Aug 28, 1990
Today’s reading: Mosiah 4:14-
Verse 14: We are not to allow our children to go without things they need- physical or spiritual needs. It is important to note which commandment is given first. We are told not to let our children suffer physical needs. This means that if there is absolutely no way to support them, we should not have them. Maybe this is why Mai Ntxiv could not keep her baby. Next, we are to see that they are taught in the ways of the Lord and keep the commandments. This is why if my children ever decide that they do not want to live the gospel, they will have to leave my house in order to do so.
Verse 15: We are to teach our children to love one another and to serve one another. The best way to do this is by example. We can show love and service to each other and to them, as well as to others who are in need. When children learn the good feeling which accompanies loving service, they will always serve others. It is very obvious which husbands love and serve their wives properly in the Hmong culture, because the children in those houses are more loving and king to each other than in any American home I have ever seem. I believe that showing love and service to each other is the key.
Verse 16: This verse gives us our responsibility to the poor, As long as we have excess, we should always give to the poor. Showing love for others will help us to teach our children. We also show our love for God by sharing the things he has given us with others. “In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethern, ye have done it unto me.” Matt 25:40
————Cooper 7/27
What a wonderful lesson! Through serving family and others, we teach our children to love God and each other. If they love God, they will want to learn the gospel and to do what’s right!
Today was kind of an up and down day. This morning, we had a district meeting, and I got my packages mailed home and to Kristin. I will probably be in trouble for taking so long. Anyway, after D.M., we had a meeting with the couples who are working with the Hmong branch. After that, we went on splits with the couples. I went with Brother and Sister Tucker to translate for them. It was awesome! I was able to translate everything, they said I could really feel the Spirit helping me. It was awesome! The gift of tongues is so real! I forgot to write- Before the discussion, one of the children was screaming because he was sick. We gave him a blessing. I blessed him he would be able to sleep (in Hmong!) It was such an immediate change I couldn’t believe it! He slept through the entire discussion! The priesthood is sooooo strong & real!
Then tonight, we went on splits with some members of the branch. I couldn’t get anywhere. We had a discussion scheduled, but we couldn’t get anywhere!
Everytime I tried to tell him about something, the Spirit was there, but then I would see his face change. His countenance actually changed, and he would cut me off. I would listen to him, and then we would start over from another angle. the Spirit would be there again, but the same thing would happen again. that happened 6 times! He ended up telling me that he would do the Hmong custom for seven days and call me. See, his wife’s entire left side hurts. He told me if the Spirits couldn’t heal her, he would call me. I told him to call me. He wouldn’t even let us pray! Satan had such a strong hold on that man. I guess I can only pray that his heart will be softened.
August 29, 1990
Today’s reading Mosiah 4:17-
Verse 17: This verse is especially applicable today. how many times have I said, “It’s his own fault?” I have really come to know the importance of giving to the poor by working with these Hmong people. Some of them don’t have anything, including a change of clothes. I’ve really learned the importance of giving to the poor. I hope when I get home and get a job, we can sponsor some Hmong families coming over from Thailand, I feel impressed to write that only we can judge what portion of our substance should be given to the poor, That is something that is between us and the Lord. We must be very careful not to judge others on what they do for the poor. He that gives secretly will be blessed openly. We must give secretly.
Verse 18: I must repent of having this attitude in the past. The reason Benjamin says, “no interest in the kingdom of God” is that someone who does not give to the poor has his heart set on the things of this world and is not interested in the kingdom of God. In other words, he layeth up his treasures unto this world.
Verse 19: We all receive all that we have from God. This is why He can fairly ask us to give to the poor, pay tithing and fast offerings. Money is given to us as a test, a test of whether or not we will accomplish good or evil with the power that money gives us, for it is a great means of accomplishing good and evil both. I must always remember that this is why money is given to us.
Verse 20: Yet, in all of the blessings from God, there is not greater gift than that of remission of our sins. If God gives me such a wonderful gift, through the atonement of Jesus Christ, how then can I not give something as worthless as money to someone in need.
Today was both a good and bad day. It seems like most days are that way. Jasperson told me to plan the day, so I did. Then we did what he was planning on anyway. Oh well, we did welfare stuff pretty much all day until 7:00. Then we went on team ups. I went with Txhais Vaj Lanj. We went to see Thai Her and his family. We made an extra special effort to have the Spirit with us and it really helped. I did nearly all of the teaching. when the Spirit is there, I can speak Hmong very well. In fact, I said everything I wanted to say. We spent until 10:05 pm resolving his concerns. I finally just told him that if the church was true, he needed to be baptized. If it’s not, we’re all wasting our time. I asked him to get down on his knees and ask god if it was true. we all gathered around as thai prayed to find the truth. The Spirit was so strong you could have cut it with a knife. When he finished, his wife had tears in her eyes, and he said that now he knew it was true. Then we talked for a long time. We went through the restoration, the word of wisdom, and the Book of Mormon again. I asked him to be baptized one week from Saturday, and to prepare for it. I told him that he must really want to do what is right. I had him read some scriptures on baptism and judgement day. He asked all kinds of questions, and I could really feel the Spirit telling me what to say. It was really an incredible experience. I told him that we would be back on friday to find out whether or not he wanted to be baptized. He said he would keep praying and really decide, so I guess we will see.
August 30, 1990
As of today, my mission is 12.7% over. I better work harder. I sure have a lot more to do.
Today’s reading: Mosiah 4:21-
Verse 21: God has told us that He will give us anything that is righteous that we ask for in faith. If god will give us anything we ask for, then why shouldn’t we share with one another. The only reason that people don’t give to the poor, is that they become proud. Pride prevents them from sharing. I feel this is something that I must always remember- help my brethern in need.
Verse 22: When someone is in need, we must not judge them. If we do, the we are very unjust. It is not our place to judge anyone for anything. I have noticed that when someone in the church has their feelings hurt and leaves the church, it is most often because they have been judged by someone who is in no position to judge them. Only priesthood leaders who are called to act as judges in Israel are bale to judge the people. If we choose to judge, God will judge us with the same judgement that we use. I sure don’t want to be judged according to my judgemental capacity at this point in my life.
Verse 23: If we are proud as to the things of this world, and set out hearts upon the treasures of this world, then when we die, our happiness will end. However, if we strive always for the treasures of Heaven, we will be far more happy in the next life than in this one.
Verse 24: This verse shows us that it is not only our actions, but also our attitudes that are important. This verse also shows that we need not five more than we can afford. If we give everything away, we will be unable to earn money and give tomorrow. The Lord expects us to be wise with our resources and use them in a way that we feel will help others in the best way.
Today was a really good day. I taught a second discussion on team-ups today, and I didn’t have a translator. It went incredibly well! They committed to be baptized on the fifteenth of next month. I surely hope they keep that commitment. It is amazing to me how strong the Spirit is when we really strive to have the Spirit. I was amazed at how well I understood the questions and the other things that they said. The Lord will give me the gift of tongues and the interpretation there of whenever. I am worthy and it is necessary for the spreading of His work.
We gave two blessing today. I did one of them in Hmong. We also gave one to a really old woman. She was telling us how she had been shot 3 times in Laos, but she didn’t die. She pulled her shirt up to show us where she had been shot in the chest. That was a bit of a surprise! Anyway, when we prayed later, she kneeled down and folded her arms, and closed her eyes. She just looked so humble and submissive. She wants so badly to do what’s right in the sight of God. She also listened to a fourth discussion that we taught to Mai Yia.
The other day, we saw a Hmong kid with blond hair and blue eyes. He was not an albino, he just had blonde hair and blue eyes. that was really weird to see. I guess that’s just an outcropping of the blood of Israel. Well, time for bed.
Aug 31, 1990
Today’s reading: Mosiah 4:25-
Verse 25: This verse really applies to all areas of life. If we say in our hearts,”well, I wasn’t given a chance to steal that, but if I had been, I would have stolen it.” That is sinning just as if we had actually stolen it. This applies to all sins- moral, honesty, and all other sins. we must strive to be pure in heart, then we will be able to be free from sin. We are often given a chance to sin later on in life. If we still desire to commit that sin, we will do it. we must strive always to be pure in heart. If we succeed, we shall see God.
Verse 26: We must provide for the needs of the people in need. We must provide for both the spiritual and temporal needs. People who are starving can not be converted to the gospel. We must first feed them, then teach them. In order to be forgiven of our sins, we must give to the poor as Christ gave to us. We can not withhold our substance and expect God to give to us. Just like we must forgive others to be forgiven, we must give to others to be forgiven of our sins. It is also important to note that Benjamin says we must administer to them according to their wants, not their needs. We can not judge well what men need, but they can tell us what they want. As a result, we don’t have to judge, we just try to give them what they want.
Verse 27: This verse is a key verse. We should not try to give more than we can afford. It is also far better to give goods than to give money. We should use the guidance of the Spirit and our own knowledge to know how to act. We should use these two things to make all decisions in our lives. We also must be diligent in doing these things. We should try to give tomorrow the things that we could not five today. everyday we should try to give more than we did the day before. If we do these things and constantly progress, we will win the prize- the prize of eternal life. that’s the prize I want.
Today was not one of my best days ever. Jasperson was really quiet all day long. I’m not too sure what his problem is now, but I hope he soon straightens it out. We spent most of the day today doing welfare work. Maybe the reason he was upset was that President Bott fold him to find other people to do welfare work. Anyway, I feel like we didn’t do much today, and he was really quiet all day. Oh well.
Tonight I went with Elder Watters and taught the first discussion to an 11 year old boy. He has lived in American all of his life and is in kind of a tough spot. He doesn’t know Hmong worth a hoot because he grew up here, but he also doesn’t know English very well. It makes it really tough to teach him. Maybe I’ll have Elder Jasperson teach him next time. That way, maybe he’ll understand better.
Anyway, Ke is his name. His mom and brothers were baptized about 5 years ago. I don’t know who baptized them, but they have a problem. The mother is the second wife of a polygamist. Somebody baptized her in sin. Whoops! Anyway, she is trying to raise her kids up right. Ke wants to be baptized on September 15, so we’ll try to be done by then. His two older brothers came in and listed to the discussion too. They couldn’t hardly remember anything from the discussion either, so maybe we’ll get 3 converts from 1 baptism.
September 1, 1990
Today’s reading: Mosiah 4:28-
Verse 28: This verse seems to be very straight forward. If you borrow something, give it back. Otherwise you have stolen it and sinned. You also could cause you neighbor to do any number of bad things because you did not return it. This includes someone talking bad about you or someone following your example. It is so important for us to set good examples.
Verse 29: These are an infinite number of ways for us to sin. This does not mean that just because a sin is not written about, it is okay. We are accountable for all that we do, whether the scriptures tell us it is bad or not. If one is ever unsure of the correctness of something he’d like to do, a good way for him to tell is to check his motives. If his motives are good, then his actions are probably good. However, if he is driven by recognition, self- satisfaction, selfishness, or idleness to act that way, then his actions will be counted as sins. Even if by acting he is keeping a law of God, but he does so with bad motives, he is sinning. For instance, to fast so everyone can see you and how good you are is a sin. Our motives will probably be more important at judgement day than our actions.
Verse 30; If we do not constantly try to progress in life, we will perish. See, if we are not progressing, we are moving backwards. If we are moving backwards, we won’t get anywhere. We can progress by striving to keep every commandment better tomorrow than we did today. We must pray for charity. We must pray for faith and the Spirit. Then we must strive all day to develop these qualities. These are some of the secrets I have learned to progressing as concerning the things of God.
This afternoon was a fairly stressful time. Elder Watson, one of the zone leaders, went with us. Elder Jasperson wanted to go over to Yia’s and kind of sit around ‘til lunch. After that we went to go teach. Elder Jasperson taught the entire discussion alone. I think that now the zone leaders will probably understand better why I feel like I don’t do much sometimes. Anyway, we dropped Elder Watson off, and then we went to see Mai Ntxiv to see if she had been back to the doctor since we gave her the blessing on August 27. Anyway, her neighbors told us she had gone to the hospital. We went to the hospital to see how she was. She had just had the baby, and it was dead. It was so hard to see her and her husband. They were just aching so bad inside, and I didn’t know what to say.
They really long for the company of that spirit. I wish so bad that I would have been allowed to bless her that the baby would live.
Tonight we went and gave another blessing, and just met some people. It was really a fun evening just getting to know some of these wonderful Hmong people! I have one complaint- I am sick and tired of seeing women nurse their babies! It seems like they could at least do it in another room! Okay- enough complaining. I’ve been praying for charity lately and I can’t get that kind of love to grow within me when I’m complaining.
Sept 2, 1990
Today’s reading: Patriarchal Blessings, Mission call, Mosiah 5:1-
Verse 1: After Benjamin spoke to the people, he sent messengers among them to see what they thought of his words. As missionaries we teach people, testify to them, and ask them what they think. Since the church was not organized in Benjamin’s time as it is today, he had not been sustained as a spiritual leader, although he was accepted as such. He asked the people their opinion much as a missionary does, to gauge their understanding and to prompt commitments and statements of testimony. Similarly, when a person is taught the Spirit will confirm the truthfulness of the words of the prophet. The only reason missionaries ask the people they tach for opinions is to be sure they understand, not to see if they can come to a compromise. The Lord sets the laws, it quite frankly doesn’t matter what men think, the Lord will make no excuses. (D& C 1:38) Benjamin was also checking to see if he had successfully taught by the Spirit, for this is how teaching must be done (D&C 50:17-22) Today, the words of the Lord have been taught, and the missionaries go out to convey them to the unbelieving and to see if they understand, much as Benjamin’s messengers did. These messengers must have taken the written words of Benjamin’s address to those who had not heard (Mosiah 2:8) just as missionaries today take scriptures to those who have not heard.
Verse 2: The people had experienced baptism by fire. (3 Nephi 11:35) However, I believe it was Christ’s Spirit that was manifest to them in conjunction with the Holy Ghost. The people cried with one voice. They had become as the people of Zion, for they no longer desired to do evil. They had become pure in heart (D&C 97:21) Because Benjamin had taught by the Spirit, and the people had received by the Spirit, they were successful in communicating (D&C 50:22)
There is so much to learn, I wonder if I’ll ever understand all that I need to know. There isn’t enough time in a day to learn these things.
Sept 2, 1990
Matthew 13:47-50
The net is the missionary effort. Only those that join the church are gathered into the net. When the end comes, the good and bad of the members will be separated. the bad will be cast out of Christ’s church into the world to be burned with the rest of the world (JST 13:50) It is not enough to be a member of the Church, we must be righteous in all areas. We must be righteous in all areas. We must be constantly progressing.
I guess this is what is meant by having the spirit enlighten your mind.
This separation is starting to occur right now. The righteous are becoming more righteous, and the wicked are becoming more wicked.
Today was Enos Sunday. That means that we spend all of out time studying and praying. My comp went with another Elder to play a board game since, “I don’t need to study.” How can we have the Spirit when we don’t do what the Lord wants us to do. I just don’t get it.
I am tired of hearing about whose fault it is that we haven’t had any baptisms. So far it has been the Mission President’s, the AP’s, the Stake President’s, the High Councils, the Branch President’s, the Stake Mission President’s, the ward Mission leader’s, and the hmong people’s fault that we haven’t had any baptisms. If I suggest that perhaps it’s us, I get told that I’m a new here and don’t know what’s going on. I spent two hours tonight looking for an answer in the Scriptures. the best I could come up with was Paul and Barnabas-They split up. I sure hope President has some good ideas coming up. I don’t know how to help.
Sept 3, 1990
Today’s reading: Mosiah 5:3-
Verse 3: The people had been given great insights and perhaps visions concerning the things to come. Probably especially concerning Christ’s coming since Benjamin had spoken to them about christ. They said to his messengers that they could prophesy of all things if it were expedient. (Moroni 7:33) This is because they had faith in Christ. It is important for all of us to learn faith. IT is important for each of us to have the faith to do so if it is expedient in Christ.
Verse 4: It was through their faith that the knowledge of Christ came to them. Notice it was not through knowledge that faith came. This is an important thing to remember, especially in missionary work (Moroni 10:4) We must first have the faith then the miracles come. Faith precedes the miracle.
DON”T EVER STOP BELIEVING
Verse 5: The people first had faith. Because they had faith, they received a witness from the Spirit. Because they received a witness of the Spirit, they experienced a change of heart. If someone has a change of heart, they have been converted and will desire to do only good. These first 5 verses are a perfect example of the conversion process. After someone goes through this process, they will desire to be baptized, go to church, and keep the commandments. Even members who were born into the church must at some point in time go through this process, it is this process that enables us to desire to do good. To be converted once is not enough. We must strive to have that Spirit with us constantly. These is nothing wrong with asking if the church is true more than once. We must do this often- as often as we need to in order to ward off temptation. We must experience a change of heart, then maintain that change.
Today was really a good day. I went to the grocery store, and wrote a bunch of letters. I also went to the mall with 4 other Elders and just kind of wandered around for a little while. It was good to just have a break for a while.
Tonight we went to teach Tou LEe Moua and his family. When we got to the house, three of the little kids came running our yelling “NPIS! NPIS! NPIS! (That’s my hmong name) They all wanted to see a new magic trick, but I didn’t have any more. Anyway, I taught the first half of the discussion, it went really well. I was quite surprised that Elder Jasperson had me teach. After I had my teaching done, Johnny (4) and Scotty (5) came and sat on my lap. We had so much fun! I can’t wait to have little kids of my own! I was afraid while I was on my mission I wouldn’t be around enough little kids to keep me from growing up, but these Hmong kids are just so sweet and loving, I can’t wait to have some! I don’t think there is any danger of me growing up while I am here. That is sure a relief!
After the discussion, we went to the Tucker’s apartment to say good-bye to them. They left for home at 6:00 am this morning. Yia was there, and she brought a friend, so we got a referral out of it too.
Since today was Labor day. I didn’t get any mail. Hope I get some tomorrow.
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