First Letter Home from the Mission Field

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

 Thursday

     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 getting the part

 Where I slept in the assistants home

Me rocking the part

 Friday

      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.