So let me explain a little -
We're currently emailing in one of the gamer places that Hong Kong is full of - pay $8 for an hour of email, games, or whatever. It's certainly not as nice as a library or the convention center I used to email in when I was on Hong Kong Island, but it's the best that we have.
So I was reading your email, and had just read this:
"My assembly was great ... "
When all of a sudden, the computer died! Apparently they'd decided to switch me to a new computer and hadn't bothered to tell me. I was feeling really bad for you, Mum, because I know that you're seriously the best teacher at that school by far (whether or not you believe it!) and was thinking, "Who else could have stood out above the rest? There's no way Mum's a third-place teacher!"
Then I logged into my email again and kept reading, and saw that all was right with the universe after all. Congratulations, Mum - I know you'll do great, as always!
So, yes, speaking of tests, interviews and progression, I have now passed off. I taught Elder Hedin, one of the Zone Leaders here, and even though I forgot to do some of the basics such as start with an opening prayer and close similarly, he had absolutely no problem with passing me off. I'm pretty thrilled for many reasons - one, I've finally achieved something I've been working towards for the past 8 months, two, I get to start learning characters, meaning that I can read scriptures with investigators, which is really crucial (at the moment I always have to get them to read!) and three (possibly most important): I get a cookie from Sister Van Dam next Mission Conference. President Van Dam was giving out awards last conference and said "You know, we've noticed that the recognition and certificate aren't nearly as important to you as the cookie!"
Just to let you know, my card expires in August 2009, when I come home. There shouldn't be a problem - so perhaps they sent me a card for a different account? I haven't had any problems accessing my money. I've been living off of personal funds recently because the mission has been focusing on having a $400 emergency fund, which I took out of my bank at the beginning of the month - and misplaced it during moving to my new apartment! I'm sure it'll turn up somewhere, but in the meantime I've been surviving off of personal money. Thankfully, my new area isn't all that expensive for travel and Elder Kwok doesn't really like eating out, so I've managed to get by on $100 last week for food, so until the new month I shouldn't have too much of a problem.
Grandad's condition sounds a little worrying, but I'm sure things will work out. It seems my grandparents have a habit of being to stubborn to stay sick for too long! :P
There are some really amazing people we're working with in this area. One, called Chan Jai (Boy Chan - we don't call him his real name for some reason) has a real desire to keep God's commandments and develop a testimony. He has a baptismal date for 11th May. The last time we saw him (last Friday), we taught him Sabbath Day observance, which he had no problem with at the time, and fully committed to it. Unfortunately, last week his relatives all came from Mainland China to see the family, so he couldn't come to church! And now this coming week, his family's going to the Mainland, so he can't come to church again! I'm a little worried for him at the moment, but I'm sure he'll do fine. It would be nice for you to remember him in your prayers.
Another man, somewhat older, that we've been working with, called Lobo Lau, is truly incredible. He's so very honest - we met him yesterday and asked him how he'd been doing with the Word of Wisdom, his past commitment. He told us that he'd really tried his best, but once he accidentally had a drink of tea in a social gathering before even thinking about it, and felt pretty bad about that. But he said that he only drank a little, and then realised and stopped drinking at once. He also confessed that he'd been given a chocolate and had eaten it before thinking, only to discover that it had coffee in it! He was genuinely sorry, and we explained that it was fine, he was trying his best. We then taught him about Sabbath Day observence (a lot of people have a problem with this in a fast-paced place like Hong Kong) and again, he was very honest. He said that he really understood it, but was a bit worried about what might happen if some emergency occurred at work on a Sunday. But he said he would stop working on a Sunday and do his best to keep this commandment, but it might take a while to elliminate all Sunday work.
We then read 2 Nephi 31 with him, and committed him to baptism. Again, he was completely honest - he didn't feel ready. He wanted to keep progressing, but is very afraid of making a commitment and then falling back into his old ways. He wants to be sure that he's ready. So we're going to keep helping him to understand that he doesn't need to be perfect, and will help him at his own pace to reach the point where he feels ready. In the meantime, we can help him to keep the commandments, which he has no problem with, and help him to keep coming to church. Eventually, he will feel ready - after all, it took Brigham Young two years to get baptised!
Tai Po area is completely different from West Point. While West Point was like Reading/London, Tai Po reminds me more of a little seaside community - except no sea and a lot of high-rise flats. Basically, I guess that everybody lives in Tai Po but works elsewhere. We've toured around the area and there's only one place where there are actually any people - but it's the one place that the Missionaries always go, so the people are used to seeing us there every day!
I kind of miss the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong Island, but it is a lot calmer out here. I can actually sleep at night because cars aren't whizzing past all hours of the night.
I'm sorry I didn't hear about the China Olympics project when I was on the Island - everyone there is ready for it! There are decorations everywhere, and a huge stadium is set up where I guess people can gather and watch the games on a big screen, once things get underway. There are also huge statues everywhere of the little Panda mascots they've worked out, a big countdown clock in MTR stations, and a lot of things about the horseraces - Hong Kong's a big place for gambling on horseraces, so they're staging the Olympic Equestrian events here in Hong Kong.
But all of the stuff was on the Island. Here, there's nothing of the sort. This isn't exactly a tourist spot anyway, so I guess they don't need to worry. There should be a few pictures that I took of some of the decorations on the CD I'm sending with the NGs. They have a huge picture DVD with over 2.5 gig of pictures I've taken, plus the 2007 Mission Slideshow to give you.
Thank you for all of the chocolate, by the way - it's gone now, of course, but at the time, it was great.
Elder Kwok is such an amazing companion - so diligent and hard working. He doesn't want to waste a second; literally! He has the Chinese, and he has the motivation - all he's really missing is knowing how to work smart as well as working hard. For example, I guess his trainer wasn't too bothered with getting to know the ward, so he doesn't understand the importance of helping them to become Preach My Gospel member missionaries, and how working with Less-Active and part member families is more effective than street contacting. These are things that are learned in time, I guess - and I have to remind myself that my style of Missionary work isn't perfect either. There are things we can both learn from each other about sharing and spreading the Gospel.
There was a really good lesson in Priesthood last week, though, all about how members should be using Preach My Gospel - afterwards one of the brethren came up to us and wanted to schedule some time for us to teach him and his family how to use Preach My Gospel better; which is exactly the attitude members should have! He's a member of the Asia Area Seventy, so he's pretty hard working in his calling anyway, so it'll be great to help him understand more how to help the missionaries.
Just as a sidenote, I'd suggest you get the missionaries to teach you more about Preach My Gospel too - I keep remembering what the England London South Mission President said to us when we were having our Mission Prep classes - a member of the Quorum of the Twelve (I forget who) had said to him when he was called, "When the members start inviting the missionaries into their homes to teach them Preach My Gospel, the harvest will begin again in Britain". Both Elder Ng and I have noticed the dramatic increase in baptisms in Britain since Preach My Gospel was introduced, so be sure to keep up the good work in getting to know the missionaries!
Love you all,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
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