Dear Mum and Dad,
Time is limited because we could only get the email time for one hour, so Elder Marshall and I are sharing it - half an hour each.
Time is moving by really fast - I can't believe another week has passed already. A lot of exciting things happened this week.
Last Sunday was Stake Conference, held at the large Ho Man Tin Chapel which is our stake centre here. It felt to me more like General Conference than anything else - with the choir up on the stand and the camera recording the meeting so that it could be broadcast to other rooms (because of the lack of space here, chapels have a tendency to go up instead of out).
Strange to hear that Chris is going to be done so soon. It sounds like he loves his mission field just as much as I love mine - although it does worry me that he's in such a rush to get back there. I hope he hasn't found himself a girl whilst up there; that's the only reason I could see to dash back up as soon as quickly...
...just in case you're wondering, such temptations are not clouding my own judgement about coming back to China.
Personally, I'm not in the least bit worried about swine flu. And the more time I spend away from all media influences, the more I realise that the British press does love to blow things out of proportion just to sell a newspaper. Nine times out of ten, these things blow over, and on the rare occaison that all the plagues, wars and rumours of wars actually amount to something, it's just a friendly reminder to be humble, repent and get ready for the storm.
I am crawling ever closer to my Language Legend award, and rumours seem to have spread far. While talking with one of the Assistants last Sunday night, I asked if there was anything I could do for him, and he said, "Just get your language legend for me, that'll do." Again, another of the office staff encouraged me when he (Elder Lee, the Housing Coordinator) came to inspect our flat this past week.
I've passed off the three thousand characters and the Book of Mormon (which I still read a chapter of in Chinese every day, but it's getting tougher now because I'm in the "Isaiah barrier") and have translated a General Conference talk by President Monson from English to Chinese and back again. All that's left is the annoying little MVP, which I'll be tested on tomorrow. I feel that I know it pretty well, so I'm not too worried - and if I don't pass, there's another chance the week after that. As frustrating as it's been to get so close and have the qualification changed right in front of me, I'm glad that I get the chance to learn more vocabulary - even if some words are a little pointless, ie Pansy (Saam Sik Ji Loh Laahn) or William Tyndale (Wai Lam Ding Douh Yih), neither of which tend to come up in the casual conversation with Chinese people - nor in English for that matter. And I refuse to learn the full word for Oregano (Mah Yuk Laahn Heung Chou) on the grounds that I don't know what it is in English, let alone in Chinese - but just in case, I learned the way to say it in characters (Ngauh Ji) which is much easier and probably more helpful.
Time is almost up - I'm sorry this email has been so short. I love you all and pray for your safety and happiness. Pray that I will pass my legend test tomorrow.
Elder 羅
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Friday, 24 April 2009
Dear Mum and Dad,
Apologies for speaking too much about coming home. I can assure you that I'm very much enjoying my time here. My problem is more like Mum's nightmares about going back to school before you've broken up for summer rather than anything. I'll put it in the back of my mind and just enjoy the next little while. It doesn't help that in Mission Conference on Tuesday, I saw some of my friends from my older group give their "dying testimonies" as they prepare to go home in three weeks. But not to worry - consider the issue dropped.
As far as the XBox goes, I believe that you got the super Dixons insurance for it. You're going to want to get it to them soon, though, because you bought it April of 2006, so the three year warranty ends any day now. The papers for it were in the middle drawer in what was my bedside table. Good luck getting it fixed - it would be a big mah faahn to have to buy a new one.
The Temple sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to our Temple session, which will be later today. We're really blessed here to have such a blessing so close - especially after seeing Mongolian and Cambodian Saints crossing the continent on trains to get here for the blessings of the Temple, I'm thankful that we Hong Kong Missionaries can go every six weeks.
A lot happened over the past week - it was one of the busiest of my mission so far. Since last Thursday, I had my interview with President Van Dam, exchanges with the Assistants, Mission Conference and a few planned service acts. Lots of fun.
President Van Dam said in the interview that it's fine if I call you a week early, which would be the 3rd of May, right? If I call at 10:00pm my time, it should be 3:00 in the afternoon for you - will that be okay?
We also talked in the interview about goals and plans for after the mission - that was President Van Dam's topic with all of the missionaries for interviews this time around. I guess that kind of goes against what I just said about not talking about going home, so I'll just give you the highlight. I mentioned my goal of being married and raising a family, and President Van Dam jumped on it (as apparently he has done with most missionaries) and asked "Do you think you've met your wife yet?" I responded with a definite "No." So in case you were wondering, I wasn't dating anyone seriously before the mission - if I had been, you can be assured that you'd be the first to know. In fact, hearing all the tragedies I've heard from other Elders about Dear Johns and other such problems, I'm very glad I chose not to. But all the Elders here enjoy hearing the story of the time Bishop Terry challenged me to date 20 girls before I left, and how I didn't actually make it past 5.
The exchange with the Assistants to the President was a lot of fun. I'd previously casually mentioned to Elder Weagel, who was a good friend in the MTC and current Assistant, that one thing I'd always wanted to do on my mission was sleep overnight in the Temple - as the Mission Office is for the moment located inside the Temple. I suspect that the overnight exchange was arranged to help me with this goal. But either way, it was fun and a good learning experience. I saw the Mission Office in a very different light when those lights were turned off and it became a normal study room instead. I also found myself very thankful to not have served in the Office myself - the jobs to be done; especially the job of Distribution Centre Manager, currently being filled by Elder Chan from Sollihul; look really boring - lots of sitting around and waiting for things to do. Elder Weagel and I were out finding in the rain for most of the day, though, which was fine. We had some good success.
Mission Conference was fun, but everyone was a little sad because only half of the Mission was in attendance. Our unique method of having Mission Conference - ie having it once every Moves period - is not the Church standard method and as such has raised some concerns with Elder Watson of the Asia Area Presidency, who has requested that we do things a more traditional way to fit in with how things work in missions that take up a larger geographical area. As such, President Van Dam has shown us all a great example of obedience by splitting Mission Conference over two days, with only half the mission in attendance each day. While it seems a little pointless, I've ultimately decided that it's better to be obedient to something that seems a little unnecessary than to be disobedient. I'm willing to follow President Van Dam's example and enjoy the fact that we're allowed to at least have some kind of Mission Conference still.
It was a good conference - the theme was "It Shall Be Done". We watched a film which we'd watched a year ago, about a one-armed man and a blue vase. He's given a hard, somewhat pointless assignment but he does everything in his power to get it done anyway. The parallels between the film and our half-Mission Conference seem very clear now. I'm thankful for President Van Dam and the wonderful way that he leads us by example.
The new white shirts fitted fine - thank you very much for them. There is actually a Marks and Spencers here in our Zone which we walked past the other day on the way to the Tsing Yi chapel for a baptismal interview. A white shirt there is $98HK, which I don't think is very worth it. So thank you for sending me shirts so that I didn't need to go buy any new ones.
Camera shopping was fun but tiring. In the end, after toying with it for a while, I bought the cheapest option available; which was not a Sony. I got home and explored it and quickly learned a valuable lesson - while not spending too much is important, when there are purchases that need to be made, quality should not be compromised just for a cheaper price. The camera's fine, but it's no where near as clear as my Sony was. I can't help thinking that if I'd just spent $100HK more for the Casio camera, I would have been a lot more satisfied. But there's nothing really wrong with the one I have now, so it'll do. But next time I'll be sure to spend the money for a quality product when it's nessesary.
By the way, the word "Pocketbook" came from Star Wars Episode II. You may be interested to know that the other day, I was testing out an umbrella before going outside. I member walked it - this particular member is one of those many Chinese people who take pride in their English - and told me that it was bad luck in China to open an umbrella indoors. I responded in Chinese that it's bad luck in England too, but I don't care much for "luck". She then said, in English, "I don't believe you are from England." Well that's interesting, I thought to myself, as she hadn't heard me speak English yet. I therefore told her, in English, that yes, I definately was from England, but she still didn't believe me. Out came my Driver's Licence, and we both read the words "United Kingdom" very clearly on it. That seemed to satisfy her, but apparently her argument came from the fact that I sound different to relatives she has who live in Newcastle. Whether or not I've picked up an American twang, we can at least be thankful that I don't sound like Chris probably does by now.
Anyway, time is up. I love you.
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
Apologies for speaking too much about coming home. I can assure you that I'm very much enjoying my time here. My problem is more like Mum's nightmares about going back to school before you've broken up for summer rather than anything. I'll put it in the back of my mind and just enjoy the next little while. It doesn't help that in Mission Conference on Tuesday, I saw some of my friends from my older group give their "dying testimonies" as they prepare to go home in three weeks. But not to worry - consider the issue dropped.
As far as the XBox goes, I believe that you got the super Dixons insurance for it. You're going to want to get it to them soon, though, because you bought it April of 2006, so the three year warranty ends any day now. The papers for it were in the middle drawer in what was my bedside table. Good luck getting it fixed - it would be a big mah faahn to have to buy a new one.
The Temple sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to our Temple session, which will be later today. We're really blessed here to have such a blessing so close - especially after seeing Mongolian and Cambodian Saints crossing the continent on trains to get here for the blessings of the Temple, I'm thankful that we Hong Kong Missionaries can go every six weeks.
A lot happened over the past week - it was one of the busiest of my mission so far. Since last Thursday, I had my interview with President Van Dam, exchanges with the Assistants, Mission Conference and a few planned service acts. Lots of fun.
President Van Dam said in the interview that it's fine if I call you a week early, which would be the 3rd of May, right? If I call at 10:00pm my time, it should be 3:00 in the afternoon for you - will that be okay?
We also talked in the interview about goals and plans for after the mission - that was President Van Dam's topic with all of the missionaries for interviews this time around. I guess that kind of goes against what I just said about not talking about going home, so I'll just give you the highlight. I mentioned my goal of being married and raising a family, and President Van Dam jumped on it (as apparently he has done with most missionaries) and asked "Do you think you've met your wife yet?" I responded with a definite "No." So in case you were wondering, I wasn't dating anyone seriously before the mission - if I had been, you can be assured that you'd be the first to know. In fact, hearing all the tragedies I've heard from other Elders about Dear Johns and other such problems, I'm very glad I chose not to. But all the Elders here enjoy hearing the story of the time Bishop Terry challenged me to date 20 girls before I left, and how I didn't actually make it past 5.
The exchange with the Assistants to the President was a lot of fun. I'd previously casually mentioned to Elder Weagel, who was a good friend in the MTC and current Assistant, that one thing I'd always wanted to do on my mission was sleep overnight in the Temple - as the Mission Office is for the moment located inside the Temple. I suspect that the overnight exchange was arranged to help me with this goal. But either way, it was fun and a good learning experience. I saw the Mission Office in a very different light when those lights were turned off and it became a normal study room instead. I also found myself very thankful to not have served in the Office myself - the jobs to be done; especially the job of Distribution Centre Manager, currently being filled by Elder Chan from Sollihul; look really boring - lots of sitting around and waiting for things to do. Elder Weagel and I were out finding in the rain for most of the day, though, which was fine. We had some good success.
Mission Conference was fun, but everyone was a little sad because only half of the Mission was in attendance. Our unique method of having Mission Conference - ie having it once every Moves period - is not the Church standard method and as such has raised some concerns with Elder Watson of the Asia Area Presidency, who has requested that we do things a more traditional way to fit in with how things work in missions that take up a larger geographical area. As such, President Van Dam has shown us all a great example of obedience by splitting Mission Conference over two days, with only half the mission in attendance each day. While it seems a little pointless, I've ultimately decided that it's better to be obedient to something that seems a little unnecessary than to be disobedient. I'm willing to follow President Van Dam's example and enjoy the fact that we're allowed to at least have some kind of Mission Conference still.
It was a good conference - the theme was "It Shall Be Done". We watched a film which we'd watched a year ago, about a one-armed man and a blue vase. He's given a hard, somewhat pointless assignment but he does everything in his power to get it done anyway. The parallels between the film and our half-Mission Conference seem very clear now. I'm thankful for President Van Dam and the wonderful way that he leads us by example.
The new white shirts fitted fine - thank you very much for them. There is actually a Marks and Spencers here in our Zone which we walked past the other day on the way to the Tsing Yi chapel for a baptismal interview. A white shirt there is $98HK, which I don't think is very worth it. So thank you for sending me shirts so that I didn't need to go buy any new ones.
Camera shopping was fun but tiring. In the end, after toying with it for a while, I bought the cheapest option available; which was not a Sony. I got home and explored it and quickly learned a valuable lesson - while not spending too much is important, when there are purchases that need to be made, quality should not be compromised just for a cheaper price. The camera's fine, but it's no where near as clear as my Sony was. I can't help thinking that if I'd just spent $100HK more for the Casio camera, I would have been a lot more satisfied. But there's nothing really wrong with the one I have now, so it'll do. But next time I'll be sure to spend the money for a quality product when it's nessesary.
By the way, the word "Pocketbook" came from Star Wars Episode II. You may be interested to know that the other day, I was testing out an umbrella before going outside. I member walked it - this particular member is one of those many Chinese people who take pride in their English - and told me that it was bad luck in China to open an umbrella indoors. I responded in Chinese that it's bad luck in England too, but I don't care much for "luck". She then said, in English, "I don't believe you are from England." Well that's interesting, I thought to myself, as she hadn't heard me speak English yet. I therefore told her, in English, that yes, I definately was from England, but she still didn't believe me. Out came my Driver's Licence, and we both read the words "United Kingdom" very clearly on it. That seemed to satisfy her, but apparently her argument came from the fact that I sound different to relatives she has who live in Newcastle. Whether or not I've picked up an American twang, we can at least be thankful that I don't sound like Chris probably does by now.
Anyway, time is up. I love you.
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
Happy Easter!
Dear Mum and Dad,
Yes, a big happy Easter to everyone, and a big thank you for the Easter package that I received the day before yesterday. It was wonderful, although I almost didn't open it because I was afraid it was a birthday package. Then Elder Cope pointed out that it said to open it on the outside, so I did. I shared the Cream Eggs with the other Elders in the flat, who noted the difference between the American version and the proper British one - the home grown eggs are a lot more rich and don't taste like wax.
As far as my birthday comes, and in light of the talk by Elder Hales (I think) at the beginning of the Saturday Morning session of Conference, I think a very good idea would be not to go too nuts. I'm about to hit a large period of debt, so I don't think I want to worry too much about buying lots of things. I propose that you don't put any more money in my account while I'm on my mission, because I'm sure I can get by on what I have. I have a far smaller desire to go crazy buying expensive toys before I leave Hong Kong - better to save the money. Now I have to ask myself as I buy everything, do I need it, or do I only want it? That said, after plans suddenly changed last week we didn't go camera shopping, so we're going today. If I see a cheap enough iPod Touch, I may not be able to control myself.
Elder Cope bought a second hand 32gig iPod Touch for $2000hk, which I hear is a good deal. I don't want to throw $2000 into any purchase right now though, not even a camera. Luckily because Hong Kong apparently doesn't have sales tax on electronics, it's cheaper to get good tech here than in Macau, so with luck I won't need all the money you've put into my account. We can just call that my Birthday present.
I have interviews with President Van Dam tomorrow so I'll ask him about phoning home a week early. This will be my penultimate interview with him, as he goes home in July. It'll be sad to see him go, and I've heard that he and Sister Van Dam are dreading it as much as I am. They've been booked for some babysitting in September already!
After Conference, I made a big long list of goals as a result of what I had learned. I decided, after Elder Bednar's talk, that I have a to increase my Temple attendance when I go home, and go more often than every six weeks. That's not easy, considering the distance of travel involved, so I've decided that I need to get my full driver's license and a car of my own in order to do so - I don't want to have to rely on anyone else for rides to and from the Temple. While it'll be a big sacrifice in time and money, I think it's essential if I want the Lord's guidance as I go through university. While I did just mention that debt is bad for me and I should avoid unnessesary expenses, I think that driving is fairly essential (more so than an iPod touch or a new DS).
As I continued making my list - including Home Teaching, member missionary work and other things, it occurred to me that there really isn't enough time to do everything that's required of me. This mindset really did worry me for a while as I added up all of the things I need to do and weighed into balance my ability to do them. I'm definitely lacking. So I spent a lot of time studying President Eyring's talk from last General Conference, which talks about this very problem and has all new meaning to me as I think about how getting off the mission means an increase of work to do, not a decrease. It's really, very easy as a missionary. It just increases my growing fear of coming home. But I guess it's one of those Adam and Eve kind of things. In the mission field, life is good and simple and happy, but there's only so much I can progress here. I need to choose my new trials and challenges for myself rather than run from difficulty - only as I do this can I progress. I've said to others many times that if I had the choice of staying on my mission forever, I think I'd probably say yes. But looking at it from the Adam and Eve perspective, I remember that being a missionary is not enough to gain exaltation. There's more trials ahead of me and I can't hide from them, nor can I hide from the world. I just need to be sure that I don't let the world drag me down - I need to maintain a missionary mindset outside of the mission field. I'm not sure how easy that will be, but I'm going to need to give it a spin.
Sometimes these email sessions are a way for me to think things through as I type out my thoughts. Sorry if that got a little too ponderous.
Yesterday I had my Language Legend pass off. It was structured very differently - after all, I was doing it with a different person, Sister Au, who is a native. She was a little tougher than Elder Carter and my last attempt - she tested me on 300 character and would only allow me to miss 12, whereas Elder Carter tested me on 450 and let me miss 10%. Thankfully, if I didn't quite remember the sound or tone, she would give me a second chance. Ultimately, I missed 12 and then remembered one of them at the end. So I scraped through the character test. I also read the Book of Mormon with her and passed that too. But I didn't know the MVP well enough (which is fair enough, because I didn't think I did but figured I'd give it a try) and so I still have one little challenge to pass. Mission Conference is next Wednesday, so my day of glory will need to wait for until next time - now I only have one more Mission Conference with President Van Dam in which I can get the Legend award. So I'm going to work hard to get it done. Having gone through the section of the book that I'm tested on, I've found that I'm missing about 500 words from the book that I need to learn, which isn't that much when you consider that I already know a few thousand of them. But vocabulary has always been my weakest point to my Chinese, because I find it very hard to learn vocab (as it's all sounds) whilst character cards were relatively easy (because it's all pictures, which is how my mind works). So we'll see how long it'll take, but I want it done by the end of the Move.
Anyway, time is running out. I love you all. You are in my prayers. I'll do my absolute best not to go nuts buying a camera today. It'll probably be cheaper to buy a non-Sony and new memory sticks than to buy another Sony camera, so today might be the end of the long hold that Sony has had on my pocketbook. We shall see.
Lots of love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
Yes, a big happy Easter to everyone, and a big thank you for the Easter package that I received the day before yesterday. It was wonderful, although I almost didn't open it because I was afraid it was a birthday package. Then Elder Cope pointed out that it said to open it on the outside, so I did. I shared the Cream Eggs with the other Elders in the flat, who noted the difference between the American version and the proper British one - the home grown eggs are a lot more rich and don't taste like wax.
As far as my birthday comes, and in light of the talk by Elder Hales (I think) at the beginning of the Saturday Morning session of Conference, I think a very good idea would be not to go too nuts. I'm about to hit a large period of debt, so I don't think I want to worry too much about buying lots of things. I propose that you don't put any more money in my account while I'm on my mission, because I'm sure I can get by on what I have. I have a far smaller desire to go crazy buying expensive toys before I leave Hong Kong - better to save the money. Now I have to ask myself as I buy everything, do I need it, or do I only want it? That said, after plans suddenly changed last week we didn't go camera shopping, so we're going today. If I see a cheap enough iPod Touch, I may not be able to control myself.
Elder Cope bought a second hand 32gig iPod Touch for $2000hk, which I hear is a good deal. I don't want to throw $2000 into any purchase right now though, not even a camera. Luckily because Hong Kong apparently doesn't have sales tax on electronics, it's cheaper to get good tech here than in Macau, so with luck I won't need all the money you've put into my account. We can just call that my Birthday present.
I have interviews with President Van Dam tomorrow so I'll ask him about phoning home a week early. This will be my penultimate interview with him, as he goes home in July. It'll be sad to see him go, and I've heard that he and Sister Van Dam are dreading it as much as I am. They've been booked for some babysitting in September already!
After Conference, I made a big long list of goals as a result of what I had learned. I decided, after Elder Bednar's talk, that I have a to increase my Temple attendance when I go home, and go more often than every six weeks. That's not easy, considering the distance of travel involved, so I've decided that I need to get my full driver's license and a car of my own in order to do so - I don't want to have to rely on anyone else for rides to and from the Temple. While it'll be a big sacrifice in time and money, I think it's essential if I want the Lord's guidance as I go through university. While I did just mention that debt is bad for me and I should avoid unnessesary expenses, I think that driving is fairly essential (more so than an iPod touch or a new DS).
As I continued making my list - including Home Teaching, member missionary work and other things, it occurred to me that there really isn't enough time to do everything that's required of me. This mindset really did worry me for a while as I added up all of the things I need to do and weighed into balance my ability to do them. I'm definitely lacking. So I spent a lot of time studying President Eyring's talk from last General Conference, which talks about this very problem and has all new meaning to me as I think about how getting off the mission means an increase of work to do, not a decrease. It's really, very easy as a missionary. It just increases my growing fear of coming home. But I guess it's one of those Adam and Eve kind of things. In the mission field, life is good and simple and happy, but there's only so much I can progress here. I need to choose my new trials and challenges for myself rather than run from difficulty - only as I do this can I progress. I've said to others many times that if I had the choice of staying on my mission forever, I think I'd probably say yes. But looking at it from the Adam and Eve perspective, I remember that being a missionary is not enough to gain exaltation. There's more trials ahead of me and I can't hide from them, nor can I hide from the world. I just need to be sure that I don't let the world drag me down - I need to maintain a missionary mindset outside of the mission field. I'm not sure how easy that will be, but I'm going to need to give it a spin.
Sometimes these email sessions are a way for me to think things through as I type out my thoughts. Sorry if that got a little too ponderous.
Yesterday I had my Language Legend pass off. It was structured very differently - after all, I was doing it with a different person, Sister Au, who is a native. She was a little tougher than Elder Carter and my last attempt - she tested me on 300 character and would only allow me to miss 12, whereas Elder Carter tested me on 450 and let me miss 10%. Thankfully, if I didn't quite remember the sound or tone, she would give me a second chance. Ultimately, I missed 12 and then remembered one of them at the end. So I scraped through the character test. I also read the Book of Mormon with her and passed that too. But I didn't know the MVP well enough (which is fair enough, because I didn't think I did but figured I'd give it a try) and so I still have one little challenge to pass. Mission Conference is next Wednesday, so my day of glory will need to wait for until next time - now I only have one more Mission Conference with President Van Dam in which I can get the Legend award. So I'm going to work hard to get it done. Having gone through the section of the book that I'm tested on, I've found that I'm missing about 500 words from the book that I need to learn, which isn't that much when you consider that I already know a few thousand of them. But vocabulary has always been my weakest point to my Chinese, because I find it very hard to learn vocab (as it's all sounds) whilst character cards were relatively easy (because it's all pictures, which is how my mind works). So we'll see how long it'll take, but I want it done by the end of the Move.
Anyway, time is running out. I love you all. You are in my prayers. I'll do my absolute best not to go nuts buying a camera today. It'll probably be cheaper to buy a non-Sony and new memory sticks than to buy another Sony camera, so today might be the end of the long hold that Sony has had on my pocketbook. We shall see.
Lots of love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
Adjusting to Hong Kong
Dear Mum and Dad,
As we all sit around emailing together in the smokey, noisy, dimly lit gaming arcade that is our only real option for internet access here, the five of us missionaries are sharing the news we're getting from our families about General Conference, which we are very much anticipating. Elder Cope's parents told him that the messages are very bold, encouraging us to be a covenant people. Elder Marshall's family say that Elder Holland's talk is powerful. I told them all that a new X-Men film is coming out soon.
Not that I'm criticizing - I just thought it was funny. You also talked about General Conference, so don't think I'm poking fun or anything.
This past week I've felt a little like a new missionary again - I'm having to readjust to the busy, fast paced life of Hong Kong. Ironically, while life is faster paced, missionary work is slower. Finding and teaching in Macau was very easy - I've been describing it as the "South America" of our mission, because when I was finding there I really did feel like I was shooting fish in a barrel. But back in Hong Kong, it's not quite so simple. But to quote Dad's favourite story, "This is good." Here I can learn and grow at a much faster rate, and the lessons I've learned in Macau have prepared me to come home to Hong Kong and go about things with added and increased zeal and desire to serve. So I'm looking forward to my time here and my opportunity to do my part in Kwai Fong.
The names you listed from Google Maps sound familiar, but I'm not completely suk sik (I can't remember how to say that in English, so I figured I'd use Chinese and hope you get the idea) with my new area yet. It seems nice, though - quiet but busy. There's a little bit of every flavour of China that I've found in my previous areas.
Speaking of Google maps, actually I discovered this street view thingy yesterday. We were at the Temple for a leadership meeting and afterwards Elder Matthew Chan, the only other British Elder in the mission who is currently serving in the office as the Distribution Centre Manager, showed me. He showed me his house and took me on a little tour of some English countryside. We tried home, and then the Reading Chapel, but neither seemed to work - now I know why; they haven't done it yet. Hearing from you about how the media has convinced people that this technology is bad makes me cringe - it would be absolutely impossible for Google to have 24 hour real time cameras pinned on every single house in the nation - in the world, even. But such is life. Personally I think it's amazing and will make finding directions to things even easier.
I've been recently brought to the realisation that the world has continued on without me. Being on a mission is like being in a time capsule for two years - I realized the other day that things I'd been doing a few weeks before the mission, and my entire life back home, happened two years ago. The newest Elder in my District, Elder Cope, has a 32gig iPod Touch, which he bought here in Kwai Fong for $2000HK second hand (which was a pretty good price before the pound crashed, but is now around £180) and I have to say that this "new" piece of technology is absolutely incredible. While it's not exactly being used to its full potential right now, as he's only using it as an MP3 player, it's undeniably very cool. But the last thing I need is to waste money on tech - especially as I anticipate what will no doubt be a very rocky period of student debt coming in the near future. The nice thing about a mission is that I've learned to comfortably live out of a suitcase without modern gizmos - although I am going to go buy a new camera later today. That's a somewhat essential piece of missionary technology. But I'll try and get the cheapest I can. Considering that all of my memory sticks are Sony, though, I may be out of luck if I don't want to buy all new memory for the camera. But if it's cheaper, I'll just do that. I really don't want to waste too much money, and I know that £100 is a lot for you to part with all at one time for such a trivial expense.
Good to know that Tim's doing well, and that Jess is being loved. Please thank Julian the next time you see him, and apologize that I haven't replied to his last letter - it's written but not yet in the post box. Also when you see Chris after he gets back, again, apologize that I haven't replied to his last letter. I think he'll understand.
Pretty much all letters and correspondence between myself and anyone back home has ceased, almost entirely because a little while before I went to Macau, I decided that I really didn't care anymore. I can talk to people in a few more months. This probably isn't the best lahm faat (what's that in English? Way of thinking?) but Elder Ng told me that he got to be the same way when he was about the same time through his mission. One of the Sisters who were in my MTC group, and who served in my District when I was District Leader for the first time, Sister Corbridge, sent me a wedding invitation a few months back. She gets married to some nice man in three days, but I've also not gotten round to writing and congratulating them.
Monday the 4th will be fine for the call. But would that not put things right in the middle of school/work time? Or I could call in the morning (your morning)? I found out recently that Elder Ng had asked President Van Dam for permission to call on the British Mothers' Day instead of the American one, which is what Elder Chan has done, so actually we had permission all along, which I didn't know or even consider. I wish I'd known that sooner, but it's a little late now.
Well, time is running out. I love you all. Tell Tim to keep up the good work, keep doing the right thing, and keep repenting when necessary. I'm very, very proud of him. Tell Jess a similar thing, with an added emphasis on how much I love her and want her to choose the right. Also mention that I know a lot of single, attractive Return Missionaries who speak Chinese, should she be interested in their email addresses. If you see Beth, tell her I love her and that she's in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
As we all sit around emailing together in the smokey, noisy, dimly lit gaming arcade that is our only real option for internet access here, the five of us missionaries are sharing the news we're getting from our families about General Conference, which we are very much anticipating. Elder Cope's parents told him that the messages are very bold, encouraging us to be a covenant people. Elder Marshall's family say that Elder Holland's talk is powerful. I told them all that a new X-Men film is coming out soon.
Not that I'm criticizing - I just thought it was funny. You also talked about General Conference, so don't think I'm poking fun or anything.
This past week I've felt a little like a new missionary again - I'm having to readjust to the busy, fast paced life of Hong Kong. Ironically, while life is faster paced, missionary work is slower. Finding and teaching in Macau was very easy - I've been describing it as the "South America" of our mission, because when I was finding there I really did feel like I was shooting fish in a barrel. But back in Hong Kong, it's not quite so simple. But to quote Dad's favourite story, "This is good." Here I can learn and grow at a much faster rate, and the lessons I've learned in Macau have prepared me to come home to Hong Kong and go about things with added and increased zeal and desire to serve. So I'm looking forward to my time here and my opportunity to do my part in Kwai Fong.
The names you listed from Google Maps sound familiar, but I'm not completely suk sik (I can't remember how to say that in English, so I figured I'd use Chinese and hope you get the idea) with my new area yet. It seems nice, though - quiet but busy. There's a little bit of every flavour of China that I've found in my previous areas.
Speaking of Google maps, actually I discovered this street view thingy yesterday. We were at the Temple for a leadership meeting and afterwards Elder Matthew Chan, the only other British Elder in the mission who is currently serving in the office as the Distribution Centre Manager, showed me. He showed me his house and took me on a little tour of some English countryside. We tried home, and then the Reading Chapel, but neither seemed to work - now I know why; they haven't done it yet. Hearing from you about how the media has convinced people that this technology is bad makes me cringe - it would be absolutely impossible for Google to have 24 hour real time cameras pinned on every single house in the nation - in the world, even. But such is life. Personally I think it's amazing and will make finding directions to things even easier.
I've been recently brought to the realisation that the world has continued on without me. Being on a mission is like being in a time capsule for two years - I realized the other day that things I'd been doing a few weeks before the mission, and my entire life back home, happened two years ago. The newest Elder in my District, Elder Cope, has a 32gig iPod Touch, which he bought here in Kwai Fong for $2000HK second hand (which was a pretty good price before the pound crashed, but is now around £180) and I have to say that this "new" piece of technology is absolutely incredible. While it's not exactly being used to its full potential right now, as he's only using it as an MP3 player, it's undeniably very cool. But the last thing I need is to waste money on tech - especially as I anticipate what will no doubt be a very rocky period of student debt coming in the near future. The nice thing about a mission is that I've learned to comfortably live out of a suitcase without modern gizmos - although I am going to go buy a new camera later today. That's a somewhat essential piece of missionary technology. But I'll try and get the cheapest I can. Considering that all of my memory sticks are Sony, though, I may be out of luck if I don't want to buy all new memory for the camera. But if it's cheaper, I'll just do that. I really don't want to waste too much money, and I know that £100 is a lot for you to part with all at one time for such a trivial expense.
Good to know that Tim's doing well, and that Jess is being loved. Please thank Julian the next time you see him, and apologize that I haven't replied to his last letter - it's written but not yet in the post box. Also when you see Chris after he gets back, again, apologize that I haven't replied to his last letter. I think he'll understand.
Pretty much all letters and correspondence between myself and anyone back home has ceased, almost entirely because a little while before I went to Macau, I decided that I really didn't care anymore. I can talk to people in a few more months. This probably isn't the best lahm faat (what's that in English? Way of thinking?) but Elder Ng told me that he got to be the same way when he was about the same time through his mission. One of the Sisters who were in my MTC group, and who served in my District when I was District Leader for the first time, Sister Corbridge, sent me a wedding invitation a few months back. She gets married to some nice man in three days, but I've also not gotten round to writing and congratulating them.
Monday the 4th will be fine for the call. But would that not put things right in the middle of school/work time? Or I could call in the morning (your morning)? I found out recently that Elder Ng had asked President Van Dam for permission to call on the British Mothers' Day instead of the American one, which is what Elder Chan has done, so actually we had permission all along, which I didn't know or even consider. I wish I'd known that sooner, but it's a little late now.
Well, time is running out. I love you all. Tell Tim to keep up the good work, keep doing the right thing, and keep repenting when necessary. I'm very, very proud of him. Tell Jess a similar thing, with an added emphasis on how much I love her and want her to choose the right. Also mention that I know a lot of single, attractive Return Missionaries who speak Chinese, should she be interested in their email addresses. If you see Beth, tell her I love her and that she's in my prayers.
Love,
Elder Matthew Loffhagen
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Now in my last area -
Dear Mum and Dad,
This past week has been rather bittersweet. On Saturday I got a call from President Van Dam, who called me to be a Zone Leader and pointed out that I had been in Macau for quite a while and was definitely leaving. It hurt a lot to leave Macau behind, but I was willing to follow what the Lord had planned for me. This morning I boarded the ferry by myself and traveled back all alone, to Hong Kong to meet with Elder Marshall, my new companion.
This week has had a lot of very special moments. As we wrapped up the final lesson I would have with the Wong family, 10 year old J G offered the prayer. The family was quiet and calm throughout the prayer (sometimes a challenge for the little J Y) and I felt the Spirit as I saw the joy that had come to this little family. The past few weeks have proven that Brother Wong's passing really has been a blessing to the family. The Branch has poured out love upon them, strengthened them and even begun an extensive cleaning project in their home. It's been wonderful to see this miracle in action.
Many people have expressed their sadness at seeing me go. Our Branch Mission Leader, Brother Chuck, bought me two boxes of famous Portuguese Egg Tarts, one of the famous local delicacies of Macau, to say goodbye. Another Sister in the Branch, Esther, arranged to have us over for dinner. Because she lives with her two little sisters and one little brother, she wanted to make sure that we would have enough males with us to balance out the numbers. We overcompensated and brought two recent converts, J and C B, as well as an investigator, A-F, who will be baptised next month. It turned out unnecessary, as neither Esther nor one of her sisters, Sabrina were home. We found ourselves instead having dinner with the youngest sister, fifteen year old Celestia, their brother A-K and our guests. It was a very interesting meal, and a nice end to my stay in Macau.
So now I find myself in what will likely (but not 100% certainly) be my last area on my mission - Kwai Fong. This seems like a nice enough place, although I've not seen that much of it yet. It's in the heart of Kowloon, which constitutes all of the busy parts of Hong Kong that aren't on Hong Kong island itself. It's interesting to discover that I suddenly find myself Zone Leader over a lot of missionaries I've served around before - something that hasn't happened to me too often - as I find former companions like Elder Liu and Elder Clark here, as well as old District friends like Elder Burk, Elder McAllister, Elder Nelson, Elder Hyde, Sister Au, Elder Kinghorn and many more. I know those names probably don't mean much to you, but they do to me. It's nice to come into a Zone and already know a large percentage of the missionaries here, which ought to make my responsibilities here a little easier.
My new companion, Elder Marshall, is very cool. I wonder if I'll be able to keep up with him. He's from somewhere in America, but breaks the trend I've had with Utah companions - he's one of three companions I've had who aren't from Utah. I couldn't say where he IS from, though. He was my older group in the MTC, so it'll be interesting to serve as companions with him now. He also used to serve in Macau - he left right before I got there - so we've had a good time chatting about our old area.
It's nice to hear that Tim Ng made such a big splash with the ward. Don't hold your breath for me being quite so incredible when I return home - and there's also no need for him to hold his breath for my visit - I'll have a lot of other things to worry about when I finish. I'd long known that he was hoping for BYU; he talked about it when he was here. I also knew he'd been having visa problems because he sent me a Christmas newsletter.
As far as the phone call home goes, I'm also allowed to call the day before and the day after the American Mothers' Day - that's necessary for the American missionaries who are over twelve hours ahead of home, rather than the convenient 7 hours we enjoy. If it would be easier, I could call on Saturday or on Monday - or on Sunday morning. I'm sure we'll be able to work it out, but if it's really inconvenient, I might be able to ask President Van Dam for a more convenient time, like the week before or after. No guarantees that he'll give permission though.
As far as money goes, with the current exchange rate, the money in my account is not enough for a new camera. I also need to invest in some new shirts, because my old ones weren't very white anymore, so I left the worst ones in Macau. I'm thinking of trying to open up the camera myself and see if I can find the problem, but I couldn't find a small enough screwdriver. That said, I'm right by what is rumoured to be the best place to buy electronics in Hong Kong, Sam Sui Po, so I might try having a look there over the next few Preparation Days.
I'm looking forward to General Conference next week. I can't believe it's been six months already! But such is life, and time in Macau flew by particularly fast. Now I'm ready to do what God wants me to do in Kwai Fong, even if it's a little different to the things I've been doing thus far.
Lots of love,
Elder Loffhagen
This past week has been rather bittersweet. On Saturday I got a call from President Van Dam, who called me to be a Zone Leader and pointed out that I had been in Macau for quite a while and was definitely leaving. It hurt a lot to leave Macau behind, but I was willing to follow what the Lord had planned for me. This morning I boarded the ferry by myself and traveled back all alone, to Hong Kong to meet with Elder Marshall, my new companion.
This week has had a lot of very special moments. As we wrapped up the final lesson I would have with the Wong family, 10 year old J G offered the prayer. The family was quiet and calm throughout the prayer (sometimes a challenge for the little J Y) and I felt the Spirit as I saw the joy that had come to this little family. The past few weeks have proven that Brother Wong's passing really has been a blessing to the family. The Branch has poured out love upon them, strengthened them and even begun an extensive cleaning project in their home. It's been wonderful to see this miracle in action.
Many people have expressed their sadness at seeing me go. Our Branch Mission Leader, Brother Chuck, bought me two boxes of famous Portuguese Egg Tarts, one of the famous local delicacies of Macau, to say goodbye. Another Sister in the Branch, Esther, arranged to have us over for dinner. Because she lives with her two little sisters and one little brother, she wanted to make sure that we would have enough males with us to balance out the numbers. We overcompensated and brought two recent converts, J and C B, as well as an investigator, A-F, who will be baptised next month. It turned out unnecessary, as neither Esther nor one of her sisters, Sabrina were home. We found ourselves instead having dinner with the youngest sister, fifteen year old Celestia, their brother A-K and our guests. It was a very interesting meal, and a nice end to my stay in Macau.
So now I find myself in what will likely (but not 100% certainly) be my last area on my mission - Kwai Fong. This seems like a nice enough place, although I've not seen that much of it yet. It's in the heart of Kowloon, which constitutes all of the busy parts of Hong Kong that aren't on Hong Kong island itself. It's interesting to discover that I suddenly find myself Zone Leader over a lot of missionaries I've served around before - something that hasn't happened to me too often - as I find former companions like Elder Liu and Elder Clark here, as well as old District friends like Elder Burk, Elder McAllister, Elder Nelson, Elder Hyde, Sister Au, Elder Kinghorn and many more. I know those names probably don't mean much to you, but they do to me. It's nice to come into a Zone and already know a large percentage of the missionaries here, which ought to make my responsibilities here a little easier.
My new companion, Elder Marshall, is very cool. I wonder if I'll be able to keep up with him. He's from somewhere in America, but breaks the trend I've had with Utah companions - he's one of three companions I've had who aren't from Utah. I couldn't say where he IS from, though. He was my older group in the MTC, so it'll be interesting to serve as companions with him now. He also used to serve in Macau - he left right before I got there - so we've had a good time chatting about our old area.
It's nice to hear that Tim Ng made such a big splash with the ward. Don't hold your breath for me being quite so incredible when I return home - and there's also no need for him to hold his breath for my visit - I'll have a lot of other things to worry about when I finish. I'd long known that he was hoping for BYU; he talked about it when he was here. I also knew he'd been having visa problems because he sent me a Christmas newsletter.
As far as the phone call home goes, I'm also allowed to call the day before and the day after the American Mothers' Day - that's necessary for the American missionaries who are over twelve hours ahead of home, rather than the convenient 7 hours we enjoy. If it would be easier, I could call on Saturday or on Monday - or on Sunday morning. I'm sure we'll be able to work it out, but if it's really inconvenient, I might be able to ask President Van Dam for a more convenient time, like the week before or after. No guarantees that he'll give permission though.
As far as money goes, with the current exchange rate, the money in my account is not enough for a new camera. I also need to invest in some new shirts, because my old ones weren't very white anymore, so I left the worst ones in Macau. I'm thinking of trying to open up the camera myself and see if I can find the problem, but I couldn't find a small enough screwdriver. That said, I'm right by what is rumoured to be the best place to buy electronics in Hong Kong, Sam Sui Po, so I might try having a look there over the next few Preparation Days.
I'm looking forward to General Conference next week. I can't believe it's been six months already! But such is life, and time in Macau flew by particularly fast. Now I'm ready to do what God wants me to do in Kwai Fong, even if it's a little different to the things I've been doing thus far.
Lots of love,
Elder Loffhagen
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