So, here's my news, briefly and with lots of love!
This week has been Chinese New Year, which took a big toll on the missionary work, but which gave me a lot of chances to do some cultural learning. And despite the fact that a lot of people have been busy, we still had a New Years miracle, if you will! Her name is Vina and she is amazing. She is 15 and has already met with us 3 times despite the holiday, and been to church. Basically, she became our new investigator during this holiday season itself, which is really exciting. She is very agreeable and a deep thinker and seeker of truth. She's awesome. We are hoping that the next time we see her we can give her a baptism date, as she has already said that she'd be willing to be baptized when she figures out if these things we've been teaching are true or not. It's all very exciting.
Apart from teaching here and there, our week has also been taken up with various festivities. On Monday, we spent the whole day deep cleaning our apartment, the highlight of which was trying to chase out a gecko that had been living behind some boxes. Hee hee. Anyway, it was very therapeutic to get things tidied and organized and only made me think of BYU housing cleaning checks once or twice. Thank goodness I don't have to do those for a while. Anyway, the reason our mission did this is because everyone in Hong Kong was celebrating New Year. In its full splendor, the holiday takes up 15 days, but most people only really celebrate the first 7 or so. Maybe just 3 for some people. In fact, people have to go back to work on the 4th, so it's a little toned down but only a little.
There's a lot I don't know about the holiday (I still don't understand the red envelopes completely, but that's ok) but I've been enjoying it. Members have been feeding us like crazy. In fact, we had two "cheng outs" yesterday. Aso, yesterday, the 3rd day of the New Year was called Chek Hau, and is a day on which it's really easy to argue with people, apparently. My comp decided that we would do planning instead of finding because she didn't want people to get mad at her :) People really were wary of talking with others yesterday, a little bit, and it was interesting to see this. However, I think it might have been a nicer day than usual, in fact, because everyone was trying harder not to argue.
Oh, yes, also to celebrate the new year, our whole mission went to this big statue of Buddha (daaih faat) on Tuesday. It was really really fun, very foggy, and very cold. It was nice to see all the other missionaries and to talk with them and see some of the cultural sights. This was a very touristy spot, which we don't usually go to, but it was fun. This statue was built in the 1980's as a religious site. People really do go and worship at this spot, but lots of tourists visit it too. We could hardly see the statue for the fog, but I sent some pictures anyway. It was very big.
Anyway, I'm out of time, like always, but know that I love you a lot! Things are going well here in Hong Kong, and we have Sister Yeung's baptism this Sunday! My companion and I are happy and determined to work hard together. We actually just made goals yesterday. So things are going well, and getting better and better. I am learning a lot more Cantonese (aka getting a lot less scared just to talk and say anything whether or not it's "correct"), and having a good time. This mission is very precious to me and I feel very lucky to be here, in Hong Kong, serving the Lord.
I do know that this gospel is true and that it is the most valuable thing I could be sharing with anyone. I know that it's blessed my life so much already and that it is blessing the lives of those I am teaching. Ergo, it will bless your life too. Learn it and live it!
I love you all so much! Well, I have to go and help my companion apply to BYU Hawaii, at our mission president's request. How exciting, isn't it! (her mission ends in May). Well, must be off.
Love you!
Love,
Sister Nielsen
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