Damari and Florance BOTH passed their baptismal interviews! We're hoping to have their service on the 29th of this month. We're so happy and excited for them! Our other investigators continue to progress. Hanz actually called us and told us that he wants to get baptized! We're pretty psyched for him and his mom, Darlene, as well. We also have a couple new investigators that we've started working with and tons of referrals to contact. The work is never-ending! =D
I had my FIRST EVER Cambodian street contact! We were on exchanges again (I was in Lynn with Elder Swasey) and so I was the only one who spoke Cambodian (Elder Swasey speaks Spanish, and very well, I might add). We saw the lady and he was like "She's Cambodian!" and so I went and talked to her, in Cambodian! It was so awesome. She said I spoke very well, which is a HUGE compliment coming from a native speaker. I told her who I was and why I was there, and got her address and phone number to visit her again later. We haven't gotten a hold of her yet, but regardless, I was pretty stoked!
Mission life is rough, but I refuse to be a "creature of circumstance", as I once heard from a friend of mine. No one is going to determine how my mission will go except for me; the only thing I can control about any situation is my attitude towards it. And so, I press forward in faith! Along the same lines, I saw a quote the other day that I really like. It's now on a sticky note by my desk: "Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation."
The Cambridge Massachusetts stake had stake conference this last weekend, which was pretty great! I enjoyed it. Darlene and Hanz actually came to it! They drove all the way out to the stake center (the LDS population is a tad bit more spread out on the east coast...haha!), and they liked it a lot. Apparently, my voice has grown in strength and volume - the Elders that share our apartment were sitting a few rows in front of us, and they said they could hear me singing all the way up there. To quote one of them, "You've got the lungs of a camel, or something!" It was a funny moment.
Monday was a really cool day - we got to go to Lexington (yes, THE Lexington) and see a reenactment of the battle that took place there. "The Shot Hear 'Round the World" - the combat of the Revolutionary War started there! It was awesome. It was also really cool to think about how all of this was set up and happened so that the Restoration of the Gospel could take place! After the reenactment we all went over to a member's house (I swear, I think half the missionaries in the mission were there!) - they invite the mission over every year for this! They had breakfast for us (we had to be there at 4:30 AM for the reenactment! I believe it started at 5:30...), it was really great. Then we got to go to the temple for a few hours - the Boston temple is SO beautiful. It's down in Belmont, and it sits right on the top of this hill by the highway. It's incredible. I loved being there, I've missed it! We got to go to the Provo temple every week in the MTC! I guess I took that for granted. At any rate, it was wonderful to feel of the sacred Spirit that the temple brings. Monday was a really long day though, because after getting up early and doing all that, we got home around 1:00 PM, and still had to proselyte until 9:00 PM! Needless to say, I was exhausted.
Yes, it IS a Wednesday - we have P-day today instead of on Monday this week, since tomorrow is transfer meeting. They do this for the whole mission so that everyone who is getting transferred has time to pack and whatnot, and then tomorrow starts the new transfer! I'm not going anywhere, and neither is Elder Wayne. I have a couple weeks left in the training program, and then maybe one of us will get moved next transfer. We'll find out, I guess!
Much love,
Elder DeLong
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Sorry, it's really short this week!
We have an extremely limited amount of time today, so I apologize that this week's email is shorter than normal.
Florance and Damari are ready for their baptismal interviews, and their baptism is scheduled for two weeks from yesterday. We are so excited for them!!! We had a cool experience with Florance this week - she has been praying, as have we, to help her get Sundays off at work, or to find another job. We found out that she had an issue with modern-day prophets though, so we scheduled another lesson with her this week to help teach her more about it. She prayed about it, and we resolved her concerns during the next lesson. She gained a testimony of it, of the Book of Mormon, and of everything we've taught her. It was a precious moment as her faith really shone through. And THEN...after the closing prayer she gets a call from her boss - she wasn't needed at work this weekend. SHE GOT TO COME TO CHURCH!!! =D She hasn't been in a couple weeks because of work. It was definitely a miracle, and I know that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers!
Things continue to be busier than ever, which is good in this work of saving souls! I feel so blessed to be in this area. Things are good in that light, but I'm struggling with a lot of other things - getting along with my companion (again), learning this language, finding the guidance of the Spirit, other things...but I know that all discouragement and contention and frustration comes from the Adversary, and so, I press forward with faith in our Savior! Speaking of which, I am so thankful for this Easter season, and for the Atonement and Resurrection. Through Christ, I can overcome my trials, weaknesses, faults, and struggles, and through Christ, I can find hope. Despite difficulties, I love being a missionary! I know I'm where the Lord needs me to be as I serve Him in this part of His vineyard.
Next week we get to go to the temple! I'm so excited for that. Another blessing to note: we got an invitation last-minute to go to a member's home for Easter dinner. They found out through someone else that we didn't have plans for dinner, so they invited us to come to their big gathering! We had probably 6 families/couples there, and then us. It was a great time, and we had some great food.
I love each of you very much, and as always, I continue to learn and grow each and every day - from you, from the people I meet here, and from our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Much love and best wishes!
Elder DeLong
Florance and Damari are ready for their baptismal interviews, and their baptism is scheduled for two weeks from yesterday. We are so excited for them!!! We had a cool experience with Florance this week - she has been praying, as have we, to help her get Sundays off at work, or to find another job. We found out that she had an issue with modern-day prophets though, so we scheduled another lesson with her this week to help teach her more about it. She prayed about it, and we resolved her concerns during the next lesson. She gained a testimony of it, of the Book of Mormon, and of everything we've taught her. It was a precious moment as her faith really shone through. And THEN...after the closing prayer she gets a call from her boss - she wasn't needed at work this weekend. SHE GOT TO COME TO CHURCH!!! =D She hasn't been in a couple weeks because of work. It was definitely a miracle, and I know that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers!
Things continue to be busier than ever, which is good in this work of saving souls! I feel so blessed to be in this area. Things are good in that light, but I'm struggling with a lot of other things - getting along with my companion (again), learning this language, finding the guidance of the Spirit, other things...but I know that all discouragement and contention and frustration comes from the Adversary, and so, I press forward with faith in our Savior! Speaking of which, I am so thankful for this Easter season, and for the Atonement and Resurrection. Through Christ, I can overcome my trials, weaknesses, faults, and struggles, and through Christ, I can find hope. Despite difficulties, I love being a missionary! I know I'm where the Lord needs me to be as I serve Him in this part of His vineyard.
Next week we get to go to the temple! I'm so excited for that. Another blessing to note: we got an invitation last-minute to go to a member's home for Easter dinner. They found out through someone else that we didn't have plans for dinner, so they invited us to come to their big gathering! We had probably 6 families/couples there, and then us. It was a great time, and we had some great food.
I love each of you very much, and as always, I continue to learn and grow each and every day - from you, from the people I meet here, and from our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Much love and best wishes!
Elder DeLong
Monday, April 2, 2012
Week 6 in the field!
This is my 118th day of being a missionary. Can you believe that? I only know that because we drove by this restaurant called 99 the other day, and I thought that it'd be funny if we went there on my 99th day as a missionary. Then I realized that I probably missed that since it's already been 4 and a half months or so...sure enough, it has. I'm amazed at how fast time goes by, but I also feel like I've been out here for a very long time.
Last week on P-day, we ran into our solid investigator, Darlene - she's the one who walked into church one day, wanting to know more. The "miracle investigator" from last week. She and her son are both doing great! But anyway, we ran into her at the grocery store last P-day, and she said that she got a prompting from the Spirit to come find us there and pay for our groceries. We couldn't believe it. She wouldn't take "no" for an answer and INSISTED on paying for our food. We were beyond thankful and expressed that many times over, and she kept saying "don't worry about it!" She's incredible. I still can't believe she did that for us.
We also did a "deep clean" of our apartment last P-day, which took about 4 hours. We had a good time in the process, and our apartment looks SO much better. We passed our cleaning inspection, too! The whole mission has to do this twice a year, just before General Conference.
Speaking of General Conference...WOW. I got so many answers to questions and prayers that I have had. I am so grateful for personal revelation and for the guidance from the Holy Ghost in our lives. I want to do all I can to draw closer to the Lord and to become the missionary, man, husband, and father he needs me to be. I'm not those last two yet, but when the time comes, I want to be ready.
We attempted to watch the Saturday morning session (or should I say Saturday afternoon...the session times here are noon, 4:00, and 8:00 PM!!!) at the Revere chapel, but trying to fix it and 2 phone calls with Salt Lake City tech support couldn't fix it...so we missed most of the first session. The second session we watched at a member's home, and for priesthood session we watched it at the chapel. They got it fixed! We watched Sunday's first session there as well, and the second session on Sunday we watched at a different member's home with our investigator, Damari. I love conference, I can't wait to study the talks in the Ensign! =D
Tracting is really really REALLY hard, just for the record. But on the positive side, the negative experiences make for really great stories! We had this one lady who was pretty crazy...she kept asking us all these really weird questions, and said that it was "outrageous" that we were doing this, that we should be in school and working. She said that if her grandchildren were doing anything like that, she would be horrified. She tried to make us admit that we were Seventh-Day Adventists, and wouldn't listen to us. She was like "And how do your parents feel about this?!" and "Are you scared to be out here doing this? Our next door neighbor is a policeman...and my husband is the chief of police." At that point it was obvious that she was lying. She was an odd one. The strangest part is, after we walked away, she came out of her house and watched us. We couldn't get in our car at the end of the street...we just had to keep walking. We walked back later and got the car, but I was honestly worried for our well-being at that point. Oh well. We're all children of God!
Our ward did a family Pinewood Derby the other night, so we went to support everyone. It was a great time, and it made me think of my little brothers and how much they love doing that. =]
Our investigator Ed told us a really cool story of something that happened last week. He was at his parents' house, and his dad and his sisters were giving him a really hard time about talking to us and investigating the Church. They were pressuring him and asking him a bunch of questions and putting him down for it. He said he felt like he didn't know what to say, and then they asked him WHY he was doing this. Just then, a commercial from the Church about the Book of Mormon came on the TV. "THAT'S why." That was truly a miracle and an answer to a prayer, I think. I loved hearing that! Also, he hasn't smoked in TWO WEEKS!!!! We are so happy and excited for him.
I'll close with our most interesting experience of the week - we witnessed an attempted "grand theft auto" and resulting car accident! This guy tried to steal this lady's car, and as he pulled out from the side of the street by the corner store he got hit by a car that was driving down the street, so he got out and took off. It all happened so fast, we didn't even know what happened! We had to stay as witnesses, but the police ended up not needing us at that moment. We left our number with the woman whose car almost got stolen in case she needed us as witnesses - I'm just glad that no one got hurt. Hopefully repairs can be made to the cars and the police will catch the culprit.
Well anyway, this work is really difficult. I'm struggling with things and having a hard time, but nevertheless, I love being here. I can't seem to work up the courage to talk to people on the street, but I feel more supported by our Savior than ever before. This work is hard, but more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. I have so much more to learn and a lot about myself that I need to change, but that's okay, because the Lord is here to help me, and His Atonement is real. I hope to become an effective and spiritually-sensitive instrument in the hands of God. Even though things can be really difficult and stressful, I love serving as a missionary.
Much love!
Elder DeLong
Last week on P-day, we ran into our solid investigator, Darlene - she's the one who walked into church one day, wanting to know more. The "miracle investigator" from last week. She and her son are both doing great! But anyway, we ran into her at the grocery store last P-day, and she said that she got a prompting from the Spirit to come find us there and pay for our groceries. We couldn't believe it. She wouldn't take "no" for an answer and INSISTED on paying for our food. We were beyond thankful and expressed that many times over, and she kept saying "don't worry about it!" She's incredible. I still can't believe she did that for us.
We also did a "deep clean" of our apartment last P-day, which took about 4 hours. We had a good time in the process, and our apartment looks SO much better. We passed our cleaning inspection, too! The whole mission has to do this twice a year, just before General Conference.
Speaking of General Conference...WOW. I got so many answers to questions and prayers that I have had. I am so grateful for personal revelation and for the guidance from the Holy Ghost in our lives. I want to do all I can to draw closer to the Lord and to become the missionary, man, husband, and father he needs me to be. I'm not those last two yet, but when the time comes, I want to be ready.
We attempted to watch the Saturday morning session (or should I say Saturday afternoon...the session times here are noon, 4:00, and 8:00 PM!!!) at the Revere chapel, but trying to fix it and 2 phone calls with Salt Lake City tech support couldn't fix it...so we missed most of the first session. The second session we watched at a member's home, and for priesthood session we watched it at the chapel. They got it fixed! We watched Sunday's first session there as well, and the second session on Sunday we watched at a different member's home with our investigator, Damari. I love conference, I can't wait to study the talks in the Ensign! =D
Tracting is really really REALLY hard, just for the record. But on the positive side, the negative experiences make for really great stories! We had this one lady who was pretty crazy...she kept asking us all these really weird questions, and said that it was "outrageous" that we were doing this, that we should be in school and working. She said that if her grandchildren were doing anything like that, she would be horrified. She tried to make us admit that we were Seventh-Day Adventists, and wouldn't listen to us. She was like "And how do your parents feel about this?!" and "Are you scared to be out here doing this? Our next door neighbor is a policeman...and my husband is the chief of police." At that point it was obvious that she was lying. She was an odd one. The strangest part is, after we walked away, she came out of her house and watched us. We couldn't get in our car at the end of the street...we just had to keep walking. We walked back later and got the car, but I was honestly worried for our well-being at that point. Oh well. We're all children of God!
Our ward did a family Pinewood Derby the other night, so we went to support everyone. It was a great time, and it made me think of my little brothers and how much they love doing that. =]
Our investigator Ed told us a really cool story of something that happened last week. He was at his parents' house, and his dad and his sisters were giving him a really hard time about talking to us and investigating the Church. They were pressuring him and asking him a bunch of questions and putting him down for it. He said he felt like he didn't know what to say, and then they asked him WHY he was doing this. Just then, a commercial from the Church about the Book of Mormon came on the TV. "THAT'S why." That was truly a miracle and an answer to a prayer, I think. I loved hearing that! Also, he hasn't smoked in TWO WEEKS!!!! We are so happy and excited for him.
I'll close with our most interesting experience of the week - we witnessed an attempted "grand theft auto" and resulting car accident! This guy tried to steal this lady's car, and as he pulled out from the side of the street by the corner store he got hit by a car that was driving down the street, so he got out and took off. It all happened so fast, we didn't even know what happened! We had to stay as witnesses, but the police ended up not needing us at that moment. We left our number with the woman whose car almost got stolen in case she needed us as witnesses - I'm just glad that no one got hurt. Hopefully repairs can be made to the cars and the police will catch the culprit.
Well anyway, this work is really difficult. I'm struggling with things and having a hard time, but nevertheless, I love being here. I can't seem to work up the courage to talk to people on the street, but I feel more supported by our Savior than ever before. This work is hard, but more fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. I have so much more to learn and a lot about myself that I need to change, but that's okay, because the Lord is here to help me, and His Atonement is real. I hope to become an effective and spiritually-sensitive instrument in the hands of God. Even though things can be really difficult and stressful, I love serving as a missionary.
Much love!
Elder DeLong
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
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!
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)