Elder Hadlock (l) and Elder Forsyth (r) with a Hmong member.Elder Forsyth was recently transferred from La Crosse, Wisconsin to St. Paul, MN. He is looking forward to celebrating the Hmong New Year in St. Paul. He and the other Hmong missionaries will set up a booth and have the opportunity to mingle with 100,000 Hmong potential converts! The field is ripe, and they are ready. Here are a few excerpts from a recent email that Elder Forsyth sent home. In case you don't get the message... He. Loves. His. Mission.
"We have a Branch here of 60-80 members and it's just amazing. These people are so amazing and so humble it's unbelievable. You can feel the love radiating from all of them as you meet them. The old ladies are the best. They are such angels. It's impossible to not fall in love with these Hmong people. Their traditions and culture are so wonderful and they are the friendliest people I've ever met.
It's amazing here mom. There's so much dark and gloom everywhere and yet nothing even competes to the brightness of The Gospel of Jesus Christ! We taught a lesson the other day to this teenage boy who's older brothers are gang members. His older 2 brothers were shot and killed and his other 2 are in gangs. Anyway, they had like 10 of their buddies over while we were teaching and in the middle of our lesson we turned on The Restoration movie about Joseph Smith. It was so awesome to see 8 gangsters sitting around sipping beer and watching a movie on the Restoration. The spirit was way strong and they respect us alot. They know what we're about and the fact that we learn their language makes them respect us all the more. They're really all just lost kids at heart. They've seen alot of bad stuff and honestly, they were just thrown into a completely different world than they knew before. Alot of kids go their path, but that's what we're all about saving as many of them as we can. :)
Everything is set up for the avalanche to just hit. I feel such an amazing spirit here. You don't truly know what it means to love someone until you serve them with every fiber of your being and yearn for their eternal salvation. I love these Hmong people so much. They are such an amazing people. It's such an amazing opportunity to serve them! The world is in turmoil, but the gospel is being spread to every nation, kindred, and tongue! What a huge blessing we have to be members of the church and to receive the blessings of the temple! :)
Elder Forsyth also reports that while he hasn't been able to attend the temple yet, it is next door to his stake center, so he's looking forward to attending soon. He also had the opportunity to eat squirrel last week at one of his dinner appointments, but assures me that turkey will be on the menu for Thanksgiving.
"We have a Branch here of 60-80 members and it's just amazing. These people are so amazing and so humble it's unbelievable. You can feel the love radiating from all of them as you meet them. The old ladies are the best. They are such angels. It's impossible to not fall in love with these Hmong people. Their traditions and culture are so wonderful and they are the friendliest people I've ever met.
It's amazing here mom. There's so much dark and gloom everywhere and yet nothing even competes to the brightness of The Gospel of Jesus Christ! We taught a lesson the other day to this teenage boy who's older brothers are gang members. His older 2 brothers were shot and killed and his other 2 are in gangs. Anyway, they had like 10 of their buddies over while we were teaching and in the middle of our lesson we turned on The Restoration movie about Joseph Smith. It was so awesome to see 8 gangsters sitting around sipping beer and watching a movie on the Restoration. The spirit was way strong and they respect us alot. They know what we're about and the fact that we learn their language makes them respect us all the more. They're really all just lost kids at heart. They've seen alot of bad stuff and honestly, they were just thrown into a completely different world than they knew before. Alot of kids go their path, but that's what we're all about saving as many of them as we can. :)
Everything is set up for the avalanche to just hit. I feel such an amazing spirit here. You don't truly know what it means to love someone until you serve them with every fiber of your being and yearn for their eternal salvation. I love these Hmong people so much. They are such an amazing people. It's such an amazing opportunity to serve them! The world is in turmoil, but the gospel is being spread to every nation, kindred, and tongue! What a huge blessing we have to be members of the church and to receive the blessings of the temple! :)
Elder Forsyth also reports that while he hasn't been able to attend the temple yet, it is next door to his stake center, so he's looking forward to attending soon. He also had the opportunity to eat squirrel last week at one of his dinner appointments, but assures me that turkey will be on the menu for Thanksgiving.
