New Miracles and New Friends

Leihdeih hou!
Highlights from this week real quick:
Last week for p-day a group of us went to Disneyland (but not IN Disneyland, although we were all tempted to abandon our plans and go). Right outside the park they have Inspiration Lake, which is a gorgeous (manmade??) lake that you can rent bikes and bike around. Just so you all know, 6-person bikes are difficult to manage, but it was really fun. And exhausting, hahaha.
Anyways, that aside. I'm going to be real honest here. This week was rough. I don't know what it's been lately (actually it's ghost month, some Chinese tradition that makes people really hesitant to talk to foreigners), but it has been SO HARD to schedule people and do what feels like real missionary work. We've met a lot of brusque, not-so-friendly people this week, and it's easy to get discouraged. Sister Gaillard and I have been seeing almost daily miracles though, which reminds us that God is watching out for us, and also that we're doing something right, but for now we're just not seeing any miracles in the form of people interested in the gospel for now, so there's something for us to learn here. We did have a few really cool experiences this week where we talked to the right people at just the right time and made some pretty instant friends (I love that), and that's been just enough to keep us going.
Anyways, so this week I was reading in the Liahona, and I came across an article from this month called "Mountains and Sermons, Trails and Faith" and I'm pretty sure it was written just for me. The author was talking about how on her mission, she was having extra trials and she wasn't sure why it was happening to her when she was giving so much to serve, and then she remembered how right before Christ gave the Sermon on the Mount, he climbed a mountain, perhaps to weed out the merely curious bystanders and find the disciples who were willing to climb a mountain for Him. Although my trails are a little different than the ones the author was experiencing, I found that I related to her experiences a lot and it really helped me. God is looking for serious, dedicated disciples, who won't fall away when the road gets a little rough or starts climbing uphill a little bit, and I'm grateful that even though sometimes it's really really hard, I get this chance to prove my faith to Him.
I was also reading an article called "Priesthood, Agency, and Black Powder" from September 2007, and I stumbled across this quote that says, "At the press conference when she received the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa was reportedly asked, 'So how do you feel now that you have been working to feed the poor and ease their misery for decades, and things are still just as bad--or worse--in Calcutta as when you started?' Her profound response is an example to us all. She said that we have not been called to be successful but to be faithful."
Stay faithful, folks. It may not be easy, and it probably won't be, but the blessings will come. Maybe not the way you'd like or when you'd expect, but they will come and will be sweeter and better than we could have ever imagined.
Love you all. Gayauh :)
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
Biking. Can you see the exhaustion in our eyes?
Been real smoggy lately.
When life give you lemons, laugh at them.

No Big Typhoons Yet??

Leihdeih hou!
Ummm. Nothing too crazy to report on this week.
This is important though: FIVE GUYS IS COMING TO HONG KONG. Let me repeat that: FIVE GUYS. IS COMING. TO HONG. KONG. I can't even believe my luck. I think this is a direct miracle in my life, and oh am I grateful. Here's hoping it opens before I get transferred away from the Island, or I'll have to travel a lot farther to go on p-day!
This week we also had zone conference! It went really well and President and Sister Phillips are angels. The whole mission is also abuzz because President Phillips changed the music rules, so now we are allowed to listen to anything that is "spiritual, classical, or church released" instead of just green hymnbook and childrens' hymns, so we're all pretty psyched about that.
Umm, let me teach you all some Cantonese! So "fong ngohdeih feigei" (with correct tones, I don't know how to type them up, sorry) is a term that directly translates to "take the airplane" (sort of), and it basically means to stand someone up. Us missionaries Chinglish that to say that someone "fonged" us when they don't show up to something they said they would show up to. Here's how to use it in a sentence: Yesterday Sister Gaillard and I got fonged eight times! True story hahaha. Four of them were going to come to church, and the other four fongs were lessons (two potentials, one less active, and one member), so at least we had a good variety! It sounds pretty rough and it actually is kind of rough but that's just part of the fun here, hahaha. Eight is a high score for me, I'll let you know if I can beat that in the future. :)
This week I've been really learning about being happy despite your trials. I've always worked really hard to keep a positive attitude about things, but I'm really working on letting Christ (and also my companion and other friends) help me handle my trials instead of trying to shoulder them all by myself. Christ is there for us in the good times and in the bad. Don't forget that. :)
Love you all! Have a good week! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
I may not have Five Guys yet but at least I have Subway.
Central area. Gorgeous as always.
We were with the Kowloon West and Kowloon East zones for zone conference this week and 4 out of my 7 companions were there! Look at these blessings.

More Subject Line Submissions Welcome

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been good!
We had transfers this past Thursday. I don't want to be overdramatic and say that saying goodbye to Sister Briggs was one of the hardest parts of my mission, but there it is. Sister Gaillard is so much fun though and we've already had so much fun together these past four days! We're really looking forward to this coming transfer. Lots and lots of good things ahead. :) Also being with Sister Gaillard again keeps tricking me into thinking I'm back in Tai Wai/Sha Tin, which has been a nice time warp for me. I've even been craving coconut water again lately.
We started out the transfer with a service project in Aberdeen. We took out some mentally disabled people (they're all seriously so sweet) to a museum! This museum was not one of the classy art museums, it was a weird art museum. Like, there was a full room dedicated to an exhibit where you walked in and turned on the lights and then there would be creepy laughing and a bunch of baby dolls would start moving around. I for one am a fan of classy art. It was a fun experience, I guess, but I'm happy to not go back, hahaha.
Miracle of the week: So I guess now we're French missionaries! Not really, but Sister Gaillard has certainly been attracting a lot of French people lately. One of these is a super super cute girl we met in Aberdeen! She's from Madagascar and is SO SWEET. We invited her to a stake activity that we had last night (which was all in Chinese but it was in the building where the international branches meet so we figured that was good enough) and as it turns out, she lives with members in the Aberdeen ward, so she already knew people there! And she also brought her super sweet Indonesian friend, and they both really loved it and it was so fun getting to know them. They kept saying that they felt so comfortable with us and that when they were at the church they felt that they could have positive thoughts, and isn't that exactly what the gospel does for us? We can think positive because we know who we are and Whose we are and we know that the One that knows everything has a plan just for us. Isn't that great?
Love you all! Thanks for the love. :)
Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
Sister Gaillard is so cute
One last pre-transfer zone picture
J Chillin
Cheng out with our deaf members :)
Saying goodbye to Sister Briggs
At that museum...
With our new pals and the West Point sisters :)

Sam once fished three mice from Lake Nahuel Huapi

Leihdeih hou!
I wasn't kidding when I said I was taking submissions for a better subject line, hahaha.
This week has been good!
We had MLC. Always a good experience. We talked a lot about what a gift and blessing repentance is. Make sure you're doing that every day, okay? A lot of people would give a lot to know that they've been given a second, third, and millionth chance.
I also went on exchanges in Chai Wan again, with Sister Ang (from New Zealand) this time! It's always fun to spend more time with the pals and see other gorgeous areas in Hong Kong. I learned a lot and I'm so grateful for these angels I serve with. :)
We also got transfer calls this week! Sister Briggs and I stress-baked banana bread while we waited for the call to come in. It was delicious. I'll be staying in Pok Fu Lam, and I couldn't be happier about that! This ward is seriously so special. The sad news is that Sister Briggs will be leaving mer. She's one of my dearest friends and we are devastated to be separated, but I think that's how missions go. You pour your whole heart and soul into an area, a ward, and into your companion, and then in the end you leave and get to find your heart and soul again in a new area. Just more people to love though, right? :) My new companion will be.. Sister Gaillard, from France! If her name sounds familiar to you, that's because it should! We were companions for two weeks back in Tai Wai/Sha Tin and it's so crazy that we're comps again! Excited for what should be a good transfer!
In other news, yesterday in primary we had to have the "when we sing songs in primary we sing them in Cantonese, not in Mandarin, okay?" talk again, and I realized yet again that all these kids are way smarter than me.
Life is good. Repentance is real. Missions are the best. Love you all.
Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
Jyu Wing and Ho Wing, our music student and BFFs
Are my eyes blue or brown, you tell me
Our primary cuties
Tim and Ann, angels in this world
Baking with the zone sisters for p-day today!
Hong Kong I LOVE YOU

Now Accepting Submissions for Creative Subject Lines

Leihdeih hou!
This week has been good and busy and crazy. Here is your weekly brief summary.
Last p-day we went with our RC Tim to a place called Discovery Bay! We were going to hike, but we had torrential downpours, so we just wandered around and Tim spoiled us rotten. We had (wait for it...) REAL MEXICAN FOOD for lunch! Real Mexican food seems to be the thing that all the missionaries miss here, and for some reason it never crossed my mind that OF COURSE it would be difficult to find here, hahaha. But yeah, it was the bee's knees. So good. Such a fun day too, and so good to get to spend more time with Tim, our angel on earth.
We also had interviews (our first!) with President and Sister Phillips this week! They are adorable and interviews were so good. We set lots of goals together and he'll be following up on them next transfer. They're so sweet and so excited to be here and we're all so grateful for their service. Taking over a mission seems like the hardest thing in the whole world.
This week we also had lots of member visits (cutest people ever) and some lessons (Jacky is still doing well and he says the sweetest prayers) and I also went on exchanges in Chai Wan with Sister Lima Po! Sister Lima Po is from Hawaii and she finishes her mission in just a couple of weeks! It was so fun to be with her and learn from her.
We also got the opportunity to meet with a family of four this week! This was my first time ever teaching a family, and it was really cool. We're still not sure if they're interested in the gospel or just in learning English from us (always a struggle), but we're so excited to keep working with them.
All in all a good week. God is in the details and I'm so glad that He's in charge because if I were everything would fall apart. Stay close to Him and He'll stay close to you, as He always does.
Love you all! Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
Discovery Bay :)
Just pondering on the meaning of life, you know how it goes
Us and Grandma Lee, one of the sweetest souls you'll ever meet
Our new best friend. She's from Pakistan and is seriously SO COOL. Love her so much.

This Weeeeek

Leihdeih hou!
Not too much to say this week. Lots of visits with members and other various activities. Basically Pok Fu Lam has the sweetest souls in Hong Kong and I am in love with this ward. Everyone pray that this can be my last area.
This week was our long awaited TEMPLE DAY! I love the temple so much and I was so excited to go. Satan does this fun little trick where he tries to stop us from going to the temple, and when he realizes that he can't stop us he just tries to make the rest of our week miserable instead though any way he can, but the good news is that we survived with minimal tears shed, the temple was wonderful, and we're all still happy and loving the work. So grateful for the temple.
In other news, tomorrow marks ONE YEAR in Hong Kong! I can't even believe how fast time has gone, and looking back, I can't believe how much I have changed. For one, I'm now slightly functional in Chinese, my faith in God and His timing is so much more solid, and I'd like to think that I've become a little more Christlike on the way. So blessed.
Anyways, I hope that you're all doing well! God is real and He loves YOU. Hope you know that.
Gayuah!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
CAUGHT ON CAMERA: me having the time of my life in primary
Temple fun
Ward party

I Can't Even Explain How Much Rain There Is

Leihdeih hou!
Okay, so yeah. We haven't hit a typhoon yet (after all the ones we experienced last year, I'm kind of wondering where they're at), but yesterday we had an amber rain warning! Basically amber rain translates to "it's literally raining so hard that it's almost dangerous," and after amber rain it's red rain, and then it's black rain and when it hits black rain we're not allowed to go outside. I'm hoping for black rain soon because that sounds dangerous and exciting. Anyways, it will be completely clear one second, and then suddenly you'll feel one raindrop, have just enough time to think "oh no," and then it's dumping BUCKETS on your head. And then by the time your umbrella is up your efforts are pretty much futile and then it stops raining after 5 seconds. It's been really exciting.
Anyways, besides being regularly showered down by nature, this week has been really good! Last week for p-day we went to the science museum since they had a special space exhibit! Not going to lie, the space part was a little bit of a letdown (I've seen lots of space exhibits in my day thanks to my padre and his love of air and space museums), but the rest of the museum was pretty fun. Also we got delicious burgers for lunch. Grateful for American food.
On Wednesday we had zone conference! It was so so so good and President and Sister Phillips are really sweet. We talked a lot about having faith and doing miracles with Jesus and it was so good! We were combined with Lion Rock and Tolo Harbor this time, so it was really fun to see all my pals from my old zone and all my pals in Tolo as well. Love zone conference.
On Thursday we had... emergency transfers! Sister Sufia got swept away to Macau (Macau has a lot of tricky visa things going on so this happens a lot) and Sister Perry is now with Sister Cauna, who has been here in the mission for six weeks now. She's so sweet and it's always fun making new friends.
On Friday (the 13th) we celebrated Halloween. Mostly we just ate ice cream and make peanut butter cookies and then recommitted ourselves to our "as healthy as possible" lifestyles. This may have been foreshadowing because on Saturday we were thrust into the apocalypse (our own fault). So we'd known for weeks that our whole apartment building was going to have no power for a few hours on Saturday (just for testing or something) and we'd been planning to plan our day around that so we wouldn't have to deal with it, but then we forgot. So we had a nice little district find (in the rain. Everything is in the rain these days) and then we went back to our apartment building, excited for some studies... only to see everything dark, and remember that if the power is out there are no elevators. And there's 23 flights of stairs between us and home. We decided to suck it up, live like the pioneers, and start climbing these dark, cramped, HOT, humid stairs with only our phones for lighting and I legit felt like it was the end of the world. The good news is that the power came on earlier than expected! (We were all eager to use our 2 hours of allotted air conditioning time right then and there.) The bad news is that it came on only 15 minutes after we made it to our apartment. We were so close to catching the elevator, hahahaha. Oh well, you live and you learn. And you get really sore legs.
On Sunday we had a big miracle! All week long Sister Briggs and I have been praying to find someone that we can bring to church (because this ward is AMAZING and we want to give them more people to love), but none of our finding had been very successful. God definitely saw our efforts though, because as we walked into church on Sunday, we were delighted to find a sweet lady named A-Kahm, who had randomly come to church with a friend (another lady that I've also never met), and they brought three kids with them. SO COOL. They were so sweet and the ward was so good with them and miracles happen, people.
ALSO Tim (our sweet RC) and his wife Ann are both going to the temple to do baptisms this week and we couldn't be happier! A missionary's dream for sure, these people are.
Cool quote for the week from President David O. McKay: "Sculptors of life are we, with our uncarved souls before us. Everyone of us is carving a soul." We're all carving our own souls--and helping to carve others--little by little, day by day. Do what you can to make sure that every mark counts for the better.
Anywho, there's my chaotic email for the week. Love you all! Thank you so so so much for all the love, all the support, and all the prayers. So grateful for each of you.
Gayauh!
Sister Wasden
郭姊妹

Pics:
1. Playing with mirrors at the science museum
2. Bus selfies with the apartment squad (featuring Sister Sufia. She is missed)
3. Zone conf selfies
4. This sunset sponsored by our roof
5. Same with this panorama
6. The new apartment squad (featuring Sister Caunca)
7. Dim sum for breakfast is always an adventure