salted cookies and sushi

It's hard believe I've been out a month! Time really does fly. This last week was pretty crazy! Let's see...on Thursday we visited Hoh Poh Po, a grandma that's in the hospital because of her back. She was a former investigator and now we are trying to visit her twice a week. She is the sweetest lady and she is so nice to me haha she always compliments me and smiles, she asks us to sit on the bed with her and everything! It's so funny. Our investigator Wendy is doing pretty well. She is so sweet and she came to church! She really enjoyed it too and gets along with the members like magic! She isn't reading the book of mormon though because she says she is too busy reading other things. We finished teaching her the restoration last night and really stressed that this isn't just any book. I think she knows that but she just needs to recognize that she knows. We showed her the restoration video and the spirit was really strong. I just want her to have the witness and testimony, to feel what i feel whenever I talk about or listen to Joseph's experience, but I have to remember to be patient. Everyone is different, everyone learns and grows at different paces. Kind of like with this language. You just can't ever compare...life just doesn't work that way. One of our investigators, Cherry who is 11, is doing well. She retains everything we teach her like nobodies business! I'm always in awe when she answers questions or teaches others things about the gospel. But she feels she's too young to be baptized. She's also an 11-year-old girl hahah you know how we can be at 11...pretty wild! haha we just hope and pray that she really strengthens her testimony and has that burning desire to be baptized. Another thing about coming out here and something i have learned is the Lord's timing is HUGE. Sometimes we blame ourselves for not teaching well enough, speaking well enough or whatever it may be because the person decides to ignore our phone calls and doesn't want to be baptized. But the Lord provides a way and he has a plan for each of us. When those people are prepared, they will be baptized.

Saturday our ward had an open house and it was phenomenal! It was really awesome. In the relief society room they had it all decorated and would teach about family history and whatnot, (they had activities in each room and you could win prizes) the primary room just had things to color for the kids, the young men's room had these cool games and activities that the young men or scouts built, in the young women's room they had music playing and the personal progress things set up and then they had beads for all the different values to make keychains. Any non-members that came, the members would teach them about what yw, ym, rs, whatever it was and they could do the activities. Upstairs in the cultural hall they had a mini talent show singing songs, primary kids signing songs, and so on and then dinner at the end. We basically taught lessons throughout it to anyone that wanted to learn more and it was pretty crazy! Luckily we had a summer missionary with us so we could go on splits! Our summer missionary, Maggie Ho, is AWESOME! I love her so much! We totally clicked and have had such a good time. She helps me with my Cantonese and I help her with her English. She is such a good missionary and knows so much about the gospel. She's only 16 but she says she would like to serve a full-time mission some day :) haha her brother is serving in Cali. I'm trying to convince her that byu-provo is the best plus I will be there in a few years, but we'll see what she ends up doing haha. She's just been a huge blessing this last week and I know that she was called to serve with us. I tell her about the US and how everyone drives cars and she's amazed! haha and how we have a pool! She loves swimming! I told her about our dogs and their personalities haha she thinks it's so funny and wants to visit our home someday haha. So this week has been crazy because we've been doing EEFY again! Mon we played games and taught lesson 1, and tuesday we set up an iron rod/ plan of salvation course in the church which was the BOMB.com! Each person went through and had to hold to the string. There were obstacles in the way and everything as well and then we had people trying to tempt. In one room we had Elder Smith with cookies and he would tell them they could try a little. The cookies were COVERED in salt haha let's just say there were some hilarious reactions. Then outside there was water (after eating the cookies being in the sun and all, that would feel quite refreshing!) But Elder Sutherland created some terrible tasting drink haha only one kid drank it and i have it on video haha so awesome. At the end we had ice cream and everyone seemed to enjoy the game! Then we taught lesson 2 and tied in the plan of salvation with the game. Yesterday we had two ladies from our ward come and teach us to make sushi (no raw meat though). I made and ate my first sushi roll haha I think it made me sick but I at least can say it tried now. I have pics that i'll send sometime soon. So Mulan is on our movie list and we get to watch it today!! Booo ya!There's nothing like watching Mulan in China! Am i right or am i right?

So i'll tell you quickly about where I live. It's in Kwun Tong and I'm right next to a huge market! I'm pretty sure I told you about it but it smells horrid. It's always busy and crowded and they sell a lot of food just on the streets. We don't have any buildings other than apartments around. The church in Kwun Tong is up on this hill and you have to walk up these steep stairs to get to it. It's a nice workout :) My church buidling in Po Lam is really nice. One of the nicer ones in Hong Kong. It has three stories, the bottom is the offices, classrooms, and baptistry, first floor is primary, ym, yw, rs, and chapel. and on the 2 floor is the cultural hall and kitchen. Good stuff! haha There are a lot of trees in my area and it's really beautiful. Not a touristy area. I think I mentioned that these people play chinese music each night in the park by the bus station so last night we went over and listened to a few songs. I really felt like I was in China :). A few more funny facts about Hong kong, the ambulances drive SUPER slow! ha kind of sad. I may have written this before too but if umberellas are out it's because it's sunny. if NO people are out it's because it's raining. It's so funny! You just grow to love the quirks of different cultures even if you don't always understand them. I am continuing to learn each day. The Lord is blessing me and I'm so grateful that I've had this opportunity to serve the Lord and these people. I have changed so much and I hope to continue to change. I have so much to work on still but I'm noticing my weaknesses and figure out ways I can strengthen them. But the only way that is possible is through the help of the Lord. I love you all and think of you often. Keep pressing forward! Add oil! Ga yauh!

Love,
Kahm Ji Muih

another week bites the dust!

I just wanted to add this note which helps explain Rachel's email. Krystal, Rach's older sister, has been working in South Korea and she had planned to go to Hong Kong way before Rachel got her call. So during her summer vacation from teaching, she planned a trip to Hong Kong. She packed up a bunch of "westerner" food that she had, filling her suitcase to the brim and took it to her starving sister, dropping it off at Rach's mission office that is located across the street from the Hong Kong Temple. Krystal actually had so much, she had to make two trips to the office and decided to go to the temple the second time. She had arrive early in the waiting area for the next session and had closed her eyes to ponder and pray. Her prayer was a sweet, simple prayer telling Heavenly Father that it was okay that she didn't get to see Rachel (it's not allowed in the mission) but that she was thankful for the opportunity to be there in the same city with Rachel and she could feel a bonding closeness and a sweet spirit. During her prayer she could hear people also entering the chapel area and sitting next to her. In the back of her mind she was curious why the person next to her sat so close to her (invading her personnal bubble). When she finished and opened her eyes, looking at the person sitting there and it was Rachel. Rachel was there with her whole zone for the very first time. It was a sweet tender mercy for Krystal and Rachel for they love each other so much. There is not a better place in the world to bump into your missionary sister than serving in the House of the Lord. So that is the story. It is sweet and brings tears to my eyes everytime I tell it. Love Mama Kiene

I can't believe how fast time flies!! It's out of control. I swear I was just writing home! hahaha well let's see, last week I did run into Krystal at the temple! I didn't feel guilty because it was a complete coincidence; I just made sure others knew it was too. Everyone was super cool about it and it was a special experience. We didn't talk much but it was still great! So last week we visited a family (S. Chinison, Me, E. Lau, E. Smith----we are all the missionaries over our area Tseung Kwan O) in our ward. It's a woman and her nine year old daughter Angel, who is absolutely adorable and super shy. We all got to know each other for a bit and then I shared a brief message. When we were getting ready to leave she said she had some food for us haha she pulled out a bowl of beautiful plums! I was so excited! Then she pulled out a bag that had what it looked like to me, as Elvis bread from Lord of the Rings hahaha! Well it was something wrapped in a bamboo leaf. We all open them up and inside were something she made out of a rice paste and red beans inside. S. Chinison and E. Lau are Chinese so they ate it without hesitation. E. Smith and I slowly nibbled on ours and pretty much focused all efforts we could produce to not throw up hahaha there is more to that story that I will have to share another time. I took a picture of the extras that she gave us. Anyway, the plum that followed was probably the best thing I've eaten since coming here! Haha oh I love experiences like this! And I'm not being sarcastic. They make me feel like I'm serving a mission. You always hear about the stories but actually experiencing them is so much cooler! So my zone (Hong Kong Island Zone) has been going on a lot of exchanges this move. We are the only zone in the mission that has more than 4 sisters, so we have a coordinating sister over all of us. She is required to go on 24's with each sister. So we have been playing musical chairs quite a bit! I have been able to serve on the Island near the Wan Chai chapel, which is absolutely beautiful! And Sister Cecil, the coordinating sister, came with me to Po Lam (TKO) this week. She is really cool, tall, white, and we get along really well! I met her cousin in the MTC and she said we were alike haha. She only has one move left though. The zone leaders said that our exchange theme was happiness and we had to capture that happiness via picture haha so we have some awesome pics that I'll send home sometime. Having correlation meeting in a child daycare facility, getting locked out of the chapel, haha good stuff. We also have an international zone that speaks English and works with the Philippian women. I was chosen to go on 24's with Sister Salenga and it was really cool! In the morning we went out finding and just contacted anyone that we could. Then we took a lady back to the church who turned out to be a less active! The Elders had a baptism at 11 so she and another investigator came for that and I visited with her a bit after. She has two children at home, and her son has Down's Syndrome. She is having a really hard time and cried quite a bit when I talked with her. But we just tried to comfort her and made sure that she understood that coming back to church would be the best thing for her. She knew that and I know she felt the spirit during the service. Because the women can't choose what day they want off, the church holds sacrament meeting from Tues-Sunday. So I went to sacrament meeting on Saturday! It is really amazing and special that the women have such a privilege.

The work in TKO is starting to pick up. My comp and I are working hard to find people, and we have made calls to past investigators and potential investigators and have set 3 appointments up from that. We have a few girls that have baptismal dates and we recently found out that Sybi (turned 12 today) may actually get permission from her parents to be baptized! That is one huge problem here. You'll find those that seem SO prepared to receive baptism and are stopped because they can't receive permission. It's sad, but at the same time, the Lord always provides a way. They will be baptized when they need to be. We have also been meeting with a woman, Wendy! She is also great! Last night we and a member Monica met with her. Monica and she clicked so well it was like magic! We planned on teaching the first lesson but it just led to the importance of attending church and what blessings come from baptism. I didn't understand a whole lot going on, but I knew that we needed to focus on those things. My companion and I were so happy afterwards because although we shared scripture and said things that were not planned, everything flowed so smoothly. We will meet with her again on Sat to help her with English and teach her a lesson and she said she would come to church! It's so hard getting people to commit to coming to church but it's so important! We have the opportunity to receive revelation, to reflect on the savior and his atonement, to renew our covenants, re-evaluate ourselves and our life, and become better. We partake of the sacrament which is so special and sacred. It's my prayer that the people here, especially those investigating the church can feel that. I'm out of time; I wish I could share more and more! But know that I love you all! I think about you every day! But I also know I'm supposed to be here. It's hard, but it's right. The language is difficult, but I know I can do it. It's taken me a bit to believe that, but I know I can. We have to go pick up our summer missionary (youth that will be our companion for a few weeks!) ga yauh! love you!

Thank you everyone else for your love, support, and prayers!

Happy Birthday Mamah!! I hope it's an AWESOME one (on Sunday of course). Ok I'm going to write this real quick! I don't have a lot of time but it's been another crazy but good week. I always experience things that I wish to share in the email but then when I actually get here I forget everything haha let's see...a few funny things...oh! People always put the toilet seats up AFTER they go to the restroom. And we're talking the women's restrooms here hahaha also, burping here is normal. Girls, boys, doesn't matter who are what you are, you can burp and not say anything after and it's like nothing ever happened hahaha I saw some pushes in the shape of characters which I thought was pretty cool! OH, so I agree with Krystal, the food here is not very good. At least not to me. Last p-day we went to a Korean bbq and it’s a buffet and you cook your own meat at the table and everything and it was SOO good. I have eaten a few good things here, but when I see fried chicken and duck with their heads still on it just makes me want to cry. Sometimes it's a mystery as to what I’m eating. The other day I thought I was eating sweet and sour pork and it was extra crunchy. So I was a little nervous as to whether it was really pork or not...so I took a bite into another piece and it definitely had bones. I am still alive though!! And my body seems to be functioning alright so no worries! So my area is still going a little slowly...we have been going out finding and we did find a guy Dennis who actually saw the missionaries six years ago. We taught a lesson and then set up to meet with him again. We called and he kept his commitments and everything but we can't meet with him for another week or so because he's pretty busy. Plus, we have to turn him over to the elders anyway, but it's just cool to see someone that's receptive to us, at least for right now. The language... well I feel like I am understanding a little more but my speaking is not improving much...or even worse than before, but I’m making goals to speak more and really push myself. I had to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting in Cantonese and it was rough but I got through it haha I was emotional, nervous, and it was in the morning so I didn't sound too hot. But it's ok! I probably should have clarified that not only am I new to the ward but I’m new to Hong Kong! I had people going off and who knows what afterwards and I just starred at them blankly and then would start to laugh haha everyone is nice though, especially when they find out I’ve only been here 2 weeks haha. I have a lot to learn but it will all come slowly. Tuesday we had our annual mission tour and we meet with some of the area seventy and the mission president, their wives, etc., and we have a big conference for most of the day. There were musical numbers, talks, food, and then a bowl. In that bowl was all the missionaries’ names and they would draw out of it for people to speak hahahaha well the topic for the tour was recognizing the Spirit. And the Spirit told me clearly that I would be in the next group of random speakers. So when Elder Watson starred at the paper and paused I knew exactly who he was going to say. Not many people know how to pronounce our last name ;) haha so he says, "Rachel...." and I raise my hand and say, "Kiene!" haha so I spoke once again for everyone. It was funny because earlier he accidently called one of the elders 'sister' and the elder got up and said he had been called a lot of things as a missionary, but never called a woman. Then when I got up I said, "You know, I've only been her two weeks and I've already been called Elder twice!" (True statement) haha everyone laughed and then I proceeded to give my talk. I hope it went well, I was a little nervous but I definitely felt more confident than I have in the past. I know heavenly father has put me in specific situations for a reason. He knows my weaknesses, he knows my strengths. He knows how my strengths can help others that I’m around at this exact time. He also knows others strengths that can help strengthen MY weaknesses at this exact time. It's not easy, but I know I’m becoming a better person because of it. I know what I need to do to be better, but it's really learning how to apply my thoughts and turn them into action. It comes yat bouh yat bouh. Step by step. My love for the book of Mormon continues to grow. There is so much to learn from it and it brings me such happiness. I hope that I can find those that are prepared to accept this gospel. Those that will really understand what the book of Mormon can bring them, what the atonement can do for them personally. Well mom, thank you for the package! It came at the perfect timing! Literally! I was on 24's when I got it and I was going to have to use a mildewy towel. Boo-ya! Tell Sis. Heiner thank you! Thank you everyone else for your love, support, and prayers! I know that this gospel is true, that it really can change each of our lives, and also CONTINUE to change our lives. We all need to continually become better. Well I love you!! Happy birthday Mom!!

love,
Kahm Ji Muih

PS I also had fungus toes...or athlete's foot :) but I’ve been putting the fungus stuff on them and I think it's almost gone. Oh yeah!

mat yeh wah?

Wednesday, August 3, 2011 7:12 PM

Oh man I don't even know where to start!! It has been a crazy time here. Yes, hot and sweaty but that doesn't phase me much. We only have AC right when we go to sleep which I am SO grateful for, but besides that we just cook in our place. Whoever invented the fan should be blessed. I'm trying to think back to last week...so last week we taught a lady Sis Pang from mainland and we taught her everyday, Thursday to Sunday and Sunday she was baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost! I always had a hard time understanding her but I understood enough to know that she had a testimony. The baptism went well (except the part when they could only fill the font up about 2 ft. Not even exaggerating!) She was baptized 3 times before she completely went under. 3rd times a charm ;). The language is hard. I'm understanding more and more but my speaking I feel isn't improving at all. Sometimes it's hard because I feel like others will speak for me when I struggle versus making me just do it on my own. Kind of like when I was little and would speak for Mike haha Karma!! Anyway, we have quite a few girls investigating but many of them are busy with school because they feel that takes precedence over everything, others can't be baptized yet because their parents won't give permission, etc. It's really sad when that happens. Especially when you know they are ready. So the last couple of days we have been doing finding! OH...finding is hilarious. It's hard but can be rewarding. We just smile and trying to talk to people walking the streets. The first time we went we couldn't find one person to listen to us. It was sad, but I understood slightly what the Savior went through. The people rejected him too. Yesterday we went finding again and we were able to teach a lesson and get quite a few phone numbers. As we were walking we approached a girl, about 16 years old, and before we could mutter a word she yells, Welcome!! She starts going off and who knows what, saying she's from Hong Kong, visited Taiwan for a little and said my Cantonese was great for only being there a week. (they all say that, they are so nice haha) she said she could help me learn Chinese and everything. so then we told her we were missionaries and told her about English class and EFY and she thought it was pretty cool. Then she started laughing and said, "I thought you were a tourist at first!" haha hou gau siu! so funny! Anyway, we were able to meet some really nice people and Ii hope that they will be open to listening to the message that we have.

So a few things about Hong Kong...everyone says the food is amazing (even if you don't like sea food) but I'm struggling a bit in that aspect. But it's ok, they have grocery stores with a good enough variety that I'll be ok. Maybe it's the area we are in or something but I’m not into much of the food. I’m always wanting fruit though haha another thing is the Chinese people believe that drinking cold water is unhealthy (something to do with your body temperature) so drinks are always hot. I asked for water at McDonald’s (yes--I went to McDonald’s yesterday haha so good) and she gave me the cup. Warm water! Not just luke warm, more like hot water haha it’s so funny. Anyway, it's been an adventure here but I’m continually pressing forward! today we are going to a Korean bbq which supposedly everyone loves so that will be fun! I think we cook our own meet at the table. hahaha well I love you all! I hope things are going well and that you are staying busy. I would ask one thing of anyone reading this: Please find a friend and share the gospel with them. Find someone prepared to listen to the message and then ask missionaries to help you teach them. There is so much power that comes from members of the church. Member referrals are so vital! So essential! And when they can come teach with the missionaries it is so powerful. All missionaries are doing their part but we need the members help too! Thanks for everything! I love you!! Oh ps, there is an elder here that is in my district, Elder Smith and we were all talking and he has a brother serving as AP in Montana!! hahahaha what are the odds. Pretty sure he picked Mike up at the airport. He's from Lehi, anyway, small world! Ok love you! Ga yauh!

Kahm Ji Muih aka Sister Piano