大家好！
今個星期我和沈長老參加了許多不同的會議。星期二有地區會議，星期三有訓練者的會議，星期四有地帶領袖的會議，星期六有聖誕節音樂訓練，然後星期日又有傳道部的領袖會議。
雖然我們有這些議會，沈長老還是很勤力尋找和找到新的朋友。因為有很多菲律賓姐姐在香港住家工而他是從菲律賓來的，他會說菲律賓話（他加祿語），幫我們邀請了很多朋友。這幾天我們應該找到了十幾個會說英文的菲律賓朋友。雖然他們大部份都很忙，但我很高興看到神在時間上的預備。
Other than that, it's been a pretty busy week and we've found a lot of success in adjusting to the missionary schedule. It's also been really fun doing morning exercise as Elder Solitario loves to play basketball, so our apartment (with Elder Roberts and Elder West) have been keeping a good habit of getting out every morning.
One of my favorite experiences this week came from an exchange with Elder Anderson, who is the other trainee in our Victoria 1 area training with Elder Shields. Just last Monday he was on a short exchange and ran into Lloyd on the street, which actually ended up being a non-progressing friend in our records. After talking to this 15 year old kid, he rescheduled them for Friday, which was when Elder Anderson and I were on exchanges. Nick Tyagi, one of our ward missionaries who has his papers for a mission in currently, joined us for that lesson. Initially we thought they weren't going to show because a good 15 minutes passed without any response. However about 20 minutes past their scheduled lesson time, Lloyd and 4 other of his basketball buddies came into the chapel together. They had just been playing together, and as Lloyd needed to keep his commitment to meet, he had just decided to bring all of his friends with him. At that time they were in a silly mood and were goofing off in the lobby, so we talked to them for a bit to get to know them before we started showing them around.
Eventually, they calmed down and we took them all into the sacrament chapel hall. I think when they walked in the mood completely shifted, as they stood in this quiet room completely isolated from the noise outside. There we had one of the best lessons I have had in a while. Nick shared his strong testimony about needing Christ in his life, especially as a 2 year convert and his reason why he wanted to go on a mission as well. Elder Anderson shared how much he admired these kids for taking the time to go to a church and begin finding answers for themselves. We invited them to kneel together to pray, and then finished the short tour there with an invitation to church on Sunday.
Right after that we were able to get even closer to them, as Elder Anderson wanted to play basketball with them so we played a couple of games together at the outside courts a couple of blocks down the street. Nick joined in as well and it was really sweet.
This past Sunday three of the guys showed up to sacrament and attended both first and second hour. They were able to meet the youth there and were able to be rescheduled to come again.
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I think what I really loved from this experience was how fresh the lesson felt. It had been a while since I had really played sports or connected with kids since they are really so busy in Hong Kong. It's been nice to see how these new missionaries have no preconception on how the work happens, and it's provided an awesome chance to refresh our mindset here.
Brother Gabriel W. Reid in his recent talk noted "Some of the greatest lessons they taught were the ones we caught simply by watching them."
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2026/10/58reid?lang=eng&id=p_iLxsF#p_iLxsF
It's been great to learn from all of these experiences in the mission and I look forward to applying them wherever I can.
18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.
Doctrine and Covenants 130:18–19
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?lang=eng&id=p18-p19#p18
See you next week!
Elder Zhao
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qkaoEe965etiYQuj7
