Kwun Tong 11-21-09 to 11-26-09

Hi Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! Our mission president surprised us with a mission Thanksgiving party after our service project this morning. We all woke up at 6 a.m. to go to Tai Wo to hack down and burn weeds on a member's farm. Having a farm is hard work! They had sugar cane and banana trees. We could hardly breathe with all the smoke flying at us, but we all had so much fun! I am so grateful for the chance to serve cause there will never be another chance quite like this again as a missionary!

Well, it was cold for like a week in HK . . . now it's back to summer! Perfect weather! :)

I found this really great quote by Elder Carlos H. Amado this past week, and it really helped me:

"Those who serve with devotion even when things don't turn out the way they would like are not easily discouraged, fatigued, or frustrated because the promise of peace of mind and the companionship of the Holy Ghost will never abandon them."

We've had some challenges doing missionary work in the Kwun Tong area so Sister Kwok and I have been trying to find ways to serve our missionaries and KT ward members more. We made cookies for our leaders and fellow missionaries, and I think everyone seems a bit happier! We really want the people we serve with to love our investigators so we must serve and love the people we serve with first!

Dad . . . I think we'll probably end up going to Thailand instead of mainland China! Things have been a bit hectic since the moves is ending so I have not been able to go to apply for the China visa. I am still waiting on my HK ID, but I'm afraid it will take longer to wait to get it approved. Elder Cheng, who is also ABC like me, applied for the same HK ID, and he has been waiting for about 3 weeks now. I hope that's ok! Let me know what you think!

I hope you are all doing well! And the new family cat, too! :)

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Chu :)

P.S. And Dar . . . that girl on the yellow bike must have been Sister Harding, my first companion in Macau! Hahaha! That's so fun that you got to see her for like a second! Her name is Kellie so you can look her up on Facebook or something.

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Kwun Tong 11-13-09 to 11-20-09

Hey Everyone!

I'm still here!

Sorry this is so late . . . President Chan changed our p-day in the last minute to Wednesday for all the sisters in the mission. We had a sisters mission-wide conference last Wednesday evening, the first one I think the mission has ever had!

The conference was so good! The sharings were based off of Mark 10:17-27 so you can all read this as a family during FHE! My sharing was on what we need to do to have eternal life. I just sent a letter or something to you all so you can read about it later!

The most fun thing was that we did a mission-wide, sister's 24 hour exchange after the conference. I got sent back to Yuen Long for 24 hours with Sister Simkovits. It was so weird yet so awesome to go back to my baby area! The guards and cleaning people still remember me and one guard, Mr. Wong, is still there! He's my favorite guard a year ago! I got his number so the elders can teach him. :)

We taught an amazing former investigator named Katherine last night and now we're teaching her 9-year-old sister, too! Katherine just set a baptismal date so we're excited!

No time! Ahh! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Chu :)

P.S. The the NC fam . . . Good luck with the cat! If no one claims it, are you all going to keep it?!?! :)

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Kwun Tong 11-6-09 to 11-12-09

Hi Everyone!

I've just sat here at the computer for like five minutes. I'm trying to think of stuff to say, but honestly, I'm so tired that I can't think of anything! Oh well. I had an interview with President Chan yesterday, and he was all, "Treasure this time while you can!" I just nodded and tried to stay awake in the interview. That's pretty much all I remember him saying. Oh yeah! And he told me that he's already recommended me to get that half-tuition scholarship for BYUH! So I have two scholarships for BYUH this winter. What a miracle!

We went to the temple today, and Sister Kwok saw her piano teacher, President Cheng, there. He is the stake president in Tolo Harbor, and he was the one who first introduced her to the church and gave her a Book of Mormon. Horray! Sister Kwok is so amazing to me. I can't believe that she joined the Church only four years ago! Whenever we ask members for referrals, they pay special attention since Sister Kwok is living testimony that it works!

We've had lots of miracles this past week! We've had several referrals, two of which are from Thailand! There is a small community of Thai members in the Kwun Tong Ward. I'm not sure why they all chose to go to church in Kwun Tong, but I think it's great! Yesterday, we were visiting a Thai sister for the 100% Home Teaching Plan. Her husband is a native HKer. She is such an amazing lady! I had no idea about this, but she's been inviting lots of Thai friends to FHE at her place for a while now and sharing the gospel with them all! When we visited her, she'd brought one friend to meet us. When we stepped in the door, she was like, "Hello! Look! Here's an investigator for you!" Yep! What every missionary wants to hear!

I am now learning as much Thai as I can! :) I can say "sawadeeka" (how are you?), "kopunka" (thank you), and "saadsadaa" (prophet). Yay! I have no idea how to spell those but you can try to sound them out if you want hehehe. Don't worry Dad and Mom. I am still learning the Chinese! We picked up some copies of the Book of Mormon in Thai along with some flyers and stuff today from the temple. I am so excited! I think there used to be some Thai missionaries like when they used to have Indonesian missionaries here in HK a long time ago. There's a really good Thai restaurant close to the church, and I always go over there so we're now friends with the owner. She loves it and gives me discounts! :)

HK is so interesting. One day it'll feel like HK, and another day, it'll feel like the Phillippines, Indonesia, . . . or Thailand! I love it!

Au gaad na pope gan! (Thai for "see you later!")

Love,
Sister Chu :)

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Kwun Tong 10-30-09 to 11-5-09

Hi Everyone!

How is everyone?! It's starting to get cold here in HK! Finally! Everyone's really excited about winter coming . . . no more sweating all over the flyers that we hand out! :)

Things are getting back to normal now, meaning that I actually have time to study and go finding in the streets! And I had time to write my first letter to President Chan last Monday, the first one since June, I think! Haha well at least he knows I'm still alive.

I love going finding in Kwun Tong! Sister Kwok is an amazing finder . . . many native HKers don't like to contact on the street, but this one is a pro! We teach many street lessons . . . now we just need them to all come back! Yesterday, we were finding in a park nearby and this father had me give his son an English name. The kid's name had a "j" sound so I came up with "Jonathan" and "Jay" . . . for some reason, I couldn't think of any other "j" names besides those. I guess I was just too much in shock that I, some random missionary, was going to give this person a name!

We're teaching this cute cute girl named A-Ping, who is 10. Winnie is amazing at fellowshipping her! A-Ping is like Winnie, very young, smart, and really nice! After we taught them this week, we all played together in the gym on the second floor of the church. Winnie found all of these feathers (like enough to jump in!), and we had a feather storm fight! Hehehe we were good and we cleaned it all up after.

I went to a BYU-Hawaii information meeting last night in Wan Chai . . . it's so weird to think that I'll be going back in January! Aaahhhhhh!!! So many missionaries want to go there, probably cause there are so many HK people there and surfing and hula dancing etc. Did you know that most of the students at BYU-Hawaii are from Japan, then Korea, then HK?! I won this CD for guessing that Korea was the second! (For Dad, I still have that transfer scholarship that I had before because I officially deferred it. I don't need to reapply for it. I asked the guy who does all the admissions stuff, and he said that I just need to remind them when I get back over there! Horray!)

I went hiking, if you can call 15 minutes walking through shrubbery hiking, to this waterfall today! I love instant results hahaha! At the beginning of the hike, you can already see your waterfall destination in clear view! The place is called . . . oh no I already forgot the name. Oh well! It was great! We got to stand behind the waterfall, too, and didn't really get wet! My feet are still wet, though, and that was 5 hours ago.

It's so so strange that my mission is almost over! I am not counting down, but everyone else is doing it for me! This sister already asked me if she could have all the missionary clothes I don't want. Good grief!

Well I gotta go again!

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Chu :)

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