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
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
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
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
Thursday, June 7, 2012
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
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
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