What a GREAT week!!!

What a great week it has been with more blessings showered upon us!

Yesterday was fast Sunday for us and it was amazing.  I have learned to be pretty direct in what I ask Heavenly Father for so I was hoping that our investigator who just had her baby would come to church and run up to us and tell us she wants an eternal family and to be baptised (that was pushing it a little so I was kind of joking with Him haha) as well as some other things. Well, what I got was different from that, but still far better than what I asked for.

The Lord has an interesting way of doing that.. Not exactly giving us what we ask for, but giving us something greater and something that will help us way more!  So the miracles that I experienced yesterday are these:

1. I saw a sister who used to be in our branch, but moved to the english branch as her kids liked it better.  She was super happy to see me, said she missed talking to us (only elders serve in that branch haha) and wanted to have us over for dinner.  I was happy because I had no idea that she even remembered me and that she missed us!

2.  One of our investigators and her sons showed up to church.  She only spends 1 weekend here in HK the rest in China so I was surprised to see her.  But she was telling me different problems she had, but was so amazing was her faith.  She knew that she just had to keep reading her scriptures, go to church and pray, and that God would give her an answer and arrange things perfectly for her.

When I invited her/reminded her that she could also fast for these things she was ecstatic and told me that was a great idea!  She also knew about baptisms for the dead and the reaction it has to family history work and we have yet to teach her that lesson! 

3. Our investigator who just had a baby, her husband (who is a member) came to church and bore his testimony on being a father and how happy he was to have his baby girl, which I think means he will push harder to have his wife baptised :) 

4. A Seventy who was just "released" (idk the correct church terms) this past general conference has joined our branch and I am pumped because I think he will be able to help our branch grow and progress in ways that we as missionaries can't!

5. Last, but not least, another one of our investigators who is getting baptised on the 12 asked me to get her a fast offering slip so that she could pay her offerings.  When I forgot, she reminded me!  I was so amazed by her desire to keep this commandment and pay her tithing even though she has not been baptised yet!

So yes the Lord truly blessed me with many many miracles!

One last thing to share.. as we were talking about eternal marriage in sunday school a sister whose husband is not a member asked what she should be doing to prepare for this. sister Toronto made the comment that there are different things we are entitled to and different things that are a privilege.  In the family proclamation paragraph 7 it says that children are entitled to this.  I thought it was super cool and something I have never thought about!

The Lord has a perfect timeline and one thing He will not do is withhold blessings from us :)

What a wonderful Sunday it was!

Love you all,
Sister Loo

So...What happened this week?

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​What happened this week.. well the Lord seems to love teaching me patience that is for sure.  I didn't plan out my time very well so I don't have much time to write.

This week I have really come to understand what "feasting upon the words of Christ means."

In my studies, I have been reading Alma and have had so much revelation and light come as I have applied myself to the things that are being taught.  I think it is so amazing that although this book was written a long time ago, it really is for our day!

This week I read and pondered Alma 32 and 37 for almost 45 minutes each and it was awesome!  I think it is neat how every time we read the scriptures different things stand out to us and it really is a way to receive personal revelation!

As I was reading about Alma and all of the pain and afflictions I also happened to read a talk from October 2016 conference called "God Shall Wipe Away All Tears".  He talked about how trials are necessary for us to grow and progress. They really are for our own good and we can take comfort in knowing, "in the midst of our afflictions that God has provided an eternal compensating reward".

There is ALWAYS light at the end of the tunnel, always something that can be learned from our difficulties and struggles!

That is all for the week.. I hope we can all look at our trials as blessings and know that if endure great blessings await :)

Love,
Sister Loo

I love Chinese...

Pirate Caves!

Always eating!

Last Days as companions :)

Not another Typhoon...

Unfortunately yesterday there was another Typhoon, which means no church, which means no sacrament for 2 weeks!  :( We were super sad because we had a lot of expectations for Sunday, but I guess we will just have to wait until next week.  Things got a little crazy in the apartment.. try being in an apartment for 12 hours straight not allowed outside.. it is not fun!

On Monday there were walk ins to the church who are students studying filmmaking.  They want to make a film on the church, especially the missionaries who serve here.  They were so fascinated with what we do, why we do it and how the heck we can learn the language so fast.  It was nice because they also want to help the church have a better name as most people associate our church with a cult.  The girl mentioned how when she walked in, "Everyone was super nice to her and it was a lot lighter/happier."  So definitely a different kind of investigator, but a cool experience none the less!

We had our interviews with President this week and the man is, well, amazing but more specifically has the gift of discernment so strong.  One of the things he said to me as we were talking about never feeling like enough really struck me.  He said, we should be giving our 100% everyday, now what that 100% means can be different from day to day, some days it may be "less" than the next, bust we just need to strive to always give our 100% for that day!  He also provided a good reminder that doing talk trees or fulfilling STL responsibilities is another way of administering and I am still inviting others to come unto Christ so I need to stop worrying.  Seriously love that man!

About 3 weeks ago sister Clark was talking to a man from Egypt on the MTR, in a rush because we had to get off I said bye to him and we left without giving him any fliers or our number or anything.  Well the Monday after that I had an email from him.  He had found my blog and gotten my email off of it and expressed interest in meeting again.  We turned him over to the elders and he has met with them twice and become a new investigator!  They told us he had been looking for a church too!  What an awesome miracle!

The mission keeps you on your toes!  This last Saturday at English class there was a lady who came who was probably not in the best mindset well after being asked to leave and swearing up a storm she threatened to bomb the church.  Jokes on her because Heavenly Father sent a typhoon so no one could go out!  Chinese people are sometimes crazy, but I love them!

Moments from the week where you realize your english grammar is no good:

Talking about being super kind-hearted...Me: "Well sometimes I think that is both a vice and a versa"Sister Clark: "You mean a vice and a virtue?"

Me:"How to spell exercise?""Who of you are leaving (getting transferred)?""We will try to be email by 10"

Gotta love Chinese :)

Love,Sister Loo

High on the Spirit!!!

Have you ever heard of being high on the spirit?  Well yeah that is how I felt this week from mission leadership conference to temple day to general conference it was the best week ever!

In MLC we talked about the Book of Mormon and the role it plays in our own conversion as well as in our investigators.  This week we talked as a district about the importance of strengthening our own testimony as a lot of our worries, time and efforts has been focused on strengthening our branch members. We talked about the danger of allowing our own testimonies to remain stagnant and how that is just as bad as it decreasing.  In the miracle of forgiveness President Kimball says, "The covenants we make with God involve promises to do, not merely refrain from doing." I loved that as it is true there is danger in just not doing anything!  No matter what it may be that is occupying our time we must make sure we are making time to strengthen our own testimony and do those things, like reading the Book of Mormon ESPECIALLY when the Prophet has advised us to do!

I just loved general conference and hope that everyone takes the time to continue to read over the talks!  I noticed that there was a pretty common theme, at least for me, they all talked about the importance of serving those around us, especially those within our family.  Along with that allowing God to use us as a tool to bless the lives of others.. willing to submit in humility to His will.  It is so amazing how inspired their topics are and how relevant they are to our lives today!

Last, we were teaching a lesson to one of our investigators whose husband is a member.  Long story short she feels like she doesn't know enough to be baptized.  After explaining different concepts to her and her knowing them I told her, "I think you know a lot more than you think."  It really hit me at that moment that we often times make the gospel out to be this complex "thing", but when it comes down to it the gospel is VERY simple.  How we live, the commandments we are given to be able to live a happier life is very simple.  We are striving to make it back to our heavenly fathers presence.. that is simple.  Some people may see us as "a peculiar people", but hey at least we are peculiarly happy :)

That was it for the week!  What an amazing week it was!  Prohpets live, God lives and He not only loves each and every one of us perfectly, but he knows each and every one of us perfectly.

Love,
Sister Loo

Well I am glad I am not the only one who falls asleep.. yay missionaries!

Did you know my companion got into Harvard?

Yup that is her using President Lam's computer!

Best purchase I have made so far.. furry slides.

Thanks for lunch haha!

  

Again...me eating food!

District picture at the tempe.. guess I am glowing because we just got out of the temple? :)

Hiking this morning!

A Doozy!!!

This week was a little bit of a doozy.  We had a lot of meetings; which I hate.  We are trying to plan how we will write a paper or report, I guess you could call it, to our district president in hopes of giving him a clearer vision on what exactly our branch needs help on.

Other than that...

Yesterday we had the opportunity to help Island 2 (Filipina sister missionaries) teach sister Lori. First of all they only request our help when they have at least 7 investigators at church so to say there is a little bit of jealousy would be an understatement, but at least we are on the same team with the same boss ;).

This was our third time teaching her so we followed up on her book of Mormon reading and she had read every day. I almost fell off my chair. I don't know if any of my investigators ever read the Book of Mormon and they definitely did not read it everyday. Not only that, but she actually read to understand and she said she received a sign from God that she needs to be baptized! Imagine that, when you do the things the Lord has asked you to do (through the missionaries) you get results or an answer!

I was absolutely blow away by her faith and her sincere desire to know the truth! It was so awesome to have the opportunity to teach a "different kind" of investigator.  Maybe I got a glance of how it is to serve somewhere in South America or something haha.  It seems like a lot of our investigators will say one thing (especially oh I will come to church this sunday) and then the time to do that thing rolls around and they back out. It is getting super frustrating and I am not sure what to do to help them especially since, you know, agency is a thing! Keep praying for patience!

Well guess that is it!

Love you all,
Sister Loo

At this point I am either baking/eating or sleeping haha

Lyn Mo baptism.. one step closer to an eternal family :)