Arrival in Hong Kong - Adjustments

date Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 1:10 AM
subject Im here

So I just now deleted my email that I spent a half hour writing. Its a good thing that I am no longer in the mtc or mom would call the mission president. We get an hour to write letters so no problem. my pday is thursday.

I am so sweaty all the time. soaking wet, and then it rains. I got hot water at the restaurant we ate at, I sweat all the hydration that It gave me while drinking it. As soon as the water went down my throat, an equal amount of water came out of my pours.

A task such as ordering food would not be too hard for me if I was using mandarin. But I have to sit with a stupid look on my face while cantonese is being spoken.

My trainer is good. He is looking over my shoulder right now, so I have to be honest. All the other missionaries speak highly of him. The call him the malaysian tiger. He speaks mandarin, cantonese, english and indonesian fluently.

I hope to learn a whole bunch from him, he seems every bit as good as everybody says he is.

I don't have a whole lot of motivation to keep writing since a whole half hour just went poof.

Hong Kong is gorgeous. The landscape is very lush and green. And then there is this huge concrete jungle accenting it. It is quite big. I don't understand how to get around yet, but I hope to soon. The roommates are cantonese so there is gonna be alot of cantonese being spoken.

Actually, elder Lee, my trainer was the office elder when I put my papers in. He chose most of the incoming missionaries names. He knew that I studied four years of mandarin in high school. he also knew my mothers name was rhonda.

He is pretty rad so far. I am really excited to see why they call him the tiger. I hope I can keep up and learn valuable awesome things from him.

my zone is kowloon west. The wild wild west. We have the largest area for two elders aside from the APs and the office elders (the entire zone).


k bye

I love you

hua zhanglao

8/4/09
The transcribed message Stephen left me on my cell phone. I have now learned that I have to answer "Blocked ID" phone calls while Stephen is on his mission.

Hey Mom!

This your son Stephen calling from Taiwan. I got a hold of dad so, he's just going to have to tell you and it is going to have to appeases your appetite to talk with me.

I am doing great!

We landed a Book of Mormon in San Francisco and we got his address and phone number in Taiwan. So that was pretty exciting.

I'm going to leave in about an hour to Hong Kong.

Yah, things are pretty good.

This is an expensive message that I am leaving on your phone. I hope it is good enough.

love you,
bye-bye

8/3/09

Today, I'm so scared. I should be happy that the work is moving forward, not upset that my mission isn't that unique. There actually isnt much culture shock over there from what I heard, there are tons of white people and everybody speaks english. Chicken feet and pig parts soup is nothing new, I bet I wont get anything that I haven't eaten before (I hope I get dog).

I think joining a moms egroup sounds dorky.

I still don't know what to say to you guys, Im nervous and terrified and excited.

I like all the stuff about babies. Pictures are fine. I took pictures but I can't send them to you on the computers over here.

Father, there is an Elder Bishop who is going to China with his wife along with us. He said that he supervised the Chinese translation. I asked if he knew you and then he answered "Dion?". I think that he was pretty cool.

My flights are lame times. I leave the MTC at 6:30 pm and depart SLC at 9:30. I dont know when we get to taiwan, but we leave 1:30 am. I really don't see me converting anyone at the airport. Skip tuesday and travel about 13 hours. I get there about 10 am, I bet the moment I get off the plane I hit the ground running and go out that day despite being way sleepy.

Im sorry that we're poor, but at least now you're compelled to be humble. Thanks for supporting my mission all the more. You won't regret it, Im gonna tear it up. And when I open up China the money will be worth it.

thats about it

love y'all

Elder Wall (Hua Zhanglao)