I have two weeks left until I fly to CHINA. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. We're all totally freaking out because none of us can really speak this language, but I know without a doubt that the Lord will bless us if we just have faith that He can help us get through this. One of my companions has never left Utah, and has never been on an airplane, so that will be a fun adventure for reals. It will be so great. We get our flight plans this week, so I ask that everyone pray that our visas all come through! There are so many of us (18!!!) so we hope to be able to fly together as well as all leave at the same time. None of us want to be here longer...the food does weird things to you like gives you crazy lucid dreams... we all feel like we're going insane. but it's no big deal!
AH Tuesday. Tuesday was WONDERFUL. I had my first really awkward moment speaking Cantonese (well, first moment significantly more awkward than the rest anyways). We were teaching cute Suki about then 10 commandments. I read about "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and she mentioned that her dad liked to kill chickens. I wanted to tell her that killing chickens for food is okay, but not for fun. Either I said something wrong or she misunderstood, but she was like "Umm, what kind of person do you think I am?" and we were all seriously laughing so hard we cried. it was pretty bad... so. Moral of the story: Don't kill chickens for fun, also don't tell people about it. Our devotional Tuesday night was INCREDIBLE. Elder (Brother?) John H Groberg, the guy from The Other Side of Heaven (the real guy, not the actor!) came and gave an amazing devotional on bearing simple testimony. It was truly amazing. I think one of the best things ever is that his cute little wife spoke too- the same wife that wrote him all three years of his mission. They were just both some of the cutest people I've ever seen and I have to say that old people talking about how they met just makes me so happy. I love it. SO much. They both shared such inspiring and wonderful messages. At the end, we all sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and the room was dead silent. It was so powerful. The spirit was SO strong. LOVED it. so much.
Wednesday was ALSO awesome. I totally got to host my cousin Aaron (Elder Carter now!) as he came up to the curb. I got to see my aunt, uncle, and a couple other cousins and help Elder Carter to get his name tag, books, and it was just great. I have seen him at least every day since then and he seems to be doing awesome. I didn't get a picture yet... Sorry Mom! But I'll get one this week for sure before he heads out. Sad that I've been here 7 weeks and he got here and still leaves before I do. Gaahhhh. oh well. #CantoProblems for real. So the awesome awkward moment of Wednesday. I'll do my best to make this not sound totally crazy. Our trio walked outside since it was nice and we decided to companion study out there. Our elders decided to go out too and sat down about 50 feet from us. They'd make annoying noises, so of course we'd shoot them a glance. So Elder Anderson finally said "Seriously, what the heck are you looking at!" (just trying to tease us!) and Sister Killpack said "Just admiring God's creation behind you!" Note: when she said that, she was referring to the trees (long story- we had a conversation about that earlier...) but Elder Merrell happened to be standing behind Elder Anderson. So he was like "Umm... Merrell?" So then it just got awkward and was way funny. I seriously love our elders. they're like brothers to us and I hope that we can stay in touch after our missions. Both of these young men, as well as the other elders from the other district, have such strong testimonies and we all just love them! They're the best.
So Thursday was a whirlwind of adventure, and pretty much none of it was fun. We started the day off in gym just like we always do. I was playing volleyball just like always, and was playing front center, prepared to set the ball. Well, my team was serving. I must have turned just right, because no joke I got slammed with the ball so hard in the side of the face that my contact got ripped out of my eye and my nose bled. So that was fun. It hit my head so hard and I couldn't think clearly for a second or so. Then I panicked because I couldn't see out of that eye. It took me about ten seconds of feeling literally sick to my stomach about how that messed up my eyesight and I'd never be able to see again before realizing that it was just my contact that got pulled out. but in my defense, I had just got hit in the face with a volleyball going full speed, so I couldn't think totally clearly. So I found it on the floor with the help of my teammates freaking out and ran up the stairs. My nose started to bleed then, so I ran into the bathroom and chilled there for a few minutes till it stopped. Thank goodness there was no concussion or broken nose or anything serious, just a dirty contact and a massive headache for a day. Then we went into the doctor. I've been having pain in my heels for a while and I really had hoped it was just new shoes and adjusting to that. I felt the same pain every day last summer life-guarding but figured that was walking on the cement all day barefoot (which probably didn't help...) so finally I broke down and went in to see our doctor. Turns out I have plantar fasciitis. So thank goodness it isn't anything super serious. We're hoping that stretches, taping my feet, and some orthotics and better running shoes will help so walking 8-15 miles every day in Hong Kong will be bearable. There's no way in crap that I'd go home for something as stupid as that. I'd rather walk in pain! Thank goodness for modern medicine and doctors who are willing to help missionaries out for waayyy cheaper than other people. Woo.
Also on Thursday (sorry, way eventful!) was probably the most incredible lesson I've taught so far. So Suki lives with her boyfriend. She works on Sundays and is kind of afraid to talk to her boss because he won't give her Sundays off. She made it to church once since we've taught her. She now has a baptismal date, assuming she will ditch the boyfriend and live the law of chastity. She's doing the best she can and we were kind of worried we'd reached a plateau with her. There's only so much we can teach- she has to make some decisions for herself. Right? Right. She told us she wanted to learn about the temple, so we took that opportunity and RAN with it. We brought in a picture of the Hong Kong temple and told her a little bit about where it was located (Kowloon) and she said she thought she'd seen it before. We pulled out our family pictures and explained that through the temple, our families can be together forever. We explained basically the ordinances that we can do, including being sealed for time and all eternity. We asked her what she wanted for her future family, and it really got her thinking. Then the coolest thing happened. I said something about how if she wants to go to the temple, she needs to live the commandments (which she's doing way better with!) and go to church and stuff. Then someone asked a question. We know that it was a spiritually inspired question because none of the three of us can remember what it was. But a question was asked. And we sat for at least a minute in total silence. If you've ever done that, you'll know how awkward that can be. 60 seconds in a room with 4 people...total silence. Suki started to cry. We were so afraid (or at least I was) that she'd been offended. But she looked up at us and said "I want to go to the temple so bad." We told her that God loved her and wanted to help her, and then went on our merry way. That night in class, Go Jimuih (the teacher who plays Suki) stopped the class for a second and said "I'm going to do something I don't really ever do. I want to tell you about what happened in a lesson tonight." She's right- she never evaluates us and usually we never even acknowledge that she's our investigator during class time. She looked at us and said "The trio did something really cool tonight. They let the spirit speak. They asked me a question and then were silent. At that moment, I realized what I needed to do." We haven't taught her since (usually we teach her Saturday but this week was different) so we don't know what that means, but we hope that means that she's ready to move forward and begin living all of the commandments. I'd love that. It was a testimony to me that teaching by the spirit is a true thing. I love it so much and LOVE teaching. Can't wait to get to Hong Kong!
Not much happened Friday, except I got an awesome package from the family with cute pictures and things. Always love that. I love hearing about things back home!
Saturday was good. We taught Jyu Jimuih and I had another awkward moment. We were teaching her about temples. I grabbed the big picture of the Hong Kong Temple and brought it in. After our opening prayer, I held up the picture and started to explain. I was so happy because Jyu Jimuih really wants an eternal family, so this lesson was totally just for her. She and my companions totally busted up laughing. Turns out I was holding the picture upside down...so yeah, that happened. Awkward story of my LIFE. I always do stupid things like that. Oh well. It was an icebreaker for sure. We practiced romanization in class, which was also fun. the romanization is SO hard. I cannot even tell you how hard it is... it's crazy. the tones are super hard but every day we get better. HA. so dinner Saturday was brilliant. Elder Li grabbed six little cups of red jello and cut each one out one by one and dumped them on a plate and tried to slurp them down...so yeah, that was fun.
Sunday was awesome. We had another wonderful mission conference, and it started to rain on our temple walk! Loved it! always love the rain. woo.
Tonight we are teaching Skyp-ee (how they say it in HK) Teaching Resource Center, meaning we literally are skyping real members in Hong Kong and teaching a lesson in Cantonese. Then at 8:15 we're teaching another pretend investigator named Lance that we met on campus. We have several people that volunteer their time and pretend to be investigators and things so we can practice teaching. He is the cutest old man ever and I am SO excited that we finally got to meet with him. The scary part is.......... we're teaching in English. I don't have a clue how to do that.
The language is weird. I'm in this weird place where I can't quite comfortably speak Cantonese, but I definitely can't speak English anymore. I have trouble remembering words, and often times when I think to myself I think in Cantonese. Sometimes I dream in Cantonese too. I'm TOTALLY so incredibly far from being able to speak it well, but I have a firm belief in the gift of tongues. It's a real thing. There's no way in crap I'd be able to speak this language even in the slightest without my Savior and his help.
Also, ALMOST DONE with Jesus the Christ. If you haven't read it- no matter your faith- you should. It's incredible and just talks about Jesus as he lived on the earth. I've learned so much about my Savior and the things that he suffered for me. He suffered more than just in Gethsemane and on the cross...he suffered his whole life for me. I love my Savior and know without a doubt that he loves me, and he loves each and every one of you.
Love you all! Ngoh ngoi leih! (:
-Kuk Jimuih
AH Tuesday. Tuesday was WONDERFUL. I had my first really awkward moment speaking Cantonese (well, first moment significantly more awkward than the rest anyways). We were teaching cute Suki about then 10 commandments. I read about "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and she mentioned that her dad liked to kill chickens. I wanted to tell her that killing chickens for food is okay, but not for fun. Either I said something wrong or she misunderstood, but she was like "Umm, what kind of person do you think I am?" and we were all seriously laughing so hard we cried. it was pretty bad... so. Moral of the story: Don't kill chickens for fun, also don't tell people about it. Our devotional Tuesday night was INCREDIBLE. Elder (Brother?) John H Groberg, the guy from The Other Side of Heaven (the real guy, not the actor!) came and gave an amazing devotional on bearing simple testimony. It was truly amazing. I think one of the best things ever is that his cute little wife spoke too- the same wife that wrote him all three years of his mission. They were just both some of the cutest people I've ever seen and I have to say that old people talking about how they met just makes me so happy. I love it. SO much. They both shared such inspiring and wonderful messages. At the end, we all sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and the room was dead silent. It was so powerful. The spirit was SO strong. LOVED it. so much.
Wednesday was ALSO awesome. I totally got to host my cousin Aaron (Elder Carter now!) as he came up to the curb. I got to see my aunt, uncle, and a couple other cousins and help Elder Carter to get his name tag, books, and it was just great. I have seen him at least every day since then and he seems to be doing awesome. I didn't get a picture yet... Sorry Mom! But I'll get one this week for sure before he heads out. Sad that I've been here 7 weeks and he got here and still leaves before I do. Gaahhhh. oh well. #CantoProblems for real. So the awesome awkward moment of Wednesday. I'll do my best to make this not sound totally crazy. Our trio walked outside since it was nice and we decided to companion study out there. Our elders decided to go out too and sat down about 50 feet from us. They'd make annoying noises, so of course we'd shoot them a glance. So Elder Anderson finally said "Seriously, what the heck are you looking at!" (just trying to tease us!) and Sister Killpack said "Just admiring God's creation behind you!" Note: when she said that, she was referring to the trees (long story- we had a conversation about that earlier...) but Elder Merrell happened to be standing behind Elder Anderson. So he was like "Umm... Merrell?" So then it just got awkward and was way funny. I seriously love our elders. they're like brothers to us and I hope that we can stay in touch after our missions. Both of these young men, as well as the other elders from the other district, have such strong testimonies and we all just love them! They're the best.
So Thursday was a whirlwind of adventure, and pretty much none of it was fun. We started the day off in gym just like we always do. I was playing volleyball just like always, and was playing front center, prepared to set the ball. Well, my team was serving. I must have turned just right, because no joke I got slammed with the ball so hard in the side of the face that my contact got ripped out of my eye and my nose bled. So that was fun. It hit my head so hard and I couldn't think clearly for a second or so. Then I panicked because I couldn't see out of that eye. It took me about ten seconds of feeling literally sick to my stomach about how that messed up my eyesight and I'd never be able to see again before realizing that it was just my contact that got pulled out. but in my defense, I had just got hit in the face with a volleyball going full speed, so I couldn't think totally clearly. So I found it on the floor with the help of my teammates freaking out and ran up the stairs. My nose started to bleed then, so I ran into the bathroom and chilled there for a few minutes till it stopped. Thank goodness there was no concussion or broken nose or anything serious, just a dirty contact and a massive headache for a day. Then we went into the doctor. I've been having pain in my heels for a while and I really had hoped it was just new shoes and adjusting to that. I felt the same pain every day last summer life-guarding but figured that was walking on the cement all day barefoot (which probably didn't help...) so finally I broke down and went in to see our doctor. Turns out I have plantar fasciitis. So thank goodness it isn't anything super serious. We're hoping that stretches, taping my feet, and some orthotics and better running shoes will help so walking 8-15 miles every day in Hong Kong will be bearable. There's no way in crap that I'd go home for something as stupid as that. I'd rather walk in pain! Thank goodness for modern medicine and doctors who are willing to help missionaries out for waayyy cheaper than other people. Woo.
Also on Thursday (sorry, way eventful!) was probably the most incredible lesson I've taught so far. So Suki lives with her boyfriend. She works on Sundays and is kind of afraid to talk to her boss because he won't give her Sundays off. She made it to church once since we've taught her. She now has a baptismal date, assuming she will ditch the boyfriend and live the law of chastity. She's doing the best she can and we were kind of worried we'd reached a plateau with her. There's only so much we can teach- she has to make some decisions for herself. Right? Right. She told us she wanted to learn about the temple, so we took that opportunity and RAN with it. We brought in a picture of the Hong Kong temple and told her a little bit about where it was located (Kowloon) and she said she thought she'd seen it before. We pulled out our family pictures and explained that through the temple, our families can be together forever. We explained basically the ordinances that we can do, including being sealed for time and all eternity. We asked her what she wanted for her future family, and it really got her thinking. Then the coolest thing happened. I said something about how if she wants to go to the temple, she needs to live the commandments (which she's doing way better with!) and go to church and stuff. Then someone asked a question. We know that it was a spiritually inspired question because none of the three of us can remember what it was. But a question was asked. And we sat for at least a minute in total silence. If you've ever done that, you'll know how awkward that can be. 60 seconds in a room with 4 people...total silence. Suki started to cry. We were so afraid (or at least I was) that she'd been offended. But she looked up at us and said "I want to go to the temple so bad." We told her that God loved her and wanted to help her, and then went on our merry way. That night in class, Go Jimuih (the teacher who plays Suki) stopped the class for a second and said "I'm going to do something I don't really ever do. I want to tell you about what happened in a lesson tonight." She's right- she never evaluates us and usually we never even acknowledge that she's our investigator during class time. She looked at us and said "The trio did something really cool tonight. They let the spirit speak. They asked me a question and then were silent. At that moment, I realized what I needed to do." We haven't taught her since (usually we teach her Saturday but this week was different) so we don't know what that means, but we hope that means that she's ready to move forward and begin living all of the commandments. I'd love that. It was a testimony to me that teaching by the spirit is a true thing. I love it so much and LOVE teaching. Can't wait to get to Hong Kong!
Not much happened Friday, except I got an awesome package from the family with cute pictures and things. Always love that. I love hearing about things back home!
Saturday was good. We taught Jyu Jimuih and I had another awkward moment. We were teaching her about temples. I grabbed the big picture of the Hong Kong Temple and brought it in. After our opening prayer, I held up the picture and started to explain. I was so happy because Jyu Jimuih really wants an eternal family, so this lesson was totally just for her. She and my companions totally busted up laughing. Turns out I was holding the picture upside down...so yeah, that happened. Awkward story of my LIFE. I always do stupid things like that. Oh well. It was an icebreaker for sure. We practiced romanization in class, which was also fun. the romanization is SO hard. I cannot even tell you how hard it is... it's crazy. the tones are super hard but every day we get better. HA. so dinner Saturday was brilliant. Elder Li grabbed six little cups of red jello and cut each one out one by one and dumped them on a plate and tried to slurp them down...so yeah, that was fun.
Sunday was awesome. We had another wonderful mission conference, and it started to rain on our temple walk! Loved it! always love the rain. woo.
Tonight we are teaching Skyp-ee (how they say it in HK) Teaching Resource Center, meaning we literally are skyping real members in Hong Kong and teaching a lesson in Cantonese. Then at 8:15 we're teaching another pretend investigator named Lance that we met on campus. We have several people that volunteer their time and pretend to be investigators and things so we can practice teaching. He is the cutest old man ever and I am SO excited that we finally got to meet with him. The scary part is.......... we're teaching in English. I don't have a clue how to do that.
The language is weird. I'm in this weird place where I can't quite comfortably speak Cantonese, but I definitely can't speak English anymore. I have trouble remembering words, and often times when I think to myself I think in Cantonese. Sometimes I dream in Cantonese too. I'm TOTALLY so incredibly far from being able to speak it well, but I have a firm belief in the gift of tongues. It's a real thing. There's no way in crap I'd be able to speak this language even in the slightest without my Savior and his help.
Also, ALMOST DONE with Jesus the Christ. If you haven't read it- no matter your faith- you should. It's incredible and just talks about Jesus as he lived on the earth. I've learned so much about my Savior and the things that he suffered for me. He suffered more than just in Gethsemane and on the cross...he suffered his whole life for me. I love my Savior and know without a doubt that he loves me, and he loves each and every one of you.
Love you all! Ngoh ngoi leih! (:
-Kuk Jimuih
Chinese grammar makes no sense
Elder Anderson explaining sound waves physics lesson
Elder Merrell imitating Elder Anderson again
Elder Merrell imitating Elder Anderson again
FINALLY passed the room clean check
Sister Hadley
Sis Heaton teacher, Sis Cochran, Sis Anderson, SisNuttall, SisKillpack
Sis Nuttall
When you leave your camera out people take selfies: Sis Nuttall and Sis Hadley
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