Hello September 21, 2014

Well once again it is time to email. Holy Cow, time flies.

Well I am not too sure about what to write about today. Well if you want a cool fact, people use fans all the time. The women always carry them and the men put them into their pockets. But the other day (i've only seen a couple times) this one older man was walking around with a utility belt on and a  case spot thing for his fan. He was carrying a couple. Imagine a cop belt and rather than a gun and a night stick, put there a fan in both places. Pretty neat. Also with technology going up, people have their personal motorized fans that you can carry around or put on your desk at work. It is great.

Well this week was pretty great! We were able to meet up with B- twice! He is super great and spiritual. He is really wanting an answer from God. We a praying and working to help him get that. We were able to teach him twice this week and the lessons went well. He had some great questions   that involved with life after death and as well as the Atonement. 

B- is really smart and just seems to be a true seeker. It seems that he may have been told anti material before, but each time he asks us a question, we answer bodly, he says "alright", and continue on. He has got a special spirit about himself. I am excited to see him this week! 

We were able to meet with our long time friend D- this week! He usually will come to English class but he has been super busy with work that we haven't seen him in about 2 months. Well he came this Friday and he took us out for some rice afterwards. We caught up with him and talked about life. D- has always got a happy personality about him and just brings so much happiness to anyone that sees him. He is always smiling and treats everyone like they are number one. He is such an example. 

I just want him and his wife to accept the gospel so bad! I want them to have an eternal family and also just for D-. He would just have the reassurance that all will be good. He'd also be a great person in the ward! Being with D- the other day just made me so happy and so thankful for the people the Lord puts in my life. I hope I can always be as good to others as they are to me. I am so thankful for all. Last night i couldn't fall asleep because my heart was too happy. I was thinking of all the people who have influenced my life here in HK and back home. Family and friends, teachers and leaders. I am so grateful to the Lord.

Alright cool experience! So basically about 3 months ago, one monday night Elder Chan and I were out finding at a place called Shan King. While we were out, we walked passed a 20 year oldish girl and said hello. She did a sort of stop and double look at us, a little confused, and kept walking. Well we kept walking as well. When we walked a little, I looked back and she was down the way but looking back as well. well I walked a few more steps, had a feeling to talk to her, so we turned and started going. I wasn't quite sure what to say. It'd be awkward too walk back up and be like hey.. but we still went. While trying to catch up, we ran into a guy and talked to him for a little. I was wanting to talk to her, but he was there. We ended up talking and he left, not too interested. We go his number though. Well I thought maybe that is why I felt to turn around. Well as we contiued around this place, we saw her again at the light rail station waiting for a train so it was too late. It was bummer, but at least we tried. Now here is the story. This past monday night, I was with Elder Woo. We were walking and there was a 20year old girl in front of us and we said Hello. Right after that she said (in English) "you again!?" Not thinking much about the story before, I was like "yeah.. hello" She didn't know we spoke chinese so that confirmed we hadn't talked to her before. 

We ended up teaching and praying with her and having a great lesson and rescheduling a time to meet up. Well that night I remembered the story. So when I called the next night, I wanted to find out why she said "you again" Well come to find out, it was her. She told me that she saw us and was a little confused. When she saw us following her, she was thought "I wonder what they have to say?" Then we got stopped and she thought "oh, not for me." then when she saw us again, she was thinking we were going to come up to the station, but we didn't. So when she ran into us again, she was surprised. 

I fully believe God will put people in our paths if we pray for Him to. That night I was so thankful for God willing to hear my prayer and also to let me know this is His work. That I must do what He wants and follow His direction at all times.

It was a pretty great experience and allowed me to once again see the power of the Lord. I know this is His work. I love it. 

Well I am tired of typing, I like missionary work, but not so much typing.

Loves

Elder Townsend

Fires September 14, 2014

The other night while we were out finding at an estate we saw some people running to the side of it. Then we saw some light from the window. FIRE! Someone's apartment house had set on fire, people came from everywhere to watch. The kitchen was burning out and it was getting big. Luckily, these places are made out of concrete here so the other apartments can't set on fire. Well eventually the firemen came, so many, and before they got the hose ready, the fire was out.  A fireman broke through the door and gate of the room, and stopped it. It really lit up our night.. oh and for a chinese saying, we were "eating peanuts." to eat peanuts means to sit and watch something happen. For example people fighting or fires or anything. Those people are eating peanuts.

Well so the one guy that we met on wednesday night, we met on friday and will again tomorrow! B- is the greatest guy ever. We gave him a Book of Mormon on the street and a Restoration pamphlet. When we met up, he had read the pamphlet and also the introduction, testimony of witnesses, and the testimony of Joseph Smith. It was a great lesson and he was prepared. Then we invited him to read the Book of Mormon, which he has! Even cooler thing was that 2 years ago, he ran into missionaries on the street. He never met with them, but he remembered them. The best part is that one of those missionaries was Elder Goodrich, my trainer! We had Mike teach with us. Mike is a member that has started to come back to church. Mike is such a great guy and I just love him. He is super awesome. Just past Testimony meeting he share his testimony! It was great. He shared how he had a hard trial and tried to find help in books. He read many books, but never seemed to find help. Then he started to read the Book of Mormon again and Bible and instantly he felt a strength that hadn't been felt in a long time. He felt God strengthen him and allow him to understand why he had this trial. We shared with him Ether 12:6, 27. He was like "this is what I am talking about!" It was a great experience. He sure did strengthen my Faith in the Lord and help me feel the power He has on all of our lives.

Alright, thinking about it I may have written that before, not to sure.

J- is still doing great. When he comes to church, you'd think he was a young man in the ward. White shirt and tie. He is so great. He has a friend he met at youth conference who invited him to read 3 chapters of the Book of Mormon a day. She will also read with him too which is awesome! He is learning a lot from what he reads. The power of the Book of Mormon rules

This is all I have for now.  It was a quick4 days.

Loves!

Elder Townsend

Quick Week! September 10, 2014

well this week flew by. I guess this week and last week since it is already thursday! Holy cow it was a good time though! So many things happened. Today we are going to the temple so I am typing at the Apple Store once again. It is rough typing here! haha

Well just on Tuesday the entire Hong Kong members got together and had a sports day to celebrate 65 years in Hong Kong! It was great. It was the mid-atumn festival so it was a holiday. We went to Tai Po and it was a great time. There were many running races and little fun games. They also had fun little demonstrations like Kung Fu group and also Lion Dancers (dressed up like a dragon). It was a solid day. There is a member who we are working with who just started to come back to church and he came and helped out. Super solid. J- was with his family in Mainland so he couldn't come. We  had other people come. Solid fun day. I also got to see previous ward members! 

Well this week we were out finding and on Saturday we went with the other elders and did a banner find and hand out family cards. Well the place we planned had lots of people there as well as a lot of people trying to get people to buy stores in a new mall/real estate. It was crowded with 2 companies of them.. Well we couldn't go somewhere else because we had already traveled there. The problem was was that they would block us from talking to people/ people wouldn't talk to us because they thought we were them.. So we set up and I used some tricks I picked up while serving in the city. 

I just stayed nice and close to them then I would always use the smile and what not to get peoples attention. haha anyways about 20 minutes into it, us 4 elders had a huge gap opened up just for us. It was a success. Every once in a while they'd try to move in, but then leave. I would be nice to them and tell them their job was super tough. They wouldn't say it back to us because we were happy. One guy was hilarious and when I told him to "add oil" (chinese saying) he was like I will. then he said "you are lucky because you have God's help, we don't." I agreed. When we left I gave him a card as well as the other people that we moved farther down the street. Let them know we wanted to be friends.

Alright we went and visited J- mum this last week! It was... not the most successful. She wasn't too happy about it, so she didn't talk to us. J- wasn't the best at communicating with his mum. We had the young men's president with us so after we talked about continuing to love his parents no matter what, respecting them, and communicating better..  Hopefully next time! He was pretty sad about it, he really wanted her to talk with us. J- is awesome.

Alright this Monday we had an all mission meeting! It was kind of found out a week before. Elder Rasband, Senior President of the Presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy, was in town to give Mission Presidents training. (We are the headquarters in HK so they come here) Anyways he had a meeting with us. We ended up having 5 General Authorities there. All quorum of the Seventy. It was excellent. They shared about missions and Elder Rasband taught us and shared about his talk "the divine call of a missionary" and his experience with it. It was incredible. It was such an uplifting experience and he just pumped us up. They talked about the importance of having a burning testimony of Jesus Christ and working hard consistently, enduring to the end. The whole thing was fantastic. Also Elder Rasband told us some things about the coming General Conference. I will give you a hint, but I can't tell. Elder Wong (1st quorum of the Seventy from HK) will be speaking!!! Not only that, but let's just say you'll hear Cantonese!!!! yeah and maybe other languages from speakers. That is all i will say. Haha Conference is going to be so good.!

Yesterday we had miracles happen. We had been so busy with zone things and also the past events that we hadn't had a lot of time to go finding. Well last night we did. We went out and right away taught this lady. She was great, just very busy so we exchanged numbers. We prayed with her and bore testimony that God hears our prayers! 

Then after her, we were walking and contacted this one guy. Right away he asked if we were mormons. We said yes and shared about the Book of Mormon and bore testimony of it. He told us he had a relative that was a mormon. So we talked with him and found out he really wanted to know if God exists and how to have that knowledge. he believes there should be a God. So we taught him how to pray, read Moroni 10:3-5 and bore testimony. He scheduled us to meet the coming friday(tomorrow!) and we gave him a Book of Mormon. It was so awesome. He was so prepared to learn. Just a miracle we ran into him! 

Then after him, we were walking and there were two guys about twenties who were rascals I guess you would say. Just tough guys. Sometimes I like to talk to them to show them I am not afraid  (pride, i know, I am working on it) Well this time I felt I should talk to them. My companion didn't seem to gang hou about it.But we talked to them. Well one guy was interested. He hadn't prayed for a long time and wanted to learn about Jesus again. So we chatted and he called us so we could get his number. it was a cool thing. While talking to them, a newer member walked up to us. We talked for a little, asked if we could go visit her father (not a member) she said yes, and we went up to her house! 

We went and he chatted with us! It was so awesome. He ignored missionaries before so we got lucky! We prayed with him and it was great. Basically what I learned is the power of prayer and diligence. Before we left, I prayed specifically if God could sanctify the time for us to find. He did. He heard my prayer. I know it because we don't always get nights like these ever. Also I learned the truth of following our leaders. Elder Rasband promised us if we would ask everyone we talked to if they had a friend interested to hear our message, our teaching would increase and success. Right from the start we asked people for friends or family to teach, most of the time they said not anyone they could think of. But the word was fulfilled because we found so many more opportunities to teach that night. Not always is it so quick, but following them sure does bring blessing. I am so thankful Heavenly Father has given us leaders to guide us. 

Alright that is all I got for now. out of time! sorry not to good, just typed real quick so i could get out of here quicker. Life is good.

Loves

Elder Townsend

Tennis! August 31, 2014

We played tennis with a member this morning. More of he taught us how to play. It was fun. 

Well this week was so fast because we were pretty busy.

This week we only had a few hours to go teaching on the streets but it was a good experience. I was on exchanges with another elder who just came to the New territories! I was showing him around so he would know the area. It gets confusing in areas, he just opened the companionship, and training so figured we might help out a wee bit. It was a great experience. We taught some people, and while we were out we headed to a little village area. 

We ran into this old grandma. She was sitting down in her little garden area and just picking at weeds. We talked to her a little and just say hello. She said she was just picking weeds while all the family was at work, we offered help, she said no thanks because their was no point at picking them because she has all year to. haha 

Anyways it was fun talking to her and listening to the old style of Cantonese. She smiled and just made us so happy. It was a funny sight though, two white elders, squatting down, talking through a fence to a grandma for a few minutes. It is just nice to stop and say hello to people and just have the opportunity to get to know them.

This week I thought of Buster because we taught this lady from Taiwan! She married a man from HK and is living here now so her Cantonese was good. It was funny because we asked her how she liked it and was like "they are too busy here and too rushed. Did you see how fast I was walking? not fast at all. I am so different." haha it was funny. Everyone talks about Taiwan at being a lovely, non rushed life with great food! Busy, but not HK busy. Well she said she was going to come to church this Sunday but I guess didn't wake up on time. So hopefully we'll meet again. 

That is one thing that sure is hard, getting people to church. It is the day where missionaries wake up praying really hard that investigators come. The night before up later praying for them to come. It is so important and so hard, interesting how that correlates. haha

We taught J- a couple of times this week. once Elder Chan, well Jacob Chan, was here and taught with us. It was great. We talked about Youth Conference and baptism. He brought it up and was saying he wants to be baptized on the Sept 14th. His parents are becoming better with the gospel. He said his dad is fine, but his mother isn't fully. We have been working with him so we can visit them. This is so crucial to meet his parents and we want to so bad. Hopefully we will soon. J- has grown so much. I asked him if people shared their testimony at youth conference and he said yes, but he didn't. So we asked him if he could share it with us. He asked for time to think, then he shared it with us. It was powerful. He shared about how he knows God strengthens others because he has helped him so much. Helped him be a better person with friends and love his parents more. The fact he wants his parents to learn the gospel is so great. I was so proud of him. 

Then later this week, we had the Cheng family invite us over to dinner with J-. It was great. They are so great and J- really liked seeing how happy they were and how nice. It was a great experience for him/

That is all I got. I was a little short on time today.

Loves

Elder Townsend

1. Coke for Pops and Uncle Alan

2. Elder Cordon and I bought a huge watermelon for only 30HK

3. Tennis with Benji

4 Dinner at the Cheng's