S2:E5 The One Where We Teach People from Mainland

 

Hey everyone!

This week was a great teaching week. We got an opportunity to teach 2 people from Mainland who came to Macau so they could get baptized. This is so special because missionaries in Hong Kong aren't allowed to teach people who are in Mainland but they can teach them if they come to Hong Kong. We got to teach Li Baozhi and Coco, 68 year old and a 9 year old. We taught them all of the 5 lessons in 3 hours last Thursday and Friday. It was crazy busy!

☆ Li Baozhi doesn't know who Joseph Smith is, she has never read the Book of Mormon because information about the church is very limited in Mainland. We thought she knew everything already before coming since most of the people who come here already know most of the principles. It was her first time to touch a book of Mormon too. She said that she already believes in it when she received a book of Mormon. It's sad how people of Mainland don't have access to this information but they have a really great desire to be baptized and even come to Macau. It's a privilege to teach people from Mainland, I'm so excited for when the day comes when Mainland China opens its borders to missionaries. 

☆ We visited a family who are Buddhists but have a son who is a member and served a mission. His dad was so against his son going on a mission and going to BYU, he didn't support him but the mom secretly paid for his school and funds.  When we visited them, it was so evident how the dad wanted to learn so much and he felt kinda bad that he never tried praying in his 65 years. He was really thinking and pondering and listening so intently. We have a great feeling that he really wants to learn more and we know that the Spirit was really softening his heart.

One of the verses I read in the book of Mormon in Alma said something about "hushing your fears", it was a really lovely chapter. We can all hush our fears and listen to the Savior's calming voice.

                                                                

S2:E4 The One Where It's All Green

 

大家好!

                                  

                                                               

How has everyone's week been?

This week went by great! Many interesting things and cool stories happened. I just want to share a few experiences I had while doing missionary work.

☆ We were invited by one of the members to have dinner with her and her daughter. 李姐妹 and her daughter, Sunny! They have super cute dogs, Snooby and Ophelia, a bird named Mango and a gecko. Interesting home! I got to know them a little more and we were able to share a scripture about gratitude. After our visit, we had to take a bus going back home. We aren't really familiar with buses since we always take the MTR which led us to stopping somewhere in West Kowloon which isn't in the Hong Kong Island (my zone). We finally got to the MTR and was waiting for our train to arrive. While waiting, there was this Cantonese lady who was screaming at a guy. She was taking videos of him and I thought the guy did something bad to her. When our train arrived, we approached the guy and asked him if he was okay. He explained to us that this lady always stayed at the MTR and had always shouted at random people. He was super grateful that we asked him if he was okay and we got to introduce ourselves as missionaries and he asked how we do our work here! We stopped at the wrong stop but was able to help a person who needed comfort and a friend! 

☆ One of our train rides going home, I recognized a lady who sells fruit at a market in Wan Chai. I waved at her and she was so confused and even removed her earphones hahaha just to talk! She said sorry she doesn't know me  and I said you don't know me but I recognize you! And she didn't understand a thing I was saying and there was a person behind her who started translating for me. His name was Donald! We got to talk to him more and introduced ourselves as missionaries. He said he doesn't have any religious beliefs but asked us where our church was and we gave him a leaflet and he even said sorry that he couldn't come on Sunday cause he had an exhibition but that next Sunday he would be able to visit! It's nice to see and meet friendly people here at Hong Kong! I hope Donald would be interested in learning, I have a feeling he would really be :)

☆ Yesterday, Sunday, our friend Camille came to church!! We gave her a call and a few minutes later she messaged and said she overslept and was coming ASAP! She got to sacrament and relief society class and I love how the members just embraced her and didn't make her feel out of place. The relief society are really great member missionaries! When we finished the 2nd hour, she said she couldn't stay any longer but we walked with her to the train and she right away asked, "how do I recognize the Spirit? I'm so confused! Maybe the Spirit isn't in me". This question came from a person who doesn't have any religious background, it was her first time attending church but the Spirit was so strong with her. She was asking about how the Spirit speaks to us when we make choices. It really is true when they say that Heavenly Father has prepared people already, you just have to find them. We extended an invitation to be baptized and she said yes! We're so excited to be able to teach her the lessons and just guide her and help her learn more. We're so happy that she has the desire to be baptized! We hope we can help her grow her desire!

Please help us pray for our friends, Linzhi and Camille to do their daily prayers and scripture study so they will be able to recognize the Spirit in their lives!

   

                                                            

S2:E3 The One Where We Have Exchanges

 

Hey everyone!

                                              

This week we focused more on reactivation. We didn't get to do a lot of finding haha yay for the break from talking to college people!!!!  I don't even know what to talk about since I have no college experience and barely know anything about the courses they're taking.

On Tuesday we had a dinner appointment with a girl named Jessica Yuen. She's a model, so she's super tall! She was baptized during my trainers' trainee days and then she never went back to church after. We talked over food and she was talking about her boyfriend haha it was hard to talk to her about coming back to church since she just kinda wanted to share about other things. I know she just needed a friend to be with and talk to! We sent her a link to general conference about marriage since she talked about wanting to start a family too. Hope we can get her to come back and be interested in learning more about Jesus! I also ordered KFC on this day and I wanted chicken and fries and the cashier was Cantonese speaking and it did not go well. She was having a bad day and was just being mean so I only had fries for lunch which wasn't good 

On Wednesday we had companion exchanges! I did my exchanges with sister Bills. She is such a goofy person and she was so fun to be with! She is studying something like international studies. She's lived in different parts of the world! We also got to talk to some Filipinas at the Tamar Park and friended one on FaceBook! Hope that works well for the sisters doing English work. 

On Thursday we had free lunch and dinner YAY FOR THAT!! #savemoney #imalmostoutofmoney  We met with A-min, she's inactive because she has work on Sundays and can't attend the everyday branch since she doesn't speak English. She is very patient with our Mandarin and she's such a funny girl! She treated us to KFC and had the best egg tart EVER. We also tried Wasabi fried chicken and it wasn't good  we also read the Book of Mormon with her! She likes to read with us, her struggle is not being able to come to church on Sundays. Getting people to come to church is hard here, it would be such a miracle for them to come  We also had a dinner appointment with Camille and Hober, they treated us too and that was so nice of them. They are really interested in learning more and they have questions about it. Camille started praying and she said she feels better when she prays but is still confused and hasn't recognized that those feelings come from the Holy Ghost. We are planning to refer Hober to the elders because I noticed he's not only interested in learning about the gospel but also in my trainer hahaha lol 

This week wasn't easy! There is no growth in comfort, and there is no comfort in growth. It is hard but it is bearable. It doesn't go away right away, but the Lord sure does strengthen and give you more courage. 

I invite you all to read Jacob 2:8 and Jacob 3:2 from the Book of Mormon ♡ and listen to Michelle D. Craig's talk from general conference.

I know that each of us have a wounded soul, but I testify that the word of God will heal it. The scriptures are right in front of us, it is a gift! And we have the choice to unbox this gift and receive it. What choice will you make?

Sister Sy

薛姐妹

XUE JIEMEI

                                                                   

S2:E2 The One Where I See Miracles

 

            大家好!

                                                          

This week went by fast, but on the daily, it feels really slow. 

I want to share 3 highlights of my week with you! 

◇ We attended a baptism this week for Aiden, a 9 year old boy. He is Filipino and he lives in Hong Kong with his mom, grandma and 2 sisters. I don't know much about Aiden, he is the other sister missionaries friend and we came to support him! While waiting for their family, I was just talking with the other missionaries like sister Olongayo, sister Rodriguez, sister Diaz, sister Villador, sister Valiente. Basically my Filipina sistaaas! The baptism was at 7pm and none of them arrived yet, after a few minutes Aiden's mom arrived and was asking if her family had already arrived. She was starting to panic because none of them were there and gave their grandma a call. We soon found out that the taxi driver dropped them off at a baptist church!! And we didn't know which baptist church it was  so Aiden's mom was asking them to read any of the signs which was super helpful because we got to locate them when we knew what signs were around them. Sister Rucker and I started running to find them and after 10 minutes of running, we were so happy to see them, under a stoplight. We started walking back to the chapel, which was gonna take long because Aiden's grandma can't walk very fast and she uses a crane to support her. And it wasn't easy to walk with 3 children who were walking too fast, or being too lazy to walk. But we made it to the chapel, after almost 25 minutes. And it came to pass, Aiden was baptized and his family was full of joy.

This experience made me very emotional and I felt the spirit during the baptismal service. It might seem like an ordinary story, but it taught me a lesson. I learned that even if the destination or the promised land is so nearby, the journey or the covenant path is not easy. It was definitely not an easy journey going back to the Wanchai Chapel, the grandma walked little and slow steps, just like how most people walk the covenant path: slow and small steps. Sometimes we stop and take a break too! Aiden's grandma complained a lot which also teaches me about our attitudes as we journey along the covenant path. What kind of attitudes do we have as we endure to the end? These people struggled to find the promised land, but there were missionaries, who are the Lord's hands, to help and guide them stay on the path where they need to be in. But when they finally reach the promised land, hearts are filled with joy and we all rejoice!

◇ We have a friend named Gigi! She is from a baptist church, she speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and English. She really likes talking and hanging out with us! We brought her to the Wanchai Chapel and we toured the chapel with her. We were able to teach her about how the Godhead isn't one person but they are of one purpose. We also taught her about the Book of Mormon and invited her to pray and ask about it. She is kind of confused since she believes everything her pastor tells her of, especially when her pastor told her to stay away from our church hahaha, we want to teach her more but she's been busy. We got to hear her testimony of God, and we felt the Spirit with her! She also got to watch general conference with us 

◇ We went to HKU or Hong Kong University and did our finding over there. We met 3 new friends: Isabel, Hober and Camille. Isabel is a buddhist who is taking her Master's in Counselling and she seems very interested in different kinds of religion. She says she has no interest in getting converted but we'll see about that  We were also going around HKU and saw a girl and a boy eating and talking in the pond area and they were the nicest people I've met so far! We got to invite them to our game night and played cards with other missionaries. Hober and Camille are both studying law and we got to teach Camille about God and the Book of Mormon. It was her first time at church! And she said she felt peace inside. She seemed really interested about learning more and had many questions!

◇ A bonus highlight and cutest highlight of my week would be playing rock paper scissors with a cute grandma in the MTR. I gave her a smile and she smiled back and started playing rock paper scissors which was SOOOO cute!! 

I loved general conference! My favorite talk was from Elder Olsen: the answer is Jesus!!! "The answer to the simplest questions and to the most complex problems is always the same. The answer is Jesus Christ. Every solution is found in Him." AMEN!!

Oh my gosh, we were climbing uphill to go to a zoo and it was just too much I swear I was about to pass out if I didn't have water. I vomited a little yikes. Hiking and doing adventurous stuff just isn't for me! 

How did your week go? Send emailssss and update me about how your week went, I'd love to read about them! If you haven't seen general conference talks yet, open your gospel library and watch them now!! It'll heal and comfort you, that's a promise!

SISTER SY

薛姐妹

XUE JIEMEI

                                                 

                                                     

S2:E1 The One Where I Feel so Homesick

 

 Hi everyone! Elders and Sisters!

This week has been so tough. When we flew to Hong Kong, me and Sister Diaz were with Sister Miralles who was also assigned to Hong Kong but got reassigned temporarily. When we arrived in Hong Kong, we had to stay in the hotel for awhile which was a super nice hotel haha but Sister Miralles wasn't feeling so well until we learned that she had COVID. It made me so scared since I was with her the whole flight. We have to take swab tests everyday until October 6th.

I miss the MTC so much, I feel so homesick everyday. I miss being with a group of Filipinos. I'm still trying to understand American humor hahaha. I'm enjoying my group but I still miss being with super warm Filipinos! I miss laughing so hard but I guess this is the real missionary work!

First Area: WAN CHAI

                                                      

We haven't got the chance to meet members yet since Hong Kong is super strict. We can only enter chapels and restaurants after today! We have to scan QR codes so they can track if anyone got COVID in the area. 

My trainer is sister Rucker from Bountiful, Utah. She only has around 2 transfers left. She walks so fast, but I feel like it's because she's tall and has long legs haha. I don't really understand what people are saying yet but I know it'll come. I had the chance to talk to 1 girl in Mandarin the other day, she is from mainland China. So they come here to Hong Kong for work. Kinda cool that they go back and forth  We are also talking to a sweet lady called Li Cai Hong. She speaks Cantonese but knows how to speak Mandarin. She loves talking and sharing, we tried to set a lesson with her yesterday but she didn't answer the call. Might be busy working or going home from work.

                                                 

It's scary talking to people here since everyone is so busy! Hong Kong is really busy. It's amazing getting to say 你好 to everyone on the streets, some people aren't interested to say hi back, some people get so happy when we greet them, some people have a light or spark in their eyes. I'm excited to find people to talk to this week. My goal this week is to try to speak to at least 3 people in Chinese. I'm doing my best to improve my Mandarin.

We also had sacrament through Zoom since we can't enter chapels yet. I couldn't understand everything hahahaha but I love that I understand how the members here in Wan Chai testify of the happiness they feel by attending church, they testify of prayer and scripture and of God's love.

I'm excited to learn more and improve! You are all always in my prayers, keep me in yours too! Shout out to my batch in the MTC, I know you guys are having a hard time adjusting too. Just keep praying for strength, let's overcome it together!  Keep crying until you run out of tears hahahaha. 加油 everyone! See you in the next email 

Sister Sy

XUE JIEMEI

薛姐妹