Hong Kong: QUICK COMPANION REUNION IN MACAU

November 18, 2015

Family,

We are here in the apple store in Kowloon emailing because the library apparently is closed on Thursdays and today we get to go to the temple. that is why our p-day changed. Sorry I forgot to tell you. Peru sounds awesome. It was fun to see the pics and hear about it. Thanks for sending those.

Macau was so fun. It was great to see all my previous companions together and spend a few minutes talking with them.

One amazing thing about this place is that very often they have workers powerspray and scrub the sidewalks to keep it clean. It's amazing. They are constantly repainting lines and making things look better.

Another funny thing. We got here to the apple store as they were opening and there were already about 20 people waiting to get in. The workers counted down the opening time and the people were clapping. It was funny. This place is packed and loud. It is really weird writing on a Mac too.

The Lord answered my prayer this week pretty fast. I asked him to humble me. That day we went outside to call former investigators (our apartment has horrible service) and the 2nd person I called was willing to meet, amazing, and she could only meet immediately, not later. So we left to head to Tin Shui Wai to meet with her. We planned to meet her at the park, so we got to the park and called her to make sure she was coming. I was trying to explain where we were in the park and she was trying to figure out where, but we couldn't understand each other. After a few minutes of this, i told her we would meet at a mcdonalds about 2 min walk away instead. She agreed. We went to the Mcdonalds and waited for about 20 min and she didn't show. We called her and apparently she was at a different mcdonalds somehow. i thought i explained pretty clear which one, but she didn't understand. So then she asked us to meet at one of the light rail stops. We agreed and because she was getting impatient with me and didn't have too much more time, we sprinted all the way to the light rail stop, which was a about a 10 min jog away. We finally met up with her. We were so sweaty and wet. We were able to meet with her after about 45 of trying to meet up. We met for about 30 min before we needed to leave to go to another appointment. It was crazy and it was as we were running to meet with her that I realized that this was a direct answer to my prayer. I had been humbled and realized how much I need to rely on the Lord and work diligently in learning Mandarin.

I had the opportunity to have an interview with President Lam yesterday. It was my first real interview with him. He came up to the New Territories and all of our district met with him at the Hong Shui Kiu Chapel. That was great. A lot of things he said were things I needed to hear. It was a tender mercy to hear his words and testimony and know that he is being guided by the spirit to know what to do and what to say. He is great man.

We haven't been able to meet with Chen Family this week. We called Sam to schedule an appointment and he sounded like a different person. I asked him if he had read any of the book of mormon and he said he had. He was so excited. It was crazy. He finally read the book. The change in him was dramatic and this was just over the phone. We haven't been able to meet with him yet, but I am excited.

We met with Zheng last night. He just has lots and lots of questions. They are good questions, but we can't get him to just open the book and read it on his own.

We also met an amazing new sister this week. We had a great lesson with the spirit in great abundance. Her name is Lydia. As we were leaving, We could see her in the distance reading the book of mormon as she was waiting for her train. She is from Mainland with one daughter.

I'll share a few more thoughts on Monday. Out of time.

Thanks for your prayers. I pray for you every day.

I know that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers.

Hope all is well.

Elder Stratford

All Josh's companions in one picture.

Elder Copley my district leader. He went on exchanges with me for a day

we helped a sister move these two couches and her fridge and washer and dryer to her new home. It was great to be able to do some service and help her. We don't get too many opportunities to do this.