ဂီၤလၢအဂ့ၤ​ကိးဂၤဒဲး​

Mom notes: Brooklyn and I spent a lot of time on her P-day this week going over some things for housing and college since she will be home soon. (5 more weeks!) She ran out of time for a group email. I thought it might be fun to put a few photos on her blog and update a little of what she told me in my email. 

Sis Hoskins joined them this week and is starting to learn Karen. She is from Utah and has been out for 3 months. In Brooklyn's words, "She is super sweet, really quiet but her funny side is coming out. She'll do good here!" It sounds like they are all getting along well and that Sis. Hoskins is going to be a great addition to Karen Land!

Notice how high the snow is behind them--and where are their coats?!

Sounds like they were very busy last week and Sis. Hoskins jumped right into the work. Here is a part of Sis. Hicks' general email: This week we went finding a lot on Saturday. We split up so Sister Hermansen and Mae Paw were together and then me and Sister Hoskins were together and we got a combined total of 12 new investigators! We went to this place called arkWright and we knocked basically every door on the first and second floor and only got into one house that seemed interested in the lesson and by the end she let us know that some other missionaries from the church had come the day before! So then we got to the third floor and knocked on 3 doors and on the 3rd, this girl answered and we taught her and her brother and she was so awesome! Super excited and really interested in the lesson. Her name was Htee Shay Paw. At the end she asked if she could come to other houses with us. So then she brought us to all her friends. She was nervous to speak in Karen so she said, "I'll knock on the door and then you talk!" so we had a nice little system down. She got us into the two houses we had knocked on before hers and got us into like 4 other houses! This one door we knocked on a girl answered and said, "Oh my goodness I've been wanting to learn about Jesus! I don't know very much about him and you can help us!" Super sweet little girl. So we're very excited for our new round of people to work with! Mae Paw and Sister Hermansen found a lot of success at the other apt as well! It was a very good night.
This just goes to show when members and neighbors work with the missionaries, it truly makes a difference! 

Elder Williams left St. Paul and transferred to the area Elder Evans moved to. 

I've seen how the Karen missionaries become like family. They all serve together for such an extended period of time compared to other missionaries who are transferred often. I asked Brooklyn what it's been like losing some of the Elders recently. She said it's been hard and easier to see how helpful they really are once they are gone! 

They spent hours on P-day helping the Hurley's (senior missionary couple) pack up to leave and go home to Idaho. The Hurleys gave them tons of food that they can't take home with them. Wow!

At the end of their P-day, they walked out on a lake close to their apartment. Crazy girls didn't even have coats on again! I asked her why she wasn't wearing a coat. She replied, "It's 35 degrees! It's warm!" 

One more....they have been sleeping on the floor to live more like the Karen! Ouch!

Praaaayer

Good morning!

This week we had some cool things happen. Little steps of progress that we’re super grateful for! My favorite one was with Mae Paw’s family. I love Mae Paw to death. We have built such a strong relationship with her over the past year that I’ve been here and I’m sooo grateful for her. I have felt that a big reason why I needed to come here, is for Mae Paw. Mae Paw is the only member in her family, but 3 of her little sisters come to church with her every week. If you remember Sher Paw, she is the one that we are praying will be able to get baptized on March 24th. Sher Paw is one of Mae Paw’s little sisters. Over the past year that I’ve been here, Mae Paw’s dad has never come to church and her mom came probably twice, up until a few weeks ago. She has now come a couple more times since we all started praying for Sher Paw. We think this is a huge step for them! Her mom said she wants to come to church more, but it’s hard to take care of their rowdy two year old. Even though their dad still has never been to church, since we started praying every single day for Sher Paw, our relationship with him has completely changed. Before he would see us and say hi, and then just go into his room. Now when we go over, he talks to us and asks us for help with things. Yesterday, Mae Paw even called us and said her dad wanted to cook dinner for us! Karen people don’t usually have family meals. They usually all eat whenever they want at separate times unless it’s a special occasion. Yesterday when we went over, they had cleared off their table, which I’m pretty sure is never used for eating at since they eat on the floor, and set it all up for us. Little steps, but steps of progress for sure. We’ve been talking to Mae Paw about talking to her dad more about church and yesterday she told us that he might come to church next week! We really hope he does! I know God is helping answer our prayers. Prayer is so powerful! Keep Mae Paw’s family in your prayers. They are such a sweet family.

Sister Hicks’ birthday was on Valentines Day! It was a good day! We taught some good people! One of them is Eh Lin and his wife Thay Paw Paw. They have two cute little boys. One is about 2 and the other is just a month old! So cute and tiny! Eh Lin was taught in the past, but wasn’t progressing so the missionaries stopped teaching him. Months ago, Sister Hicks and I found him in the area book and taught him once, but when we tried going back, things just didn’t work out for some reason. I don’t even remember why. But a couple of weeks ago, he called us and asked us to come teach him again. We’ve taught him the past two weeks and the whole family has come to church the last two weeks as well. He’s really cool and very attentive in our lessons. We hope that now is the right time for him and he will start progressing! 

Well, this week Karenland will have some more changes. Elder Williams, who has been in this area for the last 18 months, will be going down to Albert Lea to serve with Elder Evans who left this area last transfer. Also, Sister Hicks and I will be getting a new companion! We don’t really know much about her yet, but we’re excited! It will be weird having another companion after it just being us together for the last 8 months. haha

Dinner at Mae Paw’s!

Sher Paw gave us cute little Valentine's presents. 

Elder Brklacich, Williams, Foutz, Standage, Elder & Sister Hurley, Brooklyn, Sis. Hicks, Sister and President Barney

(Elder Williams is getting transferred to Albert Lea and the Hurley's are leaving next week) 

Moo Eh Wah took us out for pho!

True Happiness

Heyyyyyo! 

This week we went on exchanges with the Hmong sisters! It was super fun. I stayed here in Karenland and Sister Jasperson was with me for the day! Unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures. We saw some cool investigators though. First of all, we saw some investigators that we found in the area book a while ago, but only ended up seeing them once. They are pretty cool! Their names are Eh Lin and Thay Paw Paw. We had them give Sister Jasperson a Karen name. They picked Cha Moo Jay, which means Star Life Money, which is only one word different from my Karen name  (Cha Moo Paw - Star Life Flower) Anyway, we got to know them a little bit and talked a little bit about prophets and set up for a nice lesson about Joseph Smith and the restoration which we will teach them tonight! They came to church yesterday though and seemed to really enjoy it. They said they want to come every week. Hopefully they will progress! 

Yesterday we had our third all-Karen sacrament meeting. Instead of it being a testimony meeting, we had assigned speakers and they all did really well! That was exciting to see. We had quite a few investigators there to hear it, so that was good too!

This week I was reading in the Book of Mormon and felt the spirit super strong. I was reading in Alma 36 about when Alma the younger tells his son Helaman about his conversion process. I want to share some of it with you. 

Alma was trying to destroy the church but then had an experience where an angel came to him and told him to repent. In these verses he talks about how he was in such pain and misery from his sins, but remembered what his father had taught about Jesus Christ and how we can be forgiven of our sins. And when he repents, he feels the greatest joy. 

16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.

17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.

Then in these verses he talks about how after he had felt that joy that repentance and the gospel can bring, all he wanted to do was share that with other people. That is one of the main reasons why I’m on a mission right now. I have personally felt that joy that comes from living the gospel and being forgiven of my sins, and I know that this joy, is greater than any joy we can receive from anything else. God wants us to be happy, and he has told us the things that we need to do to receive eternal happiness and the most joy possible. I know that real happiness comes from living the gospel. 

24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors;

Have a good week!

Sorry I did really bad taking pictures this week. 

We got a cool new clock from a part-member family. It looks cool in our apartment, despite it being for the wrong church....hahaha  (Brooklyn told me they told Mae Paws family they liked the clock and they talked about how they couldn't read the time anyway, so they gave it to them! lol)

Hahahaha cute little Karen boy.

Saturday was the 70th National Karen Day. (Brooklyn added a video to her email, here's a screenshot of the Celebration.)

The picture below is from a Karen party they attended. They had lots of Asian food and played red light green light for the majority of the night.  Karen people are so low maintenance, they just put a couple thai mats down and everyone sat on the floor and socialized in the gym--lots easier than setting up heavy tables and chairs!

Our only picture of Brooklyn this week. Here she is looking happy with Wah Paw, Sher Paw's younger sister. She told me Sher Paw is doing well and they are encouraging her to keep praying. Her mom came to church again so that was really good. We are all praying for her parent's hearts to be softened and that they'll let her be baptized before Brooklyn's mission is done!

Spanish and Smartphones!

This week has been a crazy one! We had exchanges with the Spanish sisters! I went to their area with Hermana Mitchell. It was fun! We taught this lady who hasn’t been to church for a long time. One day they were going through a list of names trying to find people and they came across hers. The only problem was that they had two addresses. So they picked one and went. No one opened the door so they left a note with their number on it, but as they were leaving, her husband drove up and asked what they were doing. They told him they were missionaries and he told them that the sisters used to visit a while ago and he would love for them to come back. The next day, they get a call from a man who says he lives with them and he found their note and wants to come to church. So he went to church last week and loved it. They set up an appointment with him for the day I was on exchanges, but he cancelled last minute, however, Hermana Mitchell asked Mirtha, the less-active member if we could still come over. We go and it’s kind of awkward at first getting small talk started, but then gets really comfortable. We were getting to know Mirtha and it turns out she’s been a member her whole life but no one else in the house is. She said that she’s lazy so she doesn’t come to church. Then, Oscar, the one who called the missionaries, and the husband walk in and are all confused because Oscar cancelled the appointment. Mirtha tells them, “this isn’t his appointment! It’s mine! His is on Friday!" That was kinda cool haha but here’s the real cool part. The husband, and Oscar are super open and prepared for the gospel. They really want to learn more and start going to church. While Mirtha was talking I thought of something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. One time I heard my dad talking about how he really loves skiing, but the hardest part is just getting ready and going, but once he goes, he always has such a good time and loves it. I’ve thought about how there’s things in my life that are the same for me. I was able to share this with Mirtha and relate it to coming to church. So often for us, the hardest part of church, is just getting ready and getting in the car and going. Same thing with other parts of the gospel, sometimes it’s hard to have motivation to pray or read scriptures, but when we do the things God has asked us to, we feel good and better yet, God blesses us! Who doesn’t want blessings or to feel good? Anyway, it was a super cool lesson, and I hope Mirtha returns to the gospel. I know that the joy of living this gospel, is better than any kind of joy we can get from anything else in life. I’ve felt it and seen it in my life and I’m so grateful for it. 

Well, Sister Hicks and I got a smartphone this week. It’s a big update from our little slider phone hahaha. We had a bunch of trainings on how to use smartphones in our missionary work! It was really good. There was something that Elder Bednar said that really stood out to me. With smartphones, and using Facebook and everything, there can be a lot of potentially bad things that could happen, distractions, etc. He said that the Lord trusts us with this tool and that we have the capacity to obey and keep his trust. Wow it sounded better when he said it, but I can’t remember the exact phrase. I’ve been thinking about this and how it really applies to every commandment. God sent us to earth and gave us commandments so that we can return to live with him. We have the capacity to obey his commandments. He wouldn’t give us any commandments that we are not capable of following. That doesn’t mean that it’s not super hard. We all have different struggles and temptations, but God trusts us so much, he still sent us here so that we can gain a body and eventually become like him. However, God knew that we would never be perfect in this life, so he gave us His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. And through him and his sacrifice, we can be made clean from our sins, and return to our Father in Heaven who loves us so much. 

Today we went and looked at some ice sculptures and got Thai rolled ice cream! So if you want to see some pictures of that and a 2 minute video of my ice cream being rolled, keep scrolling! 

Yummmm!

 Vikings!

This fish got frozen in the ice! (The little circles are coins people stuck to the ice)

Mom notes: I asked Brooklyn where she ate dinner on Sunday during the Super Bowl and she said they went to a couple's house who are probably the least worldly people she knows so they definitely didn't see or hear any of the Super Bowl. She also said they will probably make another video in a couple of weeks. They are rotating through all the companionships and just doing one a week. She said the video they made was super simple about how God created us and we lived with Him before earth and how He knew we wouldn't be perfect so He gave us His son to be our Savior. Looking forward to the next video of them teaching!