Elder Sevy's November Up-date

Elder Sean Sevy
Cambodian/California Sacramento Mission
9480 Madison Ave. ste 4
Orangevale, California 95662


Dear Stg Mission,
Sorry that my letters have been incomplete lately, so here is an update” The last two transfers they put me into Hmong work since an Elder got sick, went home, and had no replacement. I was with a native Hmong, Elder Yang, for two transfers doing all Hmong work, but still a the same branch as the Cambodians. They call us the “Hmongbodians” and w were special because we could help the branch find both Homngs and Cambodians to teach. We have had a lot of success. Let em just share one miracle.
A month or so ago, me and Elder Yang were in the halls of the church, ready to go to priesthood quorum the third hour. One of the Hmong young members had another Hmong young with hi9m, (who I thought was a member) and the member said, “He wants to learn about the church.” I first thought it was a joke, but we took him to class and afterward we taught him the restoration. He accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray. Though he was a little skeptical at first, he said t=he’d give it a try. We called him later in the week, and he said, “I first struggled with real intent, because I’ve never prayed to someone I can’t see. But he then said, I prayed and I had a feeling that it was right.” I was so excited as I spoke to him on the phone. I set a baptismal date for Oct 12th and he accepted without hesitation. It was such a great opportunity as he got baptized and confirmed. We all were so happy with big grins on our faces. This experience strengthened my faith that God’s hand is in this work. - Elder Sevy

Part of a letter to his family:
So here I am in the new area: West Sacramento, which is a deceptive title because in truth, our area covers all of Sacramento, and even more--pretty much everything in the mission north of Stockton. Even in our huge area--there aren't a ton of Cambodians (especially compared to Stockton.) Its quite a contrast being in the new area, coming from Hmong work, were the work was very plentiful. I thought of it as a peach orchard: Imagine you just came from a good size peach orchard, where you were there to harvest the ripe peaches so you go around to each peach tree and twist each peach a quarter turn (like we learn at the Church farm) and once in a while you find a peach that is ready to put in the bucket. Then imagine you move from that good size orchard to a backyard, where there could be several peach trees, but they aren't beyond count. Like West Sac. To this day, the missionaries are aware of only 250 Cambodian houses. We often go to houses that have been visited many times, hoping to see new people who want to learn. But from what I've heard, West Sac is a slow area, but has regular success. We don't meet as many new Cambodians as we did in Stockton, but I believe that prepared people are still being put on our path.The first few days were really draining, because it was tough. But I had the prayer in my heart that we'd get a new investigator. It happened, but not until Saturday afternoon. We were at the home of a less active member that just started coming back. We were already teaching his non-member son, but this time, the daughter pulled up a chair as we came in to teach, and she appeared eager to learn. Instead of focusing on getting the Less Active's faith back, we turned to the daughter, Janie. She had been in contact with the church about 4 years earlier but never really got the chance to read the Book of Mormon. We taught her the Restoration and near the end of the lesson we asked her, "Do you understand why it is important that there was a restoration." She knew the answer, she understood the purpose, and said how prophet were there to help people from just teaching the thoughts of men, but the truth from God. She accepted to read the Book of Mormon and she went to church the next day. She picked a great meeting to go to. It was the Primary Program. Everything was simple and every necessary doctrine was addressed (the plan of Salvation, the Atonement, and the importance of a modern day prophet), and the best part was that the Spirit was there. For some reason the family left a little early, so we couldn't follow up, but I believe she had real intent. I hope she progresses toward baptism and prays to know the truth.It was a good first Sunday of the chapter. We are a very small unit on a ward, but I think we will see great things happen this transfer.