Happy almost New Year!!!!

well Christmas was good! 

so what happened.. Well on Christmas Eve we had a ward party!!! It was awesome! We were able to have many of less active members come and also our friend Joe made it!! There was lots of noodles and rice and other good stuff. Solid time. Us missionaries performed Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. We gave it a little twist, but it worked out. I think they understood.. haha they laughed. The party had other people do talents so it was fun. 

On Christmas, I woke up and it sure was cold! haha but I had my little space heater on my toes so it was cool. We did studies and then that day we headed over to a members house. Their son is serving here right now and then the youngest is less active. He was way cool. We just built a relationship and got to know him. See how we can help him and become his friend. We ate lunch and then we had to blast. Why? 

Well there is another member family who they had a little party and the mother invited us! So basically we were to help all the little kids make snowmen, santa, and what not. Then the parents saw us and were like oh, how sweet of people. Then we talk to them and get to know them. and... It was so fun and great. 

All the little kids go to an English school so their English is great and they LOVE speaking it to us! So it was nice. The whole time we were there made it feel so much more like Christmas because of all the little kids running around, playing, the parents sitting and watching and smiling. It was great, but then we had to leave. 

We met up with a friend and talked with him for a little bit at the church, then he left. So we (TST elders and sisters) went up with a couple of the sisters investigators that they just taught and had a very merry leftover Christmas dinner. It was fun, at some grub and talked for a little bit. our food was from the party the night before that some of the members had saved for us which was super nice! After dinner we made our way to the streets by our house to go and try to talk to some people. Unfortunately we didn't have a Christmas miracle, but we wished people Merry Christmas. We even had an awesome little Christmas message prepared. As we walked around that night, I was thinking about Christ and what he has done for us and it just made me smile. It was nice to fully remember Him this year and rely on Him. It is even more special to be able to share of Him each day and know that He wants to help each and everyone of us and when we let Him, He does. 

Well later this week we didn't have much luck with street finding and neither with our investigators who were busy. But we were able to stop by Sister Lam and her Husband's shop (our investigators) and wish them a Merry Christmas. I had saved them a few candy canes so it was a good excuse to see them! haha But when we opened the door to their shop, it felt so great to see them! I just feel like they are family. They are so awesome.

Well other than that, we felt pretty cool one night. We went looking for some non active members homes and we had 7 on the list. out of the 7, we found that only 1 of the addresses existed! as in the floor didn't exist they lived on or there wasn't even apartments at the street number. So instead we would walk into buildings and then walk out, pull out a pen, write stuff down, and continue on. Well there was a few mainland women together and they saw and were like speaking mandarin not sure of who we were. So it gave us an excuse and say hello and introduce our church. Obviously i don't speak mandarin but I know how to say who we are, what church we represent, and how the gospel blesses them. haha that is about it.

Alright this was a random email. but I hope its alright. I just thought the non existant address this was funny.

Well I know this Gospel is the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and what better way to start off a new year with goals of serving Him more and being able to give more of our time and love to our Savior then in the year of 2014. So my challenge is to just spend a little more time loving, smiling, and serving. And most importantly having Christ as our foundation.

Loves,

Elder Townsend or Sugar cause that's what they call me!

1. the party with santa

2. the party with the families!

TST Elders and Sister

Jolly Santa Claus

Rudolf the crazy reindeer

Fun times with kids

A Very Merry Christmas, Ya'll!!!

I AM SO EXCITED THAT IT IS CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday there were people caroling about Jesus. It was awesome. I think they were one of the nearby churches. I loved hearing it. Yep, HK does celebrate Christmas, not hard, but they do. I love it because they don't just put up Happy Holidays or Merry X-mas, but they put MERRY CHRISTMAS. I love it.

 I found candy canes at this one store here and they were on sale for like 1 for $10.50 or 2 for $8. (obvi HK moneys) So i bought 4 packages. They were almost out.. goodbye meat to my meals.. haha But I have been handing them out to people and like "Singdaahn Jit Faailohk!!!!!" Gotta get out the Christmas Spirit some how. 

This Christmas we will be hopefully meeting with a Less Active member and sharing a message and eating lunch. If not,we will be going finding. hoping for a Christmas Miracle. We don't have a mission party anymore due to money and missionaries, but its cool. It'll be a solid time. 

Also our mission is going back to dual language tags! President was able to get them proved! Only our mission will have them so do i feel special! haha

My companionship and the sisters in our ward went caroling on saturday night. It was grand. We went to an estate chyun place that has a lot of less-actives, members, and investigators, and friends. We would knock on the door, they'd open, we sang, they would stand awkwardly like what are they doing?, then we would stop, they would say ahh hello, come in, hand us food, i handed them a candy cane, and then we might be able to share a spiritual message, and then we'd hit up another. It was fun. It was hilarious when we were in the wrong house (aparment place) and we went to the wrong flat, knocked on the wrong door, sang to the lady, and then died with laughter when we left. she was so confused who we were. Gotta love that. haha

Well this week we were able to teach A-Ming again. He is great. Just needs to find a new job so he can come to church. Other than that he is happy. I gave him a ctr so that he will remember to not smoke and what not. It is really hard for him to stop so we are trying to help him out a lot. I hope he can find the strength! We just need to find a member who can help us teach him and bear testimony of their help as well. Also to help guide him. It is just hard because of the time he meets with us. He is funny though, we will teach him random english sayings as we leave. My fave that he says now (because I would always say it to him) is "See you next week, same time, same... place." then he does the snap point thing because I would to! haha I love him.

At English class we shared about the Nativity with the class. We watched the new Bible Videos and it was awesome. I highly suggest checking it out. As we watched it, i couldn't help just think over and over. Born is the King. Born is the King. Born is the One who saved me from pain. Born is my Savior. I am excited to be able to focus more on Him this year and be able to remember just how good He is to us. I think of when President Monson said to capture the true meaning of the Spirit of Christmas and it becomes the Spirit of Christ. Makes me so happy to know that people are feeling the Spirit of Christ this season!

Oh so to let you know that I am not dumb is when I put sianara for my goodbye thing last week, i knew it wasn't spanish but japanese. Everytime I try to speak fake spanish now it comes out sounding like Japanese. #chineseprobs. haha 

anyways, goodbye.

Loves

Elder Townsend

1. just going to buy some apples.

2. Elder Goronson and I put on normal clothes and had a blast. haha

Wah...December 15, 2013

Hey there.

Well this week was good! We just ended another transfer and I am staying in the great land of TST!! And this time, i get the privilege to serve as District  Leader. (must be running out of resources..) Anyways, the Last 9 weeks flew by. So stoked and I will be with Elder Goronson still! I really like him, he is a solid guy. Did I mention that he is from Las Vegas? or that he went to Arbour View High School? Or that he shot his eye out with a Red Ryder BB gun? alright maybe the last one wasn't as true, but had to throw a little Christmas Story line in there. 

Also it has been cold the last 2 days. Yesterday about 14 degrees Celsius and then today i swear like 12. I need to call Windy the weather lady though. The Winter Monsoon is here and that means some rain as well. Elder Goronson and I don't like umbrellas so you could say we got saap saai. honestly I don't remember what that is in english. ahh shoot. you know when you're like all wet and nothing isn't like drenched but it's not that word. I swear I wont have a language soon. I never know things in English or Chinese. so one time an Elder asked me what my first language was. haha so i said guess and he was like German? and all I did was wink and said you could say that. I am German. 

Well this week as we were walking, I could say I felt tough. We were walking up this hill and since some of the place is under construction, the sidewalk is narrow with random cement blocks. So we were going to go past on and a guy walked up and he looked at us, saw the gap, and then froze. Then he put his hands up in the air and was like "I'm Sorry!" and then expected us to pass. haha 

Well needless to say I wanted to laugh super hard because it was just these two gwai louhs walking up in suits. But we talked to him for a second, but he was too confused by who we were and that we knew Chinese so he split. All in all, it was a good experience.

Well this week we taught A-Ming again! It was awesome. He has a new baptismal date and after the lesson I realized it is the same day I got baptized, February 23rd! We were not able to get a member to come teach with us, but it went well. As we sat down and talked to him, for some reason I stopped talking and had nothing in my mind and I think the same with my companion. 

Then A-Ming asked us if God would really give him a path. It through me off, but he proceeded to tell us that he is praying for God to show him a path to take and help him find a new job or a way to attend church. He said he had faith that God will help him, but wanted to make sure he would. So we assured him God would. As we went on, we talked about the Word of Wisdom. He is having a hard time quitting smoking, been doing it for 30 years and it helps him relax. So we talked with him and made a plan. We offered to give him a blessing and he wanted one. It was really cool because as I gave A-Ming that blessing I know it had to been from Heavenly Father because I spoke Cantonese much better than I really ever have there.. Just kinda opened the mouth and the things came out. It was really special, because I knew what I was saying but there was just like so much love felt inside of me. It was so amazing. I know A-Ming will get the Lord's help. Afterwards as we talked about it, there was a tear in his eye. He said that he had never felt this way before. He said no way to describe it. He kept repeating I am His son, I am His son. It's true, he is His son. As am I. So grateful to know that and know He is real. He does exist and He does love us. So awesome.

Well Later this week we met with Sister Lam and we got her a baptismal date as well! She is really busy until after Chinese New Year so it is a little farther away, but she has the best intentions for it. She wants to make sure she will be able to attend all 3 hours and so she also can have her husband there. (also to make sure he will follow after her soon! Wants to go to the temple with him!) It was awesome because she talks about her son and how he will write things in his letters and she wants to learn about it. She is so awesome. Shared how she wanted to find this scripture about Faith but couldn't find it. Then eventually prayed and right when she opened the Book of Mormon, she opened to Alma chapter 32!! What a tender mercy of the Lord! Ahh so awesome.

Well that's all this guy has to say, so 

Sianara ya'll (spanish) or in my lovely tongue of Cantonese... Bye, Bye.

Loves

Elder Townsend

the only new picture i have is of me and my boy Elder Woodburn with our matching wool ties. You know it gets cold here.

Christmas season is a good season... December 8,2012

Hello. 

Well once again I can't think of a title for the dang email. So yeah, love Christmas season.

Well this week I really don't have much to report on. We were able to go to dinner with our ward mission leader, his wife, Fiona and her boyfriend Matt before he flew back to the meihgwok. we went to this awesome seafood place and had a HUGE alaskan king crab!! so good. I will attach the picture. 

Well this we went and taught A-Ming with former Elder Chan and it went great! He helped us out so much and we read Alma 32 on faith and applied it to how he can use it for helping him attend church and keep commandments. former Elder Chan was so great and powerful. It was nice to have his help their. We shared an object lesson on how God will lift you up in trials, even when we feel we can't handle them. To have no fear, for He never abandons us. We did the one where you take an empty tea bag, stand it up on their hand, and set it on fire, as it burns down, it looks like it'll burn their hand, but with faith, right at the end it lifts up. Its a good one and I believe gave him confidence to trust that the Lord will now deliver him as he figures out how to change his schedule for church.

shoot, I don't have anymore time to write. They must up my time...! 

I will write more next week!! 

Loves

Elder Townsend

Happy Christmas Season! November 30, 2013

Yeah, they totally have random Christmas things up in places and even our local Park N' Shop is playing Christmas music. About 30 seconds of the same thing looped to play all day. haha

Well Thanksgiving was a great affair. We had a lesson that morning which we were able to meet with A-Ming, our investigator. He is awesome. Hopefully we can help him out more. We were able to schedule former Elder Chan (i served with him in Tai Po) to come with us this week so he should be able to help us out (he is awesome) and help out our investigator a ton. Especially since they speak the same language! ha! 

Anyways then we went and had a lunch/lesson with our good friend that is an in-active member. He is a great guy and just so cool.

 Afterwards we headed out and then reported back to the chapel around 4:30. Why? for a thanksgiving zone dinner!! Yeah, it was great. We had 16 of us there. We ate rice, potatoes, fish, and duck!  Yep the only zone without Turkey. haha It is good though, felt more chinese-y. Also former elder Chan came and brought tons of KFC! haha It was a great time and great to remember all that I am grateful for. 

I sure do miss my boy and dog, Leonard! haha Didn't have him to hug this year. After we ate the church men had a basketball night. So while people were cleaning and didn't need some of our help, Elder Tse and I sat on the stage and had a Thanksgiving game to watch. Just basketball not football. 

Well this week was good. While we were out finding, we went back to our "miracle" park and once again... miracles came. This week we taught 2 people there that had lots of interest and rescheduled with us. While on exchanges, one of the guys we taught said one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard. He had no religious background at all. As we talked about God and who He is to us, he found interest. Sharing of who He was to me really helped me be more thankful for our Heavenly Father. Well our friend decided he would pray with us, as he bowed his head to pray, he took a breath to relax, kinda was nervous to try. As he prayed he basically said "God, i really want to know if you exist, I have been wanting to ask you and now I can. God, a lot of people believe in you in this world and know you exist, can I be one of them? I would be very grateful if you would let me know." Just through his sincerity and desire, the Spirit's presence was there. It was amazing, our Heavenly Father touched his heart that day. So when we meet with him next time, I hope we can bring that same Spirit of Love with us.

 After his prayer, I went home that night looking at my prayer and had the goal to always remember to pray sincerely. There is a Mormon Message called Earthly Father, Heavenly Father. At the end it says like of all the names we could call God He has asked us to call him Father. I think that is so cool. For some reason I have been really thinking about that a lot and how I can better use that to allow others and myself become closer to Him.

Well that is all i can think of. 

Oh on a fun note, on exchanges, we made friends with this lady who is really nice. She works at the restaurant that is next door to where a in-active member lives. So as we tried visiting she found out the situation and wants to help us. So everyday she scopes out for when the person will come home so she can let us know. I think she wants to be a secret agent, like she ran up to the door one night, knocked to see if they were home. haha and asks people about our member. We told her we cared about him so she is really helping out! Look at that service from a friend! she will be blessed!

Loves,

Elder Townsend

1. Elder Woodburn (from MTC group/great friend) and I got Mighty Duck hats on Lady Street for super cheap. We had to buy them because the story was hilarious. Lady chasing us down the street making them cheaper and cheaper the farther we went. She originally tried selling them almost like 12 american bones at first. But no way we settle for that. So we settled for 11... just kidding like 3.

2. Thanksgiving festivities in Kitchen

Happy Thanksgiving! November 25, 2013

Well this coming week is Thanksgiving, so Happy Thanksgiving! We will be having a Chinese/American Thanksgiving hereon Thursday. Our zone will be meeting up and having it at our chapel in Ho Man Tin. It'll be fun. We have a pretty small zone and so only 16 missionaries will be there. Our companionship is bringing the rice and corn. Yep, wouldn't be meal without the rice.

Well good news! Fiona was baptized yesterday! It was a good ole' event. Her son and daughter came as well are her daughter's husband and their two kids. Also her sister came. It was really neat. and afterward she shared her testimony and expressed her desire to show her family her desire to follow Christ and join His church. It was very powerful. She is a pioneer for her family; setting the way for her children and sister. Hopefully her children will have the desire to attend church and allow the gospel to bless their lives. They will be coming to her confimation on Sunday and that'll be great. They are really great people, but unfortunately like most people in Hong Kong, they are busy. That is a large thing that I have seen occur here in HK, time is small. People have to constantly be working and their time is limited. 

I am very impressed and very grateful for the families (members and not) that put their families first. Sometimes it's not taking off work for something, but it is in sacrificing. When work doesn't allow time off, I have seen people sacrifice sleep and meals so they can spend time with their families. This is really powerful to me as it shows me to place what's important first. There is always time for what is important. This has really helped me reflect and see how I am using my time and what my true commitment to this mission is.

Well this week we had a pretty cool experience. So one night as we were out finding, we were walking over in this area that we've only been to once before. As we were walking down the sidewalk, there was like a groupish of people (got off a bus/out of a store) well as we walked passed them, I noticed last second that a guy looked at my tag (happens all of the time) But as we continued to walk, his face came into my mind again and then I just knew I needed to turn around. I thought "turn around" and then felt like the Holy Spirit gave me a shove in the shoulder. So I turned around. I knew why too, for him. So I turn around and see him down the street like 20 meters away and he was standing there looking at us.

I kind of waved and picked up pace to him and he waved us over. We got up to him and the whole situation was going off I just was like. "hey. how are you? Leih hou ma? What's up?" just like no idea what to say. Then we talked introduced ourselves and chatted with him. He said he had friends who were members that went to BYU and lived other places and always curious about us. So we talked and exchanged numbers. He was heading to Singapore for work that next morning and had things to finish but we will be meeting him this coming week upon return! This experience was really neat. Heavenly Father obviously needed us to talk to him and wouldn't allow us not to.

 Also this was another proof of prayers being answered. The previous night, I prayed to God asking Him to guide me to one person that next day. I fully felt the faith for it and really desired it. President Hawks told us "be careful what you pray for, because you will get it. God will give you what you pray for and desire." So that night, Heavenly Father led me to a man that he prepared for us. He proved to me, He listens to each prayer. He proved once again to me, that this is His and Christ's work. He proved to me, that faith will bring blessings.This was once again a tender mercy of the Lord. Nephi's words sure are true in the end of chapter 1:20about tender mercies. 

I am grateful and thankful to be out here and trying to help others. I am thankful for the testimony of knowing God loves us and that He really does. It always makes things easier and better knowing that. (that is my thanksgiving thankful)

Loves,

Elder Townsend

Special friend and new convert Fiona

Hey You!! November 19, 2013

Well I don't have much to write about this week.

 I saw Jimmy's pictures of his bike wreck, that is NUTS. So wild. Anyways, life is good.

We had temple visit today so that is why I email now. 

This Sunday we will have Fiona's baptism so that is exciting!! She is super cool and awesome. Her boyfriend came in from America and he will be here for it! I think he is the one who introduced her to the gospel. She took lessons in America as well.

Well on a night, our neighbors moved out of their apartment. So since we were home at 9 (we don't have to be home til 10 if we are teaching a lesson in this mission because we are shifted back a half hour), we were able to help them. It was hilarious, we come, carry out tons of stuff, find out they are moving down the street and have only one little cart, so we carry it down the middle of the street up to their new place. They were super grateful and took us to get dessert the next night. They said, God had to of sent us. I guess they just don't know how us Americans move people out. Especially Mormon ones. haha They were way cool, just a guy and his girlfriend. They are 20's. We laughed and had a good talk. He isn't too interested in religion but thinks you should treat everyone good. He said he will be going to America one day and to new york. Has family there ish. Told me to hit him up later and also after the mission so we can go to a NBA game. haha

Well, a really neat experience. Back in Tai Po i got to serve with an Elder Lam. He is in Australia now (got a pic of him with my friend Elder White from HighSchool!) and anyways, he is a convert and this is his ward. Well this last week, we got to meet up with his mum and dad! We were able to teach lesson and chat for a while. We taught about tuning in to the spirit and allowing to guide their lives. Related it to their son out in the field. They have cheng'd out missionaries every once and a while, but they want to learn the lessons now and we are able to work with them! Such a blessing to help them. It's funny because Elder Lam told me in the past to got teach his parents one day! so pretty awesome. I am mainly excited to teach them so hopefully when they are baptized they can prepare to go to the temple to be sealed together when Elder Lam gets home. That would be the coolest thing to happen. Teaching them is a great opportunity as well, it just feels like a happy loving envirnoment and just is great. 

Well that's all I got for now. Sorry not much more. 

Love you,

Elder Townsendandsfgasgbowe4gt

 zone conference &the canto boys from the MTC and sis moody because she wished she was one

snake soup (this place was on tv)