April 28 2011

I can't believe april is almost over, its been SO fast. Sister La and I are doing well.. and this week was kind of different. Because of the easter holiday, the wards tend to have activities and such, and so Bishop M's FHE group (which we are a part of) went and had a BBQ. Now Hong Kong BBQ is a bit different than USA BBQ: we get this little fire going with coals and have these skewers that we put raw meat onto (like a two pronged marshmallow stick) and cook it on the fire. there were hot dogs, chicken wings, beef, pork, full chicken wings, squid, chinese sausages and im pretty sure some other stuff too. Oh and bread. they also toast bread on the fire. Its pretty delicious but i was SO full. We started at 10am on monday morning and went into the early afternoon. which meant that monday afternoon/night were pretty much shot. However two of our investigators came to the activity and had lots of fun.

S's mom let her come to both church on sunday and to the activity. Apparently the fact that her teacher called her parents and told them that we are "che gaau" evil church is one of the biggest things stopping them from letting her get baptized. Since they still know practically nothing about the church at all we're still trying to visit them. We've got her mom scheduled for tonight though, so hopefully!!! One thing that gets me is the fact that people here, teachers at christian schools, will actually call the parents of students if they find out a student has even talked with us. They know absolutely nothing about our doctrine, nothing about what we believe, and make a decision based on this nothingness. Its not the first time its happened and for sure is not going to be the last. But man is it frustrating. Understanding someone or something before making judgements about it is pretty important. for example- most problems in friendships, in companionships, in life are caused by people misunderstanding, by people judging before they know a situation or a person. I certainly have had MANY such situations where i lack understanding and then judge based on the little i know. But its certainly eye-opening to me the effects of this and how hard it can be on everyone.

Other than that frustration, things are going well. A's mom was baptized on sunday and A is planning on the 8th of may (mother's day) for her baptism. Its pretty cool stuff. The serving 3 wards thing is alright, but still tough to get to know the wards very well. Sunday we had 7 people at church, not including less actives, and so there's so little time to get to know the members because we're scrambling around trying to make sure everyone understands stuff. Plus only 1 missionary per ward since we're split. But my district leader committed me to talking to 3 members in Sha Tin ward and getting to know them this sunday. Its going to be a challenge but necessary. Hopefully when I train next move my companion can be kind of a reason to get to know members better. :) I hope she's ready to work hard because she's coming into a challenging but wonderful situation. Because more challenges means more chances to learn and more need to rely on the Lord. He's already helped us out SO much... Seriously we've gone from nothing to something in just a month and a half and its really been a blessing to be a part of it.

Its interesting to hear my cousin talk about how they need more missionaries there. They need more missionaries here too!! I'm pretty sure EVERYWHERE needs more missionaries. So anyone who is thinking about serving a mission-- the field is white and it could sure use a few more laborers. Just DO IT. We need more elders AND sisters. I just want to plead with you all to help the young men stay worthy for missions... it is SO incredibly important. This work changes lives and is definitely hard work. But the most worthwhile things in life aren't free or easy. yeah so those are my thoughts. and for all my friends who will read this who are serving missions right now.. thank you so much!

Anything else interesting: oh so usually old men who go hiking have these like walking sticks with them. yesterday when we were on the train the man sitting next to me had this walking stick thing so I was like "hey are you going hiking today??" "no, I am a stroke patient." but after talking a while i gave him our number and he actually called! he has time to come check out the church next friday in Kwun Tong! I'm pretty sure thats one of the first times someone has called us post-contact like that, so yeah... it was awesome. We also had a zone find yesterday and i got to go with my old companion sis C in the old half of my area that she's now serving in. It was a really good opportunity because we were able to work on her contacting skills and talk about ways she can help in her companionship. Its been a struggle for them in their area and companionship, so hopefully this last week of the moves will be good. Then we played Uno last night, and the unity just keeps getting better and better. YAY! Next week i'll try to remember my camera and send some pictures from the barbecue.

sorry theres no fantastic stories this week. I'm sure having a trainee will bring them, mostly because i'll start recognizing them since right now anything weird just kind of seems normal.

love you all

sis black