The Island Life

大家好！Helloooooo everybody!

💕情人節快樂! Happy Valentine's Day!💕

Welcome back to my weekly mission update! I know that these are usually very long so I just want to take a minute to say thank you to all of those who take time to read through these. I love you so much!

Now as for how things have been this past week, it's been amazing! I already love my area so much and Sister Ho is hilarious. Not to mention that I have the BEST apartment mates!! Sister Ho and I live in this tiny tiny apartment with two of the Mandarin speaking sisters, Sister Myers and Sister Robison. They're a party and a half and we all have been having a blast together! It already feels like I've been here for so long but it's only been a week! And at the same time it feels like the week has flown by!

Here's the rundown of what we did,

On Monday for pday, Sister Ho and I had a very chill day. We spent a long time unpacking all of our things and figuring out where they can possibly fit. Then, once we were done we went out to buy lots of groceries and get lunch! It was very lowkey but super nice.

On Tuesday we got to do lots of great weekly planning and then went out to explore our area. We live in a place called Kennedy Town and we're right by the harbor so we're like a 3 minute walk from seeing the ocean! It's so cool, you can see the mainland part of Hong Kong just across the water! I also found out there's a place that sells gaak jai beng (if you don't remember, that's a waffle folded in half with condensed milk, peanut butter and sugar on the inside aka the tastiest treat ever) right by our house! And they're only $12 HKD which is equivalent to $1.54 USD. I've already gotten two this week so I'm going to have to be careful not to eat too much 😁 Other than that, we did some call finding and I got yelled at, which is always fun, and then we had a great member lesson over zoom.

On Wednesday Sister Ho had MLC (mission leadership conference {it's for all the young mission leaders}) from 9am to 1pm so I got to hang out with Sister Robison and Sister Myers for the morning! It was super fun. I got to sit in on a lesson they had in Mandarin and with the combination of what Mandarin I know and what Cantonese I know, I was surprisingly able to understand like 80% of it. It was pretty awesome and they did a great job. I also got to sit in on their ward council meeting (which was in English) and there were some really funny feedback problems so that was hilarious. After Sister Ho finished, we got to go get lunch together and then I had my LPO! My new LPO partner is named Sister Chung and she's very nice and well known around this apartment. I taught her Faith and Repentance from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she said that everything I said was very clear and easy to understand. The only thing she said I could add is to mention how we don't just repent when we sin, but we can repent each day to help us continue becoming a better person. I'm going to add that in next time and I think I should be good to go. After that, Sister Ho and I went on a walk around the Hong Kong University area and it's so cool! Then that night we had a great lesson with our friend Tony as well as another member lesson which was great. Other than that, we taught the kids in our ECG class about emotions and reactions which was pretty sweet 😁.

On Thursday we had our first zone meeting and district council and they were both so fun. We did hot seat with everyone, like usual, and then talked about fun stuff like the Safeguards. We had some sweet studies after that and then we did a fun trial run of an online game activity with our zone. We tried playing Werewolf together and it was a little hard doing it over zoom but it wasn't too bad. Other than that we didn't do too much else of interest, just a call finding and had a lesson with our friend Gwok Sin saang. We got to teach him more about the scriptures and God being our loving Heavenly Father which was great!

On Friday I started off the day by messing up a whole batch of pancakes so that's great :D (I know how to cook I swear). Then later that day we had a lesson with our friend Leih Sin saang. He's suuuuuuuper talkative. He and Sister Ho talked in Cantonese for like 45 minutes and I didn't really know what was going on but I just rolled with it. According to Sister Ho, he basically just complained about the government a lot and then asked why God gives us so many trials and hardships in this world. Sister Ho very wisely told him that sometimes bad things just happen because people choose to use their agency in bad ways and sometimes they happen because there's something we need to learn from them. I know that this is so true. You may face many hardships in life but I know that these trials will never be something you can't overcome. And I know that through any trial, peace can always be found in Jesus Christ. You just have to turn to Him and ask for help! After that, we were able to have a lesson with a recent convert named Pam and she was so sweet! She has a daughter who she really wants to take the lessons but we aren't sure if she's interested yet so we'll have to see. Then that night we had a fun lesson with a member family named the Chu's. We shared with them a message about charity and invited them to do something this week to continue developing it.

Saturday morning we had interviews with President Chan so we had to travel 45 minutes to the mission office and back. It's okay though because we got to walk around the front of the temple which was so cool! It's supposed to open this summer but with how covid is right now, things might get delayed so I'm praying that I'll still be able to go and see it. Later that day we had a district language study over zoom and it was so fun! We played some fun language games to practice and I got to learn some cool new words. Then after that we did a district finding where we sent the other missionaries pictures of some of our call sheets and then we all called the numbers simultaneously in our own apartments. On our end, we didn't get much success, but it was still fun. We did another call finding later that day though and Sister Ho talked to this one girl for literally an hour, it was crazy. Apparently they go/went to the same college so they have a lot in common. The girl's not too interested in taking the lessons right now but she wants to keep talking to Sister Ho so maybe she'll eventually gain more interest. Other than that we also got to have two lessons that day. We had one with a girl named Olina and talked about how reading the Book of Mormon can help us in our lives, and the other was with 4 young boys (3 are brothers and 1 is a friend of the oldest brother). We talked about the Plan of Salvation with them and it was so sweet! Such a fun lesson.

When we woke up Sunday morning, we immediately found out that the water wasn't working (the toilet still did, thankfully, but nothing else). Our bishop called us and asked if we needed water and we were like, uh yeah actually we do. So then he and his wife showed up 10 minutes later with water bottles and gallons. They said that a nearby water pipe had burst and that it's going to take a while before it's fixed. They said we could call them if we needed any more water and we thanked them. Then, a bit later, we had our church meeting on zoom. Sister Ho and I both gave short introductions and testimonies and even though my Cantonese is still flawed, I think I did okay. We had 7 people join church this week! It was so awesome. For Leih Sin saang, we literally called him on the phone and then put the phone next to the other phone, that had the zoom meeting, so that he could hear it. It was hilarious but it worked so hey. After church we did some studies and had lunch and then did correlation over phone call. The rest of our day was pretty uneventful but Sister Ho and I did go on a walk in the evening and got to see the men working on fixing the broken pipe so that was cool. The water finally came back around 9 o'clock and we were overjoyed! You never realize how blessed we are to have water until you can't shower, wash your hands, or do the dishes. Before it came back, there were people outside lining up for hours with buckets, waiting to get water from these water tank trucks that the government sent. After that crazy day, I am so very grateful to have running water.

That's pretty much it for this week! It's been so fun getting to see more of the area and being able to hang out with these sisters. It's going to be an awesome transfer, I can tell. Now for my spiritual thought, today I want to share a verse from 3 Nephi chapter 18.

Verse 20 says,

20 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.

This is such an amazing promise that Heavenly Father has given us. Whenever we are in need, as long as our desire is righteous, we can ask Him in faith for it and He will give it to us. I know that sometimes it may seem like your prayers aren't answered, or at least not in the way you were hoping, but I know that God works in His own ways and has His own plan for everyone. As you continue to exercise faith in Him and pray, I know He will answer each and every one of your prayers in His own time.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day and a great week! You've got this!

Much love from Hong Kong,

丁姊妹

Sister DelHoyo