Week 27 - Stuck Inside Apartment since Wednesday - Wuhan Coronavirus; Naps, Study and Settlers of Catan; Escapes for food, exercise and transfers; Sad to say goodbye to MTC buddy Elder Mumford

Weeellllll,

It has been quite the week, let me tell you. Most of you probably already know but because of the virus, we have been chilling in our apartment all day everyday since Wednesday. Aaaannnndddd we just got a text saying that this week is going to be the same. Great. It actually isn't too bad. I like the extra study time for language and gospel stuff. But there is only so many times you can go through your area book calling everybody. So we fill the time usually with naps, more studying, and plenty of rounds of Settlers of Catan.

Tuesday was our only day of freedom. We did a few hours of finding and then had district council for the last time with our district as it is.

Wednesday, we were doing our daily planning, looking at an empty day with a lot of time out on the streets when we got the text to stay inside. We were pretty excited to be part of not only historic protests, but a historic virus.

Thursday, we had transfers and had to go out to pick up four elders moving into our apartment building. It was sad to say goodbye to my MTC buddy, Elder Mumford. We had some good times together but now he is in another part of Hong Kong. The new guys are cool though too. One of them is brand new and spending his first days in Hong Kong locked up. We were also encouraged to go out on a walk that day so we showed the new elders their area at the pier. 

The rest of the week was pretty much the same. Staying inside, doing what we can, trying to fight the boredom. 

Today we will go buy food (we'll see how that goes because everyone has been stocking up lately because they think Hong Kong will close itself off and food will be scarce.) Seriously, I have never seen so many empty instant noodle and rice shelves. It is truly a party. I hope I dont have to fight off an old auntie for some bananas or something.

Anyways, that's all for me this week. Wish me luck next week. If you have any ideas or things that could help keep myself engaged, send em my way. 

-Elder Murray

Week 26 - Wuhan Coronavirus, District Council, Basketball, Japanese Ramen, LDS tunes at restaurant, Elder Kwok family, ,Chinese New Year Cleaning and McDonalds, Staying with Finklea!!

Well this week has certainly been a week and that's for certain. 

First of all, my mom is probably wondering about the Wuhan Coronavirus and stuff here in Hong Kong so I'll talk about that. Last we heard, there were 5 confirmed cases here and hundreds more suspected. We got several send outs from President Philips. Everyday they were like " Don't worry it's not that bad, there are no confirmed cases". "Okay so it is a little worse than we thought but only 1 person has it." "Ok so actually, the area presidency is cancelling everything but sacrament meeting and you should probably be wearing a mask, but don't freak out." So it has been a bit of a progression of sketchiness. The Hong Kong government has declared it the highest level of emergency possible. So fetching sick. We are being safe though. We deep cleaned our apartment, we are wearing masks, we are washing our hands constantly, and no one will even stop and talk with us with this going on AND chinese new year, so there is no real close contact. Everyone is terrified because in 2003 SARS hit Hong Kong real hard and members are telling us that this new SARI virus is like 10 times more virulent or something. We are just chilling though.

So Tuesday was a pretty good day. We had district council which was pretty great. We talked about bearing testimony frequently when teaching and finding.

Wednesday, I had an exchange with Elder Kwok. It turned out to be a blast. We had a group basketball activity. If you know me, you know that I am not really a basketball person too much, but neither were the people we played with. I realized, I had never played basketball with people other than those that have played for years. So it was really fun and we had a really good message about diligently seeking answers from heaven. Then we went to a Japanese ramen place for lunch. It blew anything from American ramen places out of the water. So good. We met a really nice woman who sat next to us and chatted with her super naturally about the gospel. Some finding and studies later, it turned into a really good day.

Thursday, we had a district find at the pier. It was okay, Elder Kwok and I went together again. He got into a bash for 20 minutes with a guy who at first very politely rejected us but then Elder Kwok asked him why and the guy lost it. Oh well. There was a mobile softee truck there so we all treated ourselves to a nice soft serve cone.

Friday, we didn't have much besides two meal appointments. We went for lunch with an older  member couple and the sisters to a really fancy place. While we ate, we were crazy surprised to hear instrumental versions of multiple children's christmas hymns being played from the speakers. They played Samuel Tells of Jesus and Mary's Lullaby and others, all original LDS tunes. Funny to hear. Then that evening, we got approval to go with Elder Kwok to his family's house for New Year's Eve Dinner. All the Hong Kong natives got to go home this year. It was super cool to meet his parents and little sister. They were super kind and fed us a lot. It was fun to see Elder Kwok so happy to see his family. I was only kind of jealous because I got to see Dexter last week. 

Saturday was Chinese New Year so we were asked to spend the first half of the day deep cleaning and then just go out and experience the culture for the rest of the day. All 4 of us cleaned the place down to bones and then went out. Nobody was out. It was practically a ghost town by Hong Kong standards. The only place open to eat was McDonalds so that's what we had. We tried walking around the mall, since it was raining outside, and tried talking to people. Eventually we decided that we better just go study in the church. Then the rain got really bad and chinese people are terrified of the rain, so we stayed in and watched 17 Miracles. Not a bad Chinese New Year albeit a bit boring. Transfer calls were also that night. I'm staying here with Elder Finklea (YES!) But Elder Mumford and Elder Kwok are both leaving to be replaced by a trainer and a new trainee. It's a bummer to lose the other two but it should be fun with the two new ones.

Sunday, because of the "epidemic" we only had a combined sacrament meeting for both wards. We forgot to wear our masks so members kept coming up to us telling us how dangerous it is outside. They scared us into never forgetting. Seriously, some people acted like we were already goners. Pretty funny but we will still try to be safer.

Today, we are eating Korean BBQ with members and then doing a hike.

So it has been a really fun week. I've gotten to experience a whole lot of new things, some good and some not so good. But one thing I've learned so far on the mission is that it is just fun to enjoy the ride, rattles shakes and all. Here's to staying healthy!

- Elder Murray