A "fei jai" is... any male between 13 and 30 who yells, "LEIH HOU LENG LEUIH!" when you walk by... (YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!!)

I figured out why everyone always asks if I'm married---ring on right OR left ring finger means married. Oops...

Dad! The photo at the end is to prove to you that BYU Cougars ROCK--even in China.

On the MTR we see bikers all the time--in complete decked out Spandex, helmet, cleats and FOLDED UP BIKE! It's so cool--the front wheel folds in somehow and makes the cutest little bike package that they just wheel around the

train station. Everytime I see them I think of you! There is also a HK marathon--not sure how, since honestly , as a whole, Chinese people don't run very well whosaidthat?! and I'm pretty sure for most of them the only running they ever do is from the top of the escalator into the train doors (when they're about to close, there's a beeping sound--I think that for the rest of my life, if I hear that same beep, I'll start running--no matter where I am!).

Aunt Shauna should know that her cutest-get-well-card-of-all-time went to the sweetest man on Earth--his sing (last name) is Yuhn, and he and his wife are both converts of 40 or so years. He used to be the bishop of MOS. His wife is the one who has made the missionaries lunch every Sunday for the past 10 years.

Three Sundays (or so) ago, Brother Yuhn went into the hospital because of a heart... rupture...thing (I REALLY don't sic ting MEDICAL jargon in Chinese) and that day, SHE STILL BROUGHT THE MISSSIONARIES FOOD. Ayiya! They are so wonderful, faithfu

l and just... quiet, consistent, service-centered people. I was so happy to giVe Shauna's adorable band-aid card to him--and now he's out of the hospital, YAY!

Ayiyi! Now we will speak again of Sister D's horrible Chinese, I LOATHE the word "keuih" (in mandarin, ta) which means either he OR she.

Yes. You are anticipating the horribly embarrassingness of this story, no? You will not be disappointed! Actually, you prob will be disappointed because I only have 10 more minutes and I want to talk about SOMETHING that actually matters at some point in my life/email. So, long story short, there was a former investigator at church in MOS and someone introduced me (Sister Missionary) to ....her. After gospel principles class, I invited... her... to Relief Society.

And FOUND OUT THAT SHE WAS ACTUALLY A HE! Yikes! It was ...so... bad... In my defense,

A) CHinese makes it very hard to tell gender (keiuh= no clue),

B) The member (male) introduced the person to ME, (AGAIN the Sister Missionary,) not the elders, so I'm naturally gonna think it's a GIRL,

C) A-Ling was her/his name... ok, I actually admit I've been here long enough to know that it is a pretty manly girl name, but REALLY. A-Ling. Yes, does that engender masculinity to YOU? I DIDN'T THINK SO. and

D)...I REALLY THOUGHT HE WAS FEMALE! He looked like a Chinese version of Audrey Hepburn. I'm not kidding. It was definitely the worse case of gender confusion I've ever seen. I didn't even KNOW I was experiencing gender confusion, THAT'S how bad it was...

Ok, I'm over it. I really did save it well--blamed it on my Chinese ("What's that? Oh. OH! Oh, uh, yeah, I meant Elder's quorum... I just mixed up Relief society and elder's quorum, ha ha ha.... silly sister darcey! ha. ha....")

Anyway. I found out this week that my favorite all-time movies are all dak (dak= ok) -- to watch on my mission!

this picture is actually from when I was Sister Black's companion

Emp new groove, robinsons, kung fu panda, lion king?! We can watch them (in chinese and on p-day, of course!) here?! I love this mission. OK, I haven't actually seen any of them yet, but I find it comforting to know that if I ever get a moment's free breathing room--that I COULD if I wanted to.

I don't know if it's just me, but I think having a native companion makes MORE people notice my distinction. It's ...actually a little ridiculous. It would definitely be annoying if my whole entire purpose for being here wasn't to be noticed and if I weren't TRYING to talk with everyone anyway.

We now live further along the blue line, too (which means closer to mainland) so every morning and night when we're riding the train to/from home there are TONS of mainland China people. This is so exciting!!!! So many are looking for religion!

THUS, Sister C. is teaching me some Mandarin (which previous knowledge has degenerated A TON after learning Cantonese) ! I can now say, "I am a missionary. I don't speak Mandarin. I know that Jesus Christ's gospel will bless your family." REALLY slowly. It's so funny how weird Mandarin feels in my mouth now.

Also! We have a great Mandarin investigator named Emma. She's a history major, speaks pretty good English and came to Vicki (the Elder's investigator) 's baptism last Sunday. She's amazing but doesn't want to see the Mandarin missionaries, so we're trying to help her along. I love her so much! pray for her, please!

We had mission tour yesterday; I feel I'm on the cusp. Moving from one section of missionaryness to another--trying to ARISE to a more faithful state. Habit can be such a tool of Satan--moving us into apathy in a work that is so glorious. I have forgotten the last couple weeks (months...?) that this really is a true, real work of God.

Thank you ALL (ward, friends, family!) for your letters. They help me remember and ...wake up! TO the work that is so amazing!

Love, love, love

Sister Dia Darcey

Yesterday--In A Fit Of Hong Kong Adoration--I Hugged a Light Pole

[Has it officially been six months?]

Dear Everyone,

THREE MONTHS IN HONG KONG and loving it more every day (that's only partly true, sometimes I love it less one day, but then my love increases three-fold the NEXT DAY, so on AVERAGE it's more every day...yeah... anyway).

Odd things here that are still weird:

• Driver's seat on the right side of the car (I keep trying to get in the driver's door when Sister Chan or Angel drive us somewhere, and they just shrug their shoulders and sigh--this dumb sister missionary, when will she jaahp gwaan) (get used to=jaahp gwaan),
• Construction workers wearing way too low of pants,
• Chinese parents smacking their kids in love,
• AND HOW MUCH LIKE DISNEYLAND IT IS HERE!!!
• Ooo, I am also still not used to fashion/ what Hong Kong peoples think is cute.
• Things that are no longer weird that probably should be---I was thinking last night in bed, "what weird food did I eat this week? I know there was SOMETHING... tung seui (dessert soup, served cold, it's sweet and usually has egg white and mochi like balls or tapioca or mango swimming around in it),no that's not weird... octopus, nope, that's my favorite, I eat that all the time... pig's ears? no, that was last week... mango pudding, normal, chicken foot, normal... I know there was something weird... oh YEAH! That HAMBURGER!" Yes, last Thursday we had HAMBURGERS on Hong Kong Island (close to Wan Chai) to celebrate/mourn the passing of Sister Black to International work in Macau. I had mine without the bun and it was pretty good... not as good as octopus rice box, though! (and the octopus is like, a fifth of the price!!). Ooo, today I might try stinky tofu. I'm a little nervous, and can't decide if I should try it before or after my fish balls (normal)--if I try b4, I can get the taste out of my mouth, but then I might get queasy...?

So, speaking of food. It's probably time to go on a diet of some kind, since one of my skirts doesn't fit anymore and I found a scale in our new apartment and I won't quote any numbers but let's just say I've never SEEN that number on a scale. Since I've never gone on a diet before, I thought I'd share some of my ideas...

1. Rule number one, only eat as much rice in one sitting as would feed ONE third world country for a day. I know, it'll be hard.
2. Rule number two, never eat more than you can visibly see when you're sitting down. No worries, peripherals are included.
3. Rule number three, if you lost count of how many you've eaten, stop eating it (good thing I can count to at least 20 (with my shoes off) when I really pay attention).
4. Rule number four, only one dessert a day. Per house. Per member of the family. Per times they force dessert on you.
5. Rule number five, never step on a scale again...?

OKOKOK, I'm not THAT bad :) I just have a nice rice face coming on. My new companion Cheung JM asked me the other day why foreign missionaries' faces always get rounder here, and I told her about rice face. She chahm si'd for a second (...english word..=.. pondered? thought really hard?) then said, "Aahhh, holahn yan waih keuih deih yiu

ngaahn hou loih!" = "Oh, probably because you have to CHEW rice more!" aka, because our JAW muscles become more defined---bwahahahaaaaaa!!! yes, I'm sure that's why.... not that we're gettting feih... (=fat).

Now, about fashion: I'm so grateful now that all the teachings of those wonderful fashion-sense people in my life (Elizabeth, Sister Ramsey, Ashley, Mati...) never really sunk in. If it had, I'm sure I'd be even more startled by "fashion" here in HK. I wish I could take pictures stealthily, but it might look bad as a missionary... especially because I'd QUICKLY move from taking pictures of horrible fashion to taking pictures of ADORABLE CHILDREN, and that could just get messy :)

I will try to describe super fast: HK is alllll about corny. I've never seen so many disney or disney related shirts, bags,

zip-pulls, shoes, backpacks etc on FULLY GROWN ADULTS. I mean, the woman in front of me is 55, easy, but she has a SPARKLY tinker bell backpack. This is normal. We see Winney the Pooh ALL THE TIME in people's houses. Figurines, cups, wall-hangings (especially new year's ones on people's doors---gold, red, chinese characters and tigger. Seriously). That is still... so... um... I'm not used to it yet, that's what we'll say :)

Ahhh, China is also very... me.

My initial thought when I came here was akin to mom's so-often repeated saying, "You can take the girl out of the trailer (mainland?), but you can't take the trailer (mainland?) out of the girl." What would be deemed as ultimate "low class" in the states is totally normal here--hanging your clothes outside to dry (underwear included!), wiping down your kids sweat in public, leaving meat out anywhere for any period of time is no big deal. Hong Kong is so real--with restaurants "washing" their dishes out on the front sidewalk with a hose, it's totally acceptable to toenail clip in public, and spit and I mean SPITTING... ahhh, it's so wonderful. I love Hong Kong so much.

This morning we climbed LION'S ROCK to see the sun rise! So we got up at 3 and took a taxi (my first time ever, I

think! very exciting) to the base of the mountain. We climbed for about two and a half hours in the dark-- it was TERRIFYINGI MEAN AWESOME! The scary part was at the very beginning. I wished I didn't have a flashlight, because I kept seeing glinting eyes when I shined it off the trail--and brown furry bodies.... and there were I-don't-even-know-what kind of animal noises and sounds of things crashing through bushes ... it ws pretty scary, actually, and it didn't help that our zone leaders were whooping and screeching back.... BUT then we came out of that creepy valley thing and the worst after that were cute frogs, not so cute toads and lightning bugs :) At one point we went (accidently) off the main trail onto another and ended up hiking sorta up a little waterfall--it was beautiful! All dark, water running, with tiny points of light on rocks and trees--just like hiking through the peter pan or pirates of the carribean or something. Beautiful.

So I'm struggling, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot, with my new companion, Sister J. She's a super hard worker, but we're both really new (she went into the Phillipines MTC 4 days before I went into the Provo one!) and we have had some trouble communicating (haaaaa= I DON'T SPEAK CHINESE) when we plan lessons. I am trying to remember that in Cantonese, blunt means clear, not rude. She is really a great missionary, though. Please pray for us to help our investigators progress--her style is really different than Sister B's, and I am fearful to lose investigators because of this---but fear is not faith. I trust that God put us together, in this area, at this time, and for these people!

And we will "be safe, save souls!" (as I yell at our roomie sisters every time they leave the house) here in Sha Tin, Tai Wai and Ma On Shan!

Thank Derick for his letters, his generous love and validation is so wonderful = seriously, save my life. OH AND MATT IS IN THE MTC TODAY!!! OR yesterday!!! or something. Ahh, I love him so much! He will be such an awesome missionary! Someone should send me his addresss!!!

LOVE Your Sister DIA Darcey

Cedar Ridge Chinese Chili ? ? ?

Hi Everyone,

Oh, hilarious story--I think it beats one of Brian's mission stories, actually, but I won't tell you which one yet or you'll know the end from the beginning.

It's called Chinese Chili... because I really think that this recipe could win something at the annual Cedar Ridge Chili cookoff? :)

Oh, by the way, please thank Sister Landis and the ward for the amazing Tulsa postcards! I'm so excited to show them to people. No one ever knows where Oklahoma is! It will be so great! I use our family picture a lot in contacting so I think this will be really neat. I have the best ward ever.

So our last week together, Sister B and I were making lunch on Tuesday and we were REALLY hungry. We didn't get to eat until about two o'clock (and we hadn't eaten breakfast because on Monday we had two chang-outs so we were not feeling well on Tuesday morning).

We decided to make water spinach-pork-tofu-lime-chili-garlic soup (cook the pork in water, pull it out, cook the noodles in the pork water, take them out, cook the spinach in the pork nooodle water, then add everything back in with tofu, lime juice, garlic and chili pepper flakes). We were SO EXCITED TO EAT.

Then Sister B said, "Hey, Sister Darcey? I think there's a bug in here." I didn't even really pay attention because there are bugs in MOST of the stuff we eat --purposefully--and if we don't like it, we usually just pull it out and keep eating.

However, as we started poking around, it turned out there were more like HUNDREDS of bugs in our delicious soup. They were red... uh oh. We pulled out the chili pepper flakes (that we'd found in our apartment cupboard and brought with us to the church to make lunch) and dumped them onto a white plate. Oh, sick. The chili pepper flakes were moving. What we'd thought was damp-ish chilli pepper flakes in clumps was actually thousands of tiny beetles swarming, feeding, birthing, all other nastiness, in the chili pepper jar.

The best part of the story? We dumped the first plate's contents into the toilet, we added some water to the soup, and strained off the beetles that floated to the surface and then...

THEN WE STILL ATE IT. We didn't even ask each other if we should eat it, actually... we were just that hungry!!! The best part may have been the reaction of our zone leader, Elder Welling, who just about barfed after hearing the story.

SO far, no ill side effects, either. Chili pepper beetles are probably a delicacy somewhere in the world, right? We decided to call it Creepy Crawly Chinese Chili... I really think it would win something at the annual Cedar Ridge Chili cookoff? :)

Oh, and here is a lame joke for Brian that a member (YM) came up with in English class (he's so funny): Which ice cream makes your mouth like a desert? DRYERS! (Hey, don't make too much fun of it, English is his second language!!)

My love, Sister Dia Darcey

P.S. Another important survival tip in China: Never look at a construction worker below the chest. Learning a LOT about male anatomy here... YUCK.

"My Little Baby's Goin' Off To Save People!" MUSHU

Dear Each and Every One!

BIG NEWS! BIG meaning TERRIFYING! We found out on Tuesday night that Sister Black is moving to Macau, English speaking and I'm staying here in my area---but that our apartment would move from Mong Kok to Tai Po! AND I would get (got) a BUN DEIH (read like boon day) companion! = NATIVE!!

Yeah, so basically I have the responsibility of all the knowledge of the area and I've just been forcibly removed from my mommy (seriously, I was basically swimming after the boat headed to Macau; They had to drag me back onto the dock).

AND Sister J, is my new companion...

who doesn't speak English.

WOOT! And by woot, I mean WHIMPER OF FEAR! I'm trying to adjust/survive.

{this photo is of Sisters D & B's last day.}

Sister J is a only-one-in-her-family convert of about 8 years. She is super traditional Chinese in her food, exercise and how-hard-things-are ideas--but she is really, REALLY awesome and a hard worker (from what I can tell from the past twenty four hours or so). She's also seems really serious. She's never been senior comp before and she actually started her mission in February, too (but only had to spend 3 weeks in the PHILLIPINES MTC since she already speaks Chinese). I really like her. I also really miss English.

The biggest worry for me is I hadn't even really figured out missionary work in ENGLISH. Since maybe the most important part of missionary work is working to become one with your companion, now I have to learn how to do everything in Chinese... and I'm not even comfortable enough in Chinese to really even have a personality yet. I feel like my missionary identity was really tied with Sister Black--where I'd even think in terms of "we" instead of "I"--and it will definitely be a challenge to learn how to be an independent missionary.

Interesting Spiritual Side Note:

Also, I noticed this week--as other missionaries, leaders, etc noticed that I was kinda freaking out--that most things we rely on to buoy ourselves up are based somehow on compliments--ergo, PRIDE. Phrases like, "President Chan wouldn't put you there unless he thought you could do it."

or "God must trust you a lot!"

These phrases seem hollow to me. I think that up 'til now, I have been missing the point of weaknesses and challenges. Challenges aren't put before us to test how much we are capable of. Instead I think they are put before us to teach us to trust Him, to learn how much HE is capable of. His strength is shown in my weakness and incapacities, and I'm here because HE can do it. God put me here because he wants me to learn how much He can help me, so I will try, try, try to trust Him and keep praying and keep smiling and keep trying to help these people progress to Him!

And missionary work really is the most awesome thing in the world! Can I just say, no one has ever felt this cool (HOT!) wearing a cardigan.

I ate a pig ear's this week (not a big deal, basically tasted like really chewy piece of ....ok, I actually can't describe it. It kinda reminded me of plastic, actually).

Yesterday as we (me, Sister J and our new summer missionary VASHTI! Yay!) were taking our luggage up to our new apartment (it's so big and so beautiful!), the white man walking in front of us kept looking back. Eventually he turned on his heel and came back to set us straight. He said something like he wanted to "let you all (the two chinese girls) know that this church says they're Christian and true but it isn't and I just want you to know that..."

We didn't say anything; we didn't have to, because suddenly he looked down and then he realized that we were ALL wearing a black nametag, not just the blonde girl.

Well, whatever, after he caught a glimpse of their nametags he turned tail again...

Ah, sad. I couldn't help but giggle a little at the irony of the situation when we got into the elevator and I translated--

from English to Cantonese-- what he had said to those whom he perceived as poor, helpless, Chinese victims--my stalwart senior companion and our summer missionary. These are both women who have endured much more trying opposition to their faith than I have today from a random, ill-informed white guy.

Later in the day, we also experienced a random miracle (it's the spiritual law of opposition--and it always works). I was chatting with a lady from the mainland with a very thick accent on the train and I had explained the restoration with a pamphlet and I told her how it had blessed my life and my family. When she got off the train with pamphlet in hand, another native lady, who'd been watching and listening the whole time, contacted ME! (that doesn't happen very often!) She actually ASKED if she could have a pamphlet and our telephone number because her kids had started in a Christian school and she really wanted them to know what it was that the school believed. She spoke perfect English. She'd heard me, I guess, talk about why there were so many Christian churches and that we wanted to give people the opportunity to learn why. I hope she was touched by the Spirit when I testified about the blessings that come from following God's plan for our happiness, the gospel. It was a pretty neat and very quick experience. Her name is Yan, if you want to pray that God's spirit will touch her! :)

We didn't get to email yesterday because of the apartment move (so crazy!). Sorry you had to wait until today! I love you all!

Sister DIA Darcey

Testimony Of Prayer to Aunt DawnL

Dear Clegg Family, Thank you for my very-last-stateside-letter. It feels so long ago that I was in the MTC. It truly has been the best experience of my life. HK is so amazing: There are so many different kinds of fruits and fish that I've never seen before and the buildings are so tall. Chinese is so hard to learn, but God really helps me learn it FASTER. Another funny thing about HK is that braided hair is really cool here. Every time I wear my hair in a braid around my head everyone says "Sai lai!. or hou leng! So cool, so pretty.

I must share a neat testimony with you to pass on to the rest of the family of the power of prayer:

Last Tuesday we went to the mission office for a meeting and on the way out the door to return home, my companion, Sister B and I both felt like we had forgotten something. We went back into the office and searched around... nope. Weird. We started walking slowly back out, convincing ourselves through talking that we had picked up everything we needed but we both still felt uncomfortable. We each decided that we should say a quick prayer. We kept heading toward the MTR and kept feeling odd, so we turned back again and decided to just start walking. The very next person we met asked us if she could have a Book of Mormon!! it was so amazing!

If we had been any earlier or had kept walking to the train we would not have met her. Her name was Kate and she was only in Hong Kong for one day. She was from mainland China and the people there have to come into Hong Kong if they hope to ever learn about religion, as it is prohibited on mainland China to worship any religion outside your own home.

She had only heard of Jesus Christ once before and so we taught her a short lesson right there

on the street!

I want you to know that I have a testimony that Heavenly Father wants to guide us and he wants us to help others learn about His gospel.

Love Sister Dia!!