TYPHOONS ARE CRAZY

Leihdeih hou!!
This week has flown by and I can't believe it's already p-day again! We've had a super super busy week here in Tai Wai. Here are some highlights (buckle up everyone):
Last Monday, a group of members from our ward took us out to the classiest buffet I've ever seen and I was in heaven. It was amazing. Cake, brownies, mashed potatoes, ICE CREAM, CHOI (legit my most favorite vegetable in the whole world. Last week I once ate only choi for dinner and I loved it) and so many other wonderful foods. Blessed. Sister Christensen and I also played badminton with Sister Lee again and it was so fun! So grateful for our cute members. :)
On Wednesday we had a TYHPOON! It hit a Level 8 in the morning, which means everything shuts down and the missionaries have to stay in our apartments all day until it drops back down to a Level 3. We did lots of call finding and lots and lots of cleaning! By the afternoon, it hit a Level 10, and Bishop said that it's the first Level 10 typhoon in Hong Kong since 1962! Also the weather reports were calling it a Level 10 hurricane? I don't actually remember the exact distiction between a typhoon and a hurricane (I think maybe just wind speed?), so if anyone who has access to Goodle wants to send that nugget of information my way, I'd be much obliged. :) It's been crazy to see all the fallen/broken trees everywhere (including one RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW! We were sitting by our window almost all day and I didn't even see it happen, not that I'm upset about that or anything. ;)) If Bio 1620 taught me anything, it's that trees have to work really really hard to grow, so I was so sad for them. We're all safe though, so no worries!
Thursday was my 1-month mark in Hong Kong and my 3-month mark on my mission! It's gone so fast already, I can hardly even believe it. Bishop and his family also chinged us out to a Thai restaurant and it was SO GOOD. SO. GOOD. Oh, and Sister Christensen and I also got battery fluid on our hands that day, and that was an adventure. :)
On Saturday I found a REAL DONUT. Let me repeat that. A. REAL. DONUT. Chocolate glaze and everything. You'd better believe I bought that donut and I enjoyed every single bite. We also had our usual English class on Saturday, and then after that, we had our first Korean class (taught by Sister Lee)! If I go slowly and I have my chart, I can now read Korean (although obviously I can't understand what I'm saying), so that's pretty sweet. :)
Yesterday we had... Another Level 8 typhoon! Which is a bummer because we were going to have a lot of really cool investigators at church, and then church was cancelled. Next week. :) We still managed to make it a really productive day even though we were stuck in the apartment again and there was nothing left to clean. Also, I LOVE storms so it was super fun to watch all the rain all day. So cool. :)
Overall it's been a really good week! The Canto is still sometimes really frustrating for me, but I'm making a lot of progress and learning to be more confident in myself and in the Gift of Tongues and it's getting there. We've taught so many cool people and it's been really cool to see the gospel help them and to be able to see the Savior's love change them, and that alone makes all the hard days completely worth it.
Life is good! Thanks everyone for all the love! Love you all!
Gwok Jimuih (Sister Wasden)
郭姊妹

My Week in HK feat. The Raddest P-Day Yet

Leihdeih hou!
This week has gone by SO FAST! It's hands-down been my favorite week so far though!
Last p-day, Sister Christensen and I went to OCEAN PARK, which is kind of like SeaWorld. It actually made me miss Six Flags a lot but it's all cool because it was SO FUN. The rides were delightful and there were SO MANY little aquariums (AKA my most favorite things) and we just had so so so much fun. :) There was also a cable car that went over the mountain, and the views were INCREDIBLE. I'll try to attach a couple pictures. :)
On Wednesday, we headed into Kowloon Tong to see the new missionaries, all my cute MTC pals! Seeing them all again was so happy! We got to take them out on splits to show them some of Hong Kong, and even though I'm still definitely a baby missionary and probably shouldn't be trusted to wander off into Tai Wai without a more experienced missinoary, I still got to do exactly that with Sister Johnson! She's already such a pro and we had a super productive and super fun finding session! Also, the Gift of Tongues is SO REAL. Typically, without Sister Christensen around to translate for me, I wouldn't be able to understand ANYTHING, but we were able to ahve SO MANY conversations and understand everything, which was such a cool experience. It was also exactly the boost I was needing, since I was kind of feeling pretty down about Cantonese in language study that morning. Super cool. :)
On Thursday, Brother and Sister Hui chinges us out to PIZZA and ICE CREAM (seriously the best ice cream cone I've ever had), and my littler American heart about exploded with joy. Also my pizza had a fried egg in the middle and it tasted SO GOOD. So grateful for our sweet members. :)
Later that day we had a WILD stake youth activity where we literally just split up into teams and shot at each other with Nerf bows and arrows (apparently they also had a wild water fight activity right before I got here. This stake doesn't mess around). SO. FUN. Also we moved down to the 2nd floor to do ambush-style attacks and I got hit in the face, which 1. Was a really sweet shot, and 2. Cued a MASSIVE bloody nose. Again, no big deal (that was #6 this week), but this  cute little kid was SO CONCERNED about me and it was SO SWEET. He saw Sister Christensen and I rushing off to the bathroom and went "WOAH. Are you okay??" and then he ran off to tell everyone by saying "OH NO! Ngohdeih saatjo chyuhngaausih!! (We killed a missionary!!)" So sweet and so funny. :)
I also tried moon cake this week. As it turns out, I do not like mooncakes.
We also had SO MANY good lessons this week! My favorite was Lau Jimuih's. We taught her and her cute family (including her husband, who I'd never met) about eternal families and the temple, so naturally we taught them with President and Sister Lam. In President and Sister Lam's house. Which is IN THE TEMPLE. Seriously such a cool lesson and President and Sister Lam were SO HELPFUL. So so so grateful for them!
You guys, this church is SO TRUE! I love being in a position where I can share it with others and watch it change lives. Life is oh so good!
Love you all!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

I LOVE HK

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been so good!
Here's some exciting things that happened:
1. Last p-day Sister Christensen and I played badminton with a member and it was seriously SO. MUCH. FUN. Like, I got to show off my awful hand-eye coordination at first, but then we got the hang of it and now we're pretty much professionals. You're looking at your next Olympic badminton team. ;)
2. We also ate at a member's house this week! It was my first time eating with a member and it actually went super well and I had so much fun! Also I think this week we're being treated to Pizza Hut and I. Am. PSYCHED.
3. We had zone conference this week and we were combined with Kowloon West so I got to see a bunch of MTC friends! Love my zone so much. :)
4. This week we were on the MTR heading home and some random guy took a special interest in Sister Christensen and followed us off the train. He would have potentially followed us home except we managed to lose him in the mall. Super exciting, hahaha.
5. We got move calls last night! I'm only a third into my training, so neither Sister Christensen or I are going anywhere, as expected. Rumor has it that in November though, 50% of the mission will be training, so in a couple of transfers move calls should be a lot more exciting. :)
6. This week it got so hot that when it was time to get ready for bed I just laid on my bed and waited to melt and Sister Christensen grabbed an ice cube and just sat there rubbing it on her face. We're ready for some cooler weather for sure.

FUN THINGS ABOUT HK:
1. Minions are still definitely a thing here.
2. Pokemon Go is also still definitely a thing here. Mostly only on weekends though. If you see a huge group of people all staring at their phones, you know what's up.
3. There's this Japanese cereal here that everyone is OBSESSED with, and honestly I can see why. It might have changed my life. It changed my breakfasts for sure. I'm hoping that I can find it in America.
4. RAMEN. RAMEN IS SO ADVANCED HERE. They have SO MANY FLAVORS and a WHOLE AISLE in the grocery store is dedicated to it and it makes my college kid heart so happy.
5. Also lizards get into our apartment all the time. This past week Sister Christensen decided that it was my job to perform a catch-and-release and she armed me with a chopstick and a bowl. I failed miserably but he went outside of his own free will later, so it's all good.
6. KIDS HERE ARE SERIOUSLY SO CUTE. I've made it my personal goal to win the love of every child in the TaiWai area and so far I think I'm doing pretty good. All the little babies love to smile back at me and last week when we were visiting a member, I made good friends with her 2-year-old. She was SO CUTE and was obsessed with my freckles, which was so funny.
7. Something that I love about Chinese culture is that you always give your guests a gift, so we always leave appointments with some type of new food to try, which is so cool. Also, everyone brings SO MUCH FOOD to church, and then they give a TON of it to the missionaries, so we always leave church ABSOLUTELY LOADED with candy and snacks, and it's kind of the best. :)

So in love with missionary life! Hong Kong is so great and I love everyone here so much! Life is oh so good. :)
Love you all! Gayauh!
Gwok Jimuih (Sister Wasden)​​
郭姊妹

Week 2 in HK :)

Leihdeih hou!
It's been a good week! I'm feeling a little more adjusted this week, and I'm coming to really truly love it here. Missions are great. :)
We had the opportunity to teach so many cool people this week and I feel so much love for them all! One of the people we taught is a sweet lady named May. May doesn't speak Chinese, so we actually taught her lesson in English, which was so weird because I'm so used to teaching only in Cantonese, but it was a really special experience (and it was admittedly also nice to be able to contribute to the lesson more than usual, haha). I love each of our investigators so much and I love seeing their lives change! Missions are THE BEST.
We also had lots of fun exchanges this week! Sister Christensen (my tuhngbuhn) and Sister Lee (who we live with) are the Sister Training Leaders for our zone, so when they have meetings, Sister Mak (Sister Lee's tuhngbuhn) and I get to work together! Two baby missionaries in big old Hong Kong, no big deal. ;) It actually went really well each time. The first time, our trainers had us go street finding (which we don't typically do very much because it isn't very effective here in Hong Kong, but there wasn't much else we could do without getting hopelessly lost), and I learned a few things: 1. Finding is actually super fun, 2. Take a native with you. They're an actual blessing, and 3. If you go finding by the river, WEAR BUG SPRAY or you will suffer. So many bug bites. Super fun though. :)
I also went on exchanges with Sister Lee this week, and we taught a few cool lessons, attended and helped with English class, and treated ourselves to McDonald's (side note: McDonald's here is WAY cooler than in America, what's up with that?). Sister Lee is SO SWEET and I loved it all. :)
Something else I've really noticed this week is how much people listen with their eyes. I of course knew that that was a thing already--that's why when we perform in orchestra concerts we wear concert dress (all black), because if we look more unified then we sound more unified. One of the funny ways this has been made more apparent to me here in Hong Kong is when I talk to people on the train or the street. They'll look at me, and since I'm [obviously very] white, some people will be just CONVINCED that I'm speaking English, even if I'm speaking perfect Cantonese (which obviously I'm not, but my trainer pretty much is), and they'll try to explain to me that they don't speak English. Even though I'm speaking Chinese. So funny. :) That got me thinking though. How often do we hear with our eyes and let preconceived notions based off of what we see affect how we interpret what we hear? I know I'm guilty of it sometimes, and I want to personally be better at hearling with my ears (and even better, with my heart) instead of with my eyes. Does that make sense? Obviously Christ is the perfect example of this, so I think I'll spend some time studying that this week and see what I can learn. :)
Other exciting things from this week:
1. The language is (suprisingly) getting better already! The Gift of Tongues is SO REAL. I still can't understand a lot of what the natives are saying to me, but I'm starting to be able to pick up on a lot more words than before. Making progress. :)
2. We're (probably) getting NEW TAGS (again)! I feel like every other email I send involves us getting new tags, hahaha. We're all excited every single time though. The church stopped making our half Chinese half English tags about a year ago, so the mission started making their own tags here in Hong Kong (which is why they don't have the official church logo) because we NEED both languages on there, and those are the tags we got. However, we found out this week that the church will start producing the official ones for us again, so we'll have OFFICIAL tags with the OFFICIAL logo and we're STOKED.
3. This week Mak Jímuih tried to kill me with some spicy Korean death ramer. If Mak Jímuih ever innocently offers you some ramen, just say no. It hurts. Or say yes, because it actually tasted pretty good through the pain. Your choice. ;)
Hong Kong is amazing, the people are so nice, the language is coming, and life is so good!
Love you all so much! Gayauh!
Gwok Jímuih (Sister Wasden)
郭姊妹

Pictures:
1. Us with Lau Jímuih, one of our cute investigators, and her mother-in-law and adorable baby (I've definitely won the baby's love, thank you very much).

2. The view from my study room window featuring pretty clouds.

3. One of the many views from the gorgeous park that we exercise in. :)

4. Mak Jímuih and I are pros at accidentally matching.

Leihdeih hou!!!
It's been a crazy week, but Hong Kong is SO GREAT! Get ready for the most chaotic summary of your lives:
The plane ride to Hong Kong was long, but survivable. I (and my luggage) made it in one piece, and that's what counts. :) President and Sister Lam met us at the airport, and they. are. the. BEST. I seriously love them so much! Our whole district stayed in the mission home for a couple of days, and then on Thursday we got to meet our new companions! It was hard saying goodbye to my MTC district, but it was so exciting meeting our new comps! My trainer is Sister Christensen from Arizona and I adore her! She's been out for a year, so her Cantonese is super great, and she's super great, and she's been so patient with me and I am so grateful for her. :) We are over the Tai Wai Area in the Lion Rock Zone, although we actually live in ShaTin with the ShaTin sisters (one of whom is Sister Mak from my MTC district! So fun). We walk through a mall to get to our apartment, which is kind of cool. Our apartments are also thankfully cockroach free (Sister Lam is very proud of that), and I am oh so grateful. :)
Meeting the members and our investigators has been so much fun! They are all SO SWEET and I love all of them so much already! They're also very patient with my elementary Cantonese, and I'm grateful for that too. :)
Oh! Also! We got our new tags and I love them so much! It's cool to actually be able to read Christ's name on my tag for once, since I can't actually read characters, haha.
Other exciting things about Hong Kong:
1. They drink warm water here.
2. Pedestrians don't have the right-of-way. This makes being a pedestrian very exciting.
3. We teach an English class once a week and I love it so much!
4. It's all SO GREEN and I am OBSESSED. I love it here SO MUCH!
It's SO HOT, it's SO HUMID, but I am OH SO HAPPY!
Life is good and this gospel is so true! Make sure you enjoy a nice cold glass of water for me, I sure miss those.
Love you all! Gayauh!
Gwok Jimuih (Sister Wasden) :)