Hey!
What's up?
Not much here except another exciting week in Abilene, Texas!
(I'm not completely joking, either.)
First of all, interviews was this past Tuesday. The High Council room was locked, the AC in the Relief Society room doesn't work and I felt that the chapel was too big for a district of just ten people, so we held our meeting in the overflow. It was great seeing President and Sister Robison again. We took a district picture with them and they judged the other missionaries' colouring contest. Elder Tuttle won.
Also, we've been doing a ton of service. Probably more than we should be. Definitely more than my poor out-of-shape body should be doing. First, we went to a member's house in First ward (and out in the middle of nowhere - it was a nice drive, though) to help put up some fencing. Long story short, I probably won't be doing that for a living. I got to ride a tractor though, so that was fun.
The next day, we went to one of Elder Allred's investigators' house. There was an add-on to their 100+ year-old house that caved in, making the whole thing structurally unsound. The city was going to condemn it unless the add-on was removed. Long story short, Elder Allred volunteered us all. That was more fun though. It came down pretty easily. The clean up was the tough part.
Also, we had stake conference this weekend. During the leadership meeting, President Webb (the stake president) said, "Now for my talk; two sentences: If you care, you'll find a way. If you don't care, you'll find an excuse. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
Oh, and I can't forget that incident where this college student rear-ended us. As we stopped at a stop sign, this guy came up behind us and *bump*. There wasn't much damage, but we had to call the cops anyway. More paperwork than it was worth, if you ask me.
In terms of missionary work, things are kinda slow. Most of our investigators have either moved away or asked us not to come teach them anymore. In "Preach My Gospel", it says nothing happens until we have someone to teach and it's really showing here. So Elder Tuttle and I have decided to focus on finding this week.
Nevertheless, the work is still moving forward. This weekend, there were two baptisms and I did another two interviews for two more next week.
It really is an exciting time to be alive. There is probably no better time to be around in the history of the Church.
I know that the Church is true. It's the same one that Adam had, Noah, Moses, and Isaiah. It is Christ's church.
I love you!
Have a great week
-Elder Brandon Wong
P.S.: Oh, and our toilet is leaking again. Thank you, Abilene.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009 - Lots of driving, lots of burning
Hey,
How's it going?
Things ain't too bad here.
Last week (and I forgot to mention this last time), I woke up to Sisters Wallwork and Smith calling on the phone, saying that they have a flat tire. How their car got a flat tire just by sitting parked all night, I don't know, but they were pretty worried about it. I tried to explain how to change it over the phone, but it didn't quite work. I am actually thankful that you showed me how to change a tire, Dad. One would think that it is simple enough to figure out on your own, but I guess not.
Sadly, everyone was so surprised that I can change a tire. I had to do district leader follow-ups while showing these two clowns how to use a car jack and everybody on the phone kept asking "wait, you know how to change a car tire?" Thanks a lot, guys. Don't act too surprised.
Now, one thing I DON'T know how to do is bake. We've been experimenting with baking cookies for our investigators. It's cheap, "easy", makes people happy and we get to have the leftover cookies. Win-win. The first batch, though, we burnt. It was still edible, but certainly not worthy to give to others. We're getting better at it, though. Maybe one day, we'll upgrade from the store-bought cookie dough powder to from scratch. ... or maybe not.
Also - the best news of the day - we went to Lubbock to celebrate! We were gathered together as a mission for the first time in the history of the mission - seven years. It is probably also the first time in the history of the past missions that covered this region. It was so fun seeing everyone again. I kinda miss that from being in the office.
But anyways, they set up risers in front of the temple and we took a picture as a mission. We also had lunch and a special fireside (I guess you could call it that). Before we knew it, we were driving home. That day went by way too fast. It seems we were on the road longer than in Lubbock. Whatever; it was fun, and we should do it more often.
Other than that, we've been trying to visit a lot of less-active people in our ward. As Brother Bilodeau explained a long time ago, a ward is like a baby-sitter. If a baby-sitter has a reputation or a habit of losing children, no parent would trust her with more of their children. Similarly, if a ward cannot retain God's children, then He won't trust that ward with any more of His children and He will lead them to the truth in other ways (usually by having them move away).
It's interesting to think about and study cause and effect in Heavenly Father's eyes. Does your situation affect your happiness, or vice versa? Is it usually the wealthier members who stay stronger in the Church, or the more active members who end up more prosperous? Would an invitation to be baptized be strengthened if the investigator came to church, or would they be more likely to come to Church if they were looking forward to being baptized? Those are just a few to start with. People have ideas set in their minds so strongly, that nothing else makes sense. All it takes to make sure your basics, or your anchors, are correct and in the right place.
It rained a tiny bit on Saturday.
I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that this is His Church.
I love you.
-Elder Brandon Wong
How's it going?
Things ain't too bad here.
Last week (and I forgot to mention this last time), I woke up to Sisters Wallwork and Smith calling on the phone, saying that they have a flat tire. How their car got a flat tire just by sitting parked all night, I don't know, but they were pretty worried about it. I tried to explain how to change it over the phone, but it didn't quite work. I am actually thankful that you showed me how to change a tire, Dad. One would think that it is simple enough to figure out on your own, but I guess not.
Sadly, everyone was so surprised that I can change a tire. I had to do district leader follow-ups while showing these two clowns how to use a car jack and everybody on the phone kept asking "wait, you know how to change a car tire?" Thanks a lot, guys. Don't act too surprised.
Now, one thing I DON'T know how to do is bake. We've been experimenting with baking cookies for our investigators. It's cheap, "easy", makes people happy and we get to have the leftover cookies. Win-win. The first batch, though, we burnt. It was still edible, but certainly not worthy to give to others. We're getting better at it, though. Maybe one day, we'll upgrade from the store-bought cookie dough powder to from scratch. ... or maybe not.
Also - the best news of the day - we went to Lubbock to celebrate! We were gathered together as a mission for the first time in the history of the mission - seven years. It is probably also the first time in the history of the past missions that covered this region. It was so fun seeing everyone again. I kinda miss that from being in the office.
But anyways, they set up risers in front of the temple and we took a picture as a mission. We also had lunch and a special fireside (I guess you could call it that). Before we knew it, we were driving home. That day went by way too fast. It seems we were on the road longer than in Lubbock. Whatever; it was fun, and we should do it more often.
Other than that, we've been trying to visit a lot of less-active people in our ward. As Brother Bilodeau explained a long time ago, a ward is like a baby-sitter. If a baby-sitter has a reputation or a habit of losing children, no parent would trust her with more of their children. Similarly, if a ward cannot retain God's children, then He won't trust that ward with any more of His children and He will lead them to the truth in other ways (usually by having them move away).
It's interesting to think about and study cause and effect in Heavenly Father's eyes. Does your situation affect your happiness, or vice versa? Is it usually the wealthier members who stay stronger in the Church, or the more active members who end up more prosperous? Would an invitation to be baptized be strengthened if the investigator came to church, or would they be more likely to come to Church if they were looking forward to being baptized? Those are just a few to start with. People have ideas set in their minds so strongly, that nothing else makes sense. All it takes to make sure your basics, or your anchors, are correct and in the right place.
It rained a tiny bit on Saturday.
I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that this is His Church.
I love you.
-Elder Brandon Wong
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009 - Crocodiles in the Savannah
Hey y'all!
It's been a slow week. It seems everyone decided to be unavailable at the same time - for the whole week. So we've been doing a lot of door-to-door. We have a new ward mission leader, Brother Bryan. He was just released from the high council (assigned to the missionary work). He is very gung-ho and very passionate about everything he puts his mind to. His big thing is getting members to do missionary work. He gets very upset and worked up just at the thought of people in the ward not sharing the Gospel. He's one of the friendliest people around, yet he can get very loud and very angry if he wants to. It's going to be exciting to work with him. He has a lot of good ideas.
We had zone conference this Tuesday. It was very good.
Since zone conference is in San Angelo, we always have a road trip to get there - thank you, soccer daddy van.
Yesterday evening, one of the Sisters' French-speaking investigators invited all of us to his 60th birthday party. The small apartment was filled with French-speaking Africans from Congo (not to be confused with the Belgian Congo). They had some good African food. We all had a good time. Ironically, as we were leaving, they were watching a nature program on TV about crocodiles in the Savannah. So these people leave Africa, come to America, and what do they do in their free time? They gather together and watch TV shows about Africa.
This coming Friday, we're going to Lubbock! They decided against renting buses, so we're having another road trip. Yay. Pray for good picture-taking weather.
Speaking of pictures, I'll send them next week. I also plan on getting the digital copy of the picture(s) we'll be taking in front of the temple.
Hope you have fun [on your vacation]! We'll talk more later.
The Church is true.
I love you!
-Elder Brandon Wong
It's been a slow week. It seems everyone decided to be unavailable at the same time - for the whole week. So we've been doing a lot of door-to-door. We have a new ward mission leader, Brother Bryan. He was just released from the high council (assigned to the missionary work). He is very gung-ho and very passionate about everything he puts his mind to. His big thing is getting members to do missionary work. He gets very upset and worked up just at the thought of people in the ward not sharing the Gospel. He's one of the friendliest people around, yet he can get very loud and very angry if he wants to. It's going to be exciting to work with him. He has a lot of good ideas.
We had zone conference this Tuesday. It was very good.
Since zone conference is in San Angelo, we always have a road trip to get there - thank you, soccer daddy van.
Yesterday evening, one of the Sisters' French-speaking investigators invited all of us to his 60th birthday party. The small apartment was filled with French-speaking Africans from Congo (not to be confused with the Belgian Congo). They had some good African food. We all had a good time. Ironically, as we were leaving, they were watching a nature program on TV about crocodiles in the Savannah. So these people leave Africa, come to America, and what do they do in their free time? They gather together and watch TV shows about Africa.
This coming Friday, we're going to Lubbock! They decided against renting buses, so we're having another road trip. Yay. Pray for good picture-taking weather.
Speaking of pictures, I'll send them next week. I also plan on getting the digital copy of the picture(s) we'll be taking in front of the temple.
Hope you have fun [on your vacation]! We'll talk more later.
The Church is true.
I love you!
-Elder Brandon Wong
Monday, August 10, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009 - Time passes by fast!
Hey,
There's a lot of things I want to talk about, but there doesn't ever seem to be enough time! ...and technically, we can only write letters on P-day, and so I don't have enough time to write letters by hand!
Anyways, first of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN! I was going to say that you're legal now, but you're already 19! (?!?!?!?????) That's ridiculous. Time to start thinking about a mission.
It's so nutty how all these kids from primary and YM/YW are already in college! (?!?!?!?????) What is going on?!?
Also, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MOM AND DAD!! Has it really been 100 years that you two have been married? Man, time really does go by fast!
And I got the message from Helen. She said you talked to her on Facebook.
We went to the Family History Center this week, and I signed up for the new.FamilySearch.org site. Nathan should sign up for it too, that way, all of the information is in. The one day we finally got to go is the one day I forgot to bring my four-generation pedigree chart. Go figure. In any case, it least I found out why they made us get one before going to the MTC...
It has been a rather slow week. On Monday, our toilet essentially exploded. The intake pipe, bringing water into the tank, had a loose connection. It was spewing water all over the bathroom floor and seeping into the carpets in the other rooms before dripping into the downstairs neighbours' bathroom. Long story short, we didn't go work that evening.
In other news, we've been doing more knocking on doors than the whole time we've been in Abilene. It's not fun. We did meet this one nice lady who let us teach her. We spoke for an hour during the evening on her front porch - while the mosquitoes were out. I thought I got a lot of bites on my arms... then I saw my ankles. They went through my socks to get to my juicy ankles about ten times for each leg. It was really itchy for several days. Meanwhile, Elder Tuttle just walks around and those dang bugs totally ignore him.
In a couple weeks, we're all driving up to Lubbock to celebrate doubling baptisms. We won't be taking rental buses as was the original plan. We're all trying to save miles and plan out transportation/carpooling. Since we've got the minivan, we are all but guaranteed to be using our vehicle. But we're all going to go up and have a professional photographer take a picture of the whole mission for the first time in the history of the mission. Then we're going to have a lunch and a little meeting as a mission (not quite so little, actually).
Also, just as a little side note: Monday morning follow-ups are not fun. Every week, the district leader is supposed to have an official chat with each companionship and see how things in their area are, then report to the zone leaders. For some reason, I always take forever.
Language is still going well. Maybe I should ask for a hour of language study every morning, like the Spanish-speaking Elders. Also, there's a member in our ward who's from Hong Kong and speaks very little English. I have spoken with her. She said she was going to invite us over to chat, but then she found out that I don't speak Chinese, so she changed her mind. I wish I knew how to speak and write it.
Anyways, things are going well here. I hope school and the school year start off right.
The Church is true.
I love you!
-Elder Brandon Wong
There's a lot of things I want to talk about, but there doesn't ever seem to be enough time! ...and technically, we can only write letters on P-day, and so I don't have enough time to write letters by hand!
Anyways, first of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN! I was going to say that you're legal now, but you're already 19! (?!?!?!?????) That's ridiculous. Time to start thinking about a mission.
It's so nutty how all these kids from primary and YM/YW are already in college! (?!?!?!?????) What is going on?!?
Also, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MOM AND DAD!! Has it really been 100 years that you two have been married? Man, time really does go by fast!
And I got the message from Helen. She said you talked to her on Facebook.
We went to the Family History Center this week, and I signed up for the new.FamilySearch.org site. Nathan should sign up for it too, that way, all of the information is in. The one day we finally got to go is the one day I forgot to bring my four-generation pedigree chart. Go figure. In any case, it least I found out why they made us get one before going to the MTC...
It has been a rather slow week. On Monday, our toilet essentially exploded. The intake pipe, bringing water into the tank, had a loose connection. It was spewing water all over the bathroom floor and seeping into the carpets in the other rooms before dripping into the downstairs neighbours' bathroom. Long story short, we didn't go work that evening.
In other news, we've been doing more knocking on doors than the whole time we've been in Abilene. It's not fun. We did meet this one nice lady who let us teach her. We spoke for an hour during the evening on her front porch - while the mosquitoes were out. I thought I got a lot of bites on my arms... then I saw my ankles. They went through my socks to get to my juicy ankles about ten times for each leg. It was really itchy for several days. Meanwhile, Elder Tuttle just walks around and those dang bugs totally ignore him.
In a couple weeks, we're all driving up to Lubbock to celebrate doubling baptisms. We won't be taking rental buses as was the original plan. We're all trying to save miles and plan out transportation/carpooling. Since we've got the minivan, we are all but guaranteed to be using our vehicle. But we're all going to go up and have a professional photographer take a picture of the whole mission for the first time in the history of the mission. Then we're going to have a lunch and a little meeting as a mission (not quite so little, actually).
Also, just as a little side note: Monday morning follow-ups are not fun. Every week, the district leader is supposed to have an official chat with each companionship and see how things in their area are, then report to the zone leaders. For some reason, I always take forever.
Language is still going well. Maybe I should ask for a hour of language study every morning, like the Spanish-speaking Elders. Also, there's a member in our ward who's from Hong Kong and speaks very little English. I have spoken with her. She said she was going to invite us over to chat, but then she found out that I don't speak Chinese, so she changed her mind. I wish I knew how to speak and write it.
Anyways, things are going well here. I hope school and the school year start off right.
The Church is true.
I love you!
-Elder Brandon Wong
Monday, August 3, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009 - Prophecy Fulfilled
Howdy, y'all!
It's weird serving in what's probably the most bland place in the world - namely Abilene, Texas - and yet be involved in so many different languages. I'm still teaching in French. It's tough, since I'm pretty rusty. I just got a French "Preach My Gospel", so that'll help with common church phrases, such as "libre arbitre". It's funny: before my mission, I wanted a list of church terms and phrases in French, and now I have the whole manual.
Also, the Sisters have been working with other African refugees who don't know French, but speak Swahili. Elder Tuttle and I are going to get a copy of it (that's more just for fun than anything). It's cool being able to read it and sound like you have an African accent. "Holy Spirit" is "Roho Mtakatifu".
We're still teaching our Nepali friends. I'll tell you, the Nepali written language is cool, but rather difficult. There's 36 consonants and the vowels are made by adding symbols around the consonants (I believe they're called diacritics, but I'm not sure). On top of that, there's a line that goes through every word. But again, it's really cool to be able to write it and look incredibly Asian. Maybe we'll use it as our secret written language.
And speaking of secret languages, Elder Allred has started teaching me ASL. He learned it in Big Spring, where that big deaf college is (and where he helped baptize a deaf man). He loves sign language; he even got a name tag that says "American Sign Language" under his name. He's taught me about a dozen words so far.
Oh, and the most exciting news of the year: we doubled baptisms! For six years, this mission has been averaging 20 baptisms per month. In 1999, President Hinckley told the whole world to double what we're doing now. Between November and now, that's all we've been thinking about. Now, we've finally hit it. The fortieth person was baptized this month on the 31st, at 6:00 pm - just in the nick of time. Now, President Robison is arranging to have every single missionary in the mission to come up to Lubbock, where they're going to have a professional photographer take a picture of the whole mission in front of the temple. We've been talking about this day for a long time and we're all so happy that it's finally come.
I forgot to mention last time that Elder Trost is the new assistant to the President, to replace Elder Newman who just went home (along with Elder Northey). He was a zone leader here in the Abilene zone (in San Angelo, actually). I was on exchanges with him here in Abilene, so I got to be with him in the van when he got the call. I think he could've guessed that he would be the next one, but when President called, he had no clue. It really took him by surprise.
Yesterday, someone that we've been trying to teach invited us over for dinner and he had put "about $80 worth of meat" into his BBQ pit. Those ribs were so tender. We had a real feast.
We visited Brother Campbell, who's the stake executive secretary. He was explaining how a lot of things work behind the scenes in the stake. It's a lot more complicated than I thought. It's just like the mission: it wasn't until I served in the office that I found out just how complex running a mission is. It's also really cool. For example, in a company, the more people you have going behind the scenes, in most cases, you'll have more people lose respect for that company because they find out the secrets and skeletons in the closet. In the Church, however, you not only have many people working behind the scenes, but you rotate them out every seven years, or sometimes less! And 99.99% of these people don't lose respect for the work, but their testimony is strengthened. Yet another evidence that the Church, especially its organization, is truly inspired.
Transfers went well and smoothly. After it was all done, we went to have supper at the Monterrey Mexican Restaurant, which is right next to the chapel. It's good food.
Anyways, I have to go. I know that the Church is true and is run by God Himself.
I love y'all! Have a good week.
-Elder Brandon Wong
It's weird serving in what's probably the most bland place in the world - namely Abilene, Texas - and yet be involved in so many different languages. I'm still teaching in French. It's tough, since I'm pretty rusty. I just got a French "Preach My Gospel", so that'll help with common church phrases, such as "libre arbitre". It's funny: before my mission, I wanted a list of church terms and phrases in French, and now I have the whole manual.
Also, the Sisters have been working with other African refugees who don't know French, but speak Swahili. Elder Tuttle and I are going to get a copy of it (that's more just for fun than anything). It's cool being able to read it and sound like you have an African accent. "Holy Spirit" is "Roho Mtakatifu".
We're still teaching our Nepali friends. I'll tell you, the Nepali written language is cool, but rather difficult. There's 36 consonants and the vowels are made by adding symbols around the consonants (I believe they're called diacritics, but I'm not sure). On top of that, there's a line that goes through every word. But again, it's really cool to be able to write it and look incredibly Asian. Maybe we'll use it as our secret written language.
And speaking of secret languages, Elder Allred has started teaching me ASL. He learned it in Big Spring, where that big deaf college is (and where he helped baptize a deaf man). He loves sign language; he even got a name tag that says "American Sign Language" under his name. He's taught me about a dozen words so far.
Oh, and the most exciting news of the year: we doubled baptisms! For six years, this mission has been averaging 20 baptisms per month. In 1999, President Hinckley told the whole world to double what we're doing now. Between November and now, that's all we've been thinking about. Now, we've finally hit it. The fortieth person was baptized this month on the 31st, at 6:00 pm - just in the nick of time. Now, President Robison is arranging to have every single missionary in the mission to come up to Lubbock, where they're going to have a professional photographer take a picture of the whole mission in front of the temple. We've been talking about this day for a long time and we're all so happy that it's finally come.
I forgot to mention last time that Elder Trost is the new assistant to the President, to replace Elder Newman who just went home (along with Elder Northey). He was a zone leader here in the Abilene zone (in San Angelo, actually). I was on exchanges with him here in Abilene, so I got to be with him in the van when he got the call. I think he could've guessed that he would be the next one, but when President called, he had no clue. It really took him by surprise.
Yesterday, someone that we've been trying to teach invited us over for dinner and he had put "about $80 worth of meat" into his BBQ pit. Those ribs were so tender. We had a real feast.
We visited Brother Campbell, who's the stake executive secretary. He was explaining how a lot of things work behind the scenes in the stake. It's a lot more complicated than I thought. It's just like the mission: it wasn't until I served in the office that I found out just how complex running a mission is. It's also really cool. For example, in a company, the more people you have going behind the scenes, in most cases, you'll have more people lose respect for that company because they find out the secrets and skeletons in the closet. In the Church, however, you not only have many people working behind the scenes, but you rotate them out every seven years, or sometimes less! And 99.99% of these people don't lose respect for the work, but their testimony is strengthened. Yet another evidence that the Church, especially its organization, is truly inspired.
Transfers went well and smoothly. After it was all done, we went to have supper at the Monterrey Mexican Restaurant, which is right next to the chapel. It's good food.
Anyways, I have to go. I know that the Church is true and is run by God Himself.
I love y'all! Have a good week.
-Elder Brandon Wong
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