Lamma Island

We just went to Lamma Island, this island that’s actually in our area but we never go to because there are no members who live there, and really very little missionary purpose to be there. But it was a fun time and we went by the beach and got to see some wild dogs! It was so gorgeous and the perfect break from the fast-paced city life that I’m used to! The boat ride itself was also gorgeous and worth it alone!

One of our investigators, Dicky, seems to be doing pretty well, but he’s still not ready to commit to baptism quite yet. He has been reading though, and the last time that we saw him we asked if he’d prayed yet and he said that he had said his first ever prayer by himself! No miracles happened, but he said it was good and he felt happy afterwards. He is a little bit lazier, so sometimes it’s harder to meet with him, but things are looking pretty good as of right now!

Sister Yuen is still doing good and keeps talking about how much we have helped her since we started teaching her! She has a couple of very young and not surprisingly very energetic kids who love to run around while we teach. But she was telling us how much they look forward to seeing Sister Percival and me, and how they got so excited to come over and see us! We had the little boy say the prayer at the end of the lesson and it was so cute and he actually did a really good job! She just kept talking about how important family is to her and how she already has felt the gospel bless her family and loves hearing from us. It was such a testifier to me that the basis of all that we do really is family and to help other people drawer nearer to God.

While finding on the street the other day, I waved to this lady decked out in her Buddha beads that was walking the opposite direction as me. She actually stopped, grabbed my hand they way you would if you were about to arm wrestle someone, and then happily patted me on the cheek and then was back on her way before I even had time to react to what had just happened haha. My companion was just standing off the the side staring and laughing at me! The funny part is that it’s really not too uncommon to have encounters like that here! We also ran into a kind of crazy old lady wearing an old fur coat complemented very nicely by a bright Hello Kitty hat. She was speaking half Mandarin with bits of Cantonese and gibberish mixed in, so I understood just a little bit of what she said and it was all very interesting!

We visited an elderly member with the relief society last week and it was such a touching experience. He had had a stroke about 20 years before so he was really incapable of doing much and was confined to a wheelchair in the elderly center. He can’t ever make it to church because he lives far away so it’s really expensive to get him there. As soon as we walked in, he was just so excited to see us and the biggest smile stretched over his face. I couldn’t really understand what he was saying because his speech was very impaired, but we shared a little Christmas message with him and sang a song as well. I just remember how happy he looked!

With Christmas day slowly getting closer and closer, I have appreciated this time to think about the Savior and all of the gifts that His birth and life have given us. There is new Christmas video that I really like that you should check out if you haven’t already seen it (I’ll put the link below). Jesus Christ set the perfect example for us all to follow, one full of love and that truly lighted the lives of those around Him. It can be hard sometimes to think about all of the things that we still need to do in order to become like Him, but it really is so much easier than we make it out to be sometimes. Being a light to others can be as simple as helping someone carry groceries, calling a friend that you haven’t talked to in a while, or sharing a message of hope and encouragement to someone having a hard time. There are so many ways to serve! I know that if you will make an effort to find these small but powerful opportunities to serve, you will also feel more peace and happiness come into your life- and you can also really get into the spirit of giving!