Week 74

Wow another great week in Hong Kong! I don't have alot of time, but actually not much really happened this last week. But I do have some good news! So the person I interviewed last week for baptism Mr.. Kwok, well he got baptized and confirmed yesterday!! So that's super exciting.

I guess I can talk a little about some investigators, so ummm our Bishop has been helping us alot the last couple weeks with what we can do to help our investigators, and he has taken some responsibility to talk with the parents that don't support their kids in coming to church. So yesterday we actually had like over a hour unofficial meeting with him about the situations on 2 investigators, and we got some super good advice and some scriptures to back up what we are trying to teach. It was honestly something I actually never have thought of, and he whipped out his iphone and found the scriptures real fast something that would have taken me hours to find if I was on my own. So now we have some direction on what we can teach, and I really think it can help our investigator Terrance overcome his questions. Also he really wants to meet another investigator Ivy's mom about letting her be baptized!! Man I love that guy. It's great I have always had an amazing Bishop to work with in every ward I have served in. Even though the number is only 2 wards and 3 bishops, but its always great to have his support and guidance!

Love you all and thanks for the love and support! Talk to you all next week!!

Elder Dylan Eveson 彥長老

 Bus selfie

First real burger in over a year!

 This is how Chinese lose their money!! (Popular gambling game in HK call Mah Jong)

Read the characters on the gate! (means I love you)

Week 73 - Zone Conference

Wow another great week in  the books. Of course the highlight of the week was that we had Zone Conference this last week, and as usual it was great! The topic this time was Faith in the atonement, and President Lam honestly just led a massive discussion with us missionaries, having us share our experiences with Faith. It was really a spiritual uplifting experience, and it was great to see a lot of friends from my previous zone. I was able to hear some "miracle" stories from other missionaries and how they had to act on their Faith, and only then did the miracles occur.

Another cool experience was that on Saturday I was able to do a baptismal interview with an investigator from Tai Wai. You could say he was kind of a "Eternagator" but he's getting baptized next Sunday. He was pretty funny. I asked him "why do you want to get baptized?" and his answer was great "well I want to go to heaven, and baptism is essential so that's why" I was kind of laughing on the inside and it put a smile in my face, but he has a super strong testimony,

Well those are the highlights of the week love ya all, and can't wait to hear from you next week!

Elder Eveson

Photos are from Adventures in Stanley last p day

Standing on water

Week 72 - Oh How Great the Plan of My God!

This week has had a lot of ups and downs, but this week is probably the most I've ever felt my Savior's love in my entire life. I got a phone call from President Lam with the news that my Grandma had passed away. She had been very sick the last couple of months, and had been in a lot of pain, but when I got the news I felt a overwhelming amount of peace, and to be honest a lot of relief just knowing that she is no longer in pain, and back with Grandpa! It's just amazing to have a knowledge of our Heavenly Father's Plan, and that we can live with our families forever! This knowledge is really what has kept me going the last couple of days.

Now to the missionary work.  Well it's going good! Last Saturday there was a massive all of Hong Kong church wide musical concert in Tsuen Wan (the other side of Hong Kong), but we got to go with LA (less active) and he really enjoyed the concert, and it was super good like there were  pros there! The church actually rented out the town hall there, so it was like a legit concert! It was a lot of fun, and got to see some people that I haven't seen in a while, and it was a lot of fun!

I guess I can leave off with a message. When I opened up the scriptures Wednesday, I opened up to a random page and it was 2 Nephi 2:24  it says :

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all 

things.

It really helped me just to realize everything happens for a reason.

Love you all and can't wait to hear from you next week!

Elder Eveson

 I ran into the former Elder Yeung!

gotta go to the concert with Zero and Sandy and Zero went to church for the 1st time since I got to NTK!

Week 71 - When you see people change

Wow another great week here in the Hong Kong! Nothing really out of the ordinary, just trying help some of our current investigators. Yesterday, for some reason I was just really frustrated in the work. No investigators showed up to church when we had like 5 or 6 people that had committed, so sitting in church in my head I was like what could I have done better, why don't people ever keep their commitments here, and all of this was running through my head during sacrament meeting. Then that night I got some calls/ texts from these investigators saying that they were super sorry, and that things just came up they were actually super sorry. That was really something I really needed to hear because one of our super solid investigators has really taken a little dip in the last 2-3 weeks, and I've been just getting really frustrated. His intentions are there it's just that he has ran into some anti church material that really has put some doubts into his head, and he admits its lessened his motivation. So we will have to see how that goes. It's true what President Lam always says "when they are on the path to baptism the devil will throw everything he has at your investigators" and that's probably the most true statement he has said. So now we are 100% focused on helping him receive a testimony of the restoration, his biggest question. However putting all of that aside he is still committed to a baptismal date for Sept 30, and he said he is all in to get that answer!

But to be on the positive side we have 2 other investigators who have made a lot of progress the last couple of weeks! Harold who is one of those "eternagators" has made so much progress since I've gotten to the area. When I got here he slept 16 hours a day and awake 8, and now its a complete switch. He smoked 6 cigarettes a day, now he is down to 1 or 2, and he is completely committed to get baptized. He even went to Institute by himself without us telling him where or when, and share scriptures from it in our lesson with him! Also Ivy since she went to FSY, she a completely different person, and she said she really has felt the spirit testify to her that this is the true church, so she's excited, now its just meeting her mom.... so lets pray for good things to come!

So yeah that's all I really got to say today, love you all! Pray for these people!

Elder Dylan Eveson

Our little trip to Tsim Sha Tsui

Week 70 - 1 Week 2 Typhoons

Yeah this week really didn't go like we wanted it. There were 2 typhoons this week, and it really disrupted our plans for the week. We weren't able to meet with a couple of investigators and less actives that we wanted, but no worries they are already scheduled for this next week!

I guess I'll start of with last Monday. So for Pday I got together with 3 other Elders companionship, and we just played some basketball in the Kowloon Tong chapel, and not to brag or anything, but that was the best I've played since like before my 1st major knee injury. I was just feeling it from the 3 point line, and was actually able to get to the hoop like I used too! It was alot of fun, and I got to play with an Elder from North Carolina who like has played against top 10 NBA draft picks, so it was fun to play with someone of that caliber even though he hada  really off day.

Then Wedesday apparently was one of the biggest typhoons ever to hit Hong Kong. It was a level 10, and we were stuck in the apartment most of the day trying to do something productive. My mom told me there was about $8 billion HKD worth of damage here, and that's like a little over 1 billion USD. Man that's crazy in my area yeah there were some big trees that came down, but apparently the island and Maccau got smashed. Luckily all the missionaries are ok.

This week we were finally able to give one of our investigators a BD (Baptism Date)!! He has changed so much since I met him 5 months ago, he has honestly changed his life so much, now he just needs to stop smoking then he's good! so keep praying for him.

We also met with a new guy this week, and he seems like he has some potential, so good things are happening in NTK!!

Love you guys hope to hear from you next week!

not alot of pics, so sorry....

Elder Eveson

Week 69 - Saying By to All My Old Comps

This last week went by like a breeze. It was the usual eat until we throw up because the members wanted to say bye to Elder Jensen and Stone, but Wednesday was the best! me and Elder Jensen went on exchanges to have dinner with our favorite guy Bishop Yu back in Tuen Mun ward. Gosh I love that guy! I never received so much good advice from any other person. It was also super good to hear what has happened in the ward since I left 5 months ago. The super less active guy who hadn't come to church in 30 years bro Yiu, and had alot of commandment problems is now fully active in the ward, has the Melchizedek Priesthood, and now is a High Priest! My good friend Chan Lok Yuen recently submitted his mission papers! My good friend Helaman that graduated from college like 5 years ago and hasn't doesn't done anything since now has a full time job as a English teacher! His younger brother A-Him who got off his mission like 5 years ago and hasn't done anything since is going to BYU-Hawaii this week! Their little sister who I have never met has started coming back to church! and a couple of LA's have told the bishop and the missionaries they want to start coming back to church!!!!! Like I saw these people start to change when I was there, and it was super awesome to see that their lives have improved even more since I left. Yes as missionaries we are supposed to find the prepared people, but we are also supposed to build up the kingdom of God by building up the members as well, and it's amazing to see these people change.

Then on Thursday I had to say by to some 30ish missionaries, all off them over the last year I have become good friends with. It was super hard to say bye to them all and to see the experience in the mission take a massive dip. I am now the 7th oldest missionary experience wise, and there are only 9 Elders in the mission with over a year of experience in the field, so I'm excited to see what happens and to watch the younger missionaries grow. Oh then right after that our stake had a fun war games activity where I got to pelt the young men and President Mak with arrows, yeah it was super fun, and became better friends with our wards' Young Men!

Saturday we attended a members mother's funeral, and we had the chance to sing there. During the members talk I was expecting a lot of tears, but there wasn't really any. Bro. Cheng when he spoke about his mothers life he was super calm and he shared his testimony of the Plan of Salvation, its amazing how our heavenly father prepared this perfect plan for us, and has promised us that we will all live again, and be able to see our loved ones again. If anyone wants to learn more about this plan just ask me and I'll be glad to explain it, or find someone to help!

Yesterday at church we got a lot of support from the ward, and its good to have their support despite losing 2 zone leaders and experienced missionaries, but this transfer should be fun!

love you all!!

Elder Dylan Eveson

彥長老

Pday meals!

I ate snake for the 1st time!

and Turtle! (Turtle Jelly, not really)

Bye Bye Comp. of 6 months and roommate of 11

Bye Elder Smith!

couldnt find Elder Stone so no selfie with him, but use this last one.

Week 68

This week has been a little crazy. We had Zone Conference this week, and President Lam kind of told us a new way of teaching that would improve the teaching across the mission. So we are hoping these new ideas really could help everyone we teach. Also we have just been visiting members like crazy this week. I am now going on week 2 of not buying any food, but hey I'm not complaining haha. 

On Saturday we had a massive water activity after our kids English class, and it was a lot of fun. We have keys to the roof the the chapel, so we were totally pelting people with water baloons from the top and it was pretty fun. Then that night we also had Ngau Tau Kok (NTK),  Kwun Tong wards combined musical concert thing that was also a lot of fun. There were some pretty funny performances, then there were some super good ones as well. I'll just say our bishop has some pipes that no one knew about haha. 

Then on Sunday after church we had a ward potluck where we had like 15 non members/ inactive members  and the entire time I was literally running around like crazy trying to schedule these people, and guess what I scheduled 2 of them! Super excited to meet with them later this week!

So the transfer of chaos is happening this week. We have 40ish missionaries going home, and only 14 coming in, so there are a lot of areas being shut down. I'm going to be staying with Elder Rodriguez, and still going to be district leader. The crazy thing is my zone now only has 6 Elders. us, the assistants, and the office Elders, and so the  new zone leaders are actually just going to be the assistants haha. That shows what the heck is going down the next couple of months haha. So many people are now covering 2 areas haha.

So yeah that's about all that's happening. All my other companions in the field are all going home this week, and its really interesting whats going to happen the next couple of months!

Elder Eveson

me and my buddy Ho Lam!

                     Then me and my buddy zero