Monday, March 26, 2012

Week 5

I've been in the field for over a month...I can't believe it. Wow. Elder Wayne hits his "year mark" this week, meaning as of this week, he's been on a mission for a year. It seems like I've got such a long way to go, but from what I hear it's gone before you even realize what happened.
Our last P-day, we saw some more of the Freedom Trail, and the Quincy Market! It's this indoor food market, with all these different places, with as many different kinds of food as you could possibly imagine! It was really cool. We also went and saw the TD Gardens, where the Bruins (hockey) and Celtics (basketball) play. The other Elders were more interested in that than I was, but that's okay. It's about give and take - not everyone is going to enjoy everything we do for sight-seeing on P-days.
This week I went on two different exchanges - one with our Zone Leaders, and another with the other companionship of Elders in our district, who also live in our apartment. It was really fun to be with another companion for a day, to get to know people better, and to learn from other missionaries.
Oh, definitely check out D&C 111 - it's about Salem, MA!!! It's the Lord talking to Joseph Smith about THIS area. Elder Evans, the Zone Leader I went on exchanges with, showed it to me. My mind was blown. It's so great to see the promises of the Lord talking about the area I'm serving in!
Elder Swasey (one of the other Elders in our district that I went on exchanges with) and I had some interesting experiences on our exchange with tracting and talking to people. One guy went off on us about how he knows EVERYTHING we're going to say, and how he went to St. Mary's school for 12 years and graduated from Boston College, blah blah blah. I won't say everything he said, but here's one "I've got more intelligence and education in my baby TOE than either of you have in your whole bodies!!!" He said all this crap about Joseph Smith that wasn't true, and he had some choice words for us that I won't repeat. He ended up taking off on his bike without listening to a thing we had to say. His buddies that were also standing right there told us after he left that he never even graduated high school. WOW...people sure are interesting. We also talked to this 14-year-old kid named Chris who's Atheist/searching - he's done a TON of research on different religions, and he's probably the smartest 14-year-old I've ever met. We added to his research stack with a mormon.org card and a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation. It was really interesting to talk to him, and thinking about how Joseph Smith was only 14 years old when he prayed in the Sacred Grove. I can't help but think if Joseph Smith was brought up in this world, he would be a lot like Chris is now. I don't know what will happen to him, but hopefully we had a positive impact in his life. Elder Swasey is a Spanish-speaking missionary, so there were also two lessons during the day that I had no clue what was going on. I sort of got the gist of what happened, but I didn't know most of the words.
Our apartment is actually surprisingly close to the beach - one morning this week the 4 of us in our apartment took a jog down to the beach and played catch for a while while the sun rose. Needless to say, I got a TON of pictures.
We have a couple new investigators that are from China - one is from Shanghai, her name is Carol. She's interested in learning more about the gospel, since she didn't have the chance in China. The other's name is Daniel, and he's from Shandong - he came to church yesterday, which is awesome! He seemed to like it. Both of them have really good English, but they both speak Mandarin, so Elder Wayne's pretty excited. He's half-Chinese (did I mention that before?) and speaks Mandarin, but forgot a lot of it when he learned Cambodian, so now he's studying Mandarin again and working on getting back to fluency.
David and Diego Estrada got confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday in sacrament meeting! It was so great to see that, and I got to stand in the circle. I feel so honored and humbled that the Lord has called me to be part of this great work in saving souls!
I'll close this week with a true miracle. Last week, a woman and her son walked into church, wanting to know more. How often does that happen?! We went over and taught them the first lesson this week, and it was pretty incredible how receptive they were and how strong their faith is. Their names are Darlene and Hanz, and they're both very religious. I was loving how well our lesson was going, when it got better than I ever could have imagined. It turns out that Darlene has been praying for 2 or 3 years for God to lead her to the right church. Last August, she and her son moved here to Revere, just a couple streets over from the church building. She saw it and decided she'd check it out someday, but never did. And then last week, Darlene had a dream of a church that she had never been to before, and she had this overwhelming feeling and heard a voice from God saying that that was where He wanted her to be. She woke up and had a strong impression to go to the church that she saw when she first moved here. So on Sunday (the 18th), she did just that, and when she walked in, it was the same church as the one in her dream. She loves it, and she knows it's the true church. She knows it's where God wants her to be, so she and her son have both accepted baptismal dates and invitations to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We are so excited for them! They were at church yesterday as well. I feel so blessed to be able to teach them and to have witnessed this miracle!
Much love and best wishes to you all,
Elder DeLong

Monday, March 19, 2012

Week 4

My goodness, I've been out in the field for almost a month. I can't even believe that. Time has just flown by...and yet, at the same time, it feels like I've been here forever. I'm still adjusting to missionary life, especially to having a companion. It's rough sometimes, and I'm not always sure how to handle it. I just continue to work on having patience and charity. On the bright side of things, I'm learning and growing so much. I've been having a really great time getting to know the members in the Revere 2nd ward, they're great. The same can't be said for all people here, though - some people are incredibly rude, and honestly, the worst drivers in the world are here in the Boston area. I can't stand it. People can be such idiots! I thought Arizona drivers were bad, but I was way off!

So remember the only active Cambodian family in our ward, and how we eat dinner there every Friday evening? We're now helping the father/grandfather learn English, and they're helping me with my Cambodian. As I continue to try my hardest to learn, I'm finding that I actually CAN do this. I can't do it on my own, I need the Lord's help - but with Him, I can. In regards to this family, we learned this week what happened in the early 90s...there used to be a Cambodian branch here, with many active members. Sadly, the branch president's daughter was murdered, and the entire branch fell apart. Everyone went inactive...except for the branch president and his family. They're the ones we meet with every week. They lost a couple other children in Cambodia and Thailand when they were escaping from the Khmer Rouge, also. These tragedies have helped me to understand where this family has come from and why the Cambodian members here aren't active. I hope to be able to help them somehow during my time here.

On Wednesday, almost all day, we had a leadership training meeting. I had to go, since my companion is the district leader. It was good, and I learned a lot. I'll admit, I wasn't excited to sit there for 6 hours, but my attitude soon changed as I felt the Spirit and learned from Pres. Evans. They also fed us a delicious lunch, so that helped a bit. ;]

Our investigators are doing well! Florance is so eager to be baptized, as is Damari. Damari pretty much already knows and believes everything we teach her! We have a couple more lessons with her to finish up teaching the commandments and she's set for baptism. Ed is awesome, I'm so excited for him. He's so genuine, and he really seems to be taking to what we teach him. He really wants to quit smoking, and I know that with the Lord's help, he can! David and Diego got baptized yesterday; it was way awesome. We had around 60 or 70 people show up for it!!! It was the most well-attended baptism I've EVER seen. We actually had to move into the back of the cultural hall and roll in a piano, since the Relief Society room wasn't big enough! Cotter was confirmed a member of the Church and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. I'm so excited for him - he expressed to us that he wants to serve a mission. I was shocked and thrilled to hear that from him. On the down side of things, our French investigators have put things on hold...we're not sure why, but we think they may have been influenced to stop taking the lessons from Benedetta's son. They spent some time with him one weekend and had to cancel our appointment because of it, and after that, they haven't been able to meet with us. We're concerned, but hopefully they come back. A couple of our other investigators aren't doing so hot either, but that's okay. We're here to teach those that the Lord has prepared to receive the gospel, and we're doing just that. If it's not their time, they'll have another chance another time, and we have to stop meeting with them. It's sad, but I know that no effort is wasted when it comes to missionary work. Maybe someone else will harvest the seeds we've planted.

This work is hard, but unbelievably fulfilling. I know this gospel is true, and I am so grateful for this chance to serve my Lord and Savior. Despite the struggles, I love being here, and I'm determined to be the best missionary that I can be.

Much love and best wishes,
Elder DeLong


P.S. If any of you would like to be taken off of this list, just let me know. No offense taken, I promise!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Cotter's Baptism 3-11-12

Pres. and Sister Evans at the airport 2-22-12

Week 3 in the field!

Hey all!

Elder Ang is gone - he got transferred to Lowell. So I'm officially in a normal companionship, with just me and Elder Wayne. We seem to get a lot more accomplished and we work more efficiently with just the two of us. We are SO busy though, all day, every day. It's pretty crazy. Our area is huge, since we're speaking Cambodian, but we also get all the English work in this area...my goodness. It's crazy.

We found 2 new investigators this week! One of them is the boyfriend of a member, and the other was a referral from Church Headquarters. Both of them have a strong desire to be baptized and learn of the gospel, so it's really exciting!

Last P-day we went to Salem, saw a couple lighthouses and piers, and went to the Salem Witch Museum! It was pretty interesting and informative. It's sad that so many innocent people got killed, but it was really cool to learn about causes and what happened. Elder Swasey had an interesting thought though - it could very well have been real. Not the witches, but the influence of Satan in that time. Think about it...America was founded for religious freedom, as part of what paved the way for the Restoration to take place. Why wouldn't Satan be fighting against that in any way he could? His influence could very well have been over the minds of the people and those young girls who accused so many. He could very well place fear in their hearts and cause a hysteria that could potentially destroy a society, but we know that truth and light will always win out in the end. I'm not saying that's what happened, but it makes sense!

The Sen family (the only active Cambodian family in our ward) has us over for dinner every Friday night, and this last Friday, the mother/grandmother asked us for a blessing. Elder Wayne delegated the sealing portion of the blessing to me, which I had only ever done once before. It was nerve-wracking, but also a wonderful experience to build my faith and testimony of the power of the priesthood.

One of the members of the ward fed us Hawaiian Haystacks the other night - it made me SO unbelievably happy!!! Mom would always make that when we had the missionaries over for dinner, and now I'm the missionary being fed it! I'll admit it, I took a picture with my food. =]

Cotter got baptized on Sunday (yesterday)!!! It was a really cool experience, and I'm thankful for the successes that our Heavenly Father has given us. It's crazy - I've been out here for only 3 weeks and we already had a baptism! I feel so blessed. Oh, did I mention that Cotter asked ME to baptize him?! Yeah. So not only did we have a baptism within 3 weeks of me getting here, but I was the one that baptized him. It was an amazing feeling! Baptism is the gate that we all must enter through, and it's incredible to know that I helped someone through that gate!

The MTC feels like an entirely different world now. I'm so grateful for all that I'm learning and all that our Heavenly Father is blessing me with.

Much love to you all!

Elder DeLong

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Week 2!

I've officially been here in Boston for 2 weeks! The weather here has been interesting. Today and a couple of days last week it's been absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and then other days it's freezing cold (don't worry, I bundle up!) - one day it'll snow, and then it'll rain, and then it'll be clear, and then it'll snow again, and then it's gone and the skies are grey but no rain...it's crazy.

I've already learned some very important lessons since being here - always give your best effort, your attitude is the only thing you can control in a given situation, you always have more to learn...hmm, these all sound really familiar...maybe my parents DID know what they were talking about! Just kidding, Mom and Dad. I am so grateful for all you both have taught me and helped me to understand. These lessons are just being applied in new situations now.

So, transfers are tomorrow. I guess the Cambodia Phnom Penh mission's transfers are two weeks earlier than the Massachusetts Boston mission's...so everything seems to be evening out now. Elder Wayne and I are staying here, since he's my trainer, but Elder Ang is getting transferred to Lowell. The trio only lasted for 2 weeks, but that's alright - I think this will force me to do more and work harder, which is good! I have a lot more to learn, and I'm stoked for it. I don't always get along with Elder Wayne that well - I think the Lord enjoys teaching me patience and love. Hopefully things will get better as I work one-on-one with him.

Elder Phillips is getting transferred too - to Hartford, CT. He's been a great friend, I'll miss him. Thank goodness for emails and the postal service! And eventually, facebook. Wait, what's that? I forgot. ;]

Every Tuesday, we do service at a retirement home in Swampscott, which is right by the ocean. We play Pictionary and Hangman together; it's so great to spend time with them.

It's crazy how many languages I have spinning around in my head - English, Spanish (from our roommates), French (from our investigators Benedetta and Haura and talking with them a bit), and Cambodian! I've been getting headaches and getting really discouraged and frustrated with learning Cambodian - it's so difficult to study and learn anything when we teach in English most of the time. Then, the few times we do use Khmae, I barely understand what's going on, if at all, and I can't catch most of what they say. I don't know what I'm going to do, other than continue to try my hardest, and work even harder.

One of our investigators, Cotter, is getting baptized THIS SUNDAY. I've only been here for 2 weeks and we've got a baptism! I'm so excited and happy for him, and I'm so glad that I got here in time to see this change in his life. It's been way cool to see how my love for our investigators (and for the members here!) has really taken root and grown!

I get letters from friends and family every so often, which is really nice! I love getting mail, and I love writing letters back! Thanks to everyone who has written me! Keep them coming and I'll keep replying. =D
If anyone prefers email, we can do that too! Ask my Mom for my email address if it's not on the blog or on my facebook already! =]

We had an interesting experience with an African woman named Sophia the other day. She was a referral from the missionaries who share our apartment, and she seemed interested in meeting with us, so we set up an appointment with her. We got to her apartment building at the scheduled day and time, but apparently, she thought it was HER duty to be teaching US. She's a "born-again Christian", and she read the Restoration pamphlet that the other missionaries gave her. We started trying to teach, but she soon went off about how Jesus Christ was the ONLY foundation we can build on, and how the Bible is the ONLY thing to guide us, and how she pities us and how she promised herself she would correct us. We kept trying to testify and make points, but she wouldn't have it. She'd interrupt us and go off again. She said she read the pamphlet and liked it, and then she read the back page, which has an invitation to read the Book of Mormon and attend church. She said that ruined everything, because if we're talking about the gospel and about Jesus Christ, then it should say to read the Bible, not "some Mormon book" - it didn't matter to her that we said that we believe in and worship Jesus Christ. We testified multiple times that the Book of Mormon is from God, that it testifies of Christ, and that we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. She wouldn't have it. It didn't matter to her that we also believe in Jesus Christ, that we also have faith in Him. After a while we had to leave because she refused to listen as we testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and of our Savior. It made me really, really sad, and left me with an awful feeling inside. I had to quote scriptures to myself and sing songs to myself from Rob Gardner's "Lamb of God" to try and bring the Spirit back into my heart.

I found out this week that Revere's only claim to fame is that it's the home of America's first public beach. Fascinating, right? It's been really cool being here though. Like, this is THE Boston. I've been on THE Bunker Hill, and we're planning on going to THE Salem on an upcoming P-day. It's so awesome how much history is here!

This morning, we got up WAY early, and our entire zone went to the beach in Nahant to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic ocean. We got there a little late, the sun had already started rising, but that's ok. It was so beautiful! I got tons of pictures Mom, no worries.

I'm loving it here. We are constantly busy - the work moves forward, and I'm so psyched to be a part of it! It keeps hitting me that I'm a missionary now, a "real" missionary! I've been that for about 3 and a half months now, but now I'm in the field! I remember having the missionaries over for dinner and stuff, but now that's ME going and having dinner with members every night. It's so surreal, being here and teaching people every day. It's really hard sometimes, but I absolutely love it.

Much love and best wishes to all of you!

- Elder DeLong