The New Year that Tuen Mun Burned because of a slightly crazy old lady...week 25

Monday, February 8, 2016

So it turns out that the Fire that overtook a huge portion of forest in Tuen Mun was started by an old lady that was in the process of worshiping her ancestors by burning special rice paper to them. She had probably spent a small fortune on these papers, and got a little more than she came for. She's also supposed to be a little crazy from what the New Territories Missionaries have reported, but I'm not sure.

Otherwise, I also had the opportunity this week to eat pig intestines, chicken feet, and star fruit as well as raw sugar cane. All of it was super good, though the pig intestines were super rubbery.
Elder Phung also got moved to international work in Hong Kong speaking English. He's going to do great. We now have in our apartment me, Elder Powell my companion, Elder Walker, and now from my MTC group Elder Chan! We have 3/4 elders in our apartment that have been out for only a little over three months. Crazy, but it's a ball having Elder Chan in here with us.

This week quite a few miracles happened. We were able to get a hold of Alan who hasn't answered his phone for the past month. He said that he's willing to try again to find out whether or not it's true because he realized his half hearted effort was not enough to reach an eternal truth of the gospel. Very humble young man who has a lot to overcome. His dad is actually a member, but it's very difficult to communicate with him because he only speaks a specific dialect from Mainland China, where he escaped from when he was a kid. He cannot read. Alan is a SUPER smart kid, who aspires to be a doctor. So much to overcome though. China success has a lot to do with your connections and extraordinary talents, and it's hard to look good compared to the other 100,000 people on the block.

We also were able to have a very scripturally apt experience this week:
Remember when Alma was teaching the rich people of the Zoramites who wouldn't listen because they already thought they were somehow God's chosen people and didn't need to do anything else, and how the poor came behind Alma as asked him for guidance? We were finding around the Che Kung Temple and this man just would not have it with the Book of Mormon because he already believed in God and had decided that it was only for those who didn't believe. When he walked away, Elder Powell and I were about to go walk away and evaluate when this lady came up behind us, scared the daylights out of me, and humbly asked which church we were talking about. We got to hear her story about how she had been left by her husband to fend for herself, having no children or close friends to help her. She lives in a very inconvenient place for buying groceries, and was carrying these grocery bags filled with heavy melons and rice. We carried it the rest of the way for her, and in doing so were successful in inviting her to church. She is another super humble woman of Hong Kong who was blessed and protected by her Heavenly Father, guided so as to cross our path at THAT moment. It's amazing the principles that have reached across the expanses of eternity to bring us knowledge of the ways of God.

We also had a 7 hour long Zone Conference where we watched a worldwide broadcast. I saw Elder Tyler Schunk on the screen a couple times and he seemed a little tired but nevertheless as lengjai as he has ever been. Hope he's doing well, and I send him as well as his family my love and support.
Everybody stay safe, and try reading chapter 9 in Preach My Gospel about the importance of Member-Missionary work!

Everybody needs this gospel. I know it, and I will always seek to find more and more effective ways to bring it to the world. This is the work of our Heavenly Father, who's desire is to bring us safely into his arms.

Some additional notes from mom:  I follow Hong Kong Free Press to keep apprised of what goes on in the area.  I asked if he felt the earthquake 400 miles east in Taiwan and how things were with Chinese New year.  "No, I didn't feel anything as far as the earthquake goes, but there's actually been a lot of rioting going on in Mong Kok. Missionaries have been moved, kept indoors, and seen some scary stuff, but it's all okay. No members or missionaries have been hurt. Just a little frightening. As for Tuen Man, that was actually in the area that my MTC companion is in right now. Everyone is pretty sure that, due to the new year, everyone has been doing baai sahn pretty hard. Baai sahn is where people burn special papers for their deceased ancestors to have things like houses and servants and food in the afterlife. Around new year is when people go a little overboard and the fires get out of hand. I'm pretty sure that they actually found the culprit of the huge fire: a little old lady bent over with age. Doesn't matter who you are. If you have a lighter, you are dangerous.
New Year isn't really much else though. Just a lot of families out on the street together going to visit friends and family as well as burning more rice paper than I thought was possible to even exist. It's crazy. Good opportunity to find families though!


PICTURES! Elder Walker and I crouching in the MTR. Super uncomfortable, but fun at the same time.



The Squid probably don't want to hear the gospel,


  and my inspirational photo in the middle of a housing building.




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