Sister BriAnna Crook in Hong Kong: December 29, 2015

This week has been amazing. It's such a blessing to be in the mission field at Christmastime, and I'm pretty sad I only get to experience it once. It was amazing to walk the streets and just ask people about how they celebrated Christmas and shared about the love of our Father in Heaven for giving us the greatest gift of all- His beloved Son.

Christmas Eve was just another proselyting day- nothing special. We saw Cherry and our lesson ran late (Cherry forgot and was late...) so we ended up needing to go out to eat. Sister Killpack ate McDonalds and I grabbed me some steamed bread and white grape juice. We took our food out to the pier and watched the boats drive by. There were carolers walking up and down the pier and it was just awesome. A little chilly, but awesome.

Christmas day here was insane! We got up that morning, got ready, and our sweet roomates made us breakfast- WAFFLES. Sister Robinson LOVES waffles and her aunt that lives here in HK gave her a waffle iron for Christmas, so she made us breakfast. Mmmmm. Been a LONG time since I've had good breakfast. We ate eggs and bacon and seriously just feasted. I was so full we didn't eat lunch. Phone calls home were also fantastic. It's so good to hear everyone's voices!

Cammy let us teach her Christmas day before our ward party. what a blessing! We read from the scriptures about Samuel the Lamanite's prophecies about Christ, and then Christ's birth. Afterwards, we all went to the ward Christmas party. They didn't stay the entire time, but she definitely came for a bit. At the party, the bishop got up and announced he had four special gifts to give away- and called us all up to the front. The ward so graciously gave us four missionaries four MASSIVE bags- garbage bags- full of treats, shampoo, noodles (macaroni!) ramen, popcorn, and all sorts of goodies. We seriously won't have to buy noodles fo rlike, the rest of forever. We are so grateful for such a wonderful ward that loves us so much!! They really are the best.

That night, Brother and Sister Fong invited us over for Christmas dinner. We got there and just after, Brother Fong walked in with none other than KFC. What? Haha. He said (in perfect English, of course) "This is Kenny Fong's Chicken!" Mmm. We feasted on glorious American food, fruit salad, and of course some Chinese traditional stuff as well like sweet and sour pork and tofu. It was seriously so good. Purple and her son Nigel were there too, and we shared a message about Christmas and watched He is the Gift. We talked about how all of us celebrate Christmas and it was just fabulous.

Cammy's doing well. She doesn't feel prepared for baptism yet, so we invited her to pray about and pick her own baptismal date- all without us. She said she's willing to do that. then we'll make a plan with her on how to help her prepare.

Kelly is doing well. Last time we met with her she expressed interest in better understanding Joseph Smith. We decided to show the Joseph Smith movie to Kelly. We only watched the first part and will finish the second half tonight, but so far she seems to have really appreciated it. She said it helped her more clearly understand his background and what he did for the church. The spirit was really strong in that lesson. I'm excited to finish it tonight. We're also challenging her to pray about her own baptismal date, just like Cammy.

Still haven't been able to contact Janda, but we talked to the relief society president yesterday and she says she still Whats Apps her every couple of days. Janda is now working two full time jobs until she can find a replacement for her old job while she opens her new job in Tsuen Wan. We're hoping we can find a way to contact her, but at least for now we know she's okay- just really, really, really busy.
We've had a rough week with finding. I've taken note of some things that we need to change and sihfaan so we can better improve our finding efforts. We've talked with a lot of people- they just don't really want to hear the gospel. Again, it all boils down to agency. I guess we're just doing the best we can with what we've got, and the rest is up to them.

I am grateful for the faith building experience of 65 in December. Though we may not have reached our numerical goal, I think we reached the most important goal of all- building our faith and bringing others to Christ. What better way to celebrate Christmas than giving our all and loving the people of Hong Kong?

Singdaan faailohk!

曲姊妹

(Sister Crook)

Photos:
Really awkward selfie with my GLORIOUS breakfast
The view from the pier on Christmas Eve
Chicken nuggets for Christmas Eve dinner
The fam is brainwashing me!

P.S.
(In Response to sweet little Sophie Fellows' update): Sounds like Christmas miracles are true all around the world. Crazy how that happens. Yeah, I've been praying for Sophie. I can see if my comp wants to help me out too.

(Mom is feeling some evil strangling thoughts after this comment): Fun fact. I wasn't going to tell you this before Christmas, but skyping was just barely made okay in the mission. Only problem is we can't leave our area to skype, and since there's no place to do it, it just wasn't worth it to tell you. Sorry! Maybe my next area will have somewhere where that's okay. Happy Christmas!