To start the week, we had some crazy weather. We had freezing rain so the first day we pretty much had to stay in the apartment the whole day because they wouldn’t let us go outside because it was slippery. We got a lot of our weekly planning done.
This week we did a lot of fun things. We went to a dinner appointment on Wednesday at Sister Hoogstra and her husband's home. She is a member but her husband is not a member. He is super nice and he is a pilot. He took us to the airport after the dinner and we got to go into a flight simulator. You just fly - kind of like a video game in a way. We got to do that and it was really cool. It was just like you’re flying an airplane and it was really hard. At the end, I was trying to land it and I was going to run into a tree so he quickly turned it off and he was like, “Good job! You did not crash!” It was funny.
On Thursday was Elder Vang’s one year mark which is close to my 6-month mark. Here on the mission, they have a tradition that once you hit 6 months you burn a tie, one year you burn a shirt, a year and a half you burn a pair of pants and then two years you burn a suit. So I got to burn a tie and Elder Vang got to burn a shirt and a tie because he never got to do that. We did this at our ward mission leader's home, Brother Klunk.
On Sunday, one of the younger kid members named Tshwm Sim had a birthday and his family invited us over for his party so that was fun. I didn't know a lot of the people because they were his relatives, but we had a lot of Hmong food. That was good.
We also met with Ariel this week and she is doing super awesome and her desire to learn is there and she knows that putting God first is what’s going to make her the most happy in life. After one lesson, it’s a little sad to say that she is our most progressing investigator at the moment. But it is what it is. Some people take longer and some people are faster. But she is super awesome.
We also met with Melanie’s family this week and she still has the same problem of smoking. She is super awesome and her family is awesome. It will just take a little longer with her.
Yesterday in church we didn't have anyone to translate for so we were able to go to Elder's Quorum. In Elders Quorum, a comment was made along the lines of:
"The more we give, the more we receive."
That really hit me in that lesson and I think it is so true for our everyday lives. The more we give of things like our talents and time, the more we get back in return. Something that I have definitely seen on my mission so far is - the more I give of myself to the work, the more I receive. It is still hard - don't get me wrong, but to see people so grateful and to see their smiles makes it all worth it. I love being able to have the opportunity to do this every day. It is a true blessing. These are times I will always treasure and remember.
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| flight simulator |
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| Me burning my tie |
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| Elder Vang burning his shirt |
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| This is Butterfly - she is Tshwm Sim's sister. She is an awesome member |
