If Mom Were In Hong Kong

Dear All and everyone:

Well, I'm fulfilling what Oscar Wilde wrongly described as the tragedy of every woman's life: I'm becoming my mother!

Now, this has been my goal for the past 14 or so years -- (since at about 8 years old, someone explained to me that there were some serious genetic challenges in my then-goals of growing up to be my other superheroes:

#1, Dad and

#2, Pocahontas),

I'm seriously enjoying the process of laughing at myself (and her! :D ) and finding the joy in the journey...

Evidence # 1

(I can't think of what it's called in a court case... mom, help? It's like, look, we have a picture of their footprint! And that's _____#1. Help?):

[could she mean exhibit?]

I pulled a brilliantly-Terina-Mommy-like move on Sunday afternoon. We'd had a crazy busy Sunday as usual, that was highlighted by a visit to a recent convert's family because her grandpa was in the hospital. [W. from Yuen Long (if Sister Hancock's reading, W needs a note!)] was really, really sad--eventually figured out (Chineeeeese ayiyaaa) that she was really upset not because he was passing away but because her family could not accept the peace that the knowledge of Christ's gospel truth brings.

We taught a really awesome lesson--on a bench outside his room--based on the promise of Christ and the Book of Mormon. We talked about the prophet's experiences of family member's rejecting or eventually receiving the gospel and the neatest part was when W's little sister, who we've been trying to contact forever to learn about the gospel because she has a ton of potential and really good questions, but is socially awkward so she doesn't want to start meeting with us, came and sat down next to us on the bench--and W. tried to share her testimony.

[Whew! And I thought only Mark Twain could pull off a convoluted sentence like that]

It's a beautiful gospel truth that families are forever, but maybe one even more poignant is that families are not perfect. Families are not perfect, but they are beloved by God. Families are not perfect, but love within families is probably the closest we'll get to God-like care. We were able to teach a lot to J (the little sis) and reschedule her for an activity on the coming Wednesday (last night--she came, and loved it, and I LOVE her).]

So, it was about 5:15 when I received a phone call from Brother D, the member who set up the town performance we were supposed to do on Monday that I told you about last week. He asked, "Are you coming to my house yet?" "Um." I replied, "You mean... actually, what do you mean. What? Why?"

He said with not a hint of anxiety in his voice, "The C party. Tonight. 5:30."

I said with more than a hint of anxiety some lovely Chinese phrases (it's ok, the worst phrase I know is "it's devil hot" so the only thing that came out was like "YOU'RE KIDDING ME") and started diving for our stuff to pack so we could get back out the door to get to his chyun--more than an hour away by train, bus and walking a lot.

My companion was more than a little distressed seeing my sudden change in demeanor... OH, it was so awesome. In the end we switched piano players (to an Elder who'd literally never seen the piece and the first time he played it was for us--and 300+ people) and Bro D picked us up and we practiced in the car on the way and it was AWESOME hilarious and I have videos that I tried to send but I have a feeling it didn't work.

Anyway--THAT EXPERIENCE SO reminded me of my entire teen life with my mother... not that you were absent minded, Mom, it's just more like your mind had taken an extended leave...

EVIDENCE #2 I cut my hair off and now I look exactly like a blond version of Mum.

I think the hair stylist was seriously freaked out by how much hair came out when he was just combing through it. I thought about faking a theatrical "getting scared/upset/ angry/passing out" but I then decided to have mercy and just tell him it's no big deal, just chop it off. The stylist must have caught a glimpse of a vision of my mom or something, but this supposedly it's called an A-line (tempted to call it an Air-head) hairdo that makes me seriously look exactly like Terina De.

ANYWAY! I love having short hair; I think WAY less is left to fall out and it doesn't feel so thin and gross. We saved

the ponytail--6 inches--that he cut off, and I'll have to send it home just to show how thin my hair really is/was. It's like... less than a finger's width. BUT it feels way better now and was a big step forward mentally, I think.

I finally garnered the courage to read Sister J' note this week and seriously tung yi'd (agreed?) with a lot of things--I, too, thought at times, "Man, I'd ALMOST rather have NO hair than this constant stress of seeing it everywhere and
picking it off everything and it's all over the floor and worrying everyone and when should I cut it etc etc" AND it was SO not helpful that everyone kept saying it was just stress and (therefore) if I just calmed down and stopped taking stuff so seriously and relied on Christ that it would stop.

One of the biggest corners [turn-arounds] in dealing with this was when Sister C said one day, "Hey, it's not your fault that your hair's falling out" and another light blinked on and day dawned and once more peace reigned.

Anyway, it's been SO MUCH better this week and I've found so much joy, and comfort in seeing a blonde version of my mother every time I see a mirror :D even though I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to "do" this hair do and since I have no time/care/idea how/hair dryer it ends up looking like I fell backward through a hurricane everyday... I
kinda like that look.

Wow, fabulous week. We had two amazing activities, one of which me and Sister C just made up because we wanted to meet more Young Women and their friends. It was a Valentines activity last night SO FUN because I love crafts and colored paper and sequins and it turns out that 12-24 year old CHinese girls LOVE IT TOO! I bought a blender for this activity so I could MAKE powdered sugar (I think I killed the blender the very first day I bought it--that reminded me of Momma, TOO!) to make frosting.

The other party was a crazy beach party that so didn't feel like missionary work but was one of the most effective fellowship things we've done to meet members and get referrals EVER.

Oops, Out of time,

love you all!

Sister D