4.8.13

Well, I can hardly believe that Conference is over already! Now I have to wait another 6 months for a new one. Thats ok though. It will take me that long to review all the talks from this last weekend.

Conference was actually super hectic for me. For whatever reason, the satellite at the church wouldnt receive Vietnamese. Fortunately I was there and was able to set up alternated means to watch it, but we just kept running into problem after problem. Viewing circumstances were much less than desirable, but it ever session was at least available to listen in Vietnamese (we listen in English though so we dont miss anything important). I ended up spending time between every session trying to fix something. Even with all the chaos, Conference was still great. I really love Elder Hollands talk. He does such an incredible job of taking the stories of the scriptures and analyzing them in a way that directly applies to our lives. Obviously, all the talks about missionary work were very good and certainly needed, especially in regard of member involvement.

Well, thats about all I've got for now. Thanks everybody.

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

4.1.13

Happy Easter everyone. I hope it was enjoyable for you. My certainly was great here.

Overall this week was pretty good. We didnt teach as many lessons as usual, but we were asked to organize some records so that we could go out contacting, actually knocking to be more specific. I guess you could say we are going back to the old ways.

The branch had a temple baptism trip this saturday that we were allowed to go to, because the branch needed more melchizedek priesthood holders. It was great. I hadnt been to the temple for anything since the very beginning of the year, so it was special. Since being there, I can truly say that my receptiveness to the Spirit had increased. i really love the temple. Its the best place to be if you want to feel close to God.

Easter Sunday went well. Church service and classes were all enjoyable and uplifting. President Morgenegg, the old branch president had us over for dinner. Sister Moprgenegg is a great cook, so that part was great. And they have a special program that they do for Easter after dinner to help us remember what we are really celebrating.

Make it a great week!

Love

Elder Manhardt

3.17.13

Well this week was pretty average. We had a lot of meetings with the leadership of the branch. Its pretty exciting to hear all sorts of new ideas and thoughts on how to help the branch improve and then even better to see some of those ideas turn into actions. I'm looking forward to see what else changes and how we can use it to build a stronger branch not just for the members but for all those that will come visiting or investigating the church. 

Other than all that, not too much has changed. The weather had gotten hot over the last few days. Up into the 80s. Geez, what happened to spring? Im not looking forward to the summer and the blazing heat. After one of our lessons yesterday, we went out to our car, opened the door and got hit with a familiar but not missed blast of hot air. Oh boy. Hopefully it cools down bit now before we head into the real summer.

Glad to hear you all are doing well! Make it a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

3.11.13

Well, this week went fast and slow like many weeks do. By the time that Sunday came, I could hardly believe it was already time to go to church again. But at the same time, if felt like last Sunday was forever ago.

We had an extra meeting this week. A special zone meeting with President Ashton there. We had some good trainings and I definitely learned a lot. We also got burritos for lunch, so that was spectacular.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. After church and lunch and some more study time, we went to visit a member of the branch. We had a good lesson. At the end, we asked if there was anything we could do to help her and she said, yeah you can stay longer and eat my food. Ha. It was great. We had spring rolls. Then we went to teach a less active member and got to help them move around some furniture. Some good ole work. 

Another change that happened this week is that the missionary department had changed the policy for emailing. We are now allowed to email friends and such as well. So, if you could get that out to people, I'm sure I would be able to keep contact with more people. 

Thanks everybody and have a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

3.4.12

Well, its been another week. We did get to go to the transfer meeting. The only problem is that it wasnt really that exciting. Because there were so many new missionaries coming in (34) there wanst too much movement among the missionaries. Also the number we heard before about 13 areas opening was wrong. It was only 8. Of course, that is still a ton, but its not 13. What ended up happening is that the mission received several visa-waiter missionaries and so a lot of training companionships are actually trios (my guess being that then they can leaved immediately when they get their visas without there needing to be emergency transfers). Its a pretty crazy thought of training two new missionaries at the same time. But, whatever, things will work out. They always do. Its also definitely a good thing that we were at the meeting because with so many trios, there were a lot of problems with how people would get home from the meeting. It was pretty chaotic as people tried to figure out how to get bodies and luggage to their assigned areas. But it all worked out. Like always.

The other big news of the week is that President Morgenegg was released as the branch president. So we had the stake presidency at our sacrament meeting as well. We (as in the whole branch) are pretty sad to see Pres Morgenegg go, but once again, things will work out. They always do. The new branch president is President Berhmann (I honestly dont know how to spell that, but I think thats right). As for changes outside the branch presidency, we will have to wait to see what/if anything happens.

 

Thats all I've got for now! Make it a great week!

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

2.25.13

Last week, again, was pretty average. Not too much changed and I'm not really sure what to write. 

This week is the start of another transfer. There is a ton of missionaries coming in this week. In fact, we heard that there will be 13 new areas opened up. Many of the new ones are sisters. Actually, this last transfer we had a new sister in our district. She had to do the whole 12 week training program in this shortened 5 week transfer so that she can train a new sister now. Its pretty crazy. Nothing is changing as far as our companionship goes, but we are hoping to be allowed to go to the transfer meeting anyways (to drive other missionaries or something) because it will be a very exciting one. We'll see what happens.

Make it a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

2.18.13

This week dragged on for quite a while. Not having our own car really is quite annoying. Everyday we had to plan pretty closely with our zone leaders to share the car. Everythings worked out alright, but our productivity was a tiny bit lower. Everything worked out though. We just got our car back this morning, so everything is back to normal. The library here even happened to be open, so we could have a normal pday.

 

We started teaching a new investigator. It was super wierd, actually. It had been many months since we had taught someone who wasnt a member of the Church. We had to shake off the rust a bit, (and pretty quickly too as she doesnt have any Christian background) but overall the lesson went pretty well. We were super grateful for the member that came with us because it wasnt until after he shared an experience that she seemed to get it.

 

Our zone conference was pretty good. We focused alot on our purpose as missionaries. That purpose is to invite. If we havent invited people to do something, then we havent done our job. Sometimes as missionaries we try and protect our investigators (or members) by assuming that they need more time to understand and exercise their faith, but that causes us to not fulfill our purpose. Maybe they arent ready yet, but we still have to invite them.

 

Well thats about all I've got for now. Have a great week!

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt