Hey fam, hope everyone's doing well. I was kinda sad to hear about grandma, but I am glad that it was quick and there wasn't a lot of prolonged pain or anything. Wish I could have been there for the funeral... I wore my brain cancer awareness lapel pin to church today for Eric and Sandy. I feel for those guys. Man.
Anyway, things were pretty good this past week. They have
definitely changed a whole lot, holy cow. Change is great though. So Tuesday
and Wednesday, I was with Elder Bradfield doing work up here... and honestly,
not a whole lot to report on. Went up to Paradise for him to go to the doctor's
office and met a cool Korean guy. Had dinner with a cool family. Had a fun
sleepover Monday night with Elder Ellsworth too, before he left. Fun stuff. Took
a lot of work, but we were finally able to find a member who could give us a
ride back up to Oroville from the mission office, because they want us to get
member rides everywhere to like everything. Elders Vang, Bishop, and Hawkes
came and stayed at our apartment on Wednesday night, and then they drove us to the
mission office on Thursday morning.
But, highlight of the week, I got my new son! His name is
Elder Peterson, he's awesome! He is the redhead. It was funny. I just knew that I would get the redhead and that Elder Vang would get the Asian guy, haha. Somehow, I just knew president would put the 2 Asians together. But we were down
there all morning, had some good training where we learned a lot about how to
be a good trainer and whatnot, and then met our companions around lunchtime.
Literally, both Elder Peterson and Elder Buck (my grandson, the guy Elder Vang
is training) are such good guys. I'm so excited to have them here. They both
worked dang hard in the MTC too, and they had a small group up there, so at
least my comp is actually a whole lot better at Hmong than I was when I came
out, haha. But anyway, we got our comps, got some pictures, got his stuff, and
we were off on our way back up to Oroville. It was kind of a long drive. The
member's truck wasn't meant for 4 elders, but I'm grateful we had a ride. It was
fun driving back through Marysville and Olivehurst. 
But anyway, first day we got back and planned, then he had
his first Hmong meal with Tswv Vaj Lauj. He is an awesome member, had some good
food, shared a good spiritual thought and whatnot. After that, we hurried to
the self-reliance class and were there with Thaomee, and that was good. then we
went and introduced him to President Chue, except President Chue was fixing his
car, so we ended up talking to grandpa Chue instead. It was pretty fun. I love
that old guy.
Friday was a longgggg day, we personal studied, then went to
the store so my comp could get food, then set up Facebook for him, then weekly
planned, did comp study for an hour, then additional comp study for an hour (we
have to do a full hour for 6 days a week for training), then a quick dinner, Hmong class, and then back home for language study. Meanless to say, it wasn't
the best first full day in the field, but it had to be done.
Saturday was a pretty good day, but literally like no time
to do anything too. We had district council. That went alright. I'm still district leader, so
it's kind of like a recurring burden every week, but it's okay I guess. After that, we did some studies and had the opportunity to help one of my favorite members in
the branch (well, actually they are all my favorite) work on his house. We
mudded the walls and put texture on them for a good 2 hours. That was fun.
Later that night, we had a really cool branch activity. The Hmong branch and
the Spanish branch got together down in Gridley and had a bunch of Hmong and Mexican food, and played some soccer. It was really fun to go support the
branch and eat some good food. None of the Spanish sisters were willing to eat
the Hmong food with tripe in it though... maybe next time, haha.
Sunday was good, not too many people came to church, but it
was still a good time. We had a few minutes to go finding too. We met one guy who
rejected us but was really nice. All in all, to sum up the time since Thursday,
we have had like no time to do much of anything, and so my comp is like
wanting to just get out there and do a bunch of finding and teaching but we
have had all these things so it's been hard but this next week should be really
good. We should have lots of teaching appointments and lots of time to
find.
In other news, I'm a whole lot more confident in my Hmong
now. It's amazing what happens when you finally get a chance to speak all the
time, and it's like up to you and you don't just have a comp who can save you. I still make lots of mistakes, but it's been nice to see that like I can still
hold a good conversation with people, and I'm not as limited as I may have
thought. So that is exciting. I'm really enjoying learning Hmong again.
As far as a spiritual thought goes... well, yesterday from
personal studies, I studied something cool out of Jesus the Christ. Jesus
teaches us that we should be like unto children in like our character, i.e. humble,
meek, submissive, things like that. However, we should not be childish in our
behavior.... there's a big difference between childish and child-like. Here's a
cool quote from Paul: Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit
in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. I thought that was pretty
cool I guess, haha.
Love you guys. Have a great week!
Elder Muaj Koob
Cinnamon Rolls from Momma Hamblin
These are some of the missionaries I came out with.
They hit their 1 year mark this week.
