Elder Zach Blankenbiller

  大家好！ Since I just got transferred into my new area, the English branch, we were doing some calls and introducing me to the friends in the area. One of them was having a hard time getting my name over the phone, so we texted it to him and he said "BLANKENBILLER, that is the WHITEST name I have EVER HEARD." So that's a new reaction to my name 😂  Highlights: - Holy crap this new area is so different to my last one haha. In my last area my biggest challenge was finding interested people, getting them to church, scheduling them, etc. It was a find grind. I got to this new area and we have SOOOOOO MUCH to do haha, it's nuts. We have a crazy amount of friends we're working with and trying to help, as well as members we're working with, less actives, recent converts, and also all the Zone Leader responsibilities Elder Smith and I have. So it's been really chaotic and a little bit overwhelming. But also so much fun at the same time, just very tiring haha.  - Got...

  大家好！ Well they got me. We found out transfer news on Saturday night and I'm being transferred away... Into English work! So I won't be teaching Cantonese or working with a Cantonese ward now, I'll be serving in the international English speaking branch in Hong Kong. I have mixed feelings about it because obviously teaching in English will be lots easier, but I'm also worried my language ability will go down. Also I've developed a fear of white people since coming to Hong Kong. I've also been chosen to be a Zone Leader in the Second Language zone of my mission, which is nuts haha, we'll see how it goes! Highlights: - Got to go on exchanges twice this week, once with Elder Leung and once with Elder Halgren. Both exchanges were so much fun, Elder Leung is so funny and I absolutely love Elder Halrgen, so it was awesome. Met lots of cool people too - Because of the way exchanges worked out it was just Elder Halgren and I in the apartment for a night and we had ...

  大家好！ Last night we tried to go heart attack some of our ward leaders to show appreciation for the work they do. Sounds like a great idea. Except in Hong Kong they have security guards in the building who call the person you're trying to visit to make sure they know you. So the surprise sometimes gets completely ruined. Also in my area the wealthy members live on the side of a mountain. So after spending half an hour hiking up the side of a mountain and the Sisters politely refraining from crashing out, we got the apartment building of the Stake President who lives in our ward. And then the surprise got ruined by the security guards. So they invited us in and fed us and the drove us home after. Super nice of them but seriously could not have gone less according to plan 😂 Highlights - I've been in pretty consistent contact with my friend Charles who I baptized in my old area, and about a month ago he told me that his father had died. He invited me to come attend the funeral an...

  祂已復活！ Happy Easter everyone! This week our Mission President gave us 30 minutes at the end of every day to do the Easter study course on Gospel Library as an apartment. It was such a great opportunity to deepen my understanding and appreciation for the Atonement and Resurrection leading up to Easter. The title of this email is one of my favorite descriptions of the Savior's resurrection, which comes from 2 Nephi 25:13: "He shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings." Highlights - We met another crazy dude this week, yayyyy. This dude was from Mainland China and barely spoke English but Elder Coons insisted on trying to teach him a message about the Restoration via Google Translate. So I was just kinda standing there because we were late for an appointment. Eventually Elder Coons waves me over and is like "Do you understand what he's trying to say?" I look at the Google Translate and it says that some people opened a door to another dimension and e...