November 20: My Investigators

Nyob zoo,

This was our last week with Elder Lewis.  He goes home to California on Tuesday so then it will just be two trainees going at it, me and Elder Vang.  This week, Elder Lewis taught us literally everything he could about being a missionary, about taking over an area, and missionary work.  He taught us all the tips and tricks of how to be a missionary.  

This week we also had transfers.  Obviously I’m still staying in Madison with Elder Vang, and it’s going to "fun" with two little trainees running around, not knowing what to do; not knowing the area.  Usually, when missionaries come out, they get trained for 12 weeks and then they can go somewhere else and usually they are with an older missionary.  Elder Vang and I have been trained for 7 weeks and we are stuck together.  It’s going to be interesting.

This email I’m going to talk about our investigators that we are working with.  People have been wanting me to do that.

So I’ll start with a lady named Kawm.   Elder Lewis taught her a few times before I got to Wisconsin, so we’ve been teaching her the whole time I’ve been here.  She has a really strong faith in God.  She’s come to church a couple of times.  She knows that the church is true, but she has been going to another church for over 20 years, so it’s hard for her to make the transition to our church when all her friends and family go to her other church.  So we are just taking time with her to build her faith, and helping her to know why and how our church will help her.  She is in her mid 50’s and is a sweet, nice old lady.  She said she will be baptized, but it will be in the future when she is more comfortable making the transition from her church to our church.

Our next investigator is Kelly.  She is also in her mid 50’s and she is the one that we went and helped at her farm a couple of times.  We found her through her sister.  My second week here, we went tracting in an area, and we met her sister. She let us in, but she wasn’t really interested.  She told us that her sister was interested and she gave us her address, so that’s how we found her.  We’ve taught her three times.  The problem that we’ve had with her was that she didn’t have a lot of time with her farming, and she needed to get it all done.  That’s why we went and helped her so that she’d have more time.  Since we helped her and she’s finished, she has a lot more time to meet with us.  We were able to meet with her again yesterday.  She also came to church yesterday and she really loved it.  She stayed the whole time and stayed for our baptism (I’ll share about this in a bit) so she stayed for almost 5 hours and that was her first time going to our church.  That’s pretty awesome for her to stay the whole time.  And she honestly really loved it.  She was telling us after how much she liked it and she wants to come again next week.  She’s going to tell one of her different sisters to come with her next week so that’s pretty awesome.  

One quick story about Kelly that was pretty funny this week…So all the Hmong people here think I am so tall and it is really funny, even though I am just an average sized white person.  Hmong people are all really short.  When we were eating with Kelly this week, she was just going off on how tall I am and she thinks it is so crazy and she always makes fun of herself compared to my size. It is really funny.  At the end she asked me how tall I was.  And she guessed I was 6’7”  I must really seem tall to her.

Our next investigators are Naly and her husband, Tou.  They own a flower shop and Elder Lewis met them before we got here.  Every P day we go to their flower shop and talk to them for a little bit.  We never taught them anything about the gospel - we just went and said hi.  A couple of weeks ago, Elder Lewis and Elder Vang went to their house for a birthday party and were able to have a conversation about our church and their church and our beliefs and their beliefs.  I wasn’t able to go because I was on splits.  So this week, because of their conversation, we decided to give them a Book of Mormon and talk about faith because that was the topic from the birthday party.  Since she owns a flower shop, we talked about Alma 32, which compares faith to a little seed.  And we read the last two verses from Alma 32 which says 

42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.

43 Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you

We read that to her and it was really cool because she started to get really emotional and you could tell that she was really grateful.  She told us, “I’m really grateful for you guys coming and talking to me today.  This was something I really needed to hear.  God knew I needed to hear that.”  One interesting thing that we did not know until just a little bit ago, is Naly is Kelly’s daughter.  When we were teaching Kelly one time, we made the connection that they are related.  Pretty neat.

Our last two investigators, who are no longer investigators are Andrew and Kauzong. They were baptized yesterday.  Elder Lewis has been teaching them the entire time he has been in Madison, and previous Elders have worked with them too. So they have been investigators for over a year.  One of the main reasons they decided to get baptized is because they had a daughter who passed away about a year ago when she was about a week old.  That's kind of the reason they decided to get baptized.  They are super awesome.  Elder Lewis said they are the first adults to be baptized in Madison in the past 6 years so that was pretty cool to be a part of their baptism.  It was pretty awesome.

To end my email I just want to give a tribute to Elder Lewis. I am going to miss him a lot. He has been an awesome companion, friend, and trainer, especially in prepping me and Elder Vang in taking over the area.  I am grateful for all the things that you were able to teach me and grateful for you always pushing me to become a better person and missionary. I will miss you for sure, but you will have tons of fun at home and college. Love you Man.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving this week.

Love,

Elder Tshwj Xeeb

Elder Lewis's last time at the Thai Gardens

Last of the trio

Andrew Yang and Kaozong Thao were baptized finally after a year plus!! Elder Lucas got to come from Waukesha for the baptism. We had a great turnout from the ward to support them.  They were baptized by Andrew's cousins, Joseph and Adam (the two standing behind) 

The Family

Dinner w Kelly! She's the one in the very center, on the left is her daughter Naly, one of our other investigators 

Surprise package from Aunt Lisa from San Fran

First Snow

Dinner at a Thai restaurant with member Tina Manavong

November 13: A week of Gratitude

Nyob Zoo

This week we spent some time preparing for the turkey bowl coming up next week.  On Saturday morning, we played some football with all the young men.  It was 9:00 in the morning so it was really cold.  It was fun though to play football again and get to know the young men a little better.  This week we also went to a member’s house and they were watching football on the TV.  And it was HARD to not watch the football game.

This week is Elder Lewis’s last full week.  One of the members threw a going away party for him at their home.  There were a ton of members who came, and it was really cool to see all the members who came to show their appreciation for all he did to help the ward and the Hmong members while he served in Madison.  He served in this area almost a year, so he was here a long time.

We also went to help home teach a Hmong family whose name is Txoov Xob.  We went because we needed to help translate for them.  While I was translating, it was really cool because I realized how much I know and how much I was able to do.  It was REALLY cool for me.  I also realized how much I don’t know and need to still study and continue to improve.  After we were done, the guy I was translating for said something really neat to me.  Elder Lewis had to translate, but he said, “God called you to be a Hmong missionary because he knew if you were an English speaking missionary, it would be too easy for you.  God knew that being a Hmong missionary would be hard for you, but through patience and diligence, you’ll be able to learn it.”  And then he complimented me and encouraged me to continue to work hard and be diligent with my studies because if I do this, one day I will be really good.  I thought it was really cool to hear him say this, even though he said it in Hmong, and Elder Lewis had to translate, it was really neat for me.

With Thanksgiving coming up, one thing I have been focusing on this week is Gratitude!  One thing I have been doing, and a lot of times we all do this, and that is to focus on the negative things.  It is really easy to look at the things that are hard, look at the things that are not going our way, and we take for granted all the things we have and the things that are going our way.  This week I tried really hard to be more positive and more grateful for what I have.  So…

I am super grateful for my companions.  I am really sad to see Elder Lewis leaving.  He has been a really good example to me and Elder Vang because he always pushes us and he puts us in those awkward situations to help us grow  - even though we are not comfortable in those uncomfortable situations, it helps us to grow.  He is always pushing us to help us become better. I’ve become really good friends with Elder Lewis in the last month.  

I am grateful for Elder Vang too.  He has been an awesome companion.  Knowing him for 2 months in the MTC and 1 month in the field, we have become really good friends.  I am grateful for him pushing me too and helping me to improve and be a better missionary.

I am also really grateful for the Book of Mormon and for the opportunity I have to read it every day.  One thing I thought would be cool is to have a little challenge with everyone who reads this email from now until Thanksgiving.  So the challenge is to read the Book of Mormon every single day until Thanksgiving.  It’s a pretty easy challenge, but one that a lot of people don’t do.  But I promise if you all do so, it will help you in your life.  It will help you to be more happy, make things feel more peaceful, and will help with answers you may need.  The Book of Mormon really does relate to our lives and it really can help us.  I’ve seen that in the last few months as I’ve studied it more diligently.  And you will all receive blessings from our Heavenly Father for doing it.  I hope you will all join me in this challenge.

Have a great week!

Love, 

Elder Tshwj Xeeb

Elder Lewis going away party

Farming with Kelly again

Tracting

Simple but classic Hmong food

All the cereal that my mom would never buy

Our "pet" squirrel that is getting so fat because we keep feeding it

No football for me

Getting ready for turkey bowl next week

Extra Pictures for the week

Cat we found at our apartment

Splits this week

Boiled Quail egg

The greatest invention of all time

November 6 - Onto month two in the field

Nyob zoo

This week went by really fast and it was super good.  Now that I’ve been out here for a month, I’m pretty used to the missionary life.  I feel that our companionship is really good.  The three of us work really hard, but we also have a lot of fun.  We joke around and have a good time, but at the same time, we get our work done and we do what we’re supposed to do.  My trainer, Elder Lewis, goes home on the 22nd which is pretty crazy to think about.  He has fewer days than Elder Vang and I have months.

This week for things, we went to the farmer’s market on Saturday.  It was the last weekend of the year for the market.  We’ve gone to the farmer’s market every Saturday since I came to Wisconsin.  We go around to all the different booths and talk to the Hmong people.  The Farmer’s market is around the Capitol - so around the entire Capitol building on all sides of it, they have booths set up and people sell their vegetables and fruits that they’ve grown - as well there are cheese curds, bakery items, stuff like that.  So it kind of sucks that this is ending, but it was really good to be able to go to that the last few weeks.  I never bought anything, but I wish I would have.

This week, we also did a special fast for one of our investigators.  We started it on Friday after lunch.  The entire time we were fasting, I don’t think there could have been any more temptations to eat food.  There were so many opportunities where we could have eaten.  When we were in meetings or lessons with people, everyone offered us food.  We kept saying, “No we’re good.”  There were so many temptations to eat the food.  The next day, we were still fasting, we were doing our studies when we got a call to go to the hospital and help a member.  At this point, we had been fasting for over 25 hours, but we went and gave one of the members a blessing.  We were really hungry at this point. so we went to a buffet after called “Journeys.”  They serve lots of seafood and Chinese food.  We just pounded the food, and by the time we were done, our stomachs were destroyed.  After, we came home to finish our studies, but we didn’t really finish them very well because we were in a food coma.  We all ended up falling asleep - so lesson learned - Do NOT go to a buffet after you have a long fast!

This week, also, I noticed that the adversary works in many ways to make us feel inadequate in our callings, whether it’s with depression, feeling not confident with yourself, or not feeling worthy to serve.  That’s what I’ve been feeling this week.  He knows that your calling is important, and he knows that you have work to do, so he tries to make you feel like you can’t do this or you shouldn’t be out here.  He tries to make you feel like you need to go home or you need to not be doing what you’re doing.  He knows that what you are doing is very important and he doesn’t want you to be out here.  So that’s what I’ve felt this last week.  I even felt not worthy to be out here, so I called my mission president and I had a really good talk with him.  He helped me so much and reassured me that I am 100% worthy to be out here on my mission.  The adversary doesn’t want me to be out here.  I also realized the importance of repentance - even for small things.  It is important to always talk to our leaders to make sure we have the spirit to be with us because without the spirit we won’t be able to teach.  I think a lot of times people think repentance is a bad thing, but it’s not.  It’s a good thing because it shows our commitment to follow Jesus Christ.  I’ve really seen that over the last month; my desire to continually change and to become a better person.  This week has been one of the best weeks.

That’s all I have for this week.

Love you all,

Elder Tshwj Xeeb

Farmer's Market

Wisconsin football stadium.  

All the people up here are crazy about the Wisconsin Badgers. It is funny.
Wisconsin is doing pretty dang good. They haven't lost yet.

Farmland that is outside the city of Madison

My apartment

Extra photos for the week

My grandpa sent me these pictures this morning in his email.  My brother, Ian, and I would go ride with him
in the tractor when we were little.  I thought it was funny he sent these pictures since I went
farming last week and sent pictures today of the farmland around Madison,

Oct 30 - 3 months out

Nyob Zoo

This week our trainer, Elder Lewis, got sick.  I think this is in part because it’s getting really really cold here.  This past week it’s been down in the 30’s and 40’s.  Elder Vang and I got in some extra studying while he slept which was good.  But because he was sick, we didn’t get to do as much as we usually do which kind of sucked.  I thought it was pretty cool to see that even though he was sick, he would still try to go out and do missionary work.  It was cool to see his diligence in showing us the importance of the work.  And even though he was sick, we still need to go and try to do stuff.

This last week, I got to go on splits again.  This time I went to a town called, Beaver Dam which is about 45 minutes away from Madison.  I don’t know whose idea this was, but I went with Elder Hacker who is also a newbie.  We’ve both been out less than a month.  Elder Hacker is from St. George and he is an English speaking elder.  It was pretty interesting to have two newbies going around trying to figure out what to do.  The people up in Beaver Dam were not very nice.  The first house we went to, we knocked and said, “Hey we’re the missionaries…” and before I could say anything else, the guy just slammed the door in my face.  So it made me very grateful for the Hmong people and how nice they are.  Even if they are not interested, they will still talk to us.  They are very polite.

This week we also had the ward Halloween party on Saturday, and they go all out for that.  They did a Harry Potter theme, and they decorated EVERYTHING!  They had the entire cultural hall decorated, and they had about 10 different classrooms that they decorated with different themes, like one was a maze you could go through.  There were lots of different games and activities for the kids to do.  And I bet you can’t guess what we dressed up as………….Yep! The missionaries!  We were supposed to have one investigator family come, but they bailed on us. But we had a really good time anyway.

It is crazy how time flies. My 3-month mark will be coming up this week on the 2nd. I can't believe I have already been out almost 3 months.  These past 3 months have been really really good but, I am not going to lie, they have been equally as hard.  People always say how awesome missions are and how they are the best 2 years, and they are, but they never say how hard they actually are.  These past 3 months have been really exhausting both physically and mentally and they have been super stressful. This language is such a pain.  A lot of times I honestly feel like I will never be able to learn this language. I know that Heavenly Father believes in me, but sometimes I lack the faith in myself.  But I know if I keep pushing on, it will keep improving. Just got to keep going day by day  - even hour by hour if necessary. 

It is very hard to measure your success and improvements as a missionary.  I have been out an entire month and we have not gotten one new person on a baptism date.  But that is okay. That is not what missions are about.  It is not just about the numbers, baptisms, or your language skills.  It is about doing your best to give people the opportunity to learn about the gospel and just doing your best.  These past 3 months have for sure been really hard, frustrating, and depressing at times. I get discouraged a lot with myself because I want to be a good missionary.  As well they have been a really awesome experience for me. I have learned so much, met lots of awesome people, and my testimony has been strengthened.  I feel people don't get both perspectives of missionary work so I thought I would give you the good times and bad.  The fun and the not so fun.  Even though I have had a lot of really hard times, it has for sure, all been worth it.  I have grown so much as a person through these many things.  Even though the numbers don't show the success, we have been working really hard. We have some really awesome investigators right now.

So thank you all for your love and your prayers.  I really appreciate it.  I know I have so many people cheering me on and praying for me.  I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Tshwj Xeeb

Helping our investigator, Kelly, plant tulips.  It was so cold
and a lot of hard work.  She was very grateful to have our help.

Ward Halloween party.  It was Harry Potter themed.

Additional pictures this week

Oct 23 - Week 3 in Wisconsin and Hmong Conference

Nyob Zoo,

Since it is Fall, it is starting to get really pretty here.  The trees are all changing to yellow and orange so it’s really pretty.  As well, since it rains a lot here, and I mean a lot, there are a lot of rainbows.  And there are really pretty sunsets here.  I’ll post some pictures below.

This week, a lot happened.  On Sunday, it was my first time translating the entire sacrament meeting.  AND…it was alright.  It was hard, but I did the whole thing by myself.  When I say the whole thing, I literally mean the whole entire thing,  There were a lot of things that I didn’t know how to say; there was a lot of awkward silence.  But it was a good learning experience for me which was really cool.

This week we also had the opportunity to go to Hmong conference.  Once a year, as many Hmong members that are able to go, they have a big Hmong conference in one of the cities.  This year it was in Green Bay.  The night before, we got to stay in Sheboygan with the Hmong Sheboygan Elders which was fun.  I got to stay with my old MTC companion, Elder Lamb.  So Hmong Conference, the best way I can describe it is, it’s like Stake Conference but it’s on a Saturday.  We had a few speakers, and then a lunch get-together, and then we had some workshops.  It was really cool to see all the Hmong members in the State.  My companionship got to specifically work with the youth group.  It was really cool because I love working with the youth and hearing their testimonies.  It was just really cool.  Since it was for the entire state, we got to see all the Hmong elders, so it was really fun to see all my Hmong buddies from the MTC.   I also got to see Elder Green, who is a year older than me but he went to Jordan High School with me and was on my frisbee team.  He’s speaking Hmong too so it was pretty crazy to see him again.  It was also his birthday that day as well. 

One funny thing that happened in one of our lessons this week, well there were quite a few funny things, but one funny story that happened was with one of our investigators named Kelly.  I had just said something about the gospel.  Elder Vang started talking, and he told her that basically, “I agree with what Elder Tshwj Xeeb was saying.”  But instead of saying Elder Tshwj, he said Elder Txhwj which means he basically called me Elder Trouble or Elder Worrisome instead of Elder Special.  It was really funny.

I’ll just end by saying that missions are awesome, but at the same time, they are really really really hard.  These past three weeks being in the mission field have been some of the hardest weeks, if not the hardest three weeks of my entire life.   I feel like I have adjusted to the routine and what I am doing very well, but the language makes everything 1,000,000 times harder. There is a missionary who has been out for 18 months and he still isn't fluent yet. This language is very difficult. But at the same time, the last three weeks have been really rewarding.  When you’re working with people and you see how, through the gospel, their lives change, and you can help them through the gospel, it’s really awesome.  A lot of times, I go up to doors, I embarrass myself, my language is trash, and the people don’t understand what I’m saying - There are plenty of hard times.  Honestly, 15 hours of the day, it’s just hard!  It’s a grind!  You’re just working working working.  BUT, there is that one hour of the day, where you get to teach the gospel and you can just see how it’s helping them improve their lives.  That’s honestly what keeps me going- seeing how though what I”m doing, how it can help people improve the quality of life and help them to become better people and to help them have a happier family.  I’m grateful for missionary work and I’m grateful for the Hmong people. I’m grateful for my family.  I miss you all.  

Talk to you all next week.

Love.

Elder Tshwj Xeeb

Pictures: (1-2) This is a huge Hmong garden area that we went to and all the Hmong people were giving us food to eat. Anyone who wants to grow a garden here can for free. (3-4) Hmong conference with the old gang and Elder Green who I played frisbee with.  This was his 20th birthday. (5)This is an old picture, but Elder Green is in the back on my 18th birthday at 5 Guys in between frisbee games. (6) We went to a Thai Garden in Madison for P-day (7) Amazing sunsets

Additional pictures this week!

My gpa's favorite rootbeer - and it's made in Wisconsin.  My companion had a
gift card and was awesome enough to take us to dinner

Lots of rain equals lots of rainbows

Finally got my hands on some Wisconsin cheese curds