When the washer said bubbles

大家好!! Hi hi everybody!!

This week has been relatively eventful so I hope you're excited!

Here's my lil update

Monday wasn't too crazy because I was pretty low on mission money so there wasn't much to do haha. We did have lunch though and played games as always which was fun

So the members in our ward have decided to volunteer to help me practice Cantonese and they made a calender to sign up and everything! It was sooo sweet. On Tuesday I had my first practice with a Sister named Lo Jimuih and she was so nice! We spent the first half just chatting in Cantonese, so I could practice, and then in the end I led in sharing a spiritual thought! So fun. Then we had our district language study and finding. For the language study we played our usual language games and then for the finding we did some Facebook work. Nothing to crazy but still fun! Then we had a second Cantonese practice meeting with a Sister named On Jimuih. She was a very fast-talking, business-like woman which was kind of scary haha. I definitely felt like my Cantonese wasn't nearly as good in that meeting but it's okay, I survived :'). Other than that, we went on a really cool nighttime walk down by the pier and had an impromptu lesson with Tony! We were really happy to be able to meet with him but it was honestly a really strange lesson haha. First his little 3 year old daughter was there again, climbing all over the place and taking his phone, and then once he got her occupied, he was falling asleep while we were teaching! We really don't know how to help him these days, it just seems like his desire is fading away. But I guess all we can do is our very best.

On Wednesday we had interviews with President so we made the journey to the mission office. The interview was good as always and we got some insights on new missionaries coming in soon so that's exciting . After that we called our new friend Vivian and taught her the Restoration which was good! She mumbled a lot so it was kind of hard to understand her but thankfully Sister Ho's a beast and helped out. After that, we headed home and then had a Cantonese practice session with a sister named Jau Jimuih. She was soooo sweet! Made me feel right at ease. She has an amazing story about how her whole family joined the church after she did. I felt the Spirit so strongly as she shared that and as we shared our message afterwards. It's moments like those that always give me an extra boost in my motivation to work. Then later that day we had a lesson with our new friend Alice. This one was a little weird. We taught the plan of salvation but she was doing her nails the whole time so she wasn't completely focused. She also seemed really skeptical about the whole thing. We did what we could though by answering her questions, inviting her to pray about them, and testifying of what we know is true. I hope that she will work for herself to build her faith! Then we had our ECG. This week we taught about time so that was pretty fun. Sister Ho told this whole story in Cantonese and then had the class try and translate it into English using the proper tenses (past, present, future) which was quite interesting. But the day wasn't over yet, we had one more lesson with a guy named Wilson. We talked about the godhead and prayer which was good except we could hear a lady yelling in the backrgound the whole time so that was pretty distracting. Hopefully he got something out of it though and tries to pray this week haha.

On Thursday we had district council which was fun as usual and then we had a lesson with a member named Wong Hingdaih. He was a really sweet older guy with a great testimony so we had very good time sharing with him. Next was a Cantonese practice with a member named Lei jimuih which was good! She told me how much she likes California's oranges and I explained to her what a churro is. Then we shared Ammon's story in the Book of Mormon and talked about service! Later that day, we got to have a "zone dinner" over Messenger call which was pretty fun. We basically just ate together and chatted but it was good haha. Then we had a lesson with our less active friend, Lam Hingdaih. We read the story in Mosaih 18 with him and talked about reasons for being baptized. It seems like he never really had that strong of a reason in the first place so that's sad, but I'm hoping that now we can help him gain a stronger testimony! Then we had a lesson with Gwok Sinsaang! He said he prayed a bit last week so yay!! We read 3 Nephi 11 together and he said that he believes that Jesus knows him and he would like to see Jesus someday so yay! I know the prayers for Gwok SS are helping so thank you so much for continuing to pray for him! Other than that, we did Come Follow Me as an apartment for the first time and it was sooo fun! If you've never tried discussing doctrine with your friends before, I highly reccommend it!

On Friday we had another district language study which was awesome! We did some roleplays and games and it was a good time. Then I had another Cantonese practice session with the bishop's son, Daniel. He's 14 and likes playing Minecraft and Roblox so he reminded me a lot of my little sister Miley haha. It was fun talking about games in Cantonese. We shared a message about Nephi going to get the plates and how Heavenly Father can guide us to accomplish any task. Then we actually had an outdoor district finding so Sister Ho and I traveled to Wan Chai. Basically our mission is having this big Easter music livestream thing and they gave us flyers to pass out so that's what we did. Each of our district members went to a different MTR station and we all passed them out in the same hour. Sister Ho and I were only able to pass out 20 but that's still pretty good considering how much people hate taking flyers. After that, we went home and had a stake FHE activity. Lam Hingdaih even came which is awesome! We played some games and listened to a spiritual thought and then, once that ended, Sister Ho and I had a meeting with our other less active friend, Aaron. It went pretty well! He honestly has a lot of faith but Sister Ho and I suspect that he had a bad experience with some members in the past which is why he doesn't really go to church. We'll continue to meet with him though and hopefully we'll be able to help him get more comfortable again!

Saturday was busy per usual but it started with a shocking surprise. Our washing machine started leaking bubbles!! We had to clean bubbles about three different times but it was honestly kind of fun because there were a LOT of bubbles. After that was under control, we were able to continue on with our day and we had our dance activity which was sooo fun! Sister Robison and Sister Myers taught a cool upbeat song called Girl in the Mirror and then I taught a dance to Let's Kill This Love by Blackpink which (if you guys don't know) is a kpop song. Long story short, this one girl who comes to the dance activity has been asking for weeks if we can do a dance to the song so we finally taught one and boy was she excited. After the dance activity finished, we all got Tam Jai noodles as an apartment to celebrate our 10 months!! (except for Sister Ho who ends her mission next month) and that was super fun. Next was the game activity and we got to play Never Have I Ever, Avalon, and this other new game that I've never played before. Then we had a lesson with Sunny, Tom, and Thomas which, as you guys should know, I loved. We taught about missionary work and service and Sunny had so many good questions for us! As Sister Ho says, he's a 乖仔 :').

On Sunday, we had a pretty normal day but it was still good! We had our regular church meetings with some great testimonies, some finding, studies, and then a two hour apartment dinner to break our fasts! I made my famous teriyaki chicken which was a big hit so that was fun haha. Then, after that, we got to have another English lesson with Jens where we read some stories from the Friend and shared about the sacrament.

That's pretty much it for this week! I know that it was conference weekend, but because of the time difference, the wards in Hong Kong don't watch it until next week when the translations are all out. I'm hoping to watch it throughout this week though! Let me know if you have any cool insights you'd like to share!

Now for my ~spiritual thought~

Because Easter is coming up, President Chan has invited all of us to study the Atonement and sent us a 30 day study packet to help us do so (I'll link it below for anyone interested). I've never really sat down and studied the Atonement before so it's been a really enlightening experience. I don't remember who said this quote but it's been said that the Atonement is the most important but least understood principle of the gospel. It really is so hard to wrap our mortal minds around the infinite and everlasting sacrifice that Jesus Christ has made for us, but I know that as we try to, we are continually drawn closer to Him.

The talks included in the study packet explain it much better than I can, but just try to visualize with me for a moment. You've done something terribly wrong and you need to pay the price for it. The price has to be perfectly just so you must suffer the exact effect that you inflicted. For example, you killed someone so you must be killed, you hit someone so you must be hit, you yelled at someone so you must be yelled at. This is the perfect justice system of God. You are doomed to suffer the punishment of your mistakes. BUT THEN, someone else steps in. This person comes forward and says "I will take the punishment for you". You wonder "why? Why on earth would you take the punishment for me? You've done nothing wrong". They say, "because I love you. And I believe that you can change. I believe you can be better." That person is Jesus Christ, and because of Him, an element of perfect mercy comes into play in God's perfect justice system. This mercy is available to you, no matter who you are or what wrong you've committed because Jesus Christ loves YOU and He will always believe in YOUR potential for good. The only condition is you have to believe in yourself. You have to believe and then you have to act. You have to choose today to be better. Choose not to give up, even when it's hard, and to be better each and every day. As you're willing to do this, Jesus Christ is more than happy to let the punishment He suffered be enough for your mistakes.

I know that this is so true. I know that the Savior suffered for you as an individual and because of that, He can help you and support you through anything and everything. You just have to choose to put your trust in Him. I can testify that in my life, I've never been happier than when I've chosen to trust Jesus Christ and try my best each day to be better, to appreciate the sacrifice that He made for me and the faith that He puts in me. I urge you all to think about what you can do today to start applying the power of Christ's Atonement more fully in your life. I leave these things humbly in the Savior and Redeemer's name, even the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

丁姊妹

Sister DelHoyo