Reading The Book Of Mormon In Hmong

  Elder Crapo and I have been up in Duluth for the past couple days doing exchanges with all of the different sets of missionaries up here. It is about 3 hours north of our area and is one of my favorite places in Minnesota. Yesterday was one of the most spiritual exchanges I have had yet. I went with a zone leader named Elder Winder who is an absolute boss. At the end of the day we taught a lady named Mia who had been taught by the missionaries 1 year ago but just wasn't ready to follow through with baptism. This last Saturday she called the missionaries because she is looking for truth and is just confused about all the hard times that she has hit and feels that God might have forced her to go through those things. The missionaries had taught her the Restoration in the last lesson and so we decided to teach about the Book of Mormon. We had planned to share with her our favorite scripture and how we came to know that the verse we had read was true. I shared with her Chandler's story and about how I was in desperate need at the time he died for God to reach out and help me, and God directed me to the Book of Mormon, and I felt that I found the answers to my questions there. And because of that experience, I have never been able to doubt the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. She paused for a moment and then I invited her to read Mosiah chapter 4 verse 9 which says 9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has allwisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. 

     Right after she finished reading she said, "I know what this verse says is true, I really can't understand everything that God has in store for us." She looked up smiling and we invited her to be baptized right then and there and she accepted. It was a powerful experience for me.

     So after having that sweet experience, this morning I finally finished reading the Book of Mormon in Hmong which has been a mission goal of mine since day 3 of my mission. It was the most amazing experience. We are staying in an apartment that had 8 other missionaries in it and as I was reading 1 of them asked me to read the last chapter out loud in Hmong because he wanted to test and see if you could feel the spirit of the Book of Mormon even if you can't understand it, so I read it to all the missionaries there and they just sat in silence and listened. As I read the last first the Spirit was there so strong if you opened your mouth you could probably taste it. 

      We have a baptism this Saturday as well with a man that I have been teaching since day 1 in Bloomington. He has had an amazing journey overcoming trials but has one of the strongest testimonies out of anyone that I have taught. He has had such a great impact on my life and I feel like the two of us have gone through a ton together so I'm really excited to see him make the next step. But yeah, things are going well and I'm lovin the North. Have a good week.

                                                                                                                -Elder Henrie

P.S. Mom, you should read chapter 3 and 6 in Preach My Gospel. You'll love them.