October 10, 2012

So about Pday its on Thursday Hong Kong time BUT as of Oct 22nd (HK time) pdays will be on Mondays. So look for that change. 

Everyone in my apartment is white so we normally speak English because they can't really speak Cantonese and we can't really speak Mandarin. Although Elder Ward actually can speak some Mandarin but he has a Cantonese accent when he speaks. I don't know any Mandarin anymore - I can remember words but I can't speaks soooo I don't use it. When I teach with the Mandarin missionaries we both just speak our Chinese language so they speak Mandarin and we speak Cantonese because most people in Hong Kong can speak Cantonese, Mandarin and know English pretty well. I do use English a lot but not really when I teach.

We taught during the festival but most of the town was shut down but that means most people are free, so we visited less actives, members and some investigators during the entire festival. It was pretty hectic.

We have 5 progressing investigators now and we lost some due to their personal choices. We have Coco, Silence (Coco's brother), Melody, Felix and Dung Hingdaih.

I have done some soccer finding where I play with kids but normally we play from 7 to 7:30 in the morning but its normally Elders with a few kids so its pretty fun.

The only thing we aren't allowed to eat on our mission is raw food like sushi and some other fish food but everything else is find. It really more depends on what you can handle because some people just loose their stomachs with certain stuff soooo yeah. 

That's about it for the mission, I am not really sure on what else to say. Not much has changed but I get caught up with the fact I can't speak or understand Chinese, or no one will listen or people just bash our church and I can't defend because I don't know Chinese. This mission is an interesting one. There is a lot of success but there is also a lot more failure. Hopefully I see change soon because sometimes I feel like a lot of the work done here is pointless because no one does anything with our message. Just have to keep a smile on my face and enjoy it for what it is.

October 4, 2012

A typical day here in Hong Kong is waking up at 6:45 and playing soccer from 7 to 7:40 every morning. Then we study scriptures with our investigator Horace from 7:40 to 8:00 (ish). Then we run home and shower, hopefully we get back by 8:30 then we have personal study from 8:30 (ish) to 9:30 (ish) then we have companionship study from 10:00 to 12:00pm. We normally get lunch then come back to the church building and do language study from 12:00 to 1:00. After that the schedule can be about anything; normally we do a lot of teaching here because we have 6 progressing investigators (16 total investigators) but we also do a lot of finding and pull-backs. We teach, find, do pull backs, make calls, work with members until about 10pm everyday. There is a lot of work here in Hong Kong and we travel a lot here. I am on the MTR (light rail here), riding a bus or walking all the time from 1pm to 10pm; its amazing. One thing I do love about the living in the city/island is the shade from the tall buildings and the breeze from the ocean/canal! Its hot and humid but not to terrible.

 

This last weekend was the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was freaking crazy.... It was more packed then Washington DC during the 4th of July fireworks 3 years ago! Last Saturday we met with an investigator named Roodey for dinner (during the festival) at the most amazing Thai restaurant. Then we went to his flat taught him and his friend a quick lesson and then watched the festival from his flat. I saw fireworks, ate a TON of moon cake, ate tradition fruit (star fruit, dragon fruit, pomanelo, and a couple others), watched the dragon dance (has a boy made of incense and was 100 meters long!) and got to see some other stuff. It was pretty awesome, I came at a good time! I cant even imagine Chinese New Years.

 

A little more about my living situation. Its the size of two of my dorm rooms from college... so really small. We have four missionaries sleeping in one room, a nonexistent kitchen, a small toilet/shower and a small living room. Even though there is no room its not that bad because everyone in my apartment is pretty awesome. Elder Ward my companion as I have said before is awesome, we his pretty relaxed but organized so its fun living with him. The other companionship we live with are Mandarin Elders named Wright and Bradley. Wright has been out 14 months, he is a trainer and he is from Utah. He is super fun, really good at basket ball and pretty chill; he also is an amazing teacher. I have taught with him a couple times it was a lot of fun. Elder Bradley is also a baby like me but he has been in training for 7 weeks so he was the district that left right before me. He is really smart, he knows a ton of Mandarin already, he is pretty awesome at soccer (we do soccer finding all the time and bring kids in with our awesome skills haha), and has an amazing comprehension of the Book of Mormon and Bible. Over all I think I came into a really good group of friends for my first move here in the mission!

 

My Chinese is coming a little faster, I am starting to understand a bit more of the conversations but I am still a long ways off from being fluent. I really hope it comes sooner than later because it is really frustrating having something to share but not being able to express it or not having a comprehension of what they are trying to say to you. Meeting new people on the streets is one of the hardest things for me not because I have a problem with being bold but rather I don't know what to say or I can't express what I want to say. It's really demoralizing but I know I can get it, I just got to forget about it for right now and realize I still have 18 months(ish) to become perfect at this.

 

September 28, 2012 First Full Week!

Yeah, my mission really isn't like any mission probably around the world. We do things like "pull-in's" which is similar to finding but we take people off the street to tour our massive TWELVE STORY CHURCH BUILDING. We have English Class (Saturday night), Basketball Night (Thursday night), Game Night (Wednesday), FHE (Saturday/Monday night), Guitar/Piano Class (Friday night) and Soccer (every morning Monday - Saturday). Yeah, its pretty sweet. We also have a rule here that you have to know/teach your investigator for 6 weeks before they can be baptized so we become really good friends with our investigators. We spend a lot of time with them playing games (cards or whatever), sports, music or whatever it's pretty interesting.

My area is pretty small, about 4 train stops east - west but it is extremely hard/busy here because it is one of the biggest business areas. However we currently have 5 baptismal dates for October (I gave two of them recently actually haha). It's crazy the success that is going on here but it's because of a lot of effort by older companionships; Elder Ward and I are trying our hardest to keep that up. The investigators we are really teaching right now are Melody (16), Horace (20's), Felix (21), Duhng Hingdaih (29?) and Jason (14). We have a couple other people that are really close but these 5 have dates set and should meet their goals by the way the are progressing. They are all so awesome; most of them can speak a little English (or a lot) so I use Chinglish right now (I try my hardest to avoid using English though).

Let me tell you a little about my house... it's small. Like REAL small. There is a tiny bedroom, a tiny living room, a bathroom and a "kitchen" (a stove and a sink with a half a wall). We have four people living in the bedroom Me, Elder Ward, Elder Wright and Elder Bradley (they are Mandarin missionaries). There isn't a lot of space here haha (I will send pictures next week I forgot my camera). Also if you are curious about what I eat, I hardly ever cook because I never have any time. I normally only cook on Saturday or Sunday nights. Other than that we are hitting up street vendors, McDonald's, Ramen, Members or some Chinese place on the corner of the block. Haha I have already had some weird food like Chicken feet and Tofu-Squid thing. I haven't got sick yet soooo I am enjoying the food!

So that's really all that's going on in the field right now, I am learning a lot of words but I still need to keep working.

September 20, 2012 First REAL days in HONG KONG

The flight was pretty crazy, wont really talk all that much about it cause it was long and boring. All our flights were on time, we made them all with a lot of time to spare and the flight to Hong Kong was crazy long. Beats any road trip I've really ever had.

So I've been in Hong Kong 2 days and 3 nights (I arrived around 6pm-ish Hong Kong time). The first night I met President/Sister Hawks and the AP's (Elder Smith and Wong). Then I went to bed, they told us we wouldn't sleep but I told them that I should sleep pretty well because I didn't sleep hardly at all on the plane, but I was wrong. I got around 4 hours of sleep my first night... That sucked. I got some nice french toast from Sister Hawks, then I got some training for the mission; like money stuff, food and the AP's reviewed some teaching stuff. After that we had some sweet/sour pork for lunch and went out to do finding in Lee Chi Park. I was on splits with Elder Wong (a Hong Kong native) we talked to people for about 2 hours. We handed out flyers and pamphlets but there wasn't much success. Elder Wong and I began to wonder a bit and found this man named Issac. We actually taught him a full lesson in the park about praying to our Heavenly Father and what the Book of Mormon was; he was very interested, he asked a lot of questions. Elder Wong had me teach him how to pray and showed him how to do it, it was pretty awesome. After that we talked about the Book of Mormon and some other things. When we finished he had two question, I remember one and it was about the trinity. (Which some how I was never taught about at the MTC....) Elder Wong looked at me and said, "Well Ai Jeunglouh?" Hahah He made me teach him about it to him, it went pretty well I got my point across. He accepted to meet with us again, we gave him two pamphlets, and a Book of Mormon. When we gave it to him he asked where to read, so suggested Alma 30 (or 32 I forgot) and invited him church. He said he couldn't this Sunday because he had family stuff but he would next week. It was pretty amazing, I am pretty happy with my first day! After that we went back to our "home" (the mission house next to the Temple, which is also a church) and taught English class to some people. It was pretty crazy and hectic but it was awesome!

Today was the day of knowing, I guess is the best way to explain it? I got my new name tag with my Chinese name, I got my Hong Kong ID, and I got my Trainer and Mission area. So I am serving in Causeway Bay with my trainer Elder Ward (Wohng Jeunglouh), that's on Hong Kong Island on the west side. Elder Ward has been out just under his year mark and I am his "baby" (in our mission your trainer is your father and his trainer is your grandpa, and when your companion leaves to go home you "kill" him. I don't know if that make sense in how I wrote it but it's a HK tradition haha) and he seem pretty awesome. I only have been with him since this morning so I don't know him to well yet; he is really nice, pretty relaxed and has very good Chinese; so I think we should do pretty well together.

So a little about our area (from what I have picked from Elder Ward), we have 15 progressing investigators, 5 - 6 with baptismal dates, and an amazing area. He told me its growing super fast right now and is having a lot of success! So I think this will be a great place to start my mission! This area is really, really busy and rich. Its were all the businesses are so its pretty crazy. Our chapel is 12 stories and is all red brick in downtown Hong Kong. Its super awesome, I got to see it today. Elder Ward said I have to make a really good impression this Sunday when I bare my testimony in front of everyone so he is helping me get ready for that haha, it's kind of funny to me but I know I will try my hardest and pray that they like me!

I haven't actually seen my apartment yet but I heard it's small... Like one of the smallest in the mission... With no air conditioning, but its clean from bugs and stuff haha. So this should be really interesting. Oh by the way I am always sweating here, it's nice hahah!

I really don't know what else to write but if you could all pray for me it would be much appreciated! I got some serious jet lag, my Chinese is a joke to these people and I am pretty nervous about being here haha. Yeah, well I love everyone back home and hope everyone is having fun doing what ever you are doing. Write me!

Okay so I guess that's it for the blog, I hope everyone is doing great. I am pretty tired, I passed out on a couch yesterday with Elder Morton during our personal study before English class, it was pretty funny. Oh by the way Elder Morton is going to New Territories (by the China boarder) and his companion is a native, Elder Leung. He was pretty happy about that. 

I forgot two things:

We got Issac to pray in the park, that was like the biggest park I dont know how I forgot that haha. So that was pretty sweet! The second thing is my Pdays are now Hong Kong Thursdays (so your wednesday (?) you will have to figure the time thing out lol) so write me before that!

September 18, 2012 - Arrived in Hong Kong!!!

                                      Elder Arrington with Mission President and Sister Hawks.
                 Sister Hawks sent a short email informing us Sam arrived safely and is ready to work!

Pictures from the MTC

These pictures are in no particular order. However, they are all from the Elder Sam Arrington's MTC stay.

                    My district and the old HK district, with our fancy leg crossing. This was at the Provo temple.

                        The Elders I played soccer with Poland, Bulgaria, Phillipines and a few other places.

 Elder Godwin and I, he gave a me a matching tie he found in the free tie rack haha they have epic elephants on them!

                                                            Me and Elder (Josh) Clason

                                                            Outside the temple on a temple walk.

Got my companion Elder Morton to do a karate kick across the room and caught it with my camera. 

                                        Me and my district, awkwardly in front of the famous MTC map.

 Picture with the old HK district (Top row: Parker, Allen, Sibach, Morton, Kimball, me. Bottom: Cutler, Law, Lin, Heaton).

                               Me and my teacher Gu hingdaih (it has a weird color or something to it).

                                       Me and Taylor Haymen (college buddy), we missed each other...

                                                              Me and Taylor posting up.

                                     Awkward hands with Elder Weire (Poland), Elder I play soccer with.

 Elder Weire, me and Elder Harris (both Poland) I played soccer for 6 weeks with them I was super close with them.

                                          Elder Hoy, my Candian friend I played soccer with (Bulgria).

  Elder Greenacre, I played soccer with him. We were pretty tight, he left 4 weeks ago. He is from the London, him and I dominated the pitch. haha

 Elder Heui and I, he is from Hong Kong (lives in Canada) helped me a bit with my Cantonese and told me a lot about it. He is pretty sick, I think he is in Cali for a bit because his mission is full?

                                                                A great picture of me Price Jeff and Jordan. haha

September 15, 2012

I have 2 days left in them MTC, I am so stoked to finally be getting out of the MTC! I basically packed everything but some clothes that I am washing right now. First bag is at 35lb and I doubt my second one breaks 45 lbs so I should be all good for travels. I fly American Airlines to LA then Cathey Airway to Hong Kong (which I was told is one of the nicest airlines in the world?). It's going to be a long trip, we get up at 6am ride to SLC, get there around 7am ish and wait around until my flight at 9:30am. Then we fly to LA (2 hours ish) land around 10:35am [California Time], I have a layover for 2 hours there then it's an 18 -17 hour flight to Hong Kong! Its going to be one long trip since I can't watch the movie, listen to music or play on my smart phone... So this should test my sanity a little bit.

All I have left is a little good bye party with my teachers tonight, church tomorrow and my flight. So there isn't much else going on here. Actually I forgot me and Elder Morton are having a first baptism (with one of our "progressing investigators") with Vincent. It's today at 6:20 pm, so that's about all the exciting news for the MTC. I think it's time for me to get out of this place haha.

 

Well my next update will be in Hong Kong! Bye!

 

So yeah my last week or so here has been pretty bad. I have been getting sick (food poisoning and migraines), lessons have slowed down, and I have feel like my learning in Cantonese hasn't been progressing as it use to be so I am so done with the MTC. This place isn't as great as I imagined it but that maybe because I have been here 12 weeks... Regardless I have made a ton of friends and it was still worth it. I know the field is only going to be that much harder when I get out there.