Monday September 18th Weekly

Nyob zoo os!

Sorry this one will be a  little short. This week we had zone conference and had some trainings on Facebook and someways we can use it to teach people. It was a good conference. We also got our flu shots at zone conference. Walmart people came and did it for us and it was paid for by the church. 

We had a ysa fireside which was actually by a campfire. It was good and Cindy who just came back from her mission shared experiences from her mission. During church one of the members got in a car crash, but she still came to the fireside which I thought was cool. 

We have 4 Hmong Elders coming out on October 4th so we will kind of have a mini transfer. They come here during the middle of the transfer so I will probably be transferred then and I don't know where. Anyways I love you all and I will talk to you later!

Elder Bullock 

 What I look at on p day at Cabelas

Zone conference

Weekly

Nyob zoo os! 

This week has been pretty good! We had another missionary come back out which I think I already mentioned, but they are living with us and it is really nice because we can speak the language more.

Last week we went to State fair, so sorry for those of you I did not reply to! But it was super fun! We went to a Hmong stand and talked to the Hmong grandmas. They made this nice almost like suit coats things and she made us try them on and take pictures with her. I don't have the pictures but when I get them I will send them. It rained on us pretty good too. We were walking around in the rain and this guy was saying "Elders come here". He was a member from Idaho and he is in charge of the Sling shot thing that throws you up in the air. He let us ride it for free in the rain! It was super awesome! I would definitely do it again. There were also a lot of Hmong singers there since it was Hmong day.

So this week we found 9 new investigators! We had some pretty cool miracles! We found 7 of those in an hour. We asked the Lord to tell us where to go and we would be there at a specific time and every house we went to they were super accepting and took a Book of Mormon. We knocked on this house and this 15ish year old kid answered and we talked to him a little bit and told him a little about what we do and he said he was actually thinking about going to a church and we asked if we could come in. He said yeah and he took us back to his room and there were 4 other kids back there and we taught them all! They were all cool and took a Book of Mormon! Super cool!

Anyways nothing else really happened, but I hope y'all have a good week! Sib ntsib dua!

Elder Nyiaj 

13 month mark!

Nyob zoo os!

I hit my 13 month mark yesterday and man it seems like time is flying. It's crazy to be out over a year now. I still feel like I just came out so its pretty legit. 

So we found out about transfers today and I am staying in St Paul with Elder Lis Xeeb (Lucero)! Elder Xob Laim (Sele) and Elder Yaj (Yang) are staying in Minneapolis and we are opening up a Hmong area since we have another missionary coming out. His name is Elder Hwj Chim (Hutchins) and he came out and went home for a little bit, but he comes back on Wednesday and he is going to be with Elder Hua Vam (Hutchinson). So Elder Lis Xeeb and I will be covering Frogtown Hmong and Elders Hwj Chim and Hua Vam will cover Eastside Hmong. We have a bunch of Elders coming out in the middle of this transfer too so we will open another area in Minneapolis and another area somewhere else. 

So that lady, Catherine, we gave a blessing to a a week or two ago texted us and told us that her Chemo has stopped the growth of her cancer and that she is a candidate for a new procedure that has a 40% chance of curing her and like 90% chance she will live longer than 5 years. That was super cool to see the priesthood work through us. 

So every day this week we have been going on walks with Tsim Meej and he has already gotten a lot stronger and is not getting as sore. Every time we teach a lesson and then read the Book of Mormon with him. We asked him to watch the hour long video of the Prophet of the Restoration video and he said he cried during it and that he knows Joseph Smith is  Prophet! He is so solid. He pretty much told us he is getting baptized someday. The reason he can't now is because of his family. 

We had interviews with President on Thursday and he pretty much said I was staying so I already knew. So that was good. He is such a good guy and I really like him. 

One of the Young Women recent convert, Pa Ying, ran away from home one night and we got a called from the mom and she asked us to help look for her so we called our mission President and he told us that he didn't have a good feeling. So we called the mom that we couldn't go, but that we would pray for her and so all four us of in the apartment knelt down and said a prayer and a few minutes later we got a call that she had come back! It was really crazy because we had just seen her earlier that day. Super cool miracle. Then the next day we got to church and then got a call from them and their car wouldn't start so we went and helped them jump start it. We were a little late to our meetings, but that's alright. Then after church we had a potluck with a bunch of Hmong food. I am starting to like it more, but there are a few things I can't eat. Then after that their car wouldnt start again so we jumped it again. This little girl was sitting in the front seat pretending to drive, it was so cute. She always plays peek a boo with me haha. 

This week Elder Moore and Elder Condie got in an argument which led to Elder Moore calling President and he put Elder Moore with a Zone Leader, Elder Cardwell, and the other Zone Leader, Elder Dyerly came and stayed with Elder Condie for a few days. Elder Moore got transferred out and Elder Condie is staying. Elder Condie might be moving out of the apartment though so that the other Hmong Elders can stay with us, but we don't know yet. I really like Elder Condie though and I am glad I got to be around him this transfer. Speaking of friends, Elder Huntley is staying in Duluth another transfer! He has been there for 6 months already! He stayed 5 transfers in Red Wing and now 5 transfers in Duluth. 

Well that's about all I got! Kuv yuav tham rau koj lub as thiv tom ntej no! Kuv nco nej ntau! 

Elder Nyiaj

Birthday

President and Sister Barney 

St Paul

Tag pic with Rubix cube

Nyob zoo os!

This week was pretty good! A little slow, but that's alright. On Saturday  we had an Elders Quorum activity where we butchered a goat and then made goat stew. I didn't really get to taste it because it was super spicy and I don't do spicy. We got to help make it though, which was cool. Also on Saturday we had a ysa activity at Seethongs and we brought Tsim meej with us. Tsim meej is an investor who had a really bad accident and ended up shattering both ankles and part of his spine. It was a huge miracle because he should have been hurt way worse or even died. He can't really walk to well yet, but we did go on a walk with him today as part of p day. We went probably 3/4 of a mile and by the end he was about ready to fall over, which is good because he needs to get exercise. Then we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with him. He said that was the first time he had really been outside in 2 weeks. So we are probably going to go on a walk with him everyday. Anyways at this ysa event we at some Kho poob, which is pretty much like Pho. Then we hada spiritual message from Cindy Her who just came home from her mission in Japan. She had to come home  little bit early, but she is awesome and she gave a really good message to these ysa. She shared Alma 23:1-7 and had everyone share what their favorite part of it was and I really like the end of verse 6, which is what Cindy focused on. It says:

 I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.

She focused on that because these were ysa and most of them were less active and in that it mentions that those who were converted never fell away again. So we can apply that to us. Are we really converted to where we can never fall away? I thought that was a cool thought she shared and one that I probably wouldn't have noticed if she didn't point it out. Anyways after that we played a few games and took a group picture. There were more pictures taken, but we don't have them and they are on facebook so we will try to get them. 

Speaking of Facebook we got a text today saying that we will be getting facebook in our mission to use in our missionary work. That will be super cool and a different experience for all of us. 

On Tuesday this week after institute we got a call from the NSP Elders and Elder Moore was kind of freaking out. So they were riding their bikes home for the night and Elder Condie was in the front and he didn't see this car parked on the side of the road and he ended up hitting it going close to 30 mph. He thought his arm was broken and he passed out for a little bit. So we called the Bearss and they met us there and Elder Condie's arm was pretty beat up and I was pretty sure it was broken too. We left a note on the car and we got the phone number of a guy who helped them out and also called the police to tell what happened. Then we went to the Hospital and he went back and got a x ray and then he came back out and he gave this guy who did his x ray a card with their number on it. He was actually Hmong so we will probably teach him, but we were able to speak Hmong to him. Anyways he went back and got checked out and then later I came back there and he wanted me to give him a blessing so I did and while I was giving it the lady walked in. She was cool about it and just waited for me to finish. Well a little bit later we found out that it wasn't broken! That was a huge miracle! The power of the priesthood is so amazing. We ended up getting home at like 11 that night. 

In sacrament on Sunday I got called up to speak and I went up and talked about missionary work and then bore my testimony in Hmong. A lot of people said I spoke really well so that was cool. 

Well thats about I I have so kuv yuav tham rau nej ib tsam! Sib ntsib dus!

Tub Txib Nyiaj

walking with Tsim Meej

  

 Elder Condie's arm

Ysa event

Duluth (for Elder Huntley)

Taylor at MP fireside

Maize at the hospital

Weekly

Nyob zoo os! 

This was a pretty good week! Mainly because we were able to go to the temple! It was super cool experience and we were able to go and help with baptisms for the dead with the youth. The youth from Eau Claire was there so we were able to help them too. We weren't allowed to do any of the baptisms, but we did get to do confirmations and that was super cool because I have never helped with that before. Then after that we went and did an endowment session with tais Kab, who is a convert in Eau Claire that we went to all the time! That was super cool to see her get her endowments! I love the temple and it was really good to be able to go. 

We also went to another wedding and a funeral this week. A less active member was getting married so we went and ate a bunch of food. Hmong people always put out a bunch of food. The funeral we went to was a member in the branch and Hmong funerals go for three days straight but we only went for like an hour. It was super sad and she was only 24 years old. 

We had a mission presidents fireside on Sunday and there were some really good talks. Taylor, from Eau Claire, was one of the speakers and she was awesome. If you don't remember what a mission presidents fireside is its where converts come up and speak about their conversion and missionaries bring investigators. I also got to see Sister Burton from New Prague! She is super awesome! I miss New Prague a ton and would definitely go back!  I also got to see some old companions and friends which was fun! 

So a few weeks ago the St Paul Spanish Sisters got into a car crash and they were pretty banged up. Hermana Dean, who came out with me, she has a pretty bad concussion and Hermana Tolioni, who just barely came out, she has something wrong with her arm and she can't really move her arm very much. Well they both ended up going home. They do have the option of coming back out, but prayers would be awesome! 

Anyways thats my week! It was kind of a slow week for missionary work because we had a bunch of other things to do, but it was still good! Anyways I will send some pictures later! I don't have all of them with me! Sib ntsib dua!

Elder Bullock

8/14/17 Weekly

Nyob zoo os! Koj nyob li nej! 

This week wasn't too interesting! We had quite a few lessons, but nothing super solid. We had exchanges and I stayed in St Paul with Elder Xob Laim or Sele. He is Samoan. It was a pretty good exchange. We had a pretty good lesson with a recent convert named Nuna Yang and she is super solid! She asks deep questions and she is always trying to learn more. She always calls us and asks us to come over and teach her and give her a blessing so we go over probably once a week haha. 

We are teaching this lady named Catherine and she has stage 4 colon cancer and has maybe 3 years left. She knows a lot about the Bible and our lessons go pretty deep too. Elder Lucero knows a lot about like everything. So yeah... honestly not much else happened this week. There was a guy at church who was white but could speak Hmong and he was visiting from southern Minnesota and he learned Hmong on his mission in South Carolina.. or maybe North Carolina.. I forgot but anyways he was cool. 

Oh we did go to a wedding this week. Hmong weddings are pretty cool. This one was more Americanized partly because they are Mormon and they got sealed in the temple and it was just the reception. But when a Hmong guy gets married he gets a new name so instead of chuefeng its now vang lee or Vaj Lis in Hmong. It was fun. I've been to like 4 or 5 weddings since I have been here. We have a funeral soon for someone one in the branch though. 

We also visited a  member in the branch that was in the hospital. Her name is Maize (My•Zee) and she is super cool. She has mrsa so she will be okay, but its still kinda scary. She also has lupus, but actually a lot of Hmong people get it and kidney stones. We also have a Sister in the ward that is coming home a little early beacuse of health problems. She will be here on Friday. Anyways I have a lot of pictures because I didn't send last weeks! So anyways kuv nco nej! Sib Ntsib dua!

Elder Bullock

Fat squirrel

Turkeys

Polaroids at a wedding

8/03/2017 ONE YEAR OUT!!!!

Burning of the shirt

Elder Condie

Celebrating the year mark at Buffalo Wild Wings

Elders Moore, Lucero,  Condie and I

Elder Evans

Year Mark!

Nyob zoo os! Nej nyob li cas?

Man I hit my year mark last Thursday. Its so crazy that it has been that long. This week has been pretty good, but I might have to keep this one short. 

I went on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders, who are Karen speaking, it was a pretty good exchange and I really enjoyed it. We biked the whole day and it is a lot different biking in the cities. More people yell at you and make fun of you. I think it's pretty funny. I was with Elder Evans who has been speaking Karen for about 9 months now. He is super cool and I really enjoyed being with him. The Karen people are really cool. They are from Myanmar and have recently come to the USA.  They all sit on the floor and so far all of our lessons we sat on the floor. They all speak Karen as well so most of our lessons were Karen. We did get to teach some younger kids in English though. I got a Karen name which is Cha Wah which means White Star. They actually have different letters so I will send a picture of what Elder Evans wrote for me.

For my year mark I burned a shirt and a tie. I didn't burn a tie at my 6 month mark so I just did it now. I will send pictures and the video, but the video might have to be sent later because I don't know if I can send it from my tablet. 

After church we went to a members for dinner and we had some Hmong food and Hmong people like to eat chicken heads and chicken feet. Sorry but I can't eat that so I ate the other stuff, but Elder Lucero loves it. He says the brain is the best part.

Today for p day we went to the zoo again, but we went with some other missionaries. It was fun, but I wasn't feeling good so I just sat on a bench with Elder Condie. 

Well that's all I have kuv yuav tham rau nej lub as thiv tom qab no. Kuv hlub nej!

Sib ntsib dua!

Tub Txib Nyiaj 

Year Mark!

Man so I will hit my year mark on Thursday! It feels so weird! Only one more year!

Man, well this week has been pretty good! There are a lot more Hmong people here. Like more than white people. My Hmong has already gotten better since I have been here and I am starting to understand it but not quite. I can pick up a word here and there and get the other words from context sometimes. In church I said the opening prayer in Hmong and I was told that I  have a good Hmong accent and that I did well. I am loving it though. It is super fun being here and it's fun to see all the other missionaries! We have the Spanish Elders and the Minneapolis Hmong Elders that come over and do laundry and our zone plays basketball every Saturday morning! Its fun to be in the language zone! 

Not a lot happened this week except saying goodbyes and all that. We did get to go see an Amish community before I left Eau Claire so that was cool! It was super cool. We went with some ysa in the ward to see it. 

I was able to see Elder Beutlers family on Wednesday as well and it was a little different. He isn't a missionary anymore and its just weird to think, also Elder Peterson! I am going to miss them a lot! 

We had 5 investigators at church on Sunday so that was cool! I don't know all of them yet, but it was cool! So we have two dates sets right now Suab Nag Lee and Maiv Nyiaj Yaj! I haven't met them yet, but I am excited to. At church I was able to have short conversations with people all by myself so I am getting there. They have been saying that I sound good so all I need to work on is understanding and I just need more vocabulary and I should be good. 

Today we went to the Como Zoo which was free so that was cool. I will be sure to send my pics! Well that's about all I have for this week. I am sure I forgot about something since this past week has just kind of been a blur, but I can just write it next week! Kuv yuav tham rau nej lub as thiv tom qab no! Kuv nco nej! Sib ntsib dua! 

Tub Txib Nyiaj Thoj 

Elder Bullock 

Eau Claire pictures

Bee Theo, she gave me my Hmong name! She's the best, she gave me a Hmong tie also

Tais Kab

Amish store

St. Paul pictures

Como zoo

St Paul 

Little girl with a Chow Chow

Transfers!

Man so this week was pretty good! But first I am getting Transferred to St Paul so I will leave Wednesday. I will be in the Hmong branch so I will still be learning Hmong and it's a branch with all Hmong people. And I will be in a big city.. but yeah I am pretty excited. I will also be with Elder Lucero again so thats cool! 

So this week went by really fast, but I might have to make this email a little shorter. I went on exchanges with Elder Nielson after district meeting on Tuesday and we tracted this street and found three new investigators and two of them were Hmong. One guy didn't speak much English so I was using all the Hmong I knew and he was using all the English he knew. It all worked out in the end and we got a return appointment. The other Family is super cool and is willing to meet with us, guys named Bee and Teeg. They were pretty cool. Then we had a awesome lesson with Nkauj Iab about who Jesus Christ was. Then we had basketball that night.

The next day  we exchanged back and had Hmong service! I got a call from President Barney that I was going to be going to St Paul so I already knew before transfers, but yeah. It kind of took the fun out of transfers! But that's alright! 

We saw Xe, one of our date sets, and she is doing well. We will have to push her date back though. But she will get baptized soon. We also set another date with a referral we got. She is English speaking so we gave her to the Sisters. 

On Sunday us and the Sisters sang If the Savior Stood Beside Me in sacrament! It was super cool and Brother Hilton played the piano and was the one who set this whole thing up! I am going to miss him a lot, he was really a big example to me and I learned a lot from him. He taught institute here and I love the way he teaches. We also do our laundry at his house so we saw him quite a bit. I would play with his dog, Quincy, every p day. He is such a good dog, haha anyways.

Saturday we went to Menomonie and saw a baptism of Hsaing and Jeff who I taught while I was there. It was super cool and I am glad they made the decision to be baptized. It is cool to see the change they have made! Tabs also gave the talk for it so it was cool to see her too. 

We had a lesson with some Pohnpein people on Saturday and they were eating outside listening to music and we took Maddie and Julia C. and Mary B. to go see them with us, to meet Tina who is 13. It was super cool, we shared a message about the Book of Mormon and then they asked us to eat so then we ate and they turned their music back on and they all started dancing and doing the hula and things like that! It was kind of cool.  Mary, Julia and Elder Vang were all trying to learn how to do it. I was not even going to try so I just watched off to the side with Maddie. Anyways that's about all I have for this week. I will talk to y'all later!

Elder Bullock 

1. The Yangs

2. The Hiltons and Quincy 

3. Playing Life

4. Hsaing and Jeff