Track 2- Hong Kong- HK Island - 大家好！你门最近怎么样？ （i am just pretending i can actually write in chinese 哈哈哈)

(Un peu de faahua savoir ecrire en chinois...)
well if you are wondering how my mandarin is doing! well its better than a year ago 哈哈哈. some months ago someone told me that when i speak mandarin i sound like a korean who is trying to speak mandarin but then yesterday one of the wan chai cantonese elders invesigator told me that i sound like a taiwanese. ( what does it mean exactly? hopefully i am close to soud like a 本地）
Alors pour ceux qui se demandent comment va mon mandarin! Alors! mieux, qu'il y a un an. Il y a de cela quelques mois, quelqu'un m'a dit que lorsque je parle en mandarin, on dirait une Coreenne qui essaye de parler chinois, et puis hier, l'un des investgateurs des elders cantonais a Wan Chai m'a dit que je parlais comme une Taiwanaise (alors, qu'est ce que ca voulait exactement dire!!! Tout ce que j'espere c'est que je m'en rapproche vraiment)


today, i was reading my email and since the beginning of this year i ve received informations on Tyson's father health conditions. i heard a lot of people are helping in different ways, i am so grateful for all of you, for your love and support! please continue to do so!
Aujourd'hui (p-day lundi29), j'ai lu mes emails et depuis le debut de l'annee, je suis l'etat de sante du papa de Tyson. J'ai vu que vous etes nombreux a les aider de diverses facons, je vous en suis tellement reconnaissante, merci pour votre amour et votre soutien, s'il vous plait continuez ainsi!


this coming week, we have our temple day on wednesday, i am so excited to go to my father in heaven house. to feel his love, to feel his presence, to receive some revelations. going to the temple is a precious thing for us because we only go every 3 months and my experiences in the temple are always so special!
Cette semaine, on a Temple mercredi, je suis toute excitee d'aller dans la maison de mon Pere Celeste pour ressentir son amour, sa presence et recevoir des revelations. Aller au Temple, pour nous, c'est tres special, parce qu'on y va seulement tous les 3 mois et mes experiences à l'interieur du Temple sont a chaque fois speciales!


the past week, we were busy, all the mandarin missionaries were asked to prepare a list of members who are originally from mainland attending any branches, wards in hong kong. we nedded to contact relief society presidents, elder quorum presidents, bshops, members.... it was not easy but it was fun to try to read chinese characters (sister anderson learned a lot).
we met with 3 of our potential investigators on wednesday, molly, zi 姐妹 and Janice. we visited 王姐妹 with the releif society president and her first and only concilor.
yesterday we taught the sunday school class, we had such a good lesson on ''our heaevenly father''.
then in the evening, zhao jiemei asked us if we could come over to her house teach her husband and have dinner together.
La semaine derniere, nous etions tres occupes, on a demande a tous les missionnaires mandarin de lister tous les membres qui sont originaires de Chine se trouvant dans l'une ou l'autre de nos branches mandarin, ou paroisses de Hong Kong. Nous avons du contacter toutes les Presidentes de Societe de Secours, tous les Presidents des Anciens,..., les Eveques, les Membres.......ca na pas ete facil du tout mais on s'est bien amusées a essayer de dechiffrer les caracteres chinois (Sr Anderson a beaucoup appris).
Mercredi, nous avons recontre 3 de nos amies potentielles, Molly, Zi et Janice, nous etions accompagnees de la Presidente de la Societe de Secours de notre Branche et de sa 1ere et d'ailleur unique conseillere.
Hier dimanche, on a enseigne a l'ecole du dimanche, on a donne une super lecon portant sur notre Pere Celeste.
En soiree, Zhao jm nous a demande si nous pouvions venir pour enseigner son mari et diner avec eux.


her husband s name is wong, he is" stubborn" it was a miracle that we were able to share a message with him. he was not super receptive but i think he likes us! i am always laughing at him because of how stubborn he is. but he improves a lot he was against his wife baptism for a long time, before he would also not be willing even to say hello to the missionaries but yesterday when we went to him and asked him to join us so we can share a message, he willingly came. i am full of hope for him. i know yesterday he felt something but he just rejecetd it but its okay zhao jiemei is so faithful and she wants so badly her family to join the church that things will take place . i remember yesterday she said; '' papa, i want to be a missionary too but i cannot because i am too old now but we can do it together one day!'' and then he was ''but i dont believe in those things'', in my head i was '' jist wait and see!'' hahahah i love them so much!!!
Son epoux s'appelle Wong, il est" tetu", c'est un miracle que nous ayons reussi a partager un message avec lui. Il n'etait pas des plus receptif mais je crois qu'il nous aime bien. Je fais que de rire apres lui a cause de son entettement. En tout cas, il a beaucoup progresse, il a ete contre le bapteme de son epouse pendant longtemps, aussi avant, ils ne disait meme pas bonjour aux missionnsires et hier lorsque nous lui avons propose de se joindre a nous parce que nous avions un message à partager, il est venu volontier. Je suis tres optimiste en ce qui le concerne. Je sais qu'hier, il a ressenti quelque chose mais il a fait genre.... ce n'est pas grave, Zhao jm est pleine de Foi et desire tellement que toute sa famille se joigne a l'eglise que c'est ce qui va se produire. Hier, je me souvient qu'elle a dit a son mari "papa, je veux aussi etre une missionnaire, mais je suis trop vieille a present, mais on peut en faire une mission ensemble, un jour!) Et il lui a repondu:" mais deja que je ne crois meme pas a vos enseignements", en moi, je me suis dit "c'est ce qu'on verra!" Hahaha!!! Qu'est-ce que je les aime!


我很开心惨加天父的事工 这个教会和福音是真事的。


that's it for the past week, i love you all. 我爱你们， 希望你们有一个美好的星期。
C'est tout pour la semaine passee, je vous aime.
包姐妹

Track 1- Hong Kong - HK Island - Reaping the fruits

I know through prayers, that Heavenly Father needs me where he sends me to...
hello family and friends! happy new year to all!
Salut, la Famille et les amis! Bonne année à tous!


i hope that your first week of january was great, for us it was i mean there is not a specific reason but i am just grateful to be where i am right now even thought its not easy but i always feel closer to my heavenly father and i cannot ask for better things than this.
J'espere que votre première semaine de janvier fut bonne, pour nous ce fut, enfin , pour aucune raison spécifique, je voudrais exprimer ma reconnaissance de me trouver là où je suis actuellement, même si ça n'est pas facile, je me sens toujours de plus en plus proche de mon Père Céleste et je ne peux espérer mieux que cela.


the past month even though i was not really sharing, we received a lot of blessings with the work.
Le mois durant, même si je ne l'ai pas vraiment partagé, nous avons été grandement récompensé pour tout notre travail.


last week, we had one new investigator, wang jiemei. she is buddhist but she wants to try and learn because she said that we are happy and she needs it. she will also help us to meet with her daughter, maggie, 11.
La semaine passée, nous avons trouvé une nouvelle amie, wang jm, elle est Buddhiste mais elle veut en savoir plus parce qu'elle nous trouve joyeuses et elle en a besoin aussi. Elle va aussi nous aider à faire un premier contact avec sa fille Maggie, 11 ans.


two weeks ago, we started to meet with zhen jiemei (the one old lady who invited us to eat with her ''yam tcha'').
Il y a de cela 2 semaines, on a commencé à rendre visite à Zhen jm ( la dame âgée qui nous a invité à manger "Yam Tcha" avec elle).


we were blessed also with calling formers investigators who were actually interested to meet with us.
Nous avons aussi été bénies après avoir appelé d'anciennes références qu'ils aient accepté de nous rencontrer.


we are going to meet with 4 potential investigators this week: fiona, wei jiemei (former investigator), guo jiemei (member referral), molly (came in contact with when we attended a service project).
Nous allons rencontrer 4 amies potentielles cette semaine: Fiona, Wei jm (ancienne reference), Guo jm (reference d'une membre), Molly ( nous sommes entrées en contact lors d'un Projet de Service).


so the work is being fruitful and then last night, we received the ''transfer call''. and without surprise, i am moving back to hong kong island with sister anderson and sister loo is coming in kowloon with sister dodge.
Alors le travail porte ses fruits et puis, hier soir, nous avons reçu un appel pour un transfert, et sans surprise, je retourne sur Hong Kong Island, je serai avec Sr Anderson et Sr Loo vient sur Kowloon avec Sr Dodge.


i am sad to leave our investigators, the less-actives, members, but i also know through prayers that heavenly father needs me where he sends me to, so i just have to trust. i can already imagine (a little bit) the feeling i will have leaving hong kong and the people at the end of my mission.
Je suis triste de quitter nos amies, nos membres inactives, nos membres mais, je sais aussi à travers mes Prières que Père Céleste a besoin de moi là où il m'envoie et donc, je lui fais confiance.
Je peux déjà ressentir (un petit peu) le sentiment que j'aurai lorsque je vais devoir quitter Hong Kong et tout le monde à la fin de ma mission.




i don't have time left so i hope that everyone is still healthy spiritually and temporally! hope everyone started to work on their goals for this new year especially ''loosing weight''. i heard a lot of people are doing it!
Je n 'ai plus le temps, alors j'espère que vous êtes tous en bonne santé spirituelle et temporelle!
J'espère que tout le monde a commencé à travailler sur ses objectifs pour cette nouvelle année, surtout "perdre du poids"... J'ai entendu que beaucoup se sont fixé cet objectif.!


love you all! have a great week
Je vous aime tous! Passez une bonne semaine

Hong Kong - Kowloon - Track 21- Happy New Year !!!

Happy new year to all!!

 Last night was just like every other nights we came home around 9:00 after a long day.

In the morning, we attended both the po lam and tseung kwan o wards. 

We ate some crackers in the park around the chapel for lunch. then attended the kowloon tong mandarin branch.

 surprise!!!

 When we got there, elder darringhton and his parents were there. 

and vicky is back too (our mandarin branch member who attending byu provo since summer 2017).

 During the sacrament meeting, two missionaries, sister rafie and elder clark shared their testimony. tyler darrington and vicky did as well.

 in the evening, we quickly visited a member from the tsim sha tsui cantonese branch who can speak mandarin. 

On saturday, we went finding around a place we never went before but i felt like we needed to give it a try. we just started that we saw a mom with her child sitting as they were waiting for someone. she was speaking mandarin to her child, so we started to talk to her. she saw our name tag but instead of rejecting us she invited us to sit by them. we talked and talked and then she was telling us why they were out waiting. they are in Hong Kong visiting her auntie, they are living with her but something happened and because the doorwas  closed,  they were stuck outside. 

She asked me to help her send a text message to her auntie who is on her way back to hong kong.

 she was telling me what she wanted me to text and i was struggling writing in chinese with our ''useless'' nokia phone (we spent almost 15 mins writting only a small text) and we could not even send it, it did not work!!!.

 we waited a little bit with them, shared the ''family; proclamation to the world''

. they are going back to guang zhou on january 3rd. 

On friday night, we visited a less active. we did not tell her until we got there.

 she is now catholic but she nicely welcomed us even though she was not okay talking about the book of mormon.... but we left her peacefully with a prayer. yesterday, she texted us a super sad text message asking us to Stop visiting her and other different things. (she was not rude or anything she has just lost her testimony). 

On friday morning, zhen jiemei ( a new investigator) invited us to go eat dim sum with her. we learned a lot of things about her and her family. she is super cute and super nice. when we were eating with her, she was always asking if we wanted more we needed to tell her.

 looking  at her, i could not stop thinking about ''mamie frida'', i almost cried! (yeah she is old, she is in her late 60's- but we are good friends-). 

Recently she had a lot of problems with her phone( attention pas la an iPhone ) like any old people. she is so funny!!! every time she talked about it, she was so mad, but it was so funny for me!


Last week, we mostly did less active visits because most of the people are out of town, visiting their families in mainland.


Today, we are going to eat at ''california pizza kitchen'', yesterday we did not have any special dinner or even dinner so today we are inviting ourselves.


Happy new year again, love you all!


Sister colombel.

Hong Kong - Kowloon - Track 20 - My little christmas miracle...

Merry christmas to all! 
Joyeux Noel a tous!!!


So this morning, we skyped with mom, dad, kai, aloe and rangi (in orem). the connection was not super good but i was so glad to be able to see and hear them.
Alors, ce matin, on a Skype avec maman, papa, Kai'a, Aloe et Rangi (a Orem). La,connection n'etait pas,terrible mais j'etais tellement heureuse de les voir et des les entendre.


the christmas i have here is really different than the one i usually have back home but i thing the biggest thing is food.
So the weirdest thing for me was having a ''breakfast'' christmas dinner (thats what we ate for our christmas zone party) . i don't even know how to call this. anyway!hahaha!
Noel ici est tellement different de ceux que l'on passe chez nous a Tahiti, particulierement en ce qui concerne le ma'a.(repas de Noel)
Donc, la pire des choses a ete d'avoir un petit dej de Noel ( on a fete avec notre zone), donc hahaha!! Je ne sais pas trop comment appeler cela!!!


but i am glad i am having a really special christmas, trying to focus on other people and try to find ways to serve them and make them fell this special christmas spirit.
Mais, je suis reconnaissante de vivre un Noel tres special ou nous nous focalisons sur les personnes en essayant de trouver des moyens de les servir et de leur faire ressentir cet esprit de Noel si special.


i would like to share a pretty funny spiritual experience...
J'aimerai partager une experience spirituelle plutot amusante...


for our zone christmas party, every missionaries had assignments. we were assigned to buy the syrup for the pancake with 100hk$ budget.
Pour notre activite de Noel de la Zone, tous les missionnaires devaient apporter quelque chose, nous devions avec un budget de 100$HK acheter le sirop d'erable pour accompagner les pancakes.


we went to buy the syrup on monday but it was expensive and small.
it was better for us to make it ourselves so we bought the stuffs and on wednesday night we prepared it for the next day.
we poured the water first and it did not seem to be enough, so we poured 10 cups of water + 10 cups of white sugar+ 10 cups of brown sugar.
Nous sommes allees voir les prix lundi mais c'etait trop cher pour la quantite vendue...
Il vallait donc mieux, le faire nous meme et nous avons achete les ingredients et la veille, cad mercredi nous avons prepare le syrup.
Nous avons melange 10 verres d'eau, 10 de sucre, 10 de sucre roux.


we made a lot of syrup, we added the maple essence and vanilla and tasted it, it was straight up water and sugar, it did not taste like syrup, we tried to add stuffs in it but it did not change.
Nous en avons fait une bonne quantite et y avons rajoute de l'essence d'erable et de vanille et avons goute. On sentait bien l'eau sucree mais ca n'avait pas du tout le gout du syrup, et on a rajoute encore d'autres choses mais ca n'a rien change.


my companion took a shower and i was stressing about the syrup but then i decided to pray over the syrup.
in my prayer i shared to heavenly father the situation and talked about the experience when jesus turned the water into vine but i was not asking him to turn the water into syrup but as we already made the syrup following all the instructions we didin't know what else we could do.
i finished my prayer then put the syrup in the fridge without tasting it but i was constantly thinking about it until we had our christmas breakfast.
Pendant que ma compagne se douchait, je restais la, stressee a propos de ce sirop, puis je decide de prier a propos du sirop.
Dans ma priere, j'ai fait part a mon pere celeste de la situation et lui cite la fois ou JC avait change l'eau en vin, je n'ai pas eu la pretention de lui demander de changer cette eau en sirop d'erable mais apres avoir suivit toutes les etapes de la fabrication du sirop, nous ne savions plus quoi faire d'autre.
J'ai termine ma priere, mis le sirop au frigidaire sans y regouter mais avec cette pensee tres forte que quelque chose opere.




i shared this experience with other missionaries but i don't think they really understood ....
after eating it they all said that it was good.
in my heart i knew that it was a miracle.
i know for some people it might seem weird, funny or not big deal but there is a lot i learned form it.
J'en ai parle a quelques missionnaires mais je crois qu'ils n'ont pas compris le truc...
Finalement, tout le monde a apprecie.
Dans mon coeur, je savais qu'il sagissait d'un petit miracle.
Je sais que ca peut paraitre insignifiant mais j'ai beaucoup appris de cette experience.


i want to wish everyone a very merry christmas, i love you all.
Je voudrais vous souhaiter a tous un tres bon Noel, je vous aime.




sister colombel.