Dear all,
Today has been a very busy day. In fact, this week has been a very busy week.
On Tuesday we headed back to Hong Kong for Mission Conference. That was pretty much an entire day gone - we managed to get some planning for lessons done, but not much else. On Wednesday we had Mission Conference and came back to Macau. Then today I went with Elder Liu and his family here in Macau (his aunt, uncle and grandma) to some family graves, then all of the Missionaries were treated to a trip up to Macau Tower by the second counsellor in the Branch Presidency here. So now I'm very tired, but there's no time to rest because immediately after we finish emailing here, we're going back out for a meal with Elder Liu's family again. Busy!
On Tuesday, we had interviews with President Van Dam. I asked him a very special question - because here in Macau there are a lot of Mandarin speakers from the Mainland, but I have no way of communicating with them when we meet them on the street, I asked for permission to study some Mandarin while I'm here. He pointed out that they often try to have a Mandarin-speaking missionary in Macau, but it's been different recently. He then said that I could have permission, because of the unique circumstances here right now. I got very excited and went and bought two books - one is the Mandarin language learning book and the other is a special Book of Mormon with three columns on the page - one in English, one in Mandarin romanization and one in Chinese characters. Because I can pretty much read the entire book of mormon in characters anyway, it's really not going to do me very much good, but it's a fun new book. So I'm going to work on my Mandarin slowly - this week my goal is just to learn to bear my testimony in simple sentences. Next week I'll work on prayer. This is mimicking the pattern we used for learning Cantonese in the MTC.
Wednesday was a lot of fun. All of the Zone skits and all of the talents were, in my opinion, a lot more impressive than last year. Our Macau zone skit went well, but the best skit in my mind was the "Paw Paw Polka", where everyone in the Zone danced in unison, acting like old Chinese ladies ("Paw Paw" in Chinese means "grandma").
The Mission Slideshow was also really good. I'm in it a little more often than last year, but you might blink and miss me in a few places. Better than seeing myself was seeing places and people that I recognized, like members, investigators and old area. When I get home we can all watch it together and I can point out all of the inside jokes and interesting things that I had some connection to.
It was really good getting to see all of my missionary friends again for the first time in 2 months. Because Mission Conference was split up last time, I hadn't seen most of the missionaries since before I came to Macau! We also had a fun Secret Santa gift exchange, and Elder Rose got me a toy Hong Kong minibus.
It was sad to see three of the Sisters who were in the MTC with me give their "dying testimonies" as all Missionaries who go home get to bear their testimony in their last mission conference. That means that I'll be picking my date to go home next interview with President Van Dam. We all took a District picture, where all of the missionaries who were in our MTC District - all 15 of us who are here - took a picture together. Next Move the last two Sisters, who both picked their late date to go home, will be "dying". Conveniently, they are both serving as companions, here with me in Macau. All of my Sisters have served here, but I'm the only Elder from our group.
I'm really enjoying this time on my mission - more so than any other time so far - and I'm very glad that Elders get half a year more than Sisters, because a year and a half is just not long enough. I'm rather hesitant to come home, but I also know that I need to think about it. That said, I have looked through all of the University things you sent me. I got the package last Sunday and was very surprised. President Van Dam had come to Macau on church business, as he is the equivalent of the Stake President for Macau, and when he saw me, he put his arm around me and said, "You owe me a big favour." When I saw the size of the package, I agreed - it was huge! President Van Dam pointed out that he'd had to use a full size suitcase just to get it to Macau, and it had barely fitted. Thank you so much for all of the food - it's like a typical Loffhagen family Christmas away from home. Whatwith that and the Young Women's package (which you must thank them for from me) I think I'll be comfortably eating sweets for a long time to come! Also, I'm pretty certain that I now have more Marmite than I will need for the rest of my mission, because in addition to the little pot you sent me and the half-pot I already have (everyone in the apartment thinks I'm crazy for eating it, and were even more disgusted by Twiglets), my dear friend Elder Volk gave me an almost full pot that he had bought - I got everyone to try it in the MTC, and Elder Volk liked it, but decided that he liked Vegemite more. I've never tried it so I can't compare.
Anyway, after having read through all of the university courses, I feel that I like the Multimedia Journalism course at Bournemouth best. But if I'm right, I can apply to up to four universities? Not sure what more there is we could do to find other courses, though - although backup options would be good. To be honest, I wasn't all that impressed with Leeds. The prospectus seemed to be trying to sell the community and surroundings a lot more than the actual courses, and honestly I don't know how much four years of studying Chinese could keep my interest, especially considering that Mandarin is just Cantonese with a different accent and different grammar.
Just a fun little side note - when I told other missionaries I was looking at a Journalism course, one of the Sisters said, "I hate to say it, but BYU has a really great journalism programme". Plus pretty much every other missionary is desperately trying to convince me to go to BYU - but don't worry, that ship has sailed. I'd rather stay where I belong, in a culture I understand.
That's why I'm contemplating Hong Kong University... :P
Anyway, talk to you next week.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Feeling Christmassy - 9th email from Macau
Dear all,
Beth Aslett sent me an email this week. The next time you see her, tell her that I will reply, but because we're only supposed to email family, it'll be coming by snail mail some time probably in January.
It sounds like everything is going well at home. Lots of tests and examinations - and how interesting to hear that Mum's getting offered jobs at other schools! Yet more proof that you are the best teacher ever. :)
We helped decorate the chapel for Christmas yesterday. It was a lot of fun and really put me in the Christmas spirit - Elder Liu's not really feeling it as much as I am. Being from Utah, he's used to it being a lot colder and snowier at Christmas. Last Christmas I was actually a little warm outside in my short sleeve shirt, so I'm used to it by now. It's a little chillier this year, but I'm stubbornly sticking to short sleeves again. Otherwise I'll come home and be a wimp, too used to the warm winter weather and not able to cope in classic frosty winds.
Our investigators are all doing well. Sister W is determined to have her entire family baptized all at the same time next week. I'm doubting if she herself will even be ready, let alone her eight year old son who never pays attention to us. We'll see how things go - either way, they are thrilled to accept everything. We taught them Tithing yesterday, which Sister W was thrilled by. It was interesting - she'd started the lesson by showing us a bag of rice they'd got from somewhere that she said had been a real blessing to them. They are not very well off - in fact, as Sister Wong has to stay at home and take care of Brother W all day, they are supported entirely by Sister W's family. They are very poor, but Sister W had already asked us about any kind of donations that were necessary at church, so she'd already heard a little bit about Tithing and was really happy to get to pay it - even before we promised her the blessings that come with this commandment. Before we left, the kids were bashing each other with the bag of rice (which was vaccuum sealed and as such is just like a big flat brick of rice) and Sister W scolded them, saying that God gave them their food and they should respect it. I'm glad she understands that principle so well - it's probably a lot easier to see where blessings come from if they are in shorter supply.
If I call you at 10:30pm my time, it'll be 2:30 your time, right? Would that be okay? I just asked Elder Liu when would be best, because I don't want to interrupt Christmas dinner or Doctor Who. Elder Liu said that you'd probably be more interested in talking to me, and I said that I wasn't too sure if I'd win out over David Tenant in some people's minds...
I love you, Tim.
Anyway, the Mission Christmas Social is next week, and I'll also have my interview with President Van Dam. I'm going with a special request this time - I'm sick and tired of meeting people who only speak Mandarin, using up my three or four sentences of Mandarin, and then waving goodbye to them. On a good day I can just about understand what they're saying, but they never have a clue what I'm trying to say. So I'm going to ask President Van Dam for permission to learn a little Mandarin and see what he says.
Elder Liu calls me Mandarin Trunky, in that I'm a little too focused on the idea of learning Mandarin. I just want to be able to communicate with these people we meet from other parts of the world, like the Mainland or Vietnam or Taiwan or countless other places - Macau has such a huge mix of languages floating around. Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, English - it's a very diverse place here. As Visas have been hard to come by recently, pretty much every ethnicity in the mission is represented here at the moment - we have five Americans, a Briton, a Canadian, an Elder from Hong Kong, a Sister from the Phillipines and a Maori Elder from New Zealand. This means that collectively we speak English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Maori and four or five languages from the Phillipines. Plus there's some French floating around at times, just for fun (but not on my part - I can't even pretend to speak French anymore!)
Anyway, that's all from me for this week.
Lots of love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Beth Aslett sent me an email this week. The next time you see her, tell her that I will reply, but because we're only supposed to email family, it'll be coming by snail mail some time probably in January.
It sounds like everything is going well at home. Lots of tests and examinations - and how interesting to hear that Mum's getting offered jobs at other schools! Yet more proof that you are the best teacher ever. :)
We helped decorate the chapel for Christmas yesterday. It was a lot of fun and really put me in the Christmas spirit - Elder Liu's not really feeling it as much as I am. Being from Utah, he's used to it being a lot colder and snowier at Christmas. Last Christmas I was actually a little warm outside in my short sleeve shirt, so I'm used to it by now. It's a little chillier this year, but I'm stubbornly sticking to short sleeves again. Otherwise I'll come home and be a wimp, too used to the warm winter weather and not able to cope in classic frosty winds.
Our investigators are all doing well. Sister W is determined to have her entire family baptized all at the same time next week. I'm doubting if she herself will even be ready, let alone her eight year old son who never pays attention to us. We'll see how things go - either way, they are thrilled to accept everything. We taught them Tithing yesterday, which Sister W was thrilled by. It was interesting - she'd started the lesson by showing us a bag of rice they'd got from somewhere that she said had been a real blessing to them. They are not very well off - in fact, as Sister Wong has to stay at home and take care of Brother W all day, they are supported entirely by Sister W's family. They are very poor, but Sister W had already asked us about any kind of donations that were necessary at church, so she'd already heard a little bit about Tithing and was really happy to get to pay it - even before we promised her the blessings that come with this commandment. Before we left, the kids were bashing each other with the bag of rice (which was vaccuum sealed and as such is just like a big flat brick of rice) and Sister W scolded them, saying that God gave them their food and they should respect it. I'm glad she understands that principle so well - it's probably a lot easier to see where blessings come from if they are in shorter supply.
If I call you at 10:30pm my time, it'll be 2:30 your time, right? Would that be okay? I just asked Elder Liu when would be best, because I don't want to interrupt Christmas dinner or Doctor Who. Elder Liu said that you'd probably be more interested in talking to me, and I said that I wasn't too sure if I'd win out over David Tenant in some people's minds...
I love you, Tim.
Anyway, the Mission Christmas Social is next week, and I'll also have my interview with President Van Dam. I'm going with a special request this time - I'm sick and tired of meeting people who only speak Mandarin, using up my three or four sentences of Mandarin, and then waving goodbye to them. On a good day I can just about understand what they're saying, but they never have a clue what I'm trying to say. So I'm going to ask President Van Dam for permission to learn a little Mandarin and see what he says.
Elder Liu calls me Mandarin Trunky, in that I'm a little too focused on the idea of learning Mandarin. I just want to be able to communicate with these people we meet from other parts of the world, like the Mainland or Vietnam or Taiwan or countless other places - Macau has such a huge mix of languages floating around. Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, English - it's a very diverse place here. As Visas have been hard to come by recently, pretty much every ethnicity in the mission is represented here at the moment - we have five Americans, a Briton, a Canadian, an Elder from Hong Kong, a Sister from the Phillipines and a Maori Elder from New Zealand. This means that collectively we speak English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Maori and four or five languages from the Phillipines. Plus there's some French floating around at times, just for fun (but not on my part - I can't even pretend to speak French anymore!)
Anyway, that's all from me for this week.
Lots of love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
Thursday, 4 December 2008
It's been a good week - 8th email from Macau
Dear all,
I've enjoyed myself and am in a particularly good mood right now. Honestly though, I'm not sure why - but for whatever reason, I'm thrilled to be here.
So, I've made a comprehensive list of every question you've asked me - rhetorical or otherwise. Here we go.
"Did you hand in your photos for this years DVD?"
Yes.
"I guess if we get your phone call Christmas day we won't get an email that day too."
Not sure.
"Will it still be your pday."
Yes.
"Have you had any thoughts about how we will do the phone call?"
No.
"We received an email today from someone in Macau, P E. She is asking us to be guardians for students coming over here to study. We are going to ask for a little more information but we might be able to get some of the other ward members involved. We just need to know what our commitment would be."
Let me explain a little from what I've heard on the subject - Brother Y, who is a really great member here in the Chinese branch (but whose English is above par) runs an organization finding placements for Macau students in international schools. The other day we were at the church when he phoned and asked to speak to me. He told me that he has a student that he's trying to send to Norwich, and asked (in English - perhaps he doesn't trust my Chinese) if you could be guardians. I asked for explanation of what that entailed, but didn't get a very clear response - something about signing papers. I pointed out that Norwich is rather far away from us, but he insisted that he'd looked on a map and we were quite close; which I'm sure is true - compared to, say, Glasgow. Certainly closer than Macau is to Norwich. I also stated that you are all pretty much always busy and probably wouldn't have time to help, but that he could try. I gave him the home phone number and Dad's email address, and I guess he got P (who attends the English branch but works for Brother Y) to email you. Perhaps there are some members who could also help - I know that between the two of you, Mum and Dad, you know pretty much every family in the church in Britain :)
Speaking of members in Britain, some fun news - one of our recent converts here in Macau, V, told us that he is moving to England in June. How convenient, as I'll get home in July or August - we can go to YSA stuff together.
Anyway, back to questions:
"So far as coming home, if you want you can be really busy - EFY will be on in late August / early Sept 2009 in the South of England and they will be after returned missionaries as chaperons :)"
Not sure I'm willing to commit to anything just yet. I do hope to get some time for work in before I go to University, and with constant holidays, It'd be hard to get any work. But we'll see how things go - August is still a long time away.
With Christmas well on the way, we're busy making preparations for various activities. One such activity is the Mission Christmas Social - all of the zones will perform skits, and we just practiced ours a little. We're doing A Christmas Carol with a missionary twist. Trunky old Sister Chan (this was all her idea) won't get out of bed to study or go finding, and is visited by the Ghosts of Mission Past, Present and Future to realise that she's got to go work hard for the rest of her mission. The practice could have been a little better - we don't really have a script yet; just a vague idea of what we're going to do. It'll be alright on the night.
Our investigators are progressing nicely - J and Sister W are stepping closer to baptism every day. J shows proof of just how effective a good fellowshipper can be - because he knows Recent Converts H and V, and goes to school with his friend Y, he has support in a lot of different directions. On Saturday, before we sat down to teach him, he told us that he probably couldn't come to church, because he had to study for exams (this is a common excuse - they have tests at school every two months, so they're always studying for tests) but when we got to the end of the lesson, he asked Y if he was going to be at church. Y replied; "of course" and J said, "Okay, I'll come too." He stayed for all three hours, and I was thrilled for him.
Yesterday we taught the Wong family about the Word of Wisdom - we chose to teach them this commandment first because it's pretty much the only one we expected them to have problems with - perhaps the Sabbath will present a problem too, but Sister W already knows about it as she has a great love for the Bible. In fact, when we told her that we were going to teach the commandments, she started listing some of the ones she knows, such as not stealing or killing - she was very sorry to tell us that occaisonally she lies, and we told her to work on that. So we talked about prayer and scripture reading, to point out that they're already keeping some commandments, as we carefully built up to the Word of Wisdom.
Now, here in China, EVERYBODY drinks tea. So EVERYBODY has a problem with the Word of Wisdom. It was funny watching Elder Liu carefully go through the elements of this commandment.
"Well," he said, "First off, we don't use harmful drugs."
"Of course!" said Sister W, "I'd never do that!"
"Okay," continued Elder Liu, "And we don't smoke."
Again, no problem.
"Alcohol?" No, she had nothing wrong there either.
"And then there's coffee - "
Here was the problem. "Oh dear!" said Sister Wong, "I have some coffee - over there!" She pointed, "But I never never drink it!"
We assured her that it was okay. Then Elder Liu steeled himself and said, "And...tea."
We waited, looking at her. There was a split second of nervousness between the two of us, but she wasn't phased, "Oh, no, I rarely drink tea. Only if I go out to a restaurant, but I can just drink water - that's fine."
We were absolutely blown away. Surely it couldn't possibly be THAT easy? But it was - and suddenly a lesson that we'd been expecting to take 45 minutes was done in twenty. Sister W was committed and one step closer to baptism. So that was a nice little miracle for today.
Christmas this year ought to be an interesting affair. Because it's Preparation Day, it's the perfect day for Elder Liu to visit his family. It's an interesting situation - his grandma, aunt and uncle live here. While he's still a missionary, They like to do things with him, as one can imagine, such as having us over for dinner, or, on Christmas, going to visit Grandad's grave. Grandma believes in Ancestor Worship, and culture is such that we will all take a trip to the graveyard on Christmas day to leave him some food, maybe burn some incense - I'm not entirely sure of the whole plan, but it ought to be a unique experience for me. I'm glad that Elder Liu will get to spend the day with his family, and excited that I'll get Christmas morning with my Mission family as well, as the zone will meet together for Christmas morning at the Kaps' home. Elder and Sister Kap are the senior couple assigned to Macau, but they're by no means what I would call the regular senior couple - one time we went out for a run in the morning and were overtaken by Sister Kap! They're not yet particularly senior, and we call them our "Mission Mum and Dad". So we'll go over to their house for Christmas morning before heading over to the graveyard. Yes, it certainly will be a fun day.
I love you all and hope that you are all doing well. I wish you all a very merry Christmas. I can buy a calling card here to call home with - you can tell me when would be most convenient for you and I can just call then; it shouldn't be too big of a deal.
Lots of love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
I've enjoyed myself and am in a particularly good mood right now. Honestly though, I'm not sure why - but for whatever reason, I'm thrilled to be here.
So, I've made a comprehensive list of every question you've asked me - rhetorical or otherwise. Here we go.
"Did you hand in your photos for this years DVD?"
Yes.
"I guess if we get your phone call Christmas day we won't get an email that day too."
Not sure.
"Will it still be your pday."
Yes.
"Have you had any thoughts about how we will do the phone call?"
No.
"We received an email today from someone in Macau, P E. She is asking us to be guardians for students coming over here to study. We are going to ask for a little more information but we might be able to get some of the other ward members involved. We just need to know what our commitment would be."
Let me explain a little from what I've heard on the subject - Brother Y, who is a really great member here in the Chinese branch (but whose English is above par) runs an organization finding placements for Macau students in international schools. The other day we were at the church when he phoned and asked to speak to me. He told me that he has a student that he's trying to send to Norwich, and asked (in English - perhaps he doesn't trust my Chinese) if you could be guardians. I asked for explanation of what that entailed, but didn't get a very clear response - something about signing papers. I pointed out that Norwich is rather far away from us, but he insisted that he'd looked on a map and we were quite close; which I'm sure is true - compared to, say, Glasgow. Certainly closer than Macau is to Norwich. I also stated that you are all pretty much always busy and probably wouldn't have time to help, but that he could try. I gave him the home phone number and Dad's email address, and I guess he got P (who attends the English branch but works for Brother Y) to email you. Perhaps there are some members who could also help - I know that between the two of you, Mum and Dad, you know pretty much every family in the church in Britain :)
Speaking of members in Britain, some fun news - one of our recent converts here in Macau, V, told us that he is moving to England in June. How convenient, as I'll get home in July or August - we can go to YSA stuff together.
Anyway, back to questions:
"So far as coming home, if you want you can be really busy - EFY will be on in late August / early Sept 2009 in the South of England and they will be after returned missionaries as chaperons :)"
Not sure I'm willing to commit to anything just yet. I do hope to get some time for work in before I go to University, and with constant holidays, It'd be hard to get any work. But we'll see how things go - August is still a long time away.
With Christmas well on the way, we're busy making preparations for various activities. One such activity is the Mission Christmas Social - all of the zones will perform skits, and we just practiced ours a little. We're doing A Christmas Carol with a missionary twist. Trunky old Sister Chan (this was all her idea) won't get out of bed to study or go finding, and is visited by the Ghosts of Mission Past, Present and Future to realise that she's got to go work hard for the rest of her mission. The practice could have been a little better - we don't really have a script yet; just a vague idea of what we're going to do. It'll be alright on the night.
Our investigators are progressing nicely - J and Sister W are stepping closer to baptism every day. J shows proof of just how effective a good fellowshipper can be - because he knows Recent Converts H and V, and goes to school with his friend Y, he has support in a lot of different directions. On Saturday, before we sat down to teach him, he told us that he probably couldn't come to church, because he had to study for exams (this is a common excuse - they have tests at school every two months, so they're always studying for tests) but when we got to the end of the lesson, he asked Y if he was going to be at church. Y replied; "of course" and J said, "Okay, I'll come too." He stayed for all three hours, and I was thrilled for him.
Yesterday we taught the Wong family about the Word of Wisdom - we chose to teach them this commandment first because it's pretty much the only one we expected them to have problems with - perhaps the Sabbath will present a problem too, but Sister W already knows about it as she has a great love for the Bible. In fact, when we told her that we were going to teach the commandments, she started listing some of the ones she knows, such as not stealing or killing - she was very sorry to tell us that occaisonally she lies, and we told her to work on that. So we talked about prayer and scripture reading, to point out that they're already keeping some commandments, as we carefully built up to the Word of Wisdom.
Now, here in China, EVERYBODY drinks tea. So EVERYBODY has a problem with the Word of Wisdom. It was funny watching Elder Liu carefully go through the elements of this commandment.
"Well," he said, "First off, we don't use harmful drugs."
"Of course!" said Sister W, "I'd never do that!"
"Okay," continued Elder Liu, "And we don't smoke."
Again, no problem.
"Alcohol?" No, she had nothing wrong there either.
"And then there's coffee - "
Here was the problem. "Oh dear!" said Sister Wong, "I have some coffee - over there!" She pointed, "But I never never drink it!"
We assured her that it was okay. Then Elder Liu steeled himself and said, "And...tea."
We waited, looking at her. There was a split second of nervousness between the two of us, but she wasn't phased, "Oh, no, I rarely drink tea. Only if I go out to a restaurant, but I can just drink water - that's fine."
We were absolutely blown away. Surely it couldn't possibly be THAT easy? But it was - and suddenly a lesson that we'd been expecting to take 45 minutes was done in twenty. Sister W was committed and one step closer to baptism. So that was a nice little miracle for today.
Christmas this year ought to be an interesting affair. Because it's Preparation Day, it's the perfect day for Elder Liu to visit his family. It's an interesting situation - his grandma, aunt and uncle live here. While he's still a missionary, They like to do things with him, as one can imagine, such as having us over for dinner, or, on Christmas, going to visit Grandad's grave. Grandma believes in Ancestor Worship, and culture is such that we will all take a trip to the graveyard on Christmas day to leave him some food, maybe burn some incense - I'm not entirely sure of the whole plan, but it ought to be a unique experience for me. I'm glad that Elder Liu will get to spend the day with his family, and excited that I'll get Christmas morning with my Mission family as well, as the zone will meet together for Christmas morning at the Kaps' home. Elder and Sister Kap are the senior couple assigned to Macau, but they're by no means what I would call the regular senior couple - one time we went out for a run in the morning and were overtaken by Sister Kap! They're not yet particularly senior, and we call them our "Mission Mum and Dad". So we'll go over to their house for Christmas morning before heading over to the graveyard. Yes, it certainly will be a fun day.
I love you all and hope that you are all doing well. I wish you all a very merry Christmas. I can buy a calling card here to call home with - you can tell me when would be most convenient for you and I can just call then; it shouldn't be too big of a deal.
Lots of love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
羅 長 老
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