Love This Guy So Much

  Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad. I'm sure it will be a memorable one being in New Orleans. That is so neat to hear that Tanner was able to be there to help with the baptism of that man and to give a talk on the Holy Ghost. We have had the most amazing miracles and I have some big news this week. Two weeks ago a young man who was the grandson of the Graffs, who is a senior couple working in the office came teaching with us. He was unsure about going out on a mission but wanted to come teach with us to see what it was like. He came out with us and as Elder Crapo and I taught the lesson the Spirit was there but not very strong. Then, when he bore his testimony on prayer, the Spirit was so strong. Then today, two weeks later, Sister Graff came in to the office and said that she wanted to thank us for something. She explained that last night Keaton went to talk with his bishop and is putting his mission papers in in two weeks. She asked him what the defining moment was for him, then she looked at us and started crying and said, "He told me it was Minnesota." I was so pumped. I'm emailing him today to tell him how excited I am for him that he is going. It will no doubt change his life forever. 

     Another neat experience from this last Friday. I was on an exchange with an Elder and we went to see a referral in an apartment building. The referral wasn't there so we knocked on all the doors right next to and across from his. A couple people rejected us and so we started walking out, but the both of us still felt that there was someone that we needed to find in the building. So I asked him to pray for a specific number that we should go knock on. He came up with 319. So we go knock on the door and my heart was pumping pretty hard because I was really hoping it would work for this kid. Of course nobody answered. So we start to head out again when he says, "Wait let's knock one more door." The next door we knock was perfect. A lady in her young 30's opened the door and we made fun of her having so many cats(She had like 4 cats but it turned out she was just cat sitting for someone else.) She laughed and then told us she had just moved into the area a month ago and was looking for a church. She agreed to come to church the following Sunday and to bring her kid. Elder Boekweg and I looked at each other after she closed the door with our jaws open. Then ran outside and started yelling we were so excited. Some old man across the street jumped pretty bad which was funny. I was so excited for Elder B to be able to see that on our exchange. It helped me out and so I'm sure it was good for him as well.

     The big news though is that I'm getting transferred. I am going back to Eastside St. Paul. Back to my birth place for the last transfer. I really couldn't have asked for anything better. It was where I started, and where it all ends. As I was thinking about my last transfer and having all these worries about if I would be able to do all that I wanted to and if I would be lazy or if I would work hard, I had a really sweet revelation, it was, "If Christ had quit the last month of His mission, what would have happened?" So if things get hard this last transfer, I'll just remember that, and I think I'll be fine.

     Anyways, I love you all and hope things go well. Thanks for the package and whatnot. My birthday was superb. Short summary, did like 6 hours of office work for transfers, went to church, and a bunch of elders snuck into our apartment and suprised me with cake and a song, and then took me golfing today. So it was nice. J Dub, that is the most awesome birthday gift. I will probably forget in the coming weeks, so you need to remind me. Don't know when you'll be in Utah, but we'll make it happen. Good luck Tan and Misa in Med School. Libby, you are looking so old now it is crazy. James and Charlie look nothing like when I started (partially because Charlie wasn't born.) Love you all and happy August.

-Elder Muaj Zoo Vwj

Pics: This is a pic of Brooks and me, the man getting baptized August 16th. Love this guy so much.

Miracle Of The Week

  Today is Elder Crapo's Birthday and I have had so much fun. I sent a text to the whole mission asking them to call and sing him happy birthday or send him a text and his phone has been going off for the past hour with over 200 missionaries calling him. It's wonderful. The Happy Birthday Song is stuck in my head pretty bad at this point but it was worth it. Also, I wrote him a happy birthday rap and sang that to him this morning, we plan on smashing some cake in his face later tonight too. He loved the red tie that you all sent him so thank you for that.

     This week Elder Crapo and I were on exchanges pretty much every day so I didn't really get to spend any time with him in our area. The Lord is watching over our investigators while we are away though which has been neat to see. I have noticed that if we want good things to happen while we're gone, it takes a ton of work through prayer. It is an interesting conversation with God when you say something like, "Dear God, I know we haven't taught our date set in like 9 days, but it would be REALLY REALLY great if you could help him feel the Spirit tomorrow in his scripture study." Usually you get a response like, "Alright, but you'll have to be extra obedient tomorrow for this one." So, things have been good, but I am feeling the need to stay as consecrated as I can if we want good things to keep happening. It's a blessing for sure and I have learned so much through these last 4 and a half months. 

     Miracle of the week this week was neat. I was on an exchange with a missionary that has been out for about 1 month and a half. We had about 15 minutes before our dinner appointment and I asked him, "Elder B, who do you think the Lord wants us to find right now?" and he responded with some awesome new missionary faith, he said, "I think we need to find a college kid who recently finished school and knows about God, but doesn't currently have a church." So we prayed to find him and went out, but got absolutely nothing. We went to our dinner appointment and then a few other lessons, and as we were headed back home around 9:20 we saw a kid standing on the porch of our apartment. We started talking and he said that he had just gotten out of school and had left his baptist church around 2 months before because he felt like he wasn't really becoming a better person. We taught him for a second and invited him to play basketball with us in a few days at the church and give him a church tour. He seemed pumped. Then he told us that his girlfriend actually lived in the building next door, but he just felt that he should stand outside this one while he waited for her. It was so neat. Thanks for all your support and have a great week. Bye

                 

                                                  -Elder Henrie

It Was So Powerful

     Tony went through with his baptism this Saturday and it went really well. We had a huge turnout from the ward because Tony has been learning for over a year and a half. After his baptism he bore his testimony and it was so powerful. He began by saying thanks to everyone and then said, "I really do just want to thank you all for saving my soul." Then he burst into tears. It made everything worth it. I love this guy so much. I told him that I will be back in a year when he and his wife Danita are sealed in the temple. They are both going Wednesday night to get temple recommends to go do baptisms for the dead. They have progressed so far in the gospel and are ready to receive callings, hold the priesthood (for Tony), and go to the temple which is exciting.

     Also our date set Brooks moved his date from August 23rd to August 16th. He called the first missionary who taught him about three years ago to come baptize him and that was the day that worked. Brooks has changed my whole life. He has a rare condition that the doctors haven't been able to identify yet which makes his muscles slowly deteriorate. He can move his neck and use four of his fingers on both hands. When he contracted the disease his wife left him and took his 14 year old son with her. He has had one of the hardest lives, but I have never heard him complain once. He has the brightest smile every time we talk and I can't wait for him to enter the waters of baptism. the whole ward loves him and they have one family a week go over and do family home evening at his house. 

     Last night we held a fireside where we have 4 or 5 recent converts in the mission share their conversion experience and missionaries come with their investigators. One of the recent converts from the Hmong Branch, Nalee Xiong, spoke about her story. She had met with the missionaries for about 4 years when she finally decided to be baptized. She said the thing that helped her most was when she finally decided not just to pick and choose the things that she liked, but to just accept the whole truth and bring her life to God's rather than try and change God. That experience really helped to understand the sons of Mosiah a little bit better. There was so many recent converts there and so many investigators that it made me wish I could serve for 14 years and just continue to teach people this message. Things are going well though and love y'all. Have a good week. 

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.

After Seeing What It Takes To Be A True Man...

  My mind is totally blown right now. I swear Tanner if this is a joke I will take tomorrow as my P-Day and cry for 17 hours straight. But if this is real then CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I held that down for as long as I could hold my breath. I can't believe that you are going to be a father. Literally, I can't believe it. I remember those days of when you shot bottle rockets at me while I was going to the bathroom and that time of when we were jumping on our beds and yours shattered into a million pieces, or the time that we "Modified" some Piccalo Pete fireworks to make them more exciting. Wow, I hope if it's a boy he turns out better than the both of us.

      Honestly though, I'm sure Misa will be a wonderful mother for him. It is crazy to think that you were born in Louisiana while dad was in medschool and now you will have a kid at a similar stage in life. The apple really didn't fall to far from the tree on that one. His theme song for life should totally be "Born on the Bayou" by Credence Clearwater Revival. That would be so legendary. 

     Also, to my father. Happy Birthday. I could not ask for a better dad than you. The reason I know that you are a great dad, is because if I ever need to know how I should act, I know I can ask myself, what would my dad do? and then I just try my best to follow your example. It freaks me out a bit sometimes because I have started to see how much I act like you sometimes. (Not that that's a bad thing,) but I say something and I realize, "Wow, my dad would say something exactly like that." But I'm truly proud to call myself your son. I have seen on my mission so many poor examples of what a father should be and it has helped me to be much more grateful for the wonderful opportunity and life that you have given me and our family. If you ever question what kind of job you have done, just look at Tan, J Dub and Lib. They all turned out wonderful. You'll have to wait and see about me, still not sure yet.

      Before I came out, I had a pretty fake idea of what life was all about and I just thought that being successful would fall into my lap. However, after seeing what it really takes to be a true man in the world, I realize I have a long way to go before I can count myself half the man you are today. So thanks for your amazing example and all the love and patience you have shown me throughout your life and Happy Birthday.

      Things are going great though and we have some baptisms coming up in our area so I am excited. Love y'all, and happy birthmus to Murica

It Took A Whole Lot Of Work To Get My Shirts This Dirty

Sorry I didn't get to email on Monday. Because of transfers this week our p-day was switched to today. First of all happy father's day dad. I really do feel that your one of those people that has reached perfection. There was many talks throughout the years from you to me about what I needed to do to be happy in life, I forgot pretty much everything you said, but I will never forget that we had them. All the time we spent going to the golf course, going to movies, mountain biking, in church together, at scouts, and doing chores around the house was worth a lot to me. I have learned so much from your example and from the way that you taught our family. Thanks.

       We have had many great things happen this week and some hard things as well. Yesterday I drove my last companion Elder King to the airport which was pretty hard. He is a stud and we became good friends as we served together. Sad to see him go but I'm sure there are great things ahead for him. We picked up 15 noobs yesterday afternoon as well. Their shirts are SO white. I couldn't believe it. I felt almost embarrassed by how dirty my shirts were, but then I remembered, it took a whole lot of hard work and miles on a bike to get my shirts this dirty and I would never take all that back. I am excited for all of them too. They have such great faith and it is a good reminder to me to not lose that faith and excitement that I had as I first began my mission. 

     Last night we had two cool miracles. We are teaching a man that has been progressing but hasn't been able to quit smoking. We hadn't talked to him in 3 days and for the first thing he said when we called him was, Elders, I don't know how, but I haven't smoked for 3 days. He said he wants to keep moving forward and be baptized in the coming month so I'm looking forward to that. Also we visited a part-member couple that hadn't been contacted in a few years and they were so excited to see us. The 25 year old daughter has a boyfriend who is interested as well. They were being kind of stubborn about coming to church though so I challenged them to a cook off for breakfast this sunday and they agreed. I'm planning on whipping up some pancakes with buttermilk syrup. I have no idea how to make that but they name makes me think it's probably not to hard. Wish me luck.

     Everything is good though and don't worry, I'm not even missing swimming this summer. It is so humid that it's basically like were doing water aerobics just walking around. Love y'all and have a good week.

Your Brother Is Really Happy

    Bloomington is bumpin. We have had some interesting experiences this past week. First, I got to use my landscaping skills that I learned from doing that for like 3 weeks before the mish. There is a part member in our ward who have been taught by missionaries for quite awhile but we had a neat opportunity to help them progress this past week. They are redoing their house because they want to move do a different area in the city and so I told her that I used to do landscaping before my mission, (I didn't say that all I did was pretty much dig holes and mow lawns,) and she took that to mean that I am an expert tradesman. So we built a big cement retaining wall for her garden, replaced a window well, and are planning to rebuild the deck this next week. I'm learning a lot but the bad thing is I have to learn by experience which can cause some roadblocks. The cool thing is that the dad came to church this Sunday, (he is the nonmember) and he stayed for all 3 hours which he has never before done, even though his wife has been a member her whole life. Pretty sweet.

     Here are some other highlights of the week:

       I drank chocolate covered maple smoked bacon flavored soda. It blew my mind.

       A less active who is my favorite guy in the world came to church this past sunday and prayed with us in our lesson. 

     We are teaching a man who is a quadripolegic, and he has a date set for an     August 9th baptism. He has been taught by missionaries for 3 years but finally read the book of mormon and feels that it is true. Gotta love that book.

     Elder Crapo and I, along with our current calling, are now duel training a missionary as well. His name is Elder Fabrizio. He is a super stud kid. He is also ginormous. He is 6' 4" and 215lbs. He has a scholarship to Utah to play safety. I love him. 

     This Tuesday my MTC teacher is getting sealed in the temple in Minnesota so I get to go see him.

     Tomorrow the kids in the family of 7 that I taught in Minneapolis are getting baptized:)!!!!!!!!

     There is a lot going on at this time with transfers coming up as well so I appreciate all the prayers I can get. 

     Almost forgot. This last Friday was 9 years since James passed away and I had a really neat miracle that day. When I woke up in the morning in my prayer I said something along the lines of, "Dear God, I know the church is true and all, but it would be pretty sweet if you sent me a message that James is happy and doing well, thanks, Amen."

     So we headed off to a zone training that went well. But after the meeting, one of the missionaries, Elder Morgan, came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder and said, I don't know why but I feel like I just need to tell you that your brother is really happy and is doing a great work for God right now. My jaw literally dropped through the floor. It was so cool. I will love him forever for that. 

   

                                                                               Love,

                                                                                  Koj tus Phooj Ywg 

Who Do You Want To Find?

     This week has been pretty great. It's Tuesday and Elder Crapo and I have already done two exchanges and have another one planned tomorrow. We had some pretty neat miracles these last few days that have really strengthened my faith.

      Our first exchange was in North Branch which is a little town surrounded by other littler towns. As Elder Davis and I were talking he told me that the area was having a really rough time. He said they had been finding every day and that it was getting really discouraging. I think it gets hard for some of the missionaries out in the sticks. So I asked him, Who do you want to find? He said, what do you mean? So I asked him to describe to me the person that he wanted to find. So he said, ok, I want to find someone who use to be religious, but was offended by their church, and is looking for a big change in their life. No joke, the very first door that we knocked on, a catholic lady opened the door and she was golden. She told us about how their church had gotten a new priest, and the priest had asked her kids to help in the service but didn't tell them what they were supposed to do so the kids were embarrassed in front of the whole congregation so she never went back. Then she said how she was looking for something new and we taught her the restoration and set up a return appointment for today. It was so cool to see God answer our prayers in a way like that.

     Then we had an exchange with two missionaries up in Duluth. It was so fun. I have wanted to come up to this city for my whole mission so it was neat to get to see it. It is a city built on a hill right next to the shore of Lake Superior. It has a city of around 80,000 and then a bunch of farms on the outskirts. Elder Foggin and I spent the day together and had a blast. We were teaching a lady on her porch about the plan of salvation and we started showing her the Because He Lives video from Easter. In part of the video there is some thunder and lightning and right when it did that in the video there was a lightning strike and a huge boom. Then like 10 seconds later it started pouring rain. She kept watching the video in the rain until it was over and the Spirit was so strong. She prayed to know if it was true and you could see that she had felt the Spirit. Really neat experience.

     Good luck this week and have fun. Bye :)

SUMMER!!!!

   We have a zone p-day today to kick off the first day of summer. J Dub, I am wearing the shirt with the bald eagle riding in an airplane with an american flag in the background, just to celebrate. 

     Things this week were pretty sweet. Here are some of the highlights: I ate at Panda Express (YUM), I saw a Lamborghini, and best of all, our investigator Jasmine was baptized yesterday morning. The bad part about an early morning baptism though is that it takes 2 1/2 hours to fill up the font so elder Crapo and I woke up at 4:30 yesterday to fill it up. Totally worth it though. Jasmine was one of the most prepared investigators I have ever seen on my mission. Her husband came up to us after and thanked us. He is a return missionary and they were recently married but have been dating for around 2 years so he had been waiting a long time for this moment. We invited Jasmine to come bear her testimony to a group of missionaries on how important it is that we fulfill our purpose. I can't wait. 

     Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time in our own area this week. We held mission conference on Tuesday then we were on exchanges in Oakdale Wisconsin on Wednesday and then we were up in St. Cloud, MN on Thursday. It was weird because I didn't see Elder Crapo for like 2 and a half days. Good to be back for sure. 

     I think the think that I learned this week was how important it is to be humble. Getting to work with all of the different missionaries it is so obvious that the humble missionaries are always happier, more effective, and see many more miracles. 

     Last miracle is my main man named Brother Brooks. He has been taught by missionaries for around 3 years and has had many different struggles and concerns. He is a quadripalegic (spelled that wrong) and so often times Elder Crapo and I help him get in and out of his wheelchair, get dressed, and help him in and out of bed. I think I love this man more than I have loved anyone I've ever taught. He is so humble and so hilarious. This Sunday he came and saw Jasmine's baptism. He loved it. Suprisingly it was the first baptism he has seen and he said he felt the spirit and wants to be baptized this June. He is so ready. I can't wait!

      Things are going well though and I love y'all. Peace

                                          -Elder Henrie

If God Loves You, He Will Push You

 Sorry that I didn't get a chance to write last week or this Monday. We had mission conference this Tuesday so we were busy Monday getting ready for that whole schmeel. It was awesome, got some revelation that blew my mind. 

     Here is an update on my life. Went to a Twins Baseball game and they won 7-3. Pretty sweet. Our investigator Jasmine just had her interview this morning and she passed.  Her baptism will be this Sunday at 8 so I'm pretty pumped. The ex-marine guy that we are teaching has a lesson set up tonight at 7 so hopefully we can help him come to know that the Book of Mormon is true. Tony Bass, an eternigator finally quit smoking so hopefully we can see him baptized in the next couple weeks. All is well. 

     So... Mission Conference. Elder Clarke who is in the 1st quorum of the seventy came and trained on the sabbath day. We had all the missionaries in the whole mission there which is around 235. I had the chance to conduct the meeting and I can honestly say I don't know if there is anything more powerful than sitting in the front of a chapel as 235 missionaries sing the hymn Lead Kindly Light. A moment that I won't soon forget. 

     Here are the things of revelation that I picked out of the meeting:

 "If God loves you, He will push you."

  We teach people that we can become like God, if we tell ourselves that we can't find people to teach and baptize, we are selling ourselves way to short. 

  Lastly, to be humble. Had an experience at the meeting that really humbled me. Because of the busyness of the meeting and the things that had to get done I forgot to eat that day and it was around 1:30. We had been it the meeting since about 10:30 and all I could think about was eating. I was thinking to myself, "Man this meeting would probably be a lot more enlightening if I could have some food." Right after I thought that, Elder Clarke told all of us how, there are many weekends that he has to go without taking the sacrament. When he said that I realized that I was complaining about the littlest thing and that there is always someone who has bigger challenges. May not seem like the biggest thing but it was a good lesson for me.

 That's all for now though. Good luck and have a good week.

Pictures: Elder Crapo and I in the stands. 

Me and Elder Blanch getting Pysched UP!

Elder Crapo getting searched in security because he had a pocket knife. Classic Idaho Boy

Excited

Shoutout to Mitch for making the 1 year. a;sldfkjasl;dvzxl;vjaeog... That is pretty much how I feel right now. This last week I saw more miracles than I have seen at any time on my mission, however, I also feel as though I have been hit in the brain by a rocket. Our investigator Tony is doing really well. He is still working towards baptism on the 9th but boy has it been a wild ride. He has called us every night this week because he feels tempted to smoke. He is holding strong though. He has faced probably more opposition than any other investigator that I've seen but he seems to be hanging on real well.

    Coolest thing though, yesterday at Stake Conference this guy walked up to me while Elder King was talking to some of his spanish homies and said that he had just moved from Oregon. He has a fiance that is flying in on this Thursday and has already taken all the missionary discussions and wants to be baptized but she wanted to come up here and be baptized by her fiance. So now we have this super cool young couple now in our ward. Looking forward to teaching them this week for sure. We don't know if her baptism will be this Saturday or the next but I'll let you know Sunday.

     We are going back to teach the army guy tonight with the other ex-marine in our ward. Super pumped. 

      We got a call this week from a man by the name of Jeremiah and said that he wanted to meet up. So we met him at the church and he told us his life story of how he joined the church and how his dad passed away. Since then he left the church but had an experience a few months ago of how his dad passed away and since then he has remembered how great his life was when he was living the gospel. He is super fun to teach because he is way intelligent but even better than that he owns a super fancy dessert shop and said that he will hook us up. YUM.

       Have some big stuff coming up for the mission as well. We have a leadership conference tomorrow and President asked Elder King and I to train on whatever we wanted and said he would just back us up after. Excited for this opportunity to throwdown.

       And I can't believe it but transfers are coming next week. Last transfer I got in 3 days before the transfer so I felt about 25% of the workload, plus I had no idea what I was doing. Should be fun though. 

      Congrats to Tan for graduating. I'm proud of you bro. 

                                                                                    -Kev hlub mus ib txhis,

                                                                                                  Muaj Zoo

"Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire"

Yeah that was a top gun reference and also a reference to a little mishap last night when we were at a birthday party and the happy birthday song ended with a small fire.

     Things this week have been really great and we have been blessed with so many miracles. We have a member returning from activity in our ward who is an ex-marine and the other night we payed him a visit. Well I love guns and America so we got along great. He ended up showing me all of his guns that he has and while we were there I was thinkin, "Man, it would really sweet to teach an investigator like this guy." So that night I prayed super hard that we would be able to teach a guy like Ryan. The next day, we get a call from a man who says he has friends who are Mormon in a different city and he wanted to learn about our religion.We visited him yesterday afternoon for the first time and one of the first things he says is, "I'm an ex-marine and I have seen a lot of things that the two of you haven't, so don't try and beat around the bush with this stuff and just tell me what's up." My companions jaw dropped and I almost started laughing. He is so much like Ryan and we are hoping Ryan can come out joint-teaching with us this Thursday. So yes, God does answer prayers.

     Also we have a man with a date set for May 9th and is working on quitting cigars. He calls us almost every night around 3 or 4 in the morning because he feels the need to smoke and so we talk with him for about 20 minutes and by the end he is just saying, "I got this, I got this." It is cool to see his desire and God is blessing him for it but man I hope God changes time somehow and I get to sleep more because I fell asleep in a lesson the other day and I felt so bad. It's all good though the member was cool about it.

      Last miracle is that we found this ward member who has a super nice gym and loves to work out and we started going with him in the mornings. He is semi-active but we gave him a blessing before he took his finals in college and he did super well on all of them. He has come back to church and is getting really strong which is neat to see.

                       -Sib Ntsib Dua,

                                 Muaj Zoo

"You Wanna Pepsi?"

 This week was exciting and had a lot of ups and downs for sure. President surprised the mission with a transfer in the middle of the transfer. He made changes to about thirty missionaries so the majority of Tuesday and Wednesday was spent figuring that out. We ended up taking a 7 hour road trip to Wisconsin and then to the southern part of Minnesota. We stopped in Wisconsin for some cheese curd burgers which blew my mind and also probably a few arteries in my heart but it was worth it.

     We have been teaching a part member couple for the last two weeks and the husband has set a date for May 9th. They have both been off smoking for the last couple days and they quit at the same time so there has been a lot of stress for the both of them. It is crazy the stuff people do when they are breaking a bad habit. They are doing really well though and they are super fun to teach. They are Georgia and they love fried chicken, basketball, and singing like baptists so there is never a dull moment with them.

     Had a cool experience last night. We were on our way to a dinner appointment and felt like we needed to stop by a less active real quick who is Spanish. When we got there the less active wasn't there but her grandparents who are super active were both there. Luckily Elder King speaks Spanish so they talked and found out that the wife had cancer. She still hadn't received a blessing and so we offered one. When her husband gave the first part of the blessing in Spanish it was so spiritual and he started balling and then after Elder King finished the blessing they were both crying. It was a really neat moment and then after they got a hold of themselves the wife looked up at me with this big smile and said in broken english, "You wanna Pepsi?" I laughed so hard. 

     So yeah things are going well and the people here are super cool so I love it. Have a good week.

look out boys... I'm gettin good

                                                       

It Was Pretty Boss

Mom: Well to be honest, being an AP is the best and hardest thing I have ever done. It streches my faith,patience,charity,and basically everything. I am exhausted ALL the time. Before my mission I felt like I was never tired but I can fall asleep standing up without even trying. My calling is really just to serve the missionaries. The hard thing is though is that right when I came in President changed his mind and also wants us to have a really good area as well which in the past the AP's never really did so it is a lot to juggle. I guess to share about my calling. It is a lot of office work which is pretty hard as a 19 year old to stay in an office but I'm getting used to it. We go on exchanges with zone leaders who are spread across Minnesota and we help out struggling missionaries. We meet with the mission president and talk about transfers a lot and what we need to do to help the mission. Lots of fun. Bye love ya. Thanks for setting up housing. Please let me know about classes and the exact deadline for when I need to be signed up.

Family:

Crazy stuff goin down in Bloomington that's for sure. I love this place. It turns out that our area is a really big hub for a bunch of immagrants from Africa so we teach Egyptians, Liberians, and a lot of Somalians. It is just like being back with the Hmong people because most of them don't have a Christian background. It has been fun to get to know there cultures but not quite as fun to get to know their foods. 

     Had a really neat miracle this Saturday night. We had found an eternigator(Long Timer) in our area book that was married to a less active but hadn't been seen for super long. So on Saturday night Elder King and another missionary (We were on exchanges) went to visit him. Right as they got there he pulled up and he was super excited to see them. He came to church yesterday with his wife and quit smoking today. He says he wants to get baptized within the next month or so. He is one of the most prepared people I have seen on my mission. I am really excited to teach him too because he is a 6' 4" guy and he loves basketball. 

     Things for Elder King and I were good this week and we spent a lot of time driving all over the mission. Last night we drove north about an hour and stayed the night with some Elders to help them out. We wanted to help them have joy so we're taking them golfing today, should be pretty fun.

     The last person to talk about is this super sweet guy named Ryan. He is a former marine and left the church for about 10 years while he was on tour. He has traveled all over the world and has the coolest stories. One of the first things that he said to me was, "Do you wanna see all my guns?" Dream come true. He has come from such a dark place and is now putting every ounce of energy into the church. It is neat to see those people who come from a rough background and then find the light of the Gospel. They really do have such a strong conviction. 

     On Tuesday we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) and our former 1st counselor in the mission presidency who was just called to be an Area Seventy Elder Stacey, came to speak to us. He had just gotten off a flight from Salt Lake the night before and so we were the first group of people other than his wife that he had talk to about the call. He told us the whole process of what it was like to get the call and he told us of some of the meetings that he had with the 12 Apostles. He said that it was amazing to see the process in real life of how they direct the church. Then he looked at all of us and said, "If you don't know that this is true from the top of your head to the bottom of your feat, than fix it, and fix it fast." and sat down. It was pretty boss. It for sure gave me a renewed desire to strengthen my testimony and it has been a blessing. Thanks so much and have a good week.

Bloom Town

     Things this week have been crazy for sure. We had transfer week this Wednesday so we had to rush around. We drove to the airport in separate cars (which freaked me out when I had to drive back alone. Had a nice moment singing David Archuleta by myself though so it's cool,) to drop off the departing missionaries and pick up the new ones. It was really neat to take one of my old companions Elder Hardy to the airport and drop him off. We talked about all the good times we had together and all the things we learned. It made me really appreciate that I am not him though because all the going home missionaries looked way worse off than the ones coming in. It was great to see the new missionaries come in with their faith and to see their excitement to get underway.      

     Things with teaching the Mikas people are super weird. It is cool to get to teach in English again but sometimes I still do some asian stuff that Mikas people just don't quite understand. Like the other night we were at dinner with our elders quorum president and his wife put the scooper thing for the potatoes with the wrong side facing up. In Hmong culture if you put the food scooper the wrong way up then it invites spirits to come and eat with you. Which is bad. So I explained that to them and they looked at me like I was from another planet. I'm sure I'll adjust pretty quick though but until then I guess the rule of thumb is to not bring up bad spirits at the dinner table. 

      We had a pretty cool miracle yesterday as well. We were in the mission office doing work and I saw a not that was under some papers so I pulled it out and it was a note that we were suppose to call back a lady because she needed help moving but the note got lost under some papers. So we call her up and she says that she needs help big time and wants to learn more about our religion as well. Sounds pretty golden and were teaching her tonight at 8 so that should be fun.

      So conference blew my mind...again. Elder Holland's talk was one of my favorite talks of all time. Especially with James' birthday just passing I thought about him a lot during the talk and realized how strong the bond between brothers really is. I feel now that I have been out on my mission I have grown so much closer to James, Tan, & J dub which is really cool. It's almost as if the mission was the last hurdle I had to jump before we could really fully understand each other and it has been cool to remember experiences that they had as I have served the Lord. 

     Love you all and good luck this next week. Happy Easter. Try not to go into a food coma from all the potatoes and chocolate. Talk to you later. 

-Elder Henrie

The Last Moments of My Hmong Ministry

     Hey Fam. Sorry that I missed the e-mail this last Monday but things are getting real busy. From now on my P-Days will be a little sporadic but I still should be able to send an e-mail every week. Big News. I got transferred. Usually in the mission President sends out the transfers to our e-mail on Monday morning but this Sunday morning he called and let me know that I will be serving in Bloomington now. They told me that I had a couple hours to pack and that they were picking me up that night so I went to church came home and then left. Pretty nervous to be out of the Hmong work but I am super excited for the challenge and opportunity in front of me. 

     Couple updates on the last moments of my Hmong ministry and then I'll let you know what's going on here. Nalee got BAPTIZED! It was a super cool baptismal service and her testimony was super boss. Then after her baptism she asked me to confirm her and it was one of the most spiritual moments on Sunday when we gave her the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Especially because it was Libby and James' birthday. I was thinking about them a lot and just how awesome the both of them are. During Nalee's blessing. I promised her that she would have her character changed to become more like Christ as she followed the Holy Ghost and as I did that I thought about all the great qualities that James and Libby possess and how Christlike the both of them are. Nalee was one of my favorite investigators on my mission and I really hope that she continues to stay strong.

     Things out here in Bloomington are pretty cool. I have learned in these first few days, that I still have a lot to learn. I really look forward to the next few months though and the challenge that lies ahead. My companion Elder King is a really cool guy. He used to be a Spanish missionary so he knows what is like to have to leave the culture behind and start teaching mikas people which should be really helpful. He is from Vernal Utah. Loves Murica, shooting guns, and sports so we should do just fine.

     SHOUTOUT to my SISTER

   You are the coolest little sister in the world. Every time mom and dad talk about you they only say how great you are doing in school and how everybody loves you a ton. Happy tenth (haha didn't think you were getting baptized again this time) b-day. Even though you are still super young I am amazed at how much you help everyone and how much you love others. All of your letters and little crafts that you send me are super nice. I especially loved the picture of the bald eagle and the I love USA picture. You are the bomb. Happy Birthday Libs.

Elder Henrie & Elder King