Monday, February 27, 2012

My first letter from the field!

Hello all!

Wow. This is absolutely insane, but here I am! I can't believe I'm actually a missionary, teaching REAL people, with REAL needs and REAL salvation. It's crazy to think about. Every morning I wake up in a state of confusion - where am I? How did I get here? What's going on? And after a second or two, I realize that I'm in my apartment in the first area of my mission, and then I remember everything that's happened so far...which is a LOT.

To start off, our area is HUGE. We cover the cities of Revere, Chelsea, Charlestown, Lynn, East Boston, and a couple others. Our apartment is in Revere. (My address should be posted soon! Thanks Mom!)

My companions are Elder Ang and Elder Wayne - yep, I'm in a trio. There are 7 Cambodian-speaking missionaries in the entire mission, so I'm the odd man out, I guess. Elder Wayne is from Cardsten, Alberta, Canada - he's my trainer. He's pretty cool - he's been helpful so far for me. He's obedient, and he speaks Cambodian most of the time. He speaks very well, but he doesn't give himself enough credit in that department. At first I thought he was sort of annoyed with me or impersonal or something, but I think that's because he doesn't speak English most of the time. We've had a few conversations in English since my first day, and we've started getting to know each other, which is good. Elder Ang is from Cambodia! He had to learn English, and he speaks pretty well - he doesn't give himself enough credit with his new language, either. He's a happy, big-hearted guy.

Speaking of languages...I don't know anywhere NEAR as much as I thought I did in Khmae. I was doing pretty well in the MTC, but I got here and I didn't catch most of what Elder Wayne said those first couple of days. I definitely have a long way to go, but I'm working hard for it.

We teach mostly in English - we have NO Cambodian investigators right now, which is a bummer. There aren't many where we are...we try to find them, though! We've gone to a couple Cambodian restaurants and grocery stores and have talked to people. Not much success yet, though. Teaching in English is good though, it helps me to develop my teaching skills.

We're in an apartment with two other Elders - Elder Phillips (our district leader) and Elder Swayse. They're both from Nevada. They speak Spanish, and I love them already! Elder Phillips is especially awesome, since he's pretty into music, like I am. He plays oboe, and piano a bit. I get along with him really well, and I hope to stay in contact with him when he goes home in 6 months.

Let me rewind a bit, back to the day I left the MTC. It was really great to talk to my family members over the phone before my flight from SLC to Boston. 2 or 3 people (all members of the Church) stopped me in the airport to talk to me a little bit about where I was headed and stuff and wished me well. This woman on the plane who was sitting behind me introduced herself - she and her children, who were with her, are all members, as is her husband (who wasn't there). They had an exchange student from Brazil with them named Leo - he's been going to church with them and going to seminary as well. He likes it, but he hasn't had the missionary lessons yet. So, this woman volunteers me to teach him the first lesson right there and then on the plane! That was crazy - I had to take a while to gather my thoughts, since I hadn't taught in English in a while! It went well, I think. I probably missed a point here or there, and maybe I didn't teach perfectly, but he liked it. He has his own copy of the Book of Mormon and is reading it!
There was a man sitting near me on the plane - he bought me a little food during the flight, talked to me for a while, and later helped me with my luggage once I got off. He was really nice, and I thanked him profusely. It's crazy how much attention this tag attracts.

So, according to the letter I got from the mission office a couple months ago, it sounded like I'd stay at the mission home my first night, meet the president and his wife, have a nice evening, wake up, meet my companion, and start the work. NOPE. Pres. and Sis. Evans picked me up at the airport (they're both really really great!) and drove me to my apartment. Got there, met my companions, dropped off my stuff, and we were off. We had 2 or 3 appointments that night - my first night! It was nuts. I was way overwhelmed, and I was getting discouraged with my lack of language ability, and I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. We didn't have time to do anything other than just go and work that first night.

We got back to our apartment, planned for the next day, and I scrambled to try and unpack and figure out all my stuff before I had to be in bed by 10:30 PM. I didn't get it all done, and I went to bed all sorts of stressed out. I woke up in the morning and managed to start to figure things out, and things started chugging along. Elder Phillips and Elder Wayne made me breakfast that morning - pancakes, eggs, and a fruit smoothie, all colored green - my "greenie" breakfast! That cheered me up and made me laugh, and gave me the boost to get through the day. By the end of that day, I felt AWESOME. I had extended a baptismal invitation to someone they've been struggling with to get a commitment from, and she said yes! We had dinner with a member and the food was absolutely delicious, and then I shared the spiritual thought, which happened to fit right in with the mom's Book of Mormon study from that day. It was just a really great first day, and it got me pumped for this work! I was already way psyched to be here, but this day just made me even more so, and that excitement has lasted me till now and I have this feeling like it's going to keep on coming! I know there's going to be hard times (there already have been), but it's just so great to be out here!

Ok, so let me tell you about our investigators!
Demari - she's an older woman from Africa, and she speaks Swahili! It's so cool to hear her read the Book of Mormon and to speak. She speaks English too, but she understands Swahili much better. We have to teach super simply so she can understand in English, and the Book of Mormon helps her, since it's in her native language. She's the one that I committed to be baptized!
Cotter - he's a 19-year-old living with a member family. He's been coming to church and has a baptism planned for this next week! He's pretty great - we just have a couple things left to teach him and he's good to go!
Benedetta and Haura - these women are older, and they're from Belgium! I believe Benedetta is Haura's daughter, or maybe her younger sister. I couldn't tell, but they're family. They speak French, so we have a member from the ward come and translate for us. It was so fun trying to speak with them! I miss French. I forgot so much of it since I started learning Khmae, but I was still able to catch a lot of what they said! We had a really cool lesson with them yesterday. They both know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I can feel their faith, and they just agreed to be baptized! I'm excited for them, and I definitely want to pick up French again when I go home! I love Khmae more than French though, just to clarify. =]
Kanne - we were teaching her boyfriend, August, but he doesn't seem interested. Kanne, however, has such a strong desire to become closer to God. I hope to see her come to church soon and stuff. She wants to be baptized and know the truth, which is so great!
Florance - she's a member's friend, and she seems pretty receptive to the gospel. We just taught her the Plan of Salvation yesterday, and she liked that a lot, it seemed like.
Ricky - he's 45-ish years old and can't read, but he's such a happy guy. He wants to turn his life around and be baptized. His girlfriend that he lives with doesn't like us, though - mostly because of our last lesson we had with him. We were talking about the 10 commandments, and we got to adultery and explained what it means. She started yelling at us and almost kicked us out of their house, because the issue arose of needing to get married or separated before baptism. We have a couple other investigators with this issue, but it hasn't gotten this crazy before. Ricky was calm about it and willing to listen - he might be changing his mind, but at least he didn't go off the handle at us. It was a really uncomfortable experience...we'll see what happens this week.

We have some other investigators too, but those are our main ones that we spend the most time with!

We have dinner every Friday night with the only Cambodian family in our ward - that night was crazy. I didn't understand the majority of what they said, and they gave us SO MUCH FOOD, and we had to eat all of it...oh my goodness. It was crazy. I didn't know what to do with myself. Like I said before, I have a LONG way to go with this language. I did share a spiritual thought with them in Khmae, though! Simple and short, but still. I'm making progress!

We have a really great ward, and I'm enjoying getting to know the members when I can and when we eat dinner with them. The bishop called us Saturday night and asked us to speak in sacrament meeting the next day - all 3 of us. How's that for my first Sunday in the field? Hahaha. It went well though, I think. It was good practice for speaking last-minute!

I love being here (even though the wind can be AWFUL), and I'm so excited to see where this work goes and how these people progress! I've had all sorts of experiences the last few days, from an investigator running away from us into his house and not letting us in, to really moving and spiritual lessons as well. I'm learning a TON, and I'm psyched to see what else is in store!

Much love,
Elder DeLong

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Last email from the MTC!!

I leave first thing tomorrow morning for Boston! The day is finally here! Needless to say, I'm beyond excited for this.
 
Elder Nicholson left at 8:00 this morning, and the rest of my district (who are all going to Cambodia) leave today around noon. I'll be with a couple of elders from our branch who aren't leaving till later the rest of today and tomorrow morning.
 
It's been interesting as we've had our last lessons with our "investigators" here. I started really caring about them, even though they weren't actual people. It was just one of my teachers in the chair across from me, but I had received revelation on how to help them and had spent time trying to plan lessons and learn Khmae to help them. I can't wait for the real thing!
 
On Friday we had in-field orientation, which was basically some large group meetings with all the missionaries who are leaving this week (about 300, I'd say) and a lot of breakout sessions (about 40 or 50 missionaries in each one) with several different teachers. It was a fun day, and I learned a ton. A couple years ago, the MTC decided to focus more on teaching during the missionaries' time here, and then teach all the other stuff all at once before they leave - thus, in-field orientation was born. We learned about finding people, working with members in our area, exercising faith, setting goals, making plans...it was pretty great!
 
Elder Federico showed me an awesome way to tie ties - you can tie it IN YOUR HANDS. It doesn't have to be around your neck! It's way cool, and it doesn't take as long to tie it. The knot looks great and the length is perfect every time. I'll definitely be tying my ties that way from now on!
 
On Saturday, we had our last TRC - I believe I explained this before, but if not, I'll do so again. We go as companionships and teach members, like a home-teaching appointment or something, except we're teaching in our various languages. Usually they're returned missionaries who served in Cambodia or in the states speaking Cambodian. There's one woman who comes every week though, and she's from Cambodia! She moved here after the whole Khmer Rouge thing ended. She actually lived in Lowell (a suburb of Boston!!!) for several years before moving to Provo. We taught her last week, it was great. ANYWAY this past Saturday, we knocked on the door of the room where the person we would be teaching was sitting, and he opened the door and it was Bro. Godfrey!!! For those who don't remember, he was one of our teachers, but he had to resign because of school and work. He was such a fantastic teacher, and I look up to him a lot. We haven't seen him in a few weeks, so needless to say Elder Nicholson and I were thrilled to be teaching him. I just want to say right now that that lessons was the single best lesson we've ever had, and not because we had Bro. Godfrey.
When we planned the lesson, we decided to teach lesson 3, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The main points of the lesson are: through Jesus Christ we can be cleansed from sin, faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Since it was going to be a TRC lesson and the individual was going to be a member, we decided to give a bare minimum overview since they know everything already. With each point we had scriptures we could share or personal experiences, etc. We wanted it to be a discussion rather than a lesson.
So we get to TRC (stands for Training Resource Center, by the way) and I have this thought to switch "through Jesus Christ we can be cleansed from sin" and "faith in Jesus Christ". I wasn't sure why, but I told Elder Nicholson and we went with it. We got into the lesson, talked with Bro. Godfrey a bit, and had an opening prayer. During the prayer, I felt inclined to ask Bro. Godfrey if he read the Book of Mormon in Khmae and prayed in Khmae every day. It was totally random, but I followed the feeling and asked him after we closed the prayer. He said that he didn't really use the language that much anymore, and that recently he had been thinking about that. I shared with him the promise from one of the Apostles (Elder Scott, I think?) that if you read 2 pages from the Book of Mormon in your mission language everyday and pray in your mission language every day, then you will be fluent for the rest of your life (and forever). I invited him to do that, and he said that he had been feeling like he should be doing more, so he promised to do so.
After that, we started talking about faith, and we hadn't said more than 2 or 3 sentences when Elder Nicholson asked him if he had any questions about faith or any particular needs concerning faith that we could help with - turns out he did. A couple of things had been bothering him lately, and I knew exactly how to answer his questions. I knew exactly what to say. We talked about how the Lord works through our faith, how miracles come after the trial of our faith, how obedience is an act of faith, how a testimony is never enough, and how we need to be CONVERTED unto the Lord. The words seemed to just flow out of our mouths, and it was exactly what Bro. Godfrey needed to hear. It became a discussion about our Savior, Jesus Christ. We had him read Isaiah 53:4-5 out loud, and I testified of Christ and expressed my feelings about Him. We went over on time because we were still talking about it. It was one of the most spiritual, powerful, and amazing experiences I've ever had.
From that lesson I learned the importance of being guided by the Spirit, and I had a glimpse of what we as missionaries need to be and how our Heavenly Father can use us as His missionaries to meet the needs of His other children. Though I didn't always know that I was receiving promptings from the Spirit in the moment, I know that we were guided by Him. When we had planned what to teach, we were guided. When we changed around the order of the lesson to talk about faith first, we were guided. When I felt like I should ask him about the use of his mission language, I was being guided. As we taught to his needs, we were guided. It was absolutely incredible. I will never forget that.
 
On Sunday, our district sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Khmae in our branch's sacrament meeting. That evening we had a departure devotional with the mission presidency - they gave us some final advice and farewells, and Pres. Brown had us stand as he read off the missions we were all serving in. I'm the only one in this batch going to Massachusetts. No pressure.
 
Packing has been crazy. Meeting the weight requirements is so difficult! I'm going to finish all that up today, and hopefully things should be good!
 
Yesterday, we had our last class sessions, and we said goodbye to our teachers. I'm so grateful for them, they've helped us learn and grow so much while we've been here. We also took pictures with them, and with all of our friends/fellow missionaries here. We had a huge picture-taking party/gathering sort of thing in the lounge of our building. I'm going to miss these people, especially those in my district, but I'm so excited to get to Boston and hit the ground running! I'm so stoked to start working and serving - I can't wait for tomorrow!
 
D&C 31:3
 
Much love,
Elder DeLong

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

ONE WEEK LEFT!!!

Believe it or not, the time has finally come for me to leave the MTC! Well, not quite, I still have one more week, but still! I'm pretty dang stoked for this. I'm so excited to get to Boston, for new experiences, and for this chance to serve the Lord and help bless our Heavenly Father's children!
 
We got our travel plans this last week! I leave the morning of Feb. 22nd - my shuttle from the MTC leaves at 6:30 AM, and my flight leaves from SLC at 9:45 AM. From there I have a straight shot flight to Boston, and I'll land there at around 4:25 PM their time.
 
I've loved being here at the MTC, and I've learned so much, but I'm very much so ready to leave! My teaching skills aren't perfect, and my language abilities aren't perfect, but I feel SO ready to leave. I'm so excited! I feel kind of bad saying this, but I'm also really looking forward to getting a new companion. Elder Nicholson and I still have rough patches, and though I wish him success as he departs, I'm glad he's not going to the same mission as me. I've about had it with him - it's been a rough 11 weeks here. The Lord has really been teaching me charity and patience, though, and I have grown so much. Even from the start of the MTC with him until now, we've grown as a companionship...but I'm ready for a new companion. I clearly still have a long way to go in learning Christ-like love.
 
Last Tuesday, Bishop Richard C. Edgely of the presiding bishopric of the Church came and spoke to us for our devotional! He spoke about conversion, how we help our investigators through their conversion process, and how we help ourselves through our own. He said that he hopes that the day we leave our missions will be the hardest day of our lives. He also spoke about how we as missionaries have truth and power, and that we "don't need to be intimidated by ANYONE." He also mentioned the faith of the senior missionaries and how much they are appreciated in this work - I've heard many things since being here have made me want to serve another mission later in my life, and this talk was one of them. It was a really great meeting.
 
On Sunday, it snowed almost ALL day - it was so beautiful! After the Sunday evening fireside, we got to watch the recording of Elder David A. Bednar's talk that he gave to us here on Christmas. It was just as incredible the second time hearing it! I will never forget that talk - it has definitely made an impact my life.
 
Last Wednesday, we got to be host missionaries! Basically, what happens is the family drives up to the curb at the front of the MTC, drop off their missionary, says goodbye, and they're off! We take the missionaries to get their name badges, ID card, room key, etc, take them to their rooms, take them to get their teaching and language study materials, and then to their classroom where we hand them off to their teacher. It was such a blast, I really really enjoyed it. We get to do it again tomorrow! I'm pretty excited to be helping out again.
 
Think about it - I am only sending out ONE MORE EMAIL from the MTC. I'm so thrilled to be heading out to the field to really begin my service to the Lord. I'm thankful for all of His many blessings (especially in learning this language!) and I'm excited to be leaving in just one week!
 
Much love to you all!
Elder DeLong

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

10 weeks down, 2 to go! .....and then another 21 months!

I'm officially in the double digits of my MTC stay. This is week 10, and that means I have only 2 weeks left! It's crazy how fast time has flown by. I can't wait to get to Boston!
 
As a quick sidenote, one of the newly-arrived Thai elders seems to be as much of a music nerd as I am. His name is Elder Gibbons, and most nights we get a group of elders together in our residence hall and sing hymns in 4-part harmony. I really miss singing, and I've loved doing this and getting to know Elder Gibbons a bit. Hooray for music and new friends!
 
I love fast Sundays here. It's awesome being in a testimony meeting with the other missionaries in our branch and hearing everyone testify of what they know to be true. I love most Sundays here, but fast Sundays are especially special. That's a fantastic choice of adjectives, I know.
 
So you're all probably wondering about the devotional we had last week to commemorate the MTC's 50th anniversary...the First Presidency wasn't there, I think that was probably just a rumor I heard. BUT there were about 6 or 7 members of the 70, including Pres. Jay E. Jensen of the presidency of the 70, as well as Elder Russell M. Nelson and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland!!! We got to hear from Elder Holland first (my life is now complete. Just kidding, but seriously, he's incredible. I really wanted him to come and speak to us while I was here, and he came, so I can check that one off of my bucket list!), and he spoke to us about honoring the history of missionary work. He gave us an incredible testimony, and said that we are "under solemn obligation" to honor and live up to the history of missionary work in this church. It was really a very powerful address, but what else would you expect from Elder Holland? Or any apostle of the Lord, really? I wish I had my notes with me so that I could share some of his exact quotes and points. Elder Nelson then spoke and told us a lot of this history we are to honor. He shared many incredible stories of the early saints and the missions some of them served. Then, after his talk, Elder Nelson re-dedicated 5 of the 19 buildings here on the MTC campus. It was incredible to hear an apostle pray to our Heavenly Father, much less dedicate some of the buildings we use! Those buildings have been renovated in recent months, and so they were rededicated last week. It was a wonderful prayer and an awesome meeting.
 
Last night one of our teachers, Brother Merrill, was talking to us in Khmae about something, and after a few minutes, I realized that I could understand every word that was coming out of his mouth. I was absolutely thrilled and I felt like I was being flooded with happiness. I love this language so much, and I am indescribably grateful to the Lord for His help as I have learned Khmae. I still have some things to learn, but I have come so far already. I love the Lord and I am honored and humbled to be part of this great work.
 
He has also been blessing me with the strength I need in a variety of ways. I'm still working to get along with Elder Nicholson, and things are better, but I still struggle sometimes. He's helped me with that. He's helped me when I've felt inadequate and incompetent, He's lifted me up in my times of despair and worry. He's strengthened me as I've served Him, and I know those blessings can only increase as I continue to give Him everything I am. I know that things are going to harder, but I'm so excited to get out there and teach these people. Brother Merrill showed us some pictures from his mission last night so that we can sort of put faces to these names, to these "investigators" that we're teaching. It was incredible, and somehow everything became so real when I saw those people. My heart is swollen (in a happy, poetic way) and I can't wait for the 22nd of this month, when I fly out to Boston.
 
Much love to all of you!
 
Elder DeLong