3/7/1991- 3/13/1991

March 7, 1991

Elder Baker is the best! He is coming along pretty well with his hmong. I was surprised at how well he is doing. We went to me Xiong's tonight and told them that he needed practice teaching. He was able to teach the first three principles of the first discussion by himself.

We wrecked our bikes today. I forgot to tell him that we were turning. I turned right and he didn't. I turned right across his path. I got skinned that pretty good, but he he fell on top of me, so it didn't hurt him as much at all. He didn't even get his shirt dirty at all. Neither of our bikes got hurt, so we were lucky that way.

March 8, 1991

Well, today was a really good day. I am definitely tired. We taught three discussions that went really well. We are really looking to baptize Jar Xiong, Me's husband really soon. He is really a good guy, but he is also kind of stubborn. Right now he is scared that all of the bad things that he did during the war make him unworthy for baptism. We will have to go back and see him again tomorrow.

Elder Baker's hmong is coming along really well. The difference in his ability to speak tonight and this morning is like night and day. Today I witnessed a young man struggle for and receive the gift of tongues. It is really going to be fun over the next couple of months to watch him learn how to use his new gift! I am really excited! He is basically been teaching every discussion. His comprehension is very high. He understands about 95% of what is said.

I got quite a few letters in the mail today. I even got one from Todd! The best part was that I got a package from Kristen!

March 9, 1991

I absolutely cannot believe that another week has gone by already. The last four weeks have just flown by! We taught only 14 discussions this week, but that is still more than I had taught my whole mission before one month ago. It really is kind of weird. One month ago teaching 13 discussions in one week was a lot, now 14 seems like not very many. The other problem is that I can honestly say that I don't think any of the families that we are working with progressed very much this week.

Elder Baker's mom improved about 300% again today. I can hardly believe it.

We went to a hmong party today. The clan leader of the Thao's was there. He was baptized a while ago, but is the less active. No one has ever really known why. Today he had me come and sit by him. He introduced me to everyone as his younger brother! That was certainly an honorable way to treat me. I decided to ask him about why he doesn't come to church. He basically told me that the spirits that they had worshipped would not allow him to go to church. It was a complicated story, but his main point was that if he goes to church, the spirits will kill him. He believes that with all that is in him. I think that I will continue to visit him and see if I can get anywhere

March 10, 1991

Church today went really well, but man am I tired! We had more people come to church in Hanford and have ever come before. It was awesome. Days like that really makes me realize that I'm actually accomplishing something. We had about 40 people show up for church, I love those kind of days! It really makes me realize that the Lord is using me as an instrument in his hands. I just have to remember that instrument never gets to decide where the cut is made. It is the surgeon that gets to decide that. I am only the means by which the cut is made. I am learning so much here!

March 11, 1991

As far as the day goes, it was a really good day. We didn't exactly get much time to rest, but that seems to be about par for the course for this companionship. I really like Elder Baker. He works hard. I like to be able to teach hmong to someone who loves the people and loves to teach them the Gospel. Elder Baker and I get along really well because we both try to work the other ones but off. It has really been fun. Pres. Bott is coming down for zone conference tomorrow. I can't wait to hear him speak again.

March 12, 1991

Well, today was a pretty good day, but it was kind of wasted as far as getting missionary work done goes.  We had zone conference from 8:00 a.m until 5:00 p.m.  At that point we tried to work on some things which would help us organize our area and get things done more efficiently.

One thing interesting happened today.  After zone conference, Elder Watson, my old companion, apologized to me for having been such a bucket while we were together.  We President took him out of the Hmong program, it really shocked him and made him step back and think about what he was doing here. I apologized to him for being so hard on him, and I think that we are probably friends now.

Tonight we went and taught a third discussion.  I did not help Elder Baker much 

at all.  It was so hard for me to sit and watch him struggle and not help him.  I am really hoping though that he learned some valuable lessons through his struggle.  It makes me remember when I was struggling  so hard for the language.  It also made me realize how difficult gaining and using the gift of tongues really is.  It is not just a matter of studying and speaking.  It is truly a struggle to learn how to allow the Holy Ghost to flow through you so that you can speak the words which the Holy Ghost prompts you to speak.  I’m sure he’ll do fine, but I hope he doesn’t get too frustrated.

March 13, 1991

It has rained for the whole fetching day!  It actually has not been all that bad.  My feet have been soaking wet all day, but we managed to get quite a bit of teaching done. We were very blessed to have the opportunity to teach four discussions.  Once, while Elder Baker was teaching, I was so touched by the Spirit when I realized that the Lord had truly loosed him tongue to allow him to communicate with the people that he was teaching.