The One Where Sister Mindy Talks About Answers To Prayers

I love LOVE love Sister Adams.

She strengthens my testimony every. single. week. 

This is such a good email from our missionary. i hope you read it and i hope that these posts of her emails are inspiring you to love the Lord and those around you more. (at least that is what they do for me) 

also, i'm all caught up!!!! :) 

here is her January 15th email:

Feet High Fives

Hello everyone!

We had some interesting things go down in Tsing Yi this week! Haha, just kidding. It's been a pretty average week but still a good one. We went to church, taught some lessons, taught some Cantonese, taught some English, ate some delicious food (perks of having a native companion, she's incredible), and laughed A LOT.

We have a couple of really solid investigators that we are working with here in Tsing Yi. One is name Miki, she's an adorable 17 year old who is seriously one of the most prepared investigators that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. She is seriously so great. She's been meeting with the missionaries for about two years. A few months back, she dropped the missionaries and decided that she didn't want to meet with them or be a part of the church. It was really sad. Then, randomly in November, she calls the missionaries and needed help figuring out her life. She shared about how life has been incredibly hard since she stopped meeting with them, praying, reading, and going to church. She needed help figuring out what the missing piece was. She's been incredibly solid ever since! It reminds me of that talk, I think it's Elder Nielson from this last general conference, that talks about how people are ready to be taught when they are ready to be taught, not when we are ready to teach them. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer for it to sink in and for their heart to be ready to receive it. 

There's an Indian woman that we meet with, to help her learn Cantonese. It took a long time for her to start having interest in hearing about our message (about two months) but it's really interesting to meet with her because she's super open about her beliefs and it really encourages met o get back to the basics and figure out how to explain things simply and in ENGLISH (that's the hardest part. how am i supposed to TEACH in ENGLISH??). We're her first time learning about Christianity, she's tried a lot of other things but can't seem to find something that sticks and answers to all her questions. The Spirit is always super strong in our lessons with her and although she hasn't progressed too much YET, i've enjoyed meeting wit her because I get the opportunity to have my testimony strengthened by sharing with her the things that are so dear to me.

One question that has been brought a lot recently in the mission, by my investigators, by friends at home, and all over is about receiving answers from God. "I pray and ask Him all the time, but he hasn't answered my questions." "I can't come back to church, there's too many loose ends and too many unanswered questions." "God doesn't love me, He never answers me." "Why can't you just tell me the answer?". I hear these all the time. There's a talk that I really like from last October's General Conference called, "To Whom Shall We Go?" by Elder Ballard. I LOVE this talk! As i was studying on the subject of find answers i came across this line, "Sometimes we can learn, study and know and sometimes we have to believe, trust, and hope." I believe that God does not always give us ALL the answers right away because sometimes he needs to test our faith. Sometimes we need to learn to TRUST Him before He can reveal to us when we want to know. The other answer I found is from Bishop Dean M. Davies' talk from the same conference. He said, "...Spiritual experiences have less to do with what is happening around us and EVERYTHING to do with what is happening in our hearts.: So, my reply if people are not receiving answers is to figure out if you are really willing to act on the answer you are given and if you are really asking it with righteous intent. Everyone can have spiritual experiences, everyone can receive answers. It depends on you. Your faith, your heart, and your desire.

"Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you." I know that God answers prayers. Be patient and Trust Him. He's made His promises and He won't let you down.

I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week!

Sister Adams and her companions

"this is a picture of everything i've ever wanted out of life. An egg, bubble waffle with ice cream inside. Life doesn't get much better than that! ;)

The One Where Sister Mindy Mint Talks About Her Transfer

Hello!
I love hearing from our amazing missionary. She seriously is doing so well in Hong Kong and i love hearing about her week and talking to her every Sunday. I'm such a proud sister when she talks about how much she loves the people of Hong Kong and her love for Jesus Christ. She is seriously such an inspiration and example to me!

Here is her January 8th email:

Oops. I lied.

Hello Everyone!

What an eventful week it was! I accidentally lied to you all when I told you that I was moving to Kwai Chung. On Monday night, I got a phone call saying that I will actually be moving to Tsuin Yi with two companions! So i am now in a Tri-panionship with Sister Vasseur (from Alberta, Canada, she's been here for 8 months) and Sister Tse (pronounced "Je". She's a native Hong Konger and is currently waiting for her visa to America. She'll be serving in Temple Square! She leaves in two weeks!!). I already love them dearly and really enjoy serving here in Tsing Yi. When i got to the area on Thursday, we hit the ground running. WE have had so many lessons! We teach in Mandarin as well, so i've been try to learn that (WAY different from Cantonese and I feel like it's day one in the MTC again). But i'm having a good time!

We have a couple of investigators that are doing really good! They seem pretty excited to learn. I'll let you know more about them once I learn more and can understand more Mandarin (LOL!). I think i'm going to like it here and hopefully be here until the end of my mission. In other news, our mission is changing it's transfers to 6 weeks like the rest of the world and I can't believe how fast that is!!

Scripture of the day is 2 Nephi 9:41 - "O then my beloved brothren, come unto the Lord, The Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous, Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and he employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for he cannot be decieved, for the Lord God is his name." The way is straight. It's easy to know what the right path is to go down, because Jesus is the gate keeper. If you're searching for Jesus, you will definitely find the right gate. But don't forget about the evil of becoming complacent with what you already found. It's a path not a treadmill. We can't stay in one place. Keep walking! Keep praying!

I love you all. I hope you have a lovely week! 

The One Where It's The Holiday Edition!

Hello all!

honestly not sure why this is so hard to just copy and paste an email from this cute missionary, but it is!

I'm doing two in this blog post because they're both holiday emails!

Happy Holidays from Sister Mindy Mint :)



Here is her December 25th email:

"Oh, Come all ye faithful." and pigs feet.

Merry Christmas America!

I hope it's been incredible! i know that mine was. We had church for one hour. The speakers talked about the talk by Elder Bednar "If ye had known me" or something like that. SUPER good. I really enjoyed it. He mentioned the need to ask ourselves, "Do i really know Him?" and encouraged us to get to know Him better. It's hard to explain it but it was a powerful message. It sort of reminds me of a song that we missionaries had to sing last Christmas. We sang a song called, "Do you have room for the Savior?" It's really magical to be a missionary at Christmas time. You don't really experience the commercial side of Christmas. It is pretty much entirely about the Savior. I LOVED it. I love my Savior. I LOVED sharing His light with Hong Kong. 

Now, What did Sister Adams do for Christmas?? Sister Adams went caroling again! Lots of caroling. She also ate some pigs feet soaked in ginger! :P I can honestly tell you it was one of the most memorable Christmas experiences that i've ever had. It was fun to be able to bring the spirit of Christmas into some less-active, non-member, and member houses. 

I'm sorry this is so short! Thank you all for your prayers and love!

i love you all!

Sister Adams



Here is her January 1st email:

"AND A HAPPY NEW YEEEEAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!"

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

I hope you had a wonderful New Years and enjoyed your fireworks. I wen tot bed early. :) And i congratulated some people on getting rich this year and for having a successful job (chinese traditions). 

I have some crazy news....SISTER ADAMS IS ACTUALLY LEAVING TSIM SHA TSUI. Yes, friends, I am being kick out. But that's okay because I know that Sister Christensen and Sister Fullmer are going to take REALLY good care of it. I will be moving to Kwai Chung with my MTC buddy, Sister Kessen. It's gonna be so weird serving with someone from my group and also being a junior companion again, but i'm getting ready for the change and i'm excited to serve with her.

Tsim Sha Tsui will always have a special place in my heart. It was here that I learned patience and trust in the Lord. It was here that I learned Cantonese. LOL! It was here that I learned about Hong Kong culture and it was in Tsim Sha Tsui that I gained an even greater understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what that means for my life now and in the future. 

One thing that I am sharing about in our Zone Training this month is about testimonies and how we can have true testimonies. There's an article in this month's Liahona that talks about what a testimony is and I loved it. It talks about how testimonies are something that we can't neglect. We have to CONSTANTLY be strengthening it. It's not a one and done deal. Something that i've noticed as a missionary is that I have to always be tapping into my heart or past experiences when I bear my testimony in order for it to really have the power and feeling that I need it to have. This requires me to constantly be strengthening my testimony and finding new experiences to what I know to be true. Sometimes I find that because I bear my testimony of the same things over and over again as a missionary, it loses the genuine feeling and starts to become rote. Our testimonies are precious. They are special witnesses to us that God is real, that Jesus lives and that this church is true. I really, truly hope that every single one of us is taking the time this New Year to strengthen our testimonies and find new experiences to back them up.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Sister Adams

The One Where Mindy Tells Us About Her Apartment Problems

Hello!
Still behind. Hoping to catch up today.
Shorter email today. At least she sends pictures on short email days!

Here is Sister Mindy's December 18th email:
enjoy :)



#Houseprobs


Hello Everyone!!

Are you excited for Christmas or what?!?!??! I feel like a dog with my face out the window of a car on the freeway. That is how fast time is flying for me! Everyday is an adventure though.

So, in order to explain how this last week has been, I also need to explain a bit about today's email title. As you all know, I moved apartments recently and I love it! But, it has problems... LOL! I think we finally got them all settled though. Being apartment leader is a little bit harder than you expect the calling to be. :P I'm starting to feel like moving into a new house is like getting a new companion. It takes a little time to planning, prayer, and practice before you REALLY start working together with power and unity. There's always an adjustment period. We had some shower knobs that didn't really feel like being shower knobs anymore so they stopped turning off and on the water, we had a huge "dragon" (it was actually a gecko but has been described by housemates as a dragon) attack our house, a window that likes to wave hello to the people driving past by opening itself and a couple other crazy things. BUT the bright side of all these crazy house problems is that we missionaries discovered how incredible our members are. Our apartment's landlord is actually a member and I have never seen a landlord respond so quickly and so WELL to our apartment needs. They don't just put duct tape over the problem, they fix it!

It's just been a wonderful week of proving to me how blessed I am to live in Hong Kong. The members here are faithful and loving. They (of course) have their weaknesses but they have a lot of strong suits as well and I am so grateful for their love and hard work. They truly love the missionaries and I just hope that I can help them feel a sliver of the love that I feel for them. 

I'm sorry, I'm out of time but I want you all to know that "the peace we seek is only in and through Jesus Christ." I got to watch the Christmas Devotional at church yesterday and it was incredible. I truly know that peace and joy are found in Jesus Christ. Find Him. Hold on to Him. We can't rely on the world. It's too tumultuous. It's unstable. It changes too fast. God and Jesus Christ never change. Hold fast. 

I love you all!
Sister Adams


P.S. I got new glasses. #foureyes

The One Where Sister Adams Tells Us About The #Lighttheworld Initiative

hello all!
Ready to get all caught up again.
Had to move recently and got the gross flu going around so i haven't had much time to Blog her emails.


Here is her December 11, 2016 email! :)


#Light Up The World 

Hello Everyone!!

I'm so sorry I've been so late and lazy the past couple of weeks! Lots to do and lots to think about an i'm done making excuses, i promise!

I'm sure that you all have already hear about the Christmas initiative for this year but I LOVE IT!!! If any of yo know me at all, you know that I have a fascination and deep love for light. There's something about it that makes me happy, no matter the situation. So this year's initiative is about spreading "the light of Christ"! Could it get any better than that?!?! The video can be found on mormon.org and it's incredible. I'm so excited to spread "light" this Christmas season and light up the hearts of people here in Hong Kong. The initiative focuses around a 25 day calendar that helps us live as the Savior does and spread His light by serving like Him. So, in honor of that, today asked me to share something that I've learned in the scriptures recently. I recently restarted the Book of Mormon again and IT JUST GETS BETTER every time I read it. This time around i have been noticing just how important having the gift of the Holy Ghost is. The Book of Mormon would be an entirely different thing if God had not allowed the Holy Ghost to guide these people. In fact, The Book of Mormon wouldn't exist at all because Nephi would not have been led or directed in retrieving them from Laban. Another thing that has stuck out to me this far is how exactly obedient Nephi is and the incredible blessings that came from that. He changed nations with his obedience and we too can leave a legacy of obedience that can change generations. The Book of Mormon is true. Read it again. Over and over and it will never cease to amaze you how merciful and wonderful God and His perfect plan is!

The work in Tsim Sha Tsui is going good. Still no baptismal dates but Sister Christensen and I are going to find those elect people, wherever they may be. LOL! We had a stake Christmas music concert on Saurday night and somehow Sister Adam got roped into singing in it. I think the person who chose me to sing in it was having some serious regrets. I'm not going to post the video of the song but i'll post a picture of the killer balloon ginger bread house and snowman that they had there. It was so stinkin' cute!  We sang a mix of "O come, O come Emmanuel" and "What Child is This?" with a guitar. I serve with some incredibly talented people! I cannot believe that i get to spend another Christmas here in Hong Kong, and let's be honest it's truly a blessing from God because the first time around, as a fresh off the plane missionary, was a mess in a dress. HAHA. it's going to be a blast though and i'm already seeing miracles flying in from all sides of my Zone.

I'm sorry that this email is such a mess. It's harder to think full sentences in English these days (not that i'm the best SYLer on the planet, i just speak a lot of chinglish). I know that God and Jesus Christ live. I truly know that we have a LOVING Heavenly Father who truly wants to bless us and see us again. He wants to lead us to a perfect happiness, but He won't force us. I love the Plan of Salvation. I know that it's true. I know that when we follow God's plan and His timing, miracles happen and we become something greater than we ever thought was possible. For those of you that are searching, lost or unhappy, I really, sincerely encourage you to search for Him. you will find the happiness that you want but it's not in this world of changing values, it's in a plan created by a being that is perfect and UNCHANGING. He knows you. He loves you and He wants you back! I want you back too. There's a place for you here. 

I love you all and I hope that you all give the Christmas video a look a that you spread some LIGHT this Christmas!

Be good! Stay happy!

Love, Sister Adams