How come no one told me about the food!

So this week was really interesting. I had my first Chang out experience. A chang out is where you go to a members house and they feed you. That sounds pretty safe in America. But it's a different story in china.

My first chang out was at a member's mothers house. This lady isn't a member, and she lives in a swamp. Like seriously, a yoda's swamp in the middle of no where kind of swamp, with dogs as big as people. It was so cool. They have bat problems and thier house is one room with a loft above it for sleeping. The food that we got to share with this dear sister was so interesting, most of the meat I ate I had no idea what it was, but...yeah, from what I could discern we had pig feet, meet and pear soup, fish (including the eyes), and fish intestines. yes. I ate fish intestines. I didn't know what they were at first, and the elders were laughing at me, having already slurped thiers down (if you try to chew it you throw up) and they watched me struggle with my bowl until my dear companion mercifully rescued me and put some of my soup into her bowl. blegh. It was the nastiest thing ever. But this lady was so poor, it would have been really rude not to accept it. My companion says i'll get better at eating strange things as time goes on. But this week i've tried cow tongue, squid balls, beef balls, yeurk (rice soup stuff that smells like dog poop), douh fu fa (tofu flower! it was actually really good, especially since i put ice cream in it and some lady looked at me funny). Yesterday we had a WARD BBQ! yayyyy. It was pretty fun, more questionable meat was ingested, and I met more people in the ward. I think they all think of me like a little kid. Kinda cute but really stupid, because i don't understand much of what they are saying still. I feel bad that I can't help my companion more in lessons, and that I can't be my normal social self because no one understands my horrible tones or my crazy hand gestures. Regardless, I've made pretty good friends with the lau family (crazy and funny, lau hing daai's mom is exactly as synical and hilarious as the grandma on mulan. it was so funny). And also the leung family, Sister leung gave us some extra blankets because it's been really cold latley (coldest winter in a long time here!) and her daughter shayla is a great fellowshiper for stella, our investigator.

Other things I have experienced this week: riding in the front of a double decker bus (awesome and scary, everyone drives on the wrong side of the road) and more Street vendor food! yayyyy! deep fried germs!! We blessed it like 6 times. 

I have to share an experience that happened when we were finding: I wasn't feeling the spirit super strong and I said a prayer that I could be happy and pay attention to people, to know who i should try to talk to, and no sooner did I do that then we met an english speaking girl from teh Netherlands! soooooo cool! We shared a message with her and with two other girls that I found, and we were able to give them book of mormons and say a prayer, and give a lesson on the street, which almost never happens. When you give someone something in China, I learned that you always give it with two hands, and when they accept it with two hands that means they are really grateful. These girls were really excited about the book of mormon, and they came from Christan backgrounds, so we are looking forward to meeting with them again soon.

We also met another english speaking lady from Nepal, she's kind of crazy. But she came to church on sunday and she has LOTS of questions and we are excited to help her come to know christ more. She has a lot of desire to know, even though i think she was muslim before, and a lot of the things she believes are really weird, like, she sings her prayers and believes in reincarnation. But it's interesting to me that even growing up that way, there are so many pieces of the truth in what she says, sometimes i forget that. It's important to build upon what people already know, just like Aaron does in alma 22.

Oh yeah, for new years this week we had deep clean on monday, where we stayed in the apartment all day and cleaned (sooooo much cleaning) and then on tuesday we went to the BIG BUDDAH! The whole mission got to go and I was able to see my MTC family. I missed them so much but they're all doing well.

I pray every night that I can sik teng (understand) more and that I can follow the spirit and try to be exactly obedient. It's really hard some times to give up the things that you want for other people, but I find that it brings joy. This week I'm trying to get over my fears and inadequacies in the language and talk to everyone I see. I'm also trying to be a good companion and take correction humbly when it is given to me.

I miss you all and I hope you're having a good week!

Joigeen! San Ling Faai lok!

(bye! happy new year!)

Gou Ji Muih

(sister Cook) 

1st week

Hi. Wow. China is neat! I wish I had some pictures to show you, but my camera is rather crappy and i keep forgetting to bring it places, so I will try to vividly describe all that was my first week in hong kong. (You can also look at sister Darcey's blog, I think her mom put some up!)

 

1st- Mail goes to the mission office, and then it's distributed to every zone. Since the new territories are the farthest away from kowloon, i only get mail once every three weeks. So encourage everyone to write me, often. It's sad not getting mail.

 

2nd- I'm not exactly sure what you want to hear in these emails, so in your next email back to me, ask me some questions that i can answer so i don't feel so scatterbrained. Also, encourage friends to ask questions through the family emails too!

 

Ahh! so I'm in China. I don't know if you forgot that, I certainly didn't. This place is awesome. I learned a lot more about the area i'm serving in so first i'll talk about that.

 

We live in Teun Mun, but the two wards we cover are in Yeun Long. Yeun yat and Yeun Yi (yat literally means 1 and yi means 2) and the members are...really cool. haha. I had my first sacrament meeting in both wards on sunday, and I got to give a talk, in Chinese! It was terrifying. Sis D helped me to translate what I wanted to say, but I was so nervous that most of my tones went out the window. Everyone thought it was really funny. haha, so at least I make people smile. That's good. I'm speaking again this sunday so I guess they liked it, and we're inviting all of our investigators to come and hear all 4 missionaries speak. I'm speaking on the book of mormon this time.

Sister D thinks that I got sent to this area because of my faith. The members here are really reliant on the missionaries, which is a bad thing, because most baptisms come from member led missionary work, (with the help of the missionaries) not the other way around. So we have to figure out a way to get these members to invite their friends to church and give us referrals. They are really cool people. We've had the opportunity to work with several of the young women in fellow shipping, so I definitely think we can make some huge progress. I have faith this area is going to explode!

 

Ok so our best investigator right now is Stella! She is Stellar, for sure. She's the smartest 15 year old that I have ever met in my life. She goes to school every day in Kowloontong because it's the best school in hong kong. It's crazy how hard she works and how much she understands. I can't convey to you the special relationship that you develop with your investigators. I've never been so intently concerned on the spiritual well being of another person in my whole life. I feel like Stella is mine. :) I know that sounds weird, but right from the start, even though we speak different languages, I knew that I needed to help her know Christ better. She was raised Buddhist and she is very traditional Chinese. I guess the missionaries have been working with her for a long long time and haven't figured out why she doesn't want to get baptized because she accepts all the commitments and sincerely wants to be a better person. Her older brother Peter is also getting baptized at the end of the month, so we couldn't figure out what was wrong. But this week we had a extremely crucial lesson with her that went on for two hours and we finally figured out her concerns. She really opened up and it was so neat. I felt the spirit guide me to ask her again to be baptised, and she still declined, but she more or less told us that before she had no intention of getting baptized, and now she thinks that she wants too. We had another great lesson with her on Monday about how science and religion support each other, and she came to church Sunday, and she is now praying earnestly about getting baptized. My belief is that she will, maybe not soon, but she's totally ready, she just needs a little more faith. It's honestly amazing to see the lord working in people and helping them change to feel the spirit.

 

Speaking of feeling the spirit, that's about the only reason i'm surviving right now. haha. This week I made huge leaps and bounds in my efforts at talking to people in Cantonese. I admit I don't understand a lot of what people say to me when I talk to them, but that's why it's great that I have the spirit. I can kind of use my other senses to feel out what I need to say. I study body language, and expression, and I'm not always right, but there have been miracles! I can talk to people in Chinese, it's ridiculous. My companion has been helping me learn common phrases and different dialects, so I'm able to talk to a wider variety of people. The Pau Pau's (grandma's) I normally can't understand and they always talk for like 500 hours, (sometimes they even start randomly singing to you, it's pretty weird) so I usually stay away from them. haha. That sounds horrible but it's true. Yesterday I listened to one talk about her cats (i think) for about 30 minutes before I said "I have to leave, and I don't understand what you're saying!" haha. So precious. I love meeting people here, they are all so interesting.

 

This week we had something called "consecrated finding time" where we pray about a time and place to go tracting and we go, no matter what. It really helps our faith and leads us to prepared people. When we went this week the first day we went to Fan Ling Road. It's a little stretch of road between two busy streets and lots of people go there. My shoulder was hurting so I was sitting down and looking for people to talk to, and I saw this lady and i grabbed my companion and we went to talk to her. I don't even know her name, and when I started talking to her she looked at me for a full minute before she responded, but then we asked if we could share a message about the gospel and she invited us to sit down. (THAT NEVER HAPPENS!) So we did and she just started crying. It was ridiculous. Chinese people don't cry. They don't even hug you. But she told us all about her problems and we shared about the gospel and invited her to baptism right on the street. We told her where the church was and invited her to church on Sunday. And she ended up getting a phone call and having to run away before we got her number, but our prayers are with her, and I think that we will see her again. Praying for miracles.

 

Another person I saw, sitting down, we got to share a full lesson, prayers included, on the street. And she also invited us to sit. It was the coolest thing ever! Her name is Kitty and we have a follow up lesson on her book of Mormon reading tomorrow. So excited!

 

One cool think about NT is that we are the only zone in the mission that get's to knock doors. There's a special area that we went to on monday (Sis D birthday!!) called Kam Tin. It is the most Asian place i've seen, ever. It's really close to new year and also really close to mainland so there were people practicing the lion dance out in teh court yard and I about pooped my pants because It was so exciting. The living conditions there are some of the worst I've seen, and it's one of the most concentrated area's of Buddhism, so it's hard to tract there, but I got to see a lot of Chinese culture that i've never seen before, and it blew my mind.

 

I also had my first experience with street vendors this week. Haha, so cool. They cook everything on the street in little stands and you just pick what you want and pay. It's really cheap but we felt like we had to bless it three times before we ate it. I haven't eaten anything super disgusting yet, but I've had a lot of neat fruit that I love. Like dragon fruit, star fruit, and Asian pears. Soooo Good. I also went into a stationary shop to buy some awesome stickers for sister D's birthday. I love stickers. I also love stationary shops, and I love them because it's super trendy to write english on everything, but chinese people don't know how to speak or spell correctly, so I bought a journal with "happy memorial sky! yew can  becomeing happyalways!" on the front in big letters. So funny. And pretty much everything with english on it is spelled wrong. It makes me happy because I know English is as hard for them as chiense is for me. Yay! haha happyalways!! :D

 

Oh yeah, we also had finding time in Yeun Long park ( sooo pretty) and this old asian man started hitting on my companion. It was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen. He was trying to woo her with his stories of many travels, and he asked both of us if we had plans for Valentine's day. So awkward. haha. He also called us 4 times (not my fault, didn't give him our number) but he's coming to church Sunday! (without any ulterior motives at all...lol)

 

So I need prayers for my shoulder, it's started hurting bad again and i'm not sure what to do. I also need prayers for Stella to decide to get baptized, and for my companion to not be stressed out, and for the work in Yeun Long to EXPLODE! I would also like mail. Tons of mail. Mail from everyone. If you are my friend, write me mail. I need mail.

 

I appreciate your daily prayers for me, I draw strength from them all. And I know you are mindful. I miss you all and I hope you have a good week. Have the kids email me and let me know what's going on in their lives.

 

Oh, and on Tuesday I get to see all my MTC pals, because the whole mission gets to go to BIG BUDDHA! for new years! It's a big deal! it's gonna be sweet! You should google it and read up about it, it's one of the hugest things in HK that everyone wants to see. We are also doing deep clean, because Chinese people do that every new years, so our apartment will be spectacular for the new year, and we have a few really fun ward activities planed. I get to taste Korean Barbecue today and i'm really excited for that.

 

I'm working harder than I ever have in my life, and i'm always exhausted and stressed out,  but my faith is so strong because I know that the lord is with me! I hope everyone is well at home! And I am learning so much! Hong Kong IS AWESOMMMMMMMMMMMMMME

 

 

Happy New Year! Ga Yauh!!

 

Gou Ji Muih

She arrived

Hi family! GUESS WHAT! I'M IN HONG KONG! and i've been here for what, 2 days now? I don't even know. Everything is so weird, including this keyboard which has Chinese characters all over it. We are in a public library in Tuen Mun, part of the new territories, which is my first area. I'm with my companion, Sister Darcey, from Oklahoma. ahhh! I have so much to tell you I don't even know where to start. I guess the beginning is a good place, so i'll tell you about the flight.

Monday morning after I called you, mom, I got on a plane to Seattle, and from there we headed to Tokyo. It was so exciting to be out in the real world with people to talk to the gospel about. I contacted a few people, two uhh...lady friends who just got back from a gay christian conference in Orlando, and then later i talked to a mom and her son who were on the flight to hong kong with us, going to china for the New Year. All in all it was a pretty good flight, I was glad to just hang out with my district, and sleep, but my shoulder started hurting pretty bad after about 21 hours of just sitting down. When we got to Hong Kong, we all got off the plane and elder Ward realized he left his passport on there, so he couldn't get through customs, and that was crazy, so by the time we found it and got sorted, it was about 11:45pm. President chan and his wife and the AP's met us in the front of the airport and it was so cool to hug sister Chan and to shake my mission president's hand for the first time. We then went to the mission home, across the street from the Temple in Kowloon Tong. Sister Chan drove us there and I've never been so scared in my life. haha. Driving on the left side of the road for the first time is scary, especially here. But we made it safe. Kowloon Tong (and all of Hong Kong for that matter) is REALLY pretty. It's so nice this time of year, about 70 degrees and pretty, most tree's are in full bloom. And the mountains look really cool next to all the water. The most awesome part is the park right behind the mission office, which every morning, is filled with old Chinese men and women doing tai chi. It's so beautiful!

The Temple patron housing above the mission office was filled with random people from all over the world. We stayed there for our first two nights. I met a family from Thailand and a lady from Texas who was teaching English in mainland China. I met some mandarin speaking lady who couldn't understand any English, and it was a little awkward when she tried moving into our room with her 10 year old son, and we had to explain he couldn't sleep in the same room as us. haha. Language barriers are interesting.

 So the morning after we flew in, after getting a traditional chiense breakfast (rice, and some coconut bread stuff, with soy milk) we went through some orientation and then we went out to victoria's peak, in central hong kong (i think) and we brought stuff to tract with. All 10 missionaries walking around hong kong for the first time and trying to teach the gospel was pretty dang crazy. A lot of people looked at us weird. We tried to talk to people but mostly no one could understand what they were saying back to us. It was actually kinda funny. And really mentally exausting. When we got to the top pf the peak we found a rock that someone eched in the date that the china hong kong mission was dedicated, and we read teh dedicatory prayer for china that david o mcay gave in 1949. It was a really powerful spiritual moment. I really feel like I'm supposed to be here, but I have a long way to go, and a lot of stuff to learn. People's chinese here is crazy. it sounds loads better than our teachers chinese. It's way prettier, and flowing, and they accent the tones a lot more. I was expecting a lot more english from people, but most people I talked to MhSikTeng Ying Man. Soyih, we just tried as hard as we could. The view from the peak was AMAZING. Hong Kong is seriously like the prettiest place in the world. besides the pollution. But I love it. and there is so much to do, and there are people everywhere you go, and so there are shops everywhere, and everyone dresses really interestingly. (as in, nobody matches, and old people that shouldn't wear leggings and mini skirts). haha. But the feel that I get of the culture and the people is this: Most everyone is polite, but also pretty prideful, and they like to learn English, so they appreciate it when i try talking to them in Cantonese.

So a little about my second day:

I met my trainer (my mom) sister Darcey (bak ji muih), and I love her! I had the opportunity to read her blog a little before I left on my misison because sister Nelson showed it to me. She is really funny and she likes to write. She seems to be pretty impressed with my ability to understand what's going on, so that makes me happy, and so far she's taken really good care of me! I am the first person she's trained and she was apparently really scared about doing it, but she's done a good job. And President Chan told her (after an intervierw with me) that (and this is a quote) I'm probably the most dedicated missionary that came in with this district. I'm glad my president thinks highly of me, and i'ts true, I'm really dedicated. I'm not really fluent, or spiritual, or good at remembering things, but i am really dedicated. And I believe that will be all the difference. My MTC companions got paired with two other trainers that seemed really nice too. We all were told where our first area would be. There are 6 zones in our mission...both my old companions are in Tolo Harbor, and I got sent to the New Territories, right up near the border of Mainland China! It's neat, because I thought I would get sent here...for some reason. It's still pretty urban, but it's a lot less urban than downtown Hong Kong. it's out in the boonies, people are a lot more humble, and a lot poorer here. Everything is spaced out, moreso than any other area... I think its the biggest area in the whole mission. My trainer was telling me that we have the best apartment in the whole mission too. It's small, but it's really nice. We have 5 sisters in this zone, me and my companion, two buhndae's (hong kong natives) and sister mercado, from Pennsylvania. I feel really blessed to have two natives in my apartment because it forces me to speak chinese all the time. haha. It's been pretty interesting so far, but we've been able to get by. My Comp is helping me to understand, and to learn, and it's a slow process, but still a lot faster than in the MTC.

So yeah...what was I talking about? Oh yeah, second day. Transportation is interesting here! Everything is super effecient. We have what is called an octopus card that we use for everything. Except yesterday, we had to get tickets on the airport express and I WILL TELL YOU WHY. It was crazy.

 

So, because of the horrible missionary that I am, I left my scriptures on the plane in hong kong. I told my mission president as soon as I got back so they phoned the airport and found out that we had to go get them. Which wouldn't be bad, except we live on the opposite side of the mission. and I had my luggage with me. So my dear companion and I took the rail system as far as we could, pulling my heavy bags, in very small and crowded circumstances, and eventually got to a point where we either had to take a bus (Basi) or the airport express (really expensive) and we weren't sure what would be better, and neither of us knew exactly where we were or what to do so we prayed...and then started a day of miracles.

 

After our prayer we felt good about taking the airport express, so we did. and no sooner did we get on then we meet these two girls from mainland china, who were on their way to shang hi, in china. And they didn't speak Cantonese but sister D knew enough mandarin to get by, plus they understood a lot of english which was good. I asked them where they were going and sister D saw that one of them was wearing a cross around her neck, so we started talking about church. Apparently, they both had read the bible and had a copy of it in English, because their friends told them that reading the bible would help them learn english, and they said they liked it, but they didn't understand a lot of words. so we started talking about the book of mormon! and luckily we both had one, in chinese, as well as some restoration pamphlets, which we were able to give them. It felt so good to place my first book of mormon. And i was really excited because they expressed sincere interest in reading it. I was able to bear my testimony about how important scriptures were, and that, in fact, i was on my way back to the airport because i left my scriptures on the plane, and they are very important to me so i needed to get them back. It was so neat, and sister D and I just felt really peaceful about the whole thing. Every book of mormon that can get into mainland china is a miracle. It really is. Because no one can teach the gospel there. I feel like those two girls will read the book of mormon, and I pray that they will be able to feel god's love for them.

 

Ok, so miracle number two is that I taught my first lesson, to a 15 year old girl, Stella! Stella is amazing. I'm pretty sure she is smarter than I am. Her family is dirt poor, but she travels to kowloontong every day to go to school and she works very hard. She's also as sweet as an angel. I love her. After running around all day yesterday we were really worried we would have to cancel her appointment, but we made the 20 minute walk to church into an 8 minute walk (miracle) and we were able to get a member present (another miracle) and we taught her about god's love for her and about getting answers to prayers. Stella is very Buddhist, she believes in a god and his love for everyone, but she dosen't believe it's individual. But in our lesson we were able to bring out a lot of good points to try and help her, and she was very excited to implement them. She looked up how to say florida and idaho for me in Cantonese. and called me as soon as the lesson was over to tell me. And she's so excited about progressing in the gospel, we think that she will get baptized soon (yayyyy!) her older brothers are taking lessons from the elders and her parents don't care, but she's so great, and her testimony is really strong.

 

I'm running out of time but i want you to know that overall, i'm having a great experience so far. I'm dirt tired but i'm trying my best. I'm getting braver, and every day i do a little victory dance that i'm able to do so much. I'm adjusting well, and i'm able to sleep and eat the food without many problems. I have a long way to go in the language but so does everyone else, and I'm happy. I know the lord is protecting me. you'll probably get emails late tursday night while i'm here in this area because pdays are usually Thursdays, but i'm sooooooooooooooooooooooo happy! I love the gospel, I love hong kong, it's exciting, I love Chinese people, I love weird Chinese food, and I love my companion.

 

You are all in my prayers and I love you! Send me mail!

 

love,

Gou Ji Muih

 

 

She is leaving.

Hello Family!!

 

So, lets get down to business (to defeat the huns!...or baptize them, or something.) I have my travel plans in hand! And everything has worked out with my visa, and I am all set to go to Hong Kong. I will be leaving the mtc around 8 mst and my collective flying time is 18 hours and 45 minutes! I get to call home! So here is the itinerary, i put everything in florida time so it would be easy for you to look for my phone calls:

 

1-chill out in SLC for my flight to Seattle on monday the 9th. Look for a phone call between 11:30 and 12:00 florida time. If Dad has to work I'll call him there, but it would be cool if the kids could skip school so I talk to them. I'm gonna use a pay phone (i hate pay phones) and i'm thinking i'll get to talk for about 45 minutes. This will be the most time i get to talk to you between flights

 

2- arrive in Seattle, only have a 30 minute layover to get on a plane to Hong Kong, I won't be able to Contact you probably. 10 hour flight.

 

3. Arrive in Tokyo around 2:55am your time (4:55pm there) and I have an hour and a half layover before I get on a plane to hong kong. So, it's really up to you if you want to talk to me at 3 am. We can talk about that when I call home from SLC.

 

4. Arrive in Hong Kong at 11pm there time, 11 am your time! yayyyyyyyyyyyy. I'll get there and go to bed.

 

So I have a few things I brought that I don't need, I might just send them to symonies house for her to hang on to for me because that will be cheaper than sending them home. I also have a box of letters that I might need to send to you, I don't know if i'll have room for them. Baggage is going to be about 75 bucks because we're flying delta the whole way, and I can cover that. We're getting reimbursed when we get to HK.

 

Also, from now on, the fastest way to get to me is through email. Dear elders aren't really any faster than regular mail once i get in hong kong, and i'll have an hour there instead of 30 minutes a week to be on the computer, so i expect we can do most of the communicating through weekly emails. I've asked around and I think extended family is totally ok to email while i'm in the Field, so you can tell truetts hoffs and grandma that they are fine to email me. (even if that's not ok...they can bite me.) :)

 

Oh, and as far as I know this is my new address:

 

sister cook

18 dorset crescent

kowloontong,kowloon

hong kong

 

If you mail anything from now on, send it here. Please update my blog with this address so my friends can know to. (little box under my picture on the left, ryan can show you how)

 

So, I think that's all the important logistical information you need. I'm looking forward to talking to you on monday!! :D How was new years? Did Conner bring the Gorilla suit?? I got a dear elder from aunt Lisa that said the bonfire was good. I missed you all! our new years was pretty lame but i did totally nail my companions in the face with silly string. (we did it at 10pm here because that's midnight in florida!) haha. It was funny.

 

So not much happened this week except we were able to clean the temple, which was cool. I got to dust fake leaves. soooooo exciting. When you clean in the temple you don't use mops and brooms, you use toothbrushes and q-tips. It's insane! And we had the opportunity to do a great endowment session today, and we saw our Cantonese friend there and we understood her! it was fantastic!! I'm feeling great about leaving the MTC. I was pretty nervous till about a week ago. Our Companionship was struggling but we had this great talk and decided as a companionship to place our trust in the Lord.

 

I know that I can speak Cantonese, and I know it because the lord doesn't give us challenges we can't overcome. He gives no commandments save he provides a way we can accomplish them. THE NEXT TIME I EMAIL YOU I WILL BE IN CHINA! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I am so excited! and so ready! Today when I went to the temple I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and comfort that everything would be ok. :)

 

I've done a lot of good things while i've been here at the MTC. I've grown a lot. I've made a ton of eternal friends. I've eaten a lot of crappy food. But most importantly, My knowledge of the gospel has grown tremendously! I am so happy that I've been here for 12 weeks, because i've needed every minute of it! I will miss my district a ton, but I'm ready to go where the lord wants me to go.

 

I have to go!

I love you all, talk to you Monday!

 

Sister Cook