Hello Family All!
How are you? I love you so very much, and I hope you're doing well. I am doing well, too. Yup yup.
So, how would you like to hear about the news from this week? Oh, good.
Well,
let's start with today: Today was glorious, in almost every part of it.
Our whole zone went on a short trip to a big wetland park in the area
(reaaaally big and gorgeous), and it made us all feel refreshed and
happier. This wetland park is the biggest (and probably only) wetland
park in HK, and it has this huge museum part, too, that has fascinating
info and a few aquariums. We took a walk through the wetland park first,
looking at lots of cranes (great egrets and sand pipers were the most
common things we saw) before taking a turn around the museum. Also of
note were the crabs and mudskippers that live in the area, and that
fight pretty much all the time. Unfortunately, I can't upload any photos
right now, but next week I can send some. Apparently, in winter, tons
of birds migrate to HK and the park is much more exciting, but I really
enjoyed myself anyway. Sometimes we have to get out into nature and
remind ourselves of God's grandeur and our littleness before anything
can get sorted right. And it was really fun to be with our zone
together, because they are just good people and good missionaries. We
also had two members come to enjoy it with us, and we had one of the
elders' investigator come. A glorious experience.
Well, but now I need to back up to the beginning of the week. That's
what I get for being too excited. Well, did I tell you that there's a
new chapel being built in Hung Shui Kiu where we live, and there will be
stake conference in it in a week's time, and then, very soon, they will
be splitting up the wards! Ack! So, we are trying really hard to get
records ready in time for this big change. Also, I am probably going to
be leaving Yuen Long in the next two weeks, since it is transfers soon,
and that makes me really sad. I love this place. Ah well, I will enjoy
my weeks here and do my best to help the area before I go.
So, wanna hear about how people are doing? This is my favorite part.
Well, do you remember Apple, the Thai lady who is amazing? Well, we
finally got to see her again! She had been really sick and couldn't see
us for ages. But, she still was reading the Book of Mormon at home and
praying, which is the sweetest thing ever. She is so sincere. Well, we
also found out that she apparently has had epilepsy most of her life,
and the really hot weather has set it off really badly, so this is why
she couldn't come see us. Her husband didn't even know she had epilepsy
and was/is super concerned about her. We are hoping to get to see her
husband again soon, actually, to be able to teach them together as a
couple. But as is, we've already given a baptismal date to Apple, for
November 18th, and she is so excited for it. Yay! We are hoping her
husband be open to taking the lessons with her so maybe they can get
baptized together. That would be so amazing.
As for Bessie, she's been really busy lately, and went on a short
trip, too, so we haven't seen her in a while. We call her as often as we
can, but we're really praying hard that she can work up the motivation
to really sincerely pray and read scriptures regularly so that she can
prepare for baptism. I'm afraid she's losing steam a little bit. We will
work hard.
Also, Hoi Yi, do you remember her? She's wonderful. We felt strongly
last week that we needed to teach about the Sabbath Day to her, even
though we haven't taught her very much yet, and so we did. We taught it
with boldness and invited her to try for a month to keep the Sabbath Day
holy. And she was willing to! And then she scheduled tutoring on
Sundays for the entire month of September....Sigh. We are aiming for
October. I think in HK, Sabbath Day is a big issue for lots of people.
That's why we have so many less actives. They think they can't possibly
get by without working on Sundays, or doing extra tutoring on Sundays
(it's not even required, they're just afraid of falling behind). It's so
hard for them to have faith and let go and let the Lord arrange things.
So, I've really been studying the Sabbath day in my personal scripture
study, and I've learned some powerful things. In Isaiah 58 and D&C
59, we find that keeping this commandment will give us the promise of
being ok financially (we will have the fulness of the field and all
that), and it gives us the promise of further blessings in the gospel
(eg the temple blessings, etc). So, HK doesn't get special permission to
not keep this commandment, and we're going to do our best to teach this
commandment boldly!! Yeah!
Speaking of that, we've been teaching quite a few less actives
lately, and we've been amazed to find some who are really prepared to
come back - they just need some encouragement. For example, we found one
LA who had already quit her job so that she could come back - she just
needed an invitation back!
Lastly, we also had 24s this week, which was full of miracles as
always. I went and served in Tuen Mun with Sister Meldrum ad Sister
Bishop came and served in Yuen Long with Sister Lau. Sister Lau and
Bishop found a family to teach while door-to-door tracting (!) and we,
in Tuen Mun, taught TONs of lessons, including one girl who's getting
baptized on Sunday. It was fun to work in such a busy area (it's
reaaally a busy area).
Well, I'm pretty much out of time, but I just want to let you know
that I'm so happy to be able to serve this mission, and to get to learn
so much. It's always my prayer that I can be the Lord's hands in some
way to help others, and it's always amazing when you get a chance to do
that. I really feel Heavenly Father's love for me and for those around
me, even though every day is full of lots of rejection. But that's just a
chance to get to know our Savior even more, because He went through the
same thing.
I know that this gospel is true, and it's a privilege to get to share it.
I love you more that tongue can tell!
I could go on forever with stories and news, but I'm out of time. Ah well. I hope you can feel my love.
Love,
Sister Nielsen
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