And hello to everyone else too!
I sent you a
birthday card, Mom, and so, if it had sufficient postage, it should get
there only 4 days late or so. Eee. So, it is so wonderful to hear how
you're all doing! When you're all down in Utah partying, throw in a few
hugs from me, sent to you all. I love you all immensely, and I feel so
lucky to be related to such excellent, faithful people. Mom and Dad,
thanks for being my parents and for your dedication to each other and
the Lord. Oh, you're just amazing.
Well, what have I been up to? What have I learned? What have I been eating? The answer to all of these questions: Lots.
So,
this past Sunday was Sister Chan's baptism. It was like this glorious
miracle of an experience. Her baptism was almost on the one year
anniversary of her first meeting with missionaries, and I am grateful to
those missionaries for their labor. I think that it's a privilege to
see the harvest, so to speak, of these people really changing their
lives and obtaining testimonies, and being baptized, but we musn't
forget how important it is to sow those seeds. So, that happy experience
of seeing Sister Chan's testimony really made me want to work harder to
find the new people we need to teach. I told you before that Sis. Chan
is divorced and has a 10 yr old son, Nigel, and they're really close. He
got baptized first, so he gave a short talk at her baptism. It was so
sweet, but the crowning moment was when he started out with "I myself
was baptized just this past year, so I very much understand Sister
Chan's feelings at this moment." (in Chinese though). He's a precocious
little 10 year old. With glasses, too, to top it off. I think that he
and his mother will continue to be a big support to each other. Sister
Chan also bore her testimony, which was amazing to hear. She has changed
so much. Even though certain things were really hard for her to accept
at first, she now has a testimony of them! Wow! I mean, we bear
testimony to our investigators all the time, so it was incredible to
hear her say that she knows this church is true, and that Joseph Smith
was a prophet. This testimony has really changed her life, and she is
just so HAPPY now. We are too. It was also amazing to hear her say that
in this long process of developing her own testimony (ongoing process)
the thing that sustained her was seeing how much the missionaries loved
their Heavenly Father. It's true, too. That's why we do this. Anyway, it
was a privilege to see this baptism.
Speaking of happy progress, Penny, who was just barely
baptized, has already been to do baptisms for the dead in the temple.
She was so happy about that. When we met with her in a lesson before the
temple day, she was just glowing. She actually reminds me a lot of Beth
and Jen P. Just her humor and her joy. I feel rawther related to her,
even though she's Chinese. I think on a mission you realized just how
much we are all brothers and sisters, really.
Also this past week was our Zone Conference at which we
had various trainings and talks and discussions. Really like a
workshop. It was very good. The big thing coming up in the mission is
this new English class and tutoring program they've put together. Once a
week we teach this class as a service, the first part is English, the
second part is the gospel. The idea being, seek learning by study and
also by faith. We are basically offering a better study system to these
people here. And studying is The Big Thing here. Like, to the exclusion
of a lot of things. Hong Kong students have to work very hard, and they
have several big, scary public tests. After school, they will often
spent extra hours at boujaahp, which is tutoring. In fact, we've helped
some of our investigators with their homework tutoring now and then ( I
tell you, it's a good review of my 8th grade math. Kinda fun). So, the
point is, people are really excited for this class. We've been big on
the advertising (big posters, a group on facebook - gasp - fliers, etc).
And it's had some interesting results. To wit: the other day we were
walking in busy Kwai Fong and we heard someone saying "siuje! siuje!"
which is "Miss! Miss!" He was calling after us. He had seen this poster
for the English class and tutoring and had seen us finding in Tsing Yi
the other day, and he recognized our faces (mine, really, to be exact,
since I am foreign and therefore strange). He said he thought it was
fate that he saw us again. He really wanted to get some English help for
his son, and was very glad to see us and get our number. In essence, WE
were contacted by someone. It was pretty funny.
And now, speaking of things coming up, Wun Ying's
baptism is this upcoming week, on the 18th. However, her mother still
hasn't given her permission to be baptized yet. I know miracles are
possible for her, if that's what the Lord has in mind. Wun Ying has been
working so much harder to be ready for this goal, and it is so sweet to
see her dedication. There is nothing like fasting with your little
16-yr-old investigator on Sunday, and then closing your fast together
with her and hearing her simple but very pure prayer that she'll be able
to be baptized. She's really an inspiration.
So are all a lot of the people we work with and teach.
We've been trying to work with our wards more lately to reactivate some
less-actives and to get more referrals. And we've been keeping pretty
busy. There are endless stories and thoughts I could share, but no
amount of time could be enough to share them all. Here is the summary:
this gospel is true and I see it changing peoples' lives. Satan is also
real and he does not want us to be happy. We've had some other
experiences this week to prove that he is the enemy to our work here.
But, the most important thing is that Heavenly Father
and His work will always win. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and
every one of us. I love you all, too.
You're the best.
Love,
Sister Nielsen
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