If There's Sunshine in Your Heart

Leihdeih Hou!

     This week has been going pretty good! My new companion is Sister Percival and fun fact, she is from Wales :) She is super awesome and willing to step up and make the work seem like it is 50/50. She also has some good ideas that we are going to try. I have had so many companions on my mission, but I like it because with new people comes new ideas on how to do the work. I'm willing to try whatever to help these people progress and find the elect :)

     Our investigator Lucy is doing good. She said that she prayed about her baptismal date and thinks she got her answer but isn't sure. Her mom told her that she shouldn't be baptized because she doesn't have enough knowledge yet, but Lucy wasn't sure if this was God's answer to her prayer or not. She wants to pray again to make sure that is what God wants her to do. If there is a stupor of thought, I want to say that was not God's answer. I really feel like Lucy could be baptized on April 22nd, but she needs to come to that conclusion on her own. Between her mom's answer this week and her friend trying to bash the church last week, it's a little stressful for me to know how to help Lucy, but Lucy seems to be staying firm and is learning the process of prayer and how it works. There is always a silver lining in any challenges that come our way!
     We also had the miracle at church of both Icy and her daughter Yuki coming to church! I was so happy to see them come! Especially Yuki! She has only been to church a couple of times the whole time she's been investigating and this was my first time seeing her at church. They came for sacrament meeting and stayed for a linger-longer lunch and a baptism the elders were having. I am honestly super impressed with Icy. For her to come two Sundays in a row without us persuading her is a huge blessing and miracle! She said she will come next Sunday too, so I hope she does! She has been progressing so well on her own, so I hope she is realzing the blessings that are coming from her acts of faith and diligence.
     We were also able to teach a new investigator Winitha yesterday. She has been having family problems and asked God what she should do and then she got a call from us a couple days later. We brought up baptism with her at her first lesson and then yesterday she said that she wants to know more about about our church and the Book of Mormon before she says she'll be baptized. She loves to read so she was super interested in reading the introduction of the Book of Mormon. We told her to pray about it and we'll talk about baptism more next time we meet. I really hope she recognizes God's answer to her prayer that everything we have been telling her is true!

     The Lord is continuing to bless us with miracles in Cheung Sha Wan and I am so happy that I have another transfer to serve here! I love doing this work and helping these people understand the blessings and happiness that come from living this gospel! Sometimes it's hard because I am putting my whole heart and soul into bearing testimony of the truthfulness of what I am saying, but people still don't seem to fully understand. You just have to give them time. The Lord will help them realize things for themselves with their own personal experiences and that is when you know they are truly converted to Christ. I hope all of you have a great week and look for the numerous blessings the Lord is giving you. I promise they are there! :)

Scripture of the Week: Alma 5:26 If you change your heart, you can feel the song of redeeming love from our Heavnly Father.

Quote of the Week: For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude (Thomas S. Monson)

Sister Maggie Shiffert
施姊妹

Sister Yost and I were able to go to the temple before she left!

And then we were in a trio with Sister Perciaval for a day so we went soap cycling :)

Sister Percival!

​Icy and Yuki came to chruch! :)

You Can Do It Now

Leihdieh Hou!

     Things are going good! The area is starting to pick back up which is exciting :) We are working on working better with our ward leaders and really building them up and supporting them. Finding is going okay. Most of our time right now is making former calls. That seems to be the most effective way of finding right now for this area. We are able to meet with a couple formers and hopefully they will be new investigators this week!

     Miracles are still coming! It never amazes me how much the Lord helps out with this work! We had Lucy at church and she still seems really solid for her baptism date on April 22nd. And then we had the surprise of Icy coming to church at 10am! If Icy comes to church, it is always at 11am because getting up is a big struggle for her. She didn't know we were in Sunday School at the time so she ended up attending the Sham Shui Po sacrament meeting. I was so excited to see her! We dropped her but she is starting to come back on her own. She told me that she is going to start coming to church at 10am every Sunday. For Icy, this is a huge step. I don't think we will start teaching her again quite yet, but she is starting to apply her faith and use her agency. We taught her how to fish and now she is starting to fish on her own.  

     Sister Yost goes home this week which is super sad! :( I love her so much and she helped me so much this transfer! I have learned so much from Sister Yost and I am so happy she served with me these past few weeks. She is such a solid missionary and has helped me come out of my shell a little and taught me what it means to really love people and know what their needs are. She is awesome! I love her! 

     We have had a few heart to hearts and it has made me really reflect back on my mission and how I've changed. Have I changed? I think I have. I hope I have! We gave a training this past week based on a talk by President Uchtdorf called "You Can Do It Now!" which was about going forward no matter how many times you stumble and fall. We cap ourselves so much by giving excuses for why we are not better or why we can't do something, but we can put those caps away! When you cap yourself, you cap God. He knows your potential. You can live up to that potential. You just have to have a positive attitude and tell yourself "I can do it now!" Or in Cantonese, we say "Jouh la!"  Haha! It all has to do with your mentality. We are always stumbling and falling, but when we stumble, we stumble forward. It's never too late to change! This mission has been the biggest blessing in my life and I want to make the most of it every second!

     I love all of you and hope you have a great day! Times flies so make the most of it!

Scripture of the Week: Romans 15:13 Joy, peace, and hope are possible through the power of the Holy Ghost. 

Quote of the Week: I can promise you that the Spirit is a lot more anxious to help you than you are to be helped (S. Dillworth Young)

Sister Maggie Shiffert
施姊妹

​I love Sister Yost! :)

I got to go on exchanges with this cutie last week :) New T's all over again! But in Lion Rock haha!

Meet Heui Ji Muih and her son Walter with our member Luk Hing Daih :)

Make-up activity for the girls and their friends! 

These girls are so cute!


Breakfast with the sisters in our zone!

Opened and Closed Doors

Leihdeih Hou! 

     There isn't much to report on this week I'm afraid. Cheung Sha Wan is doing good! We have dropped a lot of investigators the past couple week, but it's okay. That is mean we are spending more time finding those prepared people :) President Lam tells us a lot that when one door closes, another opens, so we are trying to look for those open doors! I know the Lord has His reason for so many investigators being dropped. We just need to keep going and find those open doors! We are going to try and focus more on less actives and visiting members and just building up the area there. Maybe that is what the Lord wants us to focus on.

     We finally were able to hear from Candice this past week after 1 1/2 weeks of no contact, but it was to tell us that she needed to drop us. Her parents don't want her to join our church. It made me SO sad to hear this! Candice is so good and really had a lot to learn from this gospel. It's okay though. I know the Lord has a plan for her and it's not her time to accept the gospel. I hope future missionaries will be able to contact her! I have no doubt that she is going to be baptized one day; it's just going to be in the Lord's time. 

     The ward is doing really good though. During ward council yesterday, they asked us what they can do to be better with our investigators. Usually you have to tell people what to do so the fact that they were asking how they could help caught me a little off guard but it was so good! We told them to be a little more proactive in fellowshipping our investigators at church and being friends with them outside of lessons. Cheung Sha Wan is an amazing ward! I am so blessed to be here and serving with Sister Yost!

     I want to share something that I learned in a mission leadership council and it has stuck with me the past couple of weeks. We go to the temple every two months in this mission and missionaries always look forward to it. The temple is such a peaceful place where you can really feel the Spirit and get personal revelation. We always come with a question we want answered and then in the temple, we ponder and pray to receive an answer. President Lam made the point that we always value this precious time, but why don't we treat going to church the same way? We have that during sacrament meeting when we are partaking of the sacrament to put aside all of our cares and focus on Christ and His Atonement. We can come to church with a question for the week and during the sacrament, ponder it and receive personal revelation so we know what to do. I have done this the past couple of weeks and it really does make all the difference in my church attendance. So I encourage all of you to do the same next week! Come to church with a question and be prepared to receive an answer. 

     I hope all of you have a great week! Remember the Lord loves you and is constantly watching over you!

Scripture of the Week: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 We may ask to have all of our afflictions removed, but it is in those times that our weaknesses are made stronger through the grace of Christ.

Quote of the Week: Rise up and follow in the footsteps of our Redeemer  and Savior and one day you will look back and be filled with eternal gratitude that you chose to trust the Atonement and it's power to lift you up and give you strength (Dieter F. Uchtdorf) 

Sister Maggie Shiffert
施姊妹

Meet Henry the master erhu-ist! (pronounced yee woo) It's like the Chinese version of a violin (No I can't play it without sounding like a dying cat haha)

HK island is so pretty!

Fun in Tsim Sha Tsui :) 

Dinner with Bishop Lok and his family and a couple members!


​We ate with some members of our ward and Brother Kwok wanted a selfie haha!