This Weeeek

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been good! Busy, hot, but good. I don't have much time (again. I am so sorry), so here's a lame summary of what's going on:
1. We got smartphones! I was a little nervous about this new development but it's already so obvious how much they will bless the work. Also having Pleco (a Chinese dictionary app) is an actual lifesaver and studies have gotten so much better. Hallelujah.
2. Sister Lee flew back to Korea! We were only together for a few short weeks, but I learned so much from here while she was here and I'm so grateful for the time that we had.
3. My new companion is Sister Briggs from Utah! She was one of my very best friends back in Lion Rock (no one believes we're actually comps and I kind of keep expecting here to disappear when I turn around), so I'm of course expecting this transfer to be a party and a half.
4. We got a new investigator named Wing! He is seriously the coolest person in the world and I love getting to meet with him. He has a ton of really good sincere questions, and so much interest. The best.
5. I don't know why I've never mentioned this before, but the word for "children" in Cantonese directly translates to "small friend" and I think that's important for everyone to know.
The work is good. It's hard, but it's good. God is real, Jesus loves you, and the church is true. Have a good week everyone. :)
Gayauh!
Sister Wasden

郭姊妹

Pictures:
1. Saying goodbye to Sister Lee (yes I did feel 8 feet tall the whole time we were together)
2. Artsy picture of a ding-ding, taken from a ding-ding. Sister Kayla Wasden. Cell phone, digital. 2018.
3. Sister Briggs (on a ding-ding again. I love those things)
4. The view from a member's window

I LOVE MY MOM

Leihdeih hou!
Okay, so I know I say this a lot, but this is going to be the worst weekly ever. So sorry.
This week has been so busy that looking back on it, I can't really remember anything that happened. It's all a blur. A blur of wonderful people and oh so much food. Since Sister Lee is heading home this week, we've eaten with members every single day, and sometimes twice in a day, which has been crazy (I'm used to member meals maybe once a week). It's been so fun though and has been such a great chance for me to get to know the ward better before I take over the area on Thursday. This area seriously has such sweet members and I love them all so much.
I think I also went on exchanges this week but maybe that was last week? No, I think it was this week. Whenever it was, it was pretty fun.
Yesterday was Sister Lee's last Sunday in the ward, so we had a nice ward-wide photoshoot. Some pictures attached. The members here really love the missionaries and it's definitely reciprocated, trust me.
The best part of my week: I Skyped my mom (and the rest of my family) this morning! Moms are pretty much the best thing ever and I'm so grateful for mine. Everyone take a second to be grateful for your mom. Happy Mothers' Day, folks.
I know I also say this a lot but I don't think I'll ever be able to say it enough: I love Hong Kong! Also missions are great. Also my mom is the best. And the church is true. That's all.
Love you all! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pictures:
Some members. I am so tall here.
One of our favorite members works at a Japanese restaurant. This makes for a wonderful cheng out.
I've never been so tired. This is starting to become a nightly ritual.
My apartment pals :)
This lady in our ward has cute twins and they are 100% accessories. They get passed around for photo ops every single week, hahaha. Here's one of them with some of our other members.
​​Brother Si (our ward Bible expert) and A-Him (our stellar ward mission leader)

I Love the Bible

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been good! We've had lots of lessons and member visits and it's been so good. Something I really love about this area is how involved the members are with the missionaries and with the work. They keep us really busy and I love it! One such member visit was with Si Hingdaih (Brother). Si Hingdaih meets us about once a week to do comp/language study with us, and it's pretty much my favorite part of the week because he's a Bible expert and he just tells us deep doctrines from the Bible (and how they're confirmed in the Book of Mormon), which is fun because 1. I love deep doctrine and 2. I really love the Bible (and the Book of Mormon. And D&C. And actually just all the scriptures?). It's a big challenge: when I don't understand what he's teaching us about the Bible, I have to fill in the gaps with my (limited) knowledge of Cantonese, and when I don't understand his Cantonese, I have to try to connect the dots with my (also pretty limited) Bible knowledge. It's mentally exhausting but SO FUN.
We also had a really good lesson with one of our investigators named Mr. Jeung. It was really cool to meet him and see how much the gospel means to him. He has a really hard family life (because he's raising a teenager and a 3-year-old by himself) and it was really awesome to watch him as he learned how Christ can help him. He already has such a testimony that this church is true and I'm so excited to keep working with him.
Yesterday we had a really cool meeting! It was a multi-stake conference with all 6 stakes in Hong Kong, as well as all of Taiwan. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake City especially for this area (President Nelson said that he was inspired to put it together after visiting Hong Kong a few weeks ago), and Elder Neil L. Andersen, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, and Bishop W. Christopher Waddell all spoke to us. I was listening to the already translated version, and my Canto isn't THAT good yet, but from what I could understand, it was a lot about ministering and studying the scriptures. Kind of like a mini general conference, just for Hong Kong and Taiwan. :) Between Elder Stevenson visiting two months ago, President Nelson and Elder Holland visiting a few weeks ago, Elder Andersen being broadcast in yesterday, and Elder Bednar visiting Hong Kong in just a couple weeks, the work is really picking up here in Hong Kong, we can feel it! Exciting stuff!
Also I'd just like to announce to everyone that this is my first time being the American minority in my apartment and I'm loving it. I've been informed that I have an Australian sense of humor, I eat delicious Korean food all the time, and last week my life was changed by Australian Sipahh straws (Google 'em). Life is good.
Life is good and God is good. I'm so grateful for my mission and for the person that it's made me, and I'm glad that I get to keep working and keep changing and keep improving (and hopefully keep learning Cantonese, haha. Lots to learn). Keep praying and reading your scriptures--God is there and He's listening. Also give your local missionaries some love for me. :)
Love you all so much! Thanks for all the support. Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pictures:
1. Burritos make us happy.
2. So we all decided that we wanted Mexican food (basically non-existent here), so this week my apartment splurged a little bit and made some homemade Cafe Rio! Pork barbocoa burritos, complete with REAL cheese (I haven't owned real cheese since coming to Hong Kong. Dairy is crazy expensive here) and horchata on the side. So. Good. Worth every penny.
3. The Bank of China tower, on our way back from district meeting.
4. Chilling on the beach :)

This Weeeek

Leihdeih hou!
So a Chinese girl, a Korean girl, and an American girl all went hiking through the mountains in Hong Kong. That's not the start of a bad joke, that was my p-day last week! Sister Lee and I went and did the Dragon's Back hike with our Sha Tin pal Macy, and it was so gorgeous. We accidentally picked a very hot day to go and accidentally picked the hottest time of said hot day to climb the mountains, but despite that, it was still really fun and really good to catch up with Macy. Also did I mention that it was completely gorgeous? Hong Kong is such a special place, that is all.
Nothing too wild to report for the rest of the week. I love this area. Our members are SO INVOLVED and we've had dinner almost every day this week (which is unheard of in my last area). I'm full of food and full of love. We had a few really really cool lessons with potentials and recent converts, and it's amazing to me how prepared some people are for the gospel, even when on first glance they don't seem like it. God's really working hard, and it's just our job to do our best to keep up!
I guess that's kind of my message today. God is preparing so many people for the gospel, and so many people have been searching for the peace that it offers for years. They may not look like it, but they're there, and the only way we can find who's ready and who's not is by sharing with EVERYONE! If you're already sharing, keep going! If you're not yet, start slow. Share something on Facebook. Keep Christ's name on your lips. It will come. :)
Thanks for all you do and for all the support. Sending love to you all!
Gayauh!
Sister Wasden :)
郭姊妹

1. Us hiking Dragon's Back
2. I can't even include all the gorgeous views from this hike, but here's one of them
3. Us at a member's house :)
4. A classic HK scene for your viewing pleasure

Island Life

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been one of the craziest weeks of my life. Here's a good place to start:
Surprise! I've been emergency transferred! Long story short, there was an emergency that caused a need for a transfer, and as a trio, Sister Risenmay, Sister Gaillard, and I were prone to getting shuffled around. So after 9 wonderful months, I have left my beloved Tai Wai, my newly beloved Sha Tin, and my dear Lion Rock Zone, and got dropped into Pok Fu Lam in the Hong Kong Island Zone. They called us on Wednesday and I was gone on Thursday, with just enough time to call a couple of my recent converts and tell them goodbye. It was kind of a blessing, though. Under normal circumstances I would have been completely heartbroken, but it all happened so fast and we've been so busy here in PFL that I haven't even had time to be sad yet. My new companion is Sister Lee from Korea (who I lived with for my first 4 months in Hong Kong so we're already good pals). We help out with the neighboring ward, Aberdeen, a lot, and here's the kicker: Sister Lee goes home at the end of the transfer, so I have just under 4 weeks to figure out essentially two areas (it took me 4 months to figure Tai Wai out and Tai Wai is a much simpler area). Wish me luck. We live with Sister Wilson and Sister Ane Sufia (both from Australia) on the 23rd floor of our building (I went from floor 2 to floor 14 to floor 23 and I consider this conclusive evidence that I'm getting closer to heaven the longer I'm on my mission). The shower is much better here, in case you were wondering. Good heat and water pressure. You just have to physically hold up the shower head the whole time, hahaha.
Life on The Island is different. I feel like I'm in a completely different world here. IT's more of the big city (relatively speaking, of course. Everything is big city here), and there's a lot more white people here (have I ever mentioned how white people now intimidate me?), so people stare at me a lot less than they did in Tai Wai, although they're still vaguely impressed when I speak Cantonese. We live in this cute area called Kennedy Town (Google it), which is near to the ocean, and oh do I love the ocean and the big city. God created this area just for me. On the way to our chapel, we take a mini bus that drives right along the ocean side, so I get to look at the ocean and islands and ships and casually chat with the person sitting next to me about Jesus all at the same time. It's great.
Other fun facts I've accumulated about the area in the last four days: Since we cover islands, we not only get to ride the subway and buses and mini buses, but also boats and cute double decker cable cars (they're called "ding-dings" and I think that's hilarious). We cover some of the most expensive housing in the world, as well as the most densely populated island in the world. We also cover Ocean Park (Hong Kong's amusement park) and Stanley and Victoria Peak (big tourist spots). That's pretty much all I've gotten figured out so far. More to come.
My last few days (without knowing that they were my last few days) in Tai Wai were really good. We had some good cheng outs with some wonderful members, and we also got to go to the temple! The temple was SO NICE and Brought me so much peace, which I now consider a straight-up gift from God because I got my move call exactly one hour later, haha.
Pok Fu Lam has been good as well! Lots of people to meet and things to do. Busy busy busy, just the way I like it. THE PROPHET CAME on Saturday, which was amazing. Elder Holland spoke about Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail and how we can turn our prisons into temples, and President Nelson talked about a lot of things: temples, tithing, family, prayer, faith. He's amazing, and I loved getting the chance to see him (I was only a few rows away!). So grateful for an inspired, Christlike, generous, loving, living prophet. Listen to him, follow his counsel, and you'll be good. :)
In other news, my language study has very recently gotten more interesting: this past week, I was approved to start learning Chinese characters, and (here's one reason PFL is so special)... PFL is one of two Hong Kong Sign Language wards in Hong Kong! Not all of the members are deaf, but they all learned sign language so all the deaf people in this half of Hong Kong can come here. I've started learning just a little bit and I am so in love with it. A couple of the deaf members, Polly and Leih JM, taught me some while Sister Lee taught Polly's son piano, and I love them so much. I've never met kinder people. Polly asked me when I go home (she can write in English, which makes learning so much easier), and I said December, she taught me how to sign "very sad" and then wrote "I wish you stay HK." Me too, Polly. She also found out that my birthday was last month and surprised me by getting me involved in the ward birthday party yesterday. So. Sweet.
One last thought: Whenever I see Polly or Leih JM, they always sign to me that I look very happy, and I"m happy to say that that's because I am. I can hardly believe I"m living the life I am, sharing the gospel here in Hong Kong. I can't help but be happy. That happiness doesn't have to stop post-mission though, and it can continue forever: when you're on God's side, living the gospel of Jesus Christ, how can you not be happy?
Sending you all my love! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
1. Cheng out at Lai Ma's house. Lai Ma is 80+ years old and has no cares left to give. She's absolutely hilarious and was always the entertainment of my Sundays in Tai Wai.
2. The temple :)
3. My first day in PFL, we had a cheng out to this restaurant. It's the most expensive dim sum place in Hong Kong (delicious), and it's floating, so we had to take a boat through what I can only describe as a parking lot for yachts to get there. So fun.
4. A pic of the restaurant.
5. This is the Wan Chai chapel! It's not actually my chapel, but we get to have district meeting here. It's 11 stories tall, is the Asia Area HQ, and they have an English branch here 7 days a week to accommodate all the members from the Philippines that only get one day off a week. So cool.
6. A little blurry, but this is me and the PFL ward at our birthday party :)

Busy Busy Busy

Leihdeih hou!
Okay, so everyone always said that covering two areas will be the busiest part of your mission, and I'm just starting to understand why. We haven't had time to do all of our studies in days. (Thankfully, most of our meetings are in Chinese, so that's kind of language study in and of itself.) We've had lots and lots of meetings with investigators and ward members and I've never been more exhausted or happier. Life is good.
This week was also zone conference! Nothing too wild, except for this piece of news: OUR MISSION IS GETTING SMARTPHONES SOON. Here in Hong Kong, we've been living in the Stone Age: no smartphones, no tablets, only our Nokia bricks and paper records for everything. All of the missionaries are pretty excited, especially because everyone and their dog in Hong Kong uses a texting app to communicate, which makes it really hard to talk to people if you don't also have that app. Exciting to see the work progressing.
This week the missionaires in my zone also got to perform in a singing concert. It was actually a really cool idea--it was a bunch of songs that outlined the story of the Restoration of the gospel, and the missionaries got to sing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" and it was really pretty.
This coming Saturday President Nelson and Elder Holland and their wives will be visiting Hong Kong, and as excited as we are for smartphones, we're ALL even more excited about that! We've all got some investigators coming and we're all so excited to hear the words of a living prophet in person. God is so good.
This week I've also been doing some studying in First Nephi, and I really loved 1 Nephi 16:23. This is when Nephi's bow broke, and he really needed to find a way to provide food for his whole family. While I was reading, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. Verse 23 says: "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did make out of wood a bow, and out of a straight stick, an arrow; wherefore, I did arm myself with a bow and an arrow, with a sling and with stones. And I said unto my father: Whither shall I go to obtain food?" Nephi made himself AN arrow. As in, only one arrow. Nephi must have had SO MUCH FAITH to trust that not only would the Lord tell him where to go to obtain food, but also that the Lord would magnify his abilities enough that the first shot would be enough. We find out later that he killed many animals for food, so his first shot was enough over and over again. That's really all there is to it--trust in the Lord, rely on Him, and He'll make your arrow, whatever it is, enough, every time.
Love you all so much. Gayauh :)
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pictures:
1. Us and the Sha Tin elders at a cheng out (member meal). Update: I've had it at least 3 times now, and my answer has been the same every time--pigeon is delicious.
2. Our RC Ivy is the classiest person; this is what we ate at our last meeting with her. Homemade scones with cream and jam. SO GOOD.
3. So to get to and from Ivy's house, we have to walk up and down this huge mountain, and poor Sister Gaillard has some knee problems. After all of Dad's problems, I don't mess around when it comes to knees, so when Sister Gaillard was having knee pain on the way down the mountain, this is the best solution I could think of.
4. Too real. To quote Elder Long: "I feel like on the mission eating just becomes a hobby." Also English mistakes here are my most favorite things.

I LOVE CONFERENCE

Leihdeih hou!
This week was so good! Sister Risenmay and I got to take out a baby missionary on splits on her first night here in Hong Kong, and she was so adorable and so excited to be here in Hong Kong! Taking out baby missionaries always reminds me that 1. I'm happy that I'm not a baby anymore, and 2. Hong Kong is a really cool place to be and I should be so excited to be here 24/7.
We are also now officially back in a trio! Sister Gaillard is the most energetic and excited person I've ever met and she has brought exactly the energy that Tai Wai and Sha Tin are needing. Her love for the people is inspiring and I'm so excited that I get to keep working here in the Lord's vineyard alongside her and Sister Risenmay.
Also, as you can see, I LOVE CONFERENCE. General Conference as a missionary is basically just two days of Christmas. We soak up every moment and it's over too fast! President Nelson is just the cutest, and we're all so excited about Elder Gong! Since he served in the Asia Area Presidency for a while, he spent that time living right here in Hong Kong, only a 30 minute subway ride from me. I've developed such a love for living prophets on my mission and I never want to take them for granted again! I hope you don't either. Review their words, apply them, and watch your life change. I also am in love with the idea of ministering, and I've already studied a lot about how I personally can be a better minister, and it's been insightful. I have a lot to improve! I'd invite each of you to do the same--prayerfully study what your spiritual gifts are, and then identify how you can use each one to uplift and bless someone else. It will make you so much happier and you'll be used to help so many of God's children. I'm so grateful for inspired leaders and for their counsel on how we can better follow our Savior.
Life is good! Thanks for all your love and support. :) Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
1. KBQ with the members last p-day!
2. Pictured: us visiting a 105-year-old lady in our ward. Not pictured: us sweating to death underneath those awful sick masks.
3. Us and our baby missionary
4. All the sisters in our zone got lunch together between sessions of conference on Saturday. Love these people. Sorry I don't have a picture of the trio yet! Sister Gaillard is the one taking this picture. :)