Elder Zach Blankenbiller

  心急吃不了熱豆腐！ Ever since I got back to Sheung Shui and saw Charles again my goal has been to help his family get sealed in the temple. His father passed away at the beginning of this year, which was really hard on him. And his Sister is now being taught by the Sisters, and so we've been talking a lot with him about helping his family to learn more about the church so they can all be sealed. This week we grabbed lunch with him again and chatted about how he could continue to help his family work towards that goal. But then the conversation took a bit of an unexpected turn because he started asking lots of questions about missionary work and missions and stuff... And then he dropped on me that HE'S BEEN THINKING ABOUT GOING ON A MISSION!!!!! He's still in the early stages of thinking about it, but he's seriously considering it which makes me so excited and so happy. I suggested that he look into getting his Patriarchal blessing so that he can receive guidance, and he said h...

  大家好！ Last Pday I got a clapped haircut from a haircut place. They made the front shorter than the back, so today I got a buzz cut. For all those who are disappointed in me I apologize, it was never in my plans and has been forced upon me by my circumstances. For those of you who are proud of me please let me know by private email Highlights - I got to go on AP exchanges this week, which was a nice break of going back to grinding missionary work with a seasoned missionary. It made it a little hard to come back to normal, but I've been working through it and keep pushing forward! - While I was on AP exchanges we were grabbing dinner at the Dragon Center, which is a giant mall in Kowloon. We were looking for a place to sit and came across this one girl that Elder Bement had seen outside, and she asked if we needed a place to sit, so we sat with her and started chatting. She mentioned her cousin is actually a member of our church and that she's been to one of our chapels before, ...

  大家好！ On Tuesday we were supposed to be getting a new AC installed to replace a broken one in our apartment, so we had to stay inside our apartment during the window when it was supposed to come, which was 9am-2pm. So we called the dude who was supposed to be bringing the new one to ask if he could bring it earlier so we could leave, but when we called him he was like "How did you get this number?? Never call again!" And then hung up. Then he never showed up so we were stuck inside almost the whole day and he didn't even come lols. I was pretty annoyed for a little but lowkey it's just really funny at this point haha Highlights - We had Elder Woo of the area presidency do a mission tour with us and so we got a ton of amazing training on giving people invitations, promising blessings, and sharing our testimonies. It was incredible and I got a bit of a wake up call that I could definitely improve in that area, so I've been practicing a lot of what I learned! His wi...

  大家好！ This week took a bit of an unexpected turn, in that there ended up being an emergency transfer and I'm now back in Sheung Shui, my very first area. I'm currently serving with Elder Lau, a missionary in his first transfer out of training. He's actually from Hong Kong. To be honest it's been a bit of a struggle, the whole thing caught me completely off guard, and I went from having a really diligent companion working in an area that had a lot happening, to an area that right now has almost nothing happening, and my companion is still learning how to give himself fully to the mission and realize that the mission isn't about him. So it's been a struggle the last few days, but I've been praying lots and really trying to push forward and love my companion even when he makes it difficult Highlights - Wow coming back to this ward was awesome. These members are the best people ever and so many of them remembered me and were so excited that I was back, which wa...