Deepening My Roots

Hey everybody!

Thank you for that letter! I love being in the loop of what's happening. So fun! Congratulations danny-boy! you look so good in your homecoming get up. you too abbeygale. I'll be completely honest...I dont feel like I look like myself anymore haha. I dont know if that makes sense or not, but I think I definitely look different, and I think a few reasons for that are 1) ya, I'm getting older and 2) china is doing weird things to me. So I'm going to need your guys's help when I get home, because you are all such nice looking people. I dont know if it's the pollution or what, but my hair is pretty dark. 

It's been a great week here. We've had a lot of meetings, which is always inspiring. President Hawks is so amazing. And last Pday we cooked muffins with Sister Hawks, so that was fun. They're good people. One day in the church we were near the water filter tap thing, and Elder Wong happened to be in the church and walked by, and started making a joke with me about dumping water on people. Still called me Teacher Dung. I was shocked he could remember me. And then he goes on talking with a woman visiting from the states, who asked where he was from. she had no idea who he was, and he just introduces his wife and says he's from Hong Kong, and how honored he felt to be able to speak to the China teacher ambassador something something. There was a conference that day in the chapel of a bunch of ambassador teachers on some lds program. i dont know. Point being... I am just so impressed with how down to earth and good the leaders here are. Exactly what you were just writing about, mom...people are good and keep working and doing their part. That's what I learned a lot this week. Just do my part, and do my best. 

There hasn't been any sun here lately. Just cancer. The pollution is pretty bad. My throat I think was breathing too much of it, and I lost my voice for about a week and a half. But it made talking with people entertaining, because you can squeak out enough, but it added at least 5 new tones to this language that people would just laugh at me. I would just laugh at me. Sister Takahashi was great though. We have fun together. Fiona is preparing for baptism, which is so exciting. She's amazing. I can't express how special it is to come to love people so quickly and so entirely. She's amazing. And Shandy came to church! miracle. we're excited for her. 

We had exchanges this week. I went to Tsing yi, and did a lot of finding. Which was fun. I think it's fun. we met a man named leo and we turned him over to the Tung Chung elders. so I travelled all over hong kong this week. Our zone is so young. Me and one other sister are the oldest sisters in our zone -so that's terrifying. And we have 5 new trainies. so it's been a struggle sometimes for us not to get discouraged. Because we're working. We're trying. We go finding and we're trying to learn the language and talk to people, but nobody is seeing much success or growth. But I really love this story about the bamboo tree. When we plant a bamboo tree, we water it and feed it for years. I've heard some say 4, others say 10. you water it and water it, and nothing changes. nothing happens. but you keep going. It feels like that's exactly what happens to us. We keep watering, feeding, trying, but it feels like we aren't growing or changing. But then what happens to the bamboo tree? In a period of a few day to a few weeks, it grows inches and feet until it's this towering and strong tree. It had been spending all those years deepening it's roots so it would be capable of growing in the ways that it does. so I guess faith can also be related to bamboo seeds haha. and I'm deepening my roots right now! We'll see changes in the future, I know it. It was kind of fun looking back at what I thought I would be like halfway through my mission though. And I am nowhere close to what I had planned. My cantonese is not fluent and I dont baptize people every month either. but I know we see changes in other ways and goals accomplished in other ways. so it's ok :)

Alright, I need to jauh, but I love you all! hope you're good! 

love hannah