January 12, 2014

Things are doing pretty good here and I think the one thing you need to realize about inviting people to church is you don't need a relationship or a special opportunity to invite people. That is something I've learned so clearly from my mission. So many people look for that special moment they can invite your friend to church, it won't come unless you instigate it and then honestly just do it. I have more people come to church when I say to them on the street, "Hey have you been to church before?" 'No' "Want to come with us and give it a try?" - Bam they come. That is actually the story of this week. 

Last Tuesday me and Elder Liu had an extra 30 minutes before we were going to head home so we decided to go find, OF COURSE! We saw a mum and her son playing on a jungle gym and we just went up to talk to her. Her name was Mrs. Au and she had a son who was 18 months old. She was super nice, no religious background, never been to church before and has really never thought about these things. We talked to her for like 15 minutes about the gospel and said a prayer with her. She didn't seem all that interested but we told her if she would just come to church she could see and feel what were talking about for herself. She was like ehh maybe, I don't know. My son is young I don't know if its the best idea, etc. We said that's okay and encouraged her anyways to come. Then Sunday morning around 8am she gives us a call (out of no where) and said she was coming to church and bringing a friend too. She came to church late because her friend didn't wake up on time (her friend ended up not coming BUT said she would come next week). She got to meet some of the other mums during primary and then went to sacrament. It was amazing and we didn't have a special moment or a window open to us we just gave an offer. I think it is as simple as this, "Hey what are you doing on Sunday." 'Nothing probably just sleeping.' "Want to come to church with us? You can make some new friends and get to hear a little about our church and it's special message of Jesus Christ." -- I think it really is as simple as that only because that's what I do.

As far as the seven families goes we just aim for families -- Elder Liu and I decided that's all want to teach is families. It's a lot harder than it sounds, contacting a family and getting them to all meet with you is really hard. We found the easiest way to contact families (specifically parents) is through our English class. It normally starts with us saying along the lines of, "Hello we are church volunteers and just wanna let you know about our free English class" normally after that they either ask why its free (explain we are missionaries our purpose is to help others so we serve them with this free English class but our main purpose is to share a special message about Jesus Christ... switch to the gospel) or where is the English class (oh, its at our chapel, actually have you ever been to church before?... switch to the gospel). If all else fails I normally start talking about their kid like how old is he, do you have any other kids, etc THEN I whip out my family picture and that is normally what catches them. I explain that I am away from my family for two years to share a message that means the world to my family and I know that it can help your family too... switch to the gospel. I think it's easier than we make it out to be. I've had a lot of success with it lately but I think previously I just didn't think it was possible. I think I had a change of attitude or faith -- one or the other it has helped me.

January 5, 2014

I didn't do anything for my birthday just worked haha. Elder Liu along with the sister got some members to jump out at me while I was finding and sing me happy birthday... Scared the crap out of me but it was nice. Also got a nice little mango cake it was pretty good. I don't know I feel like birthdays, Christmas and other holidays are different on your mission. That might just be because I am in China but at least that's how I feel. I haven't had a chance to buy Pizza yet, I'll do it later. ha

The markets here are all over the place... We have places like Taste, Fusion, Park N Shop, Wellcome which are all like wal mart's food shops. Then you just have these things called gaisi's (I forgot the English word sorry) they are kind of like a farmers market, you can buy meat, fish, veggies, every kind of food. Its pretty easy to get food. Normally we eat out here in Kwai Fong (where I currently live) because there are a lot of shops and they are all pretty cheap! However when we do cook food we normally just buy it all on Monday and it will last us or we will buy out haha. 

I think President Hawks is going to split the companionship with the many many problems. They can't work it out and I honestly think they don't want to or decided they can't. Its pretty sad. President Hawks has taught us a lot (or at least I've noticed) that no matter the struggle if you are focused on one purpose your disagreements will slow disappear as you work together for your goal (sounds kinda like marriage haha). Even with a previous companion we put aside our many disagreements and worked together. Eh its a shame but they won't work it out. Not sure if it will or when but something needs to change. 

Our investigator pool is doing okay -- need to see everyone more often than we do, that is our real problem. Overall investigators are doing great. People are facing trials and they just have to have enough faith to get past that, that's all.

Sis Lee and Cheung - are they both single sisters with kids? (I think it is way cool an investigator is bring an investigator)

They are both married. We actually found out this week Sis Cheung lives up in Tai Po (kind of near Sheung Shui) so we will be turning her over, oh and Mandarin is her mother tongue so we plan to turn her over to the Mandarins up there. She is super awesome.

Why did you chose the name Benjamin? did he like it? Do the kids go by their Chinese name or English name?

Most people here go by their English names. Its easier to distinguish people and they like the Western culture, etc. We chose Benjamin from the Book of Mormon (the King) just because that's kind of what he looked like. He didn't really care he is seven but his mum loves it. She only calls him Ben or Benjamin now haha.

When did you get Cherry? does she live with them? is she related to the dad or mom?

We got her at the Christmas party and she is Katie's cousin from her mum's side. She lives all the way in Tuen Muen sooo pretty far away (like 40 minutes by bus). We've seen her a couple times she awesome.

I don't recall Mrs. Chow?

Mrs. Chow is the lady from the restaurant that Elder Allen and I met when a member took us out to eat. She is doing awesome. It's hard to teach her at her home at the moment because its being renovated but she really wants us over. She is awesome. 

AWing still on for his baptism in Feb? how is his sweet tea thing doing?

A Wing is doing okay. We had a misunderstanding... Well when I say misunderstanding I mean we (Elder Liu and I) misunderstood his Chinese... We thought he said sing1keih4yaht6 meaning Sunday but he said sing1keih4yat1 meaning Monday... So he said he only had Mondays off for January not Sundays... So he can't come to church this month due to work ): Its alright he is still progressing and doing all that he can. No problems with the tea

Who is the family you found and taught after your illness?

Haha Tong family. I love them. Tong family is doing pretty great. Mum was sick this week so we couldn't teach her. Bro Tong and Katie came to church (by the way at Cheung Sha Wan we start with Elders->sunday school->sacrament) they showed up the last 20 minutes of Elder quorum but the mum wasn't there because she was still sick. Then she showed up for sacrament! Like out of no where, and that's like all I fasted for was for them to come to three hours of church (almost made it) but it was awesome! Katie is friends with all the kids at church and found out one of her classmates is a member. Sis Choi's daughter! Yaya so that's super awesome 

Eh not much else to report. We found a bunch of families this week through a new method of English class park finding... It is scary and awkward as all get out but it works. We just walk up to parents in a park and try to talk to them... Pretty simple right? No... its weird and awkward for everyone. Because they all stare and some parents reject you super rudely then you try to talk to the family sitting next to them..... anyways its hard BUT we got 7 family phone numbers and should be rescheduling them this week :) awesome

Eh not much else to report. We found a bunch of families this week through a new method of English class park finding... It is scary and awkward as all get out but it works. We just walk up to parents in a park and try to talk to them... Pretty simple right? No... its weird and awkward for everyone. Because they all stare and some parents reject you super rudely then you try to talk to the family sitting next to them..... anyways its hard BUT we got 7 family phone numbers and should be rescheduling them this week :) awesome

With the Christmas gift (money)I bought this epic tiger sweater :D Yaya! (Elder Liu bought that jacket too) My hair looks crazy mostly because I took this picture right after I showered... Ya anyways I just really liked this sweater. It was like USD$10 haha :D

 So I heard Matt stole all my clothes INCLUDING my hats so I got one this
weekend for like USD$5 haha its a BOYGIRL hat they are pretty popular in
Hong Kong

To end on a spiritual note this is my current Bible. I have really started
studying the way Jesus teaches and lives. Without any better words it truly
is inspiring to read. Everyday I get to see literally how Jesus lived his
life, what I need to do to change, how can I share the gospel better, how
did Jesus Christ teach the people he met and so on and so forth. The Bible
has really changed my eyes recently on my mission on how I see and act has
person as well as a mission. Especially when reading about his eternal
sacrifice for us all; his suffering on in the Garden, his death on the
cross and most importantly his resurrection to save us all.

December 29, 2013

Ha phone calls are weird. That's funny you say I got a southern drawl, I feel like I slur a lot more than before. (That may be impart that Texas English is like that and so is Cantonese). However most Chinese people say they like my English the most of missionaries because its the clearest... Which I thought was pretty funny but I have gotten that in all four areas I've served in sooo yeah my English is still intact kind of...

I still got a ton of time left. A lot can be done in six months. I am not to worried but I do know it will come fast sooo here's hopin' for an outstanding last stand!

Yeah about fixing the companionship... Still having issues there. We got a report on Sunday after Elder Lie went over there (Friday to Saturday) and it wasn't good. We ended up talking to President Hawks this morning and he asked us if we think he should split them up... Like he wanted us to choose! We prayed and went to talk to them about it one more time. It still didn't go anywhere and we are left at a weird point of not knowing what to do. Ehhh it's all just really weird. We talked to President Hawks again and said he would call them in today. Its really frustrating and... President Hawks just called us... We fixed somethings and got some more things to work on... Leave it at that I guess haha

Investigators are doing good. We have a list now:

Sis Lee and kids - Found her two weeks ago she came to the Christmas party and brought sis Cheung and they both LOVED it. They want to come back.

Sis Cheung and son (referral from sister Lee) - She loved the party and even asked us to give her son an English name. We chose Benjamin (like the King). 

Tong family and their cousin Cherry (Cherry is a referral)

Mrs. Chow - In mainland for the holidays but should be back this week

A Wing - Found out he can come to church all of JAN! YAYA BLESSINGS 

Jason - Doing okay not the greatest progress still working with him

Eric - No Contact

Herman - No Contact -> think his family has blocked us?

Patrick - Not really sure hard to contact him recently

A Yan - found him two weeks ago - Doesn't really believe in God so we are working on building his faith but he kind of likes us! (I think he kind of likes because he just wants to practice English but I think he also has a small desire to find the truth its interesting.)

Yeah good investigator pool!! haha

As far as adventures go... I had food poisoning last Saturday. On Friday a member named Steven Lau took us out to a steak shop. Me and Elder Liu got this fish plate (had lobster, salmon, and something else) and the Sister missionaries got the steaks. The steaks ended up being HUGE so they gave us half. Me and Sister Wilcox shared one... Turned out it had food poisoning in it. All Saturday morning from 6 to 9:30 I was real sick. We went to this family's house to teach a message and afterward a member that came with us was like "You look terrible" and I was like "I feel terrible." After that we were going to our chapel in Kowloon Tong (about 20 minutes on the subway). I called Elder Brown (another missionary) to give me a blessing. So I get there but he is busy in an interview and I feel and pretty much and looked like death. So while he was finishing up the meeting I went to the bathroom... They came and got me and I walked out to the other room in the church to get a blessing. I looked at both of them (Elder Brown and Elder Bradley) and said "One second I need to throw up". Then I went down stairs and Elder Woodburn (actually I met him at BYU and happen to come to this mission too!) gave me a blessing. I felt A LOT better after both the blessing and the barf... Mostly the blessing haha. It was a LONG day but was full of small blessings and lessons learned. Oh to make it even funnier I was on 24's with Elder Dazza... So he got to watch me do this. In the end its alright we found a family and taught an AWESOME lesson with Tong family. I am happy that day is over though.... so painful.

 Yeahhhh that's right I am SANTA CLAUS! So turns out I am the only white guy in Cheung Sha Wan... so I guess I get to be Santa! Pretty awesome. At the Christmas party me and the other missionaries did a skit. They sang and did some stuff while I played guitar... Its pretty hard to play guitar when you have a fat stomach! Anyways it was an awesome Christmas. (Sister Tidwell, Sister Wilcox, me, Elder Liu and A Yung [Cheung Sha Wan mission leader and return missionary from Sydney])

 These are two families were are currently meeting with! Sis Cheung on the left and Sis Lee on the right! Sister Lee brought her friend to the party and the loved it. They wanna bring their kids to church next week! SOOO AWESOME yaya!

This cute little fella is named Ling Ling. He kept attacking me with this box because I was Santa... He also said I looked pregnant haha. I love this little kid!

On Friday a member (Steven) took us to lunch to this SUPER nice steak place... However sister Wilcox (the sister in the blue shirt) and I got food poisoning. Mine was pretty terrible...

Also this weekend we went to Sister Yim's home again and had an AWESOME Christmas feast! Had so pork ribs and lamb chops baby!!! YAYA :D

In a weird turn of events these are the last three photos on my camera.. Me being a thug? Elder Liu getting attack by Jung Lam and Sam Sam! Then Sam Sam giving me my Book of Mormon back -- She has to be the cutest thing on the entire earth by the way!

December 22, 2013

I can read English just fine but speaking I run into trouble every now and again... As far as writing and spelling goes... Ya I am pretty much doomed there.

Yes, I have had dreams that are in Chinese. Yes, I have talked in my sleep in Chinese. Talking doesn't require much thinking anymore, but listening still take effort. Chinese as a language is just sooo broad and huge its hard to just become natural at listening. It really depends on the people I talk to. When talking to kids (like teenagers or young adults) most conversations don't require much effort but as soon as the start telling stories or share experiences it can get hard because the use idioms, slang, or just weird words I don't know. The older generations 50+ some of them can have just wack Chinese and no one (not even locals) know what the heck they are saying. There is this LA grandma we visit we call her popo (what you call them in Chinese -- old women) and I think she may speak Fuk Gau Wa which is like a cross between like Mandarin, Cantonese and some third Chinese dialect... However we can understand like 70% of the time... maybe... and so that's always fun when we run into people like that and we really have no idea what they are saying.

I am not all that trunkie. I am excited for things but I am not like ready to go home nor am I like dying to stay on my mission. I think I will be a missionary who will finish and be glad he served and I hope I can say I know I did all I could. 

We live with Elder Beal and Elder Anderson. Elder Beal is from Layton, Utah and Elder Anderson is from North Carolina (but his family just moved to Provo like two month ago). I get along great with Elder Beal, he is pretty young as a missionary (same time as Elder Martinez, the elder I trained) but he is doing great. Elder Anderson is the same age (mission time) as Elder Beal (but he is junior).

The zone for all of December thus far has taught 160 member presents and 25 FULL family lesson YA YA baby!! So the Zone is doing alright, need to find new investigators and get more people to church that's our real problem right now.

We are trying to see Mrs. Chau this week sometime she is pretty busy but she loves to talk to us on the phone sooo things are going well.

Brother Tong is the member his wife and daughter are the investigator. They didn't come to church this week because they were sick BUT us and some member are going to their flat on Tuesday to do some caroling yaya! So it should be pretty awesome!

... it blows my mind that some people just don't know how to be parents. I feel like without the church I will still know how to be an effective parent at least but the church just brings a whole different spectrum of what a family should be when you are a member in a fully functional member family. Literally kills me sometimes but then I find hope like in Mrs. Chau or Tong family.

I started a new book of Mormon looking for the Power of God as well as trying to read in the Bible everyday. I have been taking so many notes in my two books its taking me FOREVER to get through them. I think I am on 1st Nephi 14 and Matthew 16 or something. Anyways I am learning a TON from it. 1st Nephi is such an awesome book, there is no doubt in my mind that it was suppose to be the first book in the Book of Mormon

 Check out how Christmas-y my desk is! Pretty legit right? I got cards from people, some presents, a stocking and most importantly Jesus in the center!

 However my favorite gift (I haven't opened them all yet) is my moose tie (it said moose tie on the back -- totally thought it was a reindeer) ya... I look pretty Lengjai (popular Chinese word that literally translates to "Handsome-Boy") yaya

At church yesterday we got about 20 lbs of food given to us and I had to carry it home while Elder Liu carried 3 packages (mine, his and another Elder's). BUT THE BEST thing given to us were these homemade cookies from Sister Yim... She lived in America for a while and she can make food like an AMERICAN.

Merry Christmas and I hope everyone remembers what we should really being focusing on at this time. I have had no greater gift in my life than to serve my Lord and God with all my heart, might, mind, and strength these last 1.5 year.

December 15, 2013

I know my English has gone to crap, its crazy how easy you lose information if you aren't always using it. I still have issues remembering some words but normally they are bigger words and when I mean bigger words they really aren't that big... ha :D

I love Elder Liu, we getting along great. He was actually step-trained by elder Ward and was also companions with Elder Krainock sooo we have a lot in common... He also was in Causeway Bay right before me (ie he knows my RC's Melody and Felix haha). So we getting along great. We teach great together, we find great, and enjoy our mission. I think this week though he got hit with the idea he is going home (this is his last move). He kind of freaked out a little bit yesterday but nothing that big just some anxiety for college and stuff.

We are teaching two families right now about our church! Its awesome, they let us come to their home and talk for an hour or so. We share messages or read scriptures together its pretty great. It kind of takes me home back when I would read with my family. We actually started teaching this lady named Mrs Jau this last week from a miracle. Two weeks ago we went out to eat to get dimsum (a Chinese brunch kind of thing) and she saw us bless the food (we were with members at the time). She asked why we blessed the food, so we explained. Then she left, she came back and asked why we (the white people) could speak Chinese so well, we explained to help people learn about Christ. She left and came back again and asked if we were Christian and we explained. This happened for like the next hour and half until we traded phone numbers. We called her last week and scheduled her to come take a tour of our church but said it was too far to bring her kids (its like 10 minutes away by subway) so by faith I asked, "can we come visit you?" (Which normally never happens, just do to Chinese culture) She said yes and gave me her address... We visited her (and one of her sons Jacky was there he is 7, she has a 15 year old son who was out at that time) and shared about the Book of Mormon and the Bible. She said she always wanted to learn about Christianity but never could because something always stopped her. She said she gave us her address because she felt like she needed to and felt there was truth to what we shared. HOW COOL IS THAT? She prayed in the lesson for the first time in her life and said she felt something (ie the Holy Ghost). It was amazing. Just a cool blessing from this week!

The other family is still Tong family. They are doing great! We taught them after church yesterday (they still only came to Sacrament meeting) and it was an awesome lesson! Sister Tong really opened up and said she wants this for Katie because she knows everyone is going to be faced with challenges and the church can prepare them more than anything else. She still isn't like fully accepting yet, meaning she herself needs to change and accept it too... BUT they are doing awesome. The bishop talked to Brother Tong yesterday and he seemed pretty happy sooo doing good.

Well A Wing is actually going to stay Feb 9, we prayed, talked with our ward mission leader and him. He will be fine, he can't keep the Sabbath Day holy currently with his job situation and he can't quit because he supports his family (since his dad passed away). However he is working on a promotion were he will learn to cook cakes so he will only be able to come to one hour of church in January due to this class HOWEVER afterwards he won't have to work Sundays anymore. I think this is a blessing. I am not to worried (all four of us, Elder Liu, me, A Wing and A Yung)

Patrick is doing the same not much to report, progressing and doing great haha. 

Herman we haven't contacted in a while... Think  his parents are restricting him seeing us sooo thats to bad. We are trying to use his friend to keep contact with him. yeah :(

We have called the family from the park but they are busy with school tests and studies soooo they can't see us. Hopefully soon we will see Tse family. We also found another family called Tung Family but they are going to mainland for Christmas so we will hopefully see them in January.

To answer your question about the Chinese on a computer... There are three well four ways to do it...

1. with Radicals on the key board

2. A pen were you write the characters on a pad and it comes up

3. By strokes (I don't know how to explain this but this is the method I use on the computer and cell phones)

4. Mandarin pinyin

 Its crazy but my sisters just left last Friday... We had one last get together and went ice skating! I am not sure what I am doing in this photo but I look great :)

 In case anyone is curious on how to say Turkey or Bulgaria in Chinese I know how! I had to learn how to write it and say it to explain to the people here... So have fun in Bulgaria Zac!!!

Check my super awesome hair cut (and scarf lol). I look pretty old... :o I am old man haha

November 24, 2013

In all honesty I think the only way to maintain my Cantonese is to comunicate with my friends here as much as possible and the ones that come to America to study because I really don't think I am going to meet that many Hong Kong people in America. I do plan to learn Mandarin sooo that should help me maintain grammar but it is pretty different. Yeah I want to do an internship here, I met a return mission (Bro Jolly) who served like 2 years back and got to be here for 6 months to do some work. So I might try that. 

A Wing is doing great, he should be able to make his baptismal date of December 8th! He has changed dramatically since I've gotten here (nothing to do with me), he is more easily able to recognize the spirit and that is what is helping him the most. We are seeing him again tonight to finish up commandments and hopefully set up his interview. He is pretty excited soooo things are going well for us!

Patrick is just amazing... So we saw him last Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday at the lesson on Tuesday he told us he couldn't come to church because of work this week but he really wanted to. He said and awesome prayer and we ended out lesson. Ten minutes latter he called me and Elder Allen back and started talking about baptism and told us he actually wants to get baptized in December! SOOOO yeah we gotta work to do to help him! He text us later last week on Thursday saying he got work off to come to church and we were soooo stoked! But he got sick Saturday evening with the flu and couldn't make church yesterday but we have him scheduled for Tuesday soooo its all good!

Every thing else is going well here!! My only request for my next package is Men's Gellet deodorant, I like it more than this brand I have. 

My camera is an Olympus tough TG-1, I saw in a store here they now have a TG-2 (its a little bit better was reading the specs). AWESOME camera soooo worth selling my two long boards. This thing has lasted sooo much abuse!

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! I HAVE ALREADY HAD TURKEY TWO TIMES AND I GET IT AGAIN ON THURSDAY :D hahah YAYA

我爱你。

 Went for a Hike with my original district from the MTC in Tuen Muen this last pday and got a pretty good view of the city haha. Nothing like Hong Kong, mountains and cities where ever you go.

 This is everyone on the hike (us and all of our companions, Elder Morton actually has two comps at the moment) yaya super fun stuff!

Yup this is my district all grown up! Sister Cutler, Sister Law, Elder Morton and I. My sisters go home like the second week of December. So that's pretty crazy, that will mark the beginning of the last portion of my mission... crazy

November 17, 2013

I think I get about as many packages as anyone else does... Like its alright not anymore or less. So I am happy! Yeah I know packages are expensive and I am thankful you send them they are always fun to get and open with others. OH exciting news! So sister Hawks was given some extra suits from couple missionaries going home and I REALLY needed one because my one from last year is dying... So I went in and found one that fit perfectly and its a HUGO BOSS from TURKEY! Some old guy left me behind a SUPER nice suit! ITS SOOOO NICE :) and its navy.

I like the city its fun and I just like it more as a missionary. I feel here it gives me more opportunities... You gotta understand when you live in the boondocks here you live like sooo far away from things its just inconvenient to you and everything else... Sooo yeah I like the city but I don't think I could ever raise a family here. I see to many reasons why every day I couldn't well rather wouldn't want to. Sooo yeah I love the city right now. I probably would live more like you and dad just in a suburb next to a city. 

Zac is going to a pretty interesting place. Actually at the MTC I played with the Bulgarian missionaries everyday soccer and volleyball so I got to here the language a lot its funny sounding to me. He will love it. Seems kind of fitting. Me Asia and him Europe (he is such an aristocrat [did I even spell that right] anyways!) 

Just a quick story for the week. Actually two.

So we have this investigator named A Wing. He is pretty awesome but he is very busy working (his dad died so he supports his family by working a lot of hours at bread shop) and he likes meeting with us. By the way he is 22 years old. He is a little slow to spiritual things and doesn't seem to always get it but over the last couple of weeks he changed and progressed so much. Two weeks ago we invited him to a new baptismal date of Dec 8 and to ask his boss off work to come to church and he agreed with no hesitation. His work situation is crazy he works at a crazy busy bread shop and only three people work there... so no one really gets time off. However he had faith and we promised him it would happen and he got work off! SO HE COULD COME TO CHURCH THIS WEEK! YAYA! He has a deal with his boss for every other weekend but I really challenged him again to ask for every sunday off and I said he wants that and even prayed for it in our less yesterday! It was so awesome and I really think his boss will let him. He is so cool.

Next is Patrick, we got his number as a referral from another ward and me and Elder Allen (working together) started texting him (all in Chinese). We talked for a bit then rescheduled him for last Saturday to share a message and tour the church. He was a really nice guy and pretty open to what we shared and he said a beautiful prayer at the end. We invited him to church and he came yesterday for all three hours! IT was awesome! We then shared a quick message at the end and gave him a baptismal date for Jan 12th and he was completely willing to accept! IT was sooo great! Pretty good week :)

This last week we actually had Zone Conference it was Kowloon West Zone (my zone) and Tolo Zone (my last zone) sooo got to see some friends and heard a lot of things and I also got to do my own little instruction with Elder Allen too. It was pretty cool and one thing President Hawks shared from PofGP was when the God's organized the earth they did four things

1. Organized

2. Ordered

3. Prepared

4. Obeyed

Through these four step (I think this is Abraham 4 and 5) the God's were capable to organize the earth. Essentially the message he was trying to get across was if the God's need to take time to plan and then follow through with it, we should do the same. There was a lot of other stuff and I got it written down back home. Me and Elder Allen shared about "Not taking No for an answer" basically how to overcome people with commit issues or how to find the real underlying issue that's stopping their progression soo it will be interesting.

We also got an assignment today from President Hawks, we have to prepare a training session for a DL's on how to have more effective district meetings but he want's us to like super prepares this with papers and demonstrations and then report back and maybe do a full mission training if successful.... Sooo a new pressure on my back, oh and has to be done by next Tuesday and previewed to him by next Sunday haha.... Fun

Also me and Elder Allen are actually being videoed right now by these two college girls... They are doing a report at the university on us and they are following us around and stuff... Like with meetings, finding, teaching, etc sooo thats been fun and awkward haha. Really I have had a special mission here.

Oh by the way I do have a facebook but our mission rules are a little different. We don't have ipads yet (they may come in the future we have so issues president Hawks wants work out first in the mission-- he is afraid of disobedient missionaries abusing this and ruining it very quickly sooo only ZL's have FB's and they have to use church computers). So I basically use it like once a week to contact investigators, to make post about activities, to find missing/lost investigators, etc. Stuff like that. It feels weird to use like I am breaking the rules because I see worldly things... That sounds really funny to me when I reread that last sentence. haha