The Zhao Family

大家好！

I hope everyone is doing well! I am so sorry if I haven't gotten back to your emails, but I will as soon as I can. I have heard there are some scary things happening, and I hope everyone stays safe.

This week we received transfer news. After four and a half months (3 transfers) in Yuen Long double covering English and Cantonese wards, I am moving! Starting Thursday, I will be transferred to the Kowloon area where I will be most likely spending the next 6+ months in my mission. The area I am being transferred to, 黃大仙 or Wong Tai Sin, is also the area responsible for office work across the China Hong Kong Mission! I say I will be here six or more months because typically missionaries who serve here serve for four transfers because of the extra training for the assignment. I will be essentially over all of the back-end office work for the apartments, rental leases, materials for the missionaries, or whatever it may be. There will be a little bit of pressure and definitely a lot of responsibility, but I am grateful for this opportunity. We will still do prostylting missionary work, but a large chunk of our assignment and priority will be helping the mission continue to run behind the scenes. It's also a little intimating because I don't know how to read Chinese characters which will be pretty important with legal contracts.

Anyways that all will be starting this Thursday, but this past week has been such a blast. Starting from last Tuesday we had the chance to serve "Food Angels," which is a non-profit organization which repurposes unneeded food waste/produce that Hong Kong inevitably creates. It was a long stretch of chopping vegetables into process-able size, but it was a good opportunity to do service. Later in the week we worked with Mike throughout his personal challenges and we have almost taught him all of the lessons. He is so amazing. He told us he was excited to be baptized, but would not until he knew he could keep his promises to God for the rest of his life. Our other friend Sabin is slowly learning and trying this gospel in his life and is progressing steadily as well. We also have met a couple of new friends throughout the week who were able to come to church!

It has been just a blessed time being able to serve in both the Yuen Long area as well as the New Territories English Branch. The members as well as the friends here testify so much of a hastening work! Here I have had my first friends taught to baptism, had my first baptism, and also had the chance to teach in the first chapel built in all of China. I have also had my first opportunity to lead the district, which has been a blessing being able to work with some of the most diligent and funny missionaries I have served around. It was certainly very stressful at first, but it has taught me so much about the blessing of patience, listening, and also most importantly, humility. This past week we have done the most member work I have committed to in a while. It is eye opening the impact a visit can make, even if just a spiritual message. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve here and look forward to coming back one day!

//

As a real quick spiritual thought, Mosiah 24:15 states,

"... the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

Patience is all that we need! Have a great week and I will update more next week in this big change!!

//

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qkaoEe965etiYQuj7

再見，
趙長老

大家好！

幾個星期前我應承過用多啲廣東話寫我每個星期的信息。後來我實現咗廣東話唔容易寫，特別呢個語言的文法！但是我會承諾少少時間用廣東話來記錄上個星期。對唔住如果我的語法不好。

今個星期冇太多發生，我和雷長老仲喺元朗一起服務。我們兩位進步最快的朋友, 阿Mike和阿Sabin都慢慢克服緊自己的挑戰，但是他們都願意將來接受洗禮。

除咗呢兩個朋友，因為我現在負責帶領新界北地區，我都有機會做兩個洗禮面談！透過呢兩個面談再加上天水圍兩位長老的勤力，黃夫婦下個星期會接受洗禮！

[Just a couple of weeks ago I had promised to use more Cantonese to write my weekly emails. After a while I realized that Cantonese is not easy to write at all, especially with its grammar structures, but I'll use a little bit of time, even if it isn't that good, to try to write about this week.

This week there wasn't too much that happened. Elder McClellan and I are still serving in Yuen Long. Our two most progressing friends, Mike and Sabin are still overcoming their own challenges but they are still willing to eventually become baptized!

Other than these two friends, since I have the opportunity to lead the New Territories North District, I had the opportunity to give two baptismal interviews! Through these two interviews and the hard work of the Tin Shui Wai Elders, the Wong couple will be able to be baptized next Sunday.]

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend their baptism next Sunday because I will be attending my own ward but I am so excited for the Wong couple; they are just a wholesome and sweet elderly couple who have been seeking very deep answers to their lives.

Throughout this week we were able to meet almost exclusively with Sabin and Mike, who both are amazing in their own ways. I won't be able to go into too much depth of course but I would love to share a little more about them since I didn't get the chance to before.

Mike is a very humble and kind Nigerian friend who the missionaries had met just over a year ago. As we are double covering Cantonese and English areas in Hong Kong right now, we have the super cool opportunity to teach him in English and it has been inspiring to hear his story of how he is supporting his family in Nigeria though his work in Hong Kong. Additionally, his faith in Christ and God are amazing. Although he has some personal issues, he will be on baptism date very soon after he has overcome these things! Secondly, Sabin is a beast. He is just a Nepali teenager who has a very intense desire to know about the nature of God and Jesus Christ, and before we had met him, had studied a lot on his own trying to grasp what 'being a Christian' meant. He has gone through some tough times in his life, but his faith has been unwavering! Since we have met him, he has not missed a week of church. I can tell you that that is almost unheard of. It has been an awesome opportunity being able to teach him slowly and helping him understand the significance of Baptism.

In addition to Sabin and Mike, we also have a friend named Colin who's grandma is a member of our church! Colin had had interest in the past but his parents were opposed to him coming to our church, but since then, the issue has been mostly resolved and this past week we were able to make a plan for us to teach him. This week we found four new friends, which is more than we have found in a while. Sadly none of them were able to come to church, even one of them, 阿娟 who was dedicated on coming the Saturday night before.

However since we didn't have too many friends at church, we were able to devote a lot of time to connecting with our members and scheduled a bunch of them throughout this week, which makes me excited for this upcoming week! We had our Chinese New Year party this week and some members gave us some traditional Chinese wear during the party, and it helped a lot with conversation starters and connecting with the ward.

//

Tommorrow, March 3, will be the year to date when I opened my mission call and found out that I would be serving in Hong Kong. It is wild to think that it has been so soon. This week I wanted to share a thought about something that has been prevalent throughout my experience as a missionary but also one of the things that I have thought of multiple times this week, which was the peace that this gospel gives.

Some days ago, during one of our lunches at McDonald's, we were ordering when a lady tipped her tray of food onto the ground and broke down rather than trying to clean it up. We went and helped get her food off the ground, which helped console her, but it brought to my mind why such a thing had caused her to react so severely. I realize that, especially in Hong Kong, people are very stressed over their personal issues and future prospects, almost to an obsessive level. In reflection of some other times this week, I wanted to share this special verse from Helaman 5:47,

"Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world."

This scripture, when we shared it with Mike, had a similar impact on him as it did to me when I originally read it. Jesus Christ gives us peace. He has been since the beginning of the world, our supporter, our comforter, and our advocate. He has provided a plan for all of us and all of those we love. I urge you all to think about what this means to you, and what it could mean to someone near you who also needs to know of this peace. I know, and have firsthand seen, the effect it has had on others.

//

This week's email was definitely long, but thought about throughout the week. I am grateful to write these emails to remember the experiences and thoughts I have had.

As a concluding thought I was introduced to this talk from Elder Lencioni (shout-out Elder Lencioni) and it is pretty good. It is a little long, but I encourage you all to give it a listen! Let me know what you think.

"The Conversion of a Catholic Priest" by Bill Carpenter
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11t6Hu3NJOPX-311YNAj9fDLvHKhzXAN6/view?usp=drivesdk

That's all I have for this week and I hope I really have my email count right! I have been rushing it and I think 38 is correct. That's a lot of weeks. Next week we will be receiving news of our transfers, and as I have been in Yuen Long for almost 4.5 months now, I might be moving out, updates to come.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qkaoEe965etiYQuj7

下次見！
趙長老