12-28-14

                            view from our apartment window                              

night time view from apartment 

our kitchen

our living room

12-28-14

Things have been great here. This last week was full of craziness and a few really nice surprises.

 

I can't express how grateful and excited I am to actually be in Hong Kong, and actually be doing missionary work. Even despite the hardships and frustrations, which I kind of figured would be part of the package deal.

 

So, interesting stories;

 

On Christmas we had a ward Christmas party, which was fantastic. The ward that we-Elder Barker and I-serve in-Cheun Sha Wan Ward-is wonderful. There is a really good bond between everyone, and it reminds me so much of my homeward. Everyone's happy, everyone jokes around with one another, and there's always food involved.

 

Besides the party being good, we got a new investigator there! The Cheun Sha Wan Sisters brought Jason to the party, and we've had the chance to talk with him several times. He's a very cool guy, and is very interested in the church and our beliefs. Ahh, but all sweet things have a bitter bite. Because of work, Jason goes to Macau-another part of the mission, but a separate "country"-for a month or so, then comes back to Hong Kong for a few weeks. He's going back in just a few days, which means, we won't be able to teach him. Hopefully, though, we can give his name and number to the Macau Elders and they can pick him up.

 

Next, on Sunday, there was a baptismal service where three people got baptized. And there were a lot of investigators there. We had five at church, and the Sisters had three. Most of them stayed after church to attend the baptismal service, and it went very well. Jason was one of them, and another one of investigators, Mark, who is a tough nut to crack. He's a bit of a "punk," in a good way, but thinks about things in a very different and difficult way. We've been trying to get him excited for his baptismal date, and I think he finally is. Hopefully we can keep that fuel under him.

 

And last but not least, calls.... I must say, calls are my worst nightmare. It's difficult enough to understand and speak Cantonese face to face, but over a phone, it's nigh unto impossible. Plus, there's a lot of different language that's used on the phone that you never hear on the street. Just like any language, but it makes it super difficult. Oh, and for some really strange and awkward reason that makes absolutely no sense at all whatsoever in the universe or in the entire history of history is that; you HAVE to speak fast. If you speak even somewhat slow and careful, they WILL NOT understand you. I still don't get how that computes, but, it does. So you have to learn how to mash a bunch of words together really quickly. And there's all sorts of weird slang terms and conjunctions and yadda, yadda, yadda.

 

Calls and I now have a mutual relationship, but it's still so wonderful to call some random person, squeak out that you're a missionary, and have the phone hung up on you. Ahh, but that happens to every and all missionaries everywhere. Part of missionary life, I suppose.

 

It was funny, though. I was doing calls, when the phone rang. I picked it up and said, "Wai, haih bin wai?" In the best Buhndeih-Native-voice possible, of course. Instead of answering with, "Haih Chan Sin Sang-Is Mr. Chan," there was a whole lot of angry yelling and then...another hang up. Who knows what that was about? My guess is it had something to do with a little bit of nothing.

 

In any case, I can't remember any other specifics that made the week exciting, besides the usual. I'm doing fine, and have learned a "butt load of poop about the Gospel" and Cantonese and other things.

 

 

 I love you all very much. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

 

P.S. Thanks for the gifts. I like candy. The only sad part is I can't listen to the CD. One of President Hawkes' rules is that we don't listen to any music that's not produced by the church. It's was kind of interesting, though, because my trainer said, "Hey, that's cool. Now you have another physical thing you can sacrifice for the mission." I hadn't ever thought of it like that, but it makes sense. So, thanks! I look forward to listening to it in two years :D

 

Gaaiyau!

 

 First day with my trainer

Second day with my trainer

12-23-14

HI the Georges,

This is brother Tsang. I am the Elders Quorum president of Hong Kong CSW ward. Your son Elder Georges is currently serving in my ward and he is amazing. 

During Christmas, he is allow to skype with you guys! but i guess he doesnt have your skype account. Could you please Email me as soon as possible so that i can make sure he can skype with you guys during Christmas?

wish you have a great Christmas. 

Regards

James Tsang

12-16-14

12-21-14

Singdaan faailohk! Merry Christmas! I hope that everything is going good with everyone.

 

Things here are crazy. And when I say crazy, I mean it. The Asian culture, and more specifically Hong Kong, is fast paced and always on the go. People are always busy and in a rush, and not afraid to push others out of the way. It's actually been kind of fun learning how to zip in and out as we rush back to our apartment, then back out for finding, then back to the church building to teach a lesson. There is virtually no time for anything other than missionary work or study. Even while we ride the MTR-public subways-I'm studying vocab, which has helped a lot. In the last four days I've memorized seventy-five to an hundred words. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.

 

 A lot has happened since arriving, so I'll just lay it out real fast.

 

When we flew into Hong Kong, grabbed our luggage and left the airport we got to meet President and sister Hawkes. I was a little worried at first that President Hawkes would be one of those popcorn fart dry people, but he cracked a joke first things first, and I knew it was all going to work out just fine. But, mind you, he's extremely diligent and won't tolerate and sort of disobedience, which is most definitely a good thing. We then drove to the Mission home, which is acoss from the Temple, and pretty much just went to bed.

 

The next morning we got up, ate a wonderful breakfast prepared by Sister Hawkes, and then went to the Immigration Station, which was crazy. It was like being at the Blanding MVD, except, you can't understand a word anyone says. We applied for our Hong Kong Residence Licenses, and did our first real "missionary work" in Hong Kong. Talking to people was fun because they all laughed and spoke English for us.

 

In the evening we went finding with some other missionaries, which was a crazy experience. Elder Durham and I wandered around forever, after getting lost, until we found a street with his name on it that led us back to known civilization. What a coincidence. We talk to a few people, and almost had one street lesson, but no one really wanted to talk. It's crazy, though. The places here that are considered high end and expensive are more or less low budget places back home. It's not quite third world, but it's pretty destitute in some places, and the buildings are just old and grungy. But, everyone had a phone and a computer.

 

Thursday morning we met our new companions. Elder Barker is awesome. He's upbeat, excited to be a missionary, and only has four months left, so his Cantonese is great. He says he doesn't know as much as a lot of other missionaries, but his is clear and crisp because he's spent a lot of time focusing on speaking habits. We went to the apartment, dropped of my luggage, did some planing and then went out and tuaght a lesson. Then went finding. Then taught another lesson. And then more finding. It was crazy. The people here speak extrememly fast, and slur their words together, which makes it all the more difficult to understand what they're saying. Plus, as I've said, they're super busy, so they don't have the time to stop and speak slowly to accomodate you. But, I suppose it's all for the best. I've already learned so much.

 

The next day was pretty much the same, and the next. We taught some lessons, did some finding. Riding the MTR is fun, especially when it's hou bik, or, very crowded. You just pack in like sardines, and when the train starts moving everybody stumbles around for a few seconds, tied together like asparagus. Except, everyone else is short.

 

Finding is crazy. Just stopping random people on the street to talk about religion is weird enough, but when you can't udnerstand most of what they say and they can't understand you, it's even more awkward. But still fun. Usually what happens is I stop them, say a few weird things, then Elder Barker takes over. I'm actually surprised at how much success comes from street Finding. A lot of people are really interested in what we have to tell them.

 

The food here is really good, though, nothing like Panda Express. The thing that's actually the most difficult to get used to is the fact that there's bones in all of thier meat. It's a bit awkward when eating. The smells here are strange as well. Everywhere you go it smells like fish or something else that's hard to describe. I can't really tell if it's good or bad, or somewhere in the middle. In any case, it's different.

 

And, of course, everyone lives in super tall buildings. They aren't apartments, though. The people refer to them as homes, because that's what everyone lives in, except for a few super rich people. Usually one of those rich people owns an entire group of these "apartment" buildings, which is called a Chyun. Kind of different. But things are good, and despite the difficulties of the language and adjusting to missionary life, I'm having a great time, and am very excited for the day when I can actually speak the language.

 

 I was really glad to be able to call you at the airport as well. I almost cried, but then Mahonri got on and it was all good. I've put my cooking skills to good use already, and the other three missionaries that live in the apartment have enjoyed it. Not saying that I appreciate you making me cook all the time or anything but...thanks. You're a good mom.

I love you all so much. See you in twenty-two and a half! Gaaiyauh.

 

P.S. We do get to Skype on Christmas. We'll do that around 9:45 in the morning my time, which will be 7:45 in the evening your time, so, Christmas Eve. I don't know what our Username will be, but we'll get things figured out.

12-16-14

Sister George:  We wanted you to know that your son has arrived safely 

in Hong Kong.  He is excited to be here and ready to go to work.  We are 

very grateful to have him here.  Thank you for sending him.  We look 

forward to serving with him.

Sister Hawks

12-14-14

Leihdeih hou! Dim a? I talked to the Branch Presidency and they said that we could e-mail today, which is nice. I'm not quite sure but I think that the HongKong mission P-Day is Wednesday, so, I might get to email in two days. 

Just wanted to let you know that I'm doing fine and am very excited. I have most everything packed and have enough space, so we're good with the luggage. Everyone in the district has their Visas, so no problems there. And, hopefully we'll get to call in the morning sometime between eight and ten. 

Oh, and remember that once I get to HongKong the time difference kicks in and we'll be thirteen hours ahead. We land at nine at night, HK time, so we won't be e-mailing then. 

I hope that everything is going good with you all and am very thankful for the opportunity you've given me. And thank you very much for the package. The treats were great and I'm excited for the presents. Plus, I'm glad to have the pictures. I sent a package back and hope it's arrived, or will in the next few days.

Merry Christmas

Love, Da Smoe

12-08-14

Things are going well here. Though I've struggled with a lot of things, I still feel confident that I know at least enough Cantonese to say hello and give my name. Still can't believe that I only have a week left. The older Thais just left, and we were all freaking out. 

Nothing super exciting or interesting happened this week. I kind of feel bad about not having anything to tell you, but, that's how it goes here at the MTC. In any case, the next 95 emails will all have cool things in them, so I'm not too worried about it. 

I've had the hardest time thinking up an ornament. There's just not much to work with here, and not much time to do anything. If worse comes to worst, I'll just do something totally cheesy.

I just thought of something funny that did happen. On Friday we were playing soccer for gym, and I tripped and did a swan dive and.... It's just a sprain, but it did hurt when it happened. The funny thing was that I was laughing instead of whining about it, which everyone else thought was weird. But then, it fits me well.

My two years will be over before we know it.

Though you're still not sure exactly what you'll be doing for Christmas, I do hope that you're able to go to New Mexico and celebrate it with the Georges. It would be super sweet to be able to skype them as well.

I love you all so very much, and am very excited to have this opportunity to be going to such a cool place and share the gospel with such interesting people.

P.S. Here's our flight plan;

LV: Salt Lake City, UT - 11:10 AM - 15 DEC

AR: Seattle, WA - 12:22 PM - 15 DEC

LV: Seattle, WA - 2:38 PM - 15 DEC

AR: Hong Kong, Hong Kong - 9:30 PM - 16 DEC

So, according to that, there will be virtually no time to call. We leave the MTC at 6:00 AM on Monday, and though we will have a few hours at the SLC airport, there will be so many other people/missionaries there, we won't be able to call. So, don't plan on it. A little disappointing, but, we'll get to talk ten days later on Christmas.

Me and Elder Beresford

12-01-14

This week was epic! Or, rather, Gamgo singkeih hou faeseunghou! (It's annoying typing Canto without the accents.) In any case, Thanksgiving was altogether different than every other thanksgiving I've ever had. The food wasn't that great, and we didn't get to eat a whole lot of it, but that was fairly insignificant compared to the rest of everything that happened.

Firstly, On Monday, when we went to gym, President Hacking (Second Counselor in the MTC Presidency) came by and asked for a few volunteers to help move all of the items for the week's service project. I was a little hesitant at first, mostly because gym time is super rare and super important, but Elder Beresford and I decided to go after all. We got to ride palette movers around for an hour or so. Needless to say, it was fun.

On Tuesday Elder Oaks came for the devotional, and gave a really good talk. I don't have my notes, but I received a bit of personal revelation and it helped me a lot. Then on Thursday, for Thanksgiving, we had a really fun Program which involved some amazing performances by other missionaries. Elder Bednar came for the Devotional and we got to have a Q&A session with him. The best part was that we sent our questions to his I-pad via cellphones. Everyone was freaking out, as if he was asking us to do something forbidden. I was a little disappointed because most of the questions that got asked could be answered with common sense, and they just got asked to be asked, but it was still good. And then we got to watch Meet the Mormons, which was as good as the first time.

And then, yesterday, Vocal Point came for the Sunday Devotional and performed for us. It was pretty sweet. All in all, a very good and successful week. 

We are all officially freaking out now that we only have two weeks left. We should get our flight plans sometime this week. Hopefully all of our Visas and paperwork are sorted out. I have prayed every nights since arriving at the MTC that we will have no problems, so, if my faith isn't sufficient, then, I don't know what to do. Actually, God will probably make my Visa have issues just because I said that.

I love you all so freaking much. I can't express how much I've changed in the last seven weeks. My heart has been softened greatly. I know that great things are in coming in the future for our family. Gaaiyauh! (Spelled it wrong the last time.)

Love, Da Smoe

P.S. I get to call at the airport, if you don't already now, and depending upon departure times and such, we might have upwards of two hours. Not that you'll want to talk for that long, but next Monday I will send you my travel plans so you can plan for that. And then we get to skype a week and a half after that.