Monday, May 30, 2016

Week 33

On Monday I got my haircut. Also, I was going to request some smarties from my family this week to send me, but then I got a package from Mimi and Papaw with tons of smarties and jolly ranchers in it! Thanks for being so sweet and inspired :) I love the cousin reunion shirts, and the fact that you are all spending time together. Family is so important. I am forever grateful that I have been born into an extended family who is so close and sincerely care about each other/ spend so much time together. The best! Also, thank you for the sweet letter, I loved reading it. It means a lot when people send me things :) Mary and Sister Barton and Aunt Kim and David thank you all as well (your letters were sweet).

Happy Birthday Summer!!!!! You are the prettiest (Candy, our model friend said your face/ you are very beautiful), sweetest, most easy going, fun, creative, talented person I know. I am so excited you are going to be my roommate at BYU. I <3 u OH and I got your grad pic it is gorgeous.

Many miracles :)

It's been raining a lot but it didn't rain during/ before or after church this Sunday (everyone walks to church). Recognize the little blessings.

Zone Conference was really great (met in Kowloon Tong with our stake and Tolo Harbour stake. Some things inspired actions on our part. We have both been sick a lot this week, which has resulted in a lot of former investigator calls and, of course, prayers. Our Relief Society had a bowling activity and were so happy because we had 1 new investigator, 2 former investigators, and 4 referrals/ potential investigators show up! Not many people usually attend the activities for Relief Society anyway, so it ended up being really fun and exciting for everyone.

Also, on June 5 is a very exciting time! We will now have more stakes in Hong Kong. There will be an event in Wan Chai. Progress in the work (good things).

I know that the prayers for finding new people really with prepared hearts, interested in learning the Gospel (and fasting) have worked. And that these sicknesses have made us really aware of the Lord's hand in this work and our lives. It has allowed us to recognize how special these people who are so ready and willing to learn are. They don't need to be "dragged to the font," they recognize that repentance and baptism are gifts to their lives. They "hunger and thirst after righteousness." It really is a miracle. Sister Lau's mother (Sister Chan, who's husband died a little while ago) has been in our thoughts and prayers for a while. She is so sweet and calm and loving. We always hug her and make special effort to talk to her, and she has never been ready to meet with us (too sad about the loss of her husband, although we would bear testimonies that she would see him again), even if just to talk and get to know her. But this Sunday, Sister Lau and Chan came up to us and invited us to dinner that night and to share a message. And then they told us Sister Chan wanted to be baptized (she has been coming to Sacrament and the Gospel Principles class and Relief Society for quite a while with her daughter) and asked how many lessons she will need beforehand. Her heart is prepared and our prayers are answered. And she is already so special and dear to us. I love their family and am so thankful for this miracle. Her son is also a bit less active and his family lives with her, but it was so sweet to eat with all of them. His little children love to pray all the time and they (him included) all have good testimonies. Sister Chan's children joined the church when they were young. And now the mother is ready to join. I am so happy for them. Also, she has always been too scared to pray out loud, but prayed out loud for the first time with all of us, and her kids and grandchildren all were so happy afterwards. We gave her a cute little picture of a family kneeling together and praying and told her to put it by her bed so that she could remember to pray every morning and night.

We also have some children that are ready to be baptized soon that we will be teaching, to help them understand the Gospel more and I think it is a great idea.

I love this work!!!!

Everyone should watch 17 miracles, we watched it again this week (I had to buy some of the Elders icecream to use their usb and watch it lol, so it's worth it). It really makes you appreciate the pioneers. Also the Book of Mormon student manual is very helpful to read because it helps you understand the Book of Mormon and have interest/ love it moreso. So I highly suggest finding one and reading it.

Also I like this hymn: Have I Done Any Good? It is so real and straight forward. Wake up; stop dreaming of the future! You can have happiness now, just serve others :) Truth.

Love you all,
Sister Wilcox

My haircut

Wilcox family cousin reunion (who can photoshop me into the picture? only partly kidding). And edit my pimple out please and thank you -_- (I'm saying it so that you don't have to... yes, I noticed).
Mimi... Roomies celebrating red nose day!!! Thanks
Taxi moustaches
Companion Villasin's birthday
Bowling. Sister Villasin just might be a pro!
Investigators
English Class. Click on the picture and take a look at what we all want to be when we grow up.... lol. (Credit goes to Mary for mine).
A man walking his pet turtles at our favorite sitting spot, "Pohpoh Sorority." (There are a bunch of cute grandmas who sit here in the morning. We just want to be a part of the club haha). It really is hou siufuk though (super comfortable/ nice weather).
A-Hei/ "Baby Boss." My favorite baby!!! (Sister Lau's son). He is the sassy/ stubborn one I always talk about. He finally likes us! We can make him smile and give him high fives. Whenever you tell him to smile for the camera he does this (points to his cheek and poses like that). He's the best.
Sister Chan made us some yummy food! It was nice being at their house because it was a bit like home (lots of cute noisy kids running around the whole time).
Chan/ Lau family

Monday, May 23, 2016

Week 32

Summer was the main speaker at seminary graduation?! That is so special. She is so special I like your explanation about how our experience last week of being without food with the members and investigators randomly giving us food was simply God feeding his birds the way the scriptures tell us he will do if we serve him. That was inspiring to read :) It really is true. You have baby calves? How adorable. What names did grandma give them? You ask if I am learning any Chinese characters since I see them all the time. I know a couple characters, but there is English with the characters almost everywhere you go, so I haven't started learning yet. I automatically look at the English. 9 months in the field is probably when I will start. Thanks for the family updates as always!

Great Week!

We gave a Book of Mormon to Sandy with our testimonies written in it. We attended A-Wah's mother's funeral (there weren't many people there, but all the missionaries sang "God be with you til we meet again" and the service was all held by ward members with two of his family members there (dad and uncle). I'm so amazed by how much of a little family this ward is; they really do support each other and care about each other so much. She will be with him in heaven :)

Sister Lui (Anne) has found another job that deals with passports for people from the Philippines and Indonesia. We will know next week if she will be able to have Sundays off! If not, she wants to go to the everyday ward in Wan Chai. AJ is praying for a baptism date for when she goes to England and is setting up her life revolved around the Gospel. It is really great. She was super excited during our lesson the other day (we had committed her to read the Book of Mormon every day sincerely). She had prayed for Heavenly Father to give her a scripture that would help her and turned to Alma 34:40. She was so excited to discuss this with us and her faith has really been growing. We have been watching the Scripture Legacy video with a lot of the people we meet. It really helps us to more fully understand and appreciate the scriptures that we have. And to recognize the truth of it.

We met some sweet old ladies near a waterfall display who do a routine dance exercise every night. They were super sweet and even asked us questions about the Book of Mormon. We will be meeting them again and getting referrals/ telling them more about the Gospel. They are so sweet and consider us their friends already.

Little Ethan Lau had his baptism this Sunday! He is so adorable and sweet. The whole ward supported their family and I bought him a little mango icecream (his favorite flavor). It was so cute because all of his little primary friends sang at the baptism and they each had little gifts they wanted to give him afterwards. It was definitely a special day for him.

Sister Villasin is sick with the flu. Our members are really great and really care for us. They always give us tips on how to stay more healthy. I tend to get pins and needles often in my arms and legs when I'm sleeping in the night and it wakes me up, so one of the members gave me advice for that.

I love this Gospel and the opportunity to serve as a missionary and I want to do all that I can to consecrate myself and be exactly obedient. This is the Lord's work and I am on His sacred time. These are God's special children. I'm thankful for and trust the personal revelation God gives to me. It is so meaningful and I'm thankful that He tells us the ways we need to improve and provides a trial or lesson in order to help us to learn and to grow. I rely on it. I'm thankful for the things that force us to turn to Him and rely on Him. This Gospel is the truth and it is a miracle. Christ has made it possible for us to return to our Father in Heaven and to become like Him, and to be with our families for eternity. It is truly amazing that we have his restored church on the earth.

Dear everyone: Please read 2 Nephi 8-9. I love love love these chapters. So much sticks out that is so meaningful and applicable. I know you will be able to find something applicable to your lives as well.

Sister Wilcox

P.S. Oh also read Mosish 2, 4; Alma 5; Job 28
And you should watch the Daily Bread (3 mormon messages you can find online) videos with family for FHE. ok that's it bye :)love y'all

Our area

Kin Sang in our area
Selfie
Near the Tuen Mun library (we usually use Tai Hing Library because it is closer to the apartment) and Trend Plaza (shopping mall with Zara H&M etc)
Sister Villasin and Sister Lui (Anne).
Poodles!! (my fave kind of dog. so cute.)
My future poodle!!! I will name it muihmuih. Really though. To parents: Do BYU H apartments allow dogs?
It is super hot so it is shopping time for new shirts :)
Ethan's baptism. Primary kids singing their little hearts out--so cute adorable
Adorable Ethan and random member Sister Ki. Also Elder Andersen and Jensen in the back

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Week 31

Thank you for the interesting taifaat. I think it's funny that when you got on your mission in Hungary, the members of your branch thought that the purpose of testimony meeting was to shout out criticisms of each other at testimony meeting. I'm glad you helped them fix that lol. Also-- I love when you tell about family history!! I am trying to collect a lot of stories etc from the past, so thank you! I'm so glad to hear about how music and art has been in our family genes for generations. I hope you have saved those paintings from your grandmother. It was fun to hear about David's music adventures in Australia.

Good week. I am so happy and at peace. I just want to be the most consecrated and obedient missionary I can be. It is like safety in this world of commotion. I just want to spend all of my time working hard and preaching His Gospel. Use the sacrificed time (His sacred time) to the fullest.

It was really nice because at one point I only had ramen and hot cocoa to eat and was feeling really gross. That same day, Sister Lui gave us some dishes and food to take home, and on the way home we ran into our bishop who wanted to "buy us some ice cream" and had us wait outside, and then came out of the store with a huge bag of groceries. I am so thankful for people who are worthy to recognize promptings of the Holy Ghost, and I am so grateful they have such good hearts. I also am so thankful I have a loving Father in Heaven who watches out for us as we do His work. It is like what he said to Joseph Smith when he had to leave his poor family to help some of the saints; take no thought of your clothing, food, etc... the saints will take care of you. It is so true. I love this Gospel. It is so true. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to serve for this short amount of time.

This week we tried to do things that didn't require as much walking (ie rested on pday) so that I could take time for my foot to heal. On Tuesday to Wednesday we did exchanges. I went to Hung Sui Kiu with Sister Meh. We taught Heidi (new investigator with a lot of deep doctrine questions) and Jimmy (LA --less active-- 1 year baptism anniversary! he is 11) and Katie (recent convert/ LA but is so sweet and wants to get back into the habit of reading scriptures daily and coming to church) and also went to a retirement home and sang/ talked to people who have no family/ are living in the old folks home. It was a really lovely experience and asked for us to come back whenever we can. They felt so loved and even the workers were so appreciative.

I am happy about language pass offs. I feel like they are so effective and I am learning so much on how to improve each time. I am thankful for the service and example of our zone leaders. English Class was great. There were a ton of people who attended (we have all been inviting a lot of people and giving the flyers to attendees/ members to give to their friends). We separate into the beginning and advanced classes and each one enables us to share testimonies/ principles of the gospel as well. It is really great. We found someone really receptive to the Gospel named Dick (he came to English class and the Elders taught him the restoration afterwards) who we will be turning over to Chihng Saan Wan (Castle Peak Bay). We were also able to meet with Sister Lui (Anne) who quit her job, and now will be able to come to church and volunteer with orphan babies. Little miracles. She says it is a miracle that she got a new tyrannic boss, because it was Heavenly Father's way of telling her she should find a new job (it was already 12 hours a day standing with dangerous chemicals and working 24 hour shifts). She has a lot of faith and I am so glad she is opening up to trust members and missionaries-- she comes to the church to sit whenever she needs to find peace.

Stake Conference was really nice. Yan came but she arrived when it ended. We were able to weekly plan outside again and meet lovely people in the center of our complex (so many families and sweet people). The fresh air just makes you feel like everything is right in the world. We went to a Young Women/ Men get together Sunday night. They all shared Gospel messages and testimonies. It was nice to be with such strong youth, and it felt a bit like home. They each made their own dish to share. We shared about Job and how he had unwavering faith/ never stopped trusting in God. We also shared the Daily Bread video. I really hope to be more like Job, and like Jesus of course. We gave the youth English Class Flyers and encouraged them to start doing missionary work now with their friends (some of them will be serving soon; summer or full time).

We have a lot of good plans for this next coming week, and already have full schedules. We are excited for good things to come.

Sister Wilcox

YW/YM activity. We all shared little messages and we gave them flyers to invite their friends to English Class/ church.

They all had to make a dish to bring (lek). The cake looking thing is rice and corn and tuna fish and seaweed.
Cheng us sihkfaahn. Yum
God looks out for us. (Bishop and Less Active gave us)
Exchanges in Hung Sui Kiu
Sister Meh (in Hung Sui Kiu. We were at the MTC at the same time)
Ice Cream Truck!

Monday, May 9, 2016

Week 30

Grandpa, thanks for the fun Mother's Day activities updates. I love my family.

I was able to go shopping a little and get some lighter summer shirts (hou yiht-- so hot).

This week was also a good one. We were able to serve a less active and help her clean her house, and a member helped us! They were able to grow in relationship with one another. We taught English Class, and had every attendee take a flyer to invite a friend to come with them next week. The class was really fun but also beneficial to them. We had everyone involved and getting to know each other, and also were able to tie in the gospel and bear our testimonies. It went very well. We also did a pictionary kind of thing and had the sisters teach expressions, which got a laugh.

One of our less actives has been getting very angry recently. She started smoking during one of our lessons and told us all that matters is her heart and God doesn't care if she smokes and that we shouldn't put ourselves above her. For some reason she takes offense at everything I say (even small things like not knowing what kind of bird eats sunflower seeds) and she started hitting me really hard the other day. I feel that we shouldn't visit with her anymore. She is angry at some of the members/ bishop for some reason (compared him to a janitor) and keeps thinking we are telling her to be humble. Hmm. But we still love her... maybe should just avoid her for now (told me I have a weak mind and that she could kill me with chopsticks if she wanted to/ stabbed them at me).

We have another less active (Anne) who is so sweet and she doesn't come to church because she has work on Sundays. She will start going to the everyday ward in Wan Chai on Saturdays! I am so happy that she is so committed to the Gospel. She also got to see a member this week that she had met 2 years ago (Carman) and they were able to catch up/ get each other's phone numbers. It was a blessing. She was so excited that I got her mini versions of the bible and book of mormon and got Sister Villasin some cookies for her birthday.

On Saturday I sprained my foot playing soccer in the morning. I was trying to get the ball from Sister Hoxer (we were playing on a concrete soccer field) and completely biffed it. Sister Villasin had to wheel me around on a wheelchair on her birthday. It was actually kind of humorous. Service brings happiness, so I guess that was another birthday gift to her (it certainly made me feel appreciative of how sweet and selfless she is!). We had to go all the way to Wan Chai for a meeting that day and back and then went to the ER to get an xray and see if it was broken. We had to wait 4 hours and didn't get home until 1am (curfew is 9:30pm lol). Of course, we let President Lam know. But one of the members works at the hospital and saw us there. The next day he told us we were lucky, because the waiting time is often 8 hours. He is one of the Priesthood Leaders, and he gave me a healing blessing. I am thankful for our members' faith and know it will heal quickly!

Mother's Day was nice and peaceful at church. We made little bead swans in a shape of a heart with a reference to the talk by Sister Marriott in General Women's Conference and gave them to all the Relief Society. I am thankful for our lovely ward. And I got to call my fun family! They are the best.

We met a member on the MTR (train) and he pretended like he didn't know anything about the church for like 30 mins, but we gave him a card after getting to know him and invited him to church. It was funny how the conversation happened, but I guess I passed the test!

Sister Wilcox
loves you all

New missionaries at district meeting (both are zone leaders)

Little house shared by 6 people
Working with shop stock at crossroads
My favorite Sister Hansen
My favorite Sister Hoxer
Mothers Day gift for the ward
New light shirt for summer! yay
Im a 5 star at eating with chopsticks and making ramen (skill)
Investigator get-to-know/ Sister V bday party
So last week I made fun of all the foot injuries... I guess you could call it karma. Oh Tinfuh, you have a sense of humor dontcha? On my way to the hospital.
Stylish mom and baby in the hospital. idk
Debating if I should send it. Eh enjoy. My ankle injury.
Bday gurl (my comp)
My gudetama folder (as requested to send pic to fam)
yerp