P-day - Hong Kong's Highest Mountain
Dear Friends and Family,
It was a very busy week this past week. We had a lot of ups this week. Yesterday at church we saw our two main investigators: Gary and Uncle Fighter. They are both middle aged men. Gary rides a wheelchair. They are both doing pretty well right now. We also saw two people from the mainland of China. They were on vacation in Hong Kong. The wife spoke pretty good Cantonese, but the husband only speaks Mandarin. We saw them on the street a few times. They don't have a Hong Kong phone number, so we couldn't contact them. They said they would come to church. (In my mind it just sounded like the classic fong story) So I forgot about that couple. But then they actually came to church! But they went back to their hometown in mainland China last night. Which means we will most likely never see them again, but a great seed has been planted!
A big story that sticks out this week is our encounter with a girl from Thailand. She speaks Mandarin, not Cantonese. She speaks very poor English, so we had to communicate in English. It was pretty hard. But here is the story she told us: She is studying in Mainland. She came to Hong Kong for vacation. While she was here she had a dream. In the dream she saw a door with a green light. The door was open and a cross was floating amidst the door frame. There were also two young men beckoning her to enter the door. After that dream, she was walking through the MTR (subway) and saw two young men holding a Book of Mormon in their hands. She could not contact them because they were getting on the train and it was crowded. But she said a prayer in her mind to God saying: If you are real, God, then I will see these men again. Then she saw Elder Falk and I in the park and came up to us saying she wanted to know how God understands her. We taught her twice, but she also went back to mainland China to continue studying.
Another funny thing that happened just two nights ago was at our ward activity. After dinner, they thought it would be funny to send the white missionaries up to the stage to sing Cantonese pop songs. The game is that the audience has to guess what we are singing. We had earphones in and tried to sing along to it. They totally just used us for their entertainment, but I'm not complaining, it was fun. Love you all! Have a great Valentines Day! I won't, because I'm on my mission! :)
(Excerpt from letter to parents)
...We got a lot of work done this week. Tears were shed. Transfer calls are tomorrow. I could be leaving... we will see. I'm a bit attached to this area, but I know change must come eventually. We looked into old records of Butterfly. This area has struggled (as far as missionary work) and now it's alive and healthy. Every missionaries efforts have added up :) I think I understand now why Pres. Hawks put a baby missionary in Butterfly. It might be because I knew nothing of what a classic easy area looks like in Hong Kong, so when I got to Butterfly I had no preconceived notions that it was hard.
Had a lot of divine encounters this week. Split second timing running into people. That always happens on the mission. For example, We decided to sit down for a moment and call some investigators for an activity that night, and as we sat I felt like we should text Anson (a previous contact from the week before). As we started the text he walks around the corner and we talk to him. He didn't schedule or agree to see us again, so it wasn't the consequence we hoped for. But I think God gave us that appointment so we know he is still mindful of us. I can feel comforted with what I've done because I know God has led me.
It's been a good week. love you Mom & Dad!
Love,
Elder Phillips
Buddhist Monastery
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