morning, at least 15 minutes, and focus on Book of Mormon and PMG<br /><br />2. Learn the order and content of PMG chapter 3, it will do wonders for you in the MTC and on your mission.<br /><br />3. Ponder about the baptismal interview questions and commitments of each lesson, and figure out why and how people would answer them or keep them<br /><br />4. Do your own missionary work, because you'll constantly be telling people to give you referrals, and it'll mean more if you've done it yourself<br /><br />Dad,<br /><br />I'd love to see the slow-mo on that Nature kill. It'll really put to the test how much the girls love the cats if they have to pick the feathers of their beloved chicks out of the cat's bloody teeth.<br /><br />A Chung: I mentioned him 2 weeks ago I think. We thought he had no interest, but it was just that he was busy and got sick. So we taught him again, the plan of salvation, and gave him a baptismal date for the 26th of April, which he can make but will be really close. We haven't been able to contact him for a while (again) but I think he just doesn't answer his phone much.<br /><br />Kelvin: He is still working on quitting smoking. We had a good review lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation, and he brought his friend Kyle, who is also good. Kelvin's got a really great desire. I've seen him progress since I've been here, but his problem is still that he is not quite disciplined enough. He needs to really start reading, meet more often, and put some real effort into quitting smoking. But I feel his chance is good.<br /><br />A SIng: He is the university guy I mentioned. He came to church for the first time and loved it. He totally understands the Restoration, and just needs a bit of time to read and pray. I feel really good about him.<br /><br />We found a kid named Gordon on the street by sharing a story about Captain Moroni that was basically just super cool, and gave him interest to listen to the rest of the Restoration. Last night we were at a place called Saam Sing, buying food, and we talked to the people at the restaurant. They thought it was crazy that I could read, so we talked for a while, and I feel like we really gave them a good chance to start to get to know the church. Right after that we talked to some random guy working at a store who was really impressed by us being missionaries and starting giving us tons of stuff for free. Both he and the restaurant people gave us their info without us ever actually asking for it. It's just been really cool to be a missionary right now.<br /><br />I gave a training in District meeting about how to teach for the baptismal interview questions and the commitments. You can look over chapter 3 in PMG if you want to see what I mean. I feel like a lot of people can know that the restoration is true a lot quicker than they usually do if they would just understand what they need to do and do it. If you have any insights on that I'd appreciate it.<br /><br />We've got one investigator who speaks only Mandarin and English, is from Mainland, and has no concept of God at all. She's studying Linguistics, so she's smart, but just doesn't get the idea of Heavenly Father yet. I think things like that take experience more than information.<br /><br />A relatively recent convert has some friends who we're teaching, and it's a very interesting teaching environment, very casual, because other friends tend to just walk over and join in our lessons randomly.<br /><br />Abby,<br /><br />The chicks sound, uh, interesting. Did they have the names already? Why name the one Arizona? What do they do most of the time? And what do you plan on doing with them when they get big and smell bad? Actually, they probably don't smell great now. Very weird situation.<br /><br />What's the weather like right now in Utah? You'd think that Hong Kong wouldn't have pets but everyone's got those little tiny puff ball dogs. You'd probably love it. Our whole apartment is about as big as what used to be the playroom in the basement. By the way, don't send me any photos, I want to see it with my own eyes first. The basement, that is.<br /><br />Becca,<br /><br />We do the workout every other day. There are a few different ones, all of them don't require any equipment or anything. Yesterday, we did one that has a ton of single leg exercise, the first time we did it we literally couldn't walk at all the next day, but this time it's fine. So I agree with you. Endure and the pain goes away. The gospel is often like that, isn't it? You need to just go and do stuff now so that you won't hurt later.<br /><br />Sabbath day has got tons of resources and scriptures to use. I love Isaiah 58, the last two verses. If you really understand what that's saying, the Sabbath can be a great blessing. I feel for people here it's a big test of faith. It's really hard to get work of in Hong Kong, so a lot of investigators have to change jobs, sacrifice money, face exhaustion, etc. But when they exercise their faith like that, they are blessed. Also, I always think it's interesting how many scriptures mention people keeping the Sabbath day. Look in the index for the Book of Mormon.<br /><br />David,<br /><br />I agree that most of the names I sent weren't great, but Broken Glass is a cool name. Okay, what does tergiversates mean? I don't know, I admit it. Also, do you want me to buy one of the Chinese vest things for you or anyone? You guys realize that I answer all your questions but you guys never answer mine, right? So much for family being the most important thing.<br /><br />I learned the Chinese word for Sputum. Thought you'd like to know. It is taahm. This last week I talked to a Muslim guy on the street, which was pretty cool.<br /><br />I've literally asked you like 3 weeks in a row if you've 1. Gone to the temple 2. Where are you reading. Are you ashamed to answer me? Do you take my words to be hard? Can you feel to sing the song of redeeming love?<br /><br />So that's my week! I'm sorry I’m not a talented writer for stuff like this, I feel like I'm always just spewing information at you guys. Oh well, at least I still write. The work is true, put your shoulder to the wheel.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0