Exchanges, Apartment

This past week wasn't too crazy because we still can't go out much, but here's the gist of what happened.

On Monday for pday we had a very fun day of more D&D at home! I've started a campaign with my roommates and although I literally know nothing about being a DM, things have been okay so far so we're going to try sticking with it!

On Tuesday we had a member lesson with a sister named Chun jimuih. She was really nice but a little serious too haha. We shared a message about love, share, invite and it went pretty well! She then had pizza delivered to us for dinner that night which was amazing!! Pizza in Hong Kong is lowkey expensive so I don't have it that often. I was so grateful for that sweet gesture. We also had a lesson with Tony again and his daughter wasn't there for the first half so it went pretty well! She did come in for the second half and started yelling and climbing all over him again, but at least we had that first half of focused time, right? We've also been calling him every night to pray with him and check in on his smoking and right now he still smokes over 30 cigarettes a day. We're continuing to pray for him and hoping he'll be able to get that number down soon. Other than that, Sister Ho and I went to get her some new earbuds and I got more gaak jai beng which was sweet 🤤

On Wednesday, Sister Ho and I filmed our spiritual breakfast which will be premiering next Thursday so look out for it! (it'll be in Cantonese though so sorry for all my English speaking friends). We also got to do some call finding and talked to some interesting people. One guy wanted us to bring him a covid test because he can't afford one 🤔 Another guy was in the perfect position to hear the gospel but he said "maybe later". That just shows that even if someone is ready to hear the gospel and God has put missionaries in their path, it's still their decision whether to accept it or not. Hopefully one day he will find us again 🙏 Other than that, we had our ECG where we talked about colors which was pretty fun. When we asked everyone to tell us some things that are gold, one kid brought something that was actual gold to show us and we were like 😀 where are your parents? It was a fun time ^^

On Thursday we had district council like usual which was fun. We did lot of finding time as well but didn't get anyone interested other than a guy who wanted to know more about our English group. We called him that night though to evaluate him and he just hung up while we were in the middle of it. So confusing 🤔 That night we also had a lesson with our friend Gwok Sin saang who's an older fellow. He's likes meeting with us and it sounds like he wants to learn more but he doesn't pray or read scriptures very often or go to church. We invited him to try praying and reading just a little bit every day so we'll see how that goes. Hoping that he tries it!

On Friday we had an exchange among our apartment! Sister Ho went with Sister Myers and I went with Sister Robison. It was sooo fun! Sister Robison is a party for real. We went on a walk down this super pretty promenade by the water and saw a GIGANTIC jellyfish which was awesome. Then we did some fun studies and facebook finding which is always good. It was only a 6 hour exchange and once we switched back, Sister Ho and I had a lesson with our friend Leih Sin saang. So Gwok SS is pretty good and chill but Leih SS is something different, let me tell you. Everytime we teach him, we have to brace ourselves for what he's going to say. This time around, Sister Ho and him spent a full 30 minutes talking about miracles because he was like "I don't like small miracles" (like losing something and finding it or praying for help and receiving it) "that's not really a miracle. I only like BIG miracles." (like raising someone from the dead or causing the blind to see). Then we had to explain to him that God doesn't always work like that and it's because he wants us to grow our faith in him. If we have a miracle first then that doesn't mean we'll believe. We have to have the faith first and then the miracles will follow. He's a pretty stubborn fellow but I pray that he'll soften his heart eventually. We taught him about the second half of the restoration and invited him to pray to know that it's true so we'll see where he goes with that. We also have a new potential friend who we called a while ago and he's been texting us questions. His name is Simon and he seems to be really potential honestly. We haven't been able to call him and teach him yet because he has a speech disability. But we've already sent him a video of us giving a short explanation of the restoration and he's been asking us questions about President Nelson so that's great. Other than that, we got to have a member lesson that night which was great. We talked about how we can continue to seek guidance from God each day and he will give us power to overcome our challenges.

Saturday was a bit of a crazy day because we had 5 lessons planned. One of them fell through but 4 is still a lot. First we got to teach our friend Olina about the Atonement. We still aren't really sure of her interest level because last week she said she doesn't want to learn more, but the lesson on Saturday seemed to go well and she came to church yesterday so 🤷‍♀️. Then we had a member lesson with the Leih family and they were all very nice. We shared a conference talk with them and invited them to pray every day as a family to find people they can serve. Next was another member lesson with a sister named Sister Wong. She was also very nice but I was super nervous because I had to lead the lesson. We talked about the 2,000 stripling warriors and I felt like I could barely communicate what I wanted to say. Sometimes trying to speak a foreign language just sucks 😅. It's okay though, the message got across and that's what matters. We talked about how, like the 2,000 stripling warriors, we can pray for God's help and as we exercise our faith, He will lead us to success. The last lesson of the day was with Sunny, his brother, and his friend Thomas. We talked about a few commandments like the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom and Sunny accepted them all. He has so much faith it amazes me and he's only 14 😭! I want him to be able to get baptized so bad but his parents think he's too young to make the decision 🥲. If you can, please pray for Sunny! Other than our lessons that day, we also had a district langauge study and district finding which was pretty interesting. For the language study we just played some langauge games and then for the finding we called some numbers from the elders' potential sheets. We actually found two people who were interested! We were like whaaaaaat?? We can't find anyone in our own area but we can in someone elses? It was pretty funny. We also joined a zoom game activity that night which was interesting. We played Never Have I Ever and Werewolf so that was kind of cool. There weren't many investigators who joined, mostly just members and missionaries, but it was still fun so that's okay.

Sunday was a pretty chill day. We had church like usual and then did some studies and finding. One crazy thing did happen though. We were out on our usual walk and when we were waiting to cross the street, a man came up to us and asked us where our church is. He said that he has been wanting to join our church but forgot the address and didn't know our phone number. So we exchanged numbers with him and then he even had us whatsapp him to be sure. After saying goodbye to him we were like, woah that was such a miracle. Nowadays with not being able to even go outdoor finding, we still ended up running into someone with interest. I know it's truly because God will always find a way for His work to be accomplished, even if circumstances make it hard to do so.

That's it for this week! I hope you all enjoyed my little synopsis. Now for a spiritual thought.

This week I'd like to share a quote from a great talk called, Jesus Christ: The Caregiver of Our Soul, by Elder Soares from General Conference April 2021. He says,

"In addition to providing the majestic gift of salvation, the Savior offers us relief and comfort as we face our afflictions, temptations, and weaknesses of mortal life...Christ is ever aware of the adversities we experience in mortality. He understands all of the bitterness, agony, and physical pain as well as the emotional and spiritual challenges we face. The Savior’s bowels are filled with mercy, and He is always ready to succor us. This is possible because He personally experienced and took upon Himself in the flesh the pain of our weakness and infirmities."

I love this quote and I know that it's so very true. If you ever feel alone or like no one understands you and how you're feeling, I encourage you to pray and ask God to let you feel Christ's love for you. I know that you will feel a strong and powerful feeling and you will know that He really does understand you perfectly. Through Him, you can find comfort in any situation.

I hope you all have been healthy and safe! Have a fantastic week!!

丁姊妹

Sister DelHoyo