the last!

Hey everyone!

How is it going? It sounds like everyone is fantastic. For some reason everyone keeps saying this is my last email. I am not sure what you are all talking about. :) Just kidding. My next transfer is going to be an awesome transfer. I really am super excited to see everyone. I am just really really sad to leave everything here. I dont really know what I feel anymore. Everyone keeps asking and I have no idea. SUPER conflicting.

But there is no point in writing to long of an email.... since sooner or latter I can just tell you to your face....

But this last week has been AWESOME!!!!

I think the Lord knew that I wanted to go out with a bang so he sent miracles right and left! Yesterday alone we were able to have 7 investigators attend church. That doesnt even include the elders investigators or the lady that came on her own! Butterfly really is just exploding and with Sister Shoemaker training next transfer amazing things are going to happen.

This last week we had scheduled our new investigator a-young, then right has we got to the chapel she called us to say that she wasnt going to come because it was going to rain, but that she was just able to change her job so that now she can come to church Sunday mornings. Great! But also poopy for not coming. Then right has I hung up the phone, her two sons run up to the chapel doors. Eh?! So I call A-young back and say, hey do you know your kids are here? What? she said, I didnt think they would have enough guts to go on their own!, well I guess I will come then. So then after waiting an hour, she finally showed up and we were able to teach the three of them together. her sons are SUPER funny. We invited them to be baptized on October 5th. A-young said yes. Jackie said, heads is yes, tails is no and flipped a coin. It was a yes. :) Jimmy just follows big brother. :)

Everyone else has been doing pretty good. I have been saying goodbye to alot of people but it doesnt really feel real. Nothing feels real. I dont know what to think anymore.

I think I might be going crazy.

Hopefully you will still all love me anyway.

well.....

I guess I will see you all soon!

love you

東姊妹

What??

mother this is not my last letter. I will be sending one next week as well. :)

Man none of you have any mercy. I am excited to see you all as well! But. Just know that I am considering what is coming ahead as just another transfer, and then I will be right back to Hong Kong. PS I have possibly been telling people I will be coming back next summer... I hope that is ok. :) 

But this last week as come and gone in the blink of an eye! SO fast. We had Mission Tour on Wednesday and Elder Funk and Elder Wong were able to come and train us missionaries. It was really really good. We learned all about how to teach according to our investigators needs, teaching the Restoration with the spirit and how to get our investigators into the BOM. So Sister Shoemaker and I have been trying to apply what we have learned. We decided that we were going to take some time to read with everyone we are teaching for 5 min EVERY time we see them.

 

So on Friday we got to go over to Anna's house for the first time and teach her another after baptism lessons. Do you remember she has 2 sons with autism? Well she does. Wing Yiu's isnt as bad but Wing Lok's is pretty bad. Wing Yiu was playing on the computer and making his own cartoon. He would type some English and then the computer would read it. Wing Yiu's english is SUPER funny. He watches alot of youtube videos so he really only knows alot of slang. So the whole time we were trying to have a lesson the computer kept saying "How dare you speak smack to Terrance Brown, you are grounded for 5,345,458 years." or "You are creepy." I couldnt help but laugh. This is all coming from an autistic, Chinese, 10 year old little boy. He really is amazing. Wing Lok would have some fit because the internet stopped working on the phone he was playing with so Anna would have to calm him down and help him out. Anna is such an amazing person. She must have SO much patients. But anyway, we had originally planned to review the Plan of Salvation and Temples, but because it took her a while to calm down her sons, we ended up just reading a bit with her. Which was PERFECT since she was on 2 Nephi 4. Anyone know it? It is a great chapter. It is Nephi going off about how he trusts in God. It ended up being a really good lesson. 

This week we were also able to find 3 new investigators! A-yung and her 2 sons! A-yung is originally from Vietnam but has lived in Hong Kong for a really really long time. She speaks, understands, reads and writes Chinese. We met her in the park walking home from work. We were able to teach her about prayer in the park and then we met with her and her sons on Thursday at the chapel where we taught them the Restoration. Her sons, who are 8 and 10 had SO many questions. Sometimes I think that kids are better at coming up with questions than adults. They asked questions from, "What do prophets do?" to "When will Christ come again?" to "Why does God allow there to be diseases in the world?" So many questions. Way more than the average Chinese. I used to think that everyone in the world thought of life questions and wondered if there really was a God, but the Chinese don't. I used to think that it would be a great finding technique to ask people the purpose of life, but no one has ever even thought of those questions.

China really is an amazing place. I have been trying extra hard these days to learn everything I can about this place. I love it here. It is so different and yet it is my home away from home. So even if I leave I have to come back. :)

Right now is an amazing time to be a missionary and I am soaking in every second of it that I can. 

I love you all! 

Shea 

Pictures:

 Yuki, a past mandarin recent convert with our member Wong jimiuh.

 Dinner with the Chan's and our investigator Sister Lok and her daughter Katie

wrestling cockroaches

Hey Family!!!!!

How is everyone! We are doing fantastic over here it is hot and humid and there are prepared souls everywhere. :)

 

First I have to go back to the title of today's email.... wrestling cockroaches. So in Hong Kong people dont really have rodent problems in their houses usually they just have some cockroach problems. Even when your house is really clean and on the 34th floor you can still get cockroaches. The little suckers are everywhere!

 

So we have been fighting this battle with them in our apartment over the last couple of weeks. A couple weeks ago we finally bought some bug killing spray and sprayed everywhere is our apartment, of course that just made all the rest that we couldnt get to come out so for the rest of the week we were killing little cockroaches everywhere. Now before you freak out (mom), they were just little ones. Nothing to crazy. But last night I got up to go to the bathroom, half asleep of course, and I heard some rustling. I automatically thought it was the clothe line that is just outside of our bathroom window. but then... I see it. A GINORMOUS cockroach crawling up and above the door. Seriously the BIGGEST THING I HAD EVER SEEN! I dont know what is worse, rodents or cockroaches the size of rodents. Either way, I freaked out. I threw up my pants as fast as I could and tried to figure out what to do. By this time the cockroach is trying to fly around the bathroom. It was really the size of a small bird. I had no idea they could fly! So I grabbed my towel and tried to cover the cockroach to catch it, but it was a sneaky little sucker. It took me a good 4 tries before I could catch it, when I finally had it all wrapped up in my towel I stood there for a good 2 min trying to figure out how to kill the thing. I finally came to the thought to stick it out the bathroom window. So I stuck my towel out the window and tried to shake it hard enough that it would fall. When I brought my towel back it, it only brought the bloody cockroach with it! So I freaked out again and tried to catch it again and stuck my towel out the window and shut the window on my towel. Only then did it get off my towel.

 

By this time I have my adrenaline pumping through my body than I have had in a really long time. I tried to go back to sleep but ended up just laying there for a half hour only to here the tuen mun sister's summer missionary start speaking Korean in her sleep. So I tried to speak some back to her, but then she woke up and said what are you doing, since I was looking right at her in the middle of the night of course. Then I just really could help but laugh for the longest time.

 

Last night was a weird night. It is just still all on my mind so I thought I would share with you. :) But the work this last week has been great! We have been doing lots and lots of finding and if it wasnt for slurpees I think that I would have gotten heat stroke a long time ago.

But Anna got confirmed!

Our ward had an awesome and super fun water fight activity!

A potential family came to english class! We are SO close to teaching a family! Pray for it please!

July's baptisms came to a total of 51 for the mission!!! Not quite the 65 we planned but it has been the China Hong Kong mission's Zions camp. Look up the story and you will know what I am talking about. It has been awesome.

I had my last Zone Training and it was the most spiritual one I have ever been to. Our mission is not stopping with just July. We are reaching for high things. Us missionaries are changing this mission. We have all set a new goal for 65 in December. I am SOOOOOOOOO excited!!! It is going to be awesome.

But that is all for this week!

I love you all!

The BEST day of my life!!!!

Todays email is dedicated to two amazing souls that stepped into the waters of baptism yesterday. 

Sister Wu- I first met sister wu almost 8 months ago as she was walking through the park on her way home with her daughter. Sister Palmer and I were able to get them to stop and we were talking all about her daughter, Dora's, performance in school she had the next day where she was going to be an angel. They had no religious background, but were super funny and slightly crazy. :) We were able to get Sister Wu's number and they went on their way. A couple weeks later and several phone calls later we were finally able to schedule them for a chapel tour. The chapel tour was a mess. We tried to teach them about prayer, but the conversation was all over the place and we didn't really have control of the lesson, but she felt the spirit and said that she would try coming to church the next Sunday. Saturday came around and we called to remind her, but she had to go back to mainland. She then stayed in mainland for several months having problems with her passport and was sick in the hospital. I think it was almost three months. Then one day we ran into her again next to our apartment. We talked to her tried to schedule but she was busy. A week later we ran into her again. and again and again. We then were FINALLY able to schedule her and have her meet the mandarin missionaries, where they took it from there. We still ran into her occasionally while we were out and about. Her daughter would always run up to us and want to take pictures with us. They were funny. I was happy when we saw them come to church. Sister Wu's testimony grew, she kept her commitments and had a desire to be baptized. Yesterday she was baptized!!!!!

Anna- The day we met Anna, we had just had an appointment cancel, so we had prayed about where we should go finding. Sister Shoemaker felt strongly about the Ferry Pier. I didn't have any strong feelings so we went to the Ferry Pier, where we saw a nice mother walking with her son heading to the beach. We talked to her as we walked beside her. She used to go to church when she was younger but hadnt been in years. We chatted a bit more and was able to say a prayer with her and invited her to church the next day. She said she might come. Later that night we called her up and she said she would come! The next day we met her at the light rail and she came to church. She told the Relief Society that we had caught her and brought her to church. haha. We taught her the Restoration after church where she called the Book of Mormon precious. She grew from there, loving everything we taught her. She ate it up. Yesterday she was baptized!!!! 

Come to hear their sides of the stories yesterday we learned....

Sister Wu- those SEVERAL contacts with sister wu were vital. She felt like God was reminding her and helping her see what she could become. Ever though we were not the ones who taught her everything, she still feels connected with us.

Anna- Anna said that we had caught her, because at the time we had met her, she was having a really hard time. She couldn't find happiness in her life. She had tried so many things, but she felt like she was in the lowest of the lows. She tried turning to other sources to find happiness, she was even just about to turn to a Thai religion she had been looking into, and right has she was in this low of lows she met us and started to learn about this Restored and perfect gospel. She felt like God heard her and answered her prayers. After she had been to church, her sister told her that our church was evil and Anna was worried, so she prayed to find out for herself. She got an answer. She knows it is good. It is true. Everything after that was so easy. 

Yesterday I think was one of the happiest days of my life. It is so amazing to see someone have enough faith to be baptized. It is amazing to be part of such an amazing thing. 

I love this work.

I love you all!

Shea

photos;

1. Anna

2. Sister Wu and her family

it is ALIVE!!!

For real!

Hey everyone!!!! This week has been amazing!!! Can I just tell you how much I love to be a missionary? It is the very best thing ever. Ever ever.

 

So last week we had a bit of a rough time... I was told by someone that I havent really had a very successful mission because I havent been able to see someone be baptized. I was pointed out many of my flaws and felt a bit like I had been punched in the face. No big deal. I blew it off, considering they had no idea what they were talking about. But it still hurt.

 

But this work is SOOOOO ALIVE! So unbelievably ALIVE! Things move on, every little thing we do as missionaries is not wasted. Anna is getting baptized this coming sunday. :) Wu jimuih, who sister Palmer and I found on our first day together, has been being taught by the mandarins and is also getting baptized on sunday. :) Yesterday the Cheung Sha Wan sisters called me to ask a question and I found out that Sister Chan (the one who had cancer) and her daughter got baptized yesterday!!!!! MIRACLES!!!!!

 

Not only that... but Choi Lai Wah, the LA who has changed SO much... She has now been to sacrament meeting twice in a row!!! Last Sunday was the first time she has taken the sacrament in over 20 years! I was so proud of her!!!

 

Our Heavenly Father really truly is a merciful being. He loves us so much. I was so happy yesterday I wanted to cry. I might have just a bit. But miracles really are happening every day. Our investigators are becoming more and more prepared everyday.

 

I used to think that it was almost impossible for us to be able to find a random stranger on the street and work with them enough that they are ready for the waters of baptism. But the Lord really is leading the work, and he can do amazing things!

 

I love you all!

Shea

 

1. Dinner with Anna, her son Wing yiu and the Tsang family

2. After morning exercise. I didnt even go swimming

3. Our new experimental English class

Happy family reunion!!!

It is nice getting a chance to see everyone just a bit. :) I love the videos. Everyone is so different it is weird. Can we have another family reunion sometime in December? Then we can have a summer one and a winter one. good mh good? (oh that is Chinese... ) PLEASE!!!! I want to be there. 

I hope you all have lots of fun for me. 

Hong Kong is also great. i have an idea! Next family reunion lets have it in HK! Yeah?! Perfect! We have lots of places to go and people to see. :) We can do some finding along the way. :) But really though. 

Our investigators are also doing great! Well at least Anna is. Anna is one of the most prepared people I have ever met. We only met her a month ago and she is already ready to be baptized. She should be having her interview this Thursday. :) I keep forgetting to get a picture with her but I will this week for sure. 
Tammy on the other hand has not been answering our calls for the last 2 weeks. Last time she didnt answer was because she was traveling. I just pray that she is keeping the WOW, reading and praying. We HAVE to see her this week in order for her to make her date. 
Sister Luk is also really good. She already wants to share the gospel with her friends. We thought she would progress faster than she is, but she is still progressing. Hopefully she can be another July miracle.

I still truely believe we can have 4 people be baptized in July. It is just going to take a major miracle. 

Over the last couple of days I have been thinking back to a video President Hawks showed a while back at a Mission Leadership Council. It is the story about Elijah and the widow. You will all need to read it. But have you ever kept reading after she finds the meal and the oil? .... so she see all of these miracles. They have enough food! Amazing! They wont die of hunger! then all of the sudden her son gets really sick and he dies. So she turns to Elijah and asks why have you come here? Just to make me feel guilty of my sins and to kill my son? She forgot the miracles he just barely preformed! Where is her faith? He just saved them from hunger and yet now she is mad at him. So Elijah works and prays and is able to bring her son back to life, preforming, what I think is one of the biggest miracles of all, only then does the widow admit that Elijah is a prophet of God and her faith is confirmed. It is kinda like us heading towards our goal of 65. We see all of these little miracles along the way, but then we face a hard time. Our son dies, our investigators stop answering the phone, it just isnt looking like they are ever going to make their date... and then... we call upon the powers of heaven. We ask the Lord, and work, Elijah had to work to bring the son back to life, only then will we be able to see the real miracle. 

Just a little bit from my personal study I thought that I would share....

We are still working hard over here. I have the best job in the world right now! I love you all and miss you! 

Shea 

Picture 1. Look I am here at the family reunion! I brought some octopus balls! They are SOOOO good!!!!! really though

Picture 2. Crocs and socks. every day man. Thats how we HK sisters roll

FANTASTIC Fourth of July

Hey everyone! Hope your fourth of July was off the hook!

Over here we had a FANTASTIC Fourth of July, complete with a trip to the temple. The new video is SO good, and also SO weird. I still have mixed feelings about it. But it was so nice to be able to go to the temple and get refreshed for July. It is a BIG BIG month. 

We also had Zone Training this week where we all got pumped up for July. It really is going to be a month of miracles! We are already seeing so many. 

So far we now have 2 baptismal dates set for July. Anna is doing so good, yesterday during church she said that she just woke up and the first thought in her head was, "I need to go to church". She said she thinks it was the spirit. I think it was as well. :) Tammy on the other hand has a date set, but we haven't been able to see her this week. So I am not exactly sure how she is doing. 

Yeuk Sen sometimes makes me feel like she is going to get baptized in July and then other times I don't know what she is thinking. She currently doesn't have a date. There are just a lot of other things competing for her attention. But I have faith she will receive an answer.

Then this week our mission coordinator, somehow met this former investigator that actually has a lot of interest in coming back to church. 

The work really is moving forward! I love it! Our summer missionaries went home today but they boosted us into July! We are just hitting the pavement running!