I Killed My First Cockroach--and it was the Size of My Kitchen Floor

Dear Everyone!

Early Monday morning, right after our run, something crazy happened. I thought I smelled the Uintas---seriously, for a moment, here in my smoggy sea-level Hong Kong apartment, I was transported to crystal clear mountain air some-odd-thousand feet in Wyoming, on a backpacking trip. I shook the fir needles out of my head and thought really hard--how could this possible?!

Then I realized that the smell memory wasn't actually of the UINTAS, it was of DAD in the Uintas, and the smell was---wait for it--SWEAT. More specifically, a 12 x sweated-in-dried-sweated-in-again-repeat shirt that had just been sweated in again (the jersey I was wearing). Awwww, what a great memory for Father's Day! I am especially grateful that thanks to my Daddy, for ME, B.O. brings back b-you-tiful memories!!!

Good morning, dear people! It's about 11:25 here in China HK, probably midnight where ever most of you are, and outdoors, the temperature is some 26 odd celsius degrees. NO, I still am not used to metric/celsius /etc... pretty much all I know is that our A/C gets down to 19 at night and if it's above 30 I'm bathing in my own sweat. Love it.

I think I already told you about Jung -- aka Zongzi, the rice-and-egg-wrapped-in-bamboo-leaf thing they make here for Dragon Boat Festival.

I learned this week that it's pretty much the closest equivalent China has to Christmas cookies---Moms make HUNDREDS, Grandmas make even more, and if they can't make them one year there's some serious drama in the family (the moms are distraught and tell the daughters to make them, the daughters make about 10 and get tired, and everyone else doesn't care because every year there are way too many to eat, anyway).

I have to tell what I've been learning in the past 4 months (Doo, doo, di, do!!! ;--trumpet, did anyone else notice I passed my 4 month mark?) about how important members are to missionary work.

• A-- Did you know (I didn't before the MTC) that successful Missionaries HAVE to have a member at EVERY SINGLE LESSON they teach? By "have to" I mean, if you don't, your previously hoped-for and planned-for and shimmering lesson gets delegated to the questionable "other lessons" section of key indicators. AND YOU FAIL. Members are SO important because for one, they provide the other witness--the witness the scriptures refer to (one that isn't wearing frumpy shoes, hopefully) and for the second reason, because they give the investigator a real-life lifeline to the ward. This leads to

• B-- Members NEED to take over the chatting/friend/loving/fellowshipping investigator's part, because missionaries--hard-working missionaries, at least--straight-up do not have time [and are transitory.] As unfortunate as it is, missionary work often becomes a numbers crunch--there is just too little time to get all God's work done!! When He said the work was great (D&C 4:4), he meant IT IS HUGE!!! :)

• Ok, I don't know what number or letter I'm on anymore, but I'm typing as fast as I can to tell you WOW! Figure out who your missionaries are and tell them you want to fellowship! They (if they're good missionaries) will love you until you DIE! And then some! Or just continue doing what you do in serving your wards and stakes. And then read Elder Holland's talk from last conference (An Ensign to the Nations) about how AWESOME you are!!!

Our wonderful fellowshippers are so often recent converts themselves--Octopus (yeah, her name is Octopus, and she can pull it off. That's how awesome she is,) Lily, Stephanie--and moms of missionaries--Ng JM are just some of the incredible people who are following the Lord's admonition and loving one another.

I can't express the value of the contribution of the people who go outside their calling to fellowship. Today, I'm speaking of our ancient, awesome-testimony ladies-- Au J.M, Siu J.M, Yuhn J.M--these stalwart women who are women who are way too busy anyway and whose husbands are bishops and who themselves have stake callings--Mak J.M, the most amazing woman on earth besides my mommy.

What would we do without Yuhn J.M, who has been making the missionaries lunches on Sundays (bc otherwise we don't eat) for more than 10 years! EVERY WEEK! And she even makes them GF for me (or... sorta GF).

Anyway: it's been an interesting experience for me to plan fellowshipping activities (cooking, FHEs, etc), lessons and classes (we teach a scripture class and an English class every week) and imagining how great these classes would be if only... I'm considering what I would give to use the women fellowshippers I already know. Then I remember it wouldn't work (this plan I have to bring everyone to HK so they can fellowship my lessons) because they don't speak Chinese... but, thank goodness, I am finding that the whole world has such wonderful women and members!!!

Please find a way to serve in your field that is white because success in the Lord's mission--to bring people to HIM--depends on YOU! I am so thankful for every one of YOUR--service. And P.S. the Missionaries will love you forever!!

Love, love

Dia!

Kitchen Floor Tiny --Cockroaches Not So Big

Page TWO:

[Send letters, not people. Here is a photo of the newly-returned-from-the-Peruvian-mission cousin trying to get to Hong Kong in the traditional mail manner. posted by the Mum.]

More from Dia's letter -- Week Eight in Hong Kong:

OH! I met Ian's wife this week. Her name is Vashti (I know, evil queen in OT... I haven't asked the derivation) and she's AWESOME. She loves Harry Potter with a VENGEANCE. And she's a great fellowshipper, and she loves writing and reading and drawing, and she speaks flawless English. AND she's going to BYU this week for EFY and a writing workshop! She's so awesome! And she loves "the yellow wallpaper" which is an awesome short story that I also love... anyway. (YiYiYi, I am so short on typing time!!!!) She and Ian are going to make such a cute couple. Mostly because I want her to be my sister.

Quick and hilarious story: Last Th night we visited Sara and her family. Sara wants to get baptized but her parents are against it, which may be for the best since Sara's only 14 and not very mature. So we went over to help the kids prep for hou-sih (exams)--Sister B. taught her little bro English and I taught her Biology, physics and chemistry (yeah... in CANTONESE...)

If we didn't have the Spirit of the Lord blesses our mouths, I think what we try to do would sound a little bit nuts and A LOT presumptuous).

Anyway, Sara she pulled me aside (I, blissfully ignorant, went along) and tried to explain why she was SO HAPPY. She had started dating a boy. A boy who had done skanky things previously (picture me, not even knowing the word for date, trying to figure this out from an all-together too comfortable with body parts 14 year old...).

Yup, I learned all the bodily vocab. I would ever, EVER, need to explain the law of chastity in DETAIL (waaaaaaaaay too much detail, actually). It was pretty awkward (hilarious later).

Then her mom offered to feed us. (Gulp--fear get thee behind me,) and we ate... Crab--real crab! That stuff you've eaten at red lobster is NOT crab. These crabs are little--maybe 1/4 of your palm--and whole. And you eat the WHOLE THING... crunching and sucking and cracking and that was probably the hardest (most difficult or chewiest?) food experience I've ever had to endure.

To finish our crazy awesome night, her ADORABLE little sister (about 2 years old?) ran out from where she was bathing in the back--stark naked and grabbed my leg, screeching in baby-Cantonese (which sounds a lot like Martian) for us not to leave (I think...) and kissed me on the thigh. Basically the best experience of my life! :)

OH BABIES!!!!

Love, love, love, Sister Dia

Mom took the liberty of placing a link here of our family's favorite Chinese baby site Starfish Foster Home. (The BYU graduate who runs a pediatric special needs orphanage in China.)

If You Eat Stomach, Will It Ever Digest?

Editor's Note: The photo's Sis. D. alludes to herein did not come across, so we'll hope for them next week. -- The elder Sister D.

YUP, this week I ate cow's stomach and duck feet! "just keep chewing, just keep chewing," (like Dorrie!) I remind myself the entire time, and do it with a smile!

Ahh, so little time to write! So instead, I will send pictures! (worth a thousand words, right?)

There. Downloaded these must be worth 7000 words. I guess I will explain them, too...

We went to a hilarious curry place on Tuesday for lunch with some other wonderful sisters (one was Sister S., who is HK native and has only been baptized for 1 1/2 years--who began her mission in February too, but came to the field much earlier because she only had to spend 3 weeks in the Philippines MTC and the other is Sister C., who is also fairly new and was born in Taiwan so she wanted to hear all about Brian's mission). The curry place though--so weird. Authentic curry but a PIRATE OF THE CARIBBEAN THEME? So sketchy!

That restaurant is also the place with the life-sized Obama. So. Creepy.

A couple of pictures of weird food... Michael, one of our ward coordinators (ma on shan) and his wife April 's house for dinner.... I don't really remember what else. :)

Wow, this week was so crazy. We're really being refined and tested and stretched by God-- L. J. M., our golden-est investigator who has read through Mosiah in 4 weeks and whose children finished the Book of Mormon story book that we gave them in a week and who came to church for all three hours faithfully and whose baptism was planned for this Sunday, dropped us.

We were teaching her the last lesson on commandments and finished with the discussion on tithing--and she said she'd have to ask her husband. That evening when we called she said she couldn't pay tithing and she was extremely sorry to have wasted so much of our time. She said if she couldn't live some of the gospel, she might as well stop trying with the rest of it. It's really a wonderful type of problem because she really wants to be as Bishop Anderson puts it, "All In"--but so, so sad.

Our biggest agony (Sister B's, actually, since she was on the phone with her) was that we couldn't explain well enough in Cantonese that she was welcome to keep coming to church, keep meeting with us, and keep strengthening her faith. Line upon line, precept upon precept...

This happened to me earlier in the week with my miracle find, a wonderful man who really, really wanted it when we met on the train--but whose phone call I messed up so completely that he told me not to call back, he didn't have time--so we both spent a lot of time in tears this week. It seems our weaknesses sometimes overwhelm our desires to do good--but God promises us that this won't happen every time.

1. D&C 6, There is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart.
2. Ether 12, Faith is things hoped for and not seen, and ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.
3. 1 Corinthians 1-2 These scriptures promise us strength through the wisdom of the Lord not of man.

We have spent a lot of time studying these things this week. (Mostly because- Yay!-we can have all 3 hours of study time because -Dang,- no one will schedule us).

PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR (Pick your favorite! It's like the gifts of the Angel Tree at the mall!):

Leung, a beautiful mother from the mainland with 7 year old twins who cannot commit to the consecrating covenant of tithing because their schooling is so expensive,

Lam, a 70 + something who knows the doctrine is all true but still prays to a 6-foot tall shrine to her ancestors in her home complete with oranges, incense, idol and red lights (she's so awesome), rather than to God, in the name of her Redeemer,

Kathleen to have the will power to change,

Karen and Wendy to get an anwer to their prayers,

A Ling to stop sik ching.

I'm out of time--so sad!!--but I love you all and please thank the cousins for the emails; let them know I will write them back ASAP!

Thank Aunt Jan for the awesome package! Popcorn and Capri Sun! I am so spoiled!

Keep praying for us!!!!

Sister Dia Awesome

Learning, Failing and Flying in HK

Try to explain the word "quaint" to a roomful of 1st graders who only speak Chinese!

I love being here--I love the new experiences I have every single day and how much of an actual, real help I feel I am providing, more and more (as opposed to just a body that follows my trainer around and smiles a lot). Sometimes I get asked to do things that I don't think I can do--crazy and exciting and terrifying and often seem impossible things-- but they HAPPEN and I'm LOVING it.

For example,

This past Saturday I taught English class alone. (Remember I speak Cantonese only three-months.)

Surprise!

Sister B and I were split between ward buildings teaching two English classes simultaneously. I had my member companion helping me--who didn't speak English and a roomful of moms, dad, and kiddies who ALSO didn't speak English and I was trying to teach tongue twisters ("the quiet quaint queen quit quilting").

Sister B. noted later that evening as she looked over the worksheet we were working from and I lay on the floor in exhaustion, "Wow, do you know all these words in Chinese?"

"HAHAHAHA," I responded in maniacal laughter.

Let me elucidate (Aristocats) --Sis B. and I were in different ward buildings doing different activities on Sat. I was expecting to help in Eng class, but I ended up having to teach it alone, which was raaaaather difficult since my Chinese still sounds like dropping silverware in the washing machine and putting it on the spin cycle. Tee hee.

BUT I DID IT! AND YOU FAILED! As they say, enthusiastically, in Meet the Robinsons movie.

I tell myself that all the time, with all the same enthusiasm and equal amounts of peanut butter and jelly.

If we don't FAIL, we aren't trying hard enough to improve. Right? Woo!!!

I also (all impromptu, and all in Cantonese) taught an FHE an object lesson about Muddy Buddies and how if we don't have every ingredient the recipe won't work--just like our lives--God, master chef, is helping us write the perfect recipe.

Then I taught an investigator--Wendy (pray for her) about why we need to ask God things in prayer from 3 Nephi 11 in a Chinese Book of Mormon, (please remember I can't yet read Chinese characters) and accompanied a couple hymns (that part was in musical notes, not Chinese).

IT WAS A MOST CHALLENGING SATURDAY EVER improved greatly by the following factors:

• 1, I was told (for the second time, actually) that I should marry a very traditional Chinese man so that I would never have to worry about wheat,
• 2, when we came home, our 3millionyearsold door guard (who is grumpy until he gets his smoke break and then turns into the happiest old crazy Chinese man alive... let's just say he's NOT smokin' tobacco) opened our gate and said, HELLO, BEAUTIFUL! in ENGLISH and then he asked worriedly, "Ho mh ho yih gam yeuhng gong?" meaning "(Can I say it like that?)" and basically Sister B. and I dissolved into a puddle of laughter in the elevator, and
• 3, we made GF cookie dough out of rice flour!! We didn't dare cook it (no xanthum gum--oh yeah, and no oven!) so we've just been eating it frozen out of the freezer. Freezing kills salmonela, right? :D bwahaha.

Monday was a holiday--dragon boat festival!--so we scheduled some time to go "finding" on the bus and in the streets.

(We are not allowed to go "tracting" door to door here.)

I have very little time so I'll make it fast. We started out with a HUGE let-down--girls who were really nice, really talkative, really friendly and really interested in our message about a restoration of truth to the Earth until they figured out which church we were then they ske-daddled.

Then we got on the train and I started talking to a lady who, oopsie daisy, only spoke Mandarin. That's cool, I can say at least 4 words in Mandarin, and nothing's gonna get me down when I have this much Spirit with me, so I did so (said my four words in Mandarin)! And turns out she spoke more Cantonese than she was letting on...

Anyway, she got off the train and we sat down next to Them. Our miracle couple. They only spoke Mandarin, too, but they WANTED what we had. We introduced ourselves in Mandarin... didn't know what to do... and finally just pulled out a simplified characters Book of Mormon. All I could get out was "I...know... this... book... is... true" in my extremely broken Mandarin--and the husband SNATCHED IT--and started READING it?!?! On the TRAIN?! The wife grabbed our pamphlet about the restoration that Sister B. offered. They were trying to communicate--they kept saying who-knows-what in Mandarin--and pointing and nodding and crying was about the only thing we could understand, along with the strongest Spirit ever. It was amazing. They took everything we had and thanked us again and again. It was so amazing--to teach a lesson about God without using words.

I love you all and I thank you, thank you, thank you, for your prayers. I am learning and failing and FLYING here!

Love, Sister D.

Love

Lessons In Hong Kong

This week's Lessons:

Lesson One: Everyone in HK drinks those little milk boxes Americans only drink in Elementary school--everyone!--adults in business suits, nannies, kids, poh pohs (grandmas). --pronounced pah, pah, Mom.

Lesson Two: Turning on a gas burner in the dark is pretty much the most terrifying thing ever.

On Tuesday, I was so close to Elder Holland (front row--and he came down and used a free mike so he could talk to us closer-) that I'm pretty sure he spit on me. It was AWESOME! He also used my name in the meeting because he used those poor souls in the front rows for object examples. It was so, so cool.

What else? Ahh! Yesterday my first pair of shoes broke (sides ripped). Pretty exciting! These shoes have endured a lot, especially for $15 at Payless. Thank Uncle Gary for me, please! He bought me my very first pair of mission shoes and he didn't even know. Yup!

On Sunday, we had to split--we have two buildings and 3 wards, so on Sundays we try to go everywhere. It was pretty terrifying to explain Sacrament, talk to investigators and meet members all by myself (I had a member help me) but wonderful!

We may go with an investigator to see the dragon boat racing this week!

Today we went to the beach on the island for a multi-zone barbecue! And we made a HUGE sand castle. And looked at the water longingly. And I ate a cheese fish ball. And it was so fun.

Please tell Sister Watts that last Sunday, one of our wards started a ward-building-cleaning program (that took me about 20 minutes into the meeting to figure out... I was seriously like, "OK, they keep talking about cleansing, but I don't think this lesson is about baptism...?") and I remembered our FAMOUSLY fun cleaning activity with the YW/YM. It was fun because of HER--I just love her so much. She really helps people around her feel God's love for them.

Ah, wow. God's love! This week we taught PJiM--the member referral. She is from mainland but speaks perfect Cantonese, and was actually just visiting her sister for a couple days. The first time we visited with her--Monday morning--she told us all about how she believed in baaisahn (worshiping idols) because one of her idols helped her win a lot of money in gambling. Eeeek. The member's husband told her, basically, that no god would work in such ways. It was really hard to understand what she was saying. We just kept bearing testimony and reading scripture, basically. The next visit was totally different--she really wanted to know. We told her about God's plan for our happiness and eternal life--how we can have peace and happiness, how God loves us and wants our happiness just like she wants it for her daughters. She finally broke down and told us about her difficult life--really the worst trials. It was just heartbreaking to teach her as much as we could and give her scriptures and pamphlets--then send her back to mainland, where she can't get baptized. The most special part was her prayer at the end of the lesson, which she did all on her own (the first time, on Monday, I walked her through it). She asked for safety and peace from God, closed in Christ's name and looked up with shining eyes. "Gam souh gam dak bit," = I feel so special.

It was a beautiful experience and I'm so thankful that God includes me in His work. I'm so grateful I get to be here. Thank you, my family, for your prayers and letters and thoughts. I love you! I wish, wish I could write more and share with you the joy I am blessed with here. Every day is such a miracle.

Love, Sister (DIA!) D

White People have Big Noses!

Note: received last week - when Mom was internet-less. So posted late, but not lost.

Oh, yeah, well... I'm a GIANT in Hong Kong! I'm definitely on the upper end of tall, at least for women. It's awesome!

Oh, my goodness. Did you know Mandarin is basically Cantonese with a funny accent? SERIOUSLY, we had a "turnover" lesson the other night (when you find someone who is interested but isn't in your allowed teaching pool--for example, speaks Mandarin, or a single male, or who lives out of your area--then you do a turnover lesson where both the missionaries who found and the missionaries who will be teaching teach together) with the Mandarins, and I could understand SO MUCH of that language! It's crazy!!

Tell Ian that I told a complete stranger all about him on Tuesday on the way to Elder Holland's missionary fireside. We were the second story of a bus for a LONG ride (from ma on shan to Wan Chai) so I talked this lady's EAR off (she SOOO did not want to talk to me. Woo hoo!) and told her all about my "little brother in America who likes reading and martial arts and is going on a mission soon but we don't know where because the church actually picks where we go and did you know that missionaries help people learn more about Christ and..." Poor lady. I think she literally called someone and left a message for them to call her back and just sit on the phone so she would have an excuse not to talk to this crazy blond woman.

P.S. It's so funny--these people are so polite that they feel like they really need an excuse not to talk about God to us. They often white lie--I'm so busy! I'm late for work!--so that they don't have to be rude. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!

Ahhh, I have the funniest rain story. We were waiting at a siu ba stop for the bus, and a 20's something kid walked up. So we started chatting (that's what we do!) and he was super nice, and then it started raining. Then is REALLY started raining.

I said, "It's ok, I have an umbrella!" and Baahk Daaih (the wards call the two of us "big baahk"= baahk daaih and "small Baahk"= baahk sai) winced, because my umbrella has about the same size and efficacy at wet prevention as a washcloth.

Ah, well, we all huddled under my teeny umbrella and, pretty much nose-to-nose, learned about God's love and plan for us, and why he restored his gospel to Earth.

It was pretty hilarious, but not as hilarious as "what happened next" (say that like in Clue--the movie). A bus came. There was only one seat on it. So... we let someone else get on, because we wanted to keep talking. Then another bus came. There were only two seats on it. Baahk sai and daaih (us) got on the bus--but oh, no! We hadn't exchanged numbers! And now we had left him standing in the rain! So I tried to give him my umbrella as the bus TOOK OFF (picture an umbrella jammed in bus doors and Sister D holding on for dear life as the bus reaches warp speed).

So what do we do? We creepily wait at the other end--where the bus stops--to exchange numbers. Ayiya! so crazy! And fun! (image courtesy of China News)

It is now 3:42 HK time, so I only have a few minutes left to write you "my" stuff. BUT! I love getting your emails, and I wanted so much to respond! So, post whatever you feel good about of the above to the blog. OH, and look for Baahk Daaih's (Sister B's) blog--it's called something about "a single grain of rice" and I think the search will be well rewarded by pictures of Hong Kong. Woot!

One thing I learned seems funny but is very true: One lady came and sat by me about 1/4 way through Sacrament and I, of course, had no idea who she was. She was wearing an odd (to Americans) dress/pants/thing, but everyone here wears odd things to church, so I thought she was a member. Ayiyaaa, I only figured out she was an investigator when she asked what this mihn baau (bread for Sacrament) was for. Yikes!

She hadn't been welcomed or probably even smiled at--all because I assumed the wrong way. I resolved to treat everyone like an investigator from then on out, and I thinks it's a good plan AND a real truth--because we really are all investigators. God's investigators, still on a path of learning and still all too vain and foolish and faithless and easily offended or scared off (at least I am).

Everyone deserves to be warmly welcomed to church, because that's what Jesus would do--and I'm trying to be his representative here in HK.

Love to all my people, Sister D.