Garrett's Adventures on the Road

For one of the coolest moments of the week, we biked to a neighborhood about 15-20 min bike ride from Sen Sok.  We had been working with one Lookpuu trying to get him interested.  The guy we went to find wasn’t interested, but we taught the neighbor’s wife and kids, and it was really awesome.  She committed to learning, and we told her we were going to come back the next day and meet with the husband too.  Her husband is a Moto (motorcycle) driver (he is like a moto taxi).  He sits there, someone tells him they need to go somewhere, and they hop on his moto and go somewhere in Phnom Penh.   

We were talking to his neighbor when the husband came back from work.  So we went in, and met with him.  He was awesome.  He told us he rode extra fast from Phnom Penh because his wife told him we were going to come back today.  I was super excited. We asked how much his family meant to him, and he just said that it was huge how important his family was.  He did not come to church. It might be difficult to get him to church because he has to work, but I think that the Lord will help him.  I cannot wait for this next week to meet him and his family, and I pray he becomes a really awesome investigator and will start on the road to baptism.  

 Teaching next to the animals

Sen Sok turned pretty muddy the past couple days because we had some nasty rain.  We had to stop several times to clear mud off our tires so that we could bike.  I still need to clean my shoes.  We were riding to Wut's house on a "road" or dirt path.  There was a big pile of dirt on half of the road, so I was on the left side of the road.  Then I saw a huge cow coming straight at me – one of the biggest cows I have ever seen.  It had horns.  So I slowly passed it on the left, but as I passed, it turned its head and tried to hit my body with its horns. It was pretty funny but a little scary, as I thought it was going to hit me.  

Toilet and bucket. The bucket flushes the toilet.

We  take a tuk tuk to the city every week to write our emails to our families.  It’s about 2 bucks.  It is better than riding our bikes, and we go with the whole district so it is fun.  

This week the power went off at 9:20.  We go to sleep at 9:30.  That is a problem because no AC means lots of sweat.  So I was praying, and I felt it getting hotter and hotter and my body getting sweatier and sweatier.   The power came back after 10 though.  It would have been a rough night without it.  

Garrett's kitchen

We got a referral (someone who is referred to the missionaries by someone else) who is a new investigator.  She came to Church with her friend, and she stayed for all 3 hours.  I hope this week we can get her to progress and hopefully teach the first lesson or so.  Nit came again to church.  He only came for an hour, but it was an improvement.  He loves to sing, which is cool, and he believes in Christ.  He actually read Mosiah 3 which we committed him to do, and he tried.  He does not know how to read that well, but he read most of it.  I have hope for him. Plus, we got a really awesome member help teach with us – a returned missionary (a person who served a mission) who also has a newborn baby.  So that is cool.   

A typical kitchen in Sen Sok. Rice is cooking in the pot. 

Overall the week was just better.  Unfortunately, Bourey did not come to church.  It seems at times we gain a new investigator and lose one and then gain one and lose one.  It is crazy how you can meet someone, contact them, come back, get to know them, teach them, and commit them to learn.  They are excited, and they listen, and they say yes.  Then you come back and they are not interested and are too busy to ever meet.  It can be a bummer when some days we would be excited about a new investigator, but we would lose one too.  

Baptisms and a Missionary Prom Queen

Saturday was an awesome day!  The Hsiao family and Wu were all baptized and it was a beautiful service.  Because the senior missionaries and the mission president's wife found the Hsiao family, they (plus the mission president) came to the baptism.  They were really helpful, and it was special to be able to share the experience with them.  We tried to express to them how grateful we were that they were constantly being missionaries, which enabled them to find an amazingly prepared family.   I feel like we just showed up and the Spirit and the Hsiao family worked towards conversion.  They are so great.   

Brother Hsiao is so funny.  He is very intense whenever he speaks.  His testimony after his baptism was about 15 minutes long, followed by his wife’s short and sweet 3 minute testimony.  She is more quiet than her husband, but she is just so sweet and has such a strong conviction of the gospel.  It is so fun to see them work together as a couple.  They have really supported each other throughout the process helping each other grow when one was weak and vice versa.   
  
Wu is doing great. On Sunday, the young women were really great with her and did a tremendous job to help her feel loved and welcomed.  Her dad was stuck in traffic, so they were consequently 35 minutes later than they said they would be to the baptism. That was pretty stressful, but she made it. Her mom came with her, so that was great.   

I don't know if I have told you about Wu's mom before.  When we first started meeting with her, Wu thought we were really annoying, which we sensed, and it was then later confirmed by her mother. Her mother said that she really encouraged Wu to keep meeting with us.  Her mom loves Jesus Christ and cries whenever she talks about him.  She sits in on almost all of Wu’s lessons, and when we first started meeting with them, she said that she could not get baptized because she has this, I don’t' know exactly what it is, but the gist is he is like a meditation guru person who she follows. So, even though she believes in Jesus Christ, she is already following this other guy and can't change.  After some other efforts, we made the decision to focus on teaching Wu. We prayed that as the mom listened she would also feel the spirit, which she did.   

Wu’s grandmother was in the hospital, and Wu’s mom had a really special experience when we sent the elders over to give her mom and dad a blessing.  It was apparently a really powerful experience and about a week later her parents both came home from the hospital – a huge miracle, which Wu’s mom recognized as a miracle from God.  After this happened, we were like, “Ok. It is time to recommit her to study and work towards baptism.” This kind of backfired.  She still had the same reasoning and said that she loves Jesus just as much as those people who get baptized, but her meditation guru person hasn't told her that she can get baptized, so she can't.  Despite efforts to help her see the essentialness of baptism and at least of coming to church, she still thinks that she can love Jesus without really following him.  We are still praying that something will soften her heart. 
  
Today we went to this less active that cuts hair and Sister Lethco got a trim.  She then wanted to do our hair.  I will send you a picture of how mine turned out.  I will be honest I felt like the missionary prom queen.  I can't fully tell if I really look ridiculous or I just feel like I look ridiculous because I am used to having helmet hair.  It is probably a little of both.

Killing Fields

I have learned a ton about Pol Pot and his genocide.  Everyone one who is older lived through it.  After we met with our Branch President yesterday, we sat and talked for a minute about his life.  He has had a crazy life.  He has a bullet hole in his leg from when he was a soldier and some crazy other stories I will have to tell you when I come home.  He compared his life to Nephi – full of suffering.  I had to agree. Our plan today is to go to the Killing Fields just outside Phnom Penh.  We contacted one lookpuu (man), and he is the only survivor out of the five members of his family.  That is why I want to help them so much.  The gospel will help them so much, and it makes me so sad when they tell us about their experiences.

Pit where they dug out bones and remains of people who had been killed. There are about 450 of these pits around the Killing Fields.

We continued with contacting a ton this week.  Even more than last week.  Everyone we contact, we ask for a return appointment.  We have a lot of return appointments.  Now we just need to find out if they actually want to learn or not.  Problem is that Cambodian people are so nice a lot of times they will say, “Yeah, you can come back,” but they do not really want to learn.  It is fun through to just go to a new area and walk down the street trying to talk and share with everyone.  

 Killing Fields

Little personal note.  I feel like the scriptures are really opening up for me.  I am learning new ideas and insights on topics and scriptures I never thought of before.  This morning I tore over Mosiah chapter 2.  Before, I just liked the classic scriptures.  I am learning so many new things.  It is true.  We always need to be reading them again and again because we will always learn something new.

By the way, I saw a snake this week!  We were biking out to an area away from Sen Sok, and before we got to the village, Elder Den saw the snake.  Then I saw it.  It was not big, maybe 3 feet or so and really skinny.  One of the local farmer/village guys came over and was calling for his friends to come and help him kill it. He was freaking out a little bit because he did not know if it was poisonous or not.

Killing Fields

Little Application of Promptings and the Lord's Miracles

This has been quite a week.  As you know in my last letter we were a little worried about Wu.  We spent a lot of time praying and seeking revelation for her, and there was a series of really small events that I think made a huge difference.  

McKenzie and her companion at the LDS Taipei Temple

When I called Wu on Monday night for our nightly phone lesson, I felt prompted to read in 3 Nephi, I think it is chapter 18, about Jesus Christ blessing the sacrament.  It was a really good conversation about what the sacrament means.  Throughout her teaching process, we have felt at many points to emphasize the sacrament.   

Tuesday morning rolls around, and it was my turn to study for Wu during personal study.  I really was seeking revelation because we were going to teach her that night.  As I was praying, the JSH scripture 1:25 came to my mind when Joseph Smith said in reference to the First Vision: “I knew it, and I knew God knew it, and I could not deny it.” The lesson came, and we shared that scripture and went over the baptismal interview questions. Then we committed her to come to church that week, and she said yes.  There was no discussion of it being in the afternoon; we invited her and she said yes.  It was really miraculous.

  

McKenzie and her district at the LDS Taipei Temple

This is the thing that I have found most wonderful to witness on my mission: the little application of promptings and then the Lord's miracles that He provides because you have qualified for them.  It was just such a miraculous lesson because all of the concerns were gone.  We still need to help her come to church in that ward and to get integrated, but it is something she is committed to.  She had her baptismal interview on Saturday and is all set to get baptized this week.   
 
The coolest miracle story from the Chen family this week was on Saturday at their baptismal interview.  
That day there happened to be a large meeting with all of the Stake Presidents from Taizhong, the Mission Presidency, and a member of the Quorum of the 70 in our chapel.  They came out for a break, and we introduced our Mission President to the Chen family really quick.  He was super nice and said hello and then left.  He then comes back in 10 minutes later and asked if when we were done, we could come into the meeting.  We said sure.  Sister Hsiao was really cute and started powdering her nose.  Anyway, the Mission President introduced the Hsiao family to Elder Watson, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy who served in Taiwan a number of years ago.   

They asked the Hsiao family to introduce themselves and to share a little bit about how they came to the church.  It was really cool and everyone loved it.  The Hsiao family thought it was the coolest thing ever, and the Stake Presidents were all excited.  It was such a cool and special experience.  Everything just worked out so wonderfully!

Am I at a zoo? Nope. That is just a large asian buffalo in the field right next to the Branch President's house!

The hardest part about the week was that Elder Den was sick.  He had a headache all week and cold like symptoms.  We could not proselyte on Tuesday and a couple of the other days he had to rest for a couple hours or we could not work as hard.  That was the hardest part of the week for me.  It just makes you feel like crap when you only have a short time to serve, and you have to spend some days inside or some days not being as productive as you could.  

Random thought, I have seen many goats here.  A goat with an udder full of milk trying to run is one of the most disgusting things you will ever see. 

I feel like my language skills are getting a lot better.  I have learned a lot of new words from Elder Den – including a good amount of slang that makes the members and others laugh.  I feel pretty good about it.  Recently I have been working on my spelling and writing.  I want to improve that a lot.  But overall, I think my language is getting pretty good.  Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do, but it is improving.

 Rice Field

We have 3 progressing investigators: Bourey, and Botum and Carola. So, Botum and Carola are both 12.  Botum lives with the Branch President.  She is his niece.  Apparently her parents used to really neglect her, so now she lives with her uncle.  She is a really sweet girl, but she has a hard time focusing – just a typical young girl.  It’s okay though, I enjoy teaching her because she is so happy.  Usually we review a point and teach and tiny bit farther and then stop because she has a hard time remembering.  Carola's parents do not want to learn, and her older sister is married to the 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency.  We need to figure out if we can actually teach her because unlike Botum, Carola's parents do not want to learn.  She is good though, listens well, and comes to church.   

Bourey is an older man - probably around 50 years old.  He is a good guy.  We taught him on Saturday about our life on earth, and he listened. But I do not know if he really was all there.  He seemed to be kind of thinking about something else.  Oh well, so that was that.  He usually just comes to church for 1st hour, so we taught him about the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. We told him that he needs to come to church for 3 hours, and then this week he did not come.  That was disappointing.   

I took this picture of my Branch President because I took it for the District President.  Why is that cool? Because we have 5 General Authorities (including 1 Apostle) visiting Cambodia in May, and the Apostle who is coming (we don’t know which one yet) wants a picture of all the branch presidents.  Think about this for a moment.  I took with my own hand and my own camera a picture that will be seen by an

Apostle and 4 other General Authorities.  Awesome.

Mom, look at the Buffalo picture.  I read your email and it said to stay away from anything with horns. That buffalo had some pretty bighorns.  Don't worry though it is not a buffalo like in America.  They do not run they just eat and walk.  The kid watching over it was riding on it for awhile.  It's like a big cow.  Really cool though.

A Smoking Miracle

  
The Hsiao family has had a good week.  On Monday we met Brother Hsiao and Brookes at a family in the Ward's house for FHE (Sister Hsiao was out of the country on business).   Brother Hsiao tells this story about him smoking. Sister Lethco and I look at each other; he sees our confused looks and says in English, "I am a smoker."  We are sitting there in shock and worry as he tells this story.   

One Friday night, he read in the Gospel Principles book that smoking is against the Word of Wisdom.  (We hadn’t taught them the Word of Wisdom yet).  He then smoked and went to bed. He woke up feeling like his chest was on fire and that the smoke in his chest smelled like feet.  He got up drank six cups of water. When we met with them on Monday he hadn’t smoked since that experience.  When we saw him on Saturday night, he hadn’t smoked in a week.  It was an incredibly huge miracle.   

Sister Lethco and I left the lesson and in the parking lot started laughing out of pure joy that Heavenly Father knew that our investigator had a smoking problem even though we had no idea and helped him quit with no help from us.  We felt stupid for not knowing that he had a problem, but we had seen no signs around their house or smelled anything, and we had just chosen to focus on commandments first that we knew they were having a problem with (the Sabbath day) and hadn't had a chance to get to the Word of Wisdom yet.  It was a huge miracle. 

We had an interesting week with Wu this week.  We found out on Wednesday that she is actually in the other ward which we cover that meets in the afternoon.  I guess they changed the boundaries lately, which no one told the missionaries. It is frustrating because she really had gotten all situated in the other ward and was really committed to coming to church ever week and keeping the Sabbath day holy, which was a big concern at the beginning.  When we first started meeting with her, she and her mom told us that there was no way that she could come to church every week because she has homework.  They would laugh when ever we brought up church, but W really wanted to be baptized.  Through a lot of prayers and specifically catered lessons, she finally was able to see that part of baptism is renewing your covenants each week through the sacrament meeting attendance. She had a really strong testimony of church.   

She was not happy when we told her that she was actually in the other ward.  We have tried to explain why, but I still don't think she really understands.  She came to the afternoon church but told me afterwards that she didn’t like it. Later on the phone, Wu said she can come to the morning ward, but she can't come to the afternoon ward because she has to study.   I just feel worried because I feel like she progressed so much, but now she is back to her old excuses. She isn't using her testimony and her commitments to come to church like she was the last week when she was willing to come for the morning ward even though she has had to sacrifice some things. We are really praying about this.