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.