Nyob zoo! (pronounced nyaw zhong.) Hello to those not quiet familiar with Hmong.
Pinagpapala ng ebanghelyo ang mga pamilya at indibiduwal. Nakakatulong sa atin ang mga turong ito para mapatatag ang ating pamilya. :) Galing. This is another language which I know someone out there reading this do understand. Hehe..
Well Fairfield has been good the last three weeks or so. I have been around a couple new languages as you can see, meeting a lot of people, and having good experiences. I apologize for the lack of e-mails. Last week was a holiday in observance of Martin Luther King and we had difficulty e-mailing. If the photos I sent happen to be uploaded then here are some quick notes about them:
The one with all the missionaries are those of us who served in or around the Woodland area (Woodland, Winters, Dixon, Davis). There is a photo of the Dixon May Fair. That is pretty much the big 'happening' in Dixon. Every May they have...well, a fair--rides, food, petting zoos, clowns, games, and other things that fairs are known for. I never did see the fair so maybe another time, but I did get a reusable bag that was in our home. That leads me to talk about the next photo. The door that reads JESUS ST was our apartment door.
Then there is a photo of Jeff and I wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from Popeye's. He was baptized for almost a year now and he hopes to serve a mission in France so he has been teaching me a little French. Gil, if you read this, no he hasn't taught me the broken up, bad grammar French phrases I've been writing you. There is a picture of Budd; Elder Stevens, my companion at that time, and myself. Budd is pretty awesome, I can write/talk about him forever but there's not the time for it. We call him Tigger (from Winnie the Pooh) because he's always so full of energy and putting a smile on someones face. He's a great guy and one of the many people I miss from Dixon. Lastly, there is our last supper. Ty and his wife brought their talents together to make us one good final meal before the sister missionaries came in. Ty made us his signature mashed potatoes and his wife cooked meatloaf.
Those were the only photos for now. Now having some much better computers at our libraries I will see if I can send more in the future. The congregations we currently work in are doing well. They are a different atmosphere. With the college students (Young Single Adults) there is always an activity going on. The city of Fairfield has a population of around 100,000. We have been working on finding college students but there is no specific place to look. We talk to everyone though and have been slowly finding a few people to teach. Currently, the two main people we are teaching are Ashley and Alex. We are helping Ashley work towards a date for baptism for February 4th. With Alex we may be looking at the summer time before she goes off to college. Although I just got into Fairfield I can't say I'll be around 'til the summer but whenever the time may be I know that they'll both make the right step. They're learning and growing in understanding with each visit.
The Suisun branch is made up of family. Well each congregation is like a family or a spirit family you would say but these are all actual family in some way: Mom/dad, brother/sister, cousins, brother-in-law/sister-in-law, etc. They are all a great bunch. They each have a great story whether it be how they came over to California or how they joined the church. Unfortunately, we are not teaching any Hmong speakers at the moment. Most, if not all of them, have met with missionaries and they each have a personal concern/issue of their own that is stopping them from progressing forward.
I thank you all for your e-mails, cards, letters, thoughts, prayers, and so forth. As you understand my time is limited but soon enough I'll have the time to catch up with you all. I wish you all a great week! Take care.
- Elder Anthony Gallegos
