WEEKLY EMAIL FOR THE FAM

AUGUST 27, 2018

Nyob zoo family. Hope you're all doing good. This week definitely had its ups and downs. It's like really hard to remember what happened throughout the week... like some stuff is worth sharing, most of what happened is just pretty normal, I don't know.... no super crazy miracles or stories or anything... Wait, here's a good story.

So, backstory: There's this super old frail Hmong man, named Nqaij Yaj. He lives down in Southside (which, to put it nicely, is a much more humble part of town). Last transfer, and a few transfers before that, Elder Gunsay was visiting this guy fairly frequently, and he was getting more and more sick. End of last transfer he dies, and I never got to meet him cuz we were on exchanges the one day he was home. He left a wife at home. OK, back to the story.

Last Monday, maybe Tuesday, can't remember, we go to visit the wife. We've tried to see her for like a whole month now, and every time we try, she's not home. Actually, we went to go see her neighbor, and she just happened to be outside watering her plants. We got talking to her, and these guys show up to fix her house, and she invites us in, and then her neighbor comes over and what ends up happening is her neighbor (who is fluent in Hmong and English) has us translate for these 2 white guys fixing her shower, and we spent the next little bit doing that and talking with the grandma's friend. It was a pretty cool experience. Also, had a pretty good talk with one of the worker guys. So that was really cool to see how that all unfolded and we were able to give some impromptu help, haha. We actually went back to see her last night though and she just talked and talked and talked and wouldn't let us get a word in, so I'm not sure about her... but it was a cool experience, haha. 

Other stuff, let's see.... Saturday we did a ton of service. Mowed the lawn of a member down in Gridley, her name is Momma Hamblin. She watches out for all of us Hmong missionaries even though she is in the Miskas ward. Then after that, we came back and got a call from brother Jae Zae. He wanted us to give him a blessing, and we fixed his roku for his daughter. That was fun. So lots of good service.

Friday we planned a whole ton for Elder MacDonald to go home. He goes to the temple this Thursday, while I stay up here. He had to arrange rides with members though to get down there, and then will come back Friday. So this week will be pretty crazy. There will be a lot going on. Tuesday he has his departing interview with President, and then on Sunday, the branch is planning a little potluck for him. Also Sunday, we will find out about transfers and who will be training the 2 new Hmong elders. Exciting stuff! This is gonna be an exciting week. 

This was a miracle, Mai and Kathy came to church! They are another one of those less-active families who we've been visiting every week since I got here. This was the first time they've come since I've been here! Mai is blind. He probably has the best sense of humor ever, haha. He really doesn't like going out to places or parties or events or anything, but this week his wife brought him to church with her and it was awesome! It's been cool to see how people will just choose to come, cuz we haven't been straight up inviting them to come to church or anything. They seem to not respond well to that. Also, we taught Sunday school again. It went pretty well I think. Taught in 1 Samuel. It's really hard to teach from the Old Testament in Hmong, but it really helps us a lot, so it's a good thing. 

We had Zone Conference. It was fun to see the other missionaries. We wore the ties we had made. Everyone thought they were pretty cool, haha. I had to give a talk about what the sacrament means to me, which was pretty interesting. They have us give it in Hmong, and then our comps will translate. I don't like it very much. I'm not very good at just speaking in Hmong... I feel like I can't really fully express myself yet, but that's ok, it was still a decent talk I guess. 

We committed Thaomee and Yang to live the word of wisdom this past week... so that was good. They've at least given up coffee for the past few days, hopefully they keep it up. We also taught the lady up in Washington some more. She is progressing a little. It's really tough when we teach her though, like we will be trying to talk about a topic and will explain it clearly and then she will just like go off about how God is so good and about how she met the missionaries and how we're like God and how God is just the best and stuff like that.... so not sure how much she is actually understanding, but we're doing our job I think.

Other cool things: I've been studying the Bible a lot lately. Recently finished the book of Luke, and then started John. One thing that stood out to me yesterday was in John 6. The 5,000 people are following Jesus, and He wants to feed them. Jesus asks the disciples what they've got to help all these people, and this is what they reply: 

9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

And then Jesus takes that small offering, which is obviously terribly insufficient, blesses it, and makes it more than enough, so that in the end, they had 12 baskets gathered of the remaining fragments... and everyone had eaten till they were full. I think many times in our lives, we are like this little lad. The task at hand was so much greater than what this little lad could handle with his meager loaves and fish... however, when in the hands of the Master, it was more than what was needed. I think that when God calls us, He knows what we have, and our job is to not try and do everything by ourselves. When we turn everything over to Christ, when we give him our humble offering, He makes it enough. 

Anyways, have a great week, love ya'll.

Elder Muaj Koob 

Huge thaj neeb (shaman altar) of that grandma is Southside

MOSTLY HMONG CULTURE

AUGUST 20, 2018

Nyob zoo family! Things went pretty well this past week. I think every week has its ups and downs, but this past week was good! 

As far as what happened, well, on Tuesday we went on exchanges. I brought Elder Bradfield into my area. It was really fun because Elder Bradfield was one of the elders I came out with. We had a fun day, even though he didn't understand what was going on for some of the appointments, haha.

On Saturday, a prominent member of the branch was having a party. In Hmong culture, they have a ton of parties. Like on Saturdays and Sundays, people typically aren't home because they are at a party. So this older guy in the branch, named Tswv Vaj Lauj, had a party because one of his 7 sons had a son after having 4 girls. In Hmong culture, having a son is a little bit bigger deal than having a daughter, and it's a pretty patriarchal society. So lemme just describe a little about this party, because its pretty typical of many of the Hmong parties I've been to.

It was at the church, and they had a bunch of tables set up, kind of like potluck, haha. Probably like 20 tables, all with nice table cloths and super nice center pieces and what not. There were 3 or 4 long serving tables, and more food that you could ever eat. Like if there was going to be 100 people there, they cooked for like 200. Tons of rice (always in bags, so you can take your own and don't have to scoop), soooo many eggrolls, some Laab (which is ground up meat mixed with cilantro. This Laab had intestines mixed in too, they do that a lot, some zaub (green veggies), and then they had like some other soup stuff. And each dish, they had SOOOOOOOOO much left over. Like we're talking 2 huge serving pans left over of egg rolls. Meanless to say, the branch hooked us up with food for a while, haha. 

So that's just a part of the food. They also had this huge table full of fruit, which I've seen a few times before. Here's a picture of that. And then, to top it off, there was some jello stuff, and a huge cake because it was Tswv Vaj's birthday the other day (which we happened to eat dinner with him that day and he didn't even tell us).

So for parties like this, what happens is everyone comes, and tons of people come, and there's an emcee and we start out with an opening song and prayer. After that, people just talk. Tswv Vaj and his wife talked, then the son and his wife who had the baby that this whole thing was for talked, then their friends from Sacramento talked, then we had a talk from someone from the branch. Following that, a closing song, prayer on the food, and we got eating. All this talking was pretty short, only 30 minutes, typically it's been a lottttt longer, haha.

But that's Hmong parties for ya. I've been to like 4 or so since coming to Oroville. Great way to get in contact with less-active members, they won't come to church but they will come out for parties. It's really cool to see how Hmong people have their parties down to a science, and it's cool to see how they will all come together and make it happen, because it is soooo much work. 

Sunday was a great day. We showed up to church and there was a ton of people! Makes sense though, because they blessed that baby who they had had the party for, haha. But we had a non-member (Choua Xiong) come to church!! She texted us out of the blue on Thursday and said she had work off, she was going to come! We got super excited! She came and brought nieces and nephews and they all had a great time! Also, out of the blue, this less-active dude who we've been going to see every week since I've been here came to church with his wife and kid too!! That was a miracle as well. When I first got here, we were really working hard and inviting him a ton to come to church, and he just kept giving us excuses. These past few weeks, we've just gone and talked to him, and shared a little message. At first, his wife started coming back for a few weeks, and then he finally came back on his own this past week!!! So that was a miracle, especially to see that for him, we just needed to kind of back up and stop inviting, but let him make the decision for himself. I wish it worked like that for everyone, haha. 

Sunday, we also got to go with a member to dedicate his house. I love the branch here. They are all so close, and as missionaries we are like a part of the branch family. The work might not be super popping, but the branch is so awesome. They have their disagreements, but it is so cool to see them come together and make awesome stuff happen. It's like Zion!

In studies this past week, I read Ether 12, and the thing that stood out to me was that the Lord gives us weaknesses for a reason. I've kinda struggled being myself in Hmong, and like teaching and everything... but the Lord has given me this weakness to humble me, and by being humbled and relying on the Lord, my weakness can become my strength!

I love you guys, I love the branch, I love Hmong people, and I love being a missionary! Have a great week!!

Love, Elder Muaj Koob  

We did a quick photo shoot for the Hmong class this past week, and it was actually poppin. We had like 9 people there!

PRESIDENT OAKS' VISIT

AUGUST 13, 2018

This past week went by pretty dang quick. The time is just flying by out here it seems like. We worked hard this past week, but not a whole ton of progress from the people we're working with. The two most promising people we have for baptism aren't able to ever come to church because they work... but this past week we found out about a self-reliance class that is taught by the stake on Thursday nights. They already did it once in the Auburn stake, and everyone who took it either got a promotion or a better job. So we told Thaomee and Yang and Choua about that, hopefully they will come and by the end be more empowered to get better jobs so they can come to church!

We also worked a whole lot with the less-actives this past week. We had one committed to coming to church, Bee, but then he didn't. Even had a ride for him and everything. Another person we're teaching said she would come if she is available, but she wasn't at church... I guess she wasn't available, haha. One of the people we went to see, his wife came to church again though! She came last week too, and hadn't been to church the whole time I've been here, so that was pretty cool. 

Went on an exchange with the zone leaders this past week. It was really a good experience. I took over the area for the day, which I was kind of nervous about, because we had a few lessons and a dinner appointment with people that don't really speak English very good at all. Meanless to say, the day before I was kind of doubting my abilities to speak Hmong, and so I decided that I would go to their English area for the day... but, God had different plans, haha. We taught a lesson through Facebook to someone in Washington, and we had a member there to Skype in with us, and it was really great! The lady has been coming to church and wants to be baptized probably like next month! So that is super exciting. Dinner was awesome too. I was really able to communicate and it really built my confidence that I actually can speak Hmong well enough, even if Elder MacDonald is better than me and talks all the time. For dinner too, we had fish. They basically just took a whole fish and deep fried it, and then put in on our plates. We just ripped it apart with our hands. They took off the head this time though, so that was pretty nice of them. 

Every year, all the Hmong people in the branches around here get together and go camping. It's called Zions Camp. That was this past week. It was out of our area, so we didn't go to it, but it was in Yuba's area, so they went, and then the elders in Chico decided to just go too, so like we were the only elders that didn't go and the branch gave us a really hard time about it yesterday... which is funny, we were being obedient by not going. We told them we didn't go cuz we had work to do, haha. They respected that. 

Yesterday also was probably the highlight of the week, probably month, maybe even year. The first counselor in the first presidency came and visited our mission! The conference was just down in Gridley, and it was from 5-7, but we got there at like 3. It was really fun to see all the other missionaries from the north half of the mission. We took a picture with President Oaks, and then after that we all got to shake his hand, and then the meeting started. President and Sister Ward spoke for a few minutes, then Sister Oaks spoke. I really liked what she said. One thing that stuck out to me was she said that "When Pres. Oaks speaks somewhere, it's because that's where Jesus Christ wants him to be speaking, not because his daughter and son in law are running the mission." 

But President Oaks was awesome. He started off with like 3 things that he told us the Spirit prompted him to talk about with us. So that was way cool. I'm just gonna send a picture of my personal notes, cuz I don't want to retype everything he talked about. But basically my biggest takeaway was that President Oaks really is Christ's Apostle. That's probably what the Spirit testified the strongest of to me. 

Other things, we bought some fabric this past week and are going to sew some ties today for pday. And this morning I finished the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon so much. I think I've read it every day this year. I don't know. Maybe I've missed a day or 2, but I've strived for every day. It truly is God's word. 

I love you guys!

Love, 

Elder Muaj Koob

1 YEAR LAUJ, HMONG CONFERENCE LAUJ, TATTOOINE LAUJ

AUGUST 6, 2018

Nyob zoo tsev neeg uas kuv hlub es!

I learned a lot this past week. There were a lot of big things going on this past week too, and a lot of things going on that kept us from doing a ton of work. Still overall a pretty good week though, one I won't soon forget. Highlights of the week:

Hmong Conference - We had Hmong conference on Saturday, and we've been preparing for it for the past forever. It was a pretty huge event. There was close to like probably 300 Hmong people there from Linda, Oroville, Chico, Sacramento, Stockton, Fairfield, and Fresno. It was down in Yuba City, which is one of the smaller venues. Usually they have a lot bigger turn out I hear. But it was awesome. If I had to describe what it is, I would say that it is was like a big Hmong church party. From 9-12 we had speakers and testimonies given. Pres. Ward spoke. It was cool. After that we had lunch, and Elder MacDonald and I got to help serve the food. Lunch consisted of some green vegetables, some hot noodles mixed with vegetables, pork, chicken drumsticks, egg rolls, and this good Hmong drink called nava. I served the noodles, and the lady in charge gave me this huge glove and told me to hand serve it. It was pretty funny, haha. During lunch, we talked to people, and the young kids did a few traditional dances. It was really cool. Then after lunch we had some group lectures. It was alright. Then at 3:00, they broke off and the kids changed out of their Sunday clothes and into play clothes and had a good time playing games. For example, we had chopsticks and we had to take gummy bears as a team from one side of the gym to the other. It was pretty fun, and my team won, haha. We didn't stay for too long though, cuz they were having a dance that night that we didn't need to go to, haha.

Probably the best part of Hmong conference was seeing all of the people who I love down in Linda. I was able to see all of my friends who are members, and Pheng and Mai came and I was able to talk to them a ton. I love those guys. Things are still kind of moving towards baptism for them, but it's going a little slow. There were lots of good talks about preaching the gospel and being a missionary as well. There were returned missionaries who came as well, like Elder Taylor and Elder Lewis, who left after I finished training. But probably the biggest takeaway for me came from the bishop of the Fresno ward. He spoke for a few minutes about when a missionary reported on his mission. He reported all these things to the stake people, and then someone asked him what the best conversion story from his mission was. The missionary answered and said that it was himself. His own conversion to the gospel was the greatest thing to see on his mission. So lets hold onto that thought and go to some other highlights.

Bee's birthday - So we've been working with this less-active named Bee, and his birthday was on Wednesday. So on Tuesday, we made some dang good cookie brownies, and then dropped them off to him on Wednesday. He was really appreciative. It was the only celebration or anything that he had going on for his birthday... his family doesn't really seem like they care about him that much. 

Interviews - We had interviews this past week. It went pretty well. I learned some stuff, and Sister Ward said my district meeting went well. Also, they said they know Grandma and Grandpa McArthur from serving in Nauvoo. So that's pretty cool. 

Angel Wings - Yesterday for dinner, we had angel wings. It was a great day. Angel wings are chicken wings that are stuffed with noodles and the stuff Hmong people put into egg rolls. It was amazing. 

1 Year Mark: Thursday, I hit a year as a missionary. Thanks so much family for the packages and the cards and all the food and everything. I love you guys so much, thanks for all the support too. It was pretty much a normal day other than that. Earlier in the week, Thaomee, who we had been teaching, dropped her date for baptism because she can't come to church because she is always working. It was pretty sad. But it was really cool to hit a year on a mission.

Going back to that earlier thought, I think one of my coolest conversion stories has been my own. I have helped a few of God's elect become converted, but I have seen my own testimony and conviction of the gospel deepen and strengthen.  That has probably been one of the things I've been most grateful for this past year. I've been able to truly live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that following Christ's Gospel is how we will receive forgiveness and how we will be spotless in the day of judgement. I have come to truly know that the Book of Mormon truly contains Jesus Christ's Gospel, more plainly than any other book; I am so grateful for it. I truly believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ; every time I read or recite the first vision, the Spirit is so strong and testifies of the reality of those words. This truly is Christ's church, and I'm so grateful to be a member of it. 

I love you guys so much. Thanks for all of your love and support that has got me through this past year of my life! I'm beyond excited to see what this next year has in store. 

Other news I forgot to include: It's been super smoky like all week, and so the sun has looked super red, and I've felt like I've been living on Tattooine, haha. Went to the doctors office. He prescribed me some cream, so when you see a 14 dollar charge on your card, that's what it was, haha. 

Love,

Elder Muaj Koob

Right now, these are all the pics I've got, but I know a lot of people took pics at Hmong conference so hopefully I'll get those sometime.

WEEKLY EMAIL FOR THE FAM

JULY 30, 2018

Hey fam! Things are good out here. I'm all safe from the fires so that's good. They evacuated 10 missionaries, but I'm not really very close to what's happening up there. It has been super smoky though. 

This past week was pretty good. Tuesday we had transfers. It was sad to see Elder Gunsay leave. Elder Vang came through Oroville on his way up to Chico, so it was fun to see him again for a few minutes. 

So a week from last Saturday, Elder Gunsay and I were sitting home, it's about 9:15 at night, and we get a call from someone in Washington. We answer it, and it's the mission president up there. I'm talking to him, and I don't know if I told you but way back when I first got here, we were doing skype lessons with some sisters up in Washington, teaching a Hmong girl. So the president asked about that, and I thought like "man, are we in trouble or something?" cuz like they were sisters, but we followed the rules... turns out, they needed our help again. Two elders found a Hmong couple who actually went to church, but don't really understand English. Tuesday we met them, and Thursday we had our first lesson and put the wife on date for baptism. It was pretty awesome! It's so cool to see all the work that can be done with technology, cuz otherwise she's like not going to understand anything the elders try to teach up there. So that's pretty exciting. 

Wednesday morning, we had a lesson with Shane (ntxoov oos), the guy who was progressing and reading the Book of Mormon... or so I thought. We get in there, and the first thing he says to us is "this might be kinda greedy of me, but I want this to be the last meeting." After that, we did our best to save it... but he didn't really want us to come back. He didn't really give us a very good reason either, just felt like he wanted to find things for himself I guess. So that was pretty disappointing. I was pretty sad, cuz like we don't have many investigators at all... and even less that actually keep commitments, so to have him drop us was pretty sad for me at least. Had district council and whatnot after that. 

Thursday we were supposed to have a lesson with Thaomee, the person who is on date.... but that fell-through again. But we set up to meet with them next week. Honestly, the work was just pretty slow this past week. We haven't had anyone to church this whole transfer, and haven't found too many solid new people to teach. Elder MacDonald really likes to work with the less-actives, so we did a lot of that, and actually had like the wife of one of the guys we went to see come to church, so that was awesome. But anyway, all in all the work has been really kinda slow, which prompted my study this past week.

So I studied a ton more about faith, and miracles, cuz like, I always hear from other missionaries, like "wow, this was a week of miracles" or like "we had all of this happen, it was a miracle." So I figured I had to find out what a miracle is, and according to a talk from Oct. 2017, a miracle is a beneficial event brought about through a power that mortals don't understand. In this talk (titled Has the day of miracles ceased, it's a great one) the guy talks about this awesome miracle where this guy fell off of Mt. Shasta (which, fun side note, is in my mission. I'll never see it, but it's here) and broke like everything in his body and a succession of miracles led to him making a full recovery when the doctors thought he should be dead. By all meanings of the word, it was a miracle.

However, the general authority says he visited the family of the guy who had that miracle, and he realized that they had the faith sufficient that, even if he would have passed away, they still would have been just as solid as before; nothing was going to shake their faith. I love that so much. Despite the outcome of what happened, they would have still have had faith in Jesus Christ and His Gospel, just like before. And that's what brings about miracles, faith in Jesus Christ. He then talks about all the times that miracles don't happen, and how we are to still have faith just as strong as ever through those times. Goes really well with the talk I wrote about last week, "But if not...". 

When I think about my mission so far, I have seen a lot of miracles. Not so much in the form of vast numbers of people coming to be baptized, like in some instances in the Book of Mormon, but small miracles. Miracles like being in the right place at the right time to talk to someone who needs to talk to us, even if I don't ever see anything come from it. Miracles like hearing the perfect fellowshipper testify of truth to a family. Miracles where I really don't know what to say, but then something comes, in halfway understandable Hmong, nonetheless. And ya know, talking about this past week... I don't know if there were any big miracles.... but I know in whom I trusted. My faith is in Christ, and I know that I will see miracles as I continue to put my faith in Christ. I know that's true for everyone, not just people learning the gospel and missionaries. 

I love you guys. Thanks for all of the support you have given me to get me out here on the mission. I still have a lot to learn and a lot more changing to do, but I feel like I'm slowly becoming a better person. Trying to change my nature, not just my behavior. Hlub nej kawg siab kawg ntsws

Elder Muaj Koob

TRANSFERS AND WHATNOT

JULY 23, 2018

Hey fam! Elder Gunsay is being transferred. I'm gonna be with Elder MacDonald for his last transfer before he dies. So that will be fun. This past week was good. Not a whole lot happening with the work; there's still good stuff, but just not a ton... but that's ok, we're working hard.

Friday, we went and got ice cream donuts for comp inventory. Figured it was a good way to end the transfer, haha. But anyways, highlights of the week: we had a good lesson with one of the people we're working with, Cua. She isn't progressing much, so we had a good talk with her about baptism and why she wanted to be baptized. she didn't really give us a good reason haha... so we're working on that. Also, we had another lesson with Shane, which was good because it had been a while since we've been able to contact him. Turns out, he wasn't avoiding us. his phone just wasn't working, haha. We met with a lot of members this past week to help them get excited about Hmong conference and to help them invite their friends. 

Saturday morning was pretty interesting. we were invited by our branch president to go to this graduation party thing. It's for all of the people who are in the Hmong clan Tswb, or Chue, but we still got the invite. They celebrated people who graduated 8th grade, high school, and college. Basically, people talked for like 2 hours and then we ate some food after. There was a ton of Hmong people there. Pretty typical Hmong party. I think Pres. just likes having a church influence there. Its pretty fun though. 

I really don't know what else happened. Saturday, we went really hard trying to contact the less-actives, but nobody was answering. We knocked doors all around town for most of the day, and finally, when we had a member with us, after 2 tries, we got in a door and had a talk with a less active. Definitely a miracle, even though they didn't come to church or anything. 

Listened to an awesome talk this past week. I don't remember what it was called, but it talks about Christ's Atonement. I loved it a whole lot cuz it applies to me a lot right now. Never mind I just found it. Its called "But If Not". It's so good. It talks about having faith even if we don't see results, or if we don't see miracles. I love it a whole lot, because like in the scriptures there are all these promises: "the field is white", "ask it shall be given you", and so forth. And I honestly, with all my heart, believe these promises.... but some of them haven't been seen in abundance for a large part of my mission. But even though I haven't seen these huge miracles... "but if not", if these things don't happen like I would want, I still have faith. I still trust in God, despite my inability to see His plan. I really enjoyed that this week. Anyway, love you guys!

Got a new Hmong tie, so that was a great day.

Here's a picture of my friend Txuj, he's awesome.

 Love this little guy.

ANOTHER WEEK

JULY 16, 2018

Hey family, glad you guys made it to Florida safe. Looks like a good time. Wish I could have a fun vacation, haha. But I'm having a good time here. This past week, we didn't get very much done... it was a pretty crazy week, lots of stuff happened but it was still good. 

So Monday was cool cuz after preparation day we found a new Hmong person to teach! She was a really old grandma who was really happy to talk to us. She told us all about her hardships and it was sad hearing that. 

Tuesday we saw some people, and then decided we needed to get a post out about Oroville Hmong reading class. So we made that video, and it actually took a lot longer than we planned on... but it was good cuz it reached like 3k people and got mostly good feedback!

Wednesday was zone conference. It was pretty fun to see everyone. We learned some more about working with members and helping people recognize the Holy Ghost. What was funny, so for lunch at ZC we had salad, lasagna, and bread. And then dinner, we had it with an English family that does our laundry, and Elder Bishop and his comp were there too and we had the exact same thing for dinner, hahaha. It was really funny. They're like "do you want seconds?" And I'm like looks like "Elder Bishop's ready for seconds" and they just gave us so much lasagna, hahaha. I'd be good to not have lasagna again for a few months  

Thursday, we had a ton planned and we taught Thaomee and Yang again, the one who is on date for baptism. Things are progressing for them, although they still haven't been able to come to church yet. We had a good district meeting too. At zone conference we talked a lot about how to have better district meetings. So about mid afternoon Thursday, we're halfway through personal study and then we get a call from a member saying that one of the older guys in the branch is in the hospital. We go there, gave him a blessing, and then get to work on a service project for another member of the branch who is less active. It was cool to see the whole branch come together. What had happened was the one who went to the hospital was working on this service project for this family when he like kinda collapsed and was in bad shape. Apparently it was heart problems he's had for a while, and he ended up getting a heart bypass... crazy stuff.

Friday, we weekly planned and taught Hmong class. Had like 4 or 5 kids there, it went well. Really not that much to say about Friday.

Saturday, revenge of the maggots. They came back, and they hit hard this time haha. I was about 10 minutes into a good workout when I realize I just about stepped on a maggot, and we go look at by the kitchen and there was probably like 100+ maggots just everywhere. So that ate up our whole morning as we cleaned out the vacuum that hasn't been good in ages, and then vacuumed up all the maggots. It's kinda gross, but the thing that makes me the most sad is how much time it took up. It ate out a huge chunk of our day and schedule. Meanless to say, we've been killing all the flies since then. Saturday night we didn't have dinner, so I'm making a panini, and it was actually pretty dang good... but then later the next morning, about 4 am, I woke up and the panini came back up, haha. I was puking on and off from like 4am-9am yesterday, catching some sleep in between. It was no fun. We just pretty much took the whole day off, had to miss church and just laid in bed all day. What was awesome though was that we like texted Pres. Chue just to let him know we wouldn't make it to church, and he says "my wife can fix that" and within 20 minutes Sister Chue is over with some medicine and instructions on what to do and I was feeling a whole lot better. She's been like texting me a bunch too, seeing how I'm doing. She has taken such good care of me. She's a great mission Hmong mom, haha. 

I don't know if I have much else to talk about... this was a cool miracle though. 2 weeks ago we were able to do some service for a member and he took us to a pho restaurant, and there was a guy there who was a worker who I just kinda observed as we ate. I thought maybe we should talk to him, but he was just white and by himself so I was just like eh, it's all good. We left the restaurant, didn't think anything of it until Thursday, we go to the church the first time to get ready for district meeting, and I realized I forgot my notes, so we quickly go home, grab the notes, come back and there's this guy looking in the window of the church. We get out of the car, he starts walking away, so we start talking to him. Turns out he's the same guy from the restaurant and we had an awesome conversation with him! Gave him a pamphlet, and it was cool. Maybe nothing will come from it, but it was good. The Lord is in the small details of our lives.

Love you guys!

Love, Elder Muaj Koob

The Hmong Elders

Free slurpee day! Thaomee and Yang work there so it was cool, haha.