3-16-15

Think, think, think....

That's what I'm doing right now, but it's a little difficult. We're back in the Apple Store because Elder Barker picked up his suit today. It's very, very noisy and kind of weird because there's a bazillion people around you watching you type. Kind of weird.

In any case, we're in Central right now, which is on the Hong Kong Island. It's a huge business place with tons of American like malls. There are a lot of white people here, which is pretty strange. "White people? Eww, gross." is the response that we usually give. In some ways it's true, though. Here most of the old people dress like old people and everything is normal. It's rare that we see a fat flabby person wearing shorty-shorts and a tank top and letting it all hang out. So, yah..."eww, gross."

The best part about it is that they all look at us and have no idea. They probably don't even think we speak Chinese, but, PSYCH! 

Speaking of Chinese, I had a few great experiences this last week where the language was no barrier at all. Up until a few days ago I've had to spend much of our time during less or finding translating everything in my head and trying to make it all make sense. Then, of course, you have to spit it out. One thing that I've struggle with, simply because the language has tones, is the fact that, while we teach, I like to "get into it," meaning, I like to speak with emotion and laugh and joke and such. But, it's really hard to do that in Cantonese. So, Elder Barker has been telling me to try to stop and just build my base. Speak flat and speak well, and then it will come. But then, of course, there's times where I go to contact someone and they're turned off because I'm speaking in a really weird way, (according to them,) with no emotion or anything. So, there's been a bit of a conflict as of late.

But, this last week I was able to experience teaching as if we were speaking English. Of course, there's still a lot that I don't know or understand, but I finally know what it's like, and I have something to shoot for. Which doesn't have much to say for my English because, as I type, I can feel it going down the drain. Good thing I don't have to teach in English, right?

One super cool thing that happened this week was that we got to meet this guy named Walter. He's pretty awesome.

We were finding in a park in one of our areas, Mei Foo. Elder Barker is a really good role model on how to find because he's not shy in any way, and will do just about anything to talk to someone. So, it was no surprise to me when he ran off and sat down on a bench next to someone without asking if it was alright. I just shrugged my shoulders and sat on the other side. It took us a few moments to figure out that the guy wasn't Chinese, which is funny because we try to avoid the non-Chinese people, as we were called to speak Chinese. 

In any case, we start talking to him. Turns out he's a Latino from Argentina, who spent most of his life in California and Utah and was in Hong Kong because his girlfriend is Chinese. He has the classic Latino accent and is extremely friendly. We talked with him for quite a long time just about random things. But, of course, the subject of religion came up. Turns out, he's had tons of contact with Mormons before, and even been to our church several times. He has a very good view of us and what we do, and has some amazing stories of how God has helped him and his family in the past.

 One such is this; He lived in California for quite a few years, but decided to move to Utah for a while. But when he moved, he couldn't find any work for the longest time. It came to the point where he had no job, and no money. So, he spent two weeks living off of five dollars. Two weeks, five dollars. He told us that the Dollar Tree saved his life, as he went there and bought a bag of chips, a can of dip, and a bottle of soda. And that's what he ate everyday. He would wake up, and just to stay sane ask himself, "What am I going to eat today? Hmm, chips and dip sounds nice." Then at lunch, "What am I going to eat? Ahh, chips and dip wouldn't be bad." That's what he did for the first week. The second week, he only had two dollars left, so he skipped the road, and just ate the chips and dip again. 

Finally, he was accepted onto a construction crew and began work, but the day that he went to work was the day that he ran out of food, and pay-day wasn't until the end of the week. And so, he prayed, and asked God to provide for him.

At the end of the work day he was prepared to go home when one of the other workers stopped him.

"You seem like a really nice guy." He said. "How about you come over for dinner tonight."

And like that, prayer answered. He told us quite a few stories similar to this, and I'm super excited that he now has the chance to truly learn about God and the truth. I'm praying hard that he will have the desire to attend church and take it farther than just a belief. But, in any case, he's super awesome.

Long story short because I don't have much time, we turned him over to the international Elders, but we're going to keep in contact and play Soccer with him on some P-Day. 

I'm doing fine and though things are difficult, (such as when you wake up and feel less rested than you did when you first went to sleep,) the work shall go on and I'm going with it.

It was super great to hear from you all and I'm so glad that I have such an awesome family back at home. Thanks, and keep on keeping' on.

P.S. sorry, no pictures again. Next week XD