Friday, July 6, 2012

I have a new companion! June 27, 2012

Isn't it just surreal? I'm training! The thing is, my new companion hardly needs training, which is nice.

Well, first of all, hello everyone! I hope you're doing well! I love you all a lot.

As for me and Yuen Long, things have been going amazingly well. As you are probably interested to know, my new companion's name is Sister Lau. She is amazing. Truly. She is full of fire and happiness and general good humor. She was born in Hong Kong but moved to the UK when she was 5 or so, with her mother and brother. So, basically, her English is perfect, as is her Cantonese. Yay! Her gospel vocabulary isn't that big, but that's fine because that's all that I can speak anyway! Anyway, she studied Architecture before her mission, and decided to go on a mission after she finished her degree. She's really really fun to be with, and really, her Cantonese is amazing...I have a feeling that we're going to have a nice, busy transfer. Because she's so ready to go. It's just exciting to get to teach and work with her.

I will miss Sister Taylor, though, of course.We are going to be lifelong friends, is what. She's moving to Macau for this next transfer, which is far away from everything, but she'll probably be back soon.

I should probably tell you what's been going on in Yuen Long lately, just so's you know, huh? It's been super dynamic. Truly.

This has been the Week of Referrals. Hip hip hooray! Referrals are where we get prepared, lasting investigators. This past week we have received TEN (10) referrals!!! I know. And on Saturday we're going to get another one. Yeah. I love our wards here. So it goes like this: after a zone find, we ran into a member who introduced her friend to us and scheduled a time to see us again. Then we also had two other members give us friends to teach (we had asked for referrals months in advance and the timing was finally right). We've taught both of these referrals already, and they're really prepared to hear the message. And then one of our investigators wants us to teach her niece as well...and then Stellar gave us six of her friends' phone numbers! The only problem is that they all live in Mainland. Unless they come to HK, we can't teach them. Not even over the phone. Stellar did call one of them and then hand the phone to us, just to chit chat, but we can't teach her till she comes to HK....Seriously, I can't wait until Mainland opens. It's really sad to have restrictions like that.

So basically, Yuen Long is on fire, finally. It's exciting. Hey, I also want to update you on the people we're teaching. Stellar is doing great. She could be despondent but she isn't. She's full of hope, even though her mom still won't let her be baptized. IN fact, she has volunteered to help fellowship during lessons. It's great.

Jau Taai, the wonderful Popo we found paak muning, she wasn't at her house when we went to teach her last week...because she had gone to the hospital...her mother passed away. Sad. But, she called us the next day (she has never even given us her phone number. This is amazing that she called us) and told us all this. And that she wanted to see us again. She's pretty busy right now, but she still wants to see us when she's free. We've been praying that this experience will help her feel the truthfulness of the Plan of Salvation and the hope that's offered in it. I'm so grateful that we have this knowledge.

Hey, speaking of momentous things, I just heard yesterday that in this past month, Vina in Kwai Fong had a heart attack thing and was in the hospital in a coma for 5 hours. Scary! But she's ok now. They don't know why someone so young would have something like this, but she seems to be ok now....I will be praying for her. She is not one to let things get her down...in fact, as soon as the hospital let her leave, she went straight back to school and took an exam. Crazy. But I thought you should all know, too.

In other news, did I ever tell you about Apple, our Thai investigator? Well, we finally found a translator! Her husband. Yup, he's interested in hearing the lessons, too, and willing to help us explain things to Apple. We think that teaching them together would be amazing, so we actually turned them both over to the elders. I will miss teaching her, but we'll still help her at church. She's amazing. She just wants to know how she can get baptized.

Ok, the funny moments from this week. Apple told her husband: "Sister Taylor told me that when we pray, we call God on the phone. But she didn't give me the number!" Hee heehee. We often use this analogy for prayer, but Apple apparently didn't understand. We'd actually already given her the number, in fact, in teaching her how to pray :)

The other funny moment: that other popo the elders found, Chan popo, we started teaching her and we invited her to church. She willingly came, even though she was a bit unclear on which bus stop it was, etc. Well, she ended up at the bus stop across the street from the church while we were waiting for her at another bus stop. But she saw the church. So she ran across the highway, and jumped a 4 foot concrete barrier, just so that she could come to church! She's well past 60, remember. Ah, she's amazing. She's the one who wants us to teach her niece too.

Well, as you can clearly see, the work is good. The members are amazing. And I'm very privileged to be here. I really am excited to get to be a trainer, ever though it's overwhelming. (It doesn't help that the mission president keeps saying things like, "you are going to impact the rest of their missions and the rest of their lives" Sigh). I really have so many of my own weaknesses...it's still hard for me to talk with everyone I see or to know how to teach every lesson...but I'm grateful that the Lord lets me participate. Thank you, dearest family, for your support. I love you so much.

Hey, I also took lots of pictures this week and then forgot my card reader, so I can't email them to you. I'll email them next week, ok?

Thanks.

I love you all so much!

Love,
Sister Nielsen

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