Humidity 100

大家好! What's up everybody!

I hope you've had a fantastic last week! I can't believe that March is already almost over

So here's the update on my side of the world

For pday on Monday we had a pretty chill day. I finally got my mail from America which only took a million years to arrive and I bought a ton of groceries which was nice. Then of course we played some games so that's epic . That night as we were planning, we called a lady named Jasmine to do an English evaluation and ended up teaching her a bit about the gospel. She said she'd be interested in hearing more so that was new person #1!

On Tuesday, we had a lesson with a lady named Vivian first thing in the morning. She was someone that some other sisters passed to us and she's got great potential! We were able to set up another lesson with her so that's new person #2! Nothing else too crazy happened that day. We just had our usual studies and findings. One interesting thing though was there was this older guy that Sister Ho called who just kept talking to her and everytime it sounded like he was going to hang up he'd be like "oh wait I want to ask one more thing!" It was so funny haha.

On Wednesday, Sister Ho had mission leadership council for the first half of the day so I stuck with the Mandarin sisters. We had a lesson with one of their friends where we all read the Book of Mormon together. It was really fun because she'd read in English, the sisters would read in Mandarin, and then I'd read in Cantonese. Even though their friend didn't know Cantonese she was like woahhh you're Cantonese is so good! And she praised me a bit in Mandarin so that was pretty cool Then when I was back with Sister Ho, we did some finding and prepared for our own lessons. In one of our call findings, I talked with this guy who asked me a lot of questions about our church. Then he said he'd be interested in joining one of the church meetings so cool. I don't actually know if he came on Sunday but at least we invited him ^^. Later on that day we called another potential named Alice and she was so nice! We got to share a bit about the gospel right then and there and set up a time to call her again next week which means.....new person #3!! Other than that, we had a lesson with a less active member named Aaron, who was super cool, and then we had our ECG! We talked about money and shopping this week which was pretty sweet. I even learned how to say some new words in Cantonese

On Thursday we had a zone meeting and district council which was fun as usual. After that, we did some finding and then I had my LPO. Unfortunately we had to kind of rush it because we started late and Sister Ho and I had a lesson right after but the good news is I passed! Next I'll be teaching the Law of Chastity and that means I've only got like 4 or 5 LPOs left . It'll be really nice when I'm done but at the same time I'll probably miss being able to use them to practice teaching. Once that was done, we had our lesson with a member named Lei jimuih and she was really nice. She said that she hasn't had a lesson with missionaries in a long time so she was happy we called her and that made me so glad to hear :'). Later that day, we had another lesson with our friend George and it was interesting as usual. He wrote down EVERYTHING we said. We'd be explaining something and he'd say, wait wait I need to write it down. It was kind of hard to teach like that but at least it shows that he's paying attention I guess haha. After that, we had a lesson with our less active friend Lam Hingdaih and that was pretty okay. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and he remembered most of it so it turned into more of a discussion. Then we called and had a lesson with Gwok SS where we talked about the same thing. Gwok SS said that he did some praying and reading this week, yay!!! That's such a big thing for him because he hasn't been doing it at all! I really hope he continues to try and grow his faith! Please pray for him!

On Friday morning we had a mission wide training on a new Area Book feature which was pretty cool. Basically we can fill out baptismal records through Area Book now so that member records for new members can be made much faster. Pretty sweet I'd say. Fun fact, it was super humid that day and the walls inside our apartment got all damp. I've never had to deal with that before so it was an experience to say the least. We also did some finding and found a few potentials which is sweet. Then we went on our usual walk and actually had a cool experience! There's this girl who used to be taught, named Kiki, and she's been texting with Sister Ho for a while. When we went on our walk by the harbor, we saw her! Or she saw us. It was so crazy to just run into her out of the blue and she was really excited to meet us in person. I hope that we can talk with her more in the future!

On Saturday we had our many activities as usual. First we had the advanced Cantonese class led by President Chan and he taught us more about having better pronunciation and emphasis on certain words. Then we had our dance activity. One of the elders, Elder Ricks, led it this week and he only started learning Cantonese like 3 months ago (because he was a Mandarin elder but President switched him) but his Cantonese is already SO GOOD. Highkey jealous. That activity was really fun and we had quite a few people join which is awesome! Then later on we had our game activity which Sister Ho and I led this week. It was super fun and afterwards, one of the ladies who joined asked us a bunch of questions about our church and said she'd have interest in learning more! Activities DO work!! That night we also got to have another lesson with Sunny, his brothers, and Thomas which was so good. We talked about temples and the Spirit was so strong. I love this gospel and I love sharing it :)

Sunday was a pretty chill day in comparison. We had a lot of meetings and studies which is good and then we did a little bit of finding. At the end of the day, we got to teach our friend Jens some more English so overall it was just a solid good day.

That's pretty much it for the events of this week! Still nothing too crazy because of the covid restrictions but I hope you liked the update nonetheless!

Now for a little ~spiritual thought~

This week I'd like to share one of my personal favorites, 1 Nephi 20:10

10 For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

What's your furnace of affliction?

Honestly I feel like this whole pandemic situation has been a furnace of affliction, but everyone still has their own furnaces they deal with. Sometimes we can feel like the furnace is just trial after trial, grinding us down with unbearable pressure, but what if instead of thinking of this furnace as a constant barrage of anxiety and stress, we think of it more as a vital part of God's plan for us? If God is the refiner and we are the thing he's refining, then He's going to have to use some heat and some pressure to put us into shape. I know that even with this little analogy, the challenges you face are still going to be hard, but I have good news for you. We have a Savior! There's someone who's gone through the same fires in the same furnaces as you and He's completely willing to do it again right next to you. That Savior is Jesus Christ and I can testify that He knows and loves you personally. Like YOU you. If you're starting to feel alone, pray. Ask Heavenly Father to help you know that Jesus Christ is with you and He understands you. I know you will feel it :)

I hope you have a joyful week this week! Don't forget to read your scriptures and pray!

丁姊妹
Sister DelHoyo