So it happened.

MY FAME HAS BEEN ACHIEVED!!!! The documentary with us in it came out this week and all of the members have been talking to us about it. Every time we talk to someone they always talk about how they saw us on TV the other day. We were really only on it for about 6 minutes, but hey, that’s all I need for my start in the movie industry, right? 😉 The funny part is that I still haven’t seen it yet…. so hopefully it’s good! I’ll let you all know how to get to it as soon as I find out.

Also, we just got calls for what’s happening next transfer and…..I’m staying! This next transfer is especially long, 3 months, so that means that by the end of it I will still be in my first area after 11 months! It’s good though, because I really have learned to love these people so much and would hate to leave!

My random encounter with old people for the week: I was in the park doing exercise one morning and this grandma stopped to shun me for not wearing enough clothes. When it gets even the slightest bit colder, everybody bundles up in their warmest coats and scarves in order to make the treacherous journey outside. I was only wearing a T-shirt (because I was exercising) and so she told me to “jeuk dodi saam!” which literally just means put on more clothes. Probably the only time that I’ll ever hear someone tell that to me haha!

Can I also just say how great this week was?!?!! People have slowly started returning from Mainland China, although we still have quite a few people that we haven’t been able to get into contact with. We did, however, get to schedule some potential investigators that we’ve been trying to meet with for the longest time now which was such a miracle in and of itself! One of the lessons went really interesting. They all went pretty well, but some of them have more interest than others. None of them had any religious background of any kind, they weren’t even Buddhist and didn’t believe in the ancient Chinese religion, so that was kind of hard, but it’s also kind of good to be able to essentially work with a blank slate. We taught Pun taai, and she has the cutest little daughter! They have been coming to some ward activities lately as well, so they already have had quite a bit of exposure which is always good.

We went and visited the Lau family, some ward members, this week and they are seriously like one of the best families ever! The parents brought one of their own parents who isn’t a member, as well as their sister, to have dinner with us and listen to a message. The grandpa was the cutest old man ever and even made some traditional spring rolls for us to eat. He is the most fit grandpa I have ever seen–he is 82 and still works full time every day! My goal is to be as healthy as him when I am his age!

The Lau family actually lives really high up on the peak, so it’s really hard to get to their house. We took a little bus up the mountain as high as it would take us, and then had to get off and walk the rest of the way. The only problem is that we weren’t exactly sure how to get there on foot because we had only ever taken a taxi up there before. So we walked up what we thought was the right road, and then took our best guess as to which way to walk after that. We took some concrete stairs that led us right out of the dense city and up into the jungle. At that point we were really lost. We walked a little farther and came to a clearing where an old man was doing some karate, dressed up in his little uniform and everything. The nice karate man led us to a 15 year old boy who offered to show us where to go. So then we followed him for a little, went separate directions and said goodbye to our new friends, and then continued to climb up to their house. And yes, we did eventually make it and were only a little bit late even with all of the detours! This week I am grateful for random karate masters who guide lost missionaries through the jungle.

One problem that we’ve also been encountering is that people here are so busy, that they don’t want to use what little extra time they have meeting with us. One investigator, Dicky, has a good desire to keep learning, but he isn’t putting in the effort to learn and try things out for himself. It’s always sad when you are trying to help these people so much, but they just aren’t willing to do what you ask, perhaps because they just don’t fully understand what it all means. But that is where the whole agency thing comes in and you have to accept that sometimes people are ready, and sometimes they’re not. We’ll keep working hard and see if we can’t help some of these people to put in work and start applying their faith!

With the new year, it is a perfect opportunity to look at where we are and where we want to be. It can be hard sometimes to take a deeper look at ourselves and to try to evaluate our weaknesses. But if we don’t know what our shortcomings are, how are we ever going to change them? Take some time today to think about one thing that you want to improve this year. Maybe it’s more patience, or better prayers, or I know that for myself I am still working on developing more humility so that my will can be more in line with the Lord’s. I know that as you take some time to reflect, it will be made known to you what it is that you can change. It is so important that we are constantly finding ways to become better, just one step at a time is all that it takes!

Happy New Year!!! Love you all!

Love,
Sister Crockett

18 Dorset Crescent Drive
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong

Pictures:
1) A candid that my comp took after I just got done arm wrestling one of the other sisters… I won 😉
2) I was walking down the street and saw an old lady with a cart and a big smoking pot of something that she was selling, so naturally I bought some of it and found out that it was these little smoked quail eggs. They were so good! Never pass up food from old ladies.
3) With sister Percival and our roommates on New Year’s eve. We couldn’t stay up until midnight, so we had a little party of our own before we went to bed!
4) some of the jungle