So, the reason I haven't emailed till now is NOT because I forgot about you (how could a girl?) but because we went to the temple today, thus making it our P-day (we can only go on Wed and Thurs). So Monday was not P-day. We will be back to our regularly scheduled program from now on (which isn't very much longer, come to think of it. Ack).
Well, the temple was lovely today, and it just reminded me how lucky we are to have this gospel and to have our covenants. They are precious things to be kept carefully.
After the temple we hurried back to Tai Wai because all of our district had interviews with President Hawks. He's interviewing the whole mission, which is not an easy task. I am so grateful for his hard work for us. He really does pray for us one by one, and you can tell. Plus, it's fun to talk with him and Sister Hawks. I just love them to pieces. My interview today was just nice. President Hawks asked me what the greatest desire of my heart was for Tai Wai and I told him that I wanted to help bring a family into the gospel. So he invited me to pray for this to happen before the end of my mission. Seeing as we don't have any families we're teaching right now, it's going to take a miracle. It's all about faith, and increasing mine. But it's absolutely possible. I invite you to add your prayers to mine for this miracle to happen. President Hawks has already been praying for this for us. He's an inspiring man.
Speaking of that, this week was good, but it had its difficult moments. I think mainly because our companionship is still building up our work here, since when I came in we had practically nothing. The elders in our ward, however, are in the harvesting part of their work. It's never good to compare your results with others' because it's toxic. It makes you unhappy and unsatisfied when you just need to be faithfully doing your part. I've been working hard not to compare, and to merely keep working hard in every moment. Sister Palmer and I have been really analyzing how we can do better, and I know the Lord will bless us for our efforts. But luckily, Heavenly Father doesn't bless you according to your ability but according to your efforts. Thank goodness, right?
But in the midst of all of this, Sister Palmer and I are really happy. She has a fun sense of humor and keeps me from getting stressed. We have had so many little funny moments that are really too difficult to describe, but have made life fun. She is an excellent companion and a hard worker, with a positive attitude, which is good for me. The language is still really hard and humbling for her, but it still is for me sometimes, too. But here's the thing: it's not about language abilities since we'll never be as good at Cantonese as we are at English. It's about teaching by the Spirit. That can be done with no Cantonese at all. Ha! So don't worry if you ever doubt your communications skills.
Anyway, so what this means is that we did a lot of finding this week. We also taught Ammon! And Lulu! How we love them. Actually, one of the attached photos is of Ammon. He's in the center and the fellowshipper is on the right. That photo makes me laugh because we sisters look so happy and both of the boys look so apathetic. Ah well. They are 13 ish afterall.
So, Ammon is slowly progressing. We realized that we need to have more active and short lessons for his 13-year old teenage boy self, and it's helping him focus a lot more. Also, he's coming to church on Sunday! Finally! We made him promise he would actually do it! He can't get an answer unless he actually comes to church and keeps the commandments, so we're excited for him.
Lulu is doing really well and is as spiritual and thoughtful as ever (walks us to the MTR station. Awww). She feels less nervous about baptism, but needs to get work off so that she can come to church. Her baptismal date is for Feb 17th now because of Chinese New Year. She can make it, but only if she comes to church every week till then. We are praying for her. She can do it! She's been reading the BoM, which is great!
This week also had some amazing finding miracles. Last week we were finding in an area near our church when we ran into this college student named Carita who lives in the area. We sat right down with her and shared the 1st lesson with her about the Restoration. She hasn't been free to see us again, but we're hopeful!
Also, the other day we had a special experience. We went finding, and after hours of no success, in the last 10 minutes of finding time we found this amazing girl named Nana who sat down and had a lesson with us just like that. Actually, it was incredible...when I first started talking with her, I could tell she was the one we were there for because I could feel, really feel, Heavenly Father giving me the words to speak. I wasn't even thinking, just talking and amazing things were coming out. It's impossible to describe, but very real.
In one last finding experience, we got invited into an old, sweet popo's home while paak-muning and shared a message about prayer. She might be too old to really get it, but we knew we were supposed to be there, and it was heart-warming. Maybe it's a prep for the spirit world where she'll hear it again.
Anyway, I'm out of time but I love you all. I know that Heavenly Father loves us all even more! This is His work, and He will never leave us to do it alone.
Love,
Sister Nielsen
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