MACAU 2 Happy New Year!

This week was Chinese New Year, so almost all businesses were basically closed, including the library, so here is my brief late email to you all :)

I am truly blessed to be serving in Macau right now, we are finding new investigators, one of our investigator A-Yan is progressing so well to her baptismal date, she even helped us teach another investigator and bore powerful testimonies and encouraged her to also keep learning the gospel. She hasn't even been baptized yet, and she has already recognized how happier she has gotten since meeting the missionaries. That other investigator Jenny, is also doing great, we found her last week and she has come to church last week, the same week we found her, and already has developed great friendship with our member Tiffany. We have high hopes for her, she really enjoys the members, activities and us missionaries and has kept all her promises and really loves to learn the gospel.

For the new year our mission went up to the Big Buddha in Hong Kong, it is supposedly very huge buddha on a hill (Wow, that's a big Buddha"), but unfortunately I couldn't really see him because that day there was a very thick fog (Wow, ,,, where is he?) haha. It was a great activity, we also had a vegetarian lunch together which was delicious with so many kinds of tofu I have ever seen. Oh, and also on Sunday they assigned to give a talk in Sacrament, and it was so nerve-racking doing in Cantonese! I get nervous doing it in english in the first place, but it worked out well. I hope the Branch rises up to my invitation to work together in this missionary work :).

Oh and another news while ago I moved on to the second language level and started learning chinese characters, I was working hard on my language because my setting apart blessing told me to read the book of mormon in the language, but I don't know how to read Chinese! So I began since coming to Macau, to learn to read, and it is actually possible :). Well, of course, the Lord wouldn't command me to  do something without providing me a way to accomplish it!

So yeah, working hard and learning much, I hope the same for all of you back home. Nothing provides more purpose, meaning, and joy than what serving the Lord can bring.

Yay mortal life!

with love as always,

sincerely,

Sister Burningham

MACAU 1

Wow, my first week in Macau!

Macau is quite different from Hong Kong, and here we only have 2 branches-Cantonese and English. Sister Wong and I are serving in the Cantonese Branch and it has been going great. I am just still trying to figure out how to best help this area that I can leave it better than I found it, that I can accomplish the wills and plans of the Lord for the area. Because,,,sad to say, although Macau is known to have the most baptisms in the China Hong Kong Mission, it also has the most less-active members (about 400 baptized members but about 50 active members,,,), also it is really hard to find members to fellowship for the lessons. However, Sister Wong last move has just opened a new area with her former companion and they were both very new to Macau, and last move unfortunately they didn't have very good success. But I know that planting seed is just as important as harvesting. This week so far from monday we were able to find a new investigator everyday, it's been a huge miracle, and we were even able to find a very golden new investigator from Indonesia for the English Branch as well. We have been very happy and are doing well moving the work forward step by step. There is a member in the English Branch, her name is U-lan(?) I don't know how to spell her name, but she has so far had us over for a meal twice already, and these indonesian and philipinean people are not rich, they are actually very poor working in Hong Kong or Macau and sending the money home to their family, yet U-lan, cooks and feeds people all the time! Especially on Sunday she fed 15 people in her little tiny apartment! And it was a very touching moment seeng 10 of us missionaries and 5 of the members in the Branch all fitted in this tiny apartment eating food together and getting to know eachother and sharing our conversion stories, all of us away from our families yet finding joy in the gospel as sister/brotherhood in the church, it was very very moving. I am so grateful for the gospel, although we may not have much in the eyes of the world, I know that we have everything because we have the gospel.

Anyways, I hope that everyone also counts their blessings of the gospel, it really is the best and everything we can ever hope for. In it is found all the answers, hopes, happiness, love, and blessings beyond measure. And gospel is only possible, because of our Savior Jesus Christ and His Great Atoning sacrifice.

I love you as always,

Sister Burningham/Leih Jimuih

 

Pictures:The pages in Mandy and Angel's new triple combination for their baptismal gifts :) A-Jyu (shorter one) and Miki <3

My "Last Week" in Hong Kong

So here is the news, Sister Farr is training this move, which means I need to be transferred.

I am moving out of my very first "baby" area where I was "born" as a new missionary in Hong Kong.

And more than that, I was moved OUT of Hong Kong itself,

Today I was transferred to Macau, and here I am emailing in Macau library. My new Companion is Sister Wong, she is from Tai Wo Ward, one of the wards I served in Tolo Harbor, I visited her mother who is also a recent convert in the Ward twice while I served there, so, It's a great mixed feelings, but I will just move on and let you know what happened my last week in Tolo Harbor in Hong Kong.

I have been calling this potential investigator A-Jyu for weeks after weeks, she was contacted by the Elders and so they gave the phone number to me back I think Sister Bingham was still with me. After hearing again that she was still busy with the test season in Hong Kong, I told her I didn't know when she would have time to answer our phone calls again but when she does it may be another sister missionary because I will be moving. She then decided that she wanted to see me before I go and we scheduled to meet (she really didn't want me to leave and said that she would miss me, which is really funny because we only talked on the phone and have never actually met). She brought her friend, Miki, with her and we were able to teach them after school. It was one of The best lessons we ever had in our companionship so far, we were very led by the Spirit and everything went very well and testimonies were powerful. It broke my heart more to have actually met both of them only to leave them, I love them so much,, but we both knew afterwards that I had to be there for that lesson. I am going to miss them very much, we took pictures :)

On Saturday we were finally able to teach Yami! She is already in Jacob 2. We taught her the first lesson and she loved it, Bing Bing, Young Woman in Tai Wo bore powerful testimony of why she knows and how she knows the church is true. I am excited to follow-up on how Yami progresses!

And on Sunday, was the baptism. I will be forever grateful for the Lord, for granting me this opportunity to be there for Mandy and Angel's baptism. It was actually pretty dramatic, because the baptismal fount, we found out during the service, had a leak. So far from making it easier for Mandy to overcome her fear of water and be quickly baptized, it was more difficult than ever. Mandy had to be baptized twice and Angel 3 times, both wet and freezing in the cold weather. However, Mandy and Angel's non-member mother, she was SO supportive, she told the girls to not give up, not to let her mother down, that she even had to go out of her ways to get work off for this day. After the baptism, interestingly,,Mandy wasn't afraid of water anymore, but Angel became deathly scared of water. Anyways, they both recovered and were fine, it was overall very happy and very memorable baptismal service. We bought the girls new set of triple combination in Chinese and wrote in it. I also drew in them as well, I'll send pictures. Many of non-member friends and relatives came to support the girls' baptism and we had 2 non-member friends' mothers asking us to start teaching their children the gospel. It was just a day full of miracles and joy. On Friday during weekly planning Sister Farr and I both had a distinct feeling that A-Yee (Mandy and Angel's Aunt/Guardian) is ready to be baptized on 15th, we invited her, but will see how that will go, she has already heard all the lessons with the girls, but because she didn't want to influence the faith of the girls she doesn't participate in the discussions with how she really feels. We need to teach her by herself. A-Yee herself has great faith, upon hearing that I will be moving to Macau, she simply said, "Need not worry, God assigns all". We exchanged contact informations.

Mahn Jimuih is also a heart of Gold, she is very Christ-like, and it's not always easy and pain-free to be so. She has had a lot of hurts because she is so compassionate and giving. We are continuing to prepare her to go to the temple and be more accepted by the ward members in Sheung Shui. I love her so much, it is very hard to leave such beloved people, but I know that that is why we have the gospel, so that the relationships we form on earth Can continue in eternity. We will definitely see our loved ones again.

Out of time, will send more pictures next week, I am going to do my best here in Macau as well, give my all as I have in the 3 Wards and areas of Tolo Harbor.

Praise the Lord

Love always

Sister Burningham

Week 18 in Hong Kong

LeihHou everyone!!

How was everyone's new year?

As for us TaiPo sisters we counted down to 11pm (in China Hong Kong Mission we get up at 7 and go to bed at 11, yes it's a special mission, only because the city wakes up later) and celebrated Japan's New Year haha,

Anyways, here are some news, Mandy came upto me on Sunday to talk to me about her baptism, she has this great fear of water and she had a baptism coming up on the 15th, she is now more comfortable with the idea of quickly going under the water and coming up, but is still nervous, so she decided to move the baptismal date up a week so that Elder Ng, who she feels most comfortable receiving baptism from, can baptize her before he finishes his mission and leave on the 13th or so. So we have Mandy and Angel her little sister (they wanted to be baptized together and Angel has been wanting to be baptized already in her first lesson) scheduled to be baptized this coming Sunday!!!! They have already passed their interviews on Monday and we are only waiting for their paretal signatures for their baptisms! I am SO Excited for them!! Mandy's family situation is really complicated and she is arriving in her teen years and seeing her and her family struggles I saw myself back in her age, and I knew Christ and His Gospel will protect her and help her through all the life's challenges. Through the gospel she will know who she really is, that she is a daughter of God, and she will not need to be confused by her family's complicated situations. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father gave me this opportunity to witness my Hong Kong little sisters come unto Christ, this miracle, it is all because the Spirit guided, prepared, and supported them. God truly is so merciful to show me His imperfect servant these miracles to testify to me that His work truly is a Great and Marvelous Work.

The field really is white and ready to harvest

Sincerely, with love always,

Sister Burningham

Week 17 in Hong Kong

P-day this week is on Friday, just this week for leadership training and other meeting schedules,

We got to go to the temple today. We are incredibly blessed to go every transfer. Everytime I go to the temple, I feel as if I have come home, I am able to leave all the burdens of the past 6 weeks and start over again spiritually rejuvenated.

Anyways, don't have much time to write because I sent more pictures this time but Christmas was wonderful and Mandy and Angel have a fast coming baptismal date for the January 15!! We got to meet Angel's father and his girl friend who previously was concerned because they heard many bad things about the church but upon meeting us they said all the questions they had were answered just by seeing the kind of people we missionaries were, and that what they heard didn't match up with what we were. It was an incredible humbling experience knowing that truly, no matter how bad our cantonese may be, the light of Christ we radiate is the most important and speaks the loudest.

Although there wasn't a baptism on Christmas for our companionship, many of our investigators are progressing and 3 of them will be prepared to be baptized in January, we are very excited, also, the Elders in Sheung Shui had a baptism on Christmas, and I know that their convert's family will also be influenced by his example. THis work truly is exciting and I know that it has only begun, my 3rd move into the mission hasn't even ended yet and I am already witnessing all these lives change and coming unto Christ. I am so thankful for the examplary Hong Kong Saints, I am so thankful for all the experiences the Lord gives me to help me become who I need to become, and the blessings and knowledge He gives me as I need them and am ready for them.

Yesterday I also met the legendary Sister Kim! The Korean sister missionary that served before I got to Hong Kong, her Cantonese is unbelievable and gives me great hope too haha. Anyways, I know I am sent here in Hong Kong for a specific purpose, and having only less than a year left now of my mission, I rededicate/recommit to give it my all.

I hope everyone also is letting Heavenly Father mold them into what they need to be becoming!

Happy New Year!! The year of 2012 Dun!Dun!Dun!! :D

Love, always,

Sister Burningham

Leih Ji Muih

 Zone Christmas dinner,

One of the game was sticking a mustache on Santa,

for some reason,,the Santa looks kind of like dad, I must have unconsciously drawn him :)

Mahn Jimuih brought her nonmember daughter to SheungShui Ward Christmas Party!

 TaiWo ward Young Women and our 2 new investigators Yami and Jasmine in middle, and Victoria from Taipo ward on right end with Wilma next to her, and Bing Bing on the left end with Amy and Nicole Ng next to her :)

 Hazel Law visited home for Christmas!!! (I serve in her ward-Sheung Shui, and her dad is the Ward mission leader, and we have had dinner at the Law family's house and the mom is amazing cook and relief society presidency!)

People have told me that I look kind of like Hazel, and now looking at this picture I can see it too

 Picture with Sister Farr my current companion and our lovely recent convert Vianna that Sister Bingham baptized

 we also posed together with the mustaches :) Our less-active member Mahn Jimuih also came :) Sister Mahn is on the far right :)

 We made snikerdoodles with our member friends Sister Chan and her daughter Sonia

(they are less-active but are really doing better now!)

and funny thing, Sister chan calls me her korean daughter and herself as our hongkong mother, she also called me a "good-pig" which was funny because my real mom calls me a pig too!! So for me they made a pig shaped snickerdoodle and so there you have pictures me and the 2 pig cookies! haha

                                         Sister Farr and I today after the temple!

6 MONTH MARK

Today December 22, 2011, I have officially been out on my mission for exactly 6 months, ALREADY

it flew by so fast. and in 3 days  it is Christmas, and I sometimes wonder if the past six months has been acceptable to the Lord. I feel like I am never good enough of a missionary, but then I realize that is because of our fallen nature; None of us are perfect, everyone has weaknesses for God gave them to us, but they are given to us to keep us humble not to beat ourselves up. I love the story in the talk from the last general conference about Teaching by the Power of the Holy Spirit, I think was called, where everytime the father and the daughter paused to take a breath while climbing the mountain, they didn't focus exclusively on how far they still had to go but they also took a moment to see how far they have come, and immediately started climbing again, one step at a time. I think that is a perfect example of our journey to become perfect even as our Savior and our Heavenly Father.

So I have some incredible storie to share, on thursday, last Pday we didn't have much time to go finding, so we decided to try to find someone on our way home from our meetings. On our way home we said hello to a man who greeted back and started to speak to us in English. While we were engaging in a conversation about his interest in the church and former involvement, a college age boy approached us to ask if we have seen his soccor ball and being fascinated how we foreign missionaries spoke Cantonese, lingered to join our conversation, his English was also amazing as he has been preparing to attend a university in Scottland. At the end of what was about 30min to an hour conversation they said they would think about attending our English class or the Christmas card making Activity after the class on Friday, and we went home. The next day on the train there were these really hyper teenage girls going home from school that I laughed at and told them they were cute, and we ended up talking to them and also invited them to the english class and the activity, they seemed excited but we also were aware that the school uniform they wore was a school that we have heard to be anti-ing their students. It's the same school we have lost 5 of our investigators so far who all of a sudden stopped answering our calls and didn't show up to their scheduled appointments and just disappeared (one of them even had a baptismal commitment). But that night, Wing (the college aged boy) and the two girls both came! and had great time with the members and felt the Spirit! The two girls, Yami and Jasmine Have been anti-ed by their teachers before, but apparently it motivated Yami who seems a bit rebellious in a sense to want to find out what it is about this church and the Book of Mormon that the teachers hate so much and be warning the students about and telling all these crazy stories about. So by the next night she had already read the Book of Mormon upto 2nd Nephi Chapter 4! and the young woman in TaiWo (Bing Bing) that befriended her that night and had conversation with her outside the church by themselves told us that the two girls are ready for the gospel and will be baptized! Wing also had a good experience and although he had doubts about the church before (he himself also having had attended that same school before, and heard many bad things about the church) gradually developed interest from getting to know members, the elders, and attending the Christmas devotional and TaiPo FHE Christmas Party, the Elders now have him scheduled to teach the lessons and we are very excited!!

Also our less-active member Sister Mahn, she has been coming to church everyweek for 4 weeks now and having been reading theBook of Mormon everyday and is just being healed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, and is hungering for more! Last time we committed her to prepare herself to be able to attend the temple, and we are very excited for her!

 

pictures real quick

for mission christmas activity/meal today we had a real whole cooked pig that was chopped in front of us,,,,,!!!didn't have time to take picture of it before it was chopped so,,,,sorry for a bit graphic photo,,,,

this is Sister/Mrs. Wong, she was our former investigator who we discontinued teaching because her age prevented her from remembering anything we taught, but we invited her to our christmas party and she came :)

 

Merry Christmas everyone, and remember as we heard in the Christmas Devotional, the true meaning of CHRISTmas!! and give Him your heart! Bring souls unto Him! :) :)

 

Lots of love, always,

Sister Burningham

in Hong Kong

Week 14 in Hong Kong

Wow, actually this time I don't have a lot of time to write this email,

but I just want to quickly say, God is with us, He knows each individual one of us, and according to our desire, our faith, our readiness, He will place people and blessings in our path to help us reach our potential. Everyone please daily study His words, He has prepared so many generations worth of countless prophets and revelations to cause Book of Mormon to come forth in our day. He prepared the record for us right now, please don't take it for granted because that only makes Satan "happy". Without the daily scripture study habit we cannot progress into our eternal potential, and if we are not progressing we are digressing. Let His words change you to become the person you were made to become. His words has changed me into who I was before my mission, prepared and worthy to serve the Lord, and it still continues to change me more into the person I need to become, the divine potential that we each have. We have yet so much to grow, so much faith to develope, we really are nothing without Him, nothing compared to Him, but we mean everything to Him as President Uchtdorf(hope that is the right spelling) said, that He has prepared and done and is still doing everything He can to help us reach our divine potential, if we would but accept His help.

That is my hope and plea for my beloved people I cannot see during my mission, if they don't already have that important habit.

I love you so so much, miss you and pray for you,

always,

Sister Burningham

3 Month Month Mark in Hong Kong, Start of Move 3

It is still hot outside and looks like it is June in Utah, yet we had Christmas music playing in the malls and places before ThanksGivings even came, it is quite interesting :)

But it's sad most people don't even know what Christmas Season is for, and it recommits me that I want to testify of my Savior Jesus Christ more so that in this season people may at least hear His name. Our district is thinking of going Caroling every week, not sure how that will work but I am pretty excited.

Last night we had the opportunity to visit the Lo couple. Brother Lo was the Bishop for TaiPo Ward before and he was the first Hong Kong Temple President. He is now in a wheel chair and his health isn't very good, but he never misses coming to church on Sunday and is always early to the meetings. He is an incredible example. Sister Lo is also very out going and physically active for her age and really takes good care of Brother Lo, she is always smiling and greets everyone, they are both temple workers and have about 2+ feet stack worth of family history records. They are incredible missionaries for the otherside of the veil and incredible influence and strength and testimony builder on this side. I will send a picture of them :)

Last Sunday Sister Mahn came to church!! After we left her house she said that she resolved her own concern and conflict through action of love that she could come, and had a great expirience at church! She hasn't been to church in about 10+ years and she has really been through many heartaches that are starting to heal through the gospel.

We are meeting many more new people lately and it's been very exciting. I have been thinking about how the Lord has rescued me from the world into HIs gospel and why is it that I am able to enjoy His mercies when all these people are still suffering in this world. But through serving my brothers and sisters under the guidance of the Spirit, I am just very grateful to be used as Lord's instrument to rescue His other children as well. I know that the Lord's plan is perfect and He knows what He is doing. I know I can always trust in Him and do my best in His watchful care.

Last week we had a talent show in the Stake where Sister Farr had the opportunity to bear her testimony through dance. It was very powerful and beautiful, the Spirit was very strong and it was very moving. I don't think I ever realized how much I actually enjoy watching dances, I think I would also enjoy animating them :) Many people came upto her afterwards and expressed that they were grateful to have seen the dance. It is such a blessing that we are able to use our talents to bless the lives of people on our missions!

Out of time and I must go, but as always I love you very very much!

Sister Burningham

Week 12 in Hong Kong, End of Move 2

Another move has come and gone, and sometimes as a sister missionary it makes me very nervous how time flows on our mission. I don't want to waste this the Lord's time, I don't want this mission to just pass by, I want to grab a hold of it and make the most of it, I want to act and not be acted upon.

But I realize that perhaps the reason time goes by so strangely on missions is because we are so focused on making the most out of the now. Each week we do weekly planning, where we set our goals for the week and plan all the things we will be doing to reach that goal for the week. Then during the week as days come by, since the week has already been planned we can just focus on the day. Also, each night we do daily planning for the next day, where we set goals for the day and plan out what we will do each hour to accomplish those goals, and I think, this has been one of the gratest lessons I have learned on my mission so far. Proper planning. Because I have plans, I don't have to worry about planning as time goes by, each hour of the day I can put forth all my attention and effort on the task that was scheduled and make the most out of the hour, and living each hour of the day like that I guess can distort our perception of time. I really cannot believe that, it is already another P-day, and that because today is the first of December (already!! I feel like I just got to Hong Kong a couple weeks ago and that was early September) in 21 days I would have been out on my mission for 6 months, Third way into my mission, and that is very nerve racking.

But I know that those prayerfully set goals are being fulfilled, and I know I am doing the work that the Lord had in mind.

It actually is very incredible how the Lord works in such mysterious ways, as I excercise my faith and do my best hour by hour His work is really moving forward almost on its own, people I haven't even been able to talk to for years are turning towards Christ, people of all sorts of backgrounds are being found everyday and are being invited to come unto Christ, and even within my investigator pool,

Elsa who has previously disappeared for some weeks has been coming to church, and came to our once a move My Conversion Story Fireside, and is now reading and praying daily to find her answer, and asking the Lord to help her be ready to be baptized by Christmas;

Mrs. Fung who has been coming to church for two Moves but would never schedule to see us missionaries has finally scheduled us and learned about why this church is different and how she can progress to baptism to really follow Christ;

When we went finding one day in Sheung Shui we happened to talk to a lady, Fung Siu Je, and her now-9-year-old son Peter, who has couple years ago have been taught by Elder Taylor Williams (I knew him in my BYU Stadium Terrace Single's Ward!!!) and sort of driffed off from progressing in the church ever since her missionaries left, it was a miracle that both of us unplanned happened to be there at that time to meet, and for us to remind her about the church and how now both her and her son could work towards baptism! She came to the Primary Thanks Giving Activity and is planning on coming to church on sunday.

Our former investigator Mrs. Tse (who was dropped by other missionaries about 3 times previously), who couldn't progress mainly because of her work on Sunday that prevented her from coming to church, last time we taught her, something special happened. Our fellowshipper Lai Mommy, Sister Farr, and I were all very unified in our teaching with the Spirit, and she herself unexpectedly asked us how she can recieve and know that she received her answer. She was very sincere and had a different look in her eyes, and we have great hopes that she now has a desire to act upon her belief and hopes.

Our less active member Sister Mahn, who Sister Bingham and I have visited my first week or so in Hong Kong, found time to see us again yesterday and told us her real concern why she does not want to attend church, and we comforted her with the Book of Mormon, words of the prophets, Joseph Smith's experience and our testimonies, and invited her again to come to church. She said she would and we're very excited!

So many hearts are turning to the Lord, I have not enough time to relate them all. At times, there's so much to be discouraged and saddened by, but in the world there's oppositions in everything. If there is bad, there's also good, and it is our challenge to look up and focus on the good. There will always be negative things to be unhappy about, this is definitely an imperfect world &imperfect people live in it, they are so easy to find with so little effort, but if we put our effort to find the good, they are also there too. In Christ we can have all the hopes we could ever hope for, and as one of my favorite quote says, "Everything is going to be alright in the end, if it isn't alright it isn't the end"

Add oil everyone, :)

Jesus Christ, He really really really loves you, learn of Him and all He has done for you because of His love for you :)

And to it I add my humble love,

Sister Burningham

Week 11 in Hong Kong!!

I am losing track of time here, I am having to check on my sent email to see which week I am on haha

But, first and foremost, I just want to express, I don't know why I am blessed so much, but I am, everything testifies to me that the Lord really is aware of me and my life, and of my needs. And not only me, but towards everyone that is precious to me, that means a lot to me. And not only them, but for each and every person on the earth through out all generations of time. But isn't this a witness that each one of us are really intimately, His child? He really loves us and has invested a lot in each of us as He raised us in the life before. Each one of us are His purpose, the meaning and glory of His very existance. And that is also our goal, potential, and purpose, to learn from our experiences and apply the principles of the Gospel to grow to become just like Him. And we first learn our lessons (of developing more love and being interested in another's life) within the first intimate people relationship we have in this life-usually our own families. And God has provided us with His perfect eternal plan of happiness, and Jesus Christ fulfills that plan through His Atonement. I am very grateful to be a part of that plan. I praise my Lord, I am utterally incredibly glad that I have chosen in the life before to follow that plan. I have trusted in my Savior in the pre-earth life that He would accomplish His mission as our Savior, and now in this life, I know that as I continue to put forth my trust in Him and show that trust through living His gospel, I will be even more infinitely glad that I did.

I am truly grateful to be her on earth, I am grateful I have a body, I am grateful I have a family, and true friends that love and support me, I am grateful I am on a mission. I am grateful that though I lack in fully trusting in the Lord at times, the moment I excercise my faith in Him, the moment I repent of my sins and weaknesses, He shows me His infinite mercy through showering blessings of love, forgiveness, and needed miracles. I have been given so much, and sometimes I wonder why, I definitely do not deserve all the blessings, but then I realize that those blessings are given to me to share with my brothers and sisters, as a disciple of Christ, as I serve my brothers and sisters, I am to share God's love and blessings with them.

Life is nonetheless difficult, ("if you do it right" :) ), but as Elder Scott(? I think) said, and quoted by beloved Jayne, "Sunday will come", I am grateful that we can look to Savior's Atonement for hope, and have faith in the Lord's perfect plan, some may not use their agency to its best right now, but in the end, everything will work out, I know.

So little time and so much I yet want to say, but I may leave it the way it is now, today being Thanks Givings nonetheless :)

I love you all so so much forever,

Leih Ji Muih

 

Pictures:

Ng Family with Amy in the very front, very awesome happy family :) TaiPo Ward

Beautiful bay, one of many in Hong Kong

Yeung Family with January in gray outfit next to Sister Farr, very humble family, very examplary, with January's amazing missionary work, having served for few months herself as summer missionary this year of 2011 :) :) Sheung Shui Ward

Week 10?!

I can't believe how fast this past week went by, I thought P-day was just two days ago and now it's another Pday again!!!
Today was our temple day! I am SO HAPPY!!!
Also on our way back home, on the MTR Train, I saw this cute baby sleeping in his mother's arm and I commented on how cute fast asleep he was to the mother and started talking to her, I found out that sadly, she was from the Mainland China and although she was interested we can't go to the mainland, so I gave her a book of Mormon, and received her email address to refer her later and ended up talking to the two ladies sitting next to her about the gospel as well, and it soon turns out the whole train has gone silent and they were all listening to me,,,,!! ^///^; So we basically bore our testimony and preached the gospel and I gave the ladies fliers as well and we bore testimony of how Jesus Christ can help us all individuals and that He has died for our sin, We hope that this has done some major ripple effect :) :) because we said some amazing things, I thought so, haha, but actually it was because the Lord was with us, just coming fresh out of the temple I was rejuvenated (mind my spelling,,) and I didn't care how awkward my cantonese was, I just came out of the temple with its fullness of blessings, and I see a mother with her precious baby who doesn't know that she can have him forever for eternity! I had to bear my testimony about the eternal family.
Sister Jau is still very amazing, we taught her the word of wisdom yesterday and apparently she drinks alcohol with her family quite regularly, but after teaching the lesson she just right away said, alright, I won't drink with my family, I will just play by their side, as if it wasn't a big deal, She has such a big faith! Because far as we know she still hasn't had a very recognizable strong answer or feeling yet, this is all just her believing, she loves reading the book of mormon and she prays and reads everyday, She's eager to find out what more commandments there are that she needs to learn about because they are mentioned in church each week and we have been meeting with her about 3 times every week, she is just so amazing, her motives are pure, she wants to be with people, people she can love and be with, friends, And our message is that throught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we Will be with our loved ones for eternity, we serve eachother and help eachother to become better people, we mean nothing without oneanother, we mean nothing on our own, She loves our promise that people in her life may move, die, in one way or another, leave her, but Savior Jesus Christ will not, the scriptures will not, and so she wants to gain that testimony that we have, she wants to get to know the savior like we have promised.
There are so many potential investigator friends that are yet seeing us, because apparently this time is a test season and all students are busy stressed and has no time, we hope that we can see some of these people soon.
We had a multi Zone conference on tuesday and it was So great! I got to learn a lot about great questions I could ask my investigators to help them be guided to the truth on their own, and all sorts of inspirations for my investigators and for me as a missionary how I can do better, sacrifice more, be more obedient, exactly obedient!
I know that these past few days since has been filled with miracles because I strived to overcome my weaknesses to push harder to be exactly obedient, bed right at 11, no minute after, be up by 7 no minute later, just taking more attention and focus on ridding those little things has blessed us tremendously.
I was going to send all the pictures today but forgot again, next week!
but these are 1. Temple with Sister Farr today
2. Sister Jau and one of her two daughters!
Lots of love, always,
Leih Ji Muih
Sister Lee/Burningham :)

2 month mark in Hong Kong!

I have been in Hong Kong for over 2 months now! Crazy! I only have little over a year of my mission left, ahhhhh, but it helps me to value every day more, and to spend my short time more efficiently.

This past week has been VERY interesting, it's been all over the place,

first, this experience actually reminded me of Sister Em, I mean Emily Nakayu because it involves colors, haha

While we were planning for the next day one evening, as we prayed, we both came up with 2 different hours of the day where we could go finding, but we only had one hour to spare, 3 pm and 4:30 pm, I told Sister Farr that both felt good, but had different feelings, she asked what feelings and I said, 4:30 feels purple and 3 pm feels yellow,,,,

She thought it interesting and at the time she was staring at the map book and asked that she has 2 places in mind, and how Tai Wo and Fanling sounded, I said Fanling also felt purple, but I was convinced that I must be remembering the color tab of the page. It turns out that the page tab wasn't purple, and the area Sister Farr was staring at had a purple hand symbol in the middle of it. It was very interesting so we decided to pick that area. We were going on a 24 hour splits that next day so Sister Farr and Sister Cheung went to the area, and they ended up finding a very well prepared young man who had had these questions of the soul! They gave his number to the Sheung Shui Elders. On the other hand, I and Sister Bishop went on splits to her area and during her finding time she saw a yellow umbrella (it was pouring rain that day) from the distance and had the impression to talk to her, so we caught up to the lady and started to talk to her when we find out that she happens to be deaf! I asked her in ASL if she understands American Sign Language and she did! Sister Bishop and I both happen to know ASL so we signed to her! We gave her the Restoration pamphlet and bore testimony that we knew that the message was true which seemed to intrigue her, we also gave her Plan of Salvation pamphlet and a flier and invited her to come to church on sunday. We are very excited to find out how this will turn out. Apparently there is also a deaf ward in Yun Long, it is far away but that means there are deaf members that could fellowship this sister, Her name is sister Cheng by the way. We also met a lady from mainland that spoke Mandarin to us, and we called Sister Cheung who knows mandarin (because the mandarin elders didn't answer their phone) to help us, and she told us that the lady was only staying in Hong Kong for 10 days and will be going back and that we should give her the book of mormon. So we did and talked to her using the 10-ish Mandarin words and phrases I knew and she seemed grateful that we gave all those things to her for free.

Yesterday we got on a wrong bus and was on a 1 hour detour, but on our way back I heard Korean and ended up talking to these 2 Korean men on the train. It was hard because my gospel korean isn't very good, and my korean can get awkward here and there etc. I only had the Restoration Pamphlet in Korean  and gave it to them, it was a very overwhelming experience. Sister Farr who have been observing said they were entertained and that I did them good. The men although uninterested and busy said meeting me was uplifting and that they felt good, and that that is enough. I have been since praying that they will not be able to forget about what I said and what they felt until they act upon it,,,,For I told them of the eternal significance of this message and bore my testimony of it.

So yes, my mind has been very busy and confused with so many different languages and people, but at the same time my Cantonese seem to be improving nonetheless because people tell me so.

So many things happen daily here, talking to so many different kinds of people with their own concerns and circumstances. It gets overwhelming to constantly thinking about each and one of their eternal welfare, dealing with their salvation, it is a huge responsibility to represent the Savior and invite them to come unto Him. And struggling to communicate, because  I am not perfect or am founded in any language,

The Lord my Savior really is my only security, my foundation and base, No matter how much I feel like I am neither accepted by or feel belonged by People in Hong Kong, Korea, America, or having lived with so many different family circumstances, it gets quite lonely or feel insecure at times. But I do know that I am a Child of God, I belong to Christ, He is my foundation and security, He has given me absolutely everything, a complete family, examplary people in my life that I can call true friends, the road back home, the Holy Ghost, His light, Everything, and although people here may feel that they have their family and life is good, if they have not God, God who is love, His love which is Charity, for which without, we are nothing, we have nothing. I am here to offer them this everything, to all those that will accept, I love you back home, I am grateful for your words, thank you family for writing me weekly, it really helps me, I have been missing hugs and affection, but your words really help me feel better than I am.

In Christ we all shall be together forever,

Love,

Sister Burningham

Week 8 in Tolo Harbour

Where to start? I feel very exhausted right now my fingers have no strength to type, yet I am at peace and happy inside.

Sister Jau came to church with her two daughters on Sunday! And they loved it! They also had the Primary program in Sacrament and her daughters also participated (TaiPo Ward has Sacrament meeting last) and the daughters made friends and were holding hands together by the time church was over and begged their mother if they could come again to church next week :) :) :) :) so cute

Sister Jau herself is doing very well as well, she has kept every single one of the commitments we gave her and although she isn't sure she believes them yet she is willing to try them out. We challenged her to pray for an answer on Tuesday and described to her about our experiences with the Spirit, and last night when we called her to follow up on her commitments and give her a new chapter to read from the book of mormon, she told us that she feels she has obtained a small answer. Glimps of quietness. We told her to keep praying and doing as she has been and promised her that the feeling she felt will grow larger. We are very excited about her progression, we have seen her twice a week, and this weekend she is also coming with us to the Family Geneology activity on Saturday at Sha Tin! She loves the church and the members, we are very excited.

We have come up with a plan for our two friends, whose parents have not given them permission to be baptized until a long while, Zoe [Zo-ee] and Elock, We have decided to teach them all the rest of the lessons so that incase their parents have softened their hearts they will be ready to be baptized before the parents change their minds again. We want to ask them if they are willing to ask their parents their baptismal permission for Christmas Present. We have great hopes.

The other day, after Korean Class, I was on splits with formal Summer missionary Wilma to buy some supplies, when I spotted Heison!! We ran after him to talk to him, he said he was on work hours and returned to the store, and so now, I know where he works! (that sounds a little creepy,,but it's a good thing) It is a drink shop, so Sister Farr and I went their to buy a drink and he saw us, and I smiled, we hope that he would start to loose up from his guiltiness and hopefully he feels he is welcomed whenever he feels he is ready to come to church and whatever he is going through is resolved. I pray for him everyday still.

Elsa hasn't been coming to church and for some reason she is very busy and cannot see us until sunday, it is very confusing to know what her priorities are and if she really is interested to learn more and be baptized or not. last week she had to cancel our appointment on sunday because she was sick, hopefully she makes it this week.

Tuesday during FHE, our correlator Brother Lam shared his thought and he shared about an article in the Book of Mormon edition of the Liahona about the man who washed his hands before touching and handling the sacred Book of Mormon. It was the first time I saw him cry, it was very touching and powerful as he testified of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. On Friday we had a dinner with the Choi family in Sheung Shui, and the father works in the Hong Kong Temple. He shared his meeting with a family from Thailand that saved up their money to come to the Hong Kong temple to be sealed. Thailand that day had a great flood, he asked if their home was ok, the mother smiled and said that their house and everything they owned have been swept away, their house is no longer where they left it, but she said that it was ok, their family is sealed for eternity and because of it they will always have a home, it didn't matter if they had a house or not, they have their family for ever, so they have everything. Brother Choi was so touched by the family that he shared it with us missionaries, and I am just so thankful, so thankful for incredible saints all around the world, their faith also strengthens my faith, we have amazing members here in Hong Kong, their examples are powerful influence in me, I learn more everyday how after mission I can be the member missionary I ought to have been, how to be the member missionary that we all should be.

I will probably end my mail here, I hope that everyone is doing well, there's hardly enough time to write a letter here on P-days, especially because sometimes thursdays are only open day for some investigators, and there are more errends to run, chores to do than MTC :) So I hope that people read these posts, because it's hard for me to write them personally. I really hope that, as always, that each of you are also growing closer to the Lord and becoming more awesome of a person than I left them. I love you very very much, always, and most importantly, the Lord loves more than anyone can ever comprehand. Study His words, everyday, especially the Book of Mormon, having been written specifically for us in this time and our day.

God speed

Leih Jimuih

Week 7

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing amazing!
Sister Farr and I are doing well, it was an overwhelming start for both of us, me not quite all the way trained and her being just barely come out of her training the responsibilities have been quite the load but we have had many helping hands including first and foremost, the Lord.
Sister Farr came to the area with many great new ideas to excercise more faith! One of them are our Sacred Teaching Times. We each prayerfully pick 2 one hour long finding time during the week and prayerfully decide where to go as well, and we cannot replace or postpone the time even if it means re-scheduling our investigators for another time. Because we have prayerfully dedicated those times to find someone the Lord wants us to meet, it has become very sacred. Each of those times we have had special moments, one of them including finding our amazing new convert Mrs.Jau! We found her after almost an hour of searching and not finding anyone with interest, meaning right at the end of our find. And she is SO great, we were already able to teach her twice and she has so far kept all of her commitments and will be coming to church on Sunday with her daughters! We also have prayerfully decided on a baptismal date for her that we are looking forward to giving her, she already understands that baptism is her goal and that she needs to pray to find out the truth herself! I am very excited for her. Oh and she is a new investigator for the TaiPo ward!! Tai Po hasn't had a baptism for about two years, so we're really excited for the day she'll be baptized!
Last Saturday we also had another drawing class, this time the turn out was great and we were able to meet one of the formal investigators of Sister Mills and Sister Black (quite long ago), Kube, and help her with her English homework.
Our work is starting to really pick up and we are working our hardest, the new responsibilities are still a bit overwhelming but we feel the Lord's strength. We also have incredible wards that are so friendly and willing to help out.
I have also realized that October 22nd marked my 4th month into my 18 month mission. It's making me a bit nervous to realize how short this mission is, and looking out and seeing thousands and thousands of people that yet do not know the gospel and that are "perishing in unbelief" (Preach My Gospel) can be very overwhelming and desperate. But I do know that this is the Lord's work. And He has His perfect best Plan for all of us, and anything is possible to Him. I know that there are people ready everywhere, and the Lord has His plans, He invites us all to participate by inviting others to come unto Christ, but this is still His work, He is the Gardener. And I only need to put my trust in Him and do as He commands, excercising my faith. I know that since being on a mission I was able to learn more on how I personally can constantly receive revelation after revelation, I can better recognize the Lord's voice, and He really comforts me and strengthens me through His words. I love Him and miss Him very much.
The weather is starting to cool down more and it's feeling very nice, Utah must be close to the snow season. We are having a halloween party for kids this saturday where we missionaries need to make a pinata(?) for, we'll see how that turns out, members have promised to bring friends so it is something we are looking forward to. I hope that all of you back home really are doing well, I miss you, I pray for you. At tiimes I still can't believe that I am in Hong Kong right now, speaking awkward Cantonese, really, who would have thought? I love the people here, they really are my brothers and sisters,
and I want nothing less than the eternal happiness and exaltation for each and one of them all. I also know that through my mission, my family is being blessed very much, and also other precious friends back home. At Asian multi-stake conference last sunday (really great meeting, it was SO good) one of the talks was reviewing back to Elder Scott's recent conference talk, about scriptures being our best friend, and how we need to spend more time and attention to develope deeper friendship with our scriptures. I know that message is true, it was the scriptures that really pulled me through everything. They really are best friends. I hope that all of you back home are also striving to strengthen your relationships with your best friends :)
Love you lots and lots for ever
Leih Ji muih

Beginning of Transfer 2!

Or the 2nd Move, in Hong Kong, the Transfers are called Moves, I don't know why though,
So I hope many people have had wonderful birthdays these past few weeks, I know my "birthday" was wonderful a week or two ago, and now I am at a start of a new move, a feeling of starting things to improve on the past.
We had our first drawing class last week, in the sheung shui chapel, the turn out was pretty disappointing, but it went alright, considering how inconvenient the sheung shui chapel is located we have faith that this week in TaiPo ward there will be better turn out, it was a good practice. I had prepared 4 anime drawings for them to copy using some drawing principles I taught, Kelly Loosli of BYU Animation faculty would be so proud,,,I drew anime for it seemed to be what is popular here in Hong Kong, haha, it was a pretty weird preparation. But the drawings were 2 praying pictures (one girl, the other boy) that said "Speak, He is Listening", and 2 book of mormon reading pictures (girl, and boy) that said "Read, He is Spaeaking", they liked the drawings, and as for me, I am doing my best to know how I can utilize the talents and gifts Heavenly Father has given and invested in me to help build up His Kingdom, I am still in the effort to finding that out.
With permission, last night Sister Bingham and I were able to meet that miracle Korean lady to teach with her Elders! We taught Taeyoung about the Word of Wisdom and although it is challenging for her to start keeping those values despite pressure from her work and from her Korean senior colleges, we bore our testimony and she shared in her prayer how much she wants to please the Lord more than the people she associates with, and how much she hopes to strengthen her relationship with the Lord. It was SO wonderful. I regret now that I forgot to get a picture with her, but we will most likely see eachother again so that is exciting.
So I have a new companion who will continue to train me (Baby/Greenie Missionaries are trained for 12 weeks/2Moves) after Sister Bingham her name is Sister Farr from Ogden UT, She is a very hard worker and full of spirit! I am excited to get a different view and approach to the mission even though I am serving in the same area.
Something I really treasure in my mission is the Spirit. We are working with the spirit side by side. As we set goals and plans we follow the Spirit. Whenever we feel stuck, or lack in wisdom, I love that we can just kneel in the middle of our planning and goal setting to ask the Lord what we should do. And He answers. He has helped us to set goals, and stretch our views, He has helped us set baptismal date for an investigator, I first had to have faith, but as companions, as we each arrived on a same answer and shared them to eachother, our testimony of the Lord's guidance has increased. I know that when we do our part, the Lord will not deprive of us His wisdom. And when there is no specific answer, He gives both of us a calm assurance that we can just step forward with faith and know that it will all work out. Prayer, is so important to me. I cannot, every part of myself can't survive without prayer, but with prayer, by conversing with the Lord, I can go and do anything.
Out of time, everything is alright, hope to tell more next week
I love and miss you all very much,
Sister Burningham