Sister BriAnna Crook in Hong Kong: December 15, 2014

(Mom's Note: Sorry friends and family but Sister Crook is losing her ability to think and speak English and often forgets that none of us know Cantonese. Good luck!)

Sih ching sih je yeung dik: Chinese Motab

...and it came to pass: Chinese MOTAB. Christmas fireside in Kowloon Tong yesterday was awesome!

We had a pretty big focus on finding this week- we are definitely in need of some new investigators. As our investigators progress towards baptism, we have been wanting to have some new investigators too.

Monday night, we taught Tiger. The Elders met her on the street the night of our open house and we were finally able to reschedule her. She comes from a really hard life... her dad lives on the Island and her mom lives in Mainland. She is 18, studying in form 4, and lives by herself. Two years ago she dropped out of school to work. Now she's going back to school and working. She's super busy and definitely needs the gospel in her life. I'm excited to watch her progress. She was very receptive to the message of the Restoration and I was really grateful to have the opportunity to teach her.

Tuesday we went to a member's house for dinner and taught Cherry Lesson 2 again. Cherry has such a strong testimony and I admire her love for the temple. Everything she says goes back to the temple and how bad she wants to go there. We had a little time to really crack down and find and taught three lessons. We met three really nice people and hopefully will have the opportunity to meet them again. That evening, we went to our lesson with Mrs. Tung (the grandma we started teaching last week) and when we got there, Sister Lubeck called her to tell her we were just waiting for our member. Mrs. Tung told us not to come back. She wasn't ready to accept that our churches were different and we think she may have experienced some anti from her church, because last week she was so happy to meet with us. Oh well. I guess someday she'll be prepared to meet the missionaries again someday.

Wednesday we had a big block of finding, and we made it a goal to do a gauntlet find and teach six lessons. By the end of the day, we had made it to all six areas and taught six lessons. Though none of the people were able to reschedule, we have since contacted some of them and hopefully will be able to continue meeting with them. We were so blessed with so many miracles on Wednesday. We even found a way of finding that makes five hours of straight finding pretty exciting. The weather was nice too! Blessings all around.

Thursday was good. We taught less active Sister Yeung and found a member that may be able to better help her son. We're also working on a way to get her and her son to church. Then we taught Sister Tsang (LA). She's doing well. She hasn't read that much this week because she's super tired from work, but her love for the scriptures is still the same.

Friday Sister Lubeck taught Cammy while I helped teach her kids. She's progressing okay, but still hasn't come to church. We're not sure how to better get Cammy to understand the importance of the Sabbath Day. We've tried teaching it in so many different ways but I am at a loss. If you have any suggestions, let me know. It's hard, because we can only bring this commandment unto her heart...she has to bring it into her heart. She's not ready to be baptized just yet, but I know she will be soon. She's great. WE taught our recent convert A-Ting as well. She also has an issue getting up on time coming to church.

Saturday we taught Sister Lui, a less active. She realizes that if she doesn't come to church or read scriptures its harder to do it the next time. We taught Kelly. She still doesn't feel prepared to be baptized. We are planning to review the lessons again with her to help her understand it.

Sunday we went to the fireside with A-Ting and Cherry (RC's). Both of them felt the spirit so strong, and I hope that that was a wake up call for A-Ting. She has a testimony but has a hard time not being lazy. We hoped helping her feel that spirit will help her remember why she decided to be baptized in the first place.

Week full of miracles! Bring on 65 in December!
Love, Sister Crook

P.S.
(In regards to her thoughts on missionary work and her companion leaving this week): this week has been insanely awesome. definitely rewarding. We've had some setbacks with all three of our investigators we're working with right now, so it's sad to see them do that... but setbacks are a real part of life. I go to bed and the very next second I'm up again. time flies. it's weird. I'm always exhausted, but it's good. means we're working hard.

Panicking that tomorrow I find out who my new companion is. I know I'm not training but I could be senior companion, or I could not be. either way I'm staying in Tsing Yi which is good. Bahaha. yeah... greenies. they're the best. I know Sister Stromberg coming in, so that'll be fun to hopefully see her. I don't mind the new companions, it's the responsibility that may be a thing. Yeah, kinda sad to see her (Sister Lubeck) go. But it's her time. Mine will come too. she dies, others are born. It's just the circle of life.

(Christmas packing being mailed home): Mailed your Christmas package today... sorry, it may be late. long story. mail here is mahfaan.

(We asked what Mahfaan meant): sorry... umm, the closest English translation is... inconvenient? I can't speak English anymore.

(We don't speak Chinese): mhaih wo! kesaht, hou fongbihn! baha. Your phone call home is gonna be in Chinese... be prepared!

Funny, how I can't remember any Spanish anymore. Lots of Cantonese is just like really bad Chinglish. Gotta run, though. hope you enjoy those pictures! we made gingerbread (wafer?) houses with Kelly, Lam Lam (member) and A-Ting (RC).