A Stake in Phnom Penh - Elder Gibson

(Church specific vocabulary that Garrett uses has been hyperlinked to explanatory materials.)

Luen is still really awesome.  We taught him about Word of Wisdom, and he fully accepted it.  He has a habit of smoking, but he told us that after today he would smoke no more.  So that is really awesome!  I just hope that he can break the habit fully.  He is progressing really fast.  He has made a goal of being baptized on November 6^th.  We will see if he makes that, but even if he doesn't then, it will be the week or two after.  He showed us a picture of he and his wife.  His wife died about 4 years ago.  After he explained her and talked about her, and I simply made the statement...and this is you?  I pointed to him when I said that.  It was supposed to be a little bit funny, but he found it hilarious.  We had a meeting with everyone in the branch during 3rd hour talking about how they will stop paying to clean the church building and that the members will have to. The Branch President asked if there were any questions.  Luen raised his hand and asked if he would need to bring his own cleaning supplies or if the church would bring it.  The man is not even a member yet and he is already worried about cleaning the church.  He's a great guy.  

We had 6 people (investigators) at church this last week – the most Elder Sok's and have ever had!  I felt really good about it until I saw Elder Mitton, my good buddy from the MTC, and he told me they had 22 at church.  Oh the joys of white washing (both missionaries being new to an area).  Nonetheless, 6 is still really good.  One of them, Vanna, we had only taught once.   But she still came with one of our members.  

As for Chanlina and James, still no miracle.  I do not know what is going to happen.  There is some talk that the District President will pay for James’ school, but he would have to get permission from James’ old teacher out in the provinces.  I do not know. In some ways, I would rather the District President not do that so that we could just see a true miracle, but maybe the District President paying is the miracle though.  I don't know, and I do not even know if he will pay.  But, they are progressing well.  Chanlina has finished all of 1 Nephi.  She has had it for only a short while, and she works all the time. It is amazing that she finished it.  She shared 2 Nephi  1:20 with us about keeping commandments and being blessed.  She is really awesome.  James is doing well too. He reads, but not as much as his mom. The other day we were standing outside with James waiting to see if his mom was coming home so we could teach.  Elder Sok tried to go kill a rat that he saw in the alley/road.  I asked James if he liked to eat rats.  He said yes and that they were very delicious.  But that he would only eat rats/mice out in the provinces, because they do not eat garbage like the Phnom Penh rats.  Emma, that was for you.

We have one more investigator, Mei who will be baptized for sure on 11/6.  It was supposed to be this week, but we have an Asia area conference, so we are waiting one week.  We are completely done teaching. Now we are just preparing her.  She is really awesome, and the best part is that her brother, Bourey, who is 17 will baptize her.  We worked with him and helped him to get the priesthood.  It is really cool, and it definitely will be a great experience forever for both of them.  She is one of the investigators who had a dream that told her Joseph Smith was a true prophet.  She prayed and that night she dreamt was swimming in an ocean with a lot of people around her.  Then she was helped out of the water onto an island by a few men.  She says that this is how she knows that he is a true prophet.  

We had a meeting with our whole branch on Sunday.  They unveiled the plan for making Phnom Penh into two stakes: Phnom Penh North and Phnom Penh South.  This is really big for the church.  The goal is to do it by June 24, 2012.  That would be really big because they obviously have never had anything more than branches and districts here.  And looking in the long run, once they have enough stakes, they can get a temple.  It is pretty exciting to be here when they are trying to do such big things.  We have been told to really focus on helping and teaching families and Melchizedek priesthood holders who pay tithing.  They must pay tithes.  As you know they cannot have a stake until they have a certain number of priesthood holders who also pay tithing.  So, that is pretty exciting to try and be a part of working for the 1st stake that Cambodia has ever seen.  

T.G.I Fridays in Taiwan

Things are going great here. Sister Morey and I just rushed back after traveling to a mall to eat lunch at T.G.I Fridays.  It was a Zone (a geographic grouping of missionaries) activity, and it was fun to go out, do something different, and be with other missionaries.  It was so weird to be in the mall because I felt like I was back in Danbury; they had Coldstone, Starbucks, and all the same cosmetic counters they have in America.  
  
I have told you about Cindy before; she is the sweetest soul.  She told us that she reads the Book of Mormon every night, and she loves it because it answers the questions of her heart.  When we went to teach her the other day, I noticed that her book mark was way at the end of the book.  I thought it was too good to be true, but she confirmed that is where she is the Book of Mormon!  Her favorite chapter is Alma 24 or maybe Mosiah 24.  She is really willing and wanting to get baptized, and Sister Morey and I feel happy that she is truly experiencing conversion because she is acting on the commitments we give her and because she is having spiritual experiences. It is not just that she enjoys the company at church. We are a little concerned about her mother though.  It is difficult to teach younger people because their choices are not completely their own.  Her mom is a less active member and lately we have been worrying that her mom feels like all of this is a bit of nuisance. We are still a little worried because we don't just want Cindy to get baptized and then fall into inactivity because her mom objects to her going to church if they have family over or if she has school work to do.  We want to make sure that Cindy really can live up to her baptismal covenants before making them.  We are hoping to talk to her mom this week to talk about how things are going with Cindy and to keep her involved.  We are also hoping to ask Cindy to share what she is learning with her mom and to share how much it means to her and is blessing her life, so that her mom doesn’t just see it as us using up her daughters time but as something that really matters to her daughter.  
  
One of our other investigators is Huang.  Her husband is a recent convert. They have one 5 year old son and a new baby, which makes it really convenient to meet with her because she is home a lot.  Her baby is so cute, and I am so sad we are not allowed to hold him.  The sweetest thing ever happened when we were teaching her about the Plan of Salvation. She was comforting her baby who was crying and said, “Oh, do you want to live with me forever?” -  or something to that effect. It was so sweet, and she has acknowledged how much praying every day has blessed her family.   

I haven't shared an embarrassing story in a while, so just to let you know that I haven't changed, I will share one from the past week.  In district (a geographic grouping of missionaries smaller than a zone) training meeting for some reason my district leader told us all that every night he does 75 pushups.  I, who struggle to do 10 pushups, was somewhat shocked by this, and in an exasperated voice, I said, “That's a lot!”  My companion then turns to me and asks me what I had said. I told her that I said, “That's a lot.”  She then tells me that she thought I said, "That's hot.” At this point, I am completely mortified and start worrying that my district leader may think that I just called him hot, which would be totally inappropriate. I still don’t know what he thinks I said but my companion has assured me that it is fine.  

  
I love this gospel so much, and I love these people so much.  I want to think and talk about them all the time!  It is the most special thing in the world to see the light in their eyes when they hear the gospel. I know that this church is true.  I know that Joseph Smith truly restored the gospel and because of that we have the priesthood power and the way that allows us to return to God's presence.  What a tremendous blessing this knowledge is.  It points us towards that ultimate and eternal goal of living with our Father in Heaven with our families again.  

Laughing Along - Garrett in Cambodia

Luen is really awesome.  I don't want to say that I have a favorite investigator, but I will just say I really like him.  He is the man with no knee cap who learned about Jesus Christ in 2000 and has been baptized twice already in different churches.  He came to church, and he loved it.  I asked him after Sacrament Meeting if he liked it, and he went on for a couple minutes about how he loved it, he loves God, loves Jesus, loves the Bible and Book of Mormon, etc.  

He is really funny.  Sometimes he will say something and just start laughing, and I have no choice but to laugh as well. He says he knows Vietnamese, Khmae, English and French.  The only thing that I can confirm is that he knows phrases.  He is funny though; he will try and say English words to me, but sometimes I think he get confused because he mixes in French words and then words I do not know which language they are from.  He also takes notes on everything; He is constantly writing.  He writes in a mix of Khmae, some English words, and words that I really do not know what they are.   

He is really progressing, and I really hope he continues to progress because I actually love to meet with him.  We met him yesterday, and he went on and on about how handsome I am.  We will probably teach him the Word of Wisdom this week, which I think will be hard.  I know that he drinks and smokes, so hopefully that goes well.  I really believe that he is ready to change everything.  

Luen always tells me that I have a handsome face, and when he saw me and church, he was just stunned because I looked so good.  It's kind of weird, so I pretend that I don't really understand, but I understand what he says.  Cambodians will just tell you if you are attractive.  We were starting to teach a lesson the other day and right before we started the opening prayer the mother tells me that I look really attractive/handsome today.  A little weird.  I know it is just because I have white skin, and they like American's noses.  Nonetheless, I will take the compliments.  

Language is the same as usual.  Sometimes hard, and sometimes I feel good about it.  The other day I was praying with Elder Sok for a Less Active and asked Heavenly Father to help him with his doubts.  But I said it wrong and I asked Him to help him with his girlfriend.  Elder Sok loves to tell people the story.  I feel like I always make those mistakes with one particular part member family we meet with a lot.  One incident gets brought up about when I said something wrong, then another and another.  They love it.  I cannot help it – I laugh along with them.  

I see some pretty interesting cultural stuff when we are riding our bikes.  Today I saw people burning things in the street as they stood in a circle around it.  Elder Sok said they were Chinese and that someone had died.  Cambodia has really cool Pagodas.  They are really nice and big and painted.  It is weird to literally see shacks for houses and to then see a glimmering gold pagoda next to them.  There is something else that is kind of weird.  No matter how poor you are, everyone has a TV, and even some really poor people have computers.  It’s kind of hard to get used to.  

Chanlina and James.  No miracle yet.  Chanlina has actually had to work Monday thru Friday of this week until 9 so we are not meeting her until Saturday.  Kind of a bummer, but she is really awesome.  She told us on Sunday when we met her at night that she gets home from work, showers, eats, then reads the scriptures – sometimes for multiple hours and prays.  Elder Sok actually told her she didn't need to – that she could just read for 15 minutes because she has work really early the next day.  Even though there is no miracle yet with James and his schooling, I definitely have seen a change in her.  She looks happier, and she smiles more.  She is legitimately excited and happy when she sees us.  The miracle will come.

Biking to Youth Group - McKenzie in Taiwan

We have an awesome new investigator named Cindy. She is the 14 year old daughter of a lady who got baptized 18 years ago and who isn't active.  The elders went to go eat dinner at this woman's restaurant, and she recognized them as missionaries and started talking to them.  The elders suggested we go over, and we have started meeting with her daughter.  She already has such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and prayer.  She has felt the power of the Book of Mormon.  She shared with us an experience in which she was worried about one of her family members who was in the hospital, and she opened the Book of Mormon and read about being of good courage. That really helped her feel better.  She just has the sweetest spirit, and there is a light in her eyes.  She told us would come to church on Sunday, but we hadn't been able to get in touch with her for a few days.

We had finished with our morning ward. (We cover two wards.) We thought if we don't go get her, she will not come because we didn't think she had any way of getting there, and we hadn't been able to remind her.  So we asked one of the ward missionaries (she is 17, her name is Lisa) to help. She biked over to her house.  She picked Cindy up, and she rode on the back of Lisa's bike to church.  She loved it!  When we asked Cindy what her favorite part of Church was, she said with a huge smile on her face that Young Women's was. (The Young Women's Program consists of Sunday school classes and youth group activities for girls ages 12-18.)  It was so sweet, and I was reminded of what a wonderful blessing Young Women’s is in teenage girls’ lives.  I remember it being a time of confusion and frustration, and always being uplifted and inspired to be better in Young Women’s.  

Cindy is so great, and the elders had a random bike at their house that someone gave the missionaries.  They said we could let Cindy use it to get to church and other activities.  So this morning for exercise I rode my bike and my companion ran (I offered to switch, but she was really excited by the challenge of running the whole way there) to where this bike was parked to pick it up.  It was a fun little adventure.   

I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and it truly changes people’s lives.  I have really been loving the stories in the Book of Mormon and how when we apply them to our lives, there is so much strength in the examples of the prophets and people in the Book of Mormon.  It so cool to look at how Nephi’s troubles with his brothers can help me or my investigators with so many different troubles in our lives.

General Conference and Garrett the Rat Exterminator

So this week was pretty good.  By far my most favorite part of the week was General Conference.  We went to the Branch 7 building, which is about a 20 minute bike ride from us.  It was really fun to watch it with 4 other U.S. elders.  Two of them were in the MTC with us.  We watched all the sessions downstairs in English in a separate room, while all the members and our companions watched the translation in the chapel.  It was really fun to watch and learn so much from the Apostles and Prophets and also to enjoy the other elders’ company.

My most favorite talk by far was Elder Holland's talk in the Priesthood Session.  He is a really powerful speaker, and he talked about missionary work, which of course every missionary loves.  He was really inspiring in the words that he shared about how we truly are in a war against Satan.  And that Satan is an actual being who wants to drag us down with him.  I don't have my notes with me, but I was really inspired by his talk and I am trying to apply it into my life because it truly was a great talk.  I cannot wait to get the Ensign/Liahona and read his talk again because he shared a poem I really liked that I missed writing down.  I also liked Elder Erying's talks (To read or watch talks from General Conference visit http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2011/10?lang=eng).  He had several great ones with a lot of emotion.  The best was when he talked about President Hinckley calling him one night and telling him to get down to the office and go over the manual with him.  He said that his goal every single day is to work to the point where he cannot work anymore, and then work harder.  That really hit me, and I am trying to keep that in mind when we are out working every day.  President Monson was pretty funny too.  All the elders thought he was funny, especially his story of himself on the bus in Texas.  

So I officially hit the 1 month mark in Cambodia.  It is a little crazy, and I definitely wish I was much better at teaching and speaking this language.  Sometimes I feel like I say almost the exact same thing to each investigator in almost the exact way.  It is getting a little better though; I can see small improvements.   

Less serious news, yes our house is still safe.  We are not worried at all.  I also have brought death to 2 rats in our house in about a 10 hour span.  I am no longer afraid of the rats and literally just hate them and want to kill them.  I killed two with a broom.  It’s actually pretty fun, because 3 or 4 of us will get ready with our weapons and we will try and close the area off and then we try and scare them out and then just start whacking.  Living the life.   

The rest of Cambodia is good though – still pretty hot every day.  We were at an investigator’s house and about to leave on our bikes, and I walked next to a tree in front of their house. Elder Sok very seriously and quickly told me to watch out because the lizards in the tree sometimes jump on people and bite them.  I thought he was joking, but he wasn't.  So I slowly walked away from the tree.

Also, English class...they keep wanting to learn about different words and about slang.  I do not know how to explain some of it.  Like ‘let’s roll’ or ‘let’s bounce.’  One of them even asked what hemorrhoids were.  I told her I have no idea.  I forget some but they have a ton of questions on words I do not know how to explain...sometimes I just say that we just say it to say it.  They asked me why when people pray they said, our Lord, our Savior, even Jesus Christ.   They wanted to know why we say, ‘even.’  

Update on the investigators. Chanlina and James are having some trouble.  Last night Chanlina told us that she really wants to send James to her homeland for school because it is cheaper.  We do not want that to happen.  I know that God loves families and wants us to live with them and grow up with them.  That's why he gave them to us.  James needs her, and she needs him.  We tried to tell her to have faith and to ask the Lord what to do.  She explained to us last night that she gets 50 dollars a month from her job at the factory.  For James’ school she would have to pay 30 dollars for the entire year.  And the landlord is coming today to collect 15 dollars for rent.  That leaves her with 5 dollars for food for an entire month.  Not possible.  We really feel that if she will have faith and move forward and pay the school and the landlord that the Lord will help her with the rest.  He will not let her and James starve – not when she is doing all she can to learn about Christ and to keep her family together.  Another thing she is worried about is that after she pays the 30 dollars for the entire year, she has to pay 2,500 riel everyday to the teacher.  That is about 60 cents a day for school supplies.  She doesn't know how she can pay that either.  We are praying for her really hard and helping her to have faith.  She is praying too, and we are going back tonight to see what has happened.  I hope I will have a miracle to tell you about next week.

Birthday, Baptism, and Baibaing

Highlights from this week included our baptism on Friday.  It was such a wonderful service.  This woman is so prepared, and she is so grateful for the opportunity to change her life and have a fresh slate even though she is like 70 years old.  She is so sweet and loving and really loves the Book of Mormon.  It makes such a difference when investigators are willing to read the Book of Mormon in their conversion. At conference, it was reiterated time and time again how important reading the book of Mormon is.  Sister Morey and I sang, and a brother from the ward preformed the baptism.  Everything was sadly super last minute because we couldn't finalize anything until she had her second interview, which kept having to get pushed back. But people still came, which made me so happy! 
  
Funny story of the week.  We went to go visit a lady who we had met on the street with a member. We thought we were going to her house, but instead, the address took us to a Buddhist temple where she told us she needed to finish bai baing (praying and worshiping in Buddhism).  We sat there as she finished up, and then we thought we were going to her house. Instead, she actually took us to a restaurant.  We explained that we had prepared a message, and she finally sat down, and we had a lesson.  It didn't go so well.  As we were leaving, we went back to the temple where our bikes were parked, and she said she wanted to give us a cupcake.  She then went into the temple and got food off of the alter and gave it to us.  It was an interesting experience.   

Other highlight of the week was my birthday.  I got my package, and thank you so much!  We are so excited to make the cake.  Our district leader made us brownies, and we got to watch General Conference (where the Prophet, 12 Apostles, and other leaders of the Church speak to the world. To listen, watch, or read General Conference, visit http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2011/10?lang=eng)  and  so that was just wonderful.  I loved conference; it so spiritually uplifting, and there is so much power in being able to talk to someone on the street and say that we have a modern day prophet and he is speaking to us today.  This church is just so true.  I can't even express how absolutely true it is. Without a doubt this is God's true church in the earth today.  When we know that, it should affect everything we do, and we don't need to be afraid because we have the Lord.    
  
We had some miracles in contacting this week.  Yesterday we started talking to this couple and it wasn't going super well, and the impression came to me to give them a Book of Mormon, which was don’t normally do in contacts like that.  The impression persisted, so I gave them a Book of Mormon, and the contact totally changed.  The couple set up a time to meet with the missionaries who cover their area.  It is just amazing how the Spirit works because I, in my logical mind, would not have thought that just handing these uninterested people a Book of Mormon would have made any difference. But as we know, the Lord knows better, and I was grateful that I listened to the Spirit.  It was a reminder to me to never push off impressions because I think they don't make sense.  

Garrett Getting Robbed and Other Exciting Moments

Well, our investigators are doing well.  We just committed Chanlina and James to baptism yesterday.  I am really excited about that.  They are by far my favorite investigators, and this gospel will help them so much.  Chanlina just told us this last week that she might have to send James to Srok (her homeland) because school for him is too expensive in Phnom Penh.  She is really poor.  That made us really sad. I shared 1 Ne 7:12, told her to continue to pray, and that if she has faith she will be able to keep James at home because the Lord wants them to grow and learn as a family.  I truly believe this will happen.  Maybe her job will change or she will find money somewhere, but it will happen.   

We got robbed.  It was last Thursday (feels like forever ago). I woke up at 2:09 AM and looked out my bedroom window to the front door area.  I saw flashlights coming through, and people were pounding hard and yelling in at us.  I woke up Elder Sok quick, and as I did that I heard one of the Vietnamese speaking Elders from upstairs hit the railing with a broom to try and scare them off. Then he walked up to the door, smacked it, and yelled at them to go away.  Then the man standing right at the door and trying to get in, pulled out his gun.  They started yelling that they were police.  So Elder Sok tried to talk to them, and we eventually figured out that they were police.  By the time we opened the door they were not happy –especially the main boss.  We took too long to open the door (we didn't actually know if they were police or not). Plus, the police had been drinking.   

Let me explain our house a little bit.  Our house is built like a fortress.  It is the storage house for the mission, so it is big.  When you first come in the first gate it opens up into a big outside cage/garage area, which they use to store mission stuff like washers and such.  Then we have another set of huge doors that lead into our actual house.  So, we went out to talk to the police who were in our cage/storage area.  And we immediately saw that our first set of doors that lead into the cage had been lifted off the hinges and flung to the side.  These are not regular doors.  The doors are over 10 feet high, maybe closer to 12 feet, and are made completely out of metal with metal gating.  The robbers had to have a big lever to push up those doors and a good amount of guys, probably 5 or 6, to lift the doors and move them to the side.  Take my word – it would be extremely hard to do.   

So they stole all 4 of our bikes and all 4 of our helmets.  But none of the mission stuff.  I think they went to go get a truck or something and were going to come back for the microwave, washer, etc.  So the police were somewhat helpful.  There were about 6 or 7.  All had their little motos parked on the road.  They eventually helped us lift the doors back on the hinges.  It was very hard.  A couple of the police had AK 47's slung over their shoulders.  One of the weirdest parts was the police man who was in charge decided he wanted our number, and Elder Sok was not translating it from the Vietnamese Elders (who don’t speak Khmea) to him fast enough, so he kind of half slapped Elder Sok and half kicked him in the knee.  It was weird; police here can definitely do whatever they want.  So, that was experience was fun, but not really....

Luen, is the older man with the knee problem.  He prayed about Jospeh Smith and had a dream in which he saw two people who looked like Heavenly Father and Jesus off in the distance on a mountain/hill, and there was a straight path/road that led to them.  It was a really awesome story, and he believes this is his sign.  Another investigator was praying about Joseph Smith, and she had a dream where she was in a lot of water swimming and lot of people were around her. Then someone helped her out of the water onto the land.  She believes this is her answer.  I have thought a lot about this.  They are both really awesome dreams...especially Luen’s.  I at times questioned in my mind whether or not maybe they just had a dream. After all, dreams do not always mean something.  Then Elder Sok shared about how Lehi had visions. Then I thought about all the people who have stopped learning because they had dreams in which their ancestors told them to stop.  I believe that if Satan works through dreams to stop people from learning (because dreams are a part of their culture), then why can't the Lord fight back through dreams and help people in that way.  So that was really cool, and it definitely helped me see that the Lord helps each investigator in their own way.   

McKenzie's Awesome Week

What an awesome week!  I have some very exciting news.  One of our investigators is getting baptized on the 8th!  Yes we have an investigator getting baptized on my birthday.  I feel so blessed and so undeserving of this tremendous gift.  She is the sweetest little old lady you will ever meet.  She has very few teeth and is really little and short, but she has the most amazing spirit.  I only came in part way through the process, but it is so easy to see how the gospel has changed this woman's life.  She has the light of Christ in her eyes, and she knows who she is.   

We have been trying to help her overcome feelings of inadequacy that she isn't good enough to keep the commandments.  Elder Uchdorf's talk on Saturday was such a blessing. It was exactly what she needed to hear.   

The other day at the end of our lesson, we were saying a prayer. I didn't understand, but my companion translated it later. Our sweet investigator told Heavenly Father how grateful she is to have met the missionaries and to have a new start with baptism.  She is just the sweetest thing.

For the last couple of days, I have just felt in awe at this blessing.  I truly don't feel deserving.  I didn't do anything; I just was able to witness the Savior’s beautiful miracle in front of me.  I wish you could all meet her.  She is so sweet and funny.  She knows a lot of English words and will help me out when I don't understand.  On Sunday we were going to sit down with her, but she told us she wanted to go to Ward choir practice.  She is so forward and comfortable with herself; she is going to be such a wonderful member because she understands that she is a daughter of God.  

We had a wonderful example this week of member missionary work in the Yuanshan ward.  One of our recent converts invited her friend to come to church with her. She came and had a wonderful experience.  We met them at the door, and the member wasted no time in introducing her friend to everyone and explaining everything. Sister Morey and I have made goals and are working towards having the majority of our investigators come from the members. This was a wonderful example, and I am so grateful for this sister listening to the promptings of the Spirit.  Her friend was so touched by church that she was crying afterwards and told us that she had had a dream about coming to our church. Then three days later her friend called and invited her.  There truly are prepared people, and I am so grateful for the members here who are listening to the promptings of the Spirit and are so bold in inviting their friends to learn more.  

On a different note, every night I lay my clothes out to dry before I put them in my laundry basket the next morning.  I feel really bad sometimes because I will hand people our contacting pad and a pen and they will touch it being totally grossed out because they are covered in sweat.  Sometimes it drips into your eyes and starts stinging.  It actually isn't that uncomfortable; it is just kind of funny how much we sweat.  Some of the elders were showing us their planners the night when we all had to carry our stuff home from zone conference and the bottom half of their planner was completely soaked through. (Check out how hot it really is here!)

Garrett in Cambodia

 I want to help people because I know the gospel has helped me a lot in my life. I want to help them qualify for blessings that the Lord wants to give them.  I read yesterday (and then shared with Elder Sok) about when Alma says to Korihor why would we work and labor so hard and receive no pay or worldly reward if we did not know that this is true and if we didn’t delight in the joy and salvation of our brethren.  (For more see http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/30.36?lang=eng#35.)  I know I messed that up, but it is very true.  I know this church is true, and I am only doing this to try and help people because I know it has helped me so much.  I really love reading the Book of Mormon every day.  I learn so much, and there is always something to learn or relearn from it.  Don't forget to read it every single night.  

Well, this past week has been pretty good.  We have a couple of new investigators we are really excited about – James and his mother.  I can't remember the mother’s name. (I don’t remember most of the names here).  James has been coming to English class every week and is a really quiet 12 year old.  He mentioned to Elder Sok last week that his mom is not a member (neither is he) but that she wants to learn about Christ.  Pretty awesome right?  So we went to their house and taught them the first few points of Lesson 1 (about how we are children of a loving Heavenly Father and about how God calls prophets to teach his word).  We are really excited about them and think that they can learn a lot from the gospel.  Unfortunately we have not been able to meet with them anymore because of Cambodian holidays.  

So, in Cambodia during this time of year (it has been going on for a couple weeks now), everyone, and I mean everyone, goes to their homelands, or Srok.  It is really hard because people are gone, and if they are here, they do not really want to learn about Christ.  It has made it difficult not only for this family but many of our investigators.  Phnom Penh has been pretty dead –not many people around.  Tons of shops/stands closed. It’s a little frustrating, but on Friday is supposedly ends.  But Elder Sok says they won't actually come back fully until Monday.  Oh well, we are still teaching, and there are still people here.   

Another investigator is Borey.  He is a cool guy - probably 45 or 50 and knows a ton about Jesus and God.  He has about 5 or 6 of the little pamphlets that we pass out.  We found him from a referral from the Vietnamese sisters.  We taught him about Joseph Smith and gave him a Book of Mormon.  He told us he wants to find out which church is true so that he can receive eternal life.  Pretty interesting that his desire and Joseph Smith's are pretty similar.  We will meet him today, and I hope he read and prayed about Joseph Smith.  Quick note about him – from what it looks like, he doesn't have a kneecap in the right place. It is because of a bomb that blew up near him and hurt his knee.  He can walk though; he just uses a really big stick.  He is a really interesting guy, and I hope we can continue to teach him.  

I have been contacting - not very well.  But it’s actually pretty fun.  Elder Sok told me he liked me the other day because I do not cry and because I am not afraid of talking and contacting.  I thought that was funny.  I hope I can continue to become better at being a missionary.

Mom, I have seen several BIG rats.  I saw a dead one on the side of the road near a river as we road to an investigator’s house.  It was seriously the size of a youth sized football.  I have come to realize that I don't like them.  There are many dead ones on the roads that people kill and throw them in the roads (because that is where most of the trash goes).  It is pretty funny to be riding along and then run over an 8 or 9 inch rat that is smushed into the pavement.  I thought you would like that.  

*Note: I’m changing all investigators’ names to preserve some privacy! 

McKenzie in Taiwan

One of our great and funny experiences for the week was going to teach a member referral that had come in from another area. We discovered that we were about to teach in her baibai shop.  In Taiwan, a lot of times people will tell us they are baibai de ren, or people who baibai, which is pray and worship in Buddhism.  It was kind of funny to be teaching the First Vision (when God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in answer to his prayer about which church to join) surrounded by incents and all the other materials you use when baibaing.  It was great though because the spirit was really strong. This lady owns this shop but is very open to the gospel. After our first meeting, says she believes it and thinks we are angels.  Since visiting again she is still really earnestly seeking to know, and we are excited to keep working with her.  We are wondering if she will have to change her profession in order to be baptized.  I am not sure.  

The church's policy on baibaing here is that if your family requires it as a family activity, in order to maintain family ties you can participate as a baptized member, but it would of course not be something that you do because you want to.  And, you, while doing it with your family, you would need to maintain in mind that you are not actually praying to your ancestors or these gods.  We are hoping for the best with her, and we will of course get our leaders’ counsel on this.   

Another miracle of the week was totally unintentional on our part.  On Saturday we had a great day lined up with appointments and members at every one.  Two of the three didn't show up and our third one just went way too long.  We didn't feel like we had gotten anything accomplished during the day even though we had been running back and forth.  It just was one of those days.  We went to the church where we had to practice quickly for a musical number for a baptism that was happening that night.  It was one of the elder's baptisms, and we had invited a couple investigators - one of whom we thought was coming but didn't show.  We were sitting in the baptism, and I was thinking to myself, we have so much to do, we are the only women here, we have no investigators here, why did the elders ask us to sing? etc,etc.  I was just kind of feeling stressed out and like we weren't using our time effectively.

But we sang our musical number and the baptism was very sweet.  We got home and the zone leaders who had performed the baptism gave us a call saying that they wanted to thank us because a miracle had happened.  One of the male investigators who attended the baptism had been an investigator for a long time and isn't baptized because his mom will not let him.  The elders said that after the baptism, he said that while we were singing he had closed his eyes and imagined that Jesus was in heaven blessing people. He had a vision of sorts, and he said that at that time he knew for a fact that Jesus was his Savior and that he needed to be baptized.  While with the elders, he called his mom on the phone and said he wanted to get baptized. She said yes.  We felt so humbled to hear of this experience because if it had been up to our wisdom we would have been out contacting – not singing at the baptism.  But the Lord knew better than we did what we should be doing.  It was a wonderful reminder that the Lord is very aware of his children, and he is very aware of where we are and where we need to be.  So often he makes miracles happen in spite of us.   

  
The weather here has been surprisingly dry.  It has only rained hard one day.  I have heard that I mostly just missed the rainy season although there are some typhoons headed our way, so we will see how that will go.  I have been trying to be diligent with sunscreen – especially on days when we will be traveling a lot.  Everyone in Taiwan wears long sleeves in an effort to not get tan.  They don't understand how we can expose our skin to the sun without worrying about it, and we don’t' understand how they aren't dying of heat!

Another funny thing is that the people in Taiwan are always wondering why my skin is so red.  My skin is its normal average redness which as you knows is above a normal white person’s average redness.  My companion is constantly having to explain to people that this is just the way my skin is. It is pretty funny.