August 18, 2014

Good Morning family

This week has been a great one. We have been working hard to open Chai Wan. We have gotten lost a lot and we really have no clue what we are doing or where we are going. We are also having to travel to TKO to do turn overs with the elders in our old area. All in all, things are good. We have one investigator named Lilly. She is a mother with 3 daughters. Pray for Lilly. I never thought opening an area would be so complicated. We don't know who the bishop is or any of the auxiliary leaders are. But it will all fall into place if we work hard and are obedient. I also found out that i will be training this coming transfer which is on thursday. If you have any suggestions please let me know. It is a little scary opening up and area and then training a new missionary, because i don't even know where we are going or what we are doing. I would just really like to get a foundation in the area. We are doing a lot of finding people and finding our way around the city. Chai Wan is back on the island. Another little twist was that a sisters companion went home early and so now we are in a tripanionship. We will be taking over Wan Chai and Causeway Bay and Chai Wan this week until my new missionary comes in. So things are hectic right now. So many changes happened in so little time. 

This past week was fun though. We went to monkey mountain this week and were able to hike and see monkeys....like real monkeys. a lot of them! They are so scary. If the elders in our district were not there i think i would have gotten out of there as fast as i could! Everyone was taking pictures and loving the monkeys...but me haha. I was shaking in my crocs. Then a monkey came right up to me and started scratching my leg!!!! I just froze up and couldn't move haha. Well all the missionaries got the monkey away from me. Anyway, i came to the conclusion that they are not so great. But the hike was amazing. It was so beautiful. It felt like we were walking the great wall, but more of in the mountains. 

China is such a beautiful place. I love it so much. 

We also have a new house. We live in Bak Gok. Which is North Point in English. It is a big city and pretty ghetto-y. We have a lot of cockroaches and bugs. And the elevators don't wait for you so i get squished in the doors a lot haha. but no it is also really fun. It is what you picture a mission apartment to be like. 

Sorry i don't have much to report on this week. There is just a lot of change and we are going to need a lot of prayers! But a cool fact. I have been in the same stake my whole mission and i will be in Chai Wan until the end and so i will be a Hong Kong Island Stake missionary.

I love you all.

-Sister Hambli

August 10, 2014

Heool!

Well we have big news too! President Hawks needed to talk to us and he told us that he has been thinking a lot about our companionship and he wants to move us to a place called Chai Wan. It is back on the Hong Kong Island. We are supposed to be working there this next week. But it is not even moves yet so we are a little confused. haha we don't know the area we don't know the members we don't know when or where church is...we don't know anything about it. This place hasn't had sister missionaries so we are opening it up. We need to turn all our investigators and less actives to the elders. It is sad to leave them all. We don't know why we would leave after having all these good things happen, but we know that Chai Wan needs us. It is going to be a challenge but we are ready for more growth and faith. So pray for us! That investigators name is Daisy by the way. 

This week was really good. We were able to give 2 new baptismal dates! These are the first we have given since i have moved to TKO, but now we are moving again. 

It rained a lot a lot this week as well. And my companion has been having some problems :) heheeh well this week we were in the rain and we forgot our umbrella...again. Weell it started to rain solo sooooooo hard. So we ran for shelter,,but the only place that had a roof was the wet market with the brains all over the tabes haha. so we stayed in there until we couldn't take the smell anymore. We also were heading to meet with the zone leaders so we couldn't be late! But to get to the chapel we would have to run out in the rain again and climb up a lot of stairs. We decided we had to go out sometime so we booked it to the stairs! All of a sudden my companion stops right on the stairs and says, "I HAVE TO GO...LIKE RIGHT NOW!" then she squated and went to the bathroom right on the stairs! hahaha it was so funny and really awkward (but Chinese people do it all the time so it wasn't weird to them). Then we finally made it to the church and we were laughing so hard. When we got to the door it was locked and the zone leaders were late. so we just got extra soaked :) that was funny. But that is not all. We went finding again and it started raining again and we had to pick some huge leafs the 4 times the size of my head to walk around with the have shelter. Then all of a sudden my companion did it again.....so we decided to talk to sister Hawks. It turns out that is what stress does to my comp. It makes it so that she can't hold it :) hehe so that was a great part of the week. 

I also got the package! Thanks mom :)

We were also able to have mission tour this week! Elder Wong and Elder Funk came to talk to us all about missionary work :) It was so fun :) They really helped me receive inspiration on our investigators. It was miraculous. I love president and sister Hawks so much. Everytime someone visits the mission they talk about how amazing these two people are. And they ARE amazing!!!! I love them!

Anyway we had a lot of miracles and they just keep coming! We will be moving to North Point this week sometime (we don't know) and then the adventure will begin again! GA YAUH! 

But i love you all

_Sister Hamblin

this is us saying goodbye to our ward. I didn't geven get to know them well. :(a

August 3, 2014

Good Morning!

Sister Huhng here.

This week was ccrazzzyyyyyyy. I don't even know how to start. Summer missionaries are tough but great, just like a mission should be. But i learned a LOT. Like a Lot a lot. I learned patience, love, charity, and a lot of chinese :) So thats good! It is just so different being with someone who is not a missionary. One day she got so mad that she took her tag off and told me she was going home. Well that is not ok because i need a companion, so i had to convince her to stay. Then she would yell at me in chinese and get mad, but then the next day she loved me. I hope i was not like that growing up. If i was, i am so sorry! But I hear that Rachel has a mini comp that is also not a missionary. I understand. Out other summer missionary had schizophrenia. Nothing happened for about a week, then one day she was seeing people and it was really scary, so we had to take her back to the office so that her parents could pick her up. It was really scary. But she was such a nice and sweet missionary.

Anyway, we were able to see a lot of people and do a lot of finding this week. I have been trying to help the ward out more with doing missionary work. They are so great! I love the people of Tseung Kwan O (TKO). TKO is such a great place. It is getting a little warmer here, but we have AC (but we are not allowed to use it much becas=use it is REALLLLY expensive). We live on the 40th floor. And yes people still cram in the elevator, but it is normal now. You just talk to them for 40 floors. And i just met our neighbor yesterday! His name is mr. Lo and he is a great old man :) I think i want to make him some rice and take it over. Then maybe we can share the gospel!

So back to this week. One of the most grateful moments on my mission happened yesterday. let me rewind to last week. Last sunday my comp and i had a feeling we needed to visit one of our investigators. This investigator has had a ton of problems with every commandment. It is really hard to see her and we can't just go over to peoples houses in Hong Kong. So we called her and miraculously she told us we could come over. So we talked to her friend who is in the relief society presidency to come with us to visit her friend. We didn't know what we would teach her and we didn't know why we needed to go over. So we just planned to review the restoration with an emphasis on God's Love. So we went over and this investigator just listened. She was a little sad, but we just thought that she was tired. So we shared a short message and just bore a brief but sincere testimony. Well we rescheduled her and went home. Then yesterday during fast and testimony meeting, this relief society member (the investigators friend) got up to share her testimony, She said that last week she had a feeling that she also needed to visit this friend. She said that she could hear a distinct voice telling her to go with the missionaries. Then 2 days after we visited this investigator, this investigator called the member and told her a story. A few hours before we called her to see her, this lady had bought some chemicals to take to a hotel to burn and commit suicide. Then we called and she decided that she would listen to us one last time. The spirit touched her and gave her a very strong feeling of god's love for her. This investigator decided that she would not kill herself but give life another chance because "God loves her so much that he sends messengers to her". What a sad but amazing story this is. I am so grateful that we were able to be God's hands this week in helping  His daughter. I know that life is so precious. It is so important. It makes me so incredibly sad to know that some people just can't feel the goodness of life. I know that the gospel is the way to happiness. God is the person that can help us. Through the atonement we can overcome anything. Keep this investigator in your prayers.

On a happier note, i saw an old man showering in the rain this past week. Right outside the church window during personal study! haha oh the people of China. 

We also were looking for one of our less actives. We don't know what she looks like but we thought her name was Chan. So what we did was we went to the place where she worked. we thought we knew who she was and so we asked another lady at the restaurant if the lady was named chan. She told us yes! WOOHOO! So we went over there and wrote her a not that said we loved her and wanted her back at chuch. Well we were all confident and went up to her and she looked really confused. We gave it to her anyway (because less actives usually pretend then don't know who we are anyway). Then we went home to write on her record. Turns out this less actives name was really Wong, not chan. And so we gave this random lady a letter that said we loved her. ( and people don't use the word love her) so it was really weird. I feel bad for the lady named chan. But it seems like that happens a lot herE!

This week i was also reading the Liahona conference style and i read something great.

LIVE WORTHILY, PRAY FERVENTLY, FOLLOW COURAGEOUSLY

I think that is a motto that we should all live by.

this is me and my summer mish, haha chinese style picture taking

love o=you all

July 28, 2014

good morning family.

This week has been a good one. Having a summer missionary is a little rough haha but probably because they have zero training! It is weird not having a missionary as a companion. It is like a 2 week split. We are hoping this week goes smoother! Ill have to tell you stories when i get home haha.

Hmmm what happened? We had new neighbors move in this week. They came over asking to borrow a rice cooker hahah only in china. Then a man came to our door this morning and asked us if we could look out our bathroom window and see if his clothes were on our hangnig rack haha. it was so funny. again, only in china. Everyone hangs their clothes out their windows and sometimes things fall. I love it so much here,

Something really cool happened this week! The Aberdeen missionaries just told me that a boy got baptized this past sunday, but it wasnt just any boy. it was a boy that my companion and i had found on a boat when i still served in Aberdeen! Well he got baptized! Woohoo! Finding is where all the miracles happen :)

Cool finding story, my summer missionary and i were finding last night and we found a lady named Alla. She asked us some pretty amazing questions of the soul. She told us that we could see her tonight to teach her about the restoration! I love prepared people. Our ward also had a baptism this past week for a miracle boy! There are just so many miracles happening! I love it. 

It was cool to hear about Dustin. Too bad she cant leave a little later huh? And i got an email from mandy. She is great. Our family is awesome! I also got an email from Rex, i still cant believe it has been that long. But he and Graham are doing great! And Kare also emailed me a few weeks ago. 

Thank you for all you do for me! Have a fantastic week!

P.s. Has the whole family gained a lot of weight or is that just the pictures or the camera?

love sister Hamblin

this is what a 20 dollar bill has on it over here haha. scary turtle dragon!

and this is a picture of the colorful streets of Hong Kong

July 21, 2014

HELLO FUHMOUH!

Ok the doctor called and said I'm dying....JUST kidding :) it is all fine. No noticeable change and so i don't have to go back. woohoo! no more chinese doctors for me. Also i got the package with the book! guess what....i found out that it is all in mandarin and i have to translate it all to cantonese! haha cool right!? haha. Oh and i got an email from BYU and guess what? I MADE IT IN AGAIN! haha phew now i don't have to worry about that anymore. Nut do you know when i have to worry about signing up for classes? and can you tell me what you think i should take? Ai Ya. 

This week was a good one. We found out that we were going to be having summer missionaries! That means that 16-19 year old girls and boys from Hong Kong come to be with the missionaries for two weeks. It is stressful but i guess a good experience. We just go ours. Mine is from the new territories. She is a 17 year old convert and she is tall haha. We will be companions for the next 2 weeks. Good luck! Because i don't know the area very well. So i hope we can figure things out. 

Ill send you a picture of us together! I just hope that i can help her out and really see miracles with her so that she will want to be a missionary too :) 

So guess what!? SISTER YEUHNG came back! we had lost her for 2 weeks but now she is back. She is willing to keep all the commandments but one she has a problem with..it is no other gods. We were teaching her and she said she wanted to be baptized, but then she said that her heart was split. We asked why and after rome questions and inspiration She said that she believes in 2 gods. One is Heavenly Father. The other one is a terrocota soldier god (well that is the way she described it to us). She told us that when she was 8 her prophetess grandmother and her lived in china ( i guess they believe that there are some major important spiritual people in mainland china). Her grandmother had a dream that said she needed to go to a certain place at a certain time and then a god would appear. So she and her grandmother packed up and went to the place. Then the god appeared and now she still remembers that moment. I don't exactly know what to tell her about this vision she had but i hope the Spirit will help us out. I know He will. Now we just need to help her know that we only have one god that we worship and that is Heavenly Father.  We talked to president Hawks and he just told us that all we could teach her was truth :) so we will just teach her what our chinese will allow and expect a miracle! I didn't know how tough it was to teach about our Heavenly Father, Anyway, pray for sister Yeuhng!

We also had a ward activity this week called Poon CHoi. It is where yo get a huge bowl. Then you get 15 people at a table, fill the bowl up with shrimp, bean curd, intestines, fat, fish balls, tofu, and other unmentionables and then you put some water in it and boil it up! Well we went and there were a TON of people there :) we were able to walk away with 4 referrals!!!!!!!!! so cool :) we will be meeting with them this week. The Poon Choi on the other hand was pretty weird. I mean i really like the food here now but i couldn't really finish my bowl of rice and poon choi. You should try and make some!

We also had a ping pong night! I know that people say that it is a stereo type to think of chinese people playing ping pong...but it is not! It was so intense haha. I want to learn to be a ping pong master! We will also be playing more this week with some referrals from our members!

It is great to hear from you all and all that is happening in Eagar. President Hawks still never fails to tell the world that we are both Eagar Beavers haha. I had to tell him that they changed that like 50 years ago! Anyway i love president Hawks and sister Hawks! they are amazing. They just make the world a happy place.

So i was reading in 3rd Nephi this past week in chapter 18. You should read it and really think about the sacrament. Think about what church has done in your life and how it has changed you. I know that church is so important! And still it is one of the hardest commitment sfor investigators to commit to. Ill invite you all to keep inviting people to church! I love you all so much and pray for you daily. You are amazing. Keep loving the Lord and serve Him with all your heart might mind and strength.

我們在本次大會中看到一些忠信的弟兄被卸任，我們也支持了另一些人的召喚。在教會裡，召喚的更替是非常尋常的，卸任不是「下台」，蒙召喚也不意味著「上台」。為主服務沒有「上或下」，只有「進或退」，其間的差異在於我們卸任和蒙召喚的態度，以及我們的作為。我有一次主理一位年輕支聯會會長的卸任，他服務了九年，表現良好，很高興被卸任，也很開心與妻子一起接受新召喚。他們在支會裡被召喚為托兒班領袖，只有在本教會中，才會把這兩種不同的召喚都視為同等的光榮。 慈助會的會長琳達‧柏頓有一次在婦女大會上說：「我們希望在每個人心裡 灌輸 想要更了解聖職的渴望

I don't really know what this quote says because i don't read chinese but you can google translate it and find out! I get to start learning characters next month..so i don't know if i will learn of not haha but gayauh!

Oh my goodness! I didn't tell you the scariest part!

Ok so i have told you about the spiders here right?

Well they are HUUUUGGGGEEEE! We were in the church the other day and we saw a spider the size of my head. Not kidding. And so we were so scared. It didn't just run across the room but it LEAPED! iT was huge. So we were so scared and the elders came and they had to squish it....I wet my pants it was so scary haha. Then we found another one even bigger! But this time it was in a tree right in front of the church. And it was hanging above our heads. We had to knock it down so that we could get through. Well i took a picture of this one. You would not believe the spiders here! ai ya. Then also i found a dragon...a real one. It a caterpillar form. Ill send you the pictures :)

LOVE YOU ALL!

_sister Hamblin

July 14, 2014

Good Morning family!

YAY SISTER WARNER IS BAPTIZED! thank for for telling me about the baptism :) I just know she will be great! Was she just so happy? Tell her to write me a letter! I want to know everything!

Yeah i don't think i can change the date so it is the 19th for now. I am going to need a serious 2 week massage after this haha. Thank you for the package! It should be here this week :) I am excited for it! Packages are christmas here haha. 

WHAT SARAH IS GETTING MARRIED? :( darn. Why? I've got to be there. Will it be in the temple? Who is the boy? Awe :(

Anyway, the family we saw did not come to church this past week but we will meet with them again this coming week! I am so excited to teach them about the Plan of Salvation. I don't know if the father will get better. I don't think he will. I can't understand Chinese all that well and he doesn't want to tell us what sickness he has. He looks awful though. I just know that this is what they are looking for in life! 

Tyler Goldsmith is doing well haha. He is loving his mission! I love hearing from missionaries. It makes me so happy to know that we are all in the SAME work together. And it is the greatest work in the world. His grandma is reading the Book of Mormon and he sent me his conversion story. It was so cool because i was able to tell his conversion story to a member family. Then they opened up and accepted our invitation for them to do missionary work!!! Thank you Elder Goldsmith. 

This week we were able to go to the 65 PEAK CELEBRATION! Well Hong Kong on July 14 1949 was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel! All the members in Hong Kong went to Wan Chai to celebrate!!! It was amazing. They told us the history of the Church in Hong Kong and then they had people from all ages give short talks about how the gospel has blessed their lives. It was really one of my most favorite days. All the embers and missionaries together celebrating the gospel! It was a very reverent and beautiful ceremony. I am so blessed to be in China preaching the gospel! They talked about the forbidden city and the carved stone and all the cool things about the gospel in China. I will tell you all more about it later. All i know is that the gospel and hong kong people are amazing. 

Something sad happened this week. Our investigator, sister Yeuhng, she stopped talking to us and she won't answer her phone :( she was supposed to get baptized in a couple weeks. We don't know what to do!

Oh, I just got an email from Sarah. Wow i can't believe it. It is the first time this has happened on the mission haha so i am a little surprised. Woo ok I'm ok. ai ya!

Hmmm what else happened....well it is getting pretty hot and wet...like really really hot! But thats ok :) I LOVE the weather!

This week i was able to go on exchanges in KwunTong! Wow it was so great because that was my first area. Well I ran into a girl that i ran into a year ago on the street! It was ngonpaai. It was really nice to see the change in me from exactly a year ago in my first area to visiting it now! I know Chinese now! Yay! I didn't think this day would ever come. (and when i say i know chinese i mean i can get around).

This week i wanted to know more about how i can consecrate myself more to the Savior I have really come to realize how perfectly Jesus Christ consecrated Himself to God when He was on the earth. I feel that consecration comes from dedication and pure desire. I have noticed the more pure my desire has become to serve the Lord and His children. When our desire becomes pure, we are able to do whatever the Lord wants us to do. Our faith then becomes pure and so do our actions. I love learning about the Savior and how I can become more like Him each and every day.

Well i really love you all so much. Thank you for all you do for me. Thank you for your amazing examples and your dedication!

p.s. dad you deserved the girls camp's attack. But i can't wait to see how you will get them back!

p.s.s. Tell elder Davis that he is lucky.

Loves!

-Sister Hamblin

xoxo

July 7, 2014

HELLO!OOOOOO!!!!!!!!! :)

YAY SISTER WARNER!!!!! I HAVE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER! and so cool that Tyler Goldsmiths grandma wants to learn more :) it was really cool last week actually. I had just had a feeling i needed to email Tyler so i went to email and i had already gotten an email from him! So cool huh? Well i asked him about his conversion story and i just know that it is going to be something that will help our investigators over here! and i am glad that little Chantz is ok too! He was saved because he still has the strength of a missionary!

And i got an email saying my leave date has been moved up to December 19th. :( so ill be home a couple days earlier. I would rather not so ill see if i can move it back to the  23rd. 

Oh also if you have any mormon tabernacle choir c.d.s and wanted to send them to me... :) that would be great!!!

and my hair is falling out. I think i am going to be bald in a couple months..do you have any hair remedy?

And i had the best fourth of July ever!!! yep :) well first off

July 1st.

This is a very sad day in china. It is a holiday that no one wants to celebrate because it was the day in 1997 when China took back Hong Kong from England. it was such a down day for the citizens of Hong Kong. They are losing their freedom in a few short years. I am so blessed to be serving while we still can!

July 4th

Independence Day! 

It may have been my favorite 4th of July. We had zone meeting and we talked a lot about freedom. Yes in America we are so blessed. I love my country and i am proud (in the most humble and grateful sense)  to be an american. But we all have freedom! This is our greatest gift from heavenly Father! We have the freedom to choose. and we ALL chose right! we chose to come to earth and take part in Father's plan. I am so grateful for our freedom. and no one can take that freedom away.

I love to think of John Handcock and his signature on the declaration of independence! We all signed our names to God's plan and now Satan wants to destroy it. But we will prevail. 

We had a lot of miracles at church this past week too! We had 9 people at church! including less actives and investigators! The miracles have really started pouring out on my companion and I. I know that God is mindful of me. 

So i found a spider this week. It was bigger than a softball. It really scared me and so i decided to take a picture and give it to you mom! :) sorry you can't see it that well. i didn't want to get too close. 

We also had a great preparation day today!!!!! We went to yam cha dim sum with a less active! well yam cha dim sum is a 10 course meal and a crazy chinese restaurant! It was so much fun :) we just ate a ton of crazy chinese food. and today i ate the nastiest thing i have eaten in my life. It is durrian. I can't even explain it. It is this big sharp poky yellow fruit thing. Well it smells like death and tastes worse. They put in on everything! i have avoided it for over a year and then today i couldn't get past it. This less active bought it just for me and i said i didn't need it but she made me. I am still sick haha. So if you ever run a crossed durrian...DONT EAT IT!!!!!

Sorry all my emails are so random and you probably don't even understand them!

But the greatest miracles happened this week! WE SAW 2 FAMILIES and we will meet with one tonight!!!! :) :) :) YAY!!!!!!!

One is the cutest ever. The dad also has a serious sickness and really wants to know about eternal life . Their names are the Tung family! PRAY FOR THEM!!!!! we want to help them so badly! this is the first full non member investigator family i have ever taught so we are way excited!!!!! So i love you all so much! 

this is the spider and us eating today and the good food :)