ELDER BALLARD COMING, DEEP CLEANING APARTMENTS & NEW INVESTIGATOR

Hey! So, I don't know if I told you guys yet, but Elder Ballard is coming to Hong Kong next week, so we will be able to meet him and get taught by him on Wednesday or Thursday. That will be cool. It's funny because he's coming exactly 1 year after Elder Holland came back in 2014. We are pretty blessed because all the general authorities come through Hong Kong to get into Asia, so we get to see them. This week was good. We had a little bit of a rough start because everyone was celebrating New Years, so no one was free to meet with us. Every year in the second day of the New Years we do a deep clean of the apartments, so that was good. It takes all day, but it's fun and different, and there aren't very many people willing to talk on that day anyway. It's kind of like Christmas day in the states. 

The other Hung Shui Kiu elder's investigator, Tyler, finally got baptized on Sunday which was suppper cool. He has been really ready for a long time now, but he has had ridiculous family opposition, but he decided finally that his parents weren't going to change any time soon, so he just got baptized without them knowing. He's in the early 20's, so it's not like it was against the law or anything. President Hawks came all the way up to see the baptism, it was really cool. Also, the other newest recent convert, Ken, in our ward (he was baptized a week before I got to Hung Shui Kiu), introduced his girlfriend to the church, and she got baptized like a week or two ago as well, which was cool. She lives in Castle Peak Bay Ward. She also got a ton of anti from her mom and sister, but she's toughing it out. 

We were struggling to find a new investigator these past weeks until yesterday after church. We went out in the rain to find and ran into this young man named David. He's pretty cool. We taught him a lesson on the street, committed him to a baptismal date and rescheduled him! So that was awesome. I really hope he shows up. Sometimes people will listen and act interested and then never answer their phone or meet again, but he seemed pretty genuine. I've only given a baptismal date out on the street a few times, and it was cool that he accepted. Anyways, things are still going along. There is always opposition. We also ran into a guy the other day who kept telling us that our Bishop had 40 wives because he read it on the internet. Another time we were talking to a nice kid when some other guys, who he didn't even know freaked out when they saw us, grabbed him and told him that we were a cult from the devil. It gets absolutely ridiculously frustrating at times the ignorant, literal hatred I've felt from people who are "Christians". A lot of the times the Buddhist and Baai sahn people are nicer, but sometimes they will make fun of Christ, too. We will knock on doors and people will answer and not know who we are and be really nice until they realize that we are Christian missionaries and then say, "Go away Jesus, never come back!" Super sad. But, there are diamonds in the rough. It just takes a lot to get to them before their friends do. A missionary said, speaking of the "golden investigator", true gold will withstand the refiners fire. 

Keep up the good work guys, I love ya. Never quit, just keep swimming.

Love,

Elder Mak

PAISANO'S PIZZA CHALLENGE: 2 PEOPLE, 20 MINUTES AND A 24" PIZZA... OUR TEAM LOST!

February 15, 2015

Hey family! So, last week we went to Discovery Bay to try the Paisano's pizza challenge. 2 people, 20 minutes and a 24" pizza... There were 6 of us, 3 teams of 2.. and two teams won... ours lost. Hahahahaha! I ate about 3 1/2 pieces and my teammate, Elder Goronson, ate a little less... It was pretty embarrassing. He had won the challenge before, too!! I dunno what happened. We prepped and everything!! Elder Anderson ate 5 slices, there are 8 in the pizza, which I didn't think was physically possible. It was incredible. I felt terrible for the rest of the day. I almost threw up like twice, haha. 

Other than that we are doing well. Been working really hard with Blair, our investigator. She's been investigating for a long time and hasn't really progressed, but last week we had a breakthrough. We read 1 Nephi 8 with her and explained the vision, read and talked about the scripture. No formal lesson or anything. It went really well, and she told us it really helped her. She read ten chapters last week and really likes it now. So, it's super good. 

Other than that, we've had a kind of slower week. It's New Years, so people are really hard to schedule. Everyone just tells us to call after New Years, so we've just been out finding. But after February we should have more lined up. Love you guys! Thanks for everything! Keep swimming. Never quit. 

Love,

Elder Mak

ELDER COPELY, GOOD WARD, COOLEST THING... LETTER WRITTEN OVER A YEAR AND A HALF AGO!!!

Hey! Yeah - Abo left Saturday and won't be back until after New Years in March... He went to his home town in Saichyun, which is like half way between here and Beijing. Blair goes up and down, but she's doing okay. Not too stoked about the commandments, believes they are pretty restricting. Though, I don't think she realizes she keeps most of them anyway. She just can't go shopping on Sunday.

Elder Copely is doing a lot better. He is from Canada, but his mom is originally from Gwongjau which is the region just above Hong Kong in mainland, so she spoke Cantonese, but he never learned. His dad is white, so they just spoke English in the home. It's kind of rough because people sometimes ridicule him for being half Chinese but not being able to speak, even though it's not his fault. 

Our ward is pretty good size. It's the same ward Sister Moody used to serve in when I was in Kam Tin. Members are pretty good, willing to help with lessons and stuff. No, they don't really feed us. Except for the mission leader's wife on Sunday's will make us lunch and the Bishop's wife will sometimes give us stuff. But it's good. 

Sounds like all is going pretty well!! OH Kelly!!! I have to tell you the coolest thing!!! So, I don't know if you remember, but a loooong time ago you wrote a letter for an investigator we had in Kam Tin who had an autistic son. We were never able to show it to her, though, because she dropped off the face of the earth and got eaten by the mainland monster. I don't really remember this, but apparently I gave the letter to my companion when I left who kept it and then gave it to the next ones after that and so on. Until just a month or so ago, the missionaries there got a hold of her after looking at some old records that I made for her. It had her address and so they stopped by. She was there and by the next lesson they brought that letter, translated it and read it to her. I guess she just cried and cried and then accepted a baptismal date and is doing really well now, so good job!!!! Haha, I heard about it last week at zone training meeting. Keep up the good work!! Love you guys!! Add oil!!

Love,

Elder Mak

ABO DOING GREAT, BLAIR STILL DOING GOOD, SAD THAT BROTHER MOK PASSED AWAY OF CANCER

January 25, 2015

Hey family, so we are still doing well out here in Hung Shui Kiu. A-bo is doing great, he was sick yesterday but still came to sacrament. He'll be gone for a month for the New Years, but he'll be baptized when he gets back. Blair got a new job and wasn't able to come to church on Sunday, so we were sad about that, but she is still trying to come and she is reading scriptures, so it's still good. She finally told us her major concern with baptism, that she is afraid after baptism she won't be able to endure to the end and when she gets married, she's worried about the whole interfaith marriage problem. 

Last Monday we went to a super cool old Buddhist temple. It is one of the 3 oldest in all of Hong Kong and the "birthplace of Buddhism" in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee trained there and filmed "Enter the Dragon", too. It was super cool. I'll send you guys pics. Unfortunately, though, we had a big blow on Sunday. Brother Mok, our investigator who was sooo awesome passed away Saturday night. He had cancer and went to the hospital on Monday. We were able to visit him once before he died. Our ward mission leader and us gave him another priesthood blessing a few days before he went to the hospital. The ward is doing well with helping the family. They, so far, haven't been too receptive of the gospel, but have, I feel, felt and noticed the love that we have tried to give with dinners and visits and prayers and fasting... Elder Colpey (my companion) is taking it pretty hard. He found Brother Mok months ago before it was this bad and has seen the whole progression. His mom also died of cancer a few years ago, so he's struggling. Other than that we've just been pushing along. Thanks for all the support. Love you guys. 

Love,
Elder Mak 

CRAZY POVERTY, GIANT MAZES, WILD DOGS & A NEW INVESTIGATOR

January 12, 2015

I'm good. We do a lot of finding, but I'm used to it, so it's not too bad. We do a lot of door knocking here which is never a dull moment. I've seen some of the craziest things I've ever seen here in Hung Shui Kiu. Crazy poverty, where people live in tin shacks with tarps as their roofs, but then spend everything they have on a new phone. Some people live up in the mountains where, I kid you not, you would think you were in the amazon rain forest, the green trees are so thick. I've also seen some really cool ancient Chinese temples, statues, villages, and shrines that I've been told are older than America. It is a very different type of Hong Kong. Most people live in 1-4 story apartment complexes that are built so close to each other in villages that all there is in between sometimes is 8 inches of space. They are like giant mazes with endless alleyways and streams running between them. Super creepy at night but way cool. The down side is the dogs. There are TONS of wild dogs running around and sometimes they keep us from getting places because they will block paths or gates or something. Most of the time, if you come across a big pack, you just stand your ground and get big, back up slowly, and they won't do anything to you but growl and bark. Maybe follow you for a while but not much more than that. Just super annoying.

We were able to find a new investigator who accepted a baptismal date, though. His name is A-bo. He's 18 years old and super cool. He is from mainland and doesn't really know anything about religion, but he's really interested and willing to learn. He came to church on Sunday and really liked it. We haven't gotten any referrals yet, but we are hoping to soon. They don't come everyday, but our ward mission leader is a boss and is helping us work closely with the ward.

I love you guys! Keep up the good work. Never quit. Just keep swimming.

Love,
Elder Mak

CONTACTING ALONG THE COAST, UP 25% FROM LAST YEAR, CHECK OUT "HE IS THE GIFT" ON YOUTUBE

Hey! Yeah, my area is suppper pretty. We contact people along the coast a lot. It's been really cold, though, the last week or so, especially because it's right off the ocean. Yeah, seeing Sister Gok get baptized was awesome. She was the second of two Popo's (grandmas) that were baptized this month in Ma On Shan. The first was Sister Lee who is 91 years old. The oldest active member in Hong Kong, haha. Ken is scheduled for the 14... it will be awesome. 

The work has picked up here in the last year. There has been a huge push from a lot of people, and just the attitude and spirit of missionary work has changed here in Hong Kong in the last year. We are up 25% from last year, and the year isn't over. We are striving for another 65 in December like we did in July as a Gift for Christ. By the way, have you seen what the church is doing with "He is the Gift" initiative? It's pretty huge. Total YouTube takeover in several countries for several days, ads all over the work and a huge push with social media. They are hoping all get involved. It's super cool. If you guys haven't seen it, check it out, and SHARE it!! It's a great way to do member missionary work! The Church is pushing more social media/internet missionary work.  

YouTube "He Is The Gift"

That's soooooo cool that you guys are doing all that stuff for missionary work!!! That's by far the best gift I could ever get. Yeah, Lions Rock was super fun. It took about an hour to get up. I'm in SUCH BAD SHAPE! I almost died, haha. It's really sad, especially when I think about what I could do when I devoted so much time to exercise, that it's all gone, haha. But, anyway, no we only went with one other companionship. We aren't allowed to go in big groups. Christmas is good here. It's not a huge thing, though. In the Church it's more, but most people don't really celebrate it. New Year's in February is HUGE though. The best thing is to be able to sing Christmas songs, haha and remember the Savior. Also, I love being cold. It's sooo much better than being hot, haha. 

As assistants we didn't really eat much different than any other missionary. Here in Ma On Shan, though, the members love to feed missionaries. I've eaten more food from members here, than in my entire mission! Thanks so much for the blades!! I love you guys, keep up the good missionary work! Keep the faith, never quit. Just keep swimming. GAI YAUH! Love you!

Elder Mak

NEW AREA MA ON SHAN, DOING A LITTLE RECON FOR PRESIDENT, CAME IN RIGHT AS THEIR 81 YEAR OLD INVESTIGATOR GOT BAPTIZED!

December 7, 2014

My new area Ma On Shan.

Well, I got kicked out last week. I'm in an area called Ma On Shan. It's an absolutely beautiful place. I've always wanted to serve here, though I was told I will probably only be here for a couple weeks. I'll most likely get moved at the transfer. I was put here because one of the Elder's, Elder Pincock, went home with the early group in the move. He's been having some health problems, so he just chose the early of the two transfers. He's a boss, though, he went 8 months with only one lung in Kwun Tong before the doctors figured out what the problem was. It's a super hilly place, too. Walking those hills is hard by itself, and I assume having one lung is too, but together is crazy. Anyways, I was sent to fill his place until the move and to do a little recon for potential trainers in my area. I'm serving with Elder Lam right night. I was actually with Elder Lam in Aberdeen about a year ago, haha. It doesn't happen often, especially in Cantonese work, that you go back with old companions. In Mandarin it's more frequent, but it still doesn't happen a ton. So far, it's been great.

I came in right as their investigator got baptized! She's an 81 year old grandma and mom of some members in the ward. She actually reminds me a lot of my grandma, haha (EXCEPT OLDER!!!  I know, I know..) It was cool to see, though, because she had been investigating for two years and had strong ties to ancestral worship and tea drinking. But, now she's working on getting sealed in the temple with her family. Pretty awesome. Well, I love you guys, keep up the good work. Never quit, just keep swimming, GAI YAUH!!

Elder Mak