December 12, 2017
Well another week.
Committed three people to be baptized. One on Christmas Eve, one he 31st and one January 7th. They're all super solid and we've been teaching them for a while so they're ready.
I went on exchanges which was pretty fun. I really learned the importance of members in missionary work, and also the importance of having members reach out to their own friends and family to share the gospel. It really makes a difference.
We had a zone pday today. Played volleyball and made a snowman. We went finding in a Hmong store, went pretty well even though it was awkward, we found two new investigators. Also passed a church with a long name like ours, but not quite the same, it was "The Shadow of The Almighty Prayer and Deliverance Church".
It has not stopped snowing since last pday...at first it snowed lightly, and didn't really stick, but after a few days it started to get bad. Apparently since the people out here are so used to the snow, they don't shovel the roads unless it's bad. So we drove in 6 inches of snow and looked at the sidewalks, which they shovel for some reason and prayed we wouldn't die.
I tried to give my chair to a woman, and just kneel and eat from the table, because that's like a perfect height for me, but apparently it's SUPER rude, because it's as if you're telling them you're their slave...so that was awkward for a bit.
Lastly their were a couple miracles this week where we went to people's houses, and on two separate occasions they said they had prayed that day for us to come over, and that they needed our help. Tender mercies of the lord.
This is our branch boundaries outlined in purple...it's about the same size as mass, Ct and RI combined.
Ate some chicken feet, which were actually pretty good for some reason. Just not a lot of meat.
And a shaman shrine thing which was pretty cool looking.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Is Your Name Kong?
December 5, 2017
Well this week was pretty bomb.
We pretty much only find women who are interested in the church, so this week we were praying for guys, so we could have some priesthood holders. Then there was one day where all our appointments fell through, and our backups didn't work either, so we went finding for a while. Literally every single person we found that day was a guy, and they all seemed super interested in the church. Prayer, answered.
Also it was pretty funny their names were like, Kong Vang, Kong Xiong, Kong Yang, Kong Chang, and another dude whose name was surprisingly not Kong. We also met this cool guy named Sylvester Williams, he's not Hmong, he's from Liberia and he works in the ministry of sports, apparently he's in charge of scheduling FIFA games, and so he gets to go for free.
(Don't worry Trevor, I got the hookups for ya') He was in the US for medical attention, and was staying with his nephew, but he'll be going back soon, and meeting the missionaries in Liberia. He also wants the missionaries here to meet with his nephew's family, so that was pretty sweet.
We had a Christmas party, that was awesome, and we got some less actives out, and even met some new investigators.
One girl, Sandy, is getting baptized, Sunday at church. She told us her spirit said she's home. Yes girl! Her boyfriend is currently less active, but not for long. He came teaching with us, and we had a really cool experience where we were prompted to see this one investigator, who is having trouble keeping any commitments. Turns out he delivered pizza to them once, but then when his shift ended brought them another pizza for free, and talked with them, she even tried to hook him up with her cousin. So suffice it to say, they knew each other.
Later we met this girl named Pakou Khang, apparently she lived in Willimantic CT, and even went to a Mormon church with her brother there...HHAAhahah! Connections, I used to live in CT! So pretty cool, haven't met anyone from CT in a while and definitely not someone who lived so close.
Spiritual thought of the week: we were wondering why it always seemed that our investigators prayers were so strong. Through study and prayer we found that basically we need to be more sincere when we pray. Alma 39:11 says when they see your actions, can they believe your words? And we realized that basically everything our investigators know about the church, are things we teach them, both through our words and our actions. And if those words and actions seem insincere or careless, they notice, and it makes it harder for them to believe our words.
So this week we've been focusing on sincere prayer and really trying to bring the spirit. The day we started to do that three lessons in a row people were like, 'wow, the room feels lighter', or 'I just feel so much more peaceful or happy'. And I was like dang...we should've been doing this the whole time. I invite all of you to have more sincere prayers and really think about and mean everything you say.
Elder Hwj Chim
This first and second picture was this fairy tale like house there were squirrels running around and birds and everything about it was like, dang, I bet there's a dwarf in there, or something The third is this weird peachy tasting orange texture fruit, and then those spiky fruits are different, but they were all super good. Some food from the Christmas party. My adoptive mom singing a Hmong song. Lastly, us meeting Santa with some people who are going to be new investigators
Haha, honestly I haven't even had time to eat all the food you sent out before, I just don't have a lot of time, but I do carry them around as snacks. So I don't even know what I want for Christmas...real converts maybe? I found this super fairytale house while tracting. It was like normal house, normal house, WHAT THE HECK? Then back to normal, there's like a line in the front yards of leaves where the normal people rake, but this guy just lets it go. So that was cool. Have a great week, I love you guys.
Elder Lauj
Well this week was pretty bomb.
We pretty much only find women who are interested in the church, so this week we were praying for guys, so we could have some priesthood holders. Then there was one day where all our appointments fell through, and our backups didn't work either, so we went finding for a while. Literally every single person we found that day was a guy, and they all seemed super interested in the church. Prayer, answered.
Also it was pretty funny their names were like, Kong Vang, Kong Xiong, Kong Yang, Kong Chang, and another dude whose name was surprisingly not Kong. We also met this cool guy named Sylvester Williams, he's not Hmong, he's from Liberia and he works in the ministry of sports, apparently he's in charge of scheduling FIFA games, and so he gets to go for free.
(Don't worry Trevor, I got the hookups for ya') He was in the US for medical attention, and was staying with his nephew, but he'll be going back soon, and meeting the missionaries in Liberia. He also wants the missionaries here to meet with his nephew's family, so that was pretty sweet.
We had a Christmas party, that was awesome, and we got some less actives out, and even met some new investigators.
One girl, Sandy, is getting baptized, Sunday at church. She told us her spirit said she's home. Yes girl! Her boyfriend is currently less active, but not for long. He came teaching with us, and we had a really cool experience where we were prompted to see this one investigator, who is having trouble keeping any commitments. Turns out he delivered pizza to them once, but then when his shift ended brought them another pizza for free, and talked with them, she even tried to hook him up with her cousin. So suffice it to say, they knew each other.
Later we met this girl named Pakou Khang, apparently she lived in Willimantic CT, and even went to a Mormon church with her brother there...HHAAhahah! Connections, I used to live in CT! So pretty cool, haven't met anyone from CT in a while and definitely not someone who lived so close.
Spiritual thought of the week: we were wondering why it always seemed that our investigators prayers were so strong. Through study and prayer we found that basically we need to be more sincere when we pray. Alma 39:11 says when they see your actions, can they believe your words? And we realized that basically everything our investigators know about the church, are things we teach them, both through our words and our actions. And if those words and actions seem insincere or careless, they notice, and it makes it harder for them to believe our words.
So this week we've been focusing on sincere prayer and really trying to bring the spirit. The day we started to do that three lessons in a row people were like, 'wow, the room feels lighter', or 'I just feel so much more peaceful or happy'. And I was like dang...we should've been doing this the whole time. I invite all of you to have more sincere prayers and really think about and mean everything you say.
Elder Hwj Chim
This first and second picture was this fairy tale like house there were squirrels running around and birds and everything about it was like, dang, I bet there's a dwarf in there, or something The third is this weird peachy tasting orange texture fruit, and then those spiky fruits are different, but they were all super good. Some food from the Christmas party. My adoptive mom singing a Hmong song. Lastly, us meeting Santa with some people who are going to be new investigators
Haha, honestly I haven't even had time to eat all the food you sent out before, I just don't have a lot of time, but I do carry them around as snacks. So I don't even know what I want for Christmas...real converts maybe? I found this super fairytale house while tracting. It was like normal house, normal house, WHAT THE HECK? Then back to normal, there's like a line in the front yards of leaves where the normal people rake, but this guy just lets it go. So that was cool. Have a great week, I love you guys.
Elder Lauj
Cool, and Not So Cool.
November 28, 2017Listen up folks. Crazy week.
We taught investigators and less actives for Monday-Wednesday.
Super awesome, but they really need to gain a desire to come to church. Our sacrament meeting attendance is trash. The missionaries can only do so much, people need to act for themselves. And the members, they need to befriend the recent converts, that's why so many fall away, their only friends are the missionaries.
But on a brighter note we taught people for 12 hours straight on Friday, and then again on Saturday.
We went to the Hmong new year, so we had a booth and it was right next to this hall which connected the 2 giant rooms so perfect position to talk to everyone. Also great opportunity to practice Hmong. Only downside was that I was screaming at people, because it was so dang loud. Needless to say I lost my voice very quickly. Good thing was, I'm tall and
white, I was wearing Hmong clothes and can (somewhat) speak Hmong which attracted a lot of attention, and started a ton of conversations.
It was also a downside, because a bunch of girls came over asking to take pictures, or to play ball with them. After that I tried to talk to guys, but there were just way more girls than guys.
Also learned that there are albino Hmong people, not a lot, but we saw a few. On another note there are also albino squirrels, which isn't important, but cool.
Apparently there's also a bunch of deaf, or very nearly deaf Hmong people, and they speak sign language, pretty cool if I say so myself, but not cool because I have no idea what's going on...kinda like Hmong sometimes. Hahahahaha
This thanksgiving I ate the least amount of food of any thanksgiving I've ever lived for. Elder Vang kept telling
people we'd maybe or probably come by for dinner, but we never made set appointments....as a result we had none. Sad, but hey, we taught people instead and personally I thought it was better.
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