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.