The week where I spent half my time not in my area!

This week was SOOOOO busy!  This email probably won't make much sense to you guys, but let me explain why.  Almost everyday we went up to Kowloon Tong (which is where the mission office is) which is 45 minutes away.  It doesn't sound like a long time, but believe me time is precious and a lot of it was spent traveling :(

• Tuesday- Had district meeting up there since our district is split, half on the island and half in Kowloon.  We also met with a new investigator, and at one point in the lesson he was like, "Have you heard about this one church, the Mormons, I heard they like super reject the bible and they're a cult, and supposedly they're here in HK." Sister Clark and I just look at each other and I go, yup that is us.. we are also called mormons!  Sister Clark later told me she wanted to tell him, but as you can see, we just handed you a bible, and we're sitting in our very nice church building that a cult is legally not allowed to own in good ol' HK soooooo.... maybe it's another church?' ;) Haha oh the things people hear about the church!  We were able to tell him the truth and he ended up coming to church on Sunday so I think he believed us!

• Wednesday- We had MLC 

• Thursday- Visitors!

• Friday- Meet with the ZL to discuss about the upcoming zone conference

• Saturday- Teach Marlo and accompany her to her baptismal interview

Luckily these were all great reasons to be in Kowloon though!

Yesterday was also an exciting Sunday as a visitor we had taught previously came back and got baptized AND she brought 6 friends with her to learn more!  Along with that there was a member from Beijing who brought 20 or so "investigators" who were interested in learning more!  When I asked him how he did it, he gave a very simple response, "I just try to set a good example and share when I feel prompted".  Again, I would like to emphasize how important we as members really are!

So during the second hour of church we taught the Restoration and during the third hour we taught The Plan of Salvation in "little" groups of about 8-10!  It was so amazing to see that many people attend church especially with how small our branch is.  It was filled with people eager to learn and the spirit was SO strong during that meeting, it was an absolutely amazing experience!​​​​​​​​

The last couple visitors that I have had know almost nothing about the gospel, but what they do know and what they are certain of is that this church is different and that they are a child of a Heavenly Father who loves them.  This really pushes them to have a great desire.  I am always amazed by their faith and their desire to follow Christ!  Such humble people ahh so awesome!

​​​​​​​​​​​​What an amazing week it was to be a missionary!  Thank you for all your love and prayers!

Sister Loo

Yan JM baptism!

Yan JM and her friends 

If you look close enough transportation is spelled wrong.. this happens more often than not haha

P-Day with sister Clark friend! (this ice cream is SUPER expensive) 

7 visitors got baptized and a lot of their wards came to support!

Celebration of one week being together!

Jiang JM (our visitor on Thursday)

Fell asleep during sister Clark weekly planning prayer and woke up with drool on my face.. the joys!

Cantonese ward primary activity!  Homeade ice cream!

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​​