T-Minus 4 days

大家好！I hope you all are well ^^

This week hasn't been too busy as I'm sure you can imagine, but it's still been great! The time is drawing near for Sister Johnson and I to get out, get our companions, and be assigned areas so we're super excited!

MICKY D'S FOR DINNAAAAA

The main change over this week has been English classes. Sister Johnson and I started teaching English classes this past Tuesday and it's been super fun! There are different levels of classes and we've already taught a pretty wide variety. We've taught intermediate twice, beginners twice, and a kids beginner class once. Every class has been soooo different though. In our first class, no one ever unmuted or turned on their cameras so it was kind of hard for Sister Johnson and I to feel like we were getting anywhere. Thankfully, one guy put a few comments in the chat, but that was about it. Our next class was awesome though! We had two people who were very talkative and asked great questions. It was super fun but then our zoom meeting suddenly kicked us out right at the end of our lesson! The account we were using only lets us do 40 minute classes so once we hit that point it just bumped us right off! We were so sad :( We just hope the students don't think we closed it early on purpose. The kids in our kids class were really fun to teach but they didn't know much English at all so it was a lot of slow explaining and guidance. That's pretty much the gist of it though! We still battle with zoom kicking us out before we finish and trying to get the audio to work for our videos has been a STRUGGLE, but it's been a good time otherwise.

Sister Johnson and I waiting on zoom haha

 Our glorious snack wall

Sister Johnson and I had our second LPO this week! It was still the first pass off where we have to roleplay a street contact as well as teach the person how to pray, but we honestly did way better! For me, my partner said that I transitioned from chatting into gospel stuff very naturally! I definitely was able to chat more which I felt good about. My partner roleplayed as someone who was Buddhist and already knew how to pray so for a second I was like, wait a minute how do I teach him how to pray if he already knows. So what I ended up doing instead was asking him to explain to me how he prays and then I was like "wow we pray the same way! :D" So that was all good, but after it all, I missed one big thing. I FORGOT TO ASK FOR HIS PHONE NUMBER. I was so annoyed at myself. I had literally been practicing how to say it right beforehand and then just FORGOT 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ If I did that in real life I already know I'd never see that mans again. It's okay though, I know what I can work on now and next time I can do even better!

In other news, Sister Johnson and I have been doing more member meetings and it's been super helpful! The members are so patient with us and really just want to help us be the best we can. They keep saying our Cantonese has improved a lot and we're like thank you, but it hasn't changed that much :D. We definitely have been learning a lot more though. I have a goal to memorize 15 new words every day and my flashcard pile is already growing large. I love when I practice a new word and then start hearing it and am like, wait I know that word! However, the opposite of course is when I actually need to USE the word and then can't remember it for the life of me. It's alright though, as the hymn says,  "we must all press on". 

Quarantine life can sometimes be very slow and time just drags on, but something pulling us through has definitely been the snacks. We had a new snack box dropped off to us the other day with lots of ramen, chips, and some candy which has been sweet. It may not be the healthiest comfort but it keeps us happy 😂 We also found out that we can watch the Chosen season 2 on Facebook and that's been awesome! We're super excited to finish it! 

Conference day!!

This weekend Sister Johnson and I have had the opportunity to watch General Conference and it's honetly been so wonderful! It is definitely weird to not be able to watch it live because of the time difference, but we watched the Saturday sessions yesterday and we hope to watch the Sunday sessions today! One thing I loved from conference that I wanted to share with all of you is from Elder Nash's talk in the Saturday evening session. He encouraged us to hold up the gospel light and promised that by doing so we will have joy, hope, and healing. We don't have to do anything huge to hold up the gospel light. We simply have to be Christlike in our words and deeds and be unafraid to share our love of Christ with others. So many people in our world today are searching for light in their lives. They are in need of comfort and hope but know not where to find it. I know that like Elder Nash said, when we do what we can each day to share the light of the gospel with others, they will be naturally drawn to it. 

A lovely view 🥰

This of course reminds me of the verses in Matthew 5 which say:

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

I know that each one of you have people around you that are in need of the light of Christ and the hope that comes from the gospel. I challenge you to make an effort this week to reach out to them and share with them something about Christ's gospel that brings you joy. I know that if you ponder and pray about what they might need to hear, the Spirit will be your guide.

I love you all and am so grateful for your constant words of encouragement and support! I am excited to continue sharing with you my experiences as I move into life outside of quarantine and I hope you will continue to read about them!

Have a great week!

加油!

丁姊妹

Sister DelHoyo

The pile of fruit and rolls we've accumulated from all the hotel meals