Week 28: Freemasons and Christmas

 大家好！


This has been such an insane week. I started it off being in a trio for the first time on my mission, and then moved to Hong Kong Island which is like the main downtown area, completely different from Sheung Shui where I was just serving. I'm not gonna lie I have my work cut out for me here. I'm follow up training, but my trainee is actually fire, he's super willing to work hard but also has a little bit of trouble being obedient to some of the standards. So we're working on that. Also the Ward relations aren't as great as they could be, and our missionary app is full of so many people and Elder Yip (my trainee) has no idea who a lot of them are. So this transfer is gonna be a lot of repair work and cleanup. But I've already seen the hand of the Lord so much and felt His support a lot of the past few days. We're off to a great start!

Highlights:
- On the first day that I was in a trio with Elder Adcox and Elder Roberts the elevator doors closed with them inside and me outside, so we were separated for a solid 5 minutes
- I now live with a British elder and it's the most time I've ever spent around a British Elder. Turns out they do the whole accent thing 24/7
- The island is so pretty! Especially at nighttime when everything lights up. Absolutely love it. The Christmas decorations here are also insane
- Last P-Day was Elder Chen's last P-Day so we went to Mong Kok and he spent his last $700 HKD. I also scored some fire finds and bartered like a madman and got a ton of stuff for like $20 USD. Then Elder Chen left us to go home. RIP the legend
- I was introduced to a member after church today. I introduced myself and he promptly launched into his explanation of how the Jews control the United States through the Free Mason society, 9/11 was an inside job, and the Free Masons were responsible for the death of JFK. This man is one of our ward missionaries *gulp*
- We met a dude on the street who explained to us that he's actually a god and knows everything about all the countries in Europe, so I naturally tried to give him a Book of Mormon


Spiritual thought:
Something that's been on my mind a lot lately is how the Lord proves us and strengthens us by giving us trials. This transfer has already put a lot on my shoulders and I can tell it's gonna be some hard work. I know that there are two choices for me: I can either just try and tough it out and wait until I get moved away, or I can turn to the Lord, put my trust in Him, and let Him change me. I have a firm testimony that the Lord is with us through our trials and that if we trust Him, He will use the trial to strengthen us and prepare us for what He has in store for us. As long as we put in our effort, He will be with us all the way through and we'll be able to do whatever He need of us

Merry Christmas everyone!!
Elder Blankenbiller 

Google Photos:
Pictures:
1. Mall near our chapel
2. Victoria Harbor
3. Christmas lights 
4. Christmas but make it dinosaurs
5. Elder Yip






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