It's been a busy week - 5th email from Macau

Dear all,

It sounds like everything is going well for you all. Martin Black also sent me an email this week, and they're doing fine too. The next time they come for a visit, please tell them I love them all - especially little Michael, who apparently is a lot bigger now than the first time I saw him.

I have a few things that I need to say before I forget. Many of them were going to be said last week, or the week before, or the week before that, and so on and so forth. Here they are:

1. Christmas - the shop we buy our food in is stocking Christmas puddings. They cost 80 Patacas (the currency of Macau) which is somewhere around £4 or £5. That might be cheaper than a big heavy lump of pudding in the package. Also, a request for my companion - Elder Liu really loves Pokemon. He always likens it to finding - he's gotta catch 'em all. His favourite is Charizard, which in Missionary finding is a family - families are really hard to catch, but well worth it. He's told me several times that he really wants a Charizard keyring, and I think it'd be fun to get him a little something for Christmas. Maybe you could see what you can find?

2. Universities. I'm really leaning towards journalism, but would also like information on Computer Animation, Chinese courses or anything else really.

3. Can you get me Thomas Morrison's new address?

4. With 200MOP (that's the short version of Pataca) for the Macau Tower, I'm worried a little about finances. Last month I thought I had a cavity and so Sister Van Dam arranged for me to take a trip to the dentist for a checkup and a clean. Thankfully, my teeth were fine, and it only cost another 200MOP. But that's 400MOP already, and for Thanksgiving in a few weeks everybody is going to a hotel for another buffet lunch which will be another 100MOP. I tell you this just to keep you up to date; I don't think I need any more money right now. But just so you know, I'll be spending a little more soon.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm probably forgetting some things, but I'll remember them later.

Anyway, this week saw a very exciting event as the Mission released the long-awaited 3000 character card set. I've been trying desperately for a long time to memorize characters from a list. I've tried a lot of things, including trying to make 2000 flash cards myself. I've not gotten very far, but this week I got about 120 sheets of cardboard, each with 25 characters on. We have to cut them out ourselves, so I've also spent every lunchtime at the church using their guillotine. It's a slow but steady process, sped up by Sister Au, a native of Hong Kong who is serving in my District and who for some reason, really likes cutting things with a guillotine. So she's happy to cut out my cards when she has the chance. These cards mean that I ought to learn a lot quicker and am aiming to have gone through all of them by the end of the year, and to pass them all off before April.

Speaking of April - does Chris have a specific returning home date yet? You would have heard more about him than me. He was telling me that he was hoping to extend for a month at the end of his mission and go home in July, meaning that we'd get back at the same time. Little does he know, I'm going to pick my late date going home and come back in August...

And then speaking of August, when I get home, one thing I'm going to want to do is spend time with you all, and if you're going on holiday, I'll definitely be coming with you.

I will be in Hong Kong for the Mission Christmas social around about the second week in December. After that, I won't be back until February.

Ben was finally confirmed last week. He was thrilled, as were the other missionaries and I. Not much else of any significance has happenened this week though - it's been very busy, with a lot of teaching and not much finding time, but every night I've been trying to think of specific things of importance to write in my journal and I've been really struggling. I'm sure you've felt before the feeling of doing a lot without really getting much done. We've been teaching a lot of investigators (we currently have a LOT of investigators) and have two who will baptized this coming Sunday, but I don't really feel like we're doing all that much to help anybody progress. It's clear to see that the spiritual progression of others does not depend very much on what a missionary says or does - it's all down to that person's desire to learn and their faith to come closer to God. It's good to know - I should neither beat myself up when the work moves slowly, nor lift myself up unto pride when things are going well. It has very little to do with me - so long as I'm doing the best I can, I'm doing all that I'm supposed to do, and the rest is down to each investigator and what they're willing to do.

There was one particularly moving experience this week. An investigator called J met with us - we'd planned to review the Restoration lesson with him by watching the film. But when J got there, I asked him how he'd been doing recently and he told us it had been hard - a close friend of his had died recently. We expressed our sympathies, and the words of another film, Finding Faith in Christ began ringing in my ears. I'm not sure if you've seen it - it's a kind of Family Home Evening for a family in Jerusalem who have the apostle Thomas as a guest for dinner. There's a man who had recently lost his wife there who refuses to believe in anything he can't see. Thomas retells stories of the Saviour, His teachings and recounts the miracles and the Atonement, Crucifixion and Resurrection. He tells this man that because of Christ, we can overcome our trials, and each and every one of us will be resurrected. I felt prompted to switch our lesson and show Jason this film. As we watched it, the Spirit was strong. I knew that the film was answering a lot of Jason's personal questions, and I felt the meaning behind the message of the film more than I ever have before while watching it. I know it was the right message that day for Jason, and also for me.

I love you all. I know that what I'm doing right now is the best possible thing I could be doing with my time. I'm so thankful, Mum and Dad, for the two of you; for your commitment to each other and to us your children. I never really realised growing up just how special it is that you are both sealed together and active in the church - a blessing that many of the other Young Men who grew up with me don't have. Thank you so much for all you've done for me and for Beth, Jess and Tim. You've done a really good job as parents - we don't turn around and tell you that often enough.

I love you all and pray for your happiness,

Elder Matthew Loffhagen

羅 長 老