12/9/10 - The Real Meaning of Christmas

Did I tell you yet? I'm gonna be Santa Claus again. Sometimes I go to primary because my companion will play the piano for them. When we were in primary last Sunday and the teacher talked about Christmas, all the little kids started chanting that I was Santa. I don't particularly like it, but because I am the only Mandarin elder who is fat I am pretty much obligated. I wish I could lose fifty puonds, I bet you will all look so strange when I get back. I look the same but with less hair

I hope you send me a Christmas family photo and I can be jealous of how skinny everyone is. The weather isn't hot anymore, so I can't sweat away the pounds. Not that I did when it was hot. The public transportation in this city is pretty phenomel. I don't need to walk very often or ride a bike ever. I can just get on the bus or subway or train.

I wish I could watch an interesting movie every now and then, it seems like a million movies came out since I came on my mission. There are also like a million "classics" that I haven't seen before my mission. Then I realize that probably a whole lot of those movies would be a huge waste of time and that I wouldn't enjoy very many of them. I wonder if any of you have seen the church movie about John Tanner. That movie was unbelievable, it blew my mind. I wonder why I had never heard of that story ever before, it was just too amazing. Its in the D+C supplemental videos.

So I want all of you to know the real meaning of Christmas, because it is totally commercialised over here. It is kind of close. Next Christmas I will totally be home and could be married or something.

My family is actually way awesome, it took a mission of seeing other people's broken families and the terrible way parents spoil their children (not that my parents aren't guilty of spoiling me) and the worldy priorities that people put before their families over here, just to help me realize that we are pretty rad. We are just ultra powerful. My dad is a bishop, now there's power!! Just kidding, it just helps me know more that he is called of God.

I love you all

Elder Wall

12/2/10 -Xia's Wife and Daughter

It sure feels like there are a lot more family gatherings now that I am on my mission. I expect to have one as soon as I get back home. It feels like its been two or so years since I have been to California I'm about over due.

I am so happy that I have such a strong and united family. I feel so bad for those people up in the mainland who can only have one spoiled brat and no uncles or aunts. I also feel really bad for all the orphans that have parents who didn't deem them good enough to keep. I am so glad that I can be a fat American who is way more spoiled than the average spoiled brat only child in China. I am totally working on fixing my problem with being a brat.

We still have to baptise Xia's wife and daughter. he went to mainland and won't be back for two months. I remember him saying that he had quit smoking for a half a year once but still picked it back up. I am certain it had to do with pressure from friends that brought him back into smoking after half a year. So now I hope he can endure these next two months in mainland. We will finally get to meet his daughter on the 12th accompanied by Sister Xia.

There is my family, they don't live in Hong Kong and I really doubt that they will be able to help the branch out for too much longer, but it feels like I can leave my mission with a sense of being successful. I hope I can visit them later in life and still see them being strong and sealed and stuff. I hope their daughter can go on a mission or something. She's graduating soon, so they will probably all leave very soon.

I really don't have much to say. I have not really lost much weight on my mission, except for the weight of the hair on my head. Chinese is pretty fun, I like my mission and still faithlessly wait to go back to Macau.

Nothing has changed much, which is probably a bad sign, but I am still so positive and hopeful. I truly miss you guys, even though I never thought I would. I think you should all move to c\China with me, its pretty much where we belong.

Tell me how I can be amaizing and how my letters can me more informative and interesting. Farewell comrads!

I love you all

华长老

接着天父永恒救恩计划，家庭能在一起，
我希望与家人永远同住，那条道路主已经说明，

那道路主已经说明

11/24/10 The Random Man-child in Hong Kong

亲爱的家庭，

除了我爸爸以外没有人可以看得懂我写的事。你好james,你的中文怎么样？ I am very satisfied with my purchase of that electronic dictionary. In fact I don't need anything for christmas because of how much I have wasted on the dictionary.

Anyway I just ate a huge thanksgiving dinner this morning. We have another one tonight too. I think that Thanksgiving is definitely one of my favorite holidays. It was really adorable when Elder Yu came up to me and told me that he was really sleepy and didn't know why. I told him that it was the thanksgiving effect and that turkey has some sort of chemical that puts people to sleep. Then he was wondering what the sauce was and what it went on. I told him that it was gravy and that it went on everything. he was so adorable on his first thanksgiving. he turns nineteen tomorrow. I am grateful for his patience with me and for any Chinese that i learn from him.

I am most grateful for families, although I am the random man child, I still feel like I belong in my family. I really do miss you guys, honest. I do feel left out in all the adorable baby stuff. Can I adopt a little Chinese girl in mainland after my mission? I can worry about a wife when I get back to america.

Yeah so I am feeling pretty okay with my mission. if we get Xia, his wife and eventually his daughter I will feel like my mission is complete and I can feel most satisfied with myself. Both Xia and his wife want to take me around china, can we? I like him, he is so mainland. His wife was so astounded with him quitting smoking, she thanked us alot and really felt her husbands testimony. In her very first prayer, she asked heavenly father to help her join the church as soon as possible. My mission feels so fake and yet so awesome, totally a miracle. I have no doubt in my mind that mainland will explode once its open to missionary work. I hope to be one of the first mission presidents or MTC presidents one day. Sorry if I sound negative sometimes. I can't wait until after my mission and things like mandarin steeling missionaries don't really mean anything to me.

This is the life, I hope I can keep it up for a couple more months. I am so tired and sleepy.

We must be grateful. I hope you can feel how grateful I am. When I get back I will totally try and help out and stuff. I just cannot explain how grateful I am to have such a strong, powerful, active and caring family. 真的很感谢你们。

我爱你们，每一个人，

华长老

11/17/10 This letter leaked the new calling and had to be held back. . .

Good luck dad. It sounds like your already busy life just got about as busy as it could possibly get. Try and take it easy will you. Watch your blood pressure and stuff.

I am kind of excited actually to go back "home" to a new ward. I am totally willing to do whatever ridiculous calling my father is inspired to give me. Who knows, maybe I'll stay up there and go to U of U. I as of now have no idea what to do with my life after the mission. That is a good thing no? I think so. I am so caught up in the work that it doesn't seem to matter what happens in my future.

We can probably get four baptisms this transfer. We have one for the 28th and two for the 5th. And probably a miscellaneous will get in there too. There is this eighteen year old girl named Sister Wang who has an atheist eight year old brother. I think the brother could probably get baptised too eventually. Brother Xia finally quit drinking. I hope you can meet him one day. He might not be in hong kong when you get here. His baptism will go through on the 28th. That will make me feel pretty satisfied because I was the one who originally found him and I will get numbers from him. His beloved "Ai Ren" as he calls her will come this sunday and then on his baptism will come too. I hope to one day baptise her and his daughter "Ma Fan" or "pain in the neck" as he calls her.

I am still with Yu this transfer and Kershisnik is training. LIfe cant get much better. except if I go back to macau. Speaking of which, AP LI went to macau. His Little brother got his call to be a mandarin in hong kong. I hope I can train AP LI's brother; I will totally trun him against his brother if I do. AP stole Sister Zhao and Macau. I will totally get him back by training his brother.

So thats about all I have to say, I love you all.

Hua Zhanglao

November 11, 2010

We went to 10,000 Buddhas (if that's how you spell it). there were way funky buddhas, like one with super long eyebrows and one with a super long arm just like that dude on street fighter who is really stretchy, I think his name is Dhalsim "yoga fire!". So anyways also there is this leprechaun looking buddha see if you can spot him on the hill. he has a red beard. After we went there we ate Ikea food and got to drink soda at the only place in Hong Kong with free refills - all for ten bucks although I think that Costco wins hands down. The Ikea dog was lame. I hope to maybe experience this with my family perhaps depending on how long you want to visit.

Actually I think that I wouldn't necessarily want to visit Hong Kong myself if I didn't serve here. It is just way to hot and sweaty all the time.

So everything is going pretty well. Our investigator Xia has completed the no smoking plan and has quit his addiction of forty years. Now all we have to do is get him off his dependancy of alcohol. He says he needs it to go to sleep and that's because his daughter gives him so much to worry and stress about. His daughter seems to have the opposite problem and is able to sleep through everything, including really important exams. We still haven't met her but Xia tells us that we are probably her only hope and that Jesus is what can help her if she would give Him a try. He is so powerful. He has like no Christian background and he still has so much faith. He totally relied on God the entire time he was quitting smoking.

I have a good chance to train next move because two new Mandarins are coming in. I don't want to, I wish to remain with Elder Yu and selfishly improve my Mandarin and rely on his language strength. Mandarin numbers don't look too good this year and President Chan seems worried about adding two more to the Mandarin pack. I found out something really upsetting today, I feel slightly betrayed. AP Auduong, who is a great friend and mentor of mine, quite inspiring really, is actually a dirty rotten no good Mandarin stealer. Not even the APs respect us enough to give us their investigators whose mother tongue is Mandarin. Not to play the blame game, but I think the declining success in Mandarin work is because of people who are number hungry and don't want to do what's best for their investigators.

Sorry to tell you that, but I really need someone to understand and feel the frustration I have had pretty much my whole mission.

On a lighter note we just had a mission tour and It was so great. Elder Perkins the Asia area president who speaks Mandarin and frequently attends our branch talked with us. I really love that guy. I received alot of personal revelation on how I can change and better myself and how I can utilize Mandarin after my mission.

So there's this really cool electronic dictionary, that has touch screen so you can write characters into it and study radicals and pronounciation and a dictionary in like 13 languages including Hakka Shanghainese Cantonese Sichuanese and taiwanese that I think I really want. it has a whole ton of dictionaries on it including the oxford advanced learners Chinese-English dictionary. I think I want this really bad. The best part about it is that it has no internet acess so I can have it on my mission. I have looked into it for some time and I have come to the conclusion that if I hadn't bought a airsoft gun and so many language learning books I would have enough to purchase it. Maybe I can get it for my birhday slash christmas or something. I should probably get the brand name so my father the linguist can look into it. its like four hundred fifty US dollars and I have 388 in my account right. But I have probably never wanted any physical object more. After Christmas it will probably be way cheaper, I can wait patiently though.

Yeah, that's my way of begging.

I love you all and hope that this letter wasn't me sounding like a spoiled brat who complains. I really have changed alot that way on my mission, I promise. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been doing its work on changing my heart. I love you again.

Wall Zhanglao

Hotdog Oatmeal with Barbeque Sauce?

Dear family, I just watched other side of heaven and pretty jealous of Kolipoki. My missionary experience could never make an interesting movie. Maybe that is why I don't write in my journal. We will be having a pretty big typhoon on Saturday though. Its all on the news and we got a special letter from the mission telling us about what precautions to take and stuff:

Elder Rickertsen,

Please give me the latest weather report of this typhoon Megi.

Please alert all missionaries to secure all windows in their apartments. They should have identified a safe place in their apartments in case the windows are broken by the strong wind. They should ensure that they have sufficient food and water storage. They should remain indoor if Typhoon Signal No. 8 or above is hoisted.

Warm Regards,
President Chan

So its kind of like a terrifying storm will come and destroy the village of Hong Kong. Its supposed to be the biggest one to hit Hong Kong since the 70's. I am so excited. If my windows break, I will get a video of it.

Wow mom, you sound like you are working your tail off (literally). My goodness you guys. First you say how Jerrica is so small then you say how much you have lost. You are all little people now. Laura has almost lost an entire Jerrica. I am finally back down to 220 where I started my mission at.

The other day I was eating oatmeal with hot dogs and barbaque sauce in it. It was way good but gave me gas. My companion is constantly amaized at American food. Then I tell him that nobody would eat barbeque sauce and hotdog oatmeal but a missionary.

I definately need to talk to my companion in Mandarin more. He is so bright eventhough he is just eighteen. Quite mature; more than me. He is way ready to get up and go to do the work. He tells me to hurry up at least fifty times a day. fireball. I tease him about him not shaving, I tell him he needs to be obedient and shave everyday. He probably will never need to shave his entire life.

We don't have many good investigators right now, except this old dude named Brother Xia who is here looking after his college student daughter. Also a Lady named Susan and her daughter Jessie. Her daughter is twelve and attends school here in Hong Kong, but can't speak Cantonese and almost definately has no friends. She simply MUST go back to Shen Zhen every weekend to look at her huge collection of pets. I wish she could just see that if she came to church she could make friends with girls her age who speak Mandarin. We are praying that she will get the desire to make friends with people. Other than that, she is way good. Jessie and Susan are totally willing and ready to follow Jesus and read the Book of Mormon and pray. I just need them to forget their pets on sunday morning and come to church. I guess we do have pretty good investigators. Its a shame church attendance seems to be whats holding people back.

I want to do something amaizing, like Kolipoki, but that will take alot of faith and effort. I wish I could do that. Maybe I will just start writing a really embellished journal instead.

I love you all,

Hua Zhanglao

10/7/2010

So there is always so much that I cannot remember to tell you. Our apartment has a ton of roaches and two guitars, I have been trying to figure out how to play the melody to "la cucaracha" and I got it stuck in my Taiwanese companion's head, I don't even know the words myself but it is the funniest thing to hear him sing and try and pronounce the word "cucaracha". I think someone must write me the lyrics so that I can sing it properly and serenade all the creatures that share our abode with us. I just remember about the roach being drunk and cant walk and how it doesn't have marijuana to smoke. Burracha? he zui jiu? caminar? zou?

I am kind of jealous of how Mexican the family is. There are legit Mexican food places here actually, but what I really crave is the fake Mexican food, give me some Taco Bell and grade D meat. It will probably be one of the first things I will eat when I get back. That and Panda Express or some Chinese buffet. I need the fake Americanized stuff. But KFC is so awesome here. I eat it way too much, they always have the best deals and special offers and the bucket is so cheap. I think I have eaten KFC maybe twice in America and like a million times over here.

Mooncake? Yeah I have eaten my fair share of that. What an experience. egg yolks surrounded by a thick paste that can only be eaten in the smallest of portions. It is also way expensive, so there is almost no point other than for the experience of trying something new.

I have baptised maybe ten people from Chengdu Sichuan. They like to eat way spicy stuff, usually boiled in a pot in front of you. I also hear that the most pretty Chinese girls are form Sichuan. They call them "la mei" or "spicy little sisters" in reference to the unnecessarily hot food that they eat. Does the lady who lives in Grandma's basement cook well?

I am so jealous of the world's missionaries. I bet half of the investigators in the world are Chinese people. Everyone can baptise one, except me; someone who is actually in China. The training videos we watched had a Chinese student baptism too. Tatiana can baptise one in Lithuana of all places.

We have taught alot of visitors that we baptise in one day, but I really don't get any satisfaction out of it. Me and my companion had to do it twice this week because everyone else has real investigators with scheduled appointments. This gives me stress because everything that can go wrong does just like Brother Murphey said. I always jack up the paper work forget a signature, write unclearly, don't fill up the font, and about a hundred other things. Its not as easy as you think, you should see how bald I am now, all thanks to mainland baptisms. The one we taught yesterday was a girl who got baptised in England who brought her mom over to hear the gospel and get baptised. Those England elders baptise Chinese investigators too.

Anyway, sorry to be so negative. I know the gospel is true and everyone is a child of God even if they are also a baptismal statistic. I am so glad that I have a chance to repent and get better everyday. The atonement of Jesus Christ is truly the best thing ever.

I love you all,

Hua Zhanglao