Sunday, October 28, 2012

Baptism Dates and Real Happiness

I have been thinking a lot this week about happiness and the blessings of the gospel.  We met with an investigator this week who we have been working with for a long time.  When we first met with her, she told us that there was no way she could give up tea and no way that she could be baptized because that would mean she would need to give up tea.  We have been working with her for a while, focusing on those things that will build her faith.  This week we had an “ok, let's talk about baptism” lesson.  

It was such a sad conversation because she said that there was no way she could give up tea.  She said she believes that God and Christ exist and that there are things that she can live without but tea is not one of those things.  We talked about eternal joy and eternal happiness, but she said that she didn't believe in this happiness.  It made me so sad to hear her say this.  So often I think we look for happiness and say that we want to be happy but what we forget is that happiness is a byproduct of righteous living – not the reason that we live righteously.  Elder Wirthland said that too often we look for happiness as the end result, but what we should be looking for is to align our will with God’s and as a result joy and happiness come.  God, of course, wants His children to be happy, but He wants us to be happy as a result of becoming better people – not out of momentary pleasure.


We had a great lesson this week with another one of our more long term investigators.  She has been reading, praying, and coming to church for quite a while, but she is still insisting that she isn't feeling anything.  We invited her last week to bring a question to church.  When we followed up the next day, she said that she had wanted to know how to help her rebellious son and that at church in one of the classes she received her answer.  She also said that she received an answer from the Book of Mormon about how to deal with a woman who keeps asking her for money.  These were huge improvements as she is finally recognizing the blessings of keeping the commandments and the direct impact it is making in her life.



Shu-feng is doing wonderfully.  She passed her baptismal interview on Friday.  It was raining like crazy and our district leader lives in this really far away area.  I was very grateful that they biked all the way up here.  Her interview was great.  

Our lessons this week with Shu-feng were great.  We finished up the commandments.  She is good on all of them.  She was kind of concerned about not being able to buy food on Sunday because she and her family always go out to dinner.  She asked if this counted as buying things.  She seemed very concerned when she asked me this.  I wasn't totally sure what to say.  It was one of those moments where I was just trying to listen to the Spirit, and it was just kind of given to me.  I explained that yes it does count as buying things but that is a difficult situation because her family are not members but that it is one of those things that she can pray and ask Heavenly Father what the best thing to do in this situation.  She seemed really comforted by that answer.  I am confident that she will pray and she will receive answers.  She is so cute.      

Welcome to Battambang Elder Gibson!

I am sending my first letter from Battambang province.  Friday was transfer day, so we took a tuk tuk to the mission home. Then we all boarded a big coach bus that is run by a local company called Capitol Tours.  Well, we left around 2:45ish and road all the way up to Battambang.  We finally arrived at the church at 9:15ish at night.  We made a few stops along the way for 5 min. or so to go to the bathroom or buy some snacks. As we drove up it got very rural and we saw a ton of really beautiful rice fields, palm trees, heavily wooded hills and areas, etc.  Really cool.  


Baby crocodile farm

A little bit about Battambang.  It actually has a decent size city.  No where near as big a Phnom Penh, but it is a decent size city.  Very quiet though.  Not a lot of people around.  Battambang actually has a brand new branch/district building built about a year ago, and it is really awesome.  Finally I am in a branch where regular people can find our branch building.  It is on a main road and it is the big pretty building that everyone has seen before.  So that is cool.  

 Baby crocodile farm

I road through a path/road and my tire got stuck with mud so I pulled off to the side of the road and started to use my hands to pick mud out of the back.  Well, as you know Cambodia has tons of prostitutes and it just so happens I stopped my bike in the general area of one.  Well, she came over and kind of tried to ask me what was wrong with my bike and offer her help.  I got out of there in 1 second.  I got on my bike and said bye bye and road another fifty yards and got all the mud out.  My companion thought it was pretty funny.  


 Baby crocodile farm

Yesterday we got stuck in a huge rain storm.  Huge.  I had to get to the church at 5 to interview an investigator for baptism.  Totally soaked.  That was the first time I was legitimately cold in Cambodia. 

In America people take vans. Here they just jump in the back of a trailer.

So in our mission we have 3 zones in the city (Phnom Penh), north, east and west.  Then each of the 4 provinces have their own zone and then some of the missionaries in Vietnam have a zone.  Our zone is the biggest zone of all the provinces.  We have 5 companionships and 2 senior couples missionaries.  So 12 in total.  We have two districts in my zone and 2 sister companionships.  For the church in Battambang, we have 1 district and two branches and word on the street is that they have started the process to try and make a new branch.  Battambang is a decent size city but nothing too big.  It is actually very quiet.  


Shoes are taking a hit. Don't worry. Super glue fixes it all. 

We do most of our proselyting in the city area, but sometimes we bike out to the member’s houses that are much farther away.  For example, last night we really wanted to meet an investigator so we biked really far up one of the national highway roads and then randomly just took a left turn into a dirt path.  I could not see anything.  Just trees around us.  Pitch black and I was afraid we would ride off the path into the bushes and trees.  No house lights or anything.  Pretty cool actually but we had to really push it to get out to their house so we were super tired.  So yes, people live very far and outside of the "city". 



Yes, I am the only zone leader up here.  The missionaries up here are good.  Most of them are really hard workers.  We share the house with other elders. We have had some fun times, so it is actually pretty fun when we are at home together.  My companion (an American) and I speak Khmae for our planning session at night and then for companion study in the morning.  It is kind of hard I am so used to just speaking Khmae all the time.  Still improving and working on it though.  My companion is great.  


Bridge that sways back and forth violently whenever someone drives over it. 

Early on in the week I came across two scriptures that I love and that really set the tone for our week.  Luke 1:37 "For with God nothing shall be impossible" and Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”  I really love these two scriptures.  They just make me feel so inspired and ready to go.   


Family Home Evening with some member in Sen Sok. 

We have a lot of "potential investigators", with only one that has been taught past the first lesson.  That is kind of a bummer, but we can change that.  We just need to start meeting with the people that are potentials that have met with the previous elders a few times before and really help them to start to progress.  I really want to work with the members, because from what I have seen the members are awesome!  There are a lot of them and many families.  From what I have seen they are willing to share the gospel and are fairly strong.  Right now I am trying to get to know them all.  First, I am starting with their names.  I know that will be the key up here, and I really just want to have the trust of the members so we can start to receive more referrals.  I know this area has a lot of potential and I am really just looking forward to a whole week of proselytizing, plus knowing the area, members and potential investigators that we have a little bit better.  Quite honestly, I just feel excited.


Sunday, October 7, 2012

Pig Head Soup and Garrett's arrival in Battambang Province

At Channary's baptism from several weeks ago. 

I am sending my first letter from Battambang province.  Well, last week I was in Sen Sok unitl Friday.  Not going to lie I was ready to go after we got the transfer calls.  It was still hard to say goodbye to some of the recent converts and members, but I was ready to start fresh up in Battambang.   

Part of their supply of bottled water. (They use bottled water so that they don't get as sick.)

Friday was transfer day so we took a tuk tuk to the mission home and then we all boarded a big coach bus that is run by a local company called Capitol Tours.  Well, we left around 2:45ish and road all the way up to Battambang.  We finally arrived at the church at 9:15ish at night.  We made a few stops along the way for 5 min. or so to go to the bathroom or buy some snacks.  It was kind of a long bus ride, but I was able to talk to my new companion, Elder Gerrard for most of the time.  They kept playing weird Khmae music on a TV in the front and weird Chinese movies translated into Khmae.  My back started to hurt after sitting for so long, but it was a fun experience.  As we drove up it got very rural and we saw a ton of really beautiful rice fields, palm trees, heavily wooded hills and areas, etc.  Really cool.  

They cook over open flames. This is the gas used to light the flames. 

A little bit about Battambang.  It actually has a decent size city.  No where near as big a Phnom Penh, but it is a decent size city.  Very quiet though.  Not a lot of people around.  Battambang actually has a brand new branch/district building built about a year ago, and it is really awesome.  Finally I am in a branch where regular people can find our branch building.  It is on a main road and it is the big pretty building that everyone has seen before.  So that is cool.  

So, like I said Elder Gerrard is my new companion.  He is a really good guy from Utah and has been out on his mission for 3 months in the country so about 5 months overall.  I think we will be able to find a lot of success with each other.

At a Pioneer Day activity in Sen Sok. There were 50 children (very few of which were branch members) in attendance. 

I rode through a path/road and my tire got stuck with mud so I pulled off to the side of the road and started to use my hands to pick mud out of the back.  Well, as you know Cambodia has tons of prostitutes and it just so happens I stopped my bike in the general area of one.  Well, she came over and kind of tried to ask me what was wrong with my bike and offer her help, which was nice of her.  I got out of there in 1 second.  I got on my bike and said bye bye and road another fifty yards and got all the mud out.  My companion thought it was pretty funny.  

Pig head soup

As for our area, quite honestly it is not that strong.  We have a lot of "potential investigators", with only one that has been taught past the first lesson.  That is kind of a bummer, but we can change that.  We just need to start meeting with the people that are potentials that have met with the previous elders a few times before and really help them to start to progress.  I really want to work with the members, because from what I have seen the members are awesome!  There are a lot of them and many families.  From what I have seen they are willing to share the gospel and are fairly strong.  Right now I am trying to get to know them all.  First, I am starting with their names.  I know that will be the key up here, and I really just want to have the trust of the members so we can start to receive more referrals.  I know this area has a lot of potential, and I am really just looking forward to a whole week of proselytizing and getting to know the area, members ,and potential investigators that we have a little bit better.  Quite honestly, I just feel excited.

Pig intestines

Yesterday we got stuck in a huge rain storm.  Huge.  I had to get to the church at 5 to interview an investigator for baptism.  Totally soaked.  That was the first time I was legitimately cold in Cambodia. 



Gifting Pineapples in Taiwan

Another wonderful miracle story from the week: We have been working with a Young Woman, Wu Jiemie, whose mother is a recent convert and has wanted to be baptized herself, but her dad is very opposed.  She has been praying and really seeking to develop her own testimony.  We have been praying as well and trying to seek little inspiration for how to help gain her father's approval.  Last Sunday, we went with a member of the ward to sing to her dad who is in the hospital. (He has brain cancer).  This member is named Guo Baba.  He is the most wonderful member missionary.  He is probably 75 years old and rides his bike all over the place helping the missionaries, visiting members, and attending church activities.   He told us earlier that we needed to be at the hospital at 3 o’clock because we were going to see Wu Jiemie's dad.  We didn't argue.  We got in there, and he right away makes friends with the dad and testifying about how the gospel has blessed his life.  

Sister Thomas, Ruby Chen, and I 

Anyway, the dad was grateful for the visit, and as reported on Wednesday by his daughter, he no longer is saying BAD things about the church.  I had been thinking of others things we could do this week to soften his heart, and I thought that we could maybe buy her dad a “hope you feel better” gift.  On Saturday, Sister Jarvis and I bought a pineapple and dropped it off at their door with a note.  That night I get a call from her dad thanking me for the pineapple and saying that maybe he can come to the church someday and meet with us.  This was a completely huge improvement over before when he was very negative and antagonistic about the church and would hide from us if we were over.   The Lord truly does love His children, and He is watching out for them.  I have found again and again on my mission that it is in following the little promptings and in constantly asking our Heavenly father what more can we do that we see the biggest miracles.   

  
That is a way in which I want to improve.  I want to be constantly seeking for promptings to follow and ways in which to be an instrument in the Lord's hand.  How easy it is to look on promptings as a burden that need to be obeyed rather than a blessing to be sought after.  

Chen Jiemie and I. She is a really awesome member who took us to see some of Tainan's tourist sights last P-day. It was super fun! 


We met a cool family this week while tracting.  I had felt prompted to go down this street.  I actually at first disregarded the thought because it looked like an older more traditional street, which often leads to people being less willing to listen.  As I passed it, I felt prompted to turn around.  We decided to go down this street, and we met this woman and her husband.  They are older – probably  in their 60s.  They let us in.  I think initially it was just in an effort to be nice, and as we were teaching, the husband was nice, but it was clear that he didn't think what we were saying was super important. He kept trying to catch us in our words.  We got through it, and the mom was actually listening with great intent.  They said we could come over again, surprisingly enough.   

We went back on Sunday night.  It was an interesting lesson.  Chen Dixiong, the dad, again kept trying to catch us in our words.  We gave him some promised blessings, and he was like, "Sister Gibson you keep promising me things just to get me to join your church."  I told him that he didn’t  have to join our church to have the blessings we were talking about but that he could see the blessings right now through prayer, scripture study, and keeping the commandments.  He wasn't mean as much as just disbelieving and confrontational.   

A bunch of companionships that met at a burger place one P-day. 

We were able to get through the lesson, and as we were finishing and Sister Jarvis was talking to the more receptive mom, Chen Dixiong turned to me and said that he really wants his children to have the church in their lives.  He said that he invited his son to meet with us, but his son said no. He said he doesn't know how to help his son choose a better path.  We talked about how he, as the father, could set the example for his son to follow.  He also told me that he believes in God 100%, but he feels like he hasn't done his part in his life to follow God.  It was an amazing moment.  He is still not wanting to up and join the church, but he revealed a very important part of his heart.  He said that his main concern, and why he couldn’t accept what we were teaching is that he then wouldn't be able to participate in ancestor worship.  For a lot of people this is a big concern because to them that is how they honor their family.  It is like if we were told we couldn't go visit our grandparents’ graves.  It is very hard for people to think about giving up that part of our life.   



We were running really late, and we really needed to leave.  We talked about how our church respects our ancestors, but we just use different methods and that we wanted to teach him about it more next time.  He said that I was just going to go home and find some more bait that I could offer him next time and that is why I didn’t want to talk about it then.  I told him that no, we had a rule about when we needed to be home each night, and we needed to go home so we wouldn’t' be late.  He doesn't agree with everything you say, and he is trying to point out the flaws in what you say. But at the same time, he is loving and funny about it.