P-Day 23

Nyob Zoo!

Today is technically the first day of my 5th transfer in Alaska. What
a beautiful and remarkable state this is. There is no where else like
it and the pictures and videos you see of it do no justice to the
beauty of this place; and I am only in the Anchorage area.

This week we got our transfer calls. Unfortunately my companion for my
whole mission so far, Elder Ryan Vang, is going home. He was an
awesome companion and one of my best friends. I will be quoting him my
whole mission. He was one hard worker and faithful individual. I am
sad he is leaving but happy he can move on with the rest of his life
ahead of him.

My new companion will be... Elder Jamal Vang! This is his last
transfer in the mission field. He has previously served in the Hmong
branch for about a year. He is coming back for one last one. In
mission terms, I am killing him off. I have talked with him a few
times and I am excited to serve with him for one transfer.

After he leaves, I will be the only person with any sort of clue about
Hmong on the mission. We have no Hmong missionaries or Hmong speaking
missionaries coming out. So I will be here for a while. I will either
get an experienced missionary and he will stall until we can hopefully
get one, or I will train a Meskas and we will stay together for an
extended period of time.

One missionary in the mission office asked me: "Where do you think you
will go when you leave the Hmong branch?" I replied: "Home" because I
won't leave!  We had a large "Family gathering" with most of the
active members and I told them I will not leave this branch. At the
end, Grandmother Her, came up to me and talked to me in Hmong but then
said: "I love you" in English. It was the best thing ever! She must of
been practicing or something.

This week we had a baptism of 3 people. Jaynee and Anthony, as well as
Lori's daughter Lauren. It was a great way to finish off the transfer.
Me and Elder Vang finished with 21 baptisms together in 6 months.
Besides the baptism it was just visiting people all week for Elder
Vang and saying goodbye. I got to meet a lot of cool people in the
Klatt area of Anchorage.

Have a wonderful week, Sib Ntsib Dua!
Elder Hayden Frey