WEEK 35 - Then There Were Three
Elder Naeini went home and Elder Sanford has been training his two boys, so our little media squad has shrunk to only three people. But, we continue to press forward, working as hard as ever–if not harder than ever. We’ve been working on an initiative this week to utilize media to bring people together and into face-to-face interaction, but also create an event where we can bring hope to Houston, Texas. Elder Phan has been heading that as I’ve continued to grind the videos that we’ve recorded into reels and short documentary testimonials. Our ads have been going crazy and we’ve developed a moderator response team to be able to properly care for each individual referral/message/comment that we get on our Spanish page, Vida Mejor Houston to ensure that each inspired “knock” on our door is able to become a physical knock on their door so that each interaction can be taught and have the opportunity to be taught–it’s going really well. This week has been a blur–as with each week ever since I became a “full-time media missionary.” I can’t believe the transfer is practically over, but I’m excited to see what developments happen in this next transfer, especially in regards to who will be called to be a part of Seal Team 6. As far as we’re concerned, the legacy will continue and the work will never stop. We have also been able to meet with one of the stakes (Friendswood) within our mission to talk about how we can work together to utilize our MMM strategy to reinvent and revitalize missionary work. MMM stands for Missionary, Media, and Member work. If we can synthesize all three of these fronts, miracles will continue to happen. It went really, really well and we’re excited to be as Ammon to King Lamoni and “desire to dwell among th[ese] people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day [we] die.” Which may be literally until I die (end my mission). We were able to put Tuân on date for baptism this week which was insane. He was a media referral who wanted a visit from the missionaries and had driven literally forty-five minutes to come to church. He is so sick. We are also gearing up to put two more Vietnamese people on date for baptism Thu Hoàng (who baited us and told us she was moving to Austin but changed her mind on Sunday and is staying) and My. Thu Hoàng wants to be baptized so bad but her daughter is Buddhist (like practically all Vietnamese people we meet) and she is super, super worried that she would never forgive her if she got baptized so we’ll see how that goes. Pray that her daughter’s heart is softened, please! I had a miracle in Cava this week, too. The miracle wasn’t just that I was able to go to Cava because I have been missing it so much but because there was a divinely inspired reason for it all. While there I met this amazing couple, Candace and Bang. Candace used to be an olympic swimmer (we’re pretty sure her name is Candace (Candy) Costie but we could also be completely wrong–the timelines just line up so well and her nickname is the same) and Bang is from Denmark. We got to talking because Candace thought I was a Jehovah’s Witness and then we started talking about our church and she actually said she had met with missionaries years and years ago and that she loved the church and the feelings she had felt while there. Bang and I connected through our Danish blood and even talked about The Northman (2022) of all things and found out that he was a portrait artist–and a really, really good one at that. He’s drawn 1,282 portraits and I’m going to be the 1,283. After talking for like twenty minutes in the Cava they wanted to come to church and have me drop off a “Mormon Bible” at their house. God continues to bless this team even though we are not able to do as much traditional missionary work as other companionships. Vietnam (what the missionaries call the Vietnamese branch) is having more success than it has ever had and I continue to be able to find people that I am meant to meet–whether that be through social media messaging or through an inspired Cava visit. It just goes to show that God is with us, He supports us, and He continues to bless us and our desires to bring about a great change in this mission and eventually all other missions.
I hope you all enjoyed this info dump. See you next week.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM:
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WEEK 35:
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