Nyob zoo nej! Cia siab nej noj qab nyob zoo li qub. This past week was pretty good. Things are going well out here in Oroville, I suppose. I don't know if I have a ton of things to report on, kind of another typical week, but there was a few cool things that happened.
This past Tuesday, I led district council again. It's like a
constant burden that always will just keep coming back, haha, but it's fun. We
didn't have many people to counsel about, so we ended up having a pretty good
discussion, and then we had a few extra minutes so we decided what type of
bender everyone would be. We decided I'd be an Airbender, so that's pretty cool.
I don't remember too much else of what happened on Tuesday, so I guess it's not
too important... However, this was pretty cool. So there's this old guy we go
see, his name is Tshuam Txooj Tsab. He's super old and his back is pretty bad
so he can't do much but sit at home all the time. Normally when we go see him,
there are a lot of distractions, or he will like turn on the TV or something, and it's really hard to have a good conversation, but this past time was really
awesome, no distractions, TV, or anything. I got talking to him, and started
asking him about his life back in Laos. I'll explain a little bit about it,
because in some ways it's similar to many of the Hmong people.
He was born in Laos, in a small village and when he was 3,
his mom died, and then when he was 6, his dad died. He said after that, he just
farmed for himself and his family. In Laos, they don't have it like we do,
where one person will do all the farming and then we can all just buy from him--
they have to farm food for themselves or else they starve. So he just farmed
his whole life growing up, and they would harvest each crop like once a year
and would have to save enough for each year, which is some crazy food storage
and rationing when you think about it. But he explained how they all had to
take care of animals, and they could like sell one of their pigs for enough
clothes for one person only, which is crazy. He also explained about how, when
the Vietnam war broke out, the Hmong people would rescue the American soldiers,
and they had to carry around like this huge ammunition, and it was just crazy.
Well, anyways, after he had explained all of this crazy stuff about how hard
Laos was and how a lot of people he knew had died, I had the feeling like I
needed to share a scripture out of Alma about how when we die we go back to the
God who gave us life. It was really powerful, and I was able to tell him about
Grandma Coburn and testify that we will see those we love again, and that we
can be with them through God. I really felt the Spirit, and it was an awesome
experience.
In other news, we had like no time this past week. We did
some more service for our friend Shue, and we visited lots of people, and then
on Saturday there was a homecoming party for President Chue's daughter, because
she came home from her mission a few weeks ago... when I say homecoming party,
picture a 2 hour program held in the chapel, followed by a wedding-reception
set-up in the cultural hall, complete with ornament decorations, a photo
backdrop, more food than anyone could eat, and a cake. It was crazy. Super awesome.
Sister Chue really went all out, but crazy that they did so much, haha. That
took up like our whole Saturday.
Yesterday was really good though. Good Sabbath. We taught
gospel doctrine, and when I say we, I mean I taught gospel doctrine, cuz unfortunately
my comp is still in the beginning stages of knowing what to say or
understanding anything that people say.... it's a tough time. I remember it
well. But yeah, it was about being a true friend, and then everyone got like
super into the conversation and we had a great discussion on jealousy, haha. They all had good stuff to say about that. All in all, pretty good time.
My time here in Oroville has been really fun, and I've loved
being apart of the branch family here. It's also been hard, because there are
not many people to teach, and finding here is the hardest I've ever had on my
mission... but I really love it here. I think it's because I love the members so
much. They are totally my family out here, and i just really just love them,
holy cow.
Anyways, here's some pictures from the week.
Love you guys!
Love,
Elder Muaj Koob
Some tswv yim from panda.
The cake they made for the party that they sent us home with.
When we went and helped Shue.
Some little baby Thai bananas.
All the food they had at the party.
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