Latest news from Anh Cả Phong Manhardt!

Well, this last week was full of great things and tons of surprises.

 

Going all the way back to last Tuesday. After emailing, P-Day was quite successful. But the devotional that night is my main point. Elder Richard G Scott was the speaker and it was an AMAZING talk. He spoke a lot about the Spirit and how we can follow its promptings and how we can receive more inspiration. It was probably one of the best talks I have heard in my life. The Spirit was there so strong and we could all feel Elder Scott's love for us ad through that, the love of the Savior.

 

I don't remember a whole lot from Wednesday, so I'm guessing that there wasn't much out of the ordinary. Thursday on the other hand, was not ordinary in the slightest bit. There were two huge surprises that came on Thursday. The first starts when Anh Cả Phan was going to pick up new nametags because he had lost his. While at the desk, they told him that he was going to be leaving on Monday.... whoa. That was unexpected and even more so when you consider that he was just there to pick up nametags. We had been told at the very beginning of our time here that he might be leaving early, but as we had heard nothing more about it, we all assumed that he would be leaving with us. Crazy. This happened right before dinner and was of course the topic of discussion all through the meal. The rest of our zone (when I refer to our zone, I really just mean the Southeast Asian districts. Basically us, the Cambodians and the Hmongs) also were told and we were all just kinda stuck pondering what was going to happen. Later that night, in class, comes the second surprise. We were finally given our Vietnamese names. We knew that we would be given Vietnamese names, but we were told not to expect them until around week 8. This of course got all of us excited. My name is Anh Cả Phong. I dont have enough time to write much detail now, but the name has some pretty cool meanings. I'll be sure to write about that later.

 

The rest of the week was filled with teaching investigators, learning more Vietnamese, learning more about being missionaries, and helping Anh Cả Phan get ready to leave. Sunday was great. We had our normal temple walk, but did it with our zone. We all brought hymn books in our languages and sang together at the temple. It was quite special. We took some pictures and just enjoyed being with each other.

 

Yesterday was a sad day, but sad for good reasons. Anh Cả Phan left. We were all sad to see him go, but he is ready and we are excited for him to go serve the people in Cambodia and to do the Lord's work. Today another elder left for the field from our zone from the Hmong district. We also found out last night that the only Sister in our zone is going home today. We are sad to see them go, but know that they need it and that the Lord will be with them.

 

Well, There's plenty of things that I wish I had time to write about, but I just don't.

 

Love you guys

 

Tình yêu thương,

Anh Cả Phong Manhardt

Latest news from Elder Manhardt

Xin chào!

Well the time keeps flying by. It’s hard to believe that we've been here for half of our stay already, and even through it still seems like it will be an eternity before we leave the MTC, its strange to see that we've hit a milestone.

Language study is continuing and progressing quickly. Right now, my main focus is to be able to listen better. With both of our investigators, we have had times when we have asked questions critical to their conversion, but we didn't understand their responses. It’s quite deflating when a lesson goes so well and then it becomes insignificant because we don’t know what the investigator needs and how we can help them. So right now, I am working to learn how to listen and understand the language. I haven't figured out a solid way to improve that skill. It’s something that I have to continuously think about and find new ways to learn.

Last week, an extra bunk was added to our room as I think I mentioned might happen. Well it happened and we expect that we will get two new Elders in our room tomorrow. It will be pretty exciting, but will also have its disadvantages. But even with the prospects of long lines for showers and crowded rooms, we are all looking forward to it.

I can't remember everything that has happened over the last week, but I'll try and touch on some of the highlights, and especially some cool things that have happened already today.

So Saturday, we had TRC again. This is when volunteers come in and we teach a short lesson. This TRC, I was teaching with Anh cả Atkinson. It went really well. The topic this week was receiving revelation through the Book of Mormon, or Sách Mặc Môn in Vietnamese. We taught our first volunteer, who was a return missionary that served in Cambodia. It was a great lesson. We share some personal experiences and he did as well. Our next lesson though is probably the more important one. She is a nonmember. It is a special opportunity to teach someone who really has these questions and needs to get answers. It’s also really cool to think that we could really be influencing her life right now... and we're still in the MTC. So, all in all, TRC is great and I look forward to it each week.

Sunday was good and spiritual as always. The main focus throughout priesthood meeting and sacrament meeting was the Restoration. There were some very good insights shared. I particularly enjoyed the priesthood meeting. With some many people sharing their own thoughts, it makes the lessons so much more meaningful. It reminded me of my Elders Quorum at school. Those were the best quorum meetings I have had, and this was nearly to that point. The fireside on Sunday night was given by Brother and Sister Macking. I believe that Brother Macking is the district president over the MTC, but I can’t remember for sure. Sister Macking talked about table manners which was rather entertaining. Something about seeing a Sister instruct about this in front of some 2500 Elders and Sisters was pretty amusing. Brother Macking talked about the importance of unity and not excluding anyone.

Today has so far been awesome. We went to the temple as usual, but today we did sealings. As missionaries, we can be proxies for children. It was a special experience. One of the names for the of that couples that the work was done for was Elizabetha Mannhart. The date and location on the card were around 1848 in Wuerttenberg, Germany. Not sure if I spelled the place right, but it was close to that. IT may be worth looking into that. Hint, hint. Dad, do you know anything about an Elizabetha? Anyways it was pretty cool.

As we were leaving the temple, we saw a huge mass of people standing by the road, right across the street from the MTC. Then a sister in the temple parking lot told us that the MTC was evacuated. Whoa. We don’t really know what happened, but we heard that it was just a fire drill type thing. It wasn’t long before they let us back in to campus, but it was weird all the same.

Tôi biết rằng Giáo Hội là giáo hội của Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô. Sách Mặc Môn la lời của Thượng Đế.

Hope all is well, as it sounds like it is.

Tinh yêu thương,

Anh cả Manhardt

Really late post of Elder Manhardt's latest letter

I'll just apologize for this being so late getting out!  I was preparing to travel out of state and I didn't get it posted!  So sorry!  I should have a new letter sometime tomorrow.  I hope that anyone that is able to read his letters is enjoying them as much as I am!  I am very blessed to be a part of his family.

Well, now I've been here for almost a full month. Its really quite strange to think about. This week, we watch the first group of Elders and Sisters leave that got here after us. Its really weird to see them come and go as we are staying here. We found out over the weekend that an extra bunk is going to be added to our room, actually, most of the Elders rooms will get an extra bed. They are closing down a residence building for renovation and apparently a lot more missionaries are coming in too. Its going to get pretty crazy here with a bunch of extra people. Even through the inevitable chaos that will ensue, we are still looking forward to some aspects. We'll see how it goes when it actually happens.

 

The weeks are going by so fast now. Its ridiculous to think that it was only a week ago that I wrote last, or could go to the temple and all the other things that happen on P-Day. We're 4 weeks in, 8 more to go. That seems like an eternity, but I know that it is necessary. We still have so much to learn.

 

This weekend was really good. Saturday was our first experience with what is called Training Resource Center, or TRC. What it is, is volunteers that come in that speak the language. We are assigned a topic to teach about the week before. On Saturday, we just go in and teach a 20 minute lesson. These volunteers aren't doing role play though. They are being themselves. We were certainly nervous going in, but it turned out to be a really great experience. Another cool part about TRC is that we taught with different companions. I got to teach with Anh cả Robison. That was very cool. Our topic to teach was about how they could receive answers to their prayers. Because these volunteers were being themselves, we didnt expect to have to teach a whole lot about how we pray or other basic doctrine. We were very surprised then when in our first lesson, the volunteers didnt know anything. They asked questions about God. Who He was, where He lived, who Christ was. We thought that maybe they just didn't understand what they were supposed to do, or we just didnt get what TRC was about. Well it turns out that in the papers we were given as a recap of what the volunteers thought about our lesson, we learned that the one who was asking these questions is actually a non-member. Whoa! I'm glad that I didnt know that before hand, or I would have really been freaking out. So, there ya go, I've taught my first non-member. Crazy.

 

Sunday meetings were very good and spiritual. I learned a ton. I enjoyed the normal Sunday Temple Walk as usual. It's great to get a short break from the MTC and all the work associated with it.

 

Yesterday also went very well, particularly with our investigator Chú Cường. We went in the morning to set an appointment with him because we had forgotten to do so after our last lesson. We were surprised however that he wanted us to teach him later that night. Uh oh. We were planning on teaching him on Wednesday. We are now teaching about the Plan of Salvation, but we are learning the vocab as we go because we have never taught this doctrine before. We weren't prepare to teach it. But we decided to just try our best and see what happens. We planned out our lesson. We shortened it to just talk about the Atonement and to commit him to baptism. When we taught, it went so well. Then we commited him to be baptized. He said no because he had already been baptized. We explained about the restored Preisthood authority and about being baptized by immersion. We asked him again.... and we couldn't understand what he said. We had him say it again, and even say it slower, but it was beyond us. We picked up on certain parts, but we'll have to see where things go from here. It was quite deflating to have such a great lesson and then it go poorly for the sole reason that we didn't know what he said. We later learned that one of the words he said was "gradually" so that is surely a good sign.

 

Well that's all the time I've got to write. 

Love,

Anh cả Manhardt

Email #3!

Xin chào giah đinh của tôi,

Well, its hard to believe that we've been here for 3 weeks already. There is still so much to learn, but looking back, we have already learned so much!

We have had a lot of good devotionals and many great experiences in the classroom. Theres no way that I can remember everything, but I'll get straight to the good stuff.

General Conference was amazing! First, it was great to get a break from the rigor of the study here at the MTC. We had a whole weekend to relax. We didnt have to thing about Vietnamese or our current situations with our investigators. We didnt have to sit through hours upon hours of class. And best of all, we ocassionally had time to take a nap! I guess thats not really the best of all though. Really, the best part was getting to hear the words and counsel of the prophets of the Lord. Their words and teachings seem so much more vivid as a missionary. This is true of the scriptures as well. The stories and lessons seem to be personally directed at me, almost as if I was actually living the stories myself. It is awesome! The announcements of the new temples was an incredible thing as well. To see the work progressing through results, like building temples, is truly inspiring. Especially the news about Provo Temple #2. That is absolutely crazy! I cant wait for when I'm back from my mission and can go throught that temple myself (assuming its finished by then). All of the sessions of Conference were extrememly inspiring. On Sunday, we still had our normal Sunday Night Fireside. That was also awesome. It was given by Brother Chad Lewis, former BYU and Philadelphia Eagle player. His stories were inspiring and provided great insight to the things that we, as missionaries, can do during and after our missions to continue the service of the Lord. After the fireside, we also had the opportunity to watch the movie, The Testaments. They have films available to watch every Sunday night, but we have never been able to go because we have had had so much to do to prepare for class and teaching our investigators. But, we stayed and watched this time. We all knew that The Testaments is a powerful witness and wanted to watch it. I love that movie! Basically, it all added up to one spectacular weekend.

Yesterday, was a sort of milestone for me in our teaching and learning. We taught one of our investigators, Chú Cường, yesterday morning. We enjoy teaching, but Chú Cường has not been keeping commitments and has not prayed with us when we have asked him. The reason this lesson was so awesome to me was for two reasons. First, I noticed that Vietnamese doesnt sound that strange to me anymore. Its kinda hard to explain. When I first cam here, and Cô Hương was speaking in Vietnamese, is sounded so alien. Not just because I didnt know what she was saying but that the language itself just sounded strange. But as I was teaching Chú, I realized that I was speaking it, and it just felt right. The second reason it was so awesome is that for the first time teaching in Vietnamese, I felt guided by the Spirit to say certain things. Ever since we started doing role play in class in English, I really had a strong desire to be able to teach the same way in Vietnamese. I knew that it would take a while, but to have it happen, even just a little was awesome.

We found out from our other teacher Thay Tuân that there are currently some Vietnamese delegates in the area. They are here for some sort of meeting at BYU or something like that. He was working to help translate for them. The cool part is that they might be stopping by the MTC sometime. The reason thats even cooler is that they are like Protestant Reps for Vietnam, or something of that nature. Its through them that Vietnam will open to missionaries in the future. Apparently, we are getting pretty close to that time. So it they come here, we could influence that decision.

Our district is growing closer and closer together as we continue to learn with and about each other. We have a ton of good times. Just last night though, Cô Hương challenged us to be more focused, study harder, and maybe change the way we study if need be, so that we can do better to fulfill our purpose. It was great to see our district rise to that challenge instantly. When we got back to our rooms that night, instead of our normal fooling around, many were studying.

The work goes well here. Its great to hear from everybody and I hope that continues to happen.

Xin chào,

Anh cả Manhardt