Me and lam Jimuih

Yihm Jimuih was baptized!

Almost got her to smile...!

Market

Excuse the gifted pajamas!

Wendy, who I love. With her new haircut!

Apartment buildings

Family!
I have been kicked out of the promised land of Kwun Tong, and to be completely honest...I'm super sad about it. That area was special, and Lam Jimuih and I were working well. But I will continue to live with the Kwun Tong sisters, so I'll get to hear all about the area. So I'm glad about that. Because we had 5 solid people preparing for baptism, and I've just grown to love these people in ways I didn't know I could. Actually, I guess 4 now. One was baptized on Sunday! Haha Yihm Jimuih. She was our least solid out of all of them. she just thinks differently, and we weren't sure if she really was prepared. But our District leaders felt like she was, and President Hawks talked to us about it, and after some time of studying together and praying together, we felt like it was ok. I wasn't there, but this cracked me up....usually after the ordinance, we all meet back in the chapel and they can bear their testimony. Remember how Yihm Jimuih was having struggles with that a few months ago? haha ya..she read the articles of faith for her testimony. hahaha I cant stop laughing when I think about it, but I also cant help but want to cry. Not that anything is wrong with the Article of Faith. I just wish I could explain her for you. but you know, she has such a pure desire. And she gets so jittery and excited. I dont remember much about my baptsim, but I remember feeling so happy and jittery, and I couldn't sit still. Maybe we're more similar than I thought :)

But I am now in Sham Shui Po, with Sister Killpack. I'll attach some pictures. Please ignore my super attractive night gown. It was a gift, and I am so grateful to not sleep in my sweaty work out clothes :) But SSP will be good. It's very different. We have 2 universities, and a couple more wealthy neighborhoods. We serve with the AP's and the online office elders, and our chapel is part of the mission office, just across the street from the temple. So it's beautiful. But the people are different. I dont see a lot of old sweaty men with their dirty tank tops rolled up resting on top of their bellies. And for some weird reason, I miss that. And we dont really eat in the street markets or bakeries here. Everything's in these huge expensive clean malls. So different. but still good. Sister Killpack has been in hong kong 2 months, so I'm senior. It was nice with lam jimuih, because when I couldn't understand what someone was saying in a lesson (which was more often than not haha), I dind't have to worry too much about it. We actually had a good system, because lam jimuih would repeat what they said, so I could understand what was going on..."so you're saying...." because you can understand people you talk with more often, better than strangers. But now it's me and the spirit haha. And to be honest, we haven't had any huge catastrophes yet. Actually, last night we had an incredible street lesson! she had incredible questions and ended up talking with us for probably 35-40 minutes. And dont take this the wrong way, because honestly, I'll never be fluent with this language, but I held a 35-40 minute conversation with her! and it was good! And I walked away knowing that the spirit really does make us more than what we are and helps us out. I think this is going to be a very spiritually stretching transfer, because we're going to have to work hard and really learn to depend on the Lord, and the spirit. This area doesn't have a lot going on right now. The sisters before did mostly recent convert after baptism lessons, and caught up a lot of rc's. We'll continue to support them and occasionally meet, but we're not going to focus on that anymore. So we're kind of starting new. The past few days we had 6 or 7  hour finding days, and I think that's what it's going to look like for awhile. And my companion is a little shy, and has only been here two months, so she isn't super familiar with the area or the people in the ward. so it's going to be a lot of building. But I'm excited!
Alright, I would write more, but I'm going to figure out how to send pictures.
Love you all!

Hannah

I looooovvveee Kwun Tong!

(Hey all!  Just a note - Abbey won homecoming queen, Yay - her!  Tommy got a great job at Adobe, Yay him!  And Tom, Tommy, and Camilla are flying up to Canada for a quick trip to visit - so Yay for them.  Hopefully they get to see some of you.  Love you all. We are blessed.)

Wow!!!
Congratulations Abbey girl!!!! you look beautiful! how fun! And how grown up jack and danny look! And dad looks great! He's always pulled the tux look off really well. I feel like I let the family down haha...every one else was part of the homecoming celebration! But you guys look great :)

And that sounds like a dream job that tommy got. What an awesome opportunity. He's going to be so good!
I hope they have a good trip up to Canada. Nana and Gump are amazing, and I hope she feels better soon. Put them to work nana and gump!

It's been a good week here, but I'm terrified I might get transferred...which would make me sad. I love kwun tong....Loooovvveeee Kwun Tong. I could finish my mission here and be just fine with it. But we got a new companion from Macau this last week, so we're in a tripanionship right now, which means one of us is jauhing on thursday. And I've been here the longest....and the sister from macau has only been out for 2 months, .....so, I'm guessing they'll put the native with her here in Kwun Tong. But that's ok. We'll see what happens! I'll let you know next week!

So you know how we've been making a special effort to talk to potential priesthood holders (specifically about the book of mormon haha)....it's working! We've found several new investigators that we've passed over to the elders. One of them happened while we sat down at this bench under a tree. We had met a woman the day before and arranged to meet her there the next day to explain more about the Book of Mormon...she fonged us. stood us up. But right as we sat down, I had the thought, "This is prime bird poop zone." Literally 2 seconds later, a bird pooped on Lam jimuih's arm. I started laughing at her, and then...splat. Got me on the leg. We sat up and started laughing and wiping it off, and I noticed this man across from us watched the entire thing, so I started talking to him about bird poop...i know, not the smoothest introduction.... but we ended up talking to him for a while and he ended up accepting a baptism invitation. So that was cool! First time a successfully gave out a baptismal invite on the street haha. But he's cool. His name's Jimmy. We passed him over to the Elders too, so we're keeping them busy! But now we need to build up our own teaching pool, so it's back to the strollers. And teenage girls with their phones....those are the most difficult because they usually just want to take pictures with us, which is fine if they'll listen to us, but I'm guessing we're on a lot of stranger's facebook pages. And every other sentence is about america. or taylor swift. or our elders. Hard to keep them on track haha. But we'll keep trying. Sometimes things will stick.
And Wendy. I need to get a picture of her for you. We knocked on her door again to read scriptures. She yelled something back that I couldn't understand. I can never understand what she yells back. But she answers with this wet rag draped over her head haha. I cant get the image out of my mind, but I'm sad I dont have enough time to adequately describe it. Just this wet pink rag or scarf hanging off her head in all directions. She was cutting her hair, and dying it, and I'm not sure if it was part of the process or she just didn't want us to see it. But we read scriptures with it dripping on our laps haha. Darn, I'm out of time. But I'll explain it more next week. It was just so funny. Best mental image of my mission haha.

Alright, I love you guys. congrats to Tommy and Abbey and everybody else! I'll keep Nana and Gump in my prayers. I love them. They're amazing. Say hi to them for me!
Love hannah

Conference & low ponytails

The ocean's not too big! I feel your prayers and support every day, so thank you. I miss you lots and think about you even more. And I know! The rain storms! I should do a better job at predicting them. The umbrella is just too much added weight haha. Or I'm too lazy. But the sky will look clear and blue, and then out of nowhere it just starts pounding haha. It was fun the first couple times, but now it's just annoying haha :)  The days are flying and running together, but then when I step out, it feels like every week is really like 3 weeks haha. But then it's another email time, and I feel like nothing has changed since last time. It was Lam Jimuih's birthday this week, so that was fun. Birthday's are hard on a mission, but we had a really good day, and celebrated when we could. And then I went on exchanges to Aberdeen, which was fun. But every time I leave Kwun Tong, I am so grateful that this is my area. It's a special place. The people are unique, and I love the places. We've walked around just about every road and path that is in our area, so we know it pretty well. Several times. So, I'd say very well - haha. Oh, I tried to go vegetarian this week and failed. Like within the first day, I failed (McDonalds is what keeps us alive). But after the ward barbeque last week (seriously, so much meat), we went to a korean barbeque with the office elders and the Sham shui po sisters last pday. which equals another overloaded day of meat. So I ate an unusual amount of cucumbers and peppers and carrots. So that was nice. It's hard to eat vegetables here because people here don't eat raw vegetables. They cook everything. People don't trust any food from mainland so they always boil all their food. So Lam Jimuih doesn't let me eat like a salad for example haha. So I eat boiled salad essentially haha. I'll make a salad and then boil it. and then eat it...with chopsticks. and sometimes Lam Jimuih will put oyster sauce on it. And we always eat everything with a bowl of rice. But my chopstick skills are improving, so thats a plus.

And conference was amazing, ya?! Loved it. I didn't bring my notes with me to email, but I love Elder Christofferson's talk. It reminded me alot of the people I'm working with, so I'm excited to study that out a bit more.  And I also really loved Elder Holland's talk. And that Jorg guy? I forgot his name. And I dont know where he's from. But I like how straightfoward he was. And I always love what Elder Eyring has to say.  What I probably got most out of conference was the idea that we are our own agents, and some of the most important use of our agency are sometimes decisions that aren't measurable. I think a lot of agency is used depending on what we put our efforts into, and where our priorities are focused. If we have a desire to be submissive to the will of Heavenly Father, what actions can we do to help us seek out his will, or at least be in a state where we can be prompted to act in a way to follow his will. I think it comes down to those underlying, consistant efforts to deliberately turn back to and remember Heavenly Father. And for me that's a hard thing. Because it's a lot easier to sit back and let the day happen, and be a participant. It's a lot easier to do what I'm supposed to and to be doing just fine and good. But when we step up and put our personal action and our personal effort into the motions we go through, I think there's an important idea there for spiritual growth and receptability to the spirit. I dont know, those are some thoughts I had on conference. It made me want to take more personal repsonsibility and give more personal effort to the small actions I do throughout the day. Which is the goal of a lifetime. But I might as well start chipping away at it. because I think it's only through those small efforts that we'll see change. I think it's a hard characteristic to be able to be patient enough and disciplined enough to have that long term subtle grind and improvement.

This makes absolutley no sense. I still need to write it all out in my journal and figure out what I really think about it all. But you're my parents, so you can probably figure out what I'm trying to think haha. I'm feeling more like the girl I was when I was younger. maybe it's because I wear alot of low middle part ponytails again like I used to haha. but still, I'm grateful for you guys. I miss you alot. I should go, but I 'll talk to you next week! Thanks for the pictures. You all look so great. Nice work Jack :) And how cool thar Abbey is homecoming candidate! You get to wear another tux, Dad! haha. I can't believe she's a senior. Feels like that was just me and you, and I cant wait to see the pictures next week! Good luck! you're beautiful!

Love you!
Hannah

Rewards of Warm Milk

Hello!
Sounds Conference was amazing! I can't wait.  I'll watch it in English. There's no way I would get much in Cantonese. my brain would be mush. I'm at the point where I can pick out a lot of words they use, so my vocab's is ok. But they talk so fast, and the structures are just different enough and takes some process time that I don't catch full sentences. So I get general ideas just fine...but I'm still working on really starting to understand haha.The language is hard haha. Our first night here President Hawks told us no missionary will ever become fluent on their mission. And I'm learning he's right haha. There's no way. We can get by, but probably like a kindergartner haha.

And I love that they talked a lot about prophets! We have a lot friends coming to listen to gain a testimony if God really has a prophet on earth today or not. So that's a score. I love Camilla's picture.

Today there was a slight breeze on the walk over here (at the apple store again, sorry - no pictures) and it was heavenly. Made me think of home ha. And Tommy! Wow! Congratulations! He works so hard, and is so clever. I love the way he thinks. And I'm glad to hear Jack was the engineer of the dirt project.  I miss dirt. Sounds like fun!

I want to send my love to Aunt Maxine and her family. I was telling dad that I feel blessed to be connected to her and her family in any way. She is amazing and loved, and  I know her goodness has reached out and influenced a lot of people, and will continue to do so through her amazing family.

Hong Kong is good from my end. You guys probably know more about what's going on than I do. From here, it seems like such a small part of the population is involved in it, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Every once in a while we'll see blue or yellow ribbons representing the two different sides. And now there are green ones to blend the two together. The only personal interaction I've had with anything was the bus lines that go through Kwun Tong have gotten really big at the end of the night, because it's a popular transfer bus stop for alot of people coming back from Hong Kong Island where the demonstrations are taking place. They're like 6 or 7 people wide and probably go down the street for a quarter of a mile. I've had the thought that you know, we could really try to take the strategy of publishing freedom and get them all wound up about freedom and than hit them with commandments or how obeying Heavenly Father can make us truly free. That could be a really hit or miss sermon I think haha. But lots of people!

But we had a huge success yesterday! Lam Jimuih, my companion, talked to a man when we were out finding about the book of mormon. He wasn't interested, but I was so proud! We've been working with two less actives in our ward named sam and elaine. They are the only members of their families, both got baptized last summer and just kind of disappeared. (That happens a lot here).  They are in what is equivalent to our senior year of high school, and they're preparing for university. The universities here are ridiculously competitive, so byu hawaii is a good option for a lot of youth here. But we got them coming back to church this past august and they're growing so much. Elaine actually helps us teach lessons 1 or 2 times every week. She is set on going to Byu-H for a year and then serving a mission. She makes me miss abbey :) same age. Just a fun, cute, mature, girl who has a natural way of influencing a lot of those around her. But anyway, Sam blessed the sacrament yesterday, and it inspired Lam Jimuih to find more men to hold the priesthood.  Because they're not all evil. haha. She had a bad break up before the mission, so we're still working on that. But big step. I was so happy.

What else....alright, I'm convinced that Americans are missing out when it comes to barbecues. We had a ward bbq, and it was so fun. I have never seen or eaten so much meat. We had like 12 different fire pits going, and every picnic table had 3 or 4 raley's size bags full of raw meat... chicken wings or ribs, or pork chop things. And then fish balls and beef balls and cheese balls. And everyone has a stick and you cook them, and halfway through you smother it with this special honey sauce. Messy, but pretty dang fun. And I got a good tan on my neck and the lower half of my arms. Oh but this is sweet...Our investigator Wendy brought me a litre of boxed milk to share for a drink. It had sat in her bag in the hot sun all day, so it was kind of gross. But really, it was really sweet of her. She lives off of rice and owns maybe 3 shirts and 2 pairs of ripped pants. She was so grateful for us teaching her and helping her change her life, and wanted to give us a gift. Can you believe that? I love her. If she is the only reason I came out here, I would be happy.

Alright, I love you all! Have a great week!
Love hannah