I think I grow a pretty nice beard 😌🧔🏼
早晨大家! 聖誕節快樂! 希望你哋有好好嘅星期 :D
MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 🎄🎅
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| Pday last week in Mong Kok |
It's been a pretty busy week here in the China, Hong Kong Mission but lots of great stuff (and lots of great food too don't worry). Let's get into it shall we? 🧐
Monday was a pretty chill pday. In the morning we just sent emails and talked to our families and then later on we went out to do some gift shopping and get some food! We got Korean food for lunch and it was super good. They sat us in this weird corner in the restaurant though so that was an adventure. After eating we bought presents for the other sisters in our apartment and then went and got dessert (I got gaak jai beng and Sister Bohman got boba). Then we went home and did some grocery shopping to close up pday. Other than that it was an exciting night of weekly planning in between call trees and language exchanges :D.
On Tuesday we actually had a pretty open day which was nice. We got to do some good studies, finish up our weekly planning, and then do some finding. We did facebook finding, call finding, and outdoor finding. For the most part it was pretty chill but we did get to talk to one older lady for a while. We talked to her a lot about the church and what we do. In the end she wasn't interested but it was still good language practice and good to share something.
Wednesday Sister Bohman and I went to the mission office to print out some music and to practice our upcoming musical number some more. We're having one of the elders (Elder Thompson) sing with us and he's so good so it's going to be awesome! Other than that we did some more facebook finding and studies and lotsss of texting our friends. My brain turns to mush sometimes after sending so many texts in Chinese but 唔緊要, that's the job description.
On Thursday we had ~zone conference~ which was such a fun day! From 9-1 President Chan, the STLs, and the APs spoke to us about things like the Holy Ghost and how we can help our friends keep the commandments and their commitments. It was some good stuff. Then we had a Christmas lunch which was awesome! There was turkey and potatoes and pasta and salad and a bunch of other tasty treats. After we finished eating we took our mission pictures and then each zone got to perform a skit they prepared! Our zone did our own kind of silly rendition of the Nativity story and I thought that that was fun but other zones did things like crazy dances, a live action rendition of Adjusting to Missionary Life, and an act where everyone switched around instruments. It was very entertaining and quite impressive. However, I've gotta say that our zone had the best costumes. I was a Wiseman with two other elders and we all wore fake beards which was amazing; Sister Santos was the star and she wore all yellow and had a headband with a point on it; the two elders who made up the stable wore afro wigs which was hilarious; and Mary and Joseph wore these funny stitch hats that have ears that can move up and down. We looked great and definitely had a lot of laughs that day haha. After the skits we got to watch a movie! There were three different movies playing, Jack and the Beanstalk, Chariots of Fire, and a Mandarin movie called I Not Stupid. Sister Bohman and I watched Chariots of Fire and it was pretty interesting but a bit confusing honestly haha. Still so fun to watch with everyone though. After the movie ended, we all went home and had a little Christmas celebration at our apartments! At mine we made breakfast for dinner (French toast and breakfast casserole), played some sushi go, and just chatted. It was such a fun and relaxing day 😊
On Friday we made cookies with our zone to give away to members which was so fun! We didn't have a mixing machine so we had to mix everything with our hands (don't worry we washed them first), and our frosting wasn't the prettiest but ya know it's the thought that counts. Then we had lunch together and did our zone gift exchange! The elder that had me got me a bakugan and a bubble gun that shoots bubbles into the air so that's pretty epic. We were supposed to have a lesson with our friend Chan Jimuih after that but she said that she wasn't feeling well so she couldn't come. We asked if she'd want a Priesthood blessing though and she said yes so Sister Bohman and I, with the two elders in our ward, went over to her apartment for the first time. We talked to her a bit about her faith and receiving answers from the Holy Ghost and then invited her to sincerely ask Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon and this church is true. Then the elders gave her the Priesthood blessing. She said she felt really happy afterwards and I know I felt the Spirit so I'm glad. For the most part during that visit I wasn't really sure what to say and the one native elder with us was doing most of the talking, but I prayed in my heart to know what to say and then just said what I felt. After we left, the native elder told me that when I talked to her he felt the Spirit! That's really a testament to me that the Holy Ghost will guide us in the moment that we need it. Even though my Cantonese is 唔太好, the Spirit was still able to work through me to help our friend hear what she needed to. Later that day Sister Bohman and I also got the opportunity to video call one of our member families and share a message with them. I was pretty tired and my Cantonese was kind of all over the place in that lesson but thankfully they were understanding and also talked with us a bit in English. It was an awesome day overall.
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| Got a sweet Christmas headband |
On Saturday it was Christmas!! I got to video call my family in the morning and open some presents from them which was so nice. After that though, Sister Bohman and I actually exchanged for most of the day. She and another sister, Sister Madson, needed to go to some choir performances in Tsing Yi but her companion, Sister Yamane, and I didn't so we decided to just exchange for that time. So Sister Bohman and Sister Madson left to do that and Sister Yamane and I hung out together. Sister Yamane's bishop wanted us to go and visit a less active member so we met up with the bishop and his wife and then walked to the member's house together. The less active member was actually super nice to us and his wife was even home too. His wife isn't a member but she said she believes in Christ which is cool. We did this little program where I played some Christmas hymns on the violin while we read Luke 2 aloud and then we also sang some hymns as well. In the end we each bore our testimonies about Christ and I could definitely feel the Spirit. I hope they could too! We continued chatting with them for a while after that but they were talking about work stuff and my Cantonese isn't broad enough to understand such things so I was a little lost. 唔緊要! The couple did give us these little fruit tarts though which were super good. So that kind of made up for the being lost part haha. After Sister Yamane and I left, we planned the rest of our exchange and then did some studies and outdoor finding! We chatted with quite a few people which was awesome! We even got to talk to one lady a bit about the Book of Mormon! She said she wasn't too interested but we invited her to a New Year's activity we have coming up so hopefully she'll come to that! After all of that, Sister Yamane and I grabbed dinner at Mcdonalds and ate with a bunch of other missionaries in Kowloon Tong. We talked to a member who is Chinese, British, and American which was interesting (he talked a lot about Rhode Island) and then we exchanged back with our normal companions. Shortly after that, our Christmas devotional started. There were a lot of amazing musical numbers by the latest missionaries and the natives. It was all so beautiful! Then President Chan talked to us about how important this church is. He said that other churches are good, but this church is good and TRUE, which makes all of the difference. He talked about his conversion story and how he went to a different church before and felt good there, but he felt something different and stronger once he started coming to our church. I know that that is so true! If you don't believe it then just try attending one of our church meetings. If you focus on what you experience and your feelings then I know that you will also feel a difference because here we have the truth! It's just waiting for you to find it!
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| Apartment Christmas dinner |
Now Sunday was CRAZY. We went to church and had a good sacrament meeting with Kowloon City. Chan jimuih came which is awesome! So happy that she consistently comes. After sacrament meeting, Sister Bohman and I practiced our musical number for Peninsula and then in the last 15 minutes before it started, we tried practicing it with the other sisters. It kind of stressed me out because they weren't really sure when to come in and stuff like that and we were going to be performing it in like 2 hours. I also at the same time was texting a friend of ours directions to get to the chapel because it was her first time coming. I felt so all over the place but I just did my best to stay calm and keep things going. We went to the chapel like 4 minutes before sacrament meeting started and then that meeting proceeded like normal. We stepped out after sacrament so we could bring in our friend and the two friends she brought with her. They were all super nice and I think they liked the meeting which was good to hear. They couldn't stay for the second hour Christmas party but it was still good to have them. Sister Bohman and I practiced a few more times with the sisters and then we performed during the Christmas party. It actually went pretty well! That was a relief. But then we had to leave like immediately after so we could go to Kowloon Tong for a Thai devotional we were performing in. A smaller version of our mission choir sang all of our choir songs but it was really awkward because no one clapped and it just felt weird haha. Sister Bohman and I were also supposed to do our musical number with Elder Thompson after that but President Chan just moved on with the program for the sake of time and so we didn't get to. Kinda disappointing to say the least. We finally got to go home after that but it was raining and cold and we didn't have umbrellas so that was kind of sad haha. It was a crazy busy day overall but thankfully it's pday now so we can get some much needed rest.
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| Fun pic with the sisters |
<Spiritual Thought!>
This week I'd like to share an experience that happened last pday when Sister Bohman and I went to find socks for me. So backstory, I've had 6 pairs of socks that I've been using since my mission started (almost 7 months ago) and now all but one sole sock is in the trash due to holiage (holes). Therefore I was kind of in need of some new ones. The week previous I had found a little sock selling vendor and bought two pairs to try and now this week, since I knew what I wanted, I was determined to go buy more. The only dilemma was that I didn't know exactly where the vendor was because she was just selling out of some gap between buildings (as a most people do). But what I did know is that my companion and I were in the pet district when we found it so we headed that way first. Once we were in the area, I wasn't sure where to go next so I was like "Okay Spirit which way do we go". We waited for a minute and then I chose a direction and we started walking. As we walked down this sidewalk I noticed an alleyway on the opposite sidewalk. The thought popped into my head "we should go down there". I was a little hesitant just because, ya know, alleyways are a little sketch magetch but I said hey why not. So we turned around and headed to the alleyway and just started heading right through. We were walking down the alleyway right? Pretty dirty, pretty dark, nothing too interesting. But THEN, as we approached the exit of the alleyway, guess what we saw? SOCKS. We had found the exact same sock vendor from last week! That experience was truly a testimony to me of the power of the Holy Ghost. You may think that the Holy Ghost can only help you when it comes to spiritual matters or serving others, and that is true, but it is even more encompassing than that. With the Gift of the Holy Ghost you are promised the companionship and guidance of the Holy Ghost in ALL things. Even if it's to track down some socks. I know that this is true and I ask you all to remember this and try relying on the Holy Ghost more because He can and will help you with whatever you might need!
I love all of you so much and am so grateful for your continued love and support! Though missionary life is hard sometimes, I wouldn't trade it for anything and I am just trying my best each day to cherish every moment! I hope you have a wonderful upcoming week and have a happy New Year! 🥳
Sister DelHoyo
丁姊妹
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| The reality of Hong Kong |
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| October quarantine group |
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