Pressing Forward

This week, we had 6 new missionaries called from Cambodia. SIX! That is so awesome, and on Friday, this upcoming week, they are going to the MTC. So they had a total of 10 days to get ready to leave. How crazy is that? A total of 12 Native Cambodians are going to the MTC this Friday! And then they will be back to start serving for this transfer after 3 weeks in the MTC. Oh, and did I mention that we have a huge group in the MTC right now? Ya, this transfer will be the biggest transfer ever. 26 new missionaries are coming in! And last transfer was super huge at about 15 missionaries. There aren’t enough sisters to train because 12 of these missionaries are sisters, and we only have like 8 sisters serving right now. Yup, not sure what is going to happen there. But, the Lord will make it work.   

Elder Price and I have had a great week of proselyting!  On Monday we had a family home evening, and Elder Price and I made a cake and took it over. There were quite a few people there, it was great! I was trying to get a piece of cake out for a little boy, and I totally slipped and it landed right on my shirt-frosting side down. Didn’t come completely out in the wash, but I’ll try and bleach it. All in all a great week so far!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Keep working hard, praying, and smiling everyday!

By the way, I am not jealous of Sarah going to Disneyland! Ha!

Half Way Through

Well, one year has come and gone. Can you believe it? It’s crazy to think about, that I only have a year left. You know, I’ve always dreamed of serving a full-time, two year mission. And now it is half over already. It’s hard to believe, that’s for sure. And then in a year, who knows what will happen. 

So, I’ve learned so much over the past year. The thing that I have learned about, and applied the most, is Charity. The pure love of Christ. Which includes love, patience, and a willing heart. What a wonderful thing charity is. I learned so much about the love of Christ, and the love that He has for each of us here on earth. And the love of our Father in Heaven. So much, so pure, so wonderful , so beautiful, so simple. He loves us no matter what. And He wants to be the one to bless us, and to help us in our lives, but we have to do our best to follow Him. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. For repentance, the ability to change and improve. And through the Atonement, we can fulfill the potential that God sees in us, not just the potential that we think we have. And let me tell you what, the potential that God sees in us is HUGE. And we can accomplish it with Him.

On Tuesday, we went to Ta Khmau to take an Elder home from the hospital. He got an amoeba. Across the street from their house was a place to buy ‘special meat’ (translation). And in a glass display box, they had the cooked heads of the dogs that had been used for meat. 

Thursday night I was riding my bike home, and a tuk-tuk driver flagged me over. I could tell he was a bit drunk, but he started talking to me and was like, “I need your help. I need God to help me. Things are hard in my family, and I’ve got 4 kids and I want to know how God can help me.” That was super sweet. Amazing how we run into people’s paths. It was completely random, and we were lucky to see and meet each other. It was a blessing that we were on bikes that day. It was a blessing that we went to each house and left each house/appointment at the time that we did. God’s hand is truly in everything. This man lives in Kean Svay, so I won’t be able to teach him, but I am excited for the Kean Svay elders to teach him.

 

I can’t remember if I told you or not yet, but my investigators in Siem Reap were finally baptized! I am so excited and happy for him and his family. What great blessings they will receive from continually living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Keeping Busy

This week has been absolutely insane. I am still with Elder Vanfleet.  He is a great guy, and I learn lots of Khmer from him.  We were not able to go out and proselyte at all, and because of the meeting on Sunday, we weren't able to baptize Sokha either, but he came to church, so we are still planning on his baptism for next week. On Thursday the new missionaries came, and they were so excited. The ones from America came around noon, and had all their orientation and things throughout the day. The Khmer Elders coming in from the Manila MTC were supposed to come in around 6:30. But their layover flight from Bangkok was delayed. A very, very long time, and we didn't leave the airport until around 11. Then we got to the mission home and ate dinner with the Smedley's and got home at midnight. Friday was a late night too. On Friday, almost every missionary came to the mission home. There was only one companionship that didn't get changed. So, things were kind of crazy in the mission home around noon time. Even the missionaries in the kytes came in. Speaking of which, we stuffed all 8 Battambang elders and sisters in the van with their luggage. It was so jam packed full. There was all of the luggage of 3 elders and a sister with those 8 bodies plus Elder Vanfleet and I as we took them to the bus station.  We picked up Elder Subandriyo from the Airport in the afternoon, and at night the office staff had interviews with Elder Gong. Saturday was the big day! We had to set up 2 projectors, translation equipment, sound equipment for the movies in the PowerPoint Presentation that Elder Gong put together. Everything, even though there were 3 languages (English, Khmer, and Vietnamese) went very well though, and I am so grateful for that.  Sunday we had the huge special districts conference. There were 969 people in attendance, probably one of the biggest gatherings of Latter-Day Saints in Cambodia. In that meeting a new branch was created, a new district, the East District was created from the South District, and all of the district presidencies were changed.  The reading of the changes and releases and sustainings took quite a while, but the presentation that Elder Vanfleet and I worked on with President Eng Bun Huoch went really well. Some wonderful testimonies were shared, and the Spirit was very, very strong in the whole meeting.