From Christmas through Feb 1

2/1/11

Hey guys, I don't know any of my BYU passwords so getting back in for summer term might be difficult. My user name is XXXXXXXXXX if that could help.

If only I knew my social security number, then I could have got my net ID password. I also could have got it if I knew my hotmail password.

So anyway I guess I left behind all worldly endeavors behind me.

If you guys could help me out somehow over there it would be great. I don't need to pick classes till march, but it seems like today (Feb 1st) is the last day to sign up for summer or fall.

My departure date is May 6, I hope that wouldn't interfere with you guys being able to pick me up.

I love you guys.

1/26/11
Hello everybody,

Laura's video worked this time, way cute by the way. Will they be bilingual and I can still communicate with them, or do I have to learn Spanish eventually?

I am starting to learn that there is no secret ingredient to missionary work, just like being a dragon warrior. There is a quote in Preach my gospel where a prophet says " Missionary work is just that; work. There is no substitute..."

I used to think that if my teaching skills rocked or some new method of finding or obtaining referrals came out, I would probably be more successful. I feel that new methods and tactics are fine, but the main thing is to get out there and do stuff, and do it with charisma and enthusiasm. Eventually, you will get the results that the Lord wants you to get. The spirit is quite vital in guiding you, and there are certain ways of going about missionary work that will never work (Bible bashing), but the main thing is to give a good diligent effort.

I often get discouraged by getting rejected by tons of Hong Kong people, but I realise that as long as I tried and thrustheth my sickle, as least I will lay up in store that I personally won't perish. And eventually, I will make some sort of progress.

I am really proud of my family, we are so powerful. I enjoy my tranlsator father. In fact, I had noticed that same translation difference that he pointed out to me. Are you reading out of the pinyin columned one? I'm stuck in Isaiah, but I will finish the Book of Mormon in Chinese before my mission is over. In the pinyin comlumed one, there is 800 pages, so you just have to read eight pages a day to finish in 100 days, or 4 a day to finish in 200. I admit it's difficult to read eight pages of pure Isaiah, especially in Chinese, when the names of places and people mean even less to me than in English. I also ran into a classmate of my father. Ken Schupe who is a foreign echange student at the Hong Kong Chinese University, Elder Yu forced me to let him fellowship for us, his Mandarin had a ridiculous Cantonese/white person accent and he brought a Chinese girl with him to our lesson, I'm pretty sure it was his girlfriend, she is the AP's investigator. So anyways, Elder Yu regretted having him fellowship and I said "I told you so". I am one thousand percent certain my father's Mandarin is way better than his, not that that's important.

I don't know how to cook any Chinese food but Ramen. I guess I could theoretically stir fry stuff or fry rice, but I am lazy and eating out here is cheap and not necessarily unhealthy. I enjoy Chinese food though.

Keep being so powerful and don't give up.

I love you all,

Hua Zhanglao

1/19/11
Hello family,

Nothing too wise to attempt to say this time. It is so sad that we have Mandarin speaking investigators that are literally too poor to go to church all the way in Wan Chai. One has a cute little haircutting tent thingy, Im going ot get a haircut from her for about two bucks American today. Her Last name is Wang, just like three other investigators we have. She devoures the Book of Mormon like no one I have ever seen since all the Indonesians we taught in Macau. Anyways, I hope we can baptise her somehow, at least into a Cantonese ward or something.

Elder Dodge sent me a wallet with a marijuana leaf on the front. He said that that pretty much represents his area that he's in now. Im going to tell him that the weed wallet was actually made a few train stops up from where I live and that I can bargain about three for under a dollar US. That totally represents my mission too. When I had first got here I saw sweet old lady wearing a t shirt with a marijuana leaf on it. She obviously had no idea what she was wearing, it was pretty adorable.

Anyways, life is good. A different Mandarin missionary is fortunate enough to get a second round in Macau and I was the one who invented Mandarin missionaries in Macau. I am way jealous. If I pray really hard and then beg President Chan, maybe I can go back. I don't know when I'm going to come home yet, I guess I have to ask President Chan. If you guys are coming to pick me up, then should I tell them not to buy plane tickets for me?

I can't write too much today because I have to email President Chan. My mother made me way trunky and wonder about my future. I wouldn't mind teaching missionaries at the MTC or washing dishes again. I just like to have free housing while I go to school.
I love you guys,

Hua Zhanglao

1/13/11
Hello my family,

I couldn't see the video laura sent me of Ezra. I assume he was just making really cute monkey noises.

Yeah, that is so embarassing that you guys go through my private archives. [Editors note - these archives were stored in a notebook that one of the kids found in a closet and took to church to draw in. We were actually attacked by the writings while in a sacrament meeting]

Did you know that as a rapper I go under the pseudonym "BB Wolff"? BB standing for "Big Bad". I just need an accomplice who will go by "RR Hood" and we'll go ridin' in da hood together. Oh man, that is totally why I can't write a journal, or a rhyme book. It will all leek out and anything that can humiliate me will be revealed by prying eyes. I really can only have people reading my stuff after I'm dead, like any real artist would. Post humously publishing things is a lost less akward.

I really like Jennifer's baby, Zoe right? She totally looks like babies over here, exhibiting an Asian dominace. Way cute.

Anyways, I guess my mother wants me to chastise my brothers and sisters. In the mission field we would say "recenter". I like what my mother said about making mistakes. I have recently remembered some wise thing that someone taught me once. Its called "learn from your mistakes". It is totally fine to make mistakes. Me and my companion go throughout the day saying this phrase at least a million times. Everytime we do something way ridiculous, we just say "Learn from your mistakes" convincing ourselves that we will never make that error ever again in our entire lives. Usually we would do something like purchase some food that is way too overpriced and small and not delicious and then we would resolve never to do that again. The beauty of mistakes is that you only really have to make them a couple of times to learn from them, often times once is enough.

It might have been my father, it may have been Rafiki, whoever said it doesn't matter, but you need to learn from the past. The past can hurt. I like to whack other elders randomly and then when they ask why I did that, then I will tell them that "it doesn't matter, it was in the past". This is really immature and goes to show that missionaries can only watch a selected few movies and are likely to go insane at any moment. I digress, anyways, don't fret too much about what bad things you have done just move on and don't do them any more. That is a simple way of explaining repentace.

That is one major theme for me this year "Learn from your mistakes". It can be said that is the meaning of life. So I don't really know how to explain this to children, but I know they could catch on eventually, it took me like twenty-one years and counting to realise that my past doesn't have to come back to haunt me too much if I just don't think about it or repeat it. Of course sometimes your parents get into your stuff and make you relive it. Just learn from your mistakes. You often can learn way more from making one mistake than you can learn by having many successes. Just don't make the same mistake twice. This one I know came from my father "You also don't have to make every mistake possible either" learn from other people's mistakes.

I imagine some cavemen experimenting with berries and mushrooms trying to find out which one's are edible. You should probably not eat that same type of berry or mushroom that killed Og over there. Likewise, if Daniel gets in trouble for doing something wrong, you probably shouldn't do that thing either, otherwise you will probably get in trouble too.

Yes, that is something that I really hope that I can have down in these next five months before I get back "Learn from your mistakes".

This phrase is really good at making me not have too much guilt as well.

Anyways, I hope that was good enough, I hope it wasn't to advanced for my brothers and sisters. I love you guys,

Hua zhanglao


1/6/11
Hello everybody,

I went to the temple today, I really like the Chinese aspect of it. I listened to the Mandarin translation this time. It was way awsome, I had a real spiritual experience. I recommend everyone to try it some time. Then I read from the Chinese copy of the Book of Mormon. I like it.

So anyway, I think that I will resolve to be more positive. I know its a really vague and unmeasurable goal, but I think it is probably what I need.

We have really good investigators, even if sometimes opposition gets in the way. I think that opposition is a blessing, it wouldn't be as satisfying to bring someone unto baptism if it was easy.

If someone asked me what food in the American diet makes us so robust and enormous, I would have to say meat. Although its not just because of a certain type of food. It has alot to do with portions. American meat portions are satisfying and borderline exsessive. While Chinese portions of meat are about half as big as American and are fifty percent bone matter. Bones add to the flavour and make food more fun to eat. It kinda feels like playing with your food, knawing on a bone that you're holding with chopsticks.

I really feel like I have only had KFC like twice in America and like a million times in Hong Kong. Maybe when I was in America I thought eating chicken in that manner was gross and not processed enough for consumtion, whereas here in hong kong KFC is a place where I don't have to worry about getting heads or feet served to me.

Its funny how opinions change based on one's environment. I still feel like some sort of ignorant westerner somtimes. Concepts like qi, yinyang and fengshui still feel alot like superstition or foolish traditions. I guess I haven't really been able to study them much. Acupuncture seems so crazy, I swear its just placebo stuff. Didn't my dad get acupuncture on his mission and then couldn't ride his bike home? Does dad believe? I am positive we can't get acupuncture on our missions or massages. Definetly not massages, especially not in Mong Kok or Wanchai - yikes.

I like it over here. It sure seems like I run out of things to say pretty easy. Its becoming more and more apparent I should keep a journal. I welcome any questions or comments, advice or constructive criticism.

I love you all,

Hua Zhanglao