October 14 2010

Hello Again!

So this week was an interesting one- I got over my illness, we had general conference!!!, we went to the temple, taught a lot of people, I don't know its so hard to just sit down and remember everything that has happened. I went and listened to General Conference with a lot of questions in mind, and recieved answers to them all. It was really interesting to listen to the revelation given for us at this time. I looooved the Saturday Morning session, especially Elder Holland's talk. I also was reminded of the importance of Gratitude in my life and the need to not take things for granted like President Monson said. I was reminded of the fact that I have SO many blessings and so much to be grateful for. I have a huge long list in my journal at home and it will keep growing... however, I would like to really quickly thank mom and dad + rachel becca and anna. I really feel blessed to have them as my family. I know I am a lot of the time a spoiled, selfish piece of work, but I have always had my family's support. I am so grateful for the sacrifices i know my mom has made in her life for us. I have an amazing dad who is patient and works hard. They are supporting me while I spend this year and a half away from home on my mission, and I wouldn't have been able to come without them. I am grateful that when I was young I was taught the importance of making good decisions and being honest in everything that I do. I am grateful that my mom always supported those around her in their callings at church. I am grateful we made keeping the sabbath day holy a high priority by going to church and having it be a day of rest. anyways... I could go on and on and on so in order to not bore you all... I have a lot to be grateful for and a lot to live up to.

This week I was able to see the Lord's hand in my life through a pretty cool testimony-builder of prayer. Basically this is my general conference miracle. On sunday, the 2 wards we serve in had both gotten buses for the members to travel to Ho man tin to watch general conference with the stake. Because we had people coming in both wards, we had to go on splits. That meant showing up at the church at 730 for sister H to meet up with her companion from the day, a nice old lady Sister T from kwai chung, and then sister smith and I getting on the metro and heading over to tsuen wan to get on the bus at 8am. So we hurried out after sister T met us, leaving the phone with sister h. We were supposed to meet at the bus station, or so we thought, and finally got to Tsuen Wan at about 5 min to 8. We rushed down to the bus station and were looking for the ward members or a special bus or anything. But nothing. So it was quickly becoming eight o clock and the bus was supposed to leave- neither of us had a phone nor knew exactly how to get to Ho man tin, and so naturally we started to stress. Then we decided to slow down a second and say a prayer asking for Heavenly Father's help. I knew He knew where that bus was and I knew we had to get on it. We felt to walk down the end of the bus station one more time. Then we kept walking, crossed the street when the sidewalk ended, hopped this railing that keeps people from walking into the road, and then down the street where the road curved I could make out someone wearing a skirt. We practically started running as we got closer realized if was Sister L from the ward, standing right outside of the bus full of members about to leave. We got on the bus just before it left and as sister S and I sat down all we could to was pray and thank Heavenly Father for helping us get to General Conference. It wasn't like a "walk this way and you will find the bus' voice or anything, but a thought of we should go this way. like.. any other way to go didn't even seem like an option. I know that Heavenly Father helped us find that bus and that He knows where we are and what we're doing at all time. He is so aware of each person's individual situations and so willing to help us if we just ASK. So I am so grateful for prayer and the Holy Ghost. yeah. I just can't say that word enough.. grateful.

OK then for the rest of the week... we had a member from indonesia feed us dinner on sunday, and I sent a picture of the dessert, which I almost couldn't get down. I don't remember what it is called.. but it is a gelatinous, somewhat sweet gluey consistency jelly-like potato stuff on the bottom, with this salty slimy creamy stuff on top. I just thought I'd share that with you. The rest of the food was fantastic, but man.. that dessert.. . .



On tuesday we taught english class and for the church lesson portion we taught about the plan of salvation. one of the long-time english class comers and one of my favorites, V, got into a big arguement with D during the lesson though, and it was so sad because she was just yelling at him and then at us and when chinese people yell... . . . well its really scary! Being angry in some languages just sounds angrier... like German, for instance... anyways Cantonese for sure. So finally elder B asked her to calm down because we are just trying to teach the lesson and we want a calm peaceful environment. Anyways the next day she called the elders to apologize and wanted to cheng us missionaries out for lunch. YES! so we all went to dim sum with V and explained some of the stuff she was upset about the night before and it was so good. It is interesting the way chinese people love food, and its association with feelings. Like.. they show their love through food, or they have all these idioms that are food-based. Like in english we have oh its a piece of cake. in cantonese they have stuff like "do you have enough ginger!?" for like do you have guts do do blablabla or when you greet people you ask them "leih sihk jo faahn meih a?" which literally means, have you eaten rice yet? Anyways there are a ton more I'll try to think of them. V was also trying to explain something yesterday about how she is like an egg-yolk or something? anyways I was confused and didn't understand it but that's not surprising because I still don't understand a lot of what is going on here when people talk. But no problem, there is still improvement in my language even if I don't understand most of what people are saying, most of the time.


Anyways, thank you all for the letters, I got a few last week. so yes.. very nice week of letters! Keep them coming :) I appreciate them SO much you don't even know. and I also love getting pictures. anways yes so thank you.

oh! and the other pic- a view from po tin in tuen mun and a video from the lightning storm.

Sister Black/ Baahk jimuih