Tseun Wan and Kwai Chung 1

Hello everyone!

Very quickly,

The people in this new area are great, so many new people to get to know and meet!

Apparently in this district, finding new investigators are a big challenge, especially in Tseun Wan where more of the rich part of Hong Kong people live, if I heard it right.

But we are striving our best to apply the direction of our mission president to find families to teach through less-active members, part family members, and other member and investigator referrals. And in my personal study I have just finished reading up to Alma 9, And has learned that he also had difficulties finding people to teach, and returned with a different approach: he met the member, Amulek, and spent some days with this member for a while and with him found more people to teach. I know that it will be a challenge but it is possible.

We already were able to meet and teach our investigators Yuen Ying and Gaga's mother Keih Keih, it was a miracle and tender mercy from the Lord because it was led by the Spirit so powerfully, with the help of Vina as well. We are now allowed to keep visiting her and teach her, and also to help her feel more comfortable and understanding about why Yuen Ying and Gaga wants to be baptized so much.

We are also visiting Tseun Wan people and getting to know them and strengthening them with the Gospel. Tseun Wan ward's Ward Correlator, Brother Lee, used to be the Stake President and he is the most incredible correlator I have ever worked with! it was so helpful to meet with him and discuss about Tseun Wan's needs! There are much to get done here, and we are progressing and moving this work forward one step at a time. I am so excited to see the arms of God to unfold in this area as well!! I am so honored and grateful to be here. The Lord has already been helping me so so much! He is so full of Grace and Mercy!

Loves to you all, hope you are all coming one step closer to our God every moment.

Sister Burningham

We visited less-active member Sister Chan from Tseun Wan Ward, and I love her home! Her husband and children are not members, we will do our best to strengthen her and invite her family to Christ as well, they love us :D

The sister in Blue is my new companion Sister Jamison from Idaho!

       Michelle-Debby's older sister, Debby, their mother. They are shy around cameras, usually very happy sisters.

 everyone: Sister Cook, Michelle, me, Sister Taylor, Debby, her mom, Elder Perry, Elder Ng

Debby's baptism was held after Stake conference so Sister Cook was able to be there to see it too! Happy Day :)

Kwun Tong 28 - My last week in Kwun Tong - Month 15 in Mission

Jada was baptized!!!!! She bore a powerful testimony and shared scriptures afterwards and talked about enduring to the end! And invited us all to endure to the end with her! Her parents were there and they also felt that her baptism was arranged by God! We potentially have a family that will come unto Christ together!!! I am just overwhelmed with sheer joy!!

So much has happened and not enough time to write! I wish I could write more about Jada, she is so incredible, she is already an incredible example to me! She is so humble and quick to observe and obey, she is 14 like Joseph Smith :D and she is so full of Spirit's guidance! She also wants to serve a mission! I am so honored and blessed to know her!!!

So much is happening! So much miracles! 

This past week was my last week in Kwun Tong. After serving there for 6.5 months, they moved me to a new area today.

Originally President Hawks wanted me finish my mission there. But this new incoming move, he felt strongly that Sister Taylor needed to train the new incoming solo sister in Kwun Tong this move. So for the first time in her entire mission, Sister Taylor will stay in an area for at least 3 moves! As for me, he has decided to move me to serve in Kwai Chung and Tseun Wan Wards. And to all these big news, I felt incredibly at peace. There's much to worry and stress about since Sister Taylor has only been in Kwun Tong for 6 weeks and haven't yet done a senior companion and all the information and responsibilities that need to be handed over, and all the people that may not be ready for such a sudden change, etc., but thanks be to the Lord, I felt a huge peace, and no worries; I know Sister Taylor and her new trainee sister will be alright. This really is the Lord's work, and we really need to rely on Him. And sometimes, we need all these uncertainties and weaknesses or inadequate feelings to rely on the Savior with all we've got. And as a result, we will be able to accomplish so much more good and bring about so much more blessings because we let the Lord do His work, than we would otherwise by our own strength and wisdom. I know this to be true, and I hope I never forget it.

I am also incredibly honored to serve in Kwai Chung Ward and Tseun Wan Ward. Actually my summer missionary Sister Yam is from Kwai Chung Ward! I actually hardly know anything about these two wards, but just from this first day, seeing the names, and maps, and hearing about the people, I know there's also a huge responsibility that needs fulfilling here. There are many souls here also that are ready and in need of Savior's help. So I am grateful. I feel a bit that Kwun Tong has prepared me for this place. I don't have much time here but I want to give them my all. I am so grateful for Kwun Tong, it's such a special place, means so much to me. But I know it's still in God's hands. We all are. So grateful for Him. So Thankful, so incredible!!!

Wish I could write more and send more pictures, but these will have to do for this week. I am really excited to get to know my new companion Sister Jamison more, and to get to know these members and investigators, and the people in this area!!!

Loves always,

Sister Lee

                        Jada and me

Jada, she comes, actually, runs, right after school to church and hears the gospel and prepares for her baptism.

She usually eats that snack, school gets out at 5:30 ish,,, This is at 6pm.

But she is still happy as ever to hear the gospel!

                               Christy, at TKO Ward Cooking activity

    Baptism Jada's parents 

     Jaba and us 

Aberdeen Sister and her husband, she is Jada's English teacher. Also on Jada's left hand side are Sister LawPoon and Sarah

 Temple ground visit after baptism Jada also wanted to go to the My Conversion Story Fireside in Kowloon Tong :D she gave us each a little flower :)

Kwun Tong 27

Miracles miracles miracles...

We haven't been able to see Jada in a while, but we prayed about her baptismal date and we felt the 16th. On Friday we met her and extended the date to her (we had just finished teaching the message of the Restoration), and asked how she felt. With a big smile she said, "very happy". She hasn't been able to see us in a while because her phone broke, and she just moved--right in the Street Market next to the church!!! But she had been praying and reading and she has prayed to feel the Holy Ghost, but she didn't, so she picked up the Book of Mormon and read it, then she felt it! So she likes to read it! On our way out, we were going to eat out but didn't know what we wanted to eat, she told us that we should pray and ask God. So Sister Taylor prayed, that perhaps we may be able to meet a prepared person when we get food. Then we said good bye to Jada and talked about what we should eat, then we really wanted to eat the Indonesian Curry, but the store was about to close in five minutes! So we dashed to the store and they were fine and happy about getting us a take out order of curry, and we went to the APM Mall in the food court to sit down and eat. There were so many people already eating there and we waited a while when I saw two seats next to two people on a 4people table. I looked around and there didn't seem any other option so I asked if they were taken and they weren't so we sat there and started eating. After blessing the food and I started eating, I heard the lady speak in Korean right next to me! I asked her in Korean if she was Korean and she said no, she is Korean Born Chinese! Then we started speaking in Cantonese with her and she recognized our church, she has seen Elders on the street before and was also impressed by our Cantonese. The man who was with her also was excited to see the food we were eating and asked where we got it from, because they like eating at this Indonesian store but they had moved and they didn't know where to. We told them it was nearby our church and were able to give them our church flier with address, website, and our phone number on it, and invited them to learn more about our church online. They were very pleasant and left happily! We were stunned, and according to Sister Taylor apparently there were many other two people seats open at the time but I chose that table--I hadn't noticed! It was amazing how specific everything was: The place, the language, the time, the food, everything! We shared it with Jada next day and she was so excited! We have been teaching her daily and she is always beaming and excited! She also has a testimony of prayer because meeting with us everything she prayed about the night before is answered. She knows Heavenly Father really is listening.

We had scheduled to teach Jada again, and invited Sarah to help us, and her mom, Sister Law Poon felt to just come along, We had just finished seeing A-Yih, who has been progressing lately, she has been praying and feeling good, her faith is increasing and still has questions. She had a bad bug/mosquito bite that wouldn't stop itching badly no matter what medicine she tried putting on it, and she prayed that it won't itch that badly. We were just done teaching A-Yih and were looking at the baptismal pictures and picture of Law-Poon family, their father's recent baptism picture, and A-Yih just told us that she wants to be baptised!!! then, Sister Law Poon and Sarah walked in and A-Yih really wanted to ask Sister Law-Poon many things. So we split and Sister Law Poon was able to help A-Yih a lot, and, she had even randomly brought a Thai medicine to put on bug bites to reduce itchiness that day! A-Yih tried it on, and it really worked! We had prayed for a while for a great fellowshipper for A-Yih and we couldn't really find one, but sister Law Poon was inspired to come with her daughter and she was really who A-yih needed! I love LawPoon Ji muih so much! She is so in tune and incredible, so humble yet so bold and pure. She is such a powerful living, walking testimony of God's blessing and influence and love.

Anyways, so we are very excited about these people progressing. So excited about Jada's baptism this week! she is so pure and honest, so humble and child-like. So willing to listen and follow, and in tune with the Spirit, she readily recognizes God's answers and His love for her. I am learning so much from Jada's example. She has already invited people from the Aberdeen Ward to her baptismal service :)

Christy is also determined to do anything to come to church, she knows she is happiest when she is at church and with the church people. She also wants to be baptized!

A-Kay is also determined to join our church and be active, we will be pushing her baptismal date back though, because the policies has changed this week and has become more specific in the mission. But she is ready to quit, even smoking, she has already completely quit her alcohol.

We are so incredibly blessed with these miracles the Lord pours upon us. We never deserve them, nor are fully worthy of them, but we are grateful for the Grace of God and our Savior's Atonement.

Loves Always,

Sister Burningham

I finally remembered to bring my camera and the usb cord today, but,,

I forgot to bring my other memory card! So only these pictures, wait for Debby's baptism and other pictures later!

Sister Taylor is a very thoughtful person, and she has prepared this "Birthday Celebration" on Sister Kelly and I(?)'s Year mark in Hong Kong, and our almost quarter but not quite birthday for Sister Kelly, Sister Clements and I, after doing daily planning. It was really sweet of her. 

We had a "sushi" night, on P-day we spent some more time "cooking", since they didn't sell the skins of the yu-bu-sushi(?) I attempted to cook one up with normal tofu, but it didn't work, so I whipped up a random tofu soup with left over kimchi and chopped lettus and dumplings at the last minute which was better tasting than I thought it would be! So I was rather proud of myself. Sister Taylor's Aunt is Korean and she loves korean food and we just had some pleasant time eating very random dinner. 

Kwun Tong 26 - Year Mark in Hong Kong

A-Kay has a baptismal date!!! She has already been changing so much!! Buying only one pack of cigarette, and buying milk instead of tea or alcohol (we haven't even asked her to commit to word of wisdom yet!), and thinking and panicking a little, "what's happening? This isn't me!". She is also constantly turning to prayer and calls upon Heavenly Father, and her faith has been growing a lot. She is reading the Book of Mormon and came to church last Sunday despite how much she wanted to sleep in! She is really so prepared! Just seeing her change her life around is really touching me.

It has been quite the emotional week. A-Yih's brother has also been investigating the church before A-Yih ever did, and so the Elders ran into her one day, and then she called Elder Ng and talked on the phone for 2 hours with him about all the Anti things she has heard and read and came to a conclusion that she misses the sisters. Then she called me and told me that she wanted to come back to church, and that she wants to try and believe. So we scheduled her for Monday. On Monday we had 24hours companion exchange where Sister Wong came to serve with me in Kwun Tong for that time!! Wha, I had missed her so much! And it was perfect because on Monday we had scheduled: Hidy (someone who really misses Sister Wong), A-Yih, A-Kay, and Wendy! Sister Wong is a convert herself and when she first met with the missionaries she herself has also read many things online that were awful about The Church. But because the feeling she felt and what she has experienced seeing the missionaries, she didn't believe them and continued investigating. She was able to talk A-Yih through a lot, and for A-Yih, it seemed to have meant more for her to hear a conversion story of a Hong Kong sister who used to never believe in God and was taught in Buddhist school and had many family and life challenges, and then finally finding God and gaining testimony of Jesus Christ and seeing immediate changes and miracles after baptism and while serving missions. A-Yih then agreed to keep learning, and when she gave her closing prayer, she told us that she feels hot inside!

A-Kay was also very happy to see Sister Wong, and Sister Wong was also impressed to see Wendy. She had never imagined that Wendy could change so much, and that she could actually invite and share with her the Gospel! It was one of very powerful 24 hour companion exchange. We both have learned so much and experienced so much since we were companions in Macau, and was able to share much and to feel each other's testimony again. I truly admire her so much, she is definitely one of the people in Hong Kong that will influence and inspire me the rest of my life and into eternities.

Debby was confirmed on Sunday and she is doing great! She is already fellowshipping and bearing her testimony! It has been very emotional week. Also tomorrow is my year mark in Hong Kong. For some reason lately, more people has been asking me when I finish my mission and it's pretty tough to be reminded how fast it's coming up.

Hong Kong is truly special place. I can't believe a year have gone by already. Can the time stop? But then I think of all the ways I have grown and learned and all the people that I have seen come closer to the Lord, all the miracles I have seen, the special times I have spent with the Lord.

I can't thank Him enough, that He has allowed me to come serve in Hong Kong. I can't believe I am serving amongst these beautiful children of God. I love them, I love Cantonese, I am even enjoying the heat and being drenched in sweat, who knew! My heart aches, if I dare say, like Alma, if I were an angel, if I could be more than just me, if I could just call each and all of them to turn to our Savior, If I could take away their burdens, take away their blindness, have their trust and lead them to the right way, help them to see that each of their hard work can and will really be worth so much if they would turn that efforts onto our Savior's Gospel! I want to be the voice in their ear-phones, enter into their I-phones, TVs, commercials, mall windows, their group of friends and acquaintances and testify of the Savior! Our only true, our perfect best friend, our everything! The answer to all, the solution for all, the only way for true satisfaction and joy! But I am but me, and I know that Lord has called me here as I am, and so I am so humbled and grateful that He could use even me to further His work in Hong Kong. To be a blessing to the lives of the people I love so much.

I must go now, I hope that everyone is well and happy, and coming closer to our Savior. He is truly all we ever need.

Loves,

Sister Burningham