Things are great in Long Beach.  I am surrounded by awesome people.  I have come to truly appreciate my many blessings; my friends and family, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and especially the people I serve.  The Cambodian members made my birthday so much fun, and cooked an awesome Thanksgiving feast for all of the Elders.  Below are some photos of a day in the life of this humble missionary... I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

I Can't Believe it's October!

I'm finally feeling like I'm getting a hang of this Zone Leader thing. It's pretty crazy, especially being split, but it's getting done! We had my first leadership meeting on Tuesday,  It was great.   President and Sister Tew's training were really good! I learn a lot about relying on the spirit, and developing Christlike attributes in order to lead.

The primary party had a fun water activity that we helped set up. It was crazy that that was my second one that I've gone to.  Soon all the Holidays will be here, and time will fly even faster! My mission is going by really fast right now, whereas at the begging it felt SO slow!  I miss the seeing the changing colors of the leaves and the drives through the beautiful canyons in Utah.  October here will bring new Cambodian speaking Elders which is what we have all been looking forward to.  Our ward is having a Halloween party...Disney themed....I have loved our fun family times there, with friends (Candice & Tyler, etc..) and family meeting us there for a great time.  

Wishing you all a happy fall!  

End of Summer

This week was really fun. Last P-Day was really enjoyable, and we had a blast! We went to the Living Planet Aquarium at the Pike. That was fun going back there after so many years! It's still really cool, and I would definitely go back. We found coupons in our mail for 50% off, so it was only about 15 dollars. We saw a lot of members (that we didn't know) and a lot of people said hi. We also met a returned missionary employee there, and she gave us nectar for the bird encounter. Elder Clawson had birds attack him and he spilled the nectar everywhere!

The best part was the shark touch pool. We touched stingrays and crabs too. We got to look at all the exhibits, and a sea lion show too.

After that, our week was again a fantastic week! For some reason there was an extremely high attendance at Sacrament meeting, and we almost had to open the back doors! That's my dream, I want those doors open!

We are teaching a new family. George and Sophi are less active members that we found while contacting a referral. He basically told us he really wants to come back to church, so we volunteered to help with that! Then, we started teaching his 3 boys that are all baptismal age, and our lessons are SUPER fun! George's wife is still a work in progress, but things are going great with them. I expect a baptism soon. 

A Leap of Faith

So this week was pretty awesome. Something that is really hard for us is
finding SOLID people that will stick with us and progress. This is
especially hard in the car area because the church building is about 30
minutes away from everyone in North Long Beach. Well, I think we've started
to make things happen. The Stake Presidency asked us try to seek out Priesthood holders in the Park Ward if it is going to continue to be a ward. So, taking a leap of faith, I went through our ward list and higlighted every male with the Priesthood, or that is un-ordained and left it
at that. Well, as we went tracting, talking to everyone, etc. we started to
notice that we kept meeting males. Now this is strange because 80 percent
of the people I have taught on my mission have been females. But anyway, long
story short, we found a less active family who really wants to return to church-with 3
BOYS baptismal age, and a father who wants to come back. We also have found
2 more LA priesthood holders recently and have picked up many male
investigators. It's SO cool to see how when the Lord wants something done,
and there is a need, if we ask in faith an act, we will be the instruments
to get it done.
Elder Liddell

Here's the latest from Cambodia Town.
We are so lucky to have such great people to serve and serve with. Everything from awesome members like Seynin, going with us to teach, a sweet member named Sandy taking us out for sushi, countless meals from Sinuon, and so many other examples.

On Saturday the Stake held a big Pioneer picnic. It was awesome, and there was a lot of good food. That was the entirety of us celebrating the pioneers, they don't do too much of that here. 

On Sunday they asked me to play the piano for Primary. After opening exercises they pulled out their laptop and speakers, and kindly excused me to go to Priesthood. (I probably should try and practice more next time). Elder Clawson was laughing so hard when that happened. During the birthday song, I realized that I don't know how to play the ending, so there was no ending.

Besides that we did the normal, of finding, and teaching. Soon we'll be baptizing. Next SundayAngelina, is getting baptized. She's super, super awesome. She's the same age as will, it's really fun to teach her. Her mom and sister are recent converts as well.

We met a awesome Cambodian named Weisee who is in a wheelchair, and works at a watch store. He is really nice and friends with some members in the ward. We think he'll get baptized.

Angelina and Vincent were sick, and had funerals two weeks in a row, so they haven't been confirmed yet! Yikes. Well, next week we can try again! Sometime things come up, but they are awesome.

We went to Garden Grove BLVD and Beach BlVD on the south side of the street (Still in our mission boundaries) to contact a referral. We also have a potential in Seal Beach. We're really excited to get to go and teach somewhere new. New scenery is always good. 

Things are going really well. I hope everyone's summer is going great! 

Eating Whatever they "Pho" at Us....Kidding! It's Always good. Except...

This week has been awesome!  Our area is exploding!  We are doing great work.  Last transfer was hard.  We didn't know the area, we didn't know the people, and everything was brand new.  This transfer though, we've figured it out.  We have a lot of people with datesand teach a lot of lessons every week.  I am really enjoying it...except for the driving.  We've gone to Seal Beach a few times for referrals and even Garden Grove.  We'll be down to 3 missionaries again this week....but we'll make the most of it!

  Happy Summer everyone!

Brother and Sister Butler

 Delicious Chicken Pho

 Durian Fruit.....

Oniony, celery...

Look at this meal Sister Sinuon Prel made....she's the bomb!

Missionary work is so awesome.  We meet the best people.  I am so grateful to be serving here!

Epic Week for a Little Fun!

This week was an adventurous week, that's for sure! Last P-Day was even better than the one before, and trust me, extreme nerf wars are hard to beat.

Our P-Day started at the restaurant Rosco's Chicken and Waffles.  We had a delicious meal, one of the best on my mission I would say, of homemade waffles, fried chicken, and house syrup. One of the Elders that Elder Clawson and I went with was wearing his Compton shirt, and you can bet that he got a lot of looks to say the least. I got the Obama special, because it was the best deal (trust me, that is the only reason I would ever buy Obama food) and it was like heaven in my mouth. I don't know what they did to the syrup, but I wouldn't doubt there are hard drugs in there... haha, I'm kidding mom.

Well after our delicious meal, we headed up to, well, Compton. Mom, you may be thinking right now, why did you go up to Compton? Is that even allowed? Did you get shot? Compton is in our mission, it is safe...ish, and I did not get shot. We went golfing! There is a 7 dollar, 3 par course up in Compton, so we decided to check it out! It was really fun to say the least. It was the worst kept golf course I've ever been to, but I met a nice man working there, and we all laughed a lot. We took some  pictures, and headed home, about a 20 minute drive from home.

Well I thought those were all of my adventures that I would write about for the week, but this morning we had an serious

battle with a fierce animal. This one's for you Aunt Cookie! After doing laundry, as usual, we left the door open to let some cool air in. Well I sat down to eat breakfast, while Elder Clawson was about to get in the shower, and noticed a ferocious beast, in our living room! Well after our epic battle, we gave it some carrots, and it left us alone, and we made a new friend. So now we are safely shutting the door, and opening windows instead.

Love, Elder Liddell

SERVICE COMES IN DIFFERENT FORMS

It's really fun to perform different acts of service.

So many avocados, we couldn't let them go to waste.

Chicken feet...enough said!

 Climbing trees like a bunch of monkeys....

Check out these beauties!

Being 6'4" comes in handy sometimes!

A relaxing lunch after a day of painting and picking avocados

PICTURES WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

THE FANTASTIC PARK WARD AND KHMER NEW YEAR