IT'S BEEN AN AWESOME WEEK

OCTOBER 23, 2017

This week was such an awesome week! Of course, there's some down moments, but overall such a great week! Really saw lots of miracles in finding people to teach. I really wish I could just video some of the stuff that I do and send it to you guys. I've really changed a lot from who you sent out on the mission, I think, like I can grocery shop for myself kind of, haha, but of the more crazy Asian stuff that I do. Like just barely, we went to Phooj Ywg's store, which was so Asian, hahaha, but it was so cool. They had so much Hmong stuff and tons of Asian food, but none that I wanted to buy, haha. 

I guess I'll start from the start though. Monday night: so last week we made a goal to find 12 investigators as a district, which is a lot because the last week we found 2 new investigators as a district. So, we were really praying to find people to teach. And with the Hmong people, most of them know about the missionaries or have seen them before and they are either old culture, CMA (which is another Christian church, but still not the truth) or LDS. But with Old culture, the really old people practice that, but the generation that are like your guys' age doesn't really do old culture because they live in America and they don't want to worship spirits. They want church, but they don't come because if they did, it would like destroy their family. But anyway, that's beside the point of this story. Monday night, we had like everything fall through and nobody wanted to listen to us, and we decided to knock one last door before we headed home for the night. So we found a potential investigator who we were just going to drop but when we knocked on the door she was the nicest old Hmong lady, and we taught the entire first discussion in Hmong and then gave her a Book of Mormon. She said she would read it, and we're gonna go back today, and it was so awesome! I didn't really do too much, but i did recite the first vision, and I really felt the spirit.

Then on Tuesday, we were looking for more Hmong people to find again, and so we looked in the phone book and picked out some Hmong last names, went searching and then like lost the map, didn't really know where we were going, but then found a Hmong house, but they weren't interested, so then we knocked a few more doors, then eventually went back to the original plan and knocked on the door that the phone book said was Hmong but it actually was a member! Turns out she knew where all the Hmong people around her lived, and so we went and tried to talk to everyone! This place was like the ghetto though, and we were going to this little like really poorly kept house that's like behind a bunch of other houses and Elder Kub thought it was Hmong but we didn't know. We decided to knock it, and a Hmong dude about in his 30's answered the door. At first he was a little apprehensive and kinda scary, but then we started speaking Hmong to him and it was so cool! He was like shocked that two white guys spoke Hmong, because he had never met the missionaries before. He totally sat down and told us how awesome he thought it was that we learned Hmong, and we left him with a pamphlet and are gonna go back sometime soon! He called Elder Gunsay "Yexus Elder Kub" which was funny because he had no idea who we were, so he just looked at the name tag and called him Jesus Elder Gunsay, haha. His house smelled like weed so bad, but that's okay because we taught the gospel. 

Then, just like other little miracles like that happened throughout the week and we were able to find another investigator, so altogether the district found 13 new investigators!!!! It was so awesome!! Elder Gunsay has to make a pie for everyone now because that's what he promised, haha, because he's district leader, haha. He's just gonna do ice cream stuff though. Of course, we've still had people who haven't listened to us, and some old guy, I didn't even start saying what church we were missionaries for, and he cut me off, told me he was saved, and that we were going down the wrong path but power to us and slammed the door in our face. So stuff like that still happens all the time, but there have been some awesome miracles this week!

One other thing, Hmong's biggest holiday is Hmong new year, and they had a picnic thing instead in Yuba on Saturday. That was an experience, haha. It was super cool to see all these Hmong people come together, kinda different though. They had like a fashion show, which is what that picture is of. They also had a bunch of free food, which was nice. I really like the Hmong people. I wish I could speak Hmong better, haha, but I can't really speak that well, but I'm working hard! Probably the weirdest thing I ate was Kupong, and it was like a normal soup type deal but had long strips of bamboo in it. It wasn't bad, I just don't like eating bamboo, haha. Some of the stuff I eat now, you would both be surprised. That's pretty much my week though. If I think of anything else that happened I will tell you. 

That other picture is when we went to the hospital to give a blessing and parked in that spot, haha. I'll try to get more pictures later.

I almost forgot about zone conference. It was a great experience, there were people from SLC who talked to us about the gospel of Jesus Christ and our purpose, and it was so awesome. I learned so much. Then they trained us on Facebook, and it's literally just another tool for us to use, but mostly just messenger to communicate with investigators. So basically, I won't ever post again, and I unfollowed everyone so I can't see anybody's posts and I pretty much don't have a feed, which is great. So people can friend me, but I will unfollow them so there's really no point. Pretty much, I just use it to stay in touch with investigators and communicate easier.

2nd WEEK IN THE BOOKS

OCTOBER 16, 2017

Ok, so I guess last week was probably my first real, full week of missionary work and it was great! Highlights of the week.... we taught an investigator named Jasmine who has been progressing and then had a chapel tour on Saturday and apparently it was great, but she still didn't make it to church. That was kind of sad. We also went to some more Hmong people's homes and visited them. We went to a Shaman's house and he had a shrine on his wall that was literally 6 feet tall. It was insane. I didn't pick up what most of the lesson was about, but it was still great to talk to him. 

Thursday we had interviews with President Ward. That was so awesome. He is such an inspired man. I love interviews. He has such great advice too. It was awesome. Also on Thursday, someone in our ward took out our whole district for lunch to some Indian buffet place. First time eating Indian food... I guess it's good, but I did not feel very good after, probably because I ate too much, haha. 

Yesterday, we went to Hmong branch and I translated my first real talk. It was rough. I felt bad for the people listening, haha. My comp had a little bit of a hard time too. It was a rough day for translation. But my Hmong is getting better! It's a lot better out here than it was at the MTC, I think. It's easier when I'm speaking to real Hmong people, but they are so hard to understand, especially all the really old people who don't speak English, but it's so fun to try and say stuff to them, haha. A lot of when I talk to people is just guessing at the context, haha. 

On Friday, we had weekly planning, and we made cookies. So that was fun. Mom you need to send me your cookie recipe though, and if anyone has a good pumpkin chocolate chip recipe, please send it because I want to make those when its closer to Halloween. 

Saturday, we went on exchanges and I went with one of the zone leaders to a city called Callusa. It was a fun time. It's pretty far out in the middle of nowhere though. He's a great guy though. I had a good time. 

Today for p-day morning, we went and hiked the Sutter Buttes, the smallest mountain range in the world. They are pretty small. And literally everything is on private property and all of the mountains are fenced in. Luckily, we found someone who let us go for a quick hike on their property which was super nice, and it was awesome. I felt like I was back in pine valley looking for deer, haha. Good times.

Other than that I don't have much to report on. Yesterday, one of the young men in the Hmong branch gave his farewell because he leaves on a Hmong speaking mission on Wednesday. We went to his house after for some good Hmong food. This week is all Hmong dinner appointments. I'm pretty excited to finally experience Hmong food, haha. 

Oh, one other thing, we got Facebook, so tell people to follow me I guess. Basically we're supposed to use it to connect with investigators, but that's been pretty hard for us so far. And it's not like filtered at all, which is lame, and now I can see what everyone posts... which I also kind of don't like. It's really easy to be distracted now. I have mixed feelings about Facebook. This week is zone conference, and they will train us on how to use it. So that will be good. Oh also, Elder Gunsay or I will have to give a talk in Hmong at zone conference, and the other one will translate. It's about using technology, and literally Hmong doesn't have words for like lots of things about technology, haha, so that will be fun. I'm excited though. It should be a good time. 

Love you all. Thanks for all the support and everything. Here's some pics, and I'll try to share a video with you on google drive that's a video tour of my apartment. Love you guys!

Love, Elder Muaj Koob

MY FIRST WEEK IN CALI

OCTOBER 9, 2017

Wow, ok where to start. This is gonna be a long email but bear with me, cuz its been the best week of my mission. Which isn't saying too much, but hey still, its been a great week. 

Tuesday, I got up at 3:30am and got everything ready to go, went to the travel center place, got on a bus, got off at the trax, took the front runner to SLC, then got off and got on the trax thing and took that to the airport. It took forever. Then we flew to Sacramento, and the first people we saw when we got off the plane were other missionaries!! Only thing is, they were going home on the same plane that took us here. There were two Hmong elders, one of which was my trainer's trainer, but I'll get to that later. Then we went down the escalator and saw President and Sister Day, as well as the AP's. And lemme tell ya, they are all so awesome. I love them. 

Then we went to the mission home, which is actually just a little portion of the stake center in Antelope, haha. So I had my interview with President Day very first, and that was fun. Everyone else had to wait a day to find out who their trainer was and which area they were going to, but he just told me right away cuz there's only 1 Hmong trainer, haha. So my trainer is Elder Gunsay, and he is so awesome! He's been out for a little under a year, and he was the newest Hmong missionary until I got here. But his Hmong is really good, even though he will always say it's not. Our area is in the Yuba City zone. I live in an apartment in Wheatland, and we double cover wards. We cover the English Wheatland ward, as well as the Hmong Linda ward. Oh but anyway back to the first day in the mission field ... after the interview they had me go out and proselyte and I knocked doors and nobody wanted to talk to us, but I did buy a tie for a dollar. So that was cool. That night we stayed in a hotel, which was super weird cuz I'm a missionary now and it was just a normal hotel hahaha. But I did go to bed at like 8 o'clock so that was nice. Next day was mostly just meetings, but I also met Elder Gunsay and we drove to Wheatland.

So more about Wheatland. Its a sleepy, tiny little town on the freeway. There's a railroad right by our apartment, and lemme tell ya, I love it when the train whistle goes off at 2 in the morning. It's so loud! It's like such a small town though. The apartment is good I think. Best apartment I've ever lived in, haha. We drive a 2017 Toyota Tacoma. I love that truc. It's so nice. Our apartment is right in the middle of a bunch of park models, and the sign in the picture that I'm about to send. HAHAHAHA. God knows me so well, hahah. 

Ok, so later that day I went to my first, and so far only, Hmong dinner appointment. That was crazy. We walk into his house, which is kinda small and super messy, but I'm not judging. His name is Brother Xyooj. I really don't know what to call him, cuz you call Hmong people weird things that I haven't figured out yet. But we had some rice, boiled pork, veggies, cold eggplant (which I didn't really like, but ate anyway. Look at me go mom.) and also some bear meat, which actually was really good. Apparently all the Hmong people really like to hunt. So as soon as I learn Hmong, I'm gonna talk hunting with them. Then later that day (which was my first like half day in the field) we taught Dalton the law of chastity. Dalton is an 11 year old boy who lives with his grandma and his mom. He's one of the few investigators who actually lives in Wheatland. He's a really great kid. We met with him a few more times, and then baptized him on Saturday!!! That was a really awesome experience. There was only 7 people there, 5 of which had to be there, and then Dalton and his grandma. Not much support, but it was still a great experience. Elder Gunsay baptized Dalton, and I gave a talk about baptism. I was also the pianist. I know what you're thinking mom, I should've kept playing the piano, yeah yeah yeah I know, but hey, all that time and money and practice, and I was able to sight read the right hand melody of that one song that is always played at baptisms. Shout out to Kathy Bentley. Also played the music while we waited for Dalton and Elder Gunsay to change. Sweet hour of prayer and I am a child of God have never been so lucky. 

Let's see, what else... We spent 4 hours this week painting Sister Femlings deck. She's old and can't do it herself, but she fed us dinner. I went to the grocery store to buy food to survive on for the first time. That was hard. I bought a loaf of bread, a huge bag of malt o meal frosted mini wheats, a thing of hamburgers, but the fatty kind from Walmart, haha, some lunch meat, lots of cheese, and a carton of eggs, just in case I ever figure out how to scramble eggs, haha. I probably won't make myself much food over the next 2 years. But hey, the members have fed us a lot. Like last night we went over to a members house for dinner and it was so good. And even just barely this morning, we went to Duke's Diner, which is owned by a member, and they fed us for free. So the members in both wards really take care of us in that respect, we typically have 5 dinner appointments a week. 

We have lots of people to teach. Only really like 3 real progressing investigators though. A lot of the Hmong people are super nice, but aren't so much interested in hearing the Gospel. But we'll work on that!

Yesterday was a fun day. Went to my first ward council, and then during Sacrament meeting I confirmed Dalton a member of the church and gave him the Holy Ghost. That was really an awesome experience; a little pressure, but still good. Then after about 30 minutes of Sunday School, we went over to Linda for the Hmong branch. Oh my heck, I don't know like any Hmong. The people are all super nice though. But we get there and the Sunday School teacher talks sooooooooo incredibly fast, like I don't even know how it's possible. And what makes it even harder, and is creating a crisis for me, is that almost everyone in the branch, and apparently a good portion of the Hmong people in my zone, speak GREEN HMONG!!!!! All I learned at the MTC was White Hmong. We spent one day learning Green Hmong cuz they said I probably wouldn't need it, and here my first area is like all Green Hmong speakers, so now IDK what to learn hahah. They are somewhat similar, but a lot of words are different and there are some different pronunciations of normal vowels and consonants. So that was fun to get there and really not understand anything. But a lot of them also spoke English. Oh, and then in sacrament meeting they had me come up and bear my testimony in Hmong. It was probably the equivalent of a 6 year old's testimony, but they understood it, even though it was white Hmong! Apparently Green Hmong speakers understand White Hmong fairly easily, but its harder the other way around. Then after church all the brethren (which is like 8 of us) gave one of the old niam tais (grandma) a blessing, cuz she was sick. That was really cool. 

That is pretty much the highlights of my week. There's probably a lot of other stuff, and sorry if I forgot it but I think I hit on the important things. One super cool thing, there's like xfinity wifi here that I got signed into so I pretty much have wifi everywhere now. Like we're driving in the car right now and I have wifi, which is sweet, So I'm just typing this as my comp drives around, haha. If I think of anything else, I'll email it. I can email all day till 6, so that's good. Love you all! Any other questions I'll try to answer. The church is true! 

All in all, such a great week! I'm so happy with life right now, and I learned an important principle that I think applies to everyone. We can't always choose our circumstances or what happens to us, but we can always choose to be happy. :) So I invite everyone to choose to be happy this week! 

Love, Elder Muaj Koob

Elder McArthur & Elder Gunsay 

Sign by their apartment, haha

Sweet 2017 Toyota Tacoma to drive

MADE IT TO CALI

OCTOBER 2, 2017

Hello family. So I'm doing good, made it to Roseville! I just had an interview with the mission president, and he is an amazing guy. I really like him a lot. I'm going to Yuba City and my companion is Elder Gunsay, or however you spell his last name. Idk. I will meet him tomorrow. We're gonna stay the night in a hotel tonight and then Ill meet him tomorrow. I think that's it really, I'm just doing well! Roseville has really good weather! Love you all! I will probably email you next week, or maybe a picture tomorrow? I really don't know what's going on too much, hahah. Love you guys.

President & Sister Ward & Elder McArthur

President & Sister Ward, Elder McArthur, Elder Gunsay