Hmong Parties are Fun!

Sep 5: Pretty normal missionary day.

Sep 6: Said bye to our recent convert Jolie as she will be heading up to BYUI tonight.

Sep 7: Today we had interviews with our Mission President. We talked a lot about family history and temple work. 

Sep 8: Another pretty normal missionary day. 

Sep 9: Today was super busy. We had a funeral for an investigator's dad to go to. Then we had a couple other party time things Hmong people have because they are a good place to meet members extended families so we can teach them in the future. 

Sep 10: Church was super good today. Our tripanionship sang in sacrament. It was fun. Also, were able to have a lot of people we are teaching come to church so that was cool!

-Elder Yskes

Another Baptism and a Trip to Auberry

Another transfer down! So, Elder Bagley will be coming back to be in a tripanionship with Elder Ellestad and I next transfer! Fun!

August 23: Met a super cool new investigator today!

August 22: Today we visited and taught a lot of members. Super fun!

August 23: Today we set a baptismal date for our investigator Jose! He is planning on getting baptized September 10th!

August 24: Pretty normal day today. 

August 25: Today we set a baptismal date with the investigator we met on Monday! This one isn't as solid but we will see what happens. 

August 26: Today we helped a set of Senior Couple missionaries move into Auberry. It is a town in the foothills about a half hour North East of Clovis which is where we are at. (Clovis borders Fresno, their downtowns are about 15-20 minutes apart). It was super fun to drive up there because we took windy mountain roads all the way up! The hills were a beautiful gold color the whole way up. Super Cool! Fresno is completely flat! I mean there are absolutely no hills at all. So, to be able to see beautiful hills like that was amazing! (forgot my camera though...)

      We met that investigator’s brother today and he wants to get baptized too! Sweet! They are super cool. They are 13 and 15 and will totally come to church if we can introduce them to people at church so they aren't alone. 

August 27: Today was church! Always the best day of the week. Had some awesome lessons today! 

-Elder Yskes

Picking Grapes in "The Lord's Vineyard"

August 29: Today was transfers! We are now a tripanionship! So, Elder Bagley and Elder Ellesstad are my companions. All of us have a good amount of experience in Pioneer Park so it should be fun!

August 30: Today was super fun! Lots of fun lessons! 

August 31: We had exchanges today! So, Elder Bagley and I were with Elder Tuimaseve. It was super fun but way different to be on an exchange in a tripanionship. We had a ton of lessons to bounce around to. Super hectic but way fun!

September 1: Today we were teaching an investigator. He was stressed out because his kids kept messing with everything. We were helping him pick up their toys and stuff when his youngest puked all over the couch! It was okay though because the missionaries were there! Elder Ellestad and Elder Bagley jumped right up and cleaned it up! I wasn't as excited to clean it up so I left it to them hahaha. Oh, the things when you do while being a missionary. 

September 2: Today we woke up at 4 to go pick grapes! We went to "The Lord's Vineyard" to go pick grapes! It is a church owned vineyard that dries grapes into raisins. They are sent all over the world to places in need. Super cool! We started a little before 6 and ended about 9:30 - 10:00. Each row is a quarter mile long and our ward as responsible for 5 of them. We were able to get about 200-250 trays (The papers with piles of grapes on them) per row. Last year it was closer to 500 per row so this year we got done a lot faster. It was super fun! 

      Also, the clean-up crew continues! We were at someone’s house and they had a wild cat that got killed by dogs the night before in their yard! That one wasn't as bad to clean up though hahaha. Fresno has a super bad wild cat and dog problem though. You see several strays just wondering around every day. Crazy!

September 3: Church was amazing today! Lots of people showed up and we had an awesome service! Afterwards we were able to go around and teach a lot of people so it was a good day! 

-Elder Yskes