The odds have been beat! Being honest I thought I had like a 2% chance of staying here in Madison another transfer. Everyone in the district thought I would be leaving, including myself. The odds have not been in my favor in the past for staying in areas for long amounts of time - I mean I have already been here 3 transfers this time but 5 total transfers since this was my first area on my mission. Elder Giddings has been here only 2, and I was so certain I was leaving that I started making Elder Giddings carry the house keys around because I was certain that he was going to be staying, but I guess I need to be here for another transfer. I am not complaining because I love this area and the people here This now makes 4 straight transfers here and 6 total on my mission, which is actually as many transfers (6) as all my other (4) areas combined. Pretty crazy! I am super excited to be here another transfer. Elder Giddings is going to re-open Wausau so congrats to him. My new companion will be my former companion, Elder Parker, from Appleton, so that will be a fun reunion. Also, Elder Tarone will be with Elder Chue here, so we should have a good time here in Madison!
This week on Wednesday we brought a youth member with us named Logan to go around and visit a few people. He is a super cool kid and fun to talk to. To end the night we went over to Mai's which I thought for sure would be the last time. Anyways we ate an amazing dinner as always. After we shared a lesson with the family "For with God Nothing Shall be Impossible" and we went through different gospel picture books and showed all the amazing things that God can do that we might think are impossible. It was a really cool lesson. Logan shared a really powerful testimony of how much the church has helped him in the last 2 years since he was baptized. He was getting emotional over that which was cool to see how much the church and the gospel truly have helped him.
Ever since I got in the Field I always wanted to serve with one of my friends back home Elder Green. We never were able to have the opportunity to serve with each other until this week. I got to go on exchanges with him which was super fun. He has a month and a half left so he is heading home next transfer so it was a thing that we were able to serve together for 1 day before he goes home.
On that exchange actually, a lot happened. We went to have lunch with one of the Hmong members named Chong sore and his wife Neng. They are like the grandparents for all the Hmong missionaries. They made us a very good meal and after we were able to talk to them. He talked to us about the temple and I never actually knew that he went through the temple before. He has done everything including the sealing which is so cool to hear about because very few Hmong families have been sealed in the state of Wisconsin - we are working on that.
Later in the day, we had dinner with Brother Fredric and his family. They are also from South Africa and actually the same town as the Goues when they both lived there. He made us some really good African food and after we talked. He has only been here for 2 years so there was quite the language barrier, but he was super cool. I love hearing members' testimonies and the faith and trust they have even through the hard times.
After dinner, we had a lesson with Phao Yang and his family. He hasn't been taught in 8 months, but last week I felt like I should text him so we did and we were able to meet him. We made the connection that his family owns one of the Hmong stores in Madison. We have been there a few times - bought Hmong food and Hmong ties from them, so this week we were able to meet the whole family. We talked a little about the Book of Mormon and we are gonna bring a few copies next time we go back. They are a super cool family. One of the kids is super funny. He is able to speak Hmong and English which is super rare for kids these days. Anyway, his mom said that he knew Hmong and then I asked him if he knew how to speak Hmong and he responded back, "No I speak Miskas." Miskas just means English, but it was funny because he used the Hmong word. We are excited for that family.
Sunday night we did a member missionary lesson with the Chang family. I am super impressed with their family. They are such good examples of a family that lives the gospel and they truly have that light to them. We were able to talk to them about missionary work. It will be cool to see the things that they will be able to do.
Love,
Elder Rich
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| Camp Randall Stadium |
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| We were invited to a Hmong wedding and had some really good food |
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| The "Ian Rich Selfie" done better by your Boi Elder Tshwj Xeeb |
