Modern Day Miracles

Church this Sunday went super well; we had 125 people at church and 8 investigators at sacrament meeting, which is really good! At the end of church though, there was a bit of bad news; our prime investigator was riding his moto and the police pulled him over and took it, and told him that he had to pay $1,000 to get it back. His daughter’s shoe had fallen off, so his wife got off and went to go get it, and he turned around the corner, into the parking lot to go back and get her. The light was red, and the police will try to get you for anything. The police here are really corrupt, like in Mexico. They can pull you over and take whatever they want and fine you as much as they want. And they were really going off on him, looking for anything wrong or out of place. Well, Sophoan doesn’t have a job, and just barely got clean water to drink because a filter bucket was donated to him by one of our members. All he had, to his whole name is $7.50. He offered them all of it as they tried to work things out. If they took and kept his moto he would be done. He doesn’t have a bike, he can’t afford one. $30 is waaay too expensive. He would not be able to do anything. He lives far away from anywhere and would be completely out of luck. His wife was crying and the policemen wouldn’t budge. He took his girl and bought her some food, and then came back. He had had a feeling before to shut off the valve from the gas tank to the engine for some reason. The policemen obviously wanted his moto. He was praying so hard. He hadn’t completely accepted Joseph Smith as a prophet, and he really liked the Book of Mormon, but he just wasn’t set yet. He had prayed and prayed, but not really gotten a clear answer. He prayed that if the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, if Joseph Smith is a true prophet, if this church is His church, please perform a miracle and help me get my moto back. And then somehow, someway the policeman’s heart was softened. He took the $5 that Sophoan had left (because he spent $2.50 to buy some food for his daughter.), and filled up his gas tank and sent him on his way. That day the policeman made $1.25. But our investigator made his eternal life.

What proof that the Lord’s hand is in our lives, in the lives of His children. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who cares about and loves all of His children so much.

A Great Thanksgiving

Well, I had a pretty fantastic Thanksgiving as well! We bought two medium chickens at the store, and we had stuffing and potatoes and gravy and cornbread, rolls, creamed corn, and pumpkin pie and ice cream to top it all off. We were running a little bit short on time when it came to cooking everything, but we basically had it all cooked in 2 hours, and we had quite a bit of food. Here’s the adventure; the water was off, so we couldn’t wash our dishes. That made things a little bit tricky. And the other thing was that the pie was taking a little bit longer than we had thought it would too cook. (It was a really, really big pie) And we needed the powerpac to cook our 2 chickens. Well, we ended up having to substitute, and our stuffed Thanksgiving fowl was cooked in the rice cooker. Ha ha! We had to hold the ‘cook’ button down so it wouldn’t pop up to just the warm setting though. We were able to do that with a chopstick and a Vietnamese Book of Mormon :) Ha ha! But the chicken turned out super good in the rice cooker, I was so happy! It all tasted great.

Sunday was a fantastic day! 130 people came to church, usually there are about 110. We had 7 investigators at church, and a few more visitors. Super awesome! Our family from Srah Srang came, so that was great! As well as a few less-active and recent converts who haven’t been to church since I’ve been here. It was so great to see them, and everybody was so happy!  The work is going forth and nothing is stopping it!
Oh, I also got some kinda freaky spider bites on my neck. They were just like surface problems, but they were painful. They felt like burns I did call Sister Smedley and took some antibiotics for a few days and put Neosporin on them. I guess I wasn’t the only elder to be bit either. They aren’t a problem now, just peeling. 

First Thanksgiving

I hope that you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving! I have had a great week, and things are going great here!  I am excited for our dinner today, it looks like things are going to turn out pretty good. We'll have cornbread, chicken, pumpkin pie (we've pureed the pumpkin and made up a crust), mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes (hopefully there are yams at lucky's, and then we can have yams instead). But things are going good. The work is going really well, and we are teaching probably close to 20 people right now. We are teaching 5 families too! So it's all super! Combined with the other elders, we had 10 investigators at church, and we are teaching 11 families. Super awesome!
I have to tell you a little bit about our awesome investigator. On Saturday we went and visited them, and we had a great lesson, and then we were talking with them. They said that they will try super hard to go to church, but they aren't sure if they will have enough money for gas to go there and back, so they would have to see. We know that he has been out of a job for 2 years, and just hasn't been able to find anything for some reason. He knows English and has computer skills which will get you almost anything. All he wants is a job that makes $50 a month too, nothing too much. (I would say average salary is $50) They have a house, and they have food, but they can't afford a $6 water filter thing that they have here, and we learned that he and his wife have been drinking unclean water and been having some serious health problems. All this and all he can say is, "I am so blessed because we have food, we have a house, we are happy, and I know that God is watching over us." And he wouldn't let us leave either until we had eaten dinner with him. I walked away from that house in tears. My heart was full when I left that house. What humble, humble, grateful people. Such an example to me. He also has an incredible desire to serve God. He was a pastor in a protestant church, and a missionary too, and spent 2 years in an MTC learning from the Bible.  He has such excitement to spread the gospel; he asked us the other day, "Elders, when do you have free time? I want to take you to Kampong Thom for a day to teach the gospel to the people there." And he has such a desire to serve God and preach the gospel. God surely prepares the hearts of people to hear the message of the Restoration, because he loves the Book of Mormon. On Monday he had read to Mosiah 3 (in one week) and said that the prophecies are much clearer than the Old Testament. On Monday we extended an invitation to be baptized and he readily accepted, and he wants his wife to be baptized too, and I think that both of them will be baptized on the 31st of December, and confirmed on the 1st of January. It will be a great end to 2011 and start to 2012!

Loving Seim Reap!

I had a great week, and things are going well here. 

The mission is super excited because of our goal to establish 5 stakes here, but we have some good hard work ahead of us. To have stakes we need to have 5 units; so we want to split Siem Reap into two branches, and add another branch in to Battambang’s 2 branches. Then each unit needs 15 Melchizedek Priesthood holders who are full tithe payers, and we need another few on top of that. I am not sure where we’re standing right now, but we’ve got lots of work to do! And we are excited to be a part of this.

I heard some other news as well! Vietnam is basically open for proselyting now! How amazing is that?! So I have a cool story for you. Elder Le Nyguen from the MTC had originally had a mission call to Mexico, and then it was changed to Cambodia, Vietnamese speaking. He is now going to be sent to Vietnam to preach the gospel there! They still can’t wear name tags or approach people; other people have to approach them first, but things are really starting to look up!
This week while my companion was in Phnom Penh, I was proselyting with Elder Phan, and in his area, I got to see some of the Angkor Wat.

  We are really working hard on finding families to teach. As we pray and search hard though, the Lord is truly answering our prayers in a very large abundance. We are meeting tons of new people and families, and we are really looking forward to getting the chance to meet each of these families and hopefully start teaching them.
Ok, I don't know to what extent the warranty covers my shoes, but they are... a little bit messed up.

Yes, I have beat the life out of my "soul", ha ha! Actually, the soles are pretty good, just cracked. We really don't do a lot of walking. I've done most of my walking barefoot because of mud and water. I think that it is cracked from the Cambodian squat, but I don't know for sure.  I have mostly been wearing these shoes while in the country.
Um, the week after next week, or maybe it's two weeks? is Thanksgiving, and if we want a dinner, we have to make it on Wednesday.  I hope to make a pumpkin pie :) We're excited!  Have a great week!

First Transfer

I must say, I have had a very full week. Last week on Thursday I packed up the bags that I could, and realized that I had built up quite a food storage in my stay in Kampong Cham, ha ha! So I ended up packing a fair amount of food. I was able to pack everything though, including my helmet and pillows. But it is a very good thing that I didn’t have to fly anywhere because I was surely over the 50 lb. a bag limit... ya. I’ll have to see what to do when that time comes. For now I will work on diminishing my food storage and be a little more careful with how much I build up, ha ha. At lunch time the Shelley’s took all the missionaries out to lunch because I was leaving, so that was super nice of them to do that for us. I had a good time, and I surely miss them and the other missionaries that are serving in Kampong Cham. That evening we went to a members house, and took some noodles and sauce and made spaghetti.  That was fun! Some of them liked the spaghetti, some of them didn’t, but it was still pretty fun. I had a great time serving in Kampong Cham, but the Lord has need for me in Siem Reap now!
Friday was full of bus riding! I gathered my last bits of things, and headed off on the bus to Phnom Penh with Elder Kong at 8am. We got to Phnom Penh around 11ish, and headed to the mission home. We also went to the service center and got some lunch, and then when we went back to the mission home, a lot of the missionaries started showing up for transfers. I was able to see quite a few of the Elders that I was in the MTC with, and now I have been able to see all of them since I’ve been back in the country, so that is awesome! Elder Christian came as well, and I got to meet him at the mission home, so that was cool. Then we boarded the bus and headed for Siem Reap. Oh wow... we were supposed to leave at 2:30, but didn’t leave until closer to 3, and didn’t get to Siem Reap until about 10pm. That was a long bus ride. And it was past bedtime too! Super exhausted. We got to the house, and it is super nice. This house is brand new, I think the elders have been living in it for maybe 2 months now, so not very long at all. I think basically you could call it a condo. There are a lot of stairs, and it’s a pretty big house. It goes up to a fourth level, but there isn’t much up there, just like a balcony. But the 2^nd and 3^rd levels both have a bathroom and 2 bedrooms on them. All in all 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, and only 4 elders, so tons of room cause you always share a room with your companion. But it is a super nice house.
Siem Reap is very, very different from Kampong Cham. There are tons and tons of hotels, places to eat, and lights out at night (this is all in the actual city, Sraa Sraang is pitch black at night, and so is most of the ride out there except for my bike light). I have a hard time remembering that I am actually in the same country, it’s a bit of a culture shock. But it is a really cool place, and I am excited to get to know the area and the people here. Ha ha, another difference is the people here have quite an accent. Kind of like the difference between British accents. How can such a small country have different accents?? It is different, but not to the point that I can’t understand it. But I love it here, and my companion is awesome too! 

Church was great! The branch is strong, and the branch president is really good.  They have currently set a plan, a goal to have the very first stake in Cambodia :D  They are hoping to split Siem Reap into two wards and Battambang (where they just finished the new church building out there, and they are about to start a new building here in Siem Reap- by the way, the church has been in Siem Reap for 5 years now) into three wards. This is super exciting!

Doing Great!

I am doing great! I just got a haircut, and he cut my sides super short. And took a razor to my face. My forehead included... I don't even have hair there! I had a great week, I went to Phnom Penh, unexpectedly. Elder Kong and I were riding our bikes side by side together, and we got stuck together, and had a little accident. Nothing too bad at all, but I did hurt my ankle a little bit. Well, Elder Spilker had been pretty sick for a few days and it was time he went to see a doctor. So since Elder Nebeker had been in his house for a few days, and I wasn't in 100% working order, they sent me with Elder Spilker to Phnom Penh. So that was a fun 3 day trip! We left Saturday morning, and came back Monday afternoon. Elder Spilker and I are both doing great now, so no worries there. But I had a fun trip in Phnom Penh; we went and got some really good pizza, breadsticks and bbq wings at Sarpino's Pizzeria by the mission home. And I found a rolling pin, so I bought it. Ha ha, now I can make tortillas and cinnamon rolls. But we stayed at the mission home, and I have to tell you that President and Sister Smedley pretty much treat the missionaries like their own children. She invited us into their kitchen and pretty much said to help ourselves. So we had cereal (haven't had that for 4 months), and then she invited us, Sunday night, to have ham sandwiches, which I haven't had forever too, so that was awesome.  Let me tell you what, I think that the mission home is a multi-million dollar house. I heard that a member donated it, too. The kitchen was a real kitchen too. I miss kitchens! I think that they are the only people in the mission that have an oven. Ha ha! But it is just huge, and even has carpet and vacuums. Yup, Monday morning I heard a vacuum for the first time in 4 months. That was different. But things went super well in Phnom Penh, and it was really good to eat some good, American food. I had a really good bratwurst Sunday lunch, and on Saturday for lunch had a hamburger, chili dog, and some very, very good ice cream. I just thought I stepped into America for a few days. I hope one day to serve in the city! Ha ha!  things are really starting to pick up here in Kampong Cham! We have been teaching a family of six, and they are really starting to get involved in the lessons, and it is wonderful to sit down with all of them and teach them about our wonderful Father in Heaven. I know that it truly is within the family that big changes will take place, and that stronger converts will be made because they will strengthen and support one another.  We’ve also started teaching Hong’s dad, and I hope that as he changes it will make an effect on his mom, and eventually she will have a desire to learn about the gospel. So that will be awesome! So things are really picking up with teaching investigators over here, and I am super excited to see what is going to happen!

Six Months

This past week was ok, but this week is going really well! We haven't really had any investigators, and things were going kind of rough, but now we are really picking up the pace, and we are even teaching a full family! Yay! That is super awesome, and I am so excited to be able to teach an entire family. There are 4 kids, and mom and dad. We've only met them 2 times, but I am excited to see what will happen! And last night we met with the father of a boy we baptized in August, Hong. We had tried to teach his father before, and he really didn't seem too interested and was struggling to keep commitments, so we had to drop him. But he told his neighbor he wanted to learn again, and I am so happy that he has made that decision! We need more priesthood in our Branch, and right now, we have 4 potential Melchizedek Priesthood holders that we are teaching; YES! So things are going well that way. And we had 55 people at church on Sunday! That was super awesome too. It is cool that things are leveling out with church attendance. It’s really hard to get an investigator to go to church when your members don’t go. Ha ha. Not too much is new in Cambodia, just the days are getting a little bit shorter. It gets dark around 6 and light around 6 where it used to get dark around 7 and light around 5 (at least that is how it was when I first got here. Not too many adventures this week, but a few good experiences. We met with a family that lives about 25 miles away. They moved from Siem Riap and Elder Kong knows them, but they haven't been able to come to church because it's so far away. We rode in the car with the Sr. Couple to find their house. But, when we met with them, after not having any contact with the church for 6 months, they still pray as a family 3 times a day, have weekly family home evening, read their scriptures, and have personal prayers. WOW! I meet with some people close to everyday and they can’t even read their scriptures or go to church! So that was super awesome to hear that they are doing so well. But then I heard some even better news; her whole family that lives there wants to learn and get baptized. And I could tell there was a place in their house where a Buddhist shrine once was, and it was gone. That is super awesome! But because they live so far away, there is no way we can teach them. Oh, that is so hard. I don't even know what to do about that. I will just have to talk to President Smedley and ask him when I see him next time.

So things are going well here, and I am loving the work more and more everyday. I am really learning so much about service, and loving and helping others. I mean that is really what the gospel is all about. I had a thought the other day that I’d like to share. A quote that came to my mind, I guess. Definitely an inspired quote that came. “If you want Celestial glory, you will forget about yours and help others obtain theirs.” And as you help other people to come closer to God, your reward, the consequences of those decisions will bring you closer to God, and will guarantee you an entrance to the Celestial Kingdom of God. That isn’t doctrine, but I think that it may apply.

We went out to the island and it was so flooded. Sometimes it was waist deep!  I can’t imagine what it looks like now! But that was a lot of fun. We took a boat on the road that we normally ride our bikes… J Ha ha! That was fun. It was nice of the lady to give us a ride. But then we had to walk back, and that was fun, but interesting. I think that I have done more walking barefoot than I have been walking with my shoes on. Especially when I have to walk kind of far. But it’s fun! 

New Companion

I have had a great week so far, and have been working super hard.  This past week was quite interesting! I had quite a few companions, and a lot of self-planning to do, but I know that I had a really successful week because I had the help of the Lord with me. I worked and prayed super hard this past week to help our attendance at church. We have had a very low attendance for sometime now, and I just don't know why. But this Sunday 56 people came to church! We haven't had that many people at church since July. And all but 2 of the recent converts in Branch 2 were there! I know that the hand of the Lord was in all of the wonderful miracles that took place this past week.  For our recent converts and less actives, we are trying hard to help them understand the importance of coming to church. I think that in order for them to truly understand why it is important to come to church, they need to truly understand what a covenant is, and the covenant that they entered into when they were baptized. I know that through a lot of prayer, hard work, and obedience, that I can accomplish my goal for this month; that is to have 60 people come to sacrament meeting, and hopefully keep that up.
I am excited to work with Elder Kong here in Kampong Cham!  Elder Kong is from Phnom Penh. He has been out for 14 months.  He is an only child, and he doesn’t know where his mom is now. So everything that he brought with him to the house is all of his belongings. And when he gets off his mission, I don’t know what he’ll do, but he surely has given up his entire life to serve the Lord. A great example for me. It’s definitely quite humbling to serve with him. But I am loving every minute so far, and we get along great! He’s a funny guy.    We can communicate just fine, we speak probably 50/50 English and Khmer. Maybe a little bit more Khmer, but that is just fine! He has a wonderful spirit with him that I hope to emulate myself.

Success

My week has been wonderful! I’ve had some great lessons, and been able to do some fun things. Elder Connor and Elder Ballard were in Phnom Penh Tuesday through Friday, so I was companions with Elder Hall for a few days. We had a fun time, working hard trying to cover 2 areas everyday. We did a good job, and were able to be successful! Yay! Ha ha. I have to tell you of one particular lesson we had with a recent convert in Elder Hall’s area. She pulled out a mat and we sat outside on the mat and taught her about the temples. It is so wonderful to talk to the people here about the temple because it is something that they have to work very hard towards to get to Hong Kong. As we were talking about the temple, I could just feel the Spirit so strongly as I bore my testimony on the temple, and how wonderful it truly is. We are so blessed in America, and especially in Utah to have temples so close to us to help us and bless us in our lives.  On Sunday we ordained Hong, who was baptized 3 weeks ago to a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood! He is doing so great, and I am excited for him to be able to pass the sacrament on Sunday. He is really looking forward to the opportunity to pass the sacrament, it’s pretty awesome. And then we had the opportunity to baptize Sok Jia! After so much hard work, it finally paid off! I am also so glad that Elder Connor was able to have a baptism on his last Sunday here. I am sure that was a fantastic way to end his mission.  On Tuesday, we went to the island. It was beautiful, and I wore jeans. We had a fun time visiting the member family that lives there, and sadly didn’t have time to go and visit the other member family that lives on the island, but it was fun to go anyways. Ha ha, there were some places on the road that were really, really muddy, and when I pedaled, my bike tire would slip like a cars wheels on ice. It was crazy! But we had a really fun time. Elder Connor and I had a good last day together, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to serve with him. I am excited to meet his parents and grandparents on Sunday though! I am also excited to meet my new companion, Elder Kung (pronounced with a soft ‘k’ or a hard ‘g’ sound koong). Elder Thomas and Elder Ballard will be leaving to go to Kampong Thom and Gian Svaay, and Elder Nebeker will be getting a new missionary from the MTC. I am excited to see the new missionary to kind of see how far I’ve come since I’ve been here in the country. I know I’ve come a long ways, but I don’t exactly how much.

Enjoying Cambodia

We were able to do Hong’s confirmation this Sunday, and I was able to be a part of that, that was a new experience; I have never been in the priesthood circle of a confirmation before. I am glad that we were able to have a confirmation on Sunday though, because church was a little grim; only 45 people came to church, and we only had one investigator at church who stayed for only the first hour. I have no idea where everyone is!  I had a fantastic week! On Thursday I did some service and pulled weeds in a like plantation where they grow beans. That was kind of fun. It was out by an old, abandoned airport. I noticed we were riding our bikes down this huge, long, open, straight road, and said, "This looks like it could be a runway for an airport," and one of the other elders told me it used to be one. Possible during the Vietnam war for the Americans. So that was super cool! By the place where we weeded was an old broken down building, and we went and checked it out. It was pretty tall and you could see forever. It's so beautiful here, so green. I love it! After that I was with Elder Thomas in his area for the rest of the day. Then we went to the rice paddies and went stoonging Friday morning. Had a ton of fun. Elder Hall and I have been busy at work too. Between 2 and 8 yesterday (covering 2 areas) we taught 7 lessons, and took 1 hour to teach English too. Super successful! It is looking like we will have a baptism for Sok Jia on Sunday! Yay! It's super exciting! He has come a long ways, and he is doing really well. I am excited for him. On Saturday we are having a fireside that we missionaries are putting on, and we are doing a play of Ammon and the king. It should be a lot of fun! I am excited.  Wow, I learned so many great things this past week in my personal study. In my studies in the Book of Mormon, I am near the beginning of Alma, and read the story of Ammon. He chooses to serve the king before he does any kind of teaching or anything else. His service that he rendered was enough to "win the hearts" of the servants of the king, and the king himself so much that they would "believe on his words." As I read this scriptures I thought back on a visit that Elder Connor and I had to a part-member family. We tried to sit down with the father, and talk a little bit about what the gospel is, and in the middle of it he started being very rude. He just walked away and was interrupting us as we tried to teach his wife. I was surprised by his reactions to us, but had hope that one day he may soften up a bit. The next day we came back to the house to help this sister move some dirt to another place in her yard. That one simple act of service changed his view on us, and while we haven't yet had an opportunity to sit down and teach the gospel to this man, he is now one of the kindest people I have ever met. I know that through our service we can truly touch the hearts of the people we are called to teach.

Continuing to Serve

District Conference was super! A great experience! I did ok on the piano in the priesthood session, and I was nervous as I could ever be! Super hard!
I have to tell you that I think I have biked about 80 kilometers since Sunday. On Sunday we went way out to visit a recent convert, and it was like a 45 minute to an hour bike ride over the bridge and out! But it was so beautiful out there, so green. And, I guess to answer your question, we passed like 3 wats. Wats are also cemetaries. We were pretty close to Vietnam! Ha ha! We think that our area goes to the border of Vietnam... interesting to think how close we are.
We went to a little wat place about a 20 to 30 minute bike ride up the road to look around this morning :)

They are super cool! I think that there are wats all over the country.  They were way cool monkeys! There are lots of monks here too, and the monks live at the wats, so it's interesting.

I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING :D I FOUND REAL MILK!!!! REAL YUMMY MILK! I bought some, but I won't buy it very often because it was $4 for 2 liters... pretty expensive. That is like 6 meals... But it's soooo good! I did find an alternative to milk, it's soy milk, and they make it sweet, and it is pretty close to real milk. Super yummy and good to drink with breakfast. And way cheaper. You buy it in 1/2 liter water bottles for 25 cents!
Did I tell you that I had to speak in church again? I spoke on the road to happiness. On the last Sunday of July. Goodness! I think we rotate through all the members in the ward every month when it comes to speakers, ha ha! When you are in a personal setting, they tell you really loudly if you read a word wrong, and you are not allowed to read anymore, cause they'll say the word over and over again until you say it right, ha ha! It's pretty funny! But it is a good thing that they help you so much.

Learning more about Cambodia

So Phnom Penh! Last week when I came I was shocked at just how little Kampong Cham is, and how few things there actually are there. Phnom Penh is pretty darn close to an American city. I went into the first supermarket that I have been to in close to four months. I was shocked! There are so many good things here that I didn't know about, even if I won't ever buy them because they are pretty expensive. Like I saw a box of frosted flakes! But it cost $7.34! We also went to the phsaa thmei (new market) and there were a lot of cool things there.  We went to the Russian market too (we went today too) lots of cool things there. We looked at movies in the market, and I could buy harry potter 7 part two! And cars two, and rio, and any other movie in the theater, lol. But they aren't good quality yet because they are so new. But movies are only $1.50.  We went to the mission home and the first words out of Sister Snyder's mouth were, "Wow! You have dropped a ton of weight!" I was like I guess I have!" So that was a big eye opener as to how much weight I actually have lost.  I went proselyting in the city with Elder Elder, one of the assistants. We went to the church to teach Khmae!  The church house was beautiful. An actual church building; I almost cried when I saw it. So pretty. Very modified to Cambodian standards though, which was pretty cool! Meaning that it is super open.  After we taught at the church, we went across the street to a family of recent converts.  I sat on furniture, they sat on furniture, there was a coffee table in between us, and a computer on a desk. And we spoke English. I couldn't get over all that! I've never had any of that. It was a very different experience. On Saturday, the next day, we got KFC for lunch! And ate it on the way home on the bus. Ha ha, it came with a side of rice, vegetables, and a fried egg instead of corn, mashed potatoes, and a biscuit. But I had a great time in Phnom Penh, and I am having a great time today too!  A fairly good turnout at church; there were 67 people there on Sunday! Yay!  I have to tell you about something funny from yesterday! My companion and I had to run home really quick to grab a the game Uno for FHE, and my companion ran upstairs and didn't see me go in the house with him. But I went into the fridge and grabbed a piece of fruit and went back outside and was eating it. My companion came out, froze, and looked at me. Then he asked what I was eating, and where did I get it. I was so tempted to say, oh, it was just over there on the ground, but I just said, it's grapefruit. Ha ha, good thing too, because he thought it was a piece of garbage cause he didn't see me go in the house. Ha ha!
English class is going well, we are reading Harry Potter! I am pretty sure that Hong will be getting baptized this Sunday; I am super excited! He is too! He's a good kid.

Establishing the Gospel

I can't believe it has been over three months already. It is crazy to think about.
I really didn't have any cool adventures this week, but I did have a good week. We have about 10 investigators now, and we may have a baptism or two on the 24th of this month!!  They  have to go to church for all three hours, three weeks in a row before they can get baptized. They are struggling with that. A lot of members actually struggle to stay all three hours too.They just don't quite understand yet. The church is so young here, and people aren't sure what to do. If the missionaries left the area, the branch would die in a couple months. We are going to try and get home and visiting teaching going, because right now, we and the branch president are the home and visiting teachers. So lots of work in the branch.  So that is a big part of what we are working on as we teach less active members and what not.We have been working really hard with the members because there is a lot of inactivity here. We had 74 people at church the first week I was here, then 64, 57, and last week we only had 56 people at church. So we are working on helping people become more active by being friends with them, and as we are doing that, people are giving us referrals. Pretty cool how it works!
The Lord is definitely taking super good care of me. I have been so blessed with good health, and it really isn't as hot as I thought it would be. I am learning and growing so much, and I am able to communicate okay. I am understanding much, much more, and pretty much everything that my companion says, I understand. I am doing a lot of different things than I was expecting, but when Dallin H. Oaks addressed us in the MTC, he said that we are supposed to establish the church! So that is what we are doing! Ha ha, I am having fun doing it, and enjoying serving :)

Learning Every Day

We had our p-day switched this week.  The District Leader (my companion) and the Zone Leader, Elder Ballard (He lives in the house with me, and his companion is Elder Hall) left yesterday afternoon to go to Phnom Penh for some leadership training. Usually on Thursday mornings, we do weekly planning, and get ready for the next week; it's a super important couple of hours that needs to be done with your companion, so we switched our weekly planning day and our p-day. So, Elder Hall has been my companion since yesterday afternoon. We also had to take our companions to the bus stop... what a sight we were with our companions riding on the back of our bikes! Ha ha! It was pretty difficult to ride my bike with my companion sat on the little platform on the back of my bike, but there were quite a few people staring at us, and I was pretty much laughing the whole way!. Ha ha, it's great that Elder Hall is my companion because he was in the MTC with me, so you have two brand new missionaries out proselyting... we are doing pretty good! Yesterday went really well, and I can tell you that we were definitely being watched over and helped by the Spirit. I would say it is a miracle that we both understood about 90% of what was said!

So, what a week it has been! Pretty busy! Last week on Wednesday, we went and did some service, stoonging (planting rice). Ha ha, yup, I got to work in a rice field! Man, that was an adventure! Ha ha! We dressed up in our non-proselyting clothes and took our shoes off, and stepped into the flooded and super muddy rice patty. It was teeming with little crabs, frogs, spiders, and who knows what else, but it was way cool and fun!  The missionary work is going wonderfully. If all goes well, by the end of August, we should have 4 baptisms. Obviously people that were being taught before I got here, but I am glad that I get to be a part of the instruction.

Working Hard and Learning in Cambodia

My second week went super great! I am starting to understand people more and more now. I can kind of follow the conversations now. I had to give a talk in church on Sunday.  A real talk.  I think it was a good 7-10 minute talk too!  I could tell when I said a word wrong because a few people would laugh. That is just the culture here, but I am learning!  I haven't gotten discouraged or anything because I know that one day I will be able to speak the language as long as I try hard to learn it.

There's no down time. We wake up at 5:30, exercise, eat breakfast, get ready for the day, iron shirt or what not, start studies at 7 til 10, leave the house, come back around noon for lunch, go out again, get back at 8, plan, eat, get ready for bed and write in my journal, and off to bed!

Ha ha, we walked around the market some more today... Pig heads on the table, the whole legs, chickens that have only been plucked, and fish flopping around because they won't kill animals.

I think that there are just about as many bugs inside my house here as there are on the outside of our house in West Valley. Lol. We have killed a lot of ants.

I don't know if the demons are poisonous, and I really don't want to! ha ha! They are a little bit hairy. They are FAST. I mean fast. You cannot hit one on the first try. Sometimes we will take a lighter and the aerosol can of bug spray to them... :)  They are completely disintegrated after being hit with it.

I don't believe that any house out here in Kampong Cham has an address! LOL! It makes it really hard to get to new people's houses.

Ok, this is a picture with 3 of our investigators in it. The older man in with the orange collar is Sok Jia. His son is on the far left with the silver shirt and BOM on his lap. His name is Yiang. And the boy in the yellow shirt is Hong. He is a neighbor.  There are 2 families. Sok Jia has 3 sons, and 2 of them are baptized (just earlier this year),  him and his other son is not. I don't know what has happened to their mom.  The other family are all members.

Going to Cambodia

Oh my gosh!!! Today's the day! After almost 6 months of waiting, the time has come! And after 2 and a half months of seeing missionaries come and go, it's finally my turn to go! YAY!!! It doesn't quite seem real yet, but I am sure that it will soon! Ha ha! I am super excited to head off tonight!

I have made it safely to Cambodia, and it is just absolutely wonderful here!  Our flights went really well, and I was able to sleep! The roads in Phnom Penh are like driving in Mario Kart. Literally. There are no rules, and people swerve all over the place, and people on their little scooters everywhere... ha ha! Awesome though! Not quite as hot as I thought it would be, but I guess they said that today was a cooler day. It's wonderful here, and I love it!
Love,
Elder Alex Kuhn

Tenth Week in the MTC

I GOT MY FLIGHT PLANS ON THURSDAY!!! :D :D We leave on June 14, 2011, and our flight from Salt Lake City leaves to Los Angeles.  We have a layover in LA, then we fly to Hong Kong.  We then have a layover in Hong Kong, when we leave for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  We should arrive in Cambodia at 10:30 am on June 16, 2011!!! I am so excited, and I can hardly wait until we get to leave in a week!  I went to the temple today and it was wonderful! I am sad that I only get to go to the temple one more time in the next two years. I really will miss it. So on Friday I went with Elder Clark to his doctor appointment off campus. There was a possibility he had a hernia. It was so interesting to leave the MTC! Ha ha! I haven't been in or ridden in a car for two months, and I was wide-eyed and curious to see the "real world."  I can't believe that I leave for Cambodia in a week. It just doesn't quite seem real yet... I mean I've known I've been going for 5 and a half months, but it's actually happening now!!! Yay!!  I learned about the culture. I learned just how important it is not to point your foot at someone, and especially don't stand on top of a Buddha's head. Your feet are considered dirty, and your head is considered sacred (why you don't touch others' heads). When you say hello and clasp your hands together in front of your face, the height or level of your hands shows your respect to people. Typically the tops of your fingers should be about with your nose. Everybody loves food! If you didn't eat yet, they will always invite you to eat with them. But we have to tell them no because they are too poor. But the people are so giving, they will just take care of you like you are a king to them, and our teachers have made sure to tell us to remember to be humble while we are over there because they will treat us very well. I don't think I will sit on a chair for two years...they have mats that they always lay down when a guest comes over, and you sit on the mat.  When you hand something to or accept something from someone, you always do it with 2 hands. If they are too far, you can reach across with one hand, but your free hand goes to the front of the shoulder of the arm that is reaching. It shows your respect and your reverence for that person and the object. You never toss or throw anything, it is disrespectful. So we will see how I do when I get there!  My well-being is completely in the hands of God.

Ninth Week in the MTC

Suasdei Everyone!  I can't believe that I will be headed off to Cambodia in two weeks! It is super exciting to think about! We should be getting our travel plans on Thursday, and I am super excited about that too! I can't wait to see exactly when we leave, where our layovers are, and an approximate time that we'll get there!  So on Wednesday we had our malaria instruction. Nothing really to worry about. The doctor said that we just take the doxycyline when the mission president says we need to take it, usually it will be in specific areas. The city, Phnom Penh doesn't have the problem that the rest of the country does because of all the mosquito abatement programs. We wear bug spray all the time, and try to coat our clothes in permithren, and just be obedient. That's the best we can do. If I do get it, I probably won't die. The mission president will have more of the details when we get there. Play it logically and try not to get bit is what I got out of it!
I can't believe that it has rained this much, it's really unusual! Crazy stuff!  I am definitely looking forward to an outside gym tomorrow!  I get to host the new missionaries again on Wednesday.
This week we are learning about  the culture.  I can't wait to see what new things I learn.
I hope that this week ends well for you, and that you enjoy the weekend too!

Eighth Week in the MTC

Hello everyone!
This week has been a wonderful week, and I have been learning so much about the language and the gospel this week. My language is just coming along super! About two weeks ago I couldn't speak the language very fast; I had to pause after each word, and I stuttered a bit. I also still needed to use English words quite a bit. But over the last week, my language skills have gone way up! I can speak with quite a bit more fluency (not a ton, but I don't have to pause after each word) and I don't have to use English quite as often! I am just learning tons of words. The hardest part has been teaching the lessons. We have to focus on the needs of our investigator, and the Spirit while teaching, so we can't really focus on the language at all. When we run into a word that we don't know, we have to try and find our way around it in the lesson! Sometimes you can't find a way around it! Like this past Saturday at the T.R.C., I was teaching the Plan of Salvation with my companion, and I needed to say the next part of the plan, or the next step, or what happens next, or something like that, and I just couldn't find a way around it, so I just had to switch around a little bit, I hope that I didn't confuse my investigator too much.
Can you believe that I have been in the MTC for 55 days?? That is insane! I can't believe that time has gone by so fast. I am so excited for Cambodia! We leave in exactly three weeks from today! Hooray! 
On Wednesday I had the opportunity to host! It was a wonderful experience, but sometimes it was really hard to take the missionaries away from their families, but it was awesome to be the first person they met at the MTC! It was great to see the excitement and joy they have as they enter their first "field of work" in the mission. I hosted 3 elders and 1 sister. The sister I just helped take her things to where the other sisters were waiting to help her with everything. The experience was just super rewarding, and I am glad I had the opportunity to do that! We would greet the missionaries at their cars as they pulled up, and unload their luggage for them, and watch them say their goodbyes (this was the hard part), and then take the missionaries to the door of the main building and drop them off. The missionary would go through the building and get their name tags, and a few other items. I would walk around the building with all of their luggage, and wait for them to come out with their name tag and envelope with their information on it. I would take them to their residence hall, have them grab their scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and note-taking materials, and we would be off within 5 minutes. We would then go to the bookstore to get their bag which has their learning materials in it, and I would take them to their classroom where their teacher would be waiting, and I would leave them there! Quite a quick process, that's for sure. I remember when I went through it, it was all just kind of really fast, and like wow... ha ha! After I dropped them off, I would go to pick up another missionary. It was raining quite a bit that day! The volunteer said that she had been doing this for 2 years, and it had never rained like that in 2 years. Lucky me! Ha ha! No, it wasn't bad at all, and besides, I need to get used to the rain!

Seventh Week in the MTC

Last Tuesday, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and spoke to us in our devotional! It was awesome! I love it when an apostle comes and we get to just feel the wonderful spirit that they have with them! Elder Andersen started his talk out by saying that on Thursday (May 12) when he reported to the Quorum of the 12 and the First Presidency about his speaking at the the MTC, there would be a sigh in the upper room of the temple because they all love to come down and speak to us. Elder Andersen had such a wonderful talk that I am just going to copy my notes from my journal into the email:
The Lord will never, never, never let you down. Mosiah 2:41 if you will learn to trust in your Heavenly Father, and remain faithful, He will bless you both temporally and spiritually. A mission is the best way to learn how to do this. Even the goodness of the Lord does not keep us from trials or from sorrow- even the prophet. Ether 12:6 we receive a stronger witness AFTER our faith has been tried. "As your understanding of the Atonement increases, so will your desire to share the gospel." Why is this? 2 Cornithians 4:18 Don't be surprised if people don't understand what you teach, because they can't see it. they are learned, and built upon line upon line, precept upon precept. Mosiah 3:5, 7-11, 13, 17. The Book of mormon tells over and over again the atonement and importance thereof. The atonement of Jesus Christ comes alive in the scriptures. As we read again, new things will come to our minds with power if we will not reject them. The merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah. What does that mean?
Merits- the power of the resurrection. Meet many people who have had a tragedy in their lives. You will be a great messenger from God. John 11:25-26; So many are unsure about life after death. Luke 24:5-6, 38-39 Resurrected.
Mercy- What is it? Why is it? We can be forgiven from sins- because of the mercy of Christ, we can stand, clean, before our god. mercy of Christ. Teach it. "If a person hasn't suffered, he hasn't repented...He has got to go through a change in his system whereby he suffers and then forgiveness is a possibility." -Spencer W. Kimball. Think of times when you repented, and then youfelt clean again! How wonderful was that?!
Grace- A strengthening or enabling power. A miracle is a grace of Christ. How can I...? the grace of Christ will lift us so we can do it. Ether 12:27- my grace is sufficient for those who humble themselves. Enos 1. We will see the Lord lift us to capacities that we did not know we could reach. and then we think about others only, and truly forget aobut ourseves, and we can be instruments in the Lord's hands. We cannot comprehend the fulness of the atonement in our mortal state. Astonishing for even the Savior. Thy will. Descended below all things, that he may comprehend all things. Suffered the winepress of the wrath of the Almighty god. the merits, mercy and grace will touch every soul on this earth. Let our name tages be plaques of honor.
After the devotional, I had the opportunity to shake his hand! It was a great experience. I said, "Thank you!" and he replied, "Thank you for letting me shake your hand." It is so wonderful that they take so much time for us missionaries.

It was such a wonderful treat to hear from Elder Andersen. He is truly an Apostle of the Lord!

 

Sixth Week In The MTC

I have had a great week here at the MTC! We had a few nice warm days, which was wonderful. I got to go out to the field, and there I played sand volleyball. I got to take my shoes off and play around with everyone in the sand playing volleyball. It was a blast!
I am trying my best to keep track of stuff in my journal! I think I have filled around 70 pages in my journal so far. My companion and I are doing really well! We still get along great, he is like my older brother. I love the MTC because the Holy Ghost is here so strongly.
The language is going really well! I am still learning how to read well. I think I read about the same speed as a kindergartener reads, maybe a first grader. There are just so many letters to remember that it takes a lot of practice to know how to read. but I am definitely getting better! My prayers in Cambodian are getting to be longer, and I am getting better at speaking and understanding, and I am trying to expand my vocabulary as much as possible!
My Mother's Day went really well. It was a little bit hard, especially in sacrament meeting when my branch president (bishop) shared some thoughts on mothers and a scripture. Sniffles all over the room after that, and there were only about 40 of us in the room. And then, of course, to close the meeting we sang Love at Home... ha ha, I didn't shed tears, but my eyes watered up, and it made it kind of rough. But I just have to remember why I am here, and I still get to hear from you guys often :)  My performance went really well in sacrament meeting.  Sister Seamons (the branch president's wife) said that I did an amazingly wonderful job, and she wished that you could have been there to hear it. She said that you must be proud of me. Everybody really loved it :)
I was trying to get a good picture of me in the mirror, but I couldn't get a really good one, but they look more candid, so that's good!
When you do your best, it IS all that really matters. Remember to always rely on the Lord in everything you do, and remember that He will help you with everything. I especially realize this as I am on my mission now. He is working wonders that I had never even really thought of. And prayer. It is a powerful, powerful tool. For anything. The last two mornings, the showers have been ice cold, and I can't take a shower when the water is that cold. So I turned the water off, prayed, had faith, and when I turned the water back on, it warmed up! Amazing! And then always remember to thank the Lord in ALL things.
I hope that all is well with everyone, I hope that things go well this week!

Love,

Elder Alex Kuhn

Fifth Week in the MTC

I am doing super well, and still learning tons and tons!! Mostly this week I have been working on speaking the language as often as I can to expand my vocabulary. A lot of memorizing words. I am working on memorizing the First Vision in Khmer. It's not too bad, it's just hard to try and make it fluent and not pause or stop at the end of each word.
I got your DearElder this afternoon that had the bit about Osama. I was going to ask about that, I heard a little bit of something from one of the Elders in my district about it. We don't hear anything about anything here. We are our own little world. We got excited for one of the elders to go to the optometrist today and all we wanted to know was what the price of gas was! ha ha! 3.79??? Holy cow! Insane. 
Since I have been here, the Lord has done an incredible job at filling the holes in my heart. Absolutely incredible. I can't even begin to explain because my eyes get teary with gratitude towards the Lord for filling those holes with enormous amounts of peace and comfort.
Here at the MTC we found a native Cambodian! We've only been able to talk to him twice, but only for like 30 seconds because we're all so busy. It's super cool though! Ha ha, I am sometimes waking up in the middle of the night and realized I've been dreaming in Khmer because I'm all confused when I wake up wondering what the heck is going on!?? And then I realized I've been working so hard and learning so much of the language that it is sticking with me when I sleep! Ha ha! I think that my spelling is about to start going down the drain too with learning the language.
I am learning so so much about the gospel and as I do I realize more and more the love and care that our Savior and Father in Heaven has for us. It is so great. And the more I realize the love and care that they have for me, the more I want to follow what They want me to do, and the more I follow what They want me to do, the closer I grow to them. It is so amazing and wonderful. The gospel is incredible and a wonderful gift that we have.

Love,

Elder Alex Kuhn

Fourth Week in the MTC

Hello everyone! I hope that you all had a Happy Easter! I did get my package and I love it!!! Mmmm, pumpkin chocolate chip! And oatmeal raisin! Super delicious!!! Thank you so so much!
I got my new schedule on Sunday, and so far I love it! I am super excited to see what comes of it.  We have more time in the morning to get ready, and even though the schedule starts at 6:00, we still wake up at 6:30 in the morning. There are a lot more teaching opportunities for us, and we will have a little bit more one on one time with our teachers.
Tomorrow, the 27th, Sister Rytting and I will be performing "Our Savior's Love" at the new missionary orientation. I am excited because it sounds really good! We'll be performing around 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon.
I am excited for tonight because rumor has it that Dallin H. Oaks will be addressing us tonight!
It sounds like you all had a really great spring break! I'm glad to hear that! Spring break was always a nice get-away from school! Dad- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I hope that you are having a wonderful day, and I am certainly thinking about you today :) Thank you so so much for taking the time to write down your conversion story for me, I absolutely love it. I am so grateful for those two missionaries who sacrificed two years of their live's to the Lord. I don't know if they will ever know the true effect of what they have done. Thinking about what they have done for me just makes me want to work so much harder. I love talking about the Holy Ghost. We are always being taught that we have to be sensitive to the Holy Ghost because that is where the conversion comes in. We can't bring others unto to the Lord without the Holy Ghost.
I can hardly believe that I have been here for 4 weeks now. The time has just flown by so quickly. Every week we have to write a letter to our Branch President, and this will be my 5th out of 11 or 12. I also find myself going, "Holy cow it's due again already?!" I guess I am just staying so busy that time is going by way quickly! I am doing really well, I am learning tons and loving the MTC! 
I love you all very, very much and I hope that you have a wonderful week! I can't wait to hear from you all again!

Third Week in the MTC

I am doing great! Learning tons of new things everyday, as well as feeling the Spirit too!

I love being the District Leader and especially checking the mail. I love delivering and seeing the excitement on people's faces when they get their mail. I also have the responsibility to watch out for everyone, kind of like an Elder's Quorum President. We have a 'Branch Council' meeting on Sundays and it's just like Ward Council where we discuss the needs of those who we are supposed to be looking out for as well as ways that we can improve.

My teachers are absolutely wonderful! I don't think that you know this, but all of the teachers here at the MTC attend BYU. Being an MTC teacher is a student job here at the MTC. So, Brother Olson is graduating and Saturday was his last day that he had with us. You get the boot when you graduate. We are all sad to see him go; he taught us so much and we love him a ton for all that he has done for us! But our new teacher, Brother Stevens, is awesome! Ha ha, he talks like a million miles an hour though! You have to pay really close attention to what he says so you can understand him. It's probably a good thing though because I am sure that all the people in Cambodia talk at least that fast!

On April 25 a lot of changes are going to happen here at the MTC. Our schedules are all going to change; everyone's schedule. They aren't redoing the cirriculum, but they are redoing the way that they do things. We are all curious to see what is going to come in the changes. We know that MDT (Missionary Directed Time) is going to go away. It was a time that we had to use at our own discretion. I'll have to let you know what happens.

I made 12 new friends instantly! More like 11 brothers and a sister. My district is wonderful and we all support and love each other. I have also made tons of new friends that are on the same floor as I am in my residency hall.

Sister Rytting and I did a really good job on our audition, and we were told that yes, they are going to use us as a special musical number, and that we will get a notification with the details in our mailbox as to when and where. It might be a while, it could be Sunday! We don't know!

I have ran into one of my friends here! Alex Hughes; I went to his farewell in February.
At the MTC we have very different lessons from what is taught at church. On Sunday, we spent the entire Priesthood session on the topic of baptism and why it is important for an investigator to be baptized. Our district meeting on Sundays is basically our Sunday school, and I am in charge of teaching that or finding someone to teach it. I taught it this past week and it was on the Book of Mormon. 
I am still working hard on learning the language! It's coming along!  I am still working hard on learning the language! It's coming along! Before we start each classroom instruction we sing a hymn and kneel in a circle to pray. Well, we have always sung the hymn in Khmer, but it was romanized so we could read it. Ha ha, as of this week, all romanized Cambodian/Khmer is out the window. The teachers only write in Khmer, and we sing the hymns in Khmer too. We have to take 10 minutes to go over the hymn so we don't hear a solo from the teacher! Ha ha! It's tough, but we are sure to catch on soon!

In my residency hall it's like a college dorm. There are four of us in my room, and I am on a top bunk. There are two bathrooms in the middle. Two massive public restrooms. Ha ha, I hate them! Not super hate, but it stinks not to have a bit of privacy, lol. At least the showers aren't open locker room showers-anymore. You can tell they were and just put up some dividers and curtains. You are lucky to get a warm shower... it's either cold, freezing cold, or scolding hot! But I think I have the timing down to get a warm one :) I will have to take some pictures so you can see. It's interesting, but past the bathrooms, I love the residency hall!

Meals are typically pretty good. In the morning they get doughnuts or something from a doughnut shop, so there are always a variety of doughnuts. On Friday nights they order a billion papa john's pizzas!

HA HA! Here's the funny part. During gym, my district mostly plays four square. It's the most competitive sport played in the gym! LOL! We get all excited and lots of yelling and OH!!'s slip out! Ha ha! It's hilarious when you think about it! We even make plans. lol!

Love,

Elder Kuhn!