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