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