From the Land of Scripture Mania!

something surreal:

This last sunday(April18th), the mother of the family we have been teaching was baptized! This is Sister Lam, the lady who we helped quit smoking and drinking coffee. I can't even believe it happened, as we have been through so much with her. It all led up to her baptism, which of course was so simple and so....quick. but just as it should be...:) It's been such a privilege to teach that family and see them grow and change and learn to trust in the Lord and more on each other. And as though I haven't already been blessed enough, the Lord provided even more miracles. Her oldest daughter who doesn't live with the family came to her baptism and decided she wants to start learning about the church as well! this is a miracle, as she has had a rough start to life and made not the best choices, but she wants to do better. On top of all this, Sister Lam's older sister, who lives in Indonesia, happened to run into the missionaries there and wants to be baptized! this is a miracle, as there are barely any missionaries there and millions of people. she also met them and started taking the lessons completely independent of sister Lam. She didn't know anything about it. the problem over there is that, well let's just say that it is more difficult in Indonesia. So, she is actually coming in August to HK and will be taught by the mandarin missionaries (she knows mandarin) and baptized here in HK!!! how amazing is that? If you ask me, it has something to do with Heavenly Father leading some inspired missionaries to a certain place and person in the crowds of Indonesia. I love missionary work and how the Lord knows what he is doing. It all just fits together. So many blessings coming to this family and more to come! we are starting family history with them and plan on going to the temple with them to do baptisms for their family members before i go home. surreal.

Something Soothing:

President Chan has now officially approved the listening of classical music in the mission! Wahoo! I can't even begin to tell you how much of a difference this has made..:) Thanks to natalie putting Chopin's complete collection on my ipod, Sister Hancock and I sooth our souls at the end of the day with his nocturnes and other classical favorites that weren't allowed before, like my yo-yo ma collection. oh the joy in simple things.

Something Book of Mormon focused!

So, about 1.5 months ago, just when i started training sister Hancock, i felt like i needed to recenter myself and refocus my efforts as a missionary. I did what i called a "personal window of heaven" - basically i set aside a specific time to pray and think and just talk with my Heavenly Father about what he needs and wants me to do. i prayed for it beforehand for about a week. during my "window of heaven" i felt very strongly that i should focus more on the Book of Mormon more than i had been doing. I can truly tell you now that this was inspiration. This moves, our mission president has decided to focus on the Book of Mormon like crazy. However, before we knew this, sister hancock and i decided to read the book of mormon in 1 week. i was inspired by a missionary, elder kwok, that had done it before and i wanted to try and see if it was possible on a missionary schedule. it has been one of the best things i have ever done on the mission. right after we finished our goal, i received a phone call from the AP's asking sister hancock and i to do a sharing on the book of mormon in zone conference....coincidence?...i don't think so. This book of mormon frenzy has now motivated us to completely revamp our ward mission plan and focus on our members using the book of mormon to share the gospel and strengthen their own testimonies. all i can say is that is has been an incredibly wonderful way to end my last months as a missionary and has brought even more success and joy to our work here in Kwun Tong than i could have possibly planned myself. that is the beauty of personal revelation, inspired mission presidents and willing and hard working companions. It works. period.

Something not as hard as i thought it would be:

Of course, since i am dying soon, we are going big this moves. every week has a different goal and plan to keep us moving and to keep me focused...:) i love it. i need it. so this last satuday we started another crazy goal. ENGLISH FAST for a week! since sister hancock is a very new missionary, i was a little worried, because sometimes it can be tiring and frustrating because you want to say things that you just can't in chinese and miscommunication increases. i don't know why i was worried. we are almost done now and it has gone incredibly wonderful. i remember doing a fast in my 3rd moves and it was what we call in hong kong "san fu!"----frustrating, hard and difficult all put together. sister hancock's chinese has improved so much and i feel so blessed to have a companion that can do these sort of things with me even though she is so new. what a blessing! and just goes to show that sometimes we mentally make things out to be harder than they really are.

that's all for now! cheers from china for only another month!!!...:(