Okay, this one will have to be short, but this week has been really good. Lots of things learned. The first thing I want to talk about is priorities. There are some things that are very important right now, but maybe not as important in the grand scheme of things. We need to remember to focus on the "big picture" and apply that in our everyday life and what we focus on (good, better, best).  Next, if only we knew how much the Atonement really could help us we would all be better people. I have really been thinking about the atonement and forgiveness this past couple of days because that is the center of the message of this gospel. I want my conviction of that to be even stronger so that I can help share that message with the Hong Kong people. We all can take better advantage of the atonement in our lives. I've started reading "The Miracle of Forgiveness" by President Kimball. I’m only a couple of chapters in but I definitely recommend it to all of you!

Random fun thing of the week! We are hitting up an all you can eat grill place today! I’ll have pics next week but from what I’ve heard you should all be pretty jealous... just sayin!

Peace!!

 

Love, Elder Cederlof

The last week was cool.  We were teaching a guy on the pier about Joseph Smith and then this random person came up and said he believed us and wants to learn more so he gave us his number. We called him Sunday and he said he can meet with us this week, but he wasn't sure when, so we'll call him Tuesday to schedule him. We also went on exchanges with the district leader. It was my first time being in a totally new area. I’ve never been finding outside of Tsuen Wan and I went to Tsing Yi for that 24 hours. It was interesting to see the different side of things. Our apartment is waay nicer.  haha  And Adi and Edmund came to church and then Adi came to a baptism later that night which was cool. She got to see what it was like. We didn't have a fellowshipper so we couldn't teach her right after but we'll teach her Wednesday. All in all it has been a great week!! Love you mom!!

Love, Elder Zach Cederlof

No post today...just pictures!

 

Bundai Haircut

Teaching English

This week is late because we went to the temple today! Never gets old! (luckily - I mean I will be going there quite a bit for the rest of my life) and the session was in Cantonese so they gave us headphones but it was fun to turn them down and listen to the Cantonese sometimes. Well this week has continued to just fly by. We taught English class, and I've got to say it's probably the best one I've ever seen. Me and my companion taught it and we taught about different countries so we took everyone on a big "trip" and flew around the world. Sounds lame. but we made it super fun. Everyone was laughing the whole time (in a good way), learning English, and having fun. Then we shared about how God is a universal god, not just an American god or a Chinese god (lots of people here think like that) . 

 

Edmund came to church this past week and he loves it! We couldn't get hold of him Saturday night to remind him so we were pretty nervous but then the next day, bright and early at 9 o'clock we saw him coming to church! It was super awesome to see how willing he is to come unto Christ and learn more about Him. Adi is continuing to be awesome! She is learning more and more every day and we are just praying that she will continue. We taught her about faith and holding onto the iron rod (the Book of Mormon) because if that book is true then we know this is God's one and only true church. None of the little things matter. If the Book of Mormon is true, we don't have to worry about little things like the one thing where you have more than one spouse (I can't remember the English word) you know like Brigham Young had a lot of wives?   Anyways sorry not a whole lot of time but here are some scriptures you all should check out:   2 Timothy 4:7,8   Oh and that thing I told you over the phone, the tongue twister, it means:  one dollar for a turtle, one dollar for a chicken. on the left you buy a turtle, on the right you buy a chicken.  He says the chicken is more expensive, I say the turtle is more expensive. so I'm asking you which is more expensive, the chicken or the turtle.  Sounds pretty lame in English but in Cantonese it's a whole tongue twister.   Oh and mom you called it. I forgot to tell you but on the phone when we first started Elder Smith said a couple lines... we were trying to see if you would notice.. you did.. still sharp! Well that's it for the week love you all!

Love, Elder Cederlof

Happy New Year!

This week was good! Edmund came to church again and is continuing to progress. Adi has a couple of concerns but she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that is the keystone. On Sunday we were out finding and I went and talked to a family (young mom and dad with a little baby in a stroller) and I talked about how the gospel has blessed me and even though my family is in America I can be with them forever and they gave me their info and I will contact them this week and see where that goes!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Years (even though it won't be half as good as the New Years in HK... just sayin :P ha ha).
Love, Elder Cederlof

P.S.  They celebrate the Chinese New Year way more then they celebrate the other one. When people say Happy New Years they mean the one in a month. Unfortunately it won't be my sign until 2018 or 2109 or something like that so I won't be in HK for my year, but it's still going to be a good year.

Blessings of the Christmas Season

This week has been pretty awesome!  In the pictures there is one that shows what we do when there is a ton of rain (it has been raining for quite a while but now it’s been good the last couple days). Another one is of two priests that came finding with us named Sparkle and A Jeung. Another one is with Elder Smith and his old companion before he left and Elder Smith joined our companionship. I don't remember the other ones but they're probably pretty cool. Oh - the one in the elevator. Every time I get into the elevator I remember that you guys want me to send pictures so that's why I, from now on, will probably always have one in there! ha-ha.   Oh and on one of the other ones is a card that Adi made me for Christmas!! She is pretty shy, but after church she said wait and gave me a card and a little present!  Then Ellorie her friend (as well as her fellowshiper) also gave us presents! They are awesome!! We taught them this past week. We wanted to talk about the nativity scene and so last p-day we looked everywhere for a nativity and we couldn't find a good one (we only found one for 300hk) and so we decided to build it. Oh that is one of the other pictures!  It looks really lame but it was awesome nonetheless and we totally surprised them! We had it set to the side and then we told them to close their eyes and we set it up and read the story and introduced all the characters and stuff. It was super fun and also super spiritual because it brought us all back to Christ and how we, like the wise men and shepherds, need to share His message. They were given the opportunity to see Christ and we are given the opportunity to be part of His Church, to have part of his image in us. That is why it is so important that we share this message with the world.

 

Edmund came to church with us and the whole time he had a smile on his face. I believe he has found exactly what his soul has been looking for for quite some time now. I called a potential on Saturday and invited him to church and he came and loved it. The members were great. They came and sat by him and Edmund and showed them around and introduced themselves, it was awesome!  Afterwards me and a member taught Edmund and Elder Smith and Elder Hartwig taught Tsang SS. They both had the feeling to invite him to be baptized and set a date so they did and he accepted! This week has truly been a miracle!! It has been amazing! I've seen so many blessings this Christmas season  and my companionship and I definitely cannot take any credit for it. It has been every missionary in Tsuen Wan for the past long time; the members praying, my family praying, random people praying for the missionaries, but most importantly God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.  My trainer Tong Jeung Louh told me that when someone gets baptized you look back and realize that you weren't the one doing the work. Now no one yet has been baptized but I can already tell that that is definitely true. These people are so ready that even though they may not understand our message they feel the Holy Ghost. Edmund told me that while he was praying about the Book of Mormon he had a feeling of relief come over him. It's truly amazing what the gospel can do for people. I love this gospel and I love this work!! 

 

Stay Sweet,

Elder Zach Cederlof

 

 Zach's companion is in the orange

 This is what they do to combat the rain!

 The nativity scene they made for some investigators

 Sparkle and A Jeung (priests in the ward)

 Christmas card made by Adi (an investigator)

 The weekly "elevator" picture