Sister BriAnna Crook in Hong Kong: April 13, 2015 Surprises!

*Note from Mom: Sister Crook has been through lots of changes this week and we had lots of questions for her during out quick 45 minutes of email chat time last night. So hopefully it won't sound too disjointed.

Okay, so this email contains a TON of surprises. So A) please don't panic, all is well and all are happy! and B) you can't read ahead. It would spoil my fun. (: Enjoy!

Monday night we saw a member and we got to teach her LA friend from another ward. We ate really yummy curry. mmm. I love curry. But no real surprises, sorry.

Tuesday. Mmmm. So after last transfers, a ward member joked that I'd "die in Tsing Yi" or rather never get transferred. As Sis Killpack and I were walking up to start our finding on the mountain, we were also joking about this as transfers are coming up in a few weeks. Literally two minutes after that conversation, I get a call from the Zone Leaders, saying I'm being transferred. That's right, I moved! in the middle of a transfer. Super weird. BUT. The biggest surprise of Tuesday is the fact that they said I'd no longer be a Cantonese speaking missionary. As of Tuesday night my new assignment is to serve in the International branches. Wow, I'm getting chills just thinking about how crazy that night was. At first I was excited. And then devastated, to leave my companion and my area that I hadn't ever left for 8 months. It was literally one of those phone calls where I had to sit down because I was dizzy. Everything just changed so fast!! Wow. Crazy. They told me I'd be in a trio with a Filipino sister and somebody else but they didn't know who.

Wednesday, of course, we crammed to see everybody. It was nuts. I got to see my two RC's one last time, as well as a member that's been amazing to us and an LA. It was a busy day. I also found out that I'm not actually in a trio- just a companionship of two, and my companion would be a Sister Arevalo who just got back from Macau. So I called her and we set up a time to meet. Then I started to pack like a madwoman. I had started Tuesday night but it just wasn't enough. They never give us enough notice...haha. Well. In the process of trying to fold up my blanket, I was shaking it out and whacked my hand on the back of a chair. My finger hurt but I thought nothing of it until I looked at it and saw how distorted and black it was turning... oops. So I asked Sister Robinson who took sports med in high school, and she panicked and told me I totally broke my finger. Surprise! Whoops. All this happened about 5 minutes before lights out, so that was crazy. Luckily, I have eons worth of athletic tape so we taped my fingers together and all was well.

Thursday morning, my finger looked a lot better. Probably not broken. Surprise! Just really badly bruised. Nevertheless we kept it taped up again and I hauled my three massive suitcases to Kowloon Tong with my hand taped. it was great. Met my new companion and headed out to Wan Chi (where the Church HQ is on the island, massively huge city with TONS of people) where I'll be living for who knows how long. Well, yep. I'm an international missionary now! Surprise. I now serve two branches- Victoria 2 (where they hold church every day Tue-Sun) and Peninsula 3, which is an English branch in Kwai Fong, really close to Tsing Yi.

So that means I'm serving with the Filipino sisters here- the ones that come to work as maids. I don't have time to tell you all everything, but this is the most amazing experience of my life. When we meet these people on the streets it's so clear they need the gospel in their lives. They have such hard lives here if their employers aren't good to them, which is often the case. They're incredible people. Also, if we have investigators, I get to go to church every single day! So cool. So I met the group of ladies with Thursdays off on Thursday after church (they just broadcasted conference). Then we ate together and it was great. I love Thursday Family. I met some of Friday family (the day+family is the ladies who have that day off and go to church on that day).

I got to see Conference on Saturday and help teach a lesson to Sister Dang who will be baptized next week on Saturday. She's cute, but doesn't really speak English (speaks some weird dialect of Tagalog, actually) but it was fun. I also taught Sister Baby on Sunday (attached picture with just me and three Filipino sisters) and Sister Marybelle (also attached- the fuzzy one, sorry!) and they're both preparing for baptism as well. Wow, this is just such an incredible work and I love it all so much. These ladies are amazing. So excited to continue to serve them!

So yes, all ends well. My finger is a little sore and bruised but not broken, thank goodness. My birthday was awesome! Got to watch conference and meet tons more sisters whose names I can't remember because there's so many of them. I love my companion Sis Arevalo! She's awesome. She has such a cool story. She was converted while here working in Hong Kong. She'll be 29 tomorrow, so happy birthday to her! Ah. What a week. Sorry that's so scrambled! But it was a crazy week and my thoughts are everywhere. love you all! (:

-Kuk Jimuih

Psych. I'm Sister Crook again now. Weird.

Questions from Mom and Dad (mom is in bold):

So where do you live exactly? Are you mostly English speaking?
All English. I don't have permission to learn Tagalog. kamustapo. that means Hi. that's about all I know. I live in Wan Chi. google it. it's NUTs.

Dang you were making such great progress with the language, is that sad? And your comp is 29? Wow.
She will be on Tuesday. and she's literally half my size. haha. so tiny. she's so cute. Pres hawks pulled us back and asked us to keep me learning Cantonese. he said "You could be there anywhere from 3-8 weeks or longer". so who knows. I don't think I'll be here very long (which breaks my heart because I love these people!!!!!!!) but it'll be okay. for now I'm still studying cantonese and jsut not learning tagalog. not too bad.

So were there other transfers or just you this week? Odd.
Just enough to accommodate those leaving. 5 Filipino sisters went home, and a mandarin sister moved in. so it just caused a ton of weird transfers. Sis Robinson got moved too. another thing is Macau only lets non-chinese people live there for so long. usually just over a month. so there's always weird transfers happening.

So what makes wan Chi nuts?
Do street view on google maps. there are SO many people here. and I'm not the only white person anymore.

You be careful! I just googled that place and now I'm wholly terrified for your safety. What are you loving arrangements like? Your apartment set up?
bahahahahaha. don't be terrified! this is pretty normal. I was just blessed to live in such a quiet place for so long. we literally live right across from the church. the apartment is HUGE. 6 of us live there and it's nice. a little moldy, but nothing some clearing won't fix. I'm pretty settled but not really unpacking an entire suitcase... just not worth it. I have so many clothes.......

What's the street you live on? Dad is trying to find it on google maps.
Ummm........... obrien? I can't remember actually. I get really lost in Wan Chi haha. if you're facing the church building it's two streets over on the right... so... two streets west of the wan chi chapel

Do you know the name of your building that you live in? Are you still way up high?
nope, 4th floor and I think our building only has 11 floors. I don't think it has a name... 6/a and 6/b is our address I think.

Just found a picture of the chapel online, crazy, that's a huge church!
yep, it's pretty big. yep that's it. massive, huh. go to the right two streets and I'm in one of those buildings.

Does the church own that whole building?
Yep, I think so. I don't htink people live there but not sure... it's like a mini church office building. the asia area presidency does stuff there, we have medical offices and lots of stuff. family history centers, etc. it's massive. I'll be sure to take pics today. I have one roommate that I was in the MTC with but she's a mandarin sister so I didn't really get to know her very well in the MTC. other than that it's sister yong from malaysia and two Filipino sisters. my time's about out so I need to head. love you all! thanks for the birthday wishes.