Notes from Jon 3/29/2008

Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 10:05 AM
Subject: Muaj ib tug tub txib tshiab!

Hey, every people!
We got a new Elder this week! He came a week early because of how things lined up in the MTC. His name is Elder Cutshall and he is from Vancouver Canada. Daniel may be interested to know that's in British Columbia. He is actually a US citizen, as he was born and raised close to Oakland California. He moved to Canada only about 4 years ago, but he does indeed say "eh" every once in a while. I have yet to hear Elder Larson, our Zone leader and a native Canuck say "eh". On Elder Cutshall's first day, Tuesday, we had a dinner appointment at which an Elderly lady in the branch gave him a Hmong name. He is now Elder Tshaj Koob (Cha Kong) which means 'to proclaim glory'. He's a pretty neat guy. He reminds me of me long ago when I first entered the field. He played as starting quarterback for his high school football team, and did a tiny bit of wrestling. Surprisingly, he is not a big guy. The other Elders informed him that I used to do Jujitsu in the hopes that he will challenge me to a wrestling match. I did all right against Elder Christiansen, who is much bigger, and did a lot more wrestling is High School, so it should be a good match if he wants to tussle a little. :)

Anything could happen this transfer. Elder Wilson and Elder Jackson Vang are going home, and we only get Elder Cutshall, so there is an imbalance. Elder Larson is going to continue as Zone Leader, and Elder Christiansen is now an Assistant to the President, so he won't be coming back into the Hmong work either. It's likely that there will be a threesome, but it could be made up of anyone and anyone might end up training Elder Cutshall. Right now he is in a threesome with me and Elder Vang, but that doesn't have any influence on what next transfer will be like. If there is a threesome, they will have to combine two areas---probably Frogtown and Eastside.

Anthony is still doing great! Last week he was at his cousins' house, so he wasn't at church, but he's planning on coming this week. If he does, and comes to watch gen. conf., he will be baptized on April 6th. We're still not sure how committed his mom his to consistently come to church, so that makes me a little uneasy.

There are two other young boys in less-active families with whom we are working. They both want to be baptized and enjoy learning and love the Lord, but their respective parents don't really care that much about religion anymore and go to the Hmong Alliance Church every once in a while because it's a Hmong church. The seem to have forgotten the restoration. We are working both to build the Mother's testimony and to teach the boys. In all three of these families the father has left and gone back to Laos or Thailand, the mother is less-active and too busy providing for the family to worry about church, and their son is of the age of accountability and has tremendous faith. It's so hard when the children are solid gold, but the parent's priorities constrict their spiritual growth and obstruct their eternal progression. The parents approve and know it's good for their kids, but just don't think it's important. They need a nurturing, gospel-filled environment in which to develop before the world gets them.

The weather is pleasant and warm now, in the high 40s and low 50s, and I'm enjoying it before it gets hot and muggy. :)

Eat delicious, Live well,
-Elder Muaj Yeej