Sister Shiffert in Hong Kong : Gamyaht Hou Dung!

Leihdeih Hou!

The phrase of the week is "Gamyaht hou dung!" or "Today very cold!" The weather decided to drop all of a sudden and almost set a new record for lowest temperature over the past 60 years. It has been freezing but luckily we have a good heater. Going finding is not a fun anymore because of the cold, but we're still going strong! I can handle the cold, wind, and rain, but when you give me all three at once, that's a little harder to handle haha!

So I had the opportunity to go to a wedding reception this past week. They do things pretty traditional here, but it is super cheesy! But I do have to say, Hong Kong people love their food! There was so much food but it was so good! The person who got married is in our ward and his name is Geigo and he married someone from Taiwan. Here's the interesting part. He speaks Cantonese and she speaks Mandarin. They can speak a little of each other's language and a little English, but that's it. Somehow they make communication though!

Once again, we had an adventure yesterday: Locked Out of Your Apartment 2.0! This time it wasn't our fault though! The housing elders came by to drop off some mattress pads and locked the gate outside of our door, but we don't have a key to that gate. So we just chilled in the hallway again for a couple of hours while we waited for them to come. They are probably going to give us 5 spare keys now so they don't have to come all the way from Kowloon anymore haha!

The language is coming along. I don't think I'm progressing, but then people always tell me it's better and improving. And in Hong Kong culture, they will tell you straight up what they think. If they think you're pretty, they'll tell you. If they think you're fat or gaining weight, they'll tell you. There is no beating around the bush here!

So I don't talk much about our investigators or less-actives, but I thought I would share a little about one of them each week. We are working with one girl named Christina and she is literally the modern day Joseph Smith. She met the missionaries on the street and just wanted to learn more about our church. She goes to a Christian school, so she already knows some of the doctrine which is good. However, her friends are telling her our church is bad and that she would be joining a cult if she joined our church (which is so far from the truth). She likes meeting with us, but her school also has church so she doesn't know if she should continue going to her school's church classes or join our church. She's 16 so I can understand this is a confusing time for her, but I know she will be a member at some point in her life. maybe not right now, but she is so ready to receive the gospel.

Today we are going to the temple and temple days are P-Days, so that's why I'm emailing a day late. I am so excited to see the Hong Kong temple and I hope all of you have the opportunity to go to the temple soon! It is such a peaceful and wonderful experience and I am so glad we have a temple so close to us! Have a good week and I will talk with all of you soon!

Scripture of the week: Ether 12:12 If you don't have faith, God can't perform miracles, His miracles work according to our faith.

Quote of the week: We need women who know how the make things happen by their faith (President Russell M. Nelson)

Sister Maggie Shiffert