For P day, we went up to Victoria Peak on a tram and took some cool pictures of the view. It was amazing to see a view I've seen a million times in pictures for myself. Unfortunately, it was a pretty cloudy day but I still could see all the famous tall buildings on Hong Kong Island. I'll make my way out there again sometime soon on a clearer day.
Christmas Eve was full of meetings with members. We had a caroling activity planned in the evening but couldn't stay long before we had to go visit another member. The only thing that made it feel like Christmas was the bus ride home when the bus driver played Christmas music.
Christmas was fun because I got to call home in the morning, but other than that, it was a pretty normal day. It's kind of nice around here that it doesn't feel too Christmassy because then I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Besides just doing normal missionary work, we had members feed us dim sum for breakfast and then hot pot for dinner. Can't complain about that.
Thursday was the real fun Christmas celebration. In the afternoon, the whole mission got together for games and a devotional. We had a minute to win it competition between the zones (which we failed sorely at) and had a lot of fun. We had a super nice dinner of pasta, salad, breadsticks, and chicken parmesan, then a Christmas themed devotional with the Philips and a member of the Seventy, Elder Homer and his wife. It was really cool, they all gave really powerful testimonies of the Savior and their gratitude for his birth.
Friday, we taught Tim his last lesson and had a District white elephant party. I came home with a cool bag with a cat on the front. Tim's lesson went really well and he seemed just as committed as ever to get baptized.
Saturday, we had Tim's baptism. It was stressful for a minute because I was chosen to perform the baptism and I had to memorize the blessing in Cantonese, but then I put it into perspective that it isn't about me at all. It isn't about my fears concerns, it was all about Tim. Once I remembered that, I was a lot less stressed about memorizing the blessing and it went on without a hitch. Tim bore a really simple but powerful testimony that this church was true and that he knew God was directing it today. It was very cool to see how much the Spirit had helped him grow and learn.
We ended the week off with a normal Sunday full of church, studies, a bit of finding and then a dinner appointment with members. It's a blessing how much the members help us out around here by giving us meals and advice.
That's my first Christmas down! Only one more to go!
-Elder Murray
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