Hong Kong Week 3!

I can't believe i've been in Hong Kong for 3 weeks now and so much has happened yet time flies!

There was a Typhoon today so we couldn't go outside until now, 5pm, anyways being in Hong Kong is challenging but best experience ever! I love it here, and I am really relying completely on the Lord as I work, I know that this is His work, and I am really literally on a job-shadow seeing how my Father works, and it is truly the best to witness HIs hands and BE an extention of His hand to bless the lives of my brothers and sisters.

So much has happened but not a lot of time! As companionship we have decided to focus on how to really involve the members in our 3 wards to be introduced to their friends and everything, our corelation leader in Taipo ward, his wife and children are not members and we have been trying to reach them, but he wanted to take it slow and prepare his wife, then yesterday we asked if we could just have a simple lunch together just to get to know his family and he actually liked the idea and said he would think of a good time!! we were so excited and he was very grateful for us that we care about his family and are concerned for them. During our finding time--HongKong's security and privacy are pretty high and we are not allowed to door knock, so we are very limited when it comes to finding--we were able to run into some nice people that we are hoping would feel the spirit and desire more. Elsa is doing well, we taught her the first lesson and she liked it, she has started reading the book of mormon and she understands it, but she is still in the process of coming to a decision to ask God, because she feels her prayer wouldn't mean much if she hasn't even decided herself to ask God if He is pleased or not. She has family day on sundays so it is really hard to try to invite her to come to church, so we are just praying that she can feel the spirit so she can feel its importance.

So, yesterday President Chan, our mission president called my companion Sister Bingham and told her that he has prayed and feels that it would be suitable for her to be released early to go home at the end of this move, October 21st, in 3 weeks! It was a great shock to all of us because she has no reason to return home early because her release date was supposed to be in December 2nd and her school doesn't even start until January. We don't know why, but we have decided to trust President Chan and the Lord on this. So this means that I will be ending up with another trainer in the middle of my training, so weird, but I know that everything happens for a reason. I will really miss my trainer sister bingham, she has really helped me to adjust here in hong kong and she has done so great basically handling all 3 wards herself and all other responsibilities in addition to training me.

 I still don't understand most of Cantonese being spoken at me and people still mistake me for a chinese sister, but people Have told me that my language Has improved, which really encourages me, because it is so hard to see improvements in myself. Anyways, I have so much hope for the work here.

So the other day two of the elders from the other area was walking when a lady behind them told them she wanted to come to their church and learn more!, she is korean and so the elders gave us her number to have me bear my testimony in korean to her, I was so nervous but on the phone as I was able to talk to her and share what I felt about the gospel, she told me that she has never heard so much heart felt things in one conversation, and really wanted to learn more, she has been going to a korean christian church but has felt that something is still missing and then she saw the elders on the street and went after them. I am

just

very grateful to my lord.

He has called me to Hong Kong and I am so honored and privileged. THis is His work, yet He involves us His children to help eachother and reap the joy together, and to really grow,

I am really learning so much on my mission, I know that this really is a job-shadow to my Father's great work, and I am able to learn how He does it and I need to, because He wants all of us to become like Him and eventually we will be doing the same work as Gods ourselves. I know that we can gain these learnings and experiences with the Lord as we fulfill our church callings, and draw closer to Him through prayer and studying His words, and relying completely on Him in ALL things. The Lord wants us all of us to participate in His great work and so He gives us callings: as parents, family members, missionaries, church callings, etc. and especially our calling as visiting and home teachers, We can really experience this through fulfilling them. It's truly awesome!

So I hope that all of you back home are also drawing closer to Him through fulfilling each of your callings at this time :)

Always loves to each of you, and also prayers,

Leih Jimuih

p.s. We went to a chinese temple to look at last p-day this is a picture from it! 

p.p.s. for those that have been wondering, I have yet to run into Elder Wyatt, haha :)

p.p.p.s. we also went to a really old house in HOng Kong

Week 3 in Hong Kong Begins!

JouSan!

I can not believe it's only been 2 weeks in Hong Kong!!!

So much has happened while I have been here! I wish I have the time to tell you all about it,

But first of all I will explain the pictures, there's a picture Sister Bingham and I took with Heison on Tuesday! I knew since when I first met him that this day would come for sure! He all of a sudden that morning, after not having been in touch for almost 2 weeks, asked if he could come to church right then and there, we hurried up to the church and met him, and after asking some questions he finally told us that he wanted to change his life and that he knew how to do it, by going to church every sunday and keeping all the commandments so he can be baptized. :) :) :) He even agreed with us that he needs to form closer relationship with the Savior and not necessarily with the missionaries since one of the reasons why he and his girlfriend sort of lost interest in meeting with the missionaries was because of their favorite sister and elder being transferred away to another area. We as missionaries cannot always be there for our investigators, but I know that Christ can and that's what's most important, helping them form that close relationship with Christ.

Lately the past two weeks all the progressing investigators have stopped answering our calls and we just could not schedule to meet or even talk to them on the phone and it left us with lots of finding time,

it could have been very discouraging time but I knew that it was an opportunity for other work to be done. We met Elsa who have been wondering about what's the whole point of life is just waking up everymorning to work and do the same things everyday to just exist. We will be seeing her again tonight and I am excited! We also found some very neat people on streets that we are hoping will become progressing investigators. We also had the opportunity to visit less active members in the church (there are many many of them in Hong Kong) and had great experiences and saw some miracles there as well. We have also decided it would be a good idea to start up a Korean Class (in addition to the English classes they already have) and a Drawing class, upon my consent of course,, haha, we are just going to try it once for now and see how it goes, we made fliers for them and will hold those two classes in about a month, I am a bit nervous but I have decided to heed the counsels to utilize our talents and be creative in our finding. So we will see.

I have not yet heard anything about Zen Zeng yet, but I have confidence that by reading the Book of Mormon he will know it is true.

So Tuesday was Sister Cheung's birthday (she's a native Hong Kong sister and our roommate! :) The picture with us four roommates with cakes) So we celebrated it by having some cake with the whole zone. Tuesday was also our Zone's 24 hour companionship Exchanges, so I got to be Sister Darcey(blond sister in the picture)'s Companion for that 24 hours! We went to her area and taught an investigator Ms. Jang and had a great experience and I was able to learn about how things work out in Sister Darcey's companionship and was edified :)

Ah, I wish I have more time to talk about everything, but everything is going well here, I love Hong Kong, things may not be the perfect heaven but so is everywhere else in this fallen world, but there's so much beauty and goodness to notice and be grateful for all around us, I love my Heavenly Father and am grateful for all the things He has done for me!

Love you all!!!

Leih J.m.

p.s. Sister Bingham is not related to Elder Bingham :)

Starting week 2 in Hong Kong!

Hi Everyone!

So here in Hong Kong I am serving in 3 wards, because there aren't as many Sister missionaries as there are Elders, and it gets pretty busy :) My first week has been quite amazing, I love the people here, they all look so unhappy and I know this Gospel is what they need, and that our Savior Jesus Christ is who they need! I really need to lean on my Lord to find those that are ready.

So this past week has been hard in a rather unexpected way. I have come to realize how much Satan really doesn't want me here. I have been doing quite well with all the opposistions I have had so far since being on a mission, because I had my Lord and my Savior, and it must have really upset Satan because he finally pulled out a big gun I didn't think would hit me that way. Since my first day at Hong Kong I've had many mosquito attacks, I can deal with that, there are lots of little fruit flies in our kitchen, I choose to ignore them and do my business quickly, I comb a small bug out of my hair, freaked me out but got over it. There are big bees and bugs in this humid place I try my best to dodge them. I discover a live cocroach in my suitcase while unpacking-first time I ever felt home sick, turns out one of the bites wasn't mosquito and it turned my left foot into a big swollen foot, it's uncomfortable but doesn't stop me except for couple hours we spent to go see a doctor for it, it has lasted for basically all week and it's still swollen but it has gone down a lot, it's getting better, and finally last night I find 20+ little bugs in my hair and I am not sure if I got them all out completely, and for the first time I found myself wanting to go home. Bugs are my greatest fear in the world, I am not afraid of anything else really, but I am deathly scared of critters of all sizes. And nothing to this extreme has been happening to my companion or roommates, for some reason all these bug related difficulties have been happening to me all at once. After doing everything(prayer, watching conference, reading scripture, etc) to calm down, I finally received a priestood blessing from the elders, and I cannot believe, I have been aware of another strength with in me that is not my own, but right now I feel it stronger than ever. I no longer care, there's probably several bugs still in my hair, but I do not care, I no longer have fear. Satan cannot stop me, and the more I realize how much he doesn't want me here the more I am determined to stay. I know Lord has called me to Hong Kong for a specific purpose, I know I am supposed to be here. I know these people are my brothers and sisters and that the Lord has given me specific gifts and talents to bless the lives of people here right now specifically. And I know that with God I can do all things, I know I can overcome all fear, and I know He will not command me and call me to do things unless He prepares a way for me to accomplish it. I know I am supposed to be right here right now. And the Lord has given me so many blessings. I love Him with all my heart. I know that I am absolutely nothing without Him. I know I am incredably weak without Him. He is my strength, He is my all.

The date scratched on a rock in the picture I sent last week is the date they first dedicated Hong Kong Mission as it opened. The Lord has prepared the people here to receive the gospel, I believe it, I know it.

These pics are from my apt. window, beautiful!

lots of love

sister burningham

First Full Day at Hong Kong!!! Tolo Harbor!

Leih Hou everyone!

I am here in Hong Kong, We arrived Wednesday morning and today is Thursday and Thursday is going to be our P-day here in Hong Kong!

I am WAY excited!

First of all, the plane ride, it turns out I ended up sitting by Elder Bingham and Elder Denos in the Plane, so there wasn't any people to befriend and get to know and talk about the gospel, but I DID get to contact few people at the airport during our small layovers.

I met an elderly lady first and she was returning to Taiwan and spoke mandarin, so I invited one of the Manderin speaking Elder going to Hong Kong with us to help me talk to her, and it went great! She was very sweet and motherly, I gave her a mormon.org pass along card and invited her to find out more about our church, I hope that she is doing well.

I then met Stella at another airport, and she was so sweet and fantastic! She was also a mandarin speaker from Taiwan, but she had such great English so I got to talk to her and I love her! She was traveling to meet up with her friends in Hong Kong to have fun together, and we got to chat a lot. She has friends that are very religious and she finds peace and comfort from scriptures, so I told her about Joseph Smith, and how through him God has restored His church and how the Book of Mormon was translated by him through the power of God, I gave her a copy and invited her to read it herself, and that she can find out through prayer if it really is word of God. She was really inviting and she really appreciated my message, and she hoped that through reading and being able to develope her own relationship with God, she could have better things to talk about with her religious friends and be able to relate to them. I committed her to read the Book of Mormon and when she finds out that it is true, committed her to be baptised. She was so great, I want to keep in touch with her, and I even gave her contact info for after mission to keep in touch later :) I'm excited!

And then we finally arrived to Hong Kong and met our Mission President! He is really sweet, and very dedicated and humble yet strong. From a distance his physical traits reminded me of my uncle Mike Lee.

We had some orientation and headed out to our first finding activity and I was very excited to start talking to everyone! But then I soon found myself scaring(?) some people or getting weird looks trying to greet and talk to them, people here don't smile much, they look unhappy, it's sad, I guess people are usually like that everywhere in the world and in the city, but I think I have been noticing it more here in Hong Kong and during travelling. (Actually back at the airport when we landed in Hong Kong and stood in line for our bagage claim, these two men commented that I smile at everyone, haha, hopefully that wasn't too weird of a sight in Hong Kong. Granted, we did travel through the night, so I guess it is weird to be smiling and all excited, but I was, lol)

Anyways, it was starting to get a bit sad, especially since people didn't want to talk, and when they did, either my voice was too soft or my tones were off, they didn't really understand me and also, I didn't understand them. It's difficult. But one thing I really came to understand and learn in the MTC is that the Lord does not send missionaries where the field isn't white. And that we're not here alone. This is the Lord's work. He is the gardener, the Lord of the Vinyard. He has already been taking care of the vinyard before He calls His servants for assistance. We are to obey His guidance and direction to help out with the work and harvest where He wants us to. I firmly believe this. I know that the Lord has already been preparing people here in Hong Kong and some are ready, some ARE Ready! The Lord wants us to find them and help them realize God's hands in their life, and we are to introduce them to the Lord. Whenever we come in contact with someone, we are not alone, we have all 3 beings, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, involved. And with them we will not fail. With thousands of people before us, we need to ask the Lord, who He has already prepared for us to find, and if we are worthy of that guidance, by already having been exactly obedient, having prepared ourselves spiritually, and have excercised our faith by first opening our mouths and approach people, the Lord will guide us, and that is what happened during that same finding activity i mentioned earlier. I came across a young adult named Zen Zeng. He is from Singapore and He is ALWAYs traveling. He has traveled all over the world. When we bore our testimony that we know that our message is true and that every event we talk about has really happened, he was interested and so I taught him of the Restoration. He needed to take pictures and we had to keep walking but he told me to keep talking while he was engaged in other activities saying that what I was saying was interesting. And he was a reader, and graciously accepted all the reading materials we had to give him (Including the Book of Mormon) and since he is always traveling to places, got his email address and he even said he will visit Salt Lake to find me to keep in touch when I told him I couldn't facebook during my mission. I have refered him today to the office and hopefully they can get him an online missionary. It would be great if anyone reading this can get an email address of an online missionary at the mtc! I am confident he will come to know God himself, because I have a testimony of the power in the Book of Mormon that a person will be nearer to God through abiding by the precepts taught in the book. :) I am very excited!

This morning they assigned us to our areas and trainers\

My trainer is Sister Bingham from Orem! And I will be in the Tolo Harbor Zone that covers 3 areas. We have 2 teaching appointments tonight, and I am very excited!

Anyways, P-days here are extremely busy, I understand now how hard it is to write letters, so I hope people reads my blog, because I wouldn't be able to write them individually much.

I love you all very very much and pray for you each, please turn to the Lord, and draw closer to Him, as I am and the people I am inviting here are, He is truly incredible and the best perfect friend,
Leih Jimuih