May 3, 1991
Well, I guess I should have expected that if President Bott was going to move me, it would not be to the Garden of Eden. Things here in Stockton right now have been really slow. It has been over a year since there was a hmong convert baptism in this city. I suppose that this should’t surprise me much, but it kind of did. to me, that just means that we are going to have to put our noses to the grindstone and get things going.
My new companion is Elder Nielson. He is from Sandy, Utah and is really a shy sort of a guy. I am going to have to be careful to keep my mouth shut often enough to build up his confidence.
It feels kind of strange to be back in a tough area again. I feel like we just got Fresno going the way that it should be. I am kind of excited to try some new things here and see what happens. I think that I will spend about a week trying to evaluate the area and what is going on so that I can decide better what course of action to take. I’m not sure exactly what to try yet, except for one thing- fasting and prayer. No matter what needs to be done, the only way that it can possibly be accomplished is through the Lord. I’ve got a lot to learn here in Stockton. I hope I can learn quickly the will of the Lord so that I can tryst be an instrument in His hands.
Well, today seems to have gone fairly well. We were able to teach 4 discussions today. That wasn’t too bad considering the fact that the most discussions taught here in the entire week in the last three monte was 7. I am not so sure that we truly helped anyone progress, but we did bare witness. I wish that I could some how bring every person that I talked to to Christ, but I need to remember to be thankful for those talents with which the Lord has blessed me. I found out today that the Hmong people in Stockton live all spread out from one another. i think we probably rode our bikes 30-40 miles today. I am really glad that I have that bike now.
When I got home tonight, the ZoneLeaders had brought up a package from home that arrived from me in Fresno as well as a card from Kristin from a ballon shop in Fresno. I’m not sure what was supposed to be sent with it but the card was all I needed. It was just a quick note to tell me that she was waiting for me and that she loves me. i really need that not today.
Mom sent me some cookies, some shaving stuff, and a t-shirt that says Omaha across the front of it. i really appreciate the support that I get from home. It really helps me to be the very best, that I can be at being the Lord’s servant.
May 4, 1991
Well, we found out at 6:00 am that today was suppose to be P-day. because of the late notice,we had all ready scheduled appointments for all day. We ended up working around our appointments trying to get our wash done, get letters written, and trying to relax a little. It ended up being a very hectic day with little time to relax. The only real success of the day was the commitment for baptism that we got from the wife of one of our members. They said that they would go get a marriage license, and then they are set for baptism. She is not Hmong, but she speaks Hmong. She is actually Thai. She has been taught before, just never baptized. Hopefully she will come through this time.
Her husband used to work as a Domino’s pizza Delivery, about one month ago, some gang walked up to the driver’s window, took 2 pizzas and shot him in the neck. The doctor’s had to do all kinds of stuff to put his neck back together. Today he told us that while he was unconscious, he remembers seeing a light and hundreds of men and women wearing white. He said he was crying and told them that it was not time for him to die. After that, one of the men lay his hands on his head and gave him a blessing, “just like the Elder’s do.” After that, he heard the doctors and nurses talking, but he was still unconscious. He eventually woke up and is still recovering. King of cool, huh?
May 5, 1991
Church today seemed to go fairy well, There were only about 50 people that showed up, if that. Apparently some Hmong man died and everyone had to go to the funeral. Hopefully we will have more people next week. Starting on wednesday, we plan to begin to go through every name on the branch list to see if we can both reactivate members as well as find some referrals. Oh yeah, Napparat, the wife of the man who got shot came to church today with her husband. Neither of them had been to church for several months. In addition to that, they said that the dishwasher that I worked on for about 2 hours yesterday is still working! Maybe it is really fixed.
Tonight was the Priesthood Commemoration fireside broadcast from Salt Lake city. It was really good. I have really been blessed today with being extra close to the Spirit and enjoying the comfort of the peace which the Holy Ghost offers. There is simply nothing better than having the opportunity to sit at the feet of the apostles of the Lord to be instructed. That is the best.
May 7, 1991
Today and yesterday were the days for the 1/2 mission conference in Modesto. I learned so much that it was just incredible. During President Bott’s talk, I also received a great deal of personal revelation that has really helped me to understand who I am. i also realized that there are a great number of things that I need to change in my own life. My prayers need to be more sincere and more constant. My study of the scriptures needs to be far deeper and more concentrated (more like it was when I started my mission). The other major thing that I realized is that my motivation for doing what is right needs to change. My entire life I have done what is right out of fear of being caught or fear of the punishment. In other words, the reason that I have chosen to do what is right was because of my fear of hell. This was not even discussed at the conference, but it was something I was taught by the Spirit. I must learn to do what is right out of my love of Christ and my abhorrence of sin. If I can learn to do that, choosing the right will become far simple.
May 8, 1991
What a bucket day! we were only able to teach one discussion all day long! what a drag. The one discussion that we taught was to Nopparat, and it went really well. She wanted to know all about all kinds of things. It is really fun to be able to teach people that have all kinds of questions. It makes it a little more challenging.
I have been letting my comp plan the days and who to see. I never realized how hard that was. As a result, we have not been making very efficient use of our time. I hope to be bale to tach him how to do a little better while at the same time making better use of our time.
We started to visit all of our members today. It was kind of discouraging. Many of them have gone back to their old customs. The first counselor in the branch presidency recently took his brother’s widow for wife. There is nothing specifically wrong with that except the he already had a wife!
May 9, 1991
Today went quite a bit better than yesterday. We taught Nopparat again as well as teaching See Vang (Txhim Vaj). See is one of the friends of the return missionary in our branch. The R.M. went with us to his house. It really went pretty well. We also taught a discussion to one of the inactive families in our branch. I feel pretty good about the way that things went today. One thing that kind of worries me through is the Elder Nielson doesn’t seem to day much. He is just a really quiet and shy guy, so it is really hard for him to just sit down and start a conversation with someone. He seems to do pretty well when it comes to teaching, but lead ins to the discussions are kind of hard fro him. We will have to work on that a little bit at a time. I realize now that as a missionary it is sometimes a blessing to be able to open my mouth. I bet I would still have a hard time convincing my mom of that.
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