May 19 2011

Hello again!

This email will probably be pretty short. I dont remember what pics i sent but that movie should be from our almost-in-mainland experience.

Okay so this week was absolutely amazing. Sister D is learning SO fast and she's just go go go and has a ton of energy. I really feed off the energy of others too so working together is great. Elder Holland and Elder Bednar are coming this week, tuesday holland will speak to us missionaries, and wednesday bednar has stuff for the youth and young single adults. I'm pretty excited for elder holland to just rip us to shreds and then build us up into better missionaries. Thankfully sister D and I are working hard. :) We've had some pretty amazing stuff happen this week, like last saturday night there was a wedding reception. This guy who served in hk married a girl from Ma On Shan ward. Since the mom invited us like FIFTY times to go we finally decided to take our dinner hour and attend. Well, it turned out WAY good because we walked in and sat down in the back next to this young chinese guy, mid twenties probably. Anyways turns out he met the groom while doing study abroad at the U of U, he'd been to temple square and to church a couple times but never in hong kong. It was pretty miraculous because sister d was able to share some scriptures and the spirit was there, anyways... so good. We've just had a ton of people kind of plop right down into our laps, even though we've all of the sudden become so busy and dont have time for finding much, the Lord just keeps puttin people in our path. I'm SO grateful for heavenly father.. he takes such good care of his children. Even when things are hard, if we trust him and keep movin forward it all works out in the end.

This past weekend we went and sang at an old folks home with the Tai Wai ward, and sister d met s, a member's daughter who isn't a member. Well... she LOVED sister d so we scheduled her to meet us on tuesday and make muddy buddies. then she brings her friend j... and well, j is having some major family problems and wants to meet with us. I think she's just a pretty confused teenager, and the gospel can really change her life if she'll let it. Its pretty exciting for people to want to meet with us, because mostly people are too busy. You know the lord is helping you out when all the sudden people just pop out of the woodwork.

I was thinking about that the other day as far as missionary work goes. You compare the sons of mosiah's mission with ammon's. they all ended up having HUGE success, but ammons was after a bit of trial, then BAM. the sons of mosiah were put in prison, starved, had all sorts of bad stuff, and zero success for a really reallly long time. does that make them not as good missionaries? no. because some people have different challenges and levels of success in real life, does that make them any more or less? no. Ive really seen my individual challenges and blessings as something tailor-made to help me out. Like having un-motivated companions... i had to learn to push on even though its easier to just give in and be lazy. like being a trainer, i have a responsibility that is pushing me to be even better than I ever have been as a missionary before. I have more faith now, more trust in the lord, more motivation. and because of these things, we are LOVING the work. Every day we end and say, seriously... today was the best day EVER. and the best part is that we mean it. If we learn to love the work, enjoy talking to people, just have a good time and let rejection and awkwardness roll off us, missionary work is the best thing ever. pps. so you know how ive been in taiwai shatin maonshan for over 5 months already, well bishop m is like... yeah we dont want you to leave after you train... so he said he's going to ask president if i can stay till i die! hahaha... it was pretty funny. I wonder if i will get to stay here for the rest of my mission. I would be totally and completely one hundred percent happy with that. this is a great area and i feel blessed that the lord has given me the opportunity to see it go from nothing to somethin great so fast! yay!

okay anyways probably a bit over-enthusiastic, but its just things are so good. I am so grateful for parents that helped me go on a mission, for the examples they've been in my life, for my sisters, for church leaders and friends who have helped me. Im so grateful for a living prophet who has lived his life in such a way to give us a very close example of how to follow jesus christ. That's really all i want to do, follow jesus christ and find joy in the journey.

Love you all!! take care and thank you for the prayers. i wouldnt be where i am without them!

sis black