Hong Kong is Here to Stay

My paper chain that started with 90 links is now down to 4. My parents come home in 4 days, and I can hardly believe it. We thought we would be saying goodbye to Hong Kong, but now we are saying HELLO to it again. My little sister opened her mission call last night and believe it or not, she got called to the China Hong Kong mission speaking Cantonese!!!!! Holy cow I can hardly believe it!!!!

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I stole this picture from my cousin's facebook of her opening her call. The kids surrounding her are my cousins' kids, my mom and dad are on skype (in Hong Kong, how ironic) on the computer in front of her, and most of her siblings were on a conference call on the phone with her. So there are actually quite a few more people in this picture than you think.

(side note: she had just spent 8 days in the wilderness with no shower, toothbrush, toilet paper, etc. so she showered first, and that's why her hair's all wet)

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Okay, I don't know how many of you care to hear the story, but you're all going to get it.

So my little sister Amy is living in Arizona with my cousin Ryan while she is working at the Anasazi Youth Wilderness Camp. She goes out into the wilderness with troubled youth for 8 days at a time and like I said above, has no showers, toothbrush, toothpaste, toilet paper, deodorant, cell phone, etc. Anything the rest of the world thinks is crucial, they don't have it. It's pure craziness.

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Anyway, while down in Arizona she got her mission papers all sent in. Last week when she was home her call didn't come so she assumed it might come while she was gone. She left last Wednesday and the call came two days later, on Friday. It's been sitting in my cousin's house, patiently waiting for her to come home and open it.

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Ryan texted me this picture and said "The next 18 months of your sister's life is in my hands. Wish she was here!"

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So anyway, while she was gone, I told all my siblings to stand by on Wednesday (seeing as we had no idea what time she would get home) and then my brother set up a conference call for all of us to call in and listen. My parents had the day off in Hong Kong and were home packing so it was perfect.

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So last night at 8:00 she called me and was out of the wilderness and I told her the mission call had come and that we were all waiting for her to open it. So we all got on the phone and man, when she read those words, "You are hereby called, yaddy yaddy yadda, you are assigned to labor in the China Hong Kong Mission" we just couldn't believe it! Sounds just like my parents' mission call 18 months ago. And like each of their mission calls when they were single. Yes, people, my mom and my dad both served in Hong Kong when they were single (yes, they were in the same mission at the same time, but no, they did not meet or fall in love there). So this is seriously just the coolest thing ever.

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Amy knows Spanish pretty well so I think some of us thought she might get called spanish speaking but wow, now she has to learn Cantonese! A super hard language. Hopefully my parents can teach her a few words before she goes to the MTC. Which is on March 30th by the way. Only 2 months away!!! That is super quick.

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So, last night Amy made a quick decision to quit her job in Arizona and come home to Utah and stay here for the next 2 months before she leaves. She was planning on just coming home for about a week to see my parents and then go right back to work and stay there till she left on her mission. I don't think she was expecting to leave so soon. So, needless to say, I am EXTATIC that for the next two months she will be here and can play with Mckinley and me. I have missed her.

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Well, that's the story, and if any of you made it this far, I fixed the link in the post below, so that video should work now.

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Man, life is so AWESOME right now. So many exciting things going on.