Dear all,
Last week, the Zone Leaders asked us for our input on what we should do for our Zone Activity. The suggestions we had: rent out a football pitch and play a big game (one of the Zone Leaders is 6ft and a pretty big football fan), or hire someone to teach us Tai Chi or Kung Fu. Both of these were quickly thrown out, and we ended up going ice skating. All of the wonders of China are right at our feet, and we do something that we could easily do back home.
Oh well. Maybe I'm just a little bitter because I spent most of my time wobbling and a slight amount of time falling down, whereas some of the other missionaries (mostly the ones from Utah) were significantly more graceful than me. But I have come up with a good new idiom to describe my feelings on the matter: it doesn't matter how good you are at something, so long as you are better than little Chinese girls at it.
The native Sister Missionaries hadn't been ice skating before (it's not really a tropical sport) and as such spent a little of their time wobbling, and most of their time falling down.
So we met with K yesterday, and it was easy to tell that he had some important news. We had explained that, as his baptismal date is next moves, we might not both be there. He then, yesterday told us, that he'd been thinking about his baptism and how he wanted both of us there, and had been praying to know what to do. He then found a pamphlet we had given him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ; about Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. He had forgotten about it, but when he read it, he noticed some paragraphs that talked about not delaying baptism, and felt strongly that he should be baptised sooner. He told us he wants to be sure he is safe, because he never knows when he might "crash" and suddenly die, and he wants Eternal Life.
As such, his baptismal date has been moved forward to 8th June. He pointed out that the first time he came to the church for a lesson was the 9th of May, making it exactly a month since he first started learning about the church. That's pretty fast, but he's certainly ready.
A lot of times on my mission, I've looked back on the notes that Tim Dick wrote for me at my setting apart and pondered the things that President Howes said. One thing that's always worried me was that he said "No matter how talented you are, you will never convert anyone." Previously, in times when no matter how hard I work, we haven't seemed to be able to find any investigators, I've wondered if this simply means that on my mission I won't have the chance to see anyone I teach get baptised. But this week, I realised that actually it's a blessing - I have been blessed with a knowledge that no investigators will ever get converted to me - they will be converted to the Gospel.
This is certainly the case with K. I read his Progress Record, and Elder Sharp had basically written for his first lesson, "nothing special - likes learning English". He later told us that he actually really didn't like learning English before meeting us. It was his worst subject - he came in the hopes of learning about the truth of our message. While he may like us a lot - enough to want us to attend his baptism and eat lunch with us, his conversion is not to the missionaries, nor to any church members, but to the Gospel itself. In a month he has developed a genuine testimony of God, strong enough to withstand pressure from his closest family members and friends - he is thrilled to invite them to meet with us and discuss the change he's making in his life.
Tuesday was another fun opportunity to teach several investigators at once; We had K, J H D (If it makes it easier, his name in English is Brother T - Hing Daih means brother) and another man, Mr W. Because we weren't sure if either Brother T or K could be there, we had planned to teach whomever would attend, and then suddenly we had three investigators instead of one. So again we resorted to the DVD trick - we had planned to show Brother T parts of Special Witnesses of Christ, which features testimonies from the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. As we had pretty much a class to teach, we watched it with all of them and then bore testimony at the end. It was certainly an interesting experience, as K acted pretty much as a fellowshipper, telling Brother T about his own experience quitting tea. K is a fairly typical Chinese person, and told us that at home, he wouldn't ever drink water, but instead would always just drink tea, so it was a bit of an adjustment for him, but not too big of a deal - the hardest time now is just when he gets up in the morning (me too - I'm sure a cup of tea would help me wake up quickly too, but I'll avoid such substance abuse anyway).
I love you all - I hope Mum had a fun time at the Osmond concert. It's always fun telling other missionaries how you two joined the church. I tell them that my dad found the church while hitchhiking in Canada, and my Mum found it through the Osmonds. Then I have to explain the gangs of middle-aged Sisters we have in the church over here, and they're always amazed at the impact the Osmonds have had over in England.
Have a fun time at work, school, play, music lessons, TV and whatever other things you'll all do this week,
Lots of Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Hello all again - 33rd email from Hong Kong
And thank you for all of the wonderful Birthday presents. I really enjoyed some of the chocolate yesterday and am looking forward to eating a lot more today :) Plus the colour by numbers will be fun, as will playing with all of those new drawing pens, and attempting to make food based on the recipes from Bethany.
I just picked up the package yesterday at Mission Conference - and yesterday was a busy day! Mission Conference in the morning, then we met with Kelvin and committed him to baptism on the 29th of June; we then met with J H D, our Mainlander, who is still really struggling with not drinking tea, and with not really understanding the Restoration. We were teaching him on Tuesday, before another new investigator showed up - but it went on longer and we suddenly had two investigators there at the same time! What to do? I decided that if we watched the Restoration DVD and taught about prophets and the Book of Mormon, it should keep them both occupied - and the lesson seemed perfect for both the new investigator and J H D, who I don't think really understood the idea of a modern prophet before, and is still a little apprehensive about praying, thinking that only really holy people can pray.
Finally last night, we went to see a really good Less-Active family called the L family. Their teenage daughter is completely active, but nobody else is - she's a really great example, though, and so we meet with the family every week. We taught a simple lesson about the Atonement and Adam and Eve, and shared a scripture in 1 Corinthians; "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all are made alive." It went really well.
Last week in Priesthood Executive Council, the Bishop talked over the three key things they had to do in order to get things going - 1. Pray for the victims, 2. Telephone family members to make sure they are okay and 3. Begin preparing for the packages. This is the first time I've been near a natural disaster like this, and it was interesting to see the way the church leadership got going immediately. Unfortunately, the packages are being assembled by the ward members in Shenzen, which is just on the other side of the border between Hong Kong and the Mainland, so Missionaries can't really help - we're not allowed to be there!
Interesting to hear that Reading offers Chinese - that's something good to look into. As far as any specific university goes, I don't really mind. Royal Holloway would be nice, but I expect my grades are far too low to get in there, even possibly as a mature student.
The period of time that I've spent here in Tai Po this Moves with Elder Sharp has been the most amazing time of my mission so far - investigators that are really progressing and growing, and a constant wave of new people willing to hear the Gospel. It's wonderful; I certainly hope I get to stay here with Elder Sharp next moves, as we've had just so many miracles together - and, of course, Kelvin is getting baptised next Moves, which is as good a reason as any to want to stay. But I've noticed that generally the thing we want the most isn't necessarily the best thing for us, so I'm ready to go anywhere else I'm needed. I look forward to the future, and know that things can only get better from this point on. I remember D&C90:24 - "Search diligently, pray always and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good..." A wonderful scripture, which has been a great comfort to me throughout my mission and which I am seeing the blessings of now.
I love you all and pray for you often,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
I just picked up the package yesterday at Mission Conference - and yesterday was a busy day! Mission Conference in the morning, then we met with Kelvin and committed him to baptism on the 29th of June; we then met with J H D, our Mainlander, who is still really struggling with not drinking tea, and with not really understanding the Restoration. We were teaching him on Tuesday, before another new investigator showed up - but it went on longer and we suddenly had two investigators there at the same time! What to do? I decided that if we watched the Restoration DVD and taught about prophets and the Book of Mormon, it should keep them both occupied - and the lesson seemed perfect for both the new investigator and J H D, who I don't think really understood the idea of a modern prophet before, and is still a little apprehensive about praying, thinking that only really holy people can pray.
Finally last night, we went to see a really good Less-Active family called the L family. Their teenage daughter is completely active, but nobody else is - she's a really great example, though, and so we meet with the family every week. We taught a simple lesson about the Atonement and Adam and Eve, and shared a scripture in 1 Corinthians; "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all are made alive." It went really well.
Last week in Priesthood Executive Council, the Bishop talked over the three key things they had to do in order to get things going - 1. Pray for the victims, 2. Telephone family members to make sure they are okay and 3. Begin preparing for the packages. This is the first time I've been near a natural disaster like this, and it was interesting to see the way the church leadership got going immediately. Unfortunately, the packages are being assembled by the ward members in Shenzen, which is just on the other side of the border between Hong Kong and the Mainland, so Missionaries can't really help - we're not allowed to be there!
Interesting to hear that Reading offers Chinese - that's something good to look into. As far as any specific university goes, I don't really mind. Royal Holloway would be nice, but I expect my grades are far too low to get in there, even possibly as a mature student.
The period of time that I've spent here in Tai Po this Moves with Elder Sharp has been the most amazing time of my mission so far - investigators that are really progressing and growing, and a constant wave of new people willing to hear the Gospel. It's wonderful; I certainly hope I get to stay here with Elder Sharp next moves, as we've had just so many miracles together - and, of course, Kelvin is getting baptised next Moves, which is as good a reason as any to want to stay. But I've noticed that generally the thing we want the most isn't necessarily the best thing for us, so I'm ready to go anywhere else I'm needed. I look forward to the future, and know that things can only get better from this point on. I remember D&C90:24 - "Search diligently, pray always and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good..." A wonderful scripture, which has been a great comfort to me throughout my mission and which I am seeing the blessings of now.
I love you all and pray for you often,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 15 May 2008
My Last Day as a Teenager - 32nd email from Hong Kong
Dear all,
Well, that's that. I'm done with being a teenager. Now on to bigger and better things.
It was indeed lovely to speak with you on Sunday; what a treat. Everyone seemed really happy and Tim's voice sounded so deep I wasn't sure if it was him at first! He must have grown a lot! I have not, though, of course - nor have I put on any weight. But my diet is now a little more balanced than noodles for every meal; why, there are all kinds of things Missionaries can make that are cheap and easy, like canned soup, or rice, or sandwiches! Yesterday my lunch was tuna fish rice - mostly because it was the day before Preparation Day and the only food I had left was a can of tuna fish, some rice and Marmite. It was still okay though.
I'm not too bothered about picking up my birthday package tomorrow - next week is Mission Conference, so I'll pick it up then. Right now we haven't got permission to go to the Temple, and we're currently in shorts and T-shirts after having played football this morning again, so we're not really in the right atire to wander into the Mission Home, pick up a package and wander out again.
Good to know that Julian is back home - if not safe, at least sound. He's been writing me pretty solidly so far, which is really nice. A lot of people who said they'd write never seem to get around to it, but I guess I'm out of sight, out of mind. Never mind - Julian's letters always make me smile, and stories like his conversion help me to remember that people are out there who haven't heard of the Gospel yet, but really are ready for it.
One investigator we've been meeting with for about two weeks now, K, is really good - we met him on the street, and he seemed excited to meet with us and learn some English, so we invited him to English class. Beforehand, though, Elder Sharp and a ward member, Brother T, taught him the Restoration (we were on exchanges with the ward because we had too many people to teach!) and he seemed excited to come to church.
He came, and beforehand we sat him down and taught him a little about prayer. Out of the blue, he said something really unexpected; "I don't know if I believe in God, but I have a really good feeling when I meet with you." I was so happy that the Spirit was working with him, and explained that this was the feelings of the Spirit. In church, to my great surprise, he sang all of the hymns as if he'd heard them all his life; it turns out that he's a real fan of music, particularly classical music, and because he plays the classical guitar, he can sight sing. His favourite contemporary artist is none other than James Blunt!
After church, he asked a wonderful question; "When can I see you again?" We set up a time on Tuesday and asked him to read a booklet on the Plan of Salvation - he seemed particularly interested to learn about the purpose of life.
When we met with him, he said he'd read and prayed. I was thrilled. We went through the lesson with him, and he understood the Three Kingdoms and really seemed to understand the Plan.
That night, I determined to be prepared in case of a sad phenomenon that occurs with rapidly progressing investigators that I like to call Burn Out - where someone learns and keeps commitments very quickly and then as suddenly as they started learning, stop progressing and eventually stop answering their phone. I got him to write down his address (so that if he stops answering his phone, we can drop by his house) and asked about one of the big concerns a lot of younger investigators have - their families. He said that his family is Buddhist, but he's discussed the things he's learnt with them, and they have no problem. This was a great relief to me; a negative or anti-Christian family can kill investigators quicker than just about anything else. But he seems to have a really good, close relationship with his family (he and his mother went out on a "date" on Mother's day) and they seem not to mind about him meeting with us and learning these things.
Last night I phoned him, and was thrilled when he said he'd read, prayed, and had a good feeling; even if it was a little small. But he was going to pray again that night. I gave him Alma 32, a chapter on growing in faith, to read.
He really is amazing; I'm excited by him more than I am by our Mainland investigator. Of course J H D will get baptised; but K's something else; he's really developing testimony right in front of our eyes!
J H D, meanwhile, went through some pretty nasty withdrawals from tea this past week, but is now over the worst of them. On Tuesday, we set a baptismal date of May 30th or there abouts, and showed him the baptismal font. I gave him a demonstration, by having us walk down into the font, showing how I would hold him when he got baptised, confirming that this had to be done by the right authority (I've already shown him my line of authority, so he understands that) and saying the Baptismal prayer, then explaining that I would lower him into the water and he would come out again, clean and pure. I think it really solidified in his mind the process that he'll go through as he is baptised into the true church.
The major courses I'm trying to decide between at University would be something in, of course, Mandarin, or Journalism, or Teaching - and we can throw English Literature in there too. Any of those are most appealing to me at the moment; I think the order of interest right now would go Mandarin, Teaching, English Lit, Journalism. See what you can find - anything that looks like it's along these basic ideas.
Lots of love, everyone. I hope you all have a fun week, and that such things as SATs, Ofsted visits, job interviews, essays, babies and school will not be too stressful. You're all in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Well, that's that. I'm done with being a teenager. Now on to bigger and better things.
It was indeed lovely to speak with you on Sunday; what a treat. Everyone seemed really happy and Tim's voice sounded so deep I wasn't sure if it was him at first! He must have grown a lot! I have not, though, of course - nor have I put on any weight. But my diet is now a little more balanced than noodles for every meal; why, there are all kinds of things Missionaries can make that are cheap and easy, like canned soup, or rice, or sandwiches! Yesterday my lunch was tuna fish rice - mostly because it was the day before Preparation Day and the only food I had left was a can of tuna fish, some rice and Marmite. It was still okay though.
I'm not too bothered about picking up my birthday package tomorrow - next week is Mission Conference, so I'll pick it up then. Right now we haven't got permission to go to the Temple, and we're currently in shorts and T-shirts after having played football this morning again, so we're not really in the right atire to wander into the Mission Home, pick up a package and wander out again.
Good to know that Julian is back home - if not safe, at least sound. He's been writing me pretty solidly so far, which is really nice. A lot of people who said they'd write never seem to get around to it, but I guess I'm out of sight, out of mind. Never mind - Julian's letters always make me smile, and stories like his conversion help me to remember that people are out there who haven't heard of the Gospel yet, but really are ready for it.
One investigator we've been meeting with for about two weeks now, K, is really good - we met him on the street, and he seemed excited to meet with us and learn some English, so we invited him to English class. Beforehand, though, Elder Sharp and a ward member, Brother T, taught him the Restoration (we were on exchanges with the ward because we had too many people to teach!) and he seemed excited to come to church.
He came, and beforehand we sat him down and taught him a little about prayer. Out of the blue, he said something really unexpected; "I don't know if I believe in God, but I have a really good feeling when I meet with you." I was so happy that the Spirit was working with him, and explained that this was the feelings of the Spirit. In church, to my great surprise, he sang all of the hymns as if he'd heard them all his life; it turns out that he's a real fan of music, particularly classical music, and because he plays the classical guitar, he can sight sing. His favourite contemporary artist is none other than James Blunt!
After church, he asked a wonderful question; "When can I see you again?" We set up a time on Tuesday and asked him to read a booklet on the Plan of Salvation - he seemed particularly interested to learn about the purpose of life.
When we met with him, he said he'd read and prayed. I was thrilled. We went through the lesson with him, and he understood the Three Kingdoms and really seemed to understand the Plan.
That night, I determined to be prepared in case of a sad phenomenon that occurs with rapidly progressing investigators that I like to call Burn Out - where someone learns and keeps commitments very quickly and then as suddenly as they started learning, stop progressing and eventually stop answering their phone. I got him to write down his address (so that if he stops answering his phone, we can drop by his house) and asked about one of the big concerns a lot of younger investigators have - their families. He said that his family is Buddhist, but he's discussed the things he's learnt with them, and they have no problem. This was a great relief to me; a negative or anti-Christian family can kill investigators quicker than just about anything else. But he seems to have a really good, close relationship with his family (he and his mother went out on a "date" on Mother's day) and they seem not to mind about him meeting with us and learning these things.
Last night I phoned him, and was thrilled when he said he'd read, prayed, and had a good feeling; even if it was a little small. But he was going to pray again that night. I gave him Alma 32, a chapter on growing in faith, to read.
He really is amazing; I'm excited by him more than I am by our Mainland investigator. Of course J H D will get baptised; but K's something else; he's really developing testimony right in front of our eyes!
J H D, meanwhile, went through some pretty nasty withdrawals from tea this past week, but is now over the worst of them. On Tuesday, we set a baptismal date of May 30th or there abouts, and showed him the baptismal font. I gave him a demonstration, by having us walk down into the font, showing how I would hold him when he got baptised, confirming that this had to be done by the right authority (I've already shown him my line of authority, so he understands that) and saying the Baptismal prayer, then explaining that I would lower him into the water and he would come out again, clean and pure. I think it really solidified in his mind the process that he'll go through as he is baptised into the true church.
The major courses I'm trying to decide between at University would be something in, of course, Mandarin, or Journalism, or Teaching - and we can throw English Literature in there too. Any of those are most appealing to me at the moment; I think the order of interest right now would go Mandarin, Teaching, English Lit, Journalism. See what you can find - anything that looks like it's along these basic ideas.
Lots of love, everyone. I hope you all have a fun week, and that such things as SATs, Ofsted visits, job interviews, essays, babies and school will not be too stressful. You're all in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Yet more fun from Hong Kong - 31st email from Hong Kong
Dear all,
In relation to Americans and the Chinese attitude over here at the moment, let me tell a little story about a man we bumped into last Sunday.
We were talking away, and he wanted to know where we were from - a lot of people wonder this, as it's not particularly normal for two white people (or gwaai louhs, as they call us, which means "white ghost") to speak Cantonese. Generally when I tell people I'm from England, it's met with something between interest and excitement, as England is a rather popular country here - everyone wears Union Flag T-Shirts and and just loves absorbing our culture. I guess it's something to do with the fact that it's had so much of our culture for so long. A real Englishman who is polite and speaks the language is a treat.
So I tell this man I'm from England, and he's rather excited. Then Elder Sharp tells him he's from America. He gets rather scared and tries to run away. We stop him before he gets too far, and ask him what the matter is. He asks Elder Sharp, "Did you know your country's evil?" It was rather hard to convince him otherwise, but we eventually managed to explain that every country has good and bad people. Then he starts asking about "King George Bush" and his problems. I think that his biggest problem is that he watches too much TV, and believes the media in their every little sway of opinion.
Our dear golden Mainland investigator has met with us twice this week already, each time for two or so hours, and last night committed himself to baptism. We gave him a Chinese Preach My Gospel and asked him to read through the baptismal interview questions. It was like a checklist - "Do you believe God is our Heavenly Father?" "Believe!" "Do you believe Joseph Smith Restored God's true church?" "Believe!" His only problems with the questions were he wasn't sure what it meant when it said "Do you believe that [current Church President] is a prophet of God?" and we quickly explained that this is talking about Thomas S Monson. Then he hadn't heard of Tithing yet, so we explained it to him, and he asked how to pay it. The rule is actually that Mainlanders can't pay Tithing so as not to give the government the wrong idea, but some Mainland Saints save up their Tithing, anticipating the time that they can pay it. This satisfied him.
We have basically taught him everything, and he reads any and all literature we give him avidly. His largest concerns are not being able to buy food on a Sunday, not drinking tea, and wanting to preach the Gospel in the Mainland. So, basically, no real problems, because we've explained obeying and sustaining the law, so he understands he just has to wait for now, and will keep the other commandments anyway because he has the faith to change.
Basically, it's he's a real miracle.
I did actually see a poster up on a wall for Iron Man, and it suddenly reminded me that the world hasn't stopped spinning. I remember reading on the internet about that film and seeing concept designs for Iron Man, so it's interesting to see how things move more quickly than I expect - I saw a box of cereal with a free Indiana Jones 4 toy inside last week! It's also been getting harder to avoid the final Harry Potter; all the new missionaries have either read it or know the ending, and the Chinese translation is really catching on; I've seen a lot around. Maybe I'll buy it before I come home and read it in Chinese!
As the weather is in the process of heating up, I can categorically say that I do not need a sweatshirt. Right now, as we're still in Spring, it's unbearably hot one day and rainy the next (I prefer the rain) but soon temperatures are going to heat up somewhat more, and at that point I think I may melt.
Today we all went to play football as a Zone. I surprised myself by not being a complete waste of space, but the T-shirt I've been wearing for exercise is just too thick and I got so hot and sweaty that I ran out of steam after about 15 minutes! I'm thinking I'll buy a football shirt, which will, with its light material, be much better for exercise - conveniently, everyone in Hong Kong loves English football, so I even have my choice of English teams. Other missionaries tend to buy the shirts mostly based on what looks funky or if it's Manchester Utd, the only team they've heard of, but I'm planning on buying Reading, as I can tell people it's my home team.
I think that's the only time in my life I've spent an entire paragraph of writing talking about football. This mission is doing strange things to my brain - I'd better balance it out with something spiritual.
As I come closer to my year mark out here, I can't help but look back and see how things have changed so much so quickly. This time last year I had barely got my call and was thrilled to be going to Hong Kong, but was still trying to enjoy a little last bit of my life as it was - around about this time, Chris, Tom and I were spending time at sleepovers playing Mario and Star Wars games and getting ready to leave. The weekend before I came out on my mission Tim and I were running off with Tom and Jacob to that Star Wars convention - I think my priorities were lacking a lot of clarity.
Now, I feel I'm a lot more oriented in the right direction. I've seen first hand the damaging effects of playing computer games all day (for example, I'm currently emailing from a very rowdy Games Cafe, and there are kids all around who've been here all day and aren't leaving any time soon) and I've seen the healing effects of the Gospel upon the lives of people like our miracle Mainland Investigator, and many other people who need this message. I feel that next year, when I return home, I'll be more ready than ever to make the important decisions in my life, based on the principles of the Gospel. I've grown so much in just one year, and the journey's not over yet.
Love you all,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
In relation to Americans and the Chinese attitude over here at the moment, let me tell a little story about a man we bumped into last Sunday.
We were talking away, and he wanted to know where we were from - a lot of people wonder this, as it's not particularly normal for two white people (or gwaai louhs, as they call us, which means "white ghost") to speak Cantonese. Generally when I tell people I'm from England, it's met with something between interest and excitement, as England is a rather popular country here - everyone wears Union Flag T-Shirts and and just loves absorbing our culture. I guess it's something to do with the fact that it's had so much of our culture for so long. A real Englishman who is polite and speaks the language is a treat.
So I tell this man I'm from England, and he's rather excited. Then Elder Sharp tells him he's from America. He gets rather scared and tries to run away. We stop him before he gets too far, and ask him what the matter is. He asks Elder Sharp, "Did you know your country's evil?" It was rather hard to convince him otherwise, but we eventually managed to explain that every country has good and bad people. Then he starts asking about "King George Bush" and his problems. I think that his biggest problem is that he watches too much TV, and believes the media in their every little sway of opinion.
Our dear golden Mainland investigator has met with us twice this week already, each time for two or so hours, and last night committed himself to baptism. We gave him a Chinese Preach My Gospel and asked him to read through the baptismal interview questions. It was like a checklist - "Do you believe God is our Heavenly Father?" "Believe!" "Do you believe Joseph Smith Restored God's true church?" "Believe!" His only problems with the questions were he wasn't sure what it meant when it said "Do you believe that [current Church President] is a prophet of God?" and we quickly explained that this is talking about Thomas S Monson. Then he hadn't heard of Tithing yet, so we explained it to him, and he asked how to pay it. The rule is actually that Mainlanders can't pay Tithing so as not to give the government the wrong idea, but some Mainland Saints save up their Tithing, anticipating the time that they can pay it. This satisfied him.
We have basically taught him everything, and he reads any and all literature we give him avidly. His largest concerns are not being able to buy food on a Sunday, not drinking tea, and wanting to preach the Gospel in the Mainland. So, basically, no real problems, because we've explained obeying and sustaining the law, so he understands he just has to wait for now, and will keep the other commandments anyway because he has the faith to change.
Basically, it's he's a real miracle.
I did actually see a poster up on a wall for Iron Man, and it suddenly reminded me that the world hasn't stopped spinning. I remember reading on the internet about that film and seeing concept designs for Iron Man, so it's interesting to see how things move more quickly than I expect - I saw a box of cereal with a free Indiana Jones 4 toy inside last week! It's also been getting harder to avoid the final Harry Potter; all the new missionaries have either read it or know the ending, and the Chinese translation is really catching on; I've seen a lot around. Maybe I'll buy it before I come home and read it in Chinese!
As the weather is in the process of heating up, I can categorically say that I do not need a sweatshirt. Right now, as we're still in Spring, it's unbearably hot one day and rainy the next (I prefer the rain) but soon temperatures are going to heat up somewhat more, and at that point I think I may melt.
Today we all went to play football as a Zone. I surprised myself by not being a complete waste of space, but the T-shirt I've been wearing for exercise is just too thick and I got so hot and sweaty that I ran out of steam after about 15 minutes! I'm thinking I'll buy a football shirt, which will, with its light material, be much better for exercise - conveniently, everyone in Hong Kong loves English football, so I even have my choice of English teams. Other missionaries tend to buy the shirts mostly based on what looks funky or if it's Manchester Utd, the only team they've heard of, but I'm planning on buying Reading, as I can tell people it's my home team.
I think that's the only time in my life I've spent an entire paragraph of writing talking about football. This mission is doing strange things to my brain - I'd better balance it out with something spiritual.
As I come closer to my year mark out here, I can't help but look back and see how things have changed so much so quickly. This time last year I had barely got my call and was thrilled to be going to Hong Kong, but was still trying to enjoy a little last bit of my life as it was - around about this time, Chris, Tom and I were spending time at sleepovers playing Mario and Star Wars games and getting ready to leave. The weekend before I came out on my mission Tim and I were running off with Tom and Jacob to that Star Wars convention - I think my priorities were lacking a lot of clarity.
Now, I feel I'm a lot more oriented in the right direction. I've seen first hand the damaging effects of playing computer games all day (for example, I'm currently emailing from a very rowdy Games Cafe, and there are kids all around who've been here all day and aren't leaving any time soon) and I've seen the healing effects of the Gospel upon the lives of people like our miracle Mainland Investigator, and many other people who need this message. I feel that next year, when I return home, I'll be more ready than ever to make the important decisions in my life, based on the principles of the Gospel. I've grown so much in just one year, and the journey's not over yet.
Love you all,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Another change in companion - 30th email from Hong Kong
Dear all,
My time with Elder Kwok, was somewhat limited it seems. At the end of a very fast moves, things have been shuffled around again.
Here in Tai Po, we previously had two companionships here - myself and Elder Kwok, plus Elder Gould and Elder Sharp. Now Elder Gould is off to be a Zone Leader in the New Territories and Elder Kwok is going to West Point, where I've just left! So my new companion is Elder Sharp; the two companionships are being stuck together into one, which is really good because between the two of us we have a very large number of investigators and other people to work with.
Elder Sharp is rather new to Hong Kong; he's only been here for one moves; so I'm a "Step-Dad" again, although this time my companion doesn't speak as much Chinese. He's really diligent though, and is progressing very fast. I just hope that I can master the art of balancing the companionship when speaking with others so that I don't do all the talking and leave him out.
An interesting piece of news I must mention before I forget is that the American Mother's Day is a week earlier than I thought - it's the 11th of May, the week after next. I'm thinking I'll phone at 10pm my time again, as that worked rather well at Christmas, which will be - I'm not quite sure what time for you. Probably 3pm or 4pm? I'm having trouble factoring in the Daylight Savings Time, as Hong Kong doesn't have any. As a matter of fact, supposedly all of China is in the same time zone. Interesting...
Last week seeing the Mongolian missionaries was really cool. It seemed that the group we met were all Mongolian natives, and I guess for many of them it must have been their first time going to the Temple, as they had taken out their Endowments that day. It just reminds me how lucky we are in this mission to have the Temple only half an hour away, instead of having to cross several country borders and travel all the way through China to get there. Charlie Fisher, being in Taiwan, has several Temples in close proximity, so she won't come here.
There are a lot of Olympics things going on at the moment, but most of what I've heard has been fairly garbled, what with our avoidance of the media. Supposedly Elder Gould had someone come up to him and tell him he didn't like George Bush, then asked if Elder Gould supported the Olympics. We're not really sure why.
So, my Birthday - there's not really anything I want, to be honest. I'd rather just have you save up money so that I can buy something bigger when I come home. One thing I would like, though, is some more of my colouring pens from the art shop in Maidenhead; not the boxes, but just individual pens. I need a new Cool Grey 4 and am missing a dark green, a deep yellow and a light purple colour, plus some random other colours would be nice too. I don't get much time for drawing, but when I do it's a nice relaxing activity on Preparation Days.
So besides the clothes and drawing pens, it'd best if you maybe just set some money aside for when I come back, that I can either use to buy something here in Hong Kong or to buy a laptop when I get back - I'm willing to give up on a MacBook, knowing how expensive they are, but I'd still like a laptop of some kind for University and such. Something that would be really good, though, would be some Walkers Salt and Vinegar Squares - also not very expensive, but very missed. I can get hold of Salt and Vinegar crisps here, but they're from America, so they don't taste quite right. I don't really have anything else I want, I'm afraid - sorry to be so boring.
So last Monday, we were at the church waiting for a new investigator, who unfortunately never showed up, there was a ring at the doorbell. I go to see who it is, and it's a random man who starts speaking to me in Mandarin. I explain that I only speak Cantonese, and that's fine - his mother tongue is Cantonese; he just thought that the only Chinese language white people speak is Mandarin, which makes sense, as he's from the Mainland.
It is currently his plan to learn all about Jesus Christ and then go back the the Mainland and teach other people. We've been trying to explain that God wants us to follow the laws of the land, but in the meantime we're meeting with him every evening to teach him. He came to Hong Kong for the sole purpose of learning about Christ, and apparently wandered around all day Monday without success in finding a church (which is odd as there are a lot in this area) before finding ours. He is a really accepting man who instantly believes everything we teach him; although he's currently struggling a little bit with prayer (it's a completely new concept to him) and with the Word of Wisdom (I felt impressed to share it with him, and it turns out he has the typical Chinese problem of drinking tea). But he's really amazing; we're slightly worried as to whether or not he's going to go back to the Mainland and preach anyway, but we're going to talk to the church leaders and arrange something for him so that he can meet the Mainland Saints.
Meeting with this guy is on top of scheduling and meeting all of our other investigators, less-actives and other ward Members, which is a long list as our companionships were combined. So things are really busy here in Tai Po right now!
Everybody carry on being amazing, I love you all.
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
My time with Elder Kwok, was somewhat limited it seems. At the end of a very fast moves, things have been shuffled around again.
Here in Tai Po, we previously had two companionships here - myself and Elder Kwok, plus Elder Gould and Elder Sharp. Now Elder Gould is off to be a Zone Leader in the New Territories and Elder Kwok is going to West Point, where I've just left! So my new companion is Elder Sharp; the two companionships are being stuck together into one, which is really good because between the two of us we have a very large number of investigators and other people to work with.
Elder Sharp is rather new to Hong Kong; he's only been here for one moves; so I'm a "Step-Dad" again, although this time my companion doesn't speak as much Chinese. He's really diligent though, and is progressing very fast. I just hope that I can master the art of balancing the companionship when speaking with others so that I don't do all the talking and leave him out.
An interesting piece of news I must mention before I forget is that the American Mother's Day is a week earlier than I thought - it's the 11th of May, the week after next. I'm thinking I'll phone at 10pm my time again, as that worked rather well at Christmas, which will be - I'm not quite sure what time for you. Probably 3pm or 4pm? I'm having trouble factoring in the Daylight Savings Time, as Hong Kong doesn't have any. As a matter of fact, supposedly all of China is in the same time zone. Interesting...
Last week seeing the Mongolian missionaries was really cool. It seemed that the group we met were all Mongolian natives, and I guess for many of them it must have been their first time going to the Temple, as they had taken out their Endowments that day. It just reminds me how lucky we are in this mission to have the Temple only half an hour away, instead of having to cross several country borders and travel all the way through China to get there. Charlie Fisher, being in Taiwan, has several Temples in close proximity, so she won't come here.
There are a lot of Olympics things going on at the moment, but most of what I've heard has been fairly garbled, what with our avoidance of the media. Supposedly Elder Gould had someone come up to him and tell him he didn't like George Bush, then asked if Elder Gould supported the Olympics. We're not really sure why.
So, my Birthday - there's not really anything I want, to be honest. I'd rather just have you save up money so that I can buy something bigger when I come home. One thing I would like, though, is some more of my colouring pens from the art shop in Maidenhead; not the boxes, but just individual pens. I need a new Cool Grey 4 and am missing a dark green, a deep yellow and a light purple colour, plus some random other colours would be nice too. I don't get much time for drawing, but when I do it's a nice relaxing activity on Preparation Days.
So besides the clothes and drawing pens, it'd best if you maybe just set some money aside for when I come back, that I can either use to buy something here in Hong Kong or to buy a laptop when I get back - I'm willing to give up on a MacBook, knowing how expensive they are, but I'd still like a laptop of some kind for University and such. Something that would be really good, though, would be some Walkers Salt and Vinegar Squares - also not very expensive, but very missed. I can get hold of Salt and Vinegar crisps here, but they're from America, so they don't taste quite right. I don't really have anything else I want, I'm afraid - sorry to be so boring.
So last Monday, we were at the church waiting for a new investigator, who unfortunately never showed up, there was a ring at the doorbell. I go to see who it is, and it's a random man who starts speaking to me in Mandarin. I explain that I only speak Cantonese, and that's fine - his mother tongue is Cantonese; he just thought that the only Chinese language white people speak is Mandarin, which makes sense, as he's from the Mainland.
It is currently his plan to learn all about Jesus Christ and then go back the the Mainland and teach other people. We've been trying to explain that God wants us to follow the laws of the land, but in the meantime we're meeting with him every evening to teach him. He came to Hong Kong for the sole purpose of learning about Christ, and apparently wandered around all day Monday without success in finding a church (which is odd as there are a lot in this area) before finding ours. He is a really accepting man who instantly believes everything we teach him; although he's currently struggling a little bit with prayer (it's a completely new concept to him) and with the Word of Wisdom (I felt impressed to share it with him, and it turns out he has the typical Chinese problem of drinking tea). But he's really amazing; we're slightly worried as to whether or not he's going to go back to the Mainland and preach anyway, but we're going to talk to the church leaders and arrange something for him so that he can meet the Mainland Saints.
Meeting with this guy is on top of scheduling and meeting all of our other investigators, less-actives and other ward Members, which is a long list as our companionships were combined. So things are really busy here in Tai Po right now!
Everybody carry on being amazing, I love you all.
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
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