Subject: Technical difficulties
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 18:53:02
I wrote an epistle last week, but as I was signing it I ran out of time and the browser closed. Sad day. I won't be able to include everything that was in it, but I'll do what I can.
I tried to attach some pictures to this e-mail, I hope it works. The baptism picture is of Brandon Lee, his aunts, his young men's leader Tong, Elder Wilson, and me.
We live in an apartment on top of the library, so it isn't a very long walk to the elevator to take us right in to do our emailing. Elders Vang and Vang have a car, and work on the East Side, while we bike. I don't mind at all though because Frogtown isn't that big, and there are a ton of responsibilities and paperwork if you are assigned a car.
Dad asked if we have senior and junior companions. We do have senior and junior comps. The senior comp carries the cell phone around and is the designated driver if you have a car and both Elders are eligable drivers.
My name means "to have victory" and it implies that I can accomplish anything. The family that named me didn't know about our motto "Pimentels can do hard things" but somehow that idea carried over into my Hmong name too.
There is so much to say about our investigators I don't know where to begin. You get the very abridged version. Nou Gy's family is less active and we are getting them to come back to church etc. Nou Gy's sister, Pa, has not yet been baptized but is of age. We are trying to get her excited about the gospel, but it's hard to find opportunities to teach her when we can have her undivided attention (she is easily distracted). She agreed to be baptized, but is scared of the water.
Brandon Lee's sister, Kayla, was going to set a baptismal date this week, but her mom wants her to wait until she's about 18 before she decides whether or not to be baptized. She's about 11, so that won't be for awhile. We have run into that problem a lot, and it seems there are a couple of Hmong christian churches that teach that one should wait until adulthood to be baptized or else they will be pestered by evil spirits and many Hmong people used to attend those churches once in a while. It's really sad because Kayla is really excited about the gospel, loves going to church and reading the Book of Mormon and really wanted to get baptized.
[Mai Ntxhais] (brackets indicate Hmong spelling) is a member, and we have been teaching her boyfriend, Xai Vang. He is really cool and is keeping his commitments. We have to teach him at Mai's house because his big brothers really don't like christianity. He is scared to be baptized because of how his brothers would react. Mai's mom is hilarious, and a terrific cook. Usually when we go to teach Xai, Mai's mom cooks us dinner and after the lesson and the meal, Xai, Mai, and sometimes Mai's little sister (can't remember her name) pull out their homework and we help them with it. They are about Kent's age, but because they don't speak very good English they are still in Geometry. That would be hard to go to a school that doesn't speak your native tongue. Mai's mom gave a pair of earrings to each of the missionaries she knows and told them it was for their wives. To [Muaj Tsim] she said "I know you're not married, but now that you have a gift to give, you will find one very fast!" as we left we saw her 3 boys having a campfire on the sidewalk. Not on a grill or circle of rocks or anything---ON the sidewalk. Lucky it wasn't windy.
Our branch president is President Singvah. Go to Mormon.org and look through some of those video clips. One of them is of an Asian man talking about a supreme creator. That is our branch president
There's a ton more to say about other investegators, that will have to wait. So until next time,
-Elder [Muaj Yeej]
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