The Weekly :)

Leihdeih hou!
So turns out the weeks are FLYING BY and it's starting to panic me a little. I can't believe I've already been in HK for a month and a half! It's been kind of a crazy week (aka buckle up, everyone), here's some of the highlights!
1. Last p-day, we went to Mong Kok (a huge shopping area) and for lunch, we got AUTHENTIC NEW YORK PIZZA. Also it was the BIGGEST SLICE OF PIZZA I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE AND IT WAS SOOOO GOOD.
2. This week Mak JM and I had to go on splits for a WHOLE DAY since our trainers (who are STLs) had their mission leadership conference. It was completely terrifying and we were both SO NERVOUS (we had 3 appointments and were sure we were going to get lost and we didn't think we knew how to be functional missionaries on our own), but it actually ended up going really well and our appointments were good and it was a really good day!
3. OH! This week I got kicked out of a building for the first time! The security guard saw that our name tags said "Jesus Christ" and she wasn't having ANY of that, so she quickly escorted us out. (They're afraid that we'll go door-knocking, which is very much NOT ALLOWED here.) Thankfully, we were visiting a member who we had scheduled, so we just called her and she came downstairs to pick us up. Also, it's definintely a blessing that I was a security guard for that one summer, because sometimes it's tempting to get frustrated when the guards are mean to us, but since I was once a security guard and my job was pretty much the exact same as theirs is (let the residents through, make the visitors fill out a form), I have a lot more understanding towards them, and even if they're being a little meaner than they necessarily have to be, they're still just doing their job. Getting kicked out was still a fun experience though, I look forward to the next time. :)
4. It was kind of a brutal week as far as teaching goes. Sister Christensen and I were only able to schedule ONE of our investigators this week (although not for a lack of effort--we called the rest of them almost to the point of being stalkers), and even that lesson didn't go as well as we would have liked. To make up for that, we went to visit I think 7 or 8 less-actives instead, and not a single one of them was home (we were visiting ones who didn't have accurate phone numbers on our records so we couldn't schedule them, so no big deal). Yesterday, we FINALLY had a less-active that we scheduled, and we were SO looking forward to being able to meet with a real person, and then she wasn't home either! However, despite all this, we actually had some cool miracles. On the first day of less-active finding, our night was about over and we were about to head home, but we weren't sure if we should try to visit one more person, or if we should head home a little early so we could instead do calls and try to schedule people. Sister Christensen and I decided to pray about it, and I felt that we should visit one more person, and Sister Christensen felt that we should go home. So we prayed about it again. And then we prayed about it individually. We both still felt the same way, so we decided to walk in the general direction of the train station (which is also the direction that one of our less-actives lives in) and see how we felt when we REALLY had to make the decision. When we got there, I was just about to say that I now felt good about going home, when Sister Christensen turned to me and said that she felt good about visiting one more person. AHHH. Sister Christensen remarked that maybe the reason why we were getting different answers was so that the Spirit could stall us so that we could meet just the right person. We ended up taking the train home, and I talked to this guy who was nice but not very interested, and Sister Christensen talked to this lady with a sweet fold-up electric scooter, who was also nice but not very interested. Bummer. We headed home and did some calls and records and that was that. Yesterday, after our scheduled less-active wasn't home, we were taking the train home again, and LO AND BEHOLD, there was the same lady with the sweet fold-up electric scooter! We saw her TWICE and in a place like Hong Kong, that NEVER HAPPENS, so you'd better BELIEVE we went up and started talking to her. She remembered us! She's still not interested at all, but maybe if we keep running into her, eventually she'll change her mind. :) The other miracle was that we met this super sweet lady named Tencil, and she was SO interested and yesterday she actually texted us to see if SHE could schedule US! That NEVER happens, and I'm excited to be able to meet with her!
5. I got into a paper airplane competition with Jim, one of our recent converts (he's 8). I lost.
6. On Saturday, the church put on a HUGE music event for anyone in Hong Kong, and missionaries could go if we had an investigator going. I. LOVED. IT. There were piano solos, and violin ensembles (aka my whole life--they also played a few songs that I loved playing in high school and AHH, memories), and the coolest drum ensemble, and some sick Chinese instruments that I don't even know how to describe, and awesome singers, and Disney songs, and Phantom of the Opera songs, and Josh Groban songs, and (obviously) church songs, and SO MANY MISSIONARIES and SO MANY INVESTIGATORS (it was the most chaotic and happy reunion I've ever witnessed) and I just LOVED IT. It was amazing. :)

Aaaand here's some random fun facts!
1. I may have already talked about this, but honestly, I'm in awe. You know how in America elevators (PS, here, they're called "lifts" because of Britain, haha) have the door open and door close buttons that do absolutely NOTHING? Well here in Hong Kong, they actually WORK! It's amazing.
2. All the chapels here are so different from each other and so unique and they're all so pretty. :)
3. I got a real tasted of the legendary Chinese bluntness last week in church that I forgot to mention! Sister Christensen was in the bathroom, so I was just chilling in the hallway, and a sweet younger lady from the other ward (who I'd never met) came up to me and said "You seem to have insufficient sleep," and then she pointed to underneath her eyes (apparently I had some serious bags going on), hahaha. She told me about when she was a summer missionary (that's a cool program they do here. Young men and women if they'd like can be paired up with a missionary companionship and be full-time missonaries for two weeks in the summer so they can get a taste of missionary life) she didn't get much sleep either and that I should take a nap on p-day. She was super nice though and I definitely haven't stopped laughing about it.
4. Aaaand last but not least, I don't really have any good pictures from this week, so here's an artsy picture of some ramen I had the other day! It was so spicy that it gave me a stomachache. 8/10 would recommend. (My favorite ramen so far though is actually this Indonesian ramen that you dump FIVE different flavoring packets into, how sweet is that??)

Alright, I think that's all for the week! Love you all tons! Have a good week!

Gayauh!

Gwok Jimuih (Sister Wasden)
郭姊妹

The Weekly! :)

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been so crazy and it's gone by so fast that I just know I'm not going to be able to put together a comprehensible update, so here's some highlights!
1. We went to a mummy museum for p-day last week! It was super cool and super interesting, but boy am I glad that we have the truth about what happens after we die. The history was super awesome though. :)
2. We had a carbon monoxide scare or two in our apartment a few nights ago! The housing elders had to come over to shut our gas off and we slept with the windows open just to be sure (Sister Lee didn't appreciate my pros and cons list of sleeping warm (windows open, thus counteracting our precious AC hours) or dying cold (windows closed), hahaha.) We're all alive though, no worries there. :)
3. Sister Mak and I officially had our 100-day mark this past week! We obviously went out and celebrated in the most Chinese way we could... with KFC. No regrets there. :)
4. We had SO MANY cool lessons this week! Our investigators are all doing really well and we have a lot of potentials that we have high hopes for! It's been cool to see how as we've followed promptings, we've been lead to find a lot of really cool and open people who are ready for the gospel. This really is the Lord's work, and He's definitely leading it!
5. Funny story for the week: this week we visited the sweetest old couple. As is tradition, they wanted to give us food as we walked in, but since we actually surprise visited them (we weren't able to get a hold of them over phone), all they had was soda. They were super sweet and pulled out two cans and put straws into them and everything, and then as they passed them to us, it became very obvious that it was actually cans of beer, not soda, and they were SO embarrassed! I laughed SO HARD, hahaha. They gave us nice glasses of water instead after that.
6. We're in the middle of another typhoon! This one is only a level 3 though, and should pass by Hong Kong before it hits an 8, hallelujah.
Life is so good! This gospel is so true, and there's nowhere else I'd rather be than here in Hong Kong sharing what I love with the people I love. :) Thanks for all your love and support, you are all the best!
Gayauh!
Gwok Jimuih
郭姊妹

Pictures:
1. Sister Christensen and I in the science museum
2. Me with the big city
3. Part of TaiWai, which is NOT the big city. I know there's monkeys out there in those hills and I want to meet one so badly. Updates to come on that front.

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) :)