Dec. 2, 2013 - Tis the season...to go to Macau!

Does it blow your minds as well to think that is December already? I think it finally hit me how fast time goes and just how long I have been a missionary. I saw an ad for the new Hobbit movie on the side of a bus and I was just like, "What the heck! I just watched the first one! How is the next one coming out already?!?! Oh wait.... that was like a year ago..." hahaha. Time comes at you fast I guess.

So we had another solid week here in the office! It was full of reports, fixing stuff, helping people move, and looking at more apartments! This week we got an assignment to go out to Macau and look at apartments! So we woke up early, went to the ferry and rode a boat over to Macau. It was really awesome! Macau just has a different feel to it. People are insanely nice and it is a lot less crowded. I really liked it out there. Plus it is like the Las Vegas of China. Casinos EVERYWHERE! So I felt right at home. haha. Seriously though. I can remember knowing I was home when you got to the Reno airport and the first thing you see are slot machines. Same idea here. But we took the whole day looking at apartments there. We looked at 15 different places! We were both exhausted, but we have some really good options.

Even though we were really busy with more apartment things, we still had time to go out and find! It was a solid week. We taught a few lessons on the street and were able to reschedule a few of them. One was a girl who is studying university, but had a friend who was LDS from when she was studying in Hawaii. Goes to show that people really do notice good examples. Also just why we are so happy all the time. We also met another guy named Fowler. He was just amazed at the lifestyle of a missionary. He didn't think that we were normal, but said he really respected what we were doing. He asked some really funny questions like if we are allowed to use smart phones or play basketball. haha. In the end, his curiosity allowed us to share the message of the restoration with him and it was a solid lesson. We should be meeting up with him again next week! 

One of the best parts of the week was that all the stakes in HK got together and had a huge activity at our chapel here in Kowloon Tong. I was able to see Avis, our convert from Sha Tin! He is doing so good! He already has his mission papers all filled out and is just waiting to turn them in at the end of the year! Is that not the coolest thing you have heard in the world? to me that is just music to my ears! I love Avis so much! I was also able to see a Less Active that we were able to reactivate from back in Butterfly. Brother Ling, and he is just the man! I don't know if you remember me talking about him, but he was baptized in his teens, but stopped going to church when he moved to Shanghai for school. When he moved back, he still just didn't come to church. A member ran into him and had us over for dinner and we started teaching. Now he is about to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and is the head of the Young Adults Activity Committee! Brother Ling is one of my favorite people in the world! So cool to see just how the gospel changes people. It means everything to them, and I am just grateful I could have a small part in helping them find it.

It is Christmas season, so I invite you to do something for someone else. Something small, we all can do that. I promise that we are at our happiest when we serve those around us.

I love you guys!

Elder Woodburn