Dec. 16, 2013 - 你好嗎?

Another solid week this week. It really flew by. Something about the Christmas season tends to do that. It was also transfers this week, so we helped a lot with that. I will be in the office for another transfer. Which is a sign that I haven't screwed anything up too badly... yet. haha. I have really enjoyed the added assignment of supplies and referrals, so I am really stoked to keep helping out where I can.

We were busy with some things this week, but we planned well, so we still had a lot of time to get out and find! I love finding because you never know who you are going to find or what you are going to run across. There was a huge rugby tournament at a sports complex near the temple, so this weekend we talked with a ton of jacked giants about the gospel. It was really awesome. I learned a big lesson about really consecrating our time and working hard this week. It has been rainy and a little chilly here this week. We had been finding all day and were really tired. Our schedule had a really awkward 30 minutes toward the end of the day and we were really tempted to just finish up some random office stuff. But we decided to go out and try and teach a lesson. We had the goal that we were going to help at least one person learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, even though the whole day we had hardly been able to talk with anyone. So we got out there and we met Karina. She is a student at CityU and lives nearby. We were able to learn more about her family and her love for them. She has given a lot to benefit them. We shared with her the potential of becoming an eternal family. She was really interested and we had a great discussion. The sisters will be meeting with her and her family next week. It was a really testimony builder for me to see that hard work is where the miracles are. If we don't become complacent and lazy, God is going to bless us.

In the mission office, you can really tell that its the Christmas season! Sister Cowley, our mission secretary, decked the office out! haha. It was really cool for us to walk in one day and see lights lining our desk with stockings, trees, and lights everywhere. There isn't a better time to be on a mission than at Christmas. Everyone here goes all out for Christmas, but most people don't know why it is a holiday or the reason we have Christmas. We have really loved reading the story of the Saviors birth with out less actives and investigators.

We had another miracle this week with our less actives! It turns out that the Sham Shui Po ward used to be split into three different wards, but because people moved, or stopped coming, it was condensed into just one ward. So we really put our shoulder to the wheel and have been visiting people like crazy. Some guards wouldn't let us up, others yelled at us, but some let us up. We spent a huge part of the week and weren't able to get into anyone's home to share the message of the Nativity. It was hard for me to work so hard and care so much, but not have any success. Or so I thought. On Sunday, Bro Tsang came to church, a less active that we had visited that wasn't home. He told us how grateful he was that we took the time to visit and show that we cared. Christmas is a time of miracles.

Its a time when we could easily let our thoughts drift off to home, but I am enjoying what I am doing here. Its not everyday that you have the call that we have, the work we have, and the joys we have. Helping others come to know Christ is of great worth. I miss you, but I am here to work and that's what we have been doing.

I love you all. Remember Christ in Christmas and what that means.

Until next week!

Love,
Elder Woodburn