Jon 5/31/08

Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 10:08 AM
Subject: Ib tug menyuam mog liab tshiab los?!!

Nyob zoo nej!

John is getting baptized on Sunday! He's pretty excited, as are we. Houa and Shoua are going to make a special effort to come to church so they can see the baptism, and their parents might come too. John's parents are less-actives who haven't been to church in over a decade, and we really want them back, especially because John has several younger siblings whom their parents would bring if they started coming back. John chose Chue (the one preparing for a mission) to perform the ordinance, which is perfect. This will really be a great experience for Chue.

We have been teaching two sisters, Molly and Mai Yer, and it's been going very well. We were initially focusing on their older sister, See, but she is too busy now, though she still is very interested. Recently, 3 more sisters--- Judy, Bee, and Jamie, started investigating too. They all are very active in two churches over in St. Paul, which they attend every week and participate in all the activities etc. These are both Hmong churches, and they go purely for social reasons. They have not learned anything in either of these churches. They love having us over and learning, because they don't get that kind spiritual nourishment anywhere else. They are great at keeping commitments, and we are very excited for them. The real trick is going to be eventually getting them to give up their other churches. We'll just have to convert all of their friends who attend the other churches too.

A while ago we were walking down a quiet residential street when out of nowhere, and quite suddenly, a lady pulled over in her car and shouted,
"Hey! You're Mormons, right?" Eyebrows raised, but smiling, we approached her. Evidently the day before she had seen us on our bike on a busy street and had tried to shout to us and get us to stop. She wanted missionaries to come teach her and her kids. Elders had tracted into her home a while ago but since she was a single mom and there was no other male there 16 or older, they couldn't go in. So they left without setting up a return appointment. They didn't really explain the rule we have about needing 3 males 16+ or 3 females 16+ in the same room, they just said that because she had no husband, they couldn't come in. She asked us if we could make some kind of arrangement, perhaps send sister missionaries or something. We explained the rule and said we would be overjoyed to make every arrangement necessary for her to be taught by missionaries :)

We were invited over to an American member's house for dinner this week. We know them very well, and have helped them remodel their house all last transfer. We were there with two teams of English-speaking Elders, who also helped with the re-modeling. The head of the household, knows Uncle Jay, and respects him a lot. He has been very troubled and stressed lately, and was in a really tough situation. He asked for a blessing and invited all the Elders to participate. His bishop came over, and we assumed he would act as voice. To my startlement, he asked me to do it! It was my first time, and it was a really incredible experience. The priesthood is amazing, and very, very real.

-Elder Moua Ying