I've been in Lowell for over half a transfer already! It's hard to believe time is going by so quickly. It also makes me a little nervous for next transfer - Elder Ang will be going home, and I'll be left on my own to handle this area. I've GOT to get to know all the members in that time! Thank goodness for the gift of modern technology, because without a GPS I'd never find my way around this place. Thoughts of next transfer are beginning to plague my mind...will the Lord, through Pres. Packard, send another Cambodian-speaking missionary here? They've all served here already, but you never know. Will I get an English-speaking companion and be alone in my Cambodian? Will I get a new missionary and be training? Will I get transferred out and they'll put two missionaries here? It's been done before; you really never know what could happen. I don't need to worry though, because the Lord truly does guide this work and every aspect therein.
My love and best wishes to my friend Shailene, who was married in the Mesa, AZ temple this last Saturday!
We got a ward mission leader in the Heritage Park ward (the singles' ward)! He's a really great guy, and he just got home from his mission (to Tempe, AZ) 2 weeks ago! I'm so excited to work with him and to get this ward up and going. This last Sunday was my first time in sacrament meeting there, and it was so empty in that chapel...I think there was maybe 20 people in attendance. I really want to strengthen this ward in my time here, and I'm praying for the Lord's guidance in how to do that, especially with Elder Ang leaving in 2 and a half weeks.
On Saturday, we (as in, the two of us with the Portuguese Elders who serve in the ward as well) had lunch with one of the newlywed couples in the Lowell ward - turns out that they're both from here, but the wife spent some time in Mesa, going to MCC-Red Mountain! The two of them want to move to Arizona, so it was cool to get to talk about my home for a while with them and Elder Maldonado (one of the Portuguese Elders, who's from Gilbert). Also on Saturday was the Lowell ward Halloween party, which went well. It was a fun time for the young ones, and we had an investigator come with his 3-year-old son! That was pretty exciting.
Earlier this week, we went on exchanges with the Elders serving in Littleton - I went to their area and served with Elder Taylor for the day. The reason I mention this is because, at our member dinner appointment, I come to find out that this family (the Parker family) lived in Mesa for 8 months, and just moved here in March! This family was not only in my home stake of Citrus Heights, but was in a neighboring ward, the Cooley Park ward. I then find out that their kids went to Highland Arts Elementary, where my mom teaches 2nd grade. Her 2nd oldest son (Ethan) knows my brother Colton, and one of her daughters (Emma) knows Treyton and was in his grade. She was in Mrs. Millet's class, and had MY MOM as her teacher for science class (they did a rotation system for some subjects). Talk about a small world!!!
And now, on to the "main event" of this week's email...Hurricane Sandy. Oooooooooohhh...it really wasn't that bad, up where we were. We got some rain, some strong winds, and that's it. No damage or anything. We didn't even lose power. On Saturday, we received notice from the mission of the impending storm. We were instructed to purchase water, non-perishable food, candles, batteries, etc., and to get some cash and fill up the gas tanks in our cars, just in case. Missionaries serving along the coast had to move further inland. I'll be honest, upon hearing word, I was pretty freaked out. I had a really beautiful experience though - I prayed for peace and a level head through this experience. The Spirit brought to mind the words "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." I wanted to know where that verse was, and so I found it in Doctrine and Covenants, section 38, verse 30. It starts out with, "I tell you these things because of your prayers" - in that moment, I knew that this verse was an answer to my prayers. It goes on to say, "wherefore, treasure up wisdom in your bosoms," which I took to be emotional wisdom in this case - being able to handle things well and keep a cool head. I knew in that moment that if we prepared, we wouldn't have to be afraid, and the Lord would protect us. We got the needed supplies and "bunkered down" in our apartment with the Lowell Portuguese Elders for the storm. We were confined to our apartment from Sunday evening till Tuesday morning, but we had a good time together, and the weather really wasn't that bad. Now, it's beautiful and sunny, with white, puffy clouds in the sky. All is well.
I'm healthy, happy, and loving life as a full-time servant of the Lord. Godspeed, everyone!
Love,
Elder Justin DeLong
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
A new investigator, a crazy lady, and a surprise baptism
Ginette and Roberto's baptism
Yesterday I had the immense privilege to attend the baptism of Ginnette and her son, Roberto. I am so happy for them both, and I'm grateful to have been part of their lives and their journey unto Christ. Some of you may be saying to yourselves, "Wait, Elder DeLong, wasn't that your LAST area?" Yes, yes it was. This is where it gets interesting. We were in Sunday School at church yesterday, and we receive a text from the Revere Elders:
"Are you going to be able to make it to Ginnette and Roberto's baptism?"
Us: "Absolutely. When is it?"
Revere: "12:30."
Us: "Today?!"
Revere: "Yeah."
Us: "Well, shoot. Give me a few minutes to call and get permission."
...nice. Way to wait until an hour and a half before it starts to invite me, Elder Langford. I had no idea they were getting baptized! I mean, I knew they would be, but I didn't know the day or the plans or anything. I frantically called the APs and got permission to go, we made the drive down in about an hour, and we got there just in time. We missed the majority of the singles' ward in Lowell, but that's okay. I had a very warm welcome in Revere, and I was able to witness two people I personally taught enter the waters of baptism and covenant with our Heavenly Father. It was a wonderful experience.
This last Monday was "Deep Clean P-day" - we got to spend our whole day cleaning the car and the apartment. Good times...the apartment really needed it though. I blame the last Elders who were here. Haha! But we got it looking (and smelling) great!
We've been all over the place this week...about two months ago, Elder Ang injured his hand. It's been bothering him lately, but he didn't want to get it checked out. Sis. Packard found out about it last week, and needless to say, she sent us right to a walk-in clinic. There we found out it's a hairline fracture, and we had to go to appointments this week with hand specialists and a radiologist. Driving all over the place isn't that fun, but I finally learned how to use cruise control! Credit for that should go to Elder Langford, since he showed me one time...I've just never used it until now. Open highways out here are absolutely beautiful, just for the record.
I've been thrilled to hear about a few friends and one of my cousins (all female) who have decided to serve missions since the announcement was made in the last General Conference. I am beyond excited for them, as I am for all the multitudes of new missionaries the Church is sure to receive in the coming months.
Two really good stories for you guys this week: one scary, one inspiring. Scary story first. This is honestly the most in-danger I've ever felt on my mission. The other night, we decided to go see an inactive woman who lives in what is probably the most sketchy part of Lowell. This part of town is more frightening than the worst parts of Lynn, if that says anything. REALLY ghetto. So anyway, it's like 8:30 PM, our last stop of the night. We pull up in front of the apartment building, and there's 3 or 4 people loitering out front. We park the car, but stop before getting out to double check the name and apartment number before we go inside. In that short period of time, one of those people decided we were a threat and hastily walks over to the driver side window - right by me. She yells, "WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Of course, Elder Ang cheerfully replies, "We're missionaries!" She yells, "GET OUT OF THE CAR." I carefully and slyly reached up and locked the doors, and then told her that we weren't going to get out of the car. By this point, it was apparent that she was drunk, high, mentally disturbed, or some combination of the three. She then demanded that we roll down the window, to which I said, "I can hear you just fine!" Her face then contorted in pain, and she yelled, "MY MOTHER DIED YESTERDAY." I'm not sure where that statement came from, but I figured that maybe she wanted some money or something. I told her that I didn't have anything to give her and that I was sorry I couldn't help. She said "I don't want any of that! I don't want any of that! OPEN THIS DOOR!!!" I got a really bad feeling inside, and turned to Elder Ang and said that we needed to get out of there. Then, she tried to get in the car. She yanked on the door handles and attempted to pull on the window. I was seriously freaked out. She screamed again, "MY MOTHER DIED YESTERDAY!" and I said that I was so sorry to hear that. When I still didn't open the door, she yelled, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!" I said, "Well, we WERE going to go visit someone in those apartments, but..." she interrupted me, pointed up the street, and screamed "GET THE *%#$@ OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!" Well, she didn't need to tell me twice. I threw the car into drive and sped out of there as fast as I could. I honestly felt like our lives were in danger, and I don't want to even think about what might have happened if we had gotten out of the car right away. I know that God watches over His missionaries. I've felt that divine protection on multiple occasions, and I'm so thankful for that.
Alright, now the inspiring story! On Saturday, we went to visit this guy named Chris, one of the inactive members of the singles' ward. He's a nice enough guy and he likes the missionaries, he just hasn't been to church in a while. His friend Ian happened to be there when we got there, and so Chris asked us to teach the first discussion - you don't have to try and convince missionaries to do that! We had a good lesson with him, but the whole time Ian seemed a little skeptical. He said things like "I think it's great that this book has had such an influence on the lives of others," and so we tried to ask him questions and see what his concern was. Turns out, we didn't need to. Chris took over and bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon, and you could just see Ian softening. And so, long story short, he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon, committed to read Moroni 10 and pray about it, and to meet us again this week. We're excited to have a new investigator and grateful that the Lord is answering our prayers. I love seeing the Spirit work in people, and it's an honor to be part of this great work.
Love,
Elder Justin DeLong
Monday, October 15, 2012
Lessons of Faith and Dedication
I'll start this week's email with a funny story - they teach you to "hook" your audience from the start, right? Anyway, we were teaching this Cambodian woman a few days ago - it was my second time going over there to teach her. After starting the lesson, I pulled out my Cambodian scriptures to read from. She seemed surprised and asked me if I knew how to read and write in Cambodian. I responded that I did. Mind you, the last time I was there we spoke in Cambodian the entire time, and we had been speaking Cambodian the whole 5 minutes or so we had been there that evening. So, a couple minutes later, she stops mid-sentence, looks at me quizzically, and says (in Cambodian), "You know how to speak Cambodian?!?!" I'm not sure why it took this long to register in her mind. We tried to stifle our laughter, and we laughed pretty hard about it afterwards in the car!
The Lowell ward is so unique and multicultural! There are Sunday School classes in Cambodian, Portuguese, Spanish, and of course, English. Sacrament meeting is also translated into Portuguese and Cambodian. Guess who does that? Yeah, we do. It was really difficult. Elder Ang did most of it...I tried a few times, though. I did one of the sacrament prayers, part of the announcement of the program, and the closing prayer. I'm definitely going to be adding "practice translating" to my list of things to do for language study.
As for the work here, things are going alright, I'd say. We've got a great Cambodian investigator who, unfortunately, wants us to speak English when we teach him. He's really interested in the gospel though, especially in eternal families. I'm excited to see how he progresses. One of the recent converts here, who's also Cambodian, has finally agreed to go to the temple! She's had some fears about it, but she made the decision to go, so we're happy about that. We've also been trying to visit less-actives and we've been some detective work for our Bishop.
These last few days have built my faith and taught me a lot. I got sick in the middle of last week, and for a couple of days it was rather minor. It got worse on Friday, and I had the prompting to ask for a blessing. I shrugged it off, telling myself that it wasn't "bad enough for a blessing" yet. I then "felt" the words, "Have you done EVERYTHING you can?" This made me stop and think. Yes, I took medicine, and yes, I was going to bed on time, and yes, I was drinking plenty of water...but I hadn't asked for a blessing. I then got the distinct feeling that I was going to have to show my faith if I wanted to be healed. This time, I listened, and I asked my companion and the other Elders in our ward for a blessing. They gave me a blessing that night, and I woke up Saturday morning feeling differently. I felt more sick than before, but strangely enough, I felt like I was in the stages of getting over a cold. It was like my body had just skipped the two or three days when the cold is in full swing. I know that was because of the blessing I received and the faith I showed. My lesson doesn't end there, though. We worked all day Saturday, and yesterday (Sunday) morning I woke up feeling absolutely awful. We went to ward council first thing, and I struggled to get through Church. By the end of the second hour my condition had worsened dramatically, and I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make it and that I should be resting. We organized an exchange - Elder Maldonado came with me back to the apartment do that I could sleep, and Elders Ang and Stradley covered the appointments for both areas the rest of the day. From this I learned that we need to be sure that we're taking care of ourselves before we can take care of others. I also learned that we need to do EVERYTHING we can first and act in faith, and then the Lord provides the miracle. I didn't take the time I needed to rest to allow my body to recover, and so I didn't get better. When I woke up this morning, I felt immensely better than I did yesterday. BUT the story doesn't end there! I had another miracle happen to me last night - we switched back to our companionships around 5:30 PM, and we got a call at 6:10 from an investigator who wanted us to come and see him since he wasn't able to meet last week. I decided that I was going to "man up" and go to the appointment, and so I prayed and asked my Heavenly Father to allow my sickness to subside so that I could teach for this appointment. I mustered up the strength and drove to the appointment, and as we walked up to his door, I felt my symptoms melt away. We had a fantastic, Spirit-filled lesson, and as we left and walked back to the car, I started feeling sick again. I know that that was a miracle, an example of the Lord's tender mercies in our lives.
Elder Ang and I had an interesting discussion during weekly planning this last Thursday as we had our companionship inventory. He said to me that he can tell that I want to help "rescue" Lowell, and complimented me on that. He told me about how he and his last companion didn't plan effectively and didn't get much done during their time together, and as a result, this area kind of "died," so to speak. As he was telling me these things, I thought back to the goal I set for myself when I found out that I was being transferred. I was just in a very busy area, with tons of potential investigators and a small handful of progressing investigators, with a large number of recent converts. The active members there are great, and I had the opportunity to serve with my best companion yet. I loved the work, and I was excited to be a part of it each and every day. I told myself as I prepared to move up here that I wanted to take that same excitement and joy with me up to Lowell, and so I set the goal to do so. As Elder Ang spoke with me, I realized that I'm really passionate about this work. I love being a missionary, and even though I've only been here just over a week and a half, I really want this area to become successful. I determined right then and there that I was going to do everything in my power to make that happen, for both the Lowell ward and the Heritage Park YSA ward (almost no work is being done there). I see absolutely no reason why these two wards can't be as successful in their missionary work as the Revere 2nd ward, and that has become my approach to the work here. After all, Pres. Monson just spoke to us about seeing people as they can become in the Priesthood session of General Conference. For me, that includes investigators, members, and entire wards, and I'm really looking forward to helping this area reach its full potential.
Love,
Elder Justin DeLong
The Lowell ward is so unique and multicultural! There are Sunday School classes in Cambodian, Portuguese, Spanish, and of course, English. Sacrament meeting is also translated into Portuguese and Cambodian. Guess who does that? Yeah, we do. It was really difficult. Elder Ang did most of it...I tried a few times, though. I did one of the sacrament prayers, part of the announcement of the program, and the closing prayer. I'm definitely going to be adding "practice translating" to my list of things to do for language study.
As for the work here, things are going alright, I'd say. We've got a great Cambodian investigator who, unfortunately, wants us to speak English when we teach him. He's really interested in the gospel though, especially in eternal families. I'm excited to see how he progresses. One of the recent converts here, who's also Cambodian, has finally agreed to go to the temple! She's had some fears about it, but she made the decision to go, so we're happy about that. We've also been trying to visit less-actives and we've been some detective work for our Bishop.
These last few days have built my faith and taught me a lot. I got sick in the middle of last week, and for a couple of days it was rather minor. It got worse on Friday, and I had the prompting to ask for a blessing. I shrugged it off, telling myself that it wasn't "bad enough for a blessing" yet. I then "felt" the words, "Have you done EVERYTHING you can?" This made me stop and think. Yes, I took medicine, and yes, I was going to bed on time, and yes, I was drinking plenty of water...but I hadn't asked for a blessing. I then got the distinct feeling that I was going to have to show my faith if I wanted to be healed. This time, I listened, and I asked my companion and the other Elders in our ward for a blessing. They gave me a blessing that night, and I woke up Saturday morning feeling differently. I felt more sick than before, but strangely enough, I felt like I was in the stages of getting over a cold. It was like my body had just skipped the two or three days when the cold is in full swing. I know that was because of the blessing I received and the faith I showed. My lesson doesn't end there, though. We worked all day Saturday, and yesterday (Sunday) morning I woke up feeling absolutely awful. We went to ward council first thing, and I struggled to get through Church. By the end of the second hour my condition had worsened dramatically, and I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make it and that I should be resting. We organized an exchange - Elder Maldonado came with me back to the apartment do that I could sleep, and Elders Ang and Stradley covered the appointments for both areas the rest of the day. From this I learned that we need to be sure that we're taking care of ourselves before we can take care of others. I also learned that we need to do EVERYTHING we can first and act in faith, and then the Lord provides the miracle. I didn't take the time I needed to rest to allow my body to recover, and so I didn't get better. When I woke up this morning, I felt immensely better than I did yesterday. BUT the story doesn't end there! I had another miracle happen to me last night - we switched back to our companionships around 5:30 PM, and we got a call at 6:10 from an investigator who wanted us to come and see him since he wasn't able to meet last week. I decided that I was going to "man up" and go to the appointment, and so I prayed and asked my Heavenly Father to allow my sickness to subside so that I could teach for this appointment. I mustered up the strength and drove to the appointment, and as we walked up to his door, I felt my symptoms melt away. We had a fantastic, Spirit-filled lesson, and as we left and walked back to the car, I started feeling sick again. I know that that was a miracle, an example of the Lord's tender mercies in our lives.
Elder Ang and I had an interesting discussion during weekly planning this last Thursday as we had our companionship inventory. He said to me that he can tell that I want to help "rescue" Lowell, and complimented me on that. He told me about how he and his last companion didn't plan effectively and didn't get much done during their time together, and as a result, this area kind of "died," so to speak. As he was telling me these things, I thought back to the goal I set for myself when I found out that I was being transferred. I was just in a very busy area, with tons of potential investigators and a small handful of progressing investigators, with a large number of recent converts. The active members there are great, and I had the opportunity to serve with my best companion yet. I loved the work, and I was excited to be a part of it each and every day. I told myself as I prepared to move up here that I wanted to take that same excitement and joy with me up to Lowell, and so I set the goal to do so. As Elder Ang spoke with me, I realized that I'm really passionate about this work. I love being a missionary, and even though I've only been here just over a week and a half, I really want this area to become successful. I determined right then and there that I was going to do everything in my power to make that happen, for both the Lowell ward and the Heritage Park YSA ward (almost no work is being done there). I see absolutely no reason why these two wards can't be as successful in their missionary work as the Revere 2nd ward, and that has become my approach to the work here. After all, Pres. Monson just spoke to us about seeing people as they can become in the Priesthood session of General Conference. For me, that includes investigators, members, and entire wards, and I'm really looking forward to helping this area reach its full potential.
Love,
Elder Justin DeLong
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Greetings from Lowell, MA!!!
The last time all of the Cambodian elders will be together- all but 3 go home by Dec. (Elder Ang is the one with the sunglasses- my new companion)
Transfer day and saying goodbye to Elder Langford
Well everybody, I'm up in Lowell now! It's been crazy...I've already been able to use more Cambodian, and having a native-speaking companion has helped a TON! I'm getting a lot better at Cambodian, speaking AND writing. Hopefully that helps as I translate during sacrament meeting this Sunday. Yeah...that should be fun. The ward here has to translate meetings into Cambodian, Spanish, and Portuguese! It's so multicultural, I love it. We're actually also over the local singles' ward, so that'll be an interesting experience as well.
Trying to keep up with all of these new names, faces, and places has been tough, but it's been a good experience so far! I'm really starting to like it here. My first night though, I woke up and freaked out for a split second because I couldn't figure out where I was or how I got there...and then I remembered that I got transferred.
Up until Thursday morning, I was nervous and upset about having to leave Revere...but then once transfer meeting started, I was filled with this sense of peace and this "knowing" that me going to Lowell was right. After that, I just got excited for my new area! Plus, I had been in Lowell for a mere couple of hours on my first day when we started planning for this week, and I was taken by surprise to realize that I was already receiving revelation for this area. I know that the Lord has a purpose for me here - now it's my job to figure out what that purpose is!
As a quick sidenote, the missionary that Elder Langford is now training is named Elder Yu, and he's from Hong Kong, where my dad served his mission!
Driving from transfer meeting to Lowell took us through a couple of country highways, and my goodness, the leaves out here at this time of year are absolutely breathtaking. I've never seen anything like this in person. Trees everywhere are all shades of red, orange, yellow, and green...it's incredible.
In addition to the language, I'm already learning a lot from my new companion, Elder Ang. He goes about this work in such a relaxed, jovial, carefree, yet dedicated and genuine way, which is definitely something I need to work on. I really like that, and I hope to be able to apply those attributes to my own missionary service.
As of this last Sunday, I've been on my mission for 10 months, which is crazy to think about. It feels like I've been out for a long time, but then again, it feels like time is just flying by. I hope to be able to accomplish all the work that the Lord has for me to do in my time here.
General Conference was amazing! I was pretty excited for the temple in Tucson - that makes 6 in Arizona!!! There's an Elder serving here (there are 4 Elders in this ward), speaking Portuguese, who's from Gilbert - he and I were pretty happy about that. But then Pres. Monson made the announcement of the ages changing - I'm STILL absolutely thrilled about it. There's going to be so many more sister missionaries serving, which is an enormous blessing. Sisters are powerful missionaries. Elders are great too, but there's just something about sister missionaries in this work. Both the extension of ages is going to greatly advance the work of the Lord. I'm excited for my own little brothers and many others who will be able to serve at younger ages! I feel honored to be serving my mission at such a historic time. In addition to the announcements, conference was exactly what I needed to hear. I had many prayers answered through the words of the prophets and apostles, as I always do. There was a lot of fantastic counsel on raising children (hey, I'm going to be a father someday, I need to know these things!) as well as on serving others.
We got to go to the temple yesterday, which was really nice. It's been about 5 months since I last did an endowment session, so I was very grateful for the opportunity. I'm also grateful for this opportunity to be serving the Lord as one of His chosen missionaries. I'm healthy, I'm happy, and I'm doing well. May God bless you all as much as He's blessing me!
Love,
Elder DeLong
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
My First Transfer
Me with the Sens and their grandchildren
Elder Langford and I are on our last day as companions here in Revere 2. I hope I've been able to help, lift, support, teach, and love him as much as he's been able to do for me. I'll miss him a lot, but I'm not worried about it - we'll see each other again, both on the mission and after. He's been an answer to my prayers, and a major influence in my life. I doubt that he'll ever understand the full impact he's had on me. I'm so grateful to have him as a friend and to have served with him in the Lord's work.
Well, the past few days have been rough. I've been here for close to 8 months, and I've really fallen in love with this ward and these people. It's been really difficult to say goodbye, not knowing when I'll see them again. The good part about it, though, is that I've been able to see how I've helped these people. It's crazy to see the effect you have on peoples' lives as a missionary, and your love for them is extraordinary. You really do learn to see them as our Heavenly Father sees them; it's such an incredible feeling. I feel so privileged to have been part of the lives and conversions of these people, and they will always hold a special place in my heart.
That being said, it's time for me to move on to a new area, a new ward, and a new companion. I can't say that I'm not nervous, because I definitely am, but I know this will be a good experience for me. Hopefully I'll be able to quickly pick up on the lessons that the Lord has for me to learn there in Lowell.
We (Elder Langford and myself) received notice last week that one of our investigators who moved to North Carolina (in the middle of us teaching him) has just been baptized! We were thrilled to hear from him, and to know that we had been the beginning of his experience in the Church. What a blessing it is to be part of this work!!!
The Primary chorister in the Revere 2nd ward invited us to come in and sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth" for the kids - I'd say we did a good job! It was fun, and Elder Langford held his own as I sang a harmony on the last verse. It was also a really great experience as we sang those words to think about who we are as missionaries of this Church; ultimately, of our Savior. It makes me want to be the best I can be and give my all as I serve Him.
With love,
Elder Justin DeLong
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