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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Magandang Umaga (from 12/16/12)


Wow, I have so much to tell you all. But I dont know if I will have enough time to write it, or remember it all.
 
This week has been CRAZY!! Thursday was transfers and I was surprisingly transfered to International. I am zone leader with Elder Wu, who I was friends with in the MTC. He is the one from New Zealand that I told you about when I was there. We are the only Elder companionship. the rest are all Phillipina sister companionships with the exception of a pair of office elders that help out on Sunday.
 
This is the only place in the world where we have church EVERY DAY except for Mondays. The schedule for us every day is wake up and exercize, shower, then right away go to Worldwide, a place full of Filipinas and Indonesians. We stay there until we can convince one to take the train with us back to Wan Chai, where we show them around, teach them a lesson, then they go to church.
 
The reason why we have church everyday is because these women are all sent here to basically be servants to the Chinese and other people here. They are paid a certain amount and told when their holiday is every week. Some are really lucky (the ones with American employers) and are treated really well. They are able to have a full day off of work every week, and even have a bed to sleep in. Others sometimes never have a day off for years, sleep on the kitchen floor, are starved, are abused, and all while trying to earn enough money here to send back home and provide for their families. I have never been so humbled in my life. I am continually shocked at the situation that a lot of these sisters are in, and I have already had a few times where I cant help but cry because of the things they are put through. Many of them have kids at home who they havent seen for years.
 
But somehow whenever they have their holiday (whether it is once a month or twice a week) they spend that entire day at church or out helping us missionaries. They are INCREDIBLE. When we go to worldwide we promise blessings and challenge the sisters we meet to exercize faith and come with us that day. Then, usually a member is around to right away become their best friend and help them meet everyone at church. Even when we arent there, the sisters still are doing missionary work. Yesterday we had to do something so we were late getting to a park we had planned on finding at with some sisters from one of our branches. Well when we got there, they had already went all over the park bringing others back to the church and getting everyone's phone numbers. They are so devoted and humble, and find so much joy in spending every free minute helping out missionaries and serving each other.
 
We have seen so many miracles.
 
On Thursday we got a really good pull-back and it went fantastic. But that night one of the sisters in our branch was worrying so much because she had her purse stolen. She was supposed to go up to Mainland China the next day for a month, or else she faced possibly getting terminated (or possibly worse things) from her employer, but she had no money and didnt know what to do. We helped talk to her and figure out what she could do, and she said if she could get home she could get more money and would be fine. So we gave her enough money to get to her employer's house, but then before she left I had the impression to give her a lot more money. I dont know why, and she wouldnt accept it, but I finally convinced her to take it and if she didnt use it, then to pay me back later.
 
Well when she got to her employer's apartment, she was locked out and nobody would let her inside. We were in contact with her until one in the morning and were trying to figure out what she could do. She went to the police station and they couldnt help her, so we told her to go to a boarding house. Luckily she had enough money to stay the night and be able to eat some food. The next day, she went to the Immigration Office and they were able to help her out more. She called us and let us know that she had just enough money left to make it to mainland China with her employer's grandma where she was supposed to be. She was very grateful and assured me she would pay me back.
I really dont care about the money, I am just so grateful I had that small spiritual impression and listened to it.
 
Friday we had a great pull-back who was in a struggle trying to get help finding a new employer, and so we brought her to an agency. Well there are about a million different agencies in Hong Kong that help these sisters find employers. A little bit later, I was calling another Filipina I had met the day before and trying to get her to come to church. Both of these sisters are in very complicated situations where they need to find an employer fast or they will be sent back to Phillipines and lose a lot of money. The chances of both of them finding employers arent huge, but I promised both of them that if they came to church that they would immediately find employers. Well then a little later, they called me and apparently at the same agency they happened to meet each other and both of them were talking about how missionaries wanted them to come to church and promised them they would find employers. Well they decided to come together, and right when they were on their way, they were informed that both of them had people who had previously interviewed them that wanted to hire them. They were ecstatic and it was obvious that this miracle had happened.
 
Saturday we continued to do well with 3 pull-backs that were all very golden.
 
Then yesterday we had 3 more along with a baptism!!
 
Today is our P day and we dont have church, but another investigator texted us and told us she is quitting her job so that she can come to church because her employer before did not let her have a day off.
 
I am amazed at the faith, humility, and receptiveness to the spirit that these wonderful daughters of God have.
 
We also serve a branch called Victoria first branch. It is made up of all the other foreignors from all over the world. There are Africans, Americans, Mexicans, and everything else there.
But I think my personal favorite is working with the Filipina and Indonesian sisters. I have learned so much, and also have had the priviledge of blessing and passing the sacrament every day.
 
Well I am running out of time. But I lvoe you all!!
 
Love, Jordan

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