12.3.12

You know, I really like roller coasters. They are fast and fun and spin you this way and that. But in the end you end up at the same place you started, just happier due to the thrill of the ride. Though physically in the same place, you have progressed in a mental/emotional way.

Now, that is way more thought than I ever intended to put into roller coasters; really I just like them because they go fast, but it is all true nonetheless. This last week was a bit of a roller coaster, but in the end we were left better off than we were before.

We were able to do some great service this week with the Chinese elders helping the food bank give out food to elderly people (mostly Chinese and some Vietnamese). It was lots of fun and will help again this week. After the good experience of doing that, we sought out more opportunities to serve the Viet community. We met varied results at different places, but hopefully some of them will turn into opportunities. Also, our free English and Citizenship classes are growing in numbers. We decided to advertise in a viet newspaper and we have seen steady growth since then. We're in the newspaper, we're famous! Oddly enough, its our viet personalities that are famous. Its pretty strange seeing your name in the paper when its not really your name.

We had a miracle happen this weekend. As we were planning, I had the impression to try by a certain less active member that has been so for about 8 years. He is pretty unpredictable and pretty far away so we put him as a backup plan. Well the Lord certainly wanted us there. Every other plan we had fell through. We made the journey. When we got there he was home and we just talked to him for a while (we hadnt seen him for about 5 or 6 months). We shared a short message that we had been sharing with most people for Thanksgiving. The Spirit was there and we extended a direct commitment to come to church following recent training we had received about extending commitments. He stopped and thought about it for quite a while. While he was thinking many outside distractions came but he stayed with it and eventually said Yes. Long story short, he came, love it, committed to come again next week and set up an appointment to meet with us again. The Lord blesses us when we do what He asks the way He asks us to do it.

Make it a great week!
Love
Elder Phong Manhardt

11.26.12

Well, this was a really good week for us. We had a lot of fun and were able to get a lot done. We more than double the number of lessons we taught from last week. Much of that is due to the holiday. Because of Thanksgiving, many more people were home. We met some new people and some people that we havent seen in a very long time. 

Thanksgiving in particular was very productive. It was also very filling. Let me explain. So for Thanksgiving dinner we were invited over to the house of one of the service missionary families. We ate there with their family. We ate quite a bit and were completely stuffed. Then we had to leave because we had an appointment pretty far away to go see a member that moved a few months ago and we haven't been able to visit him at home since then. We got there, he showed us around the place and introduced us to a lot of his family that was there. We shared a message with him and got ready to go. As we put on our backpacks, he said 'alright, lets eat.' Uh oh. We didn't know that we were going to be eating there too. We were still stuffed. We did our best to eat what we could, but it wasn't much, just a few spring rolls and a little turkey. We were both about to explode. Fortunately, neither of us did and we made it back home.

Sunday was also a good day. We were able to see quite a few people. Included in that is a less-active family that we had never met before. As we came up to the house, tat father was coming out. He invited us right in and we proceeded to have a good talk and lesson. One of their sons is very interested in scouting (Elder Robison has that covered) and also needs help with his chem class (I got that one). We set up a time to help him out. The wife offered to fix any clothes of ours that need it as she runs an alterations shop. Things couldnt have gone more perfectly. 

Well, I'm glad to hear that the holidays went well for all of you!

Make it a great week!

Love

Elder Manhardt

11.19.12

Well, it hasn't been too long since my last email. Not a whole lot is different from the last few days. Me and Elder Robison are still here, just working, working and working to serve the branch and the members in it. With direction from our branch president we are beginning to try and find new ways to serve and additional things that we can do to help.

 

Its hard to believe that it is already Thanksgiving time again. I was already a missionary last Thanksgiving. I am very grateful this year more than before for the opportunities that I have to serve others, particularly to serve full time as a missionary. Of course, I am grateful for the chance to help others and play a part in changing their lives and coming closer to Christ, but I think I am more thankful for the changes that has brought to myself. Things that are good, things that are bad, they all fit together like a puzzle, a really big puzzle. I couldn't possibly put that puzzle together, but I am grateful for a God that can.

 

Have a great weekend and awesome holiday!

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

11.14.12

Its really been a crazy week. Honestly so much has happened that it feels more like a month since that last time I emailed. 

First, just to clear things up, because I didnt explain it like I intended to in my last email, nobody here died. I meant to put that died in quotes, meaning his mission was over, went home. Sorry about that. Ha, missionary language.

So we have had a lot of meetings over the last week. We had zone meeting last week because it was the beginning of the month. It was a good meeting and we received quite a bit of training. We also just yesterday had a zone conference, which is a much bigger meeting involving a few zones. We received much more training from the assistants and President Ashton. We were taught much about finding people to teach. We learned how we must talk with people not to people. Its a hard tendency to break as missionaries, but it must be done because the is no effectiveness in talking to people. We must be sincere and charitable in talking to and getting to know people. It puts a different perspective on missionary work. It becomes much more becoming a missionary and not just going on a mission.

Another thing that happened occurred as we were planning for the week.... Oh yeah, by the way. My companion is Elder Robison. I guess I haven't actually said that. We are together for now and is anticipated that we will stay together for quite a while.... Anyways, as we were planning for the week, we had strong impressions that we needed to give up our English area and focus entirely on the Viet branch. That was a hard decision to make. That means we had to pass off Maurice and the other investigators that we had to other missionaries. It also requires that we become very creative in how we can fill all of our time working in Viet with productive activities. We have spent a lot of extra time planning and figuring out what our approach will be. It will be difficult, but we know that it is what the Lord would have us do right now.

Well, thats about it for right now. Have great week!

Love
Elder Phong Manhardt

10.29.12

Things just keep going on and on. Its strange as more and more often things that happened in the past become relevant. Its like a mystery book. As you read more you see how certain details that were previously thought insignificant are very important. Well, this chapter is coming to a close and things in the past have become more important. Elder Hoopes goes home tomorrow. His book has been finished, for me its just a chapter...

 

Ok, enough with this whole book thing. This last week was pretty spectacular. We were able to visit A LOT of people, mostly members of the branch. We were always busy doing something, so much so that we could even get everything we wanted to done. But its all good. We were able to accomplishsh a lot.  We are still teaching Maurice and he keeps asking more and more questions. Its pretty great. I thoroughly enjoy teaching him.

 

On a less important note, but still amazing is that the weather has cooled down! Finally! It all happened pretty suddenly too. We had one day nearly 100 degrees and then the next was down into the 60's at night. It continued to get a little colder, down into the 40s/50s at night. People here are wearing jackets and the like. I'm loving it. They might have jackets, but we are still in short-sleeves!

 

This week will be exciting. We have transfer meeting on Halloween where I will find my "new" companion. Until then, I will be with another elder who's companion "died". Thatss about all I've got!

 

Glad to hear everybody is doing good. There seems to be alot of great things happening out there. Keep it up!

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

10.22.12

Well, this was a good week. We were able to get a lot done. Nothing particularly exciting happened. We had some new students to the English classes that we teach. We were able to see some good people. We saw Maurice again who is still full of questions. This time, his questions were about baptism. He is trying to gather as much info as he can. He realizes that it is a very big decision and that he will have to rededicate himself to following Christ, and he is not going to take that lightly. We are very excited to keep teaching him. This weekend was also stake conference. It was pretty good. We heard a lot about temples and about missionary work.

 

Well, thats about all I've got for this week. This coming week will be interesting and he have some pretty lofty goals. It'll be fun.

 

Have a spectacular week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

10/15/12

Well, this week was a really good one.

 

We were able to teach a lot of lessons. We saw a lot of different people and it was great to be teaching so much. It has been quite a while since I have been able to do that. We were able to visit a lot of members, both active and less-active, from the branch and found a new investigator in the english ward. He is a really cool guy named Maurice. He is from Camaroon and is studying law. We had an awesome lesson with him and are excited for him to be reading the Book of Mormon. English is his second language, we gave him a book in english and french.

 

In addition to teaching a lot more lessons this week, we also had a special 3-mission conference with the Houston and East missions. Elders Callister Ellis and Echo Hawk were all present. Needless to say, it was a great meeting. Elder Echo Hawk taught us about his conversion which has even more meaning as were heard of some of the results of it in General Conference last week. Elder Ellis taught about obedience, and Elder Callister taught us the Plan of Salvation and all of its parts, but used only Bible scriptures to back it up. It was pretty cool.

 

Well, that was our week. I hope all of yours was as good!

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

10/8/12

This was a crazy week. I dont even remember entirely why it was so crazy, but it was. I guess first of all, we had an emergency transfer. It was a 3-way move but in the end it comes to Elder Campbell went to an area in Sugar Land and Elder Hoopes has come back to the branch. It is pretty exciting. I am glad to be able to serve with Elder Hoopes again. We have plenty of work to do. I am sure he is ecstatic to be able to come back to the branch, though he only has a few weeks left of his mission. The branch members are excited to have him back, he's excited to be here... its all just exciting. 

Of course this weekend was General Conference. Conference was awesome! There were some really spectacular talks. I particularly liked Elder Gay and Elder Hollands talks. Elder Hollands description of the Apostles and their attempt at fishing after Christ was crucified really shows us the need for faith and work ethic. It was a great motivator talk. Well, once again I am running a little short on time. 

Make it a spectacular week!
Love
Elder Phong Manhardt

10/1/12

September went by so incredibly fast. Honestly I dont even remember much of what happened. I guess it flew by so fast that I almost missed it.

 

This last week held some special opportunities. On Thursday, we had a special zone conference with Elder Ellis of the Quorum of the Seventy. It was a very good meeting. I was able to feel and learn a lot throughout the whole thing. Elder Ellis taught about faith. He taught a lot about faith. He talked about why we have it, the different levels of it, how it is used and how it is developed. It was very good and of course essential for us as missionaries and for those that we teach.

 

On Friday, we also had the opportunity to go to the temple with some of the members of the branch. It was an awesome experience as going to the temple always is. If you want to feel close to the Lord and our Heavenly Father, there is no better place to go. Something that I have learned since coming on my mission is the power that going to the temple with questions in mind has. Taking the time a couple of days before to really ponder about what direction you need from the Lord is well worth it. I have learned that there is no better place to find answers than by going to the temple.

 

Other that that I dont really have to much to report on for the week. I'm glad to hear that everyone seems to be doing so well. The blessings of the Lord are great to those who follow Him and listen to Him. This weekend is General Conference which is special for us to be able to listen to living prophets who really know Christ.

 

Make it a great week and enjoy conference!

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

9/24/12

Well, time keeps flying by. I cant believe that it is already the end of
September. It is going by way too fast.

Since I havent had to time to really write to you all the last few weeks,
you would think I have a lot to say. Unfortunately thats not true. Ha.
Nothing is sticking out in my mind as something that I need to write about.
I guess nothing really that exciting happened.

Several weeks ago, we had a baptism for Nguyen. She has been around the
Church for a really long time. Her mother and brother are both members,
actually her mom is the Relief Sociecty president. It has been about 8
years since the family was introduced to the gospel. Due to many factors,
she never decided to be baptized til now. It was certainly exciting for the
branch to see her be baptized.

The same weekend, was the farewell for Ninh, who is now in the MTC in
preparation to serve in Anaheim, CA. It all added up to an exciting weekend
for the branch.

Other than all that, things are going pretty normal. This week, there is a
member of the Seventy coming to the area and will join us for some zone
conferences.

Thats about it.
Have a great week!

Love
Elder Phong Manhardt

PS, Sorry the picture didnt come out too clear. Oh well.

Latest, but not so recent email!

9/4/12

Well this was an interesting week. Lots of things happened, though unfortunately limited our proselytizing time. We didnt get to teach too many lessons, but it all works out. I guess theres not a whole lot of things to write about for the week. Church meetings were good on Sunday and I have really been enjoying my studies.
As yesterday was a holiday, the library was closed. That means we had a shortened preparation day and time today to email. The rest of the day went fairly well. We were invited to a family's place for lunch and it was incredibly delicious American food. Elder Campbell was sick for the latter part of the day and so I had a lot of time to go through the ward directory and find who was where and such. It should help us a lot in our efforts with the english area.
Thats about the extent of things. We have an investigator that should be getting baptized this saturday. Its not much of our own doing but after years of investigating, she has finally decided to be baptized. That will be much enjoyed in the branch as the members know here so well (her mother is the Relief Society president). Hopefully there are more exciting things to write about this next week!

I'm glad to hear that everything went well with the move this last week! It is certainly exciting and will be very strange to go back home with things so different. Good thing I dont have to worry about that for a while. 

Make it a great week!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

8/27/12 Email - Picture!

Well this was another interesting week. I guess I dont really have a ton to write about this week. We had another zone conference this week. We received some training about planning, visiting less-active members and just teaching in general. We had some pretty good lessons this week too.

To cap it all off, our investigator Stivan was baptized on Saturday! Getting everything set up fpr him to be baptized wasnt the smoothest of things. Thursday Friday and Saturday were pretty crazy, but it all worked out in the end and he is so excited. Elder Robision was able to come back to the baptism and even did the baptism. It all went well and Stivan loved it. Then on Sunday morning he was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. He said afterwards that he could really feel it then. He knew it was the right thing and is super excited to continue learning. The next step is getting the Aaronic Priesthood which should happen relatively soon.

I guess I dont really have much else to say for the week! I hope hope you all are doing well and getting ready for the fall. Today was the first day of school here and it was super wierd to hear school buses going around and the general absence of kids. Oh well.

Make it a great week and I look forward to hearing from you guys next week!

Love,

Elder Phong Manhardt

8/20/12 email

Well, what a week this was! It wasnt the most productive of weeks nor was it the least, but it was a week full of challenges and opportunities to grow. It was certainly full of a lot of growth. Things are really interesting now. I couldnt even possibly explain it all, mostly because its not all straightened out in my own mind. There is just so much work to do. There are so many people all involved in different ways to move the work of the Lord forward and it is truly amazing to see how that works out.

This last week didnt really contain any big exciting, email worthy events. It was fairly average in that respect. I was asked to give a talk in the Memorial ward about service and service in the Church. I enjoy talking, but I didnt really get a ton of time to prepare. Many people gave compliments and enjoyed it, but I felt that it lacked the power, for lack of better word, that I normally speak with. It just didnt feel quite right. But all was well. Church in the branch was pretty good and many people were able to learn a lot. Last night there was also a special investigator fireside. They occur once a month and are for those considering being baptized. They are always powerful. Usually a couple recent converts talk along with the mission president. We can only go if we have an investigator attending and I hadnt been to one since at least January if not before that. Stivon went and so we went as well. It was an awesome meeting! The testimonies and musical numbers were spectacular. Stivon is very excited to be baptized and of course we are excited for him and his wife as well.

Thanks for everything all of you do! I hope you have an awesome week!

As a clarifying side-note, please send any letters or packages to the mission office : 602 Eldridge Rd Sugar Land, TX 77478
Not to any apartment. It is just much more likely that I'll get it.

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

8/13/12 email

There is a lot of work to do. I dont have a ton of time to write today, but I'll see what I can fit in.

So, I'm sure youre anxious to find out what happened at transfer meeting. Elder Robison was sent to an english area and I am rejoined by Elder Campbell. We have a lot of work to do to try and build the same sort of unity that me and Elder Robison had. We have got to do that if we want to teach with the power necessary to make things happen. 

With the transfers, this week was a little slower work-wise than the last few have been. Transfers kinda threw me off my game. But now that I've had the time to regroup, we can get things done. There is a lot to do.

Our english area boundaries were also changed at transfer meeting and the ward lost a companionship of elders. The consolidation of areas leaves us a bigger and more populated area. We are still teaching a man named Stivon, who is from Iraq. He is absolutely awesome and is so excited to be baptized. We still have more to teach him, but he is really soaking it all in. It also helps that his wife is a member that is coming back into activity in the Church.

Well, I'm out of time. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

8/6/12 Email

Well, this week brings more change. This one definitely unexpected. This is the beginning of a new transfer. Already. It always goes so fast. As with every transfer, it begins with transfer calls. To our surprise, Elder Robison will be transferred. We dont know where yet or who will be back here with me in the branch. That certainly makes things interesting.

This last week was pretty good. We did a good amount of teaching and had a good time doing it. In our english area, we are teaching a man whose name is Stivon. He is from Iraq and has some pretty crazy stories (he owned a gold shop there, but it got blown up because he is christian). He just got married to a less-active member a few months ago. They needed to go to a church and so she decided to go to this one. They are both awesome. He is so excited to learn things and loves going to church and feeling the Spirit there. There was a lot of excitement in the english ward as a new bishop was sustained. 

Sacrament meeting in the Viet branch was also a great experience. A few of the people that got up to share their testimonies talked about us visiting them throughout the week. One talked about how our meeting together helped her find an answer to a long-lasting concern she had been praying about. It was comforting to hear that the work we are doing is really having an affect on the members of the branch. Our goal in teaching all of the members as if they were recent converts is to strengthen everyone and it seems to be working. This week is sure to bring about a lot more changes. We'll see what happens.

Hope you guys are having a great week and dealing with all of the changes that are coming your way!

Love,

Elder Phong Manhardt

7/30/12

Hello there!
You know, something funny about about life is that it is always changing. The only guarantee is that tomorrow things will be different from today. In life, those changes are small and many times not very significant to the bigger picture. Well, as a missionary, life is only 2 years long. It makes the changes of one day just that much more significant. A little change makes a huge difference and seems like the biggest thing in the world while its happening. In the case of a big change, well, it just shatters the universe.

Thats kinda what we are going through right now. As I mentioned last week, President Ashton has begun moving us away from street contacting. (We arent quite sure if it is to the same extent in the English or Spanish areas, but definitely for us and the Chinese). We never schedule time to just go out on our bikes to talk to people. We focus on teaching and finding investigators through the members. The ball isnt rolling at full speed yet, but we have seen a little bit of success so far with the strategy. In addition to finding through teaching the members, President Ashton wants us to find through activities. Yeah, like normal people activities. We wants us organizing activities with the members that they can invited their friends to, and he wants us doing it often, practically on a weekly basis. He shared a scripture with us (me and Elder Robison had a joint interview with him) from Alma 17 about Ammon. We all know he was an awesome and very successful missionary. President shared verse 29 with us. (maybe you should read it right now before you continue) He told us that we need to do the same. We need to win the hearts of the people. We need to be their friends. They need to see that we are normal people, just with a greater purpose, a greater confidence in the Lord. Ordinary people that have something more. The true and restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We have it and it shines through us. As we become friends with the people, they will see it and long for that same.

As such, our finding work is changing significantly. Its hard for us to get the ball rolling with this, because it is just so drastically different from everything we have done previously as missionaries. I'm at least a little nervous about how it will work, but know it will at least be a little more fun. Obviously activities are fun but the success that should come from it will be even more fun. This coupled with teaching more lessons to everybody will certainly be good.

Well, I hope everything back there is going well. It certainly sounds like things are good and those day to day changes are being dealt with well. Thanks for everything you do/have done to help me!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

7/16/12 Email

Well, another week gone by. Honestly I dont even know whats going on anymore. It feels like I was just writing an email yesterday. I have no idea what we did this last week. Crazy time.

I guess I do remember a few things. First was our final zone conference with the Saylin family on Wednesday. It was a pretty normal zone meeting except that fact that the whole family was there and all talked to us. We also were provided lunch afterward, which was delicious. We took a picture and then had a chance to go down the line and say goodbye to all of the Saylins.

This week we welcome in the Ashton family. It will be a very quick transition (at least in our eyes, probably not in the eyes of Presidents Saylin and Ashton. Apparently they have been in communication for quite some time transferring knowledge and such). We look forward to having another zone conference this week to meet the Ashtons and then on a different day will also get to have interviews with President Ashton. He wants to meet with and get to know all of the missionaries as soon as he can so he can get ready for this coming transfer meeting, which like always is coming up quick.

Other than that not much has been going on. We are constantly busy and constantly tired.

Well thats about all I've got this week. Have a good one!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

7/9/12 Email

Well, this last week was an odd one. Not a whole lot exciting happened. There was a good bit of rain and storms again, which has at least cooled things down a bit. I say this week was odd because the results were much different than our plans. During our planning for the week, we had decided to really focus on strengthening the members of the viet branch and to focus on finding and teaching investigators in the english area that we have. We made a lot of plans and efforts to meet with recent converts and less-active members in the branch. Though as it turned out, we didn't end up meeting with any. And to add to that, we didn't end up teaching any investigators in the english area. That was really odd, and we're not entirely sure how that happened.

We did find a very nice viet family the other day. We were going through Sugar Land (higher wealth area) which would normally mean a little more rejection and a little less success. But as things go, one of the first few houses that we came to we met a nice viet man that talked to us for a moment then invited us right inside. He was pretty in awe that we spoke viet (we are kinda used to that by now). He gave us some water and we talked for a bit. Eventually his wife joined us. They are both Catholic, though he was Buddhist (he converted to Catholicism to marry her). We had a good discussion and they wanted to read the Book of Mormon.

This week we will have a special zone conference with the Saylins. They go home next week. So next week we will have another special zone conference and we will meet President and Sister Ashton and family. Things are certainly going to be interesting these next couple of weeks as we make the transition.

Hope you all enjoyed your holiday! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

7/3/12 Email

Wow, it had rained a lot these last few days! Fortunately we never got caught on our bikes though. The rain made things cool down a bit, which of course we are thankful for. We can hardly believe that it is the 4th of July this week! Time just flies by.

This last week, we have had an interesting battle to fight. This last week was transfer meeting and we got word that in addition to running the branch, we also now have responsibility for a small part of the English ward that meets at our building. President Moregenegg, our branch president, joked that they just need to give us a small spanish area now and we can be trilingual missionaries! (By the way, I can hardly speak spanish anymore) So it has been interesting trying to figure out how we can balance our time to work the two separate areas. The easy solution would be if there were Viets in that area, but nevertheless, there are not, so we need to figure out a balance to do both. So now we are part of the Viet branch (Braeburn 2) and the Memorial ward. We go to sacrament meeting twice on Sunday and now get twice the leadership meetings to go to. Hooray!

Other than that, I don't have much else to say. Me and Elder Robison are still working together. Our Vietnamese has been improving rapidly as we study more and more. It is a lot more enjoyable talking to people now, as I can actually understand most of what they are saying (sometimes). I am really trying to improve my speech (grammar and pronunciation and such). I am also getting close to finishing the Book of Mormon in Viet. I only have about 100 pages left. My new goal is to finish reading through the entire standard works before the end of my mission.

Well have a great week and holiday!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

6/18/12 Email

Geez, time goes so fast. Every week we see that more and more. A few days ago was our 9 month mark and that is getting dangerously close to half way. We also came to a few other realizations that other people will be leaving soon, some other missionaries and especially President Saylin and his family. I have to say that I'm a bit anxious about what will happen when they leave and what things will be like with the new President, but I'm sure it will be good.

This last week was pretty good. We are still trying to find new investigators to teach as our pool is pretty empty. Its a slow work not helped out much by the heat. But we are moving along. A few exciting things happened this week, the highlight being a member of the branch getting his mission call. His name is Ninh and he is really awesome. He has been a member for a few years and will be an awesome missionary. He will be serving in Anaheim, CA teaching in Viet (of course. I mean he is from Vietnam) and goes into the MTC in mid-September. It was quite exciting and we were able to be there when he opened the call. We were able to bring Giau from the Broadway ward to watch him open it and it was a good experience for all of us. Giau is preparing to go to BYU in the fall and so he'll get to see a lot more of that over the next year.

Church this Sunday went very well, probably one of the best I've had on my mission. It was very stress-free. We didn't have to translate for Sunday school or priesthood and could just listen and participate in the lessons. Sacrament meeting was really good. We asked one of the young women, Bich, in the branch to help us translate and she did. She was pretty nervous before hand (understandably so, translating isn't easy) but she did fabulous and agreed to help us more in the future as well. That is a big stride for the branch. We have been trying to involve the members more in translating to help the branch become more self-sufficient. Things are starting to look better in that regard.

Thanks for everything all of you do!

Oh and several of you have asked. The best address to send mail and packages to is:
602 Eldridge Rd
Sugar Land, TX 77478

Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

Email 6/11/12

Hello everybody!
Well, there's not a whole lot to talk about this week. We have been working hard looking for those that are ready to hear the gospel. We continue to learn and grow and really try to become exactly obedient. One thing we did learn this last week, is that there was some changing of boundaries that happened. I believe, there was a new stake created which caused some changes. Two of the English wards that were in our mission our now part of the East mission. The two wards are Pasadena and Broadway. Broadway is the ward that I served in for the first few months here. Now its not part of our mission anymore. Well, not part of the mission, but still our area and responsibility as that is where the second Viet congregation was supposed to be starting. Now we just do even more work outside of our mission.
Other than that, not much went on. There was an open house for our church building, but it was poorly attended. I felt bad for those that planned it because I know they put a lot of effort into it.
Well, that's about all that I've got for the week.
Have a great one!
Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

Summer break?... nah, just summer.

Well, this is the first summer that I've had that doesn't include some sort of break. No rest from school or work here. Instead we get to work even harder... in the heat!
Things are going well. Our area is continuing to build up slowly. It's certainly an adventure here. Our fireside on Saturday was very good. We heard from Elder Johnson of the Seventy. Saturday was also an exciting day as there was a baptism in the branch for a girl that recently turned 8. But that's a small part of the story there. Here's more:

One miracle came for us on Friday after zone meeting.
During zone meeting the zone leaders touched on all of the trainings (trainings are different methods that we have to add to our ability to do missionary work for example, using media, eating dinners with members and investigators, etc.) and committed us to use each one.One of them is taking people through tours of the church buildings. None of our "investigators" seemed like anybody that could use that training so, we were left to just flipping through our member directory. My eyes rested on a part-member family. The mother, 3 sons and daughter actively come to church. The daughter, Cindy, just recently turned 8 and was to be baptized the next day (Saturday). The father is not a member and is quite opposed to the Church, enough that we can't visit them in their home and have never been in contact with him. But I felt that we needed to invite them to go on a church tour that night. We knew it was last-minute and may not work out, but we felt like it was something we needed to do. After the zone meeting, we called then shot off a text to the oldest brother with the invitation to come that night. After several minutes, we got a very excited response. He said he didn't know what happened, but that it was a miracle. Cindy had called her father at work and he accepted not only to come to the tour but also to attend her baptism, something he previously rejected. The church tour (not at our usual church building, which doesn't have a baptismal font, but where she would be baptized the next day) went well with the focus entirely on Cindy. She said the kneeling, closing prayer in which the father also knelt without any plea or persuasion from us or the family. He attended the baptism and instead of children being right up next to the font, it was him looking down on his daughter. We haven't begun teaching him and maybe the miracle isn't yet complete, but this was a witness to me of the power and inspiration that comes from the Holy Ghost.

Hope you guys keep doing well and have a great week!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

5/29/12 Email

Man it is hot here... and its not even summer yet! Its not fair. Nor fun. But that's alright, I'll get over it.

It sounds like last week was an exciting and busy one for all of you.

This last week was ok. We are not back to the productivity we were at a few weeks ago, but we definitely saw progress last week. And this week looks to be even better. Our day yesterday went really well, actually almost as good as our entire week two weeks ago. That was certainly a relief and a good feeling. Hopefully we can make that the pattern for the rest of the week.

This week looks not only to be productive, but also exciting. We have met some pretty interesting people that we plan on contacting throughout the week. There is a girl in the branch that just turned 8 and will be baptized on Saturday. We also just found out that there will be a couple Seventies in Houston this weekend and our mission as well as the Houston and Houston East mission will get to hear from them this Saturday. We don't know exactly what the occasion is as to why they are here, but I'm sure we will find out then.

Me and Elder Robison are still doing well and both progressing with the Vietnamese pretty rapidly, or at least it seems like it. This is an exciting work and it is fun to be a part of it.

Well that's all for now. I'm sure I'll have more to say next week. Until then, make it a great week!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

5/21/12 Email

Well this week has been different for sure.

So, last week Elder Campbell did get transferred away to a different area. So it is just me and Elder Robison in the branch, the only missionaries east of California that are serving in a Vietnamese area. It is certainly interesting as we are both new, though language has net yet turned into any sort of barrier, nor do I think it will. The Lord wouldn't allow that to happen (unless He wants it to of course). So we don't really know what is going to happen in the future here. We don't know how long Elder Campbell will be away for. All we know is that it is us here to cover Houston. It has been fun. I certainly enjoy serving with Elder Robison.

With that being said though, this week was a rough one. Pretty much all of our investigators have left for the summer. Many in Vietnam, one to Florida. And they wont be back for a few months. Others have just slowly strayed from investigating the Church. With this being the case, we taught very few lessons, numerically one of the slowest I've seen. That being put into context with last week being the best I have seen, is really strange. So we are focusing nearly all of our time trying to find new people to teach as well as trying to contact those who used to investigate the Church long ago. It is a pretty slow progress, but hopefully will yield results. Well, it will yield results we just have to be patient.

We have a big challenge in front of us. To build up our area to what it was just a week before and then higher still and to help the branch with less missionaries than it has seen in quite a while. Its a hefty challenge, but one that we are up for.

Well, I cant think of much else to write for the week. Hope you guys are doing well! Make it a great week!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

5/14/12 Email

Sorry, some unexpected things came up and I wont be able to write much, but I did get to talk to ya yesterday.

 

Just know that this last week was spectacular. No doubt the best I've had so far. We were led to different places to see different people and it always worked out for the better. We taught more lessons this week that ever before and have see incredible progression in the work here. It is really awesome and I look foward to seeing what else happens.

 

Today we found out about transfers and Elder Campbell will  be leaving us. That will leave me with Elder Robison, two new Viets trying to keep it all going. We dont know where Elder Campbell will go, or whether Elder Hoopes will make a return to the branch yet or not. We will just have to wait and see.

 

Love you guys!

Elder Manhardt

5/7/12 Email

This week was a pretty good one. We were able to get what we call our "10 and 2" 4 of the days this week. The 10 and 2 means talking to 10 people per person and teaching 2 investigator lessons each day. That makes it add up to a pretty good and balanced out week as well.

Time goes so ridiculously fast out here. I think I might have figured out another reason for it too. Here we measure time with transfers, but normal people use months. Our periods of time are 50% bigger! I dont know, maybe thats just my mind making random connections, but I think it might be part of the difference. That being said, it is already the last week of another transfer! Its absolutely insane! We are absolutely clueless as to what might happen this transfer, but we did learn something pretty cool. We will be having another Vietnamese missionary come into Houston at the end of October (according to the board outside of President's office). Thats pretty good news, because that is the time that Elder Hoopes goes home. Even though he isnt serving in the branch right now, it will still be good to keep our number above 3. Hopefully we get word of others coming in soon too.

I'll share one experience from the week. On Saturday, we were on exchanges. Elder Robison stayed here in the Viet area with our district leader, and me and Elder Campbell went to the other area with his companion. In the morning before studies, we got a call that someone needed help moving that day. It was going to severely affect our plans,. but after making some more phone calls, we decided we could help. Man, this person had a ton of stuff that probably literally weighed a ton! Out in the heat and humidity, we loaded the truck with all sorts of heavy furniture. One item was an armuar (I have no idea how to spell that...) that took 6 men to barely carry out of the apartment. It was entirely exhausting work. We had to leave in the middle to go to an appointment, we were drenched in sweat of course. It was a good lesson though. We then return to the new apartment to help unload. The new apartment happened to be on the 2nd floor. Great. We worked and worked. The armuar was not going up those steps though. We didnt even attempt it. The member decided she would take it back to the other apartment and sell it. I'm not sure I have ever sweated so much, or been so exhausted in my life. Then we got to bike back to our apartment so that we could eat. Oh man, I thought I was going to die. But we made it. We had a small dinner, with a ton of water. The amazing part was that after that, we were ready to go. We were able to get out to work with our worry of falling asleep on our bikes. In fact, the tiredness didnt return until we had re-exchanged and were getting ready for bed. The Lord blesses us when we make sacrifices to serve.

Well, I look forward to talking to you guys on Sunday. Until then, make it a great week!

Love,
Elder Phong Manhardt

4/16/12 Email...Pictures included!

Well this last week went pretty good... and this next one should be even better.

 

Sorry for not getting out my email last week. Just as I was going to click 'send'  my computer logged me off.

 

We are still serving in a tripanionship and I think it has been a really good thing for all of us. We live in one apartment, though all of our stuff hasnt been moved out of the other. THe mission has the apartment until at least August, so that apartment has kind of become our storage room. That is where we keep our bikes and the other stuff that gets used very irregularly. We have heard no news yet of any new Viet missionaries coming in and we dont expect any for wuite a while, probably not until around October when Elder Hoopes goes home. We'll see. We have gotten some news about who our new mission president will be. He is also young like President Saylin and has a family that will be coming with him, though I cant remember his name at the moment.

 

This last week was good. We were even able to reach several of our goals. We have a fairly new investigator named Robert, who came to church on Sunday. That was really awesome because it has been a really lond time since I have had an investigator at sacrament meeting. Robert is very sincere. He has no children and his wife recently passed away, but he is so eager to learn and is so grateful for our company and genuine concern for him.

 

Some other highlights of the week include getting to meet our new district. As we no longer have Viet missionraies to have our own district, we were put in another one. It is a mega district. There are 9 missionaries, 7 elders, 2 sisters, the biggest in the mission. It opens up a lot of possibilities for a lot of really good times. It also makes district meetings very interesting with so many more people.

 

On Friday we had a 3-way exchange. I was the one that stayed in the Viet area. As such, I got to do a lot of speaking in Viet and teaching. It was a good measuring stick to help me see how much I have improved. The exchange was also enjoyable as I got to serve with Elder Price, who was one of my previous zone leaders and also in my district for my first transfer. We had a good time and had a very good day teaching and talking to many people.

 

On Sunday, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. It was a bit scary as I have never spoken publicly in Vietnamese and I was the concluding speaker, but it went relatively well. Having to focus so much more on the language really prevented me from having my normal type of talk. It really limited some of the speaking skills that I have developed over time, but as such, it will just take more time. I spoke about the importance and purpose of families. Even though it was difficult and less than I have come to hope from giving talks, it went well and people seemed to  think it was good.

 

This coming week looks to be even better than this last one. We seem to have a lot of blatant potential and we will be seeking to take advantage of that. Also, we have mission temple trips this week. We will be going on Wednesday. I am very excited about that opportunity because it has been quite a while since I have been able to go and I have not yet been to the Houston temple. I look forward to being able to tell you about the experience next week.

 

I think thats about all that I have for this week. Attached are some pictures from random times and when Elder Wilkinson left.

Have a good one!

 

Love,

Elder Phong Manhardt

Emailed intended for 4/9/12

Nah, I dont really have anything to whoa over... except that I am having a really hard time typing right now. Myfingers are just not working right.

This last week was fairly normal as far as the numbers that we submitted go, but thats actually a good thing (kinda). The reason being that we got off to a really slow start at the beginning of the week but things really picked us starting on Friday. Sothe momentum that we have makes the week feel much better than our numbers show. Its pretty exciting, we have been able to meet with some people that previously had never opened their doors and teach to people that previously dindt want to be taught. It was really good. To make it even better, I think every lesson we had this week was in Vietnamese. Thats good not because its easier (duh) but because thats what our calling is. Not just to work with the Vietnamese people, but to teach in the Vietnamese language. So while it makes things more difficult, it was really good. It has also allowed me to better see the improvements that I have made as far as the language come. There is still so much more to improve, but I feel like I am finally able to at least communicate with people. That, of course makes things more fun and will drive me further to continue. I look forward to the time that I can really communicate. Probably not "fluent" but be able to communicate without having to question what I am saying or understand.

Since a few of you asked, my address is the same. Well, my previous address will still get the mail to me. So either that apartment or #304 will work. Packages are still better off to go to the mission office, unless they are really small.

Have a good week!

 

Love,

Elder Phong Manhardt