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.