My awesome companion- Sis. Killpack.

Star Ferry

I think this is the most expensive building the church has ever built (because of the land more than then bulding itself..downtown Hong Kong Island...hou gwai)

Christmas tree!  Thanks mom!

Christmas decorations!

My calloused knees - so much praying on tile floors!

Hello Family!

I hope you're doing well. How's Nana? I love our family. So glad we have each other. I want to thank you, mom, for the incredible package. I just felt so overwhelmed with your love as I opened it. I cant imagine how much effort you put into that. I cant wait for December to start the countdown! It's the biggest temptation I've had in a really long time not to open up those letters at the bottom of the package haha. I put the box at the end of my bed, and everynight, I do everythinig I can not to sneak a peak haha. So thank you. I can't thank you enough. I love you so much. And Jack! Thank you! I hung up my Hong Kong drawing you gave me right above my desk! I forgot to take a picture of it, but I'll take one this week and send it to you :) you're the best bud.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I love this time of the year. so much to be grateful for, specifically you guys! We have an incredible family.

I feel boring...sorry, it's been a maahn maahn kind of week. We have a family we're teaching though! Well, a couple, but a family haha. They just visited their son in Toronto. Loved Canada. They're doing great. Have problems with tea. but we'll get over that. So that's been exciting. We took the young women out finding with us yesterday, which was fun, but kind of tricky haha. We've been trying to get involved with the youth in this ward, because it's stronger than most wards. But we had a group of 6 of us walking around with book of mormons, and all these cute 14 year olds girls swarming people on the street haha. They were so excited. and nervous and shy.  But they were awesome. The members here are going to be powerful leaders in the church. They sacrifice so much. So much of they're lives are devoted to building and sustaining the church. It's hard to see it fall on so few people, but they are so incredible and serve so much.
I loved this woman in Kwun Tong ward named Sister Law Poon. She's from Thailand. She's like the Queen of the Thai's here in Hong Kong. Every sunday she would walk in with an army of neighbors or friends who she would bring to church with her, whether they were 80 year old pohpoh's or 17 year old punk boys who live nearby her. They all just love and admire and respect her, so when she tells them to come, they come! haha. She was awesome. But she individually would visit 20+ sisters every week, to make sure they were ok. see where they were or why they weren't coming. She would cancel doctor appointments to help us fellowship. (We had to be very careful ever asking her to help because we knew she would drop everything). It was incredible for me to see her testimony and desire to help the Savior. She never considered it a sacrifice. It always came first. I think she is going to be one of the most powerful lessons I learn on this mission, just that attitude of service. It's incredible. On one occasion I asked her why she did so much. Why she sacrificed so much. And she shared with me about her daughter. She would have been about my age, but she had passed away in a car accident about 5 years ago. Until that time she had never fully recognized or appreciated all the blessings she had in her life. She thought about being angry at Heavenly Father, but then thought - how could she? He had blessed her with 17 incredible years with an absolute gift from God, and continued to bless her peace and the feeling of his care and that everything would be alright after she had passed away. she loved her daughter, and would do everything she could to serve the Savior after everything she had been blessed with. And that's why she loved helping us so much. And she considered us to be as if we were her daughter. I love her. She's an incredible woman.

Alright, sorry, I'm out of time. But I love you all and miss you so much.
Take care of each other.

Love hannah

Nana - Week 30

Hey Nana :) Just wanted to drop another note to you. I know I am literally just one of thousands of people whose life you have influenced and who love you dearly, but I wanted to write you anyway. A drop in the ocean :) You have an ocean of love and care and awe in your behalf :) What a perfect example of how one person, can make such a huge difference in the world. And you do it one by one, with each individual person. So thank you for always making me feel so loved and cared about. My dad sent me a great letter about his visit with you this last week, and I wanted to include it, just to show you how much you matter to people.

"Nana is absolutely more amazing than I have ever been remotely aware of. She is being ravaged by cancer throughout her body. She can't eat. Has chosen to let nature take its course, will not be nourished by I.V. .  Hannah, she has never appeared to me more intellectual, more wise, beautiful, kind, so full of love. She is just radiant, glowing with love and the spirit. She exhibits peace and a calming sense of joy. Her complete focus is on her family knowing how special they are and how proud she is of each and every one of her posterity. She just intensely pierces your soul and makes sure you know how much she loves you. Absolutely zero fear. Just unfathomable love and certainty. People walk in (100's per day while I was there) expecting to cheer her up. But they leave buoyed up. Angel, if you want an example of incredible grace, your Nana has just raised the bar.  Hannah, I really had no idea how deeply she has touched so many people. So much emotion by so many people of all ages. I am so proud. I hope you can turn your emotions into positive energy for good like she is right now."

You're amazing Nana, I love you. Thank you for not becoming a nun like you had planned haha. But seriously, your example and strength to grab on to this gospel is the greatest gift you could give to any of us, and you did it whole-heartedly, and then devoted your life to it. And I love you for that. I know this gospel it true. And I hope to follow your footsteps and life with the same certainty you did. Your works back up your testimony, and you really are a legacy to me :) If anything I really just want you to know that you have a grand-daughter who has benefited from your testimony and decisions, and that my testimony is a branch off yours. It's probably the only thing I can really say that has much worth. I know the Savior lives, and that he lives for us. I know that Heavenly Father is a God of purpose, and he knows us personally. I know that the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is restored on earth, and it brings us joy. The Book of Mormon is true, and gives me strength. I know that families matter, and that the power of Heavenly Father seals us together. I absolutely know that Priesthood power is real, and I am so grateful to have a father who gave me opportunities to feel that for myself. The Atonement brings joy and fills holes and gives us potential. I love that I have the opportunity to share that transformation and joy with others. And I am so grateful for it. 

I love you Nana. And I love gump. Give him a hug for me.

My time's up, or else I could keep writing all day :)

Love you Nana. Have a good day today! 

Love hannah

...slap slap slap

Family! so good to hear about your life. Danny's a cutie. And Nana looks great! How fun everyone can visit and check in on her. I'm so happy for Katy! The MTC was a great experience, and I'm sure the Mexico MTC has all sorts of fun additions and experiences. She'll be a killer missionary. oh, that's exciting.

Well what else? It's been a week. ha - It's been more than a week! We had the opportunity to go to the Temple today, so Pday was pushed back. So good things have been happening. But it's been a tough week too. I have been feeling a little inadequate as a missionary. We need to build this area, but I don't know how much I'm helping, in all honesty. President Bednar once said something along the lines of how the Spirit teaches these people and helps them come unto Christ, and we just need to not get in the way. But I feel like I'm always in the way! We've had several solid potential investigators who have lost interest, and we've lost them. And the other day we had another 7 hour finding day and came up with nothing. Even on other long finding days when we get 4 or 5 street lessons and reschedule a couple of them, they seem to always fall through. I'm trying to stay happy, but my body hurts. I am so excited to crawl into bed each night, but I'll wake up 3 or 4 times throughout the night because I hurt somewhere, or my leg keeps cramping up. And then I dread getting out of bed in the morning because putting pressure back on my feet make them ache. I'm exhausted. We're working hard, really, I feel like we are, but I don't feel like it's making much of a difference. Sucks to suck, eh Camilla? :)

So I've been having negative thoughts lately. And I've noticed that as I recognize all the bad things that happen, then everything that happens is bad (weird ha). On that 7 hour finding day, Sister Killpack and I felt like we were just getting hit with one thing after another, to the point where we were just expecting everything to go bad. to fail. And we were right! That day was a good lesson to me that you are what you think in a lot of ways. I love this quote we have on one of our mission handouts, "To a great extent we accomplish what we think about. Your life is influenced more by your own thoughts than anything else. How could a person possibly become what he is not thinking? Nor is any thought, when persistently entertained, too small to have its effect. The "divinity that shapes our end is indeed in ourselves."

Heavenly Father knows my capacity perfectly. I really believe that. And he knows how to stretch us. I especially believe that. But I know that he did not put us here to fail. We've been pre-tained for this life, for our responsibilities, for our challenges. That's a neat thought for me, and gives me little more understanding why Elder Bednar said to just not get in the way.

I was reading in Nephi about when he broke his bow of fine steel, and made another one out of wood and a straight stick. And as I read that, I kind of felt like the pile of wood he had to make work to go slay beasts and feed his family. But I believe in the power of heaven and especially the power of the atonement. And I know I need to be patient, and continue to work, and have faith, but I also know that we are made better than what we give. And I've been finding comfort in that as my and Sister Killpack try to share the gospel with these people.  And I know I have it better than I even know, and especially as this is November and close to Thanksgiving, I've been trying to be more grateful and happy and I can already see the blessings by doing that.

I have a new great friend named Ken. He's the Elder's investigator, but we escorted him home last night (he's blind). Such a good, funny guy. Has a degree in Electrical engineering and Physics, so he thinks we're best friends now because I did math haha. He loves listening to Tongan radio, and now, the book of mormon! So that's fun. We had a fun walk. He lives alone and tries to find jobs here and there, but it's been interesting to me to see how drawn he is to the Savior and the Spirit. I mean, I'm sure he depends on his other senses a lot more than I do, so it's been a powerful lesson to me to watch how he relies on his feelings, and really, already has such a unique and powerful relationship with the Spirit. What a great guy.

What else, Wendy (from Kwun Tong) started menopause, so she gave us all the pads she has stored up in her house haha. I still can't get over that haha. People show there love here in violent ways!  The other day I came home with a big red mark on my right arm.  We had another long finding day, and taught 3 different lessons where they just kept slapping me on the arm. Like an over-exaggerated love pat. But they would be saying such nice things while they say it, but slap, slap slap...such a good person...slap slap slap....wow, so smart cantonese....slap slap slap....thoughtful friend....slap slap slap. Sister Killpack made it out with out the abuse, but at the end of the day she and I just laughed at how brutal it was. It was hilarious.

Things are good. And I am so blessed to get to serve here. I love this place, and I love the people. And I love you guys! I keep you in my prayers every day, and miss you so much. Hope everyone has a good week. I should get going, but I love you!

Love Hannah

Walking, Finding, Praying & Callouses

Hey! Happy Birthday dad!! Sangyaht Faailohk, baba!

Hope everyone's doing well. I'm afraid I dont have much to report either. I did a really bad job at writing in my journal this week, so I'm having a hard time remembering what happened. I take time to think back on it today, so dont worry! Things in Sham Shui Po are good! We had stake conference this weekend. Sundays are always the most exhausting for me, which is funny. Everyone just speaks so fast at church, and they always talk really loud and in your face, and it's hard to process it. And then they get really impatient and annoyed as you try to mumble back an answer haha. Every Sunday. But that's ok. They secretly love us, I know it... Chinese just dont say it or act like it, that's all :) No really, they're great. I'm continually impressed at how much work the members here are constantly doing to build up their wards. Seriously, the idea of modern day pioneers has such a different meaning to me now than it used to. They sacrifice so much.

Gam, we did a lot of finding this week. One day we walked from Sham Shui Po, all the way through Kowloon Tong and up to Tsz Wan Sam. I dont know if you can find that on a map or not, but it was a lot of walking and a lot of hills. But we have built up our teaching pool! we are working with 8 people. 1 part member family, another couple, a couple college students, a mom and daughter. It's so fragile right now, but we're excited. We were especially excited for this woman named Lala. she was so great. We taught her the restoration and she accepted a baptismal date. She was excited and loved Jospeh Smith's experience. So we called her on Saturday night to see where we could meet her to  go to Stake Conference, and she threw down the "many wives" card, and doesn't want to meet with us anymore, or hear us out. So that was a blow. We're still hopeful to work it out with her, because really, we could clear it up with her so quick.

There is so much anti stuff here, it's amazing. School teachers warn their students of us. Churches here are literally like businesses. There are so many Christian churches and they usually have private schools with them. And every student goes to a private church school. It just feels like the idea of choosing a church based on what you believe, rather than on what is convenient or a good school, or gives you the best accommodations is a completely foreign concept. I understand and respect people who reject us when they genuinely just have different beliefs a lot more. But you know, to each his own. It's hard though when people really do just treat us like such a mahfaan. I'm not sure how to describe that word. Just an overall general way to describe something that you dont like. Literally, we walk away from some people feeling like we should apologize for living haha. But I get it, some missionaries are overbearing and dont respect people's agency or viewpoints. I guess I think it's really important to be tactful and respectful of what people think. I've seen a lot of missionaries try to force people into listening to us, and that is annoying. And with so much added finding experience these last few weeks, I'm gaining my own opinions of what's appropriate. And it's helping! we have some good conversations. So it's been a fun week. A very tiring week, but a fun week. We've met a lot of great people.

Sorry, I didn't have much to write about, so I went off on a tangent that is completely unrelated to much of anything ha. sorry. But hey, I got Morgan's postcard! Thank you! I was so excited to get mail! And now I have a great Carson City postcard on my desk nexct to the pictures of my family. Home means Nevada! Oh, and I need to take a picture of these models in this suit store. There's some really nice suit store in a mall next to our apartment, and one of the advertisement model guys looks like Tommy! Seriously, though. Later today I'll take a picture and send it next week. It makes me miss our family.

And I realized the real reason we have to wear such long skirts that cover our knees....this week we have been doing so much praying, that literally, I have callouses forming on my knees haha. Ugly? ya, a little. hence the long skirts. brilliant :)

Alright, I love you all. Happy birthday dad! you're the best dad any of us could have ever asked for! Thanks for always being such a good example for us kids. We look up to you more than you know. Especailly me. Thanks for helping me become who I am :) Love you dad
Love, hannah