What happened this week? Where did the time go? I dont know...

This morning actually as we are emailing right now in this computer store, which is a gamer place, there were two boys swearing.  First off it was in english which is something you dont hear very often and then it was pretty frequent. Finally I had enough and asked them to try not to swear as much (sounds like something out of a church magazine huh).  Well thank goodness they said sorry and actually stopped.

As a missionary, especially because of this consecrated calling, I know the importance of having our language be clean.  It drives the spirit away like nothing else and in reality there is no reason that we should be speaking that way.  In the missionary handbook we are reminded to talk in a way, act in a way that will clearly identify you as a representative/servant of the Lord and I love that.  No matter where we are people are always watching!

For the most part this week was a lot of getting sister Clark up to speed on the island.  The investigators, the members and just about everything else that has to do with missionary work.  That was fun because she was in what she would call the "slums" of Hong Kong in comparison to the island.  She is amazed by the amount of white people that live on the island haha. "I can smell the wealth already" she said as we were moving her stuff haha.  But we are excited and busy!

Our goal is to start working with the Cantonese wards in the area where we serve as this will help us find fellowshipers because our ward is tiny.  This is something that she is used too as there is no mandarin branch up in Tolo so she will help a lot, not to mention she picked up Cantonese.. she is a genius!

Another amazing thing that happened.  An investigator that I forgot to remind (oops!) came to church by herself!  Why?  Because the first time she met a member who took her around to the different classes and got her phone number and the member invited her to church!  Members are so important to this work!  I can not stress that enough!!!  Please help the missionaries, they need your help :)

Well as I strive to be more exactly obedient that means I have not a lot of time!  Thank you all for your prayers and love,

Sister Loo

There was literally so many people in this park, all crowded around!

What were they doing?  Playing Pokemon Go.....

​​​​​​​​Hike from this morning with our apartment mates!

That is a cemetery!

So Happy to stay on HK island...

This week is transfer week and Heavenly father really loves me so he allowed me to stay on the island another transfer and I could not be happier!  There is either something I am not doing right here or He loves me, probably a little bit of both :)  Sister Clark (my MTC companion) will be coming down and we will be serving together.  I am excited, nervous, and stressed about the new responsibilities and the stretch that I know will come this transfer, but I know that God has a perfect plan so I do not need to worry!

This week was quite interesting because yesterday church was cancelled because of a typhoon warning.  It was an 8, now I am not necessarily sure what that means, but it must have been pretty serious.  We thought it would be too, but the whole time there was no rain, no wind, no nothing.  Two things to share because of this experience.  The first one is, boy did I miss church.  Sunday just felt different and it felt empty, not to mention the fact that no church meant no opportunity to partake of the sacrament, which I can, surprisingly, tell the difference.  My appreciation for the sacrament has definitely grown!  Going to church provides the spiritual re-charge that we as members, especially as missionaries, need!

The second thing I learned (and I feel like my dad saying this) I will tie to an analogy (wow I really am my dad!)  The typhoon we could not see, honestly didn't even think there was one, but we were warned by those who had the knowledge that it was there.  I think the prophets and commandments provide that warning and word of caution to us as we try to navigate through this life and the many different trials and temptations of everyday life.  Keeping us safe to those things that we may not see or know that they are even a danger!

We also had an opportunity to visit a member and she brought us out to lunch but had to quickly leave for work.  We stayed and chatted with a lady who was sitting next to us (another fact of HK.. you sit next to and with anyone wherever there is space so don't expect a whole table to yourself.. you will quickly have company) from Russia.  She had the hardest time grasping the concept that we were here voluntarily and that we have one day a week to be "tourist".  She kept telling us to visit the different colleges here and check out hikes.  Each time we tried explaining to her our purpose and she just did not get it!  I often times think about how weird we must look to others.  Two 20 year old foreigners with no supervision, living with and associating with other young foreigners haha.  but I know that this is a sacred work and a sacred calling and I am happy to be doing the Lords work!  How much trust he has given us to be His missionaries!

Lastly, we had the opportunity to go to the temple this Thursday and it was amazing!  Sister Arago suggested to me to bring my patriarchal blessing in with me and read it while inside and it was like a whole new blessing!  I then had a question I went in with and told Heavenly Father, I have faith that when I open these scriptures you will give me the answer to my prayers.  I am sure you can guess what happened, but yes the first verse I looked at was the answer to my prayers.  I am truly speechless by His love and "awareness" of me!

What a great week it has been!  God lives and He loves each and everyone of you!

Sister Loo

Hike from this morning!  Hong Kong is beautiful!

Temple! 

Finally people of regular size!

To work construction you also need to minor in gymnastics​​

The Beauty of Hong Kong

Unfortunately, this week I do not have many pictures and also don't have much I can say, but this week has truly made me realize that the China Hong Kong mission is unlike any other mission in the world, especially being a Mandarin missionary and working with Mainlanders.  There are some things that we are just unable to share and it is pretty crazy!  With that being said, I love my mission and love the opportunity to serve in this unique mission :)

This week the importance of being humble was shown to me over and over again.  This morning as I was reading about Alma and Amulek I was reminded that he left everything.  His gold, his silver, his land and because he followed the Lord he even was persecuted by his friends and family.  Yet, he knew what was right and continued being obedient to the Lords will for him, continued listening for His guidance and direction.

Along with that we met a lady who would have to do relatively the same things to follow the Savior, but was willing to do it.  In Hong Kong most of the people here have money and live very comfortable lives, which makes them see "no use" for this gospel and the Savior.  They don't understand that the Savior, no matter where you are at, wealthy or poor, can make you more than you can ever make of yourself.

I hope that we can all recognize how much we NEED to rely on the Savior!  When we are humble we are able to recognize truth, recognize the voice of the Spirit and recognize the irreplaceable role the Savior plays in our every day life.

Some funny things to share.......

Living with sister Colombel means....
Just writing in our journals for the night,
Sister Colombel, "Hey do you know Indias national anthem?"
The funny thing is she was completely serious like this was something I was supposed to know!

Fun fact about Hong Kong:
To buy a 200 square feet flat in Wan Chai (where the church is located) would cost you 3-4 million dollars.. 200 sq. ft!!!!  Please appreciate your roomie big houses!

Love you all!
Sister Loo

The BIG event for the week!

The big event for the week?...

ANNA GOT BAPTIZED!!!  Yes!!!

What a blessing it is to see someone enter the waters of baptism.  She was still so nervous for her interview, but she "passed" and after said something like "Wow he is awesome and made me feel so great!"  President Lam is truly the best!

So to put into context how much sleep she sacrificed.  She slept for 3 hours and then traveled to Kowloon for her interview, then she came to all 3 hours of church and then her baptism (running still on those 3 hours of sleep).  Well by the time she got home and went to sleep it was 2, which means she got 3 hours of sleep before heading to work!  She really is so amazing and was just so happy to be baptized.. You would not have been able to tell that she was only running on 3 hours of sleep.

Again, the Lord has shown me that when we are willing to sacrifice for Him in any way, He WILL bless us!

Our branch because of the split is VERY small.. 20 people at most so it has been hard to find fellow-shippers as well as get the members to talk to our investigators.  It was a huge blessing though because yesterday everyone was so excited for her baptism and would not stop talking to her.  They helped her feel super welcome and it really touched her!

Funny event of the week.. we were at an investigators house teaching a lesson and she LOVES to talk so at one point she was going on and on for about 20 minutes and now my mandarin is okay so I  don't need to 100% focus and I literally fell asleep.  She was like, "oh my gosh I am so sorry I am talking so much!"  I got lucky that she didn't get offended and gave me some weird drink that she said will either wake me up or make me want to go to the toilet a lot.. I guess either one would wake you up though hahaha.  Luckily it was the first one hahaha.  I don't think I understand what tired meant until I came on my mission :)

Annas baptism! 

The investigator I fell asleep on.. at least she still loves me!

Our hike from this morning! 

When you have a bee on you and they all know you hate bees!

A short one this week...

No time to write today, but we had a visitor again on Thursday!

It was quite a different experience as our visitor came down with less knowledge than others I had taught in the past, but she was super faithful.  One thing she taught me was that becoming a member or better, a disciple of Jesus Christ is a process. We don't need to have a perfect knowledge to be baptized!  As long as we have faith and are willing to continue learning and endure to the end!  

We have an investigator who will be baptized next Sunday and we were telling the interview questions and she was SUPER nervous.  She is so afraid of not "passing" that she is going to study the questions and how she can give a better answer so that she can definitely get baptized.  Once our lesson finished she left and about 10 minutes later she called again and asked more questions just clarifying what she was going to be asked.  I probably told her at least 20 times that she was prepared and did not have to worry just bear her testimony.  I thought it was so cute how worried she was because she has a deep desire to be baptized and follow the Saviors footsteps! 

I hope everyone has an awesome week this week!  Thank you for your love and support!

Sister Loo

A little hard to eat food that looked like mice...

Our visitor!

Out to dim sum with Marlo and Zhuang JM

One of the MANY expensive cars we see everyday. This is quite common.

If you have a car (especially on the island) it is at least a Mercedes level car

It is tradition in HK.

When a new business opens up,

 all of the neighbor businesses buy them flowers.