Hello Family! I love you!
How are you doing? I trust that you are
doing well. I am too, yes yes. It's been quite a dynamic week.
Unfortunately, this latest part of it has involved food poisoning, but
I'm getting better. Meaning to say, I do apologize for not emailing
yesterday. I was otherwise preoccupied. Luckily, I was sick on a P-day
and had a chance to rest lots. Also, there was a typhoon outside, so
there wasn't much else to do anyway. A huge blessing that we got all
that done at the same time. And I am getting better, slowly but surely.
Well, what made the week so dynamic? None else but EEFY!! Yay! It
was our second and final session of it, and this time it has been a huge
success. All you need to do is mention free English class, and you will
get people. Luckily, this week hasn't been as rainy as our first week
of EEFY, and this has made it way more successful. Last time we only got
2 people from Yuen Long to attend, but this time we have gotten
referrals and new investigators almost every day! Yay! It's been an
exciting time.
Oh, also, we do not have any summer missionaries this week anymore.
It's strange to not have them, after having them for so long, but it's
kinda nice to be back together again. We just have to remember not to
double book appointments now. :)
Anyway, back to the program. Part of what is making EEFY exciting is
that tons of mothers are bringing their children to this EEFY, and that
means more families to teach!! You see, our mission president has this
Vision. He wants to help us have 25 stakes in HK by the end of 8 years.
We currently have 5. Yes. Meaning to say, we need to change our input if
we're going to get output like that. And the answer is that we need to
focus on teaching families more. That is our goal.
And I can tell you that my mission is changing completely and in the
best ways possible. I see families families families everywhere now.
Maybe my focus was just off before. I mean, people are busy in HK, and
it's hard to try to schedule a whole family let alone get them all
interested, but I can feel the importance of this new goal. And I can
feel Heavenly Father's help in accomplishing it.
So how have things been changing? Well, one of my big motivations is
eternal families. And I'm realizing that my charge is not just to help
people come unto Christ and be baptized, but to be sealed as families in
the temple. And it just clicks. My fire has grown, it feels, as I've
made this connection. I wish I'd made it earlier.
But, part of what has been changing also involves our members -
helping them know that we have this focus as well. And that involves a
very special experience we had this week. You may remember that we have
been teaching a 10 year old boy named Ming Fai. Well, we used to be
teaching his mom as well, and then she said that she was too busy to see
us. Ming Fai has kept learning and progressing towards baptism (on the
26th of August, theoretically), but his parents want him to wait until
he's older and can make a clearer decision. To be honest, he is really
young and his testimony is not the strongest yet. However, Leung Leung,
who teaches in the primary, loves Ming Fai to pieces, and happens to be
neighbors with him, really wants to help him and his family. Earlier
this week we weren't sure how to help Ming Fai get ready for baptism, so
Sister Lau and I prayed together. Then we felt strongly that we needed
to meet with Leung Leung. So we did. It was one of the simplest lessons
we've ever taught. We just brought a picture of the temple, and asked
Leung Leung how she felt about the temple. Then we explained that we
wanted Ming Fai's whole family to have the blessings of the temple. And
we prayed about it and made a plan together of how to help him and his
family. There wasn't a dry eye by the end of the lesson, mostly, I
think, because the Spirit was telling us so strongly that this is the
focus we should have for this family. It was powerful. I think this
vision of bringing families to the temple has a very special spirit that
accompanies it, and it is such a privilege to get to focus on this
more. We will keep praying about Ming Fai and his family, by the way.
Well, speaking of families, we met with our investigator, Bessie,
this week, and her son (the one on a mission) has really influenced her
so much. She loves him oodles and bunches and just wants to know if what
he has been teaching others is really true. Also, she wants to be able
to see him get married in the temple someday. Sweet, huh? She will be
excited to hear about eternal families, I think. This week we taught her
the Plan of Salvation, and I've never seen anyone just soak up a lesson
like that. Bessie went to church for the first time last week, too, and
dealt with all the newness of the whole thing like a brave soldier. She
really wants to know if this is true, and we're going to keep praying
for her to be able to have the courage to overcome any laziness so that
she can find her answers. I love that woman.
Also on the note of families, we found a new family this week! I
also love them. It is this mother with her 10 year old son (we have not
met the husband yet). The son's name is Sherman, and is the coolest
little 10 year old I've ever met. He is super well-behaved and mature,
but also has this dry sense of humor that is hilarious. We met his
mother and him while finding in Long Ping. We saw them playing badminton
and chatted. We invited them to EEFY, and they've come every single
day! We also scheduled to see the mother and Sherman next week at their
home. His mother really wants him to have better English, which was her
first point of interest, so we're going to help with that, but we also
told them that we are going to explain more of what our church believes.
And they're interested in that too! In fact, we already have given
pamphlets about the Plan of Salvation, Restoration, and Gospel of Christ
to the mother, and she's read them all! They are the sweetest family
ever. Like I said, I love 'em.
And on one last note, also about families....we saw Gwok Jimuih and
her daughter again after 2 months of not being able to see them! The
mother has read tons of anti-Mormon stuff, and that turned her off from
seeing us, but she really wants to find truth. We had a feeling to keep
trying to get ahold of them, and the result is that we got to see them
again! They are so sweet, but have quite a bit of religious confusion
going on - the daughter and mother go to different churches, you see.
And so we managed to commit them to pray to know if they should keep
seeing us and if our message was true, which is an exciting step. I
really hope that they quit reading all that anti-stuff. We also invited
them to stop reading it, but I don't know if it took. Anyway, it was
nice to see them again.
Well, on one last random note, I met someone this week who believes
in Mao Xedong. As in, that he is diety. This person is from Mainland,
and from the era when people believed that sort of thing. Anyway, that
was a first for me.
Well, I love you all very much. You are all the sweetest people, and
such loving and doting people too. I am so lucky to be related to you.
Thank you for your love, prayers, and letters (and birthday packages :))
I know that this work is real and the most important work we can be doing. It's such a privilege to get to participate.
Love you! Take care!
Love,
Sister Nielsen
P.S. [I asked Sarah how many members there were in Hong Kong, and this was her reply.]
As
for Hong Kong, out of about 7 million people, there are about 25,000
members. However, only 5,000 of them are active. It's a big problem.
This means that there are 5 stakes currently, but that you could make
another 13 from the people who aren't active. It's a big focus of what
we're trying to work on here. The thing is, helping a less-active come
back is about 10 times as hard as teaching a new investigator because
they have let the fire die. Anyway, we will keep working hard.
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