Nyob zoo
This week we spent a lot of time knocking on doors again and finding, but here in Sheboygan most people work, both the husband and the wife, so most of the time, no one answers because no one is ever home. And this week I was getting pretty frustrated because it’s a lot of knocking and no one is there.
We do have some new investigators the last couple of weeks that I haven’t mentioned before.
The first one is a young lady named Chong Dee. We just knocked on her house about 3 weeks ago and she was a former investigator. We said we could teach her again and we’ve met with her a couple of times. Things are going pretty good with her but it’s kind of the same situation as a lot of younger kids. She likes learning, but her parents won't let her go to church really. But we are reviewing the lessons with her since it has been over a year since she has been taught.
The next investigator is named Ariel. She is a single mother with a couple of kids. She is a former investigator too. She has a friend who is a member in our church and she has been coming to church every single week ever since I’ve been here and probably before. She used to be taught by the sisters about a year ago and then she stopped. She was telling us the other day that she has completely flipped her life around. A couple of years ago she was in prison because she was doing pretty much every drug you can imagine, but now she’s pretty much completely flipped her life around and has gotten her priorities straight.
The 3rd ones are Mong Kong and his wife Amanda. It’s kind of funny because they are a couple of Elder Vang’s friends from back home and he forgot they moved out here to Sheboygan. He ran into them at the Hmong New Year before I got here and he said he was interested in learning so it’s pretty cool.
This week also, Elder Vang has some family who lives out here. His aunt lives here in Sheboygan and he has a couple of cousins. We’ve stopped by his aunt’s house a couple of times and talked with them and they are super nice and they’ve fed us. She gave us his cousin’s number and so we went and stopped by his cousin’s house this week and he opened the door and let us right in. He was like, “Hmm….you look familiar.” and Elder Vang was like, “Yeah. You’re my cousin!” He was like, “OHHHH!!!” There’s quite a bit of an age gap between them because Elder Vang is 19 and his cousin is about 38 so they are not super close in age but they are still family. They invited us to stay for dinner and you can’t pass up Hmong food. Hmong food is the best. I love Hmong food. So we ate with them and then he invited us to come back and teach his family. I don’t know if it’s necessarily because he’s interested in learning about the church or just a curiosity thing, but hopefully, when he hears it, he’ll realize it’s true.
Like I said earlier I was pretty frustrated this week on Thursday. I was pretty mad, angry, and discouraged. Elder Vang could tell I was too. A little later in the day, he showed a part of a talk that helped me out and is really powerful. It is called "Missionary work and the Atonement" by Jeffrey R. Holland.
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.
For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.
If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.
The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
If you have time to read the rest of the talk, it is really good, but this was the part that helped me this week.
Love,
Elder Tshxj Xeeb
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| They have lots of cool churches in Sheboygan. |
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| We call them the temples since there isn't a temple in Wisconsin |
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| Valentine's Day treats in the mail |
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| Scarlett. She is Eden's older sister. I've sent a picture of her before. |
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| Elder Vang and his cousin, Koua and family |
