Thursday, February 11, 2010

Knowing Everything



Date: Thursday, February 11, 2010 1:27:37 AM
Subject:

Dear Family,

A while ago Leah asked me if I'd eaten Frog. I still haven't, but I did notice frogs and turtles for sale in the meat markets on the way to our apartment. It made me sad. The pickled lizards were weird, but not as saddening as live turtles.

I have eaten chicken feet. They aren't good.

We called an woman who was contacted by a Cantonese Elder. She is 23 and married. She already graduated, but doesn't have a Hong Kong ID so she can't get a job. I think she is very very bored and lonely because she calls us everyday and mostly just wants to hang out. But she listens to the lessons. She is kind of weird. Like a twelve year old. Not like Leah, she's not a normal twelve year old. Like a twelve year old with an extreme case of ADD. We want to get her some friends in the ward so that if she gets baptized she will not just immediately go inactive. The problem is there are only about two members her age, so we only have one shot to get her some friends and we don't want to mess it up. It's a little scary. Also I think she will do whatever we tell her to, including get baptized, so we need to be careful to make sure she has a testimony. That's also scary. What if I convince someone to make sacred covenants that they don't really believe in? Yikes.

I am fascinated with Dad's new hobby (collecting death masks), but I am interested in how he will store them. Will they be proudly displayed somewhere to show the eccentricity of his artistic mind, make him more adorable in the eyes of his admirers and more odd in the eyes of the people of Kanosh, or will they be hidden away somewhere safe, only showed to those who have earned the privilege (hao xiang [like] the glass eye collection hidden away under the counter in Cat's Cradle)?

I decided to take advantage of the fact that I live in the only apartment in the mission that has a piano in it. I really like playing the piano now, but I'm really not good. I really should have kept practicing. There's another point for my mom. When I was a teenager I thought I knew everything. I even thought that I knew that teenagers think they know everything so I didn't think I knew everything. I still think I know everything. Every time I learn something knew I think, "Oh of course I didn't know everything. How foolish I was. Now I know it all though, no problem." You'd think I'd start to notice the pattern.

We set a goal to find 6 new investigators this transfer. At the time it seemed immense. Now, not even halfway through with 5/6 it seems silly. What were we thinking? Six is nothing! You can get six without trying.

I'm really trying hard to not get fat. There is a kind of generally accepted missionary... xiang fa... uh... theory I guess. Way of thinking. That you can get fat now and just lose it all six months before you go home. I however know everything and so I know that losing weight is not just about losing weight, it's about changing to be the kind of person who is healthy and eats healthily. It's about changing your desires so that the desire for health is greater than the desire for delicious food. That is not an easy thing to do.

And it's more than just food, it's life. Life is not about filling your spiritual bank account with good works, going to church, reading the scriptures, blah blah blah, it's about changing our desires so that the desires of the spiritual man can be strong enough to overcome the desires of the natural man. I'm not here to get baptisms, I'm not even here to help people get baptized, I'm here to help people (including me) change into the people Christ wants us to be.

Or something like that. I know I talk about this a lot. Sorry if it's old news. But I'm still figuring it out, and then I will finally know everything!

I love you!

-Noah
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, February 4, 2010

And Red Clay on Top



Date: Thursday, February 04, 2010 3:53:27 AM
Subject:

Dear Family,

I really will send you all letters soon. I write you a letter every P-day, and then put it on my desk to go into an envelope. Friday come, Saturday comes, I think "I still have time". Sunday I have forgotten about it. Monday yi yang (the same). And then it's Tuesday and I think, "Well, it's almost P-day again anyway. I'll just wait and send them together."
So now you know.

Since becoming Elder Gunderson's companion I feel rather undiligent. He is a really good guy, and a good missionary, but neither of us are too motivated to go out onto the street and search. I admit, I am already very discouraged about there actually being any speak mandarin, prepared to hear the gospel type people (Chinese grammar) walking around in Hong Kong. Prepared people come from other sources. Like, other missionaries or members. I'd much rather busily go around teaching people and try to be better at finding in between appointments. But my new area doesn't have too many investigators. We need to get more, but don't know any way other that finding. Sometimes I feel like being diligent is just working working working. But lately I am wondering if working working working ineffectively is really what God wants from us. I think if it's the only way, then we need to get over our laziness and get out into hot, humid Hong Kong in our suits and do it. But maybe we should try some new things. If we could find a better way, God would be more pleased I think. We talk about it a lot. So I guess we are diligent. Diligently searching for a better way to search. But if we already have the best way then I guess there's nothing we can do but to do it. I'm just rambling.

We saw a giant Rat last night. Don't worry, I took a picture so that one day you can all see it. It was about as big as my foot. Scurrying around under the empty tables of the closed fishmarket near our house. That place stinks so bad. We also saw an old man there barefoot.

We taught a man from Mainland the other day. He still smokes and drinks and gambles, but his wife is a member so he wants to join. He asked crazy questions about like, the third of the host of heaven and stuff. For some reason Elder Gunderson brought up outer darkness. I think it was a mistake.

We also taught a woman and her son two days later. They were ready to receive baptism this time. Then the next day we went so Elder Gunderson could give a baptismal interview to another person. Five people from Mainland total have received baptism in the last week. So cool.

I got a strange Chinese New years treat the other day. Like, sesame seeds on a ball with... something inside. And red clay on top. Way weird.

Love you all! This mission is going way too fast. No way will I be able to overcome all my defects in the next year and a half.

-Noah
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, February 1, 2010



Show Header
Print Hide Envelope
From: Noah Christian Spence Kershisnik Add to Address Book
To: Dad, Mom, Leah, Eden


Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 9:25:30 PM
Subject: Kwun Tong

Dear People,
Now I live in Kwun Tong. It is the biggest apartment in the mission (other than Maccau, perhaps). It actually has a piano, but unfortunatly no one to play it. I want to learn, but don't really have time. I took the guitar from the last apartment, so any music learning time I have is used up. The kitchen is pretty big, but the sink is super shallow, so it's a pain to do dishes, so no one ever does. It's a problem. Hopefully it will change today with the new chore chart.
Other free-time (at night, in the morning, mealtimes) is used playing settlers of Cataan and Chinese chess. That's fine with me, except sometimes I don't do other things that I really need to. I need to find a better balance. Or rather, I need to find a balance. Chinese chess is really cool. It's like our chess, only no less pawns, a few different pieces, the king can't leave his little area, and there's a river through the middle of the board. It's a surprisingly different game. I really like it. One day I will challenge an old man in the park. I will lose, but it will still be awesome.
There are tons and tons of cheap food markets on the way to our apartment. The first night I was here I bought six packages of strawberries for the price of one in a normal grocery store. I can now eat just about as just fruit as I want, instead of before when I could barely afford two pieces of fruit a day. Now I can eat bananas, apples, strawberries, pineapple, asian pears and mangoes to my hearts content.
My new companion is really cool. His Name is Elder Gunderson. He's from Spanish Fork. He's really nice and patient and easy going. A bit too easy going sometimes. I sometimes think we should probably be a bit more diligent, but he's really good at talking to people. We aren't on the streets quite as much as I was with Elder So, but we talk to way more people. I guess everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. We just keep working and trying to overcome them and help each other grow.
We had zone conference yesterday, and the area medical expert and his wife spoke. His wife started out by saying, "I think we could find a connection with each of you if we just talked to you." She then went on to talk about a few she had found with missionaries. I had a strange, sad wish in my heart to have talked to her so that I could have a connection with her. And then she said, "And Elder Kershisnik is related to our very dear friends the Harrises." So there you go. And now they said they would invite us to dinner in the very tops floors of our chapel, where we've never been before. They are very nice and I am excited to get to know them better.
We don't have too many investigators here, so we're working on getting new ones right now. I guess most of the old ones just liked to meet and talk and come to activities, not so much read, pray or come to church. We did have a pretty good lesson with a new investigator on Tuesday. We kept trying to end it and go to the activity that we had invited her to, but she just kept asking questions. She seems to really want to know the truth, though she has a hard time recognizing God in her life.
I still might have to teach that drawing class sometime is anyone has ideas how to do that. But more pressing is my new assignment to teach a western food cooking class. So I am working on figuring out western food that Hong Kong people could cook. It's a great assignment.
I love you all! The church is true! I am so not close to perfect. I am trying. Sometimes harder than others. God is good. I know that with his help we can become closer to perfect.
-Noah
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, January 21, 2010

All the Fallen Elders



Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 9:07:55 PM
Subject: "All the Fallen Elders"

There is an old woman who comes to every English class in every chapel on the Island. Her accent makes 'foreign' sound exactly like 'fallen'. She wants to learn English so she can speak with all the fallen people. When she prays, she gives the exact same prayer each time, which includes a request for forgiveness that she is Chinese and cannot speak English well, as well as gratitude for all the fallen Elders to teach her English. She is very sweet.

Since coming on a mission I realize how true that is, all the fallen Elders. In my childish mind, Elders were so perfect. Now I realize we are just people. 19-26 year old males, mostly. We are far from perfect. And that is the miracle of missionary work.

There is a strange thing going on in our ward. A lady joined a while ago who actually shared the gospel with her friends. Consequently, Sister Deng joined our branch, even though she speaks Cantonese. Sister Deng is even more of a member missionary, and so Elder So and I (not really me, actually, she speaks Cantonese) have been teaching her friend Sister Chen. Sometimes it is hard to believe that there are any prepared people, but let me testify that there are.
Sister Chen has come to church every week since before we started teaching her. When she returns to work though, she will not be able to continue. Before teaching her one day, Elder So said he was going to bring up that issue. Turns out she has already been praying to find a new job. As soon as she learned about fasting she began to fast for a new job, without our even suggesting it. On Tuesday she changed us out (Chinglish for bought us food) to Yum Cha (drink tea, which actually means eat DimSum. Dim Sum is like, dumplings and buns and stuff like that and it's wonderful). Turns out she already doesn't drink tea. We had decided that the restaurant was too noisy a place to commit her to baptism, we would wait and do it at church. But instead she informed us that she had a very strong feeling that she should be baptized. Ok. She's prepared. Let me also testify of member missionary work. It works.

We also have a new investigator who seems to be prepared. We brought up church the first time we met with him, and before we could ask him to come he said, "See you Sunday then." And he came. Early. Really early. Most people don't even want to come at 9:00, but he came before anyone else. And God provided a business man from New Mexico who speaks Mandarin to fly into Hong Kong at 4:00 am so that he would be at church very early too so that our investigator would have someone to talk to. Wow.
When we taught him the restoration he said, "This seems right, and if it is, it's hugely important." Yes! That is soo right! No one ever realizes that! Ok, it's hard to believe, but what if it's true? Isn't it more important that anything else in your life to find out whether or not this really happened? If it didn't, fine, you don't have to come to church at 9:00. But what if it did? And why is it not worth it to wake up earlier than you would like once a week to come find out if it's true or not? And once you do find out, share that with your friends. It's funny, my companion said that before his mission he thought missionaries were the ones who should do all the missionary work. Now he realizes that actually members are the ones that can really make the difference, because they are actual friends, and they won't go home in two years.

Now that I feel the work here is really going well, I'm moving. I'm getting a new companion and a new house. I hear it's the best apartment in the mission. I don't know yet though. More on that next week. Also I'll let you know how Elder Gundderson is. I'm not sure if that spelling is correct. He's from Spanish Fork. He seems pretty cool.

As too Uncle Paul's question, actually the Hong Kong people are not very receptive. The mainlanders are very much more willing to listen than most Hong Kong people. I think it's because missionaries aren't new anymore for the people here, but we still are new to those from Mainland. I don't know.

My mission President suggested I teach a drawing class to get new investigators, any ideas? I don't know how to draw.

Finally I end with a poem I read in the park.

As the matter of fact there are too many roads and directions,
But confronted by all these,
We do not necessarily walk with an embarrassing gesture.
Kwan Wai Cho

I love you all.
-Noah
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, January 15, 2010

Being an Adult at One a.m.


Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010 3:16:21 AM
Dear Family,

Yesterday I ate some little meatballs from a street vendor. At the time I thought, "these might make you sick." I wish I had listened to that thought. I didn't quite make it to the bathroom at one in the morning. In fact I barely made it out of bed, so there was all the food I had eaten all day. After throwing up there is a little grace period of feel good time. As a child that is the time for finally falling asleep while your mom cleans everything up. As an older person it is the time to clean it up, because your mom is far away. I have never felt so much like an adult than I did while cleaning up at 1:00 am. It made me miss home, although mom wouldn't have cleaned it up anyway. Being in Hong Kong doesn't make me an adult, being 19 1/2 makes me an adult. I tried to fix it by throwing the 1/2 in, but I'm still so old. Even keeping track of fractions of my age doesn't change it.

I didn't really make any notes, so I'm having a hard time coming up with things to say. I love you. I miss you.

Pizza here is weird, I think I've mentioned that before. The other day a member bought what looked like very normal Hawaiian pizza. From Pizza Hut even. Ok, it had chicken on it, but I didn't think that would mess it up too badly. Well, what I couldn't see was the thousand island dressing they used instead of tomato sauce. So weird.

We went to one of the buy-cheap-stuff streets today. I got a deck of cards to add to my collection. It is decorated with Cultural Revolution engravings. A selection of 54 engravings of Chairman Mao. It's pretty darn cool. But I wish I had Eden here to help me bargain. I'm just too nice. I'll take whatever price they offer first. My companion got four dollars off, but I'm sure I could have gotten more. Oh well.

The other day we walked through what many missionaries refer to as "the dirty mall" in Kwai Fang. It's like someone took a bucket of Canal Street and dumped it into a mall. I think Eden would like it as well.

My companion and Elder Ng are both very happy with the cooking situation. Elder Ng calls me Chef. Mostly so far I have just been cooking from the Chinese Cookbook the Corrys sent, but this week I'm going to try to cook some western food for them. Actually, I did make pizza, and we got some good mozzerella, fresh basil, thin sliced pepperoni and ricotta. The first time I make pizza it was just for me and it ended up baking the dough into a cracker. The second time was much better.

I did get the bread article.

We have a new investigator who seems really good. We told him "We have a mandarin ward that meets every Sunday at 9:00 am in Wan Chai" and he said, "Ok, see you Sunday then." We invited him to a sport night, and he said, "Is it ok if I bring a friend?" Wow. He's a student, working on his PHD in like, engineering. His wife goes to school in BeiZhing. I have great hopes for him.

We have other investigators, some who aren't progressing at all. One is willing to come to church, willing to pray, willing to read scriptures, but thinks there is no possibility that there is a God. That is a problem.

A few are right at the brink of baptism, held back only by coffee, smoking, their family, or work. It's hard, but we press forward with faith.

I love you all. The church is true.

-Noah
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, January 11, 2010

Cooking more, Yelling less


Date: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 8:35:48 PM
Subject: Sorry about the horrible email confusion

I think it's just because of the switch to Google that things have been a little weird for a little while. But it's still a good thing. I'm pretty sure I got all of your emails, because email sent to the old address still get forwarded to me. From now on I will reply with a quick 'got it' if you like. From what you said though, I got everything.

I did get some recipes from Mom, thank you. I didn't get any part of a bread article though.

I did get Eden & Olivia's box of stuff. It was all good. Those dark chocolate and nut trail mix granola bars were nice, they have the other flavors here, but not those.

I did send Mom a Christmas card. I thought I also sent one to Leah. I didn't send one to everyone though, because it was just a random message sending machine we found while searching for prepared people, and we weren't too sure how xing (allowable? ish) it was.

I was on splits with Elder O’Neil because everyone yells at him, including me. But some people think I yell less. I don't know.

Yes, we do teach English classes. It's pretty hard, because we just have to kind of make it up. We have to program. But I've only helped two or three times when the missionaries in charge of it couldn't.

Reading blogs isn't too clear. I have interpreted our internet rules to allow me to read family blogs. So for now at least I can. I'll let you know if I find out otherwise.

My companion and I decided to splurge today and go to a little coffee shop for email. No one, not even a cool coffee shop, can beat a home mixed cup of hot chocolate. But it's pretty hard to beat a coffee shop for atmosphere. But they are ridiculously expensive. It's a hard thing.

I noticed that the Twilight soundtrack has a song by The Killers. White Demon Love Song. I think that is really funny.

A while ago I smashed my right middle finger. Later, while trying to get rid of the cuticle, I weakened the nail. Now, it has completely worn through to what I think is my bone. It looks like skin, but has no feeling and is hard. Disgusting. And it will be like, a year before it's all the way grown out. It's pretty scary.

Is 'sachet' a word? I have never heard it and it sounds made up, but we have a box containing "2 free sachets" of Horlick (malted drink mix).

I have mentioned Elder O'Neil before. He's the one I yell at less. He said to me on Tuesday, "Elder Kershisnik, come, partake of my prospects." I felt like that was a request I ought to answer with, "Actually, as a missionary I'm not allowed to do that." Actually he was just offering me some frozen chocolate. Not quite as sketchy.

Starting today my companion and Elder Ng will give me grocery money each week and I will cook for them. It should be nice, cause it's so hard to cook for just one person, and I can buy a bigger variety of veggies and stuff. I'm pretty excited.

We're in a bit of a lull right now, and are trying to find some new investigators. We stay very busy, but it seems like we aren't teaching too many people. We still have a few good ones who are slowly progressing, but we could do with a couple more.

If you go onto Google Map and look at Hong Kong Island you should see what looks like a giant space ship in the north side of it. That is the building where I do email each week. That might be fun for you to see. I remember wondering what on earth it was. Now I go there once a week.

This feels like a lame email. I'm sorry. I love you! I am happy. I miss you but I am happy. I am trying to become the best missionary I can be. It's hard. God helps. So do you.

-Noah
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, January 1, 2010

Monkey Brains


">

Wednesday, December 30, 2009 8:57:44 PM

It's not really raw, they pour some hot water on it.

That was first said to me about an item on a menu (I did not purchase it) and then about how the Chinese eat monkey brain. It sounds like they prefer it fresh enough that it is still trying to send signals as they swallow it. Gross.

I have a few questions.

What are the parts of a marinade? Acid... that's all I can remember. Sugar? Oil? Salt? How long do you marinade something?

How do you make Thai soup? How do you make that Thai peanut sauce?

Can you send me some maple extract? They don't have it here, I think.

What do antioxidents do for you?

What does "wherefore go to" mean? As in Enos 1:8. I'm very familier with that phrase, and it's the kind of thing I should be able to interpret for someone, but I realized that I cannot.

A university teacher on the MTR said to me as he walked away, "Nice to meet you. Your Mandarin looks fine with me." Well thank you very much! It made me want to take a class from him.

The other day I was standing in our bedroom when I noticed what the words on our curtains actually said. There are four inspiring messages printed over and over, and they are as follows:

Here is gentle nature.

Nature is the friend of everyone.


You're always in top form!

I like it very much now.


Biting it is pleasant

These have a nice feel

haven't they?


This taste has warmed up

our mind as well as our body


Just thought I'd share those wonderful bits of Hong Kong with you.

Despite my lack of faith, I was able to get my companion to start getting out of bed on time and go running each morning. It has been very good. I feel tired, but I already felt tired, and now it's a more healthy kind of tired. Like, I'm tired, but I'm stronger. If I can keep this up, I should be able to ride my bike EVERYWHERE when I get home.

We have one investigator, Annie, who really wants to be baptized. She is one that Elder So has been teaching for a long time. We have set baptismal dates with her a few times, but she still has trouble coming to church on Sunday. But she should get baptized soon, we hope.

Speaking of her name being Annie, most people here go by an English name that they have chosen. It's weird, but actually kind of nice. Sometimes it's a little weird, like Ocean or Rainbow, but still easier to remember than a Chinese name.

The youngest child of the family I talked about last week, the one with the Buddhist monk dad, is the only boy in the family. I didn't realize how much he needed friends. We offered to play badminten with him, and he later asked his mom, "If I get baptized, will I have lots of GeGe [older brother, or just older male friend] to play badminten with all the time?” I hope he can find more friends at church. Not that I wouldn't just go play badminten with him all the time, but someday I will go home, so I can't be his only friend.

Talking to you all on the phone made me want to be better. Mom asked how often we spoke to each other in Mandarin, and I had to say, "Almost never." Now I try to use it as often as I can. I also try to be more diligent and focused all the time. Talking to my family was apparently supposed to ruin my work for a while, but it actually just made it better. Thank you for helping me like that. I love you all very much. Mother's Day will be here sooner than it has any right to be. I am already looking forward to another motivational boost.

love you,

-Noah


ps, the church finally supported my beleif that google is true by switching their email service to google. My new email is noah.kershisnik@myldsmail.net


pps, thanks to the Corrys for the cereal and cookbook. It looks great!

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)