S4:E9 The One Where We Meet a Man with a Goatee

 

                                                       

大家好！你们这个星期过的怎么样？

Where do I even begin? 

☆ This week we invited our friend Christina to come to the chapel. She can only speak Spanish so we watched The Christ Child video with her. We gave her a tour around our chapel and we talked with her using Google Translate yay! We were also able to get to know her more and what she likes. It's amazing how we have developed such a good friendship with her even if we literally have a language barrier. We ate ramen with her and literally had to wait for an hour cause while we waited she was asleep haha! But we gave her a Spanish Book of Mormon too! To our surprise, there are only 2 copies of the Book of Mormon in Spanish in the mission office. Isn't that crazy? Spanish might be one of the most spoken languages but we only have 2. And we have so much different copies in languages we don't even know of haha. We testified of the Book of Mormon in Google Translate too! We also finally connected her with members from Victoria 1st branch. When I opened my mission call, I only expected to be in a table with Mandarin speaking friends. If only I knew I was coming to Hong Kong to be sitting in a table with 4 people just speaking Spanish, I would've prepared myself haha. It was such an experience. The Latina culture is really cool too. They are all so sweet and fun to be with! We had lunch with Christina at sister Clark's house. Sister Clark is a convert to the church too! She shared her conversion story in Spanish and one of the girls translated for us from time to time. Sister Clark used to be Catholic but said when she met her husband for the first time she was lovestruck but found out he was from a weird church. She was very eager to convert him to Catholicism but then finding out about eternal marriage made her excited cause she wanted to be with him forever. Haha! The way she shared the story was so funny. She was an investigator for 9 months and said she was the worst investigator because of how hard her heart was but then when she had a testimony of Joseph Smith, she wanted to get baptized right away. It was such a lovely time with them! We ate really really good French food that sister Clark prepared. One of my best chengs! Another one added to the list haha

☆ We had Zone Conference this week and it was fun! We talked about positivity and faithfulness. Just like how negativity spreads so fast, positivity can be the same too. It was another needed zone conference to draw motivation to do the work. It was another boost and refreshment to remember our purpose as missionaries. The food was so good too! Sister Clements prepared lasagna for us, and garlic bread which I miss so much! I got to see some of my favorite missionaries during Zone Conference and it was such a great time to see them all again and just talk to them. I also had a very uplifting and emotional talk with my mission president. It was something I really needed and I felt closer to God. Something about him saying that I am a divine daughter of God just brings warmth and comfort to my heart. When we know our true nature, our divine potential, it really does change the way we see ourselves and how we act. That interview made me trust my mission president more and strengthen my relationship with him. 

☆ We were doing our Visitor's Centre shift and we were just saying hi to everyone passing by and inviting a couple of people to come inside and see our chapel. As we were doing that, there was a guy who passed by us. But then I saw him turn again and he approached me! At first I was scared because of how he looked haha I thought he was gonna say something weird but then he asked me what time does our chapel close because he wants to come see it sometime. We explained that it was open 24/7 but we weren't in the chapel all the time so we asked for his contact but he was from Mainland and didn't have a Hong Kong number. Then he asked what was the difference of our church from other churches. So we shared about prophets and the priesthood authority of God. I testified of Prophet Nelson and he asked where he was and how old he was haha. And so he said he would come back in 2 hours. But we wouldn't be in the chapel by that time anymore. So we told all the missionaries in the chapel because we knew that guy needed a tour and we really needed to see him again. As we were going home, WE SAW HIM!! And so we walked back to the chapel with him, we gave him a tour. We started with the baptismal room, we showed him the Book of Mormon shelf and gave a simple introduction about it. Then he asked if we didn't read the Bible, and so we explained that we do believe in the Bible as long as it is translated correctly. We told him the Book of Mormon and Bible complement and support one another and he asked how it does. And so we gave him an example, that the Bible talks about 3 different glories being called the sun, moon and stars and we shared how the Book of Mormon explains clearly about these 3 glories. And then we talked about the plan of salvation which led to us talking about the judgement day and he was curious as to how one gets judged according to their works. Then we talked about the Spirit World how all of us would get the chance to receive the gospel. And he asked why would anyone not accept happiness. So we explained more! He had really good questions. He was searching for answers for such a long time and got almost all of them in an hour. I want to write more about this experience but I can't remember all of it. I can remember the Spirit so strongly though. I'm really grateful to be a Mandarin missionary here in Hong Kong because Hong Kong is the gateway to China and just having these opportunities of helping and teaching people from China is such a privilege. Another guy we met shared how he wanted to bring the Book of Mormon home to China but he knew the police would be at their doorstep if he did. It's so sad that people from Mainland don't have access to truth but this is why I'm here as a missionary in Hong Kong. I know everyone says their mission is the best, but really, my mission call is the coolest!  no one can top it. Planting seeds and giving people from Mainland China a taste of the gospel is such a huge privilege.

 ☆ We finally had a lesson set up with Yan Gui Rong & her husband. They have a really thick Jiangshu accent that we can hardly understand. But we had a member present and it was awesome! We got to learn more about them and their background. They are the sweetest couple who come to church every Sunday but at the same time it's really hard to teach old people who think all churches are the same. 

☆ We were doing a district find last Friday and we were walking around Wan Chai where we met an old guy wearing all red. So of course I couldn't not say anything! A simple, "is your favorite color red?" led us to getting to know him more. We thought he was a local cause he looked really local but we found out he was from the Philippines. He said he loves red so much and so we walked with him. We found out he has 100 cats in the Philippines and a couple of dogs hahaha. He said he was an entertainer and does radio thingies where he talks and shares stories. We told him we were missionaries and he asked us what our favorite song is. We started singing amazing grace with him  and it was such a wholesome experience. He said he had a YouTube channel so EVERYONE GO AND SUBSCRIBE: TED PILA TV. As we were about to leave, he said "God brought us together here at this time and at this very moment", he was so cute and wholesome! He even said "my only wish for everyone is to be happy and healthy". Gotta love old people! ♡ they're the sweetest

How was y'alls week? I've been making a difference in the world by being bubbly and friendly and warm to other people. I invite you guys to make a difference in the world too by being more sensitive to your surroundings and finding unplanned opportunities to serve. 

PICTURES:

• Last PDAY at Monkey Mountain

• Monkey Mountain with the West Point sisters

• I FOUND COCO ICHIBANYA HERE IN HONG KONG ♡♡♡♡

• Boat ride to Cheung Chau with other missionaries and friends

• Ramen with Christina! 

• Cute little dog

• Baptismal font with Christina

• All red outfit, Teddy!

• Sister Diaz, my MTC compy. She got so chubby hahaha

• Zone conference pictures!!! And with Filipinas + poski pose with President and Sister Chan

• Megan and Jillian!!! My friends from Victoria 1st, they are the BEST ♡

薛姐妹

XUE JIEMEI

SISTER SY

                                                     

S4:E8 The One Where I Meet A Model

 

早上好！

What can I share with everyone this week? I don't have a lot of words to say or a lot of experiences to share. 

This week we worked with a lot of members and shared some scriptures with them! We are working with our members so we can strengthen the branch's relationship more and we want to help member's strengthen their relationship with one another!

☆ We went finding in Victoria Park for 2 hours and that was the most effective finding I've ever done in my 6 months haha! We talked to 8 people in those 2 hours and got to speak to Mandarin speaking people and Filipinos. The first one was with this lady who was exercising. We simply said hi and said her smile was beautiful and she smiled even more. Then we asked if we could exercise with her so we did and she gave us tomatoes hahaha. She even asked us if we already ate because if not then she said she'll take us out to eat. She was so sweet! And my favorite find for that day was this father from the Philippines who was working in the Middle East as a technician, his name is Nerri. We saw that he broke his foot and was trying to exercise. We simply asked him what happened and then he started sharing about how he broke his foot! Then we started talking about families and he talked about his family with such a glow in his face. You could tell that he was such a family man and he started talking about his teenage years about how naughty he was and that he has made so many wrong choices when he was little. Families are so important to people, they will easily and readily give up all other things in order to prioritize family.

☆ We met this girl during the Visitor's Centre, her name is Christina and she's from Ecuador. We invited her to game night and she said she was shy cause maybe if she came she wouldn't speak much since she only speaks Spanish. But she came!!! And we were speaking to her using Google Translate the whole time haha. Crazy! She's a model too so I thought that was pretty cool. She's super tall and she's only 17 years old.

☆ I met the cutest dog named Potato while doing Visitor's Centre. He started licking my face and it was so gross but he was soooo cute <3

☆ We also had dimsum with Zhao 姐妹 after temple and it was so good! She literally has the most perfect skin and so she was joking about how she could tell us her skincare routine. I love Zhao 姐妹 with my whole heart. She's one of the sweetest members of the Wan Chai branch and she always finds friends for us to teach. She's such a great member missionary!

☆ We went to Cheung Chau over Huang 弟兄's house and had BBQ. I tried Sugarcane for the first time and they were all laughing at me because it was my first time eating it and I didn't know how to eat it. But it was so fun hahaha! Sugarcane is such a fun food to eat  he was also joking about how I can say I tried sugarcane for the first time in their place.

PICTURES:

1. Toilet stop before going biking!

2. Biking around Tai Po

3. Temple day

4. Probably my last temple day with sister Stakkey  I love her so much!

5. POTATO!!!!!!!! :>

6. 赵姐妹

7. Wan chai Harbor

8. St. Patrick's Day with Jessica Yuen 

9. St. Patrick's Day with some members from the Hong Kong Island including Christina from Ecuador (girl with afro!)

10. Luke ♡ we teach him English every week, he is the cutest little kid ever

11. Cheung Chau!!!!

薛姐妹

XUE JIEMEI

Sister Sy

                                                       

S4:E7 The One Where I Meet Lilly

 

亲爱，

How's everyone's week? We just had our transfers call and I am still staying with the same companion in the Mandarin branch! Excited to work and see more miracles alongside with her. We have had a couple of miracles this week that I would love to share

☆ We were somewhere in Kowloon Tong area and we were doing a pass-off over there with this friend name Dai Nuo Ting. Her name is so interesting hahaha but the Filipina sisters met her and she speaks 0 English, the only mode of communication was Google Translate. It's crazy! They would speak through that when they met each other in person. It's evidence that you don't really have to learn the language haha just use Google to help you lol but we kinda noticed that she was a little bit special. It seemed like she wasn't really in the right mind but she was so sweet! We didn't really know the area we went to so we were just walking and trying to explore more and then I saw a dog that I wanted to take a picture with. He's a corgi and so I started talking to the owner and then she said she was from the Philippines and has been here for 5 years. After a minute of talking she said she recently went to the Philippines and so I asked if she went for a vacation but she said that 2 weeks ago she went to the Philippines because her mom passed away and that her dad also passed away 3 years ago. What a perfect time for us to be there. We told her families could be together forever and we knew it was hard but that she could see them again! I don't know if she understood what we said but it was also meaningful for us to be there and grieve with her a little bit.

☆ We had brunch with Maggie and she's from Taiwan! The meal was so expensive hahaha it was all $100+ and so we started splitting up our meal because missionaries can't afford it hahahahaha but we started sharing about God and how He speaks to us through prophets. We asked her questions and she had really good answers and shared that she wants to come to church too and be able to learn more. We asked her why she thinks there are prophets and she said that it was God's way of showing His love to us so we can be guided. She has a pretty funny story too because when she met the previous sisters, she gave her wrong phone number but then the sisters figured out something with her phone number and tried mixing things up a little bit. When they texted her she said "how did you find my phone number, sorry I gave you the wrong number hahahaha. But we're happy to be in contact with her again lol

☆ Last night we got to call Lilly :) she's a former that previous missionaries have taught but I think because she was too busy the missionaries dropped her. But now we have picked her up again! Last week we were doing finding through calling formers and we saw her name and knew we had to call her too! So that week we shared about prayer and introduced ourselves. Last night she shared about how she met the missionaries, she said she can still remember it so vividly in her mind. She was just walking around Hong Kong and saw 3 elders and they gave her a smile, 1 of them was Filipino and 2 were Americans. She said their smiles melted her heart but especially the Filipino's smile. She said it was the purest and most genuine smile she has ever seen. Then she continued to share how she normally doesn't smile back at people but then at that time she did. She said it always brings tears to her eyes remembering those sweet memories she has made with them. It's amazing how a simple smile can really brighten someone's day — maybe even change the course of her life. She no longer remembers those elders names and regrets not taking photos with them but she says she will never forget those memories or the feelings she felt. And she said she felt the same when we called her last week because we called out of the blue and we shared a message about prayer and she said she really needed to hear that and we helped brighten her day. She goes on and says that she also re-read the scripture we shared with her! Such sweet stories we get to hear as missionaries. It brings so much happiness to us when we hear that people are touched by missionaries and missionary work! I know no effort is wasted.

PICTURES:

• Disneyland with our apartment!

• Gelato basket sooo yum

• Noodles after Disney!

• Cute corgiiii

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• Us with Maggie from Taiwan!

• Sister Brady and I with the prettiest flowers

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• Sara Yin and her family! Ahia used to teach her when she was still single. She used to do missionary work a lot with him. She says missionary work has never been better when ahia was AP ;))

• Our friend Yang Yang gave birth!!!! And we visited her baby, her name is Ya Hui / Maggie. She's so cute and tiny

• Yang Yang and her pohpoh, so sad that they'll leave for Japan soon. Wish we could stay in touch forever.

That's all for now! See ya later

薛姐妹

XUE JIEMEI

Sister Sy

                                                         

                                                     

S4:E6 The One Where I Kiss a Chicken

 

大家好!

你们最近过的怎么样？没有很多很特别的事情

This week was another great week. I don't have a lot of stories to share but we were able to do our missionary work as usual! We were able to teach our friends some good lessons. Something really cool was how our cute friends were really interested in learning more about the gospel. The people you think are less likely to progress are actually those who are so interested haha! We have had a couple of game nights with these friends and they are just the best girls ever! I wish I had a picture with them. I'll have to take one when we see each other this week. We have gotten really close and something that warms my heart too is that one of our friends said "let's keep in touch even after your mission" 

As a missionary you meet so many people who are such a huge part of your life but in their perspective they probably don't really care about you haha but meeting these kinds of people just soften your heart so much and make you feel that you are doing a good job of building and developing friendships. 

We were also able to do some visitor Centre this week. Our chapel in Wan chai is starting its own visitor's Centre and it's starting to do really well! We had 3 people want to do a chapel tour and in the past 2 months I have done visitors Centre, nobody has ever wanted to come inside. Our efforts are now paying off and it makes us so happy to have people come and see and come explore!

We also had a lesson with Cindy and our member Suna Li. We were discussing about the Plan of Salvation and it was such a good lesson because not only was the friend learning but our member learned so much from the lesson too. She shared about how she doesn't really have a lot of knowledge about this plan but she was grateful that we asked her. It makes me more motivated to have members in lessons because it's so good for the both of them. She shared how her father recently passed away but when she was learning from the plan, she felt that God really does love us and He has a perfect plan and that we can see those we love again someday.

This morning I was listening to a talk called "Born of God" by Ezra Taft Benson. I invite you guys, especially dad, to read it. I'm hitting 6 months on Thursday. You guys better greet me on Thursday! 

PICTURES:

1. Sister Yip

2. A good looking chicken

3. A group of 3 girls wanted to take a picture together

4. Mandarin sistahs

5. A group of 3 girls wanted to take a selfie together

6. The good looking chicken!

薛姐妹

XUE JIEMEI

Sister Sy