Monday, September 26, 2016

Keep Going!

Leihdeih Hou!

     I'm afraid there isn't much to report on this week. Sister Luk is still an awesome companion and I'm realizing how much she has grown the past couple months. She is going to be so sail (amazing) in Minnesota! Sister Luk and I have been working really hard trying to have positive attitudes and cheerfully doing the Lord's work. Things are not going as smoothly as they have in the past, but that's okay! We are still trying to figure out what the Lord wants us to learn right now with this trial of faith, but we are getting there. There is always a storm before a rainbow, so we are just going to endure through this and wait to see what rainbows lay ahead of us :)

     Thank you for all your prayers for the people we work with. We are slowly making some progress with people. We haven't been able to get in contact with our LA Jessie the past 2-3 months but she finally came back to English class last week! I love Jessie so much and I hope this can be the start of us meeting with her again. Alice is doing okay, but we are still working with her to build her personal desires and testimony. Satan is also throwing stumbling blocks in her way, but I have faith she can overcome them. She is super prepared and I know that one day she will be an amazing member. We just have to wait on the Lord's timing! We were also able to see 

     I love all of you! I hope you are all finding ways to come closer to Christ and exemplify those Christlike attributes. I have found that becoming like the Savior is the only way we are able to have true happiness and share that happiness with others. He is the ultimate example of faith, charity, patience, humility, etc. Follow in His footsteps. He will never lead you astray. 
Scripture of the Week: Alma 7:23 Always give thanks for those blessings your receive. 
Quote of the Week: Be grateful for little improvements because great blessing and miracles take time. 

Sister Maggie Shiffert

It was a crazy P-Day last week so we decided to get giant slices of pizza! Super good! :)

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Monday, September 19, 2016

Patience and Parties

Leihdeih Hou!

     This week has had ups and downs. Between Alice and zone training, I was pretty stressed out at the beginning of the week, but Sister Luk was a great companion with her love and encouraging words. It's a good thing she is very relaxed because it balances me out when I am a stress-ball lol! One of the downs from this week though is that Sister Luk got her visa! Noooo! :( She is going to leave at the end of October so at least I still have a few more weeks with her. But I still don't want her to leave! I can't believe she got her visa! However, I know that the Lord called her there so fast for a reason. A special investigator or less active is waiting for her and I know she is going to be an awesome missionary there! 

     We had zone training last week and it went pretty well! It was a more practical/application zone training where we taught them not so much the "what" and "why" but the "how". I think it really helped them see how easy some of these things can be if we put our mind to it. We tried something new where we set zone goals together as a zone so it's not the zone leader/sister training leader goals but the New Territories zone goals. I think this is a better method and hopefully since everyone had a part in setting these numbers, they will be more motivated to achieve them. We are going to continue the Book of Mormon challenge so stay tuned for more miracle stories! Over the past two months, we gave out 987 Books of Mormon! Crazy! 

     The work has been struggling a little thing past week but we aren't quite sure why. We haven't been able to give out as many Books of Mormon or teach as many lessons while finding. Our teaching pool has been getting smaller and people were more busy than usual this past week. So numbers wise, this week was a bit of a struggle. I know there are plenty of prepared people out there, but we just have to keep looking. I know the Lord is testing our faith/humility/patience so we are going to keep going and prayerfully figure out what the Lord wants us to do now. 

     Alice is doing okay though! We are only meeting with her on Sundays now so we taught her yesterday with our bishop. He is honestly super good and I think really helped Alice. A lot of Alice's problems/concerns are ones that she needs to figure out for herself and she needs to have the desire to do so. We will continue to help her have these spiritual experiences and guide her along. I still have total faith the Alice will be baptized, but I need to have patience in the Lord's timing :)

     Lastly, thank you for all of the birthday wishes! I am afraid I wasn't able to respond to all of them today, but please know that I love and miss all of you so much! Thank you for all of your love and support! I can feel it all the way on this side of the globe :) Have a great week!
Scripture of the Week: Romans 5:3-5 Tribulation leads to patience which leads to experiences which leads to hope. 
Quote of the Week: There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting the heavenly virtue of patience is required. (Thomas S. Monson)

Sister Maggie Shiffert

Sister Leonard and I made s'more brownies for zone training but it ended up being s'more brownie batter instead. Oh well! Brownies are brownies and delicious either way! :)

It was my turn to have a birthday cake during district lunch! Haha! I love my district so much!

Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite! I'm so glad the church has an oven!

What's a birthday without a selfie? :)
These sisters are the best! They got me cookies 'n cream ice cream and Digestive cookies (they are kinda like graham crackers but so much better!)

Our apartment is separated right now because they are putting in new floors from where we damaged our with that flood back in June, but luckily stake conference is always on my birthday so we were able to still see each other! ​
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Monday, September 12, 2016

Be Thou Humble

Leihdeih Hou!

     The work is moving along in Yuen Long! We have been meeting with new people this week, but they all ended up not being in our area so we will have some turnovers next week. It's okay though because we are all on the same team doing the Lord's work! I have not been able to see Sister Luk as much this past week because we are busy planning zone training, but we are overall doing good. Sister Luk is seriously amazing. She works really hard and is always has the best attitude towards things. This week hasn't been the easiest, but she keeps her head up and a smile on her face.

     Alice is doing okay, but we really need prayers for her! We met with Alice yesterday and she told us that she thinks things are going too fast for her and that her desire to be baptized is not really there right now. She knows that she needs to be baptized but she hasn't had a definite feeling that "yes, I need to be baptized." She says she knows she will have that feeling at some point, but so far it hasn't come so she just wants to take things slow. It made me so sad to hear her say that! Sometimes you wonder as a missioanry if there was anything more you could have done or what you should have done differenly, but in reality, you do all you can and try your best and then the Lord takes care of the rest. I seriously love Alice SO much and I want to help her so badly. I know how much this gospel blesses lives and sometimes I get a little too excited. Everyone is different and that's okay. Alice is one that likes to take things slower so that's what we are going to do. It's not my timing or will but it's the Lord's. This is definitely a trial of my faith and humility. I don't know what direction is best for Alice right now, but I do know the Lord is going to work with us so we can help Alice. Now we are going to take a few steps back and really make sure she has a solid foundation to build her testimony on. We are going to help her figure things out for herself because that is when the greatest conversion happens :)

     Sorry this is so short, but I hope all of you have a great week! I miss and love you! :)
Scripture of the Week: 2 Nephi 28:30 You do things line upon line, precept upon precept. It's the little things that matter most to create something wonderful.
Quote of the Week: A sacrifice isn't really a sacrifice because you get so many blessings from it.

Sister Maggie Shiffert

Eating taam jai is the classic missionary thing to do :)I

We bought a Pikachu cotton candy! And it was less than $4 USD! I was not passing up that opportunity haha!

The Mid-Autumn Festival is this Saturday so members have been giving us mooncakes! I think they taste okay la, but a lot of missionaries love them! It's hard to describe what they taste like because there is nothing like them in America.

This is what a mooncake looks like ont he inside. Some have the egg yolk in the middle, like this one, and some don't. 
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Sunday, September 4, 2016

It's Your Will, Not My Will

Leihdeih Hou!

     So there isn't much to report on this week but I have some pictures to keep you updated on life! :) The work is going okay. Sister Luk and I are continually working really hard and trying to figure out what the Lord has in store for Yuen Long. I am glad that we can be together for another transfer! She works so hard and has a lot of faith. She is so funny and we have so much fun together. Her English is improving and her teaching skill are awesome and she is just super wat gei (powerful)!

     We are learning what it means to be humble though and how the Lord's plan are not our plans. Our investigator Alice was supposed to be baptized in two weeks but we have officially moved her baptism date to October 2nd (Sister Luk's birthday!). Sister Luk and I were going back and forth about whether we should move her date or not and couldn't get a clear answer. I really, really didn't want to move it but the Lord had other plans for her. Alice was doing fine until she learned about the Word of Wisdom and how she would have to give up green tea. We have been working with her the past couple of weeks to overcome this challenge, but she doesn't have the full desire to keep it yet. Sister Luk and I sat down with her and had a long talk with her about the commandments and her baptism and tried to figure out what we could do to help her. We decided that while Alice is working on giving up her green tea, we are going to give up our favorite foods until she gets baptized (for me it's boloh baau which is pineapple bread). We thought this would be a good way to show her we love her and want to support her. Alice seemed a little more willing to truly work towards keeping the Word of Wisdom. I really think she is going to start keeping it this week. I have faith in her! She just needs more faith in herself and in Christ. 

     I know the Lord has a plan for Alice. I just don't know what it is because it is definitely not what I was expecting. I have to trust the Lord though. He knows His children better than I do. We are accepting His will and seeing where the Lord is going to take us and Alice. Alice is honestly awesome and now we have more time where we can really help her have a strong testimony in this church and this gospel and Jesus Christ. I would rather push back her baptism date and strengthen her testimony than force her to be baptized and have her less active within a year. I know moving Alice's baptism date is part of the Lord's plan for Alice. It's not my will, but the Lord's will and this is His work so that's all that matters! :)

     I hope all of you have a great week! Keep smiling and keep enjoying life!
Scripture of the Week: Psalm 62:8 Trust in god. He is our refuge in this crazy life. 
Quote of the Week: Even though we may feel lost in the midst of our circumstances, God promises the hope of His light (Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

Sister Maggie Shiffert

We found Subway! I was so happy! :)

We spent P-Day in Tism Sha Tsui last week! I love Sister Luk!
Look at Hong Kong Island!

That's some unity right there!

I love going to TST and seeing the island!

We had zone conference this past week and these are all the sisters from New Territories, Macau, and International zones (plus Elder Rostedt, Chen, and Ashton haha!)
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