from the land of terrible cheese, but amazing noodles

something cool: chyuns and math! (chyuns = apartment buildings)
1 chyun has 30 floors. each floor has 20 apartments. each apartment has about 3 people. that's 1800 people per chyun. in one area there are about 4 chyuns in 5 acres of space. that's 7200 people in 5 acres of land. welcome to hong kong.

something funny:
so there are a lot of crazy people here in hong kong. and they all speak english for some weird reason. and usually know something about the church because they are they only ones crazy enough to talk to us...:) one man in particular amuses me. he stands outside of the tai wai mtr station and directs all the buses coming in. he has self appointed himself to this position. he isn't needed to do this. BUT, day after day he comes and yells, and moves people around and calls to the drivers and makes all sorts of scenes and movements with his hands and arms and "directs" the bus traffic. i love it.

something food:
cheese here is definitely not a main food source. it is expensive and hard to find. i had chinese cheese the other day at an investigators house and it was the most awful stuff i have ever tasted. terrible and potent in every form of the word. i will stick to cheddar while i'm here i think.

something worth quoting:
"the only way to go swimming as a missionary is to swim in your own sweat." -me

it has been hot here lately and i'm feeling the affects of the humidity and all. i will get use to it i guess.

something spiritual:
so one of our investigators is a very smart girl and has studied lots of philosophy. she is amazing and i love talking with her. she told us a funny story yesterday about a quote she found in the bathroom of her school. it had the famous quote from Nietszche that says "God is dead." and underneath it someone had written - "Nietszche is dead." - God. very true. hahaha. God is not dead. he is very much alive in this world and helping this work along every day. i've so grateful to have this knowledge and am working my hardest to help others know that God is not dead. he lives. this i know.

something miracle:
a man we ran into on monday who is very smart and intellectual told us that if he was suppose to learn about our church he would see us again and then it would be fated. we didn't see him on tuesday, and wednesday it was raining very hard. my companion sister vance felt we should go out finding anyways and felt prompted to go to the bridge area where we cross the river. so there we were in the rain and talking to people on the bridge and along comes yaji - the man from monday. we are meeting with him this coming monday! being a missionary is so much fun, because we know that fate is real - God is the one in charge of it and he is the one helping us! now that's fate!

From the Land of yam chah and chyuns

something funny:
chinese fashion. yea, it's pretty interesting. i've seen pretty much everything here. the other day, i put my argyle socks on with some shiny, sparkly shoes with my sweat pants and took a picture making fun. the next day, i say a girl wearing that exact thing. yep. they wear pretty much anything with anything here. i love it.

something food:
yam chah!!!!! the best thing ever. some members in our ward took us out to do yam chah, which means "drink tea" literally, but we don't of course. it's basically where they put out a bunch of food on a turn table and you dip it in all kinds of sauces and eat till you are so full you can't move. it's amazing! i had my first chicken legs too! not bad, but it has been described as trying to pull meat off of a baby's hand. yes, gross. but overall, good experience!

something miracle:
last p-day after email my trainer and i discovered we were locked out of our apartment. we were suppose to go to the temple and had been looking forward to it all week and were fasting for some of our investigators. my comp's recommend was in the apartment, so we part our heads together and discovered that we could open our apartment with an umbrella. yes. it was a miracle. we go in and made it to the temple. nice try satan!

something exciting!!!
today, we had a zone activity and played football against the New Territories Zone. it was pretty much the most fun i've had since i came here. my team won first place after some intense tournaments. it was insane and i have never been so sweaty in my life. i love football and got a lot of exertion out that needed to get out. i will try to attach pictures! we lost our first game, and it was double elimination, but we came through and won the next 7 games. it was crazy.

something language:
i had my first pass off success last week on saturday and passed off lesson one! wahoo! only 5 more lessons to go! they always make me really nervous, but i learn a lot and they are good. i have set lots of goals to pass them all off before the end of my second moves. we'll see how it goes. it pushes my language a lot!

something spiritual:
Uncle Bob sent me this quote and it is perfect for here in hong kong where everything revolves around time. everyone here is so busy and has no time for the gospel! here it is:
"Time isn't your natural dimension. There are days when you wish that time would pass quickly, and it won't. And there are days when you wish you could hold back the dawn, and you can't and it's because you and I are not at home in this dimension we call time. It's because we belong to eternity. A fish is at home in the water but you and i aren't at home in time. if we really were at home in time, we wouldn't wear wrist watches and have clocks on the wall. And that ought to tell us something. So in those moments when life presses in upon you, remember that you are struck out of eternity. And this is not your natural home. And time is not your natural dimension. Now we have to function in it. But the fact that we're not at home in it ought to tell us where we really do come from." -Neal A. Maxwell

I love you all so much! Cheerio!

A Little Bit of Everything!

So, i've decided these emails need some sort of structure every week, so i don't waste time blabbing about stuff. And you are all so good at writing me that i have no time to write back! ahhh! the blessings of a large family are just overwhelming sometimes!...:) so, i've decided to do a list of "somethings" for every week to cover all the stuff going on here. here goes:

Something cool:
Hong Kong has something called sky bridges that are all over the place. instead of having scary intersections to cross and get killed by flyinh by taxis and double-decker muses, they have these sky bridges for mass amounts of people to walk on that go up and over the roads and intersections. they are covered and even have escalators and stuff because they go so high. they have ramps back down to the sidewalks. pretty cool, and keeps walking traffic flowing without having to wait for cars and stuff. chinese people are so smart!

Something funny:
Lots of people know who we are before we get to them or see us talking to other people and want to avoid us. This is funny because something they go to great lengths not to talk to us. like walk in the bike lane and almost get run over or try to cross the road to early and almost get hit by cars. some people even run in the opposite direction as us and accidently run into trees or trip and stuff. i think it's hilarious! just think when they get to heaven and someone asks, "so how did you die?" and they have to say, "i was running away from the missionaries and got hit by a bus."...:) ok, maybe, that's not funny. sorry mom....:)

Something worth quoting:
"for every brainfart, there is a blessing." -my comp sister vance

Something exciting:
Our TALL BOOK IS HERE!!! Matthew will know what I'm talking about. It is the missionary vocab and phrases book that every language gets when they go to the MTC. It helps us learn the phrases and vocab, especially religious vocab to teach lessons, etc. they haven't had one for Cantonese and it made it so hard to learn stuff, because cantonese is not a written language in romanized form. the ping yam is all invented to help english people learn it. it arrived yesterday and they gave it to us in mission conference! we all celebrated and it will make learning the language for me go so much faster! wahoo! such a blessing! this is actually a really big deal and just shows how much the work here is progressing and getting better every day!

Something food:
So, here in the wonderful land of hong kong they have everything you could imagine. yes, even marshmallows filled with chocolate. my friend Cary Plocher always wanted to invent them because she really likes s’mores and there they were in our fridge at the church...marshmallows with chocolate already in them! they are called "snowiz" i think. i roasted them over the burner yesterday and made a s’mores, it was amazing!

Something spiritual:
We are all familiar with the song and story of the intsy-wintsy spider. we sing it with children and do all the actions and have a great time. BUT, do we stop to think of the meaning of the song? we disregard the fact that after the rain washes the spider down, the sun comes up and dries up all the rain and the intsy-wintsy-spider goes up the spout AGAIN! Like that little spider, i am a bug in this big city and many times i get washed out and rejected, But I will not give up and i will not let the rain get me down! out comes the sun, and back up the spout i go!!!

Something language:
The other day when we were contacting some people i told them that "kidneys love you so much!" if you say "God" wrong, it means kidneys. yea for me!

Something miracle:
My companion Sister Vance and I have been praying for miracles and more people to teach! We found a family! they are special and the mother and daughter especially are prepared for the gospel. the dad is too, he just doesn't know it yet. at the MTC we were told that people with problems are exactly what we are looking for. he is unemployed right now and very concerned about keeping face and providing for his family. we are focusing on prayer and ways they can pull together as a family and rely on God to bless them and strengthen them in this hard time. There are so many people out there that are struggling just like they are and need this gospel! it will help them so much not to worry about the worldly pressures, but to know that their heavenly father is watching out for them and wants them to have peace in their lives. there are miracles around every corner here in Hong Kong!

Remember, you are all something special to me!

From the Land of Tai Chi and Dragon Fruit

As i do my studies every morning, i have the most pleasant view of concrete buildings, drying laundry, and chinese people doing tai chi down below on the roof of the mall below my apartment building. it is the most fascinating thing to watch. This one lady in particular is there every morning doing here daily ritual. She does other exercises that i'm not quite sure what they are, but she moves around a lot and rubs her body and shakes her hands and does a little dance every now and then that makes me laugh. i'm tempted to video it one day. Walking around tracting and finding, there are tons of people in the parks and in large open spaces doing tai chi and playing their music. i've decided that i really like chinese people. Mostly because they make me laugh and they are so small and cute. this one time in an elevator, we ran into a popo (grandma) that was less than half my size and bent over so far her chin almost reached her knees. i could have picked her up with one arm and carried her home with me...:) but they keep on keepin on and i don't know how they do it. there are old people all over the place doing little exercise things outside all the time, so i guess whatever that little dance thing they are doing helps them live forever or something. It's like "sit and be fit" Chinese style. Americans should take note.

I have also concluded that I love Chinese food. People say that there is a lot of strange and weird food here, but i am yet to eat anything i don't like! it is all amazing! They have the coolest fruit i have every seen. My favorite so far being the dragon fruit. It is white with black seeds and almost has the texture of kiwi, but the outer shell is blazing red/pink with cool leaf things coming off of it. it is sooo good! i have also been introduced to gaak jai bengs, which are waffles with peanut butter, sweet and condensed milk and butter. i can't tell you the joy that filled my mouth when i ate it. the scent of them wafts through the mall where we walk to get to the MTR (subway) everyday and reminds me of the memory. they are so amazing though that i decided they can only be eaten every 3 months or so. i have to control myself, or else i will die of a heart attack at age 30. The bread here is also to die for. they fill it with all sorts of good stuff and most the time i can't read what's in it, so i just pick one and get surprised. it reminds me of eaurope and london a lot with all the bread shops and cakes and pastries. The pastries and cakes here are different though. they are very spongey light. i love it! less sugar, but still good. i've discovered many different ways to make oatmeal here that my dad would be proud of. that's pretty much all we ate for breakfast when i was younger, and now i have found ways to expand the amazingness of oatmeal. they put in condensed milk, eggs, cinnamon, peanut butter and all sorts of interestingness. it's almost gourmet sometimes. being limited with food supplies also drives me to invent strange things for meals. it's times like that when i open the fridge and say, what to we have? let's put it all together and eat it! through this process i have invented some of the best omelets i've ever had in my life, thanks to raisins, cheese, eggs and a mystery meat that i'm not sure what it really is still....:) yes, it is good. trust me... The BBQ's here in Hong Kong are also incredible. They cook live clams over the pit and you get to watch them sizzle and squirm to death and then you eat it. yum. you also roast fish balls and other weird meat over the fire and spread this honey bbq sauce over it that makes everything taste good no matter what it is you're eating. if you can't tell, i lvoe the food here. i love hong kong and i love being a missionary. see you next week!

Sister Bird