WOW!!

Look at my hot shot brothers! That article was so good! I am so excited for Ben, and Nick has never looked better.

HK is fantastic! Last night there was a HUGE lightening storm. We all woke up at 2:00 in the morning, to our room looking like there was a strobe light on. There was lightening literally every 3 seconds. But after a while it slowed down and we all went back to sleep. This morning it was one of the clearest mornings I have seen in HK. I love it here.

Yesterday we had a literal miracle! Yesterday after church all I could say was, "wow. wow. wow. wowowowowowowow. WOW!"

So I dont think that I have really explained much about how the mission is working towards having 65 people be baptized in July... But there is a system and goals that we are supposed to be striving for each week. I was nervous that we would never be able to achieve these goals, since Sister Palmer and I always fell just a bit short, and now that Sister Shoemaker and I are doing training, we have less time to be out in the streets. So I broke down all the numbers and decided how our new companionship was going to achieve these goals. I came to the conclusion that we were just going to really really focus on getting more people to church. So over the last month or so we have been focusing on it. and we have been able to see more and more people come to church. This last Sunday we were able to have 6 investigators and 3 LA's at church!!!!! It was a literal MIRACLE!!!!! I was starting to doubt that we would ever be able to reach anything and then the Lord proved me wrong. The Lord is too good.

We were then able to finally teach Sister Cheuk and her husband. They were sister palmer and I's Christmas miracle family. Their baby boy Hansel received a blessing and we are going to start teaching Sister Cheuk's husband! :)

So many great things happened this week...

- Met Rainie's husband

- Ran into LA's and investigators while out finding

- Got to meet our investigator who cant really speak Cantonese, grown children.

- A lady didnt freak out when I tried to commit her to a baptismal date on the street. That was fun.

- An Indian man ran through us while we were talking to this family, only to STOMP on the cockroach that was 2 feet away from us.

-Got pumped up by Zone training

- Watched Sister Mckown huge a nasty bug infested mattress while we helped this man from Africa move

-Found Gaats ngai behng (waffles with peanut butter and sugar) for only 7 $

- Got to clean Choi Lai Wah's fans. She is still the best LA ever

- Met a 70ty year old lady who had just gotten done with a performance. She sings and dances. She was awesome.

HK is great. an adventure everyday. I love you all!

Shea

FAMILY!!

Hey everyone!你好!

How is everyone?

Things over in HK are so good!

This week went by so fast. Like every week unfortunately.

Sorry this email is going to be a bit short...

Here are the highlights!

-As we sat down to do our closing finding prayer, this boy walked up to us and said, excuse me, are you from the church of latter day saints? We said yeah! Then he asked if we were from Utah and went to byu... Turns out this kid had looked up just about everything you could about the church. He had seen us talking to a couple that ended up being Jehovah Witness, and wanted to know what we were doing. He knew SO much about the church and missionary life. So we sat him down and taught him the Restoration, which of course he already knew about. Then he asked how we could keep so many rules for ourselves, so we explained that when you know these things are true, you want to keep them. Then we talked about the spirit. I asked him, how to you feel right now? He said... when you were talking about Joseph Smith I felt like I wanted to cry, but I dont know why. He was SOOO good. I thought he was a member just trying to pull the missionaries leg, but we could literally see the spirit moving inside of him.

- We taught Sister Lee this week. She is a tough one to teach since her Cantonese is not so good. I can really only understand about 10-20% of what she says. The member gets about 60. But when we went over to her house her daughter was there! So we got to teach both her and her daughter! :)

- One night while finding, this lady came up to us as we were talking to this grandma and her granddaughter. At first she was just amazed that we were speaking Chinese, then she went off on how she wanted to go to America, but then at some point we sat down with her and started chatting. Turns out her husband had died 7 years ago. This lady was Christian and Christ has helped her a lot in the past, as we taught her the Restoration we were able to teach her about temple work. She had already see the temple in Kowloon all the time and said that she sometimes goes over there to pray. We taught her about how she can be with her husband forever and how she can help him be baptized.

What an amazing gospel we have. I am amazed by it everyday. I cant believe I get to be a messenger of such an amazing message. I love it here. I love everything about it.

I of course also love all of you.:)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!

Hey everyone!!!! 

This week I said goodbye to an old missionary and said WELCOME to a new missionary. 

Tuesday and Wednesday last week were just a blur. We saw so many people and had to take care of so many things to prepare Sister Palmer to leave. but on Thursday I met my new companion Sister Shoemaker!!! Sorry I would send you a picture, but I think my card reader is broken. She is fresh from America. Cantonese is a bit of a struggle, but I dont know who it is not a struggle for for the first half of a mission. She is already growing like a weed. 

Because we saw pretty much all of our investigators on Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday through Saturday we had some good time to go out and practice some finding. 

Finding always brings great adventures. Such as:

Being sticker attacked by little Indian girls

Backing away from dogs

Being called wife, by a crazy man

Meeting people that you cant tell if they are a man or a women

Can you just imagine how weird it really is... 2 white girls, walking around HK and teaching people how to pray, or who Jesus Christ is. 

It is weird stuff... but I love it so much! 

On Thursday, after doing all of our studies, we headed out. We had met some good people, but no one really seemed to interested in what we had to say. They right as we were going to have dinner, we stopped to talk to think lady who was actually from the Philippians. Usually I dont talk to them, because they are all SO good, and willing to listen, but there is no place for them to go to church in the New Territories. But for some reason we felt like she should talk to her. Turns out she has been looking for a church to go to. Philippians's have it rough in HK. They leave their families to work for a family in HK. They are pretty much like slaves. Karen, this Philippine, had two kids in the Philippines, her husband was working in Saudi Arabia. She was feeling extra lonely as she sat looking out to the ocean at the Ferry Pier. She actually grew up next to on of our churches in the Philippines, and has a cousin who is a member. So we taught her and has we said the closing prayer, she just started crying. She said, I am coming to church on Sunday. I dont care if it is in Chinese. So we had the Philippine sisters call her the next day.

After we taught her I turned to sister shoemaker and said, I never teach Philippines. But that was right. She needed that. 

The spirit leads us and guides us. I never know what I am doing beforehand, and sometimes I even wonder afterwards. But the spirit is guiding this work, there is no doubt about that. I love you all!

Goodbye Sister Palmer!

Hey everyone!!!

 

Tarmia Cashie! Samama! (Thanks! to you to!) Thats all I know how to say...

So I learned some Indonesian this last week. :) Friday night we went over to dinner with Brother Lau, also known as Jack Smiley, and his non-member wife. Brother Lau grew up in Indonesia so speaks it fluently and his wife knows alot as well. So over dinner they tried to teach us some, but it just sounds like chicken talk to me. But that dinner was a hoot and a holler the entire time. They are SO funny. Between their stories of gambling in America to singing Chinese Opera for us to hear, it was a night to remember.

 

Confrence was SO good this weekend! We had so many people come! It was a miracle! On Saturday even Choi Lai Wah came with her little granddaughter!!! She had to tell her daughter in law that she was going to lunch with some friends, but then really came to the chapel. Then Elder Eyrings talk was PERFECT for her. When I was listening all I could think was, wow, I hope that Choi Jimuih is watching this. There were so many good talks that fit our investigators situations perfectly. I am so excited to use what I learned to help them all progress! :)

 

On Wednesday a couple of members wanted to throw a little lunch/going away party for Sister Palmer. But Sister Palmer and I have been very strict with the ward members telling them we really cant eat food with them unless there is an investigator or a less active there. So the members invited 4 of the LAs that lived in there area, and ALL 4 CAME!!!! It was SO good! Everyone got to make some more friends and we got to share with them a message about General Conference. Obedience truely does bring miracles!!!

 

Last night we had the My Conversion Fireside, where all the going home missionaries invite one of their converts or whoever they want to bear their testimony. We had to get there a bit early to have a meeting before and as we were sitting there, President Hawks called me back into his office. Everyone knows what this means. Anytime, the Sunday before transfers you get called to talk to Pres. Hawks that means you are training. Yep. Turns out I am training. No more Sister Trainer Leader for me, I am now going to be training a new fresh American missionary. Everyone has said that I am going to train, and I felt it coming, so it wasnt much of a shock. I feel like I will be a much better trainer this time than last time. There is no doubt about that.

 

But Mom and Dad you will have to say hi to Sister Palmer for me. I told her she could hold Thomas, that is of course as soon as he comes out of the hospital.

 

But I love you! I will tell you more next week. I love you!

Shea

 

PS Remember almost a year ago when Sister Clements and I met Nicki? We thought she might have been drunk and ended up texting us the next morning? Well she is still around! She has been coming to church for almost a year! She has a good solid testimony! I saw her again last night and ask her if she remembered me. She is so good! But still needs more time. Missionary work is AWESOME!!!!

So Close and yet so far

Hey everyone!!!

There goes another week. wow. what is going on?! time is crazy!

 

here are just a couple of highlights!

- Zone exchanges! guess who I got to be companions with.... none other than Sister Wilcox! My old companion! We got to be companions again for the day and see how much we have changed over the last 4 months! It was so fun. We got to go on a little hike Saturday morning with one of our LAs and as we came into this little valley we stopped by this stream and shared a message about Agency and how we get to choose the path we will take in this life.

-We also got to teach Tammy Tam, who is still SO good. She just says that she wants to "get closer to Jesus Christ faster" and she thinks the Plan of Salvation makes sense and is good. We also talked to her about teaching her husband who doesnt have any religion, so hopefully we can start teaching a family!!! :)

-At Zone training we are really trying to focus our zone on teaching families. We set a large goal for our zone, but I know that we can accomplish it.

-At Mission Leadership Council Pres. Hawks talked alot about faith. The mission has a huge goal we are trying to accomplish. We need all the faith we can get. Miracles are wrought with faith. and we need some miracles.

-We taught our LA choi lai wah about the temple. she wants to get there!

-We were able to meet with a lady that we contacted last week and teach her a lesson. But it really just consisted of her telling us everything about why she is not happy. I honestly couldnt understand more than: Diabetes, little sister, Singapore, shirt, a-line haircut, money, very un happpy new years. thats about all I got. But luckily we had a member with us and the spirit told us just to testify about God's love and how she can turn her life around and choose to be happy. We are meeting again with her tomorrow. :)

-Yesterday was kind of rough. I was extra tired from waking up extra early to go to ward coucil, we were fasting for faith, it was raining, and the member present we had scheduled that afternoon to make our goal never answered the phone so we couldnt get up to their apartment. So we were left to go finding in the rain. I was bummed. I really thought we were going to make at least our member present goal. But I got over it and thought, cool, Heavenly father will give us a different miracle. But as we were walking around Wu King Estate, no one really wanted to talk to us. No one. They wouldnt even take our flyers. I was really just trying to endure the time until 5:30 so we could go home and eat some dinner. We kept going and going, trying to talk to everyone we could. The time finally came for us to go home, we said a closing prayer, and started walking to the light rail to go home when we walked past this lady and her bulldog. I felt like we should talk to her so I turned around to talk to her, but as soon as i said who I was she said, "I am BUDDHIST. I dont need that." and walked away. I had really thought she was going to be our miracle. But alas.... she was not quite prepared.

 It just goes to show... I dont get to choose the miracles that we see. We still get them, just not in my time table or in the form I choose. But they come.

I am so grateful that i get to be apart of this work. Everything is SO good. the hard and the easy. It is all SO good and SO worth it!

I love you all!!!!

Another week in a blink of an eye!

Wow! I honestly cannot believe how fast time is flying. I feel like everyday I am in a dream. Sister Palmer goes home in the next couple of weeks and we are getting down to her last of lasts. It is really weird. 

In the last week it turned from HK spring to HK summer. Blooming hot and random thunderstorms. Last night after we did some finding, we were coming home a bit later than we planned because we were teaching this girl that we met. But as we were heading over to the light rail the rain started coming down in buckets! Then as we were waiting for the train it was coming at us horizontally. People were trying to find shelter everywhere. I was loving it! I could help but laugh! It has been a long time since I have seen a big storm. Long story short by the time we got home we were soaking wet head to toe. :)

This last week we saw all sorts of miracles. I think one of the biggest ones was on Friday. We were on exchanges that day and I got to be with Sister Aguliar again. The last time I was on exchanges with her was almost a year ago when we had been in HK for like 2 weeks. It is crazy to see how much we have both changed. We kept reminiscing that day we were companions. It was a crazy miracle filled day. But anyway... we had rescheduled Tammy Tam, who we taught the Restoration to a couple of weeks ago in the park. But this time we were going to meet at the chapel and let her meet Sister Chan, one of our members. When we took Tammy into the chapel and she saw Chan jimuih they both just paused and looked at each other. "You?!" They said. Turns out they used to work together over 10 years ago and were good friends. Tammy was so excited she already had a friend in the church. The rest of the lesson went amazingly well and we were able to give Tammy a baptismal date for June 8th! I am so excited for her! She is so good!

Here are just a couple other miracles from the week:

2 ladies in one evening said how much happier they were when we talked to them, even though they might not have given us a chance to teach them. 

During email last week the fire alarm went off, and yet not one person moved. Miracle there wasnt really a fire.

We met a NICE Christian who we were able to share the message of the Restoration with and give her a BOM

The last fellowshipper we wanted turned out to be perfect for the needs of our investigator

We never ran into the Elders while finding in the same apartment estate. (our area is that small) :)

We got to help someone move their flat! Hurray for service!

Choi Lai Wah (the LA that has changed SOOOOO much) said to herself that she complains alot. I almost fell off my stool

After Wong Jimuih our investigator that is never home for the times that we schedule her, after she told us she wouldnt be home, only a hour before our lesson, was walking the path that we just happened to be finding in. We were then able to teach her a lesson. 

Rainie, who said she didnt want to learn the gospel anymore is still SUPER nice. We took her a BOM story book and a picture. Man, I wish she would just come to church. 

Kong jimuih brought her neighbor with her to church! We taught her a little bit about prayer afterwards, but she is really hard to teach. We all thought at first that she was a mandarin speaker cause she has a mandarin accent, but turns out she doesnt know any Mandarin. She just speaks her home village tong and has learn Cantonese since she has been in HK. Man, China is a crazy place. 

These are just a few of the awesome things that happened this week. Every week is the best. I cant ever do it justice in one short email. sorry about that. But I hope this gives you just a little glimpse of the amazing things I get to witness every day. I am so grateful to be a part of God's wonderful amazing army! 

I love you all! 

 

 

But this week went by in the blink of an eye. I literally have no idea where the time goes.

Last Monday we were planning on hiking one of the tallest mountains in HK but then the Elders that were going to show us where to go bailed on us, so we just ended up going up to the top of this hill that is covered with graves over in Tin Shui Wai. It was still really fun. :)

Tuesday we were able to FINALLY see Isis again. She has been so busy with school and work that we havent seen her for almost two months. But we had a fantastic lesson with her and she is going to come to church next week. :)

Wednesday we got to meet with Cheung pohpoh jimuih. She is this older lady that has now been to church a couple of times but we havent really been able to schedule her and teach her. the lesson was pretty good, except when we asked her if she had ever heard of baptism she said, "Oh I wont be baptized." flat out like it was no big deal. why? "My daughter is Buddist, I cant be baptized, she doesnt like these things." We promised her that as she comes to know that what we teach her is true that she will want to be baptized and that her relationship with her daughter will improve. By the end of the lesson we were able to give her a BOM, where before she wouldnt take one, because of her daughter. She will come along... we just need to have some patience and some faith. :)

Remember a couple weeks ago, actually I dont think that I wrote about it.... but anyway... we had met this man named Andy Lau and taught him the Restoration on the street. At that time he said that he really needed to think about what we had said, because if it is true that means he will need to change his life. He told us to give him a week before we called him. So a week went by, and I called him. We were able to schedule him for Saturday and turned him over to the Elders. It was great! He is so good!

Nothing else to exciting this week. ... I mean for me everyday is exciting, but I dont know what you all find exciting... nothing out of the usually this week just

-talked with a dad who had the smallest 5 month old I had ever seen sitting in his lap with a beer in his hand

-ran away from some other Arabic men that happen to know sister Palmer

-had someone sneeze, spit or splash water all over my back while I was eating my beef and veggies bowl

-watched little kids pull on sister Palmer's eyelashes

-tried to talk to a women who was wiping her dogs butt

and so on....

Being a missionary is great. I am enjoying every second of it.

I love you all!