Garrett is Leaving Battambang for the Mission Home

Well the best part of the week was on Saturday when Tevy and Sov were baptized.  I was able to baptize both of them.  They have been progressing well and showing a lot of faith.   It was really cool.   (See picture below)

Well I will give you a history about them because I have not told you that much about them.  I was just riding out of the church, and I just met Sov as soon as I rode my bike out.  Well I just started out with a hello and then got his number...you know the usual thing.  Well, he said that he wanted to learn so I called him a few days later, and we met him.  This was back with Elder Chan.  Well then we just started teaching he and Tevy, and they started to progress really well.  The biggest thing is that they were consistent in reading and then praying about the Book of Mormon.  After he was baptized, Sov said that when he was reading the Book of Mormon and reading about Nephi he felt that he could conquer all of his problems and that his life was really not that bad.  He mentioned that now he just feels like he has so many new friends and that he was so happy that he got baptized.  I have been impressed with them because they were so quick to let go of things and to start keeping commandment.  Their whole story is just really cool because quite honestly I feel like I have contacted a lot of people on my mission, and I have seen a lot of success from it, but never in terms of myself. Sov said that it was strange that we met that day because he usually never really talks to people on the street; it was just the perfect timing that we met that day.  Really cool.

 Wedding taking up half the road

I had a weird experience with a drunken man who heard me say about 2 words and decided that I know really good Khmae and then got a branch and started to write words on my back.  At first he tried to take off my shirt which was weird and then he decided to just write words on my back and told me at least 10 times to not throw away my shirt.  It was really weird.  I have been working out recently as well.  My triceps are getting big.  The power has been out during the day for the past three days and they only turn it on at night so it took us a long time to find an internet place with a generator.

Giant vats they cook food in for the wedding

I had a cool experience with our investigator.  He told me that he used to drive big trucks across the kites, and one day he saw a little girl run out in front of him. He nearly hit her.  He slammed on the brakes and swerved the truck causing him to crash.  Everyone thought he would be dead, but he said he could not kill that girl.  Well, he lived, and he believes that god prepared him to learn with us.

We had some service cleaning hundreds of glass bottles for our Branch mission leader who I love.  He grows mushrooms that get made into medicine, so we cleaned a lot of the bottles.  

 I have a cool story about a less active man who went inactive because he got offended about 3 months or so.  His blow up was a long time coming in that he has a really short temper and that he had been feeling offended with other missionaries and other members for a long time.  Some missionaries rode in his tuk tuk but did not give him enough money. Trying to make the situation right, another missionary and I met him along the road and tried give him more money for the ride, but it did not work. He decided to not come to church.  I felt really bad and did not really tell you guys before because I knew it was not my fault, but at the same time I kind of felt like I could have done something different.  Well, I have gone to the man several times to say that I was sorry and then I would just go to say hi several times.  I tried to be friendly and apologize, but I really could not drop anything.  Well, he came to church last week, which was really awesome!  Unexpected too.  He just showed up, and I got a lot of members to go and talk to him.  It was a really good day!

When the president was here he went teaching with us for the night which was cool and a little scary.  We talked with the crazy family (See the picture above).  She is still doing, well and we taught her about fasting.  Elder Hang, the two members, and the mission president fasted for her and her husband.  Hopefully we can see a miracle with that.

 President called and asked me to be one of his assistants. I received the call on Sunday night at 5:00, and had to leave on a bus at 9:00 AM the next day. (Assistants to the Mission Presidents or Aps help the Mission President run the mission. They help with planning, logistics, trainings, etc.) It was hard to say bye to people.  It was mostly just calling them really quick and telling them that I am leaving, and that I am sorry. I know I will go back up on exchanges and that I will go up when they have district conferences.  

  

Elder Rucker is my companion. He is the other AP. Being the mission home is fun.  I like being the middle of things.  It is satisfying, but I do miss proselytizing every day.  Some people love being AP, some hate it.  I decided I am just going to love it – have fun lean a lot and then be done.  No point in hating it when I can’t change anything.  I will not end my mission in the office though. Apparently president wants AP's in the office for less time now.  I think it could be as short as 3 months and as long as 4 1/2 months.  We will see. Do not worry about my Khmae.  I still read the BoM in Khmea every day. Also, in the office when we have down time, I can talk to the secretary who is Khmae, and we get to go on exchanges and stuff like that.  I think I can learn a lot of words actually.  Do not worry...I want to keep all the skills that I have.  

 Pile of dead rice that is gathered together for the cows

We proselyte in the international branch The International Branch is so fun though.  We have African members!  We get between 45-60 people at church.  We have an Ecuadorian, Sri Lankans, Nigerians, Americans, Filipinos, Khmaes, Chinese, Mynamarians, etc.  Naturally, I am already friends with all the Nigerians.  The first counselor is a HUGE guy from Nigeria.  He is maybe 6’8 and is 250 pounds or so.  His family are members too.  You have to pay attention to what people are saying because everyone has an accent and quite honestly sometimes I do not understand.  It is fun though.   

 Overloaded truck

We taught two Sri Lankan refugees.  They are so awesome.  We had a really spiritual lesson about the restoration and the apostasy.  I find myself teaching in more choppy and broken English.  My grammar is terrible.  They understand though.  Tamil, the Sri Lankan language is so cool.  When they pray it literally just sounds like badoobddooobweebrdoo.  

 One of my favorite members in Battambang

I am just trying to get my mind wrapped around the work that we have to do in the office. We had transfers yesterday and it got kind of hectic, but it was fun.  The hardest part was getting all the kite elders to the bus stops on time and stuff.  When I was in BB I never thought it was that hard, but it is.  Lots of problems, with bikes, this and that, why are they not here yet...just problems.  But it was fun. 

 Some of the Priesthood leaders in Battambang

One cool thing that happened is that we got 6 new missionaries. 3 new sisters and 3 new elders.  We got to pick them up on Thursday morning at the airport.  We waited for them forever.  They were late and took forever to get off the plane.  They are all pretty cool elders and sisters though.  I felt embarrassed because on our way to the mission home after picking them up at the airport we were stopped in a long line of cars and motos waiting at a stop light.  Well, a police officer motioned us over. He caught me...I did not have a seat belt on.  He made a big deal out of it. Quite honestly I did not even know that was a rule here.  I just paid a 2 dollar bribe, and we were off.  I will not make that mistake again.  I do not have my permit yet.  Quite honestly all you have to do is show your American license and you can drive here.  I will hopefully have it by Monday.  Driving here is crazy.  The new missionaries were cool. We had some training where we taught them about culture, tips, etc.  A lot of the work is just preparing for others and doing things to help President Moon.   

Garrett's worn out watch

We had a departing devotional for 4 Vietnamese sisters who were ending their missions yesterday.  They bore their testimonies in Vietnamese.  I did not understand a single word, but I still felt the spirit and felt so happy when they were bearing their testimonies.  I got a Vietnamese name though....they named me "Glory".  They are all going to help their families and their country so much. 

In one of the last district meetings in Battambang, my district leader drew this (See picture above) to represent judgement day. I thought it was really funny.   

Structural Demolition and Christmas Parties in Cambodia

 Well, Kaliyan is doing well.  She had a great lesson where she told us all about her father that died before she really got to know him and she feels so much sadness because of that.  She said that even when he was angry he never hit her (they usually hit here).  She literally just cried for like 5 minutes because she said that she missed him so much, and she said that she really wants to go to the temple to be sealed to her dad.  It was a great lesson.  

 People are building a well in Battambang

People are building a well in Battambang

We saw a miracle with Kaliyan’s mom.  Well we are working through the lesson 5 lessons with Kaliyan, and we had a lesson about temples and marriage, etc.  Well, I called Kaliyan and asked her to bring her mom to the lesson as well.  She was there, and we had a great lesson with her about the work that we can do for our loved ones and for our ancestors.  We had a great lesson and shared an example in Preach My Gospel about the story where a man did the work in the temple for his dad and then he had a dream that said he had accepted the work.  We read that and talked to them, and Kaliyan’s mom started to cry a little bit.  I committed her to learn and then she said she said that she wants to but wanted to wait until after Kaliyan’s marriage.  Well, I told her that she needed to start to learn with us now so that she could be happier and just understand a little bit more about Jesus Christ. She promised that she would come and learn with Kaliyan.  She came to the Christmas party and had a great time.  It was a great miracle for her. 

Garrett's MTC Group out in the field

Atith, who is also a recent convert and is Kaliyan’s brother is doing great as well.  We have been working with him a lot about teaching because he was just called as a new Sunday School teacher.  His first week, two weeks ago, was kind of rough.  It pretty much consisted of him just standing close to me, I would whisper what he would do and then he would do it.  Well, we met him and gave him some pointers and things to work on.  Yesterday he was so much better.  He had some direction in his teaching, and he was able to expound on sections and give ideas and things like that which was something that he could not do last week.  He is going to be really strong.  Even if right now he does not really know that much, he is definitely improving. Soon he will know a lot.  That family is going to the temple someday. 

Remember how my eye got really swollen a few weeks ago?  Well something weird happened.  The same kind of thing, but not as bad happened on my forehead/bridge of my nose area.  I woke up after noticing but I saw that it was not that bad.  Then it progressed to feeling some pressure over my eyelids because the swelling had kind of moved.  Well, I straight up looked like an avatar.  The bridge of my nose was big and then my eyes looked a little more squinty than usual. Well, I went to a new Vietnamese doctor.  He spoke Viet to the nurse who talked in Khmae with me.  He just said that whatever bit me still had the poison in my face and it was just kind of moving around.  Well, my face is back to normal.  No worries.  I got some new pills, and he said that it should destroy it all.  That was fun.  

 Garrett's favorite service activity ever: Demolishing a house!

 Garrett's favorite service activity ever: Demolishing a house!

The mission just prepared recent convert kits during Christmas.  Actually we did.  Each bag has 2 highlighters, a pen, a notepad for thoughts and stuff, the Proclamation to the Family, a crochet type wrist band which I was really confused with....apparently it is supposed to be a book mark.  I did not understand why we were giving each RC in Cambodia, whether they are 50 or 12, male or female, a brightly colored wrist band thing.  Apparently it is a book mark.  Then they got one of three books, a hymn book, gospel principles book or True to the Faith book.  Most everyone is really excited about them.  Who doesn’t love free stuff?

 After the service project demolishing the house, Garrett ate fish and grilled pork with a side dish of sliced up mangoes and fish sauce. Garrett found it delicious.

 I am not tooting my own horn in any way, but this past week I have felt so exhausted... like I have done everything I can do.  This scripture really came alive... “Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.”  I have been praying a lot and worrying about church attendance.  We did great from two weeks then last week dropped down, and I just made it a goal to try even harder to get everyone to church...reminders, visits, teaching, calling them.  It was somewhat satisfying to have the feeling that I can’t do anything else.  There is nothing else I can do.  We had a good week this past week.  But I know it is only because of the Lord.

We had a really good Christmas party.  It was district wide so both of the branches were there.  We fell short of 1000 people, but we had about 600.  Tons of people.  It was really fun.  They had the nativity, rice porridge, dancing, etc.  It was really cool.  The only problem is that the next day we took a drop in attendance.  I am not sure why, but we think that it goes back to the Christmas party.  Lots of investigators that came to the party did not come the next day.  Hopefully it will have a better long term effect on the investigators and members too. 

Well this next week we are hoping to get two investigators baptized.  The first is a 23 year old boy, Sov.  And 21 year old Tevy.  They are dating.  They have been learning for a couple months and have really been progressing lately.  They have been having great spiritual experiences.   They are really quick to pick up on following the commandments.  I have been really trying to focus on helping them realize the spirit in their lives and get them ready for baptism.  We have asked them to pray about the Book of Mormon and continue to read it.  Sov had a dream this past week where he says that he saw Jesus Christ who was dressed in all white and Christ told him that this was the right path for him.  This society draws so heavily on their dreams.  I think that Heavenly Father does His part in talking to them through their dreams. Tevy did not have anything out of the ordinary happen when she read the Book of Mormon, but she said that when she reads the Book of Mormon,  she just has a feeling that this book is true.  We had a good lesson where we told them that both of these experiences or feelings are from the spirit.  They are looking good for this Saturday.  

A Beautiful Baptism and A Not So Beautiful Swollen Eye

 Well, last week was influenza and this week was a mysterious swollen eye. (See the pictures below.)  I woke up Tuesday morning and while ironing my shirt noticed that my right eye felt weird every time I looked down.  So I looked in the mirror and noticed that my eye was swollen.  Actually it was not my eye, it was only underneath my eye.  Well, I tried some eye drops, which I knew would not make a difference...and it didn't.  So I went back to the hospital on Wednesday because when I woke up it was really bad and looked like a baseball was bulging underneath my eye.  The doctor literally did not know what it was and only came to the conclusion that "it was not serious" and that some kind of bug must have bitten me while I slept.  First off all, my face got huge and the swelling started to spread down to my cheek, so I think it was serious.  Either way some type of spider or something must have bit me while I was sleeping.  Well, I got on some anti-inflammation cream and pills and today it was pretty much back to normal.  The swelling is gone.  It is just a little bit red, but I am ok.  No worries.  I am hoping next week is a week on 100% good health.  

The highlight was that Kaliyan got baptized. (See pictures below.) I know that you know most of their story, but I think that it is cool so I will tell it again.  She is the future daughter-in-law of the district president.  She is 25ish and they are scheduled to get married in March.  Her fiancé went to the temple with his family and then went inactive and has been inactive for the last 3 years.  He has only been active for the past 2 months or so that we have been teaching his future wife.  He is really awesome though and is now the Elder’s Quorum Secretary. When we meet with her, we also check up on his reading and praying and stuff, and I have told them several times that our focus for them is to help their future family and to help go to the temple to be sealed together.   

 Well Kaliyan has done really well and this past week Sovann, her fiancé baptized her.  That was our goal from the beginning, but there was a question as to if he had been ordained to the office of priest before he was inactive.  Well, I searched through the records with the branch president and found enough evidence to say that he had so we went ahead with him baptizing his fiancé.  It was a really cool baptismal service because I feel like we helped 2 people – Sovann and Kaliyan.  The District President and his whole family were there, which was really good.  I have been told by the district president that apparently Kaliyan had another dream/miracle (you remember the car one before) which just confirmed that she really needed to be baptized.  We are going to meet her tonight.  Sovann baptized her perfectly.  He did not even look at the paper that I prepared the prayer on. 

In her testimony, Kaliyan thanked everyone and especially talked about Sovann and how she knew this would help them.  The next day her future father-in-law confirmed her.  It was a really cool experience, and I am most excited about the great support she has.  Her brother is a member and all of Sovann’s family members are really strong members.  It was a good weekend.

 We had a cool experience in giving a blessing.  One of the member’s 2 year old son got sick, and they called us over to give a blessing.  When we got there, he had an IV hooked up.  Quite honestly that is just their way of healing people.  If you are sick they stick a needle in your arm and drain fluid into your body.  Either way he had been vomiting, had diarrhea, and things like that.  He was asleep when we got there, and it was not a peaceful sleep.  His face looked like he was in pain and he would kind of mumble and complain as he slept.  Well, I anointed with oil and then after encouraging his dad, his dad blessed him.  After the blessing we sat there for a couple minutes just talking and before we knew it the boy’s eyes were open and he was shaking our hands and things.  Then he was standing up and smiling.  It was really cool.  He still is a little out of energy and not completely better, but we saw a HUGE improvement in a manner of minutes.  Cool.

 Elderly people participating in the walk to the wat for the funeral ride in a tuk-tuk

 Right now we are having a difficult time getting people to church because of three things: rice, weddings, and funerals.   I attended a funeral.  One of the members’ dad died and as usual most of their friends and relatives are not Christian, so they had a Khmae funeral.  In order to help support her, we participated with them in the walk or parade to the wat.  Once we got to the gates of the wat all the missionaries just quietly stopped and went back.  It was important that we went though because they were afraid they would not have many people join because they are Christian.  It was nice to help them.  We were also pallbearers.  We lifted it onto the moving float thing that you can see in the picture and then walked in the caravan to the wat.  We need a cemetery for the members and their families. (See pictures below.)

Transfer calls.  I am still up her in Battambang, and I am still the zone leader, but Elder Chan went back to the city.  Very surprising.  Most people, including myself, thought I would be transferred.  Saying goodbye to Elder Chan was sad.  I really like him, and I am already missing him.  I got a new companion, Elder Hang.  He is from Cambodia and just got finished training so he is very new.  He is just coming from Siam Reap.  He does not really know English that well, but that is not really a problem.  I am sure that we will get along together.  I am excited to be up here for another transfer.  I really love the members and people up here.  

Also, Elder Sok, my first companion, called me today and kind of said goodbye because he is going home in a couple of days.  He was a really good trainer, and I did not always realize that at the time.  I really love him though and will miss him. I hopefully will see him later in my mission.  He is a great guy. 

As I planned for the next transfer I sent some transfer goals that I wanted to accomplish in the Branch, personally, and in terms of our area. I really felt like we could help the Young Men’s Organization. We have a new YM President, and I really want to work with him because our YM’s organization is weak. I am afraid that the few Priests that we have were not participating in the third hour. We had a really productive meeting with our YM’s President yesterday and talked about his ideas that he had to help the Young Men.  I was very impressed with his vision and his focus. We set some goals to get a more updated list of all the Young Men and also set some plans to have effective activities to help the Young Men have more unity and build friendships with each other. I am very excited about the progress that we can make.

I really like this verse... D&C 59:23 “But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.”  I like it because even if things do not work out the way we planned or wanted we can still have peace and happiness because of what will come in the next world.

All the recent converts are doing well.  Boramy was just called to work in the Primary.  She is also pregnant.  I do not know if I told you that.  

For the crazy family we went and helped them cut their rice, and then the following day we went and had a mini family home evening with them.  It was really good.  We are changing our tactic.  We decided to focus on the dad.  He is very loving with his kids. He doesn’t drink, smoke, etc. I know that he is shy.  With our change in tactic, we also saw some good progress. We met them one last time with Elder Chan and then we said goodbye.  He listened to us and tried to pray.  When I went back a couple days later, his prayers had progressed a lot.  The only thing that frustrates me is his wife.  I love her, but it is like she does not want him to succeed.  I just want her to support him and help him.  I hope this next week we will continue to see improvement.  He came to Kaliyan's baptism with some of his kids, which was sweet!  Then he came to church for an hour because right now he is busy harvesting rice.  He is on the right path right now.

Garrett Caught a Nasty Bug, Saw a Swarm of Bats, and Testified of Temples

 We had a great lesson with Kaliyan, our District President’s son’s fiancé. I was on exchange in my area with Elder Ann, the district leader. The night while we were planning for her discussion I felt that maybe we should share about temples and eternal marriage, but I was not really sure so we planned to teach about the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I felt the same thing several times the next day as we were riding. I decided to play it by ear and see what I felt when we went in there. 

Riding the bus from the city to Battambang we saw the following. Try to find the girl in the back of the truck.

Well, we got there around 6:15ish, and she was definitely not her usual self. Her fiancé was normal and happy, but when she talked to us and looked at us I could see that she was sad and had tears in her eyes. Well, she shared a verse that she liked about the love of God in 1 Nephi. I decided to go ahead and tie that into the Holy Ghost...talking about His role as the Comforter...hoping to solve her problem. I could see that I needed to change and teach something else and I immediately went into temples and eternal marriage. We had a really good lesson, and I felt that we were able to bear good testimony about temples and the work that is done there. Well, as we closed I told her that it was not our plan to teach about temples, but I felt that we needed to change and talk about them. Another member who is her soon to be sister-in-law commented that that was definitely revelation. She told us that Kaliyan and her fiancé had some miscommunication and some trouble and that the lesson on temples and eternal marriage was "amazing". She said that it even helped her as well as she needs to prepare for the temple. I think we had a great lesson, and I was happy to receive some revelation to teach according to her needs. 

More views from the road

Water Festival was not as big up here as it was in the city. They did not have the annual boat races because they are still mourning the King's death. Everyone still stopped working and went to a lot of parties though. A lot of people went back to their homelands or to the city to be with family and celebrate. 

Well I started to feel really sick on Wednesday morning, but it was mostly just a really bad headache. It was weird because it seemed like a really bad headache and then my head would just pound and get worse when I moved or tried to do anything else. Well, we were supposed to work on CBR's that afternoon, but quite honestly I could not. CBR's are the sheets we have for every member, but a lot of them are inaccurate or just not good at all so we tried to go and fix what we could and update what we could. 

Statue at the top of Phnom Sompoev

Because we were not in the city and could not participate in Sports Day our Zone was given permission on Wednesday afternoon/night to go back to Phnom Sompoev...the really cool place that we went to about a month ago. Well, I literally left like crap. I thought I was going to throw up, I was shaky and my head was about to explode. But I decided to be a trooper and go with everyone. Getting up the stairs on the mountain was kind of difficult, and I probably would have had a lot more fun if I was feeling good. Either way I took a few pictures, but mainly just felt sick. 

One of the coolest parts of Phnom Sompeov was the bats. At 6 o clock at the base of the mountain tens of thousands of bats just come pouring out of the caves to go out and feed. It was dark and I could not get any pictures, but you could see them all come out of the cave. It was like watching a river of black bats through the air and they would move and sway from side to side all together and then eventually break off from each other. It was so cool! Hard to describe, but there were so many bats and it kind of looked like a DNA strand as they all moved together from the cave. One more thing we have to see.

At the top of Phnom Sompeov feeling really sick. 

Well, Thursday I woke up and I just felt terrible. My head was going crazy; I had a fever; I felt nauseas; I was shaky, etc. Well, I called Sister Yeates and she decided to take me that morning to the hospital. I got to the hospital at probably 10. They took some blood to check for dengue fever or other things like that. Well, I had to wait 2 hours for the results so the doctor thought I should go up to a room and get an IV to get me hydrated and get some sugar in my blood because I could not and had not eaten anything that day. From my knowledge they only hooked me up with water and glucose, but quite honestly I do not know what happened for the next 2 hours. I vaguely remember the doctor coming in and telling me it was not dengue fever, but that it was influenza. Then I went back to sleep. Well, once my IV's were done the doctor told me to go home and they gave me some pills to kill the influenza virus. 

Well, Thursday I just went home and slept for the rest of the day. Friday I slept for part of the morning and then forced myself to go out after lunch to have a meeting about home teaching with the Elder’s quorum president. I had a mask on so that I would not get anyone sick. Well, we got a couple lessons in and then went home a bit early because I did not feel very good. 

 Cleaning day. That thing was at the back of our microwave. 

Saturday I had to teach everything that I had learned at Zone Council last week at our zone training meeting for 2 hours or so. It actually went really well, and I felt pretty good physically, but I still felt pretty weak and nauseas. The rest of the day was filled with meetings and with a couple lessons in the evening. Sunday was a good day. We had a good turn out at church, 178, and most of the recent converts were there. 

I feel much better now...my health is back and I finished all of the pills that I had been previously taking 3 times a day. Still need to sleep it off, but now I will just watch it to make sure the symptoms don’t come back.

Elder Chan with a banana on his head. (Garrett provided no explanation beyond that for this photo.)

I was also able to baptize two of the sister’s investigators this last Saturday which was cool because one of them I actually contacted about 2 months back or so. That was a cool experience. The baptisms were not pretty. They would awkwardly start to go into the water and then I would just go for it and push the rest of their bodies down just to make sure they were under. Not the prettiest, but it worked. 

Elder Chan looking like a vampire/gangster. (Again, Garrett's caption)

We had a problem with the crazy family. Well, we went one last time to teach the wife and to prepare her to be interviewed the next day. Her husband was there and our member help, and I pretty much had him committed to really starting to learning with us and being baptized as a whole family next month. Well, our investigator, his wife, let out a retort about how she would be baptized before him and that she would not wait which just set him off, and he left telling us that she could not learn or get baptized and to never come again. Well, we told her that we would have to follow his word because we respect spouses. She told us she would still come to church, and quite honestly I knew she would. Well she did, and I really do not know what is going to happen with that family. Before I thought it was just the husband, but now I realize that the wife causes problems too. We need to help her, but right now I am not really sure what to do. We will see how it goes. 

Harvesting Rice and Eating Dog Covered in Ants

As you saw from the pictures I sent (the two below) I tasted some of the most delicious food known to man - I ate dog meat covered in large red ants. Well, it all started when our member dropped off an entire leg of a dog at our house and said that he was going to come back the next day to make us food. Well, he came back and made us a dog/ant stir fry. The ants are a huge type of ant that lives on most of the trees here and they are straight vicious. If they get on your skin they dig their head in and just start biting....sometimes with the rest of their body straight up in the air. Well, some Cambodians eat dog meat with this type of ant because it gives it a nice sour taste. It did. The meat and the ants were pretty sour. Quite honestly I did not eat that much because it was not the best, but I did eat it. Our house had a weird smell for the rest of the week. So, you guys will have to try it someday.  

Mealea was also baptized which was really cool. (See next two pictures.) She has been really progressing in the gospel, and it has been so nice to see her change her attitude and to be happier. When we first started to teach her she was very frustrated with her life and with her family. She was not even that receptive to the members that tried to help her. It was really rewarding to see her start to pray and to read the scriptures and then to start to have more peace with her family and to start to feel happier. We are really trying to work with her parents. Both Mealea and her sister Leap are now members, and I feel like the father and mother are very close to learning with us.

 
After the baptism, Mealea was given the time to share her testimony and she explained how she had seen a miracle that day. Her parents are not opposed to the church, but they are not yet learning with the missionaries. That Saturday one of their relatives came to town and her parents told Mealea that she would need to stay home and watch over the house while they went out. Well, that meant that she would not be able to be baptized, because it was already 4 PM and they would not be back before 5 PM, which is when the baptism was starting. In her testimony she said that at the time she did not know what she could do. She said that she prayed and asked that Heavenly Father would help her have a way to go and be baptized that day and that she would fast the next day and keep all the commandments. She said that about a minute after she prayed her dad came home unexpectedly with the moto and told her she was free to go and do whatever she wanted to do that night. I know that the Lord provided the way for her to get baptized.

Pretty cool experience with Mealea. Just to clarify, it is often very difficult to get entire families/households at church because they feel like there always has to be someone at home to watch and protect it from robbers and such. It is a common problem. Even the District President made his son-in-law stay home in the morning and then go to the other branch at night in order to have someone home to protect the house.

I think that I told you last week that Viraneath got the Aaronic Priesthood. We got him to bless the sacrament this past week. He did a really good job, but had to do it two times. He did a good job though. One tiny mistake. His dad then received the Melchezidek priesthood later that day. Their family is doing really well right now. The key is just to keep getting Viraneath involved with his responsibilities at the church to help him to keep coming to church.

I have been doing a lot of work with the branch. Home teaching, attending branch council and other things and giving suggestions to keep everything running smoothly. I love our branch presidency and Relief Society presidency. They are very dedicated, and it is showing. We are getting a lot of people to church, but it is because they are doing a great job in getting out there and helping the members. I love this branch so much. There are so many awesome members here.

We had a pretty good week. As the pictures show (all the rest of the pictures in this post) we had some really fun service. We went to our first counselor’s house and we were led to the back of the neighborhood which is just a HUGE area of rice fields. Many, many rice fields all together. Well, we took off our shoes and rolled up our pants and then jumped into the rice fields that are flooded with water. The areas with the deepest water made it to my knees, but most of the time it was to my skins. We had little curved knives which we would hold in the right hand while we grabbed a bundle of rice stalks in the left hand and then cut it. It was really fun, and it is in a really beautiful area.

The past month or so we have been teaching the fiancé of our district president’s son. He used to be inactive, but has come back ever since we have been teaching his fiancé. He is actually a really good guy and has a lot of potential. Our District President has told us that his fiancé and soon to be wife is the only way that his son will come back to full activity. She has been doing really well and went off for about 10 minutes about how awesome Nephi was. She went on and on about how he had all these problems and trouble, but he kept following God and then he received blessings. She told us that about a month ago she had a dream where she was riding in a really nice car across a really beautiful bridge. On both sides and all around was just mud and tons of people were swimming /walking in the mud. She said that she thought to herself that she was so grateful that she could stay out of the mud and just be clean. She told us that she believes that it was an answer that God can help her stay out of sin and cross the mud safely. She told us right after we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and talked heavily about the Atonement. I am excited for both of them, and we have a goal that he will baptize his fiancé in the coming weeks.

The wife of the crazy man should have been baptized this week. Like I said, she is not the most polished person in personality and characteristics, but she comes to church every week despite lots of persecution. And like I said before, our RS does a great job encouraging her. We have been sharing more about showing your love and being patient when others do bad things to you because we want her husband to see that our church teaches her to show her love. She was not able to be baptized this past week because we were not able to finish all the lessons. She will be baptized next Saturday. Her husband is doing better. He is actually pretty friendly to us. She has a difficult time understanding tithing, which causes her to think she needs to pay more than is really necessary. She is doing well though and she is going to be baptized next week.

I continued my study on patience this past week. I came across two scriptures that I love. Hebrews 12:1. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” When I first read this I did not understand because I only thought about the word race and that how do you run a race patiently. Then I figured that this race is more of a long distance endurance race where it does not matter if you finish first; it just matters that you finish. So it makes sense that if the only goal of the race is to just finish, that you can do it patiently. I really like this verse, but I need to think about it some more.

I also liked D&C 67:13. “Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, continue in patience until ye are perfected.” That first just changed my whole idea about life. We are just not good enough or ready to go to heaven yet. But we continue with patience, meaning that we improve every day until one day we can become perfected in Jesus Christ. Really awesome. I love the scriptures. I have been continuing my reading in the New Testament, and I love it all. When I find a really good verse I just get this pump of energy and desire to go and do work.