Dear Family,
Yes, the news of President Hinkley's death reached me quickly. We received a call from the Zone Leaders on Monday morning, and honestly I was in shock. I didn't believe it at first. Somehow I didn't think President Hinkley would ever die. He's been prophet now since before I was baptised, and I was really sad to hear of his death. It was such a surprise, too - when President Faust died, it was somewhat more expected - he looked very much at death age. But even just this past December in the Christmas message, I'd thought how alive President Hinkley looked.
His passing has given me great sadness. I love him like a kind of grandfather. But I know he's now united with old friends and family on the other side of the veil, and is still working hard in his new mission in the Spirit World.
It marks and end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. I will finish my mission with a new prophet leading the church, just one of many things that will have changed since when I went.
Besides, perhaps President Monson will tour the world, meeting with bodies of saints - and Hong Kong being the center of the South East Area, he'll have to stop in for a mission conference!
Good to hear that Aaron's got his papers in at last, and that Jak's getting his in at about the expected time. With calls to Figi, Manchester, Canada, China, Africa and Germany in the past few years, who knows where they'll go?
Chinese New Year is BIG. Christmas was a happy little affair, but this is their Christmas. There are decorations everywhere, along with mountains of food and sweets in the shops, ready to be bought. Apparently, Hong Kong - and, I guess, China itself - will pretty much shut down for the week of New Year. Because of this, we'll be having a mission activity; a day out on a trip to a giant Buddha statue on Lantau Island (it's called Big Buddha if you want to Google it) and we'll basically have the most unproductive week of the year for missionary work.
The interesting thing is that for New Year's, instead of giving presents, you give people money in little red envelopes. The married couples give it to the single people, and the more they like you, the more they give you. Missionaries will also receive (yay!) but it has to be used to buy something for the ward (oh). Also, the native Hong Kong missionaries, who must have the most frustrating mission call in the world, as they are called from their home mission to their home mission, and so never even really leave home, go home for 4 hours on New Years with their companions. Very unusual.
The government here, as far as I have seen, is run entirely by Hong Kong people. There are regular elections for local government, and they are all Chinese people.
I wonder if I have shared with you some of my thoughts considering what to do after my mission. A plan I am currently considering is of learning Mandarin at university, and then going to Mainland China to teach English to them there for a few years - then I shall return, and get a job teaching Mandarin in an English school, because by that point, Britain will have realised that it needs to teach Mandarin as well as French, German, and whatever other languages they teach in schools these days.
Because Hong Kong is such a multicultural place, the Hong Kong Temple has regular sessions in all sorts of languages - after all, it serves all of China, Mongolia, Singapore, the Philippines, and various other places. The missionaries always go to the English sessions, even if an Elder is a Hong Kong native and doesn't speak English - an Elder in my first District, Elder Chan, is one such - he's from Macau, where they speak more Portuguese than English - but that doesn't matter, because he only spoke Cantonese - and he watches sessions wearing a headset that translates into Cantonese. There are actually quite a few people in every session who have to wear the headsets - older people who I assume don't worry about waiting for a session in Cantonese.
Okay, my time is up. I love you all and miss you. :D
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
17th email from Hong Kong
Jou Sahn! (Good Morning!)
Every moves, Temple day comes around quicker and quicker. I've enjoyed this moves so much, and my companion, Elder Walgren, is the most charitable person I think I've ever met. I remember Murray Hamilton talking about how he compares companions on a mission to the Telestial, Terrestrial and Celestial Kingdoms - Elder Walgren is certainly a Celestial companion! I keep telling him off for buying me chocolate and trying to give me all of his things he doesn't need! So time has just flown by, and even though this moves is an extra week long (because of Christmas, they changed moves day so that the new missionaries weren't on the plane of Christmas day!) it's really gone so fast!
We're emailing first thing this week, before heading off to the Temple. I'm really looking forward to it. Even though it feels like a really short time since I last had a Temple Day, it feels like it's been ages since I actually went through the Temple. Does that make sense? I'm really looking forward to the spiritual uplifting that Temple attendance always gives.
My Hayfever is no longer the problem it was; I think I was just allergic to something in the apartment; we got some fancy Andrex toilet paper that smelled of something fun, and just drove my nose nuts. Thankfully, we're now using the cheapest stuff available (about 2 pounds for 30 rolls!) and it's absolutely fine.
It's so interesting to hear that Annie Liu is going to Sydney! You'll have to find out if it's North or South Sydney. My MTC companion, Elder Dallin, is in Sydney South, while an Elder in the District below us in the MTC is in Sydney North.
Charlie's call seems to be taking a while to come back. I'm fairly certain that the longer a call takes to get to Reading Stake, the further away the call is. That only applies to Reading, though my MTC companion, being from Utah, got his back in 4 days!
Just to let you know, yes, the calendars got here fine. Elder Alspaugh didn't quite have the self-control to fathom the idea of only eating one chocolate a day, so he ate most of his on the first day we got them (the 8th of December). Then he ate the rest on the 15th.
I went on 24 hour exchanges this past week with Elder Holbrook - a Mandarin speaking Elder. It was very interesting, being the best Cantonese speaker in a companionship for once - there were a few times out finding when I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but for the most part I actually did quite well. Taught a lot of University students in English, though, so can't get too excited about my Cantonese.
With Leeds appearing to be pretty tricky, I guess BYU will probably be a more Missionary-friendly University. I'm somewhat in two minds about whether I'd prefer to study in Britain or USA - I'll certainly miss home a lot, especially after already having been away for two years, but on the other hand, with the way the US University system is set out, from what I've heard, I could take classes on a wide range of subjects, not just Mandarin, and so could study English Literature, creative writing, even computer animation (there's another Elder here, Elder Hamon, who wants to study that at BYU - his drawings are amazing!), but it all seems so complicated! I don't know how to go about sorting through everything, even with the help of a lot of other Elders who've done it themselves before. I'll need to pray sincerely about how to act.
At the encouragement of Elder Hamon and others, I'm looking into starting a drawing class to try and find people to teach. West Point is a little dry at the moment, and all we seem to do is go out and find miracles - but none of them speak Cantonese and live in our area. Either they're from Mainland and speak Mandarin, or they speak Tagalog, or Filipino, or English, or they just work on Hong Kong island and live elsewhere. So hopefully with something like a drawing class, we can attract people that we can teach. Elder Hamon's apparently been having great success with that, but then, he's a simply amazing artist. I don't really feel up to the standard to be able to teach. There'll probably be a lot of people more advanced than myself in the class - there's a kid in the ward, Rocky (Chinese name Lohk Kei) who is simply amazing, who we'd like to use for fellowshipping in the class, but he's by far better at drawing than I am. So we'll see how things go.
Speaking of things that are going - we have to go. Temple time is coming up shortly, and we have to get across a lot of Hong Kong to reach the Temple. Speak to you next week, and hope some post's waiting for me at the Temple! :P
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
Every moves, Temple day comes around quicker and quicker. I've enjoyed this moves so much, and my companion, Elder Walgren, is the most charitable person I think I've ever met. I remember Murray Hamilton talking about how he compares companions on a mission to the Telestial, Terrestrial and Celestial Kingdoms - Elder Walgren is certainly a Celestial companion! I keep telling him off for buying me chocolate and trying to give me all of his things he doesn't need! So time has just flown by, and even though this moves is an extra week long (because of Christmas, they changed moves day so that the new missionaries weren't on the plane of Christmas day!) it's really gone so fast!
We're emailing first thing this week, before heading off to the Temple. I'm really looking forward to it. Even though it feels like a really short time since I last had a Temple Day, it feels like it's been ages since I actually went through the Temple. Does that make sense? I'm really looking forward to the spiritual uplifting that Temple attendance always gives.
My Hayfever is no longer the problem it was; I think I was just allergic to something in the apartment; we got some fancy Andrex toilet paper that smelled of something fun, and just drove my nose nuts. Thankfully, we're now using the cheapest stuff available (about 2 pounds for 30 rolls!) and it's absolutely fine.
It's so interesting to hear that Annie Liu is going to Sydney! You'll have to find out if it's North or South Sydney. My MTC companion, Elder Dallin, is in Sydney South, while an Elder in the District below us in the MTC is in Sydney North.
Charlie's call seems to be taking a while to come back. I'm fairly certain that the longer a call takes to get to Reading Stake, the further away the call is. That only applies to Reading, though my MTC companion, being from Utah, got his back in 4 days!
Just to let you know, yes, the calendars got here fine. Elder Alspaugh didn't quite have the self-control to fathom the idea of only eating one chocolate a day, so he ate most of his on the first day we got them (the 8th of December). Then he ate the rest on the 15th.
I went on 24 hour exchanges this past week with Elder Holbrook - a Mandarin speaking Elder. It was very interesting, being the best Cantonese speaker in a companionship for once - there were a few times out finding when I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but for the most part I actually did quite well. Taught a lot of University students in English, though, so can't get too excited about my Cantonese.
With Leeds appearing to be pretty tricky, I guess BYU will probably be a more Missionary-friendly University. I'm somewhat in two minds about whether I'd prefer to study in Britain or USA - I'll certainly miss home a lot, especially after already having been away for two years, but on the other hand, with the way the US University system is set out, from what I've heard, I could take classes on a wide range of subjects, not just Mandarin, and so could study English Literature, creative writing, even computer animation (there's another Elder here, Elder Hamon, who wants to study that at BYU - his drawings are amazing!), but it all seems so complicated! I don't know how to go about sorting through everything, even with the help of a lot of other Elders who've done it themselves before. I'll need to pray sincerely about how to act.
At the encouragement of Elder Hamon and others, I'm looking into starting a drawing class to try and find people to teach. West Point is a little dry at the moment, and all we seem to do is go out and find miracles - but none of them speak Cantonese and live in our area. Either they're from Mainland and speak Mandarin, or they speak Tagalog, or Filipino, or English, or they just work on Hong Kong island and live elsewhere. So hopefully with something like a drawing class, we can attract people that we can teach. Elder Hamon's apparently been having great success with that, but then, he's a simply amazing artist. I don't really feel up to the standard to be able to teach. There'll probably be a lot of people more advanced than myself in the class - there's a kid in the ward, Rocky (Chinese name Lohk Kei) who is simply amazing, who we'd like to use for fellowshipping in the class, but he's by far better at drawing than I am. So we'll see how things go.
Speaking of things that are going - we have to go. Temple time is coming up shortly, and we have to get across a lot of Hong Kong to reach the Temple. Speak to you next week, and hope some post's waiting for me at the Temple! :P
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
Monday, 21 January 2008
16th email from Hong Kong
Hi all!
Well, yesterday was Mission Conference, and I learnt so MUCH! And I've been really inspired by one of the other missionaries in my group. Elder Weagel has already passed off all of the lessons and is on to learning characters! Let me point out just how significant that is.
We're supposed to aim for passing off all the lessons within the first six months of our time in Hong Kong. Elder Weagel has managed it in three. Not only is he the first Elder to pass-off from our group; he also beat the group ahead as well!
So now I've got my work cut out for me. Having only passed off one lesson in the time it took Elder Weagel to pass off all of them, I'm determined to achieve my goal and complete them all by the end of next moves - that's about months away. I'm going to pass off Lesson 2 tomorrow (or else!) and I've scheduled a time to meet with one of our Zone Leaders on the first of February - we have to have a Zone Leader pass us off half way through and at the end. That means that between now and February, I have to pass off the 3rd Lesson too. Then by the end of February, I'll need to have done lesson 4, and then in March I'll do lesson 5 and my final Zone Leader pass-off! I've got my work cut out for me!
In other news, it's got a little bit colder again. I'm still in a short sleeved shirt, mostly out of stubborness, and partially because I'm washing all my other shirts - it is Preparation Day, after all. Thankfully, we have washing machines in our apartments, so that's easy enough to deal with.
Yesterday I was talking with our new area doctor at Conference, and as his name is Dr Jones, I asked him if he ever gets any Indiana jokes. Then we got onto the subject of the new film they're making, and I was quick to point out that I know about these things only because I'm new in the mission, and learned them beforehand. He asked me just how new I was here, and I realised - yesterday was the six month anniversary of the day I boarded the plane to the MTC! So now, yes, I've been here for a quarter of my mission. I know I shouldn't dwell on such things, as it'll only make time go faster, but I'm enjoying this so much that it's amazing to think that I'm so far through already. I don't ever want to leave! There's another Elder in our district at the moment who loves to point out that he only has a few months left, while I have all this time left to go. It doesn't bother me all that much though, certainly not as much as he wants it to!
One of the fun things from Mission Conference was something called a "Referal Rock". President Van Dam gave us each a little stone that came from the Peak, and each had a little certificate of authenticity signed by him proving that it was an official Preach My Gospel Referal Rock. We are to keep it in our left pocket, and while talking with someone, when we ask for a referal, we get to switch it to our right pocket. I'm not sure how to manage this yet, as I generally keep my glasses in my left pocket, but I'll work something out.
We then had some demonstrations of how to ask for referral. First a sister companionship was chosen to share, impromptu, how to get a referal, and then President Van Dam chose Elder Chan, the new English missionary. Guess who was sitting next to him? Yup, me. So in front of everyone there, I asked for a referal from "Brother Chan". I first pretended I wanted to schedule some time with him to go tracting, and asked if it sounded like fun. He said "no", and I agreed, saying that it's a very ineffective way to spread the Gospel. Then I told him that if he gives us referrals, we're able to teach his friends, and he will get great blessings from doing so, as his friends accept the Gospel. He couldn't think of anyone to give us at that time, so I committed him to think about it and then that we could talk next week.
I'm not sure why I shared that with you - so assume that actually, I was talking with you! The missionaries spend a lot of time in Bracknell high street without much success. Inviting friends to hear the Gospel is the way that Chris, Julian and countless others in our ward first found the church. So go to it and give the missionaries a hand! :D
Lots of love,
Elder Loffhagen
Well, yesterday was Mission Conference, and I learnt so MUCH! And I've been really inspired by one of the other missionaries in my group. Elder Weagel has already passed off all of the lessons and is on to learning characters! Let me point out just how significant that is.
We're supposed to aim for passing off all the lessons within the first six months of our time in Hong Kong. Elder Weagel has managed it in three. Not only is he the first Elder to pass-off from our group; he also beat the group ahead as well!
So now I've got my work cut out for me. Having only passed off one lesson in the time it took Elder Weagel to pass off all of them, I'm determined to achieve my goal and complete them all by the end of next moves - that's about months away. I'm going to pass off Lesson 2 tomorrow (or else!) and I've scheduled a time to meet with one of our Zone Leaders on the first of February - we have to have a Zone Leader pass us off half way through and at the end. That means that between now and February, I have to pass off the 3rd Lesson too. Then by the end of February, I'll need to have done lesson 4, and then in March I'll do lesson 5 and my final Zone Leader pass-off! I've got my work cut out for me!
In other news, it's got a little bit colder again. I'm still in a short sleeved shirt, mostly out of stubborness, and partially because I'm washing all my other shirts - it is Preparation Day, after all. Thankfully, we have washing machines in our apartments, so that's easy enough to deal with.
Yesterday I was talking with our new area doctor at Conference, and as his name is Dr Jones, I asked him if he ever gets any Indiana jokes. Then we got onto the subject of the new film they're making, and I was quick to point out that I know about these things only because I'm new in the mission, and learned them beforehand. He asked me just how new I was here, and I realised - yesterday was the six month anniversary of the day I boarded the plane to the MTC! So now, yes, I've been here for a quarter of my mission. I know I shouldn't dwell on such things, as it'll only make time go faster, but I'm enjoying this so much that it's amazing to think that I'm so far through already. I don't ever want to leave! There's another Elder in our district at the moment who loves to point out that he only has a few months left, while I have all this time left to go. It doesn't bother me all that much though, certainly not as much as he wants it to!
One of the fun things from Mission Conference was something called a "Referal Rock". President Van Dam gave us each a little stone that came from the Peak, and each had a little certificate of authenticity signed by him proving that it was an official Preach My Gospel Referal Rock. We are to keep it in our left pocket, and while talking with someone, when we ask for a referal, we get to switch it to our right pocket. I'm not sure how to manage this yet, as I generally keep my glasses in my left pocket, but I'll work something out.
We then had some demonstrations of how to ask for referral. First a sister companionship was chosen to share, impromptu, how to get a referal, and then President Van Dam chose Elder Chan, the new English missionary. Guess who was sitting next to him? Yup, me. So in front of everyone there, I asked for a referal from "Brother Chan". I first pretended I wanted to schedule some time with him to go tracting, and asked if it sounded like fun. He said "no", and I agreed, saying that it's a very ineffective way to spread the Gospel. Then I told him that if he gives us referrals, we're able to teach his friends, and he will get great blessings from doing so, as his friends accept the Gospel. He couldn't think of anyone to give us at that time, so I committed him to think about it and then that we could talk next week.
I'm not sure why I shared that with you - so assume that actually, I was talking with you! The missionaries spend a lot of time in Bracknell high street without much success. Inviting friends to hear the Gospel is the way that Chris, Julian and countless others in our ward first found the church. So go to it and give the missionaries a hand! :D
Lots of love,
Elder Loffhagen
Thursday, 10 January 2008
15th email from Hong Kong - The Ten Thousand Buddhas, and other similar adventures...
Dear family,
A quick word about elderloffhagen.com, my blog - last Mission Social, one of the Elders in the group below me asked me if I had a blog - apparently someone he knows had Googled China Hong Kong Mission, and my blog popped up. Thank you for the good work in keeping it running :D
So now, I'll bet you're wondering what the "Ten Thousand Buddhas" are. Basically, we just got back from Zone Activity. Elder Ng and Elder Lewis (the Zone Leaders) got permission for us to leave our area, and so we went to a huge Buddhist temple, which has, literally, ten thousand statues of Buddhist monks - probably far more that ten thousand, actually. There were huge statues, completely lifesize, there were tiny little statues that fit in the palm of your hand, and there was a giant statue of a Buddha astride a giant blue dog. All were painted with gold, and all were individual and unique. It looked simply amazing.
The most fun thing about the area was the cheeky monkeys who live nearby. Probably the biggest religion in Hong Kong is Ancestor Worship, and you offer your ancestors' golden idols food and burn incense to them. One woman was there offering up some fruit, and as she prayed, burning the incense a few meters away, her eyes closed, one of the sneaky little monkeys snuck up and started stealing the food off the alter! One of the women working there rushed up and shooed it off, but it made off with a fair amount; some fruit and a few packets of crisps.
Winter is officially over in Hong Kong - it lasted all of three days. New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and the next day were chilly enough to warrant wearing long sleeve shirts or possibly even a jumper - now I'm back to wearing short sleeve shirts. The weather is wonderfully cool this time of year; not too hot, not too cold, and as that was winter, I'm afraid of summer. I've been told that missionaries of old have just been sitting at their desks, sweating buckets from all the heat. Something to look forward to, then.
I had interviews with President Van Dam last Friday, and then did indeed pick up my package from Brother Davanzo - you must thank him for it from me. When I saw just how much it cost to send it, I was very grateful indeed. Thank him profusely for it.
Is Oliver Jest's mission call English speaking or French speaking? Or possibly Chinese, as there are Canadian Chinese missionaries. I meet a LOT of "CBC"s here (Canadian Born Chinese, which just doesn't have the same ring to it as BBCs), and so they also have both Mandarin and Cantonese elders there.
I would indeed like Joff's address; it'd be really nice to write to him. I can imagine that it's a lot harder for him in Afghanistan than it ever could be for me here. Nobody has nor will ever be shooting at me, and I certainly will never have to worry about shooting back. Hong Kong's a really very safe place; possibly because the most contentious and scary group of people around are all the Americans in white shirts who wear little black nametags... :P
I got an email from Elder Nathaniel Farley just now - he seems to be enjoying the beginning of his fun new mission experience. Apparently he met Chris and seemed pretty in awe of him. It's what we new missionaries do - be in awe of other people. When I first got here, everyone seemed so mature and grown up and amazing. Now I realize that Elder Chan, the new English Elder, who is only a few moves younger than me, is pretty in awe of our group of missionaries. It seems weird because they entered the MTC barely a week after we left it, so I'm barely older than him. There are only 2 Elders who are two moves older than me, and then nobody much older for a long time after that, so nobody of that age for me to think impressive back when I'd just entered the mission. The mission is basically going to phase out almost entirely in March/April, with a very large number of Elders going home all around the same time, and we'll get loads more new Elders in. And I'll be supposed to know what I'm doing. Eep. Guess I'd better get cracking with the language, then...
I'm pretty much at the level where I can pass of the second lesson now; the only thing I've been told I'm specifically doing wrong is making too many short, sharp movements that distract from my teaching - in order to pass off lessons, we have to not only demonstrate a good grasp of the language, but also of teaching skills. After that, the third lesson is fairly straightforward, so I've set myself the goal of passing off both lessons before the eld of the moves - the second week in February. I need to be passed off completely by March, so that I can at least aid in taking up the slack left by all of the departing Elders. That will be pretty tricky...But with the Lord's help, and through continuing to pray for the Gift of Tongues (thank you, Dad!:D) I know I can make it. I just have to hope my diligence holds out a little longer...
Anyway, time is almost expired. I love you lots, and pray for you all.
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
A quick word about elderloffhagen.com, my blog - last Mission Social, one of the Elders in the group below me asked me if I had a blog - apparently someone he knows had Googled China Hong Kong Mission, and my blog popped up. Thank you for the good work in keeping it running :D
So now, I'll bet you're wondering what the "Ten Thousand Buddhas" are. Basically, we just got back from Zone Activity. Elder Ng and Elder Lewis (the Zone Leaders) got permission for us to leave our area, and so we went to a huge Buddhist temple, which has, literally, ten thousand statues of Buddhist monks - probably far more that ten thousand, actually. There were huge statues, completely lifesize, there were tiny little statues that fit in the palm of your hand, and there was a giant statue of a Buddha astride a giant blue dog. All were painted with gold, and all were individual and unique. It looked simply amazing.
The most fun thing about the area was the cheeky monkeys who live nearby. Probably the biggest religion in Hong Kong is Ancestor Worship, and you offer your ancestors' golden idols food and burn incense to them. One woman was there offering up some fruit, and as she prayed, burning the incense a few meters away, her eyes closed, one of the sneaky little monkeys snuck up and started stealing the food off the alter! One of the women working there rushed up and shooed it off, but it made off with a fair amount; some fruit and a few packets of crisps.
Winter is officially over in Hong Kong - it lasted all of three days. New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and the next day were chilly enough to warrant wearing long sleeve shirts or possibly even a jumper - now I'm back to wearing short sleeve shirts. The weather is wonderfully cool this time of year; not too hot, not too cold, and as that was winter, I'm afraid of summer. I've been told that missionaries of old have just been sitting at their desks, sweating buckets from all the heat. Something to look forward to, then.
I had interviews with President Van Dam last Friday, and then did indeed pick up my package from Brother Davanzo - you must thank him for it from me. When I saw just how much it cost to send it, I was very grateful indeed. Thank him profusely for it.
Is Oliver Jest's mission call English speaking or French speaking? Or possibly Chinese, as there are Canadian Chinese missionaries. I meet a LOT of "CBC"s here (Canadian Born Chinese, which just doesn't have the same ring to it as BBCs), and so they also have both Mandarin and Cantonese elders there.
I would indeed like Joff's address; it'd be really nice to write to him. I can imagine that it's a lot harder for him in Afghanistan than it ever could be for me here. Nobody has nor will ever be shooting at me, and I certainly will never have to worry about shooting back. Hong Kong's a really very safe place; possibly because the most contentious and scary group of people around are all the Americans in white shirts who wear little black nametags... :P
I got an email from Elder Nathaniel Farley just now - he seems to be enjoying the beginning of his fun new mission experience. Apparently he met Chris and seemed pretty in awe of him. It's what we new missionaries do - be in awe of other people. When I first got here, everyone seemed so mature and grown up and amazing. Now I realize that Elder Chan, the new English Elder, who is only a few moves younger than me, is pretty in awe of our group of missionaries. It seems weird because they entered the MTC barely a week after we left it, so I'm barely older than him. There are only 2 Elders who are two moves older than me, and then nobody much older for a long time after that, so nobody of that age for me to think impressive back when I'd just entered the mission. The mission is basically going to phase out almost entirely in March/April, with a very large number of Elders going home all around the same time, and we'll get loads more new Elders in. And I'll be supposed to know what I'm doing. Eep. Guess I'd better get cracking with the language, then...
I'm pretty much at the level where I can pass of the second lesson now; the only thing I've been told I'm specifically doing wrong is making too many short, sharp movements that distract from my teaching - in order to pass off lessons, we have to not only demonstrate a good grasp of the language, but also of teaching skills. After that, the third lesson is fairly straightforward, so I've set myself the goal of passing off both lessons before the eld of the moves - the second week in February. I need to be passed off completely by March, so that I can at least aid in taking up the slack left by all of the departing Elders. That will be pretty tricky...But with the Lord's help, and through continuing to pray for the Gift of Tongues (thank you, Dad!:D) I know I can make it. I just have to hope my diligence holds out a little longer...
Anyway, time is almost expired. I love you lots, and pray for you all.
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 3 January 2008
14th email from Hong Kong
Well, three days into 2008 already. It's amazing how time flies on a mission. I still maintain that it was only two weeks ago that I entered the MTC.
Tuesday night was amazing; watching lots of little Chinese children do some pretty spectacular tricks; shimmying up bamboo poles and leaping down 15 feet to the ground, juggling each other on their feet, human pyramids, and lots of other ridiculously amazing tricks. Now all of the missionaries want to be little Chinese acrobats.
Talking with some of the Elders who came in with me was an interesting idea. Some of them are counting down the days until we reach our quarter-mark. One Elder said that he'd already picked out a tie to burn in celebration - a clip on. Everyone else looked at each other, remembering how he had only ever worn clip-ons in the MTC. I reached over and felt his collar - yup, he was wearing one then too! One of the others asked him if he'd ever tied a tie yet. "Once," he said.
I thank you for thinking about me and my companion and providing Marmite - although for Christmas, Elder Alspaugh actually bought a nice glass jar for me - particularly nice of him because it's $50 a pot here, which is really a lot if you think that you can get a good take out for around $15.
Today is an SYL (Speak Your Language) day in my zone. We have to all speak as much Cantonese as possible; something I'm managing occasionally. When I really don't stand a chance of expressing what I'm trying to say in Chinese, I'll speak English, but for the most part I can communicate just fine. These SYL days are a wonderful idea given to us by, I think, our Zone Leaders - Elder Ng (still) and Elder Lewis. They are both amazing and help us so much. Elder Ng phoned up last night to speak to my companion, Elder Walgren, who is District Leader, and I answered the phone. He asked me if I'd set any New Year's resolutions, and I said yes, I am going to become a more diligent missionary. He seemed very pleased with that. When I passed the phone to Elder Walgren, I heard him answering the very same question - that's the kind of fun small talk that Elder Ng loves.
Tomorrow is my interview with President Van Dam, and I am really looking forward to it. It feels like a really long time since I last met with him one-on-one, and considering that he always comes to Hong Kong Island Zone quite early in the moves, I guess it feels like it's been a long time because I really grew a lot last moves. I've really pushed myself, and hope to keep doing so. My new motto is "I'll rest when I'm dead", which felt particularly poignant this morning as I got up for Seminary and felt like I was going to be able to rest in about 20 minutes, after having dropped dead from lack of sleep. Seminary doesn't get any easier, even when it's in Cantonese - in fact, that makes it more difficult, as I can't really understand what's going on. But I believe I told you about how you HAVE to graduate from Seminary to go to Hong Kong on a mission? It really shows. The Elders here are a lot tougher for it. We've all either sacrificed sleep, or time at school to do it. We all know our scriptures and we all have the light and knowledge that comes from regular daily scripture class.
You don't need to worry that much about my allergies; I've been finding that a Benadryl or two every morning keeps them under control. The problem will come when they run out, but by then perhaps I'll be more desensitized to the climate; besides, if it's only a problem in the 2 month long winter, I shouldn't need to worry. I'm not thinking that eating local honey will help very much, though - there's no such thing. Living in the busiest part of the busiest island in Hong Kong, there aren't exactly many honey farms around. Neither are there bees in general, so even if I was further afield, in a more rural place, I wouldn't be able to find any. A lot of things we take for granted is incredibly expensive and hard to find in Hong Kong - honey, milk (and therefore butter, cheese, cream etc), good English chocolate (we have Cadbury's here, but it's all Australian, so it doesn't taste as good), chips, bacon, specific types of bread - most of the fresh foods we live on can't be found. But if you're looking for a certain type of rare, obscure cracker from Finland, you've come to the right place. Unfortunately, our local supermarket has been missing Finn Crisps for a few weeks, so I think this week I'm going to go with Crackerbread instead.
Beds in Hong Kong are interesting - well, it's more the missionary beds rather than Hong Kong beds in general. We have bunkbeds so closely stacked that I'm pretty much in the same bed as another Elder - but a makeshift partition has been erected so that we have slightly more privacy. The beds are little, tiny affairs that don't give you much room, and the mattresses are hard as rock, unless you have a foam padding at the top, like I do. Heheheh... Anyway, because the people of Hong Kong like the wonderful invention known of as a duvet, I actually find my bed here more comfortable than in the MTC, which had a load of itchy sheets instead; far more American, far less squishy and soft.
This New Year's Eve, we had a special little District gathering and ate dinner together and drank Appletize (from South Africa, no less! And my idea, of course, as nobody else knew what it was). My companion was thrilled by the Appletize, because he was on a sugar fast, and so couldn't drink anything with added sugar in it. Appletize is apparently now 100% pure apple juice, with bubbly water in it, so he was happy drinking half the bottle, as he was allowed.
Well, my time is up. I love you very much and hope you have a good new year.
Elder Loffhagen
Tuesday night was amazing; watching lots of little Chinese children do some pretty spectacular tricks; shimmying up bamboo poles and leaping down 15 feet to the ground, juggling each other on their feet, human pyramids, and lots of other ridiculously amazing tricks. Now all of the missionaries want to be little Chinese acrobats.
Talking with some of the Elders who came in with me was an interesting idea. Some of them are counting down the days until we reach our quarter-mark. One Elder said that he'd already picked out a tie to burn in celebration - a clip on. Everyone else looked at each other, remembering how he had only ever worn clip-ons in the MTC. I reached over and felt his collar - yup, he was wearing one then too! One of the others asked him if he'd ever tied a tie yet. "Once," he said.
I thank you for thinking about me and my companion and providing Marmite - although for Christmas, Elder Alspaugh actually bought a nice glass jar for me - particularly nice of him because it's $50 a pot here, which is really a lot if you think that you can get a good take out for around $15.
Today is an SYL (Speak Your Language) day in my zone. We have to all speak as much Cantonese as possible; something I'm managing occasionally. When I really don't stand a chance of expressing what I'm trying to say in Chinese, I'll speak English, but for the most part I can communicate just fine. These SYL days are a wonderful idea given to us by, I think, our Zone Leaders - Elder Ng (still) and Elder Lewis. They are both amazing and help us so much. Elder Ng phoned up last night to speak to my companion, Elder Walgren, who is District Leader, and I answered the phone. He asked me if I'd set any New Year's resolutions, and I said yes, I am going to become a more diligent missionary. He seemed very pleased with that. When I passed the phone to Elder Walgren, I heard him answering the very same question - that's the kind of fun small talk that Elder Ng loves.
Tomorrow is my interview with President Van Dam, and I am really looking forward to it. It feels like a really long time since I last met with him one-on-one, and considering that he always comes to Hong Kong Island Zone quite early in the moves, I guess it feels like it's been a long time because I really grew a lot last moves. I've really pushed myself, and hope to keep doing so. My new motto is "I'll rest when I'm dead", which felt particularly poignant this morning as I got up for Seminary and felt like I was going to be able to rest in about 20 minutes, after having dropped dead from lack of sleep. Seminary doesn't get any easier, even when it's in Cantonese - in fact, that makes it more difficult, as I can't really understand what's going on. But I believe I told you about how you HAVE to graduate from Seminary to go to Hong Kong on a mission? It really shows. The Elders here are a lot tougher for it. We've all either sacrificed sleep, or time at school to do it. We all know our scriptures and we all have the light and knowledge that comes from regular daily scripture class.
You don't need to worry that much about my allergies; I've been finding that a Benadryl or two every morning keeps them under control. The problem will come when they run out, but by then perhaps I'll be more desensitized to the climate; besides, if it's only a problem in the 2 month long winter, I shouldn't need to worry. I'm not thinking that eating local honey will help very much, though - there's no such thing. Living in the busiest part of the busiest island in Hong Kong, there aren't exactly many honey farms around. Neither are there bees in general, so even if I was further afield, in a more rural place, I wouldn't be able to find any. A lot of things we take for granted is incredibly expensive and hard to find in Hong Kong - honey, milk (and therefore butter, cheese, cream etc), good English chocolate (we have Cadbury's here, but it's all Australian, so it doesn't taste as good), chips, bacon, specific types of bread - most of the fresh foods we live on can't be found. But if you're looking for a certain type of rare, obscure cracker from Finland, you've come to the right place. Unfortunately, our local supermarket has been missing Finn Crisps for a few weeks, so I think this week I'm going to go with Crackerbread instead.
Beds in Hong Kong are interesting - well, it's more the missionary beds rather than Hong Kong beds in general. We have bunkbeds so closely stacked that I'm pretty much in the same bed as another Elder - but a makeshift partition has been erected so that we have slightly more privacy. The beds are little, tiny affairs that don't give you much room, and the mattresses are hard as rock, unless you have a foam padding at the top, like I do. Heheheh... Anyway, because the people of Hong Kong like the wonderful invention known of as a duvet, I actually find my bed here more comfortable than in the MTC, which had a load of itchy sheets instead; far more American, far less squishy and soft.
This New Year's Eve, we had a special little District gathering and ate dinner together and drank Appletize (from South Africa, no less! And my idea, of course, as nobody else knew what it was). My companion was thrilled by the Appletize, because he was on a sugar fast, and so couldn't drink anything with added sugar in it. Appletize is apparently now 100% pure apple juice, with bubbly water in it, so he was happy drinking half the bottle, as he was allowed.
Well, my time is up. I love you very much and hope you have a good new year.
Elder Loffhagen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
