Monday, July 6, 2009

From Jon 6/27

Subject: Los nag mas thiaj zoo siab

Nyob zoo!
We've been swimming through the air over here because of all the water in it. I've started drinking a ton of water in the morning to avoid dehydration and heat exhaustion, because I can't carry enough of it with me during the day to replace all the sweat. Now that I know to load up ahead of time, I should be all right. It's raining (hallelujah), so it is pleasant today.
I finished my Trunky Letter. It was a good opportunity to reflect on all I have learned and become on my mission. I kept a copy of it so I can read it in the future. I got my travel papers. I don't know if they send you a copy too, but it's a Delta flight. I found the number DL5739...I assume that's the flight number. It is a non-stop flight; the paper says we take off at 9:00 am and arrive at 10:52 am. I'm not sure if those are both MN time, or if the last one is UT time. I'm supposed to arrive in terminal 2 at the SLC airport. Elder Vang and Elder Nielson (one of my old companions in LaCrosse) will be on the same flight, but Elder Vang has a 40 minute layover in SLC before getting on a flight to CA. As of now, he has nobody to pick him up at the airport, and nowhere to go when he gets there. His parents don't speak English and don't use e-mail, so they don't know when he's coming in. Everyone in his family moved, and he doesn't know the new addresses. Most of his sisters have changed e-mail addresses. His friends will all be at work and can't pick him up. He may very well be homeless upon his return. Hopefully he can get permission to call his mom's cell and work something out. We joked about him just staying in Salt Lake and starting a Hmong restaurant.

We had a great lesson with Yer. She seemed less troubled, and more at peace. She has been reading in the BoM and is done with 1 Nifais (1 Nephi). I think her testimony is growing more than she realizes. She has always been too scared to pray in front of us, but when we asked her if she would like to say the opening prayer, she said we could do it, but she would do the closing. She said it without the usual nervous, uncomfortable, cop-out feeling that accompanied that response in the past. It seemed like she was really going to do it this time. When the time came, she did it without any squirming or coaxing. It was a great prayer, and a big step for her.

We were challenged by our Zone Leaders to contact 300 people this week, and to do so by contacting 43 per day, not by getting 60 one day, and 20 the next. This helps keep us in "missionary mode" all the time, rather than having off-days where we don't push ourselves as much because we got plenty the day before. We accepted the challenge, but were concerned because some days we just don't have much proselyting time, e.g. P-days, Sundays, weekly planning days, days with district meetings, etc. On Tuesday we had District Meeting, exchanges, and had to spend time writing trunky letters. I was a little discouraged because with the remainder of our time we were to tract only a short time before our appointment in a far-away area when there is seldom anyone walking around. To make a long story medium length, we worked hard and had faith that if we were where we were supposed to be, doing what we were supposed to be doing, the Lord would provide and help us reach our goal. We ended up contacting 53 people, and getting 3 or 4 people's information. Yesterday we had a similar experience. It was weekly planning day, which means we usually don't get out proselyting until mid-to-late afternoon. We contacted 77 people. When the Lord sees your faith and willingness, he puts people in your path. We got a few appointments and half a dozen other people's information.

So I heard that Michael Jackson died of a heart attack the other day. Is that true? We don't follow the news.

Well, that's about all for now! Love ya!
-Elder Moua Ying

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