Family

Family!

We have a baptism scheduled for the 19th! We are so excited! I don't know if I told you about Sister Lam. Her husband is a semi less active with a heart sickness. We went and visited Brother Lam my second day here and we asked him about possibly teaching his wife. At that time he just said that it was complicated and that we would talk about it later. Then last Saturday we called to invite her to a Relief society activity and Brother Lam was like... can you come over and we can talk about my wife's baptism? She wants to get baptized now. So we ran over there are sure enough she now wants to accept the gospel. She has already heard the lessons 6 times, but had some big decisions to make. But we have reviewed almost everything with her and we can see how much faith she really has. I am excited for her. When we brought up why she wants to get baptized now, she just said that she needed to be sure. But she really wants to be sealed to her husband. She got all teary eyed when we brought up the temple. I am so very grateful that we have the knowledge to be sealed together in this life, so that we can be together for all eternity. sigh.... I love it so much.

The Lord is defiantly blessing Sheung Shui. There are so many people here who have just been waiting to hear about the gospel. It is just a matter of finding them. Finding is still really hard. It takes guts to go up to someone and try to get them to listen to your slaughtered Cantonese. Missionary work is weird. It is amazing it even works. Just think about it.... 2 giant white foreigners, trying to speak Cantonese, come up to you and tell you about Jesus Christ, then ask for more time when they can share with you and your family more about Christ. Then you let them into your home and speak with you. I don't understand how it works. It is kinda creepy. There is no way that we could be doing this work without the spirit. That is the only way that we can get into peoples lives. They feel something and want to learn more.

Oh yeah! We got to go to the temple on Thursday! So technically this isn't my Pday. We are just emailing then it is back to work! It was a nice boost in the week. The Hong Kong temple is beautiful. Small but awesome. We have been meeting with families in the ward pretty much every single night. Honestly we didn't have to buy like any food last week. We met with Sister Lam every morning, and they fed us breakfast and then we had dinner and other members houses. The food here is great! I haven't run into anything to bad yet. Allot of it is greasy but that's why we drink hot water with everything. Some of the members live in very humble circumstances. We met with one of the families who lives in literally a tin shack. But inside they have a TV and a computer and a nice kitchen. People are funny here. They would rather sleep on the floor and own an Iphone.

There was an activity with the Young womens and young men on Saturday. They were going to ride bikes, which is a rare activity to do in Hong Kong. So we invited Kirsten and Kirsten invited 3 friends. We were planning on going as well since there were so many potential investigators going, but according to the white handbook, we both have to be wearing helmets. NO ONE wears helmets in Hong Kong. Such things are only for the real road bikers. We searched and searched for helmets and asked every family we ate with that week if they had one or if they knew of someone who had one. We tracked down one helmet and had hopes that someone else would bring one more helmet to the activity. When we got there and were ready to get the bikes, we still only had one helmet. The rental place doesn't have any helmets either, so we just thought that there was no way that we would be able to go. We thought and thought of any way we could make things work. The YW and YM were like "just ride a tandem bike and the person in the front can wear the helmet!" or "Just use a bucket! Chinese style!" We even tried to get special permission from Pres. Hawks to go since we had so many investigators going. But alas. no permission nor did a helmet appeared. So we told them to go without us. We had work that needed to get done anyway, and walked off to the market to see if we could find a helmet to buy. We were really sad that we weren't able to go, but proud of ourselves for being perfectly obedient. Then we got a call from the YW leader saying someone just brought an extra helmet! So we raced back to the bike shop, grabbed our bikes and took off to catch the group, who were waiting for us on the other side of the train station! Miracles happen when you are obedient. :) Biking was really fun. My butt is bruised. but the scenery was super pretty! we road all along Tolo harbor down to Tai Wai. It was really good to bond with the YW and YM as well as spend time with Kirsten and her friends.

Well that was my week in a nut shell. Dads trip sounds awesome! I cant believe he didn't take anyone with him! I am glad that he gets the chance to use his mission language. I hope one day to be able to use Cantonese. And be semi good at it. A man in the street just before we got our bikes told me that it is impossible to learn Cantonese. He went on a rant to me. I told him we can do it with God. He wanted to know why our church was different, but had no time. I gave him a flyer. Hopefully he calls and learns why we are different.

Blast this computer. I was planning on sending a big load of pictures, but we went to a closer library and it wont let me attach an flyers. Or open anything but the Internet for that matter. I am really sorry! I wanted to send you pictures of everything. I will next week for certain.

For now I need to send an email to the pres.

I love you!

Shea

Our Area is on FIRE!!!!

Family! 

For real though. Our area is on fire. It is like they were just waiting for sisters to show up. We now have 2 investigators committed to baptism and we had 6 LA's at church yesterday and we have only been here 2.5 weeks. It is crazy to see the miracles. I really can’t even believe it. 

When I first got here and we were spending so much time inside planning and studying I was kinda angry cause I wanted to be out working. But low and behold... studying, planning, records, and calling are a huge part of the work. We haven’t even been able to go out finding that much, which surprises me, cause I thought we would be doing alot of finding. But between putting our records in order, visiting LA families, calling, and doing our 4 hours of daily study we haven’t had that much time to go finding. Like I was telling sister Clements... It is like we plan and study and set things up forever, then we have one huge moment that is awesome. 

Can I just tell you how much I love Hong Kong? I forgot my card reader again. :( I am sorry! I will repent and bring it next week. The weeks just go by so fast here. But I have to tell you about Grandma Chan. She has been a less active for 10 years now. Apparently the Elders found her just a couple of weeks ago, but we were going down the list that Bishop Choi said was a part member family, and decided to call and see if we could visit her. She agreed to visit with us if we came out to her house. So we called the bishop, the elders, and talked to other members to see if we could figure out how to get to her house. She lives out in the boonies of the boonies. We took this bus, that then dropped us off on the side of the road... the bishop just said look and whatever direction is going up and go up. So we did. We also called the Elders and made them explain everything in detail... but anyway it is way up in these mountains. So we get there and she is the cutest little old lady! She lives in this little cave of a house. Her 50yr old son lives with her, but he is always working and has no interest in the church. But we talked with her and showed her pictures of our families. Then she asks us if we have eaten yet. We are like yeah a bit. Then she goes into a dark closet (actually her kitchen) and comes back out with what looks like poop on a banana leaf. We take and say thank you and then look at each other like Oh no. what are we supposed to do. So we take a bite and it is not too bad. It looks really bad. I will send a picture next week. I really meant to bring my card reader. SORRY! But anyway. Then we were like "How did you make this? Like what is it made of?" She then proceeds to get up and walk out the front door and pick some weeds from the ditch outside her house.      .....        I didn’t even know what to say. Apparently she boils the leafs down and makes a mush of them and adds geliton. So we asked for bags so we could take some to the other sisters we live with and she then gave us like 5 more. Oh how I love Grandma Chan. She came to church on Sunday. :) We are also going to help her be able to go to the temple and do her family history work. 

I also have to tell you more about Kirsten. She is still as awesome as ever. On Saturday we had a Relief Society activity and she came. She also brought her little brother, and 3 other friends. We were able to watch the Restoration with them and talk about the BOM. They couldn’t come to church yesterday, but Kirsten said for sure next week. Oh man she is great. 

Nope. We didn’t feel any Earthquake. I just barely saw something like that on the train TV. We guessed it was mainland, but nope had no idea. I am excited that Landon is getting excited about a mission. It really is super great and I love every min of it, even when I don’t understand everything that is going on or things are just really awkward. That is one of the mottos of our apartment. "Embrace the Awkward." You really have to. :) 

The Carlson’s called from one of the missionaries phones down in the English branch.

I have actually seen Kelsie quite a few times. Her companion was in our sister district so I actually know her pretty well. Sister Aliaga is awesome. I have also strangely met 2 or 3 people from Spain traveling on the train here. But when I try and speak in Spanish is comes out as Chiesh. Half Chinese half Spanish. It is no good. Kinda a bummer, but I will pick it back up when I get back to the states. No worries for now. Cantonese is still coming slowly but surely. Sister Clements and I speak alot of English which is bad for learning Cantonese, but there are alot of things we need to organize and put together that we need to be able to communicate. It will come in time. I am not too worried. 

I gave the bishop your email. If he hasn’t emailed you yet I am sure he will very shortly. They still don’t have housing for Samuel yet and they leave for Utah on Thursday. So watch out for that email. They were really grateful to get some help with that. They speak some English... But idk how much cause I only speak in Cantonese with them. Samuel is said that he is leaving his friends, so I hope that Landon can fill the gap for him. :) 

Dad we live in Sheung Shui. On San Shing Ave. I don’t know what the building is called. The Tai Wo sisters live with us. It is really fun. 

Ok, well I love you all. But I still have to write President Hawks! Keep writing me, because I love to read your emails! Thanks for all your support!

Shea

Table Manners...

Hey family! 

Still alive and doing well! The language is still coming. Slowly but surely it will come. It is still frustrating but I can make due. Except when people talk really fast, then there is no hope. One of the people we had a dinner with, her name is Manzee, her and her friend were there. She is a member but her friend is not. They just kept going at each other and at the end of every sentence was a  -gaaaaaammaaaaa. Which is like adding Duuuuhhhhh onto every sentence you say. They had their mouths completely full with rice sliding out every time they talked. I couldn’t understand anything.... but I thought it was hilarious so I just laughed to myself and let them keep going. So I might come back with just as bad table manners. If I do..... oh well... Chinese people are awesome. 

Conference was really good! We were lucky enough that the members understand that even for missionaries who have been out over a year conference is still hard to understand so they set us up a program in English. 

WE HAVE AN INVESTIGATOR!!!!!! She is freakin Awesome! When we were meeting the elders to go less active finding the elders ran into her. They thought she was going to be trouble since she flat out told them they were cute and followed them for a good while. Then she showed up to English class the next night. Sister Clements and I had chosen to go finding instead of to English class cause we weren’t planning on anyone being there. So the Tai Woo sisters and our Elders taught her together... (the Chinese person to the left of me just burped and coughed up a giant luegee, just thought you should know.) but anyway... They invited her to conference on Saturday and she came!!!! To all 4 hours! And then she stayed for a 30 min lesson with us! Then we walked to the train station with her where she met her friend and she went and took her friend back to the chapel to chat with a bunch of other missionaries!!!! She has already felt the spirit many times in her life and already prays everyday. She is amazing. There is alot of negative perceptions of the church here in Hong Kong. People say that we are a cult and a devil worshipping church. When Kirsten (the name of our new investigator) told her friends she was meeting with the Mormons they totally anti-ed her saying how she can’t meet with us and how we are evil. But she said she said that she can make her own decisions and wants to find out for herself. She said when we taught her that she thinks meeting with us was the right decision. She. is. sooooooo. awesome. But she is only 15. So even if she wants to get baptized she can’t unless she can get her parents consent. Her parents said she couldn’t come to conference on Sunday because she had to do her homework. She has been through alot in her life; I don’t know how her relationship with her parents is yet. We will see her on Wednesday. I am excited!

Ok I don’t have as much time as I thought. But I love you all! Thank you for your prayers. I really do feel them. They lift me up everyday! They are much needed and are well used! I will keep on keeping on. The Lord lifts me up. I believe and he will help me in my unbelief!

Love! Shea

Here are some pictures I promised! Ah... I don’t remember what they are....

1. Where we go finding. Addresses are really complicated here. I will explain some other time. Especially since we can’t read or write

2. The view from my apartment desk window. I love it. We live on the 5th floor. Which is really the 4th floor they just don’t use fourth floor here because it sounds like the same word as death just a different tone, so they skip it. 

3. Just crossin the road. You cross halfway and wait and then cross more. Kinda weird. You have to be careful. 

4. on the way back from conference. Our church really is out in the boonies. 

Hellllloooo America!

Hey family! 

Guess what... I am in China. And it is sooooo freakin awesome! I am up in Sheung Shui, look it up. I could walk across the border. When I got my trainer Sister Clements she said that we would be opening back up Sheung Shui. And I was like GREAT! .... where’s that? So she said, "Well.... let’s just say... we can’t fall asleep on the train and miss our stop or we will end up in Mainland." We are the last stop before mainland. :) I love it so much. Hong Kong is crazy. I love the trains. I love the old ladies in the park eating nasty durrian. I love the old men with their bird cages gambling. I love the kids with hard core anime hair. I love the Buddest shrines outside every other persons door. I love how many people are stacked on top of people stacked on top of people! 

But I am going to focus. So much has happened! I don’t even know where to start! But ....

Day 1: We arrived in the evening. The elders took the train in and had to do contacting. We just talked with the president and got the know everyone. We stayed in Patron housing right next to the temple. There were some really funny Thai people there. They made us eat something weird. I don’t know what it was. 

Day 2: We did workshops with the AP's and president. Then went finding in the afternoon. Finding is really hard. I have no idea what anyone is saying. Sometimes they speak in Mandarin, but I wouldn’t really know. Super great! :)

Day 3: ASSIGNED my trainer! Her name is Sister Clements. She has been out here a year. She is from Oregon. She is awesome and we get along really well. We have a new area so that means we are starting from square one. We had no records. No investigators and we didn’t even know where our church was. So the first thing we did when we came out to our area was get together with the Elders, find our chapel (which is out in the boonies. Literally. It goes from multiple skyscrapers to tin shacks and jungle.) and get some members and less active records. So we got the records and were trying to organize them. 

Day 4: We got to go less active finding with the Elders. Which means that we go up and down skyscrapers and knock on our less actives doors. Most of the time no one answers... but every once in a while someone will open up. But that was fun. Everywhere we go I just love it so much. At the end of the night we went over to Manzee's house. She is a member but one of her daughters and her sister is not. So we thought we would stop by. They are super nice. They kept feeding us food, while telling us Americans are fat. Kinda contradictory. I couldn’t really understand alot of what was going on.... but apparently they made fun of how I couldn't understand anything. That is ok though, cause I would too. :) 

Yesterday: Yesterday we got to meet our ward. (General Conference is a week later so that they can do translations) Our ward is soooooooOOO happy to get sisters again. Apparently they have been asking for quite some time now, but there wasn’t enough. So they had us get up and bare our testimonies and introduce ourselves. We also tried to talk to as many people as we could. Sister Clements and I are really focusing on the ward and building the members and getting them to trust us so that they will give us referrals. So we did alot of socializing (by that I mean sister Clements did alot of socializing and I followed her around...) We set up loads of dinners at members houses so that we can get to know them and how we can serve them. Last night we had dinner over and Bishop Choi's house. He is super awesome. We were looking at his family pictures on his walls one second and the next he was showing us pictures of his family from years 2004-2009. Super funny. He had 2 sons. One just left for a mission this last Wednesday to head out to England. His other son is 16 and is EXACTLY like Landon. I couldn’t even believe it. From just being super tall and lanky, to eating a crapload, to playing basketball and sassing those around him. It was so weird. His English name is Samuel. He is actually moving to Utah and the end of this month to go to UVU. They were saying how they here looking for a host family. I was like... HE NEEDS TO LIVE WITH LANDON. But alas he needs to be within public transportation of UVU. His parents don’t want him to go to a singles ward cause he is only 16 so they really want him to live with a family. Anyway. That was weird and kinda awesome. But the bishop is great and has already given us names of part member families and people that he thinks are ready. I am so excited to light this ward on fire and get the entire ward striving to bring many people unto the gospel! 

Sorry I forgot my card reader! Otherwise I would have sent pictures! Next week for sure! Also... feel free to email me back here. I don’t know when we get dear elders and we get plenty of time here to email. 

I love you all so much! 

Shea

Dear Brother and Sister Aldana:

I wanted you to know that Sister Aldana has arrived safely in Hong
Kong.   She is well and anxious to go to work.
We're grateful for the opportunity we'll have to serve with her, she is
delightful. We apologize for the fuzzy picture.

Thank you for your faith and prayers in her behalf.
Love,
Sister Julie Hawks

This last week was a good/confusing/spiritual week.

 I really like the MTC but I am excited to get out of here. We were able to host the new missionaries on Wednesday.  it was really fun to see the difference from when we first got here and how we are now. I dont know exactly how to explain it... but the MTC ages you are core. Not physically but spiritually....? I guess. there is just a difference. I dont know exactly what it is. I was able to host some girls straight from Japan that were super nice. Everyone is so nervous when they first get here. It is fun to get them to relax and start talking. we just get to reassure them that if they make it through Sunday everything gets easier. And the teachers at the MTC are pretty much the best people ever. Sometimes i dont actually believe they are human.

Our teacher Foohng Jimuih is sooooo in tune with the spirit that she always knows exactly what to tell us, when we need to hear it. I swear every week everything is coordinated with each other to have a theme. but it really isnt. this last week for TRC we were supposed to teach a 40min lesson on receiving revelation through prayer. So sister pearl and I both studied during our personal study and came up with some really great things. If you ever have time you should try reading in the bible dictionary about Prayer. It is really awesome. it talks about how we need to align our will with Gods, even for our prayers. We both learned so much about aligning our will with His. then we didnt even use what we learned in our lesson. we were talking with Lu jimuih (the girl we taught in TRC) who is working on her mission papers. so we really just talked about those and not worrying about our weaknesses, because God will always make up for what we lack. So sister pearl and i decided that those studies on prayer and revelation were really for us. then the next day, Foohng Jimuih (our teacher) taught us about righteous desires and how God always wants to help us accomplish our righteous desires. Then last night we were able to watch a devotional by Elder Bednar "The Character of Christ" that was so freakin good. He talked about to have faith in Christ we need to understand his character. Everything that Christ did was turned outward. Instead of focusing on himself, even right after he suffered for the pains and sins of everyone else, he healed is accusers ear. He took care of his mother while he was on the cross, "Behold thy mother". He was even doing missionary work while on the cross, "You will dwell with me in spirit paradise at the end of this day". So if Christ in his darkest moments could turn outward and focus on others... so can I. Bednar said this is the only way we can truly convert ourselves. By turning outward and focusing on others our faith will grow. We will see the light of others growing from our touch.

So this week I am going out 100%. this week I am 100% focused on my purpose to bring others to Christ. Whether it is through studying the language to be able to communicate with them or even brushing my teach so that people dont run away from my awful breath. Everything I do is focused on bring people unto Christ.

I love Christ and his gospel.

Love you all!

Shea