Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Picture Overload

Monday, September 19, 2016

The Moon is Bright Tonight. Exceptionally Bright

Monday, September 12, 2016

"Best of the Best"

This week was REALLY special because I got to go down ALL the way to Hong Kong Island. It's only about 15 miles away, but it takes about an hour and a half to get there and is COMPLETELY different from Fanling and Sheung Shui. Even more exciting than being on the island, or the American style chocolate muffin, was WHY we were down that far. The Mission President Seminar! Every couple of months, all the Mission President's and their wives go to Hong Kong to have a 4 day conference about missionary work with each other and the Asia Area presidency (which includes Elder Funke of the Quorum of the Twelve). It was SUCH a special experience. When we got the call to come down they just said that we would be role playing and so we thought that we would be role playing for EVERYONE to see. "Thanks, but I think I plan on being sick on that day". Turns out though that we were paired up with Mission Presidents and their wives (shoutout to President and Sister Hodges from the India New Delhi mission). We got instructions from Sister Funke on the role plays we would do and she said "It's nice to see the best of the best here today". Literally every missionary looked around and then at themselves and starting laughing. 

It was such a powerful experience though. The power that was in that room was palpable. And  every time anyone testified it felt like I had just been dipped in a giant vat of Holy Ghost concentrate. I think that's the best way to explain without just being really vague and saying "the spirit was SO strong." Seriously though, the power that the apostles have, and the power given to those Mission Presidents to live their callings to the fullest is awe inspiring. I've been living this past week on the spiritual high that came from that meeting.

This week we got to see Sister Yeung get baptized. She has only been meeting with missionaries for 4 weeks, and she has such an amazing heart. President Lam and Sister Lam came to her baptism and they were also so impressed by her faith. She was so nervous for her baptism (because she is TERRIFIED of water) but we said a prayer with her and she said that although she was still nervous, she knew that Heavenly Father would support and protect her because it is what she needs to do. 

At ward FHE this week they asked us to make "Sweet Popcorn" and so we made so caramel corn and some kettle corn. We were really nervous because Chinese people say they like really sweet things but they don't. At least not in comparison to how AMERICANS like sweet things. But they devoured that popcorn like no ones business.

On of our investigators is a hairdresser who works from home. This week we brought our bishop to her house and she absolutely would not leave without cutting his hair. Towards the end of the lesson she just blurted out that his hair was "not pretty". Who cuts your hair? Your wife? Next time you comes over, bring your wife and I can teach her how to cut your hair. I LOVE how blunt Chinese people are.

About once a week my district goes singing finding which is where we go someplace with decent foot traffic and 6 of us sing hymns and the other 2 go finding within sound of our "beautiful" voices. Normally we take turns going out 20 minutes a piece, but this week one companionship found someone in the first 10 minutes and taught them until we had to go home. The Lord is hastening his work. All we have to do is find those who will accept us. That guy by the way, gave himself the english name "Hamberg" because he likes to eat hamburgers.

We had a Young Men's Young Women's activity about eternal families. Everyone got together with their families as teams, so all the missionaries got to be on a team with President and Sister Lam. So of course we won. Just kidding, we kind of lost terribly, but it was SO funny. One person from your family was blindfolded, guided across the room, and spun around 10 times. Then on the signal, your family had to make some kind of noise to lead them back to you -- but no words. The first time we planned to make the "Arrrrrrrrrriba" noise, but them EVERY other family made that same noise. I went that first round and everyone says it was HILARIOUS! Next round we made an ambulance sound which worked better. Elder Darrington went that round but he is so much bigger than Chinese 14 year olds that he accidentally ran over about 4 youth. They just bounced off of him, but he said he didn't even notice. SORRY!


This is me with my PACKAGE!!! Best day ever (as you can tell from my face)



 This is my bounteous harvest



This is the painting that I painted with the dollar store set of water colors from my package. I'm actually VERY proud of how it turned out. I gave it the highest glory and picture can have -- I hung it on the fridge.
Until next week
LIVE LIFE
Love Learn Overcome
Always be yourself but always be your better self
Return with Honor
Don't do anything my dad would do
Be the kind of person your mom thinks you are

-- 
Love
Sister Hugo
Yiu Ji Muih
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Tuesday, September 6, 2016

PACKAGE!!!!!!

I got a package this week!! I took a ton of picture unwrapping it and it's going to last me until Christmas there was so much stuff (THANKS MOM AND DAD!!). I'll send pictures next week (can't send pictures when I email at the library, which btw is where I'm at). 

Like any good care package, it included
-Food (ranch packets, popcorn, pancake mix...)
-Candy (Jelly Beans, skittles, chocolate...)
-Useful things (A water bottle, hair conditioner...)
-Fun things! (A frisbee, sunny straws, a little manta ray that grows in water)

There was seriously SO much stuff. The best section though is the fun things, because some of the fun things were more weird than other. For instance, 1 thing I thought was a roll of toilet paper, but then I saw it came with crayons! It looks super convenient, and definitely fun, but also a little weird. Then there are the things that are REALLY weird. Like, the fishing bait or the one-use pee test to see if I'm drunk. I think that one will stay in my suitcase for a while until I think of a funny use for it. XP

This week was Zone Conference which happens about every 3 months. Since our Zones are so small now that we're split up by Stake, it was actually a Tri-Stake Conference *cue Dr. Doofenshmirtz impresson* So that we could meet, with the ENTIRE, TRI-STAKE AREA!

We got to hear messages from President Lam #IamPres.Lam'snummber 1fan #don'tlistentoSisterKessen #it'sme, Elder James his right hand man, the assistants to the President, some Zone Leaders, and my lovely companion Sister Kessen and her STL comp. Sister Cote!

All the talks were AMAZING! And really, I just needed a long soak in the spirit. I learned a lot, but really I think the biggest thing I got was just a nice long soak in the spirit. And I'm even more excited for General Conference! #32daysleft #I'vebeencountingdownfor3months

Last P-Day we went shopping at Kwai Fong which is .... an experience. It's called a mall but it's not like a mall in america. There are maybe 100 stores on a floor, and each store is like a storage unit decorated and stuffed with clothes. The units are really small, maybe 8 feet deep and 4 feet wide? I'm terrible at guesstimating but something like that. It kinda feels like shopping on the app "Wish" in person. Or finding one of those sites that sells clothes from China and half the comments are "5 stars beautful and cute" and half the comments are "0 stars. I got the wrong color, there was a stain on it, and it came after 8 months". That makes it sound terrible though, and really it is so much fun! Everything is so cheap which makes up for the fact that it's not the best quality. There are plenty of things that are modest, but finding things that are missionary modest and appropriate is a little bit harder. It's hit and miss just depending on the day. This week was an off day but I found two skirts and then bought a TON of gummies. They are super cheap and done by weight. I got a bag a little smaller than my head to last me till Christmas, and it only cost about $4 US. I got some of every flavor and so far have found chocolate filled marshmallows (SOOGOOD!) and methol/minty gummi bears (not so good. Whose idea was it? EPIC FAIL).

Today I might try some Durian. Hong Kongers LOVE them, but I can smell it 3 streets away, and I don't have a sense of smell. But it's about to go out of season and I can't really complain about it until I try it.

I love you all! Gaa yauh!

The church is true, the book is blue.
-- 
Love
Sister Hugo
Yiu Ji Muih
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Sunday, September 4, 2016

Love is Spoken here


Life in Hong Kong is AWESOME

This week was AWESOME!! But also, I don't remember anything that happened.... I normally go back through my journal and write down some big points in my planner.....but I forgot my planner.......hmmmmmm...stream of consciousness it is!

One of our investigators, Sister Ng, doesn't have awesome health, and the traditional doctors don't know what to do with her, so she is using Chinese Medicine which seems to be going better for her. She is such an example of real intent. She is also HILARIOUS! She asked us how we like the Olympics, and when we told her don't watch TV she said "I see why they call you a cult". Later in the lesson she told me that she knows that my body is weak because I have small ears. I need to eat more Ginger. I've been called weak a LOT on my mission for some reason. Cold hands, purple fingernails, too tall, allergies, and now small ears. I guess the vote is in, I am officially weak.

OH! Move calls came in and *drumroll please* no one is moving!! Which means that I'll be with my trainer Sister Kessen for 6 months (a third of my mission) and Sister Thomson for 8 months ( we were in the MTC together).

The members feed us after church every week, and it's always AMAZING food. I love our members, they love missionaries so much and it's because they have all had the opportunity to see the work move forward. Oh my goodness I love my members.

Anyways

This is Sister Poon, our Relief Society president. She made us sandwiches but they are WAY better than American sandwiches. I don't know how because I'm decently sure that they're a European

food, but Hong Kong has mastered the art of making the perfect sandwich.

Time is up, sorry for such a short email this week. I'll make up for it next week!
The church is true. Christ lives. And there is NOWHERE that we could go that he can't follow. There is NO point of no return. There is ALWAYS hope for rescue. We just have to let him.
-- 
Love
Sister Hugo
Yiu Ji Muih
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