First Week in Hong Kong - Tolo Harbor South

Helloooooo everybody!!

    It's been a while since I've been able to write because I didn't have anytime to write last week, instead I was on a plane for 16 hours :) Anways I'll quickly recap my last week at the MTC before I talk about Hong Kong.

  I got to hear from President Nelson, which was so great! He's an amazing and inspiring man, and definitely inspired to me to go out to the field and use my time wisely! We sang the song, Be Still My Soul, which is a really comforting song, I love the words in it. Telling our own souls to be still, the Lord is on our side. I then said goodbye to my teachers later that week which was super sad, they are really just the highest quality people and definitely inspired me countless times!

Last goodbyes to MTC District

Then later people sang, God Be With You Til We Meet Again, and we were off! Of course it was really sad to say goodbye to my district, especially my really good friends from college that were still there, but I know everyone is going to do so well! 

     Quick funny story from the plane flight over, haha, I took a sleeping pill right before dinner to help me get over the jet lag faster, and the pill hit me right away! I started eating dinner then all of a sudden I started feeling super weird, my head was all cloudy and I couldn't really move well, I also for some reason started seeing doubles of the flight attendants and thought that tha aisle was super colorful haha, sooo this made me spill food all over myself because I couldn't get it to my mouth, and I kept staring down the aisle and at the attendants. Apparently I kept telling my companion "there are two men" and "look at the colors!" and "my brain feels so weird, like there's a hat on it." I don't know why I reacted to it so weird but I was a total mess and everyone thought I was joking but I really was so out of it. Then I knocked my water onto myself and didn't even realize it til a few minutes later, then I asked my companion "am I wet?" He then realized I wasn't joking and helped me get up, wipe up all the water and food off, then tucked me in hahaha it was hilarious, I was such a mess. Apparently I kept talking to them for a while and saying random stuff then slept for like 5 hours. It was a great time!

Anyyways, now to Hong Kong! On our plane flight were these people from Shanghai who are converts to the church! They were soo cool and it was awesome to be able to actually understand them and respond! It's pretty crazy how much the Lord blesses his missionaries to learn in 9 weeks. The first thing I felt was the wall of humidity when we stepped outside, it is like instant sweat!! Everything is sweaty and sticky haha I don't think I'll ever get used to it. We met with President and Sister Lam, they are so awesome and I'm glad I get to work with them these next two years!!

President and Sister Lam in front of the mission home

The next day we went to get our Hong Kong IDs. On the MTR (train station) we tried to find people who can speak Putonghua (Mandarin) and found one daluren (mainlander), It's pretty tough always hearing Guangdondhua (Cantonese) and not being able to understand or communicate with most people, though most people understand a tiny bit of Putonghua. I also got to help teach one of the English classes which was so fun! We stayed in the mission home for the first two nights and got oriented, and we stayed next to a bunch of families from Beijing! Mainlander members are the coolest! The always have the most inspitring conversion stories and they are true pioneers for the church in China! We would stay out and talk to them for an hour or so each night.  They absolutely loved us and would all go dress up to take pictures with us! So cool! The last night we were with them, they all bore their testimonies to us which was awesome, mainlanders are the best!

The next day I met my trainer, his name is Elder Sy, he's from the Phillippines, but speaks English very well, Cebuano, and Mandarin.

Meeting Elder Sy

Basically a stud, he's only been in the field for like 5 months or so, so he and I are a very green companionship! He has a very positive attitude, is hardworking, and happy. He really has tons of faith too, I really like him and we get along very well! He's a lot like me, just shyer. He and I are in the Tolo Harbor South area, we have a big area and are starting from scratch in our area.  We had one investigator named Richard. He's from Beijing. Unfortunately, we helped him move on Saturday to the Kowloon area (I'll talk about that more later) and so we have no investigators. So we have done lots of finding! every day we do between 3-7 hours of finding.  It's hard work, but we go about it with a great attitude, and I always look forward to it beceause we both really believe we will find the people who are ready and need the gospel! I say hi to everyone that we meet and try my best to communicate with them. The problem is, almost everyone speaks Guangdonghua so I end up saying Ay ni hao, ni hui jiang putonghua ma? (hi do you speak mandarin) like a million times, most people say bu hui, ignore us, shake their hands, yell, or pretend they're talking on the phone. But we've had some great street lessons and found some mainlanders to teach! Some people can tell the difference based on how they look but I really can't, here they really do look the same, because they are the same. My comp says they look more Chinese. Idk how that's possible. I've also picked up a few phrases to say to the Guangdonghua people, my favorite are the old people. They are so hilarious! They are either super out of it and just wandering around, super crusty and grumpy, or rarely, super nice! I always try to talk to them, it's pretty funny. They all congregate in malls and stuff by the AC and just grumble and yell particles in Cantonese. Cantonese has all these long particles like gamaaaa or laaaa and stuff that drag out, whereas mandarin is short and choppy, it's one of the reasons why I want to learn Cantonese in about a year or so bc it sounds fun! Also, side note, the AC in my apartment is broken, I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my life.

View from my apartment

View from a bridge after torrential rains

I have had some really great spiritual experiences here so far. One night, my companion and I were finding and we were trying to decide what street to go on.  I really felt that we should turn left, almost like I was being pulled left, so we started walking, and all of the sudden we run into this couple speaking putonghua! And they both stopped! Which is super rare, so we taught them a quick street lesson and prayed with them, we're giving them a follow  up call today! Hopefully they become investigators. Another time we were finding and we walked past a park, again I felt like I should go back to the park but kept walking, then my comp asked if we should go back, he had had a similar feeling, so we went back and the last person in the park that we talked to ( after like 20 mins) was a Philippina lady who ended up taking a BoM and we said a prayer with her, she started crying after the prayer, and I felt the Spirit so strongly, that God loves this lady and her family, and that He would comfort her. She told us she was working from the Phillippines here for her family      (which is very common) and was very lonely that day. It was so cool to see that the Lord has prepared people everywhere!

We helped Richard move to Kowloon on Saturday and it was the most inefficient thing ever. We showed up and he hadn't started packing! I could totally see my dad just getting down to business and throwing everything in boxes and getting a move on haha but we helped him pack up and had to take his stuff to the train station, then switch trains a bunch of times and walk everywhere carrying this one huge cardboard box of his stuff, then it starting pouring rain, like monsoon type torrents of rain and lightning (it's monsoon season here) so we got soaked and the box got shredded in our hands by the rain, and we had to do two trips! It was very inefficient and I got absolutely drenched, but it was a great service opportunity! I don't know how he would've done it without us!

Soaked in the elevator with Richard and
Elder Sy 

I met the members on Sunday and they are so amazing and so friendly, which was a nice change. There are a decent amount of Mandarin speakers in the ward. the ward is very young, a lot of College aged students and recent converts which is fun, and everyone just loves and supports the missionaries. There are a ton of us operating with the ward (about 8) because they're really trying to make a big push so we can start a putonghua branch here in the area. Right now it's about 30 -70 Guangdong-putong, so the sacrament meeting is guangdonghua. Fortunately they have translators and headphones, though later it'll be useful when I can start learning it. 

The people here are so interesting.  The culture is that they can help themselves, they don't need anyone's help, but they want to also help others. But others don't want their help haha it's a very work hard society, and very stressed out and materialistic society. I really know the gospel can definitely bless all the lives here, and I just love the people so much! I say hi to everyone and give them a nice friendly greeting, it just makes me sad to see how stressed and busy everyone is, there's no time to appreciate anything but work and money. I feel so fortunate to have the gospel because it provides so much more depth and meaning to my life. 

I cant wait to find people to teach and help change! The power of change that the gospel can bring about is amazing, and is a sure testimony of it's truth! Hearing the Beijing member's testimonies of overcoming drug addictions and hard life situations by faith and the gospel was amazing! I know that through faith, and really truly believing and relying on the Lord, miracles can and will happen. Have faith! Believe! Just like my favorite scripture Mosiah 4:9! God is not an absent Master, and He wants to help us and can make Himself known unto us if we but try to know Him.

love the work, love the people, and love you all, too! Thanks for all the support!

Love 

Wu (Hu) Zhang Lao