Wow, I really cannot believe that it is 2012 already. That
realization kinda hit me at about 10:25 on New Years Eve night. It's a
new year, and as Elder Wilkinson pointed out, the only full year that I
will spend on my mission. Crazy.
So, last week was an interesting one. Like I mentioned last time, I
went on a 48-hour exchange over into the Vietnamese branch area. It was
a good experience and I was a little more immersed in the language. It
is very interesting there and very different from where I am at. It was
great there, but I really like my area and the opportunities that we
have here.
Last week was a tough one as far as the missionary work goes. We
had essentially nobody to teach and weren't having much luck finding
anybody. We spent a lot of time going around and knocking doors using
tracting records that we have and have made to help us know where
Vietnamese people live. Basically, it tells it what doors we should
knock on. The proces of making the records is pretty cool, but I'm not
gonna waste yours and mine time to explain it. The records help us focus
on our call to teach Vietnamese people, but by using them, we end up
being a little less diligent in talking to everyone that we see. So we
spent a lot of the last week desperately trying to find people to teach,
with essentially no results. Last week we taught barely any lessons and
it was just a struggle. But this week has been pretty awesome already
and we are pretty excited.
So for Sunday, the time that our ward meets was changed. Now we
meet at 9:00 in the morning. Its a big change, but I think, as
missionaries, it will give us more time and allow our Sundays to be more
productive. Sunday went well. Church was good and after church we went
and tried some of the potential investigators that we had found through
knocking. Nobody opened the door. We knocked on some new ones again with
no results. A little deflating, but we were working, so we were happy.
Then we had an awesome meal and lesson at a member home. Sunday turned
out to be a good day, though not particularly helpful in getting us new
people to teach.
Yesterday, however was a completely different story. Funnily
enough, our biggest progress came on p-day. The p-day part of the day
was great. We had a district activity which was going to whats called
the Putt-Putt House. We played a lot of mini-golf and some laser tag and
just had a fun time. We made it back home and then had dinner. Then it
was time to get out to work. We decided that we were going to try a
referral that we got from Sisters in the East mission. (The East mission
actually overlaps our area for the Spanish wards) This referral is in a
huge Viet complex and we had a potential investigator there as well. So
we were going to try them. We made it to the referral and got inside.
We taught a girl who is 17 years old and the only non-Buddist in her
family of 7. How about that for "coincidence." We taught a fabulous
first lesson and she seems to be completely ready for the gospel. She
seems to be about as golden as investigators come. Hooray! We have
someone to teach. Then we go to try the potential. We know on the door
and the person who answers is one of our English class students.
Apparently the student rents our rooms in her apartment for other
people. We didnt get to talk with the potential but still, really cool.
One of the coolest parts happened afterwards, but I dont really have
time to write it now. Next week. And maybe it will be an even better
story by then!
Love
Elder Manhardt
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