4.8.13

Well, I can hardly believe that Conference is over already! Now I have to wait another 6 months for a new one. Thats ok though. It will take me that long to review all the talks from this last weekend.

Conference was actually super hectic for me. For whatever reason, the satellite at the church wouldnt receive Vietnamese. Fortunately I was there and was able to set up alternated means to watch it, but we just kept running into problem after problem. Viewing circumstances were much less than desirable, but it ever session was at least available to listen in Vietnamese (we listen in English though so we dont miss anything important). I ended up spending time between every session trying to fix something. Even with all the chaos, Conference was still great. I really love Elder Hollands talk. He does such an incredible job of taking the stories of the scriptures and analyzing them in a way that directly applies to our lives. Obviously, all the talks about missionary work were very good and certainly needed, especially in regard of member involvement.

Well, thats about all I've got for now. Thanks everybody.

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

4.1.13

Happy Easter everyone. I hope it was enjoyable for you. My certainly was great here.

Overall this week was pretty good. We didnt teach as many lessons as usual, but we were asked to organize some records so that we could go out contacting, actually knocking to be more specific. I guess you could say we are going back to the old ways.

The branch had a temple baptism trip this saturday that we were allowed to go to, because the branch needed more melchizedek priesthood holders. It was great. I hadnt been to the temple for anything since the very beginning of the year, so it was special. Since being there, I can truly say that my receptiveness to the Spirit had increased. i really love the temple. Its the best place to be if you want to feel close to God.

Easter Sunday went well. Church service and classes were all enjoyable and uplifting. President Morgenegg, the old branch president had us over for dinner. Sister Moprgenegg is a great cook, so that part was great. And they have a special program that they do for Easter after dinner to help us remember what we are really celebrating.

Make it a great week!

Love

Elder Manhardt

3.17.13

Well this week was pretty average. We had a lot of meetings with the leadership of the branch. Its pretty exciting to hear all sorts of new ideas and thoughts on how to help the branch improve and then even better to see some of those ideas turn into actions. I'm looking forward to see what else changes and how we can use it to build a stronger branch not just for the members but for all those that will come visiting or investigating the church. 

Other than all that, not too much has changed. The weather had gotten hot over the last few days. Up into the 80s. Geez, what happened to spring? Im not looking forward to the summer and the blazing heat. After one of our lessons yesterday, we went out to our car, opened the door and got hit with a familiar but not missed blast of hot air. Oh boy. Hopefully it cools down bit now before we head into the real summer.

Glad to hear you all are doing well! Make it a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

3.11.13

Well, this week went fast and slow like many weeks do. By the time that Sunday came, I could hardly believe it was already time to go to church again. But at the same time, if felt like last Sunday was forever ago.

We had an extra meeting this week. A special zone meeting with President Ashton there. We had some good trainings and I definitely learned a lot. We also got burritos for lunch, so that was spectacular.

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. After church and lunch and some more study time, we went to visit a member of the branch. We had a good lesson. At the end, we asked if there was anything we could do to help her and she said, yeah you can stay longer and eat my food. Ha. It was great. We had spring rolls. Then we went to teach a less active member and got to help them move around some furniture. Some good ole work. 

Another change that happened this week is that the missionary department had changed the policy for emailing. We are now allowed to email friends and such as well. So, if you could get that out to people, I'm sure I would be able to keep contact with more people. 

Thanks everybody and have a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

3.4.12

Well, its been another week. We did get to go to the transfer meeting. The only problem is that it wasnt really that exciting. Because there were so many new missionaries coming in (34) there wanst too much movement among the missionaries. Also the number we heard before about 13 areas opening was wrong. It was only 8. Of course, that is still a ton, but its not 13. What ended up happening is that the mission received several visa-waiter missionaries and so a lot of training companionships are actually trios (my guess being that then they can leaved immediately when they get their visas without there needing to be emergency transfers). Its a pretty crazy thought of training two new missionaries at the same time. But, whatever, things will work out. They always do. Its also definitely a good thing that we were at the meeting because with so many trios, there were a lot of problems with how people would get home from the meeting. It was pretty chaotic as people tried to figure out how to get bodies and luggage to their assigned areas. But it all worked out. Like always.

The other big news of the week is that President Morgenegg was released as the branch president. So we had the stake presidency at our sacrament meeting as well. We (as in the whole branch) are pretty sad to see Pres Morgenegg go, but once again, things will work out. They always do. The new branch president is President Berhmann (I honestly dont know how to spell that, but I think thats right). As for changes outside the branch presidency, we will have to wait to see what/if anything happens.

 

Thats all I've got for now! Make it a great week!

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

2.25.13

Last week, again, was pretty average. Not too much changed and I'm not really sure what to write. 

This week is the start of another transfer. There is a ton of missionaries coming in this week. In fact, we heard that there will be 13 new areas opened up. Many of the new ones are sisters. Actually, this last transfer we had a new sister in our district. She had to do the whole 12 week training program in this shortened 5 week transfer so that she can train a new sister now. Its pretty crazy. Nothing is changing as far as our companionship goes, but we are hoping to be allowed to go to the transfer meeting anyways (to drive other missionaries or something) because it will be a very exciting one. We'll see what happens.

Make it a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

2.18.13

This week dragged on for quite a while. Not having our own car really is quite annoying. Everyday we had to plan pretty closely with our zone leaders to share the car. Everythings worked out alright, but our productivity was a tiny bit lower. Everything worked out though. We just got our car back this morning, so everything is back to normal. The library here even happened to be open, so we could have a normal pday.

 

We started teaching a new investigator. It was super wierd, actually. It had been many months since we had taught someone who wasnt a member of the Church. We had to shake off the rust a bit, (and pretty quickly too as she doesnt have any Christian background) but overall the lesson went pretty well. We were super grateful for the member that came with us because it wasnt until after he shared an experience that she seemed to get it.

 

Our zone conference was pretty good. We focused alot on our purpose as missionaries. That purpose is to invite. If we havent invited people to do something, then we havent done our job. Sometimes as missionaries we try and protect our investigators (or members) by assuming that they need more time to understand and exercise their faith, but that causes us to not fulfill our purpose. Maybe they arent ready yet, but we still have to invite them.

 

Well thats about all I've got for now. Have a great week!

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

2.11.13

Well, yesterday was the lunar new year. Because of the holiday, our week was a little slower. This holiday is big, much bigger than Christmas is in our culture. So, that slowed us down on the weekend. Also, our car is in the shop right now, so we have to share a car with our zone leaders. Covering the whole city on a bike doesnt really work. We'll see how that affects us this week. Other than that, not much has changed.

This week, we have a zone conference and its also stake conference. It means it should be an uplifting week. Stake conference also means that we will do a lot of translating this weekend. Fortunately one hour of it is a broadcast and will be translated in Salt Lake. Thats one hour of ease for us!

Make it a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

2.4.13

Well, this week was extremely different, but it went well. We spent a lot of time making sure everyone was invited to the party on Saturday. And it turned out to be a big success. There were tons of people there. We initially set up for about 90 people, hoping that we would fill up enough that it didnt look empty. But we ended up with around 125 people. There were people from other wards that came and brought friends, members of the branch brought friends and many less active members made it too. It was a lot of fun and kept us really busy. We couldnt even come close to talking with everybody we didnt know. 

The main event of the party is the lion dancers. Its pretty intense and way fun. My pictures dont do it justice. I think the lighting was pretty hard for my camera to handle. I have some videos that maybe did a little better, but there to big to send through email. I'll see what I can do.

It sounds like life has been an adventure for you guys this last week or so. Keep up the hard work and make it a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

1.28.13

Man, winter went fast! Maybe it will come back at some point, but the weather has been consistently around 80 and very comfortable lately. 

Again, not much has changed here. We are essentially full-time home teachers, and I've learned that i enjoy it quite a bit. Not too may people in the Church get the opportunity to do that, have 100% time to dedicate to helping the unit that they live in. Its pretty cool.

I really cant think of anything that happened this week worth writting... In a few weeks is the Vietnamese New Year, Tet. Its a huge celebration in the culture. Big enough that the branch has its party is this weekend so that it doesnt get in the way of the real preparations for the holiday. The party will be great, I'll be sure to take some pics.

Have a great week!

Love

Elder Manhardt

1.22.13

Well, its been another 6 weeks. One more transfer under the belt. As expected, me and Elder Robison will stay companions. There is a lot of exitement in the mission right now. The hoards of missionaries are starting. We are getting a pretty large number in this week. Next transfer is huge (we are receiving over 20 new missionaries and a majority of them are sisters). Then even the next one after that will be very big, not sure exactly how many. Its all pretty crazy.

 

This week was pretty average. We made a lot of visits to members of the branch. We are still working to improve the number of people we can see in a week. It is a lot of fun to work with the members that are all converts to the church (no matter how long its been) I've learned that there is a lot of doctrine that I know that gets taken for granted. Being a member of the Church my whole life is really such a blessing. No matter, it is really fun to help others to draw the connections and learn new things.

 

My time is short today, so thats about all I can say.

Have a great week! (Dont get frozen in the cold!)

 

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

1.14.13

Wow, it got cold today! Not quite sure what the temp is outside, but it certainly feels cold.

This last week was good. I'll start with the end of the week. We had the tri-mission meeting with Elder Ballard, Bishop Davies on Saturday. It was very inspirational. It also felt a lot different from the other tri-mission meetings. Elder Ballard mostly talked about involving members in our work and that our work is to teach. We need to be teaching all of the time.

This week we were able to teach quite a bit. We had a lot of things come up that limited our availability, but even with that, we were able to see a lot of people. That's pretty much our life right now. We are involved in lots of different activities and service and when we aren't doing that, we are teaching someone. It means that we are really busy and that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. Therefore, we are having a good time.

Have a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

1.7.13

Well the first week of the year is come and gone. Something I have come to know very well over time is the power and importance of momentum. It affects the power at which you can move forward. It sets the trend for how everything else will turn out. Well we had a great week and the trend is set.

We have really refocused on our goal to strengthen the individual members of the branch. We want to help everybody to know how to feast on the scriptures in order to receive revelation. We want to help people become spiritually self-sufficient (besides the whole relying on God part). Also President Morgenegg wants us to be visiting everybody weekly to be able to do that. We made a pretty good stride in reaching that mark this last week. There is still much more to do, but the momentum is going the right direction.

This weekend we have a special opportunity. Elder Ballard of the 12 Apostles will be here along with Elder Callister and Bishop Davies. Meetings like these are always great and will certainly give a big spiritual boost.

Glad to hear that things are going well!

Have a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt

1.2.13

Wow! It is incredibly hard to believe that it is 2013 already! Time always flies by.

Well the holidays went well. I didnt get to talk much about it on our phone call, but on Christmas Eve, we had a special mission conference. The meeting part of it was quite inspirational. We talked about what we had accomplished in the year and what the Lord expects us to accomplish this year. After the meeting, we were able to watch a movie. We watched Its a Wonderful Life. It had been a really long time since I'd seen it and it was great. It was enjoyable to have some time to just relax a little and enjoy a movie. After that we had a big dinner mixed with a bit of musical talent. All of this extended over pretty much the whole day. Christmas was good as well, but I talked to you guys then so I wont go into any more detail.

I didnt write on Monday because we changed our p-day for the week to allow us to go to the temple. So this morning, we did some studying and then went with President Morgenegg, the branch president, to the temple.  All I can say is that I love going to the temple. There is no better place to go to be close to the Lord and seek His guidance. 

Other than all of that, things are pretty much the same here. Thanks so much for everything!

Happy New Year! and have a great week!

Love
Elder Phong Manhardt

12.17.13

Well this week was another adventure. With plenty of ups and downs. Several days this week it was actually cold. Cold, can you believe it? It was in the 40s for a bit. We even had to wear long-sleeve shirts. Of course, it was cold one day, then around 85 the next. Now its just hot again. 

The branch had its Christmas party this weekend. It was lots of fun and we got to see quite a few people that we hadnt seen in a while. Santa came too! We also did a little play to show the birth of the Savior, with costumes and all. We were wise men. Fitting right?

Well, I'm glad to hear that the beginning of the Holidays seems to be going well and that you have some good plans for enjoying the season together. 

Make it a great week!
Love
Elder Phong Manhardt

12.10.13

Well this week came and went pretty quickly. Its hard to believe that Christmas is only a couple of weeks away! I got a few letters in the mail from Hannah, Ben, Lilly and Nathan. They certainly put a smile on my face. Other than that, not too much exciting happened this week, but we were able to get quite a bit done.

I'm a bit sick right now. Its not been very fun, but it allowed for a miracle yesterday. My voice has been very in and out and I had large part of sacrament meeting to translate. Right before the meeting my voice completely cut out. I prayed a lot asking that I could translate even if it meant that I couldnt talk the rest of the day. As I tried to join in singing the opening song eventually my voice came through and I was able to do the translating. Once we left church, my voice left me again and my health got a little worse. All our appointments fell through which allowed us to return home and I was able to rest it off. It may have been something rather small and unnoticed by many, but to me it was a testament that God is aware of us all and hears and answers our prayers.

Have a great week!

Love

Elder Phong Manhardt