HK International 3-20-09 to 3-26-09

Hello again!

I love international work in HK, and living with Phillippina sisters is teaching me how to have lots of patience and to be optimistic. There are now six of us in our tiny apartment because something very unfortunate happened to the other sisters' apartment last week. If you really want to know what happened, just email! :) Anyway, their place now smells really bad and they've had to evacuate to our place. It's a good thing that we finally got our bathroom light fixed yesterday! We've had to shower in the dark the whole time I've been here.

I am serving with some interesting sisters. On the 16, I got to switch companions for 24 hours and served with Sister Laresma. She is one of TWELVE children . . . and they didn't grow up with electricity! Good grief! They had to go to bed around 6 p.m. because after it was dark, there wasn't anything they could really do. The missionaries found her washing clothes in the backyard in the Phillippines so that's how they met the church. She was baptized with her family a couple months later. Sister Laresma is super fun and loves to laugh! She always tries to translate what all the other sisters are saying for me even though I can't really understand her English, but it's better than nothing.

Sister Allado is one of the other sisters in the apartment. Her dad is obsessed with chickens and raises them to fight in chicken derbies in Phillippines. That's right! Chicken derbies exist in this world! Growing up, Sister Allado had to help her dad feed these chickens after school. They eat bananas and raisins, and her dad wakes up every morning at 5 a.m. to stretch them and teach them how to fight using boxing gloves. I was like well how do they fight other chickens? She told me that the chickens fight by using their bodies to bump into each other and their wings to flap at each other LOL! So they have so many chickens at their place, and the funny thing is that her mom doesn't even like chickens hahaha!

So on to our investigators! We finally have some more after so much finding! I keep getting them all confused because we only see them once a week, and I've only been here for two weeks. Rio has been reading her scriptures every day and has been calling us on her own! It's a miracle because most of the time, we are always the ones to call people! We are going to buy her a study journal so she can write down what she's learned from reading.

I've met some interesting people while finding this week. Many of the missionaries are afraid to contact caucasians, I'm not sure why, but they are my favorite! I've met some from Canada and Holland. One man Eric was smoking away when I contacted him. He's from Canada and is the headmaster of a school in China. When I asked him about church, he said that he's met so many of us missionaries that it's not even funny. He's even had the discussions in his home in Canada, but he's a historian and is not willing to pray. I was like well maybe you keep meeting missionaries because God wants you to get to find the truth! Still, he left again, not persuaded even to pray to find out for himself. How sad.

The weather has been cold here all of a sudden (around 18 C) and we've had lots of rain! It's been bad for finding but the air is better now!

I love you all!

Sister Chu :)

P.S. If you haven't gotten a letter from me, it's probably because I don't have your mailing address! Just send your address to alohasister@myldsmail.net!

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HK International 3-13-09 to 3-19-09

Hello po!

If you add a "po" to pretty much anything in Tagalog, it makes whatever you say more polite heeee! I say that greeting at least 100 times a day. Life is just magaling (amazing)! This zone consists of me and 8 other Phillippinas who love to chika chika (chat) all the time! The only time they speak any English is when they talk to me. My goal is to learn and use one new phrase in Tagalog each day. I am so lucky that I now speak three languages every day: English, Cantonese, and Tagalog! In Macau, I started learning Mandarin and Indonesian, too. It's a miracle that my brain hasn't exploded yet hahaha! I am becoming very internationalized.

One of my zone leaders is Elder Williams, and on my first day in the zone, he told me that his friend is serving his mission in NC, and that he has eaten dinner at the Chu Family's place in Greensboro! I forgot the elder's name but he is Japanese or part Japanese! How neat is that?!

Also, I saw Amanda (Mom's and Dad's friend who lives in Yuen Long) at the temple last week, and she said that she talked to some friends who want to see Mom and Dad if they come to HK! They are Randy Chan Wai Fan and Candy Chan Wai Fing (or maybe it's "Fang" sorry I can't read the writing!). The other is a couple: Li Wing Kee and Leung Mei Yee. They moved to Singapore about 20 years ago and their son Elder Li has just started his mission in the BEST MISSION EVER last month! I ran up to him last mission conference and asked him all about his family, but I forgot to get his parents' email to send to Mom and Dad. Ooops. Next time! Dad and Mom . . . if you don't remember who these people are, well they were in your FHE group in HK a long time ago! :)

I am so happy you invited your neighbors to the ward activity! Yaya! Don't worry about if they'll be scared away . . . if they are prepared, they will be just fine! I found this great quote in Preach My Gospel by President Gordon B. Hinckley. He said,

"It will be a great day when our people not only pray for the missionaries throughout the world, but ask the Lord to help them to assist the missionaries in their own ward."

There is always a way to do missionary work! If you want to know how you can help missionaries, just ask them! :) You can fellowship at lessons, go finding with them on the street, sit with their investigators, and give missionaries REFERRALS!

So what do I do in HK International? Pretty much the same thing as in Macau except much more FINDING! There is only a few effective spots to find Phillippinas, Indonesians, and others and that's in Central. We go to a place called World Wide. On this part of the street, we literally run after people through crowds to talk to them and to invite them to come to Wan Chai to church with us. This goes on for hours and hours every day. I have no idea how people gain weight in international work cause your day is spend on your feet. HK international doesn't really have p-day because of all the work that needs to be done! It's actually one of our busiest days. I love it because that's what I'd rather be doing on p-day anyway!

As of now, we have very few investigators. We have Jessie, Maureen, and Rio (all Phillippina). When we teach, the lessons are mostly in Tagalog and I just follow along with whatever English words I hear to teach the next principle. It's way fun! I love being in such a dynamic place! No matter what language we testify in, they always feel the Spirit!

The branches here are mostly all sisters because they all come to HK as helpers. They are pretty friendly and make me laugh because they say to me, "Are you a Chinese?" all the time. Just like that, with the "a" particle LOL! My English is going way downhill and now people tell me I sound Phillippina on the phone. Now, that I speak more Tagalog, more people think I really am from the Phillippines! Wooo hooo!

Wah I have to go again!

I love you all!

Sister Chu :)

P.S. Thank you Joyce for the email! I printed it out and will read it! :)

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Macau 3-6-09 to 3-12-09

Ako ay missionaryo! (I am a missionary!)

I'm back in Hong Kong, and I am now serving international on HK island in Wan Chi! Actually, HK international can go anywhere in HK which is so fun! My new companion is Sister Silos from the Phillippines. She is even smaller than I am and is super hard working as well. English is her second language. We live with two others . . . Sisters Allado and Madjos who are also from the Phillippines. These Phillippinas are so amazing because besides English and Tagolog, there are about 100 other dialects in the Phillippines so they all know some of those, too! I am now learning Tagolog, and I'm trying to learn fast because that's all the sisters speak in the apartment. I just sit there and try to pick up whatever I can.

It was so sad to leave Macau! I loved serving there so much! Ram passed the sacrament for the first time in his brand new white shirt and blue tie that we gave him at his baptism. I was so happy to see him up there with the priesthood! I gave him a letter with my testimony in it. He felt sad that he didn't have anything to give me, but I just said that if he would always go to church, pray, and read his scriptures, that would be the best gift ever! He said he would. :) Dev paid his tithing for the first time in my last lesson with him. He has such great faith! I helped him fill out his slip and then watched him slide the envelop under Elder Lloyd's office door. He still thinks my prayers go up faster than his, but I really think it's the other way around! Even Tek and Rupa managed to come to church for 5 minutes to say bye, and then they had to go to work. It's so sad that they have to work so much and can't come to church, but they do their best!

Yesterday was mission conference. We FINALLY have our Cantonese TALL book! Halelujah! Haha the Van Dam's had us raise our hands if we were told in the MTC that this book would come out "soon" and the whole mission raised their hands except for the Phillippinas LOL! This book is amazing! It has all the English to Canto pingyam and characters too! Thank you everyone who made it possible for us to have it!

Our new mission president was announced. We all feel really sad that the Van Dam's are leaving. We love them so much! Starting July 1, 2009, our new mission president with be Brother and Sister Chan. They are from HK too! We saw their picture and as soon as I saw them, I felt the Spirit tell me that they really are called of God! Brother Chan is now a sealer in the HK temple and has served in pretty much every possible callling in the church up to stake president. I think he used to be the chief of police in HK or something like that. Sister Chan has also served in every possible calling, too, and I always see them working in the temple.

I was so lucky this week because I got to go to the temple twice! Yaya! I actually saw Brother and Sister Chan (the future mission presidents) working there today, and I always see the President and Sister Goo. I pray for you all everyday and put your names on the temple prayer roll because I know that God answers prayers! He will make sure you are all okay even though things are stressful at work and school.

In Macau, I texted a scripture to our investigators everyday. My last text was 1 Nephi 4:6, which is one of my favorites. Remember to always follow the Spirit because the Spirit will always lead you to do good! Many times, I have no idea what I'm going to do or say, but I don't worry because if I'm worthy to have the Spirit with me and follow it, I'm pretty much invincible! The more you pray for others, the more direction from the Spirit you'll have. Because our Heavenly Father loves us all so much, He will always show us how we can show our love for others.

Thank you Dad, Mom, and Dar for the emails! I have just sent UT and NC a postcard so look for them! :)

I love you all!

Sister Chu :)

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Macau 2-27-09 to 3-5-09

First of all . . . HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANY!!! I thought about you that whole day, and I can't believe you're already 17! Good grief I'm getting old hahaha! Mom said you got your ears pierced yay and that Justin made a cake for you. :) Now I can get some earrings for you and Dar!

Second of all . . . CONGRATULATIONS JUSTIN for getting the Spotlight and for making the final round of your basketball tournament woohooo! :)

It's weird to think it's snowing out there in NC because it's really warm and humid here in Macau! It rained really hard for the first time in a long time. Good thing all of us (Sisters Benton, Wong, Pon, and me) were eating yummy congee and noodle rolls in this restaurant!

I have until March 11 (Tuesday) in Macau. Last Saturday, I went back to HK to do my last turn-around. I love riding boats! I got to ride on the upper deck. It was freezing and there was this mainland guy snoring his head off LOL! I tried to say, "How are you?" to the guy sitting next to me, but he just ignored me for a while . . . until he spilled his coffee all over himself and I gave him a napkin! :) God always provides a way for missionary work heeeee! He saw that I was studying Chinese characters, which I'm finally forcing myself to learn. He was like in his 30s and has a son in HK. He's amazing cause he spoke such good English and I could tell from his questions that he's very smart. In the end, I gave him a flyer so I hope he will find the church someday!

I had an interview with President Van Dam last Saturday, too. I love meeting with him because he is always so optimistic and "doesn't cry over spilled milk," as he said. He likes to move forward and not look backward to avoid dwelling on mistakes. I love talking to people like that! I sometimes wonder what to do with my companion, and I can't imagine having the charge to watch over the ~150 missionaries in the China Hong Kong mission. President Van Dam told me how he would really like to talk with Moses. Moses was one of the greatest prophets ever, and he was also someone who maybe just didn't have very much confidence in himself. He was stuttered and questioned, but the Lord provided a way for him. God gave him a companion, Aaron, to be his spokesperson, and together, they did many great things!

When I stayed in the Phillippinas' apartment, I found out that Sister Babula will be taking my place in Macau, and my new companion will be a Phillippina as well. I will be continuing to serve in HK English speaking! I was a little startled at first since that's a possibility I hadn't expected but I know I will love it! I feel so lucky because it's like I've served many different missions in one: Chinese speaking in HK, English speaking in Macau, and now English speaking in HK.

Sorry I can't write too much this time cause I'm attaching some pictures! The first one is at Ram's baptism (he is the one in white on the left). The second is me with a bunch of other sister missionaries last month. The third is me with Sister Benton. Fourth, me with a testimony glove. Fifth: Me, Sisters Benton, Pon, and Wong with the yummy treats Yi-ma and the relatives gave me for New years!

I love you all and I'm always praying for you!

Love,
Sister Chu :)

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