Wisconsin Report Day 4: The Beautiful and Dirty City

Day 4:

Sunday morning Seethong made breakfast of scrambled eggs and french toast and I made ready for church, then went to pick up Mom and Dad. It had been a sort of struggle to decide if I was going to go to church in the Appleton Hmong branch or the Milwaukee city branch, but when it was made evident that Suying and Pang Kou were going to be confirmed, Seethong was going to be sustained and four elders were going to be in town, my answer was clear. It was great to see the small but solid branch, this time with a couple of babies that had been bumps in their mommies when I was last here. I was looking forward to just sitting back and relaxing while the elders took the weight of the responsibility I had felt for six months (especially since I knew they would make a big deal and gush about me visiting, since they always do when the elders return to visit), but they didn’t let me rest long. Seethong asked me to sing with him while his brother played guitar and one of the elders played violin to I Am A Child of God, and I was also put on the spot to translate the excellent talk of Sister Johnson from the Appleton 2nd ward. It was a pleasure, and I found that while I stumbled a couple of times, my Hmong was not too terribly rusty. We stayed for Sunday School but felt like we should take off after that. We said hello to a couple of Miskas families in the hall, including the exuberant Stephensons, who I loved so much when I was here, and who are also expecting.


Then after sampling the much-anticipated deep-fried cheese curds, butter burgers and frozen custard that Culver’s provides, made our way the 1 ¾ hour drive to Milwaukee!\


I had some serious indigestion on the way out of Appleton, and while Dad insists such a cause is unlikely, I maintain that a lot of it was psychological because I was so sad to leave. It’s a weird feeling, to be there as a “civilian” as it were, but not unpleasantly weird. It was just exciting to be able to see everyone again and look forward to when we would see each other again. We checked into our final motel and headed right back out, stopping by the old apartment (still with the barred windows and faded portrait of Jesus) and the beautiful European-looking church building in the city, and then stopping by various points of interest (the yard-art house on Cherry Street, the undeniable ghetto, the many day care centers and afro-hair salons, the Miller Park baseball stadium, etc.) until we finally made it to Yeng and Mao Lee’s house.


For those who don’t know them, these are basically the Seethong and Mai Chou of Milwaukee. Yeng was baptized as a kid, but Mao and her two kids from a previous marriage, Cindy and TJ, started taking the lessons officially when they moved out of Yeng’s parents’ house, having been to church many times already, and set a baptism date days later. I was also blessed to participate in their baptisms and confirmations the first time I was in Milwaukee, and even more blessed to attend the temple when Yeng and Mao were endowed a year later in Chicago.


Mao is serving on the Relief Society Presidency and they recently had their first baby together, Victoria, who is much bigger and absolutely, breathtakingly adorable. (See for yourself!:)



We had some barbecue, but didn’t stay long as to wear out our welcome. It was interesting to me that I felt so completely at home and comfortable lounging around their yard and house, lying in the hammock, watching TV with the kids (Cindy with her PhotoShop projects and TJ with his currently not-in-use bluetooth headset). We stopped at the “Mormon Cul-de-sac”, where live several young families going through dental or medical school, to see the Jolleys, fellow Disney and Harry Potter enthusiasts who always were so great to the elders, and who also recently had a baby (good heavens, Wisconsin is welcoming a new Baby Boomer generation!), who they named Harry (Harrison), and who they insist was not named after the Boy Who Lived.


We stopped, though it was late, at the legendary Ua “Tiffanie” Vue’s house for one of her famous haircuts, and I must confess it’s probably one of the best haircuts of my life (though Mom gets offended when I say so, and her haircuts are also awesome). It was hard to let go of my long hair, but like Ua said, "It's okay, it's only hair."


Ua’s life hasn’t been easy lately, as her husband left her some two years ago for dubious and devil-inspired reasons, but she’s holding strong, and she and her family can now go back to church and move on with their spiritual lives.


Everywhere I went I kept thinking of Johns and how jealous he would be, but I’m sure what goes around comes around, and I’ll be sufficiently jealous when he visits here, and with a wife, so as to avoid the constant questioning about dating I faced! It was late, and we had less than 24 hours left in Wisconsin, so we decided to get some rest and make the most of them the next day…

Wisconsin Report Day 3: Thousands of Hmong

Day 3:

After such a long and crazy day of so much driving, I promised Mom and Dad that the next day would be much less hectic. Saturday morning we woke up leisurely and readied ourselves for one of the main events of the trip—the Labor Day Hmong Tournament in Oshkosh. (Throughout the year, especially the summer, in various locations around the country, Hmong people look for any excuse to get together with friends and family, including such tournaments, which feature games of soccer, football, volleyball and traditional Hmong games, and which usually also include a show of traditional song and dance and bazaar-type lines of booths and shops, at which the elders will generally rent a spot to offer free Jesus DVDs and get referrals.)

We stopped on the way at our old apartment on Coolidge Avenue, and then at Cheng’s house, a man I met my first time in Wausau, and knew my second time as well, whose work schedule finally allowed him to worship on Sunday and fulfill his wish to be baptized just after I left Wausau the second time, but who had moved with his family to Menasha (near Appleton). We were excited to talk for a few minutes.


Then Mom, Dad and I drove twenty minutes to Oshkosh and walked a nice long way into the community park where the tournament was being held. Not even one minute after walking in we ran into two of my former companions, Elder Findley and Elder Boam.


We quickly found the elders’ table and it was so convenient—all of the Hmong elders in the entire mission were there, having just finished their semi-annual Hmong elders’ conference, and seeing as how most of the Hmong people in their areas would be at the tournament anyway. I was able to reunite briefly with old companions (Jolley, Boam, Findley, Hiatt, Miller) and see others I had met only briefly or had never served with (Bonilla-Barrera, Chapman, Coffey, Heath and Jones) and also ran into a lot of familiar faces from all of my past areas. I showed Mom and Dad around the dozens of booths which sold clothes, toys, Hmong souvenirs, medicine and herbs and food.


We bought a sausage and sticky rice, and I even had them try the papaya salad, some of the spiciest Hmong food in existence, and the woman who made it even made it extra spicy. All or nothing, right? HA. Mom and Dad tried it, but only a little.


We bought a few egg rolls for the elders, I gave them the poster boards I had made of the three lessons in Hmong (I realized I have no real use for them at home, but they could use them for many things if they were left in the mission), which were promptly displayed on the table.


Seethong and Mai Chou bought me a very amusing shirt with an anime Hmong guy and a caption that reads (in Hmong): “I don’t want to be alone.”


Incidentally, it is amazing how nearly every single person we ran into asked if I were married yet… Not dating anyone, but married! It was great. I’m like… give me a few months! Even more amusing is how at least four people asked about the same girl (who Sister Barrett insisted I look up), even though I haven’t even officially contacted her yet! We came back and crashed at the hotel for a few minutes (it’s amazing what a face rinse, a potty and a ten-minute nap can do) and headed again to the Yangs for pho, a traditional Hmong soup-type dish with noodles and beef broth, meatballs and some green veggie seasonings and spices. Mom loved it so much she decided she wanted to eat it every day for lunch and dinner from now on, and Dad noted that he really likes the spicy stuff (that’s my parents!).


But even before dinner, Mai Chou and Nhia decided they wanted to dress up Mom in traditional Hmong clothes, and Dad’s turn followed shortly. I fell over when they came out of the bedroom in their khaub ncaws Hmoob and we took picture after picture with camera after camera.




I just kept wondering if I could get any happier, when suddenly Seethong said they had another surprise to tell us. I had this weird feeling… like I could guess… and I was right! Mai Chou is expecting! I always knew they were taking their time, making sure they were ready when kids came, but this is so perfect. She’s due in March, so it could even be born in the covenant, after they are sealed. I was unbelievably thrilled and secretly hope they’ll name the baby Kuab Ci. Unless it’s a girl. Actually, even if it’s a girl! Ha ha.


That night I consented to stay at their place, and I dropped off Mom and Dad at the hotel and came back, driving, for the first time, all by myself down the streets of Appleton. Of course it didn’t last long, in effect, since I called Elder Findley to tell him the news about the upcoming newest Yang. WOW. We didn’t stay up quite so late this time talking, but still visited for quite a while. I showed them family pictures, Seethong played his guitar and sang the song he wrote for Mai Chou while they were still dating, and Mai Chou painted her nails. They pulled out a mattress and some sheets for me and I crashed hard on the living room floor.

Wisconsin Report Day 2: North to South

Day 2:

Friday morning started quite early. We had to be out the door around 7:30, which means that we weren’t even in the hotel for eight hours! I had planned for us to visit Sheboygan in the morning and head up to Wausau in the afternoon, but due to the schedule of some of the members in Wausau, those visits were switched. We drove the approximately 160 miles up to Wausau, the furthest north I ever served (and where I was for 7 ½ months collectively). It was beautiful as ever, rivers and trees all over, but none of the brilliant fall colors had yet appeared—give them two weeks. Appropriately, the first Hmong family I took Mom and Dad to meet was the first I met. Tong Lee (who gaveme my Hmong name) and his wife Nou and children Vang and Gao were very sweet and happy to meet us, and even prepared Mom and Dad’s first traditional Hmong meal (very usual fare, but excellent as it ever is at the Lees’—sticky rice, boiled vegetables, spring rolls, three kinds of meat with veggies, pink guava juice, and Mom and Dad’s very first Hmong egg rolls!). They’ve been members for a few years, and Tong and Nou were endowed in the St. Paul temple when Jared Johns and I were in Wausau together. I will never forget the look on their faces and the light in their eyes when they expressed their astonishment at the experience in the Celestial Room. Tong is also currently serving in the Wausau ward Elders’ Quorum presidency.


After that I drove Mom and Dad to an apartment complex wherein live several Hmong people, and showed them the makeshift Hmong farm in the back, maintained by the residents.


Later we stopped by Gilbert Yang’s house (his wife Lilly was working), and spent a few minutes with him and his four kids who were baptized just after I left Wausau the second time and have been going strong ever since.


There were several other people I wanted to visit, but due to limited time we stopped by one Miskas (American) family, the Mikelsens. The parents weren’t home, but I said hello to many of their eight kids (it took a couple of them a minute to recognize me) and they were really excited to see us all.


I had a feeling we should stop by and see Dang Vang, an awesome member, which turned out to be a good idea, since he was getting ready to pack up and move to Oklahoma the next day...


And then, after stopping by our old apartment, I took Mom and Dad to Rib Mountain State Park (and believe me, they use the term “mountain” quite liberally) and we drove up to the top and had a good look at the view from the 96-stair step tower from one of the highest points in Wisconsin, at a staggering 1,940 feet.


We stopped to try the legendary 1 lb. soft-serve cone at the local Briq’s (Mom and Dad shared but I had my own “zebra”, OMG, probably the best ice cream ever) , and after filling up with gas and stopping for a few minutes at the beloved-by-(most-)elders East Bay retail store, headed down toward Sheboygan via Green Bay.


I never served in Green Bay, so I didn’t really know anyone there, but we stopped there briefly, meeting up with dear Elder Petersen at the Lambeau Field parking lot (I know, I know, Easty Bay AND Lambeau Field in one day?? Who am I anyway?!?). Elder Petersen, an English-speaking elder around whom I served for three months in Milwaukee, and thus had grown to love very dearly, was satisfyingly surprised to hear I was in town, and as he and his companion Elder Hansen both go home next week, they were curious about the transition and the feeling of coming down that escalator and seeing your beaming family waiting for you.

I would also have liked to see Elder Hawkes, who trained Elder Banez and with whom I lived for several months in Appleton, but he was in a neighboring town biking with his companion, so I told him it was enough to know we were this close to each other, ha. We raced the sun for the 60ish miles to Sheboygan in order to see the beach on Lake Michigan before sunset and see a few people before driving another hour or so to our plans in Appleton. Stopping to check out the old apartment, we then went to the lake, which was looking stunning and calm, and we were just walking out to the lighthouse when I saw who looked like two sister missionaries (the nametages are pretty unmistakable). Upon closer inspection I saw it was Sister Yoshimoto and her companion (who I had never met), Sister Bryner! Apparently there was a YSA activity for the Winnebago singles branch on the beach and the sisters were in attendance. After saying hello we continued walking until I saw someone who could only have been a swimsuit-clad, very tan indeed Tom Strawn, a member from Sheboygan with whom I had made dear friends during my 4 ½ months there. We had a tearful reunion while Mom and Dad had a stroll down toward the lighthouse to get a look at the seemingly endless lake. Later down the beach I ran into a slew of familiar faces including Elder Brinton, Elder Merrill and his boy Elder Schaffer (who I hadn’t met, but with whom my boy has been serving in a zebra for the last six weeks), Elder Findies, Sister Hafen and Sister Johnson, and Vong Xiong, a Hmong member from Sheboygan who had served a mission in Fresno (and who had been companions with one of my MTC teachers) and who was a good friend and big help to the Hmong elders there. It was such a bizarre coincidence that we would just happen to run into so many familiar faces at once (and thus negate a need to stop a couple of places).


Another hour or two in Sheboygan would have been nice, but we had a reunion in Appleton to attend to. We drove just over an hour into Appleton and straight to the home of Seethong (pronounced See Tong) and Mai Chou Yang.

(For those who are unfamiliar with the Yangs of Appleton, allow me to attempt to describe how amazing they are briefly… Think of the most golden couple you have ever met as a missionary or even heard of. Then multiply how awesome they were by infinity. These are people who were truly searching, people who dismiss anti material delivered by relatives of other faiths almost immediately because of the strong Spirit they feel. This was a newly-wed couple, elegant, educated, sophisticated, adorable, searching for a church to bring their family closer together. Seethong’s father and younger brother had both passed away due to unrelated incidents three years prior to our first meeting, so they were grieving and mourning the loss of family whose absence they couldn’t explain or understand. This is a couple who took their paperbound Book of Mormon and True to the Faith with them on vacation to California and called from their hotel room in the evening with questions about what they had been reading. They read the pamphlets and wrote notes in the margins, looking up the related scripture references. They delivered Christmas presents to us before they left the state for their honeymoon. They picked US up and drove us to church when we were without a car. They took keeping commitments and asking questions to a whole new level, and approached US with a desire to be baptized. I doubt if they will ever know how much they meant to the missionaries and the branch, not to mention the Lord’s evident joy at their joining the kingdom. I had the rare pleasure of participating in not only the finding and teaching, but also the baptizing and confirming of Seethong , his wife, and his mother Nhia. When they were baptized and confirmed, there was something really noticeable in the air… something tangible and electric… Something exciting about to happen. It really is difficult to understand how wonderful they are until you meet them, which is why, after 9:30 pm though it was, I was determined for Mom and Dad to meet them immediately.)


I had been excited to see Wausau and even Sheboygan, but I was sooooo pumped to take that drive into the familiar streets of Appleton. Mom, Dad and I joined Seethong, Mai Chou and Nhia, as well as Seethong’s college-student brother and sister Suying and Pang Kou for more excellent Hmong food and a nice long visit. We were joined a few moments later by dear Elder Findley (my second boy, for whom my last six weeks were basically the MTC) and his companion Elder Chapman (my first boy’s trainee, ergo my “grandson”—one big family reunion). The Yangs were immediately taken with Mom and Dad, and vice versa, and we were all excited that for the first time I didn’t have to rush home at 9:25 in order to be home by missionary curfew! (Although Elder Findley stayed a little late, but he's usually quite obedient, and as he said, this was a magical moment.) Seethong broke the news to me that his youngest brother and sister had been baptized the week before and were being confirmed the following Sunday. I just stood there… eyes wide and hands over my open mouth… WHA?!?!? I just started laughing and crying, I was so excited. How everyone (including the elders) had managed to keep this secret from me is beyond me, but I was so happy to see the light in all of those eyes. Mom and Dad, great sports that they were, were tired out by all the traveling of the day, so went to check into the hotel while I stayed and chatted with Seethong and Mai Chou until 2:30 am. It was nice to talk as friends (although we WERE friends when I was a missionary, it’s just different—you can talk a little deeper and more personally when the nametag and suit are off and the flip-flops and t-shirt are on) and see how strong they’re staying. Mai Chou was recently called as Young Women’s President for the branch and Seethong was about to be sustained as Elder’s Quorum President! I mean… five months after baptism… And they are totally ready. They wanted me to stay the night but I thought I better head to where Mom and Dad were at the La Quinta on College Avenue, where I joined Mom and Dad in getting some much-needed rest.

Stay tuned!