Hello! Well - you all look so beautiful! It's so great to hear from you! Wow, congrats to Camilla & Tommy. They've graduated! I love hearing about your lives. I am constantly so impressed. Tell Gump I say hello. I think about him often.
Well this week was full of all sorts of very lovely people. I'll start with Lai Yee. Lai Yee, I'm pretty sure, is in her late 90's. Rumor is that she is 98, but I can't get her to tell me. She always gives me this mischievous smile whenever I talk to her about anything that could hint at her age haha. but she goes to every English Class offered by missionaries. She isn't a member, but has known missionaries for 10+ years. She wears this cute little hat everywhere she goes and walks around with her umbrella. She reminds me a lot of Kermit the frog with her mannerisms and hand movements. She doesn't like playing the games at English class, so she always excuses herself to the "bathroom," and then never comes back for the last 10 minutes of class. Which doesn't matter, but once I caught her, and made her laugh about it, and we've been good friends ever since. So she's my English class partner. Last week the word parachute came up, and she claimed to have done that parachute thing over the ocean in Thailand. I'm not sure if I've writtten to you about Lai Yee before or not, but she tells us these very extravagant stories about her life (i.e. She was born in Jerusalem, she is the oldest of 10 siblings, she studied microbiology and is really into diving haha). So when she goes off into some of her stories, it's always hard to sift through what is actually true. Every conversation with her is a 2 truths and a lie game. And it's always accompanied by that smile of hers that just keeps you on your toes. She is the cutest, and we've been good friends the last few months of Wednesday night English class in Kowloon Tong. So this last week when I was trying to sift through her stories, she insisted on showing me proof. She had a picture. So she invited us to her house on our pday to spend some time with her and have lunch. So that's what we did today, and it was so much fun. I'll send you a picture next week. We went through her old picture clutters, and it was amazing to see how old those pictures were, of all her deceased family up in China together. Turns out she really did have 10 siblings. She wasn't born in Jerusalem. But she has travelled to just about every country I could name off. We saw pictures of her at the pyramids, and up at Mt Everest, and St. Basil's cathedral, and yes, her parachute in Thailand. Coolest woman I have ever met. So it has been a privilege to come to be friends with. Love her.
Cool experience on the MTR this week. We were out running during morning exercise to the ocean. And right near the point we were coming back, I stepped on one of those grid things in the street for drainage. The slits in it aren't super wide and we walk over them all the time, but my foot just lined up perfectly that my ankle gave way and I rolled in pretty good. That same left one I hurt a while back playing volleyball. But I could walk back to the apartment & it wasn't as bad as it should have been for sure, which was a blessing. It hurts a bit, but I can walk fine. But on the MTR on the way home, this woman was sitting near where we were standing and my swollen ankle caught her eye, because my companion was pocking at it with her foot. This woman was old and talked really loud, and she called me over and stood up to give me her seat, but we assured her I was just fine. But she refused to sit down and pushes me into the seat and starts pulling out all this Chinese medicine oils and stuff. She takes off my gross crocs and just starts drenching my feet in this stuff on this moving train haha. All the people near us are just chuckling at the scene, because it was quite loud haha. But then it starts smelling bad, and then starts burning even worse haha. It was super hot haha. But I just felt so grateful to her. She had her little trolley thing she pulled around with her, and she had bandages all over her arms and hands. And she wasn't very young, but she is on her knees attending to my feet in this crowd of people. I could hardly understand a thing she said, but she was so kind. So kind. I felt so loved by a complete stranger. I love these people.
Alright, last but definitely not least. Jiu Jimuih was baptized this Sunday. Jiu jimuih is a special woman and part of a special family. Back in December when everything was going on with Nana, this family was seeing a similar thing. The grandpa pretty suddenly started being treating for cancer, and then passed away in January. They were both taking the lessons before he passed away, and we were doing everything we could to help them be baptized before the expected happened, but he passed away before they received the ordinance. We tried to be especially sensitive to the situation and to their needs. And we slowly starting visiting Jiu Jimuih again, mostly just to talk. It is tender to talk to her about the temple blessings and sealing power, and she is working towards that day. Very incredible woman. I felt so privileged to even watch her start learning about these blessings and feeling the comfort that comes.
I need to go, but I love you all so much. And I miss you. You mean everything to me, and I was reminded of that as we continued to teach this family, because it's so rare to teach families here. But it's the happiest message we could give.
Love you guys.
Hannah
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