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 :)

June 29, 2014

Hello all. Plans changed! We are having preparation day on today and then we won't on wednesday. But we will still go to the temple on wednesday!!! :) :) :) 

So this week was crazy! actually every week is crazy. 

the people are just so different in this area. We also got to teach family on the street last night!!! It was so amazing :) Families are so hard to teach but this family was so willing to talk. They didn't give us their number though..that made me sad but it is ok because we will pray for them and they will come to us!

I was walking down the street last week and i started to talk to a mom and her son comes running up asking me where i was from. I said America. Then he looked at me with bit eyes and he was all flustered and said "but you are in CHINA RIGHT NOW!" he was so concerned that i was lost in china haha. Chinese kids are so cute! and so smart. Like way smarter than me. It is pretty easy to stay humble when children are around haha. 

The new ward is good! But we definitely need to work on missionary work! So i scheduled to go visit the bishop. We committed him to give out a book of mormon in 2 weeks. He accepted and then talked to me a couple days later and told me that i am giving too hard of commitments and that i need to calm down a little and make it easy. hehe i just laughed but i will respect that! But i just know that the bishop can do it! It all has to start with the leadership. But thinking about myself...it is really hard to do missionary work with people that you actually know, But i know that he will have the strength to give the book out. Because this is the most important message and way of life in the whole world!!! WE NEED TO SHARE IT! so i will continue to pray for the bishop that someone prepared! 

(oh and before i forget! my companions mom wants to add you on Facebook mom so if Christina Warner adds you then it is her mom :)) 

hmmm oh i went to the doctor and they just scanned my back again and will give me results in a week or so. 

We found a great woman last week on the street! Her name is sister chiu. We will meet her this coming wednesday and give her a baptismal date! I am so excited! We have great investigators here. 

mmmmm what else. oh  Kara emaled me and told me her and chants will live next to each other this coming semester :) that is so fun! 

well i love you all and if you have any questions....send them over!

LA LA LOVE YOU! 

this is my cute companion and my lovely temple :) <3

June 23, 2014

HELLO!

what? Elder Davis is already home?!?!?!?! That is not true. I dont believe it. and mandy too??!?!? And REX?!!? Ai Ya!!!!!!! It is so weird to think that people come home. But i wont:) Thank you for the updates! and thanks for the new phone. You can have it! :) and package....hmm i dont really need anything :)

As for me...well....i am in a new area! It is called Tseun Kwan O. It is so small!!! It is like another culture shock. I am with a new missionary. Her first companion went home and she hasnt been trained all the way so i am finishing her training. She is half chinese :) haha but she doesnt know the language so it is very different! Her name is sister Warner. She is from Utah. 

Let me just tell you that it was one of the hardest things i have ever done to leave Aberdeen. My last night there Bishop Chan invited us over to a "fireside". Well it was a going away dinner for me! I just walked in and our bishopric and ward missioaries and less actives and recent converts were there. They made american and chinese food and gave me the cutest little chinese presents. I walked in and jot got all teared up. I couldnt keep in in. Then they told me to stand up and share a spiritual message and my testimony. I did it in chinese and sign lanugage and i just cried. It was so sad.  Then Kasey and Serina and Sister (deaf) Chan stood up and said some relly nice things. Then they sent me off with gifts and chocolate covered potato chips haha. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hard to leave Aberdeen and the ward and HELEN and our recent converts and our deaf investigators.

But now i am in Tseun Kwan O (TKO) and i am loving it :) we saw sooo many miracles yesterday. We taught 7 other lessons a family and got a new investigator all in like 2.5 hours!!! It was amazing. This place is more like Kwun Tong. The people are not as busy and they are so nice. We are teaching a woman named Sister Stice. She is british. She doesnt want the international elders teaching her. Well her husban is amember and she has been meeting with missionaries for 5 years. she goes to church every single week. She believe that president monson is a prophet and the Book Of Mormon is true...she just doesnt know if God exists....it is super backwards but we are going to help her out!!! Anyway, we live in a place called La Cite Noble (not chinese). we live on the 40th floor and it is a really beautiful place. Our ward is also fantastic.

Wel have an investigator named sister Yeuhng. she is also great. I dont know the ward or less actives or investigators yet but maybe next week i can tell you more about them :)

I also found out that i speak chinese in my sleep haha.

oh and we are going to watch the NEW TEMPLE MOVIE this next wednesday so i will have my next p day then. oh and i see that skin doctor guy this monday :(.

hmmm what else. oh well there is a lot of Bamboo and masquitoes here.. (sorry i dont know how to spell mosquitoe.. in chinese it is Mun with a high tone. 

this is my new home

I LOVE YOU ALL! Tell mandy and elder davis hello :)

June 9, 2014

HELLO!!!!

WEEEEEE FFFFOOOOUUUUNNNNDDDDDD PPPPEEEEEAAAARRRRRLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did i ever tell you that we have been without a progressing investigator for about 4 months? Well we were in the dumps right? For a really long time. We found and found and found and tried to talk to members as much as possible (because very one knows that members have the best referrals). Well we have been praying for a "pearl of great price" to be baptized in July. Then President Hawks called us into his office and gave us the 21 day challenge. AND IT WORKED! We were just finding on the island of Ap Lei Chau and we ran into HELEN! her friends call her GOU MUI (that means tall little sister) yep. she is tall too! :) She is almost 18 years old and has every question of the soul (if you want to know what a question of the soul is go to preach my gospel chapter 5 about the Book of Mormon). She has all the questions of the soul. She is amazing. ok ill tell you how the week went and then fill you in on Helen :) :) :) or GOU MUI.

MONDAY!

we went to the DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL! It was such a cool festival. They had tons of people in long skinny boats ready to race in the ocean right on the Aberdeen Promenade. Aberdeen is the first place they have had dragon boat races. The boat have names like MOTHER DRAGON and LION DRAGON and DRAGON haha (they are pretty much all mother dragon). Then they just race down the ocean. They usually have some incense and fruit on the head of the dragon to respect their ancestors. It was so much fun.

TUESDAY!

We went to find in Repulse Bay (if you don't know where that is you can google it). Part of president hawks plan was to go to a lllll the areas in our area. So we went. No one was on the streets. but we did walk by a housing place and found out that the houses over there were about 35 million dollars...so that is probably why no one was there. So we walked and walked and really got lost a few times and then we finally found a place to drink some lemonade :) and it was the best lemonade i have ever had. We decided that Repulse Bay was not the best place to find. So we decided to go back to Ap Lei Chau island and find there. And guess who we found. YEP HELEN! She was just walking down the road doing nothing and we talked to her a bit, got her number, and scheduled her for the next day!

WEDNESDAY!

In the morning at 9 am we went to the church to see Helen! She was amazing. She just asked so many awesome questions. So some background here... In Hong Kong no one thinks about Where they came from, why they are here, or where they are going. They really only think about work and how to stay sane. Well not helen :) She asked if we could speak to the Spirit directly. She talked about prayer so beautifully. She asked some really hard questions. But the amazing thing was that the spirit spoke to her and all the answers we gave and read in the Book of Mormon were good enough for her. She would just nod her head and say "ok yeah i understand". The gospel is amazing. Then we scheduled her for the next saturday.

Then after her lesson we went back to Lamma Island. We decided we would save some money and take a cheaper boat to one end of the island and then just walk to all the houses. What we didn't realize was that it would be a 2 hour HIKE. When we were on the boat it was so beautiful. We saw this HUGE cargo ship bringing things to china from italy. Well we are on this little tiny boat and a HUGE ship plows by us. We got caught in the waves of the big ship and i felt like i was on a roller coaster! the waves were huge and our boat was just shaking in the waves. It was more fun than an roller coaster park. Id take a boat anytime. Anyway, we got off the boat and started walking. we ran into a lady from Mainland China and she made the same mistake as us. So we hiked to the other side of the island with her. We were able to talk to her about the church and invite her to learn more when she travels because they can't learn the gospel in Mainland China. She gave us her email and was really happy to meet us. Every one in Mainland is so ready for the gospel.Then on the boat ride back we met a dad who was so nice. then he paid for our boat ride! It was pretty expensive, but it was so cool because he said there was something different about us and our church. He scheduled a time to meet with us and his family this next week!

THURSDAY!

We went to the church, did some planning, finding, and studies. Then that night we got a call from our zone leaders telling us that we changed areas and wards. We are now in Pok Fu Lam instead of Aberdeen :( and Helen lives in Aberdeen. Then we called president Hawks and he told us that we should continue to teach Helen :) then he said that he had been thinking about this change for a while now but just felt the need to do it that day. He told us that Helen may have been the reason :) Yep if we would have been moved 2 days earlier we would never have met helen! So it was a miracle! But now BROTHER CHAN is our bishop in this new ward so i am happy! He is such an amazing member.

FRIDAY!

I went on an exchange with the sister of Tseung Kwan O. It is right next to Kwun Tong. It was amazing. We had about 6 lessons planned in less than 24 hours. The work is moving forward! We met with one less active that has cancer. He immune system is very sensitive right now and i guess the weather is bad for her especially if it rains. So i had a prompting to promise her that heavenly father would make the weather perfect Sunday so that she could come to church. Well let me tell you that it DIDNT rain and it WAS NOT hot :) And she went to church. God blesses His missionaries and it is amazing that us little missionaries can make promises like that. God is real.

SATURDAY!

The other sisters met with Helen (because i was on the exchange in a different area) and the lesson was great! She said she would go to church on Sunday.

SUNDAY!

HELEN WENT TO CHURCH and she stayed all 3 hours. But we are not in her ward anymore so we couldn't go to church with her :( but the amazing part is that she stayed and we called her last night and we will meet her tomorrow to give her a baptismal date for the 20th of July. 

This week was full of miracles and HELEN! :) So i am happy. I know that God lives. Struggles are so worth it. Prayer works. Heavenly Father loves us. Trials make us stronger. 

We were not able to meet with Sister Yeuhng this week but we will see her this next week! and we are not the sign language sisters of the mission so i hope that the deaf people will start pouring into our new ward! :) and you pronoung her name like it looks....i think like....Y e r n g ..yeah!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

this is DRAGON BOAT

June 1, 2014

Good Morning!

HHHHAAAAPPPPYYYYY BBBBIIIIRRRRTTTTHHHHHDDDDAAAAAYYYYYY MMMMMOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)

juk leih saang yaht faailohk!!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYA!

You are the best momma in the entire world! I hope you have an incredible day :) what would you like me to bring you home from hong kong? haha

Tell me more about Hunter. What happened? Is he ok? 

It is great to hear about Mandy :) I love her so much! She was one person who really helped me through the first few months of my mission. I just kind of turned to her and she told me exactly what i needed to get me though the tough times! I love her! I just know she was an amazing missionary. I also email Rex every week and i have never heard of a better missionary than elder Rex Hamblin! I love this family!!!!!!! 

So this week was a good one. We went on exchanges and we were able to see miracles. We see miracles everyday. It just reminds me of how mindful Heavenly Father is of His Chinese children. We were able to teach more lessons. It seems like all the people we are finding li paaih are for other wards in the stake. They all live in the areas right next door to us! So we will start finding more ABERDEEN people :). 

This week we went finding in South Horizons and we were talking to  this wonderful Chinese mom when a really tall british woman came up to us and started yelling at us right in front of this chinese mom. Well she said bad things about us and the church for probably about 30 seconds and then stomped off. We didn't know what to say, or if we should even say anything. I felt like the missionary in Elder Holland's conference talk. But i just felt like letting her walk away was right. Then she left and we looked into the chinese moms face and she didn't understand a thing that the british lady said!!! It was a complete miracle :) we just pretended that we knew what was going on and continued to talk to the mom. It was really a miracle. We have had a LOT of anti in Hong Kong. We will meet an amazing potential investigator and then they will text us and say they have heard very bad things about our church and then never talk to us again. I just pray that we will find some way to lessen the anti and help the people around the world to understand the truth. I just think about how many people said bad things about Jesus. Anti has been around since Adam and Eve. I just think we should start thinking of more ways to fight the anti!

So i have a funny story. My companion and i ride the same bus every day to go to our area. Well there is this man that i am pretty sure is in the Mafia. I don't know if i am allowed to even say this haha but it goes with the story. So we call him mafia man. I am pretty sure he runs all of Hong Kong. Well we see him every morning. We were on exchanges and we were almost late to the bus when the sisters called us that live with us and said that we forgot to give them the keys! We looked in our bags and sure enough we had both sets  of keys. But we couldn't be late to our lesson so we had a brilliant idea. Why not give the keys to mafia man and then have him give them to the other sisterS? we didn't have a better idea so we just asked him to give them to the next american girls who came along. He looked at us like we were crazy, grabbed the keys, put them in his fanny pack, waved us off like (get out of my store!), ran to a big blue truck hopped in, and drove off! This all happened in like 5 seconds. Well we were panicking because mafia man just stole our keys! So that was a lesson i learned. Don't give your keys to mafia man :)

We will be going to see sister yeuhng (light deaf sister) this week to teach her about commandments! Wish us luck and pray that she will understand what we are signing! :)

thank you mom for sending the book! I would like some chocolate covered nuts or raisins or fruit or something! Something chocolate covered :) haha i found some at a store the other day and i got them! But i can't get to the store now so that is what i am craving right now :) 

I love you all and i hope you all have a fantastic week. The work is great. The ward is great. The mission president is happy. and the missionary is loving life!

(oh and ps i heard from Olivia! she is great :) she is not dating but i told her she can't until i get home so she is keeping the promise haha. and sydney is also doing well!) have you heard from kaeli wilt banks mom? I haven't heard from Kaeli lately! can you find out a little for me? thanks :)

oh and today is DRAGON BOAT FESTICAL SO ILL TAKE SOME ICTURES!

this is what i splurged on this past week! (don't tell dad)

May 26, 2014

HELLOOOOO!

This past week was really good. Well let me just tell you that President and Sister Hawks are the best people in the world! I just love them so so so so much. In our interviews, president hawks talked to me about me. He is just so good at asking questions and really seeing how we are doing. He just focuses on us and how he can help and how we are growing and how we are learning. I made it a goal that i wouldn't cry in this interview :) i have become such a baby since i have been a missionary. Well i didn't cry! But i also didn't want to tell him how i really was because i knew i would shed a few tears because it has been a little tougher lately. Well i thought i got out of it and i was safe. Well a few days later i was at the mission office just getting mail and such when he came out of his office and asked me if he could talk to me. he said "I just had a thought to come outside my office and see if sister Hamblin was here. and if she was to talk to her". well i had another interview with President Hawks and he gave me a new Project! We named it Project 21 together haha. It is just 21 days of change. Well i have been in the same area for almost 8 months now and it is really small. And i go to the same places everyday to find and we do the same things everyday. It takes a tole on you. Well he gave us ways to change where we find and change studies so that we can talk to different people and different times. We have been doing this plan and it has been really good. We have seen many miracles! Still no investigators for Aberdeen but we will keep going!

We do have one investigator right now though. But she goes to a different ward. We are allowed to teach her because the other ward only has elders and she doesn't feel comfortable with elders. She is the deaf one :) we got to go to Mong Kok and teach her at her home this past week. She has a very sad life but it is changing! It is amazing to see. We were teaching her and i asked her who Jesus was. She paused for a moment (she has NO religious background). she just looked at me and did the sign for LIGHT. it was a really special experience. I agree with her. Christ is Light :)

So one part of the project 21 is going to different places! So we went to an island this past week. It is pretty expensive to go and takes some time but we got there and i forgot my BUG SPRAY! I came home with about 100 bug bites haha but it was ok because we were let into 3 homes! (it is a place where we can knock on doors). They were not every interested but it is ok. We will find the prepared person soon. We knocked on another door and to my surprise a white man came to open the door! Well he was a Dutch, Atheist, Lawyer......yeah you can imagine how that went! (don't tell Lieke) haha. well he just ripped us up! He had so many questions and every single one we had the answer to! But he wouldn't let us talk. It was so weird to speak to someone in perfect english. (mine was NOT the perfect english) But it just made me more strong in my testimony :)

I heard a quote this week

"Live to fall in His arms and feel His embrace"

It was a great one!

Oh and i can get bug spray here. I have got a lot! thanks mom :)

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

-sister humbling 

pictures

the first one is people making JUNG! this is sticky rice and meat wrapped in bamboo leaves and stuff. it is a June tradition in Hong Kong :) Then they give it out and we steam it up!

the next pictures is...uhh oh salmon! It is a cultural difference here haha. Members give us fish after sacrament haha. Well they give us food a lot. Like avocado peanutbiutter sandwiches and fish and bread. What do missionaries get in America?