Typhoon level 8

大家好! It finally happened, I'm outside now! 

Ice cream cake!

My last few days of quarantine were pretty routine for the most part, but Sister Johnson and I did get to celebrate my birthday which was lots of fun! My mom had an ice cream cake delivered to our room and it was so good! 

Last hotel pic with Jong jímuih

We also had bō lòh baau (pineapple buns) delivered to us which was so exciting because we'd been wanting to try it sooooo bad. It did not disappoint! I'm excited to be able to have it again now! Other than my birthday, Sister Johnson and I just chilled and watched movies and studied and such. Everything was anticipatory to us getting out though!

Thursday we spent packing up and getting ready and then around 8am Friday morning, a hotel employee picked us up from our room and brought us down to the lobby. There we met up again with the other missionaries who were quarantined and we all got on a bus which took us to the mission office. It was a rainyyyyy day. Like it was raining really hard. When we were leaving that morning, our mission President, President Chan, texted us and said that the government had issued a typhoon level 3 order. A level 3 isn't enough to shut things down but President Chan wanted us to be able to get where we needed to go as soon as possible because they could change it to a level 8 and then we would have to stay inside. When we got to the mission office, we all sat in the chapel while one of the office elders showed us some videos about the mission. During this, we all took turns going to the office for interviews with President Chan. When I finally went down there for mine, I ran into one of the sisters from my MTC district, Sister Whitney! It was so awesome to finally meet her in person! I also got to meet Sister Decker (also from my district). It was really weird to see them both in person instead of over a screen but it made me really happy ^^ The interview with President was short because he was really trying to get everyone done and gone quickly, but he was really nice! I'm excited to be able to know him better during my mission.

Jong jímuih and I in our new tags!

 Me, Sister Johnson, Sister Whitney, and Sister Peterson!

Bō lòh baau!

After interviews were done, we finally got our Chinese name tags! This tag is something that I've waited for since the beginning of MTC so I was so happy. Then guess who walked in? Sister Peterson and Sister Yamane! More district members! I ran over and gave them both big hugs and they were happy to see me too. 

Me and my comp!♡

I could already tell that it was going to be an awesome time in the mission. After all of that, we had a quick lunch and then we got paired with our trainers! Sister Johnson actually got in a trio with Sister Whitney and her trainer, Sister Li, which is awesome! I got paired with a sister named Sister Santos and she's been so sweet! She's Filipino but her family lives in Hong Kong so this is actually where she grew up! She went to byui for school, just like me, and then she came on the mission. She was originally assigned to the Phillipenes, but because of everything happening with covid there, she was reassigned here. She's sad about it but still so happy to be here. She told me that our area is the Kowloon City ward and Peninsula Branch. The Peninsula branch actually has English meetings but it is a branch of Filipino domestic workers. I never expected to serve in an English speaking branch but I'm excited for it. After we got acquainted, we all were pushed out the door. We took these sort of uber vans and they all drove us to our areas. It was pouring rain outisde but the ride was still pretty cool. When we got to our apartment though, Sister Santos realized that she gave the key to the other companionship who's going to live there, and since they hadn't arrived yet, we couldn't get in. We ended up waiting for a different companionship to arrive and then went to hang out at their apartment until our roommates arrived. Let me tell you, walking through that rain was CRAZY. I had a moment of panic because the wind was blowing so hard and even with our umbrellas we were getting soaked. It's okay though, we got to the other apartment in one piece. I found out that Sister Yamane and her companion actually live there too so I got to say hi to her again which was fun. Then shortly after that, we got the text that our roommates had arrived so we started heading back. This time we took Sister Santos' stuff because she had been living at that apartment this past transfer and needed to move into the new one.

Our apartment! (Sister Evans, Sister Peterson, Sister Wong, Sister Santos, and me!

When we had finally made it safe and sound in our apartment, we were able to relax and unpack. The companionship living with us is another trio and it consists of a native named Sister Wong; Sister Peterson, from my district; and Sister Evans, another quarantine missionary. I was super excited to live with them because I think it'll be really fun! Our apartment is fairly small, there are two bunk beds in the living room and the kitchen is tiny, but it's not too bad. After we unpacked that day, we went and got some groceries and dinner at a little mall nearby and it was awesome! The little mall area is so cute and it's so cool that it's right nearby! Other than that we did studies and such but that was pretty much it.

Saturday was wild because the government sent out the level 8 warning so we all had to stay inside :') It wasn't terrible though. We got to do our studies and a lesson over the phone as well as call some people. The lesson was a bit hard for me because the lady we taught pretty much only spoke in Cantonese, but I tried my best. Later on in the day, we realized that we were in desperate need of more toilet paper and food so we called our DL and ended up braving the storm to run and get some. It wasn't actually that bad though. We were able to get everything we needed and make it back without a hitch. 

Me and Sister Santos!

As for Sunday yesterday, the typhoon had gone down to level 3 again so we were thankfully able to go out. We got to take a double decker bus to church which was so fun! We sat right by the front widow on the top floor and it was really cool to see all of the buildings and people. Instead of having a normal church meeting, most of the wards actually showed conference instead because last week they couldn't watch it. We watched it in Cantonese with some sisters from the Kowloon City ward who showed up. It was really hard for me to understand but I tried to write down the words I didn't know and I'll study them more later. After that, we went to meet up with the Peninsula members and they were all actually about to go to a park for a birthday party. 

They invited us to come with, so we did. We took a bus with them to get there which was fun because I got to get to know some of them more. The birthday party was really fun as well! There was a lot of food and a lot of people and the Filipino sisters are all very friendly. They all came from different areas of the Philippines and some knew differnet dialects but they all had fun together. There were two ladies sitting by us that weren't part of the group and we were able to talk with them a bit. They're actually Indonesian and they don't understand any of the Filipino languages. They were sisters and one spoke Cantonese and the other spoke Mandarin. It was a little hard communicating with them because the Cantonese speaking lady was the only one who knew some English and even then it was limited. They were very interested in who we were though and why we wore tags so we got to explain a bit about the church and were able to get their phone number! Hopefully we can get in contact with them soon! After we left that, we had to go back to the mission office for the trainer/trainee meeting. It was a two hour meeting where the APs and President Chan spoke to us so it felt pretty long but it still had some great things in it.

Us with all the Filipino sisters! (They loveeee to take pictures )

Our view from the double decker bus

The mall we live by!

Sorry that was long but that's pretty much all of the excitement here so far! There are still a lot of people I need to meet and places to see and things to try but I'm just getting started here so there's plenty of time for that! I hope everything is going well with you all and you're staying healthy and safe! You can always send me an email any time! 

For my little spiritual thought, I just wanted to reemphasize the importance of the Book of Mormon in the world. I was able to finish it yesterday and all I can say is that it is the true word of God. I know that we all have struggles in our lives but I also know that this gospel is true and that it is how we can find true happiness! I extend to you the same invitation that Moroni does in 

Moroni 10:4-5

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Go and read and ask for yourself! I know that you will get an answer!

加油！

丁姊妹

Sister DelHoyo