The Spirit of CHRISTmas

Harbour City Zone Missionaries w/ 2 YSA

I can't believe it's already Monday... this week has been full of miracles, as per usual. When you start to notice the Lord's hand in your life, you really start to see it in ALL things...the good and the 'bad', but we know the bad is only there to make us better. 

We got a new greenie in the zone!! Elder Arima, originally from Hawaii, but spent the last 5 years in Vegas. He's so young!! But fits perfectly in the city. The zone is pretty fun. We all get along super well. Learn lots from each other...it's a huge family!! I love it!!!! And the seniors...they're my FAVOURITE!! It's the Dick's last transfer :( It makes me sad...and Ariel leaves for Brisbane this week :( 

Zone Picture before the last transfer

I can already tell that this transfer is going to be one of much learning and growing. The specific areas of growth are my language skills, PMG skills, being FREELY obedient, being bold and loving at the same time, and listening to everyone but most importantly, the Spirit.

I was so blessed and spoiled by being with Sister Kuo since she was bilingual. Sister Tseng's English is okay...well actually it's at around the same level as my Mandarin...so it's sometimes hard to express our feelings. Sister Tseng and I are always so willing to help each other though. It's a great companionship! Sister Tseng is super sweet and loving. She's also very persistant when we go finding to get a return appointment. I'm always so afraid of offending people or pushing them to the point where they might get irritated, so then I become less bold. However, I learned the 3x rejection rule...if they reject you three times, then stop. If not, keep going. 

I do think my Mandarin has improved though. I'm taking more time to study and really talk with our investigators and members in Chinese. 

Me and Sister Tseng in the back

Speaking of investigators, here's a little update on all of them.  (I'm not including names for privacy reasons.)

Three are scheduled for baptism on Dec 27.

One is scheduled for Feb 14. 

One of our investigators is really cool!! It's hard to meet with him because his schedule is a little crazy. We're struggling with helping him see God's hand in his life...He won't get baptized unless his life gets better because he's going through a lot of struggles and trials right now. Faith is a very hard concept for Him. He's really willing to pray though, which is good, but helping him find time to read the BoM is pretty hard...Throughout our journey with him, I've learned the importance of understanding that Heavenly Father will answer our prayers in His way and in His time, ultimately for OUR benefit. He knows what is best for us, as he is our loving Father. He also hasn't come to church yet...-___-

One girl we are teaching is very sweet! She comes to all of the activities with YanLin; FHE, games night, Institute, Church...pretty much everything. Our biggest struggle right now is that her mum doesn't want her to get baptized. She recognizes the spirit, even if she doesn't understand much because of the language barrier. (She's from Mongolia). She wants to get baptized and she believes in Jesus Christ. In institute, we've been talking about becoming perfected through Jesus Christ. She's starting to understand the Atonement and what this Gospel is all about. So we hope that all goes well with her mum and she can be baptized. 

Another one of our investigators is a miracle!! She's half Korean and half Chinese, but lived in China for most of her life, so it's her native language. She started meeting with the Korean elders, but they felt it would be more beneficial for her to learn in Chinese, so they started letting us teach her. She's very special. She has faith in God and Jesus Christ, but she's scared to believe in them because she hears of all the stories of bad things happening to good people and good things happening to bad people. She was able to open up to us. She reads and studies the Book of Mormon and has great questions. One thing she struggled to do for a while was pray, but now she understands that it's a simple yet important commandment. Prayer is the way we talk to our heavenly Father. He wants us to talk to him because he loves us. So she's been praying now and it's great! She came to church as well! She's stopped drinking and smoking, so we are very proud of her. 

A young man we've been teaching is still progressing. We had a great lesson with him this week. It was very 'spirit-guided', meaning that nothing went as planned, but it was supposed to be that way. We were going to teach the Restoration again, but then we ended up talking about the Plan of Salvation and God's love for His children. He asked very good questions, and we asked very 'inspired' questions. One of the members fellowshipped so that was really good. I can't really explain in words how inspired that lesson was... 

We were finally able to meet with "K" this week! She's been really busy with work lately. She is someone who has a lot of Christlike love and charity. She loves serving others. We're struggling with her to keep the commandments like praying and reading and attending church, but we're getting there. 

"T" is good! We're just concerned what will happen when he goes back to China. He has such a strong testimony. His faith is amazing...he understands the doctrine more than some of the members do. 

We did quite a bit of street contacting this week, so we have a couple of really good potential investigators! The Christmas spirit is out on the streets. We just need to be willing to trust the spirit, open our mouths, and invite people to listen to the message we have for them. 

Our RC's (recent converts) are pretty great! Caesar never ceases to amazes me. He just loves this Gospel so much! He wasn't able to come to church yesterday because he was picking his mum up from the airport...but after church, he came by with her to say hi and introduce her to us!! 

YanLin is AWESOME! She wants to do a mini-mission with us :) She is an amazing example of someone who let the Gospel COMPLETELY convert her. Simple commandments like listening to cleaner music, dressing more modestly are things she changed in her life. They're so simple, yet some people choose to ignore them. We always have a good time with her. She goes back to Singapore on the 17th for a month...so if you're from Singapore and you're reading this, go say hi! :) Joyce is doing pretty good as well! She has a strong testimony of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. how it was necessary because we didn't have the fullness of the gospel on the Earth until Joseph Smith brought it back. 

Korean BBQ - Sis. Tseng and Yan Lin

Yummy Korean BBQ

Golden Gaytime (Aussie ice-cream ) with Yan Lin

I absolutely love the YSA (young single adults) ward. We work very closely with many of the members. They're all such great examples and have such great testimonies. They are also always so willing to help with the work. Especially our RC's in the ward...There are a few who want to serve missions, which is amazing!! Joanna and Sandy are two that we really work with..and they would make the most incredible missionaries. Coming from China with absolutely no concept of God, to having the desire to share it with others because they've seen how He has blessed their lives. At testimony meeting, the members really expressed their gratitude for the missionaries, and it was a great feeling to know that the work we do matters to them as well as our investigators. 

Sandy loves to help the sister missionaries

Throughout the week, one major topic has been #ShareTheGift...this Christmas, there's been a special emphasis on the Gift of Jesus Christ, and what we can give Him this Christmas. As a missionary, one of the gifts I want to give my Saviour is my consecration to His work. So, that's my challenge for all of you this season. Think of something that you would like to give back to Christ. He has given us so much. My understanding and testimony of the Atonement has significantly grown (but is not yet complete, nor will it ever be), and it's made the start of this Holiday season so great...I'm starting to understand the true meaning of Christmas, and the significance of the birth of our Saviour. Although I will GREATLY miss the family traditions of Monster Cookies, the Looney Toon stockings, reading Luke 2 verse by verse on Christmas Eve, (it's really hard not to be trunkie this time of the year), the tradition of celebrating Christ is what matters most. Last night we had a missionary fireside and it was a musical Christmas fireside. It was beautiful...There's no better way to celebrate than with music!!! 

I met Brother Leo Kwok (who served in Taiwan with my cousin Melissa) at a Christmas fireside

Also...another challenge for everyone. READ THE PREACH MY GOSPEL LESSONS! Oh my goodness..we had PMG study with the Zone Leaders, and read each sentence out loud...when there was a principle that we don't usually cover, we had to say 'stop'....the amount of 'stop's in that training was incredibly sad...my goal for this transfer is to master PMG so I can become a true PMG missionary, which is what The First Presidency has asked of us...it's why we have it. Lessons would flow so much easier if we taught according to PMG and listen to the spirit at the same time. 

I think that's about it for the week.

I know that Christ LIVES. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have this time of year to reflect on the birth of our Saviour. I know that Jesus died for all of us so we can return to our Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is comparable to the Bible...they go hand in hand, and together, they make the Gospel of Jesus Christ COMPLETE! The Book of Mormon TESTIFIES of Jesus Christ. There is no doubt about that. Enjoy the holiday festivities...even though I'm not there. 

I love you all!!!

Sister Lew

'tis the season

HAPPY DECEMBER!

Can you believe it's already December?!?!?!?!?!?!?

This last week has been crazy, unfortunately I don't have a ton of time to write, so I will just give you the highlights. So much has happened!

Zone Training Meeting

I learned that I have SO much to improve on. I need to be a much better PMG missionary. PMG literally is the way Heavenly Father wants this work to be done. For all of you planning to go on missions, or even just members, study the lessons in Chapter 3 of PMG. 

Chinese Conference

We had the FIRST EVER Chinese Conference on Thanksgiving, meaning that all of the Chinese speaking missionaries came to the city for a conference. We had great training's, games, and activities. We really emphasized the importance of our calling as Mandarin speaking missionaries here in Sydney...we're basically one of the main gateways to opening China for the Church. It's amazing. So many of our RC's are heading back to China for the summer holidays, and we're learning how to make them strong since they're probably going to be one of the only members in their area. We had a panel of Chinese converts to the church to help us understand how Chinese people think when learning the Gospel, going from no concept of religion to entering the Temple. It's truly amazing to hear and see people's conversion to the Gospel. Also, I really need to start studying Chinese more effectively...this is just embarrassing. 

Sisters at the Chinese Conference

Caught up with Elder Vaughn 

Me and Elder Wilde (a friend from youth conference who use to live in Shanghai).

Thanksgiving

This year was probably one of the best Thanksgivings I've ever had. It was absolutely beautiful. We had all of the missionaries, and we all brought stuff. The senior couples got roasted chickens from Costco since turkeys are really expensive here. We had the mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, brussle sprouts, salad, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and I made apple crisp...and it was just all good :) :) We had a 'thankful' circle, just like what we do at home, where we go around the room and say what we're thankful for. Ever since coming on my mission, I have a much greater appreciation for our saviour, Jesus Christ. It's amazing to see how much of my life revolved around the Gospel and I didn't even know it!!!  We have SOOO much to be thankful for. Family, Friends, the Gospel, but most importantly, the gift of our Saviour, who atoned for all of us. That leads perfectly into the Christmas season, where we come to celebrate the birth of Christ. Y'all should check out the video on christmas.lds.org  :) It's really good!! It's the greatest gift we could ever receive. I encourage you all to try to embrace this gift and share it by coming unto Christ as we continue to study our scriptures, pray, and apply the Atonement in our lives. 

My first apple crisp!

My spinach salad with poppy seed dressing

Yan Lin's Baptism

YAN LIN GOT BAPTISED ON SATURDAY! WOOOHOOOO :) It was a beautiful service. It's been amazing to see how the Gospel has transformed her life! She really has the Light of Christ glowing from her. She really a testimony of Christ, the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. It's absolutely beautiful. She gave a great testimony...she shared it with me earlier in the week and it made me cry. She knows that it was Heavenly Father's plan for her to meet us sisters and to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Yan Lin's baptism

Yan Lin's baptism

Invitation Sunday

Sunday was the area-wide Invitation Sunday, where every member was asked to invite someone to church. The whole meeting was centered on our number 1 belief, which is in Christ. All of the missionaries sang 'This is the Christ', which was so powerful. Read the lyrics. They just testify of what I know to be TRUE. 

Temple Pday

Today we got to go to the Temple and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I love going to the Temple! There is no other place where I can feel so much peace. I can set aside all of my cares and focus on my relationship with our Heavenly Father. It's amazing to see the kind of revelation we can receive in the Temple. 

Sydney Temple

Transfers

Saturday, we spent 4 hours cleaning our flat because Transfers were yesterday...so unfortunately, I had to say byebye to my mommy, Sister Kuo :(  :(  :(  Super sad...but she only moved to Greenwich, which is still in the Stake!! So that was good!!!! I'm now with Sister Tseng who is absolutely amazing! She's from Taichung and is trying to learn English...I'm probably going to have to kill her though :(  She leaves in Feb...Sis Ah Fua became the new STL, which is very exciting!!  Elder Richardson went home and that was really sad. I barely knew him, but he had the biggest impact on all of the missionaries and members here. He is so powerful in the way he represents Christ. He's very dignified in the work and knows what it really means to be a missionary. He also has a beautiful voice...he sang on the 2013 EFY CD (his name is Michael Richardson). I haven't heard the song since we can't listen to it, but I hear it's good, haha. Elder Maxfield was released as AP, and Elder Laurenson is the new AP. Elder Dean moved to Port Macquarie, and we got Elder Droubay as our new ZL. Elder White will be training starting tomorrow and Elder Brimhall is now a ZL in Newcastle. All the missionaries in the city are great. To be honest, they're probably some of the best missionaries in the mission. They have a great love for the work and are very dignified. They know what it means to be a representative of Christ. I feel so blessed to be serving with all of them. 

Last day with Sister Kuo

New companion, Sister Tseng

That's about it I guess. Life is still good in the city. I love it here. I love the people, the work, the ward, the missionaries, but most importantly, I love my Saviour, Jesus Christ, who took away my pains, sorrows, guilt, etc. and allows me to be perfect through Him. 

I hope you all have a wonderful start to the Christmas season!! Love you all!! 

Sister Lew

Last week as a greenie!!

My district

So it's my last week as a greenie! Crazy! It's the last week of my second transfer in the field...which scares me. I have a feeling that Sister Kuo might go....

This week went by so fast!! and I can't believe this Thursday is Thanksgiving!! Thank goodness we're celebrating Thanksgiving :) All the Americans in the zone are super pumped! 

This week, Yan Lin has just been AWESOME! She's come to FHE, institute, the ward activity, a baptism, AND met with us! We are so excited for her baptism on Saturday. PLEASE PRAY that all will go well this week because we know Satan will do everything he can to stop her from being baptized. She really is special. She is so prepared for this Gospel. I see her being such an active example for women in the church, especially in Singapore! 

Yan Lin has also started inviting and bringing our friend Nora to all of these activities, which is sweet. Nora is also from our English class and she's from Mongolia. She has pretty good English, but it's sometimes hard to communicate. So we're slowly working with her. She's come to institute for the past 2 weeks on her own without being invited by any missionaries. Amazing! 

Theodore's baptismal date is pushed back because meeting with him is pretty hard...but he's still good. 

Frances hasn't been replying to our texts, so we're a little concerned.

Amin is great and is progressing well. 

We had a really good finding day this week. We went with Sister Yamashita and just talked to EVERYONE. and we were able to teach everyone we talked to, make return appointments with most, and ended up having 4 new investigators in that hour and a half. MIRACLES! Heavenly Father ALWAYS provides a way. 

I learned that I have no patience in teaching English 1-on-1 to those who can't speak English...we had a lesson with this old Chinese man who can't speak or read English, so I have to use Mandarin to translate, and it's just maafaan, but it's good. He's really sweet...Heavenly Father is trying my patience. 

So chapter for the week for y'all...Alma 32. FAITH. I love this chapter. We shared it with one of our investigators, Tom. We need to ACT on our faith in order for it to grow. If we don't do anything after baptism, then what's the point of being baptized? Salvation only comes through acting on our faith. 

Something of concern that's come up is our investigators and RC's finding anti-LDS-lit/sites, etc. WHICH IS THE MOST FRUSTRATING THING EVER. but It's okay. We're working lovingly and patiently. They have all sorts of questions on polygamy, race, women and the priesthood, etc... 

I find it hard to tell people they need to pray and have faith to receive their answers... but we're not supposed to really go in depth. We use the scriptures as well though. 

Also, Hillsong...that church. Great music, great message. But they keep attacking us and our investigators and RC's...please just let it stop...

DTM this week was on asking questions, which has been a theme this transfer. Asking inspired questions is so important because that is when we are really trusting the spirit and that is when we allow the spirit to work in the person. Sister Dick came up with one which was brilliant. "If God communicates with his children, but doesn't use His voice, how does he talk to us?" Inspired questions are ones that make people really think about the WHY of the Gospel. 

Lately, there's been A LOT of focus on the Chinese members in our ward and our investigators and building the Chinese program. Sharon Wang is amazing. She's been working with the bishopric and missionaries to help us understand their thinking when introduced to the Gospel. She's also VERY aware of the situation of the church in China. Since most of the Chinese are students and are returning home for the holidays or for CNY soon, we're ordering all materials so that every one can bring 1 copy of everything back with them to China. This is also great for our preparation of our Chinese Conference this Thursday!!! We are so excited. All 20 of the Mandarin speaking missionaries in this mission will come to the city for this conference. We have sweet trainings, panels with Chinese converts, etc... It's going to be so good! This is the first one, so we're really hoping that this will have a long term effect in terms of China opening up. 

On Saturday, we were supposed to go to a stake YSA activity that our ward was hosting, but then because it was near the beach, the ZL's said to turn around (since we were on our way on the bus) since it was pretty inappropriate for the missionaries. I love having such obedient missionaries who are able to make calls like that and can do so boldly. 

Anyways...I think that's about it for now. I love you all and hope you are all doing well. Enjoy this Thanksgiving. I really am SO thankful for being part of such a wonderful family. I'm thankful for your examples and your love. I'm thankful to be serving in the most beautiful city (aside from HK) to do the Lord's work. I'm thankful to have the Gospel in my life. It is the biggest blessing and I would not be here if it weren't for the Gospel. 

Love,

Sister Lew

The Mockinjay symbol is everywhere in Sydney!

We made cookie dough this week just to eat.  Sister Kuo is digging in!

Week 19 - #Spoiled!

First of all, Sydney is bipolar when it comes to its weather...just like HK and Utah. Hot-as... one day, and then super cool the next... It's nice, I just never know what to wear.

Secondly, Thank you for all the love this week!!! 

Daddy, Thanks for the stationary and the happy lab and vitamin C!!! :) 

Happy Lab popcorn and chips!!

Then I got a package from Victoria 1st youth/primary!! I loved it!

Gwenyth drew me a handsome prince haha. Also...I don't know half the youth that wrote letters but that's okay. Who's Sky? I got a letter from him from the primary bunch... 

Mom, please tell Hugo thanks for the 'dear john' and that I am heartbroken, but will move on. Also, tell Sister Gabon and the Clarks thank you so much! I really appreciate their love and support. It was so sweet of them!!

Care package from Victoria 1st Branch Primary and Youth

This week was good! 

On Monday I met a potential cousin...we showed Ariel around the city a bit. She's awesome! We walked into the TC and saw her, and Sister Kuo freaked out because they were friends at the Y. She's here on working holiday, and then we made the connection that her sister is dating Steven in Taiwan!!

Sister Kuo, Ariel and me

FHE was good! Leslie taught about using our talents and potential...that's been a major theme lately...so I guess Heavenly Father is trying to tell me something.

 

Tuesday, we had interviews with President and Sister Howes. Those went well. We just spent time getting to know each other more.  We discussed concerns, expectations, what I like. I was able to reflect a lot on my mission so far, and I honestly wouldn't change anything about it. I absolutely love it. There is SO much I need to improve on in doing the Lord's work, but this is the perfect opportunity to learn how do do it.

 

Finding this week has been a little hard because of finals and no one can be bothered to talk to us :( but we've been getting potential and new investigators from our English classes, so that's been really good. It's a great way to share the Gospel with people.

 

I watched the Restoration again last week, and that just really hit me, as always. They had so much faith and sacrificed so much to keep the church alive. Their sacrifice definitely paid off, as I am now in Sydney sharing the Gospel with everyone around me...or trying to at least. 

President and Sister Howes came to DTM this week and taught us how to introduce the BoM using the introduction effectively and efficiently. The introduction is super powerful. Especially the last two paragraphs. The Howes' are just awesome :) I can't explain how inspiring they are. 

We had a miracle on Wednesday at English class! A girl from Vietnam, Frances, said she was interested in learning more about Jesus Christ and had a ton of questions. She didn't know about Christ until she moved abroad and has really felt the love of God in her life. So we met with her on Saturday to teach her more and Sister Rowlands, the 1st counselor in the bishopric's wife was there by chance to clean the chapel, and she's Vietnamese and offered to come to our lesson. It was so good. We gave her a chapel tour and the spirit was so strong. She's really keen on learning more about this Church and how God and Jesus Christ can help her in her life find peace and happiness. She's on date for Dec 27!! She recognized that it was right after Christmas and got super excited! 

Yan Lin is just AWESOME! We met with her twice and she can really see the Holy Ghost working in her life. She's on date for Nov 29 and then will go back to Singapore mid december. We went out to dinner with her on Saturday, which was nice. She just has this 'glow' around her. I can't describe it. I love seeing how much lives can change when they accept God and Jesus Christ in their lives. It makes people so much happier and so full of life. 

We haven't been able to meet with Theodore this week...so we may have to push his date back a little :/ 

Our struggle right now is getting people to Sacrament meeting...many of our eternigators and recent converts haven't been coming, but they come to everything else. They know the importance of taking the sacrament every week, but aren't applying it in their lives...aiyah.

However, Caesar is just amazing!! Such a great example to all of us. He told us he wasn't coming to church because he had to study, but then yesterday, he just walked in casually and sat with us. He said, "I knew that this is really important, so I decided to come". It just touched my heart. 

Institute was also really good this week. We were studying 3 Nephi 12, the Beatitudes. absolutely beautiful. One thing that hit me was that we need to experience Godly sorrow to allow repentance work in our lives. Also, it's important to help people recognize God's hand in their lives when reflecting on 'coincidences' or 'things of chance'. 

Friday, we helped Sister Stubbs pack up her place because she moved. That was the really hot day of the week, so it was nice to be mostly indoors. We had a nice lesson with Joyce that evening. We taught her more about the Atonement, and then I felt prompted that we should sing I Stand All Amazed in the middle of the lesson. We were all speechless afterwards. There was just so much emotion in that room that comes from the knowledge of the power of the Atonement. It's just the greatest blessing…

This week we taught the Plan of Salvation a few times, and it's just such a perfect plan. ahhh I can't express how amazing it is to know our purpose in life and what happens afterwards.

 

On Saturday, I had my first 'islander meal'. Shanice and Amelia, members, cooked lunch for the whole zone, which was super nice of them!!! We had corned beef and otai and taro and sweet potato. It was so good. 

Sunday, I had the coolest experience yesterday morning. I gained a true testimony that God answers prayers. During personal study, I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants 107, about the Priesthood. Thoughts of being unworthy and that I haven't fully repented of past transgressions started entering my mind and I started panicking a little. As that started to happen, I bowed my head and said a silent prayer to ask if I am supposed to be here and to ask if I am worthy to do His work. As I continued reading, I turned the page to D&C 108 and it just filled me with so much comfort as I read it. Certain lines just stuck out to me, and I felt as if Heavenly Father was talking to me.

 

Your sins are forgiven you, because you have obeyed my voice in coming up hither this morning to receive counsel of him whom I have appointed.

Therefore, let your soul be at rest concerning your spiritual standing, and resist no more my voice.

And arise up and be more careful henceforth in observing your vows, which you have made and do make, and you shall be blessed with exceeding great blessings.

And it shall be fulfilled upon you in that day that you shall have right to preach my gospel wheresoever I shall send you, from henceforth from that time.

Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings.

And behold, and lo, I am with you to bless you and deliver you forever. Amen.

I have never received such an immediate and bold answer from God to my prayers.

At church the talks were all on prayer and Joseph Smith. The Restoration is so amazing. We'd have to be crazy to believe a 14 year old boy saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ unless we knew it is true. I know I'm a little insane, but I'm not a lunatic, so it must be true! Relief Society was on love which was really good. Just emphasizing how we need to love everyone around us and show it through small acts of kindness. 

Elder Nolan came back!!! So that's good! He's looking better and better, still struggling, but improving! We're just so grateful for that. 

Also, a member from China, Sharon just moved into the ward. She's so great. giving us so much insight on how to work with Chinese people with the Gospel. She was one of the first missionaries from China!!

I also met Julia Lai..I asked her if she knew our family, and she's like...I did a couple thousand names of the Lee side of your family...do I know your family? OF COURSE. I was the one that invited your Poh Poh to cut the cake at the 65th anniversary of the church in HK....that was funny,. 

Sister missionaries with some HK visitors.  Julie Lai is 3rd from the right.

That's about it for now. The end of the transfer is coming up, which is crazy. It's probably my last transfer with Sister Kuo :( :( 

But the church is true. I know that God and Jesus live. The Book of Mormon is SO true. I'm in Mosiah right now, and King Benjamin's address just smashed it...I'm trying to be a much better missionary. Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet. We just got the GC edition of the ensign...ahhh I love rereading all of the talks. They're just too good. 

I love you all!!! Have a fantastic week! 

Week 18 - 4 Months

HARRO! I reached 4 months yesterday! Which means...14 more to go! wooohooo

This week was awesome! One bummer is that many people aren't able to meet with us because they're all busy with finals :(  I was on trade offs with Sister Ah Fua for 3 days, so that was fun. 

Hmmm highlights:

Yan Lin is getting baptized on Nov 29!! Awesome! She's so solid. So golden. We love her!

Tanner Roberts, a member in our ward from Utah, got his mission call to South Africa!

Ethan, who worked with Elder Easton and Elder Marshall, got baptized on Thursday! It was a beautiful service! Michaela Ball, Lynn Chia, and Rob Le (all members), sang beautiful musical numbers instead of giving talks. They all had to do with baptism and the Holy Ghost though. It was really cool. Our investigator, Amin, came to the baptism and he really enjoyed it. He can't wait to get baptized. He and Ethan became friends, which was good, since they're both Persian.

We did lots of finding this week...so I was on my feet A LOT. I've also been running almost every day...so I'm starting to get over the 'sore' feeling.

 

Joyce went to the Temple for the first time to do baptisms!! We're so proud of her! Her faith in the Gospel is amazing. Such a great member! We love her!!!!!

 

DTM this week was great...we talked about our true potential as Heavenly Father's children and we need to use it as much as we can. Especially while in the city..there are so many people who are prepared for the Gospel, and they may not know about it if we don't rise up to our potential and talk to and teach them.

Zone movie day!  Sister Ho came back to visit us!

Oh yeah, last week, for pday, we watched 4 movies... hahah

Frozen, Despicable Me, Space Jam, and How to Train Your Dragon 2...(Alex, I'm still SO sorry I lost your Space Jam basketball). It was honestly so weird to watch these movies. Things that seem so innocent in the world are so apostate to a missionary, hahah. Especially all the romance scenes!!!  It was so fun watching Frozen though. It was hard not singing along. The elders now all try to sing Let it Go, but they don't know how to, so they ask me, but I refuse. Hahah. It was weird being with a bunch of missionaries who have never seen it considering EVERYONE and their dog has seen it back home.

 

English classes have been going well. Those are fun :) Mohammed, one of our regulars, brought us chocolate cake that his share mate made. It was delicious.

 

Saturday, we helped Sister Craig clean the chapel since everyone backed out at the last minute. Then she bought us pizza for lunch, which was so nice of her! The members here are so great. Sister Craig is an excellent example of someone who magnifies her calling. MAGNIFY YOUR CALLING, YOU WILL BE BLESSED. Every calling in the church is important to Heavenly Father and there's a reason he called you to be what you are…I'm not too sure how I could word that better.

Thanks for the pizza Sister Craig!

 

Yesterday was Sister Dick's birthday, so we made a cake using pound cake, jam and whipped cream and then had a lamington tower. The Dicks are great! So are the Nolans! Elder Nolan is getting better and should be home soon!

We're in the midst of planning the first Chinese Conference for the missionaries!!! It's going to be awesome. We're working on how to teach Chinese people and meeting their needs, understanding their background, and trying to help them gain their testimonies. It will be sweet. 

That's about it for now! Just a little thought to leave with you is that "acceptable is not perfect". We needed to come to earth, to gain a body, to experience burdens, trials, sorrow, grief, pain, happiness, joy, love, and peace to become acceptable in the presence of Heavenly Father. The Atonement helps us do that. As we strive to become perfect, we do become perfect, but we can't just be perfect...does that make sense?

It does to me…

I've started the book of Mormon again! AHH, I just love it! So much new knowledge every time I read it. I'm in the Isaiah chapters right now in 2 Nephi. Christ lives!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL. 

Thanks for the donuts and treats!! Everyone was jealous haha. Don't worry, I shared. 

Dad dropped of a bag of goodies from home and 2 dozen donuts!

Have a great week!!!

Sister Lew

Week 17

This week was great...and it's already November, so that means.... CHRISTMAS MUSIC!! 

Some highlights

2 baptismal dates! Theodore, from HK, and Holly from China! All set for Nov 29. So please pray that all will go well with our lessons and their progress.

Taught quite a few good lessons this week. Lots of finding time. 

Had a great lesson with Amin!! He shared his conversion with us. He said at first it was because of the people and he liked what he saw in them at the church. and as he started reading the BoM and praying and interacting with the members, he started to see God's hand in his own life. He said that Elder Nolan is his role model. It was super sweet. 

Institute was really good this week. it was on 3 Nephi 11, which I love!!! Christ visiting the Americas is just beautiful. So I finished the Book of Mormon today for the second time on the mission!!! Of course I knew it was another testament of Jesus Christ, but I never actually felt and knew it from reading it...I guess I just didn't pay attention as to how it testifies of Christ. I usually just read for personal revelation. But as I've really started to focus on my relationship with Christ, my testimony of the Book of Mormon as another testament of Jesus Christ naturally came with it. I absolutely love the book of Moroni. It nicely sums of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God's love for the people shown in the scriptures is the exact same love he has for all of us. We need to do our part and act righteously so we can feel and accept his love.

Some other miracles are that we ran into a Less Active on the street, and I felt good about inviting him to church..he didn't come, but I feel like that seed was replanted :)

I've focused this week on acting on my "hunches". There are far too many times where I ignore small promptings to talk to certain people on the street, but I've been better about just trying to listen and actually following through with it.  

We taught an awesome lesson on the pioneers. I just love talking about the pioneers with the early saints, and then relating it to the members today. We're all pioneers, enduring some of the hardest trials of our life, but because of our faith, it makes the journey worth it.

We went to a recent convert's uni graduation this week. It was so weird being at a graduation again... it was a nice ceremony, but it was so hot. The University of Sydney is a gorgeous campus!! The whole event reminded me of when Rory graduated from Yale on Gilmore Girls, hahha. 

Also we had the hit party of the year...the institute Halloween party! That was fun!! A ton of people from our English class came...probably a total of 120 people throughout the night. The first bit was games and activities that we, as missionaries, could participate in and then the rest was a dance...so we went home well before that started, haha. The costumes were great! 

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On Saturday, we went to a baptism. He's an Aussie who has an amazing testimony of the Atonement of Christ. He's really solid. Such a nice guy and his service was beautiful. That's when I saw the Wrights! We were at Summer Hill chapel, where they meet, and ran into them...she started saying "Sammi! Sammi!" It was so weird because I haven't heard my name in so long......

This Sunday, we had an area wide fast for missionary work. We've also been planning the first Chinese Missionary Conference for all the Chinese speaking missionaries. It's going to be awesome...

One thing I'm sick and tired of is people telling me that I should've learned Chinese because I lived in HK... honestly, I couldn't care less anymore. Although it's something I wish I paid more attention to, I don't regret the life I lived. I was able to focus on other opportunities that have led me to where I am today. #storyofmylife -____- it just gets old after 19 years... 

Anyways, it was a good week! Today is a special zone preparation day, meaning we had 30 accident free days in the mission. So we're going to watch Frozen, Space Jam, How to Train your Dragon2, and Dispicable Me...so that means I have to go soon :( But I hope you're all doing well! I love you all so much!!!

Sister Lew