The End -- One Last Look

Dearest Everyone, 

I got to listen to the temple today in Cantonese--it was so clear and simple. I loved hearing it in, it FEELS like, now, my "2nd" native tongue. My brain translates all the English into Cantonese all the time, anyway, so to hear something I've heard so many times in the "original" (to me...?) language felt so right and happy. I can't really explain!

Pray for us; I never even guessed how confusing and happy and horrible and sad and hard but good yet stressful and still exciting it'd be, this last month.

Love to you all,

Sister D

The End

These are just a random sampling of all the joy I've felt in HK.

As an end note, I realized just how scary the thought of going back to white-people-land is to me this last Sunday night (headed to the Bishop's house for food! They were SO KIND TO US) when we got on a mini bus (seats just  16 people)--FULL OF CANADIANS! 

They're full time volunteers teaching English and Christianity but just for 5 weeks... and I felt so, so awkward and out of place. It could've been a big family... like 12 white people in the same place, it was so terrifying. 

Blondes EVERYWHERE... SO weird.  They all looked exactly the same.

Mighty, Mighty Miracles

Dear All and Sundry:

Last week at ward FHE the game consisted of pulling a TOTALLY-had-no-idea ge Sister Darcey up to the front of the cultural hall (full of 100+ people and one billion+ calories of delicious Chinese goodness), then sticking headphones in her ears and a microphone in her hand and making her SING ALONG to several MANDARIN pop songs that she'd NEVER HEARD IN HER LIFE and then having everyone there guess what song it was. It was like a bad dream. 

But painfully, hilariously real. People were on the FLOOR laughing at my horrible jabbered fake Mandarin lyrics... It was so bad. But the ward had a good time...

Sunday was hard because everyone thought I was leaving THIS Thursday instead of next--so they wanted pictures and gave me  presents and thanked me for my service and the whole time it was finally sinking in that I was LEAVING and this is NOT OKAY and you get the picture.

I came home from a 3 hour find that night with my summer missionary, made all the sisters dinner out of leftovers and wilted stuff as fast as possible (end of the month is rough for groceries situation, but God does provide!) and then I went in the other room to take a phone call from the zone leaders, so pulled my study door shut... hung up, sat on the floor and cried and cried. 

Sweat and tears just rolling along together... seriously, but it IS Devilishly HOT here. It hurts to be outside. We drink ... probably... checking my Batman water bottle... 750 ml x 7= ? Dad? How many liters is that?  A LOT of water a day. 4900 + 350 = 5250 maybe, then liters? 5 liters? maybe? A LOT, ok? (um... please don't put my math online).

Anyway. Monday night we had an amazing miracle: Y. came BACK! I texted her on Sunday night (for the billionth time, all unanswered,) to ask if we could teach her about the gospel this week, and she FINALLY texted back saying Tuesday might be ok!!! So on Monday we prayed with our summers and then I called her. She ANSWERED... but didn't say much. I chattered to her (myself...) in Chinglish about weather, church, her school, family, scriptures, clothes, food, Hong Kong, finally about how I was going to go home and was really sad. I asked her what to do--she said, "Pray."  hardy har har, but then she shared a neat experience with prayer! 

And THEN--Sister C was pretty much praying the whole time, and I was just trying to feel out what I should say or share to help her come back-- I finally kinda let it go and said, "well, don't wanna keep you too late" and she started sniffling, then crying, then BAWLING. Oh man, it was crazy.... drama. WE GIRLS! 

(Imagine the same tone as Derick used to say when we complained about how dumb men are: "YEAH, I agree! But I don't have to marry one! YES!") 

But long story short I mentioned something she'd told me about cheung fan (this chinese noodle thing made of glutinous rice that is so delicious)--I'd told her I was going to miss it and she told me how to NOT miss it: "Just eat it every day until you leave la, then you not miss at all la!" I told her that even if I saw her EVERY DAY until I left, I would still not get sick of her :) 

And we were forgiven... and came to church Tuesday for 3 hours and Wednesday three times to see us, and it's just so good. It seemed like that episode of loss was so scary and sad  for so long (actually... only 9 days. but it FELT long!)  How must the Lord feel about us when we are lost.  

People are so funny. Our mission experience revolves around and delves so deep in people's lives, which makes it hard to see your work's "results". 

People are not numbers, and their process of developing faith and learning to sacrifice, to change themselves into something better, is so hard to write down or record or measure or understand. 

I am just grateful for the people and the relationships I've made here. I've loved and learned to love so much better and so much more, and I've sacrificed a lot to try to love people like God does. Most of the time I'm still at a selfish or prideful or in some way wordly level in my relationships, but many times here we get a glimpse of the purity of God's love.

The ward is so good to me and I've only been here for 11 weeks; I couldn't help feeling (when we took this picture) [NO PICTURE CAME] that I totally didn't deserve this much love. I didn't help anyone get baptized here, and even though I did my best and worked my tail off and served as well as I could--or at least TRIED to--did I really HELP anyone or support this ward or build up people's faith or anything? 

But I think that's what God's love is like. Undeserved, unmerited, but overwhelming and supporting and really does light a fire under you to serve more and be better and stand taller. 

As I get to know and refine my relationship with God (and people!) more, I realize how small my faith is, and how little I deserve the love and attention and aid I'm given--but it isn't depressing or demeaning. It's enlightening and encouraging, calling me to a higher standard with the constant call, "I am with you all the way." 

And I know that I am nothing-- As to my strength, I am weak, therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strenth I can do all things! Many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. Or something close to that :)

Man, I couldn't find the picture of the ward taking a picture with me. Oh well, I'll show you in a week... (except for Elder D and Hermana A, I better not see you in a week!)

Love you lots,

Sister d

When You Jog In A Typhoon

... every direction is a headwind!" 

 Dear All:

I sang a hymn this week and burst out laughing in the last verse--but it's kinda not funny. I seriously need and am considering praying for, "More Longing for Home"--BECAUSE MY AREA AND MISSIONARIES AND INVESTIGATORS AND SPIRIT AND LIFE ARE SO AWESOME!!!

I got to experience Hong Kong's first Level 10 Typhoon in 13 years this week, but my own personal whirlwind began Friday with a big surprise from our dearly beloved Assistant to the President, Elder Cheung. He's a CHARACTER--a accomplished architect already, born and raised in England but 100% Hong Kong parents--so his Chinese is perfect and his English is British. He was my zone leader back in the New T's so we go way back... we lost our hair together in October-March... and he's dying (=ending his missionary service) with me! 

He's a PLANNER and likes things just so, and is a really great leader and designer. And I hope I get to see him after we get released some day--so I can punch him in the face!

I just gave all this background so you could picture more perfectly my shock when he texted me on Friday morning to ask, "Are you on your way yet?"

I texted back "Being on the way involves knowing where I'm GOING, Elder Cheung, WHAT DID YOU NOT TELL ME???" 

Just kidding, I texted back, "Where?"

And then he told me we were getting TWO summer missionaries (= with whom we will split ALL DAY LONG EVERY DAY) AND he would bring them to me in 10 minutes, since he might have overlooked the little detail that he needed to TELL ME about them!!!!!!!!!!! 

It was a pretty stressful 10 minutes; Picture Sister C and I alternately moaning, flipping through planners and worrying out loud, but when they got out of the AP's van---we just fell in love with them. 

Our worries were that Sister C would have a lot of trouble, because so far we've been unable to move past  "baby" mode and recognize we are a more responsible, confident, capable missionary (which she already IS, she just didn't NEED to be)--she relied on me way too much, and I was exhausted from having to be "super" senior companion. (This is all what she told me herself last night) . 

The amazing thing about summer missionaries is that now Sister C is SENIOR and, technically, TRAINING because our summers have never been missionaries before! IT'S AMAZING and teaching her SO MUCH through experience. It's... so awesome. I'm so much happier, she's so much happier, we're SO HAPPY. 

Principle:  The Lord provides (=forces) experiences to prove to ourselves that indeed, we are capable.

My summer mish. is amazing. She's super quiet, a little shy, just 1000% adorable HK young woman packed up into 80 pounds of cuteness and she has the CUTEST SMILE in the whole world so I spend all my time trying to make her laugh. 

[The typhoon begins here and so grab on and just whirl with her while we struggle to stay upright.]

We had the BEST EXPERIENCES EVER yesterday and the day before-- went LA finding after a typhoon morning (it got to a level 10~ =4 sister missionaries at 4 am NOT sleeping because the windows are screaming, it was SO COOL) (so tiring tho!) and met a golden, sweet and SMART 50's lady named Betty (who came the next day and totally understood the first lesson and I've only ever had to explain where the BOM starts in the Bible chronology ONE other time in my mission so I still don't know the Chinese name for King Zedekiah and that just totally describes her lesson--she was asking questions so fast we just couldn't even explain fast enough to suit her!!! and she's coming again tonight and wants to come to church and is SO PREPARED FOR THIS) on the bus on the way there, and THEN the lady was home and let us IN and I don't have enough time to explain it, but the story includes:

• a really angry, REALLY large man wearing too little clothing in a wheelchair smoking, 
• several cages of hamsters, 
• one boy playing a loud kill-everyone video game, 
• one summer missionary who, turns out, is scared to DEATH of cats, 
• one (of course) of the evilest cats I've ever met in my life,
• one sweet less active lady who hasn't come to church for years because her husband was confined to a wheelchair who REALLY needed our visit and 
• one of Sister Darcey's arms mauled by above-mentioned cat. 

IT WAS SO AWESOME. As we went in (yes!! she let us in!!!) my summer froze and said, "Baahk Ji Muih! I'm scared of cats!" and I said, "...Pray!!" We ended up squatting on typical very-very low plastic stools with the TV turned off, the fan turned on (so we weren't breaking the word of wisdom, cough, cough!!) and singing them all three verses of "I am a Child of God" and sharing a great message.  The whole time I was trying to corral this evil weird Chinese stub-toed-snake-patterned cat so it wouldn't kill my summer missionary but I totally forgot that my cat at home is DECLAWED. 

OUCH! It was hilarious and awesome and my summer missionary will be scarred for life. My right arm will only be scarred for a couple days :D

Love always, pray for us!

SIster D

Typhoon II

[...continuation]

Yet dear ones,

It hasn't all been roses, though. We've had to drop some investigators who need the gospel so bad because they yell, and I cry and it was so rough, but the members are so kind and tell me to stop worrying, that I am not a psychiatrist or a social worker, I'm a missionary.  But I still feel bad about people who need the gospel and Jesus Christ so much, but won't let Him into their lives.

In other news, another investigator has been giving us the cold shoulder and we finally figured out why.  In an odd twist, it has NOTHING to do with baptism, but it may be all about our attention to other teen investigators!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??! 

Last night's conversation about it.... so funny--Sis. C explaining to me the twists and turns of teen social persona.

Sister Darcey: "I never understood this in High School 101. How does this dumb relationship stuff work???"

Sister C: "So I make you jealous which makes you upset, so now you try to make me upset, no, jealous, so that I'll give you more attention."

Sister Darcey "This sounds like a Shakespearean comedy. How do they fix it in the plays... let see, if it's a comedy, somebody dies, and then somebody gets married..."

...ten seconds of silence...

Both of us:  screaming and laughing. If you can figure it out, you can laugh, if you can't, I'm NOT saying anything more...

But on Sunday after spinning through a ROUGH gospel principles class (the persons yelling at me and persons ignoring me and my weepy through the whole lesson, wondering if I'm making things WORSE or better here,) I had a miraculous twist during the Relief Society lesson that helped me recognize the Lord's plan is bigger than any Level 10 typhoon in my life.  

"For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Moses 1:39 

The teacher stood up and bore testimony of missionary work, as her big sister (whom I met at a party and made friends with, then invited to English class in Tuen Mun and then put her in contact with the sisters there) is now meeting with missionaries and progressing and coming to church and her friend (whom we only taught once and it didn't go well, then passed her off to the island sisters) is also progressing.  She has had the second lesson and is coming to church. WOW. 

I heard of whirls of miracles in other areas with people I first contacted and then passed to other missionaries-- C., T., and R., all coming to church and getting baptized now!!! Just seeing it all come together at the end--in THIS last whirlwind of a week. 

Even an investigator in Yuen Long who started meeting with us because of our (what we thought was  almost total waste of time) St Patrick's Day activity is now baptized! God Is SO AMAZING.

I'm so spiraling happy that I'm never coming home. Seriously. It just keeps getting better, every day is the BEST DAY EVER and I don't know how I can bear to end this rush. 

My calling, my people, my city, my ward, my summer, my missionaries, my heart aches as I feel that I can't leave this; it's a little death. 

But Sister Cook did testify that just like when I came out here and prayed to love the people, I'm gonna need to pray that God will lend me the courage and faith that I can go home and learn to love my life with this much joy when I get back--it's so hard. 

Like my heart is just breaking. 

Love always, and as always: Pray for us!
Sister D.

P.S.  Mom, you are NOT allowed to pray that the work won't progress so I'll come home!!! OR that I'll get fleas (already have em!), constipation (that too...) or worms of some kind (none!... so far). 

To My Awesome Rabbit-killing Sai Lou (lil brudder)

I never wished you happy birthday!

 BUT 
I sent you a package! And because God is so awesome and merciful, I sent it about 2 weeks before your birthday!!! BUT... I don't think it got there yet. BUT WHEN IT DOES it's gonna be so awesome. I think you will love it!

So, happiest returns, my awesome rabbit-killing sai lou (lil brudder). I am so proud of you and I tell people about you every day. I know you're doing the right thing, keep serving your companion and smiling and glowing because you are SUCH a blessed child of God. Your humor and good attitude always remind me to smile more. I'm working on laughing more with my companion--And I'm trying to take myself less seriously and just laugh more. 


For example, one day when Sis C. was complaining that China doesn't have any American food she misses (I think she was talking about pickles) and trying to think of how she could find or get some American food,  I started belting out Phantom's "Music of the Night" but changed all the words-- "Let your mind start a journey to a strange new world, leave all thoughts of the life you knew before-----Just forget all about your cheddar CHEEEESE--Only then, can you become Chinese."

Etc, etc, it was hilarious. Good way to get across the point AND to laugh and feel happy about it :D

So laugh more. 
LOVE ya lots
Sister D

Let's Try Photographs

Dear Each and Everyone,

Here is my latest attempt at photography and downloading.  One picture is with a little girl who fell in love with me while we were eating out with a part-member family.  She was so hilarious; she kept me too busy chatting and drawing and giggling to eat.  It was so fun.  I hope she comes to EEFY!

Which is gonna be AWESOME! The zone set it up in our planning sessions where we'll do the topics I can help most with (go figure: "service" where I'll teach card making, "dress and appearance" where I'll teach hair styling and how to sew and then "music and dance" where I'll teach how to read music and a little guitar... so weird...) (my last three days of missionary work in HK!) and then I'll just write out really carefully the rest of the weeks. They'll be awesome, of course, but I've found and developed lots of leadership and organization skills out here and they come in handy when we're planning girl's camp sized activities for non-members for two weeks of full-time crazy gospel fun on less than $100 US budget! :D I LOVE IT.

Life has been so good; I got my dying packet today (and THAT is what we like to call a misuse of a semi-colon, kids!) with my flight information. Those phrases have nothing to do with each other :P

Anyway.

We've been encouraged by our new mission president to start praying and finding FAMILIES and it's been really neat as we've started doing so. I talked to a cute family on the bus yesterday--almost didn't, since we usually go up onto the second level to leave street level seats for families and old people who can't climb the stairs, but then I decided the little girl was just too adorable to not be talked to--and they're super amazing! They're already Christian and named their kids the equivalent of "Grace" and "Mercy" in Chinese, so crazy! I've never come by a whole family that Christian (who wasn't totally scared off by the black nametag :( ) and the mom JUST called me during email time! And wants to come to Church! And I need to call her back in a minute, YAY.

We've also had lots of miracles with part member and less active families. SOOOOO often people just need to feel loved and accepted. It's not a ploy or a trick to get people to come to church or to "join us" --it's the way Christ taught to treat people and to love people, to challenge people to something greater than what they have now through treating them like their potential. I remember Mom teaching me "how to treat the deacons" --to expect more and treat them like they're already doing it. That's something I've learned about God's grace and the Atonement here--He gives me MORE than I deserve and expects more of me because he knows... just some ideas.

We're doing another Girl's Night tonight (making pudding cups! Finally!).... we have an activity or class almost every night of the week now. It feels slow sometimes because we spend lots of time planning, prepping and then just sitting in and building relationships in the classes, but it's a fabulous investment. These girls are really starting to trust us and come to us for help or for their problems.

On the other hand, we had a serious set back with an investigator this week. She finally talked to her parents about baptism on Saturday night after one of the most spirit-filled and led lessons I've ever sat in on (the member, the mom convert of a part member family who had to fight to get baptized, fight to go to church, fight to get her boys to come and then they went on missions and got crazy grades in school and now are famous all over HK and she's SO AMAZING--- pretty much taught the whole thing, it was simply miraculous listening to her stories and testimony) but then didn't come to church. And didn't pick up the phone. And ... our hearts just broke on Sunday. We saw her on Tuesday when she came for accounting class but she wouldn't even look at us. From what we can figure out from members contacting her mom, she got the OK for baptism--in August 2013. But ....why won't she talk to us now? Praying lots here...

I got to listen to the temple today in Cantonese--it was so clear and simple. I loved hearing it in, it FEELS like, now, my "2nd" native tongue. My brain translates all the English into Cantonese all the time, anyway, so to hear something I've heard so many times in the "original" (to me...?) language felt so right and happy. I can't really explain!

As an end note, I realized just how scary the thought of going back to white-people-land is to me this last Sunday night (headed to the Bishop's house for food! They were SO KIND TO US) when we got on a mini bus (seats just  16 people)--FULL OF CANADIANS!

They were full time volunteers teaching English and Christianity but just for 5 weeks... and I felt so, so awkward and out of place. They all looked exactly the same, it could've been a big family... like 12 white people in the same place, it was so terrifying. Blondes EVERYWHERE... SO weird.

Pray for us; I never even guessed how confusing and happy and horrible and sad and hard but good yet stressful and still exciting it'd be, this last month.
Love you all,

Sister D
P.S.  Great photo downloading, Mom?  Not So Much

Sister Darcey, You Look Like:

Things I've literally heard this week (Chinese people are blunt; gotta love it. Love it and laugh, or cry! ):

Sister Darcey, you look like...
"a flower that hasn't been watered in a long time,"
"you need a nap,"
"40 years old,"
 "sick,"
 "dead." 

All of these (except in Chinese).

Bwahaha! I feel alternately super stressed/ anxious/hurried/out of time/ rushing/ wanting to do everything and super soul-weary/apathetic/bleary/old/grumpy/impatient--but no worries, usually I am happy and not trunky. The problem isn't me--it's EVERYONE ELSE! (mmm, THAT sounds like a healthy coping technique... I've moved from denial to blame, what's next?

 Am I making up my own grieving process? Is one of the stages "hoarding large amounts of Chinese food in my suitcase"? Can someone write me one where that IS a step?  Derick, I pick you. ) 


Anyway. Seriously! Not my fault! Everytime I TALK to ANYONE it sounds like this, "Hi, how are you?" "Hi---OH! When do you finish?! What are you going to do when you get home?? Is it weird??? Are you trunky?? Do you have anyone waiting?? Where does your family live??? Are you going back to school??" ARRrrgrrh. 

Anyway!  BACK TO THE WORK!  We have some great goals and plans, we ARE going to keep working really hard to help our investigators get baptized AND summer is the busiest, best, most amazing and simultaneously most sanfu (body bitter... kinda means hard) time. We have a great member who basically never got off his mission in his head (he has 4 busy crazy kids, is a PhD in some kind of math something, works from home and two other offices and has helped two of our investigators get jobs and another totally improve her grades to help her get baptized) and is now starting a free math and accounting camp every Tuesday and Friday for our YW aged investigators and members AND new referrals. It's already bringing so many miracles! I'm so thankful, and it makes me want to pursue something in college that will give me more opportunities to serve the community and build up the church. 

We're hiking Dragon's Back today; pray we don't get heatstroke. I'm doing it to see if it's fun or not for Dad, Aidan, Song Daaih Hing and anyone else who wants to hike it with me in December. Also Sister Cs has been dying to go hike for like ... since she started her mission :) We're taking a LOT of water.

We're also doing ANOTHER girl's hair for graduation in 5 minutes (this is the fourth this week! Who knew I'd be able to serve in this weird way??? Someone tell Kathleen, Mati and Genelle Anderson I mean ...Powell? for me ha) and having a Girl's Night tonight--I'm going to teach hair braiding and to make those flower hair clips and the Kwun Tong sisters will make cookies with the thousands of people who said they'd come... we're so excited. 

Busy and HAPPY and keep praying I won't get trunky I love you people!!
Sister D

Dear Dad, the only one who doesn't ignore me.

Dearest DAD and Everyone! 

Thanks so much for taking time from your watching the cats sleep, watching the cement dry, watching the weather reports, watching webcams of Utah and Alaska, and watching the bike tire fill up. You truly have a full life ;) but you took time out of it for ME!!! AND MOM DIDN'T!!! 

That turncoat trunky Terina-lady mother of mine, too busy playing with cousins and aunties and gramies and Utah houses and tent trailers and GF goodies and who knows what else to email her little snookums in HK. I'm not even gonna talk to her for the first 2 minutes I get home :) Seriously, for two WHOLE minutes. 

Our new mission president was asked, "What do you like to do when you're free?" and he replied, in SPITTING IMAGE OF MY DAD, "Work." (He's an "engi-nerd" according to his wife, and the director of technology at BYU according to his resume). "I like yard work, housework, fixing things... when we have a holiday at my house and all the other kids in the neighborhood are going off to play at the lake or something, I would tell my kids, KIDS, we're painting the deck today! Labor day is the day we celebrate WORK! And Memorial Day? RESHINGLING! The day we celebrate the hard work of our ancestors! And Christmas? chopping wood! LABOR is what got Jesus into the world!" BWHAHAHA. So ... sounds just like my family. I love it. 

Feed The Missionaries!!

I don't need money (NOW...), but I would love you to wait until the last week of the month to invite the missionaries over for dinner. When I go back to the states and get into a ward, I will always invite the missionaries for food on the 30th. It's the "starving week" ... No worries here, I can start playing the "I'm leaving soon" card so members will chang me out (chang means "invite" or "please" in Chinese, but it's used universally in missionary chinglish to mean buy someone food) and then I can gain back the 20 pounds I've lost the last 6 months [running every morning and only eating ONE (or two...) dessert(s) a day]. I'm back down to normal, and I'm worried I'll disappoint everyone who was all excited to see fat Sister D ;)

I have lots of pictures but no USB plug in at this computer ;P so they'll have to wait. They include such thrillers as, 

"Sister Darcey uses hair braiding to win the hearts and referrals of previously clique-y young women,"
 "trying to celebrate the Fourth of July in China at English class" and
 "various exciting and mysterious escapades on the way to hong kong history museum which the man on the phone tried to convince me to take a TAXI to instead of walking."
I think it's because he's a wuss.
"The photos include but are not limited to Australians celebrating Dragon Boat Festival WAY late, Jackie Chan's handprints and Jet Li's challenge to a duel". 

And our most GORGEOUS Salmon lunches (Sister C was a bus driver in Alaska last summer so she feels very strongly about eating Salmon. Which is fine with me!)

In that same (last night's) English class, I got stuck with the rowdy bunch of 15 year old boys who were LITERALLY punching each other so loudly they couldn't hear the lesson. I pulled them off the other group of "advanced" English learners so they, at least, could learn the awesome ancestor/culture/countries/family history lesson we'd prepped for English class and then I COMMANDED their attention by 

a) being female, blond and blue eyed AND able to speak chinese and 
b)by teaching them the difference between punch, hit, slap and kick in English. 

It was HILARIOUS--they went from [un] im-managable (is that a word?) to totally interested in 2 minutes--even raising their hands ("Baahk Ji Muih, would THIS** be considered a hit or a slap?") Everyone ended up bruised but happy, and they even let me teach about family trees after that. One even asked for a good night kiss at the end of the lesson (groan.......). 

Hilarious incident in Thailand relayed to us via Sister Cook's "friend" who's there on his mission: He just met a golden elderly couple who met the missionaries years ago and liked the church so much they named their two boys "Mor" and "Mon" (Mormon). However, they wouldn't commit to baptism because they got hung up on tithing. After hearing the story Sister Cook read, it only took a couple seconds for me to think of the pun it was begging for...

 "So... did they have a third kid named, 'Ee'? As in "Mor + Mon+ Ey?" 
bwahahaaAHAHAHAHAAA.

This week an investigator--bless her soul--invited us to her home to sit down with us. Very seriously, very carefully, she told us she had something she wanted to ask us. I was on pins and needles waiting for either her total dismissal or acceptance of the church and the gospel... but then she asked us if we wanted to MOVE IN WITH HER. NOT KIDDING. 

Oh... I just don't have enough time or words to express the sanctity of the moment... Oh, man. Dear little soul. She's in her fifties, totally alone and SO LONELY. Poor little thing. But.. at the same time... later it was RIDICULOUS.

We're going to dissect a pig heart next week to get a less-active and a recent-convert to bond with us. I'm so psyched I can hardly stand it. 

TIme's gone! I love you! AND I LOVE OUR NEW MISSION PRESIDENT! In my interview he said three things: "Well done" "thank you--I can see you've given up a lot, and given your heart to God" and "Lucky is the man who marries you. If I still had a son..." 

I love this! And I love you! Be happy! And if you miss Mom and Aidan so much... go to church and hang with those people? ;) Too much time in just the company of our cats can do some strange things to people...

You Know, I Think Of The Funniest Subject Lines All Week...

And then I walk in the Internet Cafe and the brain-sucking, wind-knocking-out Indonesian spices (IF WE EVER GET INTO A WAR WITH INDONESIAN WE WILL LOSE! They can just drop a barrel of WHATEVER they're cooking back there into the middle of Kansas and the East to West coast will ALL DIE from BLISTERED LUNGS) and ....gone.

I'm posting a video of the preparation area, that is not behind a wall, just out in the center of the cafe... imagine this:  

Dearest Everyones, 

It's probably a good thing (the crazy spices) this week, actually--- because yesterday I lost my voice. Totally randomly... we chased down a TON of records and finding less-active members and following up on families that bishop wants us to visit and playing with my recently acquired NEW TOY, an updated member list.

(Missionaries have WAY different ideas of "fun" than normal people... yup), then I opened my mouth at 4:30 to tell Sister C we needed to finish up and head out soon--and nothing came out. My voice has been squeaky, super quiet, smothered-sounding and screechy since ---??? I seriously have no idea why or how to help it get better---BUT it IS forcing me to shut my mouth more and let/force Sister C to talk! 

Does anyone really realize how important a missionary's VOICE is? "The sound of a trump" aside, it's my instrument to get into the hearts of people!!So it's really, really rough when it's broken. BUT everyone's been praying for me (seriously, a RC [recent convert] today who came to the Kwun Tong church to help us teach Yani right after we all watched Lion King prayed for my voice about 4 seconds after she heard me say "leih hou" )  and it's seriously making me aware of a) how much I talk b) how important talking is and c) how often sometimes I need to STOP talking! 

We have some kind of biting bug or spider in our room or maybe in my bed? I wake up each and every morning with between 4 to 8 bites spread all over (and I MEAN all over ) ... I've tried washing and ironing bedclothes, curtains, clothes, and spraying "BIO KILL" under my mattress... any other ideas?  It's not that big of a deal because these bite sites don't get infected and disappear after a day or so. And hey, spiders have to eat, too.  [Buddist leanings?]

We have a new best friend in our shower! A lizard! Named Ji Ji. I wrote Sister Cami in Peru, I mean Hermana Cami with more details, tee hee.

Our beloved President Chan is finishing his mission TOMORROW!!! I don't even know what to think about that. I adore him and Sister Chan so much. I have more to say on that...

but no time... so I'll fill my journal.

We're planning EEFY (which means that the entire zone sits in a room for 10 minutes and thinks up ideas and shouts them out randomly, then Sister Darcey tells everyone what the syllabus, activity and schedule of each day is.) I'm not exaggerating, it was hilarious. Planning Girl's Camp with Sister Ramsey back in 2008 really prepped me well!!!) I am so sorry that I will miss it by weeks that it's like planning my own funeral. YET, A Fiesta! 

I saw God's most amazing miracles this week.

1.   M. will only be in mainland for 1 week instead of a month because a church member got her a job, 

2.   Two members sent us home with Dragon Boat Festival "jung" rice cake (=we got dinner that day!!!),

3.  And milllions more but the most amazing was with A., my sweet RC [recent convert] from Shatin. She has had such a hard time and there's no time to explain but BASICALLY I called THE DAY AFTER a big misunderstanding with missionaries who didn't know her situation and couldn't read the Chinese texts they were forwarding to her everyday for 6 months.   For this entire time, SHE thought the notes were specifically written to HER and the situation finally blew up---and the miracle was that through the Lord's intervention, I was able to figure out the whole situation and fix both sides and it was so, so, so amazing. 

God is so aware of us, and I just stand ALL amazed.  I'll tell more of this story later--WHEN I AM ON THE NEXT PHASE of my life mission.  In NEARLY ONE MONTH!!!!!!  

It's getting hotter and hotter and I'm getting HAPPIER AND HAPPIER.

I love you people.

Sister D

A MAY ZING!

My people,

The most amazing experience this week was getting to share the entire message of the Restoration--direct line of authority, Book of Mormon to support the Bible's testimony of Christ, even the reality of continued revelation to the apostles in the New Testament and the widespread apostasy already happening in the early church--with a new friend, Joanne, on Monday evening at a miracle place named Tiu Keng Leng. 

Her whole family is Catholic, and after we shared together, then realized we'd been standing, talking for 45 minutes I apologized for keeping her from going home and she said, "No--thank you. I have learned so much about you Mormons. I have always just heard things about you, but now I know---and I'm so glad I met you today." 

We both felt so much Spirit and joy as we talked, and she took the Book of Mormon to find out for herself if what I told her about God's plan and God's church is true or false. I was inspired that day to really, really dig deep and share from my heart by reading a couple Conference talks that morning--Elder Christofferson's "The Doctrine of Christ," Elder Anderson's and one more... I don't remember... but it was just amazing. 

Sometimes my heart just opens up and the Spirit can testify unrestrained. I love this work. 

We're healthy and happy and out of time! Sorry! 

Love,
Yours in the saving redemption of Jesus Christ,

Sister Dia Darcey

**Picture is from a dawn hike back in Tuen Mun**

Water the Crocs! ! ! ! ! It's HOT!

Hi DAD!  Happy Father's Day again!  A little after the fact.   

I wanted to put my note it a cute color, too... I love blue. 

It's straight up hot here. Sometimes I pour some of my water bottle into my crocs to cool everything off a little (it's amazing; if your feet are wet, your whole body cools down--I guess you taught me that back when you taught me to wear wool socks skiing... and dry socks camping), and I have an old fashioned fan that my last companion Sister Wong taught me to open real-Chinese-SNAP style. It's so cool. BUT STILL HOT.

 Thanks for the photographs, Sister Mercado!

We had a couple new miracle students (one was just walking along and I said HEY! DO YOU WANT TO LEARN ENGLISH? and she said... really? and then CAME ALL BY HERSELF to where we said we'd meet the next day.  

Two others saw our English class poster and called US looking for "Baahk Siu Je" which means "Miss White"--we made an appointment, but then the girl telephoned us in the train station even though she was LOOKING right at us because, ---

--her words not mine, "I thought you were Chinese on the phone" YES!)

One of them is only 9 and long limbed, skinny, super energetic but still pretty quiet--and I realized fondly that he reminds me of Aidan. THEN I realized... oh no. Aidan doesn't look like that anymore! ;)

 I'm so thankful for the opportunities the church gives me to serve and help and give to others. You always taught me how important that was... and the church has given me the time and place and opportunity to put that concept to work. The gospel part of the church has taught me to have patience and love for others--I think that knowledge comes from sacrificing for them, I think... It's funny how connected the gospel is to "family values" ... and sad how selfishness and vanity can just empty people out.

I see that all the time here... people just emptied from being too worried about image and wealth and status and angry birds and blah blah blah. 

Thank you for teaching us the value of pure goodness for its own sake.

I love you! And I took a video for you... mb it will work?

Sister D

Okay, it didn't work :P

Second part:   AT THE PARK YESTERDAY--We prayed on Friday for confirmation about where and when to schedule to go find. We got to the park and it was BLAZING HOT (4 to 6 times hot is pretty hot now, starting at 5:30 it cools down a lot) and no one was out. But we met O., a really quiet kid just sitting studying on a bench--form 1, means he's only like 13, usually we don't talk to kids and especially not boy-kids, but the park was EMPTY of human life and we're "talk to everyone" missionaries.  

It all started out with "No, no thanks, I don't believe in anything, fine, you can sit down, but I have no interest" but then --as we kept testifying and talking and smiling--he eventually opened up enough to let one little sentence of his soul peek out:

"Do you think God could help me find friends?"

I JUST ABOUT STARTED CRYING. It was so ...stinking amazing. Here we are thinking we're just bugging people sitting next to this kid who doesn't want us there in the I WANNA DIE heat and sweat is running down everything, but then he just shares this one little sentence.

 And I know that God sent me here to find O and assure him that God can be his bestest friend EVAH!

 I'll follow up on that story when more story happens. ----------