Dear all,
Sometimes the weeks go by so fast that I think all I do is email home. This week is probably one of my last in Macau - Moves is next week. So this probably being my last Preparation Day in Macau, it's too bad that I'm feeling a little under the weather. It's just a simple cold - don't blow it out of proportion. It just means that I won't be going to play ultimate frisbee with the rest of the Elders.
Speaking of Chris, I got a letter from him the other day. He sounded very happy - although I did notice that he didn't mention coming home. Like you said, he's probably dreading the adjustment just as much as I am. It's interesting that he needs a van to take home his stuff - considering that I have to pay to take my luggage back to Hong Kong when I leave Macau and then again when I come home, I think I'm going to cut down to the bare essentials like my toothbrush, my scriptures and my testimony.
This week we went on exchanges with the Assistants to the President. It was interesting - the current APs are Elder Gregory and Elder Weagel, both of whom were in the MTC with me. I went finding with Elder Weagel which was fun. It occured to me that I haven't spent much time with my own MTC group while in the field.
You can tell David Jones that I have met Elder Eagle Lau (that's the typical spelling of that name - it means "to kill" in Chinese which is interesting) but he probably won't remember me - it was just quick. His name has made it into my book of funny English names - everyone here in China as well as having a traditional Chinese name has an English name. Sometimes they are completely average English names like Jason or Henry, but other times they are pretty random. Some of my favourites have included Apple, Milk, Canyon and Zero. It makes me glad that somebody native picked my name for me because otherwise I'd probably be called Dragon or something - actually, that's a common name. Bruce Lee's real Chinese name means Little Dragon.
As far as my language legend award goes, I'm getting close. The goal is in sight, but not quite within reach. It turns out that there are a LOT of Chinese characters. Huh. There are also a lot which look almost the same, but not quite. When I last tried to pass off, Elder Carter (who is the only current male living Legend, and just happens to be here in Macau) failed me on reading the Book of Mormon, because I wasn't fluent enough. So I've been working on that and as a result, my reading speed has improved and I don't miss nearly as many characters when I read. I feel pretty fluent reading the Book of Mormon now, which is nice. Now it's just the characters and the brand new MVP book. There is a stack of about 400 character cards that desperately need reviewing, currently sitting on my desk. Once they are learnt, I'll be ready to pass all 3,000 off. The MVP book also needs reviewing pretty well - there are about 100 words I don't know that I need to pass off from that book - that is a slightly harder challenge because I find characters a lot easier than vocab words. Elder Carter has been kind and says he won't test me on anything a native won't know that's in the book - for example, the word for my father's older brother's wife, which is different to the word for my father's younger brother's wife. It's all very complex and apparently, the natives themselves don't know all of these complicated words.
Anyway, time is running out slowly. I'm sorry I haven't given any kind of important or relevant updates in this email - not much has happened this week. The most interesting news is that our recent convert's husband passed away last Saturday. Sister W was feeling rather poor spirited at first, but I ultimately think that this was the best thing for everyone, because Brother W was 70 years old and suffered a stroke a while ago, so his quality of life was seriously lacking. Now all three of the children can come to church together (whether they like it or not), because nobody has to stay at home to look after dad. Plus, Sister W is suddenly a lot more popular - the Relief Society have unceasingly served her, giving her food and emotional support, while the Young Women have arranged to visit her every day this week. It's great to see the branch really coming to the aid of a new member in need.
Anyway, time's up. Love,
Elder Loffhagen
Friday, 27 March 2009
23rd email from Macau
Dear all,
This week has been rather uneventful. Nothing too exciting has happened.
I do need to ask you about my camera - when we bought it, did we pay for the Currys super insurance? I'm hoping so, because my camera is now not working. Whenever I turn it on, it whirs a bit, the shutter opens and closes a few times and then something pops up on the screen saying "Turn the camera off and on again". So for the moment, I'm currently camera-less. I'm probably going to have to buy a new one whether we have the insurance or not (as I won't exactly have an opportunity to take the camera to a local Currys), but we can worry about that later.
As far as universities go, I really have decided on Leeds. I'm still not quite sure what the course will entail (for a Communications course, they are ironically vague about such things), but I feel the hand of the Lord in things, and feel that I need to take a step into the dark and just give it a spin. We'll see where this takes me. I'm stuck for choosing between Bath Spa and Preston for my backup choice, but I'm not really concerned about things. After having looked at the prospectuses and thought about it a lot, I felt that I've actually got three pretty decent options.
This week has been a little uneventful, but it's also been good. We've seen a lot of little miracles lately - good contacts and street lessons - but they're not really generating into much yet. Last week two of our investigators actively chose not to progress - one, a seventeen year old call A, chose to go rowing every week instead of coming to church. Brother C, who is in his fourties, loves coming to church, but ultimately chose not to quit drinking coffee. So at the end of last week, things weren't looking too well. But both cases are looking better now, for which I must thank my companion. Elder Jackson figured we should try an intense one week no coffee plan with Brother C, including a chart and stickers. He was thrilled to accept this, and told us that he really did want to quit and that he was willing to do his bit to quit. I was more than a little surprised, and thankful for my wise companion. Then we also found out that A is regularly attending Seminary, which was wonderful news. We had suggested it to him a while ago, but it started at 7:00 and he has to be at school at 7:30. I don't think the Seminary teacher was very impressed by me asking if they could start an hour early. So we dropped the matter, and then this week found out that they all arranged it without us missionaries being involved - now it starts at 6:30 so that A can come. He's blending in nicely and all the Young Men and Young Women love him. He says that after May, which is the wonderful Dragonboat Festival here in China (which is a lot of fun!) he'll start coming to church, but in the meantime he can't let his team down. I imagine that by May, there'll be some other reason to not come to church, because generally that's how procrastination goes (I should know better than anyone alive) so I'm hoping that Seminary will fill him with a desire to change. I'm confident that if he's willing to come to Seminary, he will eventually get baptized, but it's a little way in the future at the moment.
My time on my first visa runs out at the end of April, and we're not sure what's going to happen. Macau seems to be making some interesting decisions regarding visa regulations. Only one Missionary has a visa right now, and even the Senior couple who are currently serving as the international branch President and wife are going to have to leave soon. Oh dear. Macau's also been refusing some Hong Kong people from entry into the country, which has caused a little upset between the two of them. So as I'm currently the only missionary in Macau with a stable amount of time left in the country, I'm intrigued to see what will happen next Moves. I've already been here now for four Moves, so I don't really have very much more time left - and in my last interview President Van Dam pointed out that I'm "not going to be in Macau forever". I'd like to stay, but I've categorically told the Assistants that I don't want to influence the decision one little bit. They can feel free to do with me as they please - I don't want to get in the way of the Lord's inspiration. I could, therefore, potentially (and very probably) only have one more Preparation Day in Macau after today. So I'd better enjoy the time I have left, one way or the other.
Whenever I do eventually leave Macau, I'll probably leave behind or throw away a lot of stuff. If you remember, when I came here, my brand new suitcase broke, which left me with the big one we bought and the little one I took with me as an afterthought (which has behaved superbly, especially for overnight trips to Hong Kong). So I'll probably sift through my stuff and lighten the load a fair amount - certainly I'll be throwing away a lot of shirts. My shirts are getting really disgusting. It doesn't help that our washing machine is really bad, but simply being in China for a long period of time turns your shirt grey or yellow or both. Plus most of my trousers are by this point worn out. I'm thinking that when I go back to Hong Kong, I'll invest in some new trousers and just survive on what I have for the moment, but currently, with the exception of my shoes, pretty much every piece of clothing I have is getting to the point where it needs replacing.
So now we can play a fun game - how long can I go before I absolutely need new clothes?
Anyway, I love you all. You're all in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
This week has been rather uneventful. Nothing too exciting has happened.
I do need to ask you about my camera - when we bought it, did we pay for the Currys super insurance? I'm hoping so, because my camera is now not working. Whenever I turn it on, it whirs a bit, the shutter opens and closes a few times and then something pops up on the screen saying "Turn the camera off and on again". So for the moment, I'm currently camera-less. I'm probably going to have to buy a new one whether we have the insurance or not (as I won't exactly have an opportunity to take the camera to a local Currys), but we can worry about that later.
As far as universities go, I really have decided on Leeds. I'm still not quite sure what the course will entail (for a Communications course, they are ironically vague about such things), but I feel the hand of the Lord in things, and feel that I need to take a step into the dark and just give it a spin. We'll see where this takes me. I'm stuck for choosing between Bath Spa and Preston for my backup choice, but I'm not really concerned about things. After having looked at the prospectuses and thought about it a lot, I felt that I've actually got three pretty decent options.
This week has been a little uneventful, but it's also been good. We've seen a lot of little miracles lately - good contacts and street lessons - but they're not really generating into much yet. Last week two of our investigators actively chose not to progress - one, a seventeen year old call A, chose to go rowing every week instead of coming to church. Brother C, who is in his fourties, loves coming to church, but ultimately chose not to quit drinking coffee. So at the end of last week, things weren't looking too well. But both cases are looking better now, for which I must thank my companion. Elder Jackson figured we should try an intense one week no coffee plan with Brother C, including a chart and stickers. He was thrilled to accept this, and told us that he really did want to quit and that he was willing to do his bit to quit. I was more than a little surprised, and thankful for my wise companion. Then we also found out that A is regularly attending Seminary, which was wonderful news. We had suggested it to him a while ago, but it started at 7:00 and he has to be at school at 7:30. I don't think the Seminary teacher was very impressed by me asking if they could start an hour early. So we dropped the matter, and then this week found out that they all arranged it without us missionaries being involved - now it starts at 6:30 so that A can come. He's blending in nicely and all the Young Men and Young Women love him. He says that after May, which is the wonderful Dragonboat Festival here in China (which is a lot of fun!) he'll start coming to church, but in the meantime he can't let his team down. I imagine that by May, there'll be some other reason to not come to church, because generally that's how procrastination goes (I should know better than anyone alive) so I'm hoping that Seminary will fill him with a desire to change. I'm confident that if he's willing to come to Seminary, he will eventually get baptized, but it's a little way in the future at the moment.
My time on my first visa runs out at the end of April, and we're not sure what's going to happen. Macau seems to be making some interesting decisions regarding visa regulations. Only one Missionary has a visa right now, and even the Senior couple who are currently serving as the international branch President and wife are going to have to leave soon. Oh dear. Macau's also been refusing some Hong Kong people from entry into the country, which has caused a little upset between the two of them. So as I'm currently the only missionary in Macau with a stable amount of time left in the country, I'm intrigued to see what will happen next Moves. I've already been here now for four Moves, so I don't really have very much more time left - and in my last interview President Van Dam pointed out that I'm "not going to be in Macau forever". I'd like to stay, but I've categorically told the Assistants that I don't want to influence the decision one little bit. They can feel free to do with me as they please - I don't want to get in the way of the Lord's inspiration. I could, therefore, potentially (and very probably) only have one more Preparation Day in Macau after today. So I'd better enjoy the time I have left, one way or the other.
Whenever I do eventually leave Macau, I'll probably leave behind or throw away a lot of stuff. If you remember, when I came here, my brand new suitcase broke, which left me with the big one we bought and the little one I took with me as an afterthought (which has behaved superbly, especially for overnight trips to Hong Kong). So I'll probably sift through my stuff and lighten the load a fair amount - certainly I'll be throwing away a lot of shirts. My shirts are getting really disgusting. It doesn't help that our washing machine is really bad, but simply being in China for a long period of time turns your shirt grey or yellow or both. Plus most of my trousers are by this point worn out. I'm thinking that when I go back to Hong Kong, I'll invest in some new trousers and just survive on what I have for the moment, but currently, with the exception of my shoes, pretty much every piece of clothing I have is getting to the point where it needs replacing.
So now we can play a fun game - how long can I go before I absolutely need new clothes?
Anyway, I love you all. You're all in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
Friday, 13 March 2009
It's here! The MVP! - 22nd email from Macau
Dear all,
First of all, please do not accept Leeds just yet. On Tuesday we went into Hong Kong for Mission Conference, and I picked up the Bath Spa prospectus you sent me. The school looks very impressive, actually - more so than I had thought it would. I prayed that night that God would help slow you down in applying, because I want more time to think. Weighing up the options now, I'm still thinking that Leeds has a lot of benefits that other schools don't, but I'm going to think things through a lot first. We have until May, right?
On a completely unrelated note, I have bad news about the Language Legend test - I didn't pass. I had to do it a day earlier than I'd been planning, so I wasn't quite ready - and got a little under 90% of the 3,000 Chinese characters right, which we'd set as the pass rate. So after a long period of testing, and an even longer period of studying, I was told I'd have to try again in two weeks. This didn't seem too bad, but I also knew that I was racing the MVP. I'll explain what that is in a second.
Yesterday we had Mission Conference, which was a lot of fun. I'd been asked to translate for the morning session, so I got to sit up at the front at the sacrament table with Elder Hamon (who was in my MTC group and who was translating with me), and speak into a microphone that was connected to a broadcasting thingy which transmits to headsets that were being worn by aproximately three people in the audience. The translation services are there for any native who wants them, but all of the native missionaries in the mission right now have such good English that they don't need us. After the meeting the Assistants to the President thanked me for translating. I pointed out that nobody was listening to it, and Elder Gregory pointed out, "Elder Shupe was listening!". Elder Shupe was in my older group in the MTC and in my first District in West Point for three Moves - he hasn't spoken more than four words of English since he started his mission.
The conference was particularly special this time. They had told us that we weren't going to have one this Moves, because the Elder Nelson meeting counted as Mission Conference this Moves. There was also a rumour going around the mission that we weren't going to have mission conference anymore, which President Van Dam has told us is very, very false. Suddenly, Mission Conference appeared back on the schedual for no particular apparent reason, so I suspected that they had something big to do.
As President Van Dam got up the the pulpit to give a sharing on the Moves focus - working with ward and stake leaders, he got to the second frame of his slideshow presentation, and found that it was very badly spelled - it said "How to work Ward/Steak with Leadrs". Everyone chuckled and he tried to click to the next slide, but it didn't work. He got the APs to help, but as they tried to fix it, the microphone stopped working and the lights went out. Then that song from the beginning of Space 2001 started playing from the speakers and two missionaries wearing those Chinese pointy hats came in, carrying bamboo poles over their shoulders tied to big boxes that said "MVP" on the side. They started shouting "It's finally here! The MVP is here!" I knew what it was already, and was frustrated that it couldn't have waited just a little longer. As they got up to the stand, they pulled little brown books out of the boxes, and everyone gave them a standing inovation. Everyone in the Mission has been looking forward to the Missionary Vocabulary and Phrases book for a long time - they were working on it while I was in the MTC, and it had finally arrived. For the past year, the mission hasn't had a language learning book because we've been waiting for Provo to finish this one. Ultimately President Van Dam got them to email the unfinished book to us and we had it printed here in Hong Kong, because a flawed book is better than no book.
Unfortunately, with the new book came new language recognition awards - I knew this would happen, which is why I was racing to get legend before the book came. Now in addition to learning 3,000 character, being able to read the entire Book of Mormon and translating President Monson's conference talks, I also have to learn 30 pages of vocab from the book. It's more than a little frustrating, because it's slowed me down a little more. But I'm still determined to get it while I'm in Macau - which is potentially only another three weeks.
We also found out who the new Mission President is, replacing President Van Dam in July - it will be President Chan, a native to Hong Kong who is currently a sealer in the Temple, and who is a really nice guy. It should be good.
Anyway, time is running out. I hope you enjoyed my little essay on this new language resource we have.
Lots of love,
Elder Loffhagen
First of all, please do not accept Leeds just yet. On Tuesday we went into Hong Kong for Mission Conference, and I picked up the Bath Spa prospectus you sent me. The school looks very impressive, actually - more so than I had thought it would. I prayed that night that God would help slow you down in applying, because I want more time to think. Weighing up the options now, I'm still thinking that Leeds has a lot of benefits that other schools don't, but I'm going to think things through a lot first. We have until May, right?
On a completely unrelated note, I have bad news about the Language Legend test - I didn't pass. I had to do it a day earlier than I'd been planning, so I wasn't quite ready - and got a little under 90% of the 3,000 Chinese characters right, which we'd set as the pass rate. So after a long period of testing, and an even longer period of studying, I was told I'd have to try again in two weeks. This didn't seem too bad, but I also knew that I was racing the MVP. I'll explain what that is in a second.
Yesterday we had Mission Conference, which was a lot of fun. I'd been asked to translate for the morning session, so I got to sit up at the front at the sacrament table with Elder Hamon (who was in my MTC group and who was translating with me), and speak into a microphone that was connected to a broadcasting thingy which transmits to headsets that were being worn by aproximately three people in the audience. The translation services are there for any native who wants them, but all of the native missionaries in the mission right now have such good English that they don't need us. After the meeting the Assistants to the President thanked me for translating. I pointed out that nobody was listening to it, and Elder Gregory pointed out, "Elder Shupe was listening!". Elder Shupe was in my older group in the MTC and in my first District in West Point for three Moves - he hasn't spoken more than four words of English since he started his mission.
The conference was particularly special this time. They had told us that we weren't going to have one this Moves, because the Elder Nelson meeting counted as Mission Conference this Moves. There was also a rumour going around the mission that we weren't going to have mission conference anymore, which President Van Dam has told us is very, very false. Suddenly, Mission Conference appeared back on the schedual for no particular apparent reason, so I suspected that they had something big to do.
As President Van Dam got up the the pulpit to give a sharing on the Moves focus - working with ward and stake leaders, he got to the second frame of his slideshow presentation, and found that it was very badly spelled - it said "How to work Ward/Steak with Leadrs". Everyone chuckled and he tried to click to the next slide, but it didn't work. He got the APs to help, but as they tried to fix it, the microphone stopped working and the lights went out. Then that song from the beginning of Space 2001 started playing from the speakers and two missionaries wearing those Chinese pointy hats came in, carrying bamboo poles over their shoulders tied to big boxes that said "MVP" on the side. They started shouting "It's finally here! The MVP is here!" I knew what it was already, and was frustrated that it couldn't have waited just a little longer. As they got up to the stand, they pulled little brown books out of the boxes, and everyone gave them a standing inovation. Everyone in the Mission has been looking forward to the Missionary Vocabulary and Phrases book for a long time - they were working on it while I was in the MTC, and it had finally arrived. For the past year, the mission hasn't had a language learning book because we've been waiting for Provo to finish this one. Ultimately President Van Dam got them to email the unfinished book to us and we had it printed here in Hong Kong, because a flawed book is better than no book.
Unfortunately, with the new book came new language recognition awards - I knew this would happen, which is why I was racing to get legend before the book came. Now in addition to learning 3,000 character, being able to read the entire Book of Mormon and translating President Monson's conference talks, I also have to learn 30 pages of vocab from the book. It's more than a little frustrating, because it's slowed me down a little more. But I'm still determined to get it while I'm in Macau - which is potentially only another three weeks.
We also found out who the new Mission President is, replacing President Van Dam in July - it will be President Chan, a native to Hong Kong who is currently a sealer in the Temple, and who is a really nice guy. It should be good.
Anyway, time is running out. I hope you enjoyed my little essay on this new language resource we have.
Lots of love,
Elder Loffhagen
Thursday, 5 March 2009
A long week, but not much happened - 21st email from Macau
Dear Mum and Dad,
Leeds is fine. Don't worry; I feel the Lord's hands in things.
It's been a long, busy week. I'm sad to say that my journal writing has gone downhill recently because I've been using every available second to cram Chinese characters inside my head. They don't seem to all fit in there together though, so a lot keep leaking out of my ears while I'm asleep. On Saturday I have my final pass-off. I need to know 3,000 characters - which is too bad because I only know about 2,500 now and can bluff through another couple of hundred - but there are still a lot left to learn. It's frustrating, then, that the other Elders in the flat have chosen to play Risk, which gives me the difficult decision - play a huge, fun game of Risk (I currently hold South American and have a decent sized army while everyone else is struggling for control of a continent) or learn characters all day, which actually helps me in real life but is a lot less fun. Maybe I'll just kill myself out of the game to give myself a chance to learn.
I already did part one of the language legend pass off. Conveniently, the only language legend still serving his mission, Elder Carter, is here in Macau. So I'm doing the pass off with him. I had to translate a President Monson talk from English to Chinese and back again - we watched the conference talk on the TV and I translated as best I could at real time. The English to Chinese was pretty easy, but going back again was tough. There were long periods of silence as I tried to figure out what on earth President Monson's translater was saying. But Elder Carter was willing to pass me, so I got that bit out of the way. Now all that's left is those 3,000 characters - but I really need to study today. But I also want to play Risk. Unfortunate.
Anyway, C B, one of our investigators, is getting baptized this Sunday. Elder Jackson is pretty excited because it's his first baptism. Personally, I'm happy but not too bothered. Is that wrong? I'm kind of taking all of these wonderful Macau baptisms for granted. I remember the fight and struggle that it was to get Kelvin, our first recent convert, in the water. Now everyone just seems to be walking into the font, irrespective of anything we do. Which is nice. But I'm not going to be in Macau forever, as President Van Dam reminded me of last week. We had our interviews with him, and he pointed out that my six months is coming to a close soon. I was concerned because I like it here in Macau, but I didn't want to influence his decision in any way, because I want to go wherever the Lord sends me. So at that time I chose not to mention that I can extend for another six months - I'm pretty certain he's aware of that anyway. I've heard other missionaries say that leaving Macau was harder than leaving their family at the start of their mission. We'll have to wait and see if this is true for me.
I don't really know what else to say. This week has been long but not much has happened.
I know you only just sent me a package, but I have another request - a DearElder.com $15 package with some delicious cookies in. The cookies that come in those boxes are absolutely amazing.
Sorry, that's all I really have for this week. I have a request that you stop killing or maiming rodents while I'm away from home - please wait until I can enjoy it with you all first.
Anyway, I love you all lots. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Loffhagen
Leeds is fine. Don't worry; I feel the Lord's hands in things.
It's been a long, busy week. I'm sad to say that my journal writing has gone downhill recently because I've been using every available second to cram Chinese characters inside my head. They don't seem to all fit in there together though, so a lot keep leaking out of my ears while I'm asleep. On Saturday I have my final pass-off. I need to know 3,000 characters - which is too bad because I only know about 2,500 now and can bluff through another couple of hundred - but there are still a lot left to learn. It's frustrating, then, that the other Elders in the flat have chosen to play Risk, which gives me the difficult decision - play a huge, fun game of Risk (I currently hold South American and have a decent sized army while everyone else is struggling for control of a continent) or learn characters all day, which actually helps me in real life but is a lot less fun. Maybe I'll just kill myself out of the game to give myself a chance to learn.
I already did part one of the language legend pass off. Conveniently, the only language legend still serving his mission, Elder Carter, is here in Macau. So I'm doing the pass off with him. I had to translate a President Monson talk from English to Chinese and back again - we watched the conference talk on the TV and I translated as best I could at real time. The English to Chinese was pretty easy, but going back again was tough. There were long periods of silence as I tried to figure out what on earth President Monson's translater was saying. But Elder Carter was willing to pass me, so I got that bit out of the way. Now all that's left is those 3,000 characters - but I really need to study today. But I also want to play Risk. Unfortunate.
Anyway, C B, one of our investigators, is getting baptized this Sunday. Elder Jackson is pretty excited because it's his first baptism. Personally, I'm happy but not too bothered. Is that wrong? I'm kind of taking all of these wonderful Macau baptisms for granted. I remember the fight and struggle that it was to get Kelvin, our first recent convert, in the water. Now everyone just seems to be walking into the font, irrespective of anything we do. Which is nice. But I'm not going to be in Macau forever, as President Van Dam reminded me of last week. We had our interviews with him, and he pointed out that my six months is coming to a close soon. I was concerned because I like it here in Macau, but I didn't want to influence his decision in any way, because I want to go wherever the Lord sends me. So at that time I chose not to mention that I can extend for another six months - I'm pretty certain he's aware of that anyway. I've heard other missionaries say that leaving Macau was harder than leaving their family at the start of their mission. We'll have to wait and see if this is true for me.
I don't really know what else to say. This week has been long but not much has happened.
I know you only just sent me a package, but I have another request - a DearElder.com $15 package with some delicious cookies in. The cookies that come in those boxes are absolutely amazing.
Sorry, that's all I really have for this week. I have a request that you stop killing or maiming rodents while I'm away from home - please wait until I can enjoy it with you all first.
Anyway, I love you all lots. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Loffhagen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
