From the Land of family miracles!!!

something rewarding:

This last moves has been one of many miracles. it has flown by so quickly, and sister hougaard and I have been working out tails off getting new investigators, visiting less actives and pulling off many activities and service projects. It has been so much fun, but also very exhausting. In the middle of it all, many of our older investigators who had baptismal dates fell off the face of the planet and we never heard from them again for some reason or another. somewhat discouraging. however, because of that we had time to find new people to teach and many of them are very prepared to hear the gospel. Several of our good investigators right now were people that i just met on the MTR (train) and started talking to. I am so thankful that God gave me the courage to open my mouth and talk to them. ONe of them is named Miller and she is 24 just like me and a piano teacher! She loves to cook and eat new foods and i feel like somehow she is my long lost chinese best friend....:) She also loves to read the scriptures with us and asks all sorts of questions and really wants to understanding. these kind of simple experiences and relationships with people are so rewarding to me and i know the Lord put these people in my path for a reason. I am so thankful.

something FAMILY:

THe Tseung Kwan O ward is amazing. a few sundays ago several of the youth and a few families went out on a "ward find" with us after church. we went to one of the estate areas and had a few street display signs and we paired up with members and went finding! it was amazing and because of it we ran into a friend of our ward missionary. we talked for a while and scheduled a time to come and visit them with their friend (our ward missionary). When we went to visit, the entire family sat down and listened to our message without us even asking them to. they have 2 children and the Dad is even so nice and willing to think about what we share and read the scriptures and learn how to pray. it is all very new to them and sometimes hard for grown ups to try things like praying when they've never done it before. anyways, we have met with them twice now and every time it is the same thing. they all come in and sit down and listen. the dad even woke up from his nap to listen. you may not realize how big of a miracle this is in Hong Kong. let me give you some perspective. First of all, in my almost 10 months in Hong Kong, i have never taught a family. it is near to impossible to get everyone home and sitting down at the same time, much less, listening intently about what we are saying. most parents (mostly the husbands) are baai sahn, which means they worship a bunch of gods and they never have interest in what we are teaching their children or have any interest in Christianity. Either that or they are working all day, 7 days a week and never home. Also, chinese people are very self conscious about their homes and don't generall have visitors and rarely invite people over or into their homes because they are so small and very crowded. We have attempted to teach some families, but usually there is some sort of distraction like the tv going or one of the sons on the computer and doesn't want to listen, etc....so the fact that this family of 4 will all sit down and listen to us and make time for us (as time here is very precious and most people don't have it) is the biggest miracle i have seen here in Hong Kong. Moment like this are so rewarding! I love being a missionary. and I love all of you! cheerio!