1-05-15

Hello my Family!

 

I miss you guys. Even though we all butted heads at times, I look back and realize how good I have it. I have a full family, with two parents, who are still together and married and sealed in the temple. That rules out like ninety percent of the rest of the world. I'm so grateful that I have the ability to whip out a picture of all of us and show it to our investigators.

 

Things have been quite good here. I'm still adjusting and learning, but I know that everything will work out, so, no worries. I apologize for not having a lot of pictures, but the camera isn't super easy to carry around, and we're not supposed to look like tourists while walking around, so President Hawkes advises against taking lots of pictures. But, today we are going to Central, which is where all the big buildings are, so I'll be sure to get some good ones there.

 

I don't really have any exciting or interesting stories to relate. I mean, things happened, but this week was difficult. We didn't get much time to Chaam Jauh-Go finding-and the times that we did, people just didn't want to listen. Yesterday, though, we met this really interesting guy. He does construction for a job, so I instantly knew quite a bit about him. We realized after a little bit that he was just struggling. He didn't say a whole lot, but we could tell from his demeanor and his attitude that life was just hard. So, we decided to share a scripture and how we know that Jesus Christ has helped us.

 

He laughed a little and sort of blew it off, but there was no rejection. We could tell that he needed the Gospel, and that he wanted it. His heart is just hurting, and a bit hardened. I really hope and pray that our message sheds some light on him and his world, and that he decides to investigate a little more.

 

As far as the language, I've finally broken through the wall and can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. The first two weeks were extremely difficult, and I pretty much forgot everything I learned in the MTC. I can almost swear that the language they taught me there isn't the language the people speak. Actually, that is somewhat true as people use a lot of weird slang. They also use a little bit of a different language on the phone. Plus, they speak super fast and, who could have guessed, if you don't speak as fast as them, they won't understand you. I've never heard of a language that, if you speak it slowly and clearly, it makes no sense. But, I'll get used to it. Oh, and there are two forms of Cantonese; Spoken, and Written. Both quite different. Depending on the person and the situation, they may speak either/or, or a mixture of the two. So, you pretty much have to learn three languages instead of one, speak as fast as you can, and do all this while on the street talking to some crazy short Asian person while the buses fly past honking and all that jazz. It's quite fun, if I do say so myself.

Ahh, but a mission is not about the circumstances or the environment or the culture or the language or anything of that sort. A mission is about our purpose, and our purpose is about Christ. Go figure that I'd be learning something about Him.

Something President Hawkes said to me really got me. I was struggling, like everyone, and said that my "self-esteem" was low. Why? It might have something to do with the fact that I've left all family, friends, and past life behind. Traveled half way around the world to a different country. Attempted to learn the hardest language in the world (everyone says it's Finnish, but, for example; in Finnish you write Nephi like this, "Nefi." Very difficult. In Cantonese you write Nephi like this, "&*$!&#$&!@(#&!(@#&!)(^*%@ &*#(&*@." I'm not super good with the characters yet, but it's a pretty close translation.) And am now spending every minute of every day trying to talk to people who could truly care less that I have the world's most important message to share with them. It might just be me, but I don't know....

In any case, I was struggling. President Hawkes then said, "Is it self-esteem, or is it pride?" What?! Okay, actually it made sense as soon as I read it, because I've thought a lot about this. Long story short, there are two types of pride; 1) When you think you're better than someone or something else and don't need their help, 2) When you think you're not good enough for someone or something and you don't accept their help. Some people might think that the second form is just Humility. But true Humility is realizing that you most definitely are not good enough, and accepting the help despite your short comings. So, moral of this tale? My pride has/was keeping me from relying on the Savior's help. Once I realized that there was no way I could do this on my own, and just starting praying, things got easier.

I testify that the power of Christ's Atonement is real and works.

I love you all and think of you a lot. Happy New Year!