Thanks everyone for the Christmas package! A lot of the things in there will be very useful, and there were a lot of good food that you cant get in Hong Kong. (Like Snickers).
This week so far has been the most successful week I have ever had. We have been meeting really great investigators left and right. Yesterday we taught 7 full lessons on the street. That means 7 new investigators, 7 Books of Mormon passed out, and just in that one day we met the entire Zone's numbers for last week. In total the zone had 7 new investigators, 4 of which were ours and 2 that were the AP's. Tuesday we had 3 lessons and 3 new investigators, Monday we had another 3 with some other lessons with existing investigators. We have the opportunity to work hard from the moment we wake up until we go back at night to make calls.
We have been doing tai chi in the mornings for excersize ( I dont remember how to spell that word so it might be wrong..). I decided that probably tomorrow I am going to bring my camera and take pictures of the place we do it at and stuff so that when I send the memory card home with the package, you can see.
Speaking of the package. I realized there is no way it can get there before Christmas, so maybe it will be more of a Chinese New Year package. But I will send it ASAP so expect it sometime in the future.
We had a really cool experience on Saturday. We were in the chapel and a member came up to me and asked if I could come talk to some random kid that walked in.
I started talking to the kid and found out he is 18 and came down from mainland to take the SAT because he is applying to BYU for next year. He is from Nanjing which is up North and has a friend who is at BYU right now. I asked if he knew a girl I know from Nanjing and it turns out it is the same person. Crazy! But he decided to go to BYU because he says that he does not want to go to a school where everyone just parties all of the time, but he wants to go to one with morals. He already doesnt drink, smoke, drink tea or coffee (which is really rare for a chinese person, they LOVE their tea and cigarrettes.), and wants to go to a schoo lthat has his same personal standards. He looked up a lot about the church at home before coming to Hong Kong and then found where the temple was and wanted to go in and be taught all day Saturday. Unfortunately, he didnt understand that only members could go into the temple, so they sent him across the street to our chapel.
Well he had researched EVERYTHING he could about the church, he even was reciting the Missionary Handbook from memory to us. He told us that his mother did not want him to go on a mission but that he thinks it would be a good idea for him to serve one. He went to the Distribution Center with us and bought every single book there, and left with bags and bags of church books. He had never come into contact with the church at all, not even his friend from Nanjing is a member, but he researched it on his own and said he thinks it is one of the greatest things ever, and that it is right for him.
When he met us he acted like we were celebrities, he kept saying how amazing it is to meet us because he had read about us and knew we were called elder, and everything.
We were shocked, but it was really cool. Then we got in contact with the Mandarin Elders and showed him the Restoration and stuff until they got there. Later that day they told us he had cancelled his plane back to Nanjing so that he could go to church the next day in the Mandarin branch.
It was really random, but really cool to meet this kid. So next fall if you meet a Chinese kid at BYU whose English name is Franklin, tell him you know me.
Along with all of the really prepared people we have been meeting, we have met a lot of... other people as well. My new companion makes fun of me a lot because the first three days we were together, everytime we went finding something weird would happen, usually including a group of girls coming up to me and going on and on and on about how much of a lengjai I am. It is usually really good when people contact missionaries, but in these situations the best thing to do is just run. Just kidding, but we definitely have been avoiding all girls we see, because something about the weight I have gained or something has made me quite the attractive gwailouh (just kidding again). I also learned that Tagalog has a lot of similarities to Spanish. We always talk to Phillipinas because they are always so wililng to listen and come to church in the English branches.
So now my companion is always giving me a hard time about being a lengjai. But soon I think I am just going to be a feihjai (fat boy). Because after 12 weeks of being in Hong Kong I have gained 15 pounds! (I may have already told you that, I cant remember.)
I think I may have acquired rice cheeks since I got here. People told me before my mission that I would get them, but everyone has been saying my cheeks have been getting fatter since being here. I am just going to come back a little chubby.
My Cantonese is getting pretty good. And with all the work we have been doing, we have been talking a ton.
Well, I hope that you all have a great time finishing this last stretch of work and school (finals for madi and kylie) before Christmas Break.
Love you all!
Love, Jordan
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