Wednesday, February 8, 2012

are you GAU CHAW?

Translation: Are You kidding me?!
 
this is a line that will forever be famous in my life, because it is what my companion said on Sunday evening around 5 pm when Duhng Hing Daai called us after a realllyyyy long fast Sunday at church and a two hour hospital visit for a recent converts Grandpa. Remember last week when I told you I would get the opportunity to sing in front of people? Well, we thought that we were singing on Monday, and we were actually singing on Sunday night (understandable mistake, because the word for monday and sunday are the same, one's just a high tone and the other a low tone Sing Keih YAT and Sing Keih Yuht, Chinese people so smart-la)...
 
Yeah so anyway D.H.D told us to get ready because he was coming to pick us up hou faai (very fast) and we were so scared! because we hadn't had time to rehearse, the day before we had an awesome stake activity with the youth (that i will describe later) and lessons back to back for most of the rest of the week. Sooooo, yeah, we also didn't have a piano player...so we called the elders. haha.
 
Remember Elder Ward from the MTC? the one from Tennessee? He's serving in my zone! which makes me so super happy, because I feel like he is my little brother, and it also makes me super happy because he's probably the best piano player/sight reader i have ever met! He went on a split with elder Tyau and they came to the rescue. He sight read the music almost perfectly. Tell Ryan to keep practicing the piano so he can save someones life one day. I am seriously so grateful. Anyway. None of us were expecting the huge crowd of 500 people awaiting us when we got in D.H.D's van...We pulled up and this chyun was DECKED OUT! huge stage, new years decorations everywhere! So much Chinese stuff...it was crazy.
 
We sat through a painful hour of trying to sight read together without a piano, in preparation for singing for this party. As we waited to go up, we saw two HUGE lion dances, a Chinese folk band (so cool, I almost died) and even a Chinese rock band! haha! the Asian guy playing the guitar had grew his hair out really long and permed it, so he looked like a less muscular version of a member of KISS. I will try to get pictures up.
 
Anyway, the guy in charge asked us if we could sing this song called "faith in every footstep" which I had never heard...as well as Love at home. So, that's what we did! I did the best harmony I could and I think it sounded ok! we got the video from it. But I seriously think the coolest part was when we introduced ourselves on stage. The people were way impressed with our Cantonese, and we got to talk about the church. We also get to go pak muhn (knock doors) there next week and i'm sure people will listen to what we have to say, because they will recognise sister darcey's blond hair, and the fact that i'm larger than most of them, and remember our beautiful singing and want to get baptized right!? yeah!!
 
Ok, so really though, it was a huge deal. I am a firm believer that every event that has happened in my life has prepared me for now, including the ability to love and understand music. One of my favorite parts of lessons is just singing in Chinese, it brings so much joy and the spirit is definitely there.
 
Ok, so enough about that! I will tell you about other things now:
 
1. hospital lesson- on sunday, a recent convert friend whinnie (about 25, really artsy and cute) , saw us at church and almost immediately started crying, She said her grandpa was dying and she didn't know how to help him because she wasn't a missionary. So sad. She asked us if we would come visit him with her. So we did. Something happened where his intestines exploded, and he ended up passing away the next day. She is the only member in her family, and it was a tough time. Most of her family members were really really upset, understandably. But we were able to sing for their grandpa, and share a message, give our condolences, and then afterwards for two hours we just talked to winnie and her little sister about the gospel. It was very special, because I think the spirit comforted her a lot
Her little sister Ji King, is about my age and she's kinda weird, but really sweet.  We invited her to read the BOM and pray, and testified of the strength that it gives us. She came to an activity that we planned, and we are really excited to start teaching her lessons. He sister is so strong in the gospel, we really hope some good will come of this.
 
2. Activities- sorry to switch so suddenly! but I have to tell you about what happened this week with activities! We missionaries planned out an awesome work shop thing on Saturday for the youth. We taught them how to make crepes, and how to beat box and sing ( Sis D and I, plus some of the elders did that one), and we made an obstacle course that involved jumping over tables and limbo (elder wards idea, lol) and we had one about arcitecture, where we built structures out of newspaper, connected them with a bridge, and tried to balance a book of mormon on it. Afterwards we all went to the beach and had a BBQ~!!!I know it sounds super random, but it was SO MUCH FUN. haha. The kids really liked it. And what is more important is they brought their friends, and their friends think we are COOL. this is a big deal. I have never been cool in my life. haha. and now that i am a missionary i can teach beat boxing and suddenly i'm cool. It's a miracle. Anyway, we met a new investigator there, her name is Yeunki. She is so sweeeeeeeeet! and It was so fun to hang out on the beach, it totally felt like florida. We felt like Byuhngaau sih (bad missionaries) because we were having so much fun, sometimes we had to stop and ask "am i allowed to be having this much fun?" haha. but it was really great, a lot of good comes from fellowshiping members and meeting investigators at the same time. so neat.
 
ok, so sister darcey and i were thinking about other cool things we could do to get more people to bring their friends to church, so we decided last minute (sunday night) to plan a valentines day activity! for the young women! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! we used lucky money pouches to cut out a billion little hearts to make valentines with, and we taught them how to make those chocolate kiss flowers with the floral tape and hershey kisses, and we decorated cookies with them ( you have no idea how hard it is to find stuff to bake with here) anyway it was a huge success. The girls had a lot of fun and they each brought at least one friend, so we are rolling in contacted referrals right now, most of them live in tuen mun, but we can give them to the other sisters. Yay for activities!!!!
 
3. Exchanges- I went on my first split on sunday so I could teach crazy lady rupa and translate for her in sacrament while my companion attended to investigators in the other ward. It was scarrryyy! haha. But it was awesome, Sometimes I feel like i can get a lot more done if I don't lean on my companion for language help, I feel like a grow a lot faster. I am understanding more and more! and I'm also getting more jaapgwaan (used to) hong kong. It's getting easier for sure. But yeah, yesterday we went on a 24 hour split and i got to be Chan ji muij and muih ji muih's companion for a day in Tuen Mun! It was SOOOOO awesome! we taught 6 lessons. SIX LESSONS. I love chan ji muih. she is a buhndeih (native) and she is so funny. she loves chocolate. she calls me her little sister. she talks like in a super cute high pitch voice that i wish i could impersonate for you "ngoh seung jugalick!" (i want chocolate!) haha, anyway i learned a lot from her and muih, and it was super cool.
 
yeah, so everything is going pretty well. I get to go to the temple today so i'm excited about that, Please continued to pray for Stella. She's hit a few stumbling blocks, and i'm kinda worried about her, but its very clear to me how much she loves the missionaries. We want to take that love and put it into loving the gospel instead.
 
Mom- yay for passing algebra tests! i'm sorry you didn't get my last email, hopefully you figured it out so you could read it. Ryan- I sent you a letter today! it's a super cool analogy that i thought of, i think it will help you get ready for your mission. Nana- I got your email, I haven't gotten mail from any family yet but i;m going to the mission home today, hopefully it will be there! Lisa- I love you! and I love lillie and her desire to eat people. Tell chan, grace, and little man that i love them too. and of course uncle james, also, can someone forward my emails to the hoffs? i don't know if they are reading them.
 
thank you family for your prayers and for your love! i'm sorry i didn't have time to reply to individual emails! I hope this week is fantastic for you!
 
Ga Yauh!
 
Gou Ji Muih.
 

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