Elder Henry 1/2/2012

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  Tell her welcome to the club :P.  Guess who's never going to live that one down XD.

(This was Michael's reaction to Sherry accidentally leaving a pocket knife in her backpack and getting busted by Homeland Security at the airport--of course, he had 5 or 6 pocket knives when he was busted a few years ago, Scouter vs hiker haha)

Dear Mom,

Pictures! 

8544 - We had Pig, Crab Salad, Chicken, and Taro

8550 - Traditional Samoan Pig at the Long Beach 15th Ward New Years Party

Thanks for all the pictures.  Its fun to look through all the family photos :).  It looks like you all had a very happy Holiday season ^^.  My guess is you will see Sherry before next Christmas :P.  Sometimes you just call up your parents and tell them you'll be home tomorrow ;), even when you are living the dream life.

This week has been a pretty rough week to be a missionary.  My guess is the holidays has made it harder than normal to find people at home, although nobody has been using that excuse on us.  We are having a lot of problems with our recent converts (from before I was here), and one of our wards is being pretty uncooperative in the missionary efforts.

Our two best investigators, J and F both can't be baptized for quite a while, and we haven't found anyone new in 3 weeks.  This week though is going to be much better.

We've been working with two less active families recently, E and I, and M and S.  I really love their company, and I sent you a picture of their whole family last week.  I don't know if I've talked at all about them, but I will now.

E and I were found by the missionaries last February and have been working on coming back to church ever since.  Eli is a football player at a local community college, and is looking to get into one of the PAC-12 teams for football.  He could probably play for the Ducks, but he needs a scholarship to afford college.  He did have a scholarship to play for WSU, but because the lead coach recently got fired, his scholarship died with the coach who recruited him :(.  They are working though some rough times, and we have been visting them to help them focus on what is most important.  They are some of my best friends in this area.  They are my age.

M and S are not married, and have a kid together with one more on the way.  S stopped us one day as we were looking for E and I (they live in the same house) and told us that they needed to meet with missionaries.  Neither of them have been to church in a couple years, but both were faithful members in their youth.  They have made some extraordinary changes in their lives since we've been meeting with them.  They are reading together the Book of Mormon everyday.  They went to church on Christmas for the first time in forever, Si quit her old job so she could have Sundays off.  Best of all they are planning to get married in the middle of February :).  We didn't do hardly anything to spur this on.  All we did was walk in, share a scripture from the Book of Mormon about how its never too late for forgiveness, and now they are on their way to reactivation and being an eternal family.  I'm really excited to continue to work with them.

That pretty much summarizes our whole week.  Thank you for writing me every week, I look forward to Monday's I'm sure just as much as you do.  I love to hear from you.

Love,

~Elder Henry

Dear Dad,

You have no idea how excited I was to switch times yesterday :P.  Going from 8:00am Church to 10:00am meant that Ward Council started at 9 instead of 7, so we don't have to wake up early on Sundays anymore ^^.  I don't know why they have church so early here as compared to other places, but you are right every time slot has its up and downs.

     Spencer's new guitar looks pretty sweet.  I hope he has lots of fun with it, and maybe even learns something from playing it.  I'm curious how you play normal guitar hero with it though...

      Sounds like work around the house keeps becoming an ever increasing list of to-dos.  You'll have to let me know this week who won the Rose Bowl.  I heard from someone that they were playing Wisconsin?  The Ducks better win a bowl for once in their career.

      Thank you for writing me every week.  I love hearing about the family exploits :)

Love,

~Elder Henry

Christmastime in the Long Beach Mission

SNOW? In Long Beach California????  (nope, hail!)

Pepe's Baptism

Robert's baptism

Dear Mom,
I loved being able to talk with everyone it was like being home for 40 minutes.  I'm really excited that Sherry is LOVING BYU just as much as I did.  I knew Spencer would be psyched to finally have his own laptop.  It's going to be the gift that keeps on giving :P.  Tori is just adorable as ever, I loved getting to talk with her about Dr. Who, I can't wait to watch it all when I come back :).     
     Thank you so much for all the presents.  I never properly thanked you, but you two won the biggest Christmas package in the mission award.  Out of ~140 I had the largest Christmas package :P.  I really really really really like the new pants.  They fit comfortably, look nice (way to remember I like black pants :P), and are machine washable!  All my new clothes are excellent, I can always count on my Mom to buy my good clothes.  Thank you also for sending more toffee.  My companion and I are very excited to munch through it all.  I got SOOOO much candy this year, I'm in heaven :).
     Both P and R were confirmed yesterday.  A very special gift for both of them to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Christmas day.  I'm really grateful for the opportunity to serve here and help people to make sacred covenants with the Lord.  There is nothing better than to help other people to be happy, and this Gospel is the best and only way to receive happiness forever.
      Unfortunately we haven't really found any new investigators for the last couple of weeks so nothing really new is happening in the area.  It's going to be a week of finding, but I know that the Lord will lead us to the people we need to find.
      Christmas Eve was a very special day to me.  I got up that morning and decided that we were going to teach a lesson to someone before lunch.  We had one iffy appointment that I figured would fall through, but I wanted to make sure we still had at least one lesson before lunch.  We went from place to place, meeting people at the door who said they were too busy, or wouldn't find anyone at home.  Our one appointment fell through and I started to remember what Dad had said about Holidays being some of the hardest days as a missionary to do missionary work.  Still we pressed on and went by a referral that we still had to contact.  We didn't find him at home, but two younger Samoans (20's) were out on the porch, and had just cracked open their bottles of Liquor to begin drinking for the day.  We began to teach them, and one of them Jo, wasn't too far gone yet, and he actually had wanted to speak with missionaries because he's trying to find the truth right now.  The other guy, Logo (pronounced low-ngo) was completely gone.  The rest of the lesson went well, although it was kind of comical to teach someone who was completely wasted.  I felt really blessed that I had been able to accomplish my goal to teach a lesson even though the odds were against me.
      Of course the rest of Christmas was just as wonderful as that morning had been with miracle packages, and the Christmas Caroling.  Looking forward to this week as always :)
Thank you again for all that you do for me,
Love,
Elder Henry

Ward Christmas Party

Elder Henry with his "Pillow Tie," so he can sleep during church???  haha.  I'm guessing the crown on his head was made by Kelsey's Kindergartners for him.

Some of the families Michael is teaching

Hey Dad,
     I would be all over those car projects if I were home.  I would love to get
into my pair of coveralls and start tinkering with a car, of course these
things sound like lots of fun when you are a missionary.  If I were home
I'm not so sure I would be quite as motivated :P.  I'll let you know before
I go shoe shopping, I'll ask around this week to find out where one can
purchase such shoes and probably go next week (although that will be the
monday after a sunday holiday, so it may not be until the 9th).
     I'm glad everyone enjoyed talking with me as much as I enjoyed picking up
the phone and calling all of you.  Mom was pretty quick to pick up that
phone when I called, had she been sitting there waiting all morning long?
     I'm not going to lie, I'm surprised that Sherry is getting a car for
college so soon.  I thought you were actually joking when you said that, at
first because I never thought you would give up your Insight.
     I want you to know what a great example you are to me of treasuring up not
the things of this world, but treasuring those things which are in heaven.
Everytime I read in the scriptures and think about how to improve the way
I'm living I always look to you and realize you've been showing me how I
should live my life all along.  It's not about how many toys you rack up at
the end of the day, its how much time you spent with your family and made
sure they are raised the best they can be.
Lots of Love,
Elder Henry

Elder Henry 11/21/11 from Samoan Compton California

Hey Dad,
I'm glad Granny got to you guys safe and sound :).  Sounds like she might be stuck with you for a good amount of time.  Tell her thank you for the letters she sent, I really enjoy hearing from her.
      That's crazy that the kids have the whole week off.  I was just telling my companion yesterday that back in Vancouver, we only get Wednesday-Friday off, but apparently the times have changed.  They just don't make kids like they used to anymore :P.
I'm really grateful that you and Mom have always been such an awesome example to me.  You have no idea how many times I tell a story in a lesson of when I saw my Mother and Father keeping God's commandments and they were blessed.  Your faithfulness is blessing the lives of the people I'm serving, not just because I am on a mission, but because I have the opportunity to share with them what happens when you do as God has commanded.
     Its funny you should mention the rain.  It doesn't happen very often here, but it did yesterday and believe me it was the FUNNIEST thing I have ever seen.  People literally are terrified of the rain down here.  We got a light sprinkle all day long, and everyone was driving 5 MPH under the speed limit, people missed church because it was too wet outside, the whole city shut down because of it.  It was like there was a foot of snow out on the ground, city streets were completely empty.  Seriously I was laughing very very very hard on the inside.  Oh and everyone was using an umbrella, like if you got touched by the rain you would melt into a puddle or something.  My companion is equally afraid of the rain and was very concerned when I refused to use an umbrella :P.
     It's back to the 70's and sunny today, but I really enjoy seeing the rain come down, because it always reminds me of home.  Our mission president has given us permission to just hang out with members all day after we finish our meetings on Thursday.  So from about 2-9pm we will be hoping from thanksgiving dinner to thanksgiving dinner and spending time with the members.  Best way to spend the holidays is with your friends and family :)
     I love you lots,
Elder Henry
P.S. My Mission President loves me, and of course that's mutual. 

Dear Mom,
     I'm really excited to be here in the Samoan wards.  It's been a blast recently and we have quite a few baptisms in the works so that is really exciting :).  I've been trying to watch my waist-line and I did a fair job of it in the MTC, but it will definitely be a struggle.
     Which wards did Brother McCausland serve in?  We live in the nice area of Long Beach, and we don't proselyte when all the gangs are out and about.  To be honest though, there are two big gangs in Compton/Paramount, and they are both Samoan gangs that make sure the Missionaries go unharmed.
     I have received both of Julia's letters.  I'm really happy to hear all about the ward doing so well without me.  I'm especially excited because Sister Brown is excited I'm trying to learn Samoan.  It's definitely a very different language from Portuguese and English, but a different strange from Japanese.  It is a really fun language to speak though :).
     That is a huge bummer about the Ducks losing to USC.  Oh well it happens from time to time, but we all know that the Ducks are the Best ;).  One of the members here is moving up to Pullman to play for WSU, and he played on the same high school team as Kenny Rowe (sp?), so that was fun to talk with him about.  There are a couple Duck fans to talk to here and there.
     I do study Portuguese for an hour a day during my normal language study, and I have to study Samoan whenever I have free time.  So its really tough to balance not forgetting Portuguese and trying to cram another language into my brain ^^;
     This past week was a really good week.  We picked up two new investigators, and two of our investigators came to church yesterday!  It's always super exciting to see people actually change how they behave because they feel the spirit of the Lord.  I'm so grateful to be a missionary who gets to see this on an almost day to day basis.
     We have 3 investigators in total right now, and they all came from member referrals:
     Ma'epu is a 10 year old boy living with his grandparents.  He is such a smart kid, and he reads his Book of Mormon by himself everyday.  I absolutely love being around him because he is so eager to learn and he loves being around us.  It is really awesome to be able to work with Primary age kids, they have so much love for the people around them and they really look up to you.  He came to church for the first time in a while yesterday and is set to be baptized on December 4th.  He will probably be the first baptism of my mission because he is set to go, just needs to be taught a little more.
     M is another investigator that lives in the same apartment complex as Ma'epu in Compton.  She's in her 20's and is living with some members from the ward.  We had a first lesson with her this last week and she was really excited to learn more about the Gospel and what we had to teach.  She just kept saying in the lessons, "Just tell me more, I want to know more".  She has been through some rough times and really wants to draw closer to God.  She said she'll be baptized if she receives an answer on Dec. 4th.
     Our last investigator's name is R.  He is another Primary age boy who's family is just starting to come back to church and he needs to be baptized.  We had a first lesson with him this past week and he's a really shy boy.  He's a really funny kid because he was running up and down the stairs waiting for us to come, and then when we were teaching him he played the 'I'm too shy' game with us.  He was at church this week and he's set for baptism on Dec. 11th.
     My new companion is a whole different experience from my last set of companions.  He is a really loving person, and just shows how much he loves everyone.  He's always talking about how much he loves serving in this area, how much he's grateful to be my companion.  Very compassionate missionary who's really excited to be serving among the Samoans.
     Working in this area is really different from my last area and it can be kind of frustrating to me because it literally takes us 20 minutes to get from our apartment to Compton/Paramount/North Long Beach, where all the Samoans are.  We can't teach as many people as I would like because everyone is so spread out.  There are tons of people here waiting to hear the message of the Gospel and I just don't have enough time in the day to do it!
     I hope you all enjoy your thanksgiving break.  I know I'll be missing sharing it with all of you, but I have a lot of friends here who need me right now.  I'll let you know if I survived all the food for Thanksgiving next week.
Lots of Love,
Elder Henry

Elder Henry gets to learn his 5th language!