The week before Christmas...

Well I hear it has been crazy snowing back home!  I will have to say in Hong Kong not a lot of people celebrate Christmas, there is not a lot of service opportunities, and it is not very cold sooo it does not feel entirely like Christmas :(  Which I guess is a blessing and sad all at once.  The most we have is decorations on buildings and in restaurants, but I know what Christmas is all about so I guess that is what matters right?

This week I had the opportunity to go to the Tuesday (Filipino branch) family Christmas Party/sacrament because I was on exchanges since sister Chi needed to go to Kowloon. Which means that I got to take the sacrament twice this week :) It was amazing.

The program consisted of singing all the Christmas hymns and reading in Luke about the Saviors birth.  I must admit to never reading that and it was amazing combined with the music about specific parts how powerful the spirit was.  I am so grateful for this time to really reflect on the Saviors birth and how grateful I am that He atoned for my sins, mistakes, wrongdoings.  It is Because of Him that I am able to become a better person each and every day.  I loved being able to ponder and sing praise to my Savior.

After the meeting, they made dinner and it was SO good.  We had some stuff that I am not sure what it is called, but all you guys need to know is that it was so good haha.  The Filipino sisters we live with brought us home food everyday from each Christmas party so lets just say I ate good this week :)

Other than that nothing much happened so I thought I would take the time to talk about some of our investigators.

First, Zhao Jiemei: She is one of our Eternal investigators.  Her husband has some weird reasons as to why she cannot get baptized, but she comes to church every week, has a visiting teaching assignment and pays fast offering.  She has a really strong testimony and we are just praying that her husbands heart will be softened and he will see the change in her and how happy this gospel makes her.

Marlo: Marlo is the sugar plum ferry.  She li​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ke Zhao Jiemei is unable to get baptized because of her husband, but comes to church every week.  They have both been investigators for about a year now.  Marlo is very humble and just a very loving and bubbly personality.

Lily: Lily cannot get baptized because she works every day and only gets one day off that she cannot choose. She is probably 40 years old, but has a little bit of a childish personality and is trying to learn English so loves to talk to me so she can try and learn haha.  WE are working with her to hopefully find her a new job so that she can come to church and then get baptized.

Yuan Yuan and Lisa:  They are a mom and daughter.  Lisa is 7 and her birthday is in January so she has to wait until then to get baptized, but she is so excited.  Everything we teach her she just soaks right up and believes it.  I understand from her why we must all become like little children.  SO humble and so ready to learn.  Her mom is a little bit of a different story and we are working on helping her developing her own testimony.

Well Christmas is this Sunday!  I cannot wait and cannot believe it!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to represent my savior and share the true joy that comes from this gospel.

Wo ai Nimen,

Sister Loo

Lions Rock with Sister Chi, Sister Wu, and Sister Teng

​Yeah that would be pollution not fog :(

Being a missionary means you hike in jeans :)

Finding...Finding...and more...Finding!!!

December 11, 2016

This week not much has happened.  It was a pretty uneventful week so you know what that means?  FINDING!...

Although this is not my favorite thing in the whole world I have learned lots from the hours we have spent finding.  To start off with some funny things:

1. Sister Chi said I need to start the finding always because people are more likely to talk to me because I am pretty and foreign.

2. They will talk to me until I try and talk about Christ and then in a matter of seconds they just disappear.  That is okay though because we are just planting the seed that will sprout later :)

3. Complementing them or asking them for help is the best way to get them to talk back at you!

4.  You can follow the Spirit and talk to everyone.  Its easier than you think.

5. If you go to a park and talk in English, parents will literally push their children at you because they are obsessed with their kids learning English.

As I said, finding is not my favorite thing at all, but it is important that we are always sharing the gospel in words or actions.  People do notice.  We heard a story this week about a missionary couple who were on a bus.  The Elder got off the bus but the wife stayed on the bus and a bunch of people on the bus began to yell and shout at the bus driver to stop because he (the Elder), “forgot” his companion.

So, let this be a lesson to everyone.  We are different and people notice.  Our light and strength lifts others around us, even if we don’t see it.

This week no weird foods, but I had American food!  We had pizza, and of all places it was at the branch Christmas party.  It was a great activity and there were more investigators there than members!  Members even brought their friends.  It was great and all of our investigators loved it.

This month as it is Christmas we are encouraged to share the light the world Christmas initiative.  I would invite you all to find a friend to give this pamphlet too.  It is a simple way to just serve those around us as well as try and emulate some Christ like behaviors.

This gospel is amazing!  I learn more and more every day and I am so blessed to have this knowledge. The gospel is simple, but so true! I have learned that faith in Christ is the first principle of the gospel and is the thing that brings lasting conversion.  According to our faith are "all things brought to past".

Wo ai Nimen

Sister Loo

Fun Fact: In lots of buildings there is no 4^th floor because in Chinese 4 is “Si” which also means, if pronounced with the wrong tone, death.  So, they compensate by just having no 4^th floor haha.

And chewing with your mouth open is acceptable.  Slurping is as well because it shows you really enjoy it :)

I also realized today as me and Sister Chi were talking that adjusting to the whole mission life, schedule, being in a foreign country, being away from home, just always working and not really worried about myself does not stress me out in the least bit.  Sister Chi told me she cried every day during companionship for a month when she got out.  I am blessed to not have that problem haha.  What is my biggest and only real stress is the language.  I am trying hard every day and making goals to just constantly speak (a little hard cause sis Chi prefers English so she can learn).  So besides the language I am doing awesome.  I just want to be fluent haha

The sisters in our apartment

City where the nice beaches are (at night)! 

Our duck we got last week...Stanley...LOL!

All the different statues at the park

I Think That Was Duck's Feet...

Well this week was pretty "boring"...LOL...Sister Chi had a lot of meetings to prepare for zone training so we spent a lot of time just at the chapel.  So, it is really interesting, the chapel is 11 total floors and has 3 "chapels" because Mandarin, Cantonese, and English all meet in this chapel. There is church every day except for Monday.  The reason is they meet every day because everyone in HK has a “helper” that is Filipino, and because they all have different days off, there is a sacrament meeting for them at 1PM daily so they can come to church and take the sacrament.

It was really neat because we had the opportunity to go on splits with the Filipino dedicated sisters and go to church with them on Wednesday to teach.  I have never had that opportunity and as a result we were able to take the sacrament twice this week which was really cool J

We also had 2 walk-ins this week, which means people randomly come into the chapel wanting to know more and since we literally live within walking distance away we are always called and have to run to the chapel.  (it’s like 4 minutes away from our apartment).

Walk ins are more frequent during Christmas because of the decorations we put up.  Both of them were amazing and So interested!  We taught them both the first lesson and gave them Book of Mormons.  They were both from mainland China and because it is so strict over there we have no way to contact them.  So all we can do is give them the pamphlets to the lessons and a Book of Mormon.  One of them even said they were already planning on coming back to get baptized because they just really enjoyed the people and the church feeling!!! It was so cool and we are so lucky to live so close and get this opportunity.  The Lord really is preparing people to accept and receive the wonderful blessings this gospel brings.

Also this week is transfers.  It is hard for Mandarin work because President will literally just send an email that it is time to change randomly.  We have no clue when it is going to happen.  So Sister Grover is headed to Kowloon Bay.  Sister Chi and I will still be companions, but it will definitely be different.  I will definitely have to start speaking more as there will be more than just two of us so I am excited and nervous.  I will miss sister Grover, but she and I are convinced we will be companions again since there is so few Mandarin sisters!

And lastly…let’s talk about food!  Last week we visited a really wealthy recent convert and he took us out to eat.  We had this thing where you put duck and a tortilla-ish things and celery and onions and some sauce.  It was the best thing I have ever had in my life.  Oh my gosh it was so good!  Then this morning I had duck feet.. well I think that is what it was.  It was a foot that was webbed soooo exciting hahaha!  That one was not as good and again I had a hard time getting myself to eat it, but it is very rude if you don't accept and eat what they hand you.  And let me tell you as soon as you finish what you have they hand you something else.  So I think I have had a lot of food that I am not necessarily sure what it is…hahaha…oh the joy.  Who would have thought me!!

Well that is about it!  Oopsies seems like a lot.  I am so excited that it is almost Christmas!  There are tons of activities coming up.  Unfortunately, in HK there is not a lot of service opportunities, but we are desperately trying to find some!  Serving others is the best cure for unhappiness.  If we are constantly looking to serve others there is not enough time to think about our own problems :)  I would challenge you all to look for opportunities to serve this week as well as this Christmas season.

Fun fact, college life and missionary life eating wise is very much the same.  Saimin all the way hahaha.​​

Wo ai nimen,

Sister Loo

 

Lisa and Yuan Yuan.
Lisa is golden, she believes
and understands anything we tell her.  Such a cutie!

The Chapel at night