Hello Everyone!!!!

How is life? How was your Christmas holiday? do you have any big plans for new year?!?!? I've been planning all week for my new year resolutions and goals... it will defiantly be the stuff of legend! :)

This last week went by so so so fast... and mostly was just full of planning... Planning is important!!! ha. Actually the real reason is that around Christmas and the new year holiday... Everyone is way way busy!!! everyone we call has either gone to mainland or are busy with family or friend get togethers... so... we have only got to teach a couple people... :( lame... even wai hohn ( our miracle friend) is out of town to mainland! aagh! oh well. Oh!!!... I Suppose it would help to say that our transfer just ended today, but I'm staying! again! :) so that's good, but its also sad because the end of this move means that all (well... a lot) of my favorite missionaries have all finished their missions. out of the 8 people in my first two apartments... 6 of them have gone home... even though 4 of them are native and still in Hong Kong... its still sad that i cant serve around them anymore because they all want to go to America to study... ill meet them there!... later... ha.

Anyway! About my new year goals! (since i really don't have much else to talk about...) ... first off i want to start off by saying...
THANK YOU!
To EVERYONE who has sent me letters, emails, gifts and any other kind of support while I've been out here on my mission. I am truly grateful for every one of you :) thank you so much, i wish there was a way that i could tell you just how thankful i am for everything you do. I am so blessed to have so many amazing Family members ( especially) , Friends, and an Awsome Home Ward! ( who are also like friends... and a 2nd family :) ) ... who are so caring and supportive of me all throughout my life, and haven't stopped even though I'm all the way in China!... Thank you.
So, (Because I've been Awful at doing this in the past) One of my new years goals (and actually stems to a lot of different things) is... i want to show my gratitude more... I feel SO bad for all the notes cards and things that I've received and haven't sent any kind of thank you to... really i feel terrible... so now I'm making a promise that Anything I receive... there WILL be something returned to say thank you and respond to the letter. If my response isn't very big... I'm sorry... but i will do my best, i KNOW that i have time to do it... so i will... once again thank you ALL for what you've done. i have a list right now of People i need to send a letter(/apology) to and they will be out soon. Thank you so much :) Everything You all do means more than i could ever say, even though that wont stop me from trying :) Some special people i want to thank are (no there is not an order ha :) ) My Mom Dad Brother and Sisters. My Grandma and Grandpa Carlson & Aunt Hollie, Bishop Richards and the ward Young Women, My Awesome Cuzin' Chase who is serving in Germany right now :) and who has always been a Huge example to me, All my Aunts and Uncles, and to My Best Friends (2 in particular who are serving missions in Chile? and Tennessee) who mostly are all on missions right now :) ha. You all mean more to me that i could ever express :) Thank you for everything :)

i don't have much to say this week. i just really hope everyone knows that I'm thankful for all they do. even the smallest thing means the world and more to this missionary :) Love you all :) hope to hear from you soon. and hope to get something to you soon too ;)

Thank you,
Love all the way from China,

Hello Everyone!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ITS CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cant express just how excited i am right now!!!!!
HOW ARE YOU!!!! are you enjoy...ing...? your Christmas over there in the USA? Is it cold? I'm still sweatin' over here!!!! ha :)
i really don't even know what to say....
Today has been awesome. the whole mission got together and we did skits and had a gift exchange at Kowloon tong. it was alot of fun. our group did a special dance... ill try to send the video next week... it was SO funny! then the best part of the day is... about a month ago everyone turned in their pictures to put into a slide show about the year 2010... it was so great... it was a pretty powerful slideshow :),... it definitely had some emotion in it... :) I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!

So... not much to talk about this week... but just to update... waih hohn (the kid who called the church to find out more) we are still teaching him very regularly... on Sunday showed up in a white shirt... AND TIE!... i was SO happy! he was all dressed up and looked like a pretty cool kid. then, he came closer to me... and i saw that he got a new ear piercing... ha-ha.... and i guess he has been going to parties all last week because he magically got a ton of friends!!!!... so... we might have a little bit more teaching then we had planned... but that's okay! we saw him on Tuesday and talked to him about the parties he goes to and his earing... and he is willing to give up both of them!... pretty cool!...
I'm still finding as much as i can while Elder Lee follows me... finding isn't his favorite thing... but... that's okay! he likes teaching! and cooking! and cleaning! ha-ha... that's so bad of me to say... but... i help! :) its a pretty equal companionship. :)

Well... that's really about it... sorry about the short email! everything is going very good over here... I want to say a special thank you to all of you out there :) you have all helped me so much in my life... even if you don't know it! :) i am very Very thankful for the example you have all been to me, all the support you give me, and for everything you've done, and continue to do for me :) thank you :) love all of you! and.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone!

Merry Christmas!!! :) how are you!? have you eaten rice yet?! Are your christmas decorations up? AWSOME! I miss the christmas feeling in america... LIVE IT UP!... where i am right now... there isnt a soul who has decorations as far as i can tell... i guess only in the nice malls and buildings... Want to hear something funny? i was looking for special christmas cards a couple weeks ago that would look really cool and maybe have some chinese stuff or charecters on them... and there arent ANY!!! i couldnt find one to save my life! it funny, ( and to me will be funnier the rest of my life) there are few things that are special to china in hong kong... and when people say " everything comes from hong kong" they are not kidding... its actually hard to find things that you couldnt find in america... im pretty sure they just send EVERYTHING over there! :) anyway!

This week has been SO busy!!! ive never taught so much and i love it!... granted it still isnt very much... but its more than they ward has seen in a while, and they Love me! and Elder Lee of course. So we got sisters in our zone this week and President chan is having us all turn over our female investegators to them, and having the elders focus on the men. For me and my companion... there was no real affect... because all of the people we teach are male!... but i heard of some companionships going from 12 lessons a week... down to 1! so crazy! its sad how some elders are upset... sometimes i hear things... and i wish people would just stop crying about it and do what president chan is asking us to do... He has made SO many promises... actually this week... he Promised us that if we could find 13 new investegators... then 1 would be baptized. Sounds Great to me! :)We've Almost called all the potential and former records... and nothing has come yet... and its kind of driving me crazy... i want to talk to people! even if the results were the same... i still would much rather talk to people on the street! its always alot funner and alot more interesting.

Im not sure if ive mentioned a new kid that we have been teaching named leih waih hohng... he is a pretty good kid... and we taught him on tuesday... everything has been going great! and he told us that he wanted to hear the commandments in our church... so... we prepared and on tuesday taught him about the ten commandments... it was a pretty... special... experience. Everything was fine... until commandment #2... when somehow they got on the topic of if playing to many video games is like idolatry... and we talked about it for... a while... and settled things... then moved on... and everything was good until... #3... "thou shalt not take the Lord thy Gods name in vain." ... and no swearing... He is 14... and, well, I learn something everyday... Tuesday i learned that kids in china... swear in english... ALOT!... i almost lost my ears! even after we told him why we dont say these things, and were not supposed to, and its very disrespectful, and a commandment, and to stop,... he just kept going! "@$!@#$@#%#@!?... is that okay?" "NO" "oh... @$@#%$#%@#$!.... is that okay? "NO! (thats actually the same thing you just asked...) " etc etc etc... it was bad... and... took a while... i just thought he was so innocent before... but... wow... ANYWAY! we moved on past the sabbath day, past honor thy parents, and past no killing (luckily) adultery or stealing, got through with not bearing false witness... and then we got to thou shalt not covet... this one was... not good... we couldnt get the idea of... " wanting things is OKAY!... dont be jealous of others things, but be grateful for what you have... and just got an " Ill try"... we'll work on that some more... but.... that was the most "special" lesson that i had this week... in a while actually...
Everything is going so good over here! Im still frustrated with the language, but if im honest with myself its getting alot better... actually... the other day i stumped a cop who tried to bible bash me!... i felt pretty good afterward :) after that i felt quite suprized that i knew what was happening... i guess i would call that improvement :) ... but... now i have to work on humility :) dang. i made a new goal to myself that i would get a cops number next year to contact him :) then try to get President Chan to help fellowship :) (ill save this story... he is former cheif of police in hong kong... and... well... simply put, he is a pretty darn famous cop... :) My mission president is the Bomb.com basically :) ... )

Thats about it this week! I love you all so so much! thank you for all of the support, prayers, and everything you do for me! :) i wish you all a very very Christmas season :) We are very Blessed :)

Much Love,
Mac ( Elder Wai )

Me & My Comp in Macau