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!