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
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Just about everything has changed - 24th email from Hong Kong
Dear Mum and Dad,
Yeah - just about everything has changed. New area, new companion, all amazing.
First things first - last Sunday was the Why I Believe Fireside, which comes every moves and is an opportunity for departing missionaries to bear their testimonies. Elder Ng's parents were there, so I got the iPod from them with no worries. Thank you so much for it, it is really amazing. You did a great job of loading it full of music.
Second things second - my pass-off that I was supposed to have with Elder Ng was postponed due to time constraints, and he gave me a hard challenge (possibly because he wanted to slow me down as he didn't think I was ready) - writing down the entire pingyum Romanization for Finding Happiness, a five-minute DVD we show people. He gave me the challenge on Friday, telling me it might take a few weeks. I felt great delight in showing the completed thing to him on Sunday night.
Then Monday came, with moves calls. I was moved to a place called Tai Po, where I am currently writing from. It's just about the opposite of West Point, my last area, as it is very quiet and the lifestyle is a lot more laid back, so the people seem more friendly.
I also get a new companion - Elder Kwok. He has been on his mission now for only 12 weeks; he is a CBC (Canadian Born Chinese) and so already speaks Chinese fairly well, so he had only half the time in the MTC. I am his second companion in the field - and also senior companion. Interesting - especially as his Chinese is a lot better than mine. But we've talked a little bit and he's told me that his trainer taught him to always rely on his senior companion as the leader of the companionship, so he's willing to trust me and follow my lead. I, in turn, told him that we were going to be working together as a team, and that neither of us is any more important than the other. Things should go well this moves.
A little while after the telephone call for moves calls came, Elder Ng phoned up to schedule my pass-off; which was unexpected as I'd figured I would have to push him to give me one; but I guess that even if he figured I wasn't ready, he decided that as senior companion, I'd need to pass-off, so he phoned to schedule it. I had it on Wednesday - yesterday. I sat down and taught an amazing lesson, and he was really impressed - I taught about the Priesthood, about Missionary work and about fasting, and we stopped to evaluate between each principle. He told me afterwards that if I'd only taught the first principle; Priesthood, he'd have passed me off. But he my commitments were not strong enough, so even though he really wanted to pass me off, he felt I needed to improve my commitments and then teach one again with one of my new Zone Leaders.
Well after thinking about it for a while, I decided that I was still going to accomplish my goal, one way or the other. So I tried to schedual a pass-off for today at the Temple with one of my new Zone Leaders, but both were busy at the time.
So I phoned up Elder Alspaugh, who is currently a Zone Leader in another zone. He was absolutely giddy at the prospect of passing off his trainee, and we schedualed it.
Then came the hiccup that made me decide it was best to postpone - we got to the Temple a little late after having dragged huge bags around half of Hong Kong. By the time Elder Alspaugh was ready to pass me off, it was 9:00; the time I'd arranged to meet Elder Kwok. I figured it wouldn't be right to miss my meeting with him, so proposed that we wait to see whether or not Elder Kwok would be okay with me taking an extra hour at the temple.
Then Elder Kwok was late too. By the time I'd finally met up with him, he was fine with me taking time for the pass-off, but I couldn't find Elder Alspaugh, who needed to leave with his new Zone Leader companion. Plus, Elder Kwok and I needed to get home quickly so that we could help two new Elders who are in my District this moves. I acknowledged that if I were to press doing my pass-off right then and there, I would inconvenience another seven missionaries doing so - at least. I decided that the ends didn't justify my means, so we left and came to my new area. But I now intend to pass-off within the next week - before I email you again, I will have passed off. It's really just a formality anyway; I know I'm good enough. I even bought 1000 character cards in the Mission Home for use next week once I pass-off.
So please pray for me this next week, that I will succeed in my final pass-off.
And now for something completely different - there is a guy back in West Point called Andy, who we've been meeting with, who is really amazing. He's twenty, comes to English class every week, and came to church one week - he is interested in learning about the church, but has a load of exams for school, so doesn't want really to do so until May. In the meantime, we've been sharing things every week after English class, just a little here and a little there. He's ridiculously cool - and was really sad to hear that I was leaving. He was telling me yesterday that he's thinking about a trip to England some time soon, and I suggested that he could stay with you - he was interested, but was insistent on paying money if he did so. Sorry for volunteering the house, but I didn't think it'd be too much of a problem (plus it'd give him a chance to see the Gospel in action in the home). I did get his email address and can give it to...next week. I forgot it this week. But even if you can't help him with a place to stay, you can at least email him and chat with him about things. He has my gmail address, so he may write to you through that, and if he does, please write him back! :D
The speakers Elder Walgren sold me aren't that great - they're more for on-the-go use rather than sitting at a desk. They don't have a plug for the wall, but are simply battery operated. I'm going to look into buying one of the speaker/dock charger things for the iPod instead, but it may be a bit trickier to find one in my new area, which has far less electronics stores - well, far less of everything.
Tai Po is basically empty compared to West Point. In some ways, the hustle and bustle will be missed, but in other ways, it'll be a nice change. I'm looking forward to sleeping at night without hearing loads of cars speeding past all day every day - and all night for that matter - and (although it may just be green grass syndrome) the people here seem to be a lot less busy, and a lot more friendly and willing to talk.
So as I mentioned, there are two new trainee missionaries in my apartment. One is in my area and the other is in the neighbouring area - the apartment is actually in their area and we have to take a bus to get to our area. There are six of us all in one apartment; but it's far bigger than my last apartment, so it should be no problem. I have currently organised my desk perfectly and neatly. We'll see how long that lasts for! The biggest hassle for keeping it tidy is all of my post - particularly, I hate to say it, all of the DearElders you've sent. While I don't want them to stop coming (certainly not!), would you be offended if I threw some of the old ones away, for organization purposes? :)
Anyway, time's almost up. I love you all. Keep fighting the good fight, and pray for me in my pass off this coming week.
Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Yeah - just about everything has changed. New area, new companion, all amazing.
First things first - last Sunday was the Why I Believe Fireside, which comes every moves and is an opportunity for departing missionaries to bear their testimonies. Elder Ng's parents were there, so I got the iPod from them with no worries. Thank you so much for it, it is really amazing. You did a great job of loading it full of music.
Second things second - my pass-off that I was supposed to have with Elder Ng was postponed due to time constraints, and he gave me a hard challenge (possibly because he wanted to slow me down as he didn't think I was ready) - writing down the entire pingyum Romanization for Finding Happiness, a five-minute DVD we show people. He gave me the challenge on Friday, telling me it might take a few weeks. I felt great delight in showing the completed thing to him on Sunday night.
Then Monday came, with moves calls. I was moved to a place called Tai Po, where I am currently writing from. It's just about the opposite of West Point, my last area, as it is very quiet and the lifestyle is a lot more laid back, so the people seem more friendly.
I also get a new companion - Elder Kwok. He has been on his mission now for only 12 weeks; he is a CBC (Canadian Born Chinese) and so already speaks Chinese fairly well, so he had only half the time in the MTC. I am his second companion in the field - and also senior companion. Interesting - especially as his Chinese is a lot better than mine. But we've talked a little bit and he's told me that his trainer taught him to always rely on his senior companion as the leader of the companionship, so he's willing to trust me and follow my lead. I, in turn, told him that we were going to be working together as a team, and that neither of us is any more important than the other. Things should go well this moves.
A little while after the telephone call for moves calls came, Elder Ng phoned up to schedule my pass-off; which was unexpected as I'd figured I would have to push him to give me one; but I guess that even if he figured I wasn't ready, he decided that as senior companion, I'd need to pass-off, so he phoned to schedule it. I had it on Wednesday - yesterday. I sat down and taught an amazing lesson, and he was really impressed - I taught about the Priesthood, about Missionary work and about fasting, and we stopped to evaluate between each principle. He told me afterwards that if I'd only taught the first principle; Priesthood, he'd have passed me off. But he my commitments were not strong enough, so even though he really wanted to pass me off, he felt I needed to improve my commitments and then teach one again with one of my new Zone Leaders.
Well after thinking about it for a while, I decided that I was still going to accomplish my goal, one way or the other. So I tried to schedual a pass-off for today at the Temple with one of my new Zone Leaders, but both were busy at the time.
So I phoned up Elder Alspaugh, who is currently a Zone Leader in another zone. He was absolutely giddy at the prospect of passing off his trainee, and we schedualed it.
Then came the hiccup that made me decide it was best to postpone - we got to the Temple a little late after having dragged huge bags around half of Hong Kong. By the time Elder Alspaugh was ready to pass me off, it was 9:00; the time I'd arranged to meet Elder Kwok. I figured it wouldn't be right to miss my meeting with him, so proposed that we wait to see whether or not Elder Kwok would be okay with me taking an extra hour at the temple.
Then Elder Kwok was late too. By the time I'd finally met up with him, he was fine with me taking time for the pass-off, but I couldn't find Elder Alspaugh, who needed to leave with his new Zone Leader companion. Plus, Elder Kwok and I needed to get home quickly so that we could help two new Elders who are in my District this moves. I acknowledged that if I were to press doing my pass-off right then and there, I would inconvenience another seven missionaries doing so - at least. I decided that the ends didn't justify my means, so we left and came to my new area. But I now intend to pass-off within the next week - before I email you again, I will have passed off. It's really just a formality anyway; I know I'm good enough. I even bought 1000 character cards in the Mission Home for use next week once I pass-off.
So please pray for me this next week, that I will succeed in my final pass-off.
And now for something completely different - there is a guy back in West Point called Andy, who we've been meeting with, who is really amazing. He's twenty, comes to English class every week, and came to church one week - he is interested in learning about the church, but has a load of exams for school, so doesn't want really to do so until May. In the meantime, we've been sharing things every week after English class, just a little here and a little there. He's ridiculously cool - and was really sad to hear that I was leaving. He was telling me yesterday that he's thinking about a trip to England some time soon, and I suggested that he could stay with you - he was interested, but was insistent on paying money if he did so. Sorry for volunteering the house, but I didn't think it'd be too much of a problem (plus it'd give him a chance to see the Gospel in action in the home). I did get his email address and can give it to...next week. I forgot it this week. But even if you can't help him with a place to stay, you can at least email him and chat with him about things. He has my gmail address, so he may write to you through that, and if he does, please write him back! :D
The speakers Elder Walgren sold me aren't that great - they're more for on-the-go use rather than sitting at a desk. They don't have a plug for the wall, but are simply battery operated. I'm going to look into buying one of the speaker/dock charger things for the iPod instead, but it may be a bit trickier to find one in my new area, which has far less electronics stores - well, far less of everything.
Tai Po is basically empty compared to West Point. In some ways, the hustle and bustle will be missed, but in other ways, it'll be a nice change. I'm looking forward to sleeping at night without hearing loads of cars speeding past all day every day - and all night for that matter - and (although it may just be green grass syndrome) the people here seem to be a lot less busy, and a lot more friendly and willing to talk.
So as I mentioned, there are two new trainee missionaries in my apartment. One is in my area and the other is in the neighbouring area - the apartment is actually in their area and we have to take a bus to get to our area. There are six of us all in one apartment; but it's far bigger than my last apartment, so it should be no problem. I have currently organised my desk perfectly and neatly. We'll see how long that lasts for! The biggest hassle for keeping it tidy is all of my post - particularly, I hate to say it, all of the DearElders you've sent. While I don't want them to stop coming (certainly not!), would you be offended if I threw some of the old ones away, for organization purposes? :)
Anyway, time's almost up. I love you all. Keep fighting the good fight, and pray for me in my pass off this coming week.
Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 13 March 2008
RE: The Magic Wand hit. - 23rd email from Hong Kong
Dear Everyone,
The most recent announcement on the Pass-Off front is thus: this morning I taught Lesson 5, and passed. I still have some language checks to go through which I'm a little shakey on, but other than that, I have passed off all of the lessons.
Which leaves just one final pass-off. Tomorrow, I get a Zone Leader check up, which I am very glad to have with Elder Ng. He's a pretty hard marker for Pass-Offs, unlike our other Zone Leader, Elder Lewis, who I had a practise Pass-Off with yesterday and couldn't think of anything specific I could improve on, even when I pressed him. Elder Ng's pretty tough, but it's better to pass off with more of a challenge anyway. I'm also very glad that, only about a week before he returns home, Elder Ng and I will be able to have one last pass-off together. I had my first pass-off with him, and it's fitting to finish with him too - besides, I can show him how much I've improved! I love Elder Ng as a great leader who inspires me to work harder every time I speak with him.
Good to hear the iPod is on the way, and is going through such a safe route as well. As Elder Walgren will be going home next week too, he sold me his speakers for just $100HK, so I'm all set.
Now, because Elder Walgren's going home, the past two days have been very interesting. He had a Career Workshop which I guess is meant to help him turn missionary skills into job finding skills. The workshop is also sometimes refered to as a "trunky workshop" because all you do is sit around and talk about going home. But Elder Walgren is resolutely committed to not being trunky. His Dad told him before he went out, "Work up until the last hour. You can use the last hour to pack." He's certainly sticking to it. I'm so greatful he's continuing to work hard, and as a result we have indeed been seeing success.
As far as sending things back to you with the Ng family, I do have a few things I'd like to send back. I'll get all of my pictures burned to a CD and send it with them, and I can also give them the copy of the 2007 Mission Slideshow that I haven't yet gotten around to sending to you. I could easily put both in an envelope and post them, but I keep forgetting. Sorry!
Sounds like Easter will be really fun for you all again. Will Bethany be going to, or have you not planned that far ahead? I have really fond memories of last year, and was so glad that we could all go together as a family. It'll also be pretty cool for you to meet Timothy Ng, and he can tell you all about how bad my Cantonese is! :P
I personally am really looking forward to General Conference coming up in April. The new First Presidency are pretty much my favourite Apostles. I always had a special love for Henry B Eyring, possibly because he reminds me so much of Dad (for obvious reasons - by that I mean a great knowledge of the Gospel and a desire to teach, of course!), and Dieter F Uchtdorf is so cool - great to have a German in the 1st Presidency! I will, of course, have to wait an extra week for conference, as it's delayed out here. Never mind, it's worth the wait.
A little while ago, President Van Dam gave everyone a list of 10 Things to See and Do in Hong Kong before we finish our mission. I'm now off to do one of those things I've not yet done - visit a place called Lady Street. It's a huge market full of all kinds of exciting touristy shops - we're going for Elder Walgren's "Trunky Shopping", where he's allowed a Preparation Day to go and buy souveniers. For some reason, the entire District is coming too, just for the experience. Elder Walgren asked his family if they wanted any souveniers from him, and they all gave him a list as long as his arm! So we've got a bit of buying to do. I myself am hoping to pick up a new belt, a small shoulder bag to save me from carrying around a heavy backpack all day, and a fake Rolex, to compete with Chris who, on his mission, has a real Rolex. Maybe when we both get home I can switch the two and see if he notices... :P
I love you all, and pray that you all do well,
- Hide quoted text -
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
The most recent announcement on the Pass-Off front is thus: this morning I taught Lesson 5, and passed. I still have some language checks to go through which I'm a little shakey on, but other than that, I have passed off all of the lessons.
Which leaves just one final pass-off. Tomorrow, I get a Zone Leader check up, which I am very glad to have with Elder Ng. He's a pretty hard marker for Pass-Offs, unlike our other Zone Leader, Elder Lewis, who I had a practise Pass-Off with yesterday and couldn't think of anything specific I could improve on, even when I pressed him. Elder Ng's pretty tough, but it's better to pass off with more of a challenge anyway. I'm also very glad that, only about a week before he returns home, Elder Ng and I will be able to have one last pass-off together. I had my first pass-off with him, and it's fitting to finish with him too - besides, I can show him how much I've improved! I love Elder Ng as a great leader who inspires me to work harder every time I speak with him.
Good to hear the iPod is on the way, and is going through such a safe route as well. As Elder Walgren will be going home next week too, he sold me his speakers for just $100HK, so I'm all set.
Now, because Elder Walgren's going home, the past two days have been very interesting. He had a Career Workshop which I guess is meant to help him turn missionary skills into job finding skills. The workshop is also sometimes refered to as a "trunky workshop" because all you do is sit around and talk about going home. But Elder Walgren is resolutely committed to not being trunky. His Dad told him before he went out, "Work up until the last hour. You can use the last hour to pack." He's certainly sticking to it. I'm so greatful he's continuing to work hard, and as a result we have indeed been seeing success.
As far as sending things back to you with the Ng family, I do have a few things I'd like to send back. I'll get all of my pictures burned to a CD and send it with them, and I can also give them the copy of the 2007 Mission Slideshow that I haven't yet gotten around to sending to you. I could easily put both in an envelope and post them, but I keep forgetting. Sorry!
Sounds like Easter will be really fun for you all again. Will Bethany be going to, or have you not planned that far ahead? I have really fond memories of last year, and was so glad that we could all go together as a family. It'll also be pretty cool for you to meet Timothy Ng, and he can tell you all about how bad my Cantonese is! :P
I personally am really looking forward to General Conference coming up in April. The new First Presidency are pretty much my favourite Apostles. I always had a special love for Henry B Eyring, possibly because he reminds me so much of Dad (for obvious reasons - by that I mean a great knowledge of the Gospel and a desire to teach, of course!), and Dieter F Uchtdorf is so cool - great to have a German in the 1st Presidency! I will, of course, have to wait an extra week for conference, as it's delayed out here. Never mind, it's worth the wait.
A little while ago, President Van Dam gave everyone a list of 10 Things to See and Do in Hong Kong before we finish our mission. I'm now off to do one of those things I've not yet done - visit a place called Lady Street. It's a huge market full of all kinds of exciting touristy shops - we're going for Elder Walgren's "Trunky Shopping", where he's allowed a Preparation Day to go and buy souveniers. For some reason, the entire District is coming too, just for the experience. Elder Walgren asked his family if they wanted any souveniers from him, and they all gave him a list as long as his arm! So we've got a bit of buying to do. I myself am hoping to pick up a new belt, a small shoulder bag to save me from carrying around a heavy backpack all day, and a fake Rolex, to compete with Chris who, on his mission, has a real Rolex. Maybe when we both get home I can switch the two and see if he notices... :P
I love you all, and pray that you all do well,
- Hide quoted text -
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 6 March 2008
The Magic Wand hit ... 22nd email from Hong Kong
Dear Mum and Dad (and anybody else who reads this),
Tuesday morning, I realised something I'd not noticed so far.
I can speak Chinese.
Sure, it's not perfect, there are a lot of words I don't know, but I speak Chinese now. I'm not longer a green Missionary who knows a few words but doesn't understand what people are saying to him and can't figure out what to say back. I actually speak Chinese.
Last Monday-Tuesday, I went on a 24 hour exchange with an Elder called Elder Warner. He is simply wonderful - he's been in the zone since I got here and I've been on an exchange with him at some point every moves so far. The thing that I enjoy most about spending time finding with him is that he really trusts me - right from the start, my first moves when Elder Alspaugh never really expected me to be able to say much, I went finding with him and he told me that he was going to let me do a lot of the teaching, because I need the practice. We then went out, found someone, and taught with complete unity.
On Tuesday, I did a lesson 4 Pass-Off with him, as I have been doing with everyone I've been on exchanges with recently, to see everybody's different preferences and how I can improve. He told me that my lesson was pretty much perfect, gave me some helpful suggestions on how I can improve, and told me I'd passed in his eyes. I'm going to have one last Pass-Off with Elder Walgren tomorrow to prove I know what I'm doing and then I'm going to complete my goal by passing off the final fifth lesson before the end of the moves, which is about half way through March.
Elder Warner and I had a really good companionship study when we were together too - he went over the basic principles of missionary work as outlines in Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel and just talked about them. Elder Warner is exactly one year older that I am in the mission, and he goes home in 2 moves - which he reminded me meant that I'm coming up on my year mark soon. Wow.
So this week has been very much a 'growing up' week for me, in a mission sense. I'm no longer a newby who can't speak Chinese; I'm an experienced Elder who can teach and testify with enough fluency to share all I need to be able to share. It's a pretty powerful feeling to finally have achieved a goal I've been working towards for so long. Of course, I'm not finished yet, though - I've got to keep growing and learning right up until I'm in Elder Walgren's or Elder Ng's shoes and staring missionary death in the face.
The English fast lasted for a fair while - not all week. Mostly just to Saturday. Wednesday was good, Thursday was fine, Friday I was speaking more English and Saturday I'd just about given up. It was really hard, because everyone was always speaking English back to me. I had a similar problem in the MTC when I tried to SYL (Speak Your Language) and everyone would just speak English back. Long ago, though, I decided that the moment I'd finished the Pass-Offs, I'd have a celebratory week-long English fast. I'll try again then - it's not too far off now!
Ultimately, as far as the Elder with the DS goes, I've decided not to mention anything to anyone for the moment. I'll just see how things go. With something like that I need to be sensitive anyway, and phoning up President Van Dam and yelling everything at him is probably not the most tactful solution. The Elder is currently serving in International work; the busiest of all areas, and so will have no time for such toys anyway. It seemed to have only been a problem when he had a certain companion who has since gone home. So I'll leave the issue for now.
On a related note, I've put my Rubik's cube in my luggage. It was a real time waster and I have a lot more time at night for writing in my journal when I'm not playing with it. That said, I picked up one of the other Elder's cubes this morning and solved it in under 2 minutes.
So clearly I've been wasting too much time on it.
I learned an interesting piece of information the other day - I talked to someone who is working on a scientific study into snoring. He said that apparently, when you snore, you don't get enough oxygen to your brain, so you slowly lose brain cells.
That must mean that one Elder in our apartment right now is losing a lot of brain cells. He snores the house down every night. A few nights ago, he was snoring away so loudly that he woke me up. After about half an hour of trying to ignore him, it got too much. He was sleeping right next to me, in beds that are so close I can reach out an touch him at night without really moving - no space, you see - so I picked up a pair of his shorts lying next to him and dangled them down in front of him a little bit, just enough to disturb him and make him roll over. It didn't work at first, so I dropped them a bit lower. He grunted and rolled over, and I immediately dropped the shorts and hit my head to the pillow, pretending to be asleep, afraid he'd wake up and see me poking a pair of shorts in his face. I don't know if I woke him up or not, but I don't think so, and as the snoring stopped, I figured I was safe. I myself was then asleep again in a few minutes.
Well, my time's almost up. Love you lots and lots,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Tuesday morning, I realised something I'd not noticed so far.
I can speak Chinese.
Sure, it's not perfect, there are a lot of words I don't know, but I speak Chinese now. I'm not longer a green Missionary who knows a few words but doesn't understand what people are saying to him and can't figure out what to say back. I actually speak Chinese.
Last Monday-Tuesday, I went on a 24 hour exchange with an Elder called Elder Warner. He is simply wonderful - he's been in the zone since I got here and I've been on an exchange with him at some point every moves so far. The thing that I enjoy most about spending time finding with him is that he really trusts me - right from the start, my first moves when Elder Alspaugh never really expected me to be able to say much, I went finding with him and he told me that he was going to let me do a lot of the teaching, because I need the practice. We then went out, found someone, and taught with complete unity.
On Tuesday, I did a lesson 4 Pass-Off with him, as I have been doing with everyone I've been on exchanges with recently, to see everybody's different preferences and how I can improve. He told me that my lesson was pretty much perfect, gave me some helpful suggestions on how I can improve, and told me I'd passed in his eyes. I'm going to have one last Pass-Off with Elder Walgren tomorrow to prove I know what I'm doing and then I'm going to complete my goal by passing off the final fifth lesson before the end of the moves, which is about half way through March.
Elder Warner and I had a really good companionship study when we were together too - he went over the basic principles of missionary work as outlines in Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel and just talked about them. Elder Warner is exactly one year older that I am in the mission, and he goes home in 2 moves - which he reminded me meant that I'm coming up on my year mark soon. Wow.
So this week has been very much a 'growing up' week for me, in a mission sense. I'm no longer a newby who can't speak Chinese; I'm an experienced Elder who can teach and testify with enough fluency to share all I need to be able to share. It's a pretty powerful feeling to finally have achieved a goal I've been working towards for so long. Of course, I'm not finished yet, though - I've got to keep growing and learning right up until I'm in Elder Walgren's or Elder Ng's shoes and staring missionary death in the face.
The English fast lasted for a fair while - not all week. Mostly just to Saturday. Wednesday was good, Thursday was fine, Friday I was speaking more English and Saturday I'd just about given up. It was really hard, because everyone was always speaking English back to me. I had a similar problem in the MTC when I tried to SYL (Speak Your Language) and everyone would just speak English back. Long ago, though, I decided that the moment I'd finished the Pass-Offs, I'd have a celebratory week-long English fast. I'll try again then - it's not too far off now!
Ultimately, as far as the Elder with the DS goes, I've decided not to mention anything to anyone for the moment. I'll just see how things go. With something like that I need to be sensitive anyway, and phoning up President Van Dam and yelling everything at him is probably not the most tactful solution. The Elder is currently serving in International work; the busiest of all areas, and so will have no time for such toys anyway. It seemed to have only been a problem when he had a certain companion who has since gone home. So I'll leave the issue for now.
On a related note, I've put my Rubik's cube in my luggage. It was a real time waster and I have a lot more time at night for writing in my journal when I'm not playing with it. That said, I picked up one of the other Elder's cubes this morning and solved it in under 2 minutes.
So clearly I've been wasting too much time on it.
I learned an interesting piece of information the other day - I talked to someone who is working on a scientific study into snoring. He said that apparently, when you snore, you don't get enough oxygen to your brain, so you slowly lose brain cells.
That must mean that one Elder in our apartment right now is losing a lot of brain cells. He snores the house down every night. A few nights ago, he was snoring away so loudly that he woke me up. After about half an hour of trying to ignore him, it got too much. He was sleeping right next to me, in beds that are so close I can reach out an touch him at night without really moving - no space, you see - so I picked up a pair of his shorts lying next to him and dangled them down in front of him a little bit, just enough to disturb him and make him roll over. It didn't work at first, so I dropped them a bit lower. He grunted and rolled over, and I immediately dropped the shorts and hit my head to the pillow, pretending to be asleep, afraid he'd wake up and see me poking a pair of shorts in his face. I don't know if I woke him up or not, but I don't think so, and as the snoring stopped, I figured I was safe. I myself was then asleep again in a few minutes.
Well, my time's almost up. Love you lots and lots,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
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