18 of the Best months of my life...Thank you HK!

I can barely believe that it has been a little more than 18 months here in Hong Kong.  I feel a wave of emotions as I think about finishing my service as a full time missionary.  What a privilege it has been to represent my Savior; to act, say and do as He would.

While I am excited to go home, see my family and begin the next new chapter of my life (this time with a better understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ), I will definitely miss Hong Kong. There is no way to express and put into words all that I have learned.

As we have just celebrated Easter, I really do KNOW that Jesus Christ, my Savior, lives. Because He lives I will always have someone who understands me completely.  Who is ready, willing AND already has His hands outstretched to comfort, protect and strengthen me whenever I am in need.

I have felt His power countless times as I have been blessed with a wide range of adversity and had the opportunity to turn and rely on Him.  On the other hand I have felt and seen true joy in my life and the lives of others that only comes from truly living as a disciple of Jesus Christ and the many blessings that are given to us as we accept and follow Him.

"He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world.  His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come."  He is my personal Savior and He loves me perfectly and completely.

The reason Hong Kong and these people will forever have a place in my heart is because I spent 18 months trying to minister, serve, and help them just as the Savior would.  As a a result, I have grown SO close to my Savior!  I have found the scripture, "If you are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" to be completely true.  I hope that I can continue to serve all those that I come in contact with.

I really have no idea how to explain what my mission has meant to me, what it has taught me about my Savior, myself etc., and how it has helped me to know who I want to become.  Every time I try I feel overwhelmed with happiness and at am a loss for words.

Ammon said it best (Alma 26 from the Book of Mormon).

"And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God. Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever."

"Behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God. Let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel."

I am so grateful that I had this time to really get to know my Savior and to share this wonderful message with those around me, to allow others to partake of the fruit of the tree of life and experience the 'exceedingly great joy' that I so often feel as a member of His church.

I know that it doesn't stop here, but it is a lifelong path, but I am grateful for this jump start :)

Thank you for all the help, support and prayers that you sent my way!  I am very grateful for everything!  I will see everyone on Friday :) :(

Love,
Sister Loo

Goals to finish strong...

This month our district set goals of 3/10/10/20 (Baptisms, Baptismal dates, At church average and new investigators).  Well when numbers were sent in this week our districts actuals for the month of March was 3/13/10.5/16.  We were absolutely stoked.  At the beginning of the month we set these goals knowing that they were achievable, but that we would really have to work for them and have faith that the Lord would help us if we relied on Him.  One of the elders said he would chang the district if we hit our goals this month too which is always good :) I still remember the days when this district would pull all 0's or maybe one at church, we have come so far and we are slowly improving it is so great!

On Tuesday we were doing calls because we had one appointment in the morning and then nothing the rest of the day until english class at night so we decided to call formers.  Well much to my surprise we called and one they actually picked up and two she scheduled us for that very next day, which doesn't happen... ever.

We were super pumped and to make things even better, she has A TON of potential.  Unfortunately she is going back to mainland and wont be back until the 16 of April, but I am excited to hear about her. She is really looking for the 'right' religion and knows that if she can find the right one it will bring a lot of peace and happiness.

We taught her the Plan of Salvation as she was really interested to the answers to the 3 questions.  She is a single mother of an autistic boy.  At the end of the lesson I had the impression to testify to her that God has entrusted her with a very special, precious soul because he really loves and trusts her.  That even though I dont know how hard the path she has walked and how hard it is to be a single mother and have no family here in Hong Kong that Jesus Christ knows and He is there to help, comfort, and bless her whenever she made need it.

At the end of the lesson we all were teary eyed and she offered the most beautiful sincere prayer to know if the Plan of Salvation really was true.  Sister Dodge and I walked away from that lesson so happy.  As a missionary those are the moments you live for.  To feel the spirit testify through you and to see someone else's face light up as they hear truth!

Funny story that might have been divine design?...

I now take a nap during my meal times and then sister Dodge wakes me up once our time is up.  On Thursday she decided to also take a nap so she set the alarm, but it didnt go off!  We ended up sleeping for 45 minutes over time. She looked at the alarm and there was literally no reason why it shouldnt have gone off so it was super weird.

Anyways, we got up and went with our plan of visiting an RC and her investigator mom.  They NEVER schedule us or always cancel so we planned early in the week to go and just show up at their house. Well, when we arrived at their house she said, "wow we just got home not even 2 minutes ago!" so lets just say it was divine design.  They would not have been there if we didnt sleep longer! 

HA!

I think that might be all!
Love,
Sister Loo

Just a short note...

Okay I apologize but this is a short one!

The only thing that I can think of sharing this week was that Shirley's two friends were baptized yesterday!  I say that because it really was because of Shirley and her example that her friends were willing and had a desire to stay active.  They are really great friends and I think it was good for Shirley to see as well.  It also never hurts to have your best friends have the same beliefs as you and you can keep each other strong! :)

Any-who, one of the sisters who gave the talk on baptisms told a story about a girl who was given 1 million dollars and decided to use it all on buying make up!  She then asked what does this have to do with the gospel?  If we just place the gospel as one of the 'things' that make up our lives or one of the 'things' we do, then we are wasting the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are not fully utilizing what it can do for us.  We need to place it at the center of our lives and allow His gospel to influence everything that we do.  That is when we fully unlock the potential of what our lives can become!

The gospel is the best!

Love you all!

Sister Loo

Funny story of the week:

So we were coming from a lesson and late to a musical practice with our district for singing at the baptism and we get a call and in order to get us to move faster (I didnt know this was their intentions at the beginning), they literally say, "Sister Loo there is a bunch of poly guys walking out of the chapel right now"  Lol my district knows me too well.  It has been too long :)