March 28, 2011

Dear Family,

 

This week was wonderful!  Do and Bang are members of the church now!  The day of the baptism everything went wrong, but it was clear by the end of the day that it was because Satan knew something amazing was about to happen.  After the baptism, Do and Bang shared their testimonies, and just like Tyler's last week, they were perfect.  Bang talked about how he didn't know anything about God a few months ago, and he knows the Holy Ghost led him to the church. Do talked about how when he was 8 he saw a movie about Jesus Christ and knew he was "more than a great man."  He wanted to follow Him and talked to his mom about it, but she said that he would have to follow Him by himself.  He always wanted to, but never knew how until the missionaries knocked on his door.  He talked about how he learned about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and prophets and he knows it's all true.  He promised in his testimony to keep the commandments.  We sang Silent Night for the closing song because it was the first song he ever heard about Christ.  (Bang picked the opening song by saying "Dear Heavenly Father" and then opening the hymn book - the song was "Come Unto Jesus," so it was perfect).

 

We found out this week that there are no meetinghouses in Vietnam.  It's pretty much the same situation as China.  Just last month, though (while Do and Bang were being taught!), Elder Cook met with Vietnamese officials and a church leader from Bang's home town and they talked about relations.  Vietnam is grateful for the humanitarian aid we've given them.  Slowly but surely, Heavenly Father is opening up ways for all of His children to learn about the church.  Someday Do and Bang will be able to go to church in their own country.

 

This week we were riding to the institute building when Sister St. Clair stopped and said something was weird with her bike pedal.  We kept riding and it fell off!  We'd only had the bikes for 4 days.  Our bishop, who is a lot like Dad and can fix anything, tried a bunch of different things to put it back on and when nothing worked, he welded the pedal to the bike. We won't be having trouble with that anymore! 

 

My first transfer is officially over!  The time is flying by.  I hope everything is well with you! I love you dearly.

 

Love,

Sister Monson

March 14, 2011

Hello, Family!

 

This week was good and my birthday was wonderful!!!  Thank you so much for the presents and the cards.  I loved all of the presents and I'm so excited to have a camera now!  I'll take a lot of pictures so you can see the people I talk about. 

 

Sister St. Clair went above and beyond on my birthday in a lot of ways.  One of them was to ask Bang to make me a Vietnamese treat.  He replied "Hi. Sure. I will make a small party for her."  We got to their apartment for a lesson and they had a table set up with ingredients to make spring rolls.  They were delicious.  Every time I would get half way through one, Do would make me another one. They were very filling. We had a great lesson with them and they shared how they feel the Spirit when they read The Book of Mormon.  Bang said he feels happy and Do feels "vibrations." They don't know a lot of English words, but they know enough to explain the Spirit beautifully.  Their baptism date is next week. 

 

We had a wonderful but heartbreaking lesson with Jeffrey.  He took us out to dinner at an expensive Chinese restaurant and then we had the lesson at his apartment.  We asked him if he would be baptized and he said he can't.  He is an important man in China, dealing with 2 billion dollars every month. Everything he does is watched.  He is here with people from his company and has to tell them that he is just learning English when he meets with us. He said he believes us and he believes God,but if he was baptized China would know and his life would be ruined.  He said another beautiful prayer and included that he will follow God with his heart even though he can't with his behavior, and he knows God will understand.  He kept saying that China needs time but he will bring The Book of Mormon there.  It reminded me very much of the people in the Book of Mormon who had to pray silently because of the persecution they were under.  He is an incredible man.

 

So...WE ARE GOING TO BRANSON TODAY TO WATCH A SHOW!!  We're watching the Hugh's brothers who I've heard aren't very good, but still.  We're excited.  We're going for our Zone Outing.  I'll be sure and tell you how that goes.  I definitely didn't think that would be something I could do on my mission.

 

I love you all dearly.  Thank you so much for making my birthday so special even though you are all far away.  I got so many wonderful letters and the presents I got were perfect.  I love you all so much.

 

Love,

Sister Monson

March 7, 2011

Dear Family,

This week has been good! 

 

There are ROUS's (Rodents of Unusual Size) in Missouri.  We were teaching Tyler Jones outside because we couldn't find a girl to come with us, and up walks this huge rodent.  Like the size of a cat.  It was a possum, which I've never seen in real life before so I thought I was in The Princess Bride.  That was fun.

 

We've had more miracles.  We were walking down the road after trying to contact someone, and Sister St. Clair saw some Chinese people she's taught before. We went up to talk to them and one of them, Jeffrey, said he wanted us to come back and teach him again!  We had a really hard time finding someone to come with us and the days leading up to it had been hard, but his lesson was the most amazing spiritual experience I've ever had.  We walked in and he had his Chinese and English Book of Mormons out, questions written down in Chinese, and his laptop open so he could look up words, because his English isn't very good.  He said he thought there might be a God but wasn't sure.  He envied Americans because he feels that this is a better place than China because we have a belief in God and China doesn't.  He asked why Americans have God but China doesn't.  That was a hard questions to answer, especially without offending him, because God loves all of His children and doesn't turn His back on us, we turn our backs on Him. It was made even more difficult because of the language barrier. But, Sister St. Clair opened up to Alma 26:37 which says that God is mindful of all His people and we explained that everyone someday will have the chance to know about God and accept him. Jeffrey said, "Oh, I won't worry about it anymore."  He said the closing prayer and it was the most beautiful, simple, faithful prayer I have ever heard.  He said, "My Dear God" and then gave thanks that we had come and answered questions he had had for a long time.  He also said, "you are my God."  I felt like I was sitting in on King Lamoni's father's prayer, where he prays for the first time with faith in God.  It was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful for it. 

 

We also met a girl named Theresa.  She requested a Book of Mormon because she's doing a school project on Mormonism. She already knew a lot about the church when we went over, and she has a great respect for us. Her parents were able to attend the open house for a temple and they told her about how beautiful it is. While we were teaching her, her friend Aubrey came over.  She is searching for a religion and liked what we taught. There are no coincidences in missionary work!  Aubrey came up at the perfect time for a reason.  They are both coming to church after Spring Break. 

 

The church is true and Heavenly Father's work is progressing!  I love my Savior and I love The Book of Mormon.  I'm so grateful I was raised in the church, because so many people are lost and don't know what will bring them real happiness and what won't.  I hope all is well with you!

 

Love,

Sister Monson :)