Elder Ira Conner McArthur: A WEEK IN GRIDLEY

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

Nyob zoo nyob zoo. Hope everybody is doing well. Thanks for all the emails and videos and stuff. I'm excited for Mckay. Looks like the wedding was a fun time. I'm sad I missed it... hopefully I don't miss any more weddings, haha. And dad, good job on the law of chastity talk. I listened to the whole thing last night with Elder Peterson. You did a great job, haha.

Here's an update on my week: So we were down in Gridley literally the entire week. On Wednesday, they decided we could start going back up to Oroville and Chico, but, for safety precautions i guess, we had to sleep down in Gridley. So basically, it was like the best of both worlds. We got to do some work in Oroville, and we still got to hang out with the other Hmong elders. We did a ton of service this week though. We had like 2 multi-zone service projects. On Wednesday, we went to the local evacuation center and sorted clothes and boxed them up and moved stuff back and forth for like half the day. It was awesome to be able to get out there and serve. Then Saturday, we had another cool opportunity. Church headquarters shipped out a ton of food to a warehouse in Oroville, so that morning all the missionaries and like 300 members/nonmembers gathered together, and we all worked together to make 5000 food kits to give to all the evacuated people.

Honestly, it was pretty cool to be there and be able to serve with all the members. The thought that just kept occurring to me was that this is what Zion is like, everyone working together and getting stuff done and helping people who really need it. It was awesome. And plus, I think Elder Richins and I were the fastest box tapers there, so catch us in the 2020 Olympics, haha. It was also pretty cool cuz we got to wear the yellow helping hands vests, and I think they made a pretty cool article about it on the church's newsroom, so go check that out for more info on what happened.

Yesterday was kind of cool. All of the Oroville wards and the Hmong branch met together at 9 and had a special sacrament meeting. That was kind of cool. Also, we were able to give a blessing to grandpa Chue after church, and Elder Peterson gave his first blessing in Hmong, so that was cool.

Pang is still progressing, something crazy happened this past week. So like his big need is that he doesn't have a car and doesn't have much money and not the best living situations, and there's not too much we can do to help with that, but this week in the mail there was like a car dealership doing a competition where if you get a paper with a scratch and win thing that like matches one of the winning numbers, then you win at least 500 bucks, or at most 20,000 dollars or a new car. So we show up to teach him on Thursday, and he shows us this paper and his number matched one of the winning numbers. We were so surprised. He said he had got 5 others too, but they didn't match up, so apparently it was legit. Our branch president is driving him up to Chico today, so we will see if he actually won anything cool, but he may have like won the lottery from that.... God works in mysterious ways, haha.

Also, Chee, up in Washington, is doing well. We had a good lesson with her on Saturday night. The sisters skyped us in, and Chee said she had talked to here kids and they said they would want to go to church with her, they just had to arrange their work schedules, so hopefully some more good missionary work comes out of that. Also, the Vang family that we found in Biggs, we haven't been able to meet with all week just because they are so busy, but luckily we are having a lesson tonight, so hopefully that will go well. I'm excited for that.

As far as my breathing goes... well, lets just say it hasn't been the best. I've been using my inhaler 2-4 times per day. Luckily I still have like 100 puffs left. I called the mission nurse about it. She was wanting me to go see a doctor, but I was like "I have prednisone, can I just use that?" but she said no. Pretty much, she wants me to get back on Asthmanex, so how can I get some more of that? Can you like send it in to a pharmacy here in Gridley? If you can and they can fulfill it today, then CVS pharmacy is a good one, but I did better over the weekend, only used it like once yesterday I think. So I think with Asthmanex again, I will be just fine. I was kind of frustrated she didn't let me use the prednisone though, she just told me to do a nasal rinse...

We got the call today saying we can go back up to Oroville now to stay, so that will be good. The smoke is still kind of bad up there, but a lot better than it was earlier. It was terrible earlier in the week. I have a few pics, but like dang it just looked like super thick fog. Visibility was terrible... except it wasn't fog. It smelled like smoke, and they said on the news being outside without a mask for a few hours was the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes... it was crazy seeing all the people walking around with white n95 masks though. It seemed like the apocolypse up in Oroville.

I don't really remember much else... it has just been really cool seeing the community come together and help all the people who were evacuated. It was fun to be able to help too and to do something about it. Lots of sad stories from people losing everything. We met a few people who used to live in Paradise... sad stuff. But whats cool to know is that you can lose everything, but if you are centered on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you won't be lost. You can rebuild. Even if you don't have anything. You, God and I think that's what a lot of people are holding onto now. It's been crazy to see how people have been humbled too. People are also kinder too us, which is nice, haha. Hopefully lots of good missionary opportunities will come from this.

This week, we have a mission tour tomorrow. Elder Weatherford T. Clayton of the 70 is coming, and then Thursday is thanksgiving. We're still supposed to do work like normal though. Should be a good week. It's the last week of the transfer. I'm gonna try to let Elder Peterson take over a lot of the stuff. I'm really nervous I might get transferred. I don't wanna leave. And I'm worried that president might put the new elder coming in next week here in Oroville with Elder Peterson, and that would be rough because of Hmong... and just like we have so much good going on right now, I would just hate to leave... but, I'll leave it up to the Lord. Hopefully I'll still be here though, haha.

Love you guys! Be grateful for your safety!

Love, Elder Muaj Koob