Elder Zach Blankenbiller

你哋好！ This week we had a super typhoon come through, which was absolutely nuts, there was so much rain and wind it was actually crazy. I put some videos in my Google photos, so if you want to see how nuts it was you can check it out there. We were totally safe in the apartment though, the most exciting thing that happened was our window started leaking. We did have to stay in our apartments for like two days though, which was not lit.  HIghlights: - During the typhoon we got an extra hour of personal study and an hour of Come Follow Me discussion time, but the discussion time just got used to discuss deep doc with the other Elders in our apartment. Lowkey fire - We also got to play a ton of Catan for language study cause we just played the game in Cantonese. If anyone needs to know how to say brick, wheat, sheep, rock, or wood in Cantonese, I got you. - Got to go to the temple Tuesday morning right before the typhoon, which was a great way to start off, I love when I get to go the t...

  Okay I lied it's clickbait. But I did attend a baptism this week, some elders in my Zone had a baptism, and we invited two of our friends we're teaching to go with us, and one of them came! His name is Jack, we've been teaching him for a while but going pretty slow cause he's from mainland and has absolutely zero Christian background. But after the baptism Elder Chuy asked him what he thought and he said "洗禮好好，我想接受洗禮" or: "Baptism is very good. I want to receive baptism." Which is crazy!! So Elder Chuy and I are gonna keep teaching him, but we're hoping to extend a baptismal invitation in a week or so!!! Other highlights: - My Zone has put 4 people on baptismal date this week, which is crazy for the mission! - Elder Zhao and I, who are both still in training, went on exchanges. It was super fun though, we did pretty well with it! - Tried Vietnamese Pho for the first time and absolutely loved it, but also forgot to take any pictures of it. I apo...

大家好！ This week was pretty packed, I had exchanges on Tuesday, my birthday and mission conference on Wednesday, and an epic side quest on Saturday, with a TON of finding time in between. Highlights: - On Tuesday when I went on exchanges it was with Elder Smith from my apartment. I don't know if you all remember Thelonius, but he's the guy who I found on my first day in McDonald's while doing language study and then we put on baptismal date. He lives in Elder Smith's area, so we transferred him to them, and I haven't gotten to teach him since then, but on Tuesday it worked out that I got to teach him with Elder Smith!! It was such an awesome opportunity, he was super happy to see me and I was so happy to get to teach him again! Super big miracle - The elders in  my apartment actually came in so clutch for my brithday, they're the best! I really wasn't expecting too much cause I'm in the mission field, but in the morning Elder Smith and Elder Zhao snuck out...

Hellooooooo everyone! This week my companion got sick, so on Tuesday and Wednesday we didn't get a whole ton done so he could recover, but then he pushed through and we had a great rest of the week!  Highlights: - Like 3 hours of extra personal study on Tuesday while Elder Chuy slept, so I started learning to play Amazing Grace on guitar! - Exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Thursday: the night before we were all yapping a ton, it was super fun! All the elders there were awesome so it was a party. Then on Thursday I had a native Hong Konger help me with my language study so he helped me learn how to discuss philosophy in Cantonese. I still don't know how to do it, but I learned a lil haha. We also found this British dude who works at a Buddhist monetary which was sick - All of our friends bailed on us for church, some was valid but some people didn't come just because there was a level 3 typhoon. Who let's a silly little typhoon get in the way of coming to church?? - We...

Hellooooooo everyone,  This week has been hands down the fastest week so far on my mission, it BLEW by like crazy! We had a ton of lessons, I went on exchanges with the APs, and my companion ran out of money. Highlights: - On Wednesday, we had four lessons that were all back to back, so we were teaching for almost 3 hours straight, and then had lunch with one of the friends we taught, and then had all of our studies, and then a meeting with a member family, and then contacting for half an hour. So for about 6-7 hours, we had no breaks, and it was all go-go-go. It was crazy and exhausting, but also super awesome cause we got a lot done! - On Sunday, most of our friends couldn't come to church with us, all for valid reasons, but it was still sad cause we thought we weren't gonna have anyone with us, but then we ended up having one friend pull through! His name is Man-Tik, we met him last week, and he already came to church with us! And at church, he had his own Bible that he was ...