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| Our church building. This is actually the first one ever in Hong Kong. The dedicatory thing says, "Southern Far East Mission" haha |
AHH general conference was awesome!! I can't believe how fast it went by! It NEVER went that fast before my mission. And I didn't even watch the Saturday conferences that often.. It's insane. I was talking with Elder Walter about it, and we were wondering if it was just because we were missionaries and this is what we are focused on 24/7... or if it's cuz we are closer to the spirit... or just because sitting in an air conditioned room is better than going outside and finding, hahaha. We concluded it was probably a combination of all 3.
We actually had a cheng out the other day! I ate pig
skin, chicken feet, cuddle fish, some innards of pig and/or cow, and
some other stuff I wasn't sure about. I won't lie, the pig skin was the
worst. It was really hard. I had to pray the entire time, from putting
it into my mouth to swallowing the last bite. You just chew and chew and
chew. It's like a disgusting piece of pure fat, but the skin has like
bumps on it... that was the worst. Ughhgghghghszb.
Anyways, we didn't have
a great numbers week a couple weeks ago, but it was moves so that's kinda normal. I stayed in Kam Tin
which is what I expected. I'll probably stay my whole mission here, haha. Our new district leader is super funny. I love the kid. Elder ward
emailed me from home... crazy he's on the other side of the world now.. I
just saw him last week... but anyways we had a miracle a occur this week. A while back we were going through our area book and found this kid who
was a former investigator, so we called him up to see if he would meet
with us. He said he liked to run, so we set up a time to go running with
him. We found out that he was leaving for Seattle the following week,
so we weren't going to be able to teach him. We just gave a short
lesson on prayer and the Book of Mormon. The next week we were
finding at the MTR, and I met a lady who was willing to talk with me. She told us that she had a son who used to investigate our church. We
ended up finding out that she was the mom of that kid. She was really
nice but wasn't willing to hear our message or anything. We didn't want
to push her cuz she was nice, so we just left it at that.
Anyways, she would walk her dogs at the MTR a lot and would see us finding. We would talk to her from time to time, not really about the gospel very often but just chat. Then eventually she invited us to dinner because we told her that we would be away from home for 2 years, and she said that was too long to not have a meal made by your mom, haha. Plus I think she was sad because her son was in Seattle, and she missed him. So, we go to this cheng out not expecting too much. After dinner we asked if we could share a short message. She said that would be ok, so we read 1 nephi 1:1 and talked about families, and the Book of Mormon, really simple and fast, only a few minutes. Then she started talking about her family, which lead to her past and then she started saying how she didn't know God's will for her, and she was confused. She's had a hard life, and had to get divorced and stuff. She said she told us stuff she never even told her kids. Then she asked if she could come to church. She said that because she saw us working so hard everyday, getting rejected, sometimes really meanly but never retorting - that our motives must be to bring people to Christ and have Christ like love. I never thought about it. I'm really excited and hope it works out. She would be such an awesome Relief Society president. I know that God gave us this one, and it was not the one we expected.. but I guess it normally isn't. Anyways, just something I'm excited about and wanted to share.
Anyways, she would walk her dogs at the MTR a lot and would see us finding. We would talk to her from time to time, not really about the gospel very often but just chat. Then eventually she invited us to dinner because we told her that we would be away from home for 2 years, and she said that was too long to not have a meal made by your mom, haha. Plus I think she was sad because her son was in Seattle, and she missed him. So, we go to this cheng out not expecting too much. After dinner we asked if we could share a short message. She said that would be ok, so we read 1 nephi 1:1 and talked about families, and the Book of Mormon, really simple and fast, only a few minutes. Then she started talking about her family, which lead to her past and then she started saying how she didn't know God's will for her, and she was confused. She's had a hard life, and had to get divorced and stuff. She said she told us stuff she never even told her kids. Then she asked if she could come to church. She said that because she saw us working so hard everyday, getting rejected, sometimes really meanly but never retorting - that our motives must be to bring people to Christ and have Christ like love. I never thought about it. I'm really excited and hope it works out. She would be such an awesome Relief Society president. I know that God gave us this one, and it was not the one we expected.. but I guess it normally isn't. Anyways, just something I'm excited about and wanted to share.
We got to go on this picnic with the yuen yih
ward. Sooooo cool. Way up in the mountains there is a bamboo forest and an
awesome lake. Oh, also guess what? So there was this HUGE fire right outside
of Kamtin last week. I thought we were going to have to evacuate, but
they got in under control. It burned the whole mountain that is outside
our window and we have to look at a black mountain
instead of a green one. But that night it was all orange, soooo coool.
So, jacket season is coming up, well it actually already
started after general conference, but it's been hot so President Hawks
delayed it for a few weeks. Anyways, I needed to get a black jacket so I
could wear it with any black pants because the suit that I brought
with me is blue with pin stripes, so i can only wear those pants.. and
after a few days of that they get nasty.. so 6 months is probably stretching it. Anyways, I bought a suit jacket today in Monkok for $268
(that's like $33 American, haha). I
really want a p-day I can just relax, but they are busier than normal
days. I'm glad you got the card!! Yeah, Kamtin is really the
only area in the mission like that. Everywhere else is exactly how you
would imagine it. Yeah, that was a lesson about faith, if you have
a sure foundation (keep you hand steady) then the lord will help you
over come your trials. I tried it, too... it burned my hand, haha,
guess I don't have enough faith. I didn't realize there were a lot of
people speaking in that video, that's funny.
The language isss... coming. I think. I can understand more than I can say myself, but it is coming. Still struggle everyday. I don't know how long that will last, but I'll
get there eventually. Alec is going to be a boss missionary. I tell every philly I come
across, cuz there are a ton in China, that I have a brother going to Baguio, and they're all like "whaaa that's the best
place in the Philippines!!"
We found this kid the other day
who is half black half Asian. He
loves basketball, so we told him if he wanted we could play with him, if,
after we played we taught him a little about our church. So we played,
and he was ok, especially for Hong Kong. There aren't very many good
basketball players here. Anyways, he thinks I'm like the end all, be all, NBA star for America. So he keeps calling me coach and compares me to
this guy called the professor (he's like the one white dude on the And 1
streetball team, ya know like the harlam glob trotters stuff)
anyways it's kinda funny. But he also has potential. Unfortunately, he
doesn't live in our area, so we have to turn him over to the yeun yih
elders, but it's whatever. We're moving the work along in every way we
can.
I'm starting a Christmas list for anyone interested, haha. Number one on the list.. deodorant because I can't find it anywhere. I
don't understand.. there are a TON of body sprays and stuff but no
actual deodorant. Weird right? You'd think everyone would stink but
they don't.. I don't know what the trick is, but I guess apparently it's
too hot for deodorant and it melts here.. but I don't know if that's a valid
excuse. Well, I love all of you! Keep the faith, never give up.
Love,
Love Elder Mikesell / Mahk Jeung Louh / 麥長君
PICTURES!!! AUGUST - OCTOBER 2013
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