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| Dah Jr and Zed, Diane’s Hake’s nephew |
The Karen people are a big part of Huron, SD. They are currently
15% of the population. By next year they will be 20% of the population! 20 of
our 80 active members of the Huron ward are Karen, so there is a need for Karen
or Burmese elders. The growth of our church right now in Huron is the Karens!
The real trouble is the language barrier. Only 2 million people in the world
can speak Karen, a sect of the Burmese language. In turn, there is no Book of
Mormon in Karen, so our Karen members only go by their undying faith. Faith is
the reason these people come to church. For 3 hours they sit through mostly
English lessons. Brother Barton teaches Gospel basics and a Karen priesthood
holder, Da Poe, translates and teaches the class too, so that helps a lot.
In
September, Elder Black and I are preparing a Karen lady to be baptized! The
funny thing is we already thought she was a member. When we first met her, we
got a call from the office that they had a referral for us. It was for someone
who was a member, Bruce Lee (Yeah, I know. Awesome name.) He was referred by
his sister-in-law living in Salt Lake City who was preparing to move here
because her husband, John Menlaw, was living with Bruce Lee and his wife, Dah Jr.
They wanted Elder Black and me to get them reactivated so when Da Blu Ma, the
really active one, moved she would come into an active home and they could all
live peacefully. Of course I was excited to reactivate the legendary Bruce Lee!
We got to the apartments, were greeted warmly, and shown certificates of
membership. Bruce Lee told us he had been living in Huron for 2 years and never
went to church because he didn’t know where it was (Devil alert! The adversary
is very cunning.) His wife Dah Jr asked us if we could give her baby a blessing
because she was sick. We did. (My 2nd ever blessing). I was scared,
but I was able to bless her with confidence and ease. It felt good. Dah Jr also
asked if her baby could have a baby blessing on Sunday.
Bishop White tried to
find paperwork on Dah Jr, but couldn’t find it. Dah Jr, Bruce Lee, and John
Menlaw all went to church and have been going for awhile now. I never thought
Dah Jr was not a member, until last Sunday when the bishop called us into his
office. Bruce Lee and Dah Jr and their baby were already sitting in the office.
Dah Jr asked to be baptized! I felt dumb. All this time searching for
investigators to be baptized and Dah Jr, who wasn’t a member yet, was right
under our very nose! After that we set a date.
Yesterday we taught her almost
all the lessons in one night! Dah Jr is on fire right now! It’s time to put out
that fire with the waters of baptism. This experience has made my faith grow
stronger. I know in the next couple of weeks leading up to Dah Jr’s baptism the
devil will do all he can to destroy her, but I’ll be there to backhand and
sucker punch that devil if he tries anything funny! We want Bruce Lee to
baptize Dah Jr, but he is too shy , but we’ll work with him and hopefully he
will come around.
Dah Jr was baptized
on September 15th, and Chan was transferred to Williston, SD, on
September 24. Since Williston only has one ward, he is there with our neighbor, Brother Zak Dietz,
who works in Williston. He says seeing Brother Dietz last Sunday was a
“Godsend.” His cousin, Bridgette Clarke and another cousin’s husband also work
there, so he may run into them too. It
really is a small world.
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| Elder Chan Staheli with his former Priests Quorum adviser, Brother Zak Dietz. |
