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!
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