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!