Blog Post #47: Flashback

Dear People,

In the Mission Field we have books of records. Records of everyone we've sat down to talk with, all the times we've met with people who live in our congregation, and (theoretically) records of all the good places to eat, and the bad places not to eat at.

In my last area, TST, the record for the Chan family had a picture of a new Missionary sitting on the couch, eating chocolate, looking a bit surprised at the camera. Now he's my Companion!

Elder Chan is from my Baby Area, and he's awesome! He has great English (better than my Chinese), is super patient, and likes to randomly attack people when we're at home. He's pretty much the perfect local companion for me to have. He takes the work seriously, and he also takes P-Day seriously; it's a day to relax for 6 hours, then fill the last 3 with street contacting or dinner appointments.

I'm super excited to be with him, and I'm sure that he'll be a regular character in my posts. He doesn't like spicy food, so I'm going to have to turn down the fire when I cook for everybody on Mondays, but I think it'll all work out fine. He's an awesome guy, and I know that we're going to be great friends. He even taught me how to play an awesome card game that's the Chinese equivelent of BANG!, which is my favorite thing in the world (right next to butterscotch).

The work here is still going strong, after a week and a half of working with another companionship my area was suffering a little bit, but we're slowly having more success and meeting more people, so I have lots of hope for this area. Moves calls is tomorrow, but I doubt that'll affect me much. I hope all of you are having a great time, I know that many of you who have been sending me letters are having a great time! Congrats, Heidi!

Keep on praying for me, even though I can feel the hand of the Lord lifting me up and keeping me afloat I sometimes feel like my head is barely above water. Better to swim in the deep than the shallow. I know that this work is not only an opportunity for me to serve the Lord, but also a blessing.

My two years here is going to be the deciding factor for my whole life. The effort I put in here in Hong Kong is going to determine who and what I am for the rest of my life. I'm determined to put in as much as I can, so that I can become the best person I can. I'm glad that I'm here, learning how to be selfless, caring, patient, humble, diligent, and obedient to my leaders.

I hope you are all having an amazing time, and I'm excited to share my experience here with you.

Love,
Elder O'Gara