Drumroll Please

I've been slacking on the group email lately, so this is gonna be a long one to make up for it

So transfer calls are in! I know it was a surprise to me too, I thought it was next week. I'm staying in 

good old Sheung Shui, but Sister Kessen is moving out. To....somewhere......we don't actually know 

where yet. I'm pretty calm for now, but I don't think that will last too long so I'm gonna stock up on 

chocolate and ice cream today. I'm gonna miss Sister Kessen so much! This a new feeling, getting 

transfer calls. The MTC was kinda weird, just having a companion in general. It kinda felt like having a 

really casual stalker. And then coming to Hong Kong in general was a GIGANTIC change, so having a 

new companion was so small in comparison. But now, my world is about to change AGAIN! It's 

gonna be an adventure :) *Bilbo Baggins voice* I'm going on an ADVENTURE!!

We had a new convert fireside (which was amazing by the way, I'm convinced that all of the best people 

live in Hong Kong, specifically my stake) and Sister Kessen got to see her trainer (who's now an RM) 

Sister Lam. Which means that I got to see my grandma! Lam Pohpo. It has a nice ring to it.

This week I taught Mui Pohpo again! When we got there she was really distracted about something......

I think it was politics. I tried to re distract with family pictures figuring the segway from family to gospel 

would be easier than politics to gospel. Nope. After 5 minutes she requested the story of how my 

parents met. I said "Can we read scriptures first? I can tell the story after!" she said "pffft no! I want a love 

story! The Book of Mormon doesn't have any love stories! And your parents are so beautiful and young, 

it must be a good story. Is your mother a good mother? Of course she is! Look at you! You're a missionary! 

So how did your dad get her?". Okay Mui Pohpo. We'll have story time. She's such a good chatter, and it 

takes SO much time because she has to check the story at every step. "Oh I see! your fathers sister 

introduced them because he was never home and your mother was friends with your aunt. Got it. But, where 

did they meet? Oh I see! Your aunt introduced them at your fathers house because your aunt loved your dad 

and was friends with your mom and your dad was busy and wasn't at home a lot. Okay. Got it. But, how old 

were they?" Eventually we just tied it in to the joy of eternal families because there was no way we were 

going to have time to read scriptures.

Siu Pohpo's family came over to her house to eat lunch all together, and she wanted to introduce them to 

the gospel. They were eating at a restaurant across the street from her house, but it was Sunday so we 

didn't want to go to the restaurant because we KNEW they would buy us food. So we just waited at her 

house. We got to meet about 25 members of her family! But then they were tired and want home. So it was 

just "hi!Hi!Hi!Hi!Hi!Hi!....Bye!Bye!Bye!" It's okay though, now they at least know that the two mythical white 

christian girls who know Cantonese are not mythical at all!

We moved English class locations, so for a while (about a month) we only had 1 student at our english class. 

But we went English Class Finding this week and it was a HUGE success! We had about 20 people come to 

English Class!!

Lee Family moving to Chile!!

This might be the best story of my entire mission. 3 weeks ago a family was baptized into our ward! In HK 

investigators are baptized one Sunday, and confirmed the following Sunday. So Saturday 2 weeks ago we 

were talking with our bishop

"Oh! And tomorrow the Lees will be confirmed!"

"Yes, that is so exciting. And then Thursday they go to the temple to baptize their dead ancestors"

"Wow. They are so amazing"

"And then Saturday, they get on the plane to Chile."

"WHAT?!?!"

So it turns out, that they have been planning to move to Chile for a while now, and the whole ward 

knew. But everyone forgot to tell the missionaries! We were the first to tell the Mandarin Elders who 

taught them and they flipped out! It was so funny! It worked out perfectly though, because Elder 

Darrington's family has a farm in Idaho that he invited them to go to learn how to do farm stuff (the 

Lees are moving to have a farm and train horses! CRAZY!) and Elder Garcia's first language is Spanish 

so he taught them some basics after Church. He also has a ton a friends serving in Chile so they are 

going to be getting some Recent Convert referrals. The whole situation is just hilarious. The Chinese 

family, taught by American missionaries, are moving to CHILE of all places (no offense to Chile). 

The Wongs had SIX missionaries over at their house because they are amazing. In the primary 

program, their daughter said "I want to be just like the missionaries!!" and then pointed back at us

​

The church is true, the book is blue. Chinese is crazy hard, but also so funny. I love being a missionary. 

Really I do 

-- 

Love

Sister Hugo

Yiu Ji Muih

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The rain came down....and down...and down...

This has been a VERY eventful week. Most of it was interrupted by a #8 typhoon, which meant that us missionaries can NOT leave our apartments. Calls and Records for DAYS! 8. Hours. Of Calls. And Records.

On the bright side, our record books have never been prettier.

Seriously, there was SO much rain. The day before the typhoon we were still out and about, and it was CRAZY! The Fanling Sisters  went into an appointment, and an hour later the only way out was through a RAGING river! They had to wade through water above their knees. The path out is a littler sidewalk with a handrail, and there are giant gutters on either side that lead into the sewers REAL fast. The path is kinda crooked, and they couldn't see where the drop offs were, so they had to hold on to the rod and trust that it would lead them where they needed to go. They said that it brought "Hold to the Rod" to a whole new meaning.

I just remember sitting on a mini bus on our way to Siu Pohpo's farm (our bus was almost a boat by the way) and just thinking "This is SOO MUCH WATER!! And yesterday, ALL of it was IN THE SKY!! And now it is just FALLING FROM THE SKY!!! ALL OF THESE TONS AND TONS OF WATER!!" So don't worry, I'm still the gigantic nerd I was 8 months ago, who gets distracted by the water cycle while sitting on a mini bus in China.

 

​Because of the Typhoon, our mission tour was postponed until today. It. Was. Amazing. Elder Wong is SO funny, and he truly taught by the Spirit, I learned so much. Today is my 8 month mark, and it is terrifying how fast the time is moving. Can I just veto it? Is there a box I can check for "how about not"? And honestly, it is pretty scary. I am not even close to half the missionary I wanted to be. But you know what, that's okay. What a blessing it is that I am able to see my blessings so that I know , not only in my head, but now in my heart, how much I NEED my Savior. There is no other way, simply, NO OTHER WAY I could get anything done. I couldn't progress, I couldn't choose joy, I couldn't be the person I want to be -- ONLY through Him and His Atoning Sacrifice can I do this.

Isn't that beautiful?

I also get to go the temple this Thursday, which is gonna be AMAZING!! 

-- 

Love

Sister Hugo

Yiu Ji Muih

Your favorite

Another Picture Overload

This week we received a lot of pictures but not really a letter.  Enjoy...

This is Cheese ice cream, that was actually surprisingly good!! I just got a little cause I thought it would be nasty, but I actually loved it! Whose idea was cheese ice cream?!? They are just a little bit genius. Still not as good as BYU creamery though #cougarpride

I finally got around to making the popcorn from a care package a couple months ago. It was so much fun! Sister Thomson didn't know that this kind of popcorn actually existed. 

This is Mui Pohpo, she's the Fanling sister's investigator but we go on splits a lot so I get to see her about once a week. She has the most amazing testimony and once the Doctor gives the okay she'll be baptized. She is SOO smart and loves teaching us new Chinese.

We took this funny picture and she started making funny noises to make me laugh :)

This is our zone getting ready to watch General Conference in Dai Bo

Me and our investigator Susan AKA the coolest woman alive #sorry it's so close, the bus was cramped.

Me and my best friend Alston! He actually used to live in my ward in Hawaii, so we are BEST friends!

The missionaries and the Lam Family (AKA our mission parents) at the Ward VaCay

It was Sister Kessen and Sister Cote's year mark this week, so they bought cheesecake to celebrate! I think the cheesecake looks like little minion eyes.

On Siu Pohpo's farm.

Called a less active to see how she was doing. She ordered that we come to her house and she gave us ALL this stuff and some REALLY nice jewelry. Why am I so blessed to know all of the best people in the world?
​

Love

Sister Hugo

Yiu Ji Muih

Your favorite

General Conference

As always, General Conference was an amazing-fantastic-blow-your-socks-off ball of happiness. Raise your hand if you're surprised.

Seriously though, we are so blessed to be living in these latter days with the fullness of the Gospel. I loved every single talk, and I can't wait for next month when we get the Liahona with all of the talks! I loved especially the themes of (1) the Plan of Salvation (2) Repentance (3) Joy and (4) how each talk broke things down into little baby steps.

The Plan of Salvation takes on a deeper meaning for me this week, as I found out half an hour ago that my Grandma Renie died this last week. It was really surprising for me, and I'll honestly treat myself to ice cream and a good cry tonight. But at the same time.....I'm not worried. I am going to miss her so much, but I know that I will see her again. She has another chance (in fact, a lot of them) to accept the gospel in the Spirit World and choose Joy, real Joy. I'm gonna see her again one day. I know I will. I will finally hear her original voice -- my goodness did that woman have a smoker's voice-- and give her a bear hug, and hear her tell her favorite stories and maybe watch her do some floral arrangements in her spirit world florist shop. Maybe not the last one, but the important ones are the first three anyway. Isn't the gospel amazing? I'm so blessed that every day I get to share this message of hope and joy with everyone I can in Hong Kong.

*insert transition to normal things here*

Last P-Day we went to Sham Shui Po and did some shopping. I got to try cheese flavored ice cream, which was actually very good! It kinda tastes like the cheese you put in lasagna. The shops were all so tiny and cute! I bought a ton of stationary stuff, and got to look at some cool touristy things. Definitely shopping there again the month before I go back home.

Yesterday our entire ward and ton of investigators and less actives and other family and friends got on 2 big buses and drove all the way down to the island to have fun! We went to a big "day camp" facility. They just had a ton of different things to do and set us loose to have fun. Roller skating, bicycling, swimming, billiards, tennis, ping pong, a ropes course, archery, soccer, basketball, and about 10 other ones. It was funny because I would choose which one I wanted to do, and then would realize that missionaries can't do that one. But I finally learned how to play ping-pong! More than anything, it was just fun to be able to relax and have fun with all my friends

I got a package from my parents!! More on that next week though, cause I ran out of time.

Also, next week I promise I'll have pictures, but I'm emailing from the library which has a tendency to give missionaries viruses. Who would have thought the Mac Store would be safer than the library?

-- 

Love

Sister Hugo

Yiu Ji Muih

Your favorite

Pancakes!!

This week back at home, it was Sonja and Emma's BIRTHDAY!! To celebrate, I used the pancake mix my parents sent me, and made pancakes! I saved up money all month so that we could buy strawberries too. I've been eating like a starving college student, but those strawberries were so worth it. They were SOO sweet! I think that being in China is changing my tastebuds.

I stole the honor of blowing out the candle.

I used one of the trick candles from my care package. We had fun trying to figure out how they work. I think that there is something in the wax, little black flecks, that spark. And there are enough of them that the odds are good that the candle will re-catch. It's moments like this where I REALLY miss Google. I never thought that I would miss a search engine this much.

This week we had a lot of time to go finding, which is perfect because I am trying to get better at it! Most apartment buildings have security guards, so we can't do door approaches. So we just get really good at street contacting. At least, we get better at street contacting. 

Janet came back from her trip to America almost a month early! We are so excited to have her back!

See y'all next week!​

-- 

Love

Sister Hugo

Yiu Ji Muih

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