April 7, 2013
Hello everybody!
Nine-week transfers have officially started here in the Hong Kong Mission! It’s such a long time but in the end it’s all the same right? I have a new calling obviously like I said I would! I’m in an area called Cheung Sha Wan, which is a pretty big and very populated area! It’s my first time actually serving in Kowloon! (Kowloon is the location of the Mission President’s office. You probably know that if you have written to Kyle and if you haven’t here is his address – I know he would love to hear from you)
Elder Kyle Allen
China Hong Kong Mission
18 Dorset Cresent
Kowloon Tong, Kowloon HK
So that’s all pretty exciting! The area just covers a bunch of territory. A lot of old, industrial buildings and stuff but like everywhere in Hong Kong there are people everywhere! If you’re looking at a map it covers Mei Foo to Prince Edward down to a little bit of Mong Kok. My church building though is in Kowloon Tong so that’s freaking cool! (Here is the best map I could find of Kowloon. It shows Cheung Sha Wan and Mong Kok but not Mei Foo.)
And one of the best parts about serving in Cheung Sha Wan is the place you live! Missionaries serving in CSW have lived in the temple!!! I was pretty excited to live there but the day before I moved my companion called us and said that we had to move because the mission office was getting two more Elders to do this online program thing! I was this close to permanently living in the temple! But instead we live in an area called Kwai Fong! It’s pretty crazy to think about…this transfer I’ll be with my 5th companion and 5th apartment! That’s so crazy! Usually it’s like one area-one apartment but nope! I’ve had to move so many times! But enough about that!
My new companion is Elder Kwan. He is from Hong Kong! He is really nice and a hard worker! He only got baptized a year and a half ago!!! So it’s different in that aspect. And he’s only been in the mission field for 3 months so it’s already been an interesting experience. The way he speaks English is so funny. He has such a distinguishable accent. But then again…what does my Chinese sound like to him? Ha-ha! I live with Elder Siebach right now who was my companion in the MTC so I’m excited to be close to him again! He and Elder Ward (who is such a good missionary!!) live with us so it’s cool! It’s the next best thing to living in the temple. Oh, and I’m senior companion this move and I’m also a district leader for an area up here so there are some new challenges that lie ahead! It’s pretty crazy! I wasn’t expecting to be called a district leader yet but it’s whatever! Take whatever gets thrown at you! So I’m very excited! The work here is going okay so I’m anxious to find some new people to teach and help this ward have success again.
Since I got the new assignment on Friday, I’ve already met with some of our investigators and I think we have some good potential. We were able to extend 2 more baptismal invitations this week! That means we have tripled our baptismal dates! (I guess that means they had one baptismal date scheduled before and now they have three.) I’m excited to see that happen already! It’s always better when you have people working towards goals! It’s more stressful over here but the days go by faster and it’s really rewarding to see investigators keep their commitments. Oh and by the way Patrick, Cheuk Hau Ling, and Sandra are all doing good in Tai Po. I said “good-bye” to most of our investigators on Tuesday at a really fun FHE that we put together. I’m so excited for Elder Goodrich and his companion!!! Anyway…. back to Cheung Sha Wan.
The first person I met with is named Carolyn! She actually lived in Los Angeles for a long time and then went to UCLA for school. That means her English is almost perfect. She recently moved back to Hong Kong and met missionaries – not in Cheung Sha Wan but actually TKO!! (Kyle’s first area in Hong Kong.) Elder Christensen my old companion was the first person to talk to her! She is really, really, interested in what we believe and stuff. Her mom is even trying to tell her not to meet with us missionaries but she does! She is going through a lot of trials right now… especially since she just moved back and doesn’t have that many friends really. But that means she has time to do the things we ask her to do and she does them! I couldn’t believe it! When we met with her last week it was only our like 3rd week of meeting with her and she is already reading in 2nd Nephi 26! That’s just crazy to me! Our lesson with her was at our new ward correlator’s house and it was super good! We asked all these questions about her knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and if she had gotten an answer about a living prophet today and she said “yes” to all of our questions! Her faith is already pretty good! We just have to keep working with her for a May baptismal date that we set for her! I’m excited to see what goes on! It’s probably going to be a long process but I’m excited to get started.
The other new baptismal date we set is for a guy named A-Keung. A-Keung is actually an investigator’s son. The investigator loves the church but just doesn’t want to come to church. But anyway… the Young Men’s quorum here have really gotten to know A-Keung and he already has a friendship with 3 of the boys (ha-ha… that’s like half of the whole Young Men’s program) so that’s a good thing! And the Young Men’s president comes and picks him up every Sunday for church! That’s just unheard of in Hong Kong – mostly because no one has a car! But he goes and waits for him every week to drive him to church. We met with him this week and giving him a baptismal date was pretty smooth and good! I’m excited for my companionship this move! It’s going to be hard but I’m ready to face it… I think… these two people have good potential. We just need to raise the bar one step.
That’s basically it for this week. The rain just keeps on coming although Sunday wasn’t bad. Kowloon Tong gets a lot of foreigners that come in and on Sunday there were a bunch expecting General Conference to be playing, ha-ha! (They didn’t get to watch October’s General Conference until a week after it actually took place.) The ward isn’t bad though… although there is some drama going on with them but that’s okay! We just have to help them the best we can! Elder Kwan is good at just talking to people and he is very willing to learn. It’s a pretty small ward but I can see the potential it has. It’s such a big area and I hope I can help it! So that’s pretty much it! One of my goals in the next few weeks is to get these members fired up about missionary work and the only way to do that is through Elder Kwan’s and my own actions! It’s just another challenge ahead but I’m so excited for it! I just look back to how much Tai Po changed and we are just trying to do the same things here and then keep going! I love you all! Baseball has already started?!!! And the D-backs are in first place?!! What the?!! Time is just flying by! I can’t believe it! I love you all! Thanks for the support and love!
Elder Au Yeung
P.S. Last P-Day we went to the art museum here and there was a huge Andy Warhol exhibit going on. Man, that guy is just a freako. But for some reason he fascinates me. I also I think he was the fastest aging person ever – holy cow! But I guess that’s what his kind of lifestyle leads to! (Andy Warhol is an American artist who is famous for being a pioneer in the field of “pop art.” He painted celebrities and other famous people and things that were important in the lives of everyday Americans. He was particularly famous for his paintings of Campbell’s Soup Cans for example )
Elder Kyle M. Allen in Hong Kong 