Elder Zach Blankenbiller

  大家好！ We went to the richest neighborhood I've ever been in this week because we felt prompted to go there. And you know what it was divinely inspired cause we got two contacts, handed out a Book of Mormon and shared with like 15 Filipina helpers. It was seriously the weirdest finding I've done in Hong Kong though cause they were all like estates that we stood outside the gates of and talked through a speaker.  Highlights: - We got to go back to the Food Angels service place on Tuesday which was so fun! We absolutely grinded and broke the zone record by packaging 10,000 boxes of food for low-income people. It was super fun but so hot in there and also the fire alarm went off like halfway through and was ringing for like 10 minutes but no one did anything and we just follow orders so we kept our heads down and kept packaging - I went on exchanges with the brand new Elder in my district, Elder West, and we had a blast. We hiked up a mountain to this place called the Mid-Levels....

  大家好! Elder Kearon came to our mission this week!! It was absolutely amazing to have the opportunity to hear an apostle of God give a message specifically to us and to get to meet him. We got to each individually shake his hand and introduce ourselves which was so cool. Then we had a 2+ hour devotional that was amazing and also interactive which was a little nerve-wracking haha. My companion decided to volunteer for something which actually meant both of us got volunteered and I got called out cause Elder Kearon told me not to have my hands my pockets 🙈 He was incredible though, I'll share more of my thoughts later Highlights: - For the crazy people lineup we have a dude who we met with who wouldn't stop yapping for like ever and then we finally got in a short message, invited him to church, and he was like nah that's okay I'm just gonna sleep. So kind of an L. And then the other crazy dude was an old guy who had our phone number from years ago and called us to come v...

  大家好！ It's been a pretty odd transition week not gonna lie 😂 We had transfers and now I have three completely different Elders in my apartment, my district only has 4 of the same people as it did last transfer, and there are 3 brand new trainees. It's been a bit trippy getting used to all the new faces, but so far it's been going well! All the new people are chill Highlights: - On Tuesday, we taught deaf members and a deaf friend for a total of 3 hours and my brain was so dead by the end of it. So fun though, gonna miss the GOAT 陳姊妹 - At transfers, I was walking past where all the brand new straight out of the MTC missionaries were sitting and one of them saw my nametag and said, "Hey, are you Elder Blankenbiller? Your uncle who works at the Provo temple said to tell you hi!" So shout-out to Uncle Ken haha, thanks! - On Friday, we had our first District Council of the transfer, so I got to meet all the new peoples in the district. It's definitely a different...

  大家好！ We were having district Council in our chapel and she just poked her head around the corner and then kept walking, Elder Grimley goes "Wait that was Bonnie Cordon" and we all just walk out and say hi as she's getting in the elevator. And she said hi back! So kinda sick Highlights - Got to go on exchanges with Elder Halgren which was super fun! We had some awesome finds and found a lot of people who were interested - We had our last district council of the transfer! Honestly really sad, it's been such an amazing district to serve with. And a lot of them are leaving too. One of them, Sister Pierce, I've actually served with my entire mission, so this'll be my first transfer not serving around her which is kinda nuts - Transfer news dropped!! I'm staying same area, still district leader, but new companion. I'm gonna be comps with Elder Coons from my MTC district, which will be fun! - Saturday we had two ward activities, one in West Point and one in...

  大家好！ Elder Bentley left for home on Thursday evening, and to be honest I've been missing him a ton! He had a super big impact on me as a missionary and as a person and was also such a funny guy. So it's been sad not having him around. So I've been in a trio with Elder Yip and Elder Grimley since Friday, which has been quite an experience so far haha. They're both younger than me in the mission and to be honest sometimes it feels like if I wasn't leading out a lot of stuff would fall through the cracks and not get done. So it's been a little frustrating and tiring, but I've also felt the Lord lift me up so much and help me to overcome the challenges. Highlights: - On Friday we got to go to the temple! I always love going to the temple, but this time was especially awesome because I ran into the missionaries who are currently serving in my old area, Sheung Shui, and I was able to ask them about Charles and my other friends there. I also ran into a couple oth...

  大家好！心想事成！ This week was so packed cause of Chinese New Year and Zone Conference both being in the same week. It was super fun though, a lot of cool stuff happened! Highlights - Tuesday was Chinese New Year, so to start off the day we had a member of the mission presidency, President Woo, do a mission wide Zoom call to teach everyone about Chinese New Year. I learned a ton and it was super cool, and also a blast cause President Woo is so funny 😂 He's actually a member of the Ward I serve in right now and he's the best. After that they had us deep clean our apartments for two hours, which is outrageous cause you're not supposed to sweep and clean on Chinese New Year cause if you do you sweep away all the luck. So if I don't find new friends this week it's because of that. The rest of the day we just had studies and then walking around saying happy new year to everyone and looking at decorations and stuff. Super fun! - Thursday morning we went to a Ward BBQ activity...