And if it so be that ye should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
Doctrine & Covenants 18:15

Monday, May 31, 2010

This is what's new after Christmas . . .

Wednesday December 30, 2009

Hey, not much to say here. So Christmas day was great. I got some good presents. Elder Jeppesen's mom sent us some Christmas stockings full of fun stuff. You know sugar and a pen and a face towel and some cute stuff like that. Anyway, then we had a white elephant exchange and I got a white shirt and some body lotion and some shower gel. It was really cool. Sister Chambers, one of the senior couple missionaries made some apple pie and some ham and it was soooo good. She makes ham kinda like you do. It tasted great that's all I know. Anyway, today is the 31 of December and we are going to Taipa. It is a place in Macau and we are going to see the Dragon Show. It will be awesome and then we are going to the New Years Eve party at the church. We obviously can't stay up until 12 midnight, but we can stay till 10:30 pm, I think. That should be ok. Anyway, things are great here. Hope things are good at home. See you later. Have a great day.

Love Rachel

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Improvement on the horizon . . .

December 18th, 2009

Guiness Book of World Records hugh? Well... maybe I do hold that record. Who knows (lol). I have only 45 minutes to talk on Christmas Day. They don't want us to use more time than that. So if you have any questions you want to ask me, write them down so you don't forget what you wanted to ask. Hey, hopefully Auntie Diane will be there too at our house. So you went to the Motorcycle show without me. :( Just kidding, sounds like you had a ton of fun. I may go next year, if I can. We could make it a family thing you know. Might be fun. It's just a suggestion, don't take my comment for much. By the way, let me tell you about work. Work + joy = miracles. Here in Macau whether or not you want to see miracles, you see them. Some miracles stand out more than others, some are harder to look for. In the end, if you look and expect them, you will find them. I guarantee. Anyway, I am having a great time in Macau. It's the best. I love it so much. President Chan says he is seeing an improvement with me and my Cantonese. I think that is WONDERFUL. He was really happy the other day when I went for an interview. He said he was happy b/c I was happy. I think that is good. I can't be happier right now. It really is missionary work and living the Gospel that makes us happy. Anyway, got to go, see you later, love you,

Rachel

First week in Macau . . .

December 17, 2009

So my first week in Macau was the BEST! We went to the water show yesterday. The water show has water moving to the music. It's really something spectacular to see. I really enjoyed it. They played some good songs and the water looked so cool. Anyway, my apartment here in Macau is hugh. There are only 4 sisters in the whole apartment. I am working really hard, and I think I might have found the one person who I knew in the Pre-existence. It is really awesome. This girl's name is A-Tihng. She is really nice. I like her, but she talks sooooooo much. Even more than me. It's crazy. No worries. I love her anyway. They say that every missionary has their "someone". Well A-Tihng is mine. Even if she is a recent convert, it makes no difference in the end. Anyway, she called us up the other day and she was feeling really down. She kept telling me that she was stupid. She is 20 years old and in form 3. Form 3 is like 9th grade kinda. She is doing adult ed school, I guess. Not too sure. Anyway, I let her know that she is not stupid and that Heavenly Father loves her. She didn't understand that too much, and just told me she was confused. Eventually she felt better about herself after we told her to go and pray. In the end she was ok. It was kinda sad though. I really like her and she likes to worry about me. For instance she worried that I was eating too much junk food and told me nicely to stop eating that garbage. She also told me yesterday to wear more clothes b/c it was cold outside. She really has a good heart and means well. I like her anyway, no matter what. So just to let you know, I will be calling hone on Christmas Day. It will be Christmas Day in Hong Kong, which is still Christmas Eve for all of you. I want to call home at about 8 pm or so. I hope that is ok. Let me know if it is not. That's about it. Have a great day. Love you,

Rachel

A New Area . . .

December 10, 2009

OK, are you ready for this? Are you really ready for this? Yes, I have a new district leader in a new area. I got transferred. You will NEVER guess where. I got transferred to Macau. Ya, the best place in all of my mission. Let me tell you about Macau, for further info on it please see Sister Wong. Ginette or Kim Banfield would know about this place. Here is what I know about it. It's a peninsula. It looks kinda like a little Italian Las Vegas. It has streets like they have in Italy. This is not an Italian place. This place was colonized by the Portuguese. So most people here are Portuguese and Chinese mix. It's really neat. So to get here you need to take a ferry boat. Then you have to go through customs with a passport. It's like an entirely different country, but not. Macau is just the best. Macau is really small but we can go anywhere here. It's so cool. Macau just has everything a person could want. It also has a million casinos. Ya, but the best part about the casinos are the free shows. Ya, they have some appropriate shows for missionaries. We can go see them on P-day if we want. They also have lots and lots of scooters here. Tell Dad that one. LOL! Anyway, I'm so excited to be here. I got transferred b/c my last area closed. The Lord had other things in mind. I'm okay with that. In the end I'm just excited to be in Macau. It's the best place EVER! So I won't be teaching that wonderful family. The Leih family. The Yuen Long 2 Elders will teach them. We will see what happens from there. The wife is now back from Mainland. I'm just so excited that's all. Anyway, not much to tell you. So that's about it. Tell Helen I say hi. See you later in 8 months. :)

Love,
Rachel

Having a hard time . . .

December 3, 2009

Anyway, life is great. We have ZERO people progressing to baptism. Yup, ZERO! Actually I don't care. I stopped caring a few days ago. I'm sick and tired of telling people to do the 3 basics (read scriptures, pray and come to church). We call them the basic 3. No one does them. Actually, that's not true. They do 2 out of the 3, they just never come to church. I'm sick and tired of telling people to do something they don't want to do. I want to commit them to do something they will ACTUALLY do. Seriously I've had it. My companion says to commit them to read and pray and come to church every time. I couldn't CARE LESS! You know why? Because why am I going to commit them to do something they WON'T DO! I want to commit them to things they will do. Is that seriously too hard to ask. NOPE! So I just don't commit them to read and pray and come to church. I commit them to do other things, like read the pamphlet we gave them or, I don't know, something along those lines. Anyway, I'm sick and tired of it. I was sick last week too. Physically sick. Sister Chan asked me if I went to the doctor. I said "no". Then she told me to go see one. So I went this Monday. He's a new doctor in the mission. He is really good. He told me to take cough medicine. So I found the Chinese one we have at home. It's in the red bottle. You know the one I am talking about? It's the gross nasty tasting one? Remember? Anyway, i found it here and am taking it. So gross but it helps. Anyway, he also told me to snort salt water. Ya, you heard me right, salt water. CRAZY! However, let me testify that it works. I was feeling really sick on Monday and by Tuesday/Wednesday I was fine. The salt basically helps reduce all the inflamed part of the throat and nose and such. It also helps with post-nasal drip. Yes, again you heard that right. POST-NASAL DRIP. Ya try it. Put a teaspoon of salt in some luke warm water. Mix it together and then snort it up each nostril 3-4 times. I guarantee it will help. You have to do the snorting 4 times a day for 3 days or so. I really helps though, I promise. Anyway, I feel much better now. I just felt horrible the last few days. I'm great now. Anyway, I may move or get a new companion or just stay with the companion I have. I don't really know what will happen. They may even close our area, and we may both be moving, I don't know. We are losing sisters really fast. They are all leaving the mission b/c their mission time is over. Once I start the next move I will have only 5 moves left. Crazy huh? Which means when I get down to 4 moves I will have only 6 months left. I know, time flies. Anyway, not much else to say. Tell Jonathan I say hi. Tell him to check his e-mail. I like sending him e-mails and letters and stuff. So Christmas is coming up soon. That's great. I still have the box you told me not to open. It's in my desk UNOPENED! I'm tempted to open it sooner than later. I don't know, we will see how long I can wait. Other than that, things are very good. Can't complain. By the way, remember Erin King, she got married. Yes, you heard that right too. She got married. Yup, this is a Merkley now. She wrote me a letter and told me that I needed to meet him. So when I get back I will. I also have to see Amanda Mitchell. She served a mission in Montreal, remember? Ya, so that is about it. Nothing special happening over here. See you later,

Love
Rachel

Countdown . . . not quite yet!

November 26, 2009

Hey, thanks for the e-mail. I'm doing great. Things are great. The letter I got was from an elder in the MTC. His name is Elder Winger. We like to send mail to each other. I send him a letter and a picture every once in a while and he sends me like a letter and 5-7 photos of his mission. Guess what? I'm going into my 6th move soon, in about 2 1/2 weeks. This means I will have only 5 moves left. When I get down to 4 moves I will have 6 months left. Neat huh? I am doing great. My investigators are not really progressing, but I am happy anyway. The world is still good. I don't know. I am super happy. Anyway, tell Jonathan i say hi and that I love him. See you later.

Rachel

Stop reading. . .

November 19, 2009

Dear Mom, Dad and Jonathan,

Stop reading this Mom if you are by yourself. You need to read this to the whole family. So how are things going on at home? I got the e-mail you all sent. Except you, Jonathan, you didn't send me anything. Kinda sad. :( Sad day. Anyway, other then that, how are things going? What is life like over there on the other side of the world? Hong Kong is great. I got a letter recently from the people in my college ward. It was a nice card for Halloween. An elder I knew at the MTC sent me a card for my birthday. It was really funny. I enjoyed that. The family I told you about (whose wife is in mainland China) has not come back yet. She will be back soon, I hope. The weather here is getting colder. It dropped to 10 degrees C. No one here believes in heat. Yup, no heat anywhere. I'm glad it doesn't snow. It would just bother me if it did. Our investigators are not really progressing over here. However, Angel is making a small effort. She is a smoker who lives by herself. She call us everyday to see if we are free to teach her. She likes to hold the missionaries in her hand. She likes to control when we see her and when we don't. Actually we are teaching her that she can't just do what she wants with us. We are busy too. Anyway, pray for Angel that she will make the change she needs, to come to church and to continue to change. I want her to progress so much. We shall see what happens. Other then that, life is good. My health is ok. My intestines are going crazy because of all the fiber I am eating for breakfast. Ya I make a point to eat breakfast every day. It's really helping me. Anyway, ya that's about it. Nothing else to really say. The mission is good, and President Chan is happy with me. I don't know LOL! My companion is great. She is so nice. I really like her. Anyway, got to go, see you in 9 months.

Love,
Rachel

On this side of the world. . .

November 12, 2009

Well... here is what goes on, on this side of the world. I got the package with the Christmas stuff in it. I saw the box and I wanted to open it. My companion said she would send an incriminating photo of me home if I tried to open it, so I won't open it yet. Don't worry. So you joined a gym huh? That's good. I hope you are getting plenty of exercise and rest. It's always good. I thought you joined the Jewish gym once before. Right? Sounds very familiar. It's near Al's house or where he used to live. Kinda in a similar area to where the Bills live. I think I know the gym you are talking about. Anyway, drink more water. Make it a goal and do it. I drink water all the time. You have to over here. It's SOOOOOO HOT! It's still hot here. You know if I were you I would pray about the vaccine. If you feel it is not right then don't get it. It's up to you. Do whatever the Spirit tells you to do. That's what I would do. Ya while I am here I wash my hands all the time. I use hand sanitizer too, all the time. It helps. I try to be safe with my hands. I try not to touch so many bad things. I try not to touch my face after I have touched something gross. It's ok. I'm being careful about germs here. Don't worry. I also got all the vitamins in the package you sent me. Thanks for the vitamins. I really appreciate it. Oh by the way, about the person who needs a Christmas present, Sister Chan said to send something in there that could be good for an Elder as well as something for a sister. So 2 things. One male and one female. How about that, ok? Anyway, not much to say. I am enjoying life and it is good. My new companion is very good too. I like her. Anyway, see you later.

Love
Rachel
xxxooo

Received a Giant Package . . .

November 5th, 2009

Hey, I almost forgot, I got the giant package you sent me. I LOOOOOVVVEEEE the stuff in it. Thank you for the B-day present. I love candy. Like you didn't know that. Thanks so much for the present and the writing paper and the candy. I love it. By the way, the College 11th ward sent me a halloween card. It was nice of them. Thanks.

Rachel

A good story . . .

October 22, 2009

Hi,

So I e-mailed Jonathan today. He is letting me know what goes on in Utah. Interesting. Not bad, but very interesting. He wants me to move to SUU. I don't think I am going to do that. I actually want to either stay at UVU or go to BYU.

Anyway, here is a good story. My companion and I were going to this apartment building to knock on someone's door. We knew the person behind the door, or so we thought. We knock and find out that the person we want doesn't live in this apartment. We ended up finding a woman and her 2 1/2 year old son. We asked her if we could share the gospel with her. She said to wait until her husband comes back, then we could come back. So we came back and taught the family. We asked the family what they wanted to get out of the gospel. The father said that he just wanted a religion the whole family could be in together, and the wife wanted a religion where she could have an eternal family. This is the perfect family. We are teaching them and they are AWESOME! The Lord has blessed us. I mean 3 baptisms at the start of my move here (Yuen Long-more northern Hong Kong)and now this family, amazing!

In other news, my companion and I made a deal with one of our investigators that if she would quit smoking we would stay away from certain foods. I picked to stay away from pineapple bread. Let me tell you I am DYING for a soda soooooooo bad. You have no idea. I love soda. I haven't had a soda in almost 2 weeks. Soda makes me feel sick or tired. It's going good. Our investigator is trying to quit smoking. She is trying to see if she can stay away from smoking for 1 week. We will see what happens.

By the way tell Dad if he wants to know where I am that I am Yuen Long. He can tell George Chow that one. So by the way i need a question answered. what kind of shoes should I get? I need to get new shoes, badly! You have no idea. I ruined one pair that we got from the Panda store in Fairview Mall. My Dansko shoes are still in perfect condition. So what kind of shoes should I get? Made by what company? You know Clarks, Ecco, Dansko, etc... So don't worry so much about it, I still have another pair of shoes. Anyway, got to go, love you lots and lots.

Rachel

Birthday Time . . .

October 7, 2009

So ya, for my birthday, it was awesome. I got a cheesecake. Some of the missionaries bought it for me. It wasn't too expensive. By the way I got the package and the card. Thank you soooooooo much. I loved it. Anyway, ya Jonathan doesn't really write me unless you tell him too. Tell him I am sending him a letter. He needs to keep all the pieces I give him. It's important. It's the plan of salvation model. Anyway, things are going great here. I will see conference this week. It will be great. I already heard so much about it. Anyway, not much else to say. I enjoy it here. We just had interviews with Pres. Chan and he says I am happier and improving more. I thanked him for the comment. Yesterday was a great day. We went over to a recent converts house and helped her weed her HUGH garden. Ya well...this garden didn't have flowers in it really. Instead it had aloe vera plants EVERYWHERE! I'm not kidding. Then the lady (whose house we were at) told us to cut up some of the plants and to put some of the aloe vera in our hair. We did. It was funny and messy and a little gross. I liked it anyway. It made my hair feel soooooooooo nice. When we washed out the stuff my hair felt like silk. I'm not kidding either. It was really fun. She fed us too. The food was ok. It was some soup with seaweed in it and it had shark fin in it too. It was ok. Not too bad. I wouldn't eat it again let's say. So everything was good. I love it here in Yuen Long. Anyway, can you do me a favor. Can you send me dad's new address at work. He told me he moved places. I need that new address. I am making him a hugh suprise. I also need the logo he has for his company. I need both those things immediately. I am making him an awesome surprise. I also need some pictures of some of the bikes and things he has. If you could send me those I would really appreciate it. Thanks mom. Please send me those. The surprise will be awesome, I promise. Anyway, got to go, we are going to Monkey Mountain soon. See you soon.

Love,
Rachel