July 20, 2009

So exciting news for today is that it was.......dun dun dun dun! Transfer day! And guess who....wasn't transferred? No sir. I am still with Sister Kwok (whom, as some people have found out, is affectionately called "Kwoky" or "Kwokidile"). She's the new district leader of south zone. Yay! So more responsibility for her and I get a pager and get to tag along for the fun. But no more newbie status.

So I had a really good week! Extremely exhausting at times (in that we were often really late getting home and getting dinner) but the sacrifice was worth it as our tours were received well and we seemed to have better contacts with people around the square.

I feel like there was a funny story during the week but I can't think of anything. Some good stories though are that we talked with a wonderful member who was from England who had joined the church while her husband was off in....somewhere middle eastern. But the cool thing was that she had first learned the gospel when she was 16 and her sister was 14 or so and their mother had decided not to receive the missionaries in her home anymore. But the two girls had been interested at the time. Then maybe 20 or so years later she (Jacquelyn) was married and her husband was off you know where (actually none of us do because I can't remember) and the missionaries stopped by. Jacquelyn wrote to her husband each time the missionaries visited to make sure he knew what they were saying and what was going on at home.

After a while, she wanted to be baptized but, at that time, needed to have her husband sign a card allowing her to be baptized (we don't want to break families up over religion...) but that was the first letter he received. He was curious and asked around the military base about the "Mormon" church but no one knew. He finally talked with an archbishop from the town who asked "Do you trust your wife? Does she love your children?" Both answers were yes and the archbishop said "Well, if feels right then it's right. Your wife wouldn't do anything to hurt you or your family." and she was baptized and her husband and sister and mother joined the church. It was amazing! She was amazing!! It just made me so happy!

There were some people from Belgium here yesterday that we were able to talk with (haha, of course I tried out my dutch; it was what they spoke) and the two different groups were really attentive and interested in what the church was all about. So Kwok and I had the opportunity to teach them a little about the church. It was great! I can't really think of the other cool stories we had.

There is a regular comer-to-temple-square that likes to tell jokes to all the sisters to "brighten your day as you brighten mine". I got to share the cinderblock joke and he deemed it worthy of learning and sharing with others :) So he likes to exchange jokes everytime I see him. He's nice. I feel like I already told you about him though.

Oh to answer some questions, church here is held on sunday early in the morning for us sister missionaries. That way we can all be on the square by 9 am.

Also, I didn't SEE them but I heard about some protestors...something something rainbow umbrella. My informant named them as kiss-ins. Sorry to have missed that haha.

Also, has anyone heard of Tyler Wilkinson? We were privileged to have a mission movie night where we watched his documentary and now, on occasion, you'll hear sisters say "for tyler!" as they: run up a large hill back from gym time; rush off to be on the square in spite of their lack of energy; shove someone down the stairs...oh! no. not really.

What else is new??

Oh! I know! here's some free publicity for a guy named Ren. We met him yesterday. He was in town recording an album for his band Ren Street. He told me to check it out and send him an email after my mission. He said its funk, pop, something something something...basically groove. Yeah, so check it out?
Oh! i have another great (as in not great) member story. It goes like this:

Kwok: Hi! how joo doing?
Person: Fine.
Kwok: Is this your first time here?
Person: No, no. I've been here many times.
Kwok: Oh! Do you live nearby.
Person (oh wait! he's a member....): I'm a stake president in Idaho.

conversation killer and he moves on as Kwok and I stand there unable to say anything. Thus, we move on.
But, we have met some wonderful members, don't get me wrong. I just think these stories are funny. And it's like the "What NOT to do...."

I'm just rambling now, but I have learned some cantonese: how to say "Hi I'm Sister Hulet. I am from America" and "I don't speak cantonese" (chuckles...). Excellent.

what has been cool is I've been able to identify more and more things about the church that has truly made my life better and happier. It makes it easier to tell people about why I am on a mission and why I want people to know about the church. How it's helped me be a better person as I interact with both family and friends. How it increased the unity of my family as we read scriptures together, prayed together, and spent time with each other; keeping in mind that we would always be together if we lived as Heavenly Father would have us live and thus strengthening that relationship knowing we would be putting up with everyone for eternity. Better to let go of the little things now before they become eternal grudges. And the fact that I know there is always someone to turn to when I need help and when I realize that I can't do anything by myself I can receive the help from Christ to make up the difference for my weaknesses.

That reminds me of one last experience (I can't believe you read these emails....). We met a group of two couples. One man was Jewish, his wife was Christian but not practicing in any religion. The man had good friends who were members and felt that "If every person in the world were members of the LDS church, it would be a better and more peaceful place." He had originally come from an Eastern European country that had been under communist rule for a while. He had managed to escape, ended up in Portugal and then California; mastered portuguese and spanish and english. He even, during the course of our conversation, said that he would convert to the church if he was able to give up coffee.

He was crying towards the end because i don't think any of us like to admit to weakness. I left him with Ether 12:27. It made me sad because he knew it was true, he just didn't have the hope and the faith to work through his weakness. He was great to talk with though and truly amazing.

that's that. I better go. sorry it was a long one this week. I'll work on more abridged versions in the future.

Love, sister hulet

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