Titles are the hardest to make up! July 28, 2013

Well hello.

Alright. my week, i met some cool people!! yep an awesome man that plays the flute! Pretty neat.  I met an old crazy man that gave me his business card. It has a charcoal drawing of himself. In English it has "I can charcoal drawing of myself and like to play accordion." Super legit. Has his number and name too. haha This guy played some Italian sounding music and also played some other fun stuff. 

Then one day we were walking looking for people and I saw this older guy sitting on the side of the wall thing by the river eating some of this "yellow skin" fruit. I had seen it around so I decided to ask him what it was called. He told me and then had us eat fruit with him because he had a lot. haha Super cool guy, just happy to sit and eat fruit with us. It made me smile because I knew that the Lord placed him there to give me another boost of confidence.

Well this week went by fast and it was good!

We had Zone exchanges! It was great! I went with Elder Groesbeck. He is such an awesome missionary. He taught me a lot. We also enjoyed drinking our Kool Aid together. Yes, I love kool aid. Yes, I will love it forever. That is why I am Elder Sugar. 

Alright this is going to be a short one. Sorry, but i just don't know what to write about today. 

Alright It was awesome. The Lord totally is the best.  I was struggling at being pretty scared approaching people and speaking the language. So I decided to make a goal to not care about the how bad the language was and do work. I asked the Lord if I did this if He would just help me during the  time I first contacted them and how long they would be willing to talk. It was great because He totally helped!!  It was great, we were able to stop so many more people this week and teach! I loved it. I knew half the time the people wouldn't understand me because of their faces looked lost.. so then I would be like umm.. smile for a second and then re try saying the topic. It seemed to work! haha they basically answered and prayed and everything. So i know that the Lord helped them understand me.

At church there was a lesson about faith and prayer. The teacher shared about youth conference they just had and the differences between two of the youths prayers. One had asked that the weather would be good enough to allow them to do their activities and if not how to figure out how to still be able to do the activities. While the other youth had prayed the rain would stop and the sun would shine. He shared about how we cannot demand God to change everything for us, but we can have faith in Him to help us out. The first youth prayed that if He couldn't change the weather then at least allow them to know what to do.I really liked this. It got me thinking about what I can do to better serve the Lord. 

Alright, shoot I don't know what I wrote. 

all I can say is that the Lord rules. He totally helped me out so much with contacting people and speaking to them. I love Him so much.

So I was asked about my language skills... hahahaha yeah still terrible. but its like whatever. The weather has been super rainy lately. We had an intense thunder and Lightning storm last night. Loved it!!! Thunder so loud it made your kool-aid shake. But it is hot and sunny now. like real hot.

Im done. I will start to write out my emails before so they aren't so bad... sorry. 

loves 

elder townsend

I met Bruce Lee July, 21, 2013

hello.

how are you?

I am fine thank you.

wow, you're english is so good!

my english very bad laa.

oh...

That is a conversation I have a good amount of the time.

Well this week was a goody. Why? I went to the Bruce Lee statue! It was so awesome. There were so many mainlanders there so it was an experience. Why? Well because they love white people and they would pull out their phone/camera and just take a picture of us. or ask to get one with us. then when Elder Falk and I went to get a picture with Bruce Lee a crowd of mainlanders flocked up to us and we became stars.

 Seriously we just stood there doing different poses the whole time and getting pictures. It was hilarious and I felt famous. Also it was our way of doing proselyting on a P-Day. Look at that, the pictures are going to China!! haha 

We had a new Elder move in. His name is Elder Christensen and he is hilarious. He has one move left after this one. He moved in from the office because the other elder here got a visa and took off for Australia. Elder Christensen is so funny and great. And he is a red head. He reminds me a lot of my friend Bret Smith. So darn similar it cracks me up! So fun

.

Anyways I would like to first point out some fashion tips or things here. 1. the Monsters Inc. Monsters University is HUGE here. Everyone wheres shirts of it or backpacks and bags of it. so super trendy. Next is moles. Yep moles. If you have one, its cool to grow the hair out on it. Basically all the guys I see here have the longest hairs on them. There face is shaved but not the mole. So i don't know if it is a pride thing or a culture thing, but it is cool regardless. Alright this next is my own fashion thing, but I wore and am wearing the same tie for a month. This Wednesday makes a month. it would have been a month last week, but I being a newb didn't wear my tie on one day the 1st week of my tie. I was going to try more, but I cant do it anymore. so i am at least doing a month. 

Food. Durian. It is absolutely terrible. It is onion and bananas combined to make a stinky fruit. terrible. Some members had me try it at a cheng out and it was gnarly. Sister Kwok told me her mother calls it cat crap. so its all good. i ate cat poop.. This family, Kwok family, is so awesome. So nice. Actually one of their daughters is leaving today to go to the MTC. She is going to the San Fransisco Oakland mission and also Oakland temple. This is cool because another elder in our ward is going to that mission too!

Alright on Tuesday and Saturday, we saw some animals.Walking in the city was a rooster. Pretty cool. Then Saturday we came upon 1. Guinea Pig walking in some plants. 2. a colorful parakeet bird. Real fancy. 3. a baby pigeon sitting on a post with an old pohpo (grandma, old women are called grandmas) trying to make it fly. she was doing coos and flapping her arms. 4. some crazy cats that liked us. 5. Tons of toads that would laugh. We would rub the bellies and they would laugh. hilarious. Great day.

Alright, well the Lord is awesome. So this week was a toughy and we weren't having any success. I was really wanting to at least just talk with someone. So finally on Saturday, I saw this guy sitting on a bench eating some ice cream. He was a gentleman and was eating a cone from the new place. So i figured I would ask him about the ice cream. As I approached him, he was like sit down! and then we had a great conversation in English mainly. He had lived in the UK. Well this was just awesome because I have been dying with the language and absolutely terrible. And then I was just having a hard time. So as I prayed this week every day just to talk to someone, Heavenly Father didn't let me down. It was awesome. This guy and I had a fantastic conversation and it made me so happy and feel so great.  He wasn't interested in gospel too much, but he was just super nice and great. It was nice being able to sit down and just talk to someone. 

Well also something super dope was that Roy, my investigator who got baptized two months ago, just got the priesthood!! It was so awesome and great!!! So excited for him. such an amazing experience to see someone who accepted the gospel in his life and being so happy. I love it. so great. Christ is so great and same with his gospel. Well I cant sit still anymore and cant think.

Loves

Elder Sugar or Tohng. But its still the same thing.

1. re-enacting the picture at the mtc

2. elder falk and I posing for the mainlanders.

Met Bruce Lee

 Our Mainlander posse- just a few of them

Elder Falk and I -we just like taking pictures

Eating dau fu fah. It is tofu flower pedals. So good-muh fave

fun pic by my home

Elder Christensen

Kwoks home- awesome family!

Stay classy San Diego!! July 15, 2013

Hello!!!!!!!!!!

Well I didn't email last week because it was Temple Week baby!! So good to be able to go there and just be able to feel the peace and spirit there. love the temple. 

Well not much has happened the past few weeks except 4th of July happened. yeah, it is sad not being in America for it. My companion and I dedicated companionship study to it, so we sang the national anthem, I made a flag and we talked about America. haha So good.

 There is a lady who comes to English class and not really investigating the church anymore take us to a dim sam because we told her it was America's bday. We ate like kings. haha 

Well I guess something that is neat is that I am like a barber. I just cut everyone's hair here. I can do Asian cuts and gwaailouh (its like we are called white devil here... like Ace Ventura) So basically I am getting a lot of practice. We had this former investigator we saw on the street tell us he would come to my shop if i set one up here. he liked my comps cut.

We also had a neat rainstorm where we got caught up finding refuge in a little tin shed while we were finding away from the city. Then the best part after being there for almost an hour (the rain was nuts and we didn't have umbrellas... newbs.) we had these to older Chinese men come up to us. We couldn't escape because there was none. So they proceeded on talking to us (constantly doing the Catholic cross yourself thing) and then they went on talking about war and army. They thanked us personally with handshakes for World War 2. They thanked us for the bomb in Japan...Yeah I wasn't too sure on how to act. but after that we departed ways, never to meet again. haha 

Speaking of men, we have this guy that stands outside of this bar/snooker/no idea place by the church. Well this man is so cool looking. He is a Tri-Ad guy. so legit. always smoking and talking/yelling/cursing at people on the phone. and then pushing his long hair back with his really nice clothes. I always try saying hi, but he ignores. he just looks like a really powerful man too. haha 

Alright well that is pretty much it for that stuff. 

This week we were able to have a pretty awesome experience with a former investigator. So she is the old lady that we ended up not meeting with anymore because of the lack of desire to learn/keep commitments. Well she had always been really bitter because of things that occurred in life. 

One of them that made her sad was that her children would never communicate or visit anymore. they didn't like her. Well we decided to go visit her and just see how she was doing and if we could help her out. As we got to her house she was so excited to see us and introduce me to her son! He had come home. he came from mainland back here to hk to find a job and help with her and the father. 

This was a miracle. I had been praying the past few months for her and if the Lord would allow one of her children's heart to be softened. and He answered my prayers!! When i shared this with her, she was very grateful. But it just hurt my heart that she wasn't willing to open her heart to her Father in Heaven to be blessed. This was a very good learning experience as I learned that Heavenly Father is willing to answer my prayers. I also am learning more on the patience and trust in God. I felt that this wait felt long at the time, but now the wait was worth it because I know so strongly of God's willingness to help us. 

Another scripture that has really strengthened me these past few weeks is in Mosiah 14. Where Abinidi shares about Isaiah 53 about the Savior. in chapter 14 the verses 3-5 really gave me strength. Just being able to remember and know that Christ really did carry my sorrows and that He was rejected of men. It gives me so much comfort to know that even though I was feeling down about everything, that He has felt the same and also has felt those pains so I can ask Him for the comfort because He is the only way I can truly find that comfort.

I also loved in Alma 30:9 when it says it is a privilege for us to serve God. That is making me really re-think of my work out here. Am I really each day thankful through my actions that I have the privilege to serve my Father in Heaven? This has really helped me change my attitude and try to become more like my Savior in this work.

Well all is going alright out here in Tai Po! Thank you for the letters/emails I have been able to get. they really are the best! make me so dang happy. Especially the letters I get from Tanner's mom about his life in Brazil! So hilarious to hear him write about some of the stuff out there. Sounds wild. 

Oh and sorry I am so slow to write back, I always just forget to send the letters. Mainly because I am going to the Bruce Lee statue today baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So stoked!!!! :)

Loves,

Elder Sugar.

Thats what people call me because my name is same sound as sugar. the character is a wee different, but some of the members/people here like to say sugar. haha

Ni Hao June 30,2013

Yep you better believe it.  I am now a Mandarin elder! They gave me the switch! Looks like I will be able to chat with Buster after all!! Pretty crazy right?? Alright, that happened last night in my dream and I was like whah!? but then I woke up to still being the same.

Alright I may have like 4 minutes here or 30, we will find out. The library messed up the times and also the computers. So i wont be able to be sending any pictures today, sorry.

So the food I discovered this week was eating either a duck or goose mouth. Yeah, not the best. It literally was just the mouth or bill whatever it is called. You eat the tongue and the mouth. Very neat. Our investigator took us to dinner and she loves that and also fried oysters, so that was our dinner. But its all good, i had green bean soup after! :) Also another thing she got us was Red Bean Popsicles. They are surprisingly really good. Just like a frozen version of the soup. haha nothing like a blue popsicle though. 

Oh, we went to the American store! They had Kool-Aid!!! So awesome, except my heart was a little broken because they didn't have blue. ouch.. But I made kool aid and the Asian elders loved it! then I froze the rest and shaved it with a spoon until it became a snow cone. Dedication.

So I love the shirts here and how people half the time can't read them. Yesterday at church we had an older lady in the ward wear a bedazzled shirt that said "Zombie Nation Eats Your Head." Great shirt. hahaha also another good one i saw on the street was "Don't be such a mermaid." I then congratulated another lady today whose shirt said "I Found My Dream Job." She was a little confused, so i explained why. She loved the American telling her what her shirt meant, walked away smiling all big.

These past few weeks have been complete solid days of finding without really any success. I honestly wanted to just go sit in the church some days and enjoy the free AC and just practice the language. But that wasn't the case, we kept working.

 A couple of weeks ago we met a couple and shared our message of the Restoration with them. After they agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray, they left us smiling. We were able to meet with them this week and have them come to English class! I was so excited and am just praying that they'll continue to learn. 

I am so grateful for the fact that I get to walk around everyday sweating buckets just so I can help someone. One thing I am learning is the importance of truly just loving everyone. I think that is what worked for this couple because God probably had prepared them and this time when I walked up to them, I was just praying so hard to feel His love for them. And right as I began to to say hello, I was overcome with love and happiness. I couldn't stop smiling! It was so great and i just was so happy to talk to them.

 I guess what I am going at here, is that God is so willing to allow us to feel His love for our heavenly brothers and sisters. I am so grateful that I was able to feel that love for them and continually pray to feel that love for everyone else. It is hard though, especially when they tell me No Time! But when that person finally stops, its all worth it. I just want to be like Nephi when he talks about the charity he has for everyone in the end of 2 Nephi. so awesome

Ok, I am totally out of time!!!!!!!

Loves

Elder Tohng

Typhoon season is here!!! June 23,2013

It's raining lots right now. My pants are soaked! Gotta love the rain! We have had some windy days and also hot days as well. I am really hoping we get a crazy big typhoon like they did last year. That would be pretty gnarly and awesome.

We headed to 10,000 Buddhas and man there were a lot of them. Big gold statues and little gold ones too. Some had mustaches while the others were bald. Then there were the women ones that didnt look like the men ones. It was a cool place and then afterwards we went and took a stop at IKEA. that was cool too. haha 

One thing you will see a lot here is couples wearing matching T's or clothes. it's the best. haha that is some true companionship.

Also we encountered a crazy old pohpo (grandma lady) who loved dancing to her music and talking to us. She would like grab our arms and be like come look at this rice! (in front of a rice store). Then she would ask us if we had girlfriends and that we need to get married quick. She told my comp he should wait another year. And to call her up and get married now. It was pretty hard understanding her though.. 

Well one of the things I love here is Green bean soup and red bean soup. I laughed because Buster loves it too.  My first time trying it in his apartment I was a little like umm... but i love it now. Maybe because he always talked it up so when I ate it again I was like YEAH! so good! haha So we will be eating lots of that together one day. haha

Well this week was much like the others. Spent every second on the street praying for the Lord's guidance on where to go and who to talk to. We weren't really successful at all this week so that was a bummer. Hopefully this week will be better. Just gotta keep having faith!

 I decided to reread the Book of Mormon yesterday so I just finished it this morning. as I was pondering it, I thought of a few things. One of how it really is filled with truth. What else can we sit down to after a long day, say a prayer, and then be filled with answers. I love how in the end of 2 Nephi that Nephi talks about how this book is for us and how it will help us and then the Doctrine of Christ. I always get so sad at the end when Nephi gives his farewells. haha I always am like, can you write a little more? he is so awesome. No wonder the people kept naming the kings after him as Nephi.

 I love how when Nephi is like if the Lamb of God got baptized to fulfill all righteousness then why dont we?! He is the perfect one here and we need to be like Him.

We had a multi zone meeting and I met an Elder Martinez who his Bishop is my uncle Brad! I thought that was pretty awesome! Also he is so cool and we became friends. and at the zone conference.

 President Hawks taught us about how life is a process and even more that the mission is a process. That yes there may be miracles and Events, but it is the process that shapes us. Like Alma had "conversion story" when the angel came to him and the sons of Mosiah, but if you read Alma 5 he will tell you that through much fasting and prayer he came to the knowledge of the Lord. 

I guess sometimes I am so wanting the big event, i forget about the process. It is so important to remember that in our lives, that things will happn over a process.

Well I am real tuckered out and not feeling to hot today so sorry that the email wasn't the best. also I dont really know what else to say.. haha I hope all is well in life. Next week will be better.

Loves,

Elder Townsend

1. Elder Falk and I

2. Old lady

Love and miss this kid!

Rain, Shine and Humidity June.16.2013

Well Hello.

So this week has been a good week once again. We had the Dragon Boat race! Yep, missed it. The other elders, natives, left the apartment and went finding at it, but they didnt tell us, so we ended up doing our studies. haha It was pretty crazy how many people were there though, I don't understand where all these people are in the day. They just seem to dissappear.

Well as we went finding this week I saw some motivational and facts shirts. Oh by the way animal T's are so cool here. Yep, I was Asian cool without knowing it. anyway my favorite two were "Very good believe in yourself. Yourself happy everyday. That's ok!" and also "Minnie is also known as Mickie's girlfriend." So basically, I now know it is ok to believe in myself and also that Mickie's girlfirend is Minnie!

This past week we spent the entire week finding and getting wet with rain! It has been raining a ton! We are just doing so much finding that I have waked through my shoes. Pretty neat I guess. haha We went to the Hong Kong history museum and it was really neat. It was cool to read about all the things of how Hong Kong grew and what not. Also with Buddhism. It is really interesting and how it's changed. We are going to visit a place called 10,000 Buddhas today! I am excited. 

Well the food.. Hmmm.. I guess if you want you can eat toad. There are a lot of cages at the markets and they are filled with toads. The gutting of the toads is intense. I watched it and was amazed haha. Those butchers are good with their knives skills. They even use throwing stars. yep. maybe that was a lie, not sure yet. 

Another thing is that they have hot dog on a stick here! haha What they do at the street vendors is put a hot dog on a stick and then put it in the ice. When you want it, you have a nice hot dog. haha almost like a popsicle. 

Alright this week was a goody and hardy. Our investigator just moved. His family moved to another area in Hong Kong so that was a bummer. He is so great, totally enjoyed the Book of Mormon and everything. 

As I was studying the talks from conference I really liked a few things. One of them is from the Prophet, President Monson. It was his Formula for Success. he shared that we 1. Search the scriptures with diligence. 2. Plan your life with purpose. 3 teach the truth with testimony. 4 Serve the Lord with love. I really enjoyed this because I am striving for success right now. What I really enjoyed was step 4. Serve the Lord with love. 

As I was studying about love, I was reading 1st John chapter 4. As I was read verse 4 I i thought it was intersesting how what is in us is greater than what is of the world. Now as I read on I read that God is love. so as I thought about it, if God is Love and what I try to have inside me is love, then therefore what is inside me is God and Christ and they are truly greater than the world because Christ overcame the world. 

As I read this I thought of Romans 8:18 about how the sufferings of this time are not worthy for the glory to be revealaed in us. I really liked that because if we live through our days on earth serving with love, and being filled with love. The day that glory is revealed in us, we will come to find it is Christ and God. And that is why they are familiar to us, because we will have lived with them out entire lives inside our heart. 

That is how we can become like them. Now as I have been trying to consistently serve with love, it has been hard at times. But it can also be easy because of the help I am getting. It has been very rewarding. This love has been helping me smile and always be happy. I love being able to have that constant help from Christ. Everyday I try to start my day with love, my day becomes great. It doesn't matter if the day didn't go to well because I know that maybe tomorrow there is someone who needs that love and needs to feel Christ's love. Whose love is always constant. Well I know that this Church is true.

I am also out of time. I hope that made sense. I dont reread my stuff today. haha

Loves 

Elder Townsend

The painting is obviously my favorite because it is of me. see the comparison?

Still wishing for his whiskers to grow...

Hey Ohhh! June 9, 2013

Well last week was another week. haha thats is all i can think of. 

We have been doing a lot of finding. Just trying to find a new investigator to teach about this awesome gospel!

This coming will be pretty cool! This week is Dragon Boat Race! It is a tradition and holiday here. Basically it all started from a very loyal man to the King who was rejected by the king and he would not listen to him, so then the man jumped off a cliff into the water. The people didn't think this should have happened to him so they didnt want his body to be eaten by fishes. So they all threw in food into the water for the fish to eat instead. then they rowed around in dragon boats to scare the fish as well and to find him.

 Now the tradition is racing in dragon boats and they have these dumpling that are lots of rice and a meat all stuffed in a ball and steamed inside banana leaves. Pretty cool. The race is on the 13th. so thatll be cool to see as we are finding. the race is in our area! We have been able to see the teams practicing as well too. 

Well after lots of finding this week we had to good experiences. one was we found a man that was willing to sit down and talk to us. He really enjoyed our message because he had recently gotten over some addictions. He said that Jesus had helped him. At first he was hesitant because his Pastor told him we were evil and a cult. But as he listened he enjoyed our message. He liked it because he could feel the power of Christ like he had before. He then said you are not evil people. 

We have a problem of a  lot of "anti" material going around here. the book of mormon is called Moyimuhnging. It used to be momuhnging. and it doesnt help that if you dont read the correct character and people say the "Mo" word incorrectly, it can be interpreted as devil and then then the old way had muhn right after so it sounded like devils door. So we always have to explain that one out. 

Last night as we were out finding, we came upon a guy who said we didn't believe in Jesus Christ. So as we talked to him, we were able to bear testimony of Christ and talk more with him. After talking for awhile, he finally believed us that we believe in Christ. This was a very interesting and spiritual experience.

 As we focused on Christ, everything changed. I was praying that Heavenly Father would allow me to understand and also speak with power. I get nervous about that with the language. But as I was able to bear my testimony of our Savior, I lost all worries of the language. It didn't matter that I messed up and had to restart things, what mattered is that I knew Christ really lived and is my Savior.

 

I can testify that I do know that Christ lives. That he is my Redeemer and that we will always be there for us. No matter what situation we are ever in our life, He will come to us to bring us back. We truly are of His fold and He does know each and everyone of us. 

It gives me so much peace and strength everyday to know that He is going to help me. Makes the world a lot less lonely at times when you know that someone will be helping me. It doesn't matter that I can't see Him. I am just grateful that He is there. I truly can feel His presence and help..

Well I guess that is my letter for the week.

I hope all is well for everyone. If you're ever bored you can shoot me a letter if you want haha.

Loves,

Elder Connor Townsend

Muh life in a pic