Nyob Zoo
This week, just like the past few weeks, we spent most of our time tracting and finding people. There is a list of a bunch of Hmong houses that we use, put them in our GPS and drive to them. But a lot of them had either met missionaries before and had been knocked on before, so weren’t really having any success. On Tuesday, for about an hour, we went on the computer and searched for new addresses and we got a list of about 100, and this week we tried them out. We found a lot more success because they were new houses that hadn’t been knocked on for awhile or maybe ever. So we had a lot more success this week with our new list of houses which was really cool.
Also, Elder Vang and I had one of the best door approaches this week, for sure in Sheboygan, maybe even the whole mission. I’m not sure, but it was pretty cool because we flowed really good just going back and forth. Elder Vang was just speaking so fast, it was almost like he was rapping - it’s so crazy. I don’t even know how to explain, but it’s just so insanely fast. We worked well off each other and we both spoke really good. And I was able to understand it all, and what I said flowed well and it just felt… good. It made me realize…Dang!! I’m getting the language. After that, we were both pretty confident. But 10 minutes later, you get humbled quickly. That’s the language - you have high moments, then you get humbled. You get another high moment then you get humbled and it just keeps going. KInd of funny.
Also this week, we went back and visited the old lady I talked about 2 weeks ago in my email. I cannot remember her name, but she was the one that just talked forever for like 2 hours about nothing. So this week Elder Vang said, “Let’s go back and talk to her again.” And I was like, “Heck NO!!! I do not want to go back.” That was terrible. It was torture. But we went there and it was cool because Elder Vang had me practice teach. I taught the whole Plan of Salvation lesson basically by myself and after, we talked to her (mostly Elder Vang talked to her) and got to know her a little better after I was done teaching. We found out that her son was baptized and in the past, she wanted to get baptized too but her husband would not let her. So we will go back and teach her again and we will probably have to reteach some of The Plan of Salvation because I missed some of the points and probably didn’t explain it the best. It was cool to talk to her. I don’t know if she’s interested anymore, but she was in the past so it’ll be fun to visit her again.
Now, it’s almost my 6-month mark on my mission. This Friday I will hit 6 months which is pretty crazy. It just goes by so fast. I have really seen my language progress, but at the same time, it’s really slow to see it sometimes. When I look back to where I started and where I am now, it’s pretty cool. I am getting pretty comfortable teaching the lessons, but I still need to practice them. One thing that I really want to work on is conversation Hmong and the words that they use every day, instead of just gospel stuff. When they speak gospel, I can understand, but when they speak other stuff, I just don’t understand and am not able to speak the everyday stuff, so that’s something I really want to work on. But it’s pretty cool to see that if you keep working on it and keep practicing it every day, things just start making sense. There is a bunch of grammar stuff that I still don’t understand. But over time, you’ll be talking to someone and all of the sudden you’ll start using it and you’re like, “What the heck?!! I never knew how to do that. And I haven’t been practicing that in like a month.” And then all of a sudden it makes sense and it’s just pretty cool. When I think back on the last 6 months, I know that Heavenly Father has blessed me to learn patience and to trust in him. Those have been the biggest things for me - knowing that I will not learn everything overnight, but it will take a while and knowing that I just have to work day by day and I will continue to improve.
My mom asked me this week how I feel about reaching my 6-month mark. Am I excited? Happy? Am I amazed because it's going too fast? Am I sad because my mission is 1/4 over? etc And the best word I can think of is - grateful. I am so very grateful for the time I have spent so far in my mission. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am so very grateful for the experiences I have had and will have in the future. I have grown so much in so little time and it is all because of this gospel. I know this gospel is true and I am grateful to have the opportunity to bring it to others in the next 18 months I have remaining.
D&C 59:7 Thou shalt thank the Lord
Have a great week,
Elder Tshwj Xeeb
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| This is where we email at the church |
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| Taking pictures of Lake Michigan |
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| I think this looks cool |
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| More Lake Michigan |
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| Having a little fun while out tracting |
