Woo Hoo!

Hello All,

 

Well this week was a fun one. Last P-day was spent going to the immigration office... I think that is what that is called, anyway we went there and we were issued our Hong Kong ID cards. They are really cool. I will attach a picture if it at the bottom. It has a cool hologram of my face and a computer chip in it that tracks... some kind of information I am not sure what. But it also contains my full legal Chinese name so that is really cool.

 

Then Elder McGowan and I went on exchanges again. So we had an appointment in this building and we as missionaries have to sign in and show our IDs and tell them about how long we are going to be there. That way we can't tract on doors. However as we were doing this one of the guards leaned over and said "haha they don't understand what we are saying" To which the other guard responded "You idiot they are missionaries they speak Chinese" they then both looked at us and we told them that we do in fact speak Chinese. haha good times being white.

 

Elder Phung and I had some fun this week because the ward gave us a list of about 30 Less Active members that they wanted us to track down and see if they in fact still lived there. However there are like 5 or 7 people in one building so when we sign in for the reason listed above we say that we are going to visit the person that is on the highest floor then walk the sometimes 20 floors down to the last address we have and then so they don't get suspicious we walk the 20 floors back up. Yeah good times.

 

This week I also had one of my favorite street contacting experiences. It is when some one comes around a corner and we do at the same time and all we do is say "Hi how are you?" then they turn around and run away really fast. One time I want to chase one and see what happens. Probably nothing good so I wont.

 

One night this week I noticed something about the doors in our apartment. So I went around to all of them (3) and put my ear on them and knocked on them. One of my roommates asked "Elder Walker are you mental? what are you doing?" (He is from the UK so that is why he talks funny. I then told him that the doors are hollow. He then looked around and did the same thing I had just done and turns out they were hollow haha.

 

This place is also a car lovers dream I see about 2 Lamborghini a week, lots of Maserati, and a few RR. good times.

 

From,

Elder Walker

Some questions I asked Gordon:
Do you find and eat candy like you used to?
haha no not at all but I bought some gummy bears which I keep in the freezer and suck on them because it is hot here haha

What can we do as a family here to help you there?

Just the pictures I asked for last week a little worldly news and keep writing me!

What is the strangest thing you've eaten so far?

 tree fungus soup

Are you able to get around pretty well without getting lost?

kinda, I hope so, we have zone 24hr exchanges after thanksgiving and I will stay here and act as the sr. companion so I hope I don't get too lost.

This was in Gordon's family letter.  I thought I'd share it here.
This week I have a message from Elder James. He is one of the senior missionaries who works in the office. This is his 3rd mission in HK. I was talking to him a little bit and he asked me why my Chinese name is what it is. So I told him about Grandpa and he wanted me to tell him that he is supper proud to know me and he is a big fan of the missionaries here in 1956 and in Taiwan and said that he is definitely in Grandpas fan club. (He served here 10 years after grandpa)

 

picture time:

This is my Hong Kong ID

 

This was left for us in our apartment and I had a spare 5 minutes so I counted it up and this is what it turned out to be. So we are going to make it our Ice cream fund haha

 

 This is what boy scouting looks like in HK. It is a natives planner that he left on my desk and I thought it was cool. 

 

This is my district on Temple day (That is what all of these are)

The assistants to the president are ​in the background

 

This weeks e-mail comes again from an apple store in KOULOON TONG

Hello all,

 

   One of the major points of new is that this week my companion and Elder McGowan's companion are Zone Leaders so they have lots of meetings so we go on splits a lot. One time last week we went to his area and got fed by a part member family. They were really cool. The 7 year old wouldn't tell us his name so we called him mouuh mame (To not have a name). Their apartment was HUGE it was about the size of my house back home which is HUGE by Hong Kong standards. They were also on the 34th floor and we could see Big 6 out their window. (We call the Chinese mainland Big 6 because that is what mainland literally translates too. We started with some kind of soup with meat and carrots and tree fungus. That was pretty good. Then we had the main course which was a bowl of rice on which you put other things, in this case pork, vegetables and shrimp. The shrimp turned out the be very spicy so I didn't eat too much of that. Then we shared a message about family scripture study and how that would bless their life. The non member father was really involved in the discussion so that was awesome.

 

   Something kind weird here. There is no Daylight savings of any kind so it gets dark like middle of the night dark at 5:30 pm. So that is interesting.

 

   This week we also had interviews with our Mission President. When we got to the chapel we were surprised to find that neither of us had keys to the chapel so I had my interview with Pres. Lam in the mission van. Still weird to have the steering wheel on the other side. We read D&C 31 and had a really great discussion. Then I switched with my Companion and chatted with sister Lam about motorcycles so that was cool. She still calls me Movie Star because off the picture I sent in of myself  haha she is awesome.

 

   Then later in the week elder McGowan and I went on exchange again. we meet 3 people on the train. and chatted with them for a while. They were all very impressed that 2 gwok lowe (Chinese slang for a white person meaning "White ghost") could speak Chinese then one of them wanted a picture with us haha great fun. We gave them our number so we will see if anything comes of it. 

 

   Last P-day we went to the Bruce Lee museum that was cool. I am excited to come home and be able to watch those movies without sub tittles or dub. 

 

   For service we helped the ward clean the church. They spent three hours on just the chapel. They go Hard here. Then they fed us lunch. Which was tuna a corn sandwiches. and to answer your question you all have in your head right now... no, no it doesn't. 

 

love you all,

Elder Walker

 

ok picture time!

 

 

typical missionary lunch

this is a huge hallway with no people in it

 last p day 

This guy showed up while we were cleaning the church haha quite the amusing series of brooms and trashcans and missionaries to get him out of there haha.

 we teach a guy on this floor the round things on the bottom are about 30 cm across

got to go to the temple today! it was in chinese so we had to wear headsets haha

 

 

These pictures were posted by another mom on a China Hong Kong Facebook missionary parents page we follow .  They were at the Temple in Hong Kong Monday.

 

 

 

 

Emergency Transfer (moved to new area and apartment)

Hello all,

 

   Well the major news this week is that we were transferred from where we were in NTK to Sha Tin. That means completely new zone and area and I had to pack up and take everything I had just unpacked and move again. This means that we had to leave all of our investigators and less actives behind. One was very sad and gave my companion and i crosses. oops haha. I am going to keep it though because she was the first lesson that I ever taught in the field.

An Elder, in the area where Gordon was just sent, had to be moved (we don't know why) so he and his companion traded places with Gordon and his companion.

 

To explain the cross comment....

President Gordon B. Hinckley explained the reason in a talk delivered in general conference. He told about talking to a Protestant minister following a temple open house. The minister had asked why there were no crosses anywhere if we say we believe in Jesus Christ. President Hinckley answered, “‘I do not wish to give offense to any of my Christian brethren who use the cross on the steeples of their cathedrals and at the altars of their chapels, who wear it on their vestments, and imprint it on their books and other literature. But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ.’

Even though we do not believe in using the cross as a symbol in our Church, we do not criticize others for wearing or using the cross in their religions. We should understand that the cross is significant and sacred to them. In fact, the 11th article of faith says, “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”

We focus on the great atonement of our Savior, his sacrifice for us that makes eternal life possible. We think of his life and sacrifice every Sunday during the sacrament. Our testimonies become the precious things that we bear, along with our obedience, to show we are true followers of Christ.

   So a little bit about the new area. There is a river that runs through it and it is not as crowded as NTK so it feels a lot like Portland. My apartment is now even smaller. I am living with one of the other guys from the other Canto. District in the MTC. His trainer is from the UK so he is cool and we make fun of each others accents a bit. So the un-spoken protocol for moving is that when you move leave your food behind so life is just easier. However Elder Hill (he was in the same district that I was in at the MTC) left me corn flakes and that was it I had to make it from Thursday to today with just that. Also I left him a lot of food so I was annoyed about that.

   Also the apartment has some cockroaches in it which is not the greatest thing. Also there is no power that goes to the bathroom so there is no light and no exhaust fan so it smells pretty bad in there. Add to that the fact that the water heater is broken so you either seriously burn yourself or freeze. So I am going to call the office later this week and see if we can get rid of any of those things. Our apartment is also in a mall so that is a new experience for me. It is right above a restaurant and we smell the food all the time.

   Our teaching pool took a serious hit to. We left behind 8 progressing investigators and 2 less actives that were finally being reactivated and came to an area with 1 investigator and no less-actives that are willing to meet with us so that was a bummer. Oh well I guess that meas we will walk a few extra miles every day.  

   Last p-day we went bowling. I have never played with people who are good before. I didn't do too bad though I got a 122 with 4 strikes so that was cool.

   Last night we were able to meet with a member family just to start introducing ourselves to the new ward and the husband only speaks English and his wife speaks it really good so we visited and taught in English it was so nice! That is all the major news this week.

  

Love you all,

Elder Walker

 

we got another letter right after this one......

 

Almost forgot we are going to the Temple text week which means that my Wednesday will be my p day so I will write then and send you my exact address! 

 

Love you,

 

Elder Walker

So excited to have a new name tag on the left

Riding in the car to new area

New apartment main room/bedroom

Kitchen in new apartment

 

Gordon's new desk on the left

 

Bowling

Bowling shoes

Always a car guy here's a Ferrari he saw through a mini bus window

 

Alex, a young man they had to leave behind

 

This Week (second letter from Hong Kong)

Hello all,

 

   Well today this letter comes from an apple store in Kowloon Tong. If any of you are wondering they do not celebrate Halloween in Hong Kong. 

   Last p-day we went to a museum it was awesome I will include some pictures. One of the things we got to see was the document that succeeded Hong Kong to the UK. Supper cool.

   I am really enjoying the city. It is not as hot anymore so that is good. The city is really beautiful at night. Sometimes it feels like we are on a space ship and they just made stuff look like earth. There is no grass anywhere, but there is just enough trees to not go crazy haha. 

   I got to speak in church this week. That was fun and I don't think that I made any catastrophic errors. So the character that identifies me has two separate pieces and I don't know the name for the different pieces so I just he'd my hand up in a 5 because it is the same sound. So later after the meeting the second councilor in the bishopric came up and said "Elder 5 Elder 5" in English it was really funny. All of our investigators are progressing well so that is awesome with any luck if they keep their commitments we should have 3 baptisms this transfer. 

   Another adventure was that on Thursday my companion is a Zone Leader so he had meetings so I got thrown into another companionship and had to cover one of our appointments. Later Elder Cornillis (who is another trainee with me) had to teach a lesson all by ourselves. It went really well. Gift of tongues is real.

 

This is how he ended this letter.  I'm thinking he sent it before he was completely finished!

 

I sent Gordon a short list of questions here are the questions and his answers... 

 

What is your church building like?

Two floors and hard wood pews

 

How is church in a different language? 

Really hard to understand

 

Are the hymns the same but in Chinese?

No, they are in a completely different order but the music is the same 

 

How are your shoes working out?

Shoes are great

 

How are your pants and shirts working out? 

Great

 

Is there anything you need?

I don't need anything yet

 

How is the FOOD??  Anything weird yet?

Food is great, nothing too nasty

 

 

 

Can you guess which door is ours?

Our address We put the address into Google maps and "walked" around on the street where he lives! 

A funny sign in a public bathroom

Me and a cool statue

A map of Hong Kong.  All the light blue areas are man made

Me and my companion

 

 This is how long the subway trains are. Absolutely massive and they they are packed with people

We got to go to the Island for zone training and this is the biggest building I've ever seen

also we walked by a Lamborghini dealer ship. The only place I've ever seen more Mercedes cars was in Germany 



 

AHHH I'M IN CHINA!!! (First email from China)

Hello friends and family.

 

   Well here I am. I'll just jump straight in. After our 24= hours of traveling we arrived in Hong Kong. We got our luggage and got through customs. Then we were greeted by the Assistants to the President AP's. Two were from the UK and the other was from the USA. We took a picture with the president and loaded the bags into two huge vans. However there was not enough room so the AP's took us to a bus station where they handed us some fliers and said "pass these out on the bus" So we all made an attempt on the 20 min ride to the temple and Patron Housing in Kowloon Tong. My attempt was in vain. Then we got off and spent the night in the smallest room I have ever slept in. It was about the size of a large bathroom with 8 beds in it and all of which were full. We had some natives with us in our room so we made an attempt at talking to a few of them to no avail.

 

  The next few days were spent receiving additional training. Then we were assigned our senior companions and our propositioning areas. My area is called Ngau Tau Gok. If you look at it on a subway map it is between Kowloon bay and Kwun tong. My companions name is Elder Phung. He is from California but he grew up speaking Cantonese at home so his Chinese is incredible. Mine is awful. By some grace of God most people can Kinda understand me. For those of you who understand mission lingo I am Brother Smiths (Half Korean Guy) grandson. Anyway on my first day we had 2 teaching appointments. The first guy did not show up which was both sad and reliving. Then we taught a Woman and her son. I still can't get over how small every one's house is. If you're in the US and your house feels too small just clean it and throw way a lot of stuff you don't need it, then your house will feel HUGE. 

 

   My Grandfather (Grandpa R. Michael Walker) served in Taiwan and his name was 伍 which sounds like wu in Mandarin. However in Cantonese it sounds like mh. look up some one counting in Chinese when they say 5 that's my name. Cool. 

    

   Ok a little about our apartment. The floor space is about as large as a normal high school classroom. but with two rooms one is an office and the other is a bedroom and an office. We live in Kwun Tong on the 7th floor. And it cost the Church in US money... that's right  one Million Dollars. Crazy.

 

  The weather here is hot and Humid about 87 degrees and  85% humidity. We are required to wear our suits when we go out... until April. I Have one dark Black suit. I'm pretty sure that it is going to die. Luckily there are lots of places to get suits really cheep. we are also only allowed 10 hours of AC a day so we use it at night in the bed room so we can sleep. 

 

  Walking down the street is incredible everyone walks FAST and if someone is in your way you just nudge them. Lots of people do silly things when they walk near us. It is funny. Sometimes they pick up their kids and run and sometimes they just cover their face. Once we were street contacting and I opened my black case that we carry around to protect the pamphlets and Books of Mormon we give out and it showed the Book of Mormon and he just turned around and started running. Very funny.

 

   My German also came in handy that was nice. I saw a Chinese lady with a shirt that said DEUTSCHLAND on it so I started talking in German and we chatted for a while. We teach English classes on Wednesday nights for adults so I told her that if she came I could help her with her German. 

 

   So we were supposed to meet with President Nelson of the 12 but after he landed a boat hit the bridge that connects the airport to Hong Kong so he couldn't come. Massive bummer. 

 

   For this weeks Chinese oops: the words for chat and menstruate are kinda close to each other so when I called the bishop I said "Hey would it be ok of we come over so I can introduce myself and menstruate." the conversation then turned to English. 

 

 

 Love you all,

Elder Walker

OK pictures time!

Last meal in the USA

Our gate

cramped patron housing

 

Waiting for an investigator to show up

We teach a guy and this is his view

a different zoom

 

 

The view out of our apartment

Another view out of our apartment

Kitchen

The main room

The bedroom

 

 

First pictures posted from Hong Kong!

Mom "talking" here....

My heart is so full today!  We followed Elder Walker's airplane online so we knew it landed safely in Hong Kong but we haven't heard a thing from him or his new Mission President. 

Today, President Lam and his wife posted some pictures and a short video of some of the brand new elders being assigned to their trainers or their more experienced companions that will help to train them and get them settled in Hong Kong.

We still do not know where exactly in Hong Kong he's been sent but I'm sure we will find out soon enough.

We may not get a letter from Elder Walker on Monday because one of our general authorities will be there teaching and training them.  Russel M. Nelson is one of our 12 apostles.

I'm going to share the video on our FB pages so you can all see it there!

Here are the pictures with captions from President and Sister Lam

Our 24 new missionaries (this is at the airport just after they arrived)

Transfer week
We have 24 new missionaries and 8 departing this week. The 24 new one arrived the evening of the 20th. We were so busy that day and the APs and office elders were getting things ready for the new apartments that the mission has recently rented. We ended up grabbing a quick bit to eat at a Thai restaurant a few minutes from the airport before meeting them. This is another great group of missionaries that the Lord has sent to labor here. You can see from their countenance. They are eager and ready to serve and to bring people to come unto Christ. We are grateful to have them here, serving with us.



The 24 new trainees

Their trainers