LAST WEEK

MAY 14, 2018

Hey Family! Last week was good. I'm not gonna write as much cuz we just talked yesterday, haha.

But some highlights, on Thursday we thinned a peach tree for an old guy here in Wheatland who has lived here since it began basically. His road is named after him. Good guy. Brother Nichols. It is tough when we do service cuz then we have like no time because of all of our studies too, haha. Wednesday, I was on exchanges with the district leader, Elder Lloyd. It was awesome! He is a really good missionary. I learned a whole lot! We had set a goal to find a new investigator, and like all of our plans fell through, so we had a lot of extra time, and we were able to find two new investigators!!! Also, we got some ice cream from one of these like punjab ice cream trucks. They ripped us off but it was pretty good, haha. So that was a fun exchange. Friday we were able to help Vaam Tsawb, one of the members of the branch, set up for his daughters wedding! Then on Saturday, we went to the wedding! It was pretty cool, so many Hmong people and tons of food. Not a temple marriage, which is too bad, but honestly, there are a lot of the kids in the branch who aren't the strongest... there are still some great kids, but I would say there are a lot that just come because their parents make them. But I'm happy she got married. Also, Saturday, we were able to teach 3 lessons! Two of them were in Hmong, the restoration both times! It was kind of rough because we honestly don't teach in Hmong very much, and we've been working on leaving better invitations with people. But it was a good week!

Here's some pictures. 

 We played tennis with Pang Xiong today.

 The Wedding

Helping Brother Nichols

Spiritual thought for the week: Mosiah 2:17 haha

Love you guys! great to talk to you yesterday!! 

Love, Elder Muaj Koob

UA TEB

MAY 7, 2018

Hey family! This past week was actually pretty dang good! We tried a lot of different things, and had some success!! Right now, we're just chilling in the Toyota dealership... had to take the truck in for service again. 

Tuesday was a good day. We had the whole afternoon so we decided to try something different, and we baked cookies and delivered them to less active members and our investigators. We wanted to try something new to see if it would work, especially cuz after this past zone conference they told us to not just keep doing the same thing over and over again. So we did and we delivered and actually met some nice less active people, which was good. In retrospect, it wasn't the most effective thing, but it was good because we're trying new things. Also, something else new we did was an activity for the kids of the Hmong branch. We did this cuz we have a family who is returning to activity and they have a bunch of kids who we're are trying to help. So we played volleyball for about an hour that night, and it was really good! We shared a spiritual thought with everyone, and got to know the kids really well! So that was fun! The family didn't come to church on Sunday... but that is ok, step by step.

Wednesday was a good day too. We did service for most of the day. Pulled weeds for a member, and then we had an appointment fall through so we tried a less active family and were able to do some unplanned service to help them build a shed. We had a lesson with the Patterson family after that. It went pretty well. More on them later. Also, got the pizza, thanks so much dad! It's fed us for the past week, haha. 

Thursday was a good day as well, just a week full of a lot of good days. We felt like we really needed to knock 4th street (which is super ghetto) on Thursday, but we ran out of time because we were able to go help an old Hmong grandma farm! She is kind of an investigator. She's been going through really hard times, and we are trying to help her. So we went to go help her farm, and she just had us watch her but we met a few other old grandmas! Highlight, one of the grandmas we met said they have a group of like 7-10 Hmong grandmas who get together on Tuesdays and she wants us to come meet them and they will teach us more about farming and we will teach them the Gospel! So that is super exciting! We are going to try and do that tomorrow. We will see how it goes! The garden that they all farm at is a community garden run by Hmong people, and honestly it's unbelievable. So nice, really big, tons of Hmong people. We are going to try to farm there again and find some more people this week. 

Friday we had district meeting. It was awesome. Really stoked to be serving with the new people. Then we weekly planned, and had dinner with the Fowles. They are like my favorite! Bro. Fowles was recently made the Elder's Quorum President, and we got there and got talking and he was like "yeah, sorry I stole Brother Zarges from ya" and I was like What???? Bro Zarges is now the 2nd counselor of the Elder's Quorum, so we are getting a new ward mission leader. God answers prayers. I am so excited! I love brother Zarges so much, don't get me wrong, but he was always so busy, and we were getting NO help from the ward or the ward missionaries. So super pumped for getting a new ward mission leader. It will probably happen next week. And Bro Fowles is super missionary-minded, so that is exciting as well. 

Saturday was Cinco de Mayo. We didn't eat any Mexican food though, haha. Tons of Mexicans having parties though. We had time Saturday, so we went back to 4th street and we found 2 new investigators tracting in just an hour!!! So that was a miracle. It has been a long time since we have found new investigators! 

Sunday was good too, although nobody came to church. The Xiong family has been drowning in finals week and work and what not, so we haven't seen them for like 2 weeks and nobody came to church... but that's ok, I still love church. We really didn't have any time to proselyte because we study so much. 

But this week was also good because of what I've been studying lately. I studied a ton about the small and simple things. In my personal study, I got to Alma 36 and 37; those are some great chapters. But I was really studying about the small and simple things we do everyday. Lately in my mission, I've felt like I'm just in a grind. I've been in the same area for 7 months now, I'm only on my 2nd companion and nothing has really changed; most of the missionaries around me get transferred after like 3 months, and if they stay for 4 months that's really long.... so I've been here forever, and have at least another month. So needless to say, my everyday has pretty much been the same for the past forever. There are things we do everyday as people, just part of life. And the small and simple things are the small habits we need to be implementing every single day. For example, the primary answers: praying, reading, going to church. But there are also other small things we can do that will make a big difference over time, as Pres. Oaks talked about. Repenting before we take the sacrament weekly. Daily seeking revelation. Our mission president talked recently about making a personal study happen every single day so that it becomes a habit for after the mission, just things like that. It made me realize how many better habits I could be implementing that will make a big difference over time... even things just as easy as like what we eat or brushing our teeth, they will make a huge difference. So I invite you guys to look at the things you do everyday, and make sure you're doing the important things!

Love you guys!

-Elder Muaj Koob 

WEEKLY EMAIL

APRIL 30, 2018

Hey family! I'm still alive, things are well! This past week was good. We found out about transfers. Nothing is changing with the Hmong elders. Getting some new people in the district though, and one of the elders I came out with was made an assistant so that was a shock, but he's a cool guy so it'll be good. 

So Tuesday we did a lot of finding and also had some lessons. It was fun. We taught a really old Hmong lady about Joseph Smith, and it was awesome. Like usually I don't understand or really speak Hmong very well, but I was able to really understand and talk and it was awesome! So, gift of tongues is real, haha. She said she like believed it too, which was cool. Although there is a bit of a communication barrier though, haha. Sometimes she doesn't really understand us, haha. 

Wednesday was district meeting and we went on our first exchanges this transfer with the zone leaders. It was a good time. We mostly just tracted... We found a new investigator who looked like she was at least like 21, and we set up to go back to see her Saturday cuz she seemed like really interested. We got her phone number and texted her to make sure on Saturday and they responded back that "our daughter is 15 and you are NOT allowed to talk to her without permission" so that was interesting. Pretty funny, haha. So nothing panned out, but it's all good. 

Thursday we did some cool service for a member. He's doing the police academy right now, so he needed us to hide around the church and he would come find us. So it was fun, haha. But we also had a cool lesson with the Patterson family. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it went well. We're still working on teaching in unity and committing people, but it's all good. Good lesson. 

Friday we weekly planned and were going to have a lesson with a new investigator, but it didn't work out... it was rough, haha. But, on the bright side, we had pho twice this week for dinner and khob poob this week, so they really took care of us, haha. 

Saturday was good too. Finished weekly planning and what not, studies, good stuff. Had another lesson with that old Hmong lady again. She asked a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation, and I said a joke that literally put her in tears for like 2 minutes. Highlight of my speaking Hmong career, hahaha. Also tried to go see some other people and what not. 

Sunday was a good day. We are helping to reactivate this Hmong family, and they just showed up at church this past week! It was amazing! A miracle, haha. So we're organizing an activity this week for all of the kids to become friends so they will keep coming to church. Also, met a cool guy from Arkansas. Other than that... nothing too much this week. Good week, kind of just trying to keep on keeping on, haha. Love you guys!

Also, right now we're at buffalo wild wings with the zone, so that is fun. 

Love, Elder McArthur 

NYOB ZOO TSEV NEEG

APRIL 23, 2018

Hope you all are doing well and what not. Good job Anna and Nat on the Ninja competition!! You both did so good, and I got to watch the video! Good job!! And Sarah, your posters are looking great! Are the elections soon? Good luck!

This past week was another good week. I feel like every week is pretty much the same and like I'm just stuck in this cycle. It's like I'm living the same day/ week over and over again, haha. Five transfers in one place is a long time... transfers are a week from tomorrow, but we will still be right here! But on the bright side, we will get some new faces in the district, and that will be a change I guess. This past week was actually pretty good though. Tuesday we had the 5 week training thing up at Gridley with the other 3 training companionships. It was tons of fun, and I learned a lot! Like every time I get to listen to Pres. Ward talk, I learn so much. We are pretty similar, except he is a lot wiser and older and cooler, haha. He only has 4 sisters, no brothers I think. He said the first person he trained on his mission was better at speaking Italian than he was, and Pres. Ward did really good in school but then there were these other guys learning a lot faster than he was and it was hard for him to learn Italian, and I'm just like "wow, I feel like that's me, minus a sister and Hmong instead of Italian, haha." 

Wednesday, we had another district meeting, then we like saw some people. We taught the old Hmong grandma again, and we taught her about the Book of Mormon and so that was cool. She likes reading the Book of Mormon with us, but she doesn't understand it too well. It's not translated very clearly... but it's always cool to teach people in only Hmong. My Hmong is getting better too. I'm feeling more confident... which is good, cuz it's like almost 9 months already, haha.

Thursday and Friday, nothing too memorable happened. We went and saw this one guy named Tub Suav, who is like 30 and a JW and super depressed and doesn't do anything. We talked to him and tried to teach him the restoration, but it was kinda rough and he didn't accept a Book of Mormon. We're going to try a different approach and just befriend him and like give him cookies and stuff. We also did a lot of service on Thursday and Friday. We also taught Juan again. He's not progressing too much... but he had read a little bit of the first chapter of first Nephi, so that's good. It's usually about midweek that I get sad and think "man, I'm out here every day working and nothing is happening" but then Saturday is usually good. This Saturday, we had to finish weekly planning and then we saw Jasmine and Michael, and Michael's sister, Kiana, wants to take the lessons now! So that is exciting! Although it might be some other sisters that would teach her... but still exciting! We also had a lesson with the Xiongs again. They fed us food which was awesome! Mai is so good at making food. But also, we had just had dinner 2 hours ago, and I was already stuffed... that's one thing I've learned as a missionary ... you have to always be prepared to eat more food. Like with Juan, he fed us when we went to his house too. But Saturday was a good day, and it helped me realize "man, this is actually making a difference in some people's lives".

Sunday, we gave talks in the Hmong branch, and holy cow there was like nobody there. There was a funeral for one of the Vang brother's uncles, so like everyone was at that. There was maybe 15 active members there, and then the Xiong family and then a less active family that we have been working with came too!!! So that was like a miracle. The people we had been helping made up like half of the branch yesterday, haha. We talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and I recorded my talk so I could critique myself... it was kind of rough. Speaking Hmong is hard, haha. But I'll see if I can send it to you guys! It was a long talk, haha. But after that, we were doing comp study and we were at the church and there were two people just chilling outside of the institute building across the street, and Elder Vang was like "we need to go talk to them" and I was like "eh, they're not in our area... I don't really want to" but we did anyway and then we gave them a quick tour of the church and referred them over to the sisters. So that was cool. We didn't find any new investigators this week, but we found 2 good referrals, so that was cool. 

The ways we have been finding lately haven't really been working... we've been like knocking doors and what not. So now were going to try something a little different and like take cookies and brownies and stuff to people and try to get appointments set up like that. We'll see if it works. Elder Vang has a lot of different ideas, and I don't ever really wanna just shoot down the creativity, so we're gonna be trying some different things this week. Also this week, we're gonna go on 2 exchanges, so that will be fun. 

So this month, in order to grow my faith in Jesus Christ, I've been reading a lot out of the Bible and learning about what Jesus taught. Holy cow. I love Phau Tshiab (New Testament). It's way good. I was in the end of Matthew, when Jesus is atoning for us and everyone is being super horrible to Him and man, I wish I could describe how I was feeling. Just like so grateful for my Savior. The Spirit really testified to me of Christ as our Savior. I know He is. And you guys probably know too, so that's good, haha.

I don't know if i have anything else... the work has been slow lately. We have got no support from the ward lately too. Like last week, we tried calling and texting our ward mission leader, and never got a hold of him the whole week.... we are supposed to be talking to him every single day and have a meeting once a week to coordinate missionary efforts, and none of that is happening which is frustrating. But this last Sunday we saw him, and he said he is going to have the ward missionaries start teaching the recent converts now so we don't have to, so that will be nice. We will actually be getting some help, haha. We've been watching all these videos on how to do missionary work lately because I've been training Elder Vang, and it made me realize a lot of things we could improve on in working with the ward, so that's good.

Anyway, love you guys! Have a great week!!!

Love,

Elder Muaj Koob

NOJ QAB NUOB ZOO NEJ SAWV DAWS TSEV NEEG OS

APRIL 16, 2018

This past week was actually a pretty good week! No complaints, haha.

Tuesday, we had 2 lessons and did some contacting, and it was a really good day. One of the lessons we taught was to the most kind old Hmong lady ever. She was awesome, haha. We tried to teach the restoration, but I think she didn't understand much... Elder Vang likes to speak really really fast and sometimes he doesn't speak very clearly, so that was tough for her. But we did a lot of practice this week, so hopefully we will do better in the future. She has been reading the Book of Mormon too, but I don't think she knows what it is, haha.

Wednesday, we had a few lessons too, and we were able to get a less active Hmong lady a new couch! So that was really cool. We also taught a family the Plan of Salvation, and they really liked it. We're hoping to invite them to be baptized next lesson, but they aren't really able to come to church because the husband works every weekend... it's kinda tough.

Thursday was awesome. We had zone conference in Gridley. I got to see a lot of my friends which was fun. Also saw Elder Gunsay and the other newer elder, Elder Kelsey. It was fun. We had 2 guys from Salt Lake come and talk to us about planning and missionary work, holy cow I learned so much. I've been planning wrong my whole mission, haha. But it's ok, that's why we have repentance. So that was pretty much all of Thursday. It was lots of fun and very edifying.

Friday, we weekly planned and did service and went to district meeting and that was the whole day. Weekly planning took a lot longer cuz we were trying to plan right, haha, but its good because now we have a goal for everyone. Also, Friday night Elder Vang and I really wanted to go to Elkins, the only burger place in Wheatland, but then we thought "lets just do it ourselves" so we grilled burgers on the panini maker and fried up some potatoes and it was a good time.

Saturday was a crazy day. The branch had a breakfast at the church, so we got up early and went to that. So much food. There was only like 15 people there, but so much good food. Best breakfast burrito I've ever had, and it was made by a Hmong guy. They're all just so good at cooking. But we did all 4 hours of our studies at the church, and ate breakfast and lunch and dinner at the church. It was rough. But we found a new investigator and had an awesome lesson with the Xiong family again, so that was awesome. Saturday I was really feeling pretty down, cuz I felt like we really hadn't been helping anyone... like I had been thinking "man, am I actually helping anyone in their life, or am I just inviting them to do stuff they don't want to do?" and then we saw the Xiong family and they just talked about how great the gospel was for them and it made me feel better. God is aware of us.

Sunday we went to the Hmong branch for the whole time cuz the Xiong family came. Kennith and Carissa don't really like going to church, so we tried to make it fun for them. I love Kennith so much, he's such a cool kid. But we were supposed to like have mcm that morning, but the ward mission leader forgot again and we are just getting like no support for the missionary work from the ward leaders, which is pretty tough but we're making it work. Sunday we didn't think we would have much time, but we ended up having some extra time and had a goal to find a new investigator and had been working really hard, and then we finally found a guy! It was way cool! God provides a way for us when we work hard.

Lately, I've been studying the Bible a lot, trying to learn a lot more about Christ's life, and its been awesome. But the other day I just had the thought "I need to read what Joseph Smith wrote when he was in liberty jail" so i did and man it really hit home with me. Good stuff. This verse was one of my favorites:

7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

I love that cuz I think a lot of times in our life, we have our own liberty jails. President Ward says everyone has a liberty jail transfer, and I think that's so true. But just like the Lord promised Joseph, all these things shall give us experience for our eternal good!! 

Hlub nej sawv daws,
Elder Muaj Koob 

 The branch (we had a missionary who served here 20 years ago come visit, it was awesome. like me 20 years from now)

 Made some good food

Hmong elders 

Posterity picture (my son, me, my dad, haha)

RAU SIAB

APRIL 9, 2018

Nyob zoo family!

Things are still going well out here. The work has been slow, but we have seen some pretty cool miracles and tej yam li ntawd. (things like that)
Tuesday: We tried a ton of contacts, some worked out and people were home, others weren't. Miracle though, last week we finally found Maribell and set up a lesson for Tuesday night! We got a member and we showed up at 7 and there was a note that said "sorry church people, I had to leave, maybe some other time"... So we're probably gonna drop her now, but it was fun having her on date for like a month.

Wednesday: We had interviews with President Ward, It was awesome. Also, we got smartphones! They are actually pretty nice, they're Samsung. We have zone conference this Thursday, and they will be activated then. Exciting stuff! Something really crazy that happened this past week: we had 2 missionaries from our zone go home. Maybe you have heard about Elder Moon. He had been having back problems for the past like couple months and then got sick and then last Sunday ended up in the ghetto hospital in Marysville, and they found out he has a 6-inch tumor above his heart. It was so sad. I love that guy so much. He was the zone leader for the past 2 transfers, and I went on an exchange with him, and he is awesome. Luckily, they were able to work it out so he is up at the Huntsman's center place in SLC, and he is with his family and getting the treatment he needs. Crazy stuff though. Saturday night, before he went to the hospital, he had Elder Vang and I give him a blessing, which was pretty cool. But sad stuff. Also, Sister Weeks, who I sat next to on the plane coming out here, went home to get her gall bladder taken out. So crazy week as far as that goes.

But anyway, interviews. President Ward is like amazing. Like if there was campaigning to be the prophet, he would have my vote, (no offense to President Nelson, he's obviously better). But like, seriously, Pres. Ward just always understands my needs and knows like just what to say. He basically told me I need to have more faith. He was like "this isn't a chastisement, but you need to have more faith." Wow. He was like so right. And what's super cool on top of that, this month I had already decided to start studying faith! God is good. He has a plan! He also said something pretty profound when I said the work was going really slow, he was like "yeah, Heavenly Father isn't going to test Elder Vang through the language, he already knows it. What did you expect?" And I was like wow, you're so right. So anyway, lots of good stuff, and I'm trying to have more faith.

Thursday, we did service for Sister Femling and pulled weeds. I felt like I was back at the RV park, haha. Tried to contact some people, it went alright. We had dinner with President Sai. He gave us a ton of good advice on how to do the Hmong work and we were super pumped.

Friday was weekly planning and what not. I'm gonna stop putting everything and just write the highlights now.

Saturday, we went out to eat with some members and there were TV's playing in the background like right next to the member's head, so distracting and it showed the trailer for the new Avengers movie and Elder Vang and I just totally zoned out of the conversation, and it was like one of the saddest things. You all have to go see that movie for me, haha.

But on the real though, we did see a few miracles. Saturday we found a Hmong lady and she was like really sad and lonely and we couldn't come in cuz she is a single sister, but she said we could come back, so we leave and Elder Vang is like "we need to give her a bag of goodies and go back." So we looked through the truck, got some stuff, went back and gave it to her and then shared a BoM with her and she started crying and it was awesome, I love her.

Yesterday we got invited to go to this Hmong wedding, and holy cow did I feel out of
place. Just picture like 100 Hmong people all together at this one persons house and soooooooo much food, and I am literally the only white person there, and we are all dressed up and everyone was staring at us, and they are all from this other Hmong church, but the lady in charge invited us and we didn't have a dinner so we went and just tried to talk to people, and this was awesome. We sit right down next to this senior in high school and get talking to him. He was way cool and he invited us to come play volleyball with him and his friends. Best part is, they are playing today!! So we're gonna go play volleyball with a bunch of high school Hmong kids, and it's gonna be awesome and hopefully we will be able to share the gospel with them! I don't have time to explain the string of events that will lead to this, but it's crazy. Like if God's hand is not in my life as a missionary, then I don't know what's going on, haha.

I think that's most of it. I'm feeling a lot more confident with Hmong. It is getting a lot easier and me and Elder Vang are doing a ton of SYL. I feel super Hmong, haha. It's a good time though. I am really growing to love the Hmong people. They are pretty much always super nice, way nicer than white Californians, haha.

I would invite you guys to go back and read Pres. Nelsons talk about revelation. It is so good! I'm really trying to seek more revelation, and I feel like I've had the Holy Ghost more. Life is good!!

Love you guys, have a great week!
Love,
Elder Muaj Koob

We made that pizza you sent, thanks mom

ANOTHER WEEK

APRIL 2, 2018

Hey family! Hope you guys are all doing well! Sounds like everyone had a good Easter. I'm glad to hear that! This was one of the tougher weeks as far as the work goes, but conference was awesome! Tons of great talks that really applied to me and our investigators. But before talking about conference, here's what we did. 

Tuesday: We had a lesson with Michael and Jasmine that went well. We also were able to meet with Juan and his family, who we thought had dropped us last week. Basically he just can't get work off on Sundays and so he wasn't wanting to meet with us cuz he knew he couldn't make it to church, but he was still willing to read the Book of Mormon so we'll keep helping him. Mostly just tried to contact some more people. 

Wednesday: district meeting, it was good. We were able to give a Book of Mormon to a Hmong guy and he said he'd read it, so that was cool. We're gonna try and go back and see him. The coolest thing though was we didn't have a dinner on Wednesday and so we're coming back to Wheatland, it was around 7, and Elder and Sister Cameron (they're the senior couple that is in charge of the apartments. When we got a new washer, they helped us a ton and they are way nice and I love them) called us and said "hey we're in Wheatland, you wanna come to dinner with us?" So that was awesome. It was their anniversary, 48 years since their temple sealing, and they invited us to eat with them. Also, they ended their mission last Friday, which was super sad. But they live in Oroville, so I will still see them a lot when I get transferred up there. That was awesome though that they thought of us and it was like a miracle that it worked out, haha. I love them. 

Thursday: We had a lesson with the Xiongs, talked about general conference it was really cool. We're gonna talk to them next week about baptism. Hopefully, they will feel like they can get baptized now. They're faith has grown a lot. Also, we found a new investigator kinda, so that was cool. We went tracting and someone tried to bash with us, and was like pretty passive aggressive, but we didn't bash, just testified. 

Friday: We weekly planned, then tracted some more and it was rough. Like really rough for Elder Vang's first week in the field as far was tracting goes... just lots of rude people. It made me think of the pioneers, and how all they wanted was just to be able to worship how they wanted and not bother anyone. I'm really grateful for all they did and for Utah. It's the chosen place. 

Saturday we were in general conference and studies literally the entire day. But dang was conference awesome. All the sessions were great! What I thought was really cool was how in the Saturday morning session, there was like 2 or 3 talks about Pres. Nelson, and I was almost like kinda getting sick of it, like c'mon let's talk about something else, but then he made all of these changes and the spirit confirmed to me that he really is God's mouthpiece, and it made me realize the importance of literally everyone testifying of him. If they didn't, people maybe wouldn't have been as ready for him to make those necessary changes. Also, I loved a lot of the talks by the 70s. They did awesome. But also, probably highlight of the day was the priesthood session. It was awesome. I really felt the spirit like so strong when Pres. Nelson had everyone stand up by office in the priesthood, and it was just awesome. 

Sunday was conference too, and a little more tracting. Had a good dinner with some members. Probably some of my favorite talks were the one by Elder Bednar about meekness. I loved that talk. I also really loved Larry Y. Wilson's talk about receiving revelation, and then Pres. Nelson just like totally expounded on that and it was so awesome. I loved how he invited us all to seek more revelation in our lives, because God really does want to tell us what He wants for us. I also loved the talk about how the dudes mom sold her bracelet so that he could become a dentist and how that changed how he studied and worked, and it made me think of all of the sacrifices you guys and others have made for me and to help me be on a mission, so I just want to say thanks and I hope I can always remember that while I'm out here. Also, another favorite talk was Elder Cooks talk. I loved how he talked about the threefold purpose of the church and related that all back to the Kirtland temple and the restoration. That was very enlightening. Oh and Pres. Ballard's talk was awesome. I loved how he talked about even with a mustard seed of faith, we can move the mountains of discouragement in our lives. Oh and the other guy who talked about how we need to move from failure to failure without becoming discouraged or losing motivation. That was really applicable. 

Just so much good stuff from conference. I loved it. I really felt the spirit pretty strong a lot of different times throughout it, which was awesome. I'm so grateful for leaders of the church who can tell of what God wants us to do. 

Love you guys, thanks for all your support! 

Love, Elder McArthur 

I HAVE A SON!!

MARCH 26, 2018

Nyob zoo family!!! Sorry this might be a little shorter, my tablet hasn't been working all day... well, more like all week, haha, and the wifi at our house like stopped working but it is ok, things are still good cuz it started working again. But this past week was awesome!!! Tuesday, I said goodbye to Elder Gunsay, which was pretty sad. I miss him. He's a good guy. But then I went with Elder Bishop, which was a good time. Best 2 day companionship there ever was, haha. We found like 2 new investigators and 2 potentials in 2 days. It was awesome. Then Thursday, Elder Bishop and I headed down south to Antelope and picked up our new companions, and holy cow, I love Elder Vang. So his name is Nephi Vang and he's Hmong and like pretty dang good at Hmong, way better than me. I love him so much. So in mission language, when you train someone, they are your son, so he is my son now, haha. It's lots of fun. We had 2 lessons Thursday night which was a good time. 

Friday was district meeting. Elder Vang got to meet everyone which was fun. Then we went shopping after that cuz he didn't have any food. Elder Vang likes to make stir fry, and he even made me some which was way nice. We had that for lunch today. Way good, but super spicy. Then we had like 1 lesson Friday, not much time cuz we have like an extra hour every day to study now to train him. Saturday was way cool. We had a language training meeting with all of the language missionaries. It was way cool. They mostly just taught us about lesson planning, but they gave us this huge binder to write lesson plans in. Gonna be a super big resource, especially for the language. We had like no time on Saturday though, but we were going to try and contact this Hmong person, but then I got the impression to stop real quick and try this other Hmong couple that Elder Gunsay and I met, and they were home (we haven't caught them home since December), and we had an awesome lesson, and mostly Elder Vang talked which was awesome. They seem like super prepared, and we got their phone number now so that was awesome. 

Sunday was church. Everyone was super excited to meet Elder Vang. The branch especially. They all loved him and he translated the whole time, which made me happy, haha. We also were able to meet a really cool less active Hmong family, the one we went to the birthday party last week, but they said they would come to church!!! So meanless to say that was awesome. And then my gmail got fixed so we are just so blessed. 

I love you guys all so much. This week I was really stressed, but literally every single time I didn't know what to do, I said a prayer and God definitely helped me and Elder Vang. I feel like He really guided us this week. God uses imperfect people to do his work, and I just definitely feel inadequate sometimes, but then I remember that God called me, and when I ask, He will guide me. I am so so so stoked for General Conference this weekend. I love re-listening to conference, and am so excited for some new material. I invite you all to think of a question and take it to conference. You'll receieve a specific answer just for you!! Love you guys!!

Love, Elder Muaj Koob

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

MARCH 19, 2018

Hello family!! This will probably be a pretty quick email today, got a lot to do, but it was a great week!! It rained like every day this week, but the weather is really nice today. But it was a great week. All of our hard work last week paid off for this week, and we were able to find 6 new investigators, it was great! Hence the subject line, haha. 

Tuesday: We went on exchanges. I was with the district leader in his area... it was a rough day. It rained and we basically just hung out at members houses all day, it was rough. I learned a lot though, especially about what I want to be as a missionary, and what I don't want to be, haha. I'm not gonna rant though. He is a good person. 

Wednesday: So Wednesday, I was really hyped to go do some work and just like knock doors, which was weird cuz knocking doors isn't my favorite thing, but it was a great day! We had an awesome lesson with a family we met last week, the Patterson's. We taught the restoration to their whole family, and it was really great!!! We're gonna go back and see them the week after this, and they're way cool. Part member family. Also, Wednesday night, we taught the restoration to a Hmong guy, which was really cool. We've only taught it like 3 times in Hmong so far, so it was really cool. Hopefully he will read the book of Mormon.

Thursday: We did some more good work Thursday, nothing too noteworthy... Had a good dinner with Tong and Lee though.

Friday was mostly just weekly planning, and then we helped an old white guy who goes to the Hmong ward take some stuff to the dump. Also, we went and tried to see some Hmong less actives, but didn't have much success.

Saturday was pretty awesome. On Monday night, we met a new Hmong guy named Nom Choj Vaj, and he told us to come back Saturday morning, so we did, expecting like him and his wife and his like daughter or someone and we would teach them a lesson... They were having a birthday party for his wife, and he has 9 kids and all of them and their families were there, and we came in and he just had us sit down, and we're just surrounded by all these Hmong people, so it was like"ok cool, finding" and we just were talking to all of them and turns out they were sponsored by a Mormon family when they came over, and Nom and his wife were baptized, and a lot of his kids, but they aren't active anymore. We talked to Nom Choj's wife, and she said she really believed in God and was wanting to come back to church, but her husband reverted back to old culture so that was hard, but they said we could come back next week, so stoked for that. Also, they had an entire whole pig they had roasted, and it was pretty good. They literally gave us so much food though. It was crazy. Also, we helped a less active named Julie. We saw her out mowing her lawn, so we stopped and did it for her, even though we were in proselyting clothes. It was fun. Also, we had dinner with the Xiong family. It was awesome! They made such good food. Then about 8:30 that night, I got a call from President Ward informing me that I will be training. Crazy day.. I'm super stoked to train though. The guy is actually Hmong, not just a white guy learning Hmong. So that will be awesome. I'm pretty nervous though.

Sunday we found out what was happening with transfers. Elder Gunsay is going to Oroville, and he will be with the other new elder, and Elder Mcdonald is going to Chico, and we are getting a few new sisters in our district. Sister Eppich is leaving which is sad cuz she has been here since i got here. But after church, we studied and then went and saw people that Elder Gunsay wanted to see before he leaves. It was a great day. 

So I'm pretty stoked to be training, and pretty stoked that Elder Bishop is also training. There's only 4 new missionaries, so this is a pretty neat opportunity. I'm really excited. Feel pretty unprepared and inadequate, but excited.