Grounded in Truth

Dear All,

We've had miracles and marvelous works here this week... I'm kinda drawing a blank right now, though. Which means maybe I'm supposed to say something specific.

We made ONE simple change--prayerfully asking in nightly planning who we will ask for a referral the next day--and that has shot the work off the ground. Turns out our ward members already trust us, are motivated and are doing their own missionary work--they literally just needed us to ASK them who they wanted us to help them share the gospel with.

We've received 2 great referrals and contacted three others already this week. We'll go meet another one with her member friend today.

Saturday's St Patrick's activity was awesome--including an Irish Jig performance by the missionaries. Hilarious. And my camera isn't uploading anything for some reason...

Made my first pot of congee (jok) yesterday-- 2 quarts of water and 1/2 cup of rice in a big pot, simmered for 2 hours. Easiest thing ever (and tastes like nothing) and good for sour stomachs. Made me wonder why people buy mixes for baby rice porridge, though.

OK, now I think I know what I'm supposed to talk about. "Jesus Christ IS the only Begotten and Beloved Son of God... He is our Savior from sin and death.

This is the most important knowledge on earth, and you can know this for yourself!

The way is desire and obedience. As to desire, Jesus taught, 'Ask, and it shall be given you,' and as to obedience, 'If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself."

Dallin H Oaks' quote from Conference has resonated in my experiences of late. I am building a testimony this way, and I see my investigators building theirs in the same way.

Obedience isn't fooling ourselves or manipulating ourselves into thinking something's true, it's the necessary step and price for real religion and real belief. We have to experience something for ourselves to know if it's true or not--so why do we so often obstinately halt at the threshhold of faith and require PROOF before we take one more step?

Mark Sabey's latest couple of letters--especially a talk he gave, "I'm a Sinner, I'm a Child of God"--seemed like they're written right for Yuen Long, HK.

When I lose faith in myself and despair that I'll "never be good enough for God to bless me", I'm making of myself a false god--one that doesn't run to greet the prodigal son "a long way off" and one who wasn't born in a stable, one who wouldn't ever wash feet. God's grace is abundant and now, more than ever, I've felt and stood in awe at his love for us.

God stands in the filthy rooms of our hearts--he IS the physician, the healer and wants to work with broken, with maimed, with infections and sores and leprosy and hardened hearts. He just asks that we come to him, without money and without price, and obey his gentle commands that will make us whole.

I wish I could explain better and today we're short on time--but I do know and believe that God finds us where we ARE. His grace is so amazing and I know that I'm his child. As a child, I'm loved and he's patient with my slow growth and frequent set backs and even with my pride.

I know God lives and you can, too. I know He has restored His gospel in all of its fullness and made a way for families to be together always.

Love,
Sister Darcey

Cantonese Speaking

Inspiration so Common it's Almost Intuition

Dear Family,

Yesterday was zone conference--we were asked to prepare three thoughts and then be ready to share them. I thought during the opening prayer that Sister Cook and I were going to be called on to share the Doctrine of Christ--and sure enough, we shared about how the doctrine of Christ has changed OUR lives and how it could change our investigator's lives on a very basic level through these scriptures:

Ether 12:27--eveyone has weaknesses that they want to be made strengths,

Moroni 7:33--everyone needs the power beyond themselves to accomplish their goals,

Moroni 10:32--everyone wants to be complete and perfected, to be filled out and complete and heal their wounds and worries, guilt and loneliness, sorrow, fear,and failure.

We talked about this--then sat down and demonstrated teaching the ideas in a lesson. We chose to teach the mission prez's wife, Sister Chan, and she pretended to be our
investigator(to whom we were planning to teach the SAME lesson THAT VERY NIGHT!)

When we looked into her eyes and said her name and told her that Jesus Christ wanted to reach out to her, Sister Chan started crying.

Afterward she explained that the spirit testified that she KNEW we LOVED her. President Chan told us he knew we were teaching by the Spirit--but urged us all to remember the temporal--to set a DATE.

The amazingER thing is that we had the exact SAME lesson that night with the REAL person--and I was just blown away by the same Spirit in that room.

This individual is so sweet--has a hard time saying how she's feeling and has had a hard, hard childhood. Though the older sibling is a recent convert, they're so so so traditional AND so challenged from their childhood sadnesses that it's hard to be together now.

Sister Cook asked, "If Christ were sitting HERE in THIS CHAIR and he said THIS to you (Ether 12:27)... how would you feel?"

And again, like we all do when we feel the sweet Spirit, lots of tears were shed. It was the most amazing lesson ever--especially in that the Spirit was speaking through every scripture, exhortation, confession and testimony from our lips.

I've really been learning the power of sharing a real experience. Testimony is not sanctified if it is not clarified by a real life experience where the Holy Spirit has testified or at the very least, if YOU are not thinking of that experience when those words drop from your lips. Otherwise your words will fall flat and dull.

Speaking of those, I gave my testimony to a gal from ENGLAND (sooooo hilarious, picture Rita from Flushed Away---exactly the same, exactly the same family situation back in the UK and misses them so much. It was just this week and I was able to really, really share what prayer meant to me because I was able to relate it to my great relationship with Dad. I remember him sneaking in to say goodnight and stretching out on the bed covers to talk and then making me get up and play pool with him late at night and just being there, always, always for me. That memory of family really touched her, and after that closing prayer she said quietly, "I feel so relaxed. Usually I'm not very relaxed!" which I believed! Because that girl had just talked for 2+ hours with barely a break :D :D :D

My life is full of Too many stories and experiences, it's so amazing. The work goes on and God gives us a chance to experience it with Him and every once in a while we get a glimpse from his divine perspective.

Love, Sister Darcey

P.S. New breakthrough this week on my knees with tears: Mom thinks I'm succeeding at my mission, so then it must be that God thinks I am too.

Gluten Free Oatmeal Joyous

Dear People,

I could hardly wait to wake up this morning, come back in from running, get out of the shower and MAKE GLUTEN FREE OATMEAL AAHHHHHHHH!!!!

I sat in the kitchen and did dishes/cleaned until it was done because I couldn't get enough of the I-can-eat-gf-oatmeal smell SO HAPPY! And then I put in a bananana, and grapes {that} one of our bishop's wife

(haaaa, unfortunate English grammar problem--one of our BISHOPs changed us out, not one of his many WIVES haaaa--There are no apostrophe problems in Chinese.)

Whatever: She gave me grapes last night since I couldn't eat cookies--OK anyway, and in my oatmeal I put peanut butter and soy milk and mom I REALLY was planning on taking a picture before I ate it but then... it was already eaten. SOrry!!! SO DELICIOUS!

[So, Mom found the most con-demented oatmeal photo online and posted it.](you'd better)

So you've probably figured out that MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGE GOT TO ME! I was reading mom's HANDWRITING only 8 days after she wrote it! It was so crazy! THANK YOU BROTHER FIELD for hand delivering!!! It must've gotten here Wednesday last; the zone leaders went down for some kind of meeting to the mission home and brought back my three plastic bags of joy for me! Yaaaay. I'm so excited to try cake in a mug... and cookies?!?!?! I don't even know how to explain my joy. Thanks y'all!


It came on a great day for it, too--yesterday. Tuesday and Monday were both pretty rough, which is sad because it's the just the beginning of a new move and one aways begins a new move with such positive anticipation.

All our lessons fell through for the weirdest reasons, really horrible things are happening in C's family right now. It's so hard, but her faith is so amazing and these things might help her cousin hear the gospel, so pray for them, and S's baptism got moved back to the 18th because of stake conference AND she's super busy this week and iffy again on the whole idea of baptism; I'm not super worried but it's a little rough.

Our goal yesterday was to talk to EVERY SINGLE PERSON OUTSIDE (within reason...) and we DID! And found new investigators for everyone else's district: Tin Shui Wai, Tuen Mun and Kowloon :P but not for Yuen Long. No problem, we're standing strong and sharing with whomever will listen... and sometimes the rocks and trees (= fire hydrants and lightpoles) apostle-style.

I'm on the mission committee for the new English program and it is really taking off!! The kickoff fireside I spoke at on Sunday was actually really awesome. I was super, super nervous--not really nervous, more worried that I couldn't possibly express how my faith in Christ has helped me learn Chinese and how I could really help people understand that faith, repentance and baptism can change their lives--just the normal missionary woes.

On Saturday after I ended my fast with prayer, I just stayed on my knees in our study and wept(I'm sure low blood sugar didn't help...). [Mom picture my eighth grade teacher having to talk me out of the bathroom right before my performance of the Mikado.]

Sunday, right before the fireside, we were sitting waiting and a man I had met previously, (this is so hard to explain in Engrish...) when Sis Cook and I sang at that town party for New Years stopped to talk to me. This was the man who was the town president who invited us to sing for the province because he knows a member who lives in the town...

gam, ji hauh keuih dou yauh hing cheuih hohk fuk yam!

OKOKOK I'll try to write in English: ...so he came to the fireside because he thought it was straight up MIRACULOUS that we could learn Chinese that fast. He had a lot of questions, and comments like: "But I want my freedom! Religion would just cramp my style..." He started asking me before the fireside started.

God blessed me with the opportunity and somehow the peace of mind to peacefully teach and explain really clearly and spiritually about God's relationship with his children, about God's awareness of our growth and potential and how, like a child, we are often too incapable of understanding why he "constrains" us with his commandments the same way mothers "constrain" our lives with her "no cookies before dinner" and "don't touch a hot stove" and even her "trust me, I've been there" speeches.

This man was really, really touched and softened--and it was just the distraction and spiritual uplift that I needed right at that moment, to be reminded of God's power and goodness, of the Spirit's importance of what I was about to present to this huge crowd of HK people. And I got through it with no panic!

My talk was that faith in Christ means we don't have to fear failing because He fills in. When that burden is lifted, we can freely attempt many things --particularly we can LEARN anything when we rely on Him. Not fearing mistakes means we can feel free to try, and that's where the beauty, success and freedom of life opens up. Why does it have to be faith in Christ, though; couldn't a faith in your own value or maybe in your family or something else do the same thing?

Christ gave proof of our potential worth through suffering everything for us and providing us a way to link ourselves to his sacrifice through baptism. He lived a perfect life and lives now with hands outstretched for US--imperfect as we are. I'll send more later-- but it says it all in the scripture I read: Moroni 10:32-33.

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

Seriously considering memorizing Hebrews 13, so amazing.

My third psychiatrist appointment on Friday was my last one, YES! Whatever test there is that I had to pass, apparently I passed it, because I didn't even have to recite the pre-written "breakup script" that Sister Cook and I wrote and practiced. It went something like, "It's not you, it's me... We've grown apart... I'll call you if I need anything... I just have a lot more to do right now... I feel like we've gotten all we can from our time together..." bwahaha).

Last P-day's ALL DAY excursion renting bicycles got us just too excited, so on Friday we mentioned to a member driving us to his home for dinner that we thought we were ready to buy bikes secondhand, and did he know where we could do that? And he got on the phone RIGHT THEN and contacted two other members and 34 hours later we were holding the coolest, oldest awesomest bikes EVER. We're so excited to ride them, but we have to find locks first.

I learned "You are My Sunshine" on the guitar (THREE chords! whew!) Basically I'm learning so much thanks to this awesome Sister Cook, my companion person. WOOT. I love that girl. She taught guitar classes again this week and so many people came that we had to pick and choose who we were going to teach.

I love you all and I'm praying for you! Say sorry to Brian; I totally lost his letter last week :( so it didn't get into the mail.

Love love love,

Sister Darcey

If you eat taro ice cream, red bean ice cream and black rice ice cream for dinner...

...that equals a red bean, black rice, taro balanced meal, right? Particularly if served with Octopi?

[ice-cream photos courtesy of internet]

Dear Family,

Funniest ("coincidence...") just happened:

[The editor-Mom doesn't know what the funniest coincidence might be as it is never fully explained in the following letter. And FYI, this letter was one of the most difficult to English grammarize--still debating the neither/nor, either/or, and semicolon issues. But never mind, hold onto your hats for the wind beneath Sis. Darcey's wings is gusting. And away we go!]

Yesterday was awesome, amazing, miraculous; all of our planned lessons worked out!

1. We enjoyed one cute analogy about the Word of Wisdom/Law of Chastity that Sister C. shared--a story of her little brother putting bologna in her CD player. That visual really helped S--our investigator--understand how the things we allow into our bodies affect us.
2. We were able to track down and meet an amazing less-active who'd just gotten divorced last week (and see her smile!!! after reading Moroni 10:32 with her!)
3. Sister C. was able to give a recent convert guitar lessons in CHINESE while I taught his little sister English while the mom (who was TOTALLY opposed to the rest of her kids' baptisms) listened in.

Yeeeessss! And... we ran around crazy and didn't eat dinner. SO last night I had a huge headache and was simultaneously praising the awesomeness of our day and lamenting the non-food-situation of our apartment (actually... the no-ICE CREAM situation of our apartment) when Sister Cook said, "HEY, it's only 9:25 and we didn't get dinner. Let's run down before planning and grab some ice cream."

"Whaaaaat, no, we're in our normal clothes already, that's so mh dak!" (= not done!) I responded mommy-like.

Buuuut she convinced me and we grabbed our tags, phone and Books of Mormon and raced down to the store right below our apartment. We got the prize and had almost made it safely back into the elevator---when we ran into the zone leaders. NOOOOOooooooo it was too perfect. I've NEVER run into them at night before... I've never made an ice cream run before... the one night... yup. God has a sense of humor.

And He proved that again in another instance this week wherein I became convinced that not only does God have a sense of humor but that our AP's [assistant to the president] are crazy.

Last just-a-second-where's-my-planner Tuesday, the AP's called and asked me to... whoa, let's back up a bit.

Remember when I told you about the HUGE Hong-Kong-wide fireside about which, for the last month, we've been spreading the news? The one that will include 100+ other missionaries; the one that will kick off our new English program called "Study and Faith;" the one that has been touted on the news, on Facebook, in papers and on the radio as "The Secret Revealed: How Foreigners Learn Cantonese in Two Months," and the one that President Chan told us, "...will drastically change the face of the church in Hong Kong," he hopes forever?

Remember that fireside?

Remember how Sister Cook and I were curiously wondering as we passed out our 100+ fliers, what it would include since it was such a BIG DEAL?

Well, No, you don't remember because I don't remember if I told you all that, but now you know.

SO we were minding our own business meandering through the acid drizzle to the church from a miracle lesson on the street where the investigator's employer met up with us and we were able to help her move from an entirely negative perspective on the church, to reading the scriptures with us and learning about how God is a God of Miracles in Mormon 9, and her totally opening up (for a Chinese person) and sharing what was going on in her life; then heading to an awesome FHE activity where Sis C. and I pulled together a game out of the random stuff we had at the church including cookies from Christmas, frosting (again! from Valentines!) and random items like scarves/ties/ spoons--When The Phone Rang.

(Stay with me, here).

And the AP started talking about the fireside. I was sure he was going to ask me to lead the music, but then he asked me to speak.

I asked him if he was kidding. Then I asked if he was sure. Then I asked if he was crazy.

Then I stopped talking (=being unable to talk) because he told me my topic: Jesus Christ.

This coming Sunday night, I will share. "How Faith in Jesus Christ and His Gospel Helped Me become Fluent in the Second Hardest Language on Earth in a Little Over One Year," to an audience of business people, professors and news people who have largely either never heard of or have already rejected Jesus Christ and his gospel. It will be 5-7 minutes long followed by fifteen minutes of questions and answers and "should be given in as near to perfect Chinese as possible".

...

So when we got back to the church, I collapsed on the ground and Sister Cook dredged up a box of Lindor truffles and I didn't see the "barley malt" ingredient so we ate like half the box together while we dished out to each other pep talks and moaned.

It was so awesome/awful. THEN we went and taught the best lesson ever to our investigator whom we'd thought didn't have any faith in Christ and then blew us away with her testimony...

(Also did a neat food coloring/ bleach example of the atonement that we altered a little to be truer to the doctrine of repentance and baptism. Usually you just stick in some food coloring to the water, say that it is sin, and then add bleach and stir to represent the atonement washing away sin, but we changed it to adding bleach to represent all the ways WE forget, cover up or deny our sins or repentance without the turning to God.

Then we asked if, even though the water LOOKED clear, anyone would be willing to drink it. No way, it's like half bleach now. Truly understanding and accepting the truth of the atonement not only does away with the sin-- the pain and stain of acting against what we know to be true--but pours us another cup of new, clean water).

This week also included:

• a guitar/how-to-share-your-beliefs-with-your-parents-who-don't-want-you-to-come-to-church class,
• a 15 minute lesson with a super sweet mom who said she just didn't have time with her two jobs and didn't want to see us again. But on the phone, I bore all the testimony in me that she would not regret just 15 minutes with us--and she accepted,
• a lady who randomly came to the church at Tuen Mun's and wants to come regularly but actually lives in Yuen Long, so she called us to come see the church and hear the gospel (we'll meet her tomorrow!),
• and then God granted me time--time when I really enjoyed singing beautiful hymns in harmony with Sister C.--truly a personal gift from my Lord just for Dia Darcey.

I love it here and love my life and love being part of God's work.

I know God loves us and is completely aware of us.

He only gives us as much as He can handle.

We must totally turn to Him when we feel it's too much.

Pray for me on Sunday! Thanks loved ones!

Sister D