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