August 13 - I give unto men weakness that they may be humble

This week we had a crazy change in the mission. On Thursday, we had Zone conference and we got Facebook. I have never had a Facebook before so I honestly don't know what to expect, but I do know that the Lord is hastening his work through the use of smartphones, which we got earlier, and now Facebook. Facebook will be an extra tool that I have to share the gospel so I am excited for that. We will be using Facebook for missionary purposes so please don't tag me in any videos or anything like that, but feel free to add me. If anyone has any questions related to missionary work, I can message you throughout the week, but friends and family, I can reply to other messages just like with email on Mondays. 

Also, some other exciting news - one of my fellow Hmong brothers has returned back to the mission after having to go home for surgery. Welcome back Elder Seims!  Even got to talk to him and see him at Zone conference which was awesome.

Also, we had a lesson with one of our Investigators named Leng Lee. He has had a super rough life. He is pretty depressed and honestly, has no happiness in his life. We taught him the Restoration and promised him the blessings of following the gospel. We invited him to pray and read the Book of Mormon so we will see if he does. I hope he does because I know the gospel can bless him so much and bring him that happiness in his life that he doesn't have. 

Also this week we had a lesson with one of the English families of the ward, the Mortensens. Super awesome family. Brother Mortensen was pretty fascinated in the Hmong language so we taught him a few words. For the dinner message, he asked us to teach his family the Restoration in Hmong. So I taught a brief Restoration to them while Elder Parker translated to them what I said. It was fun and my first time doing that. The coolest part was after the lesson, his little son prayed and he is still little so his dad helped him, but Brother Mortensen told him to ask if the things we taught were true. Really cool experience to see a member teaching his kids the importance of having a testimony of the gospel even if they are still little. 

Probably the coolest thing this week is that I gave my first priesthood blessing in Hmong! That was really cool. Honestly, before I didn’t know if I was capable of doing it, but I tried anyway, and with Heavenly Father's help, it actually went really well. It is cool to see the progression and growth in the language, even if it is just small things like that. 

I know that Heavenly Father hasn't made the language easy for me so that I will continue to rely on him. The longer that I am out on my mission, the more I learn that I can't do this by myself. Some days I think I can, but I always get humbled really fast. It reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the book of Mormon. Ether 12:27

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

This is one of the things that I have learned the most on my mission. God gives us weaknesses so that we stay humble and rely on him, but as we stay humble and rely on him, our weaknesses can become strengths. I think that is so powerful and is something that I have really learned on my mission.

Love you all and hope you have a great week,

Elder Rich

Random picture

Zone conference with 4 of my 6 Hmong brothers that came out with me.
And Elder Seims!  It was really fun to see him again

Hmong food with Elder Humphries.

August 6 - One year down...

This week we spent a lot of time tracting without a whole lot of success. It is okay though because Sai came to church for the 5th time which was so awesome!

This week we had an awesome opportunity to give a blessing to a member’s mother. She isn't a member and honestly isn't too fond of the church, but she asked for a blessing which was a tender mercy for this member. I had the opportunity to give her a blessing and it was a really cool experience. It is cool to me how every blessing is so individual and different. It isn't a coincidence, but it truly is God speaking through us priesthood holders. I really know God loves us all and knows us all individually.

This week we also went to visit some lesson active members with Brother Chue Toua Lor. It was cool to see his love for his fellow Hmong brothers and sisters. He really cares for them and loves them. He also has a super strong testimony of this gospel. It is really cool to hear him share his testimony with them. He knows this church is true and he knows that it will bless them and their family. He is such a great example to me because he is such an awesome member and his testimony is so strong. He gives me that increased motivation to go out and knock doors every day because knocking doors isn't always fun, but if someone has the chance to receive the blessings of the gospel, then it is worth it. 

Finally the best for last! Something super, super, super crazy happened this week. Something that I honestly thought would never happen... I have officially been a missionary for ONE WHOLE YEAR! I am halfway done and that feels so good. I know that sounds really bad. I promise I am not happy to be halfway done. I am actually quite sad that I only have a year left. This past year I have learned, grown, and accomplished so much. My testimony has been strengthened, I have been speaking a language that I once thought was impossible to learn, and greatest of all - I have helped others to come unto the Restored gospel. Missions really are so hard, but it’s weird at the same time - they are such a blessing. I am grateful for this past year and the things I have been able to accomplish and I am excited for one more year to serve the Lord. Missions really are the best. 

Love, 

Elder Rich

1 YEAR

The English elders in our ward

my plate of Hmong food

Hmong food with the Spanish elders.  They are our ZL and we just went to
eat with them one of the nights for dinner

Reunited with Elder Tarone. He is AP so he spent the night with us
 because they were having a meeting up here

Chue Toua Lor

July 30 - Staying in Appleton/ Gift of tongues/Everyday decisions

So we got the transfer texts and good news I am staying in Appleton.  Even better Elder Parker and I are staying together another transfer. Super excited for this next transfer. This past transfer has been a blast. I have learned and grown so much. Before this transfer I was not really confident in my Hmong abilities - still felt pretty subpar in my speaking, understanding, and other aspects of the language. At the end of the transfer, it is always fun to evaluate my growth compared to the beginning of the transfer. It is always a good way to help me to see that I am improving and getting better. 

This week I had a few cool experiences with the language. First I decided to start reading the Book of Mormon again in Hmong. I hadn't really read it since I was probably in Sheboygan. Anyway, I decided to read it and it was so cool because I was understanding almost everything. Also, I had a lesson this week that I understood like 95% of what he was saying. Lastly, translating is usually pretty frustrating for me. I want to be able to help the Hmong people understand what they are saying. This week was different and I felt like I was finally able to do that. The gift of tongues is honestly indescribable. I can't explain how it works or what happens, but I know that is real. It is so cool. I have improved a lot in my Hmong this last transfer and I am excited for the growth in this next transfer too. 

This past week we met so many awesome people. We have been having so much success finding new people to teach. God really qualifies who he calls because Elder Parker and I aren't the greatest at speaking Hmong, but we are honestly having so much success finding people. We met a lady named Sandy. She was pretty hilarious. She told us a bunch of these Hmong slang words. Like what they call white people is mov ntsev dej which means salty rice white and Hispanics is noob taum which means beans   Also we met this girl who named her son Giannis after the Buck’s basketball player, Giannis Antetokounmpo. That made me super happy and I thought that was super cool. 

Last week we had a very small amount of Hmong people at church, so this week we worked extra hard on inviting investigators and less actives. This week so many Hmong people came to church. It was a miracle! Elder Parker and I have been praying this week for more Hmong people to come to church, and they came! A member from Minnesota named Seethong came to visit too. He used to live in Appleton and be in the Appleton ward. It was a perfect week for them all to come. It was like a Hmong family reunion haha. It was so awesome. 

This week I have been pondering on decisions and how important our decisions are, even the small ones. If we want to be good we need to surround ourselves with good influences and good things. Our everyday decisions determine who we are going to be in the future. Agency is one of the biggest parts of our Heavenly Father's plan. We have the choice to choose between good and bad everyday. I know our decisions are important and Heavenly Father wants us to choose the things in life that will help us to grow and progress into the sons and daughters he wants us to become. One of my favorite talks by Elder Ucfdorf called "A Matter of a Few Degrees" talks about our decisions and how important they really are. If you have extra time I invite you to read it. 

Love you all, 

Elder Rich 

Pictures: (1-3) We went to the lake last week with the other 4 elders in Appleton (4) Shaman alter.  One of our Hmong members, Joua Lee, got married. (5) Shopping with Elder Parker in Walmart

July 23 - The short and long version this week!

SHORT VERSION: Service, Craziest Niam Tais you ever heard, Exchanges with Elder Reynolds, Hmong girls, and Fire department.

LONG VERSION: This week we had some crazy things happen. We will start with something not crazy lol. This week we were able to help one of the Hmong members, Pang Her. She is a single mom, recovering from a car accident, and working a full time job. She has a lot on her plate so we went over there twice this week and helped her out with some yard work. She hasn't had time to get to any of the yard work at all. She had some huge weeds. Some of those weeds were almost as tall as I am haha. It was quite a task, but it was so worth it because she was so very grateful and really needed our help. Seeing peoples gratitude makes all the hard work worth it...well and maybe some egg rolls and coconut bubble tea too :) 

Now something crazy. So we were walking down the street and we see this Niam Tais (Grandma) so we go and talk to her. She was gardening so we talked to her about gardening. During our conversation, a (Miskas) white dude came up to her and started talking to her in English. I was thinking in my head ummm... bro she is old Hmong Niam Tais - she doesn't know English at all, but to my surprise, she starts speaking in fluent English. It was the craziest thing. She starts having a full conversation with this guy about Real-estate agents and insurance. It blew both Elder Parker and my minds. She is the one and only older Hmong lady that knows English. Most only know a few words at best. It was crazy. She knew better English than we know Hmong lol.

Also this week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with my District Leader, Elder Reynolds, in the Hmong area. The English Elders in the mission are all super funny.  All of them have Hmong names and Hmong tags for when they come on exchanges. They come prepared for the Hmong work. I also taught  Tub Txib Tub Xeeb (Elder Reynolds) some Hmong lol. It reminds me of the good old days in the MTC trying to make all the weird Hmong sounds and try to pronounce the tones. Let me say it is a lot more fun and funny being on the other side of things haha. 

It was a fun exchange. I will quote what Elder Reynolds wrote. " Friday I was in the Hmong area again. It was super fun to be with Elder Rich and to learn to speak a little bit of Hmong. I tried to learn a door approach, but that did not work out very well. I just sounded like an idiot trying to sing a foreign language... And I thought it was easy... But then later in the day we met four Hmong girls that are going to be seniors in high school. We weren't sure if they wanted to meet with us because they were interested in the gospel, or in us... but they told us we could come back, and Hmong people usually don't do that so we were excited, but also scared because they were four 17/18 year old teenage girls. It actually went pretty good. We had a good discussion with them outside about what they believe and all sorts of weird stuff. The funniest thing about it was that one of them goes "do you have girlfriends?" It was definitely one of the weirdest experiences of my mission, but we think they are interested in the gospel too...not just us lol."

Also our apartment almost burnt down because a drunk guy in our apartment left his stove on while he was gone. Jk it wasn’t that bad, but it could have been bad if we wouldn't have gotten to it in time. That was a crazy experience! 

Man, this transfer has really flown by. Only 1 more week and it will be over. This transfer has been a really good growing experience for me. It has been really hard, but it has been awesome. Yesterday was one of those hard days. I was translating and I was getting frustrated. I was thinking "Why am I even trying to learn this language? Why am I even out here?" I think Satan puts those thoughts in our heads a lot when times are hard. He wants us to give up and he doesn't want us to try. I am grateful for the hard times because those hard times are what help me to rely on my Heavenly Father and to strengthen my relationship with him. Those hard times help me to stay humble and pray to him to plead for his help. A mission has helped me to appreciate the hard times in life a little more. It isn't fun going through them, but after, I always know that it was for my benefit and to help me to improve and grow. I am grateful for this time to serve. It is hard, but I have learned so much. I love it and it is awesome!

Love, 

Elder Rich

Fire trucks at our apartment

Fish head! I didn't eat the head, but the rest of the fish was really good

Traditional Hmong clothing

Exchanges this week

July 16 - It was a great week - and another baptism in Madison!

Nyob zoo,

We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week. Elder Andelin came to the Hmong area with me and Elder Parker went to the Spanish area with Elder Cox. We had a blast. Elder Andelin and I served around each other in Madison, so it was fun to finally be able to serve with each other for a day. It was a pretty successful exchange too. We met some cool people and got some good food. We were also able to get Hmong food for him to try for the first time and I was able to try some really good Hispanic food. 

We stopped by to see a former investigator named Sandra. It was cool because she told us that she has been reading the Book of Mormon and Bible side by side. She said that she has really enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon. It was really cool to hear that and how much she is enjoying reading it.  Also our investigator Xai Xyooj came to church which was awesome.  She is coming from a Shaman family so she doesn't know a whole lot about Christianity, but it is cool to see how much faith she has and how much trust she has in God. 

My favorite part of this week was on Saturday. I had the opportunity to go down to Madison for Iris Vang’s baptism. Iris is Mai Vang’s daughter who I taught when I was in Madison. Her baptism is a huge miracle. Mai's husband is against the church, so it was a huge miracle once he finally decided to let Iris be baptized. I was able to be a witness for both Iris and also Ntsuab who also was baptized. I never taught her, but she is really awesome. She shared a really powerful testimony. I love hearing people's conversion stories. 

After the baptism, we ate some great Hmong food and I was able to see lots of people. Past companions, members, people I taught, and Kelly! It was a good time, but always so hard to leave. I love Madison so much. It is definitely my favorite area still so hopefully, I will be able to serve there again in the future. 

It was a great week. It is awesome to see 2 children of our Heavenly Father make covenants and be baptized into his true church. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and help people to gain a testimony of the restored gospel. It is so awesome!

Love you all, 

Elder Rich

Split with Elder Andelin

Iris Vang's baptism

Kelly

Elder Bastian went home 3 weeks ago but came back for the baptisms

Elder Blackburn

All the elders at the baptism

July 9 - Zone conference, 4th of July, and a miracle

Nyob zoo,

This week we had Zone conference. A cool thing about the Appleton zone is that it is the only zone that has 2 sets of Hmong missionaries in the mission. The rest of the zones in the mission only have 1 set of Hmong missionaries. So we were able to spend some time with the Sheboygan Hmong elders which is always great to spend time with other Hmong missionaries. Plus the best part of zone conference is that we beat our fellow Hmong Elders for the gold plates. Elder D. Vang, Elder Chue, and Elder Berrett were a close 2nd, but not quite close enough haha. Sorry Sheboygan! 

This week was also the 4th of July. We tried to see some of the fireworks, but apparently, for some reason, Appleton does all of their fireworks on the 3rd of July.  So I didn't get to see any fireworks this year :(

One of the Hmong families in Milwaukee Jimmy and Ka have a daughter who lives in Appleton. This week we went over and ate dinner with them. It was awesome because her siblings were also at her house so it was fun to see them again. We ate chicken wings which were stuffed with egg rolls. So, so, so good. I loooove Hmong food so much. Sorry I probably have said that at least a million times. I wish you guys could all try it so then you would understand haha. 

This past week we spent a lot of time trying to find new people and inviting people to come to church. To be honest we really had no luck at all and we were both pretty bummed out. This week was one of those weeks that I was questioning “Why I am even out here? Why am I even wasting my time?”  We knocked doors for a solid 15 hours this week and literally got nothing -  I mean nothing!  It isn't fun to do missionary work when no one wants to listen to you. By the time Sunday rolled around our spirits were low and we were both physically exhausted. After setting up the translation equipment, we saw a Hmong lady. We went and talked to her. She was visiting and she is looking for a church to join. She also invited her sister to come too! They ended up staying for sacrament meeting and the 2nd hour. It has been over 3 months since a Hmong investigator has come to church in Appleton. It was literally a miracle. It was so cool.  Things like that make all the hard parts of missionary work worth it. I am so grateful for missions even though they are hard. It is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done but is also the best thing I have ever done. I am so grateful for these past 11 months to serve the Lord and help the Hmong people.

Love you all, 

Elder Rich

Happy 4th of July

Chicken wing stuffed with an eggroll

Throwback and a photobomb

Out tracting

July 2 - Made it to July - it's so HOT here!

Nyob zoo,

Wow, another week and another month! Today is my 11-month mark!  Where has the time gone?  Have I really been out this long mom?  It definitely doesn't feel like I have been out 11 months. Time has gone way too fast and I don't think I can comprehend that I am almost to my year mark.  That is crazy! 

Before I came out on my mission everybody said that Wisconsin is really hot and really humid. So far on my mission, it really hasn't been that bad...well until this week haha. I think summer finally decided to come to Wisconsin because it is suuuper hot and suuuper humid. It feels almost as if we are walking through the jungle or something. The humidity just drains you. At this point, I don't know if I like the summer heat or the winter cold better haha. It is a toss-up. We will see if the warm weather stays because yesterday was cold and rained super bad. Wisconsin is pretty confused on its weather still... 

This week I was able to go on exchanges with an elder in my district named Elder Raymer. I went to his area which was a lot of fun because I haven’t been in a non-Hmong area for a while. They didn't have any appointments for that day so it was a full day of finding. Knocking on doors for 5 hours isn't the funnest thing, but we both talked about how we wanted to look on the bright side of things and be positive. We could have thought, “Oh man 5 hours of finding. That sucks. That is such a long time.” Or “5 hours of tracting! That is awesome. That is so much time to find. Think of how many people we will be able to talk to.”  A lot of the things we are able to accomplish are based on our attitude and mindsets.  I definitely saw the difference when we stayed positive and made the best of things. We were able to meet a lot of people. Some were interested and some were not. A quick funny story - We met an old guy who we talked with a little. When we were about to leave we asked him if he would be interested in coming closer to Jesus Christ and he said: “Don't worry about me because I am getting pretty close to meeting him.”  After we left I couldn't hold it in. I was dying. It was so funny. 

Also on Saturday one of my old investigators from Sheboygan, Ariel, was baptized. I wasn't able to make it down there for her baptism, but I am so happy for her and her decision to be baptized. She is awesome. Also, shout out to the Sheboygan Elders!

Recently I have been reading the Old Testament which I actually have really enjoyed so far. Before my mission, I honestly wasn't a huge fan of reading my scriptures and I was quite bad at reading them too haha, but the longer I have been out on my mission it has been cool to see how my love and my desire to read the scriptures has grown too. I love reading the scriptures and learning from them. It is definitely my favorite hour each day, the hour I get to study the scriptures. I know daily scripture study is very important and there is a special spirit that we feel each time we read. I invite you all to try to find that time every day to read the scriptures. I know life is busy and it can be hard to find that time, but I know it is so important and if we can find that time to read, we won't regret it. The scriptures are awesome and I love them. They really do help us and are applicable to all aspects of our lives which is awesome. 

Love you all, 

Elder Rich 

Ariel's baptism in Sheboygan

It rained so hard yesterday.

It's so HOT here!