yeah! happy birthday to me!

I am finally the age that I have been waiting my entire life to turn so that I could finally do the thing that I am already doing. A mission! Weird. Hong Kong wanted to celebrate my birthday as well so it gave me Amber rain. There are 3 kinds of heavy rain here in HK. Amber (it just rains a crap load), Red (alot alot alot, be careful outside) and Black (we are'nt allowed to go outside cause it is like a rain blizzard). So the rain kinda ruined our plans to possibly go out and try and see some pink Chinese dolphins. So after email we are going to go to a couple of museums.

 

The work is still going good. Slowly but surely. This week we found a LA who has been less active for over 10 years, and she was willing to come back to church with us! She is originally from Thailand, but moved here over 30 years ago. But she doesnt remember anything about the church, so we are going to start teaching her to help her remember. No major no investigators this week.... the Elders turned over one of their investigators to us, but she has already been taught everything, we just need to get her to come to church. She just cant wake up on time. She lived in the states for a long time, so she speaks perfect English and Cantonese, which is super nice, cause Cantonese is still really hard.

 

My Chinese is coming along slowly but surely. Now that I have a native companion, people talk a mile per min. So I have a really hard time keeping up. When people ask me a question slowly or just simpley tell a story I can understand just fine, but when they are going off chit chatting, I cant understand anything. But no problem! One day I will understand. I hope. But I did give Sister Choi quite a fright the other night, when apparently I was praying out loud in Cantonese, with a perfect accent. I just wish I could do that when I am conscious.

 

Sister Choi my companion is awesome. Luckily she doesnt even really need training. She is from Kwun Tong, which is like the area next to ours. Her family actually came to English class the other night. Kinda weird, but oh well. She wishes she was further from home, but she is needed in Cheung Sha Wan. :)

 

Yeah! Kelsie and I are in the same Zone! So we get to see each other once a month! she is also training and is living in the most crowded place in HK. Mong Kok, which literally means "busy corner". Our areas actually border, we also have like 1/4 of Mong Kok in our area.

 

Sorry nothing to exciting/funny this week. John, the investigator we turned over to the Elders, came to church on Sunday. Apparently he liked it, but was a bit freaked out at the sacrament. So when they passed the bread over him, he took a piece of bread and stuck it in his pocket. ... he drank the water after looking around for a good 30sec for somewhere else to put it. :) He is so funny.

 

Here are some pictures!

                                          Sunday dinner, actually that is what every lunch looks like...

                                            on the way to email last week

                                     Meih Foo, to Mong Kok is our area! We love trains! Ride them everyday.

It sounds like everyone is still doing super good. I am glad! Every once in a while I wish I was there with you all, relaxing and having fun together, but that time will come soon enough. I cant believe how fast time is already flying by. I have already been on my mission for 5 months. Thats almost 1/3 of the way done. Gross. I feel like I just started and yet I have already been here forever. Mission time is weird. But I love it.

 

Thanks for the emails! I love you!

Shea

Fathers Day Card

       
                                                 Hong Kong post card- Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day Pops!

Happy fathers day pops! Fuhchan yaht faailohk!!!!

I love you all so much and I am so blessed to have you as my father! I sent you a postcard in the mail. I hope that it gets to you sometime.

This week has been much much better than last week. It has been raining alot, but it makes it much cooler so I am ok with that. Except it makes it kinda hard to go finding when everyone has umbrellas up that they can use as shields. But no problem,that is why we go to bridges that have coverings. :)

It was a long week of finding. Finding is hard work, but it needs to be done. Finding is a hard, but it is a time of miracles. We have met some really cool people this week. Some are just..... characters. Last Tuesday we were finding over in this area of apartments, it was almost time to head home, but i said we needed to talk to 2 more people before we got on the train to go home. We went over to talk to this girl who was just standing there waiting for a friend. ... she rejected us. eh. oh well... then when we turned around to look for one more person, this man came up to us and said "you are Mormon-gau?" We then looked at each other in surprise and said "The Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. that is just a nickname. (which in Hong Kong is not a very good nickname cause Mormon means devil door)" So we explained a little bit about the Book of Mormon. And the man, his name was John, was like I want to know more about this book. But is it necessary to read the entire thing to know what is inside?" We were like we would LOVE to explain to you about this book. So we scheduled a time to meet with him. He wanted to meet at his apartment but we told him we couldn't unless we have another male with us, so he said we could meet him in the common area gardens on Friday. Oh John. He is kinda weird. He likes to try and speak English with me. He is weird, but has a strangely large interest in learning about the gospel. Anyway... Friday. We had the Elders come with us, cause we thought it would be best to turn him over to the Elders. So when i called John to ask if that was ok, and if we could meet at his house he said this about 10 times with his Chinese accented English, slightly yelling, "OHHHHHHHHHH, SO BECAUSE YOU HAVE A MALE. A MALE. A MALE. YOU CAN COME INTO MY HOUSE. BECAUSE A MALE. YOU WONT HAVE TO WORRY WORRY FOR YOUR LIFE." I was cracking up on the other side of the phone. When we got to his house with the Elders the first thing he said to me was "If you are worried for your life, you should learn Kungfu." and that started off the lesson. He is probably in his 60s, lives with his brother Philip probably also in his 60's and they take care of their parents, who are paralyzed and super old. They are funny. But weird. But they said if they learned that the Book of Mormon was true that they would have no problem being baptized.

So thats John. We also met Mrs. Lok. She is a Catholic, we taught her the Restoration and gave her a book of Mormon and she seemed really excited about it. But like 15 min after our lesson she called us and said she wanted to give the book back because it was so different from the Bible. Choi Jimuih tried to smooth things out over the phone, but she still wanted to give the book back. I tried to schedule her last night, but she said that she thinks her Catholic church is enough. She thinks they are all the same. I talked with her for a good 20 min just trying to help her see how important phrophets, preisthood and more knowledge about our savior Jesus Christ is. But she really just doesnt want it right now. I was pretty  bummed, but I know one day she will open back up that Book of Mormon and feel something.

So things are looking up. Of course bad/hard times come, but they always pass. I love my mission. It is the hardest, best time ever. Hong Kong is still awesome. I am cool with planting seeds. Future missionaries will thanks us one day. :)

As for the investigators in Sheung Shui. As far as I know they are doing pretty good. They are still meeting with Niky, and Kirsten (her baptismal date has been changed), Mr. Jehng, Peter Leunhg and I dont know who else they are working with.  I dont get a chance to be updated on them as much as I would like. But I have new souls that I am responsible for. So I try on focus on the people of Cheung Sha Wan. I trust the other sisters, and I trust the Lord.

I hope that everyone continues doing good! I hope that Fathers day was great! Sorry I missed it, but you all know that I am where I am supposed to be. :)

Love you all!

Shea

I'm Training!!

I am still alive and trying to work hard! I have moved and am opening up a new area down in the city city. CITY city. Our chapel is the Kowloon Tong Chapel across from the Temple. But our area goes from half of Mong Kok to Mei Foo. But we live in Kwai Fong. It is kinda annoying and really hard to figure out of to get things done here. Because we dont live in our area, and our chapel is not in our area we end up spending ALOT of money on travel. We have to take the train ALOT. I dont even know how we are going to budget our food money. But anyway.... 

My new Companion is AWESOME! Her name is Sister Choi. She is from Hong Kong, but speaks pretty much perfect English cause she studied at BYU Hawaii for 2 years before her mission. She has been a convert for 3 years now. She just one day saw the chapel that was next to her house and went to church. She was baptized like a month later and in the following months her mom and sister and little brother were baptized as well. She is a super great missionary already. She is pretty much training me.

But we have been struggling because it is a new area. We have no records and I have no idea where anything is. The Elders took us on a tour of our area, but it is really weird cause it goes from practically no people to too many people. So Friday and Saturday we spent 5 to 6 hours out on the street trying to talk to people. But sister choi had big blisters on her toes from the first day when we got the tour, so she couldnt walk to much. So she would sit on benches and try and talk to people and I would walk back and forth and try to talk to people. Everyone here is in a really big hurry. It is nothing like Sheung Shui (my last area). But Sister Clements called me Sunday night to let me know that Niky (the possibly drunk girl we found), Mr. Jehng and his 5 yr old daughter (who live in a 2 story closet) and Peter Leuhng (who does illegal work (i wont say what) dont worry it is not that bad...) all were at church up in Sheung Shui. That made me SUPER happy. It gives me some hope for this area. We opened Sheung Shui and it turned out awesome... so we will open up Cheung Sha Wan and it will be just as awesome. 

Cheung Sha Wan ward is the smallest one that goes to the Kowloon chapel. It is really small and has very few families. When I was asking our district leader all about the ward I was losing hope cause it sounded like a very dramatic ward that didnt like to help the missionaries. But when we went to church yesterday we got to meet everyone and I think that it is going to be a great ward! It is still going to take some work, but this were all SO much better than I was expecting. It is really better just to go to everything without any expectations. 

This is still crazy. Everyone agrees with me. I have only been here 9 weeks. I am training AND opening a new area that is completely opposite of my last area. I feel really bad for Sister Choi cause she has a lot more pressure on her than a new missionary should have, but it cant be helped. We have been really stressed the last couple of days, but not to worry, I am over it. Things are starting to move along. We are meeting with as many members as we can this week to get to know them and ask if there is anything we can do to help them share this gospel with their friends. 

Slowly but surely we will have work to do. It is really hard, but we are both growing so much and learning so much. 

I have had to remind myself several times as to why I decided to go on a mission. Things are hard and stressful. But I wouldnt want to be anywhere else doing anything else. I love doing this work. It is trying the very best thing in the world. There nothing that gives me more satisfaction than seeing others come unto Christ. 

I love you all! I will tell you all about the awesome people we will meet this week, next week! 

Shea

                                                          Us before first study session

It front of our chapel 

                                                                   Apartment view

GUESS WHAT!!!!

 I found out yesterday morning that I will be having my very own new missionary. WHAT THE CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!aj;sleiugbj;akljwehp9;78fyh;2nl;j. Me. a new missionary. as in... I have been in Hong Kong 9 weeks. WILL BE TRAINING. I have almost pooped my skirt every time I think about it.

 

Yesterday went like this: First we went to try and get Mr. Liu to church. He said he was going to see the doctor so he couldnt go. So we went to church a bit earlier than usual and were just talking with some of the members, when all of the sudden President and Sister Hawks walked into our chapel. So we go over to greet them and they ask how we are doing... then President Hawks asks me this question... "How would you feel about training?" and me, just thinking it is a question about my own training, respond, "If the Lord needed me to train, I could train." then President Hawks said three words that made my heart sink into my stomach. "He Needs You." .......... I just stared at him. .... He said congrats! Your training! .... I am just still staring at him. ............... Then Sister Clements says "So I guess that I will start packing my bag" (Cause it would only make sense for me to train in the area I have already been working in.) But President surprises us yet again by saying, "Dont be so fast... nothing is certain yet... but I will tell you... She (pointing to me) should pack her bags." .................WHAT! That means I am moving. training. and opening up a new area. WHAT THE CRAP. He did say that I shouldnt worry to much about the language though, there are a few coming in who already speak the language.

 

STILL. What the poop. This kind of a thing is unheard of. They have been announcing every week that big changes are coming to the mission and that we should keep it is our prayers. But I did not think that it would effect me near this much. We all thought that Sister Clements would go off and train some other new missionary and open a new area. No one in there right mind Really thought that I would train. Everyone likes to tease new missionaries by telling them that they will be training, but no one actually believes it!

 

I still cant get over it. It makes me sick. BUT I will trust in the Lord. He works in very strange ways. I am just going to have to strengthen my faith and pray that we wont mess things up too badly.

 

I am excited to get a native! I hope that they speak at least a little bit of English. Most people here at least know a little. But I am excited to test my language skills.

 

Other than that LARGE piece of news. Our week hasnt been to exciting. We went on two exchanges. So I got to work with Sister Olsen and Sister Foohng. I got to go over to ShaTin and see that area. It looks like a futuristic city in the jungle. Super Pretty. All of Hong Kong is super pretty. It truly is a vertical city. Wherever there are not skyscrapers there are little cute Chinese shops, or jungle covered Mountains.

 

OH! We met a new investigator Niky. She is 16 but looks about 23. One night when we were walking home from knocking doors we walked past her. She looked super sketch. All in black, pretty skannky. We both thought she was probably drunk as well. But when we walked past her we both looked at each other and said... We NEED to talk to her. So we turned around and ran after her around the corner. We stopped her and told her we were missionaries and that we share about Jesus Christ. She just smiled at us and wobbled around a little bit. But there was a guy with her as well who we didnt see at first. He took our flyer and Niky wrote down her number for us to call later. The next morning Niky texted us! We were quite surprised! NO one calls us or texts us. So we set up a time to meet with her. I didnt get to meet her cause thats when I was in ShaTin, but Sister Clements and Sister Aguilar say that she is great. She has hard a rough life and is just really rough all around. she is going to take alot of work, but I have hope for her.

 

But I am still loving the people here. Sometimes they are very hard hearted, but I know that they will have another chance to hear our message.

 

Ok I love you! I miss you! Sometimes I wish you could all be here to experience the adventures that I struggle to put into words! But keep me in your prayers this week. They will be extra needed. I am SUPER nervous about training. I aint no leader. But I guess the Lord needs one, so I will try and fulfill the position.

 

Shea