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!

June? Where did it go?

Hey everyone!

Butterfly is doing fantastic!

this last week with the four of us we are seeing miracles happen!

This week we saw Tammy Tam, who we havent been able to see for the past few weeks. Apparently she was traveling. who knew! But she still has amazing faith. She really wants to be baptized. So we went over some of the baptismal questions with her and went over the word of wisdom again. She is just working on getting rid of her tea and her coffee. oh... and her gianormous jar of red wine with onions that she drinks each night to help her knees. That is one we are going to need to go over again. Be praying for her to have faith. :)

For the first time ever on my mission, we found a very pregnant new investigator. She came to church and the sisters loved her. During sacrament meeting she just kept re-adjusting and saying how painful it was to sit there. I was just thinking the entire time, "Oh man, she is never going to want to come back." Then afterwards she was talking with more of the sisters, and she was like, I think that I will bring my daughter next time. ...... what?! awesome great! I love it. miracles!

Anna is also doing really well. I didnt get chance to see her because sister shoemaker and her summer were teaching her, but I hear she is great. :)

Having summers is great but it makes the work a bit difficult. They are really just kids and they are expected to be full grown missionaries, but they dont get any mtc or training. So it is rough for them and a bit rough for us missionaries, but it brings so many miracles! :)

1. birthday celebration

2. Tammi's

3. offices

4. kitchen

5. bedroom

badminton with the YM and YW

從三星手機發送

Rain + summer missionaries

FAMILY!!!!

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I am sure tomorrow is going to be a great day. 

We just got summer missionaries less than 30 min ago!!!! I now get to be comps with Shek jimuih for the next 2 weeks. Sister Shoemaker and I will be on splits working with our summers, but still working in the same area. 

Oh yeah. Move calls came... I am staying here in Butterfly! Best ward ever! 8 months here we come! I wouldnt have it any other way. 

Sister Mckown went home (picture #3). We had some nice Indian curry for her last lunch together. 

I am so happy to stay here for the next month. July is almost upon us. We are seeing so many miracles everyday!

Sister Shoemaker and I have decided that in July we are going to have four baptisms. It is totally possible. But we need to develop more and more faith. It is going to take some serious miracles for it to happen. In my 6 months here so far we have yet to have a baptism. But 4 of them are right around the corner.

We haven't had to much contact with Tammy lately. I think her phone broke for a bit, but we were finally able to schedule her for tomorrow. 

Our new investigator Anna is SOOOOO good! She is the sweetest mom you will ever meet. Both of her sons have special needs. Her husband still thinks that church is a waste of time, but Anna thinks it is good. When we met with her last week she had downloaded the LDS library on her own. Yesterday she brought out a notebook during gospel class and took notes. SHE TOOK NOTES! that is the first time I have ever seen that. She is awesome. We haven't been able to extend a date to her yet. But hopefully we will be able to see her tomorrow and give her a date for july. :)

This last week we received a referral from Mormon.org. Weirdest thing ever. We don't ever get referrals. So when a text came in with an address, name, and numbers I freaked out just a bit. I called is right away. But the thing is. British Pinyam. I hate it. It takes all the tones out of a name to make it english, so we never really know how to say peoples names if we just read them. We need the characters. But that wasn't included in the text. So when I asked for Ms. Siu, no one was there with that name. British pin yam. worst thing ever. So we went to the address the next day and a man in some boxers answers the door. We still don't really know who to ask for, so we just said, hey do you have a son or daughter in America who goes to this church? They said your wife had interest to learn more. So the wife comes to the door and who is it...... none other that Doctor Lam's friend. Remember her? She was there when Doctor Lam tried to enter into our bodies. I remember her friend saying that she had a kid who went to our church, but no one really knows that there are different christian churches, so i didn't really believe her. But it was her! Mrs. Chan! I was so excited!!!! That day we first met her  at doctor lams we left and said to each other, "man I wish we could teach her friend" and now we get to teach her!!! I am so excited! 

We met with her a couple days latter and taught her the restoration. She has been anti-ed a lot. She goes to another church. She mostly just wanted to make sure that her son wasn't part of an evil church. I am excited for her to find out that it is true. :) .... yesterday I called her to asked why she missed church and if she had read yet. She said she wanted to give us back our book, but I ended up scheduling her for tomorrow. Hopefully we will be able to help her see the truth. She will. I know.

I am so excited for the coming weeks! They are going to be awesome! Miracles every day!

I love you all!

Shea

Picture # 1 Summers! Me and Shek jimuih

Picture # 2 We like lychee. and the ward likes to give them to us. :)

Picture # 3 Indian curry

Mandarin Almight God members, mango pudding and pizza at the pier...

Hello everyone!!!!

 

how is everyone doing! This week has been great!

Last Monday after emailing we got some pizza on the island and was able to eat it over the water. We met a man named "Jesus" he is awesome. (I will send you a picture in a sec.)

 

Somehow on Tuesday we ended up in this random lady's house who we had contacted a few weeks ago. She introduced us to her mom who only speaks Mandarin and kept trying to tell us to speak Mandarin to her. The problem is.... I know about 4 words in mandarin. Her mom kept going off about the Church of the Almighty God. She tried to have us read their book, listen to their songs and watch a video... but we really cant understand anything. She was trying to preach their gospel to us, but there was no way for us to understand her. In the end we just ended up telling them that we would have the Mandarin Elders call them and we booked it out of there.

 

Wednesday we were able to see Queen on her birthday. She didnt let us know that it was birthday till we sat down and asked how her day was. So we went out right then and got her a piece of mango cake. Happy birthday to Queen. :)

 

On Wednesday we were doing some service and I pallet of heavy carpet pinched my toe. We thought that I might have broken my toe so we went home to rest and eat some lunch...  but about an hour later there was nothing wrong with it. It was awesome. Now there isnt even a bruise! I think that the spirit protected my toe. :)

 

Friday we got to go on exchanges again and I got to go with Sister Wilcox yet again. I love being companions with that girl. She is so good!

 

Saturday we played volleyball with one of our LA's and with some of the YW in our ward. We then talked about how volleyball is like the gospel. We have our team and then we have Christ as our coach. :)

 

This morning we got to go on a hike with Brother Cheung, Tuen Mun Wards recent convert. He is just the cutest little hobbit man that just hikes everyday. He is awesome. We hiked around Tuen Mun. HK is a really cool place to hike because when you hike up all you see are tall buildings and green mountains.

 

Where the poop do I live? This place is awesome!!! I love it here! I love you all too!

It isnt a farmers tan, it is a fishers tan

Hey everyone!

How is it going on the other side of the world? Things are great over here! Still super hot and humid, but all weather is good weather when you are a missionary. :)

Last night is started raining right before we were going to go to bed, so we decided to try sleeping in the main room because when it rains at night it pounds on the AC unit. So we all slept on pads on the floor last night. It was fun. :)

This last week I got to go on exchanges again with Sister Choi. It is the third time that I have gotten to be companions with her. It is fun to see how we grow over time.

We also had Zone Training this week. Can I just tell you all how awesome the missionaries in Hong Kong are? They are the best. As you all know, we have been working towards getting 65 baptisms in July. Last month the mission got around 25. But the missionaries here have so much faith! President Hawks was so touched when he saw the results of a survey he took asking how excited we were for July and how optimistic we were. On a scale from one to seven the lowest score was a 5. It is amazing!!! Miracles truly are happening everyday!

Wednesday I got sunburned for I think the first time since I have been in HK. I dont know if it is the humidity, or the pollution or what, but usually no matter how long I am outside or what the weather is I dont get burned. But on Wednesday we were doing some service where we were sweeping a roof. After only about 2 hours I got a nice burn/tan. I love a good old farmers tan. Then sister mckown said, "we dont call it a farmers tan, we call it a fishers tan. I fishers of men tan." I got a good laugh at that. :)

Tuesday we met up with Doctor Lam to try and teach her a lesson.... how do I explain Doctor Lam.... she thinks she is a prophet. a healer. she donates her skin. lover of the bible. all other books are "spiritual books". she is SUPER nice. Offered us all kinds of different teas. We met her a while back and she said we could stop by her shop and chat with her sometime. So we went over and one of her friends was with her. We had some nice chats about what prophets really were. She thinks there are seven prophets... I dont really know... and I dont know how much I should say. But at one point she turned to her friend and said, "Look, you see, I want to heal them but they have to many doubts. I cant enter into their body because they have to many doubts." ..... of course we have some doubts! So I said that is funny cause we have a message that we really want to share with you that we KNOW will help you, but you have to many doubts. her friend then was kind of on our side saying like yeah, you need to believe what they say. I had a good laugh from them as well. I am just really grateful that the spirit protects us from Chinese doctors trying to enter into our bodies.

Being a missionary we get a chance to talk with allot of people. I have learned so many things from the people on the streets. There are so many different religions. They all have a portion of truth. Even Buddhism has some truth. Allot actually. At one point we were talking to this lady who says that she finds so much peace in their temples, she is just trying to figure out how to apply it into her everyday life. I am so grateful that we have a gospel that we can apply into our everyday lives. It is what we do, how we live and how we choose our futures. If there has been one thing that I have learned up to now is that this complete. I know it.

I love you all!

Shea