This week was a pretty darn good week, but a really tiring week. We have been hitting our finding windows pretty hard having almost two a day every day. Nothing special to report there. We go out. Say a prayer. Try to say "hi" and stop some people. They're always too busy. What else is new. Every once in a while we'll get to share a quick message and hopefully exchange numbers, but so far they either aren't willing to give us anything or block us immediately. That's why I'm so grateful that we have Tim to teach. He's super amazing. On Monday, we taught him the principle of obedience and the first few commandments. This is always the scary part of teaching because people usually have a lot of questions about the commandments or have trouble understanding obedience. But Tim's a legend and totally was like "Yeah, makes total sense. I'll start now". Gotta love the guy. We are meeting with him twice weekly now that his date is coming up.
On Tuesday, it was time for regular interviews with President. To save time though, he only interviewed the people who he didn't get a chance to interview 5 weeks ago when we came in. Bummer, but I got to have a "Sister Philips interview" instead. It was so much fun, she is the nicest lady. She asked about Christmas traditions and things so that she could try to make the Christmas celebrations at least somewhat like home. She also told me to not worry about making mistakes in the language because when she was learning English, she learned it was okay to let people know she couldn't understand them and then they'd be so much more open to helping her learn. I've been trying to apply that and it has been super helpful.
Thursday, we had our usual Crossroads service. We dug into some more shipping containers taking stock of toys and school supplies and things. It was pretty fun but one container had a ton of spiders just chilling on all the boxes. Thursday was the day of way too much food, because when we got home, we got invited to dim sum with the Elder's Quorum president and some people from the ward. The other missionaries in the area also got invited. It was super tasty but I probably ate too much. I'm really learning to like the fish dumplings that they have here. They are super popular. Then, after another lesson with time which went super great, he's got no problem keeping the Sabbath day holy, we had another meal invite. This time, it was our friend Andy from two weeks ago who wanted to take us out for dinner with the mandarin Elders, a couple from the office, and the Philips. He took us to a waaaay nice place. It was fun to talk with him again and the Philips. We ate roasted baby pig, roasted goose, shark fin soup, lobster, and a super fancy cake from a nice bakery. I've probably never had such a rich-person meal in my life. Absolutely crazy. I did feel bad about eating the shark fin soup but I couldn't just refuse when he was paying so much. Now the sharks are going to come back to get me someday.
Friday, I did some finding in an area that our MTC teacher used to live in and showed us on Street View. That was cool.
Saturday, I went with Elder Mumford and Elder Kwok for most of the day while Elder Finklea went to two choir performances. We had a lot of fun finding down at the pier together. A very fine lady is now praying for us each and every night to stop corrupting the bible. So that was fun. We celebrated our exchange and the end of the week by getting Taam Jai (hong kong ramen) and mango drinks. So good.
Sunday we had a friend who texted us earlier in the week come to church. He has met missionaries before but only now can meet with us. So that was cool except he stayed for the Sunday School lesson about the book of Revelation and Joseph Smith Translation. Yeah... instead of milk, this guy got straight into the gristle. But he still wants to come back so that was good. Then I had to follow Elder Finklea to two more choir performances. It was really cool, but I mostly just sat there or turned pages for the pianist.
Today, we got some more baau. My favorite is the coconut covered honey butter filled one. Can't be eating those very often though. Now we are picking up my film and getting my camera fixed.
It has been a good week to be a missionary. I really have got to feel the love that God has for everyone. And when He says everyone, He MEANS everyone. Sometimes I'll not want to talk to someone because they don't look like the kind of person who would be interested, but Elder Finklea will talk to them and have a really good spiritual conversation with them. Your background or circumstances really don't matter that much. Everyone is invited and everyone can experience His love.
See you all later!
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