Contributing to the Fashion Industry and Garrett's Moral Dilemma

Like you see in that picture, we have been cutting a lot of shirts to help people make some income.  Little kids shirts.  One of them is a monkey that says "Mommy's little man" and the other one is a dog.  The pattern is sewn on and then we cut the paper that is on the back of the pattern off and cut off the ugly strings.  I expect that someday you will see some little boy in America running around with that shirt on.  Just remember that I cut that sitting on a dirt road in the Cambodian sun.  The less active person who we help cut shirts a lot gets 100 Khmae riel for 2 shirts.  100 riel is 2.5 cents.  So, that is fun.  

Cutting shirts

So, in Cambodia, everyone cheats.  Everyone cheats in school, and it is to the point where they do not even think that it is wrong.  You ask the younger ones and they will tell you that it is not against the rules, but I talked to an older man at the church. He said it is against the rules, but it is so widespread that everyone does it.  Well, I had a very hard experience this past week.  I guess an elder in the past helped one of our members cheat.  She called him (during a test) and then told him the topic and he texted a response on someone’s phone to her. Then she wrote it down.   

Well, the same member expected that I would do the same thing.  That was not cool with me.  It was a very hard decision because the elder in the past had done it to help her out with an English test.  Well, I prayed, and I felt like I could not do it.  I would not do it because we are representing Jesus Christ, and I know that He would not cheat – no matter how widespread it was.  I also couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if other members found out.  A few years down the road, every member would have the elders cheat for them.  Then if people who aren’t members found out, they would be confused because we are supposed to be honest not helping people break rules.  It was seriously a hard decision, but after praying, I decided I had done the right thing in not helping her.  Well, we will have to see if she passes or fails.  I am a little nervous, but I decided when I made the decision that the possible effects (her failing, being angry at us, etc.) could not affect my decision. I had to do what was right.  So that was a great experience. 

At a golfing range a couple of preparation days ago

As I have explained in the past, Cambodia does not do visiting or home teaching (when each family is visited by two members of the church each month to make sure that they are doing okay). It is very difficult for the church to grow and be strong without it.  Home and visiting teaching are so important to help people keep coming to church and encourage them.  This past Saturday, we meet at the church with the Branch President, his counselors, and some other members.  Then we split into two groups and went walking door to door of the members and less actives visiting them and encouraging them to come to church.  We saw great success the next day as many less active members came to church.  One lady we visited seemed disappointed that she was not walking with us, so she joined and helped us meet and encourage several other members.  I am excited about this, and we have a goal to do this every single week.

 A less active gentlemen that Garrett and Elder Hem are spoke with

One of the benefits of staying in Sen Sok is that next week we are set to have 4 baptisms.  We have 4 investigators that are progressing well, keeping the commandments, and should be baptized on Sunday.  So, that is exciting.  One of them is the lady, Channary, who told us she wanted to stop learning but we encouraged her to keep trying.  She hasn't missed a Sunday since we started teaching her.  So that should be a highlight of this next week.  Then we will start the process of finding new investigators.