August 18, 2013

Our flat is SUPER nice very big and new BUT our kitchen has cockroaches. We made a homemade blow torch to kill them (so a can of AXE with a lighter...) yeah it worked pretty well so far. We plan to get a BOMB this week to kill the rest of them off we should be fine.

David and Peter fell off the face of the Earth in Aberdeen. I hadn't seen them in 4 weeks when I left (and the Elders in Aberdeen still haven't seen them). It was Dicky and Kenneth that were there. Its okay though I will find people up here. Starting from scratch again... Looks like that is the story of my senior mission status! 

I hate being DL its just a bunch of small stuff I have to do that sucks up my time to go out. I have to do numbers on Sunday which takes like my entire day. Every Thursday I need to check up on the companionship to see how their week is going and if there are any problems. Once I a month I have to check missionaries Chinese level if they are under 6 months in Hong Kong (that's everyone in my district)... I like it because it allows me to help more people but its just a bunch of small stuff that sucks time from finding... Its okay its fun and President Rogers was right when he said I would lead and help people learn the language... ha

We don't track we call it finding haha well actually for a while we called it finishing because it sounds more fun haha. Just the normal, either on the street or paakmuhn'ing (door-knock'ing). So nothing to crazy.

Pdays... nothing to special last week we got food this week we got EEFY and next week I think we will go hike or go to the beach I don't know yet.

 He is another funny "Zombie Mode" picture haha

 This last week we had a church activity. It was a talent show and home made milk shakes! Of course I let the kid play with my camera because the LOVE playing the affect of my camera. They found the epic setting (this picture) and called it "Zombie Mode" and I got a ton of funny pictures from them!

 At our ward milk shake + talent show activity

 awkward picture of me and Nephew our investigator

 This was my flat last week before Elder Woods left.

 This Elder Woods he just went home this last week (just finished his two years) and I lived with him from Dec to March then again for like two weeks here. I miss this kid, he was an amazing missionary. (He was a Mandarin). The picture is a joke had from me serving in CWB I slept on the bottom bunk and he slept on the top. Every night we would reenact that famous picture of Adam and God almost touching fingers haha. Love this kid

 This is the view outside of my flat! Its sick! When the sky is clear you can see the building from Shin Zin in mainland! THEY ARE HUGE! I think the third tallest building in the world is just behind those mountains!

 Handsome picture of Osborne me and Falk

August 11, 2013

Yeah well I moved, I was right with my guess this time. So moves calls were last Tuesday and move day was last Thursday. I am now step training in Sheung Shui with Elder Osborne and I am also district leader... Yeah that's exciting. I basically moved across the entire mission. By the way I now serve in Sister Wong's ward (the one I served in CWB with) so that's pretty sweet! (She leaves for BYU I at the end of this month! Yeah sooo I moved from the city to the boondocks. I live right next to the boarder... I can see Shen Zhen (mainland) from my flat (I will send pictures next week I forgot to take some this morning). Yeah over all the area looks okay but has a freaking TON of anti!! Oh my goodness... This last weekend I (Thursday through Sunday) I taught 5 street lessons and all but one got anti'ed WHILE I WAS TEACHING HIM! Elder Osborne said it wasn't like this before I came so we will see but its been pretty frustrating the last couple days. I'm not to worried though I should be able to get past this.

In my district I have 

Sheung Shui sisters (McKown -trainer- Smith trainee)

Tai Wo Elder (Falk trainer Halverson trainee)

Mandarins (Woods -he leaves on Thursday for America :(- and Die)

Sheung Shui Elders (me and Osborne)

Yeah so that's kind of the update.

The last couple of days when I was in Aberdeen/West Point tri-companionship was just crazy. It was hard to get enough time in either area but it worked okay. I went to the girl's home but she wasn't there and I made Elder Martinez promise me he would go back for her. So I really hope he does... I was planning to try twice but didn't really expect to get stuck covering two areas and missed her last Saturday.

As for Peter and David. I tried all I could; I just couldn't reach them and I really hope Elder Au and Martinez can bring them back but its going to take a lot of work. Kenneth is doing great he will be totally fine with his baptismal date of 9/8th (might move it forward) and Dicky is okay... He has this mind set that all religions have truth (which I won't deny) and he can't really just accept one. He also kind of doesn't really understand the scriptures but I think they will be able to help him so I am not to worried.

Right now I am the oldest missionary in my district (because Elder Woods goes home on Thursday)... I think that's crazy considering I've only just barely been out a year now. 

So today for Pday me, Osborne, Woods, Dy and Elder Ward (and his comp Barker) are going to get some K BBQ!!! YEAH :) yummy

Nothing to much is going on honestly. We have like no investigators; last Sunday Sheung Shui Elder baptized their only real investigator sooo I am starting from scratch... Just like Aberdeen. I am little frustrated I left Aberdeen because I finally got it moving! When I got there we were teaching like 2 member presents and 2 other lessons with 1 or 0 people at church. My last week WHILE COVERING TWO AREAS had 5 member presents 5 other lessons and 3 PEOPLE AT CHURCH!!! WITH TWO BAPTISMAL DATE!! UGHHH why... Its whatever I will change Sheung Shui too.

In the Book of Mormon. I just finished Mosiah today for personal study. Right now I am reading through the book of mormon and I high light Jesus' many names that he has given. I've only had about 8 pages from 1st Nephi to Mosiah. So yeah thought that was pretty cool. I just wanted to understand how much the Book of Mormon really talks about Jesus Christ... It talks a lot about him haha. I really enjoy reading about King Benjamin and his address to the people. You really see what a good leader he is and how he leads his people. Kind of thought it was ironic I read that and became a DL a week later... yeah

 Yeah so we went to the ghetto of Aberdeen to go knock on some doors... We saw this little cutie by a door and I ran because the door was open... Lucky enough he had a huge rope holding him! THIS DOG IS HUGE. He came about to my mid hip... Freaking scary as crap!

 This a Rex from Aberdeen ward! He is one of my favorite people in Hong Kong. He actually served his mission in Austin Texas!!!! How sick is that? He leaves for Snow College (in Utah) this month. He has been one of my best friends in Aberdeen

So this was at games night in Wan Chai chapel my last day in Aberdeen! The picture (left to right) elder Martinez, Kyun, A Wai, Me, A Sing, A Joe, and A Kiel. Yeah I found A Wai (kind of) through formers and he ended up bring all these kids. A Wai is awesome! I am gonna miss that kid haha

August 4, 2013

This week has been crazy... So freaking crazy. I am currently covering two areas (from last Thursday until this Thursday) because Elder Brown (the blonde elder I live with) became AP this last week. Leaving me with his companion and area... SO I cover West Point and Aberdeen as senior companion... WOOOOOOOOOO fun.... not. But everything is going well so its fine.

 

I can't reach Peter but I do know where he works. I am planning on this week getting lunch at where he works and just stopping by to say hi. Its really sad to see how far he came then how quickly he fell. Sad to watch the Devil slowly lead us away from the church, it doesn't even take that much.

 

Dicky is doing great! He has a baptismal date for 8/25th and he should make. He has a decent desire to find out these things are true but the gospel isn't the clearest thing to him. So we are trying to help him. He seems to really enjoy coming to church and meeting with us so I have a lot of hope for him. 

Kenneth is pure gold haha. We taught him twice last week and played soccer together! He is awesome and reminds me a ton of Alex (sorry no picture of him on me right now). His baptismal date is 9/8th but I think we may move it up to 8/25th if he keeps progressing at a quick rate.

 

I plan to visit the girl this Wednesday; I wanted to go on Saturday but the whole covering two areas screwed it up. Moves calls are tomorrow and I want more than anything to stay (I fasted for it) but I keep getting the feeling that I am leaving (and you just said I am leaving anyways...). Yeah hopefully I can contact her before I go if not I will make Elder Martinez do it for me.

 So right now I have two companions (for this week) and covering two areas: West Point and Aberdeen. This week we went to an activity in West Point and MADE PIE!!! YES!

 Here is the pie I made... There are many like but this pie is mine. It has apples, blue berries, and strawberries! SOOOO GOOD.

 That night Mak family made us dinner, that's a glazed goose they made... Yeah the made it in their house it was crazy.

 Elder Martinez attacking a goose leg!

 Last night we had a big activity called "My Conversion Story" all the missionaries going home pick a person they helped teach to share their conversion stories then people from all over Hong Kong come listen (we brought our investigator Dicky). I got to see Haiti Wong and Felix again! They are like my family in Hong Kong, I miss them a lot.

  This is Elder Wright he goes home this week and he was in my first flat in Hong Kong! He is one of my best friends and its super weird to see him go

This is Elder MacFarlin he is a current AP (Elder Brown is replacing him) and I love this guy haha 

July 29, 2013

I can read most of the Chinese but I am not currently studying characters. President Hawks set a rule that you can start character study when you've been in Hong Kong one year in other words this September I can start studying them. I didn't want to wait but figured I should for obedience sake.

 

My Cantonese is good by no means is it amazing out of this world. I have the ability to do small talk, teach lessons, talk about sports, movies, music and some other stuff but still nothing to amazing. There are still lots of times I get stuck talking to people. I think as a language you can't really master Cantonese you just keep progressing you can't really master it. I like it and its fun but oh my gosh I wish I spoke Spanish or French or some other simple language some times.... CHINESE IS SOOOO FREAKING HARD OH MY GOODNESS.  Yes - us and Mandarins argue about the language but Cantonese is better sounding but Mandarin is more organized as a language haha. 

 

Well I haven't got a hold of Peter since he got his job so I think he might be gone for now... We still are trying to contact him but he works so much I can't. David is just being lazy still so we will see what we can do. A Wai (the kid that comes to church but doesn't meet with us yet) is still coming to church and activities every once and a while. So they are doing okay.

 

The big two right now are Dicky and Kenneth. Dicky is this 25 year old guy that Elder Martinez found and I brought back to the church in Aberdeen and had a lesson with him. He has come to church for the last three weeks, changed work this week so he could come, and he seems pretty good. He has a baptismal date on August 25th. Kenneth is a referral. His sister got baptized this last February but I think she lives in Australia for schooling and stuff (originally from Aberdeen). He didn't know about our chapel so he went to the Wan Chai one and has been meeting with the Causeway Bay Elders (my old area). He got turned over to us last Tuesday but I was on 24's so I haven't met him yet. He is meeting us tonight at 7:00 he also has baptismal date of Sept 8th. The CWB elders said he is super prepared sothat nice!.

 

We have a couple of other investigators but not showing to much progress but yeah things are doing okay.

 

I promise I will visit the little girl. I've been wanting to but I think I have just made to many excuses not to go.

 

Last pday we went to Stanley and played on the beach. Climbed some rocks and played rugby in the sand. I got some/ a ton of pictures to send. I didn't buy anything though... got to busy and ran out of time. Then today a member chang'ed (chinese slang means took us out to eat and paid) to the floating restaurant called Jumbo. Its super famous in Aberdeen (you could probably google it and find it if you like). We also did a little hike today so that was fun.

 

Moves calls is August 6th, move day is August 8th. I don't have an official date of when I am going home but I am guessing next August at the end of the June transfer (so like August 18th I think?).

So last week for Pday me and all the handsome young men went to Stanley beach (in my area) and ya know did stuff! We climbed some rocks, played in the sand, got in the water to our knees (can't go any deeper against the rules) and played beach rugby! IT WAS AWESOME! I missed the beach sooo much.

 Sorry bad picture but its me and Elder Morton my MTC comp. He is doing good and we are still super close. Missed him a bunch. He has been serving the New T's which is like the border of China and HK... While I was on the Island -- IE the opposite side...

Random sorry but a lot of people asked what I eat as a missionary in Hong Kong... Well my favorite thing to cook is CURRY! It is cheap, SUPER FILLING, taste great, I can cook it pretty fast and its easy! YAY :D

This is me and Elder Passy,... we took a picture from UNDER WATER... I love having a water proof camera is makes me worry lesson when I drop it... :)

So today for Pday a member (Tommy) took us on a hike which took us on top of this dam and then took us to a super nice restaurant (pictures later).

THE HIKE WAS A BLAST :3 -- me and Elder Martinez duck face <3

 This is Tommy... He was poking my face not a 100% sure why though.

 Me and Elder Martinez getting our handsome face on... Yeahhh handsome

 After the hike we all went to whats called JUMBO! Its a restaurant that is floating in the middle of a canal! Its super famous here (and I guess to the world?). Its awesome very transitional and pretty!

The style of food we ate is called yamcha (sorry don't really feel like going into to detail but its basically steamed food of sorts) anyways elder Martinez and Loderup have heard a ton about it but never had it... They were excited!

 Where we ate had this epic chair as the center piece of the room and we were allowed to get pictures on it! They had the cool traditional outfits you could pay to wear but we are way to broke for that.

This is the seal or something for the place... its coool

Before we left me and Elder Brown got a picture with this girl because her dress was cool... She was blown away when we asked her in Chinese haha it always is funny to watch Chinese people realize we speak Chinese also.

 

July 21, 2013

Clothes are doing fine. Still have all my orignal socks (except I am only down to 5 pairs... someone has been stealing my socks), I got all my shirts still!!!! (Most of them have no stains but they are starting to lose their white luster...) Yeah over all clothes are doing well don't really need to worry about it. A member from international gave me and Elder Krainock some nike running shoes for Chinese new years (SUPER FREAKING NICE SHOES HOLY CRAP) so I don;t really have to worry to much about clothes for a while. Maybe a new suit in November when we need to wear suits again.

 

Playing soccer with those kids (and our investigators) was super fun. I still am pretty good but really sloppy. A little sad about that but I can definitely get it back when I come home. David, Ronny and everyone else really seemed to enjoy it and they were impressed at how good I was which was cool. I shot so much harder than everyone else did it was funny.

 

The whole Satan thing is so true. He takes you in the easiest ways without you realizing it. Mine in all honesty was probably the numbing of my senses with music... I listen to a lot of messed up stuff and I was aware of it (not even talking about hard core music aka screamo but the harsh lyrics of rap). Its the small and simple things that catch you. For David its just the simple fact that he is to lazy to try and unfortunately for Peter its his family and a new job. He hasn't been to church in three weeks... So I don't know what to do.

We can teach Ms. Yeung because she is over the age of 30. So the rule is above the age of 30 or married. (Or a sibling of a current investigator being taught at the same time kind of thing).

 

July 17, 2013

Sorry I forgot to tell you but we are going to the temple on pday so our pday is today... My bad...

 

Well Peter and David are doing okay. I think David really has a lack of motivation because he really doesn't do anything besides meet with us and come to church. So its kind of hard to really help him progress. We still meet with him a lot because he does have a lot of potential. Peter is doing okay. He is having a lot of stuff thrown at him. His dad says no to baptism, his brother is anti'ing him and his new job (at McDonalds) wants him to work Sundays (missed church this week because of his job). Its okay though because we met with him and helped him realize he doesn't need to work on Sundays slash he shouldn't. So Me, Elder Martinez and Gordon Chan (RM from NYC south) shared our experiences and ways to work it out. Gordon gave like the perfect personal experience from working in Outback Steakhouse before his mission (yes they have outback in Hong Kong haha). It was cool. So hopefully he can get things all work out.

 

We haven't really picked up that many new investigators. Still haven't formally sat down and taught A-Wai yet but he did come to church this week! Also we took him and three of his friend (and David and a less active named Ronney) to play soccer yesterday night. It eventually turned into a match with this random team. We got owned at first but then we got organized and did pretty well. I killed people haha! I am not as bad as I thought I was. The other team was in their 20's and invited us back next week so we made some new friends. It was pretty cool and the investigators were impressed at my soccer skills haha! I still got it!

 

We re-picked up an old investigator Elder Tse  and I taught named Ms. Leung. She is in her 40's has hearing/seeing problems and a ton of other health problems. She speaks with a lisp and it is SO hard to understand... Like some words she says don't even sound like normal Chinese. OH its hard to understand! Its all good though because we used a member named Siu Mahn to help us when she was a kid she had Heart problems and eventually had open heart surgery (like 30 - 40 years ago?). So they related a lot. It was perfect, Siu Mahn even convinced her to skip her church and come to ours (she did come to church by the way) it was a great lesson. We did find out we have to teach A LOT slower that because we reviewed the first lesson and it was WAY to much but that's okay. We just taught about the Book of Mormon yesterday and she is getting it. Just got to teach it slowly.

 

I am so tired everyday and I don't feel like my energy ever catches up! Like I have to fight to stay awake in studies then by the time its time to find I am FINALLY awake only to be exhausted and stair at the roof all night. Ugh I am tired. Oh well mission life right? I get to enjoy that feeling for 13 more months haha. Me and Elder Brown make so many trunkie jokes to our babies its soooo funny.

 

 Then we went to Kenson's restaurant (Elder Brown's RC) and it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good (super expensive too...) -- this is specialty the "Rainbow Pizza"

 Saw Felix today! He was doing pretty good! He                                                                                                                                        wear all blue... haha

 Seafood pizza!

                                                        A quick good by picture of my at the library... I look weird in it...             

July 7, 2013

About the name tags. The bi-language name takes were never church approved but Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, and California (Chinese missionaries) have had them for almost the last 55 years but they were never church approved. So they made all those missions switch to single language name tags. Its SUPER annoying because everyone asks for your English name and its really easy to show them with our old tags. Whatever I was frustrated at first but I don't even notice anymore. I am just glad I got three of those name tags before the stopped making them.

Elder Martinez is from SLC his family has been Mormon forever. His great-grandmother set up the first Spanish branch in Utah. He is the first in his family to serve (has two older sisters, one younger brother and one younger sister). His second oldest sister just started her mission in Austin or Houston Texas (I forgot) like last week. So he is the first by like 3 months... He is pretty cool. He wrestled and played football and rugby. He loves everyone and we fart around a lot. We have a good relationship its like me and elder ward. Its funny because he makes the same mistakes I made but he tires a lot harder than I did so that good.

Peter... Well his mum is fine with him getting baptised but she hasn't come back to church and doesn't really have interest. His dad still hasn't changed and isn't really even listening to him so we are working on him next. His brother is still being a punk. It doesn't matter though because Peter wants it a lot so I am not to worried

Well about Phoebe and A-Gwan... They just changed our rules in the mission as of last week that we (elders) are suppose to turn all unmarried girls under the age of 30 to the sisters. I HATE THIS RULE MORE THAN ANYTHING ON THE FREAKING EARTH... They had the rule one month before I came to Hong Kong but took it off but now they are bring it back. They said we have all these sister lets use them!!! why can't they find their own investigators? WHY AM I GIVING MY INVESTIGATORS TO SOMEONE ELSE... WHY? Seriously frustrated right now because I have to turn over Phoebe and A-Gwan.... A-Gwan will totally get baptized she is super prepared (from mainland).  whatever... Like I've said a million times on my mission just smile and move on.

Still haven't seen the girl I will go back soon probably next Saturday when families are home.

Really isn't much of a story this week... Welll I got a funny one but I need to send the pictures of it... Its a father-son kind of moment... sooo dumb haha

Oh by the way I shook a twelve fingered man's hand last week... Like from the "AS YOU WISH" movie... blanked on the title. I didn't even notice until Elder Martinez pointed it out after we had walked away. He was freaking out haha

Well one story I guess....

Last Wednesday me and elder Martinez went finding for 7.5 hours..... HOLY CRUD... It was like 30C all day with like 88% humidity. We talked to a ton of people but got 0 lessons. We met some super golden people but wouldn't give us their phone number to reschedule them. Basically nothing worked that day. We got like 15 phone numbers all but one was fake and the one real one is busy with work this week... Yeah so pretty much an awful day. Then Thursday we had more finding again..woo.. A random former (that I've never met) calls me named A-Wai. I start talking to him on the phone (Elder Martinez keeps finding) and he is like I will come to church this Sunday. I was like okay? Then that was kind of the end of the conversation. Hour later we were meeting with a LA named Ronny and he calls back. A-Wai was like are you at the church right now? (Yes) So he came by with two friends and we talked. Then the next day he came to English class with a third friend. We couldn't teach a lesson because he was busy and wasn't able to come to church because of a family lunch or something. I am just hoping that it is a blessing from God for that 8 hour day of finding... I really hope. We are suppose to see him this week.

 This was Elder Martinez and me first fast Sunday dinner together. Looks pretty good right? Can you guess the sauce that we used? Well there was a monsoon on Sunday so we couldn't go out and I was starving so we decided to make dinner... We found some noodles that had been sitting (unopened) in a cupboard since I got to Aberdeen (so like 18 weeks) so I figured we could use them... We made it but didn't have any sauce. So we looked through the fridge. We found the following: Mustard, Ketchup, Mayo, expired jam, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and some other stuff... So we mixed Mustard, Soy Sauce and some sugar and made this... It was AWESOME... I think we were at the point of starving haha.

 Yeah me and Sister Law at a Zone Training meet last Friday for a year mark together!! WOOO made a year baby just a one more to go! :D

 Me and Elder Martinez's best "ARE YOUR SERIOUS FACE?" We make this a lot being missionaries in Hong Kong (because we see the weirdest stuff here...) and Elder Brown was able to catch them beautifully on film with my camera.

July 2, 2013

Yeah I finally got the package. We went to the mission office on Monday hoping to pick it up and I got there at 2 and it still wasn't there! (Mail normally comes at like 10 am and 2 pm) Then on my way home they called me telling me it just got dropped off.... So luckily the need to do an apartment check on Thursday so they brought the package to my house. I like the package a lot! I've almost eaten all the mango's already.  I got the shirt to and it fits fine. I like the candy I still have root beer barrels from my last package. I think I am to tight on candy eating.... Uhm yeah we are going to have the salsa this Sunday if we reach our goals (me and Elder Martinez each set 5 personal goals; mine are memorize a scripture in Chinese & English, work out every morning, do my chores every day, learn/retain 150 new words this week and do sounds & tones [Chinese stuff] everyday) . So we both have 5 yes/no goals and if we don't make one we don't get the Salsa... There is some incentive haha. 

Well things are going pretty well as trainer. Elder Martinez is a great kid but doesn't speak Chinese (not like I was expecting him too or anything) so its hard on me. I have to make sure he progresses as a teacher and speaking Chinese but at the same time my investigators get what they need out of the lesson. Its SO hard to balance those two things and at the same time I have to make sure I know what the crap is going on... I hate listening its the most frustrating thing every because if I space out for like 1/10th of a second I lose EVERYTHING... ughhh my ADD is probably going to be resolved by the time I am done with my mission... ha

Well this week kind of was interesting. Had a lot of random problems and issues face us. My Ipod got stolen and I am still mad but honestly when I realized it was stolen (when I got to the church) for some reason my head just said don't worry about it... So I didn't? I am mad that I wasted your money and I think that's what I was mad about not really I lost the ipod (kind of sucked because I lost some pictures and notes). So that was frustrating but alarmingly okay? I don't know its weird. 

The big thing this week is Peter; he was suppose to have a baptismal interview on Saturday but three days before his older brother anti'ed his parents and so they wouldn't sign the permission slip. We met on Saturday and Phoebe (that less active I found) met with him and discussed how to over come this. We explained everyone will have this and Phoebe share her experience. Then I share the others I've seen and we soon decided the best thing to do to fix this was get his mum and dad to church! Well we invite a lot of people to do that but not a lot of kids are brave enough... HOWEVER! Peter is brave enough and showed up with his MUM!!! OH MY GOODNESS! She only stayed for sacrament meeting but I am hoping that's all she needed. There was three talks and they were all brilliant! She looked like she enjoyed and was laughing along with the members at the jokes. We had members sitting by her and her son (we sat a row behind them). Then afterwards EVERYONE said hi and was like "Oh you're Peter's mum?" blah blah blah! IT was awesome. We are seeing Peter tonight and hopefully we can reschedule his baptism.

Phoebe is doing awesome; we are currently teaching her friend A-Gwan (it pronounced like ONE with a "GW" at the beginning). She went back to mainland for vacation and should be back on Saturday. She has a lot of potential and I am stoked!

Sadly I haven't seen the little girl yet.... I went back one time and no one was home. I will probably go back soon though.

Next Monday we are going to Stanley! YAY its in my area but we are going with a bunch of missionaries. Its a beach and all this crazy shopping and other stuff so it will be fun!

June 24, 2013

Yeah sooo a lot stuff has happened in the last week... Between "planned" miracles and just the most mind blowing random miracles ever.... Yeah interesting week ha

Well Elder Martinez and I are getting along very well. He is a super hard worker and like all young missionaries he doesn't understand anything... SO I have to step up my game a TON. I have to ALWAYS listen. Its been a bad habit of mine before to only listen during "my part" of the lesson and let my senor companion do the rest... Yeah its very different to be leading lessons now. I have gained sooooooooooooooooooooo much respect for Elder Ward putting up with me because I was not a good baby in all honesty. Elder Martinez works hard so I am glad and I help him a lot with his Chinese hopefully it will progress quickly. I don't remember it being like that... but of course I know it totally sounded like that when I got here. Weird to see such a dramatic change in under a year.

About me hitting my year mark (July 5th) not really that big of a deal. I will probably finish my mission next August so I still have 14 months left!!! THAT IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FREAKING LONG. Haha me and Elder Brown (he has 10 months left) make" trunkie" jokes all the time then he is like I got 10 and you got a WHOLE extra 4! haha its funny -- it annoys our babies :)

Yeah so the humidity/heat here is AMAZING it will blow your mind when you visit. Its normally around 29 - 33C and 75% or higher humidity EVERYDAY! OHHHH my I am always wet... Always... and so is Elder Martinez... I will keep losing weight with how much I sweat...

So time for the cool missionary stuff!

So we have a decent pool of investigators by no means a large one. We are still teaching David and Peter, they are friends with a baptismal date of 7/7/2013. I am 100% sure Peter will get baptized not 100% sure about David because his parents are against it. Last Tuesday Kiko (my old investigator in CWB) got baptized (I got to be a witness super awesome) and we took Peter with us. He LOVED it and is super stoked about his baptism! So that was our "planned" miracle. 

The one that blew my mind was our less active find. So I was trying to schedule this PM family through the mum's phone her name is Sis Jang but she NEVER answered. So I went through the YW to find her daughter and there was only one with the same Jang character so I called her (her name is Phoebe). I tried to schedule her and her family but she said they were to busy. Then we started talking and found out she wanted to go to BYUH and asked if I could help her study some English (always a good way to help Chinese people they love it). She said yes and said she would bring a friend!! I was like YESSS A REFERRAL!!! Then next Thursday comes and we are waiting for Phoebe and her friend. Then this random girl comes in and asks if I am ngaaih jeunglouh.... I had no idea who she was because I was expecting Phoebe Jang (this active 17 year old in the ward). Well it turns out this girl has the SAME LAST NAME CHARACTER AND ENGLISH FIRST NAME.... WHAT ARE THE FREAKING ODDS OF THAT.... absolutely ZERO. NO WAY that happened on accident! She was super nice and we (us, Phoebe and her friend) hit it off, it was awesome. We even invited them to church and THEY CAME! The ward welcomed her back with open arms and her friend as well.. LITERALLY a mind blowing miracle... There was NO WAY that that happened on accident...

Just crazy...

June 17, 2013

So things here are pretty much the same. Cycling through investigators and trying to resuscitate old ones. Right now our only golden investigators are Peter and David. They both have a baptismal date for 7/7/13! Peter says he knows its true and wants to get baptized but David wants to know if its true but hasn't figured out if it is yet. We found David and David brought Peter to the second lesson so the whole thing is kind of a miracle in itself. 

Actually do you remember Kiko, Melody's friend in CWB, she is getting baptized tomorrow! I am taking Peter and David to go see it (hoping it will help them). I'm super stoked! All of our other investigators are kind of in the process of dying... Its sad to watch them go because they just won't try the things you invite them to do. Peter has done everything we have invited him to do so in-turn he has come to know its true. The people who don't or lie to me (which happens a lot... BLOWS my mind they lie to me) never really progress and will eventually die off.

 

Well the area is doing okay. I am super exhausted though. Being senor takes so much energy because I have to always be listening. Last move I could choose to listen because Elder Tse had my back but now I have to have Elder Martinez's back. Its exhausting and my Chinese is not to great so I have to listen super hard.... I'm tired...

 

Yeahhhh so that's really it not much really. I'm losing weight, learning Chinese, and reading the Book of Mormon that's about it.

June 9, 2013

just an update on investigators

We currently are teaching

David, Peter, Anthony, A-Kin, Ken, and 2 more potentials

Peter is probably the best he is reading the Book of Mormon and keeping all of his commitments. On Saturday I invited him to be baptized on July 7th. He said he needs to think and pray about it. My favorite thing though is two lesson ago I talked about the Book of Mormon and it gives you a special feeling no other book or church thing can provide. When we saw him on Saturday he was like "Elder Arrington you are right about that feeling I think I felt it too!" It was awesome!

I hope we baptize him. He would be my first find, teach, and baptize and this area REALLY needs a baptism to get some movement going,

 That tiny yellow dot is a 40 foot tall duck boat thing... Im on top of a mountain and you can still see it... awesome.

 Had a birthday party for a missionary... Yeah it got "crazy" ... no.

 Last week for Pday we hiked Victoria peak and kind of got lost and this is the group trying to figure out how to get there (this was my zone last move a lot of them are gone now)... This basically describes us perfectly...

 Here is my dad (left Elder ward) and my baby (right Elder Martinez) YEAHHH IM A TRAINER BABY!

Me Elder Leung and Brown got really bored on Sunday night and took a ton of random pictures in Jeans... Yeah we look goooooood.

 Elder Parker Passy and I. I WOULD LOVE to serve with both of them!