5-3-15
Black Angel

Well, this week was quite the adventure.

So, as you know, Elder Barker went home, and I moved, which meant a lot of packing and a lot of worrying and all the things that are involved with that. Such is life. It was a really interesting experience to be with someone who had reached the end of the thier two years. Elder Barker wasn't very trunkie, (becoming unfocused at the end of the mission and talking about other things,) but I can imagine how hard it was to truly keep his mind centered on the work. I could tell he was thinking about going home a lot, and it was weird to see how that affected me as well.

"I feel like I'm going home too."

It was a really weird experience, and taught me a lot about the things that I can do to keep myself from becoming trunkie and losing focus.

It was also pretty funny to be packing at the same time as him. Elder Barker kept weighing his suitcases and setting things aside that he wasn't going to take home. He folded all his shirts nicely and made sure that all of the valuables were wrapped up and put somewhere safe. I packed in about thirty minutes and my suitcases looked more like burritos. I actually did have to sit on one to get it to zip up ;D

On Thursday, moves day, we actuallly had to wake up at five in the morning so that we could get over to the church in time to help the Assistants drive around and pick up luggage. I didn't get to drive, unfortunately. The best part was, though, that Elder Ching and his companion, Elder Lai, didn't get to the church until eleven. So, I had about three hours of sitting around and not doing much. I couldn't study because the mission office was entirely full of departing missionaries, and you can imagine what that was like. There were eighteen of them! And only ten new missionaries came in.

Once Elder Ching finally arrived I was surprised to see that he wasn't the stereotypical short asian person. He's actually quite tall, but definitely from China. I'll have to send pictures later.

And the area is very different. I am now in Yeun Long II Ward. Yeun Long I elders are Elder Shipp, who was in the MTC with me, and Elder Bus, who's super funny and the classic "nerd." In a good way. Compared to Cheung Sha Wan, Yeun Long is a Monticello. We're all the way out in the boonies, and there are even places where you're not sure if you're in civilized country anymore. There are these huge groups of Chyun Uks, or smaller homes that usually have six or eight apartments in them, usually quite a ways away from the main part of the ctiy. Almost like their own community. We went out there to teach a Less-active named Peter, (who's kind of a weirdo,) and got to sit at the bus stop for awhile and watch as the entire population of the Chyun Uks got together and had some sort of celebration.

They always listen to some sort of traditional chinese music, which sounds like Mahnori beating on pots and pans and me trying to sing like Adele with Sig as my backup singer. Quite the experience.

My second day here we were walking back to our apartment after a finding session when this random guy fell in right behinds and just startign following. I thought I saw something so I turned my head, but just figured it was a classic Chinese person who was walking to fast and they'd just move around us. But a moment later the guy grabbed our shoulders.

"I have some questions I want to ask you." He said. We were super confused so we just nodded and then sat down to talk to him. He was a most interesting person, with long hair and a goofy way of speaking super slangy Chinglish. Apparently he's talked with missionaries before, and all he wanted to to do was get us to say what we belived so he could tell us we were wrong, and then "reveal" the scriptures to us. We told him we had to go home so he asked if he could say a pray, which we agreed to. In the prayer he asked God that "our eyes would be opened" and that we "would see the wrongs of our ways and be converted unto the true light of Jesus."

As we left and said our last fe parting words, trying not to laugh out loud, he informed us that God had sent him to us to save us, and that he was our Black Angel.

Weirdo :D

Things are going well, and the area comes pre-prepared with lots of people to teach, mostly Less-actives, so we don't have to go finding all day every day. I'm excited to serve in this new area, and really excited that I get to give a talk next Sunday in Sacrament Meeting :D

You guys are all so awesome. I'm still goind fine, even though I can't spell in English anymore. I have a lot of pictures to send next week and I'll take a lot of all the interesting places in Yeun Long.

4-26-15


What Ya' Gonna Do When they Come for You

Well, this last week has been a most interesting week.

To start off, last Monday we went to this place called the "Hyatt Hotel," which has to be at least five star. In Elder Barker's first area, Ma On San, he had a recent convert named Yoshi, who is this super classy Chinese guy who teaches Cantonese in a big university. He has a history of helping missionaries, and he spends all of his money on clothes, missionaries, and buying missionaries clothes. 

So, at this hotel there is a very fancy restaurant which was far too high up for me (struggling to write English at the moment as Chinglish is so much easier.) We sat in these nice lounge chairs and drank tea, (don't worry, it's flower tea and doesn't have any real tea in it,) and had all you can eat ice-cream. Really interesting, but super good, except for the fact that you feel extremely awkward when anyone treats you to a meal, especially at a five star restaurant which is far out of your league. 

In any case, we spent about two hours eating ice-cream and ice-ceam cake and some other little deserts. Honestly, my favorite part was the Strawberry Tea, which had a sort of bitter-sweet taste to it. Everybody else said it was weird, but I liked it. 

I could tell that Elder Barker was grateful to have another opportunity to talk with Yoshi before he leaves. Which brings us to the interesting week thing. Elder Barker leaves this Thursday, which means transfers, which means I'm getting a knew companion. But, a few weeks ago the Assistants moved into the Cheung Sha Wan ward, and just last week they informed us that our companionship will be closing, as the mission is shrinking a little. Which means that I'm moving to a different area. It's a little sad, as I have most recently begun to figure out this missionary thing and how to work with members and such. A fresh start will be good, though, in a lot of ways.

But, this last week all we did was turn over all our investigators and less-actives to the Assistants, and go finding for the Assistants, and do calls for the Assistants. It was strange, but I was able to understand better the definition of "selfless service." Something I'm sure I will grateful for in the near future. It's definitely a different feeling to go out and give your all with the complete knowledge that you, personally, will not be "reaping the rewards." You can't always have your cake, and eat it too. So, we baked the cake and gave it to the Assistants as well.

Things are going well here, and the weather has been fairly mild as of late, which probably just means that it's saving up so that we can have even more fun in July. Looking forward to that with much enthusiasm!

I love you all! Things are going well here and time still flies. I have been meaning to send letters, but I was informed that I should not write letters on any day except p-day, so it's difficult to find the time. Hopefully this next Monday or the following one we can work out the time.

I took a picture of my shoes the other day, which are just classic Joseph George shoes. The brown ones have now become multi-purpose and work not only as shoes but also a mop for the Hong Kong streets as the bottoms are now transparent. And my black shoes are splitting at the seems, so...good thing I have some money to buy new ones. Hopefully in the next week or so, when and if we have time.

I'm doing great and enjoying the non-enjoyable moments, especially when it's pouring rain and still magically is hot enough to make you sweat. But, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Which is to say, by the time I come back I'll look like Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

4-19-15

Flying Airplanes

Hello world!

 

Things here are quite normal. The temperature has spiked once again and the humidity is through the roof, which makes the "stick" a missionary's worst nightmare. When you go home at night you don't want to move, so you just sit on the couch in front of the fan with your arms extended out and keep as still as possible. You take a shower and put your garments on before drying off all the way so that the humidity doesn't get to your skin. And when sitting or attempting to lift your arms to do something, your pants and shirt defies physics and magically does not shift, but rather grips your arms and legs like some slap-happy octopus, which makes for quite the enjoyable day. But, I suppose every mission has its own special gifts.

 

This last week was quite the week, especially because I can't really remember exactly what happened so I can write whatever I'd like to ;D

 

So...last Monday/P-Day we went biking in Sha Tin, which was quite fun, except everybody kept telling me it wasn't a race. I knew that, but couldn't help it if everyone else was just too slow. By the end I figured I'd do best to just follow behind and go their pace, which actually turned out to be good because I was able to witness the Crash!

 

Nobody knows exactly what happened, but this is what I saw; I was riding ahead of four other Elders, namely, Elder Barker, Elder Powell and Boyd, (who live in our apartment,) and Elder Lee, (one of the Assistants.) I turned around to see how far away they were, which just happened to be the perfect moment to see Elder Lee swan dive into Elder Barker like they were acting out the Star Wars scene (number 1) where little Anakin is flying in the Pod Race and everybody else keeps crashing into him, and his and that other racer's pods get stuck together. Or something of that sort....

 

Then Elder Barker runs into oncoming traffic and a random guy crashes into the fence, but bounces of like nothing happens and keeps riding. Elder Barker, on the other hand, does the Wobble Wibble and eats pavement like a proffessional, but manages to get a roll into it so he scuffs up his arm, and not just his hands and knees. Elder Lee hops off his bike like a deer, meanwhile, following far too closely behind, Elder Boyd slams on his brakes to avoid the carnage, but fails to realize that in China they do everything backwards and the left brake isn't the rear brake. He does a great rear wheelie and catapults into the group, earning a perfect 10.

 

Of course, as cool as a cat, as always, Elder Powell just sets his bike down and comes running up to see if there's anything that can be done. to be honest, I thought my companion was dead or at least had received a compound fracture, but nothing cool like that happened so we didn't get to go to the hospital. We just wiped the dust off and laughed about it, but Elder Barker whined about his hands for a few days (don't tell him I said that.)

 

So, all in all it was quite the experience. We had a lot of fun, and I was grateful to actually be able to do some exercise. Never thought that would be such a big sacrifice.

 

This last week wasn't a big week for numbers. In fact, we had some of the smallest we've ever had, which is hard. You always feel that it is your fault and a direct representation of how good of a missionary you are, which is most definitely not true. You can never judge accurately by the numbers. But, they can give you an idea in which areas you can improve in, and thus, we have plenty of room to improve in this area. Actually, one interesting thing is that the Assistants' companionship was recently moved into the Cheung Sha Wan ward, which is inevitably because the mission is shrinking a little bit and Elder Barker and I's companinoship will be closed down (not the area) in the coming months as there will be less missionaries. So, not much change, really, but just not as many missionaries.

 

We've been struggling a bit in the recent weeks to find people to teach, that is, people for us to teach. We had another turn-over lesson in which we gave another twenty or so year-old young man to the Kwai Chung elders. The last one wee gave them, A-Sing, is doing awesome and is really progressing towards baptism, so we are super excited. Now all we have to do is find some for us XD But the work is moving forward, and things will work out.

 

The people we have found continue to Fong us, though. Fong FeiGei is a term that means "release the airpalanes," which means that they got on an airplane and left, which, being interpreted, means they never show up to the appointment and never call us. That happens a lot here, and especially recently. We're designing some new tactics to keep it from happenin, though. Hopefully it will work.

 

 

Dear Familia - I don't have much time due to computer problems. I got the package, and was super excited to have some candy, and also to read all the news from the other Elders and the few letters. It's always great to hear from home, of course. I'm doing fine, and it sounds like not much has changed back there in the good old George Clan. Still the same breakdowns and everything that has never happened before happens around us, right? The Curse is real!

 

I'm super grateful for all the support that you guys give me and am glad that I have this opportunity to become a better person and to serve the Lord. I hope you all are super surprised at how much I've changed in the next eighteen months. But until then, Gayauh!

4-12-15

Pohpos

Hong Kong is quite the place. It's not really that exotic, and not that much different than America. If you want exotic missions you go to Africa or the Mid-East or places like that. But it definitely is special. 

At times I'm amazed at how small it actually is. Only four hundred and forty-four square miles. My entire Area, comprised of six different MTR stations, can be walked across in a few hours. Usually when we go out finding for a long period of time we walk through two or three of these areas. People here are always complaining about their ten or fifteen minute commutes to work, and how they don't have anytime because of it. But then, they would say they have no time whether or not they have a commute, or a job, or even a life. "Mhdakhaahn!" is just the term they use for, "I'm just being lazy right now and don't want to talk." I think they feel it's more polite, or something like that XD

In any case, Hong Kong does have one thing that no other place has, and that's Pohpos. The word "pohpo" means "grandma," and that's just what you call all old ladies here. The old people population is huge, and they're always wandering aimlessly around the streets, stopping at the most random moments and chatting with each other. I've never been around people who are completely okay to stand right in your way and just stare at you as you try to get past. Actually, I'm surprised at how good the people of Hong Kong are to the elderly. 

Back to the Pohpos, though. Nearly all of them are Buddhist or Baaisahn, which is Ancestor Worship. They are always burning incense sticks or random trash, usually cardboard. It is not an uncommon site to see an ancient lady with her bent back and her cane dragging a giant box filled with junk, picking up any little piece that's been left on the street. They almost don't have to pay anyone to clean up here. 

Perhaps the funniest part about Pohpos is the fact that they are always amazed when a white person knows how to speak Chinese. They make a big fuss and tell you how smart you are, and then ramble on about their bathroom problems or how many years they've lived in the area. One time all I said was, "hello grandma," and the ladie's eyes grew big. "Wah! Leih gam lek! Leih sik gong pohpo! Gam lek aa woh!" Which means, "Wow! You're so smart! You know how to say grandma!" I love talking to old people.

As of late we've had some struggles in the area. Bro. Yau, we believe was antied by his friends and now he is in Mainland China, so we are not sure when we will get to see him again, which obviously means that we need to change his baptismal date. And while we have been finding new people to teach, they magically always happen to live in another area, so we just give them to other elders. Elder Barker and I have started joking about it, but it is very true. We just find investigators for everyone else. 

Conference was great, as usually. Of course, being out in the mission field, I got more out of it than I ever have before.My favorite talks were President Uchtdorf's about the Potempkins Village, and Elder Hollands powerful testimony about the Savior and his Atonement. At times you will get discouraged in the field, but when you listen to such amazing speakers testify of things that you know cannot be false, you find your spirit revitalized and new vigor in the work. If only everyday could be General Conference.

Things here are going well. This last week was actually very nice weather-wise. There was even a few days when it was downright cold, which is super strange. But, of course, the hot and the humid is coming back so, I won't keep my hopes up. It's survivable, though ;D

I actually am starving at the moment because I didn't eat breakfast this morning.

I love you all and can't wait to hear more!

4-05-15

Happy Easter!

復

So, things are going good here. This last week had its ups and its downs, but nothing to unusual. We woke up each day, did our studies, then went out and did what us missionaries do. The only difference, though, is the heat. The past three and a half months haven't been too bad, but now it is beginning to kick in, and you can really feel it. And, of course, it is very, very humid. I've begun to call it The Stick. It seems that no matter what you do, the instant you begin to move around your entire body becomes sticky. It's quite fun.

Much of the time it has been cloudy/smoggy, and the sun gets stuck behind it all, so the worst is fended off. But sometimes the clouds clear and the blue sky comes through and the sun bakes you like an episode with the Kranks at their sun-tanning salon. 

It's not too bad when you're talking to people and simply standing or sitting, but once you start walking you feel like a fish in a Straight Jacket. Your shirt sticks to your body instead of moving freely like it should and your collar tries to strangle you and you have to wipe the sweat from your face, but every time you touch it, it just gets worse. 

So yah, all in all it's quite the adventure. One good thing, though; we can now use the AC at night! Last night was the best night of my life. Before, because I sleep on the top bunk, it's been really hot and the floor fans never blow on me, or the other top-bunk-elder in our apartment. But, now that we can turn the AC on, it blows right on us and it got cool enough that I could actually sleep with a blanket! 

As for Easter, not much happens here in Hong Kong. It's not one of those Holidays that they celebrate very much. Essentially, Easter for them is really a five day holiday, like Labor Day, which begins the Friday before and goes until Tuesday. Most people get off work and so the streets are packed full of all of the Filipinas and the Indonesians who don't have to take care of the kids or the old peoples. Finding people to teach is difficult. But, such is life.

We had a great miracle happen just this last week. It all started with a phone call from the Zone Leaders. They asked Elder Barker if he was prepared for a trail of his faith. He thought that meant that he was being transferred or something of that sort, but no, he's still my companion. In any case, he answered and they proceeded to explain that they, under the direction of President Hawks, were extending the challenge to have someone baptized on the eighteenth of April, which just happens to be this month. They had been thinking about our current investigators and who was most likely, and the one that came up is Bro. Yau.

Bro. Yau is a very humble seventy-year old man who is retired. He has no religious background, and learns very, very slowly. Up until this point we had made good progress with him and he was accepting the things that we were teaching him, but we both knew that baptism was a long ways away. But, with this challenge extended, we gave it some serious thought, and decided that it was what we needed to do. 

We actually had previously scheduled to meet with Bro. Yau that very day, only a few hours after the call, which made it all the more amazing. But as we went to teach him, I, myself, was struggling to banish the doubts from my mind and allow my faith to work. I couldn't see how we could possibly extend such an invitation, and how, if it was accepted, he could possibly meet the goal. To me, there was just no way. But, we put our faith in God, and ended up teaching the best lesson we've ever taught together. Not only just in the way that we had the spirit and we were teaching according to his needs and using analogies and examples, but also in the fact that things around us seemed to be aiding in current needs. 

We invited him to be baptized, and he accepted, saying that it makes sense and he wants to follow God. Then we invited him to prepare himself to receive baptism on the eighteenth. Of course, he was shocked and stated that it was far too fast and just not possible. But at that moment the smog parted and the sun shone through right on us and we bore simple and powerful testimony that this was what God wanted him to do and that if he would accept this date we would do all we could to help him, and that God would prepare a way. 

Now, he's scheduled for the eighteenth.

I suppose it was a bit of a shock to us to have our faith tested so much and to receive a miracle so fast, but, it happened, and we are very excited.

My Family - I don't have much time left. Can't send pictures because we were originally going to the Apple Store again because all the libraries were closed today, so I didn't take my SD Card Adapter, (you can plug the card right into the fancy computers at the Apple Store.) But then, turns out that the library really is open and so now I don't have any way to send pictures. 

In any case, I'm doing fine and hope things are going good with you all. I'm loving the mission, despite The Stick and the language and all the other little things that make it difficult. But then, better this way than the easy way that gets you no where. Easter was really weird being that there was no celebration at all. Well, I did get to eat a cupcake, but that was about it. 

I have written a few letters already, but there is just so little time to sit down and do things like that. I'm going to try to get them sent out sometime this week, or perhaps next P-Day. But, as soon as possible. 

Just know that I'm safe and healthy and although I might die of hypoburnia, it will be alright in the end :D

Love you all and have a good week!

I just realized that I forgot to finish writing out Happy Easter in Chinese characters. That first one is "Fuhk," which is the first character in the word "Resurrection," Happy Easter being "Happy Resurrection Day!" 

復活節

3-30-15

BBQ!
Well, as the title may suggest, Barbecue was the hot topic of the last three days. Quite literally. 

So, here every single person knows the word BBQ, and almost every single person loves them, though they do it a little differently here than back in the states. No grill, no barbecue sauce, but we did have steak, sort of.

So, our ward, Cheung Sha Wan, got together with the other ward, Sham Shui Po, that goes to the same church building as ours. We took a bus over to the base of Lions Rock, which is a fairly long hike, (doing it today,) that goes up to a look out point which, supposedly, overlooks the Hong Kong island. Apparently you can take some good pictures, and today the weather is beautiful, so, we'll see. 

In any case, when we got there, there were already a bajillion others there. A huge outdoor area full of these barbecue pits is provided, free-of-charge, by the city. Luckily our ward mission leader had gone up previously and secured a place. 

Once arrived, the "cueing????" got start. Here everyone says "is" with a High tone, which means to roast over a fire. As stated before, they sort of had steaks, which is to say, they had strips of beef. They also had hotdogs, but more like chicken dogs, so it wasn't very surprising that nobody really ate them. And, of course, marshmallows. But, that's where the similarities end. 

I've never eaten so many fish-balls, previously living shrimp, (at first we thought it was just twitching because of the heat, but they were still swimming around in the bag,) and something that resembles a sausage but doesn't really taste like sausage. And everything is covered in a sour honey sauce. So, all in all, quite the cook-out and quite the party. We had a lot of people there, including investigators, so it was a great activity, and already they have another one planned for the beginning of April. (Elder Barker's very last day XD)

Speaking of that, on Sunday, when it was announced in Gospel Principles that there will be another BBQ on April first, the entire class started poking fun at Elder Barker that he wouldn't be there. Of course, it was a little awkward, but fairly funny. 

Not much other than the usual has happened, but, looking forward to the next week.  And the next eighteen months to boot.

It was good to hear from you all again. Time is going so fast and I can't wait to see how you've all changed.

Da Some

                                                                      A-Cheung and Elder Barker

A-Cheung"s museum - super cool

Me and some other Peoples

Think....think.....think

"When I was about four, my sister had this little laptop. You know, one of those cheap toys that have the little kid's games on them?" Said Elder Barker as he responded to the question.

We were in Elder's Quorum and had been talking about the difference between the titles Savior and Redeemer. Of course, the subject of sins and transgressions came up, and we needed to distinguish the difference. 

"I remember looking at it and having an idea pop into my head." He continued as everyone listened intently. "Being that young you just have strange things come into your head that make perfect sense at the time.

"The computer had a little mouse to go with it, and so I took some scissors and thought it was a great idea to cut the cord."

At least, that's what was meant to be said. The room erupted with laughter, but not because they found the story funny. You see, in Cantonese there are so many different transliterations, or, English words that get changed so they sound chinesey. Because the Chinese language never ends a syllable with the S sound, whenever there is an English word that ends in the S sound, they put a "si" on the end. So, the transliteration for mouse is "mau-si." Middle tone and then Low tone. But Elder Barker said it with a High tone and a Mid-rising tone. A high tone "mau" is Cat, and a Mid-rising "si" is poop. Thus;

"The computer had a little cat poop to go with it, and so I took some scissors and thought it was a great idea to...."

You know the rest of the story.

It was a good laugh and everyone loved it. Elder Barker told me that he's actually grateful that it happened because now he has a good experience to look back on. I, as of yet, have not had a goof up with language, but, time will tell.

Well, of course I must apologize now. I promised that I would remember to tell you when it was Temple week, but, alas, I have forgotten again. I still don't get how I can digest words in another language like corn dogs, but can't remember some important things which you would think would be easy. Half the time I forget who the people we contacted during the day were, even though I have the name and their phone number and their email and the dogs name and their neighbors phone number and.... Ah, well, guess you can't be perfect in all things.

In any case, the week was good and every week things get a little easier and the language becomes more fluent. I'm starting to develop a Chinese accent, which helps a lot. But don't worry, I won't speak English like a Chinese person when I come home. 

No pictures again this week, unfortunately, because we are once again in the Apple Store. But, a great upside is that we are going to the Museum that A-Cheung works at (and practically runs.) We've been planning this for a long time and are very excited to go. Of course, it's a Medical Sciences museum so, even though his English is better than ours, we're not going to understand anything that's being talked about. But, still glad that we get to go, and I know it's going to mean a lot to him.

So, a ton of pictures next week.