Hey family.
You sound great! Way to go in tennis, Danny. Looks like you will go pro soon enough. Thanks for keeping your hair long. I'm excited to see you. According to your picture, you have incredibly long legs - which means you will be tall. In my mind you still look like the picture we took at Lake Tahoe as a family, because thats what I look at every day.

It was a great week. Things just keep going. Found some new people, taught some old people. I love them. I am so sad. And then again, I'm not. I can't tell you how excited I am to see you. Thank you for the advice on sleeping and all that. I'm not sure I'll find a phone to call you. I'll try, but I might just plan on seeing you in Reno.

President Lam organized a fireside for all the departing missionaries to invite people they met throughout their mission - investigators, recent converts, less actives, members, other friends- to come and hear our last missionary testimonies. It was a very sweet thing. We each just took a few testimony to share what we've learned. Tuen mun (where I live now) is just too far for people to go, and I figured if they came, then they might not come to church the next day and I figured church was better ha. So I just invited what people I still had contact information for from my old areas. I was really kind of sad about it all, though, because I couldn't get ahold of Cherry. Remember Cherry? I love Cherry and her family. She left in July to go visit Utah with her entire family for some extended family member's wedding, and when she got back, the sisters serving after me in Sham Shui Po couldn't find her. She just kind of disappeared. Nobody answered her phone, nobody was ever home. That happens sometimes. People just kind of disappear into mainland and you'll never hear of or from them again. So I was pretty worried any way of contacting her was lost. But I tried emailing her and invited her to the fireside. I sat there on the stand as we waited for our turn to share, and scanning through the crowd, she wasn't there. I was really hoping she would come, but knew it wasn't the greatest of probabilities. But as the night went on, I saw her sneak in through the back with her son, A-yuhng. And I just cried. And then I had to go up and bear my testimony. Great.

I feel good about coming home. There's a lot to be done and I am excited for that, so I haven't been struggling too bad with emotions. But sometimes it just tears at me. Not often, but every now and then, I'll just feel it...just a deep sadness that it has to end. There have been a few times, now I guess 2 times, where I've felt it. And they both happen to be in front of a crowd which is just embarrassing. And this testimony meeting was one of those times. Since Cherry came, I decided to just share my testimony of God. Of Prayer. Of the importance of coming to know Heavenly Father. Which is done by coming to know the Savior. I don't know what she has been struggling with lately, but she's changed a bit. But I bolted down there after the closing prayer, and she had tears in her eyes and I had tears in my eyes, and I got an asian person to hug me. Which doesn't happen. I love that woman. So sweet of her to come again. She said she'll keep trying. And that's all I needed. along with her new contact information so I can make sure she does. It's hard to know if I really fulfilled everything I should have with my time out here. And especially in the case of Cherry, easily one of the most important people I met on my mission to me, and I didn't get to see her progress as much as I could have hoped in the gospel. Sometimes you wonder if you did everything you were supposed to. But it's not my work. And it's not my gospel. I worked hard, and I have perfect confidence in Heavenly Father's way of doing things. Which includes using me to try.

I am excited to see you! Please be patient with me. I have the airplane figured out. I will write my talk and sleep, and talk with elder koochin (we're the only ones flying home on friday, so that will be funny). I have the airport figured out. We'll say hello, and we'll hug and drive on the nice freeway home! I have sunday figured out. We'll go to church, and I'll give a talk and go to primary. (Thank you mom) But then monday morning will come and I'll wake up, and I haven't figured out after that. But I'm excited! Life moves on. And I have been changed and learned things to help me keep going. keep moving.
I love you all. See you Friday! or Saturday! I'm not sure what day it will be.
Love hannah

Oh I have a lot of pictures. But I'll just show them to you later. Too maahfaahn to upload them.

That's what the Spirit is for.

I love you mom. Thank you for the pictures. It took me a few moments before I realized that was McKaya and Bethy! I was wondering what friends you let Abbey bring up with her?! But what a fun trip! Give them a hug for me! Especially Grandma. Love you all.

Wasn't conference so good! I came in with a lot of questions, specifically self improvement questions, and the answer I kept getting was...well, that's what the spirit is for. It would be too easy to take down my answers in note form from conference (although lots did appear that way). But I love all the invitations through the conference to prepare yourself and put yourself in an environment to receive personal guidance from Heavenly Father. And I've noticed that most of my thoughts that I think come from Heaven stream in during or surrounding my prayers. which seems obvious, but it's been neat to see it really happen. Of anything I have learned recently on my mission, it is how to not only feel the spirit, but have enough courage to understand and do what I feel from a thought. These past few weeks I have developed a greater faith that prayers can be answered, not just given. And though we don't have control of how or when we receive assistance, we do have power to call down heavenly help. I really believe that. So conference was good.

I was also schooled by a buddhist sifu. The elders met him on the street, and apparently his purposes in inviting us to his home was to teach us the doctrines of buddhism. But the elders were a little nervous to tell us and just said that he had a lot of christian friends (which he does) and was interested in knowing why we were different. So it was close to a breathtaking surprise at the turnover lesson to walk into his house and see his buddhist shrines and worship altars completely filling his house. It was quite beautiful actually. And he had a lovely table set up for us to sit at with drinks poured and his own lesson manual covering the table with his book of scripture. He was incredibly gracious and allowed us to start with a prayer, and we spent the time sharing thoughts on God and resolving certain questions of the human soul using our respective beliefs and doctrines. Like the origin of God. Our perfect state. Having justice in our lives. It was super intense. And super deep. But very neat to see where certain beliefs and ideas were similar. He was very dominating and it was difficult to give completely share without being interrupted, but he was very passionate on having us understand what true buddhism contains. Because, he said, all those on the streets burning their money or possessions to send to their ancestors or worshipping Buddha, were not sure buddhists and gave people false impressions of what they truly believed. We expressed that we were grateful for his time in helping us more fully understand what he believes and we, too, feel misrepresented with our beliefs, especially here in hong kong, and would love to share with him to the same level of understanding of our beliefs as he did with his. He agreed and is letting us come by again on Wednesday. Very nice man. Very very interesting experience. People are good There are so many beautiful and ancient beliefs here. It's difficult to come in sometimes and tell them about a church a young man started in the 1800's as they share about these ancient roots. But that is also the beauty of the message of the restoration. Because if we understand it, and teach it correctly, these truths were since the beginning. The power of the priesthood, the covenants made with God, the divine nature of ourselves and our families. It's from the beginning. And it brings light and truth to anybody wiling to listen and try. I have met so many people and been to so many places of beautiful tradition and deep spirituality, but the light that comes from our Savior Jesus Christ and his restored gospel cannot be imitated. Especially in it's simplicity. not when I talk about it. I turn it into a confusing jumble of words. But I love listening to the prophets and other inspired leaders. President Uchtdorf's talk was beautiful, wan't it? I'm excited to go back and read it. Elder Holland's talk was so powerful and spot on. Thank you mom, for bearing so much. Sister Marriott's talk brought a special spirit to me that I needed. I don't necessarily remember much of what she said and I don't have my notes, but I was better for listening to it.
Love you all!
Hannah

A collage of great people!

Okay family and friends - the countdown has started!  Hannah will be home in less than three weeks.  Her speaking date is October 23at our 9 am Sacrament meeting - if you're interested.  I'll try to record it for those who live too far to travel.  And Hannah doesn't want you to get your hopes up - she'll be jet-lagged, worn out, & her English will be lacking.  

But, she can't trick me - I know she'll be amazing.  She always is!  Can't wait.

(Sidenote - Hannah references Tommy's work on Google stuff.  While Tommy was working on the Google ads project, it is not technically hisproject at work.  Does that make it any less amazing?  I think not, but I wanted to clarify.)

Hello! Congratulations Abbey, you're done work! and Danny and Jack, you're tennis champs! and camilla can destroy me in rock climbing! and Tommy is doing advertisement for Google?! I love reading these letters. It's so fun to hear what's going on. Thank you for the topic. I'll think about it.

How was conference?! I'm so excited to watch it. I need to think a little more specifically how to prepare for it.

It's been a busy week. We had zone training this week, and it went great. It felt really personal, and I think missionaries walked away with something for themselves. It was very much centered on families, and on time. We've been focusing on trying to schedule people in their homes here, which is not really in line with the culture, but we're seeing some progress, and people let us up! It makes a world of difference in teaching. And this week we went on exchanges, and got to know one of the sisters in our zone a little better. Sister Chi from Taiwan. She told us about her conversion story: as her family of 7 were out one night for dinner, missionaries approached them and their father agreed to let them visit them at their house later that week. 2 months later, the entire family was baptized. That story should be in preach my gospel or something, because it's practically perfect. But I'm glad it's not, and I'm glad it didn't happen in south america - it makes it seem a little more possible here. Is it actually possible to find/teach/baptize a family on the street in Hong Kong? I've never heard of it happening on my mission. But of course it is. So we're searching out more families. We were at Mission leadership council this week and stopped by the mission office, and as we were thinking about what we could do to implement the goal a little better, we went and grabbed every family proclamation we could find.So hundreds of those are making their way around the New Territories these next weeks. We cant let a single family pass by without inviting them to learn the message of the restoration. Which seems like an obvious thing to do, but there are lots of people in Hong Kong and it's difficult. And I'll be honest...it's weird. and awkward because usually only the kids will talk to you. but we'll get better at it! I still would choose the single 50 year old man over the 30 year old mom with a kid any day. Those mom's are intimidating! But now we'll go for the families. It's fun. I'm excited.

Speaking of moms, I have such a respect for moms. I learned it a little better this week watching a woman in our ward come to church. It's downpouring rain, and she has a baby strapped to her front, an unbrella in one hand pushing a stroller with the other hand, and the stroller has one son standing on the back end and one son in the cart part, all covered with that one umbrella. and she runs that stroller straightn up the narrow ramp to the church doors in one try like it was nothing. I was just in awe. So thank you mom, for doing that for us. I am amazed at what moms do.

What else. Paul! Paul is awesome. he's incredible. He's progressing! Great great kid. We taught him the word of wisdom last week, right before mid autumn festival. He went up to mainland with his family for the holiday and kept the word of wisdom all week! I was so impressed. He said that he would jsut drink hot water instead of tea, and his family didn'tthink too much of it. And then he also went out this week and bought himself a white shirt and tie and sport coat to wear to church. This 15 year old boy going out and doing that by himself. He walked up to church and looked sharp. you coudl tell it was probably his first time wearing clothes like that before and brother sam helped him straighten things out a bit before we started, but it was sweet to watch him really do his best to look his best. I need to get a picture of him for you. He reminds me a lot of jack's personality, but a little quieter. And as sat behind him in church his head reminded me of danny's haha. It's quite large. Probably expalins why he is so smart. very smart kid. sorry, you should take that part out.

And Winson!

so the picture of this family has the super mom, sister Yuen. and her sister and parents and husband and kids and us. And the man next to me is our recent convert Winson. He looks a little scary, but he has the kindest heart. Very rough background and he is always surrounded in quite a hard environment with work, and I am amazed at how sensitive he has stayed throughout his life. every time he meets with us, he'll bring us some sort of packaged chinese dessert, which is very kind. I am glad mid autumn festival is over and we dont have to eat any more moono cakes. Don't worry, I'll bring some home for you to try. But brother au is our ward bought Winson a new white shirt to wear to church to pass the sacrament in. And since it was raining so hard (it practically rains horizontal because it's so hard with the wind) he was soaking by the time he got to church. But I appreciated him all the more because you could see through his soaked white shirt tattoos spread all over underneath. you couldn't tell before, and I had no idea. But I really respect him. Very quiet. Very timid, but very willing to try. His willingness to learn and be obedient to the Lord has impressed me greatly. He quit smoking on his own over the course of being taught, and he just had an ability to do. he just does things. Doesn't say much about it or ask much. I've met so many great people. I'm just going to tell a 15 minute collage of all of them and sit down.

Oh, and today we went fishing. I loved it. Here are some pictures.

Love you!
hannah

We aren't alone in being good.

Oh my goodness, Danny doesn't look like danny, and Jack doesn't look like Jack. They are not the preteens I always think they are. I know that isn't any news since I've started the mission, but it's made some rapid progress, that's for sure. What a fun homecoming.
Tell dad that I'll work for him :) for food and rent :) I hope everything at the office is ok.
And I dont think really anybody needs to hear me give a talk. I have no abilities to give a worthwhile talk. But I am excited to go to church and understand everything that goes on ha. No, I do understand for the most part. Usually for every part, but sometimes it feels like some dot connecting listening to people speak. But it's fun. I enjoy it. Today I bought fishing gear from a nice old man at some fishing village, and I was proud of myself for being able to do that. Somehow we are able to do things. But the progress and accomplishments and changes I've seen in myself on this mission just seem to stand out more than others. Probably to prove that everything good really is rooted in Christ. On a mission it's easy to make that connection. I think I muddied that up a little before and called them my own. I am grateful to be here. The other day I got a chuckle out of a conversation I had with Camilla one day in the parking lot at belmont. I think I was picking her up for church. After recognizing that we accidentally were wearing the same sweater and shoes (for probably the 3rd matching Sunday in a row) we talked about what the mission might be like. I remember specifically talking for a bit about how we thought I might change in the mission field.It was a funny conversation, I remember that. But thinking back on that made me smile. Not just because it was funny. I love that girl. We have such a good family.

So this week, we took Uncle Fai to institute, and I loved every second of it. The teacher and other students were very supportive and patient, and it's doing wonders for Uncle Fai. He loves to think about God, and has a great Testimony of Jesus Christ. No going back, he says. He is a latter day saint. Great, great man. But I am amazed, because he is very outward. Always has an opinion, always something to say, and everysunday school turns into a Q and A between him and the teacher. He keeps things exciting, and I don't know how to answer him have the time. He thinks alot. And his thoughts are way out there, they're crazy in all honesty, but somehow, they're kind of right. We had a discussion with him on Adam and Ever or on resurrection. And he will tell us his opinion on things and what he thinks happens, And it's hilarious, because although he describes things a little wacky, he's for the most part at the bone of it all, pretty spot on. So institute this week was about the identity of Jesus Christ, and it was fun. I should take better notes and give good examples of some of his thoughts, but my favorite part of the entire night, was actually a discussion the class had on a talk by president bednar- the one about the truck, and the snow, and how we can bear our burdens or overcome difficulties. I'm not sure why it came up, but I was very amused listening to these YSA's who have only ever seen a truck or snow on tv, try to explain why driving through snow might be difficult, and why loading things into a truck could help. There was a descent amount of confusion. Institute's awesome.

This week I went on exchanges with Sister Redd, and we set out to find a less active. He lives at the top of a very steep hill. So we essentially went hiking. We were
dripping...literally our hair was even soaked. And just as we make it almost to the top, we meet this cute 60 something year old woman making her way down with a very cool looking umbrella. I always thought the umbrellas in the sun thing was dumb until this day. We stopped her to make sure we were going the right way. After she confirmed and commented on how sweaty we were, we got her talking a bit longer. She has some grandchildren. Just visited her friend. Oh my grandkids go to your church. Christians, right? Ya, they represent our family to Jesus Christ. but I'm buddhist. So we end up just listening to her and ask her questions about what Buddhism means to her. She didn't really know, but said it's practically the same as Jesus to us, except they have Buddha. Then we talk about prayer. She baaisahns too, and prays to her ancestors. The conversation was incredible because she felt listened to and respected for what she thought. We would bear testimony about things that we agreed on, and this hurried grandma-down-the-hill-converstaion turned into a very warm hopeful conversation. I remember Elder Perry told us to never leave any teaching situation without bearing testimony of Jesus,Christ, so we did that along with prayer, and asked if she would pray with us. Buddhism here is very much a tradition, not so much a belief. That's not always the case, there are also very dedicated buddhists here, but for the most part, they aren't devoted to that religion. So after having such a spiritual conversation with her, it was amazing to see her attitude to christianity change. We said a prayer with her, and closed with tears leaking out the sides of her eyes and sneaking down her face. She didn't want to learn more, but she didn't want us to go either. We finally were able to exchange information, and hopefully we'll have the opportunity to see her again. But that was a neat experience. I love to watch the spirit work on people. And slowly, people have experiences throughout their lives that will prepare them to someday understand in full the Plan of salvation. And if not in this life, recognize it in the next. We called her A-yi. I loved talking to A-yi.

I also met a couple other awesome people this week. At crossroads, the place we do service, we were assigned to package medical equipment and box them up to send to somalia. And we actually worked with these two somalian men. We moved a lot of really heavy equipment that took all four of us to get on the crates, and by the end of our time, we earned their respect. They were awesome. They said " whenever we see people wearing your black name tags, they have our respect. We know those mormons can work." There are a lot of years of history of missionaries working at that organization, so the fact that missionaries have kept that reputation there for so long was impressive to me. But on the bus ride home, I sat by one of their friends named manstefan. And he was super interested in the gospel. Remembered seeing missionaries when he was younger. Later this week, I also met a man from uganda on the hingtit. he also mentioned remembering missionaries when he was a young boy. Also willing and interested to learn more and come to church. People make impressions. That's one thing I learned this week. results rarely are immediate. But these guys are awesome. So, if after this mission I disappear to africa, it's because I'm making a lot of friends from that continent lately. They said we could come. No, I'm just impressed with how good people are. So down to earth, and willing to help and be kind. There are so many down to the bone good people in this world, and I want to be more like them. This gospel is true. We have so many truths to share. but we aren't alone in being good.
I should get going, but I love you all. So good to hear about your week.
Love hannah

"Sister Dudley, we didn't know you spoke German!"

You got the package?!?! phew! I was so nervous! Tell me what was in it again. Was their a painting? I don't remember. Sorry about all the dumb clothes, But those were fresh out of Chinese thrift shops for some people, and I thought that would be cool. But now I'm thinking it probably isn't ha. And they probably don't fit anyone anymore anyway. I got such a good deal on that briefcase. I bought it more because I was proud of my bargaining than the briefcase itself haha. I don't know. I hope there's something nice in that box. Sorry to send dumb things home.

New York looks incredible! How fun! I tell people here all the time that I have a brother doing advertising in New York, and my street credit goes up about 1000. Because they ask where I'm from and I say America, have you ever been? And they say New York? or San Francisco? But usually New York, and then I slam them with that, and we enter into a full blown conversation and become good friends for 5 minutes until they need to get off the train at the next stop. but they leave with some church material and a good impression. Either way, I've never gotten to do a door approach, so I guess that is my equivalent. So, thanks Tommy. I love going finding. You meet so many fun people. Lately, our finding time is less than it was, but it's fun to get a few hours every now and then. And the weather is getting so nice! It's been a great week.

I have a cool story! It's going to sound like one of those awesome missionary stories, but I promise it was really quite normal, and very ordinary in all reality. But I could make it into something awesome. But I won't. Remember my friend Adam? I met him probably in April back in Sham Shui Po on the way to Sister Jiu's baptismal interview. We were at a cross walk and I started talking to him. He recognized missionaries because he had seen them back at his home. He was from Hungary. Had a very deep Christian background and knowledge, and we had a few really interesting and fun lessons with him before we passed him over to the international elders. But the other day, I saw the international elders, and asked them how Adam was doing. I guess they're still meeting with him, and he goes to church with them! Which I'm still so excited about. But then they said, "Sister Dudley, we didn't know you spoke German!" To which I said that I didn't. They looked confused. "Well we were asking why he started meeting with the missionaries and he told us of your first contact with him." They explained the contact exactly as it had happened, except apparently Adam remembers me speaking in German to him, and he was so shocked and surprised to hear someone speaking in German to him in Hong Kong that he agreed to meet again and talk some more. Now, I am completely aware that in Hungary they speak Hungarian, but Adam also speaks German. And according to him, that was the reason Adam started investigating or meeting with the missionaries. This whole time I just thought I had some awesome street contact that sparked some desire to hear more about the restored gospel, but once again, it wasn't any skill of my own. Heavenly Father had to go so far as to convince Adam that I wasn't even speaking the right language in order to fix all the words and ideas I was throwing at him ha. Anyway, I was thinking back on that, and I am positive that I was speaking English and it must have been poor enough English for Adam to think it wasn't. But either way, Adam remembers differently, and it was a good enough reason for him to start learning. He's awesome. I sure hope to know what happens to him.

This week we also taught this woman from Uganda. She is full of all sorts of power. Just fiery. Her name is Hope. It is sad because refugees here cannot work until they are a citizen. But they have to live here for 7 years before they can be a citizen. So they have nothing to do. There are several small village kind of places where groups of them will live that can be quite dangerous because they mug people or steal things. Because they can't work....they have no money. But Hope cant stand the thought of doing nothing. She says it isn't good for the soul to not work. So she goes and volunteers at the place we volunteer at. She goes every day, and they feed her, so it works out. Anyway, she is very active and wanting to learn more about the Savior and the bible. She goes to different classes about it. she grew up Christian. She says most people in Africa are Christian. which I thought that being her perspective was really cool. But we talked together about Christianity and about Christ, and we brought up the Book of Mormon, and boy is she excited to read it! "Why hasn't anybody ever told me about this! I go to so many classes and they won't read it? What's up with them?!" The volunteer place is run by another Christian group and us missionaries aren't allowed to "push our beliefs on the people there", ....but Hope was asking! So we're meeting with her. And she is awesome. She started going off on the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom, in her own words..we haven't taught her any of that yet...but she is just passionate about it. It makes me excited about my own beliefs seeing how much energy she has about it. And the utmost respect and reverence for it at the same time. It's incredible to see her balance that. I love talking to her.

This work is true! And I have been reminded this week of the eternal and sacred nature of the call to preach the gospel. It's the work of salvation and there isn't a holier or higher work. And I am grateful to get to participate in it for a few short months of my life. I have to go, but I love you!

Have a great day!

Hannah

"Nobody know what it mean."

Hello! You all look so beautiful! I can't get over it. beautiful people. you just glow. Sounds like a fun week for the boys. Paint-balling. If they ever come to Hong Kong, I have the best place in mind to take them paint balling. We go to service at this place called Crossroads. It's at this old British barracks thing. It's a little creepy, actually. And Jack - I have found a new love for golfing that one p-day I went to the driving range. I'm proud of you. Wish I golfed in high school. I love hearing about your lives. It's just impressive. Abbey, I think it's awesome you are going out with the missionaries so much. I had no idea, really, what missionaries did until I got out here. I remember walking around the first 2 weeks here, and just thinking....what did I get myself into. This is not what I signed up for. And it becomes more than you ever thought it could become, or rather you become fit to do it and you learn to love it. But I'm so happy that you have jumped in already. You are amazing. And I am beyond jealous of all these trips out to New York to visit Tommy. So many great things happening.

Butterfly is doing great too! It's picking up speed. This week we met a couple of great students, and the best part is, they're all girls! Between the ages of 17 and 22, and I love teaching them. One of them is named Chloe. We met her on the street. We meet everyone on the street, lets be real. But we were just getting turned down one after another for hours. I see her walk by and she has a shirt that says, "God bless you." Quick background update: everyone here wears clothes with english on them. Rarely do they really make sense, and they are never spelled right. Better yet, nobody usually knows what is on their shirts. It's hilarious sometimes what you see people wear. But Chloe's was about God, so naturally, we go talk to her. She doesn't believe in God. Never actually even thought if He existed or not. we talk with her for a bit, and she's willing to try to pray, but she's very confused throughout our entire conversation, in all honesty. Why are these two white girls speaking to me in Chinese about some western god? I think we shocked her into agreeing to meet with us again. So we schedule her, and she walks away and the back of her shirt reads, "Nobody know what it mean." I thought that was hilarious and very fitting. Chloe turns out to be very willing and interested to learn more. She's great. And Paul came to church! We've been trying for weeks and weeks. Paul is a great great kid. He reminds me a lot of Justin, actually, in his opinions and religious beliefs. So that's been interesting to teach him. The Lord sure does prepare us for the people we meet.

I'm sure I told you about A-Wan before. She's from mainland, and we just got mandarin elders into our zone, so we had to pass her over. I was kind of bummed, but they're great and will be really good for her. One of the elders is brand new out of Idaho. He's one of my favorite. just pure and very unaware because he's learning mandarin and everyone here speaks cantonese, so that's just hard. I forget he doesn't even understand what us missionaries say. His companion is from Malaysia, so he speaks cantonese and mandarin and english and malay and some other languages fluently. Those Malaysians are very accomplished when it comes to languages. So he has no problem, but that poor idahoan has the best attitude. He couldn't get her name right. Kept calling her AA- wong. no,no no..it's A-wan. Oooooh...like aaah one two three. haha. so now, that's what he says when he's trying to remember how to talk to her. it's great. Anyway, A-wan had a rough week. We got a call from her asking us to come help her move some stuff. We agree and run over to this old person hospital she was at. She waves us up these stairs and we come up and turn the corner and she is in this full on brawl with this nurse, and the cops are there and it was a mess. The cops see us and wave us over. Ask if we were the friends she was calling. They have us stand out of the way, as they work through with these angry chinese woman. I've decided that the scariest person you could ever come across is an old angry chinese woman. They're scary. They were yelling chinese so fast and in heavy mandarin accents, it was suuuper hard to understand what was going on. And I just felt sad. A-wan is completely broke. She has nothing, and lately she has been telling us she has been visiting a friend in the hospital, but from what we could pick up from the fight, her husband had just passed away. It was her husband. She is so humble and so desperate and it broke my heart to watch. Things settled down, and we helped her carry her husband's things home. We're at the point right now where we have explained what the gospel can do for her, how it can help her, how it can comfort her, and she has been willing, for the most part, to try. And now, we're trying and waiting to help her see her life improve. It takes a lot of faith to look at these people who will look you back in the eye and soak up anything you say, and tell them that you know that God really does love her and really does care about what is going on in her life right now. It takes a lot of faith to tell her that things will be ok. She's a strong woman. takes things as they come, and she's starting to act on what we promise her because she really has nothing left. She came to church on sunday. She was late, and made a scene pushing her son in to come with her, but she came. I love that woman. And I'm really glad she likes us ok. I would be terrified to be on the opposite side of that end!
And then, this week we had a really great fireside. We are in contact and teach so many mothers who are so worried about their children's education. There is so much stress and expectations and competition put onto these 5 year old kids, it's sickening. But they had some church leaders who have gotten PhD's give a fireside on the relationship between the gospel and education and knowledge and all that. Both practical things and faith things. But It was neat to sit in the audience and listen to these brilliant chinese men speak in cantonese about their computer science degrees and research and know what they're saying. I should have worn my glasses to it, make me look a little smarter ha. A little more fitting. I especially loved what the stake president ended up sharing. He talked a little about his childhood and hobbies and his journey to phd-ship. And he said, make a note of the weaknesses you have. Pay attention to those. They aren't an accident that you have those. He then shared Ether about weaknesses becoming strengths, and bore testimony that that is one way that God reveals his will to us is through our weaknesses. So, if I heed his council, maybe I'll go into math. I'm terrified of math. Or something. I'm nervous about a couple things. But it made me feel a little more brave about the future. Our weaknesses aren't accidents. use them. It was a cool thought

Alright, I love you! SO great to hear from you! I'm feeling better, and doing just fine :) Have a good week!

Love hannah

Sam - an Example of Faith

I've got nothing for you this week. You guys sounds great! You're going to New York?! send me more pictures. Tommy and Camilla look like they're having fun. Camilla's gorgeous. Tommy looks like a native new yorker. black t shirt and scruff. He looks awesome. They're the coolest people I know. That's so fun Danny and Jack are liking tennis so much! I bet the left hand on the doubles team throws people off. That's great. Go Danny! I can imagine you go down the line off a serve and it makes me excited just thinking about it. Those shots always feel the best. I'ld always miss, so the fact that you are returning those kind of shots against boys in high school is opening my eyes a bit to how good you are at tennis! I guess you're a junior now, so it makes sense. you're awesome. Its weird to be teaching and working so much with the Young Men here, and then remember that Danny and Jack are their same age. It's super fun.

Sam gave a talk in church two Sundays ago. I was so proud of him. We met with him a few times to help him prepare. He gave it on some super long talk by elder cook or elder anderson (they look the same to me) in last July's liahona I think. the one with the family picking wheat. But he shared a personal experience that I loved, and I almost died laughing inside with a straight face.
The weekend before, the pulpit and stage were redone so the bishopric weren't quite sure how to work the pulpit and move it up and down. So Sam gets up and the pulpit is just awkwardly short on him. So he's half leaning on his left arm and trying to get close enough to the mic so we can hear, but it doesn't pick up the sound and he's super nervous and swaying, so he finally just starts speaking with the mic up in his mouth. So #1, I am proud of him for making an awkward situation like that work when he was incredibly nervous. He goes on and starts talking about why he follows commandments, and he specifically starts talking about the Sabbath Day. His parents were going out to eat dinner one day after church and would be gone the rest of the night. As he had commitment to keep the Sabbath Day holy, he chose to stay home. As time went on, he started to get hungry, and realized that he didn't know how to cook food. He, in all seriousness and with a complete look of stress and fear on his face as he relived this experience in his mind, didn't know what he was going to eat for dinner and it was a very serious problem to him. As he was sharing this Sister Robinson and I are trying to show our concern for such a dire situation, but we were shaking with laughter. So, he said, he decided to pray and ask Heavenly Father to help him know how to cook something to eat. So he said a prayer, and as he went to the fridge, the phone rang, and a family from the ward was calling and inviting him over for dinner that night. That family has 3 little kids under the age of 3, so I think it's sweet of them to look out for him. So shared how he gained a testimony of prayer and the importance of keeping Heavenly Father's commandments and that God helps us to obey him. Fun story, huh? Such a good kid. Just such sincere faith and concern, and I shouldn't laugh at things like that. My faith could be a little more like his I think.

Things here are going well. I love you! have a fun week. Send me pictures!

Love hannah

Pants are good

Hello Family!
How's your week? Has school started yet?! Jack, you're in High School! And Danny, you have your toughest year ahead of you! you'll do great :)

I will be completely honest in telling you that I have been racking my brain trying to think back on the week and I'm drawing blanks. It's a usual phenomena come email time, so I'm hoping ideas start coming. This week we had zone training a week early, (happy surprise), so we were rushing in trying to plan it. So our area didn't see as much of us since it takes a while to travel down to Kowloon. But I am a big believer in the Law of Compensation, and nothing was completely neglected :)

For this 6 stakes goal to really happen, some wards need to see as many as 20 new people attending their ward by April, especially an increase of Priesthood holders. Which I'm really not sure how to compare that to other places, but seeing 4 or 5 convert baptisms a year in a ward here would be a good average I think. Some more, some less. So that's an incredible number to get in eight months. So we've been making a big push for less active work. Especially for Priesthood holders. Our stake right now has app. 650 active members and almost 1500 less active members, so there are lots of old friends to bring back. Another idea we've been praying about is home teaching. For the most part, we teach single adults and schedule them at the church because their families don't want much to do with Christianity at home. But a lot of the growing generations all went to catholic or christian schools, so I think that trend will start being a little more tolerant. And especially here in the New Territories where it's not super busy city, there are sooo many young families. And a couple paakmuhning areas, or places you can knock on doors. So, we are making a push to teach people, especially families, in the home. It's just been a custom of the mission to meet people on the street, show them a picture of our church, or give them our address and then schedule to meet them there. But now, we're just acting like it's a normal thing to go visit them in their home, and we give them our planners to write down their address and smile. They're pretty hesitant, but we're getting more and more. The culture here isn't huge on letting strangers come to your home, but it's been neat to see cool things happen from it. You meet so many of their family and friends, and they get to know missionaries for who we are. It's pretty cramped, so sometimes you know them too well. And you get to know the people at much better levels when you can look around their home and get a feel for their life. I know, it sounds like common sense for us to have been doing this the entire time, but it is quite strange. I've been pretty blessed to teach a couple of my investigators at their homes...Cherry, Jiu Jimuih, Awan. Oh I miss them. I love them. I haven't written about Cherry for awhile. I forgot how much I love her. Mom, you have to meet her someday.

We did a couple other things too, but I'm mostly just excited to be done planning those zone training meetings. That was my tenth one? I think it's because they know I wouldn't listen or get much out of it or ever do the plans or actions if I didn't study and prepare for it. Those tricksters :)

I'm quite the boring writer today! Sorry, I usually don't ever write about zone stuff or too much about people because I know that it's hard to really relate to things or people you've never seen. But it's all that has occupied my mind lately. We've made a huge push to visit less active priesthood holders, and let me just say that I have visited more men in their boxer shorts than any sister missionary ever should. It's hot, I get it, but pants are good. It's been interesting though, having so much more opportunities to teach men. They're much easier to teach than women. In my opinion. Women have a lot of distractions and excuses or drama that hold them back, and teaching doctrine or principles aren't as important to them as talking out feelings. So you walk up to a woman on the street and try to bring up the Book of Mormon, and the entire conversation turns into how they have never thought about God because that's what their husbands do. So, no thanks. You talk to them more, and help them understand, on a more emotional level, why god is important and can help them with their kids or their relationships. But it's hard to get them past the wall of not being open to what they actually think about things. Whereas, you walk up to a man who is reading a newspaper, and you bring up this book of ancient scripture and a little more logical doctrinal conversation about God, and they're willing to talk to you about it. And it's fun. No, I love teaching women, I don't mean that I don't. All of my favorite people I've taught are women, but the men sure are thinkers!

This week we met a man named Billy. He's awesome. He believes that God is like a cloud with different faces...Buddha, Allah, Jesus Christ, etc. He believes that God is an energy, and there have been many inspired leaders who have been in contact with that energy throughout history. Some elders taught him last year, and we found him in the formers. They wrote him off as a crazy guy, but he's made a ton of progress! We essentially agreed with him that eternal truth exists. Lots of people have different ways of interpreting what is true, and will call it different things. Just like math or science tries to explain universal truths, religion is the same. But then we took it back to foundation of the world and explained Prophets and priesthood, and the difference between inspired prophets of God who receive direct revelation through priesthood power and other inspired leaders throughout history. It was awesome to see how much he understood and accepted the idea of personal lines of communication with God and priesthood lines. you need both lines. And we worked our way through the patterns of apostasy up until Joseph Smith. Billy loved it! I loved it! it was fun. And the best part about it, was that it was exactly the lesson of the restoration, with a small twist for Billy. But the gospel and it's principles can be taught so simply and clearly, and can still give people with concepts of cloudy things to hold to. Don't worry, we cleared up with him that God literally has a body. It's sometimes hard to know when you are teaching people with very different views of God, or absolutely no view of God, if we should teach the restoration or plan of salvation. But Joseph Smith's first vision tells a lot about who God is.

I am so sorry to go off. I have written so much about not a lot. I hope you all are doing great! Hope school is awesome. I love it out here, and and doing well. Happy, tired, all that good stuff.

Have a good night!
Love hannah

A decent job at being an unprofitable servant

Oh that list made me sad about my future. The people part of it is great! but the gre/job/ideas with professors part is discouraging. I have no idea what I am going to do, and I am stumped knowing that it is entirely up to me. And I'm tired of having the responsibility of things and people on my shoulders. But other people seem a whole lot more enjoyable than myself. Especially since those other people weren't really on my shoulders at all. People are so good. And it's incredibly fulfilling putting forth energy for others. And it's been interesting having to turn on a very extravert role - which is not my nature - and switch it on and off. It wears my brain out, I think. But it feels natural. As a missionary it's easy to feel like people's conversion entirely depends on your obedience and your preparation and your ability to teach by the spirit, and on and on about the missionary's self. I have loved listening and knowing President and Sister Lam. The greatest lesson they have taught me up to this point is that it has nothing to do with you. You better do all of that because that is expected, but it is in no way your work - so don't act like it is. And I know that. It reminds me of what Elder Oaks had said in the MTC "you aren't here to be thanked, you are here to serve." It really is a privilege to squeeze myself into other people's very personal and spiritual lives, and just watch things unfold. President and Sister Lam and their family all joined the church, and is now a mission president and wife, and the only interaction they had with missionaries was a baptismal interview by a zone leader called in that they had never met before. I love that. Today I was thinking about what it means to be a servant of the Lord, and I thought of a few places in the scriptures when it talks about servants. The first was Mosiah 2 when it explains that we could literally give everything we have, and we still would be unprofitable servants. So I have established that I am doing a decent job at the unprofitable part. I've never been humbled so much as I have out here. And then in the Parable of the Talents where the Lord calls him a good and faithful servant. In all reality,perhaps we are unprofitable, but I can be good and faithful. I have control of at least that. And miracles come and success is seen and progress is made,but it's nice to remember where that all comes from. Hong Kong is seeing some huge growth. we have 4 stakes right now, but they are planning a big ceremony Hong Kong wide party thing at the beginning of April where they will celebrate 6 stakes in Hong Kong. It's pretty exciting. Elder Gong came and presented it to us missionaries, and that was kind of the theme of it. Progress and success is coming, but we need to remember where it is coming from. The New T's don't have much part of it, especially Butterfly, so we'll surprise them with 7 stakes or something by April (just kidding) but the Kowloon stake was split into 3, and Sham shui Po is practically a stake of it's own, with some additions from the neighboring wards. no that's exaggerated. But there are alot of help from other wards, but it was right at the center of it. Made me excited for the people there. It's fun to see so much excitement. People work so hard, I am amazed at the veteran members here who just keep building. It was interesting to hear Elder Gong talk about temples and stakes. He is the area president over half of the world's population. Crazy, huh? But he said there were 138 operating temples for 3.5 billion people, and then 2 for the other 3.5 billion people in his area. But pulled up a map and showed us places around asia where the church is growing and stakes are being established, and perhaps possible future temples could be built. He said of course that it something that is inspired through the prophet, but where there are stakes, Temples are built. After seeing so many people travelling from india or other places and really sacrificing so much, I understood a little more how sweet it would be to see a temple built in India. how neat. The work is real.

It's been a fun and long week. We had a few sisters get pretty sick ini our zone, so we made several trips down to Kowloon Tong to pick stuff up. And it was so fun stepping back into my old area. And so different. Especially with the leadership being completely different. But it was nice. I found out that Ho Tin's mom, the one with multiple sclerosis is getting baptized this Sunday. I love their family, and I am so excited for them. Hot Tin gets his mission call any week now. Super excited to see where he gets called to,. There are only 3 native Hong Kong people here as missionaries now. Isn't that incredible? They are very valuable missionaries with the language and everything, its funny to watch wards fight over them. Actually, with transfers just happening, there could be more. I wasn't moved, so I will stay in Butterfly! I love it here. I'm very happy. I have a lot of pictures to send, so maybe I'll just give brief explanations of a few of them. Jacob, our not really investigator, is a boy in our ward. His mom asked us to teach him all the lessons to make sure it was his decision to be baptized, so we did, and we're pals. Cutest family. It's nice having an 8 year old best friend who brings snack for you after church. He sang "I'm trying to be like Jesus" at his baptism,and it reminded me of Tommy. I still remember that. So they're like the asian family version of us. kind of. They're great.

We also went to Tai o, a fishing village near Tuen Muen. We took a ferry over, and it was incredible. I love the ocean. Every time I go, I just get excited, and don't want to leave. We met a couple new friends, one of which was a 90 year old man who really wanted to show us around the town haha. The houses are all on stilts, and the have the best tofu around. Eating tofu at a Chinese fishing village with a 90 year old suhksuhk.

Doesn't get much better. I loved it. Alright, Hope you have a great week!
Love Hannah

My area in Butterfly

Miracles in Butterfly

Hello!
We have an awesome family!!! I love hearing your updates! Tommy's life sounds like a dream. How cool is he? And Camilla, Happy Birthday!! Mom sent me a picture of you last week, and you look beautiful. Abbey, I am so impressed with what you are doing right now. You are a down to the bone hard worker, just like dad. I am so impressed with you. Maybe you can hire me when I come home to do your laundry or something :) Danny, I am a vote for the man bun. You would pull it off beautifully. And Jack! You are going to high school! I can't believe it!! What classes are you taking? Who are your teachers? Fill me in. I cant believe school is starting up again. That went by way too fast.

Well, Jack, actually you have been the center of a few conversations this week for me, actually. We started teaching this woman named A-Wan. She's a Hong Kong person equivalent to a black woman, and I looove her. She has a 13 year old son who is struggling with a few things, so when I was telling her about my family, we ended up talking about you quite a bit and showing a few pictures. She thinks you're awesome, and we're going to help her son. Her son is addicted to computer games. He hasn't left the computer chair for weeks on end, and hardly eats what she fixes him. Just headphones in and shooting things for days on end. A-Wan is a single mom, and has recently just lost her dish washing job. She is stressed and humble and willing to do anything to help her son. She heard of some people in her hometown in mainland talk about Jesus Christ when she was younger, but never gave it much thought. But when we met her on the street, she said she would be willing to give it a try. When we talk she gives everything she is to listen and learn more about the power of God to bless our lives. I've never had anyone listen to me so intently, and it makes me want to make every word I say well worth it. She is an incredible woman and mother, and it's been a blessing to become her friend. The guards at her chyun our incredibly unfriendly. The first time we went to visit her, we walked into the lobby thing to sign our names in, and then the guard just starts screaming at us to leave. We aren't welcome here. We try to explain that we were invited by a woman to visit her in her home, and we would be happy to call her and have her verify, but this lady just wont have it and is making a huge scene and calls security to take us out of the building. And that always just feels awful. You would think after the first few times, I would get used to that feeling of being publicly asked to leave, but it's still just as humiliating. But we call A-Wan and explained the situation and asked if we could see her at the park nearby. A-Wan says she'll take care of it, and to wait a few minutes. A-Wan trumps out of the elevator, and with her zebra diaper pants and green crocs, just starts giving it to this woman about how horrified she is that such persecution exists in her chyun. She had some finger snapping going on, and Sister Robinson and I are just standing outside this glass door looking in with pure amazement. A-Wan is a bigger woman with a lot of attitude, and the guard finally gave up and beeped us in....the guard still hates us, but we get to teach A-Wan in her home, which is such a rare thing here. But greatest miracle of it all, we got her son to talk to us. turns out he likes to hike a bit. Thinks lakes are cool. Never heard of computer programming before, but willing to give it a try! haha. thinks it sounds cool. When we come over, he takes off his headphones and will listen in. And the house is just a one room block, so we all just surround his computer haha. And he's started to take a break and say a closing prayer with us. it really is a miracle how he's changed and warmed up. We have no idea why, but it's been neat to see.

Well I love you all. Sorry I had a couple other fun stories, but I'll wait till next week! I type too
much. Sorry.

Love you! Happy Birthday, Camilla!
Hannah

We drip.

hello!!!
This is going to be a short one. You're trip sounded incredible! Isn't our family so blessed to have parents like you? Please send me more pictures next week! I'll send a few. This week we got fed a lot, and for some reason, my stomach is now having a problem with the food in hong kong haha. It's been a fun week ha. And it has been incredibily hot. Just imagine laying down at l
Lake Tahoe, and you're on your towel for like 20 minutes under the direct sun just getting baked. you're dripping sweat, and about to jump into the water, but you feel like you can last 1 more minute before you get that super cold water to counterbalance it. It feels kind of like that, but there isn't any water to jump into ha. We drip. In all honesty, I love it. I'll never get it again. I love you guys. Camilla looks beautiful :)

Have a good week-
Hannah

Sacred at Every Point

Hello, hello!
Butterfly is getting hot. It's been an unusually not that hot summer I guess. And I believe it...last summer seemed way hotter. The trek thing sounds really fun! I cant imagine how much work that takes. You do so much for people.


A few weeks ago we were tracking down a name of a less active. There are 1000's of less actives here, so it's quite the project. but one at a time, right?! Actually not really, several usually live in the same chyun building, so we go place to place and do a sweep through. If we can get in. The guards really don't like us. But we had a miracle and got in! so we went up to Chung Chun Tak's room. gave it a pretty pathetic umbrella knock through the iron gate. And this shirtless 70 year old man in his leopard boxer shorts opens the door, and with a huge, 2 toothed smile says, "missionaries!! come in, come in!" What?! come in?! really?!? great! "Is your wife home?" Yea, she's in the toilet right now. come in! come in! The the only place to walk or sit is along their plywood bed/table. so we all take a seat, and wait for his wife to come out. His son was up in his bed, and didn't want much to do with us, so we just made small talk with Brother Chung. He didn't really remember when he got baptized. But remembered seeing us on the street a few days ago. He pulled out a flier we had given him. He waited all week for us to find him! haha. I don't know how he thought we could ever track him down in Hong Kong, but I guess he was quite certain we could. After about 3 minutes we quickly realized that there wasn't anybody in the bathroom, and we needed to leave. He's a sneaky one. So we scheduled him for Monday, and left. On Monday we came with a brother from our ward. We had a great lesson and they became quick friends. He really didn't remember anything, so we started from square one about who God is. On the walk home, the Brother who helped us said that we would just need to teach him from scratch, and help him remember everything. We visit him with another sweet old man from the ward, Gou Hingdaaih...I'll tell you more about him in a second. So we're pretty excited! A grandpa who we are teaching in his home! His wife will be there sometimes and can hear the lessons! His son didn't seem too interested, but his 2 grandkids could come to primary! We were pretty excited to tell the ward about it. So on Sunday in PEC we told them about this family. We didn't know when he was baptized, so they all pull out their phones and start looking through this record. Hmm, how does he have grandkids? he's only 37. ......? We start connecting all the dots, and realize that that punk in bed who was listening to everything we ever talked about to who wethought was Chung Chuk tak, was actually the person we were looking for haha. Can you believe that we went a few weeks teaching this man, without ever figuring that out?! I felt so dumb ha. But it was hilarious. And now we have an awesome investigator.


But for me, the best part of this entire story is actually coming to get to know a very sweet old man from our ward, Gou hingdaaih. He helped us teach "Chung Chuk ta," and as I have come to know more about him and watch his commitment to the Lord, I have been deeply impressed by the person he is. Gou Hingdaaih. The first Sunday I came to this ward, there was a basket on a table at the church filled with fruit and bread and crackers and food. It's for the missionaries amongst the 3 wards to split. I was shocked! The members here are amazing! The next Sunday,
we got their extra early to teach an investigator, and I saw Gou Hingdaaih, sneak through the foyer and pull out some fruit out of a red gaaisi bag and put it into the basket. Dragon Fruit, apples, oranges, bananas. He turned and saw me watching him, and then gave me the shush sign and sneaked away. He cleans the chapel every Friday night in his basketball shorts and high socks. We'll walk out of English class and he'll be mopping away as lively as ever. And every Sunday he blesses the Sacrament in his pressed suit and bowtie. One day on the hingtit train while we were finding, he stepped on with his cart and was wearing one of those paper thin tank tops and ratted shorts, and I realized how precious those church clothes were to him. My respect for him grew so much. And then, the other day when we went to the temple, guess who was conducting our session. Gou Hingdaaih. It was incredible to see him dressed in just a
magnificent white suit. That image of him conducting that session means a lot to me. So when we picked him up to go teach Chung Hingdaaih with us, we thanked him for his temple service. He was waiting for us at a McDonalds nearby, and he walks out in his pressed church clothes on a Monday night to teach Chung Hingdaaih. He has a severe limp, so we slowly walked with him and learned more about his life. He lives alone, and has a sad past. But he wakes up at 4 every morning and travels 2 hours to the temple to serve there. What an incredible man. Just serves the Lord in whatever way he can. In every way he can. He taught Chung Hingdaaih so matter of factly about the gospel. I wanted to teach like him. But my favorite thing was as we were walking up to Chung Hingdaaih's door, Brother Gou lagged behind a few steps. I turned to see if he was alright, and I see that he pulled out of his side pack a small water bottle that he was wetting his hands with to fix his hair before we walked into this cluttered cement cockroach filled apartment. The gospel is a sacred thing to him at every point. And I learned a lot from him.

I need to go. But I love you all. hope you are having a great week!
Hannah

Requested at the Door

Happy Birthday Jack! I cant believe you are 14! You are a teacher. That's so awesome. It sounds like you and Danny had a great high adventure trip. you all have so many great experiences. It's great to have so many great leaders. And thank you for the pictures! I need one of Camilla and C
Dad! You all look great. Who's wedding was Tommy at? He looks great! and you and Abbey look like you're having a really great summer together. It's fun to hear about all the adventures your doing.

We got to go to the Temple last week, and guess who I finally saw?!...Chan Jiumuih....Nana and Gump's friend from Canada. I walked past and sat down, and then another cute missionary sister from England comes in and tells me that I am "requested at the door" ha. So that was cool in itself to be requested at a door. But I walk back out and the temple worker quietly asks, "Are you Hannah?" I don't think I can write exactly how grateful I was to see her. It was just a flood of sweetness and warmth when I heard her say my name. So she gave me a big hug...cheek to cheek, and and we exchanged a few words before I sat back down again. But if you ever talk to her, please tell her how grateful I was to see her. It felt like a piece of home. And Canada isn't even my home. But I like to think I can claim it, at least. It completely made my month. Little experiences like those come every once in awhile and those feelings just keep you going. It made me so happy.

Later we had interviews with President Lam. It was so different! But so great! President Hawks is 15 minutes early for everything. President Lam was running an hour and a half behind schedule haha. He just couldn't get separated from talking to all the missionaries! So a lot of missionaries this week didn't have time to buy groceries, so that was kind of funny. But President and Sister Lam are so caring and down to earth and so humble. He just rambles. He'll stand up at the front and ramble for as long of time as he has...but it's amazing to see how led by the Spirit he is. He is a great example of having the word embedded into his heart. He just speaks whatever comes into his mind, which is usually scripture or quotes form prophets, and jumps from one subject to another, and somehow everything he says connects in the end. It's great! So our interview was about 12 minutes. I said the opening prayer, and then just listened ha. I think I got 30 words in toward the end about the area, but he just spewed out direction and instruction and it was great. So the mission is staying exciting!

Not much has happened since Thursday when I emailed you, but I'll think of some things. Sam! Sam passed the sacrament yesterday. And he was sustained as the Teachers Quorum President. It just made me feel so proud. He and all the Young Men had Youth Conference this past
weekend, they all wore khaki pants and these matching dark red ties. They also have these matching basketball uniforms they bought together for when they play at the park. They're hilarious. They're quite the group. I'm not sure what they call themselves...but anything containing Butterflies automatically elimantes any form of toughness, so it's fun to watch them try haha. (Because we're the Butterfly ward.) He has been asked to give a talk in sacrament, so he snuck up to us after church to see if we had time this week to help him write one. It's going to be an awesome talk.

And we also met a new friend named Molo. I should tell you about him. We were out on the pier and had about 10 minutes before we had to head to the church for a lesson. So we decided to to do some finding. We usually start with a prayer, but figured that by the time we finished praying, half the time would be gone so maybe it would be best not to. But then we did it anyway. I asked specifically in the prayer to help us recognize in the short time we had, someone prepared to learn about Jesus Christ. And then we started walking. Not far off was this man on the right, awkwardly posed in his really short running shorts overlooking the ocean. And then a more fully clothed man on the left walking towards us. hmm. ok, lets go for the guy on the left. We get to the two of them at about the same time, and then for some reason, foregoed our plan and said hello to the man in the short shorts. There was a wind surfer guy doing cool things in the ocean, so we made small talk about the ocean, and he had no idea what we were saying, so we just layed down that we wanted to teach him about Jesus Christ. He asked us to sit down a while, which we did, and shared about prayer and God. He was willing to reschedule. He ditched us a few times, but then last night gave us a call and met us at the church. We had more time to get to know him. He is a huge jockster. He chews gum like nobody's business. He's 30 and loves soccer and not much else. But he has things he wants to improve in his life, so when we told him the Savior has power to improve our lives, he was willing to find out how. He was fun to teach. He acts like he has absolutely no interest in anything we say, and just smacks his gum the whole time, but you can tell when he feels something or has interest in something because the gum smacking stops ha. It's a great indicator of what attention we have. We shared about the Book of Mormon, and explained it. He was willing to read it, and pretty excited too, especially considering he's not big into reading. It was a fun lesson. He especially liked Moroni. In Chinese, Moroni sounds like Mololai. So we're going to start calling him Mololai. He loved it haha. I admire the people who agree to come meet with us. Aside from Sister Jiu, everyone we are teaching is a man. It must take a decent amount of humility and desire to come to a church with huge windows and sit and talk about God with two white girls. So good for them ha.

This week is zone training and we've been planning like mad. nothing seems to stick. We have so many great thoughts and we're filling up our buckets with alot of great stuff, but nothing solid or backbone to it. But today we found this mormon message, called Lift. Have you seen it? It's so great. It's very easy in the mission field to always be evaluating and specifically pulling your skills or abilities or what ever you have, down. Especially when things don't work out, the finger always points inward, and you have some misconception that every other missionary or ward member is judging your performance and your quality of missionary self. And it's complete trash. I love that talk 2 conferences ago about confidence. Anyway, it's a real struggle in our zone right now, a lack of confidence. And we all now that we perform at our best when we have confidence. I kind of just want to show the sound of music, but I think that's mdak haha. I'm just kidding. But we're focusing on this idea that we have the right to call power from heaven to assist in this work. Especially in the form of Spiritual gifts. We have strengths, and they are different. and specific. And I love this Lift video - on Mormon Messages. It has a lot of principles we're working on...I'm working on. And it's good to know that the only opinion I should be seeking for is Heavenly Father's. Any other opinion that really matters would be in line with his. otherwise it probably doesn't matter all too much.
Alright, well, I love you all. Have a happy birthday Jack! I sent a package for the family a while ago. But I sent it by sea because it was cheaper, and they said it would take at least 2 months haha. ya, sketchy, I know. Hope you get it eventually.

Have a great week!
Hannah

Yo-yoing

I sent Hannah some old pics of her, Camilla, & Tommy in the dry hot heat of Southern Utah - Motivation that there were dry, shin-sweat free days in her future. Haha - sounds like she needs a little rest and recovery when she gets home. (I won't start counting yet - but before Halloween!)

Wow! I look beautiful in these pictures! mom, I do not look like this anymore. I am giving you a heads up so you will recognize me haha. but that's ok. please look for things to help me grow hair when I come home :) it's nice to have hair.

And I know this will sound so cheesy, but you look beautiful in that picture collage thing abbey sent. Sorry. I don't mean to just talk about appearances. But you look great! Just have patience with me when I come home. I literally feel a little unworthy to walk around with our family. Which sounds so pathetic, and I don't mean it to be dramatic. just an observation :) Jack will kick me into gear. It's funny, because when I get into the shower, I don't feel bad about my body. It seems pretty similar to how it used to be. But clothes ruin me. Maybe it's just missionary clothes getting old. that's probably it. and the rice cheeks never help. We will not eat rice in Nevada. it's not necessary :) we will eat boiled salad :)

Sorry, too much information. I just don't have much to say today! We have temple day today, so p-day was pushed back a couple days. So I'm thinking back on the last 2 weeks and it's too much to remember. We're teaching a professional yo-yo-er. He's awesome! He's halfway through the Book of Mormon, and it's only been 2 weeks. Isn't that awesome!? He gave me and Sister Robinson really nice yo-yo's and taught us a few tricks. We're working on it...get some respect?! but they're metal, so when they hit our hands, it kills. He'll come to church though will a briefcase full of yo-yo's and it will distract the entire ward, so the first hour (R.S, Elders....) is always delayed in starting because all the teachers or leaders will be yo-yoing. so we're working on improving that ha. It's fun to see the well aged relief society presented yo-yoing around the church though. It's actually really amusing ha.

What else. Nikki! he's a less active. Has very little recollection of his baptism. It's surprising how many less actives we'll find have no idea what baptism is, and don't remember doing anything like that. We're making sure that doesn't happen anymore. Anyway, hard life kind of guy. He was involved in the black market stuff for a long time, but just changed jobs. Not sure what, but hopefully something better. A truck driver of some sort. Very shaky when he talks. Probably a mixture of all the drugs he's had in his body over the years, and all the hard things he's experienced. Lots of friends have died in the last few years. Just a hard life. I called him up, with no information attached to his name, and he agreed to meet. So we met him with some leaders from our ward, and he remembers learning about Jesus, and remembers his life was happier. He says he has the book of mormon in his room, and he reads it every once in a while and it makes him feel safe and peace, so he likes it. This was the best part ...we asked if he prayed much lately... He asked what prayer was, and then we explained it. He said no. but then he said that when he gets really mad and is about to hit someone, he says a few words and says "amen" and it makes him not want to hit them anymore ha. He really has a great heart. And he believes Christ can make his life better. So he quit his job and came to church on Sunday. He was 2 hours and 45 minutes late haha. but he came!!! it was awesome. And he brought a friend. And he really wants his friend to learn about Christ. They've had tough lives, but they really have good desires and good hearts. Don't worry, we're safe :)

I have to go, but I love you!
Have a great week!
Hannah

The Courage to Keep What We Have

Hello family! Well, I am working on sending you some pictures. It's been a great week. I forgot how awesome summers here are. They are so great. just so great. And hot. and fun. and I just love them. Hong Kong is not that big, but it's fun how different the areas are. Kwun tong was mostly characterized by colorful and traditional, and blood, and sweaty people without a lot of clothes. Sham Shui Po was busy and fast and malls and university and foreigners. And air conditioning. That was nice, excpet I was there for the winter ha. And Butterfly. Butterfly is tiny. and slow. but it's great. The best way I can describe butterfly are by these two men I met. We call them suk-suks. (like soak-soaks) But they were working suk-suks. The streets have lots of open shops...just kind of like sheds with walls in between them, but no front wall. It's just open. And inside was this kitchen. And these two (of course shirtless) old men were in there long white aprons, each stirring a huge pot of something over a big burner. Their long wooden stirring stick/pole things were going in unison, and they were just swaying back in forth together. I saw them from a distance and thought it was pretty cute, but as we got closer, I can here the song "You've got a friend in me" ha. They obviously had no idea what the song was about, but they were just loving life. So that's what I feel like Butterfly is like. Good people. not a lot of urgency or need for anything. Whenever we talk about purpose or desires they just give the answer,"well it's just the way it is". But the people here are good. It's going to be a fun summer.

We had a great kid get baptized yesterday. His name is A-Sam, and he is awesome. He's 15. We have a good group of Young Men here in the ward. They don't have a Young Men's president though, which is challenging. And no elders in our area makes it challenging too.  But Sister Robinson and I have earned some respect from them through our basketball skills ha. We went out to a park and had a breakfast/basketball/lesson at the church the other day. Me and Sister Robinson guarded each other so it would be ok, but we sure showed those 15 year olds! haha. just kidding. Actually, it was super fun. And we got some street credit from the summer break teenagers haha. I always wanted to do basketball finding....?  those kids have been a great support for A-Sam. He's been investigating for about a year and a half now, but his mom hasn't been too keen on the church. But miracles can happen. His friend was ordained a priest in church, and then baptized him after church. But the best part was his testimony afterwards. He has prayed and felt things that only he could know. He's a pretty shy kid, not always wanting to express his feelings, so it was neat to see him really open up to the ward and share a 10 minute plus testimony on things he knew for himself.

The youth here are incredible. I am so impressed with them. Another Young man, named Ka jeung, is having some troubles at school. For youth conference, the Church sent out a letter to excuse the youth from summer camps or tutoring sessions so they can attend the conference. Ka Jeung goes to a Christian school, and his headmaster received the letter and called him in to his office. He pulled up all sorts of anti information from online and just hammered this poor kid on what a heresy he has been tricked into. He asked Ka Jeung to bring his Book of Mormon with him to school this next week so they can continue their interview. He came to church pretty nervous about it. He is a convert of about 2 years. But at Sam's baptism he also stood up and shared his testimony about why he was baptized and especially why he knows the Book of Mormon is true. I learned a great lesson of the importance of personal experiences and searching. We need to find our own answers because we will be tested and tried, and I am sure there will come times that we have nothing but our personal experiences and memories of knowing what is true to hold on to. But also the importance of strengthening and encouraging and sharing and standing by those who are on the same path as us, to give enough courage to keep what we have. They are incredible kids, and they don't have to stand alone. We're the dorky sister missionaries who play basketball with them and probably add to the embarrassment haha, but it's been fun to see their faith grow this last while through such hard things. So we're praying and fasting with Ka Jeung this week to make this situation into an opportunity to grow and share was he believes. Good kids.

Another picture I am sending is Uncle Fai. He is the coolest. Only he could wear leather pants to church in the middle of the summer. And he wears this aweome jockey looking cap. he just makes me smile. We had dinner at his house. He wasn't willing to turn the tv off for dinner, but he did for the message ha. Dont worry, I dont go all out and watch tv on this mission.


Perhaps this is inappropriate, if it is you can edit it out. But Chinese people are very blunt and say things that aren't always super correct. and I feel like it might be rubbing off on me. I am sorry if it is. I cant tell you how many times we've heard how fat we are ha. And it's true..compared to the girls here, everyone is. But we were teaching uncle fai about scriptures. We're trying to get him reading. He loves to have very deep and complex discussions on God or anything really, so we're trying to channel it. So we came up with a scripture study class we're going to have once a week, and invite investigators and recent converts or la's or really anybody who could come in the wards that meet in our building. uncle fai doesn't have a calling or anything yet, so we were trying to give him a little bit of responsibility to maybe lead this next class discussion on faith, Alma 32. He thought it was great. But said we can't do it at the church. It's too maahfaahn. there isn't a word for it. It means what it sounds. inconvenient, hassle,...etc. He thinks it's a far better idea for us to have it at his house. So we can eat food ha. we were trying to explain that a lot of people were going to be involved, and the church was best. But then he starts going off about how we are haak yahn. black people. we were't sure what he was going at, since clearly we are white. so we were confused and tried to move on. But then he goes on "I am from hong kong. This is my country. I am the master. When I go to america you can be the master, and I will be the haak yahn. But it's just the way things go. You are guests in my country and I am the master. So I can give you food and offer my house for this class. When I go to america, you give me food. That's how things go. But now I am the master and you are haak yahn. By the way, my house can only fit four people." Ha. I'm not sure what he really understands about slave history, but I just about died. We did everything we could to try to get it at the church, but he is set on his house. And our  class will now just be us and uncle fai and his wife haha. So we need to think of another name for the class, and invite him again. Sorry, it was funnier in my mind as it happened. He spoke all in Chinese until he used the word master. Maybe that was why it was so funny. Everything becomes 10 times funier when people try to drop english words into their converstaions. We showed Sister Jiu a restoration pamphlet, which has a picture of Jesus Christ holdiing a sheep. The lesson went great, but at the end, she decided to start practicing her english and in the middle of the hospital just looks at this pamphlet and starts saying, "I am a sheep. I am a sheep" over and over. It was too funny and sweet and made me laugh. Sometimes I just need to remove myself from what's going on.

I love this mission. Alright. I need to send some pictures. I love you! Have a good week!
Hannah