Well, this week was interesting. It snowed. It hailed. It rained. And then it snowed again. And we rode our bikes in all of it. We didn't have p-day Monday, because thanksgiving is basically a p-day, so they switched it for this week. Also Friday and Saturday is the Hmong new year, the really big one that apparently my clan, the Lauj clan runs.So that should be fun, we have a booth there. A less active paid for us to enter a football tournament with him, so we played for a little bit, had some fun, I lost my magnetic name tag, which womps. Then today, (Thanksgiving), we played a turkey bowl at our ward, which was fun, but both times we played football, it was in the snow, and everyone has cleats, but me, so I was sliding all over the field...sorry team, but I did catch some touchdowns.
For lessons and stuff, we were tracting, and found this 23-year-old who was a golden investigator. We taught the restoration, and she 100% receptive to it, so at the end we asked her to be baptized to which she responded, "oh I already got baptized". So we were thinking, "well, okay, even if you got baptized in a different church, you need to do it under
the correct authority", but her mom walked by, and was like, "oh yeah, my brother-in-law is a leader in your church, and he's who helped us join". And we were like, "DANG...no baptism, but It was a MIRACLE we found you right now when all of you are home".
Then we found a woman named Mim Lis, she's been going to a
Hmong alliance church for 30 years, but she and her husband were
super open, apparently their nephew is possessed by a demon, and
they've tried everything to help him...everything short of the priesthood of course.
Forgot to say, the Hmong people are SUPER spiritually in tune...
it's CRAZY scary. Like they can see ghosts, or see your "light", or
how bright your spirit is. One lady saw a picture of the temple and was like,
"WHERE IS THIS? This is a holy building, and there are a TON of spirits gathered
outside trying to get in. Some are good, some want to destroy it". I was like,..."dang...
that's actually super scary".
Another lady can literally read your mind, my companion
won't take me to see her because apparently she likes to surround
herself with evil spirits. So this is some freaky stuff.
But we also, took a member to teach Mim Lis, and the member talked for 2 hours...I kid you
not. And then when we said we really had to go, he prayed for 15
minutes...I was like, "man this has got to be the longest prayer I've
ever heard".
 |
| Not taking a chance with this! |
she can't make it to church, because she committed to an internship,
but that ends soon, so she set a date for January 21st. Awesome stuff.
Culturally, we met a guy who has one of those cool bamboo instruments.
I couldn't play it because it's basically a wiji board or however you
spell it. It guides dead spirits around, so they can find rest, and if
you don't play it right they come, and take revenge on you for
misleading them. Needless to say I was not taking chances, and just held
it for the picture.
Hmong new year is tomorrow...sweeeet. Some food I
ate this week, was this rice drink. Imagine cooking rice in too
much water, and then taking the water out, and drinking it. That's basically what it was. It was white, warm, and tasted like water with a slight hint of rice, plus it was thicker than water, so all together...it was weird.
We're learning a Hmong dance, because next week we are doing it in the branch talent show. It's basically the
Hmong version of the electric shuffle.
companions uncle, he's related to like everyone, so it's all one big family.
It's getting cold. Not as cold as elder Orton for sure, but still
cold. I'm doing good. I'll write again in a few days.
Elder Hwj Chim Lauj
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