2 week update from Houston...

Well, I've now been in Houston for 2 weeks. Thats really crazy to think about actually. It feels like I've been here forever. Not in a bad way, it just feels like an eternity ago that I was at the MTC.

 

Hmmm.. It might be even harder to think of what to write here than it was at the MTC. The days seem to go by pretty fast and almost blur together.

 

This last week was pretty eventful (now that I look back at my planner and remember what happened). We had a zone meeting which was really good. There were some awesome testimonies given that really helped us to see why we are here serving missions and how we can become better by relying on the Lord. It was a really awesome and spiritual meeting.

 

I am working on trying to get acquainted with the members in our ward. Its coming along, slowly but surely. We have had a couple opportunities to visit families homes for dinner and it has been great to get to know them. One of those ooccasions led to the interesting part of P-Day last week. P-Day is on Thursday here. We met with one of the families on Wednesday night. Through our discussions, we found out that they were going to a hockey game the next day and that it happened to be a t 11:00am. Whoa, opportunity. We went through the line of authority trying to find out if we would be able to go and eventually got the answer that we could. So for P-Day, we went to a Houston Aeros game. It was a lot of fun.

 

We have kept trying to meet with our investigators, with varying amounts of success. Many of our investigators aren't progressing or just wont respond to our efforts to contact them. So our main focus is shifting to finding new people to teach.

 

Two of our current investigators are Andrew and Tiffany. They are brother and sister ages 10 and 7, respectively. Tiffany actually turns 8 on Christmas. So we have been teaching them as best as we know to teach younger kids, struggling to keep their attention and trying to determine what things they really need to understand. Well, Tiffany had always had a little bit of an interest in being baptized, but Andrew not so much. They haven;t been coming to church either, at least not since I've gotten here. We have just kept trying. One idea that we had was to get them to a member's home for dinner and try to teach them there, thinking that maybe they would focus more and then having spent some more time with members, want to go to church. Well, we were able to set up going to the Bishop's house, who had some kids around the same age. And it worked great. We used an object lesson to teach repentance and the gospel of Christ. They payed more attention and by the end both of them had some desire to be baptized. Rest of the story to come as it happens...

 

So as for Christmas, we don't know yet when phone calls are going to happen, or really what our plans are at all for the day. I will be sure to get you the info as quick as I can. We do have a mission conference on Christmas Eve, which should be really good. Its really strange to think that its Christmas time already though. Its now very cold, though there was a few days that it did drop into the 40s, or thereabouts.

 

Well thats about all I've got for now,

Elder Phong Manhardt

1st email from Houston...

Well, it seems like forever ago that I was in Provo at the MTC. Exactly a week ago, I landed in Houston. What a crazy thought!

 

So, there were 10 of us leaving the MTC and coming into our mission. All of the travel went well. We got to Houston and made our way down to get our bags and meet the mission president. Without any real idea of what to expect, we met President and Sister Saylin. We all talked as we waited for our bags to surface. Eventually they did and we were on our way... to somewhere. We had no idea where. It turns out that we went to a church building and had a short meeting to introduce what we were about to go do. That being going out and contacting. We were given a temporary conpanion, 5 minutes worth of role play, and then we were off. Me and Elder Pham traveled together to a small Vietnamese complex. Oh boy. Then we went out. I dont even know what was going through my head at that time, but soon enough, we were talking to people. We only had a few minutes to talk with people before we were supposed to be back at the meetinghouse. We ended up talking to 3 people.

 

After that excursion, we went back to the church then moved on and traveled to the mission home. We had some workshops, an interview with President Saylin, and had dinner. Then we had a testimony meeting. It was all really great. We then got sent to nearby missionary's appartments to sleep that night. The night went fast and then it was morning. Time for the first full day in Houston.

 

We were again driven to a church building. We had a small breakfast, and then were given some more training. Then it came time to be given our trainers. My companion is Elder Wilkinson. We had lunch there and then was the mission's transfer meeting where everyone being transferred finds out where they are going and who they will be serving with. I am in the Broadway area which basically covers everywhere east and north of the city. Because we are the Viet missionaries, our area is massive. Also being in the east, I'm not in the Vietnamese branch. Church is in English and "we" sit in the back translating for the people who need it in Viet. I guess I should say person as its only one, and he speaks some English anyways. I say "we" because I really can't do too much of anything right now. I did one of the sacrament prayers and attempted the closing prayer, but there's PLENTY of room for improvement. Not that I expect to be good at it yet. Improvement comes with time. I think.

 

Whenever we talk to people or teach in Vietnamese, I am just entirely lost. But I guess its ok, because we actually do most of our teaching in English. You see, the second generation here all know English. Its really only the first generation that need the Vietnamese. But despite that, I'm working hard to get my language ability at least to a point right now where I can kind of follow whats going on, even if I still cant participate in whats happening.

 

Well, theres I'm sure a ton of questions that you have and a lot of things that I probably should mention that I havent thought of. Right now, my mind is kinda a mess as I am trying to adjust to life here as a missionary. So make sure you ask questions if you have any and that will help me know what to say.

 

The address that you can send letters to is:

Elder Matt Manhardt

Texas Houston South Mission

5700 Brookglen #558

Houston, TX 77017

 

Alright I gotta go.

 

Elder Phong Manhardt

Elder Manhardt has safely arrived in Texas!  This picture is of him and the other newly arrived missionaries with their Mission President, President Saylin, and his family.