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

Not Very Much Time (12/10/12)

Well as the subject line suggest, I dont have much time today. So it will be brief.

 

This week we had a pretty cool thing happen. We met some teenage kids that were very nice and they let us visit their home. Well they are originally from mainland China and are in very, very humble circumstances. Their house is very small on the 9th floor of a building without any elevators. They have one bathroom that most of the things were probably made by their father, and one very small bedroom. Also, their family is huge. We met their dad, a boy, two girls, and about ten cousins that were visiting. At one point, they had 11 people living in their house for a few months. People had to sleep squished all over the floor. We have been working with them a lot and it has been a very humbling experience. As we help them come closer to Christ, it is amazing the love that I feel for them. I think that we are going to be able to get the ward to go caroling with us on Christmas and I suggested that we stop by this family's house.

 

Well I dont have too much else to talk about.

Thank you all for your prayers!!

 

Love, Jordan

Kidney Stones Again (from 12/3/12)

Well most of you already know, but Sunday morning I went to the hospital with kidney stones again. I woke up at about five in the morning and didnt know what it was yet so I just showered and got ready to go to church, then around 6 45 the pain got really bad and I knew what it was so I asked the missionaries in the apartment to give me a blessing and then I took a taxi over to the hospital. I actually wound up going to the Adventist Hospital run by the Seventh Day Adventists church.

 

In the taxi I just kept praying really hard that I wouldnt throw up all over the inside of the car. Finally we arrived and I made it into the ER where they injected some pain medicine into me and that helped a little bit, but I was still shaking really bad and in a ton of pain. They took me up into a room and put an IV in. Eventually President Hawks and his wife came in and sat in my room with me. We sat there waiting for hours until they took me to get an x ray and some ct scans. They injected the weird dye stuff into my veins and dad is right, it does make you feel like you pee your pants haha.

 

More hours later, they came in with the results and told me I have a kidney stone (not too much of a surprise to me). The doctor came up and said I should stay in the hospital overnight. I didnt really want to, and President Hawks didnt really think I needed to either because he kept questioning the doctor about it. But then he said that I should stay overnight, and so I did. It was really weird because Presidend Hawks left with my companion and so I didnt have a companion for the rest of the day until today in the afternoon. Well when all this was happening, there was a boy and his family in the next room over because he had hurt his knee playing basketball and needed to get surgery. They didnt really say anything to us ever but I saw them walk by a few times. I was really impressed that they went out of their way to bring dinner to the hospital and eat as a family, and in the morning they ate breakfast as a family as well.

I had a lot of time that I didnt know what to do with because I wasnt goign to watch tv, and my phone was dead so I couldnt call investigators. So I had some time to write a note to the family on a flyer I had and to put my information on it.

 

This morning before President Hawks came to pick me up, I was trying to find a way to give it to the family. Finally I just got up and changed into my missionary clothes and walked over and started talking to them. They were very friendly and interested in why I could speak Cantonese so well. I talked to them for about twenty minutes and then right when I was giving them the note, President Hawks and his wife as well as the mission doctor walked in looking for me. President Hawks made his way over to the family and started talking to them with me. We got their contact info, and although they dont live in my area's boundaries, it felt really good to make the best out of the situation I was in and still accomplish my missionary purpose.

 

While I was there, I talked to multiple nurses and different people about the church and my job as a missionary. It must have eventually spread all around the hospital because every time a new nurse came or someone came to check on me, they would only speak Cantonese to me right away, instead of trying to speak English. I was happy that I understood everything and was able to use some medical words and terms I have learned lately.

 

As we were leaving the hospital, I saw the mission doctor out in the hall talking to a white man in a suit. When he saw me he walked up and introduced himself. He told me he was the head minister chaplain person there at the hospital and went on to talk about how he grew up in Chile because his dad was a missionary for the Seventh Day Adventists and that they came into contact with missionaries there a lot and worked together a lot on different projects and service. He said he really respected all of those missionaries and was grateful for their work. Then he told me that he was just on his way up to my room because word had gotten around about me and he wanted to come thank me for the work I was doing in Hong Kong. He was very nice and sincere. He rode the elevator down with us and just continued to express his gratitude to me and President Hawks.

 

As we were driving home, President Hawks told me that last night when he was talking to the doctor about whether I should stay or not, he suddently felt that I needed to stay and he feels that it was so I could have a chance to go talk to that family in the next place over.

 

It made me realize that I had that kidney stone for a reason, and I can honestly say that I am grateful for the opportunity I had to help others come into contact with the gospel. Even though this time it was a lot more painful than in times past haha.

 

Well anyways, I have pain medication now just in case it starts hurting again, and I am going back on Friday to get another X ray done. I think they may be billing our insurance for it all, so if our insurance gets billed all the way from hong kong, thats what it is from.

 

Other than that, I am doing GREAT! I guess I dont have too much else time and I still need to write my report to president hawks.

 

But thank you all for everything!!

 

Love you!

 

Love, Jordan

Late (from 11/26/12)

Sorry everyone, I originally got on to email this morning, but my computer kicked me off and I havent been able to get to another place until just barely. 

But I think it is a good thing. I ended up going to a place in Kwun Tong to email, and the lady who owns it used to be an investigator here. We would go over to her house to teach her son English, then eat together with her family at least once or twice a week. But I was talking to her and no missionaries have been over for a long time and it sounds like she can hopefully now get work off on Sundays so she can go to church. (that was her problem before, her husband forced her to work on Sundays). So it is a good thing that we ended up over here I think. I will be able to let the missionaries over here know. 

This week was pretty good. Our zone had a big thanksgiving activity and we were able to eat turkey and mashed potatoes and stuff, but of course no pie. I will be looking forward to that a lot when I get home. 

Not too much is going on. We have a lot of investigators still working towards baptism. We have run into a few problems with some of them such as parental permission and things like that, but I dont think it will slow things down too much. As long as we keep doing our part, I think that things will continue to improve, and the area will continue to progress.

I was able to sit down with my companion and another young missionary and talk to them a little bit. A lot of young missionaries have a tendency to find every little thing wrong with their companion and complain to other missionaries about it without fixing the problem. I told them the story about when I was with my trainer. I really didnt like a lot of the things he was doing. I focused so much on what I thought were his faults that I now look back and feel like there were so many things he did really well that I missed out on learning because I was too distracted by the bad. After I was done being companions with him, I was really humbled when I realized that he had done so many things so well, and that I had just as many if not more fault than him. So I wrote him a letter and gave it to him before he finished his mission, apologizing for my pride and thanking him for the things he had taught me. 

A lot of new missionaries think that their trainers or others are doing things wrong because either they have some weird quirk, or else maybe they dont find as much as the younger missionary thinks, or something else. But it is very hard for younger missionaries to accept the fact that maybe their ideas are wrong, and their trainer may know what he is doing because he has been here for a long time. 

So I told them just to focus on the good in every companion they have, and to learn everything they can from them. Because the difference between good missionaries and bad missionaries all comes down to humility and learning the good while not focusing on the bad. It was really good and I hope that they learn from it. I know it is definitely something I had to learn early on. It makes things so much more enjoyable.

Well I am running out of time, but thanks for everything!! I love all of you!!

Love, Jordan

Short on Time (from 11/18/12)

Sorry in advance. We only have 45 minutes today to email as well as write our reports to the mision president because we have a mission activity to go to and so we are all short on time today.

 

But this last week was great! Today I was able to talk to president Hawks for a little while just because he happened to be around while I was in Kowloon Tong. He seems very pleased with how the area has turned out. we have 9 baptismal dates in an area that used to get an average of 1 or 2 total lessons a week with nobody ever coming to church. The best part is that the other companionship has started to get things rolling as well. 

 

Not too much has happened other than that. It has started getting a little cold. but right now it is actually pretty hot outside

 

ACtually I have one story from this week. Saturday night I didnt get any sleep. IN the middle of the night the AC (which is a few inches above my head. It is one of the window ones like in PR) started making cracking noises so I turned it to just fan mode. Well right as I fell back asleep it started rumbling and then spit out a TON of crushed ice pieces all over my face. It was a very uncomfortable night, but I thought it was kind of funny once morning came. I am thinking maybe the air conditioner just got too cold or something.

 

Well I love you all. I hope you have a great thanksgiving and that mom has a fantastic birthday!! Next week ill have more time and maybe ill talk about gratitude or something haha. Sorry about this week!!

 

Love, Jordan

Less Actives (from 11/11/12)

你好!

 

I hope you are all enjoying the snowy weather in Utah! Here it is still warm (too warm). But to be honest, I really miss the snow, and will be excited to get back to it. It will be so weird to be back in a place that snows, in a really big house (compared to any house in hong kong. I have been in some that I am pretty sure are smaller than my bathroom), and going to an English speaking ward. I am sure that the first little while I will just be in shell shock.

 

One of the great things about this time of year in Hong Kong though is the lights. All of the big buildings are starting to get christmas decorations all over them, and they usually stay up until they are replaced by the chinese new years lights and decorations. It makes night time even more beautiful here.

 

Except no matter what, Christmas and Thanksgiving wont be anything like they are at home. I remember last year one of the missionaries got a package at thanksgiving with everything you could ever want. The problem is that pumpkin pie, turkey, mashed potatoes, etc... arent meant to be sent through the mail. They had all leaked out of their containers, making a smelly mess that was leaking through the cardboard package. So if you were ever thinking about sending thanksgiving to me in a package, I can wait until next year haha.

 

A few weeks ago there was a poor newer missionary who was talking to me and it was obvious he was pretty homesick. He was going on about how he thinks he will be okay until Christmas. But once Christmas hits, he will just want to be home. I accidentally reminded him that after that Christmas, he will still have another a year from this December. He was not very happy about that haha. I actually dont remember being very homesick, especially around the holidays. I will enjoy being home for them, but really that was some of my favorite memories from here on my mission. I feel like Christmas is the best time to be a missionary. I dont know if it is because of the colder weather, the caroling, or maybe the higher level of interest in Jesus Christ, but I am actually really looking forward to the holidays here in Hong Kong again. Then right after the American holidays end, Chinese New Year comes, and that is always a ton of fun. I still dont know why they dance around  on stilts in dragon costumes that are constantly throwing up lettuce all over stores and people, but it is pretty fun.

 

This week has been great. We have decided to really focus on less actives rather than finding on the street.

 

Luckily this is the right time to do that. I have been going to work writing personal letters to each of them so that when we get to the guards at the bottom of their apartments, we have something to give them as an excuse for coming in. We will see how that works out.

 

Well I guess theres not too much else to talk about. I love you all! Hopefully next week I get the whole hour and a half to email and I can tell you more (we get more time because we also email the mission president now) . but there are too many people at the place so it is gonna kick me off soon. Thanks for everything!!

 

Love,Jordan

Same Everything, But Changes Coming (11/4/12)

Well I am happy to let you all know that I will be staying in Chai Wan with my companion for a third transfer. I am pretty excited about this. It really has turned into a pretty good area, so I am happy about that.

 

President Hawks has been changing SO MUCH here lately. It is kind of fun and exciting though because we never know what is going to happen. Transfers have been completely unpredictable with a ton of the Zone Leaders and even an AP coming down to just normal areas with no leadership and random people going to fill their spots. It has been good of course though. None of the zone leaders or anyone really cares that much. So I think it is really good actually. Because it is forcing a lot of people to really step up and fulfill their potential. But of course all of the zone leaders and APs are definitely capable and are good missionaries.

 

Right now there are some companionships that have the new iPhones. Apparently they are testing them out and if they work well, every comapnionship in the mission is going to get an iPhone. I guess there is some App that they will use for missionary work somehow, along with whatsapp and other ways we can communicate with our investigators. Pretty interesting how technology is being used in the church, especially here in Hong Kong with they big touchscreen TV in front of our chapel, and stuff like that.

 

Also, mom let me know about the rumor of missionaries getting called to mainland china. I personally dont think it is true, but I guess that if it is, now would be the right time with all of the missionaries applying. Crazy!!

I bet they would move some missionaries from here up to South Mainland because the dialect is Cantonese. But who knows.

 

I keep hearing about the election now that it is pretty much here. It will be really interesting to see what happens with that. I hope that whatever happens, it will leave me with a good country to go back to next year haha. I am not that worried, but itd be cool if Romney wins!

 

Missionary work is on fire here. We have 8 baptismal dates right now, and hopefully more coming.

 

Well I guess that is about it for this week. Sorry this is probably really boring. Hopefully next week I will have more time to write something interesting. Love you guys!!

 

Love, Jordan