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Monday, October 31, 2016

Halloween and Move Calls. Week 63 from Hong Kong

Hello all,

   OK this week was pretty normal. So I will just apologize for not having any fantastic stories to share.  We love ALL the stories he shares!

In the Title Gordon mentioned Move Calls.  Looks like he will be getting a new companion but will be staying in the same area.

   I guess I can start by talking about how this week we went Less Active finding. We had a lot of extra time so we decided to go up into the hills and try and find some people that we had not seen at church in a few years and see if there was anything we could do to help or serve them. That was fun. The problem was that there were many dogs. However I learned from the boy scouts to be prepared so I brought my Chinese fan with me... to use as a club or to make myself suddenly seem much larger. I didn't have to use it so that was good. I did get charged by a dog though. I knew that running was a bad idea, and I saw that there was a chain on it so I was just banking on the fact that the chain was shorter than the distance between us was. And I was right!!! so that was good. Other than that it was a pretty area. I will attach some photos.

   We also came home one day and learned that our roommates had  made a piñata. I guess it was for some ward's Halloween party. So that was funny.

   It also got quite hot. I looked at my thermometer on my desk when the sun was on it and it said 35 Degrees! (95 degrees Fahrenheit) That is very, very warm when you add humidity. We lucked out however and it got kinda chilly the last day or two. I think it dropped down to 78 degrees Fahrenheit. So that was fun.

   The Mandarin elders also came home with some strange mainland money. It is made from aluminum and floats! They feel like fake kids money but I guess it is real currency. I had some fun playing with that because I did not believe that they could float. It is true they really do float. 

   Then this last Friday we got to go to the Temple!!! It was supper nice! I will attach a picture of my new district. it was nice and AC inside and hot and muggy outside so my camera fogged up. The temple is just the best I wish I could go more often.

  Have a spooky Halloween!

Love,
Elder Walker



Class 3 Typhoon rain on the street where they live

Class 3 Typhoon Rain (This one might make you a little seasick)

In the hills of Tai Po

Pretty Picture

Typhoon Rain

Dogs from Less Active Finding


Less Active Finding

Halloween Piñata 

floating mainland money

District

TEMPLE!!!


Monday, October 24, 2016

2 Typhoons!!!! Week 62 from Hong Kong

Hello All,

   This week has had a lot of interesting things happen. I will cover as many as I can.

   Well first off this week has been insanely wet!!! 2 typhoons! that is a lot of rain. I am from Oregon, I know rain, this week we had a LOT. 

   So I can't remember if I mentioned it last week. But our washing machine broke, so we told the sisters and they said that they would wash our clothes if we would throw their fridge away. So we aren't dumb so we took that deal. It was pretty easy, all we did was run over to their house and use our exercise time to take it to the dump about 100 meters from their house. The funny thing was that we got around the corner and a homeless woman asked what we were doing with it. We told her that we were throwing it away and that it was full of mold and cockroaches. However she insisted that we leave it on the street with her. So we did. I think she wanted to recycle it for money or loot the brass from it or something. I am not sure. We went by a few days later and it was gone and I didn't ask what she did with it.

   So the first typhoon was on a day that Elder Garcia and I were on exchanges. It was only a class 3 so we could go out side. Since it was an exchange there was no point in staying home and doing paper work. So we went out and made an attempt at finding. I got more wet in those few hours than I have in the last year easy. My shoes were wet for 3 days. I finally had to turn the heater on them and leave them in the bathroom for a whole day. It was 37 in there. it was awful. I am not sure but I think that the rain might have stained my bag. Meh I don't really care, it kinda adds character.

   The other typhoon was a class 8 so that means that we had to stay inside a whole day. It was terrible. It was so boring. We live in a small house and we had spent the whole day before in the house, and our house is quite small.... so we had a good case of cabin fever. 

   Then this Sunday we had a nice man from Japan come to church. His name was brother Suzuki. He was very nice and was in HK for business and got delayed because of the typhoon so he decided to come to church. that was fun. Luckily since he is a business man he had really good English. And since my companion falls asleep in church quite often I was put in charge of translation. That went really well. 

   Today we had a mission tour! IT was sick! Elder Wong of the first quorum of the 70 presided and gave trainings. It was fanatic!!! It was hilarious! He is supper funny. He is from HK and I served in his home ward of Sha Tin for a long time. His English is great and has a great accent. 

Love you all!!!!!
- Elder Walker


My family had a family reunion and this is me with the picture of them from that and me in the same shirt haha fun. 

Elder Garcia and I on exchange 

the rain

some damage from my the level 8 typhoon

Elder Garcia and I made a vain attempt at water proofing our shoes by putting paper towels in the bottom and trash bags around our socks. It worked for a while but not for as long as I would have liked.

drying socks 

eating the Skeleton shaped Cheetos we sent him in his last box.  He said he used chopsticks to keep his fingers clean.

KBQ from last p-day (Korean BBQ)

possibly the last picture with me and elder Powell =(

This is where I am e-mailing from right now.

This is where the mail goes and how we receive it in the mission office. 


Monday, October 17, 2016

The Sisters have my underwear. Week 61 from Hong Kong

Hello all,

   Well this week has been an interesting one. Most of our Investigators were in Mainland this week, which makes it hard for us to teach them. It looks like only one of our anticipated three baptisms will be happening this month. I am just really glad that we might be able to help Andy (Taxi driver) get there. He was doing great and accepting everything, until we got to tithing. So now he is having his trial of faith before his baptism. I just really hope this goes well. I think it will. The problem is that he is not a very rich man and he is afraid of not being able to provide for his family if he gives 10% to the Lord. We Explained that all would be well but that he would need to trust God. He said he was going to fast about it. So I am excited for that.

   Well on another note as the title suggests we are having washing machine issues!!!! We realized that it was broken when it started leaking water all over the floor. So we called around and someone told us about a valve that we should open at the bottom to let the extra water out. So I was making some hot Chocolate and Elder Darrington opened the thing and water gushed out! we were really afraid that it was going to come out of the kitchen. Luckily our kitchen has a drain in it so the water just sort of went away. It was lucky that most of us had enough clothes to last the week. So we were quite concerned when the repair man came and told us that we were going to have to get a new one. Therefore last night we realized that we were mostly out of clothes. So Elder Darrington called the Sisters and asked if they would be willing to wash our clothes for us. They agreed on the condition that we help them throw away their old fridge. To which we gladly agreed. So this morning we ran over and gave them bags of laundry. hahaha. That was strange. Really, really strange. I am really interested to see if my socks come back folded or not haha. 

   We also invited the Tai Wo elders over for dinner and hand made tacos. Those were really, really good. The Tai Wo elders live way out of there area and we live really close to their area. So we gave them a key and invited them to store food and just come over and cook if they wanted to. 

   This week was not too exciting but it certainly was entertaining! 

Love,
Elder Walker

Taco Night!


Washing machine issues







Monday, October 10, 2016

Food Poisoning and Apostles. Week 60 from Hong Kong

Hello all,

   This was yet another week of miracles in Hong Kong! Investigator wise Andy the Taxi driver is doing well. We taught him the law of chastity and he was like "Well duh..." and we agreed. I am super excited for his baptism this month if everything goes well.

   Well as the title suggests I got a dose of food poisoning. That just happens if you serve here. It is just a matter of when. The sad thing was that it was my favorite dish that got me. I just woke up at 2:30 in the morning with the sudden realization that I needed to puke and puke NOW. So I climbed down off the top bunk and went into the bathroom and rocketed the contents of my stomach into the toilet. Not fun. I was also worried because the next day was conference. Luckily it was only that session of puking and only mild diarrhea. So that was nice.   Sorry everyone.... TMI!

   With the passing of conference also passes the AC and going outside without a suit coat. So that means a lot more sweating. Luckily we got a text this morning that said that if the temperature is more than 24 degrees centigrade then we don't have to wear a suit coat. Which is nice because it really won't get cooler till December. 

   General Conference was fantastic!!!! I got 10 pages of notes that I am excited to apply to the work. I also was able to have all my questions answered. That was really cool. I just love general conference. It is also crazy to think that I only have one more on my mission!!! Time is flying! way way too fast! For breakfast on Sunday morning we had pancakes! It was really good. We made everything from scratch. Including the syrup. We didn't even try to make it maple flavor that just wasn't going to happen. So we made it vanilla flavored and it was great!!!! 

That is all for this week! 

Love,
Elder Walker

Cool view from a door we were knocking.





Monday, October 3, 2016

General Conference. Week 59 from Hong Kong

Hello all,

   This was an interesting food week. I will start of by saying that for us General Conference will be this next weekend! It is a week behind the real one because it needs to be translated in to Cantonese. I will get to watch it in English so that will be great, (For those who do not know that is when the prophet and apostles and other people talk and we get to receive council from God. It is awesome) 

   Also If every thing goes according to plan we will have 3 baptisms this month. So that will be great for everyone involved. Speaking of which we were teaching one of the families and the husband offered to feed us dinner. So we being poor and near the end of the month decided to let him. He took us to a restaurant that had a menu in only Characters. Which means that I couldn't read it. Scriptures yes, but menus no. So I decided to be brave and just get what Mr. Lau was getting. He got something called nagh jap mihn. Which I anticipated being some kind of beef noodles. To be fair that is what it was however it was noodles, cow stomach, cow intestine, cow kidney, cow liver, and various other organs that I did not want to try to identify. Mr. Lau was quite surprised that I was able to eat it. He kept saying that If I didn't like it I could get something else. However I endured to the end and all was well. It wasn't all that bad. Good, no but not too bad. So that was an experience.

   Then the other food story is a much better tasting story. In total I spent 6 hours making cookies. This is because we are teaching a former Investigator and she would only meet with us if we would make cookies with her. She went to a cooking school for sweets and such, which is to say that she can make some good Cookies! They were absolutely fantastic! She also bought most of the ingredients so that was a plus. Making cookies also gave us a great metaphor on which to build our lessons. So that was a lot of fun. haha. We will just have to spend much less time doing that in the coming week. 

Love you all,
Elder Walker

I went on exchanges with my district leader Elder Darrington, he is a  Mandarin speaking missionary. So that was fun.

the nagh jap mihn  (Okay, I can barely look at this!  I don't know how he ate it!)

HUGE SPIDER!!!

cool 10,000 Buddha statues