Sunday, November 27, 2011

Public Speaking in Khmer - Garrett's Update from Cambodia

We got a call 8:30 PM at night right as we were finishing planning for the next day. It was the branch (a small congregation) president assigning me to speak for 10 minutes in sacrament meeting on the Priesthood. 10 minutes. Priesthood. Also, it was Saturday night, and with church at 8 AM the next morning, I did not have a lot of time to prepare. I was not the happiest camper in Cambodia. So I tried. It turned out to be decent, but I do not think I used all 10 minutes. Plus, speaking on Priesthood for that long is a little hard. But it turned out alright, and Elder Sok said he understood 100 percent. But then he added that he is used to my speaking. However, it was a good experience, and I think my talk went pretty well.

Also, another random thing about church was that in Elders quorum they talked about Mitt Romney. Even in Cambodia they know he is Mormon and running for president. I hope Mitt thinks about that before he says/does something stupid.


Another highlight of my week was teaching a deaf man. I was on exchanges in another area, and we taught the man. He is not entirely deaf, but pretty close. And his wife can hear but cannot read. We tried to teach how to pray, and it was more than difficult. It was pretty fun though. My companion for the day was writing down the steps on the paper for the man to read, while I leaned in and spoke in a very loud voice, practically shouting, into his ear. We both said afterward that we really wish there was a hidden camera because it would have been very funny to watch.

Luen has us pretty worried. When I was on exchanges, Elder Sok tried to teach him, and he said he couldn't. He was just kind of weird and talking crazy. So we went back yesterday. He said he couldn’t learn, but had his Book of Mormon and was reading. He was just kind of weird again. We were afraid he had some problems with the Word of Wisdom. He said that he did not, but we will go back tomorrow and see what is happening. We are just going to go off what we feel. If we feel he is okay and pray and still feel he is okay, then he will get interviewed on Friday for baptism. I am a kind of bummed because he is a really awesome man. We will see though, maybe he doesn't have a problem with anything.




I have not shared some scriptures in a while, so I want to. John 15:14 - 16. I have started to read the Bible at least 15 minutes a day. I love it because Jesus literally tells us that he will consider us as friends if we follow the commandments and do what he says. I also love 2 Nephi 29. All of it. Every single verse is great. I just feel like it is Heavenly Father opening up and just speaking to every investigator. Every verse is very powerful and describes how ridiculous it is to think that Heavenly Father made everyone on earth, but then decided to only talk to one group of people. It doesn't make sense. Great passages of scriptures.


We eat breakfast out every morning. Every Cambodian if they eat breakfast out eats the same meal. It is rice, pork, some vegetables, and egg in a Styrofoam container with a delicious sauce. And it is delicious. We eat it pretty much every morning for 3000 riel or 75 cents. The rest of the time we mostly make food for lunch. We cook rice (everyone has a rice cooker) and then some type of pork stir-fry. That is pretty common Cambodian food - different types of stir-fry. We do not have an oven. We have a gas stove top thing that we fry things on. It is pretty good. The food here is pretty good.

Jenny's Miracles - McKenzie's Update from Taiwan

We weren't really sure what was going to happen this week with Jenny. We were praying a lot because we know that she greatly desires to get baptized but is very concerned about her body situation due to the cancer treatments. We were very worried that her body condition would just get worse and worse.  We have been trying to be completely respectful of her decision, but both Sister Morey and I have felt the urgency of this situation as we know how bad her cancer is and because we know how important baptism is.   We had been contacting her by phone but hadn't seen her since last Tuesday because she has been sick with chemo.  I called her on Tuesday night, and she said she was feeling pretty good.  I asked if we could visit and she said, “Yes.”  This was somewhat of a problem as we had two appointments and a baptism we needed to be at. We decided to fenkai gongzuo, which means that you break up as companions and have a member companion.  We knew we needed to visit her because if there as anyway she could get baptized on Saturday we needed to take it.  We knew we couldn't delay.   When Sister Morey returned, she said that Jenny still wasn't sure about her body situation but said that before she decided on a date, she needed to have her second interview.  They had called President Chen, a member of the mission presidency who is a native and does the second interviews for sisters, and set it up right then.
  Wednesday morning first thing, she had her second interview.  We met President Chen at the church, and then he followed us in his car to her house.  When they were finished, he told us that they had talked and that she was all spiritually ready to go for baptism, and that when her body was ready she would tell us and that we weren't supposed to ask her.  This made me a little nervous, but it was also very a spiritual experience.  He gave her a blessing, and we felt very blessed to have his inspired guidance.  As we left, he was very comforting and reassured us that God was aware of her and was watching over her and that we didn't need to worry.  He also gave us specific instructions for her baptism to ensure that she didn't get sick from it.     So we waited with anticipation and said a lot of prayers for the whole week. We had an appointment on Friday to go visit her.  She had said that she would tell us on Friday if she could get baptized on Saturday.  We came and I had found a scripture that morning that I felt would touch her heart.  It had nothing to do with baptism, but I remember feeling impressed the night before to find a scripture that would touch her and that would help build her faith.  We shared this scripture, and the next thing we knew she started telling us that she felt Heavenly Father had been telling her through her body that she needed to get baptized right now because on Monday she felt so, so sick, but on Tuesday she felt pretty good.  So when we called and asked if we could visit she was able to have us come, and then for the rest of the week her body felt really good.  She said that she could get baptized on Saturday.  We were overjoyed for this miracle!     Saturday we went to the church early to fill the font.  We totally filled it when Sister Morey said, "I don't think it is hot," which was a requirement given to us by President Chen. It was also just a nice thing for this poor woman who has cancer.  The water usually is really warm, like a tub, so we were confused.  We felt it, and it was not warm at all; it was like cool pool.  We started to stress and found that the hot water was not turned on, so we turned it on. But it still had to heat up, and that is a lot of water to heat up.  We said a prayer that everything would be ok and that the water would work out. We waited until the last minute to fill it to allow it to get as warm as possible.  We started the water, and I went down to feel it and it was just as cold as it was before, but as soon as I stood up, Sister Morey put her hand down to feel it and she exclaimed in excitement that it was warm.  It was a miracle.  The water, even though on the thermometer by the pipe hadn't changed at all, was miraculously warm.  Not super warm but warm enough to take the edge off.  The Lord truly was watching out for us and for Jenny.
  The baptismal service was lovely, really small but really touching.  She was confirmed in Sacrament meeting, and in her testimony, she just bore witness of the simple truth that this church is true and that she is willing to keep the commandments.  It was so touching to hear this.  The Lord truly provided a way for this wonderful woman to receive baptism, and I feel so blessed to have witnessed it.  

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Water Festival for Missionaries

Every year Cambodia has a 3 day Water Festival (last Wednesday, Thursday, Friday).  This severely cuts down on teaching because no one wants to learn. Water festival sounds pretty cool though.  It has a lot of tradition dealing with the ancient kingdom and such.  From the very little bit that I saw, it looked cool.  One funny part was that we tried to go and teach Luen during festival.  A few days earlier we had taught about how it is a commandment to keep the laws of the land.  He informed us that he was trying to live the laws of the land and that he could therefore not meet with us because water festival is for resting.  At least he is trying, right?

Mei was confirmed this last week by the branch president which is great.  Unfortunately, she is already having trouble keeping the Sabbath holy.  She had to leave and go to the provinces to go and sing for her job.  It is a common problem here, and a little bit of a bummer because she committed to living the law before baptism.  She is still really good though and still very strong in the gospel.



Elder Sok and I did not have any lessons on Monday afternoon so we went to our CBR and found an inactive family and rode over the Cambodia/Japanese friendship bridge.  We started to follow the little drawn map to the house.  We found roads and alleys flooded with water.  We decided to keep going, and we rode through.  We rode through water that at times came up to our shins - while riding our bikes.  It was 2 -3 feet deep.  We stopped at a little dry spot, and then tried to go again.  Elder Sok's bike slipped, and he crashed into the water.  We laughed pretty hard.  Then while he was trying to clean up I went to the edge to look down the road to see how much farther.  I slipped as well and got my butt and pants all wet.  We continued onward – shoes and lower legs just completely soaked.  We never found the family, but we tried hard and had a fun experience riding through the water.  The people living there said that water had been there for 2-3 months. It was really stinky.  Flooding happens all over Cambodia – especially in the provinces, or kites. Though there isn’t so much now because it is more of the dry season.  




Update on Chanlina and James: Chanlina was all ready to take him back to her homeland after water festival, but she told us she found an organization that runs a school James could go to.  I am really grateful for that.  Now hopefully they all can get baptized together sometime in December.  We could not meet with her again after she told us that, so we will see how it worked out later this week.   

CBRs (CBR's are just done after someone is baptized; you fill out a big form with their picture and info) were pretty sad because we literally sat and flipped through hundreds of people that are just inactive.  I read the comments, and it always starts off great. But then for some reason or another they are inactive.  It’s very sad.  I do not want any of my investigators to be like that.   



 We had Zone conference (a training meeting for a group of missionaries in a certain geographic area) yesterday – my  first. It was really awesome.  President Smedley is a great mission president, and we got counsel from the Assistants to the President, Sister Smeldley, President, etc.  We ate some delicious food, etc.  President Smedley went into more detail about his vision of one day having a temple in Cambodia.  He told us he was exercising one morning and pondering about how hard it was for Cambodians and Vietnamese to save money to go to the temple in Hong Kong or the Philippians.  He told us he had the thought, "Do not bring the members to the temple; bring the temple to the members".  That has been his work ever since.  That is why he is pushing for stakes by June 24, 2012.  I really felt the Spirit strong and felt that I need to do my part to work harder to help these people go to the temple.  At first I believed that someday maybe they would have a temple, but I figured that maybe not Cambodia - maybe another one in another closer country that would just bless Cambodian people to have an opportunity.  But after he gave a talk and I really felt the spirit and felt such a strong motivation to help, I started to think.  I thought of all the temples in Asia.  According to my recollection there are 1 or 2 in Japan, and 1 in Hong Kong. I think one is in Taiwan, 1 or 2 in Philippians, and that is it.  It makes complete sense to me that a Cambodian temple would bless all of Southeast Asia.  Its right in the middle of Vietnam and Thailand.  Vietnam is not open to proselyting yet, but they have 2 branches in Ho Chi Min and Hanoi.  Thailand has branches and districts like Cambodia.  Plus, members in India could be blessed because Cambodia is a lot cheaper and closer for them to travel then to Hong Kong.  I don't know when, but it makes sense that someday Cambodia could have a temple that would bless all of Southeast Asia.  



Maly continues to progress as well and has accepted the law of chastity, word of wisdom, and tithing.  She told us that she did not want money; she only wanted her family to have happiness.  Once she is baptized, her older brother wants to start learning.  He has a lot of potential too.  The other brother though....he’s a little bit of work.  He does not want to learn.  He's kind of a gangster.  

Baptisms in Taiwan

Wow! What a week!  I will start off with the exciting news.  Two baptisms this week!!  Cindy and Huang Jiemei (jiemei means sister, and the last name is Huang.  My name is Sun jiemei - Sister Sun).   
  
We have had an exciting and crazy week getting Cindy and Huang Jiemie ready for their baptism.  We had a busy day Saturday, which included us and some of the elders cleaning the baptismal fount.  It hadn't been cleaned in forever, and it was nasty. But it looked a lot better after we were done.  We had told both Cindy and Huang Jiemei to get there at 7:15 as we knew both of them would probably be late (it started at 8).  Huang jiemie got there about 7:30, which was a perfect amount of time.  At that point we called Cindy, and she said she would be there in a second.  Huang Jiemei changed, and we took pictures.  At 7:45 we started calling Cindy again because she wasn't there.  We were getting really stressed – not because we thought she was backing out but because she was being the 13 year old that she is and was late.  I would likely be late at thirteen as well (well I would likely be late as a 22 year old).  Nonetheless, it was still immensely stressful for us.   



It was around 8 o’clock and still no Cindy.  The member family whose daughter was getting baptized at the same time had arrived, and we were really starting to sweat.  We sent some of the elders out on a mission to go find Cindy as she still was not answering her phone.  Thankfully, at 8:10 she finally arrived.  We had the zone leaders call the other elders to tell them to abort the mission, and we quickly got Cindy changed.  There were so many people there because it was the baptism of the little girl whose family is in the ward, which was a blessing and also a little bit stressful.  A blessing because there were a lot of people there and really stressful because there were so many people there including many, many children.   




They were able to share their testimonies which were so nice to hear.  Poor Cindy was so nervous, but she made it through!

We got home and were completely exhausted.  My companion said that often baptisms are like that -awesome and wonderful – but super stressful.  Although she did say that was the most stressful one she had ever been to.  Their confirmations went well on Sunday and both were on time, which was a huge tender mercy!   

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Joys and Sadness in Taiwan

Huang is doing great.  Her husband blessed their baby in sacrament meeting yesterday, and they have been working on having family scripture study and prayer.  She is really committed to change.  We have noticed that with all of our investigators who really progress they are willing to keep commitments from the get go.  Those who struggle to keep commitments, not that you should give up on them, but they often stop investigating the church.  I guess that is the most obvious statement ever but it just goes to show how important scripture study, prayer, and church attendance (the basics) are in lasting conversion.  

  
Jenny is our other really progressing investigator.  She has a strong desire to get baptized, but she has cancer.  Her goal was the 12th, but she goes in for chemo on Wednesday.  She is not sure when her body will be ready.  Our goal right now is to get her into a baptismal interview on Tuesday so whenever her body permits, she can be baptized without delay. We are especially concerned because her cancer is getting worse.  She is such a sweet funny lady.  She really does have a lot of faith, but she also loves to question everything.  I always get a little nervous when we extend a commitment because she normally then goes into a long discourse on something not really related to our previous question.  We have struggled with that in teaching her (helping her to stay on topic).  She has a desire to keep the commandments, but because her desire is so strong, there are always a handful of random, really specific, what if scenarios.  For example, when we taught her about the Sabbath day she was very concerned that  if her sister came from America she would need to be with her sister and she could not leave her sister to go to church.  To her this meant that there was no way she could keep this commandment (this what if scenario would probably happen once a year at most).  We taught her a lesson this week on praying and using our own judgment and then asking the Lord if it is right in those more slightly gray areas of keeping the commandments.   


Now for the sad news.  Rose  is the investigator who didn't show up to our appointment last Tuesday.  Later that day we called her from the house phone, not trying to be sneaky – just trying to get a hold of her.  She answered and told my companion that she hadn't recognized the number and that is why she had answered.  She told her husband about her desire to be baptized, and he was VERY opposed. He said she wasn't even allowed to talk to us on the phone.  She had texted us to tell us that she couldn't come and what had happened, but our phones do not receive text messages.  We expressed as much love and encouragement as we could.  She was very sad as she really loves the gospel and felt it truly blessed her life.  We of course just feel heartsick. 

Baptism and Elephants in Cambodia

Well, the most exciting part of my week was that I was able to baptize my first investigator.  Mei was ready for baptism, passed her interview, and asked me to do the baptism.  I felt really excited, but also very scared. I had never seen one in Cambodia, didn't know the prayer, etc.  So I memorized the prayer and did the baptism this last Sunday.  It was really, really awesome.  I will admit I had to do it twice; she moved the first time, and I did not really get her all the way under. But it went smoothly.  I felt very grateful to be a part of it.  I am aware that any other missionary could have done her baptism, but I am glad that I was able to do her baptism.  I felt very, very happy and peaceful.  And it felt amazing when she told us afterward that she felt such happiness and joy.  Her brother and mother are members so hopefully they can help her stay strong.  She needs to endure to the end.  We know that if she does not then the baptism has no meaning.  It is very exciting though.  I felt/feel very happy and grateful for the experience.  She will be Confirmed (given the Gift of the Holy Ghost ) this Sunday.



Maly is doing really well as well.  If all goes as planned, her dad will baptize her on the 27th as well.  We have been practicing with her dad how to do a baptism.  She truly has changed so much.  We have been teaching her ever since I came...so about 2 months.  When we first taught her, she never really listened, didn't really pray, and just did not really have a desire to learn.  Now she is completely different.  We taught her two days ago.  Her brothers and their friends had their TV on a bucket in the “kitchen" while they ate.  The TV fell off and shattered – pretty much exploded.  Maly looked back, said the Khmae equivalent to "no worries," turned back to us, and told us to continue teaching about Moses and the story of the snakes.  That is not the same Maly as before.  It’s really cool!

I was in a Cambodian traffic jam the other day.  It was crazy.  It was a 4 way intersection, no lights.  There was literally no place to move.  There were cars and trucks, and hundreds of motos and bikes filling in the space between the cars and trucks.  No one knew what to do.  Some police man eventually worked it out, but it was just crazy.  It was different than in America though.  In the US everyone would be yelling and swearing.  Here everyone just kind of sat there waiting for a chance to move.  It was funny.  
 








Last P-day (Preparation day when missionaries do laundry, write home, clean their apartment, explore the local culture, etc.) Elder Sok and I went with few other companionships to a zoo outside of Phnom Penh. It takes about 1.5 hours by gong bey, or tuk tuk. The zoo was alright, not as good as advertised, but it was still fun.  The coolest part was we just found a random guy on the zoo grounds training an elephant.  He allowed us to get right up next to it and touch it and take pictures with it.  It was funBut yes, the zoo was cool.  It was also cool to leave Phenom Penh.  Cambodia is really pretty once you leave Phnom Penh.  Just rice fields, blue sky, and palm trees.   





Sunday, November 6, 2011

Garrett's Miracle

I saw a miracle of sorts this week.  It was late – maybe  7ish, and we were riding down a small "road" on our way to Yaa's house.  It is not a busy road at all.  Elder Sok got too close to me while riding, and somehow we got tangled up.  There was a split second where Elder Sok said something like, "Oh, it’s okay," and then we both hit the ground and slid along the pavement.  The next thing I remember is that I was on the other side of my bike jumping away from it and trying to free my leg.  The miracle is that neither one of us got hurt.  I honestly do not know how that is possible.  I do not have a scratch on my body.  The way I fell, onto my right side with my bike on top of me, I should have been really hurt.  I know I slid on the ground right on my leg and that somehow I flipped over and got on the other side when we stopped sliding.  Maybe I am not explaining well, but it truly is a miracle I am not hurt.  I am not saying I would have died or broke my leg.  But logically, I should have scratches all down my butt, thigh, leg, etc.  I literally do not remember feeling anything, and I have absolutely no idea how I got onto the other side of the bike.  Crazy, but nonetheless a miracle, I believe.

This week has been good.  We had Asia Area Conference on Sunday, which was really awesome.  All of the talks were very applicable to the needs of Cambodia.  Richard G. Scott talked about woman and how they need to honor themselves and how men need to honor women as well. It was very good. They also talked a lot about temples.  Since Cambodia is moving forward to become two stakes, they are also excited about building a temple someday in the future.  The speaker pretty much said that yes Asia will have more temples in the future, but for now focus on saving money in order to get married for eternity in an existing temple in Hong Kong, Japan, etc.  It was a really good conference, and I hope it helped the members see the role that they play in the progression of their own lives and testimonies and the progression of their own countries.  It was a very good conference.

http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/images/csm-photo-galleries-images/photos-of-the-day-images/2011/1101/13/10897476-1-eng-US/13_full_600x400.jpg
A Cambodian man herds ducks at Kvet village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor)
Mei should be baptized this Sunday.  It is really exciting, but we are seeing the devil work very hard against her this week.  We planned and prepared her brother to baptize her.  But they have had contention this week, and she no longer wants him to do it....dangit.  She also has been working a lot, and tonight is the first night that we will meet with her this week.  We will watch the Finding Faith in Jesus Christ video.  We continue to pray to help her with her anger and problems.  She will be alright though; she still has a strong desire to be baptized.

We also saw a lot of progression with Maly this week.  She has been working a lot, causing us to move back her baptismal date, but she is really changing.  I literally can see it in her eyes and face.  She has a desire to learn – a desire that was not there before.  When we come to teach her, she actually focuses and tries to understand.  She is quite forgetful though... that is a minor problem.  


McKenzie's Update and Pictures from Taiwan

Thanks so much for the Halloween package.  We were so excited, and I have Emma's pumpkin on the wall over my desk.  We have three different guanli, which is the word that they use for the security guards who sit at the desk at the apartment building. They sort the mail, etc.  Anyway, our three guanlis know that we love to get mail, and one of them especially gets so excited when there is mail for us. The other day, my companion got a little package. We came down to head out for the day, and he starts yelling, "You xin,” (“There’s mail”) and pointing at the mailbox. He has caught the spirit of missionary mail! 



I believe I told you in my past letter about our miracle where that lady asked us to sit down and talk to her after we said hello.  We met with her on Tuesday, and it was the most amazing lesson.  She is truly thirsting for the truth and is truly a prepared soul.  She had read a little bit of the introductory pamphlet we gave her about prophets.  Immediately when we sat down, she asked us about prophets.  She is just seeking for that guidance and a way to find peace in her life because right now she feels so lost.  As we were talking about gospel dispensations and how wicked people rejected the prophets she shook her head and said, "Why do people do that?!?" It was the cutest thing.  Then as we talked about the great apostasy she got very concerned and said something to the effect of, "What are we going to do?"  And then as I was recounting the Joseph Smith story and that Christ told Joseph Smith that there wasn't the fullness of the gospel on the earth, she looked at me and was like "Really, oh no."  She was very happy to hear that there has indeed been a restoration and that we do have a way to be close to God.  It was the sweetest lesson I have been in during my mission.   



This has been a great week.  Yesterday we had Elder Gong of the Quorum of the Seventy come to speak; he is on a missionary tour here.  It was such an awesome conference.  I was selected to be one of the people he interviewed, which all the other missionaries were terrified about. But I was actually hoping I would get picked.  How often do you get to be interviewed by a General Authority?  It wasn't like he was really interviewing me in an intense way.  He just asked what being a missionary: what I liked most, what was difficult, about my testimony of the Book of Mormon, etc.  Anytime we have leadership instruction it is always really inspiring and motivates me to be a better missionary.