Hi family ,
John Ennis (our long-time teenage investigator) got baptized last Saturday. It was great, maybe even better than the one the week before. Elder Anderson baptized John (wearing my baptismal pants - he couldn't find his at the last minute, but fortunately mine fit), and Elder Tomita and Bishop Ireland were witnesses. The Young Men's president gave a fantastic talk about the Holy Ghost. Also the four of us missionaries sang "Called to Serve" as a special musical number. About two rows of the chapel were filled by John's (non-LDS) family members, which was really exciting for us. The sister missionaries in Warrington (which is where we had the baptisms, since Runcorn chapel has burned down) also attended with one of their investigators.
On Sunday John got confirmed and ordained a priest, and I got to stand in the circle both times. I forgot to mention last week that I participated in ordaining Josh Burgoyne (the 12-year-old who was baptized last Saturday) a deacon after church last Sunday. This week he passed the sacrament for the first time and was called to be the deacons' quorum president. It's wonderful to see guys this young getting baptized, because they'll be able to serve missions later on and become pillars of the church wherever they end up.
Elder Anderson is still sick and has to stay inside for a few more days, but we've been able to do a little more recently. Last week we had a great visit with a less-active family whom we've been assigned to home teach (a widespread practice in the EMM, suggested, I believe, by a General Authority a few years ago). They are going through a rough time right now because the mother has been diagnosed with a debilitating illness. It was good to see Elder Anderson in action - he's very good at relating to other people by talking to them about their lives and their interests and then doing things like asking for referrals in a non-threatening way. I can see why everybody in the ward seems to love him. I think the less-active family was strengthened by our visit. Before we left, the mother told us that earlier in the day she'd been feeling abandoned by the ward and resenting the people in it, but then right afterwards she got our phone call setting up the home teaching appointment. Plus two different members of the bishopric contacted her later in the day. Events like this show you that God is really guiding the church - when we fulfill the duties of our callings, He helps us to bless others in ways we never could have through our own knowledge.
Another exciting thing this week - one of the people we were teaching in Barrow, a really on-the-ball young guy, moved away to Warrington while we were there. We really didn't want him to fall through the cracks, so we sent a referral to the Mission Office with his phone number (we didn't even know the address of his new house). When we talked to the Warrington sisters on Saturday (at the baptism), they told us that they received the referral, that he's being taught by the senior couple in Warrington, and that he's even been to church a couple of times! I had been worried about him, so it was good to find out he's doing so well.
I've been studying by topic sometimes rather than just reading straight through the Book of Mormon lately, and it's helped me enjoy and benefit from my study a lot more. I've started a list of interesting topics to study sometime in the back of my planner, and when I read, I look up cross-references on anything that interests me or try to find similar scriptures that I remember reading previously. Last week while reading straight though Alma, I found a scripture that talked about "the chains of hell"; I stopped to cross-reference it, and ultimately spent all my Book of Mormon study time that day and all of it the next day finding related scriptures that described exactly what the chains of hell are and directly answered my questions about them. It's a very active way to study the scriptures and get meaningful answers out of them.
Much as I enjoy reading the scriptures, I get hungry for other reading material out here, just for while I'm eating breakfast or taking a tea break or something. I didn't read for pleasure that much at Stanford because I was so busy with other things, but looking back, I did spent an awful lot of time reading this summer, and the habit has accompanied me to the mission field. Anyway, I dug a bunch of old New Era issues out of one of our closets and have been devouring them. The Church magazines are really well done - the New Era does a remarkable job of keeping pace with the times, with a section called "Instant Messages" and some recent articles about the dangers of texting too much. Also, as I read through a stack of them in quick succession, I see a much clearer vision behind them: strong and consistent emphasis on preparing for a mission and getting a personal testimony through a witness of the Spirit. Good stuff.
I'm in Chester today - there's a DVLA office here and I'm hoping to apply for my provisional driving license (excuse me - "licence"). I'm coming back from an exchange with one of our zone leaders, Elder Verman from southern England. The zone leaders' area is Wrexham, in western Wales (our stake encompasses a huge section of Northern Wales - about half the units in the stake are in Wales, although we have no Welsh-language units as far as I know). Wrexham and Runcorn are the two highest-baptizing units in the zone, I think mostly because the wards in both areas are so friendly and active. We're tied at 11 baptisms each for the year, and several members of the Runcorn ward have been encouraging us to baptize more so we can "beat Wrexham." All in a friendly spirit, though. : )
Last night in Wrexham we had a tea appointment with a member of the stake presidency, which was a good thing, because he told Elder Verman about a meeting the zone leaders were supposed to be having with the stake president that evening that Elder Verman had not known about! So he quickly canceled our plans for the evening and we drove out to the meetinghouse where the meeting was taking place. There wasn't time to go to Runcorn and get the other zone leader, so Elder Verman had to take me instead. The meeting went well, though. The stake presidency is concerned about missionary work and wants to help us out, which is great! One of the real benefits of serving in an area where the Church is so strong.
I'm enjoying the Messiah recordings I got from Dad! And I am looking forward to putting on the Christmas music. The British don't celebrate Thanksgiving, of course (Christmas decorations are already up in most of the shops), but I'm still waiting until Thursday before I play it.
Love,
Elder Pimentel
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Notes from Sam - 14 November 2007
Hi there,
The other Runcorn elders had two baptisms this week: a single mother named Nikki and her deacon(?)-aged son Josh. They used to live in Denmark and had all the missionary discussions there, but moved away before they could get baptized. Then Elder Anderson and Elder Empey met them while they were tracting and re-taught them. The ward loves them, and they will be solid members. This is the first convert baptism I've seen here in England, so it was kind of exciting. Although it must have been even more exciting for Elder Anderson and Elder Empey, who actually found Nikki and Josh and saw them go through the entire teaching process.
The other Runcorn elders have one other really promising investigator, a teenager named John who is a very good friend of Naomi Cohen, the ward mission leader's daughter. He has been taught, at the Cohens' home for over a year, and has been very receptive but hesitant to commit to baptism too quickly. On Sunday morning, the day after Nikki and Josh were baptized, the Cohens told us that John had something to tell us elders and pulled the four of us into a classroom so he could talk to us. He said, "You know how youse* have been teaching me to try and convert me to be baptized? Well, I don't want you to do that any more." Then, after a long pause, "Because I'm going to get baptized." We were all very relieved : ). His baptism is scheduled for this coming Saturday, and Elder Anderson will be performing it. I've gotten to know John a little bit and helped teach him once while on exchange, so this is especially exciting for me. I'm very blessed to be in Runcorn while all these great things are happening.
*Colloquial British for second-person plural; "y'all," roughly. It's very commonly used, both in Runcorn and Barrow.
I gave a talk on prayer last Sunday. It went OK - I was a little nervous and I ran a little long, but it turned out fine because there were only two speakers, me and the bishop's father (he's also a former member of the Stake Presidency, I believe - people refer to him as "President Ireland") plus a special recitation and two minutes' silence for Remembrance Day. Brother Ireland was very kind to me and told me after the meeting that my talk was "excellent." He also complimented me on my singing too, saying I sang with volume ("most Americans don't") and sharing D&C 25:12 with me. He told me that he'd spent most of his life in tiny branches of the Church, singing loudly to try and keep everyone united. I think he should meet Isaac. : )
I've been on exchange a couple of times this week, which has been good since Elder Anderson is still contagious, if not as badly incapacitated as before, and is still under quarantine. I went with Elder Atwood to Moreton and Elder Frogley (nephew of President Chris Frogley of the Nauvoo pageant) to Birkenhead, both cities just across the Mersey River from Liverpool. It felt really good to go back to working full-time for those couple of days - in Moreton in particular, I spent an hour street contacting and ended up talking to a guy who really needed help and seemed receptive. Hopefully the Moreton elders will get to teach him. I'm actually writing from Liverpool today (and the Liverpool library has draconian Internet time limits for guests so this letter may be a little short), because I'm on the way back from my exchange in Birkenhead. Elder Frogley (who went through the MTC with me) was on the BYU track team before he came out, and when we went running this morning I was puffing pretty hard and struggling to keep within sight of him : ).
Last preparation day we had a zone activity with at least a dozen other missionaries attending. We went ice skating at a rink over in Wales (where street signs and everything are in both Welsh and English - kind of cool). It turns out that Elder Empey is quite a talented ice skater, having figure skated for 8 years while growing up (a fact he seems to have attempted to keep hidden), and Elder Lapinsuo from Finland and Elder Egervari from Hungary were also pulling stunts on the ice. Poor Elder Anderson had never ice skated before and was stumbling around a lot, much to the delight of the elders whom he puts to shame on the football field.
I love you! I hope school isn't sapping the life and the energy out of everyone completely. Hang in there!
Love,
Sam
The other Runcorn elders had two baptisms this week: a single mother named Nikki and her deacon(?)-aged son Josh. They used to live in Denmark and had all the missionary discussions there, but moved away before they could get baptized. Then Elder Anderson and Elder Empey met them while they were tracting and re-taught them. The ward loves them, and they will be solid members. This is the first convert baptism I've seen here in England, so it was kind of exciting. Although it must have been even more exciting for Elder Anderson and Elder Empey, who actually found Nikki and Josh and saw them go through the entire teaching process.
The other Runcorn elders have one other really promising investigator, a teenager named John who is a very good friend of Naomi Cohen, the ward mission leader's daughter. He has been taught, at the Cohens' home for over a year, and has been very receptive but hesitant to commit to baptism too quickly. On Sunday morning, the day after Nikki and Josh were baptized, the Cohens told us that John had something to tell us elders and pulled the four of us into a classroom so he could talk to us. He said, "You know how youse* have been teaching me to try and convert me to be baptized? Well, I don't want you to do that any more." Then, after a long pause, "Because I'm going to get baptized." We were all very relieved : ). His baptism is scheduled for this coming Saturday, and Elder Anderson will be performing it. I've gotten to know John a little bit and helped teach him once while on exchange, so this is especially exciting for me. I'm very blessed to be in Runcorn while all these great things are happening.
*Colloquial British for second-person plural; "y'all," roughly. It's very commonly used, both in Runcorn and Barrow.
I gave a talk on prayer last Sunday. It went OK - I was a little nervous and I ran a little long, but it turned out fine because there were only two speakers, me and the bishop's father (he's also a former member of the Stake Presidency, I believe - people refer to him as "President Ireland") plus a special recitation and two minutes' silence for Remembrance Day. Brother Ireland was very kind to me and told me after the meeting that my talk was "excellent." He also complimented me on my singing too, saying I sang with volume ("most Americans don't") and sharing D&C 25:12 with me. He told me that he'd spent most of his life in tiny branches of the Church, singing loudly to try and keep everyone united. I think he should meet Isaac. : )
I've been on exchange a couple of times this week, which has been good since Elder Anderson is still contagious, if not as badly incapacitated as before, and is still under quarantine. I went with Elder Atwood to Moreton and Elder Frogley (nephew of President Chris Frogley of the Nauvoo pageant) to Birkenhead, both cities just across the Mersey River from Liverpool. It felt really good to go back to working full-time for those couple of days - in Moreton in particular, I spent an hour street contacting and ended up talking to a guy who really needed help and seemed receptive. Hopefully the Moreton elders will get to teach him. I'm actually writing from Liverpool today (and the Liverpool library has draconian Internet time limits for guests so this letter may be a little short), because I'm on the way back from my exchange in Birkenhead. Elder Frogley (who went through the MTC with me) was on the BYU track team before he came out, and when we went running this morning I was puffing pretty hard and struggling to keep within sight of him : ).
Last preparation day we had a zone activity with at least a dozen other missionaries attending. We went ice skating at a rink over in Wales (where street signs and everything are in both Welsh and English - kind of cool). It turns out that Elder Empey is quite a talented ice skater, having figure skated for 8 years while growing up (a fact he seems to have attempted to keep hidden), and Elder Lapinsuo from Finland and Elder Egervari from Hungary were also pulling stunts on the ice. Poor Elder Anderson had never ice skated before and was stumbling around a lot, much to the delight of the elders whom he puts to shame on the football field.
I love you! I hope school isn't sapping the life and the energy out of everyone completely. Hang in there!
Love,
Sam
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
DJ SNAX IS IN THE BUILDING
HERE'S THE LATEST SHOW I HAVE COMING UP ON THURSDAY. I'VE HAD A LOT OF SUPPORT FROM MY FRIENDS AND DONE A COUPLE OTHER LITTLE EVENTS SINCE MY LAST SHOW. I'LL LET YA'LL KNOW HOW IT GOES.
SNAX
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Elder Jon Pimentel 11/10/2007
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 11:03 AM
Subject: Ribbit
Life is great here, the weather is getting cold, but it's not too bad yet. We’ve had a few flurries, but nothing has really stuck yet. I hear a lot of times in the winter it will be about 15-25 degrees F, but with the wind chill it can reach 30 or even 40 below (F).
I got my name tags with my Hmong name on them this week! Pretty nifty.
We are really excited because tonight we are going to set a baptismal date with Pa! We showed her the Restoration movie, and pointed out the part at the end where Joseph Smith Senior gets baptized. I had a feeling that if she saw a baptism she wouldn't be as scared of it because it would no longer be "unknown". Turns out I was right, and she doesn't appear scared anymore. We asked her mom for permission and she said as long as Pa wants to, it's fine. I'll let you know if we are able to get a date. By the way, Pa is 9 years old (I realized I never told you).
Have I told you about Tiffany? We were on our way to a stop-by visit with Yama (about 17-18 years old) and her siblings whom are all less active members except [Siab] (M, age 9), who has not yet been baptized. We found Yama sitting on her front steps with one of her friends (Tiffany). It turns out Yama had given her a BoM a while ago, but she had only read about 3 pages from it because she didn't really know what it was. Tiffany is very religious, and practices Old Culture and Buddhism. She is very interested in Christianity and has studied a lot about it on her own. She had a ton of questions about our religion particularly because she noticed that Yama was different that most of her friends, particularly with swearing and caffeine. Yama had never explained why her religion advises against coffee and vulgarity, but had simply said "That's just what we believe." Tiffany had asked Yama many questions about our church, and Yama tried to answer but Tiffany still didn't really understand. She also said that she really wanted to come to our church and check it out, but Yama would never take her because Yama always had work on Sunday and never went to church anymore. Really long story a little bit shorter, we were able to answer all the questions she could think of at the time, and commit her to read form the BoM and to come to church, even if Yama couldn't go. Tiffany is what we call a "Fireball Investigator" she is fellowshipping her less active friend and devouring any spiritual knowledge she can reach. She likes the philosophies of Buddhism and Confucius, but she doesn't actually believe in most of their doctrines. She believes in God, and everything we are teaching her. The only snag is that her mom, who used to be Christian, has been pressured by HER mother to practice Old Culture again, and Tiffany's mom doesn't really want her to go to church. We need to bring her mom back unto Christ.
Mai Houa is still doing great, and this time we're going to make sure she gets to church, whether Ze goes or not.
I love you all!
-Elder Muaj Yeej
Notes from Sam - 7 November 2007
Hi there!
Elder Anderson's been pretty sick this week, so he's had to stay inside and we haven't been able to do much missionary work :(. At first I thought it would be nice to get a little bit of a break, but after I spent time inside not doing much it was harder to go out and work when I did get the chance, and I had a harder time feeling good about myself as a missionary. Now I can see why hard work is so important and so good for you, and I'm grateful that Elder Tomita and I were able to work with so few interruptions in Barrow. Fortunately Elder Anderson has organized a lot of exchanges with the other Runcorn elders so we've all taken turns staying inside with him, and he seems to be on the mend now.
Runcorn seems to be one of the most fruitful areas in the mission right now, in large part because of the amazing ward and their strong commitment to missionary work. Elder Anderson was talking about some of our investigators who aren't really progressing towards baptism and telling me that it would be tough for us to stop teaching them because the ward loves them so much. I got to attend PEC, Ward Council, and a meeting of the "Proclaim the Gospel" committee this week, and I was really impressed by how well the meetings were run, how on-the-ball the members were, and how many great things are being accomplished. It was exciting to see how a really united ward can be so powerful.
Incidentally, the ward has been feeding us really well. This week each of our two companionships has tea appointments six times. I also hear that Runcorn is the place to be in the mission at Christmastime, so I should be in luck next month.
Yesterday was Zone Conference. President Jacobsen gave us some great training that inspired me to work harder. Our mission is currently not putting out very high numbers (compared to other missions in the area) and we're going to have the chance to exercise a lot of faith, set some challenging goals, and work very hard in the coming weeks.
At Zone Conference I got to meet a bunch of missionaries I hadn't known before (since last transfer I was at the other end of the mission). I talked for a while to one of the brand-new missionaries who just came out two weeks ago. He was studying chemical engineering at the U of U last year, so we talked a bit about college math classes, etc. He also told me that Elder Mistico won't be coming out as soon as I'd thought because he ended up going to the Provo MTC so he could get some deeper language instruction. So I'll have to wait a little bit longer to meet him.
Last Friday Elder Anderson and I went to a district leaders' council in another area. While he was in the meeting, I went out tracting with the other two district leaders' companions, Elder Kyambadde from Uganda and Elder Nagy (who arrived in the mission at the same time I did) from Hungary. Elder Kyambadde told us that in Uganda missionaries never tract or street contact because they spend all their time teaching member referrals. Lucky! :) I decided that I'm glad to be here, though, because tracting and street contacting are good growing experiences for me to have, even if they're not always very comfortable. The three of us did some good tracting. Poor Elder Nagy is still feeling shaky with English (although he seems a lot better at it than when I met him right after he got to England), and didn't talk at all at the first few doors we knocked on. But then, at the last door we knocked on, we met a talkative lady who mentioned that it was confusing that there are so many churches out there, and Elder Nagy jumped in and used that comment as an opportunity to teach the entire first lesson to her, right there while we were standing outside the door. He did a really great job too. It makes contacting people much easier to have a companion to back you up.
Sunday is Remembrance Day, and to commemorate it people all over the place are wearing pins in their lapels with little red paper poppies. I need to get one of them. In church on Sunday, we're having a minute of silence at 11 AM. Incidentally, I'm also giving a talk in sacrament meeting, about prayer.
This past Sunday Elder Kerr (an Area Authority Seventy) and Sister Kerr came to the Runcorn Ward. Elder Kerr was a very dynamic guy, and he not only bore his testimony in sacrament meeting but spoke to us in Priesthood and PEC. Hearing him talk about missionary work was really exciting and wonderful; I could tell that he really believed that (as President Hinckley said a few years ago) there are millions of people in the British Isles with an innate desire to worship the living God, and that through good member missionary work, we in Runcorn would be able to start finding and baptizing those people. A good boost for us full-time elders. Sister Kerr also came up to me , thanked me for my testimony (which I'd borne in sacrament meeting), and told me about how she'd first met the missionaries in a bus stop somewhere; they bore testimony to her, and even though she hadn't had any interest in the Church before and wouldn't have let missionaries into her home, she felt the Spirit and ultimately was baptized. She said that I should always bear mine when I had an opportunity.
Thanks for all your wonderful letters!
Love,
Sam
P.S.
My address here is
4 Heather Close
Paddock Moor, Runcorn
Cheshire WA7 3HW
England
Elder Anderson's been pretty sick this week, so he's had to stay inside and we haven't been able to do much missionary work :(. At first I thought it would be nice to get a little bit of a break, but after I spent time inside not doing much it was harder to go out and work when I did get the chance, and I had a harder time feeling good about myself as a missionary. Now I can see why hard work is so important and so good for you, and I'm grateful that Elder Tomita and I were able to work with so few interruptions in Barrow. Fortunately Elder Anderson has organized a lot of exchanges with the other Runcorn elders so we've all taken turns staying inside with him, and he seems to be on the mend now.
Runcorn seems to be one of the most fruitful areas in the mission right now, in large part because of the amazing ward and their strong commitment to missionary work. Elder Anderson was talking about some of our investigators who aren't really progressing towards baptism and telling me that it would be tough for us to stop teaching them because the ward loves them so much. I got to attend PEC, Ward Council, and a meeting of the "Proclaim the Gospel" committee this week, and I was really impressed by how well the meetings were run, how on-the-ball the members were, and how many great things are being accomplished. It was exciting to see how a really united ward can be so powerful.
Incidentally, the ward has been feeding us really well. This week each of our two companionships has tea appointments six times. I also hear that Runcorn is the place to be in the mission at Christmastime, so I should be in luck next month.
Yesterday was Zone Conference. President Jacobsen gave us some great training that inspired me to work harder. Our mission is currently not putting out very high numbers (compared to other missions in the area) and we're going to have the chance to exercise a lot of faith, set some challenging goals, and work very hard in the coming weeks.
At Zone Conference I got to meet a bunch of missionaries I hadn't known before (since last transfer I was at the other end of the mission). I talked for a while to one of the brand-new missionaries who just came out two weeks ago. He was studying chemical engineering at the U of U last year, so we talked a bit about college math classes, etc. He also told me that Elder Mistico won't be coming out as soon as I'd thought because he ended up going to the Provo MTC so he could get some deeper language instruction. So I'll have to wait a little bit longer to meet him.
Last Friday Elder Anderson and I went to a district leaders' council in another area. While he was in the meeting, I went out tracting with the other two district leaders' companions, Elder Kyambadde from Uganda and Elder Nagy (who arrived in the mission at the same time I did) from Hungary. Elder Kyambadde told us that in Uganda missionaries never tract or street contact because they spend all their time teaching member referrals. Lucky! :) I decided that I'm glad to be here, though, because tracting and street contacting are good growing experiences for me to have, even if they're not always very comfortable. The three of us did some good tracting. Poor Elder Nagy is still feeling shaky with English (although he seems a lot better at it than when I met him right after he got to England), and didn't talk at all at the first few doors we knocked on. But then, at the last door we knocked on, we met a talkative lady who mentioned that it was confusing that there are so many churches out there, and Elder Nagy jumped in and used that comment as an opportunity to teach the entire first lesson to her, right there while we were standing outside the door. He did a really great job too. It makes contacting people much easier to have a companion to back you up.
Sunday is Remembrance Day, and to commemorate it people all over the place are wearing pins in their lapels with little red paper poppies. I need to get one of them. In church on Sunday, we're having a minute of silence at 11 AM. Incidentally, I'm also giving a talk in sacrament meeting, about prayer.
This past Sunday Elder Kerr (an Area Authority Seventy) and Sister Kerr came to the Runcorn Ward. Elder Kerr was a very dynamic guy, and he not only bore his testimony in sacrament meeting but spoke to us in Priesthood and PEC. Hearing him talk about missionary work was really exciting and wonderful; I could tell that he really believed that (as President Hinckley said a few years ago) there are millions of people in the British Isles with an innate desire to worship the living God, and that through good member missionary work, we in Runcorn would be able to start finding and baptizing those people. A good boost for us full-time elders. Sister Kerr also came up to me , thanked me for my testimony (which I'd borne in sacrament meeting), and told me about how she'd first met the missionaries in a bus stop somewhere; they bore testimony to her, and even though she hadn't had any interest in the Church before and wouldn't have let missionaries into her home, she felt the Spirit and ultimately was baptized. She said that I should always bear mine when I had an opportunity.
Thanks for all your wonderful letters!
Love,
Sam
P.S.
My address here is
4 Heather Close
Paddock Moor, Runcorn
Cheshire WA7 3HW
England
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Elder Jon Pimentel 11/3/2007
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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