Dear family,
Sorry for the short letter last week! The library computers went down. : ( I’ve got lots to report now!
Lisa and Christian Bailey came to church again, and so did Christian’s sister Cara! They are great. It turns out that one of the Primary kids is in Christian’s class at school. Apparently after attending church and making this connection, Christian brought his copy of the Book of Mormon to school so he could discuss it with Josh. : ) Last night we taught Lisa with the couple who has kind of adopted them (gives them a lift to church, etc.) and she was telling us that she doesn’t think she ever would have come to church in the first place if not for Christian’s desire to. But now she is committed as well. It’s great how families support each other in learning the gospel. Elder Garcia was telling me how he’d once thought teaching families must be a lot more difficult than individuals, because you have to resolve a lot more concerns (a different one for each person), but it doesn’t work that way at all – family members help each other and resolve each other’s concerns! No wonder Preach My Gospel tells us to strive to find and teach families.
The lesson with Lisa last night was on chastity, which is the big topic for her (since she and Alan aren’t married yet). But it went a lot better than we’d hoped. Lisa has a testimony of chastity already – her parents had a great marriage and she wants her kids to have the same kind of happy family life – so she just has to actually get married, and she was willing to commit to do it. She should have a marriage date by the end of the week. Lisa and Christian’s baptismal date is still March 28. It’s kind of amazing how fast people’s lives can change when they are willing to keep commitments.
We also saw Gisela again this week. I don’t think I’ve ever taught a second lesson to a more excited investigator! She’d been reading the Book of Mormon and had felt every time she read it that it was true. She had us go over her reading (3 Nephi 11) with her and help her understand everything that was in the verses. When we got to the part about Christ conferring authority to baptize, she asked us why baptism is so important. We flipped to verse 38 in the same chapter, which explains pretty clearly that you cannot inherit the kingdom of God without being baptized. As Gisela understood that, she asked us if she could be baptized and when. When our fellowshipper explained that we had to teach her several lessons before she would be ready, she said, “Well, start teaching me now, then!” That’s how everyone should feel about baptism, but it’s still kind of a wonderful surprise to find someone who actually does. She’s been difficult to contact and we have yet to see her again, but hopefully we can teach her again this week and get her a baptismal date.
I didn’t have time to mention it last week, but this week is transfers! As you can probably tell from the above, Elder Garcia and I will be staying together. We were both pretty surprised – it’s not too common for companions to stay together more than two transfers – but also excited. I still have a lot I can learn from Elder Garcia, and we make a good team. Not only are we staying, both our district leaders are also staying, so the “leadership team” for the zone is the same as last transfer. That is really great because it means we can build really directly on what happened last transfer. We’ve already identified specific things we want to work on and will be planning everything out in district leaders’ council on Saturday.
Other changes from transfers: our zone is losing some experienced missionaries and getting some younger ones instead (so I’m now the “oldest” missionary in the zone – yikes!). We’re excited about that – young missionaries tend to have a lot of fire. We’re also getting a companionship of three sisters in the zone to replace one of our sets of elders, which means 7 of the 19 missionaries in our two districts are sisters. Sisters tend to be really great missionaries, and we’re excited to see what happens.
As a side-note, preparation day is moving from Wednesday to Monday starting next week, although in transfer week preparation day will still always be a Wednesday. So you’ll be getting my emails on Mondays most weeks now.
Dad, Elder Garcia was really interested in your trip to Nepal and the pictures you sent. He taught and baptized a man in his last area named Sarasati Barchai. He’s a political refugee from Bhutan, where he apparently headed a heavily-persecuted opposition party, and he lived in Nepal for a while before coming to England and finding the gospel. Maybe your recent converts know of him.
Last night Elder Garcia dreamed that Elder Ballard and Elder Maxwell came teaching with us for a whole day. Elder Ballard and I really clicked and taught with unity. Elder Garcia mentioned to Elder Maxwell that he had thought Elder Maxwell was dead, and Elder Maxwell explained that it the Church had just told people that and that he’d actually just been released for medical reasons. A true missionary dream . . .
One more great experience from this week to finish off. From Monday to Tuesday we went on exchange with a companionship in our zone that has been struggling a lot. The missionary I went with has been having a really hard time, having doubts about his testimony and feeling like he’s wasting his time. In particular, he’s been feeling really overwhelmed by an assignment he’s been given this next transfer to be the senior companion to a fairly young missionary. It was good to talk to him as we worked and give him some words and ideas of encouragement. The next morning, this elder had a really spiritual experience as he read Ether 12 during his personal study, and as he told me about it in companion study the Spirit helped him open up and share the depth of his concerns. I felt a lot of love for him, and was able to point out to him that he did have a testimony and testify that he would be able to succeed this transfer. We agreed on a couple of things he would do in the next couple of weeks to meet his challenges. It was a great experience, and it brought me really close to this good elder. As we closed our companion study, he pulled out his address book, and said, “Elder Pimentel, I want to keep in touch with you.” : ) Sometimes I think the greatest blessings of my mission have come not from teaching and serving investigators but from teaching and serving other missionaries.
The Church is true!
Love,
Elder Pimentel
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Notes from Sam -- 25 February 2009
Dear family,
Lisa and Christian came to church on Sunday! Lisa found it a bit weird because she was raised Catholic - I think she was expecting church to be a bit like a Catholic Mass - but she enjoyed it, and Christian seemed to have a great time. His Primary lesson was all about priesthood authority and the laying on of hands, which was a great follow-up on the Restoration. On Sunday evening, we brought Brother Grounsell from the bishopric over and taught them the Plan of Salvation. We talked a lot about baptism and why it's so important. Lisa had explained to us before that when one of her children was born and she'd brought him to church to get him baptized, the priest had told Lisa her child was a sin (since he was born out of wedlock) and had refused to baptize him. On Sunday she opened up a bit and told us that although the experience had destroyed her belief in Catholicism and that she will never set foot in a Catholic church again, she still feels some guilt from it. She explained that what she looks forward to most about baptism is knowing that she will be completely free of that guilt. It was wonderful to be able to testify to her that baptism will indeed free of her those feelings. Preach My Gospel (p. 1) talks about how people out in the world want and need the peace that comes from being forgiven of their sins. When I go street contacting, I get the sense that many people don't really care about being forgiven of their sins, but this lesson with Lisa showed me the truth of that Preach My Gospel promise - even people who don't seem outwardly to be seeking forgiveness may inwardly be carrying a burden of guilt. It makes missionary work seem a lot more important.
Anyway, Lisa and Christian accepted a baptismal date of March 28! They seem pretty committed to that. During the lesson, even before we presented the date, Lisa said something like, "If I get baptized - no, when I get baptized, I'll say that," and in our last lesson Christian reminded us about the date, asking which day of the week it was, whether he would be confirmed on the same day, etc. We think Lisa may struggle with one of the commandments that we haven't taught yet, though, so we and they are both going to have to exercise some serious faith to make that baptism happen. In the meantime, though, I think they will be very willing to attend church, and Christian's younger sister Cara seems to be getting interested too. She didn't accept a commitment to be baptized when we first dated Lisa and Christian, but in the next lesson when Christian suggested that she could be baptized too she said, "Maybe." We've only taught the father, Alan, once, but we're hoping to help him move forward too. He seems like a really agreeable person and was quite open when we taught him, although he doesn't really believe in God yet. Great family, though! We don't often get to teach families like this one.
We had another truly amazing teaching experience last Thursday with a Portuguese family. The mother, Maria, has a good friend in Stoke-on-Trent ward, and she started asking him a lot of questions in the church and expressed interest in being taught and baptized. We set up an appointment and invited a really wonderful member named Brother Wiles (he's the ward seminary teacher and one of the most spiritual people I've met on my mission) to come teaching with us. Then, about fifteen minutes before the appointment, Maria's son rang us and said she wouldn't be able to see us. : ( Elder Garcia felt like we should go to the house anyway, though, and at least drop off a Portuguese pamphlet for Maria to read, so we had Brother Wiles drive us up there. We spoke to Maria's son at the door, but he was too busy to meet with us and Maria wasn't available. As we were about to leave, Maria's daughter came down the stairs and started talking with us. When she found out we'd made a special trip to the house, she invited us in to teach her so the journey wouldn't be wasted. Yes! We taught a great lesson on the Restoration. The daughter, who is probably in her mid-twenties and is named Gisela, told us that she has never been baptized in any church in part because she can't decide which church is right. She felt the Spirit when we described the First Vision, and even more when Brother Wiles introduced the Book of Mormon and read out of 3 Nephi 11 with her. When we read from the Book of Mormon, the uninterested son, who had been in the corner of the room playing Grand Theft Auto, actually stopped playing for a while and listened! Wow! The gospel is amazing! Gisela committed to be baptized when she knows the Book of Mormon is true and all but asked if we could mark 3 Nephi 11 for her so she can read it before we come back. We're scheduled to go back tomorrow and teach her again - I'm looking forward to it.
Looks like there may be some problems with the library computers, so I'll send this as it is. Hopefully I@ll be able to send some more later on!
Love,
Elder Pimentel
Lisa and Christian came to church on Sunday! Lisa found it a bit weird because she was raised Catholic - I think she was expecting church to be a bit like a Catholic Mass - but she enjoyed it, and Christian seemed to have a great time. His Primary lesson was all about priesthood authority and the laying on of hands, which was a great follow-up on the Restoration. On Sunday evening, we brought Brother Grounsell from the bishopric over and taught them the Plan of Salvation. We talked a lot about baptism and why it's so important. Lisa had explained to us before that when one of her children was born and she'd brought him to church to get him baptized, the priest had told Lisa her child was a sin (since he was born out of wedlock) and had refused to baptize him. On Sunday she opened up a bit and told us that although the experience had destroyed her belief in Catholicism and that she will never set foot in a Catholic church again, she still feels some guilt from it. She explained that what she looks forward to most about baptism is knowing that she will be completely free of that guilt. It was wonderful to be able to testify to her that baptism will indeed free of her those feelings. Preach My Gospel (p. 1) talks about how people out in the world want and need the peace that comes from being forgiven of their sins. When I go street contacting, I get the sense that many people don't really care about being forgiven of their sins, but this lesson with Lisa showed me the truth of that Preach My Gospel promise - even people who don't seem outwardly to be seeking forgiveness may inwardly be carrying a burden of guilt. It makes missionary work seem a lot more important.
Anyway, Lisa and Christian accepted a baptismal date of March 28! They seem pretty committed to that. During the lesson, even before we presented the date, Lisa said something like, "If I get baptized - no, when I get baptized, I'll say that," and in our last lesson Christian reminded us about the date, asking which day of the week it was, whether he would be confirmed on the same day, etc. We think Lisa may struggle with one of the commandments that we haven't taught yet, though, so we and they are both going to have to exercise some serious faith to make that baptism happen. In the meantime, though, I think they will be very willing to attend church, and Christian's younger sister Cara seems to be getting interested too. She didn't accept a commitment to be baptized when we first dated Lisa and Christian, but in the next lesson when Christian suggested that she could be baptized too she said, "Maybe." We've only taught the father, Alan, once, but we're hoping to help him move forward too. He seems like a really agreeable person and was quite open when we taught him, although he doesn't really believe in God yet. Great family, though! We don't often get to teach families like this one.
We had another truly amazing teaching experience last Thursday with a Portuguese family. The mother, Maria, has a good friend in Stoke-on-Trent ward, and she started asking him a lot of questions in the church and expressed interest in being taught and baptized. We set up an appointment and invited a really wonderful member named Brother Wiles (he's the ward seminary teacher and one of the most spiritual people I've met on my mission) to come teaching with us. Then, about fifteen minutes before the appointment, Maria's son rang us and said she wouldn't be able to see us. : ( Elder Garcia felt like we should go to the house anyway, though, and at least drop off a Portuguese pamphlet for Maria to read, so we had Brother Wiles drive us up there. We spoke to Maria's son at the door, but he was too busy to meet with us and Maria wasn't available. As we were about to leave, Maria's daughter came down the stairs and started talking with us. When she found out we'd made a special trip to the house, she invited us in to teach her so the journey wouldn't be wasted. Yes! We taught a great lesson on the Restoration. The daughter, who is probably in her mid-twenties and is named Gisela, told us that she has never been baptized in any church in part because she can't decide which church is right. She felt the Spirit when we described the First Vision, and even more when Brother Wiles introduced the Book of Mormon and read out of 3 Nephi 11 with her. When we read from the Book of Mormon, the uninterested son, who had been in the corner of the room playing Grand Theft Auto, actually stopped playing for a while and listened! Wow! The gospel is amazing! Gisela committed to be baptized when she knows the Book of Mormon is true and all but asked if we could mark 3 Nephi 11 for her so she can read it before we come back. We're scheduled to go back tomorrow and teach her again - I'm looking forward to it.
Looks like there may be some problems with the library computers, so I'll send this as it is. Hopefully I@ll be able to send some more later on!
Love,
Elder Pimentel
Notes from Sam -- 18 February 2009
Dear family,
We've found some great new investigators this week! We have taught a couple of people from Poland (there are many Polish immigrants in England), both of whom struggled a bit with English. So we both ended up learning some important words in Polish, many of which reminded me of Bosnian (Bog, prorok, etc.). One of the Polish investigators actually lives in Stoke ward and will be taught by their elders. The other one is a very cheerful lady named Alicja. She had us mixed up with the Amish at first (a cause of some amusement for us in the first lesson) but we put her straight. When we explained that Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet, she was quite surprised and asked to see some proof - so we showed her the Book of Mormon! She is very excited to read it and is planning to read it all in a week. !
Two other great new investigators are Lisa and her son Christian. I stopped Lisa in a town center about a week and a half ago and found out that she'd been taught by missionaries before when she lived in Crewe! It also turns out that her partner's uncle is a bishop somewhere in Wales. We haven't met her partner yet, although he's apparently interested in meeting us, but we have met her two kids, Christian and Kara. Christian, who is nine, is really interested in religion and knows a lot about the Bible (I think he's done a lot of religious education classes at school). He's really, really clever (i.e. smart in the American sense), although he gets kind of silly in lessons sometimes. He reminds me a little bit of Ed when he was that age. : ) Lisa is great because when Christian starts acting a bit too wild, she tells him to be serious and listen to us. Also, when Christian doesn't quite understand something, Lisa tries to explain it to him, which helps her understand the gospel as well. So we can focus on Christian and let Lisa learn by teaching him! Last night we had a great lesson about prophets and the Book of Mormon. We asked Christian who he thought he could ask to find out if a prophet was from God or not. At first he thought he could consult with a priest, but we reminded him that a priest wouldn't necessarily know and asked him who would know. Eventually he said something like, "Well I can't ask God . . . no wait! I can pray and ask God!" It was exciting to see the light switch on in him as he figured it out for himself. He's really eager to come to church on Sunday and eventually get baptized. We're excited for him too!
I love my mission! Just this morning Elder Garcia and I were reading from the white handbook (as we do most mornings). We went through the section on entertainment, which focuses on our need to avoid all forms of worldly entertainment. As I was reading about it, I realized I have no desire to take a break from missionary work to indulge in worldly entertainment. It just doesn't appeal to me at all, because I know I'll feel so much better and be so much happier as I spend my time finding and planning and teaching and studying. I don't think I felt quite this way at the beginning of my mission, but now I really have a testimony that missionary work does make me happy. I'm so grateful to have that testimony and to have the opportunity to be doing missionary work all the time!
I had a great day on exchange in Stoke this week where I felt that way the whole time. Elder Hernandez (a great young missionary from Idaho) and I taught some good lessons and did some well-planned finding, and almost the whole time I felt that the Spirit was helping me say and do exactly the right things. We worked with so much power! We taught the first lesson to a few men from Africa and as Elder Hernandez described the First Vision in Joseph Smith's words and testified of it, the Spirit was so strong I couldn't see how anyone could not believe it. I'm so lucky to be in a place and at a time in which such great experiences are available daily.
Unfortunately my mission is going by really quickly. Last preparation day I bought a new bottle of 180 multivitamins. Later that night, I realized I had exactly 180 days left in my mission - one day per multivitamin. : ( Now Elder Garcia teases me all the time about how little time I have left. My mission is going by way too quickly! I think that's a good thing, though. President Bullock always says that for missionaries who wish they were at home, a mission grinds agonizingly along a day at a time, while for missionaries who go out and have the "full mission experience," it flies by.
I also went on exchange for a couple of days this week with Elder Empey, my old companion from Runcorn (Elder Garcia and I have hardly seen each other all week!). We've both changed quite a bit for the better since we served together. As we reviewed the exchange we put to rest the remaining barriers since that time and there was a real spirit of reconciliation. It was a great moment.
A while ago, Mom, Isaac and Ellie asked if Hill Street is on a hill. It actually is! While the street itself is pretty level, the cross street is at quite an incline and we have to head uphill to get to the main road.
Mom and Dad, thanks for your swift action on the mix-up with my membership record number! I just rang the mission office and told them about what the bishop said to you. It sounds like the office just wants to me wait to sort out the technical problem with the barcoded recommend until I actually get home. In the meantime, though, I should be able to attend the temple - I can just show them the recommend, explain the problem, and invite them to ring President Bullock if they feel they need to. I'm not allowed to attend the temple while serving in Newcastle, anyway (since it's too far from Chorley), so it sounds like I won't have an issue. But thanks for sorting it out as you did! At least now I can rest easy in the knowledge that I am a member of the Church after all. : ) I think Elder Garcia will be disappointed, though - he was hoping to rebaptize me so we could get our zone another February baptism. : )
I love you all! I continue to enjoy your letters (including Ruth's! Yay!).
Love,
Elder Pimentel
We've found some great new investigators this week! We have taught a couple of people from Poland (there are many Polish immigrants in England), both of whom struggled a bit with English. So we both ended up learning some important words in Polish, many of which reminded me of Bosnian (Bog, prorok, etc.). One of the Polish investigators actually lives in Stoke ward and will be taught by their elders. The other one is a very cheerful lady named Alicja. She had us mixed up with the Amish at first (a cause of some amusement for us in the first lesson) but we put her straight. When we explained that Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet, she was quite surprised and asked to see some proof - so we showed her the Book of Mormon! She is very excited to read it and is planning to read it all in a week. !
Two other great new investigators are Lisa and her son Christian. I stopped Lisa in a town center about a week and a half ago and found out that she'd been taught by missionaries before when she lived in Crewe! It also turns out that her partner's uncle is a bishop somewhere in Wales. We haven't met her partner yet, although he's apparently interested in meeting us, but we have met her two kids, Christian and Kara. Christian, who is nine, is really interested in religion and knows a lot about the Bible (I think he's done a lot of religious education classes at school). He's really, really clever (i.e. smart in the American sense), although he gets kind of silly in lessons sometimes. He reminds me a little bit of Ed when he was that age. : ) Lisa is great because when Christian starts acting a bit too wild, she tells him to be serious and listen to us. Also, when Christian doesn't quite understand something, Lisa tries to explain it to him, which helps her understand the gospel as well. So we can focus on Christian and let Lisa learn by teaching him! Last night we had a great lesson about prophets and the Book of Mormon. We asked Christian who he thought he could ask to find out if a prophet was from God or not. At first he thought he could consult with a priest, but we reminded him that a priest wouldn't necessarily know and asked him who would know. Eventually he said something like, "Well I can't ask God . . . no wait! I can pray and ask God!" It was exciting to see the light switch on in him as he figured it out for himself. He's really eager to come to church on Sunday and eventually get baptized. We're excited for him too!
I love my mission! Just this morning Elder Garcia and I were reading from the white handbook (as we do most mornings). We went through the section on entertainment, which focuses on our need to avoid all forms of worldly entertainment. As I was reading about it, I realized I have no desire to take a break from missionary work to indulge in worldly entertainment. It just doesn't appeal to me at all, because I know I'll feel so much better and be so much happier as I spend my time finding and planning and teaching and studying. I don't think I felt quite this way at the beginning of my mission, but now I really have a testimony that missionary work does make me happy. I'm so grateful to have that testimony and to have the opportunity to be doing missionary work all the time!
I had a great day on exchange in Stoke this week where I felt that way the whole time. Elder Hernandez (a great young missionary from Idaho) and I taught some good lessons and did some well-planned finding, and almost the whole time I felt that the Spirit was helping me say and do exactly the right things. We worked with so much power! We taught the first lesson to a few men from Africa and as Elder Hernandez described the First Vision in Joseph Smith's words and testified of it, the Spirit was so strong I couldn't see how anyone could not believe it. I'm so lucky to be in a place and at a time in which such great experiences are available daily.
Unfortunately my mission is going by really quickly. Last preparation day I bought a new bottle of 180 multivitamins. Later that night, I realized I had exactly 180 days left in my mission - one day per multivitamin. : ( Now Elder Garcia teases me all the time about how little time I have left. My mission is going by way too quickly! I think that's a good thing, though. President Bullock always says that for missionaries who wish they were at home, a mission grinds agonizingly along a day at a time, while for missionaries who go out and have the "full mission experience," it flies by.
I also went on exchange for a couple of days this week with Elder Empey, my old companion from Runcorn (Elder Garcia and I have hardly seen each other all week!). We've both changed quite a bit for the better since we served together. As we reviewed the exchange we put to rest the remaining barriers since that time and there was a real spirit of reconciliation. It was a great moment.
A while ago, Mom, Isaac and Ellie asked if Hill Street is on a hill. It actually is! While the street itself is pretty level, the cross street is at quite an incline and we have to head uphill to get to the main road.
Mom and Dad, thanks for your swift action on the mix-up with my membership record number! I just rang the mission office and told them about what the bishop said to you. It sounds like the office just wants to me wait to sort out the technical problem with the barcoded recommend until I actually get home. In the meantime, though, I should be able to attend the temple - I can just show them the recommend, explain the problem, and invite them to ring President Bullock if they feel they need to. I'm not allowed to attend the temple while serving in Newcastle, anyway (since it's too far from Chorley), so it sounds like I won't have an issue. But thanks for sorting it out as you did! At least now I can rest easy in the knowledge that I am a member of the Church after all. : ) I think Elder Garcia will be disappointed, though - he was hoping to rebaptize me so we could get our zone another February baptism. : )
I love you all! I continue to enjoy your letters (including Ruth's! Yay!).
Love,
Elder Pimentel
Notes from Sam -- 11 February 2009
Dear family,
Yesterday was a pretty eventful day! We had good things and bad things happen. The bad news has to do with our car. While down in Telford (about an hour's drive away) in the early afternoon, we went over a curb and damaged one of our wheels. The car ended up being towed to Shrewsbury (a rather remote corner of the zone) where it will stay in the garage for a few days. : ( It was kind of comical that all this should happen so far from our own area - we ended up taking two trains and a bus to get home. It was actually good to be back on the bus, though, and Elder Garcia and I did some bus contacting. I think it will be a good few days as we work on the buses in our area.
The good news was that after we got back to Newcastle, we taught a good first lesson to a man named David, who is from the Gambia. I spoke to him on the street on Monday and set up the appointment. We had a great member along, a young-single-adult ward missionary named Tim Hooker. David has a strong testimony of the Bible but he was quite open to what we were saying. We taught the first few principles, and I described Joseph Smith's dilemma and how we went into the woods and asked the Lord which church he should join. Right then someone banged on the front door! David went and answered it and it was two rather irreverent friends of his. They came in and we briefly reviewed the first principles of the lesson, after which I started reciting Joseph Smith's description of the First Vision. In the middle of that, the friends got up and excused themselves from the room. A minute later, David had to leave the room for something! It's amazing how often this happens - right when we reach the First Vision, people have to leave, dogs start barking, the phone rings (sometimes it's even the hostile pastor from the investigator's church calling), things cooking in the kitchen start burning, etc. There is opposition in all things, after all. As interruptions mounted in this lesson, Elder Garcia said to Tim and me, "This means he's going to get baptized!" Sure enough, when David returned and we were able to finish the lesson in relative peace, Elder Garcia challenged David to be baptized and he accepted a baptismal date of March 7! We're pretty excited. I will teach him again tonight with one of the assistants to the President (they're on exchange with us today).
I'm really grateful we had the chance to teach David, and I see it as a sign of good things to come. A week or two ago I was speaking to Elder Newson (one of our district leaders) on the phone, and, commenting on how many great things had been going on, suggested that we would face a lot of opposition soon. I feel like we had some of that opposition last week - investigators dropping us or skipping appointments, people not coming to church, and the car accident to top it off - but teaching David reminded me that finding does work, and that there are people out there who are willing to be taught and to commit to be baptized.
Zone conference was this week. Elder Garcia and I did a training on chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel, which went really well. It helped me really get a grasp of what is in that chapter. We challenged the missionaries to do the activity from page 96, writing down experiences they've had where they've felt the Spirit in the different ways described. I've done this activity in part once or twice before, and it is a great way to remember times you were guided by the Spirit and strengthen your testimony. I highly recommend it.
The highlight of zone conference for me, though, was a training President Bullock gave about the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi codices and how they provide evidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon. He introduced the presentation by talking about how our most important knowledge of the gospel is our personal spiritual witness but that knowledge found through secular research and other sources can be an important and strengthening part of our testimonies. He quoted 1 Nephi 13:39 and talked about how the other books brought forth in the last days would be for the "convincing" of the truth. As he talked about this I had some important insights about the relationship between truth revealed to us by prophets and the Spirit and truth found in other ways. It's important to seek both kinds of truth but we have carefully avoid the temptation to let our trust in the latter type of truth become more important than our trust in the former (see 2 Nephi 9:28-29). I realized that this very problem was a big part of the Great Apostasy - scholars and monks changing the ordinances and scriptures of the Church because of what they probably perceived as logical inconsistencies. That type of thinking is so prevalent in today's world. I'm grateful for the scriptures and latter-day prophets that teach us so clearly about the primacy of revealed truth.
As I sat in zone conference, I saw how these insights related to and helped answer personal concerns that had been bothering me in previous days and that I'd prayed for help in dealing with. I felt that President's introduction to his training was a tender mercy of the Lord meant particularly for me. I'm grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and its power to teach us the things we specifically need in the time when we need them.
We've had a couple more days of heavy snow this week. The other day Elder Garcia and I were tracting in a veritable blizzard. We ended up with little snowdrifts on our heads. : ) I actually really love the snow. It's better than rain, and it makes everything look really picturesque. Makes me even happier to be serving in a place like England.
This transfer President and Sister Bullock are coming to visit all the flats in the mission and conducting interviews with us there instead of in a Church building during an interviews/training meeting. They are coming to see us tomorrow, so we have to make sure we clean our flat especially well!
I love you all! Thank you for your wonderful letters and for your prayers.
Love,
Elder Pimentel
Yesterday was a pretty eventful day! We had good things and bad things happen. The bad news has to do with our car. While down in Telford (about an hour's drive away) in the early afternoon, we went over a curb and damaged one of our wheels. The car ended up being towed to Shrewsbury (a rather remote corner of the zone) where it will stay in the garage for a few days. : ( It was kind of comical that all this should happen so far from our own area - we ended up taking two trains and a bus to get home. It was actually good to be back on the bus, though, and Elder Garcia and I did some bus contacting. I think it will be a good few days as we work on the buses in our area.
The good news was that after we got back to Newcastle, we taught a good first lesson to a man named David, who is from the Gambia. I spoke to him on the street on Monday and set up the appointment. We had a great member along, a young-single-adult ward missionary named Tim Hooker. David has a strong testimony of the Bible but he was quite open to what we were saying. We taught the first few principles, and I described Joseph Smith's dilemma and how we went into the woods and asked the Lord which church he should join. Right then someone banged on the front door! David went and answered it and it was two rather irreverent friends of his. They came in and we briefly reviewed the first principles of the lesson, after which I started reciting Joseph Smith's description of the First Vision. In the middle of that, the friends got up and excused themselves from the room. A minute later, David had to leave the room for something! It's amazing how often this happens - right when we reach the First Vision, people have to leave, dogs start barking, the phone rings (sometimes it's even the hostile pastor from the investigator's church calling), things cooking in the kitchen start burning, etc. There is opposition in all things, after all. As interruptions mounted in this lesson, Elder Garcia said to Tim and me, "This means he's going to get baptized!" Sure enough, when David returned and we were able to finish the lesson in relative peace, Elder Garcia challenged David to be baptized and he accepted a baptismal date of March 7! We're pretty excited. I will teach him again tonight with one of the assistants to the President (they're on exchange with us today).
I'm really grateful we had the chance to teach David, and I see it as a sign of good things to come. A week or two ago I was speaking to Elder Newson (one of our district leaders) on the phone, and, commenting on how many great things had been going on, suggested that we would face a lot of opposition soon. I feel like we had some of that opposition last week - investigators dropping us or skipping appointments, people not coming to church, and the car accident to top it off - but teaching David reminded me that finding does work, and that there are people out there who are willing to be taught and to commit to be baptized.
Zone conference was this week. Elder Garcia and I did a training on chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel, which went really well. It helped me really get a grasp of what is in that chapter. We challenged the missionaries to do the activity from page 96, writing down experiences they've had where they've felt the Spirit in the different ways described. I've done this activity in part once or twice before, and it is a great way to remember times you were guided by the Spirit and strengthen your testimony. I highly recommend it.
The highlight of zone conference for me, though, was a training President Bullock gave about the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi codices and how they provide evidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon. He introduced the presentation by talking about how our most important knowledge of the gospel is our personal spiritual witness but that knowledge found through secular research and other sources can be an important and strengthening part of our testimonies. He quoted 1 Nephi 13:39 and talked about how the other books brought forth in the last days would be for the "convincing" of the truth. As he talked about this I had some important insights about the relationship between truth revealed to us by prophets and the Spirit and truth found in other ways. It's important to seek both kinds of truth but we have carefully avoid the temptation to let our trust in the latter type of truth become more important than our trust in the former (see 2 Nephi 9:28-29). I realized that this very problem was a big part of the Great Apostasy - scholars and monks changing the ordinances and scriptures of the Church because of what they probably perceived as logical inconsistencies. That type of thinking is so prevalent in today's world. I'm grateful for the scriptures and latter-day prophets that teach us so clearly about the primacy of revealed truth.
As I sat in zone conference, I saw how these insights related to and helped answer personal concerns that had been bothering me in previous days and that I'd prayed for help in dealing with. I felt that President's introduction to his training was a tender mercy of the Lord meant particularly for me. I'm grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and its power to teach us the things we specifically need in the time when we need them.
We've had a couple more days of heavy snow this week. The other day Elder Garcia and I were tracting in a veritable blizzard. We ended up with little snowdrifts on our heads. : ) I actually really love the snow. It's better than rain, and it makes everything look really picturesque. Makes me even happier to be serving in a place like England.
This transfer President and Sister Bullock are coming to visit all the flats in the mission and conducting interviews with us there instead of in a Church building during an interviews/training meeting. They are coming to see us tomorrow, so we have to make sure we clean our flat especially well!
I love you all! Thank you for your wonderful letters and for your prayers.
Love,
Elder Pimentel
Monday, March 9, 2009
From Jon 3/7
Subject: Wb ob leeg nyob twj ywm
Nyob zoo 'os!
We are experiencing an object lesson in opposition. No, no, we and our investigators are fine---I speak of the weather. It keeps bouncing between paralyzingly cold, to ears-uncovered warm. If it stayed warm all the time, I think we would not appreciate it. It's nice having some gulps of thawed air every once and again. It's also nice to get a lot of the snow off the roads and sidewalks. Of course, you have to deal with the rebound when it gets cold again and all the puddles freeze.
This transfer, me and Elder Cutshall are staying together in Minneapolis, but the two Hmong districts are merging together again, and Frogtown and Eastside are merging again. There is a threesome in St. Paul. 'Tis Elder Hadlock, Elder Nielson, and Elder Vaaj (Elder George Vang, the one who isn't Elder Richard Vang). Elder Erickson is in Brooklyn Park with Elder Hill. Elder Erickson has covered that area his entire mission, save three transfers. Now he's back. Elder Richard Vang is still in Eau Claire, and there is now a full Hmong team in La Crosse. It is Elder Lo and Elder Fawson.
Now that the district is unified again, we have access to the whole state! Bwahaha! Last transfer we wanted to go to a restaurant in South Minneapolis, but it was just inside Eastside St. Paul's area, which means it was outside of our district, and outside our zone, so we had to call the assistants for permission to hop our border a half mile. Now we could go to Frogtown on P-day if we really wanted. In fact, if there weren't mile restrictions for P-day activities, we could probably go to Duluth.
We continue to see many little miracles sprinkled about our days. The other day we went with a member to go see a potential investigator whom we had met earlier in the week. We knew what her car looked like, and what street she lived on, but couldn't remember which house it was, and had forgotten to write it down. We drove slowly down the street, hoping that one of the houses would look familiar, or that we would see her car. We went up and down, but her car was not there. As we passed a certain block, all of us seemed to be looking at the same house. It didn't look familiar at all, but the member kind of slowed down, and for some reason the house seemed to speak out a little. In some way it seemed to be more inviting or promising. We kept going for about a block, and came to a dead end. One of us mentioned that there was a house back there that seemed promising, and we could give that a shot. We went back and, of course, it was that house. Her car was not there, but we all felt good about that house, so we knocked, and sure enough, her mother was there and she said her daughter was still at work. We found the house! We had met this girl on the street and only gotten her number. She didn't even point to which house was her's. What's more, this member wasn't there when we met her, and yet he noticed that house and slowed down without us saying a word. Huzzah for the Holy Ghost, our internal Liahona!
Misty and Cindy are getting ready for their big day on the 14th. We will finish up teaching the rest of the commandments on Monday, review the interview questions, and get them interviewed by the Zone Leaders on Wednesday. Hopefully Chor and Mee will feel the spirit at the baptism, and make the decision to be baptized soon rather than "eventually". We think the reason Chor wants to wait might be because he is having trouble with one or more of the commandments, probably the Word of Wisdom.
I was able to buy a nifty pocket dictionary recently. The Heinbach dictionary has been such a lifesaver, and so helpful, that missionaries call it "Tus phooj ywg xim liab", or "The Red Friend". The pocket dictionary I just bought was written by a Hmong man, and it goes English to Hmong as well, while the other dictionary only goes Hmong to English. Heinbach does a better job at explaining how to use the words, but there are some words, or alternate meanings of words, that one dictionary has that the other is missing. It is helpful using them together. This smaller dictionary also has a red cover, so we call it "The Little Red Friend".
That's all for now. Thanks, and talk to you later!
-Elder Moua Ying
Nyob zoo 'os!
We are experiencing an object lesson in opposition. No, no, we and our investigators are fine---I speak of the weather. It keeps bouncing between paralyzingly cold, to ears-uncovered warm. If it stayed warm all the time, I think we would not appreciate it. It's nice having some gulps of thawed air every once and again. It's also nice to get a lot of the snow off the roads and sidewalks. Of course, you have to deal with the rebound when it gets cold again and all the puddles freeze.
This transfer, me and Elder Cutshall are staying together in Minneapolis, but the two Hmong districts are merging together again, and Frogtown and Eastside are merging again. There is a threesome in St. Paul. 'Tis Elder Hadlock, Elder Nielson, and Elder Vaaj (Elder George Vang, the one who isn't Elder Richard Vang). Elder Erickson is in Brooklyn Park with Elder Hill. Elder Erickson has covered that area his entire mission, save three transfers. Now he's back. Elder Richard Vang is still in Eau Claire, and there is now a full Hmong team in La Crosse. It is Elder Lo and Elder Fawson.
Now that the district is unified again, we have access to the whole state! Bwahaha! Last transfer we wanted to go to a restaurant in South Minneapolis, but it was just inside Eastside St. Paul's area, which means it was outside of our district, and outside our zone, so we had to call the assistants for permission to hop our border a half mile. Now we could go to Frogtown on P-day if we really wanted. In fact, if there weren't mile restrictions for P-day activities, we could probably go to Duluth.
We continue to see many little miracles sprinkled about our days. The other day we went with a member to go see a potential investigator whom we had met earlier in the week. We knew what her car looked like, and what street she lived on, but couldn't remember which house it was, and had forgotten to write it down. We drove slowly down the street, hoping that one of the houses would look familiar, or that we would see her car. We went up and down, but her car was not there. As we passed a certain block, all of us seemed to be looking at the same house. It didn't look familiar at all, but the member kind of slowed down, and for some reason the house seemed to speak out a little. In some way it seemed to be more inviting or promising. We kept going for about a block, and came to a dead end. One of us mentioned that there was a house back there that seemed promising, and we could give that a shot. We went back and, of course, it was that house. Her car was not there, but we all felt good about that house, so we knocked, and sure enough, her mother was there and she said her daughter was still at work. We found the house! We had met this girl on the street and only gotten her number. She didn't even point to which house was her's. What's more, this member wasn't there when we met her, and yet he noticed that house and slowed down without us saying a word. Huzzah for the Holy Ghost, our internal Liahona!
Misty and Cindy are getting ready for their big day on the 14th. We will finish up teaching the rest of the commandments on Monday, review the interview questions, and get them interviewed by the Zone Leaders on Wednesday. Hopefully Chor and Mee will feel the spirit at the baptism, and make the decision to be baptized soon rather than "eventually". We think the reason Chor wants to wait might be because he is having trouble with one or more of the commandments, probably the Word of Wisdom.
I was able to buy a nifty pocket dictionary recently. The Heinbach dictionary has been such a lifesaver, and so helpful, that missionaries call it "Tus phooj ywg xim liab", or "The Red Friend". The pocket dictionary I just bought was written by a Hmong man, and it goes English to Hmong as well, while the other dictionary only goes Hmong to English. Heinbach does a better job at explaining how to use the words, but there are some words, or alternate meanings of words, that one dictionary has that the other is missing. It is helpful using them together. This smaller dictionary also has a red cover, so we call it "The Little Red Friend".
That's all for now. Thanks, and talk to you later!
-Elder Moua Ying
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Round 2!
Yup! Another little Potter is on the way!! Due date is September 12, so that puts me at about 12 weeks along. And man am I counting down the days until this first trimester and all its joyous symptoms are behind me! Mia is excited to be a big sister, however, she really has no idea what that will entail. She likes to give kisses to the baby in mommy's tummy and likes to talk about the baby in HER tummy. So I frequently have to remind her that when she's bigger she can have a baby in her tummy. So then the other day Mia asked me... "Mommy, am I bigger?" And not realizing what she was referencing I said, "Yeah.. you get bigger every day." To which she replied, "Mia baby in tummy now!" So now I have to tell her that when she's bigger like mommy... THEN she can have a baby in her tummy. But yesterday Mia asked about her 18 and 20 year old aunties having babies since they're big like mommy, so then I had to go into being married first. I thought I still had a couple more years before these conversations!!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
From Jon 2/28/09
Subject: Txhua yam tseem mus zoo
Nyob zoo nej!
Well, things continue to go well here, but gadZOOKS this transfer went fast!
We had a great lesson with Misty and Cindy yesterday, and Cindy's aunt, Yer, was there too. Yer is a year younger than Cindy, and she was investigating in Brooklyn Park until recently when her dad said he didn't want missionaries over at his house to teach anymore. She still wants to learn, so she has started traveling down to Minneapolis with Cindy when she has lessons. Cindy also lives in Brooklyn Park---in the same house in fact. Misty is so ready. She is solid. The day before yesterday we taught Misty the 10 commandments, and yesterday before we arrived for the appointment, Misty had already taught Cindy and Yer the 10 commandments because she was so excited about it.
From what I hear about Tiara, she is exactly like Tou Choua's 2-years-old sister, Ka Mo Lee. I have no idea how to spell her name or if it's even Hmong, but it's pronounced "Kuh-Molly". She also goes by "Molly". She also talks up a storm, and is very intelligent. She is very observant, and very curious, and asks a lot of questions. Her Hmong is supurb, and very clear for a tyke of only two years. After we arrived for one of our lessons with her family last week, we settled down on the couch, and Elder Cutshall removed his coat, but I kept mine on for a while. Molly pointed at me with a concerned expression and said in Hmong, "Where is he going? Why has he put his coat on, but the other one hasn't?" She had many other adorable questions throughout the lesson, and as we were about to leave, she got Elder Cutshall's bike helmet and put it on him, and started to buckle it, saying, "Kuv mam kho rau koj!", or "I'll fix it for you." She then realized that I didn't have a helmet (it was locked with my bike), and, once again concerned, asked in Hmong, "Why don't you have a hat like his? You'll be cold!"
Neng Thao came to church last week! The devil better get some salt, 'cuz heck is freezing over. Neng has been inactive since the invention of stew. He is famous among the missionaries for feigning injury and claiming "Kuv mus tsis taus kev!", or "I cannot walk!", only to be sighted walking just fine when he thought no one was looking. He claims now that he knows the way to church, he will come every week with Mai Lee and Zoua. He even payed his tithing. We hope his repentance is sincere, since there is reason to suspect that the main reason he wants to come now is because the branch president told him he could use the meetinghouse for his wedding at no charge...if he were an active member and got his records moved from the second branch to ours.
Well, love you all, keep being who you are, and doing what you do.
-Elder Moua Ying
Nyob zoo nej!
Well, things continue to go well here, but gadZOOKS this transfer went fast!
We had a great lesson with Misty and Cindy yesterday, and Cindy's aunt, Yer, was there too. Yer is a year younger than Cindy, and she was investigating in Brooklyn Park until recently when her dad said he didn't want missionaries over at his house to teach anymore. She still wants to learn, so she has started traveling down to Minneapolis with Cindy when she has lessons. Cindy also lives in Brooklyn Park---in the same house in fact. Misty is so ready. She is solid. The day before yesterday we taught Misty the 10 commandments, and yesterday before we arrived for the appointment, Misty had already taught Cindy and Yer the 10 commandments because she was so excited about it.
From what I hear about Tiara, she is exactly like Tou Choua's 2-years-old sister, Ka Mo Lee. I have no idea how to spell her name or if it's even Hmong, but it's pronounced "Kuh-Molly". She also goes by "Molly". She also talks up a storm, and is very intelligent. She is very observant, and very curious, and asks a lot of questions. Her Hmong is supurb, and very clear for a tyke of only two years. After we arrived for one of our lessons with her family last week, we settled down on the couch, and Elder Cutshall removed his coat, but I kept mine on for a while. Molly pointed at me with a concerned expression and said in Hmong, "Where is he going? Why has he put his coat on, but the other one hasn't?" She had many other adorable questions throughout the lesson, and as we were about to leave, she got Elder Cutshall's bike helmet and put it on him, and started to buckle it, saying, "Kuv mam kho rau koj!", or "I'll fix it for you." She then realized that I didn't have a helmet (it was locked with my bike), and, once again concerned, asked in Hmong, "Why don't you have a hat like his? You'll be cold!"
Neng Thao came to church last week! The devil better get some salt, 'cuz heck is freezing over. Neng has been inactive since the invention of stew. He is famous among the missionaries for feigning injury and claiming "Kuv mus tsis taus kev!", or "I cannot walk!", only to be sighted walking just fine when he thought no one was looking. He claims now that he knows the way to church, he will come every week with Mai Lee and Zoua. He even payed his tithing. We hope his repentance is sincere, since there is reason to suspect that the main reason he wants to come now is because the branch president told him he could use the meetinghouse for his wedding at no charge...if he were an active member and got his records moved from the second branch to ours.
Well, love you all, keep being who you are, and doing what you do.
-Elder Moua Ying
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