Hey All!
So i will break up
my first week by days.
Wednesday
We landed at
about noon and met our Mission President. He is super cool! Pictures from the
first few days were put on the California Fresno Mission (CFM) blog so if you
want to see those check out the blog! So, after we got to the mission office we
were immediately thrown right into missionary work with something called ''Open
your Mouth''. During this we went to different parts of town and just started
meeting people on the street and sharing a message about Jesus Christ with
them. It was super fun! Lots of experiences happened the first day
during this. For example, it was the first time in my life I have seen
people smoking marijuana on the street corners because its legal here.
Definitely not something you would see in Michigan hahaha. Then we went to
the Mission President’s home for dinner and spent the night at the assistants
to the Presidents home.
Train ride to airport
So, the CFM is an
extremely obedient mission. It might sound like that would be annoying but
its super awesome because all of the missionaries are super good missionaries.
One of the rules is that all missionaries have to part their hair. One of the
12 apostles of our church came a few years ago and said if we instituted this
rule baptisms would double. Baptisms doubled after this was made a rule. So below
you will see a picture of me rocking the part! Also, today I met my Trainer!
His name is Elder Bagley. He is from Rexburg, Idaho. I am in the Pioneer
Park East Zone. The Pioneer Park Ward (PPW) is a Hmong ward and there is also
an English Ward in the same building called the Gettysburg ward. There are 4
Elders in the PPW and the other two are Elder Ellestad (Who I was in the MTC
with) and his trainer Elder Biggs. They cover the West side of Fresno and we
cover the East. There are also 2 Elders and 2 sisters in the Gettysburg ward
but they are divided North South not East West. Also, they only cover the Ward
boundaries and the Hmong missionaries cover the entire city of Fresno.
Crazy story from
today. We knocked on a Hmong family’s door and in Hmong culture it is polite to
invite people in so they did. We went inside and a man from their back yard
walked in holding a white pigeon that was COMPLETELY COVERED IN BLOOD! He tried
to cut a cyst off of its wing and accidentally cut the vein! There was
blood everywhere! It was definitely a unique experience because he had my
companion help him sew the wing back together hahahah It was weird.
Arriving in Fresno
Me rocking the part
Today I was adopted
into a Hmong Clan!!!!!! We met our Wards mission leader and his Dad was there.
His Dad decided to adopt me into his clan, the Lauj clan (lor in English)! He
adopted me and gave me a blessing and said I was now part of his family! It was
super cool.
Also, today I was
privileged to be a part of a blessing. One of the families we met had a
sick baby so they asked if we would bless the baby. So, we did. For those
of you who don’t know what this is, basically in our church we believe we can
use the Priesthood (Gods authority to use his power given to man) to bless
people with comfort or health or things like that. If you wanna know more visit
Mormon.org and either chat with a church representative online about it or
search it. It was super awesome.
Saturday
So today we met two
new investigators (people who would like us to teach them about Jesus Christ). Also,
I ate some more really good Hmong food. The food here is so good!
Sunday
So today was
church. I could not understand very much
of the service in church because it was Hmong. This was a problem because I was
translating for everyone who couldn't speak Hmong that were in attendance. It
was a struggle. I met a lot of people tho so it was awesome!
So, yeah, that is my week!
- Elder Yskes
P.S. I can only send emails and letters on Monday before 5:00 and I can only receive mail once a week because that is how often the mission office drops off mail.
Love Y'all!!!
Goon Squad:
Brother Rasmussen and Brother
Ballard both stayed in my apartment hahaha. Brother Ballard trained my trainer
which is pretty cool so that means Brother Rasmussen is my
trainer's trainer's trainer hahaha. Also, I am a Lor!!!
This last one is of old missionaries, some of which were my teachers in the MTC so that's why it won't make sense to most of you. They are wearing traditional Hmong clothing.
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